With the shift of targets for the shelling of the mechanized corps, the long-range artillery fire of the German army showed signs of weakening. But before we could be happy a little longer, the density of the landing on the position increased again.

Seeing this scene, Katukov scolded angrily: "Hell, what the hell is going on, why can't Krivoscher even suppress the German artillery fire?" Then he grabbed the phone and loudly ordered the signal soldier, "I'm Katukov, pick me up Krivoshein." ”

Soon Krivoshein's phone was connected, and hearing Katukov's reproach, the other party replied in a crying voice: "Comrade commander, there is too much difference in the strength of our army's artillery and the German artillery. Although our artillery destroyed a lot of their artillery, our artillery positions were also exposed. Soon it was lost under enemy fire and bombardment by aircraft. ”

Katukov put down the phone with a grim face and said to me: "According to the current strength, firepower and attack speed of the German army, the position in front can only hold for an hour or two at most. Lida, it's too dangerous here, you better get out of here first. With that, he turned around and instructed his subordinates: "Send Commander Oshanina out of here." ”

I waved at the staff officer who came over, rejected his kindness, and then said to Katukov: "Comrade General, you are too pessimistic. Based on my understanding of the level of training, equipment and combat effectiveness of your troops, it should not be a big problem for your troops to hold on to the existing defensive line for a week? ”

Katukov sighed and said helplessly: "Lida, although our new tank has an absolute advantage over the German army's active tanks, it is a little vulnerable in the face of German artillery bombardment and bombardment. The German armored forces, having suffered two losses, learned to be smart, and now they carry out every tank assault. Both have artillery or air force to cooperate. As soon as the tanks of our army were spotted, they concentrated their fire on shelling and bombardment. ”

Katukov sighed and continued: "In front of our heights, there is the 'Oshanina Trench' named after you, which is our last hope. If the assault of German tanks could not be stopped, then Oboyan could fall into the hands of the Germans today. ”

"Comrade General. It is completely wrong to pin all the hopes of holding on to Oboyan on an anti-tank trench. At this point, I turned my head to look at the staff officers standing next to me, "Do you have any artillery observers?" ”

Katukov didn't know why I was asking, but he pointed to one of the young lieutenants and said, "Lida, he's an artillery spotter, do you need him to do something for you?" ”

"Although your artillery is lost, the artillery fire of our army group. It should still be possible to cover this far. "I know better than anyone else that I would never watch Katukov's troops be wiped out and Oboyan lost, so I decided to take the risk. I said to Katukov: "Comrade General, please help me to connect my command, and I will have my artillery commander provide you with the necessary artillery support." ”

After answering the phone from the headquarters, I heard the voice of Bezzikov coming from inside. Hurriedly said to him: "Chief of Staff, please let Colonel Povsky answer the phone." ”

Bezikov heard that it was me. In a somewhat excited tone, he asked, "Comrade Commander, are you okay?" ”

"I'm fine, Comrade Chief of Staff." Since this is not the time to catch up, I said coldly: "If you don't let Colonel Povsky answer the phone immediately, I will soon become bad." ”

Bezikov was taken aback by my words and hurriedly handed the phone to Povsky. As soon as Povsky's voice was heard. I hurriedly asked: "Comrade Colonel, can you now concentrate artillery and carry out artillery shelling of the area south of Oboyan?" ”

Povsky was silent for a moment, and then replied: "Comrade commander, the shelling can be carried out." But someone needs to raise the coordinate parameters of the firing target for our artillery. ”

"No problem, I happen to have an artillery spotter next to me, so it's up to him to provide you with the shooting parameters." After saying that, I waved at the lieutenant and handed him the phone, and at the same time said: "Comrade lieutenant, please provide my artillery commander with the necessary coordinates." ”

When the artillery lieutenant heard me say this, an expression of surprise suddenly appeared on his face. He took the phone from my hand and respectfully said into the microphone: "Hello, Comrade Colonel, I am an artillery observer of the Third Mechanized Army, and I request that the coordinates of the target of your shelling be ......"

