The February Revolution of 1917 ended more than three hundred years of dynastic rule.
The fall of the Tsarist Dynasty and the emergence of a new Soviet symbolized the demise of the old Russian Empire, a new beginning of vitality on Russian soil.
However, in 1924, a "Tsarist sentry" representing the remnants of Tsarist Russia broke out of the rubble and appeared in the public eye.
The Poles who were digging tunnels could not imagine the soldier's life underground for nine years, how did he survive? What made him hold on in pain.
First, the rout of Tsarist Russia
In 1914, the serious contradictions caused by the long-standing imbalance of political and economic development between capitalist empires eventually contributed to the First World War.
That is, Germany's strength developed rapidly during this period, and its ambitions became more and more inflated, trying to overthrow the table and reshuffle the cards.
Russia, which was still Tsarist Russia at that time, was also involved in this battle, and Russia also entered a high-speed industrialization at the beginning of the twentieth century, although it was not as strong as Britain, Germany and France.
After joining the Anglo-French alliance in World War I, Russia also had a brilliant combat performance at this time.
While Germany was busy with a stalemate with Britain and France, the Russian army once slammed into Germany and went all the way into Germany, and at the most critical moment, the Russian army was even close to Berlin.
When the morale of the Russian army was high and excited, the Germans reacted.
After learning of this situation, the Germans immediately turned their guns and concentrated their fire on the Tsarist Russia on the eastern front, although the Tsarist Russia said that it was beginning to show its sharp edge, it could not touch the Germany at that time, and after a few strokes, the German army turned the offensive, and the Tsarist Russia was completely defeated.
Like a bow, the Tsar retreated from Warsaw to the previously occupied eastern Poland.
Tsarist Russia knew that it could not compete with Germany, but could only find opportunities in the future.
After retreating to Brest, near the Russian border, the German army was approaching, and they decided: to blow up the underground munitions warehouse here, in order not to cheapen the germans who were about to pursue...
Second, the troubled warehouse guard
The 169th Division of the Russian Royal Army was stationed in Brest, and the whole team was in a state of panic at this time, and the only person who looked happy was The first soldier Asharev.
Asharev was happy that he could finally go home.
Asharev had just received a letter from his fiancée, Natasha, in which she said that on the day of his triumphant return, the whole village would hold a welcome rally for him and a grand wedding ceremony.
Ashalyov took the pink letterhead in his hand and looked at it again and again, and all the happiness overflowed on his face, and when it was time to go to work, he carefully carried the pink letterhead in his arms.
Ashalyov was guarding an underground quartermaster depot in a hidden mountain on the outskirts of Brest, where Ashalyov was the guard.
Asarev, who was full of joy and returned to his post, went to the entrance of the quartermaster warehouse and found a large number of explosives here, but he was puzzled, after all, this has always been a quartermaster warehouse, why should so much gunpowder be placed?
Perhaps it was not long ago that his fiancée's affectionate letter dispelled his doubts, so he did not inquire much, but thought that these things were temporarily placed here.
Hurriedly walking through the dark tunnel of tens of meters, Asarev completed the change of guard with the previous shift, and according to the custom, he toured the warehouse, changed the illuminated candles everywhere, and then returned to the guard post, took out the pink letterhead again, and read it excitedly.
When Assharev fell into a beautiful reverie, the explosion of the earth shaking suddenly sounded, followed by a scorching wave of air, and Ashalyov was directly swept to the ground by the air wave, crashing headlong into the stone wall and falling into a coma.
The cause of this explosion was precisely the order of the Russian commander in the line of fire issued by the rapidly pursuing Germans, who ordered the soldiers to carry all the important military supplies back to Germany, and to blow up and bury all that could not be taken away, and none of them could fall into the hands of the Germans.
Because the location of the warehouse that Assarev was guarding was hidden and no one knew, they ordered the soldiers to fill the warehouse tunnel with a large amount of explosives and blow it up, so that if the Russian army regained the place in the future, it would be able to dig the tunnel and use the materials inside.
Due to the rapid order, the guards of the warehouse hurriedly withdrew, and Asharev, who was in charge of the shift, did not know it, and he was in a sweet reverie who would pay more attention to everything that was happening around him
The sappers in the tunnel saw that the tunnel mouth was empty and lit the fuse and hurried away, and poor superior Soldier Asharov was trapped in the tunnel.
Third, despair and survival
Asarev was in a coma for a long time, the tunnel was blown up, there was no light in the warehouse, he forcibly stood firm, and fumbled to take a box of matches from his pocket.
After lighting the candle with a match, Asarev, who had not yet understood the situation, walked toward the entrance of the tunnel.
The further he went, he noticeably noticed more and more dirt and masonry debris, until finally, loess and stones filled the entire tunnel!
