When Godunov came to report on the results of the battle, he was followed by Katerina and two middle-aged women. Looking at the joyful look on the faces of Katerina and the three of them, and the German-made rifles they were carrying, I knew that they had also gained a lot in the battle that had just ended.

When they came to the door of the observation post on the dirt slope, and when they saw me coming out of it, Katerina and the three stopped in their tracks, but Godunov stepped forward alone to report the results of the battle to me.

Although the battle was over, in order to prevent lurking German snipers, Godunov walked up to me and stopped, did not salute, but straightened up and reported to me: "Comrade commander, in the battle that has just ended, we destroyed a total of 14 German tanks, completely annihilated two infantry companies, killed 219 people, and captured 83 alive, including 5 officers. A batch of weapons and ammunition was captured, and the rest was given to Katerina and them, except for replenishing our troops. ”

After listening to his report, I asked in a flat tone: "What are our casualties?" ”

"In addition to Major Persten's tank detachment, there were casualties among infantry and artillery. I haven't had time to count the casualties on the artillery side, but I guess it's not small. On the infantry side, 46 people were killed and 69 wounded, 11 of whom were seriously wounded and needed to be immediately sent to the health camp for treatment. ”

"Major, immediately arrange for manpower to send the seriously wounded who need treatment here." I raised my hand and looked at my watch, then at the gray sky, and felt that when I went to Kirovgrad at this time, I should not be attacked by enemy planes, and added: "When I returned to the military headquarters." By the way, the wounded were also brought to the city, so that they could receive the treatment they deserved. ”

As soon as Godunov left, Katerina came over. Holding up a German-made submachine gun, he boasted to me with a happy face: "Look, comrade commander, what a good weapon, which I personally handed over from the fascist invaders." ”

"Then stay, Comrade Katerina." I thought about it and said to her, "It's not just this submachine gun, it's the weapon that Major Godunov gave you. can all stay. Because only you are armed, so that even if the Germans come back, you will not have to worry about it anymore. ”

My words just fell. The expression on Katerina's face suddenly became serious. After waving the two middle-aged women away, she took two more steps closer to me, looked left and right, and then asked cautiously, "Comrade commander." What do you mean by that? The Germans are coming back. Are you ready to abandon this place again, to leave us behind, and to leave it back to the Germans? She couldn't help but raise her voice when she said the back.

I put my hand on her shoulder and said with a pleasant face: "Comrade Katerina, do you think that when I gave the order to abandon these places, my heart was not painful? Knowing that this is the land of our Soviet Motherland, can I bear to see the fascist invaders ravage her? If only there was even the slightest possibility. I don't want to give up easily......"

Katerina didn't wait for me to finish, then interjected, "But." We have just fought a victorious battle and eliminated two or three hundred fascist invaders. I have heard that there are still tens of thousands of main troops in Kirovgrad, and if they also fight such a victory and destroy an enemy about the same number as them, then you will be able to establish a foothold in this vicinity. ”

I did not interrupt Katerina's one-sided understanding, and when she had finished speaking, I continued: "Comrade Katerina, although we have achieved a small victory, it will not help the whole situation. Although we have more than 10,000 people, we are now in the rear of the enemy, and it is difficult for us to get timely supplies of ammunition, food, and medicine. In a short period of time, the enemy may not be able to do anything about us, but after a long time, they will not fight, and our troops will gradually lose their combat effectiveness due to insufficient supplies. You must know that the German troops in Ukraine can be hundreds of thousands, not to mention that they have a large number of aircraft, tanks and artillery, even if we fight for numbers, we are not their opponents. ”

"Ah, it's so serious?" Katerina was taken aback by what I said, and she nervously asked, "So what are you going to do next?" ”

Although I did not intend to hide it from her, there were some specific details that I could not tell her, so I could only say in a big way: "First deal with the Germans near Kirovgrad, and if the situation is not good, we must find a suitable direction, break through the German siege of us, cross the Dnieper to join the friendly forces, and avoid being annihilated by the enemy." ”

"Want to cross the Dnieper?" After listening to my analysis of the relationship with her, Katerina no longer dwelled on the matter that we would give up on them again, but frowned and thought about the future of our army: "Now that the ice on the river is beginning to thaw, it is not realistic to cross the river from the ice; And the water is too cold, if you swim across, before you swim to the other side, it is estimated that most of the people will be frozen to death, and the rest of the people will basically lose their combat effectiveness even if they barely reach the other side. ……”

I listened to Katerina's analysis so thoroughly that I was immediately intrigued, and when she showed signs of stopping, I urged her: "Say, Comrade Katerina, go on." ”

Katerina nodded, and continued: "In this way, you are left with only two choices: one is to cross the river from a section with a bridge, but this does not seem to be realistic, such a place must be heavily guarded by the Germans, and if you want to force a breakthrough, you will pay a lot of money." The last way left was to find a boat to cross the river, but ......" At this point, she stopped, as if she did not dare to continue because of scruples.

