Chapter 843: The Struggle for the Building

Kuris led his men, panting as they leaned against the building’s wall. He had been ordered to attack and occupy this tall structure, then to unfurl the German swastika flag on top. This was a symbolic act of occupation, a sacred and meaningful gesture.

Only when the German flag flew over this city would the fallen German soldiers find the true meaning of their sacrifice. This was a memorial for the souls of the dead, and also a mourning ceremony for the living, for their departed friends or great warriors.

He slowly approached the back door of the building, hoping to enter this must-take structure from there. As he moved to the corner, he discovered that the Soviet army had actually opened a convenient side door in the already crumbling outer wall of the building.

Two Soviet Red Army soldiers were walking out of this hole, just as dozens of German soldiers were preparing to enter. Of course, Kuris was not in the habit of observing the enemy up close. The G43 semi-automatic rifle in his hand was not idle either, and he immediately fired two shots, “Crack! Crack!”

His gunshots prompted another German soldier to open fire as well. With a few more clean shots, the two Soviet soldiers were turned into sieves. A hand grenade was tossed through the hole into the building. Everyone leaned against the wall, waiting for the loud bang. With an explosion that seemed to shake the earth, a cloud of gray smoke spewed from the hole.

A grenadier with an assault rifle did not hesitate. Before the dust had even settled, he charged into the room. The floor was littered with rubble; the grenade had turned the place into a messy space with nowhere to stand. The German infantry who followed in all held Mauser 98k rifles. They carefully searched every corner of the room to see if there were any other living people besides themselves.

Several bodies of Soviet soldiers lay scattered on the floor. In a corner, a Soviet soldier, his face covered in blood, was fumbling for the Mosin-Nagant rifle beside him. He stared at the entering German soldiers, as if wanting to grab his rifle and fire a shot at the enemy.

“Finish him!” Kuris sneered at his subordinate. A soldier with a rifle ended the life of this seriously wounded Soviet soldier with his already fixed bayonet. His body was covered in shrapnel from the grenade. Even without being finished off, he probably wouldn’t have lived for more than ten minutes.

“Another shell hit here? My God!” a Soviet soldier said, pushing open the door leading from the room into the corridor. He was met with a floor full of Soviet corpses and the German army with their weapons raised. He had just turned to flee when he was shot from behind. He pitched forward onto the ground, let out a miserable scream, and was silent.

The German soldiers took the opportunity to charge out of the opened door. A Soviet soldier in the corridor, who had come out to see what was happening with his rifle in hand, was shot and fell backward onto the corridor floor. The crisp sound of the gunshot echoed through the hallway, making the entire building seem eerie and terrifying.

Kuris found a corner to cover himself, then covered his comrades with his weapon. These German soldiers advanced cautiously, bit by bit, while the Soviet soldiers in the corridor either charged out and were killed, or stuck their weapons out from doorways, trying to stop the German advance inside the building.

“Cover us as we go up!” More and more German soldiers poured out from behind Kuris. He had brought about a platoon of men with him. These German soldiers entered in single file and arranged themselves in a mutually covering formation in the corridor. Some used suppressive fire, while others began to clear the Soviet soldiers out of the rooms one by one with hand grenades and guns.

Sometimes they didn’t even throw precious hand grenades into the rooms. They would just get to the doorway, suddenly poke their heads out from the lower part of the doorframe, and then spray the enemies inside the room with their guns, quickly killing off the resisting Soviet soldiers. After a burst from an assault rifle, the people inside would surely be either dead or wounded. At that point, to send in a soldier with a Mauser rifle would have a very good effect of cleaning up the battlefield.

These German soldiers had been through a full three days of battlefield testing. They had a very good understanding of how to fight for buildings, knew how to fight to save their own lives and avoid being killed by the enemy. Compared to their counterparts in another timeline, these German troops were more adept at fighting in this environment.

They fought the Soviet Red Army for every room, every staircase, killing the enemy’s soldiers at every corner. They advanced cautiously and could easily eliminate the enemy soldiers hiding inside the buildings. Why had they improved so quickly? In a war environment, no one survives for no reason. The reason they had not died in battle was because they were good at learning from their own experiences and lessons.

As the battle progressed, the German army advanced along the corridor, one room after another. The Soviet defense line on the first floor collapsed in an instant. Several Soviet soldiers tried to run up the stairs in the chaos, but the young man at the very back was shot and killed by a German soldier.

On the stairs, the Soviet soldiers, using the terrain to their advantage, fired down at the floor below. They were trying to stop the German army’s efforts to climb the stairs. After all, being on the second floor, they had no way to retreat and could only defend this building and repulse the German attack. The two sides fired frantically at each other with the weapons in their hands. Bullets struck the wooden banister of the staircase, sending fragments flying into every corner, some even embedding themselves in the bodies of the Soviet soldiers who had already died on the stairs.

These Soviet soldiers, with the high ground, seemed unafraid of this crumbling building collapsing. Taking the opportunity, they threw down a hand grenade. The result was that two German soldiers were wounded by this grenade. Unfortunately for them, most of their ammunition was piled under a bed in a room on the first floor. There seemed to be no more spare hand grenades on the upper floor to deter the Germans below.

“Cover us!” Kuris, leading two grenadiers with MP-44 assault rifles, gritted his teeth and began to charge up the stairs. The Soviet soldiers were defeated in the firefight. In the end, the several soldiers who had been defending the stairs were killed and were left hanging on the banister. The German army also successfully charged up the stairs and captured a forward position.

The surrounding area was filled with bullets fired by the Soviet Red Army. The walls were covered in white smoke from bullet impacts and peeling plaster. Kuris felt something scratch his face. He could feel a slight itch, and he could also feel his own blood flowing down his cheek.

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