After dark, I was sitting around my desk with Sazhin and Panchenko looking at the latest defense map, when suddenly the phone on the desk rang. Sazhin reached out and grabbed the microphone and said loudly, "Hey, I'm Colonel Sazhin." ”

The hurried voice of the captain of the sailors came from the microphone: "Report to Comrade Division Commander, there is a situation on the other side of the Don River, you go outside and take a look, the enemy is burning our village by fire." ”

After listening to this, Sazhin threw away the phone and said to us: "Let's go, let's go out and have a look." ”

When we followed Colonel Sajen outside, the streets of the village were already crowded with people, and there was no one to speak, and it seemed very silent. Everyone watched with bated breath at the burning spot on the other side of the Don River.

I stood on a tree stump at the entrance to the headquarters and looked west. In the dark night, even without binoculars, you can see dozens of fires on the other side of the river. The fires were large and small, some looked like densely populated settlements, others looked like smaller villages. Some of the fire had begun to wane, and the light of the fire had dimmed, as if the building that could burn had been burned out; Some of them seemed to have just been on fire for a short time, and the dark red flames were dancing in the dark night sky.

Seeing this scene, Panchenko, who was standing beside me, gritted his teeth and cursed in a low voice: "These damned German bandits, I really want to rush to the other side of the river with a company and kill them all." ”

Sazhin walked over with a gloomy face, shook his head at us, and said angrily: "Comrade Political Commissar, Oshanina, you all come in with me." ”

We followed Sazhin into the headquarters, and Sazhin raised his hand and pressed it to him, beckoning us: "Sit down." ”

Wait until we're all seated. Sazhin looked at Panchenko with his eyes and asked, "Comrade Political Commissar." What do you think? ”

Panchenko said angrily: "These damn Germans. How many of our people's labor for generations will be destroyed by their fire, and how many people will be homeless! ……”

Panchenko gushed on and on, but Sazhin was clearly not interested in what he had said, and turned to me and asked, "Oshanina, what do you think?" ”

The Germans do not set fire to villages and settlements for no reason, probably there are their intentions, I thought for a moment. Then he replied: "Comrade division commander, I think the enemy may be about to launch a river crossing operation. ”

After listening to this, Saren nodded with satisfaction, and then said, "Tell me your reasons." ”

"The enemy should have set fire to the villages and settlements on the other side of the river in order to prevent our small units or guerrillas from using these places as shelters. As soon as our troops are present in these places, they will attack the enemy's camp and disrupt the enemy's lines of communication at the right time. In order to concentrate his forces on us, the enemy will no longer have to worry about setting fire to the villages. ”

For my analysis. Sazhin agreed, saying: "Comrade Oshanina. You're right, I think so, too. It seems that it is necessary for us to strengthen our defenses along the river in order to cope with the enemy's possible attack at any time. Have there been many troops crossing the river recently? ”

I shook my head and said, "The troops who crossed the river today are all small detachments that have been defeated. There are seven or eight people at the minimum, and there are only a dozen or so people at the most, and there are not even battalion-level troops. ”

"Are there any officers in the troops?"

I shook my head again and replied, "No, Comrade Division Commander, not a single officer. According to Lieutenant Colonel Gogogli, who housed them, the highest rank was only a few sergeants, and the officers died heroically in battles with the enemy, and the Germans easily routed the troops that had lost their command. ”

"Call Gogol and ask him to quickly assign the soldiers in custody to the troops, distribute weapons and ammunition to them, and prepare them for tomorrow's battle."

"Okay, I'll call right away."

The next morning, the German offensive against us began.

Their artillery began to fire first, and dense shells fell on the riverside positions and in the river near the bank. The rolling Don River suddenly splashed in all directions, setting off high columns of water. Then enemy fighters also appeared in the sky, hovering like crows over our positions, bombing and strafing along the river. In an instant, the wide defensive position by the river was filled with flames and smoke, as if a fog had risen out of thin air.

Sazhin and I stood in the newly built half-buried observation post outside the village, using binoculars to observe the situation on the shore position. Seeing that the forward position was obscured by gunsmoke, Sazhin hurriedly ordered the signal troops: "Call the sailor captain at the front and ask how the situation on the position is?" ”

The communications soldiers did not dare to slack off, and hurriedly used the telephone to contact the front. We were lucky, the telephone line from the observation post to the forward command post was not broken by shells or bombs, and soon the voice of the captain was heard in the microphone: "Hey, comrade division commander? The enemy is shelling and bombarding our positions, but rest assured that, with the exception of a few observation posts, the rest of the fighters are hiding in the anti-artillery holes, and the casualties of the troops are not significant. ”

"Well done, Comrade Captain." After complimenting the lieutenant, Colonel Sazhin told him: "Remember, as soon as the enemy begins to cross the river, you must immediately order the troops to enter the position. ”

"Understood." The lieutenant replied loudly, and at the same time expressed his determination to Sazhin: "Please rest assured, comrade division commander, as long as there is still one person in our sailor battalion, the enemy will never be allowed to pass through our position." ”

The shelling and bombardment continued for half an hour, and only after the shelling stopped, did the enemy planes hovering in the air leave one after another.

