—— Red Army Sniper ——80trenches. We did not have the manpower for anything more. Nor
the necessary liaison with the battalion. But the most frightening
thing was that it was now dawn and our troops were perfectly
visible to the Nazis against the snow. The three of us had almost run
as far as the hill that promised safety, when, unexpectedly for all of
us, the broad black slit of a gunport opened up at the top of this
hill and a frightening burst of machinegun fire issued forth from
it. The Germans sprayed the entire frozen lake with streams of fire.
‘So, it’s not just a hill, it’s a wellcamouflaged firing point! A
camouflaged pillbox! That’s why our scouts failed to spot it; it never
functioned, being situated in the depths of their defences!’ In a
matter of seconds only three of us remained alive on the snowy
patch: the company commander, machine gunner Filatov and me;
we had ended up in the dead zone, right under the gunport, which
was continuing to belch out lethal fire.
I tried to get up to the gunport from the side, but I could not
manage even two steps before I rolled back down. The pillbox
was covered in ice. Getting past it from the rear meant exposing
yourself to being shot at pointblank range.
‘What can we think up? How do we get out of here?’ I wondered
and looked round at the snowcovered field. The bright winter
sun blinded the eyes. And we were stuck in this dead zone that
was marked out by a shadow falling from the hillcumpillbox.
Suddenly, in the area where the shadow came to an end on the
snow, three shadowy figures sprang up. They all grew larger and
larger and then finally stopped and burst out laughing, then began
jabbering something and gesticulating. As I understood them,
they were looking down from on high and rejoicing at the sight of
our soldiers dying in the field.
I could not stand it any longer. Without a word I grabbed the
machine gun from Filatov’s arms, moved back a little to the side,
and focused on the three jolly officers on the crest of the hill. They
were tall, standing in a row, and roaring with laughter. My fingers
pressed the trigger and a short burst silenced the three wags
for ever.