Walking out of the gate of the command post, I saw one group after another of commanders and fighters running out of the shelter, and then, under the leadership of my own commander, bent down and quickly ran to the firing table in the trench, and set up their weapons on the wall of the trench, and pointed their guns at the bottom of the high ground.

Sherebryanne and I went to the observation post, only to see that the roof and sides of the observation post had been blown up by the German shelling, and the observation post was full of rubble. Seeing this situation, Serebryan said with a sad face: "Comrade division commander, you see that this place has been destroyed like this by enemy artillery fire, why don't you change places?" ”

"No, I'll stay here, the view of other places is not as wide as here." With that, I lifted my feet and stepped onto the pile of rubble in front of me, and walked cautiously inside.

It turned out that the location of the lookout was only waist-high half of the wall, which would be easily exposed if I stood and observed it like I had just done, so I leaned close to the broken wall, half-crouched down and raised the telescope to look out.

When we were under shelling, the German infantry quietly approached only a kilometer or two from the high ground, and the tanks that had stopped shelling also lined up in a wedge formation towards us. The howitzers, which had caused us great trouble and suffered many casualties, were still in place, and their muzzles were pointed at our high ground, and there was almost no shelter in front of the gun emplacements, and they seemed to expect that we had no long-range firepower to pose a decent threat to them, so they did not set up artillery positions at all as stipulated in the regulations, and the arrogance of the German troops was evident from this.

I looked down at the position on the mountainside, and saw that many of the trenches had been blown down by artillery fire. Half of the commanders and fighters who entered the position were on alert. Half of them were nervously repairing the collapsed fortifications.

Serebryanny silently came to my side and squatted down. He asked in a low voice: "Comrade division commander, has the enemy discovered our troops hidden on the dirt slope?" ”

I shook my head and replied, "Probably not, otherwise it wouldn't be so quiet down there." I pointed to the troops lurking in the distance, "Although we can see the lurking troops from here, it is difficult for the Germans to detect them." Didn't you see that their infantry had left the road and came from the steppe? This makes it even less likely that they will detect our troops. ”

"When will they be able to attack, commander?" Restless, Sherebryan listened to my words. Nervously asked: "The Germans have more than two dozen tanks, and there are so many artillery pieces in the back, can they beat the enemy with just their little armor?" ”

I smiled, put down the binoculars in my hand, and asked mockingly: "What's the matter, Comrade Captain, don't you have confidence in your regiment commander, Lieutenant Colonel Sederikov?" Do you think that if the enemy has more technical equipment than us, you must not be able to defeat them? ”

I just wanted to make a joke and liven up the atmosphere. Unexpectedly, Serebryanny was frightened by my words, and he hurriedly waved his hands. Explain to me: "This is not the case, Comrade Division Commander. I don't doubt that the regimental commanders have the combat power to defeat the enemy, but I am worried that they will suffer a great loss in the face of a strong enemy. ”

Although Sherebryan said it tactfully, it still meant the same thing. I didn't dwell too much on this issue, but instructed him: "Comrade Captain, there is nothing for you here, you go back and command the troops." Just as he said yes and was about to get up and leave, I suddenly stopped him again, "If you see Captain Basmanov coming back, call him here and let him take charge of arranging the guards near the observation post." ”

After hesitating for a moment, Serebryanny stopped and asked me: "Comrade division commander, after the shelling of the minefield at the foot of the mountain, there are not many mines left that have not exploded. ”

"Going to Bray at this time?" When I heard his whimsical construction, I couldn't help but ask in surprise: "Comrade Captain, don't you know that the German infantry and tanks are rushing towards us?" If we had sent people to lay mines at such a time, the Germans would have only needed to fire one or two shots from their tanks, and the detonated mines would have wiped out all our mine-laying fighters. In order to prevent him from continuing to ask me any ridiculous ideas, I hurriedly waved my hand and sent him away.

The German tanks were moving much faster than the infantry, and when the infantry was still seven or eight hundred meters from our position, the tanks and infantry converged. The tanks that had been galloping came to a halt, lined up neatly, and pointed the muzzles of the black holes at the high ground. Seeing this, I couldn't help but curse indignantly: Damn the Germans, they want to use tank fire to suppress the fire on our positions so that they can cover their infantry charge.

