I looked in the direction from which the voice came from, and two soldiers in steel helmets were hurrying towards me. After a while, the two of them came to us. 、

I could see clearly that it was none other than my guard company commander Ramis, and I knew the soldier who was following him, the one who shot and killed the escaped prisoner, and although I can't call him by name, he must have been General Leviakin's personal guard or something. Now that he's here, it seems that Leviakin is safe and sound. Thinking of this, the big stone in my heart fell to the ground.

Ramis walked up to the crowd and asked the soldier with a serious expression, "Comrade warrior, what are you doing here?" ”

Seeing that it was a commander who relieved me from the siege, the soldier who had insulted me just now was a little embarrassed, and replied curtly: "Comrade commander, nothing happened, I was just playing with this female soldier, don't take it too seriously." ”

Ramis pushed aside the people who stood in his way, came to the soldier, and said word by word: "We are from the 8th Guards Division, and she is our division commander, Lieutenant Colonel Oshanina, and your division commander is at the same level!" Then he said in an accentuated tone, "She has come here to heal her wounds." If your wound is already dressed, go where you need to go. ”

After he finished speaking, there was a gasp around him, and then a whisper sounded. The soldier walked up to me with a red face and said, "I'm sorry, Comrade Commander! After saluting me, he made his way through the crowd and into a tent next to him.

Although the soldiers who harassed me walked away, I felt very uncomfortable in my heart, although the Soviet army was disciplined on the battlefield, but in peacetime military discipline, it was not satisfactory.

"Comrade division commander, let's go!" Ramis stood beside me and gestured to me.

As the three of us walked towards the headquarters, I turned to the soldier and asked, "Comrade soldier, what's your name?" ”

"Report to Comrade Division Commander, my name is Grissa, and I am a soldier of the 1077 Regiment Guard Company."

"Where is your head now?"

"At present, it is estimated that we have returned to the division headquarters, and the defense of the city has been handed over to the comrades of the 7th Guards Division."

"Tell me a little bit about the situation from last night until now." Listening to his tone, it seems that Leviagin did not organize troops to break through at all last night, but continued to hold on to the city. Fortunately, the 7th Guards Division under the command of General Lin arrived in time, otherwise the 1077th Regiment would have been completely lost like the 857th Artillery Regiment directly under the division.

"After the German shelling began last night, Comrade General ordered all the troops to withdraw from the occupied buildings, and after two hundred meters, they took cover and waited for an ambush on the attacking enemy. To be honest, when he gave this order, everyone was very skeptical that his decision was correct. "Even though we were walking fast, Grissa was able to tell me clearly what was going on.

"And then?" I asked with concern.

"The shelling stopped after about an hour, and the enemy took advantage of the darkness to attack from several directions in an attempt to wipe us out in one fell swoop and completely occupy the entire city. Our troops, who occupy favorable terrain, wait for the enemy to enter the ambush circle and immediately open heavy fire. The Germans were taken by surprise by us, barely organized an effective resistance, and after ten minutes of fighting, they left behind nearly 100 corpses and retreated.

Half an hour after the enemy's second attack, they learned the lesson they had just learned and advanced step by step into the depth of our defenses by adopting the tactics of taking a battalion step by step. After firing flares to expose our defensive line to strong light, we will use mortar bombardment and flamethrower burning to confirm that there are no more living people on the front before sending infantry to occupy it. Because this tactic of the German army was unexpected, we could not find a way to deal with it for a while, and we were forced to retreat.

Fortunately, General Leviagin sent a small force and went around the rear of the attacking German troops, knocking out their mortars and flamethrowers, eliminating the biggest threat. Having lost the cover of strong and advantageous weapons, the German troops who attacked our positions were suddenly plunged into chaos. Comrade General personally went to the front line and calmly commanded, held on to the favorable terrain, and commanded part of the troops to divide and surround the German troops and destroy them one by one.

The third attack of the enemy was launched after dawn. More than 200 German troops, under the cover of 2 tanks and 10 armored vehicles, once again launched an offensive in the area where our troops were strong. General Leviagin had long guessed that after dawn, the enemy might attack again under the cover of their tanks, so he ambushed anti-tank men in many places early.

At the beginning of the battle, I was standing beside the general, and I clearly saw a soldier hiding behind the rubble, and when the German tank approached only 10 meters away, he suddenly jumped out of his hiding place and threw five grenades at the enemy one after another, disrupting the German army's formation, causing one of his tanks to break into the minefield and be blown up. When he was unfortunately hit by a machine-gun bullet from an enemy armored car, he died a heroic death.

