"War crime? Everyone in your company has just died because of these 'wounded', and you're not thinking of revenge but war crimes?"
"Did the Germans care when they started this war? If you don't kill them, as long as they can hold a gun, they'll kill you. Make them bleed fast and suffer less!"
Elena continued firing at the wounded and medics. Suddenly, her gun jammed.
"Goddammit, it's fucking jammed! Those bastards in the factories keep sending us garbage!"
As she struggled, a wounded soldier Elena had shot earlier, still alive, grabbed a rifle and aimed at her.
"Elena, watch out!" Gromov shouted from behind her, firing to stop the German.
The gunfire dropped the soldier dead.
"Now you're a war criminal too. This is war, Gromov. Everyone does it, those who don't die first."
"Prepare for battle. Enemies upstairs heard the noise; they are coming. I am going to clear the ground floor. Stay alive!"
With that, Elena left.
Gromov's heart pounded.
As a 21st-century newcomer, the brutality shattered his morals.
He'd heard about atrocities in wars, but doing it himself felt different.
He joined mercenary work to pay debts, not because he was a warmonger.
"Enemies on the ground floor! Move, move, move!"
Snapping out of his daze, Gromov grabbed grenades from corpses and dashed toward the stairs.
A German submachine gunner descended at the same moment.
Both raised their guns and fired, but the German, trapped in the narrow stairwell, took the full burst.
His comrades froze.
Three months of training had taught Gromov something.
He reloaded, fired suppressing bursts, pulled a grenade pin, counted two seconds, and hurled it against the wall, denying the enemy a throwback.
Boom!
Seizing the chaos, Gromov advanced, staying behind cover while firing blindly around corners. Switching to his RTS view, the perspective flickered weakly indoors, but it still outlined enemy positions without exposing him.
In this view, he could see if the enemy was hit and adjust his gun accordingly. Gromov kept throwing grenades at the enemy, preventing the Germans from getting down the stairs.
This time, the Germans threw several grenades down the stairs. Gromov reacted quickly and hid himself in the space below the stairs.
"Damm! If this continues, I could not hold much longer."
The Germans have also recovered from the short chaos and response to Gromov's sudden attack.
They keep throwing grenades down the stairs and, at the same time, pushing and suppressing with their submachine gun.
Just at this moment, a few huge explosions came from upstairs. Then Gromov heard a huge voice of 'Ura'.
A burst of more intense gunfire rang out upstairs.
Gromov is not clear about what has happened, but stays at another cover, waiting to shoot anyone who comes down from the stairs.
"Ahhhh!"
A German soldier fell to the ground floor.
Gromov shoots him a few times again, making sure he is dead.
He continues to hold on to his cover, and a few moments later, a few Germans rush down. Without hesitation, he pulls down the trigger, and they are all dead.
Later, the gunfire upstairs stopped. A few soldiers with khaki-coloured uniforms came down.
"Friendly!"
"Identify yourselves!"
"I am the commander of the 9th company from the 3rd assault battalion. All of my men have died, and I broke through with another comrade. She was on the other side, cleaning the enemy's machine gun position."
The sergeant who was walking in front walked up to him. He looked at the dead bodies around Gromov and said.
"So both of you did this? Appreciate it. You guys attracted the Germans' attention and allowed us to launch the counterattack. Grisha, bring our comrade to meet our company leaders. The rest followed me to help the other comrade."
One of the privates came out and saluted Gromov while the other left.
"Comrade Captain, please follow me."
Gromov followed privately to the upper floor. He passed through the first floor and saw a few big holes in the ceiling.
"What happened just now?" He asks Grisha.
"Our commander ordered to set up explosives on the ground on the second floor. We broke some holes in the floor, and before the Germans reacted back, our men jumped into it and launched the counterattack on them."
Gromov nodded at such good tactics.
Soon, he was led to a room.
"Comrade Captain, this is our command post." Speaking, Grisha walked in and saluted his commander.
"Comrade Captain Yukin, I have brought the commander of the 9th company here. He is one of the only two survivors of them."
Yukin was currently arranging for his men to clean up and reorganise the defence.
"The 9th Company? We lost contact with them two hours ago, glad that there is still someone alive."
Yukin then turned his head and looked at Gromov.
"Gromov! Glad to see you here, I thought I had lost you."
However, Gromov was now stunned, or maybe shocked, because he saw something that should not have appeared in history.
On the wall, the portrait with some bullet holes is not someone he is familiar with in history, Joseph Stalin, but another famous person, Nikolai Bukharin.
The map hanging on the wall shows the situation before the war began; the whole of Eastern Europe and the Balkans, except the Baltic states, was the territory of the Third Reich.
Therefore, the official name on the map is the Greater Third Reich. However, the Soviet territory does not seem to differ from the original history.
There is no puppet or satellite nation there. The Third Reich directly controls everything. This small difference from the original history could have a huge impact on the results.
What if Romanians and Hungarians are no longer enemies but best friends?
What if the Germans had invested extra resources in Romania's oil industry, giving them enough oil to sustain their war until the end? There are too many what-ifs.
"Gromov! Gromov! Are you alright?" Yukin sees that Gromov is stunned and asks.
