"Report!" The voice of a warrior outside discouraged me from continuing to lie in bed.

"Come in." Before I could speak, Kroschikov, who had been in the shelter, had already spoken.

I lifted the curtain separating the marching bed from the command post and poked my head out to look. I saw a soldier wearing a steel helmet and carrying a rifle with a bayonet on his back, standing in front of Kroskov in a regular manner, and reported to him: "Comrade Instructor 1st Class, I saw a convoy of covered trucks approaching us. ”

"What kind of truck? Is it a truck of our army? He asked.

"Yes, it was the towing trucks of the artillery company of the division headquarters, each with artillery towing behind it, and it was coming from the rear of the position. The platoon commander felt the need to report to you, so he sent me over. ”

"Zhilu said, thank you." Kroschikov said and waved his hand to the warrior, signaling that he could leave. The soldier immediately understood, immediately saluted him, turned and left the command post.

Kroschikov watched the soldier walk out of the command post, then slowly turned around, presumably about to call me, but happened to meet my eyes when the probe came out. He smiled, and then asked me, "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, can you get up?" The sentry on duty had just come to report that an artillery company had been drawn up. Let's take a look. ”

"It's good." I was lying on the marching bed in a kimono, but after saying this, I immediately rolled over and got out of bed, kicked on my boots, opened the curtain, took off the military overcoat hanging on the nails on the wall, and said to Kroschikov as I put it on: "Comrade instructor, let's go and see it together." ”

Kroschikov and I stood in the open ground and watched the convoy in the distance get closer and closer. In a short time, the convoy stopped five or six meters in front of us. Immediately after the cab door of the first truck opened, and out of it jumped a heavily armed captain, blew the whistle vigorously, and shouted loudly: "Artillery company, listen to my orders, all get out of the car." ”

At his shout, the soldiers in the truck jumped out of the truck, waving their arms and kicking their stiff bodies while looking around with laughter and talk.

The captain ran over, saluted Croshikov, and reported loudly: "Comrade Political Instructor of the First Class, Captain Gonchazin of the anti-aircraft artillery company reports to you that I have been ordered to come with the anti-aircraft artillery company and listen to your orders. ”

"Anti-aircraft artillery battalion?!" When Kroskov said this, he looked up at the sky and said with some confusion: "What we need here is anti-tank anti-aircraft guns, not anti-aircraft guns." If you want to strengthen air defense, it may be more appropriate for you to go to the division headquarters. ”

"Wait a minute," I interrupted the instructor and asked the captain directly, "Comrade Captain, you received an order to use anti-aircraft guns to shoot enemy tanks flatly, right?" ”

"Yes, exactly." When the captain answered me, he looked me up and down curiously. Perhaps he wondered how a young female soldier could suddenly jump out to make irresponsible remarks, and the first-class political instructor did not express any objections.

"Meet Lieutenant Colonel Oshanina." Croshikov hastened to introduce my identity to Captain Lu.

"Hello, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." The captain hurriedly stood up and saluted me, "I am at your disposal. ”

Instead of returning the salute, I stepped forward and shook his hand and said, "Welcome." With your support, the tanks of the German devils are nothing to worry about. After letting go of his hand, I pointed to a forest in the northwest behind the position and said: "You lead the anti-aircraft artillery company to the woods over there to establish a position, and I will immediately arrange for the communications corps to lay telephone lines, and if you need fire support, I will call you." ”

"Understood, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." The captain saluted me again, then hurried back to his convoy and shouted in his loud voice: "Artillery company, listen to my orders, all get on board." ”

Seeing that the convoy turned around and looked into the woods to the northwest, Croshikov asked puzzledly: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, why do you want to arrange the position of the artillery company in the woods?" It is important to know that according to the regulations, artillery should be deployed directly on open ground behind the position. ”

"My comrade political instructor," I patiently explained to him, "the regulations were drawn up more than a decade ago, when the enemy had very few aircraft and tanks, and the defensive positions were laid out exactly like that. However, the situation is different now, and now the enemy attack is preceded by aircraft bombardment and artillery bombardment, and then infantry charges under the cover of tanks. If we still rigidly follow the regulations and place the artillery on open and unobstructed ground, it will be to let the soldiers be the enemy's live targets. Do you see what I mean? ”

Hearing my explanation, Kroschikov didn't say anything more, just nodded. After a while, he said, "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, it's cold outside, let's go back to the shelter." He didn't say that I didn't feel cold yet, but when he said that, I felt the cold wind blowing and my face ached, so I agreed, turned around and trotted all the way back to the warm shelter.