Encouraged by the heroism of this warrior, the defending fighters opened heavy fire, cutting off the enemy's infantry from tanks and armored vehicles, engaging them in close combat and reducing their firepower. In order to facilitate the delivery of bombs, he ignored the severe cold weather, threw off his cotton clothes and fleece jackets, approached and dropped bombs, and successively destroyed and damaged three armored vehicles of the Soviet and German troops. After half an hour of fierce fighting, the third German offensive was victoriously crushed. ……”

Although Grissa recounted last night's battle in an understated tone, I knew that it must have been unusually brutal. Through this battle, I also gained a better understanding of Leviakin's level of tactical guidance. According to the Soviet army's previous tactics, it would only fight hard with the German army, without any tactics at all, and without absolute superiority in troops and equipment, it was almost impossible to defeat the German army. However, it was not easy for Leviagin to be able to repel the German attacks one after another without the cover of artillery and aviation, and to hold out until reinforcements arrived.

As we spoke, we had come to the headquarters of the 7th Division, and Second Lieutenant Kabifu was standing outside the command vehicle and looking around, looking anxiously as if he was waiting for someone. Seeing our arrival, he hurriedly greeted us, ran to me and saluted, and reported: "Hello, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel! Our division commander is waiting for you inside, please come in quickly! ”

Colonel Gryaznov and Mr. Lin were sitting at their desks studying the map, and when they saw me coming in, they both stood up and shook hands with me. Mr. Lin asked with concern, "Lida, how is your injury?" ”

I said gratefully: "Xie Lu thank you for your concern, I changed the medicine and got an injection, and it is no longer in the way." Then I couldn't wait to ask, "How is the battle going in the city?" ”

"May I give you an introduction," said the colonel, taking the initiative and going on to himself, "our vanguard battalion captured the station in the morning and covered the infantry to build new fortifications. When the main force of the division arrived, it quickly spread out throughout the city, and was lucky enough to join up with the troops of your division still fighting in the city. ……”

After listening to the colonel's nagging for nearly half an hour, I finally couldn't help but ask weakly: "Can I get in touch with my division headquarters here?" ”

"No problem." The colonel said with a big grin: "We have just laid a telephone line, so that we can not only talk to your division headquarters, but even talk directly to the front headquarters. Then he turned around and instructed the communications soldier sitting in the corner: "Immediately connect me to the division headquarters of the 8th Guards Division." ”

"Yes." The signal soldier said yes and began to call the divisional commander of our division. After a while, he stood up and reported to us: "Comrade commander, the phone has been dialed. ”

"Toot! …… Honk! ......" The sound of the prompt from the microphone made me nervous more than the sound of gunfire, and I couldn't help but sweat on my forehead and my heart beat faster while waiting for the other person to connect.

"Hey! This is the headquarters of the 8th Guards Division! Something please! "The voice of Commissar Egorov came from the other end of the microphone, which calmed my mood down at once, at least the division command was safe. I opened my mouth and just wanted to speak, but suddenly I felt a sour nose and tears swirling in my eyes, I quickly closed my mouth and didn't dare to speak, for fear that I would cry out as soon as I spoke.

"Hey! …… Feed! ......" The other party fed twice, and fell silent when he saw that I didn't speak. Immediately, the other party seemed to notice something, and then asked tentatively, "Leda, is that you?" ”

"Comrade Commissar, it's me! Everything is okay in the division? "I pinched my nose and tried to control my emotions.

"Excellent! Very good! General Leviakin had safely withdrawn from the city with the 1077th Regiment and was resting with the 1075th Regiment. The political commissar said excitedly: "Although General Leviakin received the news that you may be in the 7th Guards Division, since the news has not been confirmed, we are still organizing people to search. ……”

"It's okay! I'm fine, thank you for your concern. I hurriedly comforted the commissar and said: "I was saved by the fighters of the 7th Guards Division when I broke through, and I am currently in their division headquarters. ”

"Do you need me to send someone to pick you up?" The commissar asked with concern.

"No, you don't." I politely rejected his kindness and asked, "Is General Leviagin here?" ”

"Yes, yes, you wait, I'll let him answer the phone right away." Then I heard the commissar shouting Leviagin on the other side of the microphone. After a while, another familiar voice sounded in the microphone: "Comrade Division Commander, hello! I'm Leviakin, how are you? ”

"I'm fine, thank you!" Hearing Leviakin's voice, my mood became more steady, "After the breakup last night, I have been worried about you, and I wonder if you can safely lead the troops to break out of the German encirclement. Just now I heard the warrior Grissa tell me about last night's battle, and I knew that you were safe and sound, and my heart was reassured. ”

"Comrade division commander, we are also worried about your safety. After dawn, when I was commanding the troops to fight the enemy, I sent people to the city to search for your whereabouts, but I only found the corpses of some soldiers who were responsible for your safety, which made us even more worried that you were in danger. Later, after joining the 7th Guards Division, I heard from their commanders and fighters that they had seen you, so I sent the guard Grissa to follow them to find you. ……”

"Alright, don't say it!" I couldn't wait to interrupt him, "I'll rush back to the division headquarters as soon as possible, and I'll talk about other things when I get back." Also, during my absence, you will act as the division commander. ”

"Yes!" Leviagin agreed very dryly.

