February 1945
The Russian Eastern front
Polish-German border
4th Shock Army
A whistle blows somewhere nearby me, out of the trenches and foxholes thousands of Soviet soldiers charge towards the fascist lines over our dead Comrades who fell from earlier attacks. Several katyushas rain hell upon the Nazis with rockets as they hide in their already dug graves. As we get closer to their trenches the rockets stop, a few moments later my comrades in front of me start falling from machine gun fire as Hitler's buzzsaws started up.
Someone fell next to me carrying the Soviet flag and as it fell I quickly picked it up and held it high in the air so my comrades behind me could see it. Screams of ¨OORAH¨ started behind me, in front of me, all around me, soldiers of the Motherland ran faster to the Fascist, some just making it to the top of it before being shot. When I reached the trench I tripped over a body and fell in. I looked up and there was at least a dozen Germans in front of me, none of them noticed me when I fell in but they did when I stood up, several turned to shoot me and kill me but I didn't let them. I fired my PPSH, a submachine gun which could fire almost 1,000 per minute if you could load it fast enough to shoot again, I fired until I heard a clicking sound which indicated that the drum was emptied but it didn't matter it had done its job. In front of me were dead Germans, slaughtered like the pigs that they were, all around me soldiers ran past the trench and kept pushing forward taking few prisoners, those that were wounded were shot again by passing Russians. I walked up to the group of men I killed to loot their bodies and as I did I realized something I missed before, these were boys my age, boys that should've just been graduating school or starting their last year, I looked away and started to regurgitate my breakfast and was almost done when a hand grabbed my shoulder I whipped around almost losing my balance and pointed my gun at the man behind me.
“Woah Woah comrade! You don't want to shoot your commanding officer would you?” Captain Zhukev asked mockingly while admiring the carnage behind me ¨ You did well Nikolai but I believe you missed one.¨ He pointed to a German crawling away behind me.
¨Im- im on it Comrade Captain¨ I told him still in shock of what happened a few minutes ago, I stood up and walked over to the crawling figure and stood over him for a few seconds. His breathing was as heavy as mine and I could see blood leaking through his clothes from where my bullets tore through his body. I must've been staring for a little too long as I heard Captain Zhukev scream at me to get it done. I looked at him his face showed that he was getting angry. I looked back to the German again and was taken aback to see him staring back at me, he was younger than me for sure, I am 18 now so he has to be 15, with a little scruffy beard which most would call peach fuzz his breathing grew faster and harder when I unholstered my pistol and pointed it at his forehead that's when he started to scream.
¨Ich gebe auf, bitte tötet mich nicht¨ He must have been pleading for mercy repeating himself over and over again tears streaking from his face, I closed my eyes tightly and slowly squeezing the trigger while the screams grew louder and louder until I heard a quick “Pop” and my hand jolted from the slight recoil. Slowly opening my eyes I saw where I had shot him, right in the right eye the bullet could be seen inside his head until blood started to pour out of it. I felt something streaming down my face too and lifted my hand to feel around it. It felt slick and slimy then and my hand was red, I realized that I was crying but also blood had splattered on my face. I searched my pockets for a napkin when I heard cheering behind me. A crowd at least 20 had formed behind me, most of them I knew but there was a handful that carried cameras and flags ¨That's a propaganda squad¨ I thought to myself, everyone was clapping and cheering for me and I could hear the whines as cameras took pictures of me.
¨Well done Private Nikolai  you have done well today¨ Zhukev said while other nodded and shouted in agreement ¨Now comrades listen up this is Sergeant Taras with the 5th propaganda company, his squad has been assigned to us for our next mission and this one has utmost priority even is signed by Commander Yeryomenko himself.¨ he stopped talking to let the talking die down before starting up again ¨It says Captain Ivan Zhukev of the 4th Shock army, I have received from reports that your unit is the most experienced and ruthless unit in the whole army and I am proud of you and your men.¨ Again he stopped to let the men around him cheer ¨ Your next mission lies 10 miles into the Third Reich near the town of Rothenburg you should be approximately 1 mile from the border by now, it is a Nazi laboratory, our intelligence shows the Americans also know of this laboratory and since we cannot get a professional unit there fast enough you are out next best option along the way you will be escorting Sergeant Taras and his men as they take pictures of our first entrance into Germany, a tank unit has been despatched to Rothenburg but is expected not to be there for 4 days, you should take no longer than 2 to make it there and secure it good luck and for the Motherland, Commander Yeryomenko.¨ Zhukev looked up to everyone off in their thoughts thinking what had just been read to us, for me I was afraid of going into the Heart of the Reich before the rest of the army going into Nazi-held lands was scary enough with the rest of the army but a unit of 30 some men were a nightmare.
¨Comrade Captain? Taras broke the silence amongst us
¨Yes Comrade Taras?
¨We received this morning and it's about 2 o'clock right now, I suggest we get going now since we have to find a way to get through the Nazi lines.
¨Agreed, everyone grab ammunition, food, and water as we walk nothing else matters at this moment except getting to that lab, understand?¨ a lot of people nodded yes while others gave thumbs up ¨Ok let's start walking¨. We all lined up and walked in a staggered column towards the border, we walked for hours into the night before we stopped to make camp. We stopped around the time of 2 am, our Navigator Vlas said we must have crossed the border around 11 last night so we have at least 3 miles from Rothenburg. Zhukev heard this and stood on top of a nearby rock so everyone could stand around him and hear him, most of us just sat down and rubbed our aching feet.
¨Congratulation Comrades we are the first of what will be millions of Russians to breach the Heart of the Third Reich, Vlas has told me we have about 4 miles to go.  The time is 2 in the morning, Taras and I have discussed this and we'll all sleep until 10 and we will also take first watch, keep your weapons near you and absolutely no fires¨ We all cheered and started to walk to our sleeping bags,  I thought about taking off my boots to let my feet air out until a gust of wind reminded me that it was still February instead I curled up and shut my eyes, distant explosions couldn't keep me awake.