Asharev was stunned, and after a moment's hesitation, he frantically stepped forward and used his hands to plane these sealed rubble and dirt blocks, until the fingernails of his hands were bleeding and falling off, and he could not cut a hole to the outside world from these rubble piles.
After a long time, Ashalyov, who found himself in vain, shouted loudly in the sealed tunnel, hoping that someone on the ground would find him and come to his rescue.
Asharev cried out for help, until his voice was hoarse and there was no movement, then he completely calmed down, and he had to accept the fact that he was buried alive underground dozens of meters!
The despair in his heart swept through Asharev's whole body for a moment, and he wandered through the darkness, and now he was like a walking corpse.
The same way back to the guard's guard's post, the candlelight in his hand shone faintly in the guard post, and on the ground, the pink letterhead that caught Ashalyov's eyes was met.
Asharev hurriedly picked up the letterhead on the ground and clasped it tightly to his chest, and he secretly swore in his heart: "Natasha, no matter what, for you, I will live well." ”
Back to reality, What Asharev had to face was how to survive in this warehouse, which was fortunately a munitions warehouse, with at least a lot of supplies for the march.
Entering the warehouse, Asharev used candlelight to count the contents of the warehouse: a large number of biscuits and fried noodles, canned food, tens of thousands of military uniforms and bedding, boxes of matches and candles.
Lucky! There is no need to worry about eating and wearing, Asarev is very emotional, this can be regarded as a desperate situation.
In addition, fortunately, several ventilation holes are set up in the warehouse to maintain air circulation, so that air will circulate in, so that there will be no lack of oxygen and be choked to death.
Ashalyov calculated that the biggest problem of survival now is probably water, before, daily drinking water was brought in from the outside world, and the big explosion just now caused the only military kettle to be smashed, which made him into the dilemma of no water available.
He might be able to hold on for a while without food, but without water, he would soon die of thirst here.
Holding up a candle, Asharev continued to grope for the cave wall inside the warehouse, and on a stone wall that was obviously somewhat damp, Asarev spotted some traces of groundwater.
A small pit was dug under the stone wall, and after a while, when Asharev came to check it again, a small puddle of water had accumulated in the pit.
His throat was already thirsty, and at this moment he saw the water like a cheetah who saw his prey, and he drank it eagerly with a small spoon with the yellow water, which had some earthy smell, but fortunately it could keep him alive.
With all the food, drink, and clothing, Asarev was finally able to survive in this dark underground ruin.
But how lonely and lonely he had to endure, this was really the most unbearable torture in the world, and in the hopeless days of power, he always silently took out the letter that was extremely precious to him hidden in his chest, and read it again, and the sweet love words seemed to save his spirit that was about to fall into hell, and his dead heart ignited the hope of rebirth.
Asarev maintained his hope while also maintaining a regular life.
The darkness underground made it impossible for him to tell whether the outside world was day or night, but the ventilation holes in the warehouse allowed him to distinguish the approximate changes outside.
The ventilation hole went from dark to bright every day to let him know that the new day had begun again, and he ran out of exercise every day as usual, just like he had once done in the army.
When the ventilation hole went from light to dark, he knew that night was coming, and at this time he carved a mark on the cave wall to record the end of the day, and every six days a longer mark was engraved to indicate Sunday.
The Sunday of the week underground was the most special day for Assarev, who would spend his "bathing day" as strictly as he did in the barracks, but due to the lack of water, he would only change a set of underwear for letters and two new foot cloths.
Assarev folded the dirty clothes he had changed, and tied them into a bundle every four sets, indicating that time had passed a month, fifty-two bundles into a stack, and one stack indicating that a year had passed.
The leather boots on his feet are changed every six months, but fortunately, there are more military uniforms and military boots in the warehouse, and he always wears new clothes.
In order not to lose the ability to speak, Ashalyov would sing the Russian military song to the dark stone wall every day, and after singing it, he would take out Natasha's letter and read it, and when he read it affectionately, he would express his thoughts about her loudly.
Of course, he will also have resentment, and when he is upset, he will curse the people who buried him alive in this underground grave in the darkness...
In this way, Asarev survived underground in this amazing way for a full nine years.
Fourth, excavate underground warehouses
In the summer of 1924, a man named Bollensky wandered to Brest.
He had been a major in the Russian army in Brest, and after the October Revolution, his ranks were crushed by the Red Army, and he fled in a hurry, wandering around.
Coming back to this land, although Tsarist Russia no longer existed, he thought of the underground warehouse that might still exist.
Nine years ago, he had ordered the entrance to the hidden underground warehouse to be blown up, and now he was probably the only one who knew the secret, and if he told the Polish authorities today, he would be able to exchange it for a rich reward, he thought excitedly.
Immediately he managed to contact brest's army and inform him of the secret, and the garrison commander of Brest was intrigued by the warehouse and soon sent a group of Polish soldiers to follow Porlenski to the outskirts.
