Kroschikov was particularly happy to see that we had returned to our positions safely. In particular, when he saw that many of the personnel who had participated in the night attack had returned, he was even more excited to immediately call the division headquarters to report the results of tonight's night attack.

I disbanded the fighters and returned to the shelter. Seeing me open the curtain and enter the house, Kroschikov covered the microphone with his hand and said: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, the division commander wants to talk to you. With that, he handed over the microphone.

I took the microphone and said in a calm tone: "Hello, Comrade General. ”

"Hello, Comrade Oshanina. Just now, I heard from the first-class instructor comrade that you personally led a small detachment to attack the German camp, what were the results? ”

"The Germans are still killing each other, so we can't count our results for the time being. However, after such a toss and turn, it is estimated that the enemy's attack will be postponed or canceled after dawn. ”

"What about the casualties of the night raid team?"

"There were no casualties." At this point, I paused, regrouping my vocabulary in my mind before I continued: "If you can add me three hundred, I am confident that I will capture the same number of captives and hand them over to you." ”

"Alas!" I heard Panfilov sigh, and I knew in my heart that he was also powerless, and even if he sent all his staff officers to the front to use as soldiers, it would still not be able to change the situation of a serious shortage of troops.

After the call with Panfilov, Kroschikov asked me: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, what are your plans next?" ”

"I don't have any plans," I sat down on my camp bed and began to take off my camouflage suit, "the most important thing is to sleep now, and the rest will be talked about when it is daybreak." With that, I closed the curtain next to the bed.

The gunfire in the German camp rang out for most of the night, and then gradually subsided.

It was almost noon, as I had estimated, and the Germans on the front had not yet launched a new offensive on our positions. Taking advantage of this free moment, Croshikov called all three company commanders to a meeting in the shelter.

Originally, the atmosphere of the meeting was quite harmonious, and it was said that the German attack was repelled and the position was held; Although the night raid detachment did not kill many enemies, it succeeded in causing the enemy to kill each other, achieving the goal of disrupting the enemy's combat disposition. Speaking of this happy thing, everyone is very excited.

When it was Kroschikov's turn to speak, he coughed and said: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I have a little opinion about you, can you say it?" ”

"Say it." I was in a great mood, so I said yes very happily.

"Although last night's night attack achieved great results, I think that if we attack on all fronts, we can drive them far away from our position, even if we can't destroy all the enemies."

"Huh?!" Hearing him say this, I couldn't help but be stunned, and said in my heart, you don't know the current situation of Lu Dao, the troops of less than 200 people are relatively reluctant to hold the position, let alone attack.

Seeing that I didn't refute him, he continued: "Also, the tactic of sneak attack is a tactic used by the guerrillas. We are a regular army, and we should fight positional warfare face to face with the enemy. ……”

"Have you ever thought that if we had attacked all the way last night, the sneak attack might have turned into a strong attack. Do you think it is possible for us to achieve victory when we are not superior in forces and weapons? If the offensive is thwarted and the Germans take the opportunity to counterattack, do you think our remnants will be able to hold their positions? ”

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, you are defeatist." To my series of rhetorical questions, Croshikov was a little unacceptable, and he retorted to me: "Our Red Army is invincible, and as long as there is one person alive, the enemy should not think of moving forward." ”

"Invincible!" Hearing this, I smiled helplessly and bitterly, the number of prisoners of the Western Front and the Reserve Front in the encircled Viajima area reached more than 600,000, and I really don't know how the conclusion of the invincibility of the road was reached.

Seeing that I did not speak, he continued: "Also, in the daytime battle yesterday, you actually ordered the soldiers to fight only the German infantry, and allowed the tanks to break through our lines. You must know that you are taking a risk by doing so, and if it weren't for the heroism of the soldiers who destroyed these tanks that broke through the defense line in time, the consequences would be unimaginable. ……”

"That's enough." I interrupted him impatiently and said word by word: "I am the supreme commander of the battalion, and I have the final say on the military side." If I lose my position, I will be responsible for everything. ”

"If you lose your position, the flanks of the army group will be completely exposed to the enemy, and if the troops are surrounded, can you afford such a responsibility?"

Seeing that the two of us were arguing with red faces, several company commanders next to us wanted to speak and stopped, wanting to persuade but not daring to persuade. The sound of a cannonball falling to the ground and exploding outside suddenly interrupted our argument.

"The enemy is attacking!" A company commander next to him reminded.

"You all go back to your respective units and get ready for battle." I tried my best to give orders to the three company commanders in a calm tone.

"Yes." They stood up and said yes neatly, then turned and left the shelter.

I only came to my senses at this time, and I said it so well during the meeting, why did I suddenly quarrel with Kroschikov? But now I can't care so much, the first thing to think about is how to push the German army back first. So I rushed out of the shelter with a submachine gun and ran into the trenches.

The German attack was still led by tanks, followed by infantry. However, after all the tossing and turning in the evening, the Germans could not put in many infantry, and I counted them, and there were not more than a hundred.

The German tanks stopped more than fifty meters in front of our position, and then lined up and fired at our position, covering the infantry to charge us.

The heavy machine gun, which was less than twenty meters away from me, roared angrily, and in an instant knocked down the German devils who rushed to the front. In less than a minute, this machine gun position was directly hit by German tank guns, the main and secondary machine gunners fell in a pool of blood, and the heavy machine guns were blown to pieces.

One of the fighters set up a long anti-tank gun beside me, fired a shot, and then threw the gun away, holding his head with both hands. I saw him lift the cotton hat in his hand, and blood gushed out of his head. He looked at me with helpless eyes, and then fell on his back in the trench.

Maybe I've seen too many deaths now, and I'm a little numb to them, and seeing this warrior die in front of me, my emotions don't fluctuate too much. Very calmly, I drained the magazines at the infantrymen, hung the submachine gun around my neck, and then rushed over to grab the anti-tank gun, re-set it up, and pulled the trigger on one of the tanks. I could clearly hear the sound of armor-piercing shells hitting the turret, but the tank didn't seem to be affected at all, and continued to fire at our position as if nothing had happened.

I threw away the anti-tank gun and bent over and trotted all the way into the shelter. Grabbing the phone on the table and about to get through the artillery battery, I shouted inside: "Gonchatin, target German tanks, shoot quickly." ”

The tanks that are parked in front of the position are much easier to fight than when they are moving, and they are simply good targets for shooting. As soon as the nine anti-aircraft guns of the artillery company opened fire, they almost missed the shots, and the shells mostly hit the tanks accurately. The Germans, having lost seven or eight tanks in quick succession, began to retreat.

Although the German attack was repulsed, we also paid a great price. In the battle just now, more than 40 more fighters were killed or wounded, and the number of people on the position was sharply reduced to 150.

After the German attack was repulsed, there was no second attack until dark.

I thought that tonight would be spent in peace, but in the middle of the night, a fierce gunfire suddenly sounded outside, waking me up from my sleep. I opened the curtain and asked Croshkov, who was sleeping outside: "Comrade instructor of the first class, what happened, where is the exchange of fire?" ”

He picked up the phone on the table, shook the handle, and asked inside, "What's going on with the gunfire outside?" ”

After putting down the phone, he said to me with a serious expression: "The sentry reported that the position on our right flank was attacked by the enemy and was in the midst of an exchange of fire. ”

I couldn't help but sigh to myself that the German commander on the other side was really not simple, and he learned the tactics of night raids so quickly.