Rat-a-tat-tat! The Squad Automatic Weapon opened fire savagely, and a burst of bullets immediately cut down several Bolshevik border guards. The other Buru soldiers were frightened out of their wits as well, dropping to the ground and breaking out in cold sweat.
The Border Guards had always been the worst-equipped branch of the Buru Army. Their weapons were basically castoffs from field units, so no one could expect much of their quality. Moreover, their mission this time was to intercept refugees, so these border guards had not brought many powerful weapons—aside from rifles, they only had a few grenades. When they came under the Ukrainian army's machine-gun barrage, they did not know what to do for a while.
Fortunately, seeing that they had suppressed the Bolshevik border guards, the Ukrainian soldiers did not press their advantage. They withdrew at once. No matter what, they had fired first this time, killed several Bolshevik border guards, and suffered no losses themselves.
After returning to their post, the squad leader immediately reported the situation upward. However, the commander of an Infantry Battalion stationed in the area did not take it seriously. Over the years, the Kingdom of Ukraine and Buru had clashed at the border many times. So long as their own side had not come out worse, their superiors would not blame them. After all, such incidents had happened countless times, and they had long grown used to them.
What the Ukrainians had not expected was that this time was somewhat different. The company commander who had been killed had a powerful background. He was the nephew of an Infantry Corps commander in Buru. That corps commander had placed him in the Border Guards merely to build up his credentials; in a couple of years, he would have been transferred back to