Entering April, the snow and ice melt and the roads become muddy.

The two attacks launched by the Germans on the position of the Eighth Company with infantry without the cover of tanks ended in a disgraced retreat by leaving dozens of corpses in front of the position.

After the German offensive on our battalion stopped, the direction of the attack turned to the 131st Regiment on the other side of the lake.

Standing on the position, I could see clearly with my binoculars that after the fierce German artillery fire, the attacking troops rushed towards the position of the 131st Regiment like a wave of high waves, and soon overflowed the first line of defense of the Soviet army, and continued to attack the second line of defense. Blocked by the powerful fire of the defending Soviet troops, it retreated into the first line of defense like a receding tide. The Soviets took the opportunity to launch a counter-charge and rushed to the first line of defense, in an attempt to quickly regain the lost positions. But the Soviet counteroffensive was crushed by the stubborn resistance of the Germans, and they were forced to retreat back to the second line of defense. As soon as they withdrew, the Germans immediately pursued them in an attempt to capture the second line of position.

In this way, the Soviets retreated from the German attack, or the Germans retreated from the Soviet counteroffensive, and the two sides engaged in a brutal tug-of-war between the two lines of defense, and the positions of the two armies were covered with the corpses of both the enemy and us.

Separated by a wide lake and without heavy equipment such as artillery, our battalion could not provide the necessary fire support to the defenders, so we could only stand by and stare at each other in a hurry, which could not help at all.

This tug-of-war lasted for more than 20 days, but on the contrary, our place seemed to have become a forgotten corner of the Germans, not only did the Germans not launch an offensive, but even the daily shelling stopped. Since there was such a rare period of peace, I was not idle, and every day I urged the Eighth Company to hurry up and repair the fortifications on the position.

On the afternoon of April 23, I was lying in the trench with Master Yemelyanov, watching the battle with a telescope. Suddenly, Second Lieutenant Miducci came running up, stood behind me and saluted, and reported: "Comrade Major, there is a phone call from the company headquarters looking for you, it is from the superior commander, and the company commander has asked me to ask you to come and pick it up." ”

I stood up, handed Yemelyanov the binoculars in my hand, and asked Miduch: "Comrade Ensign, do you know who called from the Dao?" ”

The second lieutenant shrugged his shoulders, spread his hands, and said, "I don't know what to do." Just now, when I was passing by the company command post, I was stopped by Lieutenant Ugad, who said loudly: 'Comrade Second Lieutenant, hurry up and ask the Major to answer the phone, it is the superior commander who called. Then I came. ”

When I heard a call from my superiors, I guessed in my heart that there was some big move, and I didn't dare to delay any longer, so I hurriedly walked three steps and two steps towards the company command post.

Lieutenant Ugad saw me enter the door, covered the microphone and whispered to me, "It's the regimental commander's phone." With that, he handed me the microphone.

I took the microphone and just asked, "Hey, I'm Major Oshanina." Who are you? A familiar voice immediately came from the other party: "What who?" I'm Lieutenant Colonel Harpy. Comrade Major, I have two things to inform you, and I hope you will be mentally prepared first. ”

Originally, my mentality was stable, but when I heard him say this, I knew that something big must have happened, and I suddenly became a little flustered.

"Hey, hey, comrade major. Are you still listening to me? ”

"I'll listen, Comrade Commander. Please tell me something. ”

"Both things are important. First, the Volkhov Front was abolished today and was reduced to the Volkhov Cluster, which is under the leadership of the Leningrad Front, which means that from today we will again be under the command of Commander Khotzin of the Leningrad Front. "When he talked about it, his tone was steady, as if he was used to this kind of institutional adjustment." Second, Commander Hozin intends to launch an attack tomorrow from your battalion's position, in an effort to break through the enemy positions on the opposite side and attract the enemy's attention in order to relieve the pressure on the 131st Regiment. ”

I was surprised to hear that we were going to attack tomorrow, it was so sudden, there was no warning beforehand. I complained to Lieutenant Colonel Harpy with a bitter face: "Comrade Regiment Commander, my battalion has only more than 200 people, and there are no heavy weapons, so there may be no problem in defense, and it is simply impossible to attack the Germans on the opposite side. ”

Hearing my concern, Lieutenant Colonel Harpy said lightly: "The task of your battalion is only to hold the position. The offensive tasks were carried out by the teams sent by the front command. ”

"Totally understood, Comrade Regiment Commander." When I heard that I didn't need our battalion to charge into battle, my heart suddenly became steady, and I finally asked, "When will the offensive start?" ”

"Tomorrow morning at six o'clock." With that, Lieutenant Colonel Harpy hung up the phone.

