After the truck departed, I turned to Kirillov and said: "Commissar and Morozov will accompany me to the top of the mountain, and Chief of Staff Akhromeyev will return to the headquarters and continue to maintain contact with Khrushov's position. Then he waved his hand violently and said loudly, "Let's go!" ”

The three of us and a few battalions of guards followed the trench to the top of the hillside, and stood in a place with a wide view, and I raised my binoculars to look at the high ground on the west side. At the foot of the hillside, I saw a long line of tanks parked, and artillery was being fired. From time to time, shells fell on the high ground and exploded in the open field, raising bright fires.

Pointing to the heights in the distance, Kirillov turned his head and said to us worriedly: "You see, the German tanks are shelling, covering their infantry to charge our positions. I don't know if the casualties of our troops on the position are large now, and whether they can block the enemy's attack? ”

Morozov smiled and said to Kirillov: "Comrade commissar, you don't have to worry, I have been to that heights and know a little about the terrain. Although the northern slope is gentle and easy to attack and difficult to defend, as long as our warriors skillfully use the fortifications and those craters for defense, I should not have much problem holding off the enemy's attack. ”

After watching the movement on the high ground for a while, I turned my attention to the foot of our hillside, to see where the trucks loaded with the flying thunder cannons were. Now there are only two or three tanks shooting into the open field, and my fear is that as soon as the truck enters the open field, the enemy will find it, and then all the tanks will turn their guns and fire at the truck, and the situation will be very serious. You know, each truck carried more than a hundred kilograms of explosives. Once hit. It will cause an earth-shattering explosion.

When you see a truck that appears in the open field. I felt a little more steady, although the four trucks were moving in unison, they were at least nearly 100 meters apart from each other, and even if one of the trucks was shot and caused an explosion, it would not affect the vehicles next to it. Moreover, none of the four trucks had headlights, and the drivers were supposed to see the road ahead and carefully navigate the craters that had been blown up by the shells, thanks to the flames from the explosion.

Although just now Morozov had sued me. I said that I was going to let the soldiers approach the enemy in a truck, and then attack the enemy directly with the flying thunder cannon on the truck, but seeing that the truck was getting closer and closer to the German tanks at the foot of the mountain, I became troubled again, I grabbed Morozov's arm and said nervously: "Captain Morozov, where are your subordinates going to rush before firing the artillery?" In a few minutes, they rushed into the German tank queue. ”

"Report to the division commander, I once told them to get close to the German range of two hundred meters. He decisively stopped and opened fire. Although Morozov struggled to keep his composure, his trembling voice betrayed the tension inside.

Morozov's affection also affected Kirillov. He asked nervously, "Colonel Oshanina, do you think we can succeed?" If the truck had been spotted by German tanks before it had entered the effective firing range, it would have been covered by overwhelming artillery fire. ”

I've only seen the power of the Flying Thunder Cannon in movies, but I haven't seen it in real combat. This kind of flying thunder cannon, to put it bluntly, is a quasi-bazooka for close shooting, and it is basically a cannon barrel, not to mention the trouble of charging, and the range is too close, and there is basically no crosshair, so I don't have any bottom in my heart about what kind of results can be achieved by using the flying thunder cannon. But hearing that Kirillov and his others were obviously lacking in confidence, I, as the commander of the first division, had to cheer them up: "Don't worry, they are not too far from the German tanks, and since the enemy has not discovered them now, their chances of success are still quite high." ”

After I finished speaking, I accidentally noticed Morozov quietly drawing a cross on his chest, and it seemed that he was equally unsure about this flying thunder cannon. I hurriedly asked him: "Captain Morozov, how often can this flying thunder cannon you develop be fired?" ”

Morozov, who was quietly praying, was taken aback by me, and after a short panic, he nervously replied to me: "Report to the division commander, when I first groped, it was fired once every two minutes. Later, when the fighters were proficient in operation, they could do it once a minute. ”

After listening to Morozov's report, Kirillov shook his head again and again and said, "No, it's too slow, it's too slow." You must know that we are firing at close range, and after firing a round, it is estimated that our fighters in the truck have not finished reloading before the German shells come in. ”

Although I understand that Kirillov is telling the truth, the matter has come to this point, and I can only resign myself to fate. But in order not to affect the relationship between the two, I still slapped my face and said fatly: "Comrade Political Commissar, you are too worried, our fighters are the best at creating miracles, maybe when they shoot later, they can not tell if they have a way to speed up the launch." ”

At this moment, the truck, which had approached the German tanks, suddenly made a 180-degree turn, then stopped neatly, and turned the tail of the truck towards the enemy tank queue. From where we stood, the trucks and tanks were almost next to each other.

