Crochkov struggled to lift his head out of the dirt, but the dirt weighing on him made it impossible for him to move. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 Info And just when he was holding back the stars, he suddenly felt a lightness on his back, and then his body was grabbed by a hand reaching out in an unknown direction, and he was involuntarily dragged out of the soil.

Although he felt pins and needles all over his body, after he came out of the soil, at least he breathed much easier, and he clearly felt that he was still alive in the world. Someone flipped him over on his back and faced the sky, and then groped around around his body to see if there were any injuries or missing parts.

Loud and indistinct sounds poured into his ears, hazy, as if separated by two worlds. Raising his hand to wipe away what was greasy on his face, and his heavy eyelids were lifted, and bursts of black, gray, blue, and white smoke rolled up in the dim and ghostly sky, and a feeling of dizziness that could only be found in bed when he was drunk suddenly hit him, forcing him to close his eyes again.

With a big gasp, he suddenly smelled the smell that he had once familiar but far away - the smoke of gunpowder was by no means the smoke of fireworks set off at festivals, but the smell he had smelled on the battlefield during the Soviet-Finnish war, mixed with a strong smell of blood. The smell really stimulated his sense of smell, making every pore on his body open with excitement.

"Comrade first-class instructor! Comrade first-class instructor! A lot of people shook and shouted in front of his eyes, and then he was helped up again.

After standing up straight, the man standing across from him grabbed his arms and shook them violently, shouting out something. It took a long time for Crochkov to see clearly in a daze that the person who was shaking himself was the commander of a company, and the other party was shouting at him at the top of his voice: "Tanks, infantry, come out of the forest!" ”

Crochkov shook his head, still a little dazed, and spat out his mouth mixed with bloody slag, and the roar of their engines was clearly heard in his ears. He turned his head to look in the direction of the forest, and saw directly a large group of German infantry, under the cover of seven or eight tanks, rushing towards his position.

Seeing the menacing enemy, the company commander, who was frightened by the fierce artillery bombardment that had just ended, asked in a panic: "Comrade first-class political instructor, what should we do, what should we do?" ”

On the morning of the second day after Rokossovsky's inspection of the 1075th regimental defense area, the Germans launched a surprise attack on the left flank of the 16th Army. And on this section, the first thing to be hit was the defensive positions of the first battalion of the regiment. At the beginning of the shelling, Krochkov was inspecting the positions of the first company when he was stunned by the blast of the shells and buried deep in the splashed earth. As soon as the commanders dug out of the earth, they saw the enemy attacking the position.

In order to ease the tension of the company commander, Crochkov tried to pretend to be calm and said: "Comrade captain, do not be afraid, when the enemy enters our firing range, use anti-tank guns to knock out the enemy's tanks, and use machine guns, submachine guns and rifles to destroy the infantry following behind. ”

After saying that, Crochkov rushed to the side of the telephone, grabbed the phone, connected the regiment headquarters, and shouted: "Hey, comrade regiment commander?" I am Crochkov, the enemy tanks are rushing to the positions of a company, and I ask you to provide us with artillery support. ”

"It's not just your battalion that is under attack." The voice of the regiment commander came from the earpiece: "The positions of the second and third battalions are also being attacked by the Germans...... Well, I'll do my best to support you. ”

As soon as Krochkov put down the phone, he heard a company commander shouting an order: "Anti-tank guns with armor-piercing shells, get ready to shoot!" ”

Crochkov saw a soldier in front of him and was scrambling to press a bullet into an anti-tank rifle, but because his hand was trembling so badly, the bullet actually fell to the ground. Seeing this, a veteran next to him immediately yelled at the soldier: "Damn coward, hurry up and pick up the bullets, don't you see that the enemy tanks are rushing over?" ”

Although the scolded soldier bent down to pick up the bullet, he was unable to load the bullet into the magazine due to excessive tension. After the veteran saw it, he opened his mouth and was about to continue scolding, but was stopped by Crochkov: "Comrade soldier, I think he looks like a new soldier, the first time he goes to the battlefield, it is inevitable that he is a little nervous when he hears the sound of the enemy's guns." ”

