As there were often refugees fleeing from the cities to the west, and scattered troops, they cut through the forests and after passing through the positions built by the Leskov battalion, entered Shepetovka, and from there retreated by train or on foot to the cities further east.

In order to prevent accidental injuries to the refugees, Leskov did not let the fighters lay minefields in front of the positions. Now the tanks that came out of the forest found that the rest of the area was safe, except for the defensive positions in the distance, which could cause them some trouble. So they formed a battle formation outside the forest and rushed to the positions of the Leskov battalion with great pride. Soldiers on motorcycles followed far behind.

Leskov ran from the command post to the trench and stood bent over next to a machine-gun shooter. Watching the machine gunner keep firing, the machine gun hitting the armor of the tank could only splash a series of sparks, which could not slow down the tank's advance in the slightest.

Seeing this, Leskov approached the fighter and shouted hoarsely: "Machine gunner, aim at the viewing hole of the tank and shoot!" Hit the observation hole in it and the tank will stop! ”

Suddenly, Leskov heard the sound of machine gun fire stopped, turned his head and saw that the young machine gun shooter was lying on the machine gun with his head covered in blood, and the bullets that flew from somewhere hit him.

It was too late, but too soon, and the German tanks had approached just a few meters from the trenches. Leskov understood that he would be killing himself by shooting with a machine gun at this time, so he hurriedly crouched down. As he watched the behemoth drive over his head, he suddenly touched the burning flask on the ground and grabbed it in his hand.

As soon as the tank drove over his head, he stood up and threw the Molotov cocktail at the tank. The bottle fell on the body of the tank, was shattered, and the liquid contained in it flowed all over the body. Then suddenly a burst of flames erupted from the tank, and soon the entire tank was surrounded by flames. The hatch on the turret was opened, and a puff of smoke with flames came out, followed by two tank crews covered in flames.

Seeing them running around with their hands in hand, Leskov rolled over and pushed the corpse of the soldier away, grabbed the machine gun and pulled the trigger at the two tankmen. After a burst of gunfire, the two tankmen fell to the ground and lay there motionless, allowing the flames on their bodies to continue to burn.

Leskov looked to the left and right, and saw that many of the soldiers around him were focused on him. So he raised his right hand and shouted: "Comrades, have you all seen it? The Germans' tank burned, and a Molotov cocktail burned it! Don't panic, wait for the enemy tanks to drive over your heads, throw them at the back of their butts, and they will burn in one fell swoop! ”

Seeing that their battalion commander personally destroyed a tank, the fighters were immediately demoralized, and they followed his example, letting the tank rush over their heads, and then stood up and threw bottles from behind. Once the tank is on fire, use your weapon to destroy the enemy who escapes from the tank.

After five or six German tanks were blown up in succession, the German commander found that the position in front of him, although there were no weapons such as anti-tank guns or anti-tank rifles, was not easy to deal with, so he ordered his troops to temporarily retreat into the forest and prepare to attack again.

Seeing that the enemy's first attack was repulsed, Leskov loudly said to the commander of a company who had just come to his side: "Comrade company commander, the enemy's attack has been repulsed. Hurry up and count the casualties and repair the fortifications, and prepare for another enemy attack. ”

"Comrade battalion commander," the company commander said with a sad face, "our company suffered more than half of the casualties in the battle just now. If it is not replenished, it is difficult to say whether it will be able to block the second attack of the Germans. ”

"What, more than half of the casualties?" The company commander's report surprised Leskov, who knew that there were nearly 300 people in this company, but he did not expect that in just ten minutes of fighting, more than half of the troops would be killed or wounded. After a short hesitation, he said to the commander of the first company: "I will let the second company draw a hundred people to support you later." Remember, you have to hold your positions at all costs, otherwise the enemy's tanks will rush to the army headquarters in just a few minutes. ”

