The jeep, which had been parked in the middle of the road, had stopped at the edge of the forest. The slightly trembling body indicates that the engine has not been turned off and is ready to start at any time.

A few steps away from the jeep, Grissa pushed open the door of the passenger cab, poked his head out of it, and asked me anxiously: "Comrade division commander, when are we going back to the division headquarters?" If you don't leave, it will be dark. ”

I pulled the door and got into the car, sat down in my seat, turned to Grissa and said, "We have other things to do, so we won't be back to the division headquarters for the time being." Then he shouted at Ramis, who was still walking slowly on the snow: "Comrade lieutenant, hurry up and get in the car, we will wait for Captain Starcha and them in the car." ”

Ramis waved his hand and said, "No, I'll wait for them outside." After saying that, he took out a cigarette from his pocket, lit it with a match, leaned his back against the hood and began to swallow the clouds.

Before Ramis could finish his cigarette, Captain Starcha had already come out of the trench with his squad. Seeing them coming, I hurriedly pushed the car door, jumped into the snow, and asked the captain in a loud voice: "Comrade Captain, how can we get to the village of Peshki?" ”

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," the captain replied to me, "we have no means of transport and can only go there on foot. ”

I let out an "oh" and asked, "How far is it from here to the village?" ”

Hearing my question, the captain turned his head and whispered a few words to a soldier next to him, and then replied to me: "If you take the road, it will be about four kilometers." We can walk through the forest, which saves almost half the distance. ”

After listening to his words, I took a look at the size of the squad, although there were not many people, but there were about twenty people, and then looked back at the car, thinking that this car could not hold so many people, so I ordered the driver: "Grissa, I will not return to the division headquarters for the time being, you can drive the car back first." ”

"This ...... This ......" Grissa said with some embarrassment: "Comrade division commander, I am ordered to bring you back safely to the division headquarters. If you don't go back with me, I don't know how to explain to the commissar when I see him. ”

"Don't worry," I saw his anxious look, and hurriedly comforted him: "You go back and tell the political commissar that I have more important things to do, and I will go back when I am done, so that he does not have to worry." Speaking of this, I paused, pointed to Ramis beside me and continued: "As for safety, with Lieutenant Ramis by my side to protect me, there shouldn't be any danger, you just let the commissar rest assured." ”

"But......" Grissa was about to say something, but Ramis interrupted him, "but what, you still obey the order of the division commander and drive the car back to the division headquarters immediately." I am responsible for the safety of the division commander. As he said this, he seemed to wink at Grissa.

Seeing this little action of Ramis, I was just about to ask what happened, but Captain Starca, who was standing next to me, spoke: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, the collar badge on your coat is too conspicuous, so let's put this dress on the outside." As he spoke, he handed over a white camouflage suit.

I looked down and saw that I was still wearing the same clothes that I had worn to see Stalin, not only were the clothes new, but the red collar badge was also particularly glaring, and I would definitely become a target for German snipers when I arrived on the battlefield, so I hurriedly took the clothes and put them on the outside of my coat.

When I was buttoning my clothes, Grissa said to me: "Comrade division commander, I will go back to the division headquarters first, you pay more attention to safety." "After saluting me, he closed the door, and immediately started the jeep and drove along the road on the right in the direction of the division headquarters.

By the time I had buttoned all the buttons, the jeep had disappeared from my sight, and I suddenly remembered that I had forgotten to take off the submachine gun in the car, and I couldn't help but sigh. Captain Starcha asked me curiously: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, what's wrong?" Did you forget something in the car? ”

"Yes, yes!" I nodded desperately and replied, a little embarrassed, "I forgot the submachine gun in the car." ”

The captain smiled, took a submachine gun from the soldier next to him, handed it over, and said, "You can use this one." Seeing that I took the gun, he specially introduced: "This is the latest Popov submachine gun equipped with troops, with a large ammunition capacity, fast rate of fire and fierce firepower, which is very suitable for use in close combat." ”

I put the gun on my shoulder without saying a word, and said in my heart: This is still necessary for you to say, when the new product was first introduced, I have been using it, and I know better than you how the weapon performs. Of course, these words were just thinking about it in my heart, and it was impossible to say it, so I shook my head at him and said, "Comrade Captain, it's not too early, let's go!" ”

"Let's go!" With the captain's order, the squad set off. I took a special look at the soldiers' equipment, and found that almost all of them were equipped with Popov submachine guns, and the two fighters at the end of the line were dragging sleds with several long wooden boxes on them, and I didn't know what new weapons were in the tunnel.

After crossing the forest road and entering the forest on the other side, the captain began to distribute his manpower, and two fighters were arranged in front to explore the road, and a sergeant with five fighters followed the detachment two hundred meters behind the detachment to serve as a guard.

The squad marched through the forest, and no one spoke, except for the crunch of boots on the snow.

As he was walking, there was a sudden sound of gunfire in front of him. Captain Starcha raised his right hand in the air, signaled for the troops to halt their advance, and listened intently to where the sound was coming from.

There was a rush of footsteps ahead, and I looked up to see a warrior exploring the path ahead. Panting, he ran to the front of the line, raised his hand in salute, and reported breathlessly: "Comrade commander, there is a battle ahead. ”

"I know that there is a battle going on in front of the road," and before Captain Starcha could speak, Ramis had already rushed to ask, "but I want to know where the battle is going on?" ”

"Probably from the direction of the village," replied the scout in an uncertain tone, "another soldier has gone to reconnoiter the place where the gunshots were fired, and I have come back to report the news." ”

Captain Starcha beckoned to the back, and the communications man with the walkie-talkie on his back immediately ran over. The captain took off the headphones and microphone from the machine and began to shout inside: "Parachute, parachute, I'm a glider, I'm a glider, please answer when you hear it." ”

As soon as he finished shouting, a voice in response came from the headset: "Glider, I'm a parachute." ”

The captain glanced at me, then asked, "What is going on in the village, why is the gunfire so dense?" ”

"The fascist bandits have entered the village."

"What?" Hearing this, I snatched the microphone from the captain's hand and asked loudly, "What about the troops in the village?" And what about the tanks of our army? ”

Hearing my voice, the other party was obviously stunned for a moment, and then replied hesitantly: "Just now I saw a large army and a dozen tanks leaving from the east of the village, according to the report of our soldiers, only one squad was left on the position north of the village, and the fascist bandits estimated that they broke through the defense line before attacking the village." ”

"Why don't you report it in time?" I immediately thought of my own dream, and I was worried that Rokossovsky would really be in danger, so I spoke in a particularly unkind tone.

When confronted by my questioning, the other party was silent.

The captain took the microphone from my hand and said to his men: "You immediately organize your troops for defense, you must block the enemy's infantry, and I will immediately bring people over to support you." Do you understand? ”

"Got it!" The other party readily agreed.

Hanging up the headset and microphone, the captain shouted at the team: "We're going to stop the enemy tanks, hurry up and get the contents of the box." ”

The sled warrior threw the rope in his hand, and when he stepped forward, he lifted the lid of the wooden box and took out a long cylindrical dongdong from inside. I just glanced at it and knew what it was, and Ramis was curious to ask, "What is it, mortars don't look like mortars, chimneys don't look like chimneys......"

"This is a new weapon that the US allies have come to our aid, specially designed to fight tanks, called bazookas!" The captain gave Ramis a brief explanation, and then began to give orders again: "All obey my orders: target, Peshki village, run forward!" ”