In the compartments of the four trucks, a flash of fire flashed in turn, and then a black object arced in the air and flew towards the German tank. Soon there were four dazzling fires around the tank, followed by a dull roar. I could clearly see the large and small clods of earth that had been blown up and fell on the body of the tank with a clatter.

Before we could sigh, the truck flashed again, and four black objects again made a beautiful arc in the air and landed in another section, which also caused a huge explosion, blowing the German infantry near the explosion point to pieces.

Seeing this scene, Kirillov asked curiously: "Captain Morozov, aren't you flying thunder cannons that can only fire once a minute?" Why do I see it's shooting continuously? ”

Morozov was also confused, he took off his hat, scratched the back of his head, and replied in a confused voice: "Commissar, I don't know, even if the fighters reload faster, it is impossible to carry out such a contact shot?" ”

I chuckled and solved the mystery for the two of them in time: "Hey." I'm talking about the commissar, Comrade Morozov. Didn't you just take a closer look? Did only one explosive package be fired at a time on the truck? That is, the fighters on the truck, in the first round of firing, used only one flying thunder cannon. After the explosives bag hit the ground and exploded, they fired the second explosive package. The advantage of this is that it can shorten the gap between the firing of the flying thunder cannon. ”

When Kirillov heard me say this, he picked up his telescope and looked at the truck in the distance. When the flying thunder cannon on the truck fired the explosive pack again, he finally nodded and said approvingly: "It's still the division commander who observes carefully." The soldiers in the truck were indeed using the two thunder guns in the compartment to fire explosive packets in turn, so as to shorten the gap between shots. When he said this, he put down his binoculars and said with some regret: "If our infantry can strike in time at this time, we will surely be able to destroy all this enemy." ”

"Division commander, political commissar, look, there are troops moving in the open field." Morozov suddenly shouted in surprise.

The binoculars in my hand followed the direction of his finger, and sure enough, there was a force of several hundred men, taking advantage of the night. With the help of the cover of the crater, they quickly pounced on the German troops that were still gathered on the northern slope. Because the light is too dark. I could not distinguish the troops that attacked, whether it was the highland defenders of Khrushov or the third regiment of Godunov.

The attacking German army was already dizzy by our flying thunder artillery, and this unit that fell from the sky was instantly defeated. The remaining remnants of the defeated army had no choice but to fight and flee northward under the cover of night.

When I saw that the Germans were being flanked by our troops, and that the trucks that had fired the explosives were also returning from lì, I first ordered Morozov: "Comrade Captain, go to the foot of the mountain and wait for your soldiers, and see if they have any casualties." Then he said to Kirillov lightly, "Let's go, Comrade Commissar, this enemy will soon be destroyed by us, and we will still go to the command and wait for news." ”

As soon as I walked into the headquarters, I saw Razumayeva in front of me, and she nervously asked me: "Comrade division commander, is there any news of Voya?" ”

Vonia? As my mind was still recalling the scene of the flying thunder cannon falling into the ranks of enemies and exploding, I suddenly heard the name, and I still didn't come back to my senses. And Kirillov, after listening to Razumeeva's words, glared at her and said: "Comrade lieutenant, comrade division commander is thinking about the next combat deployment, and she has no time to think about such a trivial matter." ”

Hearing Kirillov's lesson to Razumeyeva, I remembered that Vanya had just been sent out by Razumeyeva to check the line, and it was understandable that she cared about the safety of her subordinates. So I hurriedly waved my hand at Kirillov and said to Razumeyeva with a pleasant face: "Comrade lieutenant, don't worry, the battle on the heights is about to end, and I will immediately arrange for men to find Vonia's whereabouts." ”

Razumeyeva still did not completely calm down, and when she heard me say that she would send someone to find Voya, she anxiously urged me to say: "Comrade division commander, you can send someone to find it quickly, if it is too late, I am afraid that she will be in danger, you know, the first few male linemen sent have died under the enemy's artillery fire." ”