"Don't worry, Comrade Battalion Commander." The commander of the first company assured him: "As long as we have one person left, we will never let the Germans rush over." At this point, he paused for a moment, and then cautiously asked Leskov, "Battalion commander, can you get the acting division commander to transfer a few anti-tank guns for us?" ”

When Leskov heard the first company commander say this, the corners of his mouth couldn't help twitching violently, and he thought bitterly: "If the acting division commander does not transfer all the anti-tank guns of our battalion, maybe our casualties will be much reduced in the battle just now." ”

He raised his hand and patted the shoulder of the company commander and comforted him: "Don't worry, comrade company commander, I think the acting division commander will have a co-ordination arrangement, he sees that the situation here is dangerous, not only will he return the original anti-tank guns and anti-tank rifles of our battalion to us, but also send other troops to support us." ”

Although Leskov pretended to be very sure in front of his subordinates, he did not know whether he would return the anti-tank weapons that belonged to him after calling Major Pudoprigora, and at the same time send troops to reinforce him.

He had just finished arranging for the second company to transfer troops to support the first company, and before he could return to the command post, the second wave of the German offensive began. This time, the Germans divided into two routes, one to continue the attack on the positions of the Leskov battalion, while the other directly rushed to the defense area of the 2nd and 3rd battalions.

Seeing this, Leskov repeatedly complained, because the positions of the second and third battalions were facing the southwest for defense, and at this moment the enemy was rushing from their northeast, and if they were not reminded, these two battalions would suffer a great loss. He immediately rushed to the command post, grabbed the telephone hanging on the wall, and prepared to call the second and third battalions, but there was no sound at all in the receiver, probably the telephone line was blown up by enemy fire in the battle just now.

He hurriedly walked to the door and shouted loudly outside, "Someone, someone!" ”

With his shout, a communications soldier ran over. As soon as he saw the appearance of the signal corps, Leskov gave him a loud order: "You immediately go to the positions of the 2nd and 3rd battalions, inform them that the German tanks are rushing towards their rear, and prepare them for battle." After he finished saying his order, he saw that the signal soldier was still standing in place and did not move, so he couldn't help but be nameless, raised his leg and gave the other party a kick, and scolded, "What are you doing here, don't go quickly, run." If you miss the plane, I'll shoot you. ”

The communications soldiers, who had been kicked by him and scolded a few more times, did not dare to slack off, immediately turned around and jumped into the traffic trench, and trotted all the way to the defensive positions of the second and third battalions.

Seeing that the enemy tanks in the distance were rushing again, Leskov did not stay in the command post, but hurried to the position of the first company, where he was ready to personally direct the troops to repel the second attack of the Germans.

When he came to the first company of positions this time, he found that the situation was even more serious than before. The German infantry had already rushed into the first line of trenches and were engaged in hand-to-hand combat with a company of soldiers. He walked into the company command post set up in the second trench and saw not a single company commander, only a few corpses lying on stretchers. At a glance, he recognized the deputy company commander and instructor lying on it, as well as a platoon commander below.

He rushed out of the company command post, grabbed a soldier passing by, and asked loudly: "Hey, where is your company commander?" ”

After the other party recognized him as the battalion commander, he pointed to the first trench in front of him in a bit of panic, and said: "The company commander and the second platoon commander are fighting bayonets with the Germans in the trench in front." ”

"What about the other commanders?" I heard that the commander of a company was in the most dangerous area, fighting with the Germans with bayonets. Leskov grabbed the fighter's hand and couldn't help but increase his strength a little, and he asked loudly: "Where are they?" ”

"Sacrificed, sacrificed!" The fighter replied in a crying voice: "The Germans learned the lesson of the last time, and each tank was followed by several motorcycles. When the enemy tanks crossed our trenches and we were ready to throw Molotov cocktails from behind, the automatic gunners on the motorcycles opened fire on us, and many fighters died in this way. ”

Listening to what the soldiers said, Leskov immediately understood why the second attack of the German army, in just a few minutes, was able to rush into the first line of trenches, and led to the sacrifice of so many commanders and fighters.

