[EternalHope]

This sounds like fiction.

I certainly hope it is.

[djf]

My thoughts are that it may be fiction.

BUT!!!

What I really think it is that something like it happened, and over the years, Nikolai tells Peter, Peter tells Andrei, and on and on and the story gets incredibly embellished.

Scary no matter where it came from!

And actually, we do know that sleep deprivation will literally drive people crazy.

[Humbug]

That was my impression too. Especially when i came to this part:

In total: 5 of the soldiers, following the incident took their own lives after being witness to their comrade’s deaths.

Don't buy that at all. Maybe one, but not 5.