In the midst of a hidden mountain, Porrensky identified the inconspicuous pile of rocks that had been blasted, and the Polish soldiers, knowing the approximate location of the tunnel, began to dig non-stop.
The excavations lasted for six days, and on the afternoon of the sixth day, the Polish soldiers unearthed a very neatly arranged column of stones and called in Polenski to identify them.
"Found it! Found it! This is the stone vault of the tunnel, quick, chisel him open! Porrensky cried excitedly.
The Polish soldiers took a sledgehammer and cut a small hole in the side of the tunnel, and then a foul smell of musty smell rushed out, and then a low roar came from the depths of the tunnel.
The Polish soldiers present were shocked and frightened, could it be that it was haunted inside?
A Polish soldier received the order to investigate, and trembled and walked into the tunnel with a torch, behind him a dozen Polish soldiers with guns, as if facing a great enemy, the soldiers were surrounded, and the courage slowly advanced.
Not far from the tunnel, there was another roar in the distance, and the Polish soldiers at the head of the line stopped in fright, and in a short while the same sound came from the distance again.
A soldier in the group who knew Russian shouted: "He seems to speak Russian: stop, what man." ”
As soon as everyone listened, they asked the soldier to go up and try to talk to the owner of the voice in Russian.
The soldier stepped forward and shouted, "We are Polish soldiers, and we have been ordered to come here on a mission." ”
A voice from afar responded, "Come over and show your pass, and the others stay where they are." ”
"Pass? What pass? ”
"A pass issued by the Quartermaster Office of the 169th Division of the Russian Tsarist Forces." Distant voices respond.
Hearing this ancient country and unfamiliar titles, the Polish soldier had to shout: "The old Russia has long since collapsed, and the Tsar has been sent to the guillotine by the Soviets..."
The owner of the distant voice was half silent, and seemed for a moment not quite able to believe it all.
Nevertheless, the owner of the voice was still very determined, and he still insisted: "I am a soldier of the Tsar's army, and no one can enter this underground warehouse until I have received orders from my superiors!" ”
During the conversation, I also heard a "whoosh" sound, which was the sound of pulling the bolt of the gun.
Fifth, see the light of day again
Seeing this, the Polish soldiers had no choice but to give up, and they decided to send a man to the ground to find Polenski, a former officer of the unit.
When Polenski heard the Polish soldier say that there was a living soldier in the warehouse, his face was as if he had seen a ghost, his eyes were round, his mouth was wide open, and his face was full of disbelief.
The Polish soldiers pulled it into the tunnel.
Polenski approached the tunnel surrounded by Polish soldiers, and a distant voice sounded again, "Stop, what man?!" ”
By the light of the torch, Bollensky vaguely saw a soldier in a Russian uniform at the distant post, and he had the courage to say, "I am Vasily. Major Porlensky. ”
When the soldiers in the booth heard this, they immediately saluted a standard military salute and said, "Report major, sentry Assarov on duty, at your command." ”
The soldier in this post was Asharov, who had been living underground for nine years.
"Ashalyov?" Bollensky seemed to remember the name vaguely in his memory, and he held up a torch to try to take a closer look, but Asarev stopped: "Your Excellency, Major, please put out the torch in your hand, he stabbed me in the eye." ”
Bollensky quickly extinguished the torch, and Ashalyov lit a small candle, and in the light of the candle, the image of Ashalyov was fully revealed to everyone.
He had a full beard, his gray hair unkempt over his shoulders, dragging it all the way to his waist, his dirty beard longer than his military tunic, and he had lived in the dark for a long time, his face pale and full of dirt, and surprisingly his military uniform was unusually shiny.
The spirited young man of the past has now become an old man with a full beard.
The crowd decided to rescue Asharev from the hole first, and the crowd picked up a cloth to blindfold his eyes so that his eyes would not be blinded by the sunlight, and then slowly helped him out of the tunnel.
Outside the tunnel, the crowd curiously gathered around Asharev to ask questions and ask questions, and Asharev talked about the life he had experienced over the years, and his story infected everyone present.
Polensky said guiltily, "It's all my fault, and it's made you suffer." ”
But Asharev, who had seen the light of day, said with great generosity: "Don't mention the past, I want to forget this nightmare as soon as possible!" ”
A few Polish soldiers said curiously, "Can you show us the letter that sustains you?" ”
Ashalyov nodded and took out the pink letterhead from the bosom of his jacket, the letterhead was now tattered, the folds had been worn out, the handwriting had become blurred, and in countless days that could not survive, Ashalyov quietly touched the letter, supporting him to live...
A few days later, Ashalyov appeared at the railway station in Brest in a straight military uniform, and a group of Polish soldiers and Bollenski came to see him off, his face still extremely pale, but his face always revealed great joy.
He was finally able to return to his hometown, and Ashorev gave a solemn military salute to the crowd and stepped onto the northbound train.
References: "Soldiers Buried Alive", XijiangYue, 2005.8