In his farewell, Stein said with confidence: "My brigade commander, please believe that this guerrilla force will be in the palm of your hand. ”

"The Russian proverb says, 'Chickens don't count until autumn,' so let's draw conclusions after the military operation," replied the brigade commander coldly, walking out of his office.

Stein was frustrated—the Chief's tone made him unhappy.

When his lieutenant walked in, Stein threw his cigarette into the ashtray and asked, "Ralph, did you know that our brigade commander would also use a Russian proverb as an analogy?" That's how the enemy is studied. He said sneeringly.

"He's emulating the Führer." The adjutant handed Stein his coat as he spoke, and walked out of the office with him.

On the same day, Stein received a motorized rifle division, an SS battalion, 40 outlaws of the "Brandenburg unit" and two reconnaissance planes. In order to keep the military operation from going public, Stein decided not to involve the police and spies from the local population, and the entire operation was undertaken by the German army.

After a careful and comprehensive reconnaissance of the forest, the vicinity of the Nameless Lake, and the path leading to the center of the lake, during the night, Stein led his troops to take a shortcut to the Nameless Lake, cut off the roads and trails leading to the lake, measured the depth of the water, and began scouting the roads, bridges, and islands leading to the island.

When the troops arrived, they found a secret outpost of the partisans, and two German soldiers touched it, but immediately the sentry found out, but the sentry was knocked down on the spot and disarmed. The Germans forced him to lead the way to the island. The Russian, wheezing for breath, gripped up the wooden bridge exposed at low tide and headed for the island.

"Quick, quick!" A tall, thin German captain shouted at him.

When less than 500 meters remained on the island, the Russians stopped, pretending not to be sure where to go.

The captain slammed him on the back and head with the butt of his rifle and shouted again: "Quick, quick, Russian pig!" ”

The Russians continued to move forward. The Germans hurried behind him. Soon the distance between them and the island was shortened.

When the shore of the island was clearly visible, the Russians raised their voices and shouted: "Brothers! It's the Germans, shoot! Then machine guns and submachine guns burst into fire from the island, and the Germans killed a dozen or so people on the spot, while the Russian ran ashore, but was hit by a bullet and fell to the ground, and it is not known whether it was the German or the Russian.

Enraged by the frustration of the attack, Stein personally led his troops to the island after the planes repeatedly strafed the island, and reinforced the attack with the SS.

The defenders of the island opened fire on the enemy in unison. The Germans made a short advance and charged forward, and the shore was strewn with corpses.

The partisans were gradually dwindling, and the disparity in strength was huge. The Germans flanked from the west and entered the heart of the island to strike at the partisans from behind.

Several partisans took up a defensive position in a ring and began to repel the approaching enemy with grenades, but the dense fire of the Germans gave them a lot of damage, and in a few moments they were left with only three men.

"Brethren, the land of Russia must not be brought to shame! Now our main task is to lead the Germans to the minefields, and for this we have to rush to the north of the island, so that the Germans will pursue us, and in the rush we will inevitably run into mines. ”

"Comrade Lieutenant, I know these places well, and I and the partisans have planted mines there, let me take the lead, just ask you to follow me step by step."

"Good!"

Before they could crawl out of the trenches, they heard the Germans shouting: "Russians, surrender!" ”

One of the partisans turned around - a German was sitting in a pine tree about 30 meters from them, watching with a telescope. He aimed his guns at the enemy. The Germans raised their hands unnaturally and fell to the ground like sacks.

The Germans again opened heavy fire on the trenches, in which no return fire was returned.

Thinking that the partisans had been wiped out, the SS soldiers stood up and marched to the trench with their guns in hand. When they reached 25 to 30 meters from the trench, a Maxim heavy machine gun rang out, and the first row of raiders fell to death under the short-range strafing of the machine guns, while the other survivors responded with a few shots in a panic, turned around and ran back. The partisans continued to fire heavily at the enemy.

"Good job, just hit it so hard!" The lieutenant handed the machine-gun shooter a cartridge belt and encouraged.

Someone came up behind him, and he turned around and suddenly saw the muzzle of a rifle directed at him and the face of one of his companions, twitching and distorted with hatred. A shot rang out, and the shooter let go of the handle of the machine gun and planted himself face down on the ground.

"Traitor!" The lieutenant threw down the cartridge cartridge cartridge for the machine gun and leaned over to get the submachine gun. At this time, the man struck him hard with the butt of his gun. He fell unconscious in the trench.

The man hurriedly took out a torn white cloth from his pocket, hung it on his rifle bayonet, raised it to the battlefield, waved it with all his strength, and shouted in German: "Come to me, come to me, I am German." ”

Seeing the white flag and hearing the shouting, Stein called two SS soldiers to him and ordered him to reconnoiter what was going on in the trenches. The SS soldiers crawled forward and quickly crawled towards the trenches.

The man threw down his weapon, raised his hand, and shouted: "I am German!" ”

The Germans looked at him suspiciously, and pounced on him, trying to tie his hands, but he rebuked them: "This is an insult to my character, take me to the commander at once, and I will explain everything to him." ”

The two SS soldiers looked at each other for a moment and asked, "Where are the others?" ”

"Killed, you see, the only thing left is this brute, and I believe he is still alive." So he kicked the lieutenant with his boots with all his might. The lieutenant groaned.

"Alive! I am going to give him to you as a gift. Real Soviet scouts. ”

"Good!" The tall, thin squad leader of the stormtroopers said loudly.

The SS seized the lieutenant and dragged him to the ground. The man who had surrendered hurried alongside him.

When the man was brought to the hastily erected tent, the flag commander approached him with glasses on his nose and began to examine the "prey" attentively.

"Surrender as a prisoner, and say that you are German. What do you use to prove that you are German? ”

"I'm Andreas, an officer of the German military reconnaissance agency. Finn, with the rank of captain. Or was secretly sent to Russia in 35. I successfully settled in Leningrad, obtained legal status, developed reliable relations, successfully fulfilled the tasks entrusted to me. And through its own channels maintained regular contact with the reconnaissance center in Berlin. ”