Seeing that the problem of the artillery was solved, Katukov could not help but breathe a sigh of relief, and he said to me gratefully: "Thank you, Leda. Without your help, the German armored forces would have broken through the high ground in front and would soon have rushed down the road to the city of Oboyan. Look at it," he said, pointing to the city, "there are very few stone buildings in the city, and there are no strong defenses at all, and street battles with the Germans. That is, as soon as the German troops rushed into the city, we had to abandon such a city and retreat to the rear. ”

I smiled and said lightly: "Comrade General, you are too polite. Your troops are on our right flank, and once your positions are breached, then the flanks of our line of defense will also be exposed to the enemy. So to help you is to help ourselves. At this point, I looked up at the sky and said regretfully: "It's a pity that the Front Command can't send air forces to support us, otherwise as long as they bombard the German tanks on the march, then your defense line will not be as precarious as it is now." ”

Although I could see through the binoculars that the German tank units were getting closer and closer to our heights, I was not too worried, knowing that without the cooperation of the infantry, even if the German tanks opened the gap, they would be quickly filled by our commanders and fighters who held their positions. Moreover, the anti-tank forces on the positions are not weak, as long as the long-range artillery bombardment of the German army stops, our commanders and fighters can use the anti-tank weapons in their hands to kill the German tanks one by one like shooting targets.

However, before the German tanks could rush to the high ground, they were blocked by wide anti-tank trenches. Looking at the increasing number of tanks parked opposite the anti-tank trenches, I couldn't help but smile and think that the denser the German tank queue, the better, so that our shelling could achieve greater results.

On the first line of defense, I also deployed such anti-tank trenches. However, due to the lack of length, the German tanks could be bypassed by other sections, and as a result, they were of no use at all. And the anti-tank trenches here stood in the way of the Germans, they could not get around them at all, the only thing they could do was to find a way to cross this trench.

This trench, which had been tested in actual combat in later generations, stopped the German tank units that wanted to attack forward. Due to the mud dug out of the trench. They were all piled up on the side of our troops, and the Germans could not find the earth to fill the pits. However, the Germans were not stupid enough to wait, and several Tiger tanks pushed the wreckage of the destroyed tanks into the pit in an attempt to fill in a passage. Unfortunately, the tanks that filled the trench were only two meters high, but the trench was nine meters deep, and after half a day, the Germans still made no progress.

Seeing this, Katukov couldn't help but laugh. He smiled like that, and I immediately remembered him during the exercises many years ago. The tactic of "burying the car as a bridge" was also laughed. I also jokingly said to him: "Comrade General, there will be no students of yours among these Germans, right?" ”

"Student, what student?" Katukov was confused by my words, and he asked in confusion: "I didn't deal with the Germans before the war, where did I get any students?" ”

I pointed to the Tiger tanks in the distance that were still pushing the wreckage of the tanks into the trench one by one, and said with a smile: "You were in the exercise to break through the trench dug by the Blues. Fill a tank in a trench and act as a bridge for other tanks to advance. You see. Aren't the Germans now repeating what you did in the first place? ”

After a while, with the appearance of an armored erection vehicle, Katukov's face again became ugly. I asked strangely: "Comrade General, what's wrong with you, your face is so ugly?" ”

"Leda, look." Katukov pointed to the erection car that was putting a rail up the trench. "The Germans are trying to build a bridge, and if they wait for the bridge to be built, they will all rush over." ”

I looked at the busy German troops in the distance, snorted contemptuously, and then said disdainfully: "Comrade General." Don't worry. You see, the earth dug out of the ditch is piled up on the side of our army, and even if the Germans build the bridge, it is one end high and the other low, and one end is built on the soft earthen embankment, which is not reliable at all. Tanks can not cross the bridge, and once they cross the bridge, they can easily fall into the trench. ”