As the smoke from the position thinned, I could see that the enemy on the opposite bank had boarded the ferry docked at the pier and was heading towards us. Dozens of tanks lined up on the shore, and the black muzzles pointed at the positions of our troops.

Sazhin put down his binoculars, sighed, and said, "It seems that our troops holding on to the right bank of the Don River have been completely wiped out, and the commanders of these troops are really the ones who did not know how to destroy the ferries, and actually let the Germans capture all these boats." Now they can take our ferry and swagger across the river to attack us. ”

I didn't answer his words, but I lost confidence in my heart about whether I could withstand the enemy's attack.

Sazhin suddenly said: "Comrade Oshanina. You see if we should order the artillery battery to open fire. Sink the enemy with artillery fire? ”

I hurriedly waved my hand. He said: "Comrade division commander, using mortars to hit a moving ferry boat is not a high hit rate, and it is easy to attract the enemy's heavy artillery to return fire. You must know that our artillery batteries are all light mortars, but they cannot compete with the enemy's heavy artillery, and once the artillery company is exhausted, our division will no longer have heavy firepower. I think. The artillery company should wait until the enemy's ferries are on the pier and then concentrate their fire on the disembarking enemy, so that they can inflict heavy casualties. ”

Colonel Sazhin thought for a moment, then nodded, agreeing with me: "You are right, the artillery battery should not be thrown into battle too early, so wait for the enemy to land before firing." ”

After about ten minutes, the enemy's ferry finally approached the pier of the ferry. Seeing the enemy disembarking in a hurry, a smile appeared on Sazhin's face, and he turned his head and commanded, "Oshanina." I think the time is almost up, you go and call the artillery company. Let them open fire at once and teach these Germans a hard lesson. ”

I said yes, went to the telephone, grabbed it, shook the handle twice, and when I heard Rozhkov's voice coming from the microphone, I immediately ordered him: "Lieutenant, it's time for you to go on the field, aim at the enemy on the dock and open fire, to hell with them." ”

Hearing the order for the artillery company to open fire, Rozhkov excitedly agreed, and then hung up the phone.

By the time I returned to the observation hole and raised my binoculars to look at the dock, the artillery battery's shells were already whistling towards the enemy on the pier. Then one after the other landed in the dense crowd of enemies and exploded, setting off a large cloud of black fireworks. The enemy screamed in panic and ran to both sides of the pier.

The Germans, who had just escaped from the corpse-strewn dock to the left and right, could catch their breath before the shells landed accurately on both sides, driving them back into the middle of the pier. In order to avoid the deadly shelling, the Germans dragged their guns and fled in disarray to our forward positions.

When they ran to a distance of only forty or fifty meters from the position, the light and heavy machine guns on the forward position suddenly opened fire together, sweeping towards the middle of the enemy. The enemy was beaten to the point of howling wolf, and some left dozens of corpses behind, staring at the dock in embarrassment and fleeing.

Seeing that the enemy had fled, the sailors on the position jumped out of the trench with their weapons in hand, shouted and chased after them in a swarm, and under the blows of rifles and submachine guns, the enemy was knocked down a lot.

When Sazhin saw this, he shouted excitedly: "Good guys, good boys, work harder, and drive all the Germans into the river to feed the fish." ”

I was not as optimistic as he was, and I didn't bother to ask him, so I ran to the telephone, picked it up, and called the captain of the sailor. As soon as the phone call rang, I immediately said to the captain in a stern tone: "Comrade Captain, I order you to immediately let the troops withdraw to their positions, as soon as possible, it will be too late!" ”

Although the lieutenant was confused, he still answered honestly: "Understand, comrade lieutenant colonel, I immediately order the trumpeter to blow the trumpet and let the troops stop the pursuit." ”

Colonel Sazhin was not pleased to hear that I had given the troops an order to stop the pursuit, and he walked up to me, slapped the telescope on the table, and then asked me in a stern tone: "Lieutenant Colonel Oshanina, what are you doing?" Who gave you the right, who allowed you to stop the pursuit, didn't you see that the warriors were about to drive all the enemy into the river? ”

In the face of his thunderous rage, I quickly straightened up and replied, "Comrade Division Commander, I know what Lu Dao is explaining to you now, but you can't listen to it. I ask you to return to the observation hole and observe it calmly for five minutes, and you will understand what I will order the troops to stop the pursuit. ”

Faced with my humble and unarrogant attitude, Sazhin just glared at me fiercely, then picked up the binoculars and walked back to the observation hole with a curse. I didn't care about his bad attitude, and followed him back to the observation hole.

I knew in my heart that my sudden order was not a whim. The dozens of tanks of the enemy parked on the opposite bank of the river, they are nothing but ornaments, they will not watch their infantry be wiped out by us, and they will inevitably provide artillery cover for their troops.

When I re-raised my binoculars, I saw that the pursuing sailors were returning to their positions one after another. However, before all the men entered the fortifications, the tanks on the opposite bank began to shell, and some of the fighters who fell behind were instantly engulfed in artillery fire.

