The Germans had arranged about a platoon of troops at the east entrance of the Avenue Soviets, and when they saw that we were rushing towards them, and the German soldiers who were hiding behind the sandbag fortifications on the side of the street two or three hundred meters apart raised their light machine guns and rifles and fired at us without hesitation, apparently trying to block our way with dense firepower.

In the face of the enemy's dense fire, I and the fighters of the guard battalion jumped into the craters around us. Basmanov and I jumped into the same crater, turned to look at the mortar company that was far behind, and said to me anxiously: "Division commander, you stay, I will rush up with the fighters of the guard company." ”

Without waiting for me to speak, he straightened up in the crater, looked left and right for a moment, and shouted loudly: "The first platoon will stay to protect the division commander, and the second platoon and the third platoon will follow me!" After saying that, he jumped out first, brandished the submachine gun in his hand and rushed forward quickly, and the commanders and fighters of the second and third platoons also jumped out of the crater with a shout and rushed forward with Basmanov.

Rushing to less than 100 meters from the enemy's position, Basmanov and his men were pinned down in the crater by the enemy's dense fire. Bullets whizzed over their heads, and anyone who came up was immediately knocked down by the flying bullets.

I crouched in the crater, carefully observing the enemy's position. There was a sandbag fortification on each side of the street entrance, and behind each fortification there were five or six enemies shooting desperately. On the side of the road were two three-story buildings, the building on the left had been destroyed by enemy shells or bombs, and the building on the right was facing us, with three windows on each floor of the wall, and eight or nine enemy weapons were set up in front of the windows, and the commanders and fighters of the second and third platoons were suppressed with fire with impunity.

I hurriedly shouted at the platoon of commanders and fighters in the craters on the left and right, "All of them." Listen to me. Suppress enemy fire. Covering Captain Basmanov, they charged. As soon as I finished speaking, a gunfire rang out around me. When the first round of firing was over, five or six German soldiers hiding behind sandbags fell in unison, and as soon as the enemy's fire weakened, the commanders and fighters hiding in the crater jumped up and rushed forward with their weapons in hand, but before they could get close to the sandbag fortifications, several German soldiers rushed out of the adjacent building. Hurry up to the sandbag fortifications and take the place of the German soldiers who were killed. Under the heavy fire of the enemy, the troops had just rushed forward not far and had to retreat into the crater again, and although they reacted quickly, a dozen more fighters fell in pools of blood.

I couldn't help but be anxious to see the frustration of the offensive of the troops, and at this time, Morozov jumped into the crater where I was, crouched down and reported to me: "Division commander. The mortar company is coming, where should we shoot? Please instruct! ”

I point to the Germans who are condescending. He said loudly: "Do you see the German soldiers in those buildings?" Knock them all out with artillery fire, then take out the enemies behind the sandbag bunkers. ”

Morozov agreed, got up and was about to leave, I hurriedly stopped him, and at the same time stretched out my hand to him, and said unhappily: "Comrade Major, you are an artillery commander, what are you doing with a rifle on your back?" Leave me the gun and command your troops. ”

Hearing me say this, Morozov smiled bitterly, didn't say anything, just took off the rifle he was carrying and handed it to me, then turned around and climbed out of the crater and walked towards his men.

I opened the chamber to check the bullets, then placed the gun on the edge of the crater. After a short search, I zeroed in on a German soldier who was firing with a submachine gun in a window on the third floor. At a distance of about 200 meters, the bullets flew in an instant, and the German soldier leaned back, and the shooting from the window stopped.

Seeing that I had easily killed a German soldier, I hurriedly began to search for a second target. Before I could determine a new target, I was surprised to find that the German soldier I had just hit was not dead. His left hand was drooping, his shoulder was still bleeding, and his right hand was holding a submachine gun in one hand and continuing to fire downstairs.

Seeing that the German soldier was not dead, I felt very strange in my heart, just now I was clearly aiming at the head of this German soldier, how could I miss, could it be that the crosshair of the gun was off? Thinking of this, I locked on to the German soldier again, this time deliberately aiming at the upper left of his head, and after making sure that the target was locked on, I decisively pulled the trigger again. This time, the gunshot rang out, and I waited for a while, but I didn't see the German soldier appear at the window again.