As soon as I thought so, the German tank guns were already firing neatly. Twenty or so tank shells whizzed towards our heights, and a moment later they landed in different sections and exploded. One of the shells exploded five or six meters in front of the left side of the observation post, and I quickly squatted down and hid my whole body behind the broken wall, but the crumbling earth still fell on me.

I peeked out from behind the wall and saw that the German infantry under the hillside, which had changed from walking to trotting, was hurrying towards our position. Seeing that the enemy was approaching our position, the commanders and fighters leaned out of the trenches and took up their shooting positions, regardless of the fact that the German tanks were still shooting.

About a company of German infantry rushed to the foot of the hill and was blocked by barbed wire there. Just as they were trying to clear the barbed wire, the fire points on the mountainside positions suddenly opened fire. The firepower of two light machine guns, seven or eight meals, and more than thirty rifles knocked down a dozen German soldiers in an instant, and the rest quickly turned around and fled.

"Hell, why shoot so early." Seeing that the commanders and fighters on the mountainside position could not hold their breath and did not bring the enemy closer, they rashly opened fire, and as a result, they only killed so many enemies, and at the same time exposed their own firepower. Next, what awaits them will be retaliation from enemy tank fire. I shouted at the door, "Hey, who's outside, come in alone." ”

At my shout, a warrior appeared in the doorway. Politely asked, "Comrade division commander." What are your instructions? ”

"Comrade warriors. You go and ask Captain Sherebryanny. I was furious and said, "Ask him, who is in command of the mountainside position, and who told them to shoot first?" ”

Before the warrior could leave, Serebryanny appeared in front of me first, he must have been hiding in a nearby shelter, and he also saw the scene just now, and knew that I might get angry, so he didn't wait for me to send someone to call him. He appeared in front of me first.

Seeing Sherebryanny appear in front of me, I angrily repeated what I had just said: "Comrade Captain, who told your men to shoot first?" ”

In the face of my accusations, Serebryanne's face flushed, and he muttered: "Comrade division commander, I am to blame for this matter, I did not make it clear to them, and I am responsible for this matter." ”

I ignored his answer and continued to ask, "Do you know what the consequences of such a rash are?" As I spoke, I pointed down the hill. You take a closer look, in that round of shooting. How many Germans did we kill and how many ran? For these enemies who attack the high ground, we are not to drive him away, but to destroy them. Now that they have been driven away, the German tanks, which are firing aimlessly, will concentrate their artillery fire on our firing points on the mountainside positions. Once the firing point is destroyed by artillery fire, do you think that the enemy's attack can be stopped with the existing forces on the position? ”

"Of course I can't stop it." Serebryanny replied in a whisper, and then he defended himself to me: "Comrade division commander, perhaps it was the round of artillery bombardment just now that brought out the anger of our commanders and fighters, so we could not help but see the enemy approaching our position. ”

As soon as I finished speaking, the German tanks stopped shooting aimlessly, as they had just done just now, but concentrated their artillery on the mountainside. The shells that exploded in front and behind the trenches forced the soldiers to retreat into the trenches without waiting and holding their weapons.

"Remember, Comrade Captain, even if you can't help it, you have to endure it." I waved my hand vigorously and said dissatisfiedly: "Now you go back to the army to set up defenses, and try every means to block the German attack, understand?" Serebryone nodded silently and turned to leave.

A few barbed wire fences at the foot of the hill, torn open by exploding shells, were enough for the troops to pass through the middle. As the tank shelling stopped, more than 200 German soldiers swarmed up, quickly opened a few gaps, and began to climb up the hillside.

As the enemy approached, I could vaguely see the faces of the Germans even without binoculars, and my heart pounded, fearing that they would suddenly accelerate and rush through our positions on the mountainside.

When the enemy was only fifty meters away from the position on the mountainside, there was still no movement in the trenches, and at this moment I couldn't help but panic, saying that the commanders and fighters on the position would not have died in the shelling just now, right?