I put the microphone away, and Ugard, who had been listening to it for a long time, couldn't wait to ask: "Comrade Major, are we going to start the attack?" ”

I nodded and said, "Tomorrow there will be an attack on the enemy forces on the opposite side to relieve the pressure on the 131st Regiment." The offensive was carried out by the troops sent by the Front Command, and our task was to hold our positions. ”

Because the roads were muddy, in order to avoid the pain of running back and forth, he stayed at the company command post of the Eighth Company that night. I lay on the camp bed in the corner, closed but unable to sleep, thinking about tomorrow's attack.

I finally fell asleep in a haze, but was woken up by Ugad. He shouted in a low voice: "Comrade Major, wake up, wake up." The attacking forces came. ”

I sat up, raised my hand and looked at my watch, it was only five o'clock, rubbed my face with both hands, and asked Ugad in a low voice: "Comrade lieutenant, do you see clearly who is leading the team?" ”

"I saw clearly, it was Comrade Lieutenant Colonel who personally led the team. He was walking up the hill. ”

When Lieutenant Colonel Harpy came, I didn't dare to slack off, so I quickly stood up and ran towards the door of the command post.

As soon as I got out of the command post, I found that it was raining outside. When he was hesitating to go back and pick up a raincoat, a thick hooded raincoat was already draped over his body. Looking back, there was Lieutenant Ugard standing behind him, wearing a raincoat. I smiled gratefully at him, put on my raincoat, and walked down the trench to meet Lieutenant Colonel Harpy.

In a few moments I met Lieutenant Colonel Harpy with two soldiers, and I hastened to salute him and report to him: "Comrade Regiment Commander, Major Oshanina is at your command!" ”

"Has the minefield at the front of the position been cleared?" Lieutenant Colonel Harpy asked suddenly, inexplicably.

"Report to Comrade Regiment Commander," I said with a little embarrassment, "because of the shelling of the Germans, the minefields in front of the positions, the mines that did not explode are almost gone." ”

He didn't ask why the mines weren't re-laid, but went on to ask: "Are there heavy machine guns on the position?" ”

Ugard stepped forward and replied: "There are two Maxim 1910 heavy machine guns. ”

"Pull them all over and put them there." Lieutenant Colonel Harpy said, pointing to a trench not far away.

"Yes!" Ugad agreed, and turned to carry out the order.

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, where are the attacking troops?" As soon as the lieutenant left, I couldn't wait to ask questions.

Lieutenant Colonel Harpy didn't talk nonsense either, and said bluntly: "Follow me." He brought me to the entrance to the uphill trench, pointed down the slope, and said, "Look, it's all there." ”

I looked down the slope and saw more than 30 covered trucks parked in the clearing, wearing brand-new khaki short cotton uniforms and cotton hats, and empty-handed soldiers were jumping out of the trucks one after another. Hearing the loud orders of the commanders in steel helmets, the soldiers quickly formed a neat queue. After the assembly, with a new command, the group snapped upright, and the military boots were splashed with mud and water.

The next scene left me dumbfounded. Another truck came and stopped at the front of the queue, and several commanders walked over, took the rifles handed down from the compartment, and distributed them to the soldiers standing nearby.

After the weapons were distributed, a commander led the way up the hill with a military flag held aloft. Then the commanders, who were giving orders, drew their pistols from their waists and brandished them to drive the soldiers who had just picked up their guns and followed them uphill.

