—— Red Army Sniper ——14and more likely, he was thinking about the chances of the men in
his company carrying out the regimental commander’s order: to
complete by morning the equipping of the communication routes,
dugouts and rifle pits in the trenches. Working their guts out, all his
officers and men were moving the armed turrets and steel shields
only just delivered from the Kirov works and stringing them out
in a line from the park. Harnessed like Volga boatmen, some of the
men were dragging over logs which had been stripped of branches
and twigs and sawn to the right size to provide covering for the
dugouts. They were also dragging timber from houses which had
been destroyed in the village of Dachnoye.
Who knows what the lieutenant was thinking about at this
moment – but it was evident that he found it painful to look at the
trees felled by the war in the once beautiful Sheremetyev Park,
with which he was familiar from peacetime. As a skilled officer
who had fought in the Winter War with Finland, he knew from
experience that logs from freshly felled trees placed crosswise on
dugouts in three or four layers would be much sounder than old
dry logs. For in fresh timber, even if it is cut up for firewood, a trace
of life remains. And if that was so, it had to offer some resistance.
It was apparent that the lieutenant was happy with the smart and
careful way his troops were laying these logs on the dugouts. He
knew how today’s ‘guts out’ effort would pay off tomorrow. By
burrowing deeply and soundly into the earth it would be possible
to keep the company’s personnel alive. And there they would
hammer the enemy day and night, in all weathers – ‘fight to the
death’, as the regimental commander had put it yesterday. These
words were well understood by every soldier and officer in the
company. The necessary commands had been given to them
and everyone knew what his responsibilities were. The main
thing was not to interfere with the commanders of the platoons
and detachments, not to stifle their initiative and to trust one’s
subordinates. And Lieutenant Butorin did not interfere. He was
confident that the men of the company would not let him down.
Behind them was Leningrad!