See the dense and heavy shelling of German tanks. Sazhin was stunned. After a while. He came to his senses. He gave me a thumbs up and said with emotion: "Oshanina, you are so remarkable that you could have guessed that the enemy's tanks would shell our pursuing troops, but fortunately you gave the order to retreat in time and let the sailors withdraw to their positions." Otherwise, the attacking force could be completely annihilated. ”

I smiled slightly and said modestly: "Comrade division commander." It's nothing. I've only been dealing with the Germans for a long time, so I'm familiar with their style of play, so I've just been able to discover the enemy's plot in time. ”

"What's next?" Sazhin seemed extremely trusting of me at this moment, and began to ask me for advice on the next steps of the troops.

Since he asked me, I was not polite, and said bluntly: "The artillery company has already exposed the target in the battle just now, and they should be allowed to move their positions immediately." Also, call the captain of the sailor and ask him to leave a few observation posts behind. The rest of the people went into hiding. In my judgment, enemy planes will soon come again to bombard our positions. ”

"Okay. Just do as you say. I'll give orders to the troops. ”

A few minutes later, four enemies appeared in the sky. They lined up in a neat formation, and as soon as they approached our position, they quickly dispersed and began to circle over the position, as if they were coming straight to the target of our army's forward position.

After circling in a few circles, the enemy planes began to lower their altitude, changed their formation again, formed a column, and one after the other swooped down and dropped bombs on our positions. As the bomb fell and exploded, the forward position was suddenly filled with smoke and fire, and gunpowder smoke billowed out.

After the first round of bombardment by enemy planes, seeing that there was no anti-aircraft fire on our positions, they became more and more emboldened and successively lowered their altitude. From my point of view, they were flying low almost against the ground.

When Sazhin saw the enemy planes unscrupulously strafing and dropping bombs above my position, he was so angry that he smashed them on the log wall, and said with a curse: "Damn Germans, you dare to be so arrogant when you bully Lao Tzu without anti-aircraft firepower." Another day, I'll ask the commander for an air defense unit and take you all down. ”

Seeing enemy planes flying over our positions as if they were no one, although I hated them to the bitter end, I was helpless against them.

At this moment, a dive enemy plane had just pulled up, and a large dark red fire suddenly flashed on the fuselage, followed by thick black smoke. The enemy planes, dragging long cigarette belts, staggered towards the planes on the opposite shore and plunged headlong into the queue of tanks on the opposite bank. After a loud bang, a cloud of smoke rose up. When the smoke cleared, I saw that one tank had been turned into burning scrap metal, and the two tanks on the left and right had been overturned by the blast.

"Great! It's just amazing! "When Colonel Sazhin saw that when the enemy plane crashed, he actually reimbursed a German tank at the same time, and he couldn't help but cheer excitedly like a young man. Then he urged me one after another: "Comrade Oshanina, call the captain of the sailors and ask what is going on?" Who knocked down the enemy's plane? I want to give credit to this hero. ”

I smiled and nodded, and replied, "Okay, comrade division commander, I'll call the captain right away and ask what's going on." ”

After dialing the phone, I smiled and said to the captain: "Comrade captain, I congratulate you, you fought well, and in the absence of anti-aircraft fire, you actually shot down the enemy's plane. Comrade division commander said that he would personally take credit for the heroes who shot down enemy planes. Comrade Captain, do you know who shot down the enemy plane? ”

The lieutenant was particularly happy to hear my compliment, and he excitedly replied: "Comrade Colonel report, the plane was shot down by Sergeant Kruglov. He was so angry that he was so angry that he took advantage of the enemy's dive to shoot at the enemy's planes with the anti-tank guns that had been issued to our battalion only yesterday. I didn't expect this kid's luck to be so good, and he actually shot down the enemy plane. ”

"Well done, Comrade Captain, your soldiers are all good."

Putting down the phone, I reported to Colonel Sazhen: "Comrade division commander, I have already asked clearly. Shot down was Sergeant Kruglov of the Marine Battalion. ”

"You're not right, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." Suddenly Panchenko's voice came from the door, and he was hurrying into the observation post, adding, "I think that in such an extraordinary time, a hero like Kruglov should be commended." I feel that the sergeant rank is too low and that he should be promoted to officer. ”

Although I lacked a good impression of a political worker like Panchenko, I could not find a reason to oppose his proposal, so I seconded it: "I agree with Comrade Political Commissar. What about you, Comrade Division Commander. "In order to show that I am serious about this matter, I deliberately used honorifics for Sazhen.

Saren looked outside with a telescope, nodded, and said, "I also agree with the political commissar. In that case, promote this Crewe...... What's coming from Crewe? ”

"Kruglov." I quickly whispered a reminder to him.

"Yes, this Sergeant Kruglov, I'm going to promote him to second lieutenant." Colonel Sazhin said with a big grin. In this way, because he shot down an enemy plane, Kruglov, who was a private a few days ago, became a second lieutenant Kruglov a few days after he became Sergeant Kruglov. The speed of his promotion is somewhat similar to that of me. (To be continued......)