"Alright, alright, I'll immediately arrange for someone to go and find her down." I spoke half-seriously and half-perfunctorily, came to the table and asked Akhromeyev, who had just stood up: "Comrade Chief of Staff, how is the situation?" Did you get in touch with Captain Khrushov on the heights? ”

Akhromeyev nodded and said affirmatively: "Connected." Just a few minutes earlier, Captain Khrushov had called and said that the enemy offensive was fierce, and that an earth-shattering explosion had suddenly occurred at the foot of the mountain, and at the same time, the tanks at the foot of the mountain had stopped shelling. Taking advantage of the confusion in which the Germans had fallen into disarray, the captain brought up the troops of three companies hidden on the southern slope and launched a counterattack against the Germans on the hillside. At present, most of the German army has been wiped out, and the remaining enemy has fled in the darkness of night. ”

"Good!" After casually complimenting me, I then instructed Akhromeyev: "Comrade Chief of Staff, immediately call Captain Khrushov and say that I have something to look for him." ”

As soon as the phone was answered, as soon as Khrushov heard my voice, he excitedly reported to me: "Report to Comrade Division Commander, we have successfully defeated the German offensive and joined forces with the troops of Captain Godunov's 3rd Regiment. ”

I already knew the outcome of the battle, so I just asked lightly, "What was the result?" ”

"Report to the division commander," Khrushov's voice carried irrepressible joy, "we eliminated a company of German infantry, destroyed fifteen trucks, captured ten tanks, and captured more than twenty tank men. ”

I had already sat down, and immediately jumped up from my seat when I heard Khrushov's report of the results. I excitedly shouted at him: "What are you talking about, Captain Khrushov? Ten German tanks were captured, what the hell is going on? ”

Hearing that the 1st Battalion of the 2nd Regiment had captured ten German tanks in the battle, Kirillov and Akhromeyev also leaned their ears over curiously, wanting to hear what was going on?

"Comrade division commander, that's right. I don't know what happened to the earth-shattering explosion at the foot of the hill just now, but my soldiers reported that when they reached the foot of the hill, they saw the corpses of the enemy lying all over the ground, stacked in a pile, some curled up in the dirt, some poking out of the crater, and strangely the appearance of these corpses showed neither wounds nor blood. When our fighters opened the tank turret hatch, they found that the tankmen inside were also mostly unconscious. ”

"Well, well done, Comrade Captain." When I heard this, I covered the microphone with my hand and said to Kirillov and Akhromeyev, who were also listening with their ears pricked up: "Do you know what's going on? The reason why no wounds or blood stains were found on the bodies of these German soldiers was that they were all killed by the huge shock wave of the explosive pack. ”

After listening to this, Akhromeyev just smiled and nodded. Kirillov, on the other hand, whispered: "My God, I didn't expect this thunder cannon to be so powerful, we will have to build more in the future." ”

I released the microphone and continued to say to Khrushov: "Comrade Captain, next you must hurry up and clean up the battlefield and repair the fortifications, as for the ten captured tanks, stay there for the time being, and I will send someone to receive them." After I finished speaking, I just wanted to put down the phone, but suddenly remembered Razumeyeva's request just now, so I ordered Khrushov: "Comrade Captain, I have another task to give you. ”

"Comrade division commander, please give orders, I will obey your orders!" Khrushov said respectfully.

"While the battle was going on, the telephone lines at the division headquarters and yours were blown up several times by enemy fire. The division communications company sent several groups of operators to repair the telephone lines, but most of them were sacrificed. Now there is a female communications soldier who has disappeared in the process of repairing the line. I command you to immediately send out men to search for them along the telephone line. To live to see a man and to die to see a corpse. When I said the last sentence, I unconsciously lowered my voice.

"Yes, I understand, I'll send a platoon of fighters to look for it."

When I put down the phone and turned to look at Razumeyeva, who was standing by the wall, to tell her the news, I saw that she smiled and nodded at me, apparently hearing my order to Captain Khrushov.

"What about the ten tanks?" Akhromeyev asked: "If we can't move these trophies in time, we may blow them all up again when the German planes come at dawn." ”

Akhromeyev's words reminded me of Persjian, the commander of the tank detachment, who had not been heard from for a long time, so I picked up the phone and called the commander of the regiment, Sederikov, and asked straight to the point: "Hey, Comrade Sederikov?" I've got something to look for Captain Persken, do you know where he is now? (To be continued......)