I led three companies of commanders and fighters along the potholed dirt road on the south side of Mamayev Hill towards Heights 107.5.

Not far away, two roads appeared in front of me, one was through the open field, which could directly reach the high ground; The other leads to the Avenue of Soviets. I stood at the corner of the street and hesitated for a moment, then waved decisively to the left and said to the three company commanders, "Let's go this way." ”

Iglatov and Hubar did not casually express their opinions on my orders, because they were not very familiar with me. And Basmanov, as the commander of my guard battalion, knew that the soldiers of the 3rd Regiment were wiped out by German artillery fire yesterday in the open field, so for the sake of safety, he made more detours, and he did not complain.

When we were still about a hundred meters from the dormitory, we could see that the dirt road was bombed and full of craters, and on both sides of the road were lying corpses and wounded soldiers, both our commanders and soldiers, as well as German officers and soldiers, and it seemed that fierce battles had been fought here. The closer we got to our destination, the more corpses and wounded soldiers we saw, and there were hygienists in khaki uniforms treating the wounded.

Seeing this scene, Basmanov leaned close to my ear and asked in a low voice: "Division commander, do you need to transfer our division's health team over to help?" ”

I waved my hand and denied his suggestion: "No, when the fighting in the first regiment is over, it is estimated that there are still many wounded who need to be treated by the health team, so there is no need to do more." ”

Ignoring the wounded and the dead on the side of the road, I led my troops into the Avenue of the Soviets. In the streets, I found several blown up German tanks and quite a few German corpses lying in the streets.

I looked at the wrecked tanks and the corpses on the ground. Stand still in a daze. I thought to myself that the Germans really rushed here. And there was a fierce battle with the defenders, so it seems that the brigade commander and political commissar of the 92nd Brigade felt that the dormitory area could not be defended, so they led the people of the brigade command to retreat.

I walked aimlessly through the streets with my troops, past bombed-out barricades and houses with collapsed walls, and before I knew it, I was on the western side of the heights. At this time, I was surprised to find that at the foot of the mountain, there was a huge factory building. Although the walls were blown down in a few places, many commanders and fighters were still seen coming in and out.

I didn't know what this place was, so I stopped the troops behind me and walked in with Basmanov and a few fighters. After entering the empty factory building, I saw dozens of stretchers with lying people neatly placed under a corner of a wall that had not yet collapsed, and many commanders and fighters with gauze wrapped in their heads, arms or legs sitting on the rubble nearby.

As soon as he saw us enter, a male hygienist came up to me and saluted me and said, "Comrade Colonel." This is the place where the wounded of the 92nd Infantry Brigade are temporarily parked, is there anything you can do with it? ”

"Are you from the 92nd Brigade?" I looked at the haggard-looking hygienist in front of me. Asked politely.

The health officer shook his head and replied: "I am from the 39th Guards Regiment, the troops are empty, and according to the order, we should have gone to the 42nd Guards Regiment to report." But before leaving, the 92nd Infantry Brigade drove over, and the superiors changed the order and let us stay. ”

"Are there any commanders among these wounded?" I thought that I hadn't even seen a high-level commander all the way, so I asked the hygienist with a fluke mentality.

The hygienist nodded, pointed to a small room on the east side, and said, "In that room, there is a commander who was shot in the abdomen, and he is resting in it, a naval captain. ”

As I walked towards the hut, I was still muttering to myself: Captain, it can't be such a coincidence, could it be the captain I met in the morning?

I walked into the hut and saw a commander wearing only a large-brimmed hat, black military trousers, and gauze wrapped around his waist, lying on a concrete platform with a blanket. When he saw me enter the door, he put his hand on the stage, sat up with difficulty, and raised his hand to salute me and said, "Comrade Colonel, we meet again." ”

I didn't care about returning the salute, so I stepped forward to hold his arms and said with concern: "Comrade Captain, you are injured, don't be so polite, hurry up and lie down and rest." After saying that, he shook his head at Basmanov and the soldiers who were following him, and they immediately understood and ran over to help the captain lie down again.

