Babel and Cossack speech

[Robert Chandler]

Dear all,

Some passages in Konarmiya are extremely obscure.  Can anyone help with the
following, from 'Smert' Dolgushova?  I have asked 3 Russian native-speakers
and they have given very different answers.

Если думка за начдива правильная, если смещают, тогда мыли холку и выбивай
подпорки.  Точка.

Esli dumka za nachdiva pravilnaya, esli smeshchayut, togda myli kholku i
vybivai podporki.  Tochka.

It is clear that the speaker is afraid that the Poles will defeat them if
the divisional commander is replaced.  I am aware that the idiom namylit'
kholku komu-nibud' means to give someone a good scolding, but I am not sure
if that meaning is central here.

Does the last part of the sentence mean that we should try to escape as
quickly as possible?  Could it mean that we might as well hang ourselves?
It has been suggested to me that myli kholku could be something to do with
soaping the rope, and that the podporki could be the platform a man stands
on before being hanged.

Thanks in advance,

Robert Chandler

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