Katyusha

Chapter VI

Once the operation was a success, or if it was. Bargov and Colonel Boris of the frontal companies 238th assault battalion where ordered to push four miles forward so they can secure front line to hold until relieved.

The Russian forces are under powered and poorly equipped, however that doesn't stop these men from advancing. When the charge began, they ran forward armed with anything they found, if it's a broken bottle glass, a hammer, brick, a leg from a stool. Or even the one thing that'll make a Germans blood run cold at the mere sight of, and that being the fear of a wood cutting axe wielding mad man hell bent on surviving.

As the charge reaches the factory, the men armed with these blunt weapons charge fearlessly and they even got the four T32's out in the front of them leading the mass charge. Which, they're effectively providing a shield for the exposed infantrymen that are running behind them.

With those lucky enough to have a firearm with their equipment, they either have one bullet between them, or a bayonet fixed at the end of the rifle and if one of them's lucky. They'll take weapon off a dead German if they get such a chance.

As always, with four NCO's leading the charge with banners held high, they're tasked with the glorious mission of carrying the flag into battle at the front of the mass charge.

Back at the factory building, the Germans have ran and fallen back to the first defensive line that is built a block behind Red square. With the majority of the Germans back in the defensive line, they open fire desperate to stop the incoming wave from getting any closer.

"Feuer frei!" The echoing roar of voices sound throughout the sections, and the line sections come to life with bullets flying forward and muzzle flashes brightly flickering from the defensive positions.

"Spot targets for me Nikolai!" Katyusha yells over the intense gun fire that's raging below them, so they both break out the windows in front of them to get a better view of the battle ground below them.

With a nod, Nikolai crouches down to get a better view and he brings his field glasses up to begin his spotting mission for Katya.

"Alright, first target... German officer 90 yards out next to one of the armored cars, see him?" Nikolai asks looking through his glasses and anxiously watching the man shout orders through his lenses.

"Yeah, firing." She says and then lining up the shot carefully, she slowly inhales and then exhales while squeezing the trigger to fire. With the crackle of the rifle, the bullet is sent forward to go sailing down range where it'll crash into the exposed head of the officer.

"Next target, same location, man on the machine gun." Nikolai says and Katyusha lines the shot up firing, and a moment later she's watching him slouch forward drenching the weapon in his blood.

"Next target, eighty yards out, German flame thrower!" Nikolai says his anxiety picking up again as he watches the German roast several men within the reach of his torch. With another shot of the rifle, she watches the man drop dead seconds later with a shot to his chest.

"Good shot!" He cheers standing up, but his short congratulations is interrupted.

There's a distant rifle shot as a bullet zips through breaking the glass he was looking out from and it catches him in his head. Before Katya knew what happened, Nikolai is laying on the floor dead with brain matter and blood spilling out the back of his head from the exit wound.

It's his cold gaze where it'll be forever frozen in Katyushas memory... Frozen in time with the eternal embrace that holds death close. Which will never be forgotten by the one who had seen such a distant, lifeless gaze.

When the bullet made its appearance, Katyusha fell backwards from the instinct to take cover as well as the panic from incoming fire. Which has her flat on her stomach, it was there when she rolled onto her side to check on Nikolai that she saw him.

Tears spring forth from her eyes and as she tries to suppress her sobs, she can't help but think that another friend had died in front of her. After a minute of recovering she mentally slaps herself and she wipes her eyes to rid the evidence of the tears she was shedding.

Shakily reaching forward, she gently closes the eyes of Nikolai's haunting gaze and shaking a little bit she regains herself.

Reaching out and grabbing hold of the dead mans arm she softly mutters "I'll return comrade, I'll see you properly buried and avenged."

Making her promise, she slowly crawls on her stomach doing the soldiers crawl and she grabs her rifle along the way. When she reaches the stairs she stands up and heads down the steps to the bottom floor.

Not going to pass the opportunity up, she scavenges the dead Germans for supplies and rations or anything she fancies. Once she's done, she moves along now heading outside where the battle is raging forth and now in search for the German sniper.

She will have revenge for Nikolai, a eye for a eye, blood for blood, a life for a life a equal trade must be given for her revenge to be settled.

When bullets begin to fly, she scrambles into cover and she moves along thinking as she reaches the battle field. The Germans have stopped the initial charge, but that isn't stopping the intense, horrendous close quarters combat that is raging within house to house.

In the past, Katyusha has heard the Germans call it the "Rattekrieg" where she had to play dead amongst the dead in her ghille suit. There she could pick up the basic concept of German dialect she had learned from Nikolai when he was... Alive.

Laying down on her stomach with the few dead bodies that surround her, she slips her hood up that's attached to her cloak to cover her heard so she can blend in easier. Positioning herself, she gets comfortable and then she puts the stock to her shoulder, using the dead mans back to support her rifle. She begins to scan the area of where she suspects the snipers shot originated from.

After half a hour of waiting and listening to the sound of battle up the block, she finally sees it, there's a glint of a scope coming form behind a mid sized hole in a skeleton building, and Katyusha has located her prey finally.

Slowly she lines the shot up, tuning everything out and focusing her shot taking her time, wanting to hit her mark on the first shot and not miss. She knows he doesn't know she's in front of him since she blended herself in with the dead, so she has all the time in the world.

Slowly lining the shot up and adjusting for wind speed, the sweet taste of vengeance is filling her person and she's finally preparing to pull the trigger.

She begins to slowly exhale and on her final length of air where her rifle is the steadiest, she pulls the trigger firing. A moment later the wall surrounding the medium sized hole she shot into is splattered with blood from the gushing of the bullet impact, reloading her rifle she gets up and swiftly crosses the open as the fighting up ahead is intensifying.

Safely crossing the street, she enters the third story tailoring building to confirm her sniper kill, and there's a rule everyone knows. Even the German marksmen know this single rule all share as well.

You can take a kills dog tags, but the identification papers must be left alone no matter what, anything except for those papers are fair game to take. So heading upstairs and searching the rooms, she finds the dead man laying on his back with the shot to his upper jaw.

Collecting his dog tags, she then searches his body for anything she needs and finds a map which is a golden jackpot as it has marked positions of German sniper positions and friendly troop positions.

So sitting down next to the dead body, she reads the map and pulling her own map out, she copies what's written on to her own map and then folding both maps up. She puts them both into her deep inner pocket of her inner coat and stands back up feeling better that she got her revenge for Nikolai.

The battle towards the rail yard is at its height and the battle for the Red October factory is increasing in savagery and Katyusha must head forth to join that fight.