The Mission

It’s July 17th, 1942. It’s a very cold and snowy day here in Kharkov. I, Sgt. Petrenko and two others privates are sitting around the military base waiting for our next mission. I was hoping for something very challenging. My trainee, Pvt. Foley, was more nervous than anyone of us. He has not even had one mission under his belt yet! Foley was a selfish little brat. Personally I couldn’t stand this kid! The only reason I deal with him is because he’s the General’s son. So if I wanted to be in the Soviet army, I had to deal with him.
“Any updates on a new mission?” said Pvt. Foley in a nervous voice.
“Nothing yet, Private”, I said.
Then, something urgent comes in on the radio.
“Calling to Soviet Army, Calling to Soviet Army, Germany is trying to take control of Stalingrad, I repeat Germany is taking control of Stalingrad”.
“Let’s go! Load up the trains and head out to Stalingrad!”, said the General.
Germany was invading Stalingrad. This was the mission I was waiting for. Maybe even bigger! Pvt. Foley looked very nervous for his first battle. I had to hurry up and pack my things and get on the train. I grabbed my pack, my PPSH-41, and backup ammo. I was ready to go!
We had about 15 trains en route to Stalingrad with about 500,000 troops. Many other regiments would be meeting us there. The trip would take about three hours from our military bases. We definitely had the army for this fight. Among us were many great soldiers that put their heart and soul into the Soviet Army.
We have just arrived in Stalingrad. It’s time for battle. As soon as the train stopped, everyone ran out with their regiment. I was a sub-machine gunner. And sadly, Pvt. Foley had to stay with me. Our group headed out of the train and into a burned-out house. There was lots of sniper cover.
“These Germans think they’ll win, there’s no way!”, I said.

A group of Germans were walking by the house looking for us Russians.
“Ready? One. Two. Three!” I said.
I and another sub-machine gunner terminated the whole group in no time.
“Haha! Now I’m ready to do some damage!”, said one gunner.
Pvt. Foley wasn’t really doing much, mostly hiding and not shooting. So I sent him with some others to take capture of a small building across the street. It used to be an old hotel a long time ago. Now it was a big, charred mess. There was news that there were supplies and ammo on the second floor. Pvt. Foley and the other privates went in to look for the supplies. Once they got inside, they all split up, and breached and cleared the whole first floor. Foley went up to search the second floor on his own. When he made his way up the stairs, he was captured by two German soldiers. When the other privates called up to ask how it was, the guards made him say,
“Clear”
All the other Privates left the hotel and made their way back to the group I was leading. Once they left, the two German guards took Foley and went back to the German base.
“Where’s Foley?”, I asked.
“I’m not sure, Sergeant”, someone said.
“Go check the hotel to see if you guys left him there”, I said.
5 or 10 minutes pass, and they come back empty handed. No Foley.
“Sergeant, we cannot find Foley anywhere, he’s been captured”, said a private.
“Dang. Well, I have to go find him. Sgt. Johnson will be in charge while I’m gone”, I said.
Now, it was up to me to find the missing soldier. This could take a long time in a big city like this! If I couldn’t find him, I’d be dishonorably discharged. I had to find Foley.
I had to assemble the best people in the Soviet Army to find Foley. It would take some very powerful people to find him. Somehow, we couldn’t just use the whole army, then they would just invade the rest of Stalingrad. I, two other sub-machine gunners, tw of the best snipers around, and bazooka men. We were ready to fight for a fellow soldier. One soldier already had an idea where he was at. So, we headed to the German’s main base. On the way, we were lucky enough to find a T-34 tank in perfect condition in a barn. So, we took it to aid us in our search.
Finally, we made it to the German’s base. There were not that many soldiers guarding outside, luckily. So basically, we made our way inside. Everyone seems to be gone, except for about 50 guards. When we got to the room where they were holding Foley, they were torturing him, whipping him, and kicking him. Seeing this happen made me extremely angry.
“Hey! Leave him alone!”, I said.
I pulled out my machine gun and opened up on the soldiers. I told them to stop, but they wouldn’t leave Foley alone.
“Wow! They should’ve listened”, said Foley
So now we have Foley and we are making an escape plan. We would fight our way through the soldiers and get back in the tank. From there, we would be back at the Soviet base. With our combined power, we could take out the soldiers together. Finally, we made it to the exit, after using up most of our ammo on the Germans. Now, we were on our way back to our base. Foley was in dire need of medical attention, and fast. He was bleeding from the head and chest, there was not much time.
After an hour, we made it back to our base. We rushed Foley to the medical ward as fast as we could. He was running out of time. We knew we were safe once we made it to the doctor.
“Thanks for coming to save me, even though you hate me”, said Foley.
“It’s no problem, you’re not that bad after all”, I said.
In a few days, we were on our way home. Foley was all fixed up, and I was actually in one piece. Foley and I were friends after this battle. Now I could finally be around him without having the urge to punch him. Things were much better after this battle. Friends, family, everything was better than before.
Once we got back to Kharkov, I was promoted from Sergeant, to Staff Sergeant. To Foley, I’d always be his hero. I completed the mission.