When the Germans had moved forward about twenty meters, a dense mass of grenades suddenly flew out of the trenches, like a flock of crows flying through the sky. A grenade exploded in the ranks of the German troops. Perhaps my ears had been shaken a little by the shelling, and the short, continuous explosion sounded unexpectedly small to me. Shrapnel from flying grenades flew in all directions, sweeping down the German soldiers near the blast site. Some soldiers were directly hit by several grenades at the same time, and were blown to pieces. As soon as the first wave of grenades exploded, the second and third waves followed. On such a narrow plane, the lethality of a grenade is no less than that of German shelling. Taking advantage of the fact that the Germans were dazed, the commanders and fighters in the trenches jumped up, rushed out of the trench with their weapons, and fired fiercely at the enemy in front of them.

Although the Germans had tanks at the foot of the mountain and a dozen heavy guns on the steppe farther away, they were unable to support these poor creatures at the moment for fear of accidentally injuring their own people, and could only watch their infantry be wiped out by us little by little. There was not much time, and most of the German soldiers were lying on the hillside. There aren't many people left who can escape from our guns in the end.

Seeing that most of the enemy was wiped out by us, the commanders and fighters who attacked did not follow the pursuit, but stopped and quickly collected ammunition from the enemy. Before this qiē was done, the tanks at the foot of the hill opened fire. Seeing the tank shells exploding around them, many commanders and fighters hurriedly rolled and hid in the trenches, and some unlucky commanders and fighters fell in the German artillery fire.

"Comrade Division Commander." Suddenly a familiar voice came from behind me, and even if I didn't look back, I knew it was Basmanov. Last night I sent him to escort Travkin's reconnaissance group. Go to the camp on the south side. I should have just come back at the moment. I turned my head to see that it was him. When he saw me looking at him, he hurriedly said: "I have just returned from the camp in the south, and as soon as I returned to the position, I heard Captain Sherebryanny say, you have something to look for me?" ”

"There is nothing to do," in fact, having Basmanov arrange manpower to act as a guard near the observation post is just a measure to prevent the command organ from being attacked by the enemy again. At this time, the enemy's shelling was so fierce. Presumably, they would not have taken the risk of sending people up to attack us again, so I said lightly: "I wanted you to arrange a guard near the observation post, but the enemy's shelling is so fierce, I guess they thought that they could destroy us with artillery fire, so they would not have risked sending a small detachment to attack us." ”

Basmanov walked up to me, also half-crouched, and asked nervously: "Comrade division commander, hasn't the latent unit of Lieutenant Colonel Shederikov yet attacked?" ”

I shook my head and replied: "The enemy has a lot more tanks than Shederikov, if they attack rashly." There is a high chance that they will be completely wiped out by the enemy, so they are still waiting for the opportunity for the time being. ”

"Still waiting for a chance?!" Basmanov listened to me say this. Inevitably, "the infantry of the Germans, under the cover of tanks, launched an attack on our heights." If they don't attack, the Germans will have rushed to the top of the mountain. ”

In the face of his gaffe, I turned my face and said sternly: "Comrade Captain, when Lieutenant Colonel Sederikov will attack, it may not be something that you, a little captain, should worry about. You go out and ask the soldiers who are outside to find a place to hide from the German fire. ”

Basmanov straightened up with a melancholy face, saluted me, turned and stepped out on the rubble.

I silently observed the German infantry gathering at the foot of the hill and the German tanks a little farther away, and wondered how high the probability of victory Shedelikov would be if he attacked at this moment.

Without waiting for the Germans to launch a third charge, Scheerichkov's counterattack began.

I saw through the telescope that Shederikov's armored unit was hidden about a kilometer to the east of the German artillery position. A salvo of five tanks knocked out half of the German artillery. When there was a mess on the enemy's artillery positions, Sederikov's troops began a surprise attack.

In front of them were five tanks in a line, and fifteen armored vehicles followed in three columns, rushing towards the German artillery positions and the infantry gathered behind them.