After the captain lay down, I stood in front of him and asked, "Comrade Captain, how did you get wounded?" ”

Lemusev looked up at me and said in a slow tone: "As soon as our battalion repelled the German attack on the heights, we received a call from the command that the enemy had stormed the Soviet Avenue and asked us to hurry to support. After receiving the order, I rushed down the hillside with my battalion, entered the formations on both sides of the street, and condescendingly opened fire on the enemy in the street. After directing the fighters to blow up several tanks, I was unfortunately hit by a machine gun on one of the tanks, and if it wasn't for my fighters who carried me down in time, I think I would have died. ”

"When you were wounded, was the enemy still attacking the Avenue of Soviets?"

"Yes, the battle continued when I was carried down by the fighters. However, it did not take long for the enemy attack to be repulsed by us. ”

"After the battle, did the brigade command send someone to contact you?"

"No," Remusev shook his head and gave me a negative answer: "Actually, when our battalion entered the quarters and began the battle at the place where the assault on Soviet Street began, I sent someone to contact the brigade command. As a result, the people I went to did not return, perhaps sacrificed, and until the end of the battle, we did not receive the next order from the brigade command. ”

Seeing that he didn't know anything about the retreat of the brigade headquarters, I didn't continue to ask, but politely said a few words to let him recover from his wounds and strive to return to the unit as soon as possible, and then left with Basmanov and them.

Coming out of the factory, Basmanov asked me again: "Commander, where are we going next?" ”

I looked up at the high ground not far away, and said to Nunu above, "Where else can I go?" Of course, it was to go to the high ground and find out the reason for the unauthorized retreat of the commander of the 92nd Brigade. ”

When we reached the position on the top of the hillside, we were immediately greeted by two sailors, who asked with a straight face and an unkind tone: "What part of you are from?" ”

I turned my head to look behind me at the troops in their khaki uniforms and blue overalls. I somewhat understood the reason why the sailors were unkind to me. Maybe it was watching their own brigade commander become a deserter. So there is a sense of distrust towards people who wear the same uniform.

I didn't care about their attitudes, and said calmly: "Comrade soldier, I am Colonel Oshanina, the commander of the Independent Division, and I was ordered to lead the troops to reinforce you. Where is your Supreme Commander, take me to him. ”

When the sailors heard me say this, their faces immediately became rich. The two of them smiled and said to me: "It turned out to be the commander of the friendly army, the current troops on the high ground. It is under the command of Comrade Vlasov, director of the brigade administration, and we will take you to meet him. ”

When we showed up at Vlasov's command post, he was stunned for a moment, and then he recognized who I was. Politely and distantly asked, "Comrade Colonel, may I ask you that you are here, is there anything you have to do?" ”

"I was ordered to reinforce you."

"Ordered reinforcements?" Vlasov asked rhetorically, somewhat unexpectedly: "On whose orders?" ”

"The order of the commander of the army group, General Chuikov, and the chief of staff, General Krylov."

Although I had already explained my intentions, Vlasov said in a skeptical tone: "Comrade Colonel, allow me to say that our brigade has been fighting during the day today in order to hold this position. The number of casualties exceeded fifteen hundred. If I hand over the position to you now, are you sure that your troops can hold this place? ”

Doubts about Vlasov. Basmanov wanted to argue at that time, but I stopped him. I stared at Vlasov and said lightly: "Comrade Vlasov, I would like to tell you that my division has twice sent troops to serve as the defense of this heights since it was stationed at Mamayev Heights. Several battles proved that the Germans never took a step forward except for piles of corpses and burning tanks and armored vehicles in front of the positions of our division. ”

Seeing Vlasov's face, it turned red because of my words. Knowing that he was a sailor commander who valued honor above a qiē, I hurriedly put a step for him: "Of course, in order to hold the position, the troops of our division also paid a lot of casualties. Just yesterday, I sent reinforcements to the high ground, and as soon as I entered the open field, they all died heroically because of the enemy's artillery fire. ”

While we were talking, suddenly a sailor broke into the command post and hurriedly shouted: "Report to Comrade Director of the Political Affairs Department, the situation is not good, the enemy's troops are advancing towards us, it seems that they want to attack us again." ”

"How many troops does the enemy have?" Vrasov and I asked in unison.

