Due to the strength of the German army, not only the counterattack of the 16th Army failed, but also the offensive launched by the 49th Army and Belov's cavalry corps ended in failure. The only bright spot of the www.biquge.info was the great success in the Aleksin area, which inflicted heavy losses on the units of the German 4th Army and made them incapable of taking part in the general offensive against Moscow.

Within a day, the positions captured by Rokossovsky's troops in the counterattack fell into the hands of the Germans. Anxious at the frequent unfavorable news from the front, Lobachev sat opposite Rokossovsky and smoked cigarettes, smoking one cigarette after another, so that the small headquarters was filled with choking smoke.

"Comrade Commander, what should we do?" Seeing Rokossovsky sitting at the table, calmly looking at the map in front of him, Malinin couldn't hold his breath, and he said nervously: "Since our elite troops have suffered heavy losses in counterattacks and defenses, so that now there is a shortage of troops in the main defensive positions, what should we do?" ”

"Chief of Staff, don't be in a hurry." Rokossovsky saw that his gaze shifted from the map to Malinin's body, and said unhurriedly: "Order the troops to use the existing fortifications, forests, rivers and swamps to resist and gradually shrink their forces, and in the process of retreating, slow down the advance of the German army and consume a large number of their living forces." ”

"What, let our troops retreat on their own initiative?" Hearing Rokossovsky's words, Lobachev, who was smoking a cigarette, couldn't help but raise his head and asked in surprise: "Isn't our slogan: Wouldn't it be better to leave the bones in the wilderness than to take a step back?" ”

"Comrade Military Commissar," Rokossovsky explained in response to Lobachev's doubts: "At present, the enemy is strong and we are weak, and we are at an absolute disadvantage in terms of troops and equipment, so we must adopt new tactics to deal with the enemy." ”

"Is this appropriate?" Not only did Lobachev question what Rokossovsky said, but even Chief of Staff Malinin hesitated and said: "If our superiors know about this kind of behavior, will we be punished?" ”

"Don't worry, Comrade Chief of Staff." Regarding Malinin's concerns, Rokossovsky said with a big grin: "If the superiors want to investigate it, I will bear all the responsibility." ”

……

Although Rokossovsky gave the order to reduce the number of troops, in the course of the counteroffensive, not only did he use all his mobile forces, but he even transferred troops from some important defensive positions. As a result, after the failure of the counteroffensive, the troops suffered heavy casualties under the frantic counterattack of the German army, and they simply could not draw enough troops to strengthen important areas.

When more than 20 German tanks spread out in formation and rushed towards the Dubosekovo Concession Station, it was the 4th Company of the 1075th Regiment that was holding on here.

Seeing the fighters deployed in the foxholes outside running back, Krochkov, the first-class instructor who was directing the battle in the trenches, immediately shouted: "Stop, stop for me, where are you going?" ”

But his shouts were drowned out by the explosion of falling shells and the rumble of tank motors in the distance, and the soldiers running back did not hear him shouting at all. He leaned forward slightly with his hands on the wall of the trench, frowning and carefully observing the rushing German tank group. After a short observation, he understood in his heart that it was undoubtedly a fool's dream to block the assault of the German tank group with the little strength under his command and the few anti-tank rifles he had.

In the face of such a disparity in strength, after a short period of hesitation, he resolutely decided to continue the fight and do everything in his power to delay and deplete the living forces of the German army. He reached out and grabbed a soldier who had just jumped into the trench, and without saying a word, pushed him to the firing position, and then walked along the trench forward, while cheering everyone up loudly: "Brothers, do not be afraid, the Germans only have twenty tanks, and this is only a small matter, and each of us will not have one." ”

He walked up to one of the anti-tank fighters, raised his hand and patted the other man on the shoulder, and ordered: "Comrade soldiers, get on armor-piercing incendiary bombs and teach the Germans a hard lesson." ”

The soldiers, who had been a little flustered, saw Krochkov walking past them, and at the same time constantly doing political propaganda work on them, gradually calmed down, and everyone lay down in their respective firing positions, waiting for the German tanks and the infantry behind to enter the firing range, and immediately opened fire.

Crochkov stared intently at the rushing tanks, and seeing that they had already rushed into the range of the anti-tank guns, he immediately straightened up, waved his hands desperately, and shouted loudly: "Shoot, shoot immediately, destroy the tanks of the Germans." ”

With his order, the only seven remaining anti-tank guns in the position opened fire at the same time, and in the first round of fire, two German tanks were destroyed.

"Wonderful, brethren, you guys are wonderful." Seeing that the two German tanks were reimbursed, Crochkov excitedly shouted: "Don't stop, keep firing and kill the rest of the tanks." ”

As soon as Crochkov's shout fell, a tank shell fell not far away and exploded, and one of the anti-tank men next to him fell to the ground. He hurriedly leaned over to check, only to see that the soldier's military cap had been blown off by shrapnel, and blood gushed out from the wound on his forehead. He hurriedly lowered his head and flipped through his briefcase, preparing to use the first-aid kit to bandage the warrior.