"Uh... Yeah, I was alright, just not sober after the battle. I might need some rest here."
Gromov immediately answers, he wants to know more details about all the changes in this world by looking at all the papers in this room.
"No problem, my friend. Take some rest, and I heard you have another friend who survived together with you. Isn't it?"
"Once we find her, I will ask someone to send both of you back to the battalion command post. Maybe the commander will have some new tasks for you. We are suffering heavy loss everywhere now, and experienced commanders like you are in heavy demand."
However, Gromov is not listening to what Yukin is saying; he is thinking of what has happened in this world.
He looks again at the map and sees another smaller map beside it. It is the city defence map, and it shows that this city is Zhytomyr, west of Kyiv.
Gromov takes a newspaper from the room and confirms the date, it is the 8th of June 1941.
The war began earlier. Can the Red Army hold out until winter comes?
During the first few months of the war, the Red Army was only equipped with PPD-40 submachine guns in very small amounts.
But now he sees PPsH-41, and in a large amount. Perhaps it means there is also some advancement in Soviet technology.
Gromov continues to flip over the newspaper and skip all the battle report parts.
Without a doubt, the Red Army is winning in the paper, causing heavy casualties to the enemy, but the frontline keeps getting closer to the capital city.
In summary, the enemy is defeated but advancing, and the Red Army is winning but retreating.
However, there is still one news that attracted his attention, the Germans have encircled the port of Alexandria in Egypt, and it is just a matter of time before that city falls.
"Uhhh... This shouldn't be right."
How did the Germans break through the British forces in such a short time? Suppose the North Africa front should be stable until 1942.
It would never be good news if the Germans could take down Egypt, because it means nothing can stop them from advancing into the Middle East.
Gromov continues reading and sees the foreign minister of the USSR, Maksim Maksimovich Litvinov, speech about the beginning of the Great Patriotic War.
Just as he wants to continue to read about it, Elena returns.
"Comrade Captain and Lieutenant, I will guide both of you back to the battalion commander's post. Please prepare yourself, tell us when you are ready." Grisha said.
"I'm ready. Elena, are you ok to move?"
"Yeah, it is just some small injury; it does not affect my movement much."
Then, Grisha brings both of them to the command post. On the journey, Gromov sees many bricks from the buildings dropped on the street; buildings were partially destroyed or destroyed by enemy artillery.
Well, that's war.
Even so, the rate of destruction was low. In Gromov's knowledge about the history and modern war, sometimes there wasn't a single house left in the city.
Some people are cleaning the street, whether it is part of a body or ruins for people to pass through.
As for fortifications and bunkers for the city, almost zero. It shows how shock and panic of the USSR when the Germans launched the attack.
Three of them then reached the battalion command post, which was located in a church. A church is usually more solid than the other in the city, so in WW2, it was always preferable for both Soviets and Germans to use it as a stronghold or command post.
"Comrade Captain and lieutenant, I will stop here. According to the rules, only those with permission can enter the command post. You may just go identify yourself to the guards, and they will lead you in. I must return to my position."
"Thank you, Comrade. Wish you luck in the battle."
"Same to you, Comrade Captain. Wish to see you in the front line again."
Gromov looks at the young face right in front of him and has mixed feelings. This soldier, most probably not gonna survive this week, is less likely to survive this month, little possible to survive this year, and almost impossible to survive until the victory.
This is the most brutal and deadliest war in the entire human history, a war that will decide the future destiny of both countries; no matter who wins or loses, something will change.
"Gromov, stop dreaming, we have to meet the commander." Elena rushed him to a side.
"This is war, Gromov. We never know when we will be the last time seeing someone. You will get used to this."
She seems to know what Gromov was thinking because she experienced the same thing, something every recruit experiences when they transform into a veteran. From all the behaviour of Gromov, she knew he was still not getting used to this war.
Gromov sighs.
"Elena, what is our commander's name. Do you know him?"
After all, it will be suspicious if you do not know your supervisor's name. Elena shakes her head.
"I don't know either. I have heard that our original commander was killed by an enemy bomb when he was inspecting the front line. They said the Germans were just too lucky that the bomb just dropped beside the commander. It was a new commander now."
Well, if she does not know either, then there is absolutely no problem if he does not know as well.
After identifying themselves to the guard, they were then brought to the commander.
"Captain Konstantin Gromov of the 9th Company, reporting."
"Lieutenant Elena Sokolova of the sniper company, reporting."
The one who is looking at the map turns around. He is the battalion commander.
"9th Company, we have lost contact with them for some hours. How is your situation there? Why are you here?"
"Comrade Commander... I am sorry, the 9th company has gone. All of my men have died."
The commander frowned,
"Commissar, please come over here."
Gromov feels something is wrong; that must be some misunderstanding. But before he explains, the commissar is already here.
"Commissar, I suspect the commander of the 9th company is a deserter, leaving his men to die on the ground and running from the battlefield. Ask the NKVD to arrest him."
GG, well played, this is what Gromov thought for the moment.
In the next moments, a few men with blue hats came and controlled Gromov by grabbing both of his hands.