Section 7: Lens in the Animal Kingdom

  The Soviet troops, spewing flames, charged to the corner of the slope. At a shout from the Kalmyks, a hail of grenades was thrown up from the foot of the slope, and the machine gunners hiding at the top raised their bodies and fired. The Soviet troops retreated backward like a tide hitting a reef.

  "Charge, kill!" - After the Kalmyks made a false show of force at the foot of the slope, they took to their heels and continued running back. Having run out just over a dozen steps, hand grenades rained down on the place where they had been hiding. When the smoke cleared, the pursuing Soviet troops were seen rolling down from the top of the slope like dumplings, with the first dozen or so people quickly getting up and continuing to pursue relentlessly after reaching the foot of the slope, while those behind were buried by hundreds of hand grenades hidden in stone dens, blown to smithereens.

  Misha clearly saw a Soviet soldier sliding down with his legs apart, and suddenly a heart-wrenching scream came, rolling down the slope with both hands covering his crotch, apparently hit by Misha's bayonet. The perpetrator of this dirty trick laughed for a few times, feeling numb all over his body, and also reflexively covered his own crotch.

  The steep slope stopped the armored car, but Soviet soldiers continued to pursue doggedly. The distance between the ruthless hunters and their prey slowly narrowed again. Among the German prisoners of war who had just been rescued, those who were malnourished for a long time fell behind one after another, becoming the ghosts under the feet of the hunters, while also becoming a shield to protect the assault team members.

  In the distance, it's like a familiar scene from Animal Planet: dozens of antelopes are fleeing for their lives in front, while hundreds of starving wolves are chasing after them recklessly. The antelopes occasionally turn around and use their sharp horns to pierce the wolves' bellies, only to provoke the wolf pack into doubling their revenge.

  In a critical moment, the eagles joined in: two Stuka dive bombers circled above both sides' heads, and the pilots were worried about distinguishing between friend and foe. The pursuing Soviet planes raised their machine guns and fired into the air, helping the drivers to distinguish between enemy and friendly forces instantly.

  The Stuka soared into the sky, then like a rocket, dived towards the ground, in an ear-splitting howl, dropping a fragmentation bomb. After the bomb hit the ground, dozens of small bombs burst out from a large bomb, instantly enveloping the Russians in smoke and dust. Then it dove again, strafed, dived again, and strafed again, until its ammunition was depleted.

  Gleb gathered all the artillery of the shock troops - three 5-centimeter mortars and, with a flourish, poured snow on the pursuers hidden in the smoke.

  The prey can breathe a sigh of relief. The Kalmyks finally have some leisure time to look for the colonel, and wait for him to speak up. Before he opens his mouth, the colonel starts yelling:

  "I can't see your rank, but I want to point out a few things: as a German officer, you are a failure and irresponsible. The retreat you led was chaotic and disorderly, it was simply a rout. Secondly, your soldiers were too brutal, just like the Boers in South Africa. Thirdly, you put German prisoners of war in danger without equipping them with weapons, they only got beaten. Fourthly, German soldiers wearing enemy uniforms does not conform to the good tradition of the German Army. Fifthly..."

  "Shut your stinking mouth." The Kalmyk hadn't expected the hot face to meet a cold backside, and with his feverish chill and heavy casualties, he lost control and raged like thunder, until Mishka intercepted him, lest he throw his fist at the unsuspecting German colonel.

  The stormtroopers could no longer stand it, neither Russians nor Germans:

  "Ridiculous."

  "The Tartars scolded: 'Picking bones from eggs.'"

  "Where's the chicken butt?"

  "Being rescued is not easy: The person being saved gives trouble to the rescuer."

  Grubbs blurted out crudely: "Shit-eaters find fault with those who take a dump."

  "Tartar reports: 'Of the 68 shock troops, only 13 are left. Including the colonel who is always finding fault, there are only seven prisoners of war. The rest were either killed or wounded and abandoned.'"

  The Tartar turned to the superior officer and asked about the original number of prisoners of war. He replied haughtily, "Counting the numbers is the chief of staff's job." Finally, he commented, "Perhaps staying in the prisoner-of-war camp would not have resulted in such a great loss. This was a reckless action."

  Kalmuk's head spun and he took a step forward, his hands grasping at the lapels of the other man's coat before being pulled away.

  Far away, Boester saw a huge swastika red flag spread out on the ground, indicating to the small plane that came to greet Colonel Shang where to land. The Soviet soldiers seemed to have suffered heavy casualties as well, and they slowly retreated in the distance, watching with their eyes wide open as the plane took Colonel Shang away, and the remaining people withdrew calmly.

  The presiding judge glared at the Kalmyk, like a hunting leopard choosing its moment to pounce: "There were 97 German prisoners who were rescued, and under your leadership only 7 returned to their own troops. That means that the other 90 died - is this normal?"