I coughed and added: "Comrade Katerina, I understand what you mean. You're worried that so many of us are going to cross the river and not find so many boats in a hurry, aren't you? Seeing her nod in approval, I continued: "And even if we can barely find a boat that can cross the river for more than 10,000 people, all the heavy weapons will have to be discarded." Am I right? ”

After listening to my words, Katerina slapped her thigh and said excitedly: "Comrade commander, no wonder you can be a general, even I can guess what I think in my heart." It's remarkable. ”

For her evaluation, I smiled bitterly and said secretly in my heart. Actually, I've thought about everything you just said. If there was a foolproof plan for crossing the river, it is estimated that I would have led my troops north to join the Voronezh Front, and would I still need to wander around the rear of the German army? I didn't want to dwell on this issue any longer, so I asked rhetorically: "Comrade Katerina, what are you going to do next?" ”、

Katerina shrugged her shoulders and said helplessly, "What else can I do?" Except for the elderly and people with mobility problems stay. The rest of the people will move with you. Seeing my look of surprise, he continued: "For example, my deputy, Mira, is familiar with the terrain near the Dnieper. If you're going to cross the river. She might be able to help you. ”

As we were talking, we saw a large group of people walking towards us in the distance. Katerina glanced at it, and then excitedly said to me: "Comrade commander, look. Major, they didn't just carry our wounded. He also brought the group of German prisoners with him. ”

I looked in the direction of her finger, and sure enough, there was a large group of people walking towards us. There were more than a dozen stretchers in front, and although the stretchers were carried by German prisoners, it was the wounded of our army lying on them. Seeing that there were no seriously wounded lying on stretchers among the prisoners who followed me, except for a few who were wrapped around their heads or hung their arms on their chests, I couldn't help but say to myself: "Strange, why are there no seriously wounded among the German prisoners?" ”

Katerina laughed. Said triumphantly: "In fact, when cleaning the battlefield, I really found a few wounded German soldiers who couldn't move. It was the major who said that this kind of person could not be saved anyway, and it would be a waste of our precious medicine to keep it, so let the soldiers solve them all. ”

In fact, I just had this idea in my heart, and when I heard Katerina say it, I still felt a little unbearable. But on second thought, let's kill it, anyway, it won't be long before we carry out a breakout operation. At that time, it will be a question of how to carry one's own wounded, let alone the wounded of the enemy. With such a killing, we have invisibly unloaded a big burden.

Seeing that the stretchers were neatly laid out in the open space at the foot of the hill, and that the prisoners under the care of our soldiers were standing in a square, Katerina and I walked down the hill to see the captives up close.

As soon as I reached the foot of the hill, Godunov came out of the crowd with two fighters and came to me and reported: "Report to Comrade Commander, our seriously wounded have been brought over. We've also brought the captives with us, and we want you to take them with you when you go back to the city. ”

I nodded, glancing at the two fighters behind Godunov, who were armed with Bobosha submachine guns and wearing the kind of steel armor of the assault infantry. I couldn't help but laugh a little, and then jokingly said to Godunov: "Comrade Major, I thought you left all the fighters of the assault infantry battalion to me, but I didn't expect you to leave two of them yourself." ”

"Comrade commander, I ......" Although I said this to Godunov in a mocking tone, it still made him nervous, and he quickly defended himself to me: "I really didn't mean to. I want to ......"

Before Godunov could finish his reasoning, out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of a captive in a black tank uniform, moving his body strangely. I hurriedly raised my hand to interrupt Godunov's words and turned my gaze to the captive, while clenching the assault rifle in my hand.

Just as I was about to ask Godunov to take the prisoner out of the crowd, the tank captive had already pulled out a pistol from somewhere, put it on the shoulder of one of the prisoners in front of me, and aimed it at my side.

Before I could react, I heard a young voice shouting, "Commander, be careful!" "Almost as soon as I heard the gunshots, a tall figure stood in front of me.

"Bang bang", with three gunshots, the soldier in front of me jerked back, and the huge impact knocked me back a few steps.

"Dada...... Da-da-da-da! "Before I could give the order, a dense burst of gunfire rang out around me. The German prisoners in front of them fell to the ground like cut down rice.

Then I heard Godunov's majestic voice again: "Stop shooting!" ”

The surrounding shooting stopped as he shouted, but the group of captives that had been standing densely packed was only a dozen or so people. And the survivors were all huddled together, shivering.

"What's the matter, Comrade Major?" Seeing that the situation had calmed down, I hurriedly stepped forward and asked in a loud voice at Godunov: "Why do the captives still have weapons on their bodies?" ”

Faced with my reproach, Godunov bowed his head and replied ashamedly: "Comrade commander, the prisoner who fired the shot was a tank soldier, probably our fighters were negligent during the search and let him hide a pistol on his body. ”

I snorted heavily, looked at the bloody corpses of the German prisoners on the ground, and said unceremoniously: "Major, remember the lesson of this time, the target of this assassination is me, and next time it may be a commander of a higher rank." If something really happens, I guess you won't be able to save your head. ”

After saying that, I stopped paying attention to him, but turned to ask the soldier who was standing next to me, rubbing his chest with his hand, and asked with concern: "Comrade soldier, are you okay?" ”

"It's okay, Comrade Commander." The soldier replied with a smile on his face: "It is only because of this cuirass that the bullets of the captives did not hit my vital point." However, the impact of the bullet was too strong, and my chest still hurt a little. ”

I took one of the warrior's hands and shook it vigorously while saying gratefully, "Thank you, thank you!" Comrade soldier, if it weren't for your quick reaction, I guess my life would not be guaranteed. By the way, what's your name? ”

After the soldier let go of my hand, he straightened up and replied: "Report to Comrade Commander, my name is Yazov, I am a soldier of the 1st Assault Battalion of the New 3rd Regiment, and now I am a guard of Major Godunov. ”

Yazov, who I thought I had heard somewhere, sounded familiar, and then asked: "Comrade warrior, what about your patronymic and real name?" ”

The fighter heard my question and immediately replied without hesitation: "Dmitry. Timofeevich. Yazov. ”

Demetri. Timofeevich. Yazov? When I heard this name, I almost sat on the ground, it turned out to be him, the future marshal of the Soviet Union, I didn't expect that it was actually him who saved my life, no wonder I heard his name, it would feel so familiar. (To be continued......)