I DO NOT OWN ANASTASIA. SHOUTOUT TO ANYONE WHO CARES ABOUT THIS STORY.
Allenstein, East Prussia. 3 days later.
The battle of Tannenburg had started off well, but things had soon turned south for the Russian soldiers. The Russians had smashed into the German forces and had seemingly had them on the run, but the Krauts had been joined by reinforcements and thanks to the stupid decision made by the top brass of calling out their moves in the open, the Germans began to hit back hard.
When Ivan had been using the latrine, he has heard Captain Glaskov shouting at his superiors. Allegedly, the German had pushed the Russian right wing even more further back than Hlaskov had originally thought, and his suport frok the right side was going to be conpletely nonexistent and his men would have to manage bkth roght and center on their own. When Glaskov asked why General Samsonov hadn't figured out a wag to push back thr Kraut advance, he was told that the general was not aware of how bas the situarion was because he was observing the action from a rise in the ground a distance from his wireless set and reports were not relayed to him.
The next day, the unit prepared to meet the German threat head on at the town of Allenstein. Captain Glaskov had received orders from Cavalry Generals Alexander Vasilyevich Samsonov and Yakov Grigoryevich Zhilinsky. Apparently, the only real obstacle at the moment was a corp of local volunteers defending the area. The plan would be to basically smash through them and take the town of Allenstein to to be used as a beach head to cut off the German relief forces.
As they were all lined up preparing to charge forward, every single man on the front line was fearing for his life. Bogdan was praying to survive while Lyosha was chugging a flask filled with Vodka. As for young Ivan Skorokhodov, he held his rifle tightly in his hand, waiting for Captain Glaskov to give the order to charge. Finally, it came.
"CHARGE!" Glaskov shouted as the men ran towards the German line. However, as opposed to what they had told about only facing local volunteers, the German trenches were lined with machine guns and once they started firing, the Russian forces were being slaughtered like flies. Hundreds of men were falling to the ground as Ivan and his comrades were trying to avoid gunfire. It was not easy, the Germans were pelting the Russian troops with round after round of gunfire. Meanwhile, Ivan could see another detachment of German soldiers over the horizon coming to aid their beothers in arms.
"Holy shit!" Lyosha yelled as he dropped to the ground as the endless supply of bullets from the machine guns whizzed above him. "The Krauts are slaughtering us!"
"We're all going to die!" Bogdan cried as he tried desperately to dodge the bullets. "I don't want to die!"
"Shut up will you? Damn it!" Lyosha snapped in anger as he was nearly taken out by a German Sharpshooter. As the 3 friends laid on the ground while the unholy sounds of war blared around them, Ivan spotted a dead German soldier near them. In his hand was a Stielhandgranate: a stick hand grenade that he had not had the chance to throw.
"Look, a grenade!" Ivan shouted as the others looked at it.
"If we could throw a grenade in there, it could help us take the trench!" Lyosha reasoned as he was eager to put a dent in the kraut resistance.
"I'll do it." Ivan offered as he slowly crawled forward and by the grace of God, managed to grab the stick hand grenade from the dead German. "I need you guys to cover me." Lyosha and Bogdan nodded as a plan was formed: They would all run towards the trench. Lyosha and Bogdan would attempt to absorb most of the bullets while Ivan threw the grenade to talk out the machine gunner. All three men drank what was left of Lyosha's vodka and then charged at the gunner with all of their might. Ivan threw the grenade with skill although it was not fast enough to spare Bogdan from being hit with bullets. Ivan turned just in time to see several bullets piercing his friend's chest as splahes of red appeared in the air and on his uniform.
"Bogdan!" Lyosha shouted as the grenade went off, killing several Germans. Thankfully, Bogdan was still alive as Ivan and Lyosha tried to lift him up as they moved into the trench.
"Oh God...it hurts, it hurts so fucking bad!" Bogdan wailed as the boys tried be as gentle with him as they could.
"I know...just hold on, we'll get you to a surgeon." As they made their way in, it seemed as through they had secured that part of it. Unfortunately, a German soldier was still alive and pulled out a grenade of his own.
"Alle Hegel Deutschland!" (All hail Germany) he shouted as he held the timed grenade in his hands before hurling it with what little strength he had left at the 3 Russian soldiers.
"Nyet!" Ivan shouted as he did the only thing that he could think of in that moment. He raced forward and quickly kicked the grenade away from his friends as if it was a soccer ball. Luckily, Ivan's quick thinking managed to save Lyosha and Bogdan from feeling the full force of the blast. Unluckily, this put Ivan directly in the blast zone. The grenade then exploded and Ivan was blown up a couple feet into the air. Ivan felt like he was weightless for a moment, not even feeling the damage that had been done to his body. He could feel absolutely nothing in that moment. When he hit the ground, Ivan's world went black.
WILL IVAN AND HIS PALS SURVIVE THEIR FIRST FORAY INTO COMBAT? REVIEWS NEEDED AND APPRECIATED.