After glancing at me with strange eyes, the sailor fighters continued to report to Vlasov: "There were eight tanks, followed by more than a company of infantry, and several armored vehicles. ”

"Take me there." As he spoke, Vlasov grabbed the pistol resting on the table and was about to leave.

I hurriedly stopped in front of him and said to him: "Comrade Vlasov, now that our troops have taken over the position, it is better to leave this matter to me." ”

Unexpectedly, he said to me in a righteous and stern manner: "I'm sorry, Comrade Colonel, according to the regulations, I have not officially handed over the defense to you, so this battle can only be completed by my troops." ”

"I'm sending an anti-tank rifle company to cooperate with you, trying to take out the enemy's tanks first, so that we can make it easier when we hit the enemy's infantry."

"Comrade Colonel, it is necessary for me to remind you that before I officially hand over the position to you, it is up to me to decide how to fight." After saying that, he called the fighters who reported the news and left the command post.

Looking at the back of Vlasov's departure, I really couldn't cry or laugh, and secretly scolded these old hairy people in my heart for lacking hearts and eyes, and their heads have few tendons, is it so important whether they are handed over to defense at this time? I didn't think about how to push the enemy back, but always held on to the rigid regulations, so it was strange that I could win the battle.

Basmanov walked up to me and cautiously asked: "Divisional commander, what should we do?" ”

Although Vlasov did not know how to lift, I could not stand idly by, so I ordered Basmanov: "Order the troops to enter the positions and prepare for battle." ”

"But the sailors?" Basmanov was still a little embarrassed when he thought of Vlasov's attitude just now.

"Leave him alone, do as I command."

I walked out of the command. Basmanov was seen directing the guard company, anti-tank rifle company, militia company into position. And Vlasov ran down the hill with thirty or forty warriors. It seemed that they wanted to take on the Germans at the foot of the mountain.

As a result of the bombardment of enemy aircraft and the shelling of artillery. There were no decent fortifications on the top of the hillside, except for a few short trenches that were still intact, the rest of the place was blown up, so the absolute majority of the fighters were hidden in the craters.

Vlasov and his men came to the bottom of the mountain, and they also jumped into the crater at the bottom of the mountain, or hid under the destroyed tank.

Four fast-moving tanks, already less than a hundred meters away from them. There were also fifty or sixty soldiers, trotting behind the tanks, running towards the high ground.

I walked up to Hubar and asked him aloud: "Comrade Captain, can you hit the enemy's tanks from such a distance?" ”

Hubal visually measured the distance, and then replied: "Report to the division commander, the enemy's tanks have come into our range, but as it gets dark, the accuracy of the soldiers' firing may be affected." ”

I waved my hand and said impatiently, "I can't care so much." Two dozen anti-tank rifles fired together, and they always hit two. Captain. Immediately give orders to your fighters to shoot at enemy tanks. ”

Hubal said yes and ran away. At this moment, Vlasov, at the foot of the hill, had already ordered the fighters to open fire, and a dense stream of bullets hit the body of the tank, splashing only a flurry of sparks. And the soldiers who followed behind were not so lucky, they were knocked down by a dozen, and the rest hurriedly shrank behind the tanks to avoid the bullets of our troops.

I raised my binoculars and looked down, only to see two fighters crawling out of the crater, crawling towards the tank. When they were only a dozen meters away from the tank, the two of them raised their hands sharply and threw the anti-tank grenade in their hands. Two of the onrushing tanks had flames rising from their bodies, dragging the smoke forward for some distance before coming to a stop, and then the driver either underneath the car or pushed open the top hatch of the turret, turned around and fled behind.

Seeing that their companions exploded and caught fire, the other two tanks slowed down and, together with the four tanks behind them, opened fire on Vlasov's hiding place. Due to the proximity of the distance and the lack of strong fortifications for the sailors, the German tank guns were almost completely fired, and each shot killed one or two sailors.