Just as I was locking on to a new target and preparing to shoot, a series of artillery discharges sounded behind me, and I quickly turned my head to see that the mortar company was lined up seven or eight meters behind me at this moment, and began to shell the enemy's position. Eight mortar shells whistled in the air and made a beautiful arc, landing exactly on the third floor and exploding, exploding thick smoke and falling the masonry of the wall, and the shooting on the third floor came to an abrupt halt. Before the enemy could recover his senses, another batch of shells landed accurately in the middle area of the first and second floors, and two rounds of shelling destroyed several German firing points in the building.

Before the smoke cleared, a new batch of shells was discharged again, landing accurately in the enemy's sandbag fortifications, blowing the unprepared German soldiers to the ground. Before the dust had fallen, another batch of shells landed on the street behind the sandbag fortifications, blasting the enemy who tried to flee and rush out of the buildings to reinforce and plunged into chaos.

The fortifications that blocked the advance of our troops collapsed just after a burst of shelling from the mortar battery. Basmanov, who had been suppressed, took the opportunity to rush out of the trenches and quickly rushed into the street with his fighters. Seeing that the German shooting stopped, but the soldiers in the first row were still lying in the crater waiting for orders, I couldn't help but get a little angry, waved the rifle in my hand, and shouted at them: "The soldiers of the first row, what are you still doing lying here, don't you see that the soldiers of the second and third rows are rushing up?" ”

No sooner had I finished firing than a young sergeant stood out of a crater not far from me, who raised his weapon high above his head and shouted: "Comrades, since your bellies are almost calloused, what are you doing lying in the crater?" Come with me, forward! Advance! After shouting. He was like Basmanov just now. Wielding the weapon in your hand. Take the lead and rush into the street.

Morozov again came up to me and asked me: "Comrade division commander, the mortar battery has already destroyed the enemy's positions, what is our next task?" ”

I looked at the company of guards who had rushed into the Avenue of Soviets, and when they entered the street, they quickly broke into pieces and rushed into the buildings on both sides of the street in squads. Fight the enemies in the building. Looking back at the mortar company behind, I saw that they had already packed up and were assembling for standby. Then Morozov was instructed: "Major, take your mortar company and follow me to the Soviet Street, maybe the brothers in the guard battalion will need your help later." ”

Protected by Morozov and several artillery fighters armed with submachine guns, I cautiously entered the Soviet Avenue, which was still in the midst of fierce fighting. The further I went inside, the more corpses I saw lying on the ground, both German and ours. Judging by what they are wearing. There were very few of them belonging to the guard battalions, almost all of them were units that were absorbed by Rodimtsev. There were even quite a few sailors in it.

I cautiously walked past one corpse after another on the street, but as I walked, the corpses in front of me were stacked on top of each other, and there was no place to stay. Seeing this, I couldn't help but sigh.

Hearing my sigh, Morozov couldn't help but ask curiously: "Comrade division commander, what are you sighing for?" ”

I pointed to the corpses all over the ground and said to him: "Yesterday the combined forces of the 1st Battalion of the 2nd Regiment and the 1st and 3rd Regiments recaptured this street from the enemy, and the fighting was quite fierce at that time, but the casualties were obviously not as heavy as they are now. You see, there are nearly twice as many corpses of our army on the ground as there are enemies, I really don't know how the 42nd Guards Regiment fought this battle? ”

Morozov did not express his opinion after hearing this, but only smirked twice. Suddenly, he pointed to the place where the battle was still fighting in the distance and said: "Commander, look, the enemy is attacking that building from the square of '9th of January'. However, our fighters seem to be fighting well, and there are several tanks burning downstairs. ”

I looked in the direction of his finger and saw that he was talking about the "Pavlov Building", famous in the Battle of Stalingrad. On the north side of the building, three German tanks were burning, and there were thirty or forty corpses lying on the ground, and a large group of German soldiers were hiding behind two armored vehicles that had not yet been destroyed, shooting at the windows of the upper floor.

I quickly patted Morozov on the shoulder, pointed at the enemy in the square, and said loudly to him: "Major, I order you, immediately create artillery positions in the streets, shell those who are in the square, relieve the pressure on the defenders in the building. If you can't wipe them all out, at least drive them away. Without saying a word, Morozov turned around and walked towards the artillerymen behind him with mortars and ammunition boxes, and went to convey my orders to them.