After saying that, Krochkov walked up to the fighter, took the bullet in his hand and skillfully pressed it into the magazine. Then he raised his hand and patted the soldier on the shoulder, and said amiably: "Don't be afraid, comrade recruit, as long as you shoot the first bullet, you will never be nervous again." Aim and fight, and strive to take out the German tanks with one shot. ”

The recruit fighters, encouraged by Crochkov, hurriedly straightened their backs and said loudly: "Don't worry, Comrade Political Instructor of the First Rank, I promise to knock out the enemy's tanks." ”

Crochkov saw that there were quite a few infantry soldiers in the trenches, all of them trembling with nervousness and fear, just like the recruit in front of him. In order to dispel everyone's uneasiness, he walked forward along the trench and shouted: "Brothers, do not be nervous. The Germans had only a few tanks, and our anti-tank men could easily wipe them all out. As for the infantry who followed behind the tanks, there were only more than a hundred, and our ratio to them was exactly one-on-one. …… They were in the open field without shelter, and we were in the trenches. …… Even if we kill a dozen or twenty of them, they may not be able to hit us,...... Brothers, do not be afraid, for we will be able to repel the German attack. ”

The fighters, especially the recruits, who were still extremely frightened in their hearts, gradually stabilized their emotions after hearing Crochkov's shouts. They lay on the edge of the loose and slightly hot trenches, raised their weapons, and aimed at the German soldiers who were approaching them.

At this moment, the scream of artillery shells suddenly came from the air, and then the smoke of the shells exploded on the battlefield, and it was the regimental artillery battalion that opened fire first.

When the smoke cleared, Crochkov saw that three tanks had been blown up and were burning in place, while the remaining tanks continued to rush forward. The soldiers who followed behind the tank also changed from striding to trotting.

Seeing that the enemy was almost within range of his own fire, Crochkov yelled: "Hit, brothers! Fire on the enemy's infantry, teach them a hard lesson, hit hard! ”

With his shout, a dense burst of gunfire rang out from the position, and the machine guns roared loudly, and the whole company opened fire on the rushing German infantry.

The anti-tank rifles on the position also aimed at the German tanks rushing in front and opened fire. A tank, which had been hit and caught fire, was still rushing forward with billowing smoke, and finally stopped less than ten meters from the trench. Seeing that an enemy tank was paralyzed in front of the position, Krochkov and several other fighters turned their weapons around, aimed at the hatch of the turret, and prepared to shoot at the sight of a figure.

From the bottom of the tank body, two tank crews covered in fire crawled out. As soon as they got out of the tank, they ran backwards with their hands and feet, but no matter how fast they ran, they couldn't outrun the bullets, and in a moment's effort, they stayed in the dense fire of the Soviet soldiers, lying motionless on the ground, letting the fire burn on their bodies, and the smell of barbecue suddenly filled the air.

"Comrade Political Instructor of the First Rank," as soon as the German tankmen were killed, one of the fighters ran up the trench and shouted close to Crochkov's ear: "Your call, the regimental commander called." ”

Crochkov ran to the telephone, grabbed the microphone that was resting next to it and put it to his ear, and at the same time blocked the other ear with his finger, and said loudly: "Hey, Comrade Regiment Commander, I'm Crochkov, what instructions do you have?" ”

"Why didn't you report to us on the results of the artillery battalion?" The voice of the regimental commander was disgruntled from the earpiece.

