“Whoosh…”
The sharp, piercing wail of the air raid siren echoed across the entire city.
People walking along the streets instinctively looked up at the sky, but they quickly lowered their heads again and resumed what they had been doing.
For the past week, the sirens had sounded almost every day, yet the Germans had never actually bombed the city.
Instead, they simply dropped large numbers of leaflets, and the people of Lviv had long since grown accustomed to it.
As the alarms became more frequent, the true situation of the war gradually became known.
The truth was enough to plunge every Pole into despair.
During the border battles, a defensive line made up of six Polish army groups, totaling roughly 800,000 men, had been broken by the Germans within just a few hours.
Over the next two days, hundreds of thousands of Polish soldiers were surrounded and destroyed one formation after another as they retreated in confusion.
Never before had there been such a humiliating collapse.
Millions of Polish troops were driven back by the German offensive.
Cavalry armed with sabers and lances launched suicidal charges against German tanks, leaving the ground behind them littered with bodies.
The so-called modern fighter aircraft were destroyed on their airfields before they even had a chance to take off.
The supposedly impregnable permanent fortifications were torn apart by the German armored forces as though they were made of cardboard.
The so-called third strongest military power in Europe, after the United Kingdom and France, had its façade stripped away in humiliating fashion, exposing its weakness to the world like a plucked pig.
In the Halytskyi District, Viktor, disguised with a full beard, walked along a street paved with flagstones.
Beside him was Sofia, dressed in a black dress.
She wore elegant clothing every day, perfectly matching her public identity as a socialite.
In Lviv, Sofia’s cover was that of a well-connected woman who moved among the city’s upper class, introducing businessmen to celebrities and collecting commissions for arranging their connections.
When the siren sounded, Viktor instinctively moved closer to the side of the street, continuing forward with his shoulder almost brushing the wall.
Lviv had been sealed off by the military a week earlier, and no one was allowed to enter or leave freely.
As a result, most of the city’s residents knew little about the actual course of the war.
Such restrictions, however, meant nothing to Viktor.
He already knew that German forces had reached the outskirts of Lviv.
The Carpathian Army, responsible for defending the approaches to the city, had withdrawn into Romania under the command of General Kazimierz Fabrycy without putting up any meaningful resistance.
In reality, Lviv had already been abandoned.
The city’s defense now rested with a small number of regular troops, supported by large numbers of militia and police officers who had little or no military training.
To the west, the Germans continued their advance.
At the same time, four Soviet infantry divisions were pushing rapidly toward Lviv from the southeast.
Along the way, they encountered almost no meaningful resistance, and their advance was as effortless as a routine march.
What Viktor had to worry about now was no longer the Poles destroying the city’s facilities before withdrawing, but the widespread destruction the Germans might cause after entering the city.
After all, according to the Soviet-German agreement, Lviv was ultimately to be handed over to the Soviet Union.
People crowded the streets: wealthy families trying to flee the city, ordinary citizens scrambling to stockpile supplies, and thugs and gangsters looking for opportunities to take advantage of the chaos.
No one paid much attention to the relentless air raid siren anymore, despite its piercing sound.
The first shell exploded on top of a church in the alley behind the street.
The entire street fell into an eerie silence.
No one screamed, and no one ran.
They simply stared in shock as the church rapidly collapsed into the dust.
The moment he saw the explosion, Viktor had a very bad feeling.
Although he had never served in the regular military, he had organized numerous anti-bandit operations and had worked alongside the Border Guard many times.
A shell powerful enough to bring down an entire church was clearly not fired from an ordinary field gun.
It had almost certainly come from a large-caliber heavy howitzer.
Boom!
Another shell exploded.
This one landed much closer than the previous one, directly across the street from where Viktor was standing.
It struck the corner of a four-story building facing the street.
The massive explosion shook the entire block.
Everyone within a radius of more than ten meters was caught in the blast.
Some were torn apart instantly, while others were hurled to the ground, rolling in agony and screaming in pain.
In an instant, panic erupted throughout the street.
People screamed and fled in every direction, desperately trying to get as far away as possible.
Viktor crouched beside the corner of a building, shielding Sofia behind him as he calmly watched the panicked crowd scatter.
At a time like this, running around blindly was the worst possible choice.
Stay away from obvious landmarks, find the sturdiest building available, and take cover on the side opposite the direction of the incoming artillery.
That was the best way to maximize one’s chances of survival.
