After losing another twenty men and their commander, the morale of the Soviets collapsed. Some of them put down their weapons and begged for mercy, while others tried to run away.
Only a few of the guerrillas stayed behind to watch over those who surrendered. The rest spread out and continued to hunt down the deserters.
Zhang Heng wasn't interested in this kind of thing, but he knew that this was his first battle. His attitude towards the Soviets would determine how the guerrillas would treat him. So, Zhang Heng followed behind the guerrillas and fired at them. His main purpose was to help them take care of the enemies who were still resisting. At the same time, he could also practice his marksmanship.
Half an hour later, the battle was over. Other than the seven Soviets who escaped into the mountains, the rest were either captured or killed. The Soviets were completely wiped out. The guerrillas only paid the price of two dead, one seriously injured, and four lightly wounded.
Of the two who died, one was shot in the head during the first wave of ambush, and the other was killed by the deserter because he was too careless during the pursuit. Although the subsequent guerrillas arrived and shot the Soviet soldier full of holes, the dead comrade could not be saved.
When the gunshots stopped, Weiler and his men started to inspect the battlefield, counting the spoils of war. A few guerrillas were excitedly rummaging through the corpses. Apparently, they were used to this. On the other hand, the Soviet captives looked uneasy. They did not know what fate awaited them.
The Geneva Convention clearly stated the treatment of prisoners of war. Unfortunately, the Soviet Union did not join in World War II. Even if they did, it would have been pointless. Zhang Heng had never seen any captives in the guerrillas' camp.
The guerrillas could not afford to keep prisoners of war, nor could they send more men to escort them to the rear when the battle was still raging. Take the prisoners as an example. There were nearly forty of them. To escort them, at least four or five guerrillas would have to take care of the wounded. Considering the possibility of running into other Soviets along the way, and the possibility of the captives escaping, the losses outweighed the gains.
In fact, the guerrillas had already pulled the two Maxim heavy machine guns over.
Looking at the black muzzle, the Soviet soldiers squatting on the ground suddenly panicked. However, their weapons had been taken away, and it was too late to resist.
He did not touch the guns scattered on the ground, nor did he touch the valuables such as watches on the captives. All he did was fill his backpack with rifle bullets and left with Simon.
The two of them had only taken a few steps when they heard the sound of machine gun fire coming from behind them, mixed with the screams of the Soviet soldiers. However, it did not last long before the forest returned to silence.
…
Perhaps it was because of the two battles he fought when he first met Simon, this wasn't the first time he faced such a bloody battle. His performance was beyond many people's expectations. Although he wasn't amazing in his first battle, at least he didn't drag the guerrillas down. From the beginning to the end, he was very calm and didn't make any mistakes.
When he returned to the camp, the guerrillas who initially didn't like him had changed their impression of him. They no longer treated him as if he was invisible. When they recalled their first battle, many of them realized that they weren't as good as Zhang Heng. Other than Weiler and his buddies, many guerrillas started to accept this yellow-skinned comrade as their comrade.
The guerrillas had wiped out an entire infantry battalion of the Soviets, but only two of their own men were killed. The heavily injured ones were saved by Maji. This was a complete victory for the guerrillas. At the same time, the guerrillas had a bountiful harvest. They had obtained more than a dozen light machine guns and two heavy machine guns. There were also countless rifles and ammunition, which had solved Ojeda's recent troubles.
The morale of the camp was high. Weiler and a few other young men were wrestling bare-chested in the snow, while the rest of the people gathered around them, cheering and placing their bets.
Zhang Heng pushed open the woodshed that he lived in and found a freshly made wooden bed inside. Other than that, there were some daily necessities placed beside the bed.
"What's wrong? Don't you want to join us?" No one knew when Maji had appeared at the door. Like a ghost, she leaned against the wooden door and lit a cigarette. She had just stitched up a wounded soldier's wound, and her sleeves were still stained with blood. She pouted her lips at the guerrillas who were having fun outside.
"No thanks," Zhang Heng rejected politely.
"Do you think that they don't have much time left, and that they will die in the war sooner or later?"
"…"
Zhang Heng didn't know how to answer her. He had to be careful when talking to the female doctor. Her intuition was terrifying.
"What's there to be afraid of? Isn't that what the entire Europe thinks?" Magi flicked the cigarette ash from her fingertips. "Come on, as long as you're not an idiot, you can tell who the final winner of this war is. But that's all in the future. Since we're already in this, the most important thing is to enjoy the moment."
Zhang Heng was noncommittal. Perhaps it was because he was the only one who knew the outcome of the war in advance. Hence, it was difficult for him to feel much joy from this victory. At the end of the day, his goals were different from the Finns. He didn't care about the outcome of the war. All he cared about was how to survive in this cruel environment.
"Anyways, Aji asked me to tell you that you did a good job." Magi pointed at the daily necessities on the bed. "The guerrillas have always been good to their own people. Since you've joined us, we naturally won't treat you badly. I wanted you to live with the others, but I think you prefer to be alone."
"This place is good enough. There's no need to move."
Living with the guerrillas was meaningless. They didn't speak the same language, and there was no way they could communicate with each other. It was better to stay alone. Besides, Zhang Heng was used to waking up early to practice shooting and jogging. If he disturbed the others, it would only bring unnecessary trouble.
Magi nodded, told him to keep up the good work and slipped away.
Zhang Heng leaned his skis against the corner of the wall, opened his backpack, and poured out the bullets inside. This was his biggest gain from the battle. A total of 513 bullets filled up two backpacks, enough for him to train for a while. After witnessing Simon's godly beyond-visual-range shooting, Zhang Heng's desire to improve his shooting skills had grown even stronger.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
