The first German attack was repulsed by us, but with a gap of less than an hour, they launched a new one.

Kroschikov and I were talking about the battle in the shelter. He asked me very humbly: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I really didn't expect that the individual bunker you asked the soldiers to dig was a trap for catching prisoners. But I have a question, how many prisoners can be captured with these dozens of traps? ”

"Actually, I asked the soldiers to dig such traps, not to capture prisoners, but to destroy the enemy more."

"Huh?" My answer left him a little puzzled, "How could you be so sure beforehand that the enemy would obediently jump into the bunker we dug up?" ”

"When the enemy attacks, in order to hide from our dense fire, it is necessary to find a place to hide. Seeing so many unoccupied bunkers, it's natural to jump in and dodge bullets. But what they didn't expect was that this bunker would be dug so deep that as soon as they jumped in, they would become a turtle in an urn, and they could only be slaughtered by us. ”

As he said this, the phone on the table rang, and Kroschikov casually picked up the microphone, and after listening to a few words, he said to the other party: "I know what to say, let the soldiers be ready for battle." He put down the microphone and told me, "The Germans are attacking again." ”

I hurried to the lookout hole and raised my binoculars to observe the situation on the battlefield outside.

In this attack, the Germans were much more cautious than before, the tanks rushed to the front to open the way, and the infantry lagged far behind. It seems that they used the same old tactic, first using tank assault to tear a gap in our defensive line, and then the infantry followed up and occupied the position, widening the breach. However, it must not be admitted that this offensive method is very effective, because the defensive positions of the Soviet army are usually in a line type, lacking or not having a depth configuration at all, so often the Germans break through one of them, and then the entire defense line collapses.

In the face of the rumbling German tanks, Kroskov behaved very calmly, after all, after the 316th Division was drawn here, it had also fought several battles, and it already had rich combat experience, and it would not be as helpless against the German tanks as it was at the beginning of the war. Each company was issued with ten anti-tank guns, which were specifically designed to deal with tanks.

He said to me: "I went to the position and commanded the soldiers to fight the tanks. Then he lifted the curtain and ran out.

"Wait a minute." I hurriedly stopped him and advised: "The German infantry is still far away, let the soldiers hit the tanks first." If the enemy tanks advance too quickly, let them pass through our lines and then intercept the infantry behind them with dense fire. Do you understand? ”

"And what about the German tanks that rushed to our rear?" Kroschikov asked puzzled.

"Those tanks without infantry cover, you just send a few fighters to throw a few Molotov cocktails from behind, and those big guys will turn into piles of burning scrap metal."

"Understood, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel. I know what to do. With that, he trotted out of the shelter.

I was in the telescope and watched as one of the tanks moving at the front suddenly stopped, then came to a sudden stop, and then smoke billowed from the whole body. Seeing all this, I realized that the fighters had hit the target with anti-tank guns.

Seeing that one tank had been shot, the rest of the tanks slowed down and opened fire on our positions on the march. I counted the tanks outside, and in addition to the ones that were destroyed, there were thirteen, and I estimated that I couldn't withstand them with those dozens of anti-tank guns. So I picked up the phone on the desk, shook the crank a few times, and said loudly to the operator, "Pick up the artillery company for me." As soon as the phone rang, I said loudly, "Is it Okchatazin?" I'm Lieutenant Colonel Oshanina, and the artillery company is ready to open fire and attack the German tanks with armor-piercing shells, move fast. With that, I hung up the phone and went to the lookout to observe the battle outside.

In a short time, the shells of the anti-aircraft battery roared down into the attacking ranks of the German tanks, and some of them hit the target directly, distorting the turret of the tank or blowing up the track. But more shells landed in the clearing, and clumps of dirt rose into the sky.

The Germans had too many tanks, and although seven or eight were destroyed one after another, the remaining tanks still crossed our trenches and rushed to the rear. One of them actually rushed through the trench only a dozen meters away from my shelter, and seeing this, I quickly put down my binoculars and ran out of the trench with my submachine gun in my hand.

No sooner had the tank rushed through the trench than one of the fighters jumped out of the trench, chased after it, and threw two Molotov cocktails in succession. The first one missed, landing on the ground to the left of the tank, shattering the bottle and spilling the liquid on the ground. The second bottle was ready to hit the turret of the tank, and the body was immediately surrounded by a mass of fire. The soldier froze for a moment, seeing that the enemy's tank was already burning, before turning around and running back.

