Between the sounds of war, the roar of tank and aircraft engines, explosions and gunfire, in a wrecked building sat the ungentle giant. Konstantin Aleksandrovich was a Battalion commander without a battalion which he considered a relief of command. If he wasn't supposed to take one step back he figured he'd just wait for some stragglers. Until that happened, he'd just look at what exactly he was defending at the present moment. An apartment block with sight on a burnt-out factory to the south, where a lot of Germans were pouring into. After they were done with that they would certainly advance to the north. Continuing the inspection, he found an apartment with a piano. Naturally, he couldn't help but push the keys a bit and it turned out to be in good condition. 

"Screw it all", he thought. "I just failed to even reach that damned factory. My misery can wait". He sat down on the stool and calmly played [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aNseaCg1rU]On the Hills of Manchuria[/url] as the sounds of battle subsided around him. This wasn't supposed to happen, so he quickly rushed up to the highest floor and kicked a door in. On the corner, four stories high, with a clear view of the factory. If they were going into the square, he'd be able to shoot them off with relative ease. Three plates in his backpack and another one loaded, he could land a few shots. But in the block below him he heard a lot of boots. Another charge was coming, and it was going to be bloody.

Behind cover, Yuri and his regiment were poised to charge that factory. It would probably be less than 300 meters to the factory grounds, but the amount of guns pointing at them made it impossible to "just" run across. The mortality rate would be high, but with a bit of luck and getting to the fountain in time he may just survive for long enough to crawl back. There weren't any machine guns behind them, so Yuri figured he could get back if he made it. /If/ he made it. But there were very little troops in position to actually make such a break. Everybody realised that. So Yuri's unit waited for reinforcements, shared a few smokes and loaded up on Dutch courage with a bit of vodka. While this happened, the reinforcements that they waited for poured in. A Shtrafbat, and a group of M-42, a ZiS-2, and Maxim 1910s for fire support. With the heavy stuff being positioned in the next five minutes the 200 or so men gathered were given a simple order: Charge. 

From his bird's nest, Sobolev looked on and wept as so many young lives were wasted. Germans shooting from the factory received return fire from the M-42s, and a Panzer III who drove too far was victim to a shot too. But Hitler's Buzzsaws opened fire at the Russians cutting the vast majority of them down. Seeing his friends die, Yuri panicked and legged it to the fountain and jumped in. He played dead for both his officers and enemy fire as with a heavy thud someone flew next to him. A tall man, strongly built, tanned, with blonde hair and blue eyes looked around him. Convinced it was a Zampolit, Yuri waited to die by a shot to the face by a Nagant and remained to do so even when Dimitri started shooting. After five bullets and a fistful of return fire, Dimitri too threw the towel into the ring and sat behind the fountain. "Wake up...", he pleaded to Yuri, hoping he wasn't dead. Now realising it wasn't a Commisar, Yuri woke up and sat next to Dimitri. Huddled up, out of sight of German guns, they decided to share a cigarette and stay low. The dried-up fountain was big enough for them both to lie down. "What time you got?", Dimitri asked Yuri, who looked and said "3:18PM". Dimitri sniggered. "We can't leave until dark, so we'll be here for a while. Better get comfortable."