V4CH28: Captive

"Bastard!"

　　Mueller kicked the Polish prisoner kneeling in front of him hard in the face, having done his best to suppress his angry emotions. Mueller just thought of Marshal Reinhardt, who was being rescued in the medical car and felt the urge to flay these Poles alive on the spot.

　　He had never thought that he would one day abandon the moral code of the German soldier and strike at an enemy who had laid down his arms, but now he found no other way to vent his anger and hatred than to do so. The thought of his commander falling right in front of him, even killing all these prisoners with his own hands could not alleviate the feeling of guilt in Muller's heart.

　　"Mueller! Don't be like that!"

　　Hans patted Mueller's shoulder and said, "The marshal will not be pleased if you do this, don't you still know the marshal's preference? He wants each of us to behave in a way that strictly follows the moral code of German officers. No matter what these men have done, as long as we accept their surrender, then they deserve the basic rights of a prisoner, and the marshal will be angry with you for treating your captors this way."

　　"But... These filthy swine, they wounded Officer Reinhardt! I want them to pay for it!" Mueller gave another vicious kick to the already fainted captive's stomach.

　　"That's enough, General Mueller! Watch your behavior! Disposal of them will have to wait until the marshal wakes up and gives the order himself, you don't have the power to dispose of them at will. Don't you think this is too dishonorable?" Hans shouted at Muller while pulling Mueller's arm to stop the angry legion commander from continuing to inflict violence on the Polish prisoner who was only half alive.

　　"Hans! What's wrong with you, they are the ones who hurt the marshal, they are partisans, they don't qualify to be prisoners of war! How can you still speak for them!" Mueller looked at Hans, who was very angry and red in the face and asked in amazement.

　　"Mueller. I know how you feel now, I am not like you, I also want to teach these damned lowly Poles a good lesson. If anything happens to the marshal, I will personally tie each of these trash to a pole and burn them alive. Right now we don't know how badly the marshal is injured, and I don't want him to be angry with us when he wakes up to such behavior. You know the marshal's temper, he is the noblest soldier, and he regards the honor of the German soldier as his life, and if he knew what we did to these prisoners while he was unconscious, I believe it would be our turn to pay something then." Hans looked into Muller's eyes and replied seriously.

　　Hearing Hans' words Mueller dipped his head at once, he knew Hans' words were right, Reinhardt would indeed not appreciate his actions.

　　"I think you're right, Hans." Mueller turned to look at the medical cart that was being closely guarded by the Stormtroopers. "Hans!" Mueller spoke up, "What exactly is the marshal's condition. You were the one who checked the marshal's injuries at that time, were they serious?"

　　"I'm not sure, the bullet should have pierced the shoulder and a lot of blood was shed. But I believe the marshal will be fine, Colonel Solent was one of the best surgeons in Berlin before he joined the army, he will not let us down." Hans replied with apprehension.

　　"How could such a thing happen. It's my fault for not insisting on my opinion at the time. I had already said that it was too risky for the marshal to take only fifty commandos through such an area where there was still resistance. If the marshal hadn't rejected my plan, we would have reached our destination safely by now. I told you that in this unstable area we should have at least a few tanks and armored vehicles escort to be safe." Mueller depressingly said.

　　"Are you complaining about the marshal? General Mueller, don't you think it's rude to discuss your superior's decision like this?" Hans said slowly, "The marshal has his reasons, he doesn't want that person to notice our actions. That's why he came up with the idea of letting us leave Poland quietly disguised as an ordinary transport, which was a very good decision from the point of view of the time. But the marshal probably did not expect to encounter such a large group of partisans at all. Before that, we also did not get the information that such a strong resistance force existed here, and this is a problem that we as subordinates should review properly." Hans turned his head to look at the Polish prisoners who were crouching aside with their heads in disgust.

　　The battle had been over for two hours now, but the air was still filled with a faint smell of smoke and a heavy smell of blood. The Stormtroopers had finished cleaning up the battlefield, and they had gathered the bodies of the killed partisans into a pile, with blood converging on the edge of the pile to form a small pool of blood, and the limbs and short arms and severed heads were thrown scattered on the pile, a scene like only in hell in front of everyone in the strong sunlight. The stormtroopers didn't feel any discomfort, they walked around the pile of bodies as if the horrible objects didn't even exist.

　　In the ambush, the guerrillas were wiped out, more than seventy people were killed on the spot or in a physical fight later, and the remaining two dozen were lucky enough to be taken prisoner. It was not wrong to say that they were lucky. The commandos had not wanted to capture the survivors, especially when they learned that their commander-in-chief was wounded, and all the soldiers' eyes were red. Those partisans who were shot during the charge should really be glad that they died earlier because it was so much better than the horror that those who met with the German soldiers had encountered.

　　The Germans killed the brave partisans like demons, completely destroying the will to fight within three minutes. Even if these partisans once had a strong will like steel, in that bloody situation the pressure of the heavy smell of death, will be gone.

　　When the first partisan threw down his weapon and kneeled on the ground to those red-eyed storm warriors begging for forgiveness, the others had actually lost the courage to continue fighting. But when they saw with horror that the Germans did not hesitate to stab the kneeling companion with his hands upon the ground, everyone began to despair. These Germans did not want prisoners, they did not accept their surrender, and what was even more terrible was that they were now surrounded by those Germans, and now even the chance of escape was completely cut off. They knew from the bottom of their hearts that they were doomed, and they could only rely on the last bit of desire for survival, and mechanically carried out their last resistance, although it was futile from any point of view.