As soon as Krochkov took out his first aid kit, he saw the soldier staggering to his feet against the wall of the trench, looked ahead, grabbed the grenade placed next to the anti-tank gun, and threw it out with a wave of his hand. Since the soldier's eyes were covered with the blood left behind and did not grasp the direction well, the first grenade fell seven or eight meters away from the German tank and exploded, and the shrapnel hit the armor plate on the spot, without slowing down the tank in the slightest. Seeing that one did not work, the warrior threw a second grenade. It's a pity that this time it was thrown off the rails and exploded two or three meters away from the right side of the tank. Reluctantly, the fighter threw a third grenade, this time finally smashing into the tank's body, and after a loud bang, flames enveloped the tank's body.

Seeing the raging fire of the tank rushing to the trench, Krochkov immediately grabbed a submachine gun, aimed it at the turret, and as soon as the tankman pushed open the roof hatch and climbed out of the car, he immediately pulled the trigger without hesitation. With the sound of clattering shots, a barrage of bullets hit the German soldier who had just escaped, and he clutched his chest and fell into the snow.

"See?" After Krochkov had killed the German soldiers who had escaped from the tanks, he excitedly shouted at the fighters who threw grenades: "A few shots will kill the damned enemy." When he had finished shouting, he heard no reply. He turned his head strangely to see that the soldier was already lying face down on the wall of the trench motionless, and when he saw this, a hint of foreboding welled up in his heart, and when he turned the soldier over and put his finger in his nostrils, he found that the other man had long since lost his breath.

Saddened by the death of a soldier in front of him, Krochkov raised his head and scolded viciously at the German tanks that were rushing towards him: "Damn the Germans! After scolding, he put down the submachine gun in his hand, set up the anti-tank gun, aimed at the rushing German tank and pulled the trigger fiercely.

Although the fighters on the position, with anti-tank guns and anti-tank grenades, stubbornly resisted, destroying one tank after another in front of the position, due to the large number of German tanks, two tanks still managed to cross the trench and rush to the depth of the 316th Division's defense.

Panfilov, who was staying in the headquarters, saw the German tanks rushing towards Volokolamsk, and he couldn't help but be secretly anxious, and he hurriedly ordered the chief of staff to call the commander of the 1075th Regiment and ask the other party to transfer troops to strengthen the defense of the Dubosekovo Concession Station, while he personally called Krochkov and told him that reinforcements were coming and told him to hold his position at all costs.

Crochkov, who was shooting at the German tank with an anti-tank rifle in the trench, heard a soldier running over and told him that the division commander had called, and hurriedly gave the anti-tank gun in his hand to the soldier, and then bent down and quickly ran along the trench to the position where there was a phone.

He picked up the microphone and shouted loudly: "Hey, hey, comrade division commander, I'm Crochkov, can you hear me?" ”

"I can hear you, Comrade Crochkov." Panfilov said loudly: "How is the situation there, can you hold off the enemy's attack?" ”

"No problem, Comrade Division Commander." Krochkov clenched the microphone in both hands, turned to look at the battlefield, and at the same time silently counted the number of destroyed German tanks: "One, two, three...... Twelve, thirteen, fourteen. Comrade division commander, we have destroyed fourteen German tanks ......"

A shell that exploded not far away interrupted his words to the back. The heart-wrenching pain came from his back, which made him unconsciously throw away the microphone in his hand, instinctively covering the wound behind his back with his backhand, and as soon as his eyes were black, he fell directly on the wall of the trench in front of him.

I don't know how long it was, maybe a dozen seconds, maybe a few minutes later, he woke up slowly, opened his mouth wide and breathed heavily. Seeing that there were still soldiers fighting stubbornly on the left and right, he took two deep breaths and said in a weak voice: "Brothers, although Russia is vast, we have no way to retreat, because behind us is Moscow. With that, he grabbed a grenade in front of him and, with the last of his strength, threw it at a German tank that was about to rush in front of him.

Panfilov, who was far away in the command headquarters, heard a loud noise coming from the earpiece, and there was no more movement. He desperately shouted into the microphone: "Hey, hey, hey, Crochkov, what's wrong with you?" Still alive? Speak! ”

But no matter how Panfilov called, there was not the slightest sound coming from the earpiece. He guessed that the phone line might have been blown up, so he could only put down the phone in disappointment.

Seeing the painful expression on Panfilov's face, the political commissar of the division, Yegorov, felt and asked: "Comrade division commander, what did Crochkov say, can they stop the Germans?" ”

Panfilov took off his hat from his head, looked at his commissar and said: "Comrade commissar, Crochkov has already died, he and his fighters showed great valor in battle. ”

Yegorov also hurriedly took off his military cap and bowed his head in silence for the sacrificed Crochkov. When he put his hat back on, he asked with concern, "Did he have any last words?" ”

"Yes, Comrade Political Commissar." Panfilov did not know that the last words he heard were those spoken by Crochkov every time he boosted morale, so he said them as the last words of the other party: "He said: Although Russia is vast, we have no way back, because behind us is Moscow." ”

"Comrade Krochkov was a very combatant commander." After listening to Panfilov's account, Egorov took the initiative to suggest: "We should report his heroic deeds to the command, so that more commanders and fighters know what he said." (To be continued.) )