What happened next was something that Lopatin later recalled.

He remembered that he had rejected the advice of Kochetov, the fighter of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and insisted on continuing to hold out in the trenches. Who knew that not long after the start of a new round of artillery bombardment by the Germans, he was swept away by the air wave of shells that fell on the trench and exploded.

When he opened his hazy eyes, he found himself lying in a room in the basement, next to Kochetov sat next to him. He struggled to sit up, and as soon as he raised his head, he felt a wave of dizziness, and his eyes were black, so he could only lie down again, and asked weakly: "Kochetov, am I injured?" ”

Hearing Lopatin's voice, Kochetov realized that he had woken up, and quickly leaned his head over and said with concern: "Lie down, lie down quickly, Comrade Lieutenant, you have several wounds on your body." ”

"How's the situation, did you push the Germans back?" Lopatin looked at Kochetov and asked with difficulty: "Have our reinforcements arrived?" ”

"We repelled another enemy attack, and because the casualties of our troops were so great, we all withdrew to our posts and continued to fight in the underground fortifications. As for the reinforcements," Kochetov said this, with a look of embarrassment on his face, "So far, I haven't seen any reinforcements, and I don't know if they will come." ”

Lopatin struggled again to sit up, and with Kochetov's help, he finally succeeded. The first thing he said when he sat up was to ask, "How many of us are there now?" ”

"Sixteen, Comrade Lieutenant." Kochetov had a painful expression on his face: "Also included five seriously wounded. ”

Lopatin leaned his back against the wall and gasped for a moment, and asked thoughtlessly, "How long have we been here?" ”

"It's been two days and one night." Kochetov replied: "After the Germans surrounded the outpost, they attacked us several times, but we were all repulsed. ”

"Where are Ensign Julda and Misha?" Lopatin asked again.

"Sacrificed, your vice-captain and orderly. Those who died in the battle during the day today, they behaved heroically. After saying these words, Kochetov paused for a moment, and then continued: "At present, the ammunition in the fortifications is relatively sufficient, but there is very little food and water, and it can only last for two days at most. ”

Lopatin tried to put his feet on the ground, and just as he tried to stand up, he groaned in a piercing pain from his body. Kochetov hurriedly supported him, shut him up and said: "Comrade lieutenant, you have a wound, let's lie down for a while." ”

Lopatin shook his head lightly and said resolutely, "I'm going to go outside and have a look." ”

Although Kochetov felt that it was a little inappropriate for Lopatin to go outside in his current physical condition, seeing that he was stubborn, he had to reluctantly nod his head and agree, put one of his arms on his shoulder, and helped him out of the room.

The two walked along the narrow passageway, and by the light of the gas lamps hanging on the wall, Lopatin saw the soldiers in the room, some wiping their guns, some resting on the ground against the wall. The treatment room was mixed with the light and serious wounded, and from time to time someone was moaning quietly, but no one paid attention to them. The whole underground fortification gives people a sense of chaos.

As he was walking, he suddenly heard the shouting of an argument coming from a room in front of him. He hurriedly pointed there and asked Kochetov to help him there.

In a few moments, the two of them came to the door of the room. In order to find out what was going on, Lopatin did not enter the door immediately, but stood by and listened quietly.

I only heard Warrior A say, "...... For the few of us now, it would be a dream to defend Outpost 13. In order to hold on to this underground fortification, it is first necessary to ensure that there are sufficient provisions. But what do we have now? In addition to the abundance of ammunition, food and water were seriously insufficient. Even if the enemy doesn't attack, as long as they trap us here, they can trap us alive. ”

"Then you say, what are we going to do?" Warrior B asked unceremoniously.