  "Abnormal." Karl Mek replied calmly. The audience seats "hissed" open, Li De sat up straight, and Bao Man woke up from his sleep.

  The judge thought he had grasped the handle and glanced at the clerk: "The defendant himself admitted that it was abnormal, please record this."

  "I'm not finished, Your Honor," the Kalmyk man said with some agitation. "It's true it wasn't normal; to save them, 55 of my excellent shock troops were killed - they had undergone extremely rigorous training - and now only 13 are left."

  "Are you dying of incompetence and indifference?" The judge's voice was low and obviously insufficient, the audience whispered.

  "They died very heroically, the prisoners of war shouted 'Long live Germany' and perished together with the enemy. The stormtroopers picked up hand grenades and charged at the enemy's armored vehicles...... In these two days I have also been reflecting, just as the colonel said, if I didn't go to rescue them, or rather our superiors didn't let us rescue them, and let them safely arrive in Siberia, perhaps their survival rate would be a bit higher."

  "No quibbling allowed." The voice from the prosecutor's seat was as jarring as a dog barking at a banquet. The judge spat out a professional term: "Invalid setting, not adopted."

  The prosecutor was granted permission to speak and raised a question: "Obviously, the mortality rate of prisoners of war is much higher than that of the assault team. After investigation, it was found that the suspect was obviously unfair in distributing weapons. Everyone is a soldier, when facing the enemy, those who are unarmed will definitely die before those who hold machine guns. This is common sense."

  "Objection, the prosecutor is leading the witness." A voice came from the defense attorney's seat.

  "Objection overruled, defendant will continue."

  "My incompetence and indifference, merely did not issue the standard weapon of a special task assault team to the prisoners of war. However, I disagree with the phrase 'bare-handed', this does not conform to reality. We gave some prisoners two hand grenades, if there were captured weapons in battle, they would definitely be given for use." The Kalmyk man shrugged his shoulders, "Of course there was no capture, because we were being chased by people."

  The Kalmyk looked at the judge with envy, took a sip of water, swallowed his saliva and even smiled slightly: "Excuse me, regarding the number of rescued prisoners of war, I heard the prosecutor say 98 people, while the court just provided 97 people, does it include Colonel Heinz, deputy commander of the 20th Division of the 39th Army?"

  The prosecutor shifted his gaze from the Kalmyk to the desk, a rustling of papers on the bench, the judges busily moving their fingers over the attendance sheet, and the Kalmyk felt an indescribable comfort in his heart.

  The astute prosecutor, however, had discovered his loophole: "I also noticed that the number of assault team members you mentioned does not match the prosecution materials. According to what you just said, there were 55 people on the assault team, but we have a list of 61 names. Here is the complete list of the so-called assault team members." He raised the paper in his hand, "You deliberately concealed six people, why?"

  "Because we eliminate impurities." He replied disdainfully.

  "Defect? Is this a description of human beings? It reveals your definition of humanity and contempt for life. Defect!" The prosecutor faced the audience, expecting everyone to respond in unison, but only a few nodded in approval.

  After a lengthy and tedious examination of trivial details and hairsplitting recollections, the judge suddenly produced a startling accusation: in collusion with Captain Pangeld, he had deliberately murdered Sergeant Hildebrand.

  The Kalmyk looked puzzled: "Who is Hildebrand?"

  "You have many bad habits, don't make me add another one: pretending to be something you're not." The judge pulled out a document and began reading it aloud. The Kalmyk remembered, and a timid voice whispered in his ear: "Don't shoot, I'm the son of a German Communist... I want to cut ties with fascism once and for all."

  The Kalmyk man no longer responded, the bored court had actually collected materials from that identification action, taking the execution of possible traitors as a crime. His hanging heart was put down, he thought this was not only not a crime, but also worthy of praise. Besides, this action was approved by the superior, and the court still had the face to ask for guilt, he decided not to respond.

  The Kalmyks closed their eyes. The courtroom suddenly fell silent, the sound of engines suddenly arrived, and the high-pitched sound of anti-aircraft guns immediately followed, followed by several loud explosions from afar, the houses shook, the soil on the roof fell down, the statue of the head of state in the middle of the trial platform crashed to the ground, revealing the Lenin portrait embedded in the wall below.

  Inside the hall, everything was in disarray. Bormann and Hewel tried to set up a microphone for the Führer, but he pushed it aside with disdain. Irritated, he dictated: "These damned planes have turned me into Lenin; not long ago at Manstein's headquarters they made me into Stalin. Before hanging my picture again, first level the place below, otherwise don't hang it."

  After the air raid, the defendant's witness appeared. Misha showed up in the witness stand: "I'm a special agent, I've been trained by GRU." He said. The junior lieutenant judge who had always been a mere decoration became his chief examiner and said blandly: "We value special agents, otherwise you wouldn't have entered the assault team."