Tatiana and Alexander: A Novel(110)

"Ouspensky," he said, "stay here. I'm going to talk to them first. I'm going to ask for their help. You two wait for me here. When I turn around to walk back to you, if I sling my machine gun over my shoulder, it means we have peace. If I take a step with it in my arms, that means we don't. Understood?"

"Perfectly," said Yermenko, but Ouspensky, grim in the face, did not reply. Ouspensky took his job of protecting Alexander too seriously. Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

"Lieutenant! Understood?"

Sigh. "Yes, sir."

Alexander walked forward, leaving Ouspensky and Yermenko ten paces behind in the bushes, and came up to the circle in a small clearing. The men barely turned or raised their heads to look at him.

"Comrades," he said, coming up close to their circle, "we need your help. We have no ammo left, the replacement platoons aren't here, nor have I been able to reach anyone by field phone. I have twenty men left out of two battalions and I've got no support. We need your cartridges and your shells. We also need your first aid kits and some water for our wounded. And the use of your phone to call the command post."

The men stared at him in silence and then laughed. "You're f*cking with us, right?"

"My orders were to break through the woods."

"You clearly haven't followed your orders, Captain," said Lieutenant Sennev, glaring at Alexander from a sitting position.

"Oh, I've followed my orders, Lieutenant," said Alexander. "And my men's blood is testament to my obedience. But now I need your weapons."

"Fuck off," said Sennev.

"I'm asking you to help your brothers in arms. We are still fighting for the same side, aren't we?"

"I said f*ck off."

Alexander sighed. Slowly he turned his back on the circle of men, holding his Shpagin. Before he was turned around completely, he saw the shrapnel club hurled by Yermenko sail through the air and with a siren wail embed itself in Sennev's head. Yermenko must have been quite close to have heard it all, to have been so ready to throw the club. Alexander spun around, pointed his Shpagin and fired a shot at a time. He did not use the automatic fire. He didn't waste a bullet on Sennev, who didn't need one. Alexander fired five rounds, Yermenko fired six, and they were done. The NKGB men never had a chance to lift their weapons.

Ouspensky and Yermenko took all their arms and provisions, while Alexander piled the bodies one on top of another. When they were a sufficient distance away--twenty paces--Alexander threw his grenade into the pile of bodies and shielded his eyes. The grenade exploded. For a few moments the three men stood and watched the flames rise up.

"Perhaps they need a soldier's farewell from us," said Ouspensky, saluting them. "Farewell, and f*ck you!"

Yermenko laughed.

As they walked back to their positions, Alexander slapped the corporal on the shoulder. "Well done," he said, offering Yermenko a cigarette.

"Thank you, sir," Yermenko said. He cleared his throat. "Request permission to go and find the enemy Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

commander. I think if we take out their commander, their defense will fall."

"You think so?"

"Yes. They're very disjointed. In front, on the side, random fire, no purpose. They're not fighting like a trained army. They're fighting like a partisan force."

"We are in the woods, Corporal," said Alexander. "You're not expecting trenches, are you?"

"I'm expecting reason. I'm not seeing it. They are heavily armed and they're shooting at us as if they don't give a shit how long they'll hold out. They're defending the woods as if they have an endless supply behind them."

"And how will this change if you bring me the commander?"

"Without the commander, they will retreat."

"They'll retreat, but we'll still be in the woods."

"We can move laterally, south. We're bound to run into the South Ukrainian front."

"The South Ukrainian front will be overjoyed to see us. Corporal, my orders were to break through these woods."

"And we will. But sideways. We've been here two weeks, lost nearly everything, cannot replace our men and cannot move the Germans. Sir, please let me bring you the commander's head. You'll see, they'll retreat. The Germans don't do well without a commander. We'll be able to move sideways."

Ouspensky nudged Alexander. "Why don't you tell him they're Russian, Captain?" he whispered.

"You think that will make a difference to Yermenko?" Alexander whispered back.

Alexander got on the newly acquired field phone to contact Captain Gronin of the 28th non-penal battalion, four kilometers south of Alexander's position. He said nothing to Gronin about the downed NKGB but he did ask for reinforcements to come as soon as possible. It turned out that indeed the Germans had a bulge between Alexander and Gronin and to get reinforcements to Alexander, Gronin would have to move through German troops. Exhaustion in his voice, Gronin nonetheless managed to raise it high enough to shout, "Are you f*cking joking with me, reinforcements? Who do you think you are? I'm sending you reinforcements when pigs fly! Fight with what you have until the rest of the army catches up with you." And he hung up with a slam.