The attention of the Germans was focused on the direction of our army's high grounds, and they did not expect that an armored unit would rush out from the flank, and at once it fell into complete confusion. The German artillery attempted to turn its guns and fire at the advancing tanks and armored vehicles, but were mercilessly knocked down by the tanks or the on-board machine guns of the armored vehicles.

The German artillery could not do anything with our armored forces, and their infantry was still helpless. After a little resistance, seeing that they could not stop the assault of our army, the infantry did not even want the trucks on the road, and fled north.

When our armored units rushed to the artillery position, the German soldiers near the artillery position were killed or wounded and could not run, and the rest fled early. At this time, the armored car stopped in front of the cannon, and quite a few fighters got out of the car, walked quickly to the side of the cannon, and adjusted the direction of the muzzle.

Soon I faintly heard the screech of cannonballs flying in the air, followed by a series of loud booms, and at the foot of the hill it was as if several volcanoes were erupting at the same time. The soldiers in the center of the bombing point were blown to pieces, and the shrapnel flew everywhere, and I don't know how many German soldiers who were still menacing just now were cut down.

In the whole heights, probably not many people except me knew where the shell came from and why it fell in the ranks of the Germans and exploded. The entire high ground fell into silence, and the commanders and fighters who saw this scene were in a daze. At this moment, sometimes a volley of shells whistled over, again landing precisely in the ranks of the already frightened German infantry. After the fire and gunpowder smoke rose, a large number of soldiers fell around them, and even several tanks were overturned, and the tanks of another tank were directly bombed down.

At this moment, a cheer suddenly sounded on the high ground. I distinctly heard someone shouting outside the observation post: "It was the regimental commander who was bombarding the Germans with captured German artillery." ”

Agitated, Basmanov stormed the observation post and excitedly shouted at me: "Comrade division commander. Did you see that? It was Lieutenant Colonel Sederikov who struck. Hahahaha. With the captured German artillery, they are beating these Germans in front of the high ground. ”

The German soldiers at the foot of the hill who were under artillery bombardment, even if they were fools, knew that there was something wrong with their rear. At such times, only a madman would continue to attack the heights, and the wisest thing to do would be to turn around and retreat north, so that there would be any hope of escape.

The German infantry spread their feet and galloped northward. The surviving tanks did not bother to turn around, and their guns moved forward. Seeing the fleeing German troops, I had a relaxed expression on my face, and said in my heart: There are Sejerikov's armored troops and artillery blocking the way in front, and there is also a new force in ambush on the side, and under such a blow, it can be regarded as a miracle that these German soldiers can escape by a third.

When the German infantry galloped for several kilometers and approached the dirt slope, a dense burst of gunfire suddenly rang out on the slope. Under the blow of our army's intensive firepower, the German soldiers close to the dirt slope fell in an instant. However, the German soldiers in the vicinity were frightened. They simply did not dare to stop and shoot back, or to leave their troops to block it. Covering the retreat of the large army, he dragged his guns and ran away in the opposite direction of the dirt slope.

When the Germans were fleeing, Shederikov's troops bombarded them with captured tanks and cannons, and from time to time a large number of German infantry fell under artillery fire, or the retreating tanks were directly hit and turned into burning scrap metal.

When all the German tanks had fled to the east, the infantry left behind became lambs to the slaughter. The troops who had been killing and wounding the enemy with fire on the dirt slope, seeing that the enemy was completely disorganized, decisively rushed down the slope and rushed towards the German infantry ranks.

At noon, Lieutenant Colonel Sedjerikov appeared at the command post and reported to us the results of the battle with a beaming face. He said excitedly: "Comrade division commander, today's battle results are really unexpected. In addition to the eight howitzers, I also captured two tanks and forty trucks, so that we would have enough vehicles to transport supplies back to Mamayev Heights. ”

Although I heard that forty more trucks had been seized, I was not as excited as Bandereev. Instead, after both of them had calmed down a little, I asked slowly, "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, although we have seized so many cars, do we have so many drivers to drive?" ”

My words stunned both Shederikov and Bandereev. Scratching the back of his head, Shedelikov replied with a wry smile: "Comrade division commander, if you don't mention it, I really haven't thought about it. Although we have a few thousand people here, it may not be easy to draw fifty or sixty fighters who can drive. ”

