Some people might think that war is for brave men and that being on the battlefield is something great, but let me tell you one thing: I was there, and it is an unpleasant experience. War is a very bad thing, and for those who believe it is an act of bravery, I want to share my story. So, let's begin.
This begins like this: it was the year 1939 when the Second World War began. At first, it seemed that our nation would remain quiet, but despite having a non-aggression treaty, in June 1941, the Germans invaded our nation. In a surprise attack, we quickly got to work, and here begins my misfortune. We were sent to hold an enemy outpost to the north where there were too many enemy soldiers. They had already advanced far into our territory and had taken some cities. After that, our squadron, trying to regain the ground, managed to stop them temporarily. The battle lasted a couple of days, but unfortunately, their numerical superiority overwhelmed us. We tried to resist, but in vain; all my comrades were slaughtered. I barely managed to escape, dragging a wounded friend with me. We fled into the forest. I was with my team and my partner. At first, I thought about abandoning the equipment, but I decided against it, as the weapons were still very useful. After passing through the small forest, I arrived at a town ravaged by war; everything was destroyed. I entered a three-story house and quickly began to treat my partner's wounds. At last, we had a moment to rest. Using my long-range radio, I managed to contact my commander for a rescue, but he told me that the enemy advance was very close and that it would take about three days for them to reach us. A chill ran through my body as he said, 'God be with you, soldiers.' He assured me he would stay in communication. I had no choice but to wait out those three days.
For my luck, the enemy had not detected us yet, so I started to investigate the town. It was small, no more than 5,000 people, I would estimate. As the hours passed, I took care of my partner. Fortunately, I found medicine to treat him; he had lost blood, but luckily it was only a little. The bullet wound was what really worried me. He had a fever, but I managed to help him. By 10 hours into the first day, he was much better. I left him to keep watch and went up to the top floor. Using my binoculars, I began to survey the entire area. Everything was quiet, but I knew I should not let my guard down. I kept watch until late, and around 2 a.m., I heard noises and strange sounds. At first, I thought it was just my imagination, but I decided to ignore it. Exhausted, I fell asleep after a few hours.
As soon as the sun rose on the second day, I woke up suddenly. I heard the noise of my partner, so I quickly went down to help him. He was awake and thanked me for everything I had done for him. We talked for a while, and after I found some food, we ate. He could not move yet due to the shot, so I left him behind and went to investigate the town more thoroughly. At first, I had been desperate and hadn't paid much attention to my surroundings. As I looked around, I found corpses in some houses, which was disgusting. They had been killed cruelly; I was not surprised, as this was war.
While walking, I heard a noise coming from a house. Stealthily, I went to investigate and found an elderly man sitting in an armchair. He was already dying. He looked at me and, smiling, said, 'How nice, I will not die alone!' He asked me my name, and I answered him. We talked for a while, and he told me that he had not evacuated because this was his home and he planned to die here. Although the enemy soldiers had not found him, they had shot everywhere, wounding him. Now he was just waiting for death. I could only listen; there was nothing more I could do. I was surprised that he was still alive despite his wounds. At that moment, seeing his end, he thanked me for the company. Shortly after, while we were talking, he passed away. As a form of respect, I buried him in his beloved home, giving him a dignified burial. I cried a little and then left the place. Before leaving, I found some shortwave radios and provisions for survival. Back at my hideout, it was already 10 p.m. when I heard the radio ringing. It was my commander, who warned me to be careful as another outpost was on its way to our location and would arrive the next day at around 5 a.m. He congratulated me for still being alive and told me to be prepared. With great surprise, I heard that message. I didn't know what to do; I was a little stunned. I looked at my partner, who was lying on the ground asleep, and went up to the roof to think things over.