He let go of the hand that grabbed the warrior, pushed the other man hard, and then said loudly: "Go back, go back to your own post, even if we are only one left, we must not take half a step back." ”

After the soldier left, he leaned down on the wall of the trench and looked at the two German tanks that were rushing towards him with a vicious gaze, thinking in his heart what weapons he should use to destroy them. At that moment, a fighter jumped out of the crater through which the tank had passed, climbed onto a tank with his hands and feet, pulled out a grenade stuck in a belt, and prepared to throw it through the hatch cover. However, the cunning Germans had apparently been prepared for this, and the fighters could not lift the hatch cover after a few pulls, so they drew a bayonet and began to pry the hatch canopy.

Before he could pry the hatch cover open, he was spotted by the tank next to him. The tank slowed down and fired at the fighters with their on-board machine guns, and after a burst of rapid fire, the fighters were washed off the tank body.

Reskov saw the death of his fighters, and immediately became angry, and when he turned his head and saw a few grenades scattered around one of the fighters lying in the trench, he immediately bent down and ran over. Pick them up and tie them together with strips of cloth, ready to wait for the German tanks to come and die with them.

When the two German tanks were only a dozen meters away from Leskov, a puff of dirt suddenly rushed up. Then a cloud of fire erupted from the body of a tank, which was soon enveloped in billowing smoke.

What's going on, what's going on? Seeing the tank that suddenly caught fire and burned, Leskov couldn't help but be stunned, and he thought to himself, could it be that the ammunition inside the tank exploded? Before he could figure out what was going on, another puff of dirt rushed up next to the intact tank, and seeing this, Leskov understood that someone was firing at the enemy tank.

He turned his head to look behind him, and saw several tanks speeding in his direction. Could it be that the tanks of the Germans went around behind us? As soon as this idea came to him, he was immediately denied by himself, because he quickly saw that it was a BT-7 tank, which was a Soviet tank.

Reinforcements are coming. He looked at the rapidly approaching tanks and couldn't help but burst into tears of excitement. He stooped down to pick up one of the submachine guns in the trench, turned to look at the flaming German tank, and prepared to shoot without hesitation as soon as he saw someone escaping inside. Unfortunately, after waiting for a while, I didn't see a tanker escaping from the burning tank, and the intact tank reversed and fled.

Having received tank support from the Soviets, Leskov commanded the troops of the second and third companies and launched a counterattack on the first line of trenches, which were half occupied by the Germans. After half an hour of fighting, all the German infantry who rushed into the trenches were finally wiped out. However, the price paid by the first battalion in this combat strength was not small, the original company of about 300 people, plus the personnel supported by the second company, only 19 people remained, and all the commanders in the company died.

After the battle, the commander of the second company came to him with a lieutenant colonel of the tank corps and introduced him: "Comrade battalion commander, this is Lieutenant Colonel Liao En, commander of the 116th Tank Regiment, and he commanded the troops to support us. ”

Leskov hurriedly straightened up, saluted the tank commander, and said gratefully: "Hello, comrade lieutenant colonel, thank you for arriving in time, otherwise the positions of our battalion would have been broken through by German tanks." ”

Lieutenant Colonel Liao En looked left and right, then frowned and asked: "Comrade Captain, why didn't you set up a minefield in front of your position in accordance with the regulations, otherwise, the German tanks and infantry would definitely not rush into your position so easily." ”

Leskov's facial muscles twitched violently a few times when he heard Lyon's question, and he was thinking about how to answer the embarrassing question of the lieutenant colonel, when he suddenly heard an unfamiliar voice behind him: "Lieutenant Colonel Lyon, I think I can answer your question." ”

After Lieutenant Colonel Liao En saw the person who was coming, he hurriedly stood upright, raised his hand and saluted, and said politely: "Comrade commander, why did you come here?" (To be continued.) )