"Comrade division commander," Bantai Laiev, seeing my calm face, guessed in his heart what I might have planned, so he asked me bluntly: "I want to ask you, do you have any good ideas?" ”

When I saw that Bandeleyev had guessed my thoughts, I no longer hid it, but said straight to the point: "Although there are not so many people who can drive among our soldiers, there are such talents among the captives." For example, Comrade Deputy Division Commander, many of the prisoners captured by the Romanian battalion you attacked yesterday must have been able to drive; And the prisoners that Lieutenant Colonel Sedjerikov captured in the battle that has just ended, I believe that from them we can also find suitable people to be drivers. ”

"Is it appropriate to have a captive as a driver?" "After all, they are all prisoners, and I'm worried that something unexpected will happen on the way," said Bandereev. ”

"Comrade Deputy Division Commander, we must take this risk." I didn't want to get tangled with Pandereev on this issue, so I said very simply: "If we don't find enough drivers, then we can't get our supplies back to Mamayev Gang." As for your concerns, we can take precautions in advance, for example, send two soldiers to each car to sit in the cab, monitor the captive driver, and if he does anything wrong, just kill him. ”

After talking about the arrangement of the driver, the three of us began to discuss the gains and losses of today's battle. Pantai Laiev took out a pen and paper from his briefcase, looked at me and said respectfully: "Comrade division commander, how do you think today's battle summary should be written?" ”

"It's very simple, Comrade Deputy Division Commander." When I heard him ask me, I said without hesitation: "The reason why we were able to achieve such a victory with few casualties and great results was because of the following points: First, the enemy situation was accurately grasped and the battle preparations were sufficient; Second, the ambush position is properly selected, well camouflaged, and well concealed; 3. Reasonable deployment of troops and careful organization of firepower; Fourth, change positions at the right time, launch a sudden attack, and destroy the enemy in close combat. ”

After recording what I said, Bandereev raised his head and said to Sederikov: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, you may not know that when you were leading your troops on a hidden mission, we received a telegram from the commissar. ”

"What did the commissar say on his telegram?" Sedelikov was also a smart man, and when he heard that Bentai Leev suddenly mentioned Kirillov's telegram, he probably had something good, so without waiting for him to finish speaking, he nervously asked: "Is there any good news to inform us?" ”

After listening to his words, Pantai Leev looked at him and smiled and said: "Comrade division commander, I have to say that Lieutenant Colonel Sederikov is really not simple, and I guessed at once that there is good news in the telegram of the commissar. Then he turned his head to look at Sederikov and said mysteriously: "Although you guessed that there was good news on the telegram, you could never guess what good news it was, right?" ”

Sederikov shook his head and replied honestly: "Yes, Comrade Deputy Division Commander, although I can guess that it is good news, I really can't guess what the specific news is. ”

Bandelyev stood up, limped in front of Shedelikov, patted him on the shoulder, and said proudly: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, you can't imagine that our superiors awarded us the Order of the Red Banner of the Independent Division. ”

"Order of the Red Banner?!" When Shedelikov heard this, he was stunned for a moment, and then asked tentatively: "Comrade Deputy Division Commander, do you mean that the Order of the Red Banner was awarded to the Independent Division, and not to the Order of the Red Banner for individuals?" ”

When I heard Sederikov say this, I couldn't help but feel ashamed, even my own subordinates knew that awarding the Order of the Red Banner to individuals and collectives were two different things, but I, who was a division commander, couldn't understand it, what a shame.

Hearing Basmanov's question, Bandereev nodded vigorously and said affirmatively: "Yes, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, it was the higher authorities who awarded the Order of the Red Banner to the collective of the Independent Division, and not to the individual. Do you understand the difference between the two? ”

Sederikov also nodded vigorously and said affirmatively: "Understood, understood, Comrade Deputy Division Commander." Of course, I understand that as long as the superiors award the Order of the Red Banner of the Independent Division, then our future number will become a glorious Red Banner Independent Division. (To be continued......)