I Became Stalin?!

Chapter 101

Vroom, vroom.

As soon as the order was given, the armored units started their engines loudly.

The ceasefire agreement was supposed to last for 14 days, but it did not specify the exact time of its end. It was vaguely written as “from ~ day to ~ day”.

The higher-ups wanted to use, or rather abuse, that ambiguity.

From the evening of the last day, the combat units on the front line finished their preparations for the offensive and rushed to their positions.

As soon as 12 o’clock came, the ceasefire would end, and they could attack the German army. 

The artillery and rocket forces had also pre-targeted their objectives and were waiting for the firing order.

The moment the order came from the higher-ups, a rain of fire would fall on the German positions, bases, and artillery batteries that had been measured in advance.

“Fire at 11:53. I repeat, fire at 11:53.”

“Yes, comrade battalion commander!”

No matter how chaotic the Germans were due to their internal situation, they must have thought of something similar.

That’s why the higher-ups ordered to fire a little earlier, before 12 o’clock.

“What if Germany complains? We are at war.”

Compared to the dirty tricks that Germany had done, attacking seven minutes early was hardly a problem. And honestly, they could just deny it. Our clock was 12 o’clock then, right? They had no shame in lying.

The soldiers clenched their teeth and looked at their wristwatches nervously.

The preparation bombardment for this offensive was short. 

The artillery had improved their skills, and they could deliver enough fire in a short time to the necessary points. But the German positions were always solid, and the infantry was always weak.

Someone gripped the handle of their assault rifle tightly, and someone else held their rocket launcher like a rosary.

“…”

The political commissar ignored the soldiers’ ‘unscientific and anti-Soviet’ attitude for this time.

What would happen after death?

Comrades Lenin and Stalin had said many things about various issues, but they had not taught much about the afterlife. 

The soldiers were always curious about it, but even the political officers who knew well about the Communist Party’s line did not have a clear answer.

Bang, bang, bang. Whooosh!!

The bombardment began.

It was not the weak sound of 76mm light field guns, but a heavy and huge sound that shook the earth and sky. 

The 300mm heavy rockets flew with a scream that lit up the dark sky with bright flames.

Too many shells, rockets, and missiles to count. 

They felt sorry for the German army that had to take them all, but they also had machine guns and cannons. 

And their machine guns and cannons could also tear apart the Soviet army.

“The assault will begin exactly at 1:37. The current time is 12:03, so adjust your watches to mine!”

“Yes!”

Nikolai sat in the truck and shook his legs nervously. 

He had participated in many battles, but he couldn’t help feeling tense before a battle.

He had to lead nineteen soldiers who were packed in the truck as a senior squad leader. 

Nikolai realized that all the lower-ranking soldiers were looking at him and tried to raise his voice cheerfully.

“Hey! Why are you all so scared?”

“Comrade squad leader, aren’t you scared too?”

When one soldier said that from afar, all the soldiers in the truck burst into laughter. 

That’s better. 

Laughter was a good friend to drive away fear.

Of course, this friend left easily, and what came next was obedience or madness.

The soldiers ran forward without thinking anything but following orders or shouted something crazy while shooting wildly under the influence of madness in their heads.

New recruits usually died like that.

If they were lucky enough to survive without dying, they learned how good laughter was.

They tried to find something funny somehow and laughed at dirty jokes. 

Then they became veterans or corpses rotting on the battlefield or sergeants or officers if they were lucky.

“Hey! If you get hit by a shell, your body will be blown to pieces by its force and you will become a bloody lump! Oh, actually you won’t even know if it’s yours or someone else’s. Hahaha!”

“Ugh…”

“Puhahahahaha!”

“Stop it. You’re making them more scared.”

A veteran soldier had to be scolded by Nikolai for explaining what would happen if they got hit by a shell on the battlefield with various adjectives and gestures to the new recruits sitting next to him.

The veteran soldiers laughed louder and made the pale-faced new recruits freeze more.

“Well, don’t worry too much. Those who will die will die no matter what they do, and those who won’t die will live no matter what they do.”

“Comrade squad leader… That doesn’t seem to be very helpful…”

“Hmm? I didn’t mean to be helpful.”

Hahahahaha, snort, pfft.

The veteran soldiers laughed again. 

One of the new recruits seemed to want to ask something, but the truck that had been idling and waiting started to move with a loud engine sound and the new recruit shrank back.

Dozens of trucks ran across the snow-covered plain.

Even though it was not a very fast speed, the scenery that passed by felt unreal. 

The truck shook and the soldiers closed their mouths again.

Some closed their eyes and prayed, some looked at photos or letters in their pockets, and one veteran soldier casually smoked his last cigarette and threw the butt outside.

