"Comrade Commander and commissar, I can prove that Captain Gromov did not run from the battlefield. He fought with his men until the moment he was shocked by enemy artillery."
Elena explained as well. It is a tragedy that someone who survived a fierce battle and did not lose his life to the enemies ended up losing his life to someone who is on the same side.
"When he wakes up, he finds out that there are no more friendly forces in the area and decides to break through the enemy circle. Captain Gromov has already completed his mission."
Elena bit her lip, her lips trembling slightly, but she forced herself to defend.
"I will mark your word, Comrade Lieutenant, but I have a question for you as well. May I know what mission was appointed to you?" The battalion commander said.
"Assist friendly forces on the defence, sniping enemy officers."
Speaking, the battalion commander looks at the commissar this time, he will be the one to decide what punishment will be given to them.
"Well, then, both of your missions were clear enough, to defend the area appointed to you. Now the area has been lost, as the commander, you run from the battlefield without receiving the order of retreat."
"You should be fighting until your death, the whole company has sacrificed their life to achieve the mission, both of you should have done that as well. How dare you return?"
"Comrade Commissar, the situation..."Elena tried to argue, but was interrupted.
"Enough! Both of you are convicted of desertion. According to the latest order from the division commander, anyone who abandons a position without permission is guilty of treason! The officer who ranks a Captain or below who retreats without the order will be sent to the penalty unit."
"This is the only chance the motherland gives you to wash away the shame you have brought to the Red Army with your blood, to atone for your sins! You should be happy that you are not a major, or else you will just be shot on the spot."
"Bring them to the penal company, show some loyalty to the motherland and party."
Before both of them reacted, the NKVD soldiers next to them raised their rifle butts and knocked them unconscious.
---
Gromov was awoken after being thrown from a truck onto the grassland. With the sound of a truck leaving.
"A captain and a lieutenant. Comissar, a new commander can be placed in the company."
Soon, he was quickly helped up from the ground, and he got the chance to see his situation now.
He has been carried out from the urban to a rural area. There is a village nearby, and many dead bodies are left in front of the village.
In front of him were a few NKVD soldiers and a political commissar. Behind them are a bunch of depressed and disheartened soldiers.
The commissar walks in front of them.
"I am not going to introduce myself, and neither of you don't have to do it as well. I know most likely you guys are not gonna survive the next battle."
"I will just tell you two simple things you need to know. First, Captain, you are now the commander of this penal company. Second, you are going to take down the village there."
"Either you win or you die. For your information, any retreat from the battlefield is not allowed. If your men did that, we would get them and reorganise them in the next battle, but you, Captain, the only ending for you is a shot on your head."
"You got 15 minutes to prepare. After that, your assault must begin no matter what."
The commissar and NKVD soldiers walked away after finishing speaking.
While Gromov was still kind of blurred.
He looked at Elena beside him, who was also looking at him with the same face.
4 men then stand in front of him and salute. One of them seems to be happy.
After making it clear, three of them were the platoon commander, and the happy one is the original commander of this company.
Well, of course, he is happy now, the bullet from the commissar will not shoot at his head after the next attack, and an extra hour has been gained for him.
"Lieutenant Mikhail Alexee reporting to comrade captain."
"We have only 100 men left now. One heavy machine gun that is controlled by the commissar will provide fire support when we start to attack. Our men are only equipped with basic weapons, a gun and some grenades."
"The enemies we are facing in the village, estimated to be a reinforced reconnaissance platoon, with personnel of about 60, are equipped with light armoured vehicles and half-tracks."
"We are southeast of Zytomyr. They have already taken down Berdychiv. "
"Once the reconnaissance platoon had consolidated its position. Their reinforcement can pass through the village and start flanking, encircle our forces that remain in the city and strike Kyiv."
"Our Army does not have enough regular troops to launch a counterattack on this unit, so as a penalty unit, we will have to do this."
Gromov listened, understanding how it is going now.
If they have successfully taken the village, then good; otherwise, they will simply need to delay the German advance with their blood.
In other words, they work as the cannon fodder.
"Gromov, what can we do?"
Elena turned and asked him.
What can we do? Ask the commissar to shoot a round in his head and see if he can get back to the 21st century.
The only time he commanded an army was in Heart of Iron 4, Company of Heroes 2, and Gates of Hell. In games, not real life.
However, he gives up this idea in just a moment. What if he revives back to his mercenary body in a similar scenario again, but a 21st-century version? At least he still has a hack now.
Let's see what he can do.
Gromov walks to a side, pretends to observe the village with his naked eyes. While he switches to his RTS view and realises the changes.
100 blue dots have the same colour as him, indicating that they are under his command. The sight range also increased to 3 kilometres. The whole village and also the defence of the Germans were exposed to his view now.
In the centre of the village, there is a church with a tower, which also acts as a high viewpoint where all the movement of the company can be seen. While the other houses are just single-storey houses.
One Sd.Kfz.231, which seems like where the enemy commander was located, 3 half-tracks and a Panzer II light tank were on the line. Plus a few machine gun groups that were set up in the houses.