The shelling continued intermittently for less than twenty minutes before finally falling silent.
By then, the street had become a scene of devastation.
Of course, the silence was only relative.
Wounded civilians groaned in pain, bodies lay scattered across the pavement, and children who had lost their parents sat on the ground, crying uncontrollably.
In the face of war, everyone was fragile.
“The Germans are about to enter the city,” Viktor said, gently rubbing Sofia’s shoulder to calm her visibly shaken nerves.
“We have to launch the uprising immediately and seize all the key facilities before they arrive.
Otherwise, the Germans are very likely to destroy them.”
Sofia had clearly never witnessed such brutality before.
Still shaken, she said, “But we haven’t received authorization from headquarters.”
“It’s too late for that,” Viktor replied as he stood up.
“Issue the order first.
I’ll take responsibility for it.”
“Alright,” Sofia nodded.
“As soon as we return to the safe house, I’ll immediately relay your order to everyone.”
There was still some distance to the agreed-upon safe house.
It would take at least another ten minutes on foot, and under the current circumstances, that stretch of road would not be easy to cross.
Less than twenty minutes of German shelling completely shattered Lviv’s confidence. Read this novel at g.com for the best experience.
As the shells fell, order throughout the city collapsed.
The Germans had not even entered Lviv yet, but the city had already become a paradise for thugs.
Looting was rampant, and acts of rape were taking place across the city.
During the short walk back to the safe house, which took little more than ten minutes, Viktor emptied two magazines before he managed to escort the elegantly dressed Sofia back safely.
Along the way, far too many men had set their sights on her.
Although Viktor had made careful preparations according to the Lviv Operation Plan, and so far none of the facilities designated for protection had been damaged, one crucial part of the plan had failed.
The Soviet Army did not arrive on schedule.
Instead, the Germans reached Lviv first, putting the entire operation in an extremely difficult position.
According to the Soviet-German agreement, Poland was to be divided along the Curzon Line.
Moscow would reclaim the territories ceded to Poland under the Treaty of Riga, and Lviv lay east of that line.
The Germans might eventually hand the city over in accordance with the agreement, but Lviv’s industrial facilities were not covered by its provisions.
No one could guarantee that the Germans would not dismantle the city’s factories and infrastructure before withdrawing, leaving nothing but an empty shell for the Soviet Union.
To prevent the worst-case scenario, Viktor was forced to revise the plan at the last minute.
He ordered Kubkin to launch the uprising immediately and seize the city’s major transportation hubs and industrial facilities before the Germans could occupy them, thereby preventing large-scale destruction.
The change was made so hastily that Viktor only had time to send a telegram to Proskurov.
Without waiting for a reply, he issued the order to begin the armed uprising throughout the city.
……..
Standing before the dressing mirror, Viktor carefully fastened the buttons of his white undershirt while catching occasional glimpses of Sofia behind him in the reflection.
By now, Sofia had cut off her wavy hair, leaving it only ear-length.
She stood a short distance behind him, wearing nothing but a pair of white lace-trimmed shorts.
His eyes briefly lingered on her reflection, and an involuntary flicker of desire crossed his mind.
However, he knew all too well that this was neither the right time nor the right person for such thoughts.
Forcing himself to look away, Viktor finished buttoning his undershirt as quickly as possible and reached for the brand-new military uniform lying nearby.
Outside the window, sporadic gunfire echoed through the streets, a constant reminder that time was running out.
Soon, the reflection in the mirror showed a State Security Lieutenant of the People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs, wearing a blue service cap, a brown-green military tunic, blue trousers, and high deerskin boots.
From this moment on, Viktor would appear before the Germans who might enter the city at any time in this uniform, formally informing them that Lviv was now Soviet territory.
Sofia had also changed into her uniform.
Unlike Viktor, she wore a blue forage cap instead of a service cap, a blue knee-length skirt, and shorter high boots designed for women.
Her rank, somewhat unexpectedly, was also that of a Lieutenant.
In Viktor’s opinion, the military uniform suited Sofia far better than the elaborate dresses she usually wore.
Its tailored fit not only accentuated her slender figure but also gave her a composed, capable appearance.
“Let’s go,” Viktor said, adjusting his service cap before turning to Sofia, whose expression showed a mixture of excitement and anticipation.
“We’re heading to Horodok.”
The Horodok district was the main route by which the German Army would enter the city of Lviv.