Seeing the continuous casualties of the sailors, I shouted at Hubar in the distance: "Captain Hubar, what are you still doing, don't you see that the enemy tanks are shelling our sailors?" ”

"Comrade division commander, please wait a moment, we will open fire immediately!" Seeing that I was furious, Hubal hurriedly defended: "The fighters are choosing a firing position, and in a minute at most, they will be able to shoot." ”

Before I could get angry at Hubar again, Basmanov suddenly screamed: "Division commander, look, there are troops coming up behind us?" ”

Troops coming up? Hearing Basmanov say this, I couldn't help but be stunned, I said that it was my own troops, but except for the commanders and fighters of the three companies I led, I didn't notify the other troops to come over?

I turned to look behind me, and saw a group of people rushing up down the hillside, about one hundred and fifty or sixty people. When they got closer, I realized that the leader was actually the wounded Captain Lemusev, who was now at the front of the whole group with a military uniform and a German submachine gun. They were followed by sailors in black uniforms and a few infantry in khaki uniforms, but judging by the way they walked, most of them were wounded.

Hell, the defenders on the ground aren't dead again, and it's not your turn to fight the wounded. I hurriedly asked Basmanov to help me climb out of the trench and run towards the captain. I stopped in front of Lemussev and said to him in a loud voice: "Comrade Captain, what are you going to do here?" You know, you are all wounded, and if you want to fight, it will not be your turn. ”

The lieutenant smiled bitterly at me and said, "Comrade Colonel, thank you for your kindness. This position belongs to our 92nd brigade, and as long as we still have one man, we will definitely not let the Germans move forward. We're a little shorter, but we're still fighting. After speaking, he half-turned around, raised the submachine gun in his hand high, and shouted loudly: "Comrades, let us serve the motherland for the last time and move forward!" Burn the wind! ”

The wounded behind him also shouted in unison: "Forward! Burn the wind! ”

When I saw the wounded walking past me one by one and striding towards the foot of the mountain, I couldn't help but feel a pang of sorrow in my heart, and secretly scolded the commander of the 92nd Brigade, Colonel Tanasolov, and the political commissar Andreyev, if it weren't for your greed for life and fear of death and running away, these soldiers would not have known that they were sending them to death, and they still charged at the enemy without hesitation.

The German tank fire almost wiped out the sailors at the foot of the hillside, and then turned the guns and opened fire on the ranks of sailors who were charging down the hillside.

Seeing tank shells explode in the ranks of sailors, and from time to time fighters fell, I was about to fire at Khubbar again when the anti-tank rifle company finally opened fire. The two tanks closest to our positions were honored to be the first to fall victim and burned like their companions.

The sailors had just rushed to the foot of the hillside, and the remaining four tanks, also under the blow of the anti-tank rifle company, turned into four piles of burning scrap metal. Seeing that the tanks they were relying on were destroyed, the German infantry lost the courage to continue the attack and began to retreat backwards.

Seeing this scene, I hurriedly ordered Basmanov: "Captain Basmanov, you immediately lead the troops with Igratov and join the counteroffensive, and you must destroy this group of enemies." ”

Hearing my order, Basmanov excitedly agreed, jumped out of the trench, raised the submachine gun in his hand high, and shouted at the fighters who remained in the trench: "Comrades, follow me!" After shouting, he brandished his submachine gun and took the lead in rushing down the hill.

As the guard and militia companies rushed down the hill, I raised my binoculars again and focused on Lemussef. He did not walk fast because of the wound in his abdomen, and fighters constantly rushed past him. He didn't go a long distance, he would raise the submachine gun in his hand high, turn his head and shout twice at the fighters on the left and right, to boost their morale.

Seeing that Basmanov had already run close to him, and that he could run a few more steps to catch up with him, the lieutenant's body suddenly lifted back, and then his body staggered, and he staggered forward two more steps, and fell to the ground.

Seeing the captain fall to the ground, Basmanov hurriedly quickened his pace and rushed to his side, crouched down and picked him up, as if checking the captain's injuries. When I saw the captain fall to the ground, my heart felt as if someone had slammed it, and although I saw Basmanov take out his first-aid kit and bandage him, I knew that the captain had sacrificed nine times out of ten. (To be continued......)