Chapter 53: Encounter
However, the brutal street fighting tests the soldiers' will the most. The cruelty and bloodiness of close combat is enough to cause the weak-willed soldiers to suffer a mental breakdown.
At present, the German troops in the north have occupied Gomel, and their vanguard has even advanced to the Perepisi area. If the 21st Army of the Western Front was not blocking them in front, the German armored forces would only need half a day to advance to the suburbs of Chernigov. Therefore, Yuri no longer has time to train soldiers and improve their fighting spirit. All he can do now is to use strict discipline to restrain the soldiers and keep them firmly in their positions.
After finalizing the overall battle plan, Yuri prepared to return to Berezna. He needed one to two days to inspect the situation in the entire Berezna city area in order to refine the battle plan and arrange defensive positions for his troops.
Patting the driver's seat, signaling Arseni to drive, Yuri put away the map and turned to look out the window.
The security soldiers guarding the outside of the platform have already opened the passage, and refugees fleeing the war have begun to pour onto the platform. Later, if the military train still has plenty of space after taking on the transferred wounded, some of the people will be allowed to go east with the train.
The jeep drove out of the station with its horn honking, and the soldiers of the security team hurriedly cleared the way in front. Even so, it took nearly 20 minutes to get out of the small station.
Lower Slanoye Station is located on the eastern outskirts of Chernihiv. From the station there is a road leading to Berezna, a road that was rebuilt only last year. However, starting tomorrow, an engineering corps will completely destroy the road to prevent it from being used by the German army in the future.
The jeep drove eastward along the highway. Both sides of the road were crowded with people, including groups of soldiers and, of course, ordinary people who were avoiding the war. In addition, there were many Internal Guard soldiers wearing blue uniforms and looking vigilant. As the Germans advanced on the Ukrainian battlefield, some restless Ukrainian separatists also became active. They put on Nazi armbands and frantically attacked Soviet supply convoys and military facilities behind the front. In order to eliminate these traitors, the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs dispatched a large number of Internal Guards to major cities including Kiev.
The car drove for about half an hour. Yuri, who had been looking out the window, was suddenly stunned. He seemed to see a very familiar person.
"Stop the car," Yuri waved his hand and said to Arseni who was driving in front.
Arseni stopped the car in the middle of the road , then turned around and asked, "What's the matter, Comrade Major?"
Yuri didn't say anything, but pushed the door open and got out of the car.
"Comrade Major!" A small team of Internal Guard soldiers were maintaining order on the side of the road. When they saw Yuri get off the car, the leading lieutenant hurriedly saluted him.
Yuri returned the salute to the lieutenant and turned to look at the soldiers who were resting on the roadside. After confirming that he had not recognized the wrong person, he raised his voice and shouted, "Olga, Olga? Comrade Lieutenant Vlasovna Liangbova."
That’s right, the person Yuri saw was Olga, who was trained with him in Moscow. After such a long time, no one knew how she ended up at the Kiev front. Moreover, looking at the epaulettes on her military uniform, she was only a second lieutenant.
Olga's group included both men and women, about seven or eight people in total. Everyone was carrying luggage and looked exhausted.
Hearing someone calling her name, she stood up from the side of the road in confusion, brushing the dust off her butt while looking around for the source of the voice.
"Here, Olga," he called out from where he stood before Yuri went over.
"Yuri?" Olga found him quickly, and then a look of surprise appeared on her face. She put the boat hat in her hand on her head and ran over quickly. "Why are you here?"
After she finished speaking, she continued quickly without waiting for Yuri to speak: "Oh, you are a major now? Yes, I saw news about you everywhere some time ago. People from the Military Commission even came to me to collect information about you. It's incredible. You are a hero now..."
Even heroes cannot escape the fate of being cannon fodder. Yuri gave a bitter smile and interrupted her excited topic: "Why are you here? Where are you going now?"
"Reporting to the new unit," Olga was a little out of breath because she spoke too quickly before. She slowed down and answered, "I was originally in the 68th Army of the Western Front, but the troops were defeated in Minsk last month. I followed some people and retreated all the way to Pinsk. Later, I was transferred to the transit station in Kursk. Last week, I heard that my brother was assigned to the independent 34th Motorized Infantry Brigade of the Southwestern Front, so I submitted an application and followed him . Now I am preparing to report to Berezna."