Total of 80 enemies in the village, not 60. Almost a company. He zoomed in and found their unit number, the 11th Panzer Armoured Division.
Gromov sighed. A panzer division unit will normally have better training and better equipment compared to a common infantry division. A frontal assault will not work even with 1000 men without the support of artillery or armoured vehicles.
He then observes the landscape. They were located in a forest to the east of the villages, with a range of 1 kilometre. Between is just plain that nothing can be covered, yet the previous commander still ordered to launch the assault from this direction.
The north and south are crops that are taller than people, which makes them able to provide a good cover for the attackers.
The only road through the village centre runs from west to east, through the forest where they are located now, and connects to the main road of Zytomyr.
The Germans seem not to be worried about the Soviet launch their attack from both directions, and deploy only one machine gun group in each direction to guard, yet it is still enough.
Tall crops could be a good cover for the attackers as they restricted the sight of the defenders, but the same thing also affected the attackers.
Nevertheless, it is not a problem for him now. From his experience of playing strategy games, he already has a brief idea of how to break into the village. But there is still a problem: how to destroy the armoured vehicle.
He asked Alexee.
"We don't have any proper anti-tank weapons. The best we could do is to gather a few grenades and make it to a big one, then we can slide near to the armoured and throw it either to the top of it or their engine."
Gromov silence.
"What else do our company have?"
"You have a hundred brave men here, most of them former officers."
So it means nothing. Throwing an anti-tank grenade could destroy an armoured vehicle, but it causes a lot of casualties as it needs soldiers to approach near the vehicles.
But think about it, what kind of anti-tank weapon would he expect in this time, even in the original history?
Just as Gromov wanted to give out his order, a truck came to the company position and threw down two guys just like how they did to Gromov.
"Commissar, your reinforcement is here." The driver leaves after shouting out to the commissar, it is all wounded on the truck.
However, Gromov was in shock and was attracted by the weapons that the two soldiers were holding.
Is that an RPG?
Soon, both of them reported themselves to Gromov.
"Ivan Petrov/Nikolai Sidorov reporting."
Gromov, looking them over, their role was obvious. Petrov was an anti-tank soldier who held the launcher, and Sidorov was a deputy anti-tank soldier who carried the ammo.
And their weapon is an RPG-2.
Gromov is now more curious about the technology level of the Soviet Union in this world.
The last problem has been solved, and the 15-minute limit is almost there.
"Both of you will follow me later."
"1st platoon, you will conduct a fake frontal assault. I will need you to throw the smoke grenade and provide the chance for us to move between the north and south crop fields."
"2nd platoon, you will move to the north and hide there, and 3rd platoon will follow me to move to the south field. Launch the assault once you hear that the 3rd platoon has begun the assault."
"Elena, I may need you to work as a marksman and provide cover for me."
Gromov, giving his order, does not know whether it works or not, but at least for him, it still makes much more sense than just conducting a brainless frontal assault.
He did not hide his plan from the soldiers as well.
At least, from his limited knowledge about commanding an army, it is to let soldiers know about the whole plan, target, and objective so that they can have their initiative.
After hearing his plan, the soldiers seemed to perk up. After all, this plan was better than the previous commander's.
Of course, this might cause a leak in intel if any soldiers have been captured or defected. But who cares, he's gonna die if he fails anyway.
"Remember, grenades enter the house before your guns, and bullets enter before you."
This is the last thing that Gromov can tell them.
By this time, the commissar came to him.
"It is 15 minutes now. Are you ready, captain?"
Gromov nodded his head in silence.
"Biiiiiiii!"
As the whistle blew, followed by a wave of 'URA". The penal company launched their attack.
The DsHK 12.7mm machine gun starts working, different to the previous attack where they were trying to suppress the Germans and provide fire support for the company, this time all of their bullets were fired at the high viewpoint.
A few tens of 12.7 mm bullets were shot at the German observers, one of them even got his head blown off.
The Germans were alerted and pointed their guns at the forest.
But different from last time, where waves of soldiers charged out from the forest, this time, it was a few tens of smoke grenades that were thrown out.
The smoke grenades explode and release the smoke. Compared to the artillery smoke shells, it releases less, but when a few tens are thrown, it is still effective.
1st platoon starts to move out of the forest, equipped with their gas mask, dispersed and forward. Continue throwing smoke grenades.
The smoke grenade in this era can be considered a chemical weapon. It is harmful, especially the artillery smoke shells, which can sometimes be used as incendiary shells.
Gromov has gathered every single smoke grenade in the company, and even requested some from the commissar and his NKVD soldiers and gave it to the 1st platoon. Their mission was just to throw out all the smoke grenades.
The German commander, Lieutenant Hans, is watching everything that happened here.
"Interesting, what the Russian wants to do this time."
It has been two weeks since he has been fighting against the Red Army, and he can say that this army is full of inexperienced officers that has no idea of how to fight.
Many of them just like to ask their army to launch an attack that is not planned and coordinated.
From the last attack of these russian troops, he can say it is one of them.
Combining their worst performance during the invasion of Finland and Poland, he is confident that this war can end just like the Reich propaganda minister said, in three months.