Seeing Morozov leave, I feared that if I remained in the middle of the street, I might become a target for the German soldiers who had slipped through the net, so I said to the few fighters around me: "Comrade soldiers, Major Morozov is about to establish an artillery position here, and it is not appropriate for us to stay here." Let's go, follow me to the building. With that, I led the way to the nearest hallway door.

When I walked to the door of the corridor, I was about to go inside, but I was stopped by a soldier, who reminded me in a low voice: "Comrade division commander, we haven't checked this place yet, maybe there will be enemies hiding here." Wait here for a while, I'll search it in first, and I'll call you in after I've made sure it's safe inside." ”

I smiled and nodded gratefully at the warrior's concern for me, agreeing with his suggestion. The soldier, who had my permission, cautiously walked into the building with a submachine gun in hand. He had barely taken two steps when two gunshots rang out from inside, and the warrior fell to the ground on his back.

"There's an enemy in the building," one of the fighters yelled, rushed to the door, swept his submachine gun inside, and then flashed his body to the side, pulled out a grenade, pulled the string, burned in his hand for a few seconds, and threw it into the hallway. After a loud bang, there were a few muffled grunts from inside, and the warrior changed his magazine and rushed in first. I stooped down and grabbed the submachine gun from the soldier's arms, and rushed in.

The smoke from the grenade explosion had not yet cleared, and the visibility inside was not very high, so in order to prevent accidental injury, I rushed to the side of the soldier, picked up my submachine gun and fired at the human-like object inside. After the gunshots rang out, a dark figure fell to the ground.

I hurriedly stopped shooting, and was considering whether to continue to rush forward or hurry up and retreat, when the soldier next to me shouted loudly: "Don't come in the people behind, lest you be injured by mistake." Then he lowered his voice and urged me, "Division commander, you hide first, maybe the enemy will rush out in a while." ”

As soon as he finished speaking, five or six dark figures rushed down the stairs from the stairs, shouting in broken Russian: "Russians, surrender!" The soldier did not say a word, took the submachine gun in his hand, and opened fire on the people who rushed down. At this life-and-death juncture, I didn't dare to slack off, and I also shot all the bullets in the submachine gun at those black shadows.

The shadows rolled down the stairs, one to a distance not far from me. I stooped over and fumbled to pick up the submachine gun in his hand and pulled two magazines out of the belt of his chest.

I was carrying a submachine gun and was about to beckon the soldier to withdraw with me, but he pulled out two more grenades, pulled the strings, and threw them down the stairs to the second floor. "Boom, boom!" After two loud bangs, the warrior raised his gun above his head and rushed up the stairs with a heavy shot from the upper floor.

I was stunned for a moment, and then shouted out the door: "Hey, the enemy is on the second floor, follow me!" After shouting, I also rushed to the second floor with my waist bent. When I rushed to the second floor, the soldier had just knocked out two German soldiers who were about to rush downstairs. When the enemy fell to the ground, he rushed to the nearest room with his gun in hand, "Wait! "I shouted almost instinctively, because I didn't know how many enemies there were in the room, and wouldn't it be death to rush in like this? But before the soldier could react, several bullets flew down the stairs leading to the third floor, struck him in the back, and his body fell backwards, paused in place for a moment, and then fell to the ground.

"Damn it!" I cursed in my heart, quickly crouched down, stretched out the muzzle of my gun, and fired fiercely at the top of the stairs. There were several screams, and then the body of a German soldier rolled down the stairs.

When I was hesitating whether to continue rushing up, two soldiers ran up the stairs, crouched down beside me, and asked in a low voice, "Commander, what's the situation?" ”

I first pointed to the soldier who had fallen to the ground with my hand and said, "He was about to storm that room when he was killed by the enemy from upstairs. Then he pointed upwards and continued, "There must be quite a few enemies upstairs. (To be continued......)

PS: Heartfelt thanks to book friends in the depths of the clouds and winxxx children's shoes for their votes! Thanks to the book friend zhaojingchao children's shoes for rewarding 1888 starting coins!