Chapter 32 Storm
The small town of Lutsk is located in a remote area, like a paradise isolated from the world. If Yuri hadn't known that war was imminent, he would probably have thought that he had lived a secluded life.
August, September, October, from midsummer to late autumn, the days passed by in training and repeated training. Political Commissar Vasily Rulsten came back from Kiev and went to Minsk, and from Minsk he went to Kuibyshev. And just after he came back from Kuibyshev, the peace of Lutsk was broken.
Western Ukraine not only has a long rainy season, but also an equally long winter. At the end of 1940, along with the cold air from the Arctic Ocean, there was also a severe political cold snap - the always-hasty political commissar Vasily Rulsjian was arrested on charges of being a "despicable and shameless member of a separatist organization whose hands were stained with the blood of the people."
The order to arrest Vasily Rulsten was sent directly from Kiev to the 209th Battalion Command. Yuri had no choice but to execute the order, even though he knew that Comrade Vasily was wrongly accused.
With the arrest of Vasily, a wave of cleansing spread throughout western Ukraine. This wave was initiated by Comrade Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev, who served as the First Secretary of Ukraine. Even in the remote streets of Lutsk, his instructions could be seen: "Smash all enemies of the people in disguise!"
Vasily Rulsjian is a Ukrainian, or more precisely, a Lvovian. He was born and raised in western Ukraine, and moved to eastern Ukraine when he was an adult, where he joined the Soviet army. This background was the direct cause of his misfortune, for no other reason than that the current Ukrainian central government, or more precisely, Moscow, did not trust western Ukraine, which had just been incorporated into the Soviet Union. Of course, this was also related to the frequent riots in various parts of western Ukraine since Comrade Khrushchev implemented the collective farm system in western Ukraine.
In the big ethnic family of the Soviet Union, Moscow’s ethnic policy has always been so simple and crude: ethnic minorities can be given certain preferential treatment, but the premise is that you must be obedient, otherwise you will be killed!
The various purges in western Ukraine will obviously not end with the arrest of a small figure like Vasily Rulsjian. Even in Lutsk, this purge is just the beginning.
At the end of October, a working group appointed by the Political Department of the Kiev Special Military District entered the 209th Battalion Command Post in Lutsk. This working group, consisting of only three people, will start a liquidation of "traitors who may be lurking in the Red Army." Of course, its main target of liquidation is still the officers and soldiers from the Western Ukrainian region in the 209th Battalion.
Yuri was not a commander from western Ukraine, so he was lucky to escape from the storm. However, this so-called "escape" was obviously not thorough enough, because he also had a responsibility, which was to cooperate with the working group to expose officers and soldiers who might have problems.
Lutsk, which had just entered November, was hit by a cold wave from the north. The temperature suddenly dropped by seven or eight degrees, and the feeling of coldness was clearly felt.
It was early in the morning, and the 209th Battalion was busy again. Standing in front of the window of my barracks, I could see soldiers standing in formation on the empty camp ground, packing their bags under the leadership of their respective commanders. According to the training plan, there was a long march today to improve the soldiers' physical fitness. This training was formulated by Yuri himself and had been implemented in the camp for nearly three months.
Turning his eyes away from the soldiers who were packing their luggage, Yuri's gaze fell on the front of the barracks opposite, where a burly middle-aged man with blond hair was busy washing.
The middle-aged man was obviously in good shape. He wore a white standard shirt on his upper body, and loose blue military pants with tight legs on his lower body. On his feet were a pair of high black pigskin military boots.
The middle-aged man's name was Russell Borisovich Nikov, a major from the Ukrainian People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs. Of course, he was also a member of the working group responsible for investigating the 209th Battalion.
Yuri really disliked this guy named Russell. In his eyes, this guy was a cold-blooded and picky bastard. He could always find the flaws of the so-called "enemy" in every inconspicuous place and send him to the guillotine.
Just like when he tried Vasily Rulsjian, the so-called evidence he seized was that Vasily had been "collaborating" everywhere in the past year, and when the Lutsk radar station was attacked, he did not take up the responsibility he should have taken in the 209th Battalion. Of course, Russell even firmly believed that the reason why the Lutsk radar station was attacked was because of the existence of Vasily, a "fifth columnist".