I sat on the roof, thinking about my chances of survival. I thought about my family, the friends I was leaving behind, and looked at my weapons: a sniper rifle, a few bullets, some land mines, four grenades, a pistol, and my knife. What could I do with that in front of an outpost? I didn't know how many of them there were. What should I do? I questioned myself until dawn, already resigned to the situation because escape was not an option with my partner so wounded. I had no intention of abandoning him. I only had one thought: to take the easy way out. But how could I end my life? I couldn't leave my partner here without more. I was on the verge of tears as time passed. I couldn't do anything; I constantly asked for forgiveness, took out my gun, and put it in my mouth. I pulled the trigger, but I felt immense pain on the side of my mouth. When I opened my eyes, my partner was next to me, holding my hand. He had managed to pull the gun away in time and shot me only in the left cheek. When he removed my hand, I didn't bleed much because the wound was cauterized by the bullet. My partner kicked me in the head while holding his wounded abdomen and shouted at me, 'What were you thinking? Are you just going to let it all end like this? What about your wife and son who are waiting for you? What if your son finds out about the pathetic end his father met?' After that, I looked at him and cried. He fell to the ground, kneeling in pain, and told me, 'My friend, this doesn't end here. Let's see this through to the end.' I hugged him, asked for his forgiveness, got up, dried my tears, and bandaged my mouth wound. I looked like a ghost.
It was already 3 a.m. I grabbed all my gear and, with a small flashlight, got to work. My partner was skilled with the sniper rifle, so I left him lying strategically on the third floor. The commander had provided intel on where the enemies were likely to appear. I placed the mines at the entrance of the town, as it was obvious they would advance through there. I also set up a few homemade traps around the area. By 4 a.m., strange sounds were already echoing, which, although irrelevant to the story, were chilling and often gave me the strength to face what was to come. I hadn't slept at all due to the constant movement and was very nervous. My partner was resting, as I needed a good shooter awake. I knew our reinforcements would arrive at our site during the day.
When morning came, at exactly 5 a.m., I climbed onto the roof with my partner. Using my binoculars, I spotted a small platoon advancing toward our position. There were about 30 men and two tanks. I immediately woke up my partner and told him that the time had come, warning him to be careful as they would arrive at 12 o'clock on our side. He nodded, and I informed him about the 30 men and two tanks. He looked a bit scared, swallowed hard, and said, "May heaven and God take care of us, and may the hands of the devil guide us to eliminate our enemies." We both said amen and got into position. I quickly retreated to my position below.
Using the radios we found, we communicated. He updated me on everything happening from above while he stayed well hidden on the roof. They were about to enter the range of the mines when we heard a loud BOOM! A massive explosion took out around five enemies. They went on high alert, shouting like crazy, and started advancing in small groups. Suddenly, a shot rang out; my partner had taken down an enemy coming out of the tank. Fortunately, they did not detect him, as he was an expert at aiming without being seen. We had one less tank to worry about.
The enemies, now realizing they were not alone, began shooting at random. I had set up a radio with a recording of gunfire from the night and left it in a house. I then quickly moved to another house, and they noticed. Five men entered the house carefully. I had prepared a trap: straw on the ground with nails hidden underneath. Two of them got their feet stuck nailed. The others tried to help, but as soon as they were careless, I threw two grenades. A huge explosion alerted the others. Only a few remained. My partner took down one more, but this time they detected him and started shooting at him.
I asked him through the radio how he was doing. He told me he was fine for now but needed support. A group of ten was firing heavily at the building. The second tank could not advance because the first tank blocked its path. We were lucky. I quickly threw a grenade into the middle of them. They realized too late, as the noise from their weapons drowned out the sound of my approach. Another explosion occurred, and the ten men were blown away, most of them with limbs scattered. It was terrifying, but we had no choice. It was either them or us. This is war.
After this last event, the other survivors started shooting at me. I ran frantically to the house, throwing myself to avoid getting hit. I managed to grab a machine gun before fleeing and began shooting to force them to retreat. The others took cover to avoid getting hurt, and this time they were more cautious. I called my partner on the radio, but he didn't answer, which worried me. I feared he had succumbed to the barrage of bullets. A few seconds later, I heard his voice coming from the radio, tired and strained. He told me he had been grazed in the leg but was otherwise okay. He asked me to try to lure them into the house so he could use his last grenade.
