Battlefield Priest's Diary

Chapter 36 Rumors
The priest is back, everything will be alright—this is the sentiment of most of the soldiers in the Siberian Regiment.

Indeed, on the very day the priest returned, the military issued an order to reorganize the remnants of the former 43rd Siberian Infantry Regiment into a directly subordinate infantry battalion, to be used as an independent combat unit, thus avoiding the fate of being scattered.

Bang!

A large box, about one meter long and weighing about 80 kilograms, was lowered with the help of four people.

The dust kicked up startled the soldiers of the Siberian regiment.

A French Ducretet radio station.

The soldiers looked around in disarray at this novel device. After all, radio technology had only been used in the military for a short time, and radios were considered valuable strategic equipment. The Russian army only assigned it to the division level, and for these Siberian farmers, it was the first time they had ever seen such a thing.

“Father, this looks very valuable. Do you need our help to move it?” someone asked, raising their hand.

"No, leave it here." The priest in black waved his hand magnanimously. "This is our radio now!"

"Radio?! Ours?!" Someone exclaimed in astonishment.

“Great! We have a radio now, but man, what is a radio?” That’s what some ignorant guy said.

"Oh oh oh!!!" A burst of enthusiastic cheers came from below. They may not understand what the radio station was for, but that didn't stop them from being overjoyed.

Qin Hao looked at the telephone operator and said, "Ivanovich, I remember you said you could use a radio, right?"

"Yes, Father."

"From now on, you will lead three people to work around this device. You don't need to do anything else."

“But we only have less than 400 people, so it doesn’t seem necessary.”

"What does it matter? It's not easy to take it with us anyway, so I just let them leave one behind."

A French Ducretet radio was like a panda in a park to the soldiers; they gathered together and talked excitedly. But what surprised them even more was what was to come.

The tarpaulin on the carriage was pulled back, revealing the dark gun barrels gleaming coldly.

Each soldier was equipped with a brand-new Mosin-Nagant rifle, six Maxim heavy machine guns, and four 76.2mm field rapid-fire cannons, nicknamed "Miss Three-Inch" due to their slender barrels. In addition, there were large quantities of ammunition boxes, explosives, landmines, and grenades piled up around them.

If the radio and weapons were a pleasant surprise, what they saw next made these surviving soldiers think, "If I had known it would be like this, staying wouldn't have been a bad idea."

Canned goods, lots and lots of canned goods. British, French, smoked fish, beef, corn... and whole bags of sugar, flour, and piles of cigarettes, including Turkish goods that the soldiers never usually see.

As a rearguard unit seen by others as a death sentence, the Russian command was surprisingly generous, not only allocating ammunition and supplies several times the standard, but also issuing a one-time payment of military pay that the soldiers had never seen before.

“It looks like a deathbed consolation,” Pavka said, counting the bills in his hand while drooling.

"That's exactly right. Didn't you see the way those guys looked at us? Like we were dead." Bombardier Nosayev scoffed and lit a Turkish cigarette. "What's there to be afraid of? We have the priest!" This was the sentiment of most of them.

"Speaking of Ivan, what about him? I haven't seen him much lately."

"God knows, he's been acting all mysterious lately."
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Now, on the other side.

"Comrade Kozlov, I am very disappointed with your work during this period," a man in a sergeant's uniform paced around Ivanovich.

"Other units have already established underground groups, but you haven't developed a single one. Can you give me a reasonable explanation?" the man demanded aggressively.

“As you can see, the soldiers here are different from those in other units. With that priest with them, they won’t be easily swayed,” Ivanovich patiently explained to the other party.

“That priest? Comrade, those little favors are just a smokescreen for him. His cowardly compromise will be exposed when faced with difficulties.” The man placed his hand on the wooden box and said, “This time I’m here to keep an eye on him personally. I’m sure that once the battle becomes dangerous, he will run away or surrender. We’ll expose him immediately and bring the soldiers to our side.”

Seeing the man's confident demeanor, Ivanovich knew that nothing she said would work, so she had no choice but to silently compromise.

A few days later, a three-man cavalry squad was stationed in the Siberian infantry battalion as liaison officers, led by the very "informant" they had met the previous night.

When the squad leader named Panasenko saw the mountain of ammunition and supplies, his whole demeanor changed.

"Comrade, how come you never told me there were so many weapons and supplies here, even a radio?!" the man asked excitedly, pressing down on the telephone operator's shoulder.

“The priest got this recently; I just found out myself,” Ivanovich explained from the side.

"As expected of a cowardly incompetent fool, he embezzled so much weaponry just to save his own life. But it's all for the best. Once we succeed, these things will come in very handy later." Panasenko nodded confidently.

Seemingly to verify the phrase "incompetent coward," Panasenko almost burst out laughing when he saw the position the priest had chosen two days later.

"Heh heh, it seems the corrupt Tsar really should be finished. How can a guy with no basic military skills be able to command troops?" Panasenko, who had participated in battles and had considerable command experience, said, pointing to the scene before him.

The entire Siberian infantry battalion was positioned on the second line by the black-clad priest. The main position was located in the central village, with a wide plain behind it and a swamp that had dried up due to lack of water in front of it.

“This place is perfect for large-scale troop assaults. The Germans could easily launch a single attack and leave this place completely undefended,” Panasenko said, hands on his hips.

“Perhaps…perhaps…the priest wanted to use the swamp ahead to block the enemy.” Although Ivanovich also felt something was amiss, he subconsciously tried to find an excuse for the priest.

"A swamp? Look at that! The land is completely dried up. It would take at least three days of heavy rain to restore it to its impassable state, and it's late September now, the rainy season is long over!"

Panasenko looked at everything before him and said confidently, "Comrade, we need to get to work as soon as possible. This place may collapse soon. At that time, we should try to take as many soldiers and supplies as possible."

A gentle breeze blew by, carrying away the cavalry captain's impassioned speech.

In the distance, on the village's threshing floor, the cross in the hands of the priest in black swayed in the wind.

(End of this chapter)