“Everyone knows their mission, right?”

“Yes!”

“Then that’s it.”

The new recruits were tense.

They were so nervous that they couldn’t do their job properly… But there was no help for it.

The heavy weapons such as machine guns and rocket launchers were mostly distributed to the veteran soldiers who had some combat experience.

Even the new assault rifles were given to those who had experienced at least one battle. 

The fresh recruits had to carry old Mosin-Nagants or SVT-40s.

The radio announced that it was time to get off the truck. 

The enemy seemed to be close enough. 

The soldiers jumped out of the truck.

“Machine gunner, assistant, and ammo carrier, are you all ready?”

“Yes, comrade squad leader!”

“If I die… the squad leader over there is your senior. Got it?”

“Yes!!!”

Wow, their voices are so loud.

They sound louder when I say I might die… Nikolai thought as he led his squad to the direction of the order.

There were craters everywhere that the shells had dug. 

The company commander seemed brave. 

How many battles had he been through?

The German positions were well fortified. Was it a mistake to give them two weeks?

‘What are the higher-ups thinking…’

A platoon that was caught in the crossfire of machine guns vanished. Leaving behind a lot of debris.

The new recruits who joined Nikolai’s squad saw that scene and gagged.

Like the claws of a beast that lurked in hiding and preyed on its victims, the machine guns scratched and left behind only traces of the unfortunate Soviet soldiers. 

The machine gun position was soon destroyed by a bazooka shell, but normally there were only six people in such a position.

To catch six people, they had to fire dozens of bazooka shells, and eventually they had to bring 76mm field guns from behind and shoot them several times.

In the end, what destroyed the position was the bazooka, but there might be more machine gun positions behind it that they didn’t know.

The artillerymen, who were called the gods of the battlefield, were busy fighting among themselves and did not help much with the infantry’s advance. 

It was nice that the German artillery did not bother them, but people’s hearts were always greedy.

But the Soviet army had to be grateful for this much.

“At least there are no Stukas… right?”

“Th… that’s true.”

Fortunately, Stukas had not flown over Nikolai’s battlefield yet.

Germany was overwhelmingly superior in air power, and if they were not on the battlefield, it was obviously advantageous for the Soviet side.

To supplement their lack of air power, the Soviet army deployed as many anti-aircraft weapons as possible and used them not to catch planes but to shred infantry.

Tatatatatata! Tatatatatata!

Even now, far away, anti-aircraft machine guns mounted on infantry fighting vehicles were sweeping bullets over the German machine gun positions.

Anti-aircraft guns were also used as direct fire weapons and fired over the heads of the infantry.

Boom! Boom!

The overwhelming sound of heavy guns exploded. 

The shells exploded in mid-air and scattered fragments on the other side of the German camp.

“Ugh, how horrible… God, please have mercy on them…”

A soldier muttered.

Nikolai also knew how terrible that bombardment was. 

Sometimes unlucky ones died from direct hits by shells, but most of the time bombardment killed people by scattering fragments.

And to scatter fragments, they usually used shells that exploded on impact with the ground, but the huge shells fired from Ohamma exploded in mid-air and effectively scattered fragments over a wider area.

If they exploded on the ground, a lot of the explosion would be absorbed by the ground, but if they exploded in mid-air, they would fully transfer their explosive power to people.

“Whew…”

A soldier whistled. 

He hadn’t tasted the horror of Stukas yet, so he thought the battlefield was always easy and comfortable.

“Hey! In our time…”

“In our time! We only had old T-26 tanks and not many of them either, and no infantry fighting vehicles at all, just ‘light tanks’ that were useless! And in the sky, Stukas and fighters flew around and shot down our fighters!”

Nikolai told his story and the new recruits listened with interest.

The veteran soldiers also pretended not to care but listened attentively to his story from a few months ago.

Nikolai had destroyed a tank and received a medal for it. But his real feat was done by Bolozha Corporal who was dead or gone somewhere. 

He decided to act like a real hero of the people since he got a medal anyway…

But what if his words caused his soldiers to die? 

These young new recruits? 

The unit ahead ran out shouting assault. Nikolai had to stop thinking.

“Charge! Charge! Soviet Ura!”

“Ura! Ura!”

The soldiers shouted and ran out. 

A platoon that collapsed without strength as they tried to cross the ridge. 

The company commander and political commissar who fought fiercely with their Tokarev pistols in their hands. 

The sound of shells firing from behind sounded like a symphony.

He suddenly thought of the medic girl.

‘Katya, Katya Pavlovna, that’s what she said.’

He ran ahead and thought. Maybe I could ask her to teach me how to write with this courage?

His chest burst with a loud cheer.

“Ura! Ura! Ura!”