Yuri was delighted when he heard this, because it turned out that his communication was queued here.
"By the way, you haven't told me where you are going yet," Olga asked after saying a lot of nonsense.
"I'm going to Berezno, too," Yuri smiled and said, "Get in the car, I can give you a ride."
"Really? That's great," Olga said excitedly, looking at the jeep parked next to her. "You have no idea, I've been so tired these past two days. We walked more than 20 kilometers in Kursk, got on the train, and stood all the way here. The carriage was full of people, and there was no place to sit. We finally arrived at the station, but we still have to walk 15 kilometers to Berezno. I'm going crazy. I really want to just go back and save..."
Yuri waved her hand and winked . She spoke loudly, and the lieutenant of the Internal Guard not far away had already looked over, his eyes full of dissatisfaction. If it weren't for a major like Yuri standing here, Olga would probably get into trouble for this complaint.
Olga then realized that what she said was inappropriate. She secretly glanced at the second lieutenant of the Internal Guard, turned her head and stuck out her tongue at Yuri, and hurriedly changed the subject: "My brother and a fellow villager are also there. Can we bring them along?"
"Okay," Yuri nodded and smiled.
Olga quickly turned around to greet people, and soon, two young men came over hesitantly.
"This is my classmate, Yuri Arkhipovich Kulyokov," Olga ignored Yuri's position to show her intimacy, and introduced him directly, "This is my brother, Vasily, and this is my fellow countryman and my brother's best friend, Sergei, Sergey Sergeevich Bondarev."
The two young men were obviously still very young. They behaved a little timidly in front of Yuri, especially Sergei. Before shaking hands with Yuri, he even rubbed his hands hard on the hem of his military uniform.
"Let's go, get in the car," Yuri greeted the two young men and motioned for everyone to get in.
This time, Yuri did not sit in the back, but sat in the passenger seat, leaving the back seat to Olga and the other two.
In the car, Yuri introduced Arseny to the three people, and then began to ask about what happened to Olga's training class later.
According to Olga, after Yuri and the others left, the communications training class ended when the war was about to break out. However, most of them did not return to their original units, but were assigned to the Western Front and the Leningrad Front. She was not sure who went where.
Olga's answer disappointed Yuri. He was thinking about finding out where Julia was, but it seemed like that was a failure. Yuri really missed that scheming woman. He didn't know where she was now, or even if she was still alive.
Half an hour later, the jeep drove into the city of Berezna. As the Germans got closer and closer, this city with a large number of clothing and food factories had become a high-risk area. German bombers visited twice a day, bombing the entire city to pieces. Most of the citizens had moved to the eastern region, and the rest, in accordance with the requirements of the Military Committee, dug air-raid shelters and bunkers throughout the city to hide.
As the commander of the 34th Brigade, Yuri's headquarters was set up in the urban area north of the Desna River, occupying the building of the former Urban Design Institute. As for the subordinate troops, they were arranged in the defense zone in the suburbs. Only some artillery units and logistics departments were stationed in the urban area.
The jeep drove into the city, went directly onto Kirov Street, drove eastward, and finally stopped in front of the old design institute building.
Since the 34th Brigade entered Berezna, the urban area on the north bank of the Desna River has become a military jurisdiction area. The anti-aircraft artillery company directly under the brigade headquarters has been dispersed on the tops of buildings in the city. Its main function is to deter German bombers from carrying out low-altitude and accurate bombing of the city.
"Which team was Vasily assigned to?" After the jeep stopped, Yuri did not get out immediately. He turned around and asked.
"657th Regiment," Sergei, Olga's younger brother, looked very immature. He answered in a low voice, "Sergei and I are both."
"Oh, the 657th Regiment is now stationed in the village of Polkayev," Yuri said, "but they may withdraw to the city today or tomorrow, so you don't have to go there. I will arrange a place for you to stay first, and you can report after the troops withdraw to the city."
"Is that okay?" Olga asked hesitantly, "We have a deadline for reporting in. The latest deadline is 7pm today."
"I'll call Major Sherkiny," Arseny offered. Captain Sherkiny was mainly responsible for the statistics of new recruits returning to the army.
Yuri said nothing, just nodded.
Olga looked at Yuri in confusion. She also needed to report to Major Shelkin, so she knew what this man did. If Yuri's rank was not only major, she would even suspect that he was the commander of the 34th Brigade.