The German offensive began at ten o'clock in the morning. Again, they used the same old tactic: the planes first circled around the position, dropped a few bombs, and then chased after the moving targets on the ground, and strafed them with machine guns. Then their artillery began to roar, and a dense barrage of shells rained down on our positions.

In the face of the old German way of playing, I already had a way to deal with it. As soon as the enemy planes flew over, I informed the company commanders that all the fighters, except for a few observation posts, had taken refuge in the bomb shelters that had already been dug. As long as the trenches were not in dense battle formations, the damage inflicted on our troops by the German bombing and artillery bombardment was much less. I am quite confident that under my command, the guard battalion will definitely not be completely wiped out in a day or two. Otherwise, without the need for the failure from above, I would have shot myself directly in the temple, as Major General Smirnov did.

Before the shelling was over, I heard two hurried whistles from the trenches, which were a code to say good to the observation post in advance, which meant that the commander was asked to go over immediately. I quickly ran out of the bomb shelter, bent down along the trench, braving enemy fire to the observation post. As soon as I saw the fighter in charge of observation, I asked unhappily: "The enemy shelling is not over yet, what are you doing with the whistle?" ”

"Look, comrade lieutenant colonel, German devils," the sentry whom I rebuked did not retort, but pointed to the front of the position and said to me: "Look, the infantry of the German devils is coming. ”

I raised my binoculars and looked outside, only to see that the German stragglers were approaching our position. I didn't expect it, I didn't expect it, but the German commander who commanded the troops still had a strong learning ability. Yesterday I used this tactic to bring the troops to seize the position, but I did not expect that they would also treat them in the same way today, and launch an attack while our army was suppressed by artillery fire.

But since this tactic was my first creation, I naturally have a way to deal with it. I immediately ordered the observation post to blow the whistle and beckoned the soldiers to hurry into position. After a series of rapid whistles from the observation post, the fighters, hiding in the bomb shelters, braved enemy fire and entered the combat positions.

As soon as the shelling ended, the charge of the German infantry began. However, they were not as fortunate as we were yesterday and were not able to storm the position, because they were greeted by the dense fire of our troops. The German infantry was exposed to the unobstructed open ground more than ten meters away, which was simply a live target for the soldiers to shoot, and the water-like bullets shot out, causing the infantry to fall in front of our positions one after another. In order to avoid the dense fire of our troops, some soldiers jumped into the individual bunkers that we had dug well.

"Rush!" As the fighting intensified, a shout muffled by the sound of shooting came from the side, and I turned my head to see that it was Kroschikov who had taken the lead and began to charge. Seeing more and more fighters jumping out of the trenches and starting to attack the enemy. I secretly complained in my heart, how safe it is to stay in the position to fight the enemy, what are you leading the team to rush blindly? But seeing that the enemy was already retreating like a tide, I straightened up, swept at the enemy's retreating line with my submachine gun, and only after firing a magazine and replacing it with a new one, did I jump out of the trench and charge forward with the soldiers.

The assault troops stopped after advancing three hundred meters, and then retreated in their entirety. Kroskov pointed to the individual bunker and said: "I now understand why you asked us to dig the bunker so deep that the German devils would not be able to climb out if they fell into it." ”

"Hee-hee, it's good to understand."

"What about the Germans in the bunker?" He asked.

"Find soldiers who know German and shout to them, and if they want to live, throw their weapons out and surrender. Otherwise," I pulled a grenade from the waist of a nearby soldier, pulled the fuse, and after five seconds of burning, threw the grenade into one of the bunkers. "Boom!" With a loud bang, smoke mixed with a mist of blood came out of the bunker, and everything was calm again. I went on to add: "Those who do not surrender will be disposed of in this way." Do you understand? ”

"Understood." Kroschikov and the fighters around him answered me at the same time.

The shouting to the Germans trapped in the individual bunkers began, and many of the Germans in the bunkers obediently threw their weapons out, and after being dragged up by the soldiers, they raised their hands and became our prisoners. However, from time to time, there were also one or two explosions, which was the most direct means used by the warriors to clean up those stubborn enemies.