—— Red Army Sniper ——130‘What should we do?’ Sergo wondered. Ideas quickly darted
through his mind, one after another, and he boldly decided to
enter into ‘do or die’ combat with the enemy’s numerous ranks.
‘Make sure you’re all taking adequate cover! Only fire single
shots and only then when you’re certain of a hit. Economise on
cartridges!’ the temporary commander’s order went along the
lines.
The Germans were amazed; a group of Soviet troops within a
ring of fire not only failed to surrender but entered into unequal
combat with them.
A German sniper looked up out of the trench. Kazarian aimed
his machine gun at him and fired. The Nazi fell. Dispatchrider
Nemin wiped out a second Nazi. The Nazis then leapt out of their
trenches and, pouring lead from their submachine guns, charged
shouting at the daredevils with the intention of capturing them or
finishing them off to the last man. But the machinegun fire from our
side intensified. Grenades were hurled at the Nazis. The Germans
were forced to retreat. And then a hail of mortar fire descended on
the sector occupied by the now bloodsoaked platoon. Again they
tried to attack our daredevils, but this time they were confronted by
coordinated machinegun fire from our troops.
‘Russky, surrender!’ cried the Nazis, no longer raising their
heads above the parapets.
‘Keep quiet and don’t move!’ Kazarian ordered his troops and
continued cautiously watching the enemy trenches.
The Germans tried a different manoeuvre; they stationed
machine gunners at the front and sent snipers to the flanks.
‘Lie flat and don’t raise your heads!’ Kazarian ordered. ‘We’ll
fight to the last cartridge! Leave the grenades in reserve! Let the
Germans fire back in the meantime.’
The fighting did not let up for a moment. The Nazi snipers
and machine gunners changed positions, striving to break the
resistance of the gallant soldiers, but their efforts were in vain.
And so the day passed. A moonlit night fell. At midnight the
platoon commander ordered Despatch Rider Nyemin to break