I pointed to the soldiers who were walking towards the hillside and asked Lieutenant Colonel Harpy in confusion, "This is our attacking team?" ”

"Yes." Harpy replied crisply, "They will charge directly at the enemy's positions." ”

"But, Comrade Commander." I couldn't help but remind the lieutenant colonel in front of me, "It's a joke to storm the enemy's positions with such a unit without formation, without fire cover, and without enough ammunition." ”

Lieutenant Colonel Harpy turned his head, stared at me with cold eyes, and said with a serious expression: "Don't you know that the orders of your superiors are not allowed to be discussed?" A soldier's duty is to obey orders! All you have to do now is to urge your troops to hold their positions, lest the Germans take advantage of the opportunity to counterattack. ”

I had no choice but to quickly stand up and answer loudly: "Yes, resolutely obey the order and hold the position." ”

The troops slowly moved into their starting positions along the communication trenches, and as they passed me, I was surprised to find that the soldiers in their new uniforms were all Asian faces. Why are you Asian? I couldn't figure it out. I vaguely remember the Anti-Japanese Federation in the Northeast, in 1940, many units retreated to the territory of the Soviet Union for retraining, and were reorganized into the 88th Infantry Brigade of the Soviet Far Eastern Front, also known as the 88th International Brigade.

Thinking of this, I grabbed a soldier who passed by me and asked loudly: "Is it the Chinese comrades of the 88 International Brigade?" "Because I was afraid of revealing my identity, I asked in Russian instead of Chinese.

The warrior looked at me blankly, shook his head, and continued to follow the main force forward.

I sighed secretly, it seems that this person does not understand Russian and does not understand what I am saying. I grabbed another fighter and asked, but I still didn't get any answer.

Seeing that the troops were assembled and the heavy machine guns were in place, Lieutenant Colonel Harpy took the red flag from the hands of the commander and handed it to a short, round-faced middle-aged soldier, then found an ammunition box and stood up, pointed to the German positions in front of him, and shouted to everyone: "Today that forest will become the grave of the Germans, show the German cowards the bravery of the Soviet troops, soldiers, forward!" ”

With a flick of his raised hand in the direction of the enemy position, the assembled troops let out a tsunami shout: "Ula! Ulla!! Then he climbed out of the trench with his hands and feet, and rushed down the hill.

I couldn't help but sigh to myself as I watched this unit, which had no fire cover, rushing behind a red flag and rushing towards the enemy's position. This is an attack, purely to send to death. They are out-and-out death squads, troops rushing to the dead.

The enemy's position was 800 meters away from us, and in just three minutes, the troops had already rushed half the way, but the German position was still quiet, and there was no movement at all. One gave the illusion that our attack was so sudden that the Germans simply did not notice it.

It was almost dawn at four o'clock in April, and in broad daylight, if the enemy did not react to such a large operation of the Soviet army, there were usually only two situations: one was that there were no Germans in the forest, and they all withdrew; The second is that all Germans are deaf and blind.

The next thing it turned out was that the Germans were neither blind nor deaf and did not withdraw from the forest, they were always waiting for an opportunity. When the attacking troops were still two or three hundred meters from the edge of the forest, the Germans opened fire on mortars.

This sudden firepower blow immediately knocked the death squad who had already breathed a sigh of relief into a daze. Mortar shrapnel whistled and flew in all directions, like a sharp scythe of death, cutting the soldiers down one by one, stumps and muddy water splashed together, and rifles were blown into parts. The dirt fell and hit the warriors who had fallen to hide, making them like mud monkeys in an instant.

The fighters, who were lucky enough not to be hit by the shells or lying on their stomachs in the craters, continued to rush forward with their rifles, occasionally pulling the trigger at the enemy's positions.

When the fighters rushed to a hundred meters from the forest, all kinds of German guns, rifles, light machine guns, heavy machine guns, and even the officers' pistols opened fire. At such a close distance, with such a dense attacking team, there is absolutely no reason to miss. The Germans fired incessantly, causing blood to splash in the piles of people and screaming to the ground.

Soon, the offensive of our army was suppressed by the Germans, and the soldiers who were lucky enough not to die cried and turned around and ran back.

When they were still four hundred meters from the position, Lieutenant Colonel Harpy ordered the two heavy machine guns on the position to open fire. Dense fire hit the retreating warriors, and the two flesh alleys were quickly and forcefully plowed out.

"Ceasefire, ceasefire, ceasefire!" I rushed to the side of the heavy machine gun and shouted loudly at several machine gun shooters.