Chapter 3 Taking Credit
The violent jolt woke Lu Cheng from his coma. His reaction was a little slow and he had not completely gotten rid of the horrible dream. His consciousness was still stuck in the scene of being bitten by a hound.
"No!" With a terrified shout, Lu Cheng suddenly turned over and sat up, opening his eyes wide and groping around with his arms, trying to grab the 98k in his hands.
“Ding ding!”
Almost at the same time, a hoarse car horn sounded, and someone not far away shouted in Russian: "Hurry up, speed up, for Comrade Stalin, for the Soviet motherland, and for yourselves."
The shouting quickly faded away and could no longer be heard after a while.
The light in front of him was a little dazzling. Lu Cheng rubbed his sore eyes and looked around in confusion.
He was on a truck, and his position was on the rear compartment without a shed. This truck was obviously used to transport military supplies, and boxes of ammunition were piled up beside him, blocking his view of the surroundings. If it weren't for the bumps, he wouldn't even have noticed that the truck was still moving.
Realizing that he was still alive, Lu Cheng rubbed his face and looked at himself. The Finnish military coat was gone, replaced by a Soviet military coat, which looked very new. In addition, his marching bag and the 98k were also gone, and even his ID card was gone.
Not in the mood to think about material things for the time being, Lu Cheng rubbed his legs, struggled to stand up, and looked out of the car, past the ammunition boxes stacked more than half a person's height.
What comes into view is still the endless damn snowfield. The only difference is that there is a winding road in this snowfield. The road is covered with compacted snow. At this time, the truck is moving along this road.
What was marching was not just a truck, but a huge team consisting of armored vehicles, tanks, cavalry, and infantry. Judging from the size, it should be at least a regiment's strength, or perhaps more.
There was no sun in the sky, only thick dark clouds covering the entire sky. Therefore, Lu Cheng could not tell the direction in which the team was moving. However, he had an ominous premonition in his heart. He felt that his previous week of escape seemed to have been in vain. The team that saved him seemed to be taking him back to that damn hell.
Behind the truck that Lu Cheng was riding in, there was a howitzer. Just by looking at the shape of the gun, Lu Cheng recognized that it was an ML-20 152mm cannon howitzer.
There were three lazy Soviet soldiers sitting on the howitzer's bracket. One of them was a second lieutenant. When he saw Lu Cheng standing up in the carriage, the second lieutenant was stunned for a moment, then stepped on the lever and climbed onto the carriage. He asked, "You're awake, Comrade Second Lieutenant Yuri Arkhipovich. How do you feel?"
"Oh" Lu Cheng was stunned for a while, then he suddenly remembered that he was no longer the so-called Lu Cheng. His name was Yuri, Yuri Arkhipovich. Yes, this was his name, the personal symbol that he could not get rid of in this life.
"What's wrong? Is there something wrong?" Seeing that he didn't speak, the second lieutenant frowned and asked.
"Oh, nothing, I'm fine," Lu Cheng, ah, no, Yuri - shook his head and said, "Excuse me, where is this place?"
"We are from the 35th Regiment of the 44th Division," the lieutenant introduced himself. "I am Antip, Antip Vasilyevich Sitnikov. We found you near Esfle yesterday afternoon. At that time, you were being chased by several Finnish Nazis."
"You saved me?" said Yuri, who decided to forget his past life.
"I guess so," Lieutenant Antip said with a smile.
"Thank you very much," Yuri said as he shook the lieutenant's hand, "It's a pity that I fainted at the time and was unable to thank you right away."
"You don't have to take it to heart, Comrade Lieutenant Yuri Arkhipovich," Lieutenant Antip said sincerely, "You should know that you are a hero. It is an honor for us to save you from the hands of those Nazis."
"Hero?" Yuri was stunned. He couldn't think of any heroic behavior he had performed. Does that mean he could be considered a hero just because he survived the Finns?
"Yes, you are a hero, Comrade Lieutenant Yuri Arkhipovich," Lieutenant Antip explained in an affirmative tone, "I think anyone who can kill the 'White Devil' is qualified to be called a hero, isn't it?"
"White Demon?" Yuri was even more stunned. He had no idea what the "White Demon" was, let alone when he had killed it.
"Yes, White Devil," Lieutenant Antip nodded and said, and then he said excitedly, "I think the Finnish Nazis will have a headache this time. After all, one of their so-called heroes has been killed. What should their reactionary propaganda say next time?"