I congratulated him and promised that if we made it out alive, I would buy him drinks all night. I quickly started shooting at the enemy, and they returned fire. As I lay on the ground, I noticed through a small hole that they were attempting an ambush, with two men positioning themselves on the sides of the house. Fortunately, they triggered the mines I had set on the right side, causing an explosion that took out one of them. They screamed and shot in panic, unable to enter. The man who came from the left side backed away, afraid of the traps and thank goodness he thought that way because he didn't have any on that side.
They started advancing, shooting to prevent me from doing anything. I fired at them until I was out of bullets. Realizing that they were running towards me, I grabbed the radio and shouted: NOW! They stopped for a moment; there were only seven left, and three of them quickly entered the house—two through the door and one through the window. The rest were trapped by the explosion and died. Only three remained, but they were now inside.
My partner shouted into the radio, asking what had happened. I didn't respond immediately, so I stood up, taking out my knife and gun. With only two bullets left, the enemies also stood up. One of them knocked my gun away. Their firearms were ineffective due to the explosion, and a fistfight and knife struggle ensued. I was at a disadvantage, but having been a boxer in my younger days, I managed to punch one in the chin, knocking him out. The other man managed to stab me in the side of the leg, but fortunately, the wound wasn't deep. Adrenaline fueled me, and I stabbed him in the chest, killing him instantly.
The third man lunged at me, hitting my face. I managed to push him away but was slightly dizzy from the blows. He grabbed a chair and threw it at me, knocking me to the ground. He said something I couldn't understand, but his expressions made me think he was mocking me. He got too confident, and I fell right where my gun was. He didn't realize it and continued attacking me. I grabbed the gun, took him by surprise, and fired the last two shots—one in the head and the other in the heart. He uttered something before falling dead, I only told him: the yours, unhappy.
Just then, a huge explosion erupted above me. They had used the tank to attack the third floor. I shouted, "Ivan!"—my partner's name. I quickly got up, albeit a bit lame from the previous ordeal, and noticed the tank moving. I searched through the corpses, found a grenade and two mines, and quickly grabbed them. Slipping through the rubble, I placed the mines under the tank, destroying its wheels. I positioned myself behind the tank and kicked the head of the crew member who had exited, sending him inside the tank. I then threw the grenade, closed the tank door, and jumped away. There was a massive explosion. Lying on the floor, breathing heavily, I cried a bit, remembering my friend, and shouted, "WHY!"
Suddenly, a noise came from the radio, with a trembling voice saying, "If you're going to have time to cry like a girl, you'd better get me out of the rubble." I quickly got up and went to the house. Climbing the stairs, I found the entire third floor had disappeared, but my partner was lying on the second floor. I helped him down to the first floor and remembered the first man I had knocked unconscious. I searched for some ropes and tied him up. I treated my leg wound, and we sat down. I told my partner that it was all over, and with a smile, he reminded me that I owed him drinks on the way back. We both started laughing.
Suddenly, the radio crackled to life. It was the commander, asking us where we were and if we were okay. I replied that we had managed to stop the small enemy advance. He told me that in about 10 minutes, they would arrive, and we needed to leave quickly because a larger army was advancing. I shouted that we would wait for them here. After 11 minutes, they arrived— the commander himself, along with a platoon in some Humvees. They were amazed at what we had accomplished. They attended to us quickly and took the captured man we had. We left that damned place, and everything was finally over. I thanked the commander for his help, and he told me that he never abandons anyone and that I would be rewarded for my efforts. Now, I am receiving a medal for my acts of service, as is my partner. We were decorated and allowed to go home to recover from our combat wounds. The enemy army had nicknamed me the "Ghost Killer" because of how I looked. It seems their intelligence had found out how I had thwarted their small advance, which made me chuckle.
After reuniting with my son and wife and celebrating my return, I went out with my partner. I owed that bastard something, so we had a few drinks together, bragging about our experiences. I told him about the eerie noises at night, and he suggested that maybe they were the souls in pain from the devastated place. It gave me chills. I learned a valuable lesson: in times of crisis, even when you can't see a way out, stay calm and think clearly. Don't despair; there is always a solution. And if there isn't, face it with all your courage and fight until the end. Don't give up. Good luck to you, my fellow survivor. I wish you the best. My name is Mikhael, and I'm resting from my little adventure. Remember, war is no joke. Good luck, and see you later.