Ukraine, Fall of 1941
The four captured Wermacht troopers knelt by the side of the road,
facing the woods. Irina Kovalyeva picked up the fallen Mauser K98
and checked the magazine: 5 bullets, more than enough.
It was unlikely that this patrol was part of the unit which
had
stormed the girls' village one week ago, but it made no difference
to them. They had fled during the carnage and since then they had
lived in the woods with the small group of old women and children
that had survived. Under the leadership of Irina, the shepherdess,
they had barely managed to keep themselves hidden while the nazi
soldiers ravaged and killed everyone they encountered over the few
days they settled camp in the area. Soon however, they left and the
survivors were able to return to the remains of the village and
recover whatever they could from the rumbles. Little could be found
and though there was shelter there was not enough food to keep them
during the winter. They had either to find more food or to leave the
area in search for help. And the answer came in the shape of a
German truck passing by with about a dozen men in. Maybe they were
lost. But their arrival meant food, transportation and vengeance for
the peasant survivors.
Leaving the elder and the children hidden in the woods, the
women
and the girls went for the truck. They took positions on the top of
two cliffs forming a gorge on either side of the road, armed with
sticks, stones, petrol lamps and a rusty shotgun. Irina and the
stronger women pushed a tree log over the road and waited for the
truck to pass by. The truck, of course, had to stop so the soldiers
could clear the way. When they did, the women attacked with vengeful
hanger: a cloud of stones fell upon the soldiers, which were unable
to react against the invisible attackers. With the rusty shotgun in
her hands, Irina led a dozen women armed with rakes, sickles against
the soldiers. Still disorientated and confined to the closed space
of the back of the truck, the German soldiers were totally caught by
surprise. Few of them could react: the lieutenant was able to shoot
Anna before his head was sliced in half by Olga. Some of the
soldiers cocked up their rifles and fired, hitting some of the
women. Two of them, Zoya and Eva, died instantly. Irina spent two
shots simultaneously into the exit of the truck, injuring four men
with a single blow. Taking profit of this breach, several women
jumped into the truck and attacked the Germans like they were a
field of wheat. Some of the now cornered soldiers hopped off the
truck and ran to the woods, escaping the slaughter house it had
become. The women yielded their sickles and axes against the
terrified soldiers until they were all down. And then they went on,
until all the screaming became moaning and then silence. It was
over: the victory was theirs.
Irina was the first to recover from the carnage. The back of
the
truck was a bloody mess, it would have to be scrubbed if they wanted
to use it to drive away. Maimed corpses and body parts were
sprawled all over the placed. Two women were injured and four others
were dead. The women's clothes were covered in blood, it was hard to
tell if they were injured or not. The girls that had stayed up in
the cliffs were coming down but became horrified to see what their
victory meant. Irina shook one of them out of it:
- Valeria, where are the others?
- They-they gave chase to the soldiers who eescaped. Oh, my God…
- Calm yourself! – and then she turned to the lot – Listen everyone!
We have to search the truck and the soldiers for food, money,
values. We will need it to survive through the winter. Now go, go!
The corpses were thrown off the truck and the nasty task of
searching them began. Within minutes, the women had gathered all the
combat rations, values and recoverable material they could. Also,
inside the truck, a metal trunk contained blankets and medical
issues that were of much use for the group. Half an hour later, the
search party returned with the four captured soldiers. Irina stopped
the inventory she was making to inspect them: they showed signs of
beating, which was normal, but they remained handsome in that
Germanic way. Their hands had been tied behind their backs, their
pockets were inside out and they were all barefoot. Irina saw their
boots on the search party's feet. She frowned:
- You didn't loose any time, huh Galina!
>
The other woman looked down at her new boots and smiled:
- It's easier to take them off while their aalive, believe me. My
husband was the undertaker, remember?
Irina snickered: the woman was right. She shouted to the
lot:
- You heard her: if you want something from the corpses, take it now
before they become stiff.
The women immediately went for their boots and overcoats…
- What about them? – Galina asked ל Do we take them for prisoners?
Irina got sombre as she coldly said:
- You know we take no prisoners…
The once proud soldiers now looked like a pitiful lot, deprived of
anything worth taking, like money, boots and rations. The women had
made them kneel side by side on the side of the road, facing the
trees. One of them sobbed, his head hanging over his chest, while
the one by his side chided him for his crying. Irina cocked up the
Mauser K98, the sound of it cutting the harangue short. She had
decided to start from the left end of the line. The crying boy, he
would be the first. He went on sobbing, hardly realising she was
positioning herself behind him, raising the barrel of the rifle to
his head almost casually. She was about to kill a man in cold blood,
not in a fight as she had just done, but as he was helpless on his
knees before her. She felt her heart pounding has she prepared
herself to shoot. She pulled the trigger...
CRACK!!! The fire made her shudder from head to toes, and the
soldiers jumped on their knees. The sobbing boy's upper head split
and splattered through the underbrush in front of him and he fell
face down on the floor. The women behind her shouted and jeered as a
slightly nauseated Irina proceeded to the next soldier. She levelled
the rifle with the back of his head, aiming carefully not to repeat
the messy effects she had just inflicted on the boy's skull. He must
have been a Bavarian, because as soon as he felt her behind him, he
bowed his head and crossed himself in a very Catholic way.
CRACK!!! The shot echoed through the trees as the religious soldier
slumped forward by the side of his predecessor, a perfect bullet
hole on the back of his head. Again the soldiers shuddered, the
women cheered. Irina felt herself shocked at the thought that she
had pulled the trigger with no hesitations, no second thoughts. She
expelled the empty capsule and moved on to the third man. Irina
noticed what a odd sight he was, his helmet still on his head,
contrasting with his pulled off shirt and his bare feet. She toppled
the helmet off his head with the tip of the barrel. As soon as he
felt this, the man turned backwards and began to whimper and beg for
his own life in his native tongue. Irina felt unnerved but braced
herself, raised the gun to his temple and pulled the trigger.
CRACK!!! The shot tore through the man's forehead, punching him to
the floor next to his fellow soldiers. But he wasn't dead, he kept
convulsing on the floor until Irina reached forward, pinned him down
with her foot and fired a coup-de-grace into his head. A squirt of
blood splattered across Irina's cheek. The man stayed still this
time. Irina looked to the last soldier, he stared frightfully at the
wretch she had just shot. He raised his eyes to her and realising he
was next, turned away and composed himself as much as his fear
allowed. Irina expelled the empty capsule and moved behind him. As
she braced herself to fire the last bullet in that clip, the
terrified man asked her in perfect Ukrainian:
- Please... Don't miss.
- I won't... Don't worry. - she surprised heerself by answering him.
CRACK!!! The bullet went through his brain and exited by the
forehead, burying itself and spraying blood and grey matter in the
ground in front of him. He slumped forward with his face on the
floor, like the other three misfortunate soldier. Irina checked the
chamber: empty. It had sufficed. She threw the rifle by the side of
the bodies and turned to the rest of the women. Valeria handed her
one of the K98's they had recovered and clapped her back:
- Congratulations, Irina Kovalyeva! Five coccks in a row! You are a
brave leader.
Irina shrugged and checked her rifle. Then she lit herself a
cigarette she had taken from one of the soldiers, inhaled and felt
strangely calm for the first time in days. She took one last look at
the four bodies laid on the side of the road and said to the rest of
her companions:
- Alright, girls! Let's move on!