"Hero? Another hero, or the hero mentioned by the Finns?" Yuri was even more confused. He tried his best to recall his experiences during this period. He was very confused. Since he came here, he seemed to have not killed any enemy, even...
No, could it be that damn Finnish sniper who is indeed dead?
A flash of inspiration came to Yuri's mind, and he felt that he understood something. Yes, it could only be the Finnish sniper. Although he didn't kill that guy, he took away the 98k after all. Not only did he take away the gun, he also took away the opponent's coat and leggings, oh, and the opponent's marching bag.
What was that guy's name? Yes, there was his name engraved on that 98k, but unfortunately I didn't remember it. Anyway, it couldn't be Simon Haye. Could it be that among the Finnish snipers, besides Simon Haye, there is another famous sniper?
"Let's go, Comrade Lieutenant Yuri Arkhipovich," Lieutenant Antip had no idea what Yuri was thinking. Seeing that the other party remained silent, he changed the subject and said, "Comrade Colonel Dmitri Mihajlovich has told me that he must take you to see him when you wake up. Let's go now."
Yuri's mind was still confused. He didn't think about explaining anything, let alone the fact that he was not the one who killed the sniper. After all, with such a misunderstanding, his future life might become easier.
Colonel Dmitry Mikhailovich was not a commander of the 35th Regiment, he was a military commissar, and a military commissar from the army headquarters.
On the way to meet Dmitri, Lieutenant Antip briefed Yuri on some recent developments.
At present, the Soviet army's battle in the Suomusamyr direction, no, to be more precise, the army's battle in the entire Oulu direction is very passive. The 163rd Division was surrounded by a part of the Finnish Ninth Army in the outer area of Suomusamyr Village. Although the 44th Division was fully implementing reinforcements, the Finns used the harassment tactics of small forces to seriously delay the reinforcement speed of the 44th Division. Not only that, the vanguard of the 44th Division was stubbornly blocked by the Finnish army in the Kuivas Lake and Kuomas Lake area. After three consecutive days of attacks, the Soviet army suffered huge losses, but still failed to break through the ridge defense line between the two lakes.
Passivity comes from all aspects, not only the disadvantages of the war, but also the enemy's propaganda offensive. According to Lieutenant Antip, the Finns introduced a series of heroes in their propaganda, the most famous of which was a guy named Simon Haye, who had shot and killed more than 400 Soviet soldiers and officers in the past three months. The sniper killed by Yuri was named Matti Levisto. He used to be a partner with Simon Haye and was an observer. Later, he began to perform tasks independently and shot and killed more than 200 Soviet soldiers and officers in two months.
This time, Yuri brought back Levisto's gun and corresponding documents, which were enough to prove that this guy had been killed. Colonel Dmitry of the 35th Regiment was very . He thought it was something worth writing about.
The 35th Regiment was heading towards Lake Kuivas, and the military vehicle carrying Major Mikhail was following at the end of the team.
Yuri followed Lieutenant Antip and went against the marching team. When he found Colonel Dmitry, he was standing on the side of the road talking to a short bearded guy. Just by looking at their expressions, you could tell that they were in a bad mood.
Colonel Dmitri was obviously very concerned about the affairs of Marty Levisto. After meeting Yuri, he didn't even have the interest to introduce himself. He directly asked Yuri about the details of what happened. He needed to know whether Levisto was really dead. At the same time, he hinted that if Marty Levisto was really dead, he would immediately take Yuri to Sara, to the headquarters of the army group, and commend him and make him a hero - discovering advanced deeds and heroic figures is also the duty of military commissioners.
To be honest, Yuri had no idea whether the dead sniper was Levisto, but considering what he had obtained from him, the possibility was as high as 90%. But the problem was that even if that guy was Levisto, his death had nothing to do with Yuri, because he died of excessive blood loss and loss of body temperature, and the wound on his leg was obviously caused by shrapnel from an artillery shell or grenade.
Of course, Yuri would never tell the real cause of Levisto's death. He knew very well what a valuable opportunity this was for him. He could ignore the credit, but he couldn't ignore the temptation of "going to Sara immediately". His memories of his previous life made him very clear about what fate was waiting for the 44th Division. As the saying goes, a gentleman does not stand under a dangerous wall. At this time, going to Sara in the rear was obviously a good choice.
