Thursday, February 10, 2022

Survival

(Source)
Batal'onnyy Komissar¹ Valerian Vitalievich Konnikov walked out of the battalion commander's hut and shook himself at the shock of stepping into the cold after being next to a hot stove. He should have taken his greatcoat off when he had been inside. The temperature had to be well below freezing.

He was on his way to the line being held by the 2nd Company, they had sent out a patrol the day before and out of twelve men, only three had returned. Konnikov was determined to find out what had happened, he personally suspected cowardice on the part of the three men who had returned. He was quite sure that they had run away and that the other nine men were still in the field.

Konnikov was university-educated and had been a dedicated Communist for as long as he could remember, it was his job to educate these simple peasants on their duty to the Party and to the State. Which in his mind were synonymous.


Starshy Leytenant² Lubomir Gennadiyevich Pashin saw someone approaching as he looked past Krasnoarmeyets Kharzin. Damn it, it's the battalion commissar. No doubt come to save the Soviet Union by having one or more of the Rodina's³ fighting men shot or sent to the Gulag.

"Thank you Sasha, your story matches that of Tsvetnov and Puzanov. You may return to your platoon."

As Kharzin left, rather in a hurry as he had seen the commissar as well, Pashin took a deep breath, he was tempted to have a cigarette but no doubt the Commissar would disapprove. This party functionary disapproved of everything

"Yes Comrade Commissar, what can I do for you on this fine day?"

"I am here to speak with those men who ran from the front."

"I have already spoken with them, they are going to go out with another patrol, a stronger patrol, in fifteen minutes. It seems the Finns are getting active in our sector again. I am leading this patrol myself, would you like to accompany us?" Pashin said that knowing full well that Konnikov would find an excuse to have to go back to battalion rather than get anywhere near the front.

"I will have to return to headquarters and get my gear, but then there is a meeting with the other political officers this afternoon, so no, I can't go on the patrol. What is your plan for disciplining those cowards?"

"What cowards are we speaking of, Comrade Commissar?"

"The men who came back without the rest of their patrol, you know who I mean."

"I shall take care of them Comrade Commissar, you need not worry about them."

Konnikov walked away, he was fuming but there was little he could do about this arrogant lieutenant. His own superiors would no doubt frown upon his casting aspersions on a man twice decorated with the Order of the Red Star⁴.


"We are close Comrade Lieutenant, at the edge of these woods is a small valley with a gulley running diagonally across it. We used that to get to the other side, when we emerged the Finns opened fire on us." Krasnoarmeyets Sergey Yegorovich Puzanov would never forget pulling his squad leader out of the line of fire only to discover that the man was dead.

Starshy Leytenant Pashin had the men spread out into a skirmish line, when they were within ten meters of the clearing, he had them stop and take cover. He gestured for Puzanov to follow him. When the two men reached the edge of the wood, Pashin pulled out his field glasses and scanned the other side of the small valley, perhaps a hundred and fifty meters away.

The recent snow had covered the ground, he guessed that another 30 centimeters of the white stuff had fallen since the day before. If there were bodies on the other side of the valley, he couldn't see them. So he continued to scan the forest on the other side. He was a patient man so he took his time doing so. He saw no indications of the enemy, but that meant nothing, the Finns were very good at hiding.

"Do you see anything Comrade Lieutenant?" Puzanov asked.

"No, but that doesn't mean nothing is there Comrade Puzanov, this snow has covered everything. We shall need to cross the valley. Are you sure this is the right place?"

"Yes Comrade, do you see that pine tree, the one which has been snapped in half?"

Pashin nodded, he did see the single tree, probably hit by lightning in the past summer, half of the trunk was canted off to one side, the other half stood upright and still lived.


Pashin left half of the patrol back on the edge of the forest, he had told the Starshina⁵ to take charge of those men and to provide covering fire should his element run into any trouble. They had made it across the valley and had entered the shallow gully which ran up and out of the valley.

Puzanov had pushed forward, Pashin thought to stop him but then realized that the man had seen something. When Puzanov dropped to his knees and began brushing snow away from a hump in the terrain, Pashin joined him.

Puzanov sat back and sighed when his efforts revealed the outline of a frozen corpse. He sat there on his haunches for a long moment, then he spoke.

"It is Yakimenko, Comrade Lieutenant. This is where I pulled him after he had been shot. You can see where I undid his coat to check his pulse."

Pashin did indeed notice that. He had the men uncover a number of other mounds, within minutes they had uncovered another eight men, all dead from what appeared to be shots to the head, that sort of damage couldn't be concealed even when frozen. It seemed that only Yakimenko had not been hit in the head.

"Yakimenko was shot in the chest you say?" Pashin asked.

"Yes, Comrade Lieutenant, he lived for a few minutes after he was shot. I tried to help him but with the other men dying ..."