　　But fortunately, just as the German soldiers were killing themselves to end their work, a few German officers stopped them from this senseless killing. The performance of the Waffen SS soldiers was an eye-opener for the officers, who were very satisfied with the soldiers' high military quality and strong fighting conviction. But when they noticed that the soldiers were killing partisans who had already laid down their weapons, it reminded them of that other rumor about the Waffen SS, that it was the habit of that unit not to take prisoners. It was only because the officers stopped the stormtroopers from going berserk in time that more than twenty partisans were incredibly lucky to become prisoners.

　　Of course, the Polish partisans' attack also caused certain losses to the Stormtroopers, with seven Stormtroopers killed and a dozen wounded to varying degrees in the battle. Even their captain, Ensign Schachtel, was grazed by a stray bullet and now has his head wrapped in a dumpling, grunting on a stretcher. Only half of the fifty Waffen SS men were still in fighting condition.

　　But after this battle no one doubts that half of them can continue to protect the convoy, they have proved in this battle that they have the same fighting ability as twice the number of ordinary army soldiers. As long as they are not attacked by as many armed men as this time, they can definitely handle a guerrilla force of 30 to 50 men. A partisan group as large as the one they encountered this time is rare in Poland, and in Hans' mind, they didn't think they had any chance of encountering such a group.

　　"Why is there a woman here?"

　　Mueller asked, frowning at the soldier on guard. He hadn't noticed the presence of a female among the prisoners, but he couldn't blame him, because the girl was wearing an ordinary male suit, and her face was full of smoke and dust, plus the blood running down her forehead, she looked as wretched as the other partisans, and if it weren't for the long black hair tied behind her head that revealed her gender, she wouldn't have been distinguishable among the prisoners for a while.

　　"Report, General!" The commando hastened to stand at attention and replied, "We caught this woman in the mountains, and she is the sniper. She was still on the mountain when we caught her, aiming at our men and shooting at them."

　　"What! This is the sniper?" Hans looked in disbelief at the dull-eyed girl kneeling in the group of captives and said, " She still looks like a kid."

　　"General. Don't you underestimate her, we found this by her side when we captured her." A commando drew a long anti-tank rifle from a pile of captured weapons off to the side and handed it to Hans.

　　"Anti... An anti-tank rifle! Could she be the one who shot and wounded Herr Reinhardt!" Hans exclaimed as he held up the rifle.

　　"Let me see!" Mueller took the rifle from Hans and looked at it carefully.

　　"It is the Polish military Wz. 35. I've seen this weapon in the Warsaw campaign. The caliber is only 7.92mm same as our karabiner rifles, but the power is not small, I heard that at a distance of 300 meters can shoot through 30mm of armor plate, just like the 20mm machine gun. It uses a tungsten carbide warhead. No wonder it can still have so much penetration after shooting through the command vehicle's steel plate. You two, bring her out."

　　Hearing Mueller's order, two commandos immediately rushed into the group of prisoners, they dragged Sharon out roughly like a flour sack, and then made her kneel in front of Mueller.

　　Mueller looked at the dazed female captive with a murderous look on his face and said viciously, "Since you are a sniper you must have the consciousness of a sniper, you will receive the punishment you deserve." He said Mueller slowly pulled his Mauser 1932 from its holster and pointed it at Sharon's forehead.

　　"Wait a minute! Mueller! She can't be shot yet." Hans called from the sidelines, "We should interrogate her to find out once and for all what their real purpose for this attack is."

　　"What? Do you think she'll know anything? A little sniper?"

　　"Maybe, even if she doesn't, we should let the marshal see for himself the person who wounded him, and then let him decide what to do with her," Hans said to Muller.

　　Muller looked up and thought about it, then put the pistol back into its holster. He squatted down with the WZ35 in his hand, shook the gun in front of Sharon's eyes and said, "Woman, is this gun yours? Answer me."

　　Sharon looked at the German general in front of her in a trance, and then slowly shifted her eyes to the top of the object in the German general's hand. Her dull eyes suddenly flashed with a kind of light, and then she lunged violently at the rifle in Mueller's hand.

　　"Fucker!" Mueller did not expect the female prisoner to dare grab the weapon in front of so many soldiers, he stood up and tried to shake off the woman who had obviously gone crazy, but what he did not expect was that although the girl did not look big, her strength was not small, and she now grabbed the rifle as if it was her most precious treasure and would not let go.

　　The two commandos on the side saw this scene and rushed up to help the general pull the girl hanging on the rifle away, while the rest of the commandos fiercely pulled the bolt on the group of captives, in case the captives made any moves.

　　"Damn it, let go. Are you crazy?!"

　　The girl's eyes were a bit wild, and he was also impressed by the girl's tough character. The two commandos pounced upon her, they pulled on the girl's arm, swinging fists at the girl's face, and body, both being desperately beaten, but no matter what method they used, they still can not let the girl lose grip on the gun.

　　After a moment of stalemate, The girl's strength could not be compared with three strong men, Mueller finally took the rifle from the girl's hands, and then he raised the butt of the gun to the girl's face. The girl's struggle stopped immediately, and when the two commandos let go, Sharon fell limply to the ground.

　　"That was crazy." Mueller looked at the back of his hand that had been scratched during the grab for the rifle and shook his head.

　　"You guys were too tightly wrapped up for me to shoot. Are you okay?" Hans asked as he walked over with his pistol and he looked at the wound on Mueller's hand.

　　"Yes, a little scrape," Muller replied with a smile.

　　"General Hans, General Mueller. The marshal is all right, Colonel Solent called you over once he was done." A major ran over with a happy face and reported to them.

　　"What! That's Great! You two, drag her away and tie her up alone. Don't hurt her, I'll have to interrogate her afterward." Mueller explained to the two commandos, then followed Hans and ran towards the medical van with great enthusiasm.