Because you are suspected, you have problems, and there must be problems. This is Russell's logic. Now, he has applied this logic to the entire 209th Battalion and even to the collective farm in Lutsk. To date, the number of soldiers, officers, and farm members arrested by the working group has reached 37. This list is now on Yuri's desk. As the highest commander of the 209th Battalion and the highest-ranking military officer in Lutsk, Yuri has the responsibility to review this list.
To be honest, Yuri absolutely did not want to participate in something like this. Think about it, if he followed the working group's wishes and kept silent about everyone on the list, he would definitely be affected one day in the future. On the contrary, if he went against the working group and tried to save everyone on the list, then regardless of what would happen in the future, at least he would be affected now.
This was a dilemma, so Yuri didn't want to take over at all. If possible, he would rather kick Russell's so-called working group out of the barracks directly.
However, the current situation does not allow Yuri to withdraw. He even has to make a decision this morning - whether to continue to support the work of the working group in the 209th Battalion, or to be more precise, whether to continue to remain silent.
Watching Russell finish washing up and staggering back to the barracks, Yuri exhaled heavily, fumbled in his pocket, took out a pack of cigarettes, lit one for himself, then turned back to his desk made of logs and looked down at the list full of names on the table.
After taking over the 209th Battalion for such a long time, Yuri could call out the names of many people in the battalion, including ordinary soldiers and junior officers. Of course, considering that this was a battalion, the people he could call out by name were undoubtedly those who performed well. And now, there were six or seven people on this list that he knew. What Yuri could not stand the most was that the captain of the first company, Anjip, who had always performed very well, was also on the list.
Yuri is not a very kind person. Although he is the battalion commander, he is not indifferent to the life and death of some people. But the problem is that he cannot ignore the life and death of everyone. For example, the captain of the first company, Anjip, is really an excellent grassroots commander. He can even be regarded as the backbone of the 209th Battalion. What supports the combat effectiveness of the 209th Battalion? Is it the soldiers in each battalion? No, it is not. The main thing that supports the combat effectiveness of the entire battalion is those excellent soldiers and excellent commanders like Anjip. If these people are purged, and he, the battalion commander, turns a blind eye to this purge, then the entire 209th Battalion will be finished. It will become a mess and it will be difficult to condense into a solid military force.
Something must be done, even if it means getting in trouble. Looking at the list, Yuri gritted his teeth and finally made up his mind.
After coming to this world, he has been running away, using what he knew from his previous life to avoid risks, trying to gain safety in this escape. But now, he finds that he can no longer run away, and he needs to really fight for his future.
Putting the list in his hand aside, Yuri moved the chair beside the table and sat down on it, then picked up a blank piece of letter paper from the side.
The tip of the fountain pen was filled with ink, and it had to be shaken before it could be used to write. Yuri sat up straight, and when the tip of the pen fell on the letter, his hand paused noticeably, and then he began to write the first name - Lieutenant Antip Borisovich.
For this list, Yuri's job is to evaluate each person on the list, to evaluate the possibility of them being traitors or something else strange, and of course, to characterize each of their performance. Simply put, it is to provide evidence for the final judgment of the working group. If someone on the list does not behave well, he is more likely to be convicted, and this is what the working group wants him to do.
"...As the commander of the 1st Company of the 209th Battalion, Lieutenant Antip Borisovich has performed extremely well in the defense of the Lutsk radar station. I have already reported the specific details in the previous summary report." At the beginning of the evaluation, Yuri listed Lieutenant Antip's performance in the previous battle to defend the radar station, and based on this, he made a favorable evaluation of Lieutenant Antip. "In addition, in the daily training tasks of the 209th Battalion, Lieutenant Antip Borisovich also performed well. In view of this, as the supreme commander of the 209th Battalion, I cannot agree with the working group's suspicion of Lieutenant Antip Borisovich..."
After leading off the full text with a review, Yuri listed some specific examples to strengthen his own judgment.
Now that he had made a start, there was nothing to hesitate about what to do next. Yuri gave factual evaluations to all the soldiers and officers he knew, and to those he didn't know, he simply gave a "I don't know much about the situation" answer.
Yuri's position was not to frame anyone, nor to make irresponsible comments about anyone . He was not sure whether this approach could save Lieutenant Antip and his people, and he just wanted to do it with a clear conscience.