"Honestly, Comrade Lieutenant, I panicked a little. When the snow started coming down harder and the wind picking up, I knew that our only chance was to run. So I yelled at Kharzin and Strelnikov to follow me. We got away. Barely, the snow had started to slow down just as we reached the other side of the valley. That's when I noticed the broken tree and the man in white."

"The man in white?" Pashin asked.

"Yes, he was on skis, only a single man."

"Probably one of their scout/snipers. We have been using this gulley for a week now to scout the other side. No doubt the Finns noticed. You learned an important lesson yesterday, Sergey Yegorovich."

"What lesson is that, Comrade Lieutenant?"

"In order to survive, you have to sometimes run away. I am giving you Yakimenko's squad, can you handle that?"

"There are only three of us left!" Puzanov protested.

"Then it should be easy, Comrade."




¹ Battalion Commissar, the political officer responsible for a battalion.
² Senior Lieutenant
³ The Rodina, the Motherland, i.e. Russia
⁴ A Soviet decoration awarded for many reasons, in Pashin's case for bravery. Twice.
⁵ First sergeant

22 comments:

  1. Very nice. Typical political officer. Wouldn't be surprised if one of their nicknames were some version of 'Yellow Shorts' or something. Of course, a nickname never used when one could hear it and only around very trusted comrades.

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    1. The Russian Army still has political officers. I think we do too, they're just undercover.

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    2. I figured for a political officer to be effective they had to be seen and heard. There is a different word for those undercover.

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    3. I'm still trying to wrap my head around "effective political officer." They are simply spies for the ruling party, visible or undercover, they aren't much use.

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    4. They need to be visible, looking over your shoulder and have some power (thru those they report to?) to make your life less pleasant. "Aren't much use" sounds like an accurate statement..

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    5. They don't really need to be visible, the knowledge of their existence is sufficient to keep the Party's control over the military. Being undercover is very efficient, they don't even actually have to be there to be effective.

      But all they do is enforce the Party's will, they contribute nothing to its combat efficiency. Even the Soviets weakened the Zampolits' authority later in the war when it was determined that they actually harmed military operations.

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  2. Thanks, Sarge. Good episodes! Kinda seems yer muse is starting to hit her stride, again. Now if you can just keep her outa the rum ration...(chuckle)...
    Took me a bit to get caught up, cuz life is complicated these days. (Yeah? When is it not?)
    Got a new puppy that is a double handful, to say the least! Poor old Joey had to go into the misty realm, to forever more play fetch with the cherubim on a warm beach someplace. Sad time, and it really took me down for awhile. That big lovable old lab and I had shared some really good times over the years.
    Life renews, time and again, though we sometimes fail to appreciate it, as we get older, and develop a(more?) jaundiced perspective.

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    1. Sorry to hear about Joey. Our furry friends burrow into our hearts and warm our souls, but they take a piece of us when they head for the other side. Of course, if one is lucky, they leave a bit of themselves behind. I have been so blessed, hope you are as well.

      Here's to the new pup, may that little one bring you happiness and help you remember all that you loved about Joey.

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  3. Great work Sarge! Blogger's been swallowing my comments for the last week.
    Gotta wonder when the "social justice" enforcer position will be formalized in our own forces.
    Boat Guy

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    1. Sucks to hear your comments have been eaten. Blogger's interface can be a PITA at times.

      As to your last, yeah, I wonder that myself. Hopefully we can root that shit out before it takes too strong a hold.

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  4. Ya...many of the "true believers" have higher education, funny how often that occurs innit?

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  5. The Lieutenant obviously knows how to manage not only his own men, but the system. Often (but not always) it seems that the most supercilious of people that demand strict adherence to a code they themselves could not keep can be put off and redirect by the slightest of discomfort.

    I thought Tim Curry's Zampolit in The Hunt For Red October hit the mark precisely.

    The leaders I have learned the most about are always those who in the midst of my mistake, chose to make it a lesson and never mention the failure again. The ones I learned the least from are the ones that made the failure a stick to beat me with whenever desired. Hopefully I have learned more of the first and less of the second.

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    1. Being able to manipulate the system is a skill every leader should have.

      Concur on Tim Curry's work in that film he played it perfectly.

      As to your last, the former is truly a leader, the latter is anything but.

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    2. Minor semantics; agree the Lt knows how to manage the system but would say he leads his men.
      Captain Ramius dealt with the Zampolit appropriately for someone already under that system; we need to ruthlessly fight such becoming more entrenched than it already is.
      Curry's portrayal was masterful. Didn't he also play the Cardinal in the Three Musketeers movie?
      Boat Guy

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    3. I agree, I plan on keeping Pashin around.

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  6. One of the reasons I disliked Star Trek, The Next Generation, was that the "Ship's Councilor" also seemed to be the Zampolit.

    Under our current SecDef and Joint Chiefs Chairman, I am positive we have zampolits in our military. Admiral Leahy must be spinning in his grave.

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  7. This Soviet/Finnish tale is even better than your normal high standards!

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  8. just wondering how you're going to entice (or whatever) Valerian son of Vitaly to the gulch - should be interesting

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