"The only way out is to wait for it to get too dark to break through and go east." Warrior Armor said his thoughts without concealment: "Find a way to get out of the gap in the enemy's defense." ”

After hearing this, Soldier B sneered and said: "Your suggestion sounds very good, but the Germans have suffered such a big loss here at our outpost, and if they don't wipe out all of us, I think they will never give up." ”

"Then you say, what are we going to do?" Warrior A couldn't help but get angry: "What should I do? Will they continue to stay in this rat hole, and in the end they will either be beaten to death by the Germans, or starved to death and dyed of thirst? ”

"We're going to keep fighting." "As long as we fight bravely, the Germans will not dare to pass through the outposts with confidence and boldness, and when our reinforcements arrive, they will be able to wipe out all the enemy." ”

"Reinforcements, where are the reinforcements?" Soldier A asked impatiently, "We have been fighting here for two days and one night, but we haven't seen a single sign of reinforcements until now, maybe they were all killed by the Germans." ”

After listening for a while, Luo Pajing felt that if he could not unify the thoughts of the fighters as soon as possible, in the next battle, it would be easy for the army to become discouraged. So he asked Kochetov to help him to the door, and said loudly: "I believe that reinforcements will come!" With that, he casually pointed at one of the warriors and commanded, "Tell everyone to go to the treatment room, and I will speak to everyone." ”

When the survivors of the outpost had gathered in the treatment room, Lopatin said loudly: "Comrades, what is the current situation, I just don't say, everyone probably knows very well. But even in this case, we must persevere, and there is only one task: to resolutely destroy the enemy, resolutely hold the outpost, and wait for the final counterattack! ”

As soon as Lopatin's words fell, Kochetov continued: "Yes, as long as we hold out for two more days, reinforcements will surely arrive, and then we will be able to launch a counterattack against the enemy." ”

Afterwards, Lopatin shook hands with all the personnel, including the wounded, and comforted and encouraged them. The effect was immediate, and the atmosphere in the fortifications changed immediately. First of all, the moans of the wounded were no longer audible, and the voices of anxiety and complaining were gone. An unseen force coalesced in the fortifications.

While everyone was busy, suddenly an observation post shouted: "The enemy is coming!" ”

"Prepare for battle!" After Lopatin gave the order, he took the lead in front of the shooting hole and looked out. I saw forty or fifty German soldiers, wearing bright steel helmets on their heads, holding weapons, and stepping on the bricks and stones on the ground with their waists, carefully touching this side.

Seeing that the enemy was only a dozen meters away from the fortifications, Lopatin shouted: "Fire!" He then pulled the trigger and knocked down one of the German soldiers who was at the front with his pistol. With his command, the weapons mounted on the firing holes opened fire together, and the bullets fired from a dozen or so guns caused five or six German soldiers to spin in place and fall to the rubble.

The remaining German soldiers hurriedly lay down, looking for all the cover they could find, including dead bodies and rubble, and curled up as much as possible to hide behind. After the initial panic, they took their guns and fired them in the direction where the bullets were coming from.

While the two sides were in a fight, there was a sudden sound outside, muffled by the sound of rifle fire and machine gun fire, "Ula! Then there was a louder and louder rumble. Lopatin stopped shooting, listened attentively, and saw that the sound was coming not from the front, but from the side, and he could not help but think in horror: "Did the Germans send tanks against us?" ”

But the next scene made him a little incomprehensible. Several shells landed in the rubble and exploded, and the air wave lifted the soldiers high into the air along with the rubble, and then fell down hard. When the German soldiers got up and ran back, countless Soviet commanders and fighters shouted from the side and chased after them.

Lopatin looked at the allies who suddenly appeared in a daze, and pinched his thighs hard, saying that he was not dreaming, right? Just now I was telling my subordinates that reinforcements would come, but I didn't expect the reinforcements to really come!

However, the answer soon emerged, and when the open space of the post was filled with tanks of all kinds, the people staying in the underground fortifications heard a voice through a loudspeaker at the same time: "Comrades of the 13th frontier post, I am Major General Rokossovsky, commander of the 9th Mechanized Army, we are here to rescue you!" ”