I watched with relief as the young soldier who had just taken out a German tank galloped towards me, intending to give him a few compliments when he entered the trenches. Seeing that he was about to jump into the trench with two more steps, suddenly he leaned back and fell straight in front of me. I was startled at first, but when I looked up, I realized that it was a tanker who had crawled out of the tank that had just been destroyed, and I hurriedly picked up the submachine gun in my hand and swept it towards him, and the tankman first threw away the submachine gun in his hand, and then covered his chest and fell from the tank and fell heavily to the ground.

"The infantry of the German devils has come up." I suddenly heard someone shouting loudly next to me, and when I turned my head, I saw that the enemy infantry had unwittingly approached our position while we were fighting the tanks with all our might.

I aimed at a few of the German soldiers who were rushing up, pulled the trigger sharply, and a volley of bullets came out. Seeing that I had fired, the fighters around me opened fire and fired at the enemy.

We were shooting, and the attacking Germans were returning fire. A bullet whistled and flew past my scalp, and then I felt a chill on the top of my head, I reached out and touched it, it turned out that the bullet knocked the cotton cap away, and suddenly scared me out of a cold sweat, so dangerous! If the bullets were lower, I would have to fantasize if I wanted to survive.

I fired again with my submachine gun until I ran out of bullets in my magazine. Then he crouched down and picked up the hat with a hole in it, and bent over and trotted all the way back to the shelter. As soon as I entered the house, I grabbed the phone on my desk, called the anti-aircraft artillery company, and ordered Gonchatzin to immediately change the high-explosive shells to bombard the German infantry.

With the support of artillery, we again repelled the German offensive. In addition to the destruction of fourteen tanks, nearly two hundred infantry were killed and wounded. However, the casualties of our army were not small, and the original battalion of 500 people was left with only 200 people.

In order to defend such an important position, it was impossible to defend it with only 200 men, so I reported to the division commander Panfilov and made a very direct request to him for reinforcements. He hesitated for a long time on the other end of the phone before he reluctantly replied that if the army group or the front army sent him reserves, he would give priority to replenishing our battalion.

Although I did not receive a satisfactory reply, I also knew that Panfilov was powerless, and that he had used even the most elite guard battalion in order to recapture this position. Now by his side, it is estimated that in addition to a group of staff officers and political workers, there are only a few guards.

Croshikov stood by and watched me finish the call, and then asked with concern: "How is it, can the division headquarters send reinforcements to my battalion?" ”

I shook my head and said, "Without reinforcements, everything is on our own." ”

"Do you have any plans for anything good?" He asked me again, and before I knew it, he was called "you" again.

I walked to the lookout hole, looked at the battlefield that was still filled with gunsmoke, and thought about how I could use the effective force in my hands to hold this important position for as long as possible.

"Do you have any good ideas?" Kroschikov asked me again.

When he asked, I suddenly remembered a few real-time strategy games that I had played in later generations. When fighting against the computer, if you just blindly defend, then the computer's troops will continue to attack, as if its troops are inexhaustible; And if it attacks its rear, even if it's just a sneak attack by a small force, it will stupidly stop the attack, and then transfer all its forces back to defend its base.

Thinking of this, my thoughts suddenly cleared: yes! We can't always be attacking the Germans, we are defending, and it is time to try our attack. So I said to Croshikov: "Comrade Instructor 1st Class, I have thought of a way, if we want to hold our positions, we can't always stay in the trenches and simply defend, we should still take the initiative to attack the enemy." ”

As soon as I said this, he was taken aback. He hurriedly retorted: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, your idea is inappropriate, how many troops are there in the German army, and how many of us are there?" And the Germans had aircraft artillery, and we only had one company of anti-aircraft artillery, which was okay if it was purely defensive. If you attack with such forces, it is no different from sending you to death. ”

I smiled and said, "Did I talk about a frontal attack on the Germans?" My plan was to use the night to launch a night attack on the Germans. ”

"Night Attack?!" He asked uneasily, "How many troops do you need to invest?" ”

"We're not going to attack the fortifications, we're just going to sneak attack, so we don't need too many troops, thirty people are enough."

"Who do you think is the right person to direct this operation?"

"I came up with this plan, so I will personally direct this night attack."

"No, you are the supreme commander of the battalion, you can't take this risk, I'll lead the team." Kroschikov was afraid that I would be in danger, so he wanted to direct the operation for me.

"I am the supreme commander of the battalion, and I have the final say here, so you don't have to fight with me." In order to prevent Croshikov from blocking my actions, I raised my identity to press him.

"Yes." He reluctantly agreed.

Thus, the plan for the night attack of the German army was determined in a few words.