"The artillery battalion destroyed three tanks." Krochkov looked at the burning wreckage of tanks on the battlefield and reported loudly: "A company destroyed two with anti-tank rifles, and the remaining two were undamaged and were retreating." The German infantry also retreated. ”

"Great, that's great." Hearing that the Germans had been repulsed, the regiment commander said happily: "Comrade Crochkov, immediately count the results of the battle and report them to me." ”

"Please wait a minute, Comrade Regiment Commander, I will report the results of the battle to you immediately." When Krochkov said this, he immediately covered the microphone with his hand, called the company commander in front of him and ordered: "Comrade Captain, immediately count the results of the battle, and we must immediately report to the regimental headquarters." ”

When the commander of the first company heard Crochkov say this, he immediately reported without thinking: "Comrade Political Instructor of the First Class, the approximate results have been calculated: five German tanks were destroyed, 41 infantry were destroyed. ”

"What about ours?" Crochkov then asked: "What about our casualties?" ”

"Twenty-nine people were killed and 59 wounded." The commander of the first company replied with some embarrassment: "Most of our casualties were caused by German shelling. ”

"I know." After saying that, Krochkov put the microphone to his ear again and reported to the regiment commander on the results achieved and the casualties of the troops.

After listening to Crochkov's report, the regiment commander was silent for a moment before he spoke: "Yes, Comrade Crochkov, you have fought well in a row. Although the 2nd and 3rd Battalions also repelled the German attack, almost half of their troops suffered casualties. There was even a company commander in the second battalion who was killed. ”

……

The results of the 1075 regiment were quickly reported to the army command through Panfilov. Rokossovsky saw the battle report in front of him, nodded silently, and then said to Lobachev: "Comrade Military Commissar, see, this is the result of the 316th Infantry Division, their 1075th Regiment successfully crushed the German offensive and inflicted considerable casualties on the German army. Among them, the best fight was still the battalion where Crochkov was. ”

At this time, Malinin walked over, handed a telegram in his hand to Rokossovsky, and said with a serious expression: "Comrade commander, I have just received information from the scouts that the enemy has assembled two infantry divisions and two tank divisions in front of our defensive position, and their main attack direction is the position of the 316th Infantry Division, in an attempt to break through the defense line of our army in one fell swoop, and rush to the Volokolamsk road. ”

Rokossovsky read the contents of the telegram at a glance, handed it to Lobachev casually, and then asked: "Chief of Staff, who provided this information?" ”

"It's Captain Igor of the civilian police detachment." Malinin pointed to the map in front of Rokossovsky and said: "He personally led a reconnaissance group and operated in this area. ”

"That's right," Rokossovsky nodded as he stared at the map, and said approvingly, "Captain Igor is so good that he can get such important information." This information is very useful to us, and we can use it to make corresponding deployments. By the way, what about the rest of the lots? ”

"The defense area of the mixed cadet regiment is calm at the moment, and the enemy in front of them has no signs of attacking." Malinin continued to report: "And the defense area of the cavalry corps has also been attacked by the enemy. We, the dismounted cavalry, were in good shape, and with their stubborn defenses, the enemy's attack was crushed. ”

In the entire defensive position, Rokossovsky was most worried about the area of the cavalry corps. Because the army lacked heavy weapons and the defensive front was not small, it was very difficult to block the German attack. At this moment, when he heard that the troops of the cavalry corps had repelled the German attack, the stone hanging in his heart finally fell to the ground. He asked casually, "I don't know that it was the cavalry army that repelled the enemy's attack?" ”

Malinin thought for a moment, and then replied: "It's a battalion of General Priyev of the 50th Cavalry Division, the battalion commander is called Boris, with the rank of major." He had led cavalry units to reinforce our defenders when we were defending the meeting, and he was a very combative commander. ”

"I remember." Rokossovsky nodded and said: "We must pay special attention to commanders who have performed well in battle, and when appropriate, we can consider adding burdens to them. ”

"The German attack though we repulsed." After waiting for Rokossovsky to finish, Malinin then asked: "But I guess that after suffering losses, they will put more troops into battle, what should we do next?" ”

"The order is clear, let the troops hold their existing defensive positions." Although Rokossovsky was the most reluctant to fight such a desperate and attritional positional war, in the current situation, he could only harden his heart and give the latest order: "No unit is allowed to take a step back until the permission of the army group command is obtained." (To be continued.) )