Chapter 527 Massacre

A bloody storm broke out near the school.

The Soviet prisoners were no match for the Germans, not only because they had been held in the school for a long time without seeing the sun, without enough food and clothing, and were seriously exhausted, but also because of the huge gap in equipment and preparation between the two sides.

A battalion of German troops was fully deployed, with rifles, machine guns, mortars, etc. all ready to go, and even a steel defense line built by tanks as cover.

Although the Soviet army had a large number of troops, they had to drill out of the gap in the school in teams and pick up weapons before they could resist. Not many of them could be put into the battlefield at the same time.

So the open space in front of the school quickly became a slaughterhouse, teams of Soviet soldiers rushed up and were knocked down by German firepower, and then teams of soldiers stepped on the bodies of their comrades and rushed forward.

Soviet soldiers also tried to break out from other directions, but the Germans surrounded the entire school, and no matter how the Soviets charged, they were hit back by German firepower without surprise.

"Comrade Political Commissar!" A Soviet soldier shouted to Matvich, "What should we do?"

Matvich looked out the window in despair. The corpses of Soviet prisoners were piled up there and were still increasing.

In fact, there was no need to look. Matvich knew that Pukayev's plan would fail the moment the Germans opened fire...It was very difficult for Soviet prisoners to even get weapons, because the German machine guns, mortars and tanks used firepower to implement a very powerful fire blockade on the wreckage of the glider loaded with weapons. Many soldiers fell on the way to snatch and find weapons.

And without weapons, Soviet soldiers would be colliding with the Germans' steel defense line with their flesh and blood.

The idea of ​​surrender flashed through Matvich's mind, but it was quickly rejected by Matvich.

Because he still has family, because he comes from a military family, because there are relatives in his family who hold high positions in the army...

Thinking of this, Matvich could only grit his teeth and tell the Soviet soldiers a lie that he didn't even believe: "Hold on, comrades, we don't need to defeat them, nor do we need to break through their defenses, we just need to hold them back. Look, we have tied down their tanks and a large number of troops, and at the same time our main force is launching a fierce attack on them. As long as we hold on for a while, they will collapse, and victory will belong to us!"

The Soviet prisoners believed Matvich's words, or perhaps out of fear... The Soviet prisoners all knew that they were actually traitors to the Soviet Union as prisoners. Now is their only chance. If they don't "reform themselves", then when the Soviet army captures Holm and breaks in, they will be "more guilty", so the Soviet prisoners can only shout again, pick up the guns dropped by their comrades on the ground and rush forward.

The school grounds were filled with corpses, blood mixed with melted snow water flowed along the low-lying areas into the stream beside the school, dyeing the entire stream red, and then slowly flowed into the unthawed Lovat River, dyeing the remaining snow along the shore into a shocking red.

In the end, even the battle-hardened German soldiers were soft-hearted.

Some soldiers wrote the following description in their diaries after the war: "This battle seems simple, because it is nothing more than pointing the gun at the enemy and pulling the trigger. But the fact is not so... This is a torture, a struggle, and a torment of human nature. I told myself again and again that those are enemies, and we should do this. But the problem is that this battle makes us feel like we are shooting at unarmed civilians instead of soldiers. I even want to shout at my comrades: 'Why don't we wait for them to pick up their rifles before shooting?' Of course, I know that is impossible, because this is a war, not a duel between warriors or a duel between gentlemen. There is no grace and mercy here, and any sympathy for the enemy is stupid. What I need to do is to convince myself!"

Finally, the battle was over.

There were still a few cold shots from time to time in the school, but after the tanks "rumbled" up and fired a few shots, there was no sound at all.

Qin Chuan waved his hand, and several teams of soldiers rushed over the tanks. As usual, they threw a few grenades inside and then broke into the classroom, followed by another round of gunfire.

Qin Chuan did not go in. He only saw the German soldiers dragging the living people out one by one and pulling them under the headlights in front of the tanks. Ironically, the portraits of Lenin and Stalin were hanging behind them.

"He looks like an officer, captain!" Werner kicked one of them to the ground: "When I caught him, he was ordering others to continue fighting!"

"Ask him what his name is?" Qin Chuan said to the translator.

The translator stepped forward and asked a few questions in Russian, but the Soviet officer did not answer anything, but just spit bloody saliva at him.

The angry translator stepped forward and punched him twice.

Qin Chuan stepped forward to stop the translator's rude behavior.

In any case, those who have persisted until now and have not collapsed and are still persisting deserve respect.

When the Soviet officer saw Qin Chuan, his eyes lit up, and then he rushed forward with a howl like a wounded beast, but was soon knocked to the ground by Keller's rifle butt.

"He recognized me!" Qin Chuan said.

The translator asked the Soviet the same question, and then the question was quickly answered.

"He knows you are the 'legendary sergeant', Captain!" the translator replied.

"Oh!" Qin Chuan was stunned. There might be many people who knew him, but not many could recognize him.

Then the translator asked the answer from other Soviet soldiers: "His name is Matvich, Captain. He is the political commissar of the 33rd Infantry Division of the Soviet Army and their commander!"

This surprised all the German officers and soldiers, because the Soviet Army would actually send such an important commander to the prisoner camp to perform such a dangerous mission.

"So it's not surprising that he recognized you!" The baker said: "He must have planned a plan to assassinate you, and of course he has seen your photo!"

Qin Chuan nodded.

When he turned around and was about to leave, he heard Matvich shouting unwillingly behind him, with begging in his eyes.

Qin Chuan looked at the translator in confusion, and the translator explained: "He hopes you can kill him!"

"Why?"

"You know!" The translator replied: "If he doesn't die but is a prisoner, he is a Soviet 'traitor'!"

Qin Chuan nodded, pulled out his pistol and walked in front of Matvich.

Matvich nodded gratefully to Qin Chuan and said something. Although Qin Chuan didn't understand, he knew it was a thank you.

The gunshot rang out, Matvich fell to the ground, his body twitched for a while and then he didn't move anymore.