Katukov listened to me say this, looked carefully for a while, and found that this was really the case, and a relaxed expression appeared on his face again. He even went so far as to go up my line and say, "Leda, I kind of get it. Even if the German tanks crossed the trench, they would not be pleased, because the hull of the vehicle was raised when crossing the earthen embankment, exposing the weakest bottom of the tank's armor; When it descended over the earthen embankment, its fragile top was revealed. This means that if we ambush the anti-tank men behind the earthen embankment, we will get two excellent opportunities to aim and shoot at all of them. ”

After saying these few words, he immediately picked up the phone without hesitation and said loudly: "I am Katukov, immediately pick me up General Krivoshein." As soon as the phone rang, he immediately gave the order, "Hey, Krivoshein?" The German tanks are crossing the anti-tank trenches in front of your positions, and I order you to immediately send out anti-tank crews, hiding behind the earthen embankment, to kill all the German tanks that have crossed the trenches. Do you understand? ”

"Yes, Comrade Commander." Krivoshein did not ask Katukov the reason for this order, but replied very dryly: "I will immediately send anti-tank men behind the earthen embankment." ”

But before our anti-tank crews could appear behind the earthen embankment, I saw a shell whizzing and exploding more than 200 meters behind the German tank assembly area. Then I heard the artillery spotter shouting hoarsely, "Target minus five, one more shot." ……”

Although I couldn't understand what he was shouting, I also knew that he was providing firing parameters from the artillery. The artilleryman, who had obtained the corrected parameters, was much closer to the target for the second test firing, and it exploded near a lone tank parked on open ground, and the skyrocketing dirt fell and crackled on the tank body.

"It's amazing, it's amazing." Although the shell still did not hit the target, the artillery lieutenant excitedly shouted, "Come a salvo, come a salvo!" ”

This time, it was no longer ordinary shells, but Katyusha rockets. The power of rocket artillery is great, after a salvo, the tank near the impact point was not overturned, but was blown into a ball of fire, looking at the area full of gunsmoke and flames, everyone understood that the German tanks in this range were reimbursed.

Seeing that they had been hit by long-range artillery fire from our troops, the tanks that had been crowded on the side of the trench began to turn around or reverse in an attempt to quickly escape from the hit area. But since our troops have opened fire, where will they escape so easily. Our artillerymen, under the guidance of the artillery lieutenant, adjusted the firing parameters indiscriminately and shelled the fleeing German tanks.

When I saw that the victory was in sight, there was a huge roar of tanks outside, and my heart was in my throat at that time, and my heart said what was going on, where did the tanks come out, could it be that the German tank units were bypassing from other directions?

Just when I was in shock, Katukov, who was leaning out and looking down, stepped back, turned to me and said excitedly: "Leda, tank brigade, it's your tank brigade that has arrived." ”

When I heard that it was our own tank brigade, I felt much calmer. I pretended to be brushing my hair, quietly wiped the sweat oozing from my forehead, and then pretended to be calm and said to Katukov: "Comrade General, since our tanks have arrived, let them attack, chase the back of the German tanks, destroy as much as they can, and try to consume the living forces of the German army." ”

"But what about the anti-tank trench?" He asked, pointing to the anti-tank trench that had just blocked the German armored forces.

Although Katukov was an outstanding general in the Soviet army, he was still a little less adaptable in many things. After silently making such an assessment for him in my heart, I then said in a steady tone: "Comrade General, the soil dug out of the trench is piled up on the side close to our army, and you only need to order the bulldozer to push the soil back into the trench, and a passage can be filled. ”

Hearing this, Katukov raised his hand and slapped his forehead fiercely, and said with annoyance: "Yes, we only need to send bulldozers to push the earth into the trench, and we can open a passage for the tanks to pass." How could I be so stupid that I couldn't even think of such an easy solution. After saying that, he picked up the phone, called one of his subordinates, and instructed: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, you go and contact the friendly tank brigade and ask them to launch a pursuit of the fleeing German troops, and to consume as much of the German army's living force as possible, understand?" (To be continued.) )