Putting down the phone, I looked at Mr. Lin and the colonel and said, "The current situation is not optimistic, I want to rush back to my division headquarters immediately, I wonder if the two of you can arrange a car for me?" ”

"No problem, I'll arrange it right away!" The colonel walked to the door as he spoke, and shouted outside: "Second Lieutenant Kabifo, you go find a car to come over immediately, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel should leave immediately." Then he walked up to me again and said, "Wait a minute, the car will be there soon." ”

Mr. Lin sat at the table, staring at the map without speaking. I looked at him and wanted to ask him what he thought about the future situation, but seeing his expression, I hesitated for a moment and did not speak again.

However, the silence in the room was quickly broken, and Mr. Lin said: "Lida, I think that after you go back, in the case of organizing defense, you still have to be prepared for the transfer of troops, so as not to be caught off guard when you get it." ”

"Transfer?!" I asked, somewhat puzzled, "Where to transfer?" ”

"Right here!" Mr. Lin's hand slapped on the map and said confidently: "Istrian River!" He looked up at me: "Although General Rokossovsky's plan for retreat was vetoed by Zhukov, judging by the current situation of the war, it is a matter of time before the 16th Army retreats to the Istrian region. If you don't prepare now, the troops may fall into chaos when you suddenly receive orders, so you need to prepare for a rainy day. Do you understand? ”

"Understood! I've got it in my mind! "I am convinced of Mr. Lin's words, there is still half a month before the big counteroffensive, and anything can happen during this period, so prepare for retreat in advance, lest after receiving the order temporarily, the troops fall into chaos, and the retreat will be more than worth the loss.

At this time, the voice of Second Lieutenant Kabifo came from outside: "Comrade division commander, the car is ready." ”

We got out of the command car together and saw another brand new jeep parked outside. The colonel thought that I had never seen such a vehicle, and introduced me to it: "This is called a jeep, and it is a new type of vehicle that the American allies have aided us, and it has strong off-road performance and is suitable for driving on bad terrain." ”

It was Grisa who had worked as a bus driver before joining the army and had a lot of driving experience, so I declined the Colonel's arrangement of a driver for us. In fact, I don't need a driver arranged by the colonel, I have my own little abacus in my heart. If we let the driver of the 7th Division send us, he will have to drive the car back when we reach our destination. And using our own people as drivers, we can justifiably take the car as our own.

I sat in the passenger seat, and Ramis had to sit in the back. Before driving, I was about to ask Grissa: "Grissa, do you know the road?" ”

"No problem, Comrade Division Commander." Grissa replied confidently, "I used to be a bus driver, and my best thing is to memorize routes, and I can find them once I have walked them." ”

I waved goodbye to Mr. Lin, Shi Zhe and the colonel outside the car, and then turned back to Grissa and said, "Okay, let's drive!" ”

Although the jeep has good off-road performance, it is still very bumpy when driving on a road that has been potholed by bombs and shells, even if the speed is not fast. I leaned my head back in the chair and closed my eyes to recuperate, and I hadn't had a good rest for days, so I took the opportunity to take a nap in the car.

"Comrade Division Commander," Ramis's puzzled voice suddenly came from his ear: "I feel that something is wrong, there seems to be someone in the woods ahead!" ”

I opened my eyes and looked around, but I didn't find anything abnormal, and I was a little dissatisfied with Ramis who disturbed my rest, but it was not easy to have a seizure, so I had to say in a nonchalant tone: "I didn't see anyone, are you dazzled?" ”

"Boom! Rumble! Rumble! Before I could finish my words, a series of explosions rang out around the car, and the rising smoke instantly blocked our view.

"It's the enemy!" Ramis suddenly screamed and quickly put the submachine gun in his hand on the window.

"Get off the road and head into the forest." I shouted into Grisa's ear. Almost as soon as I shouted, Grissa slammed the steering wheel and drove the car aside.

Not far from the main road, shells continued to fall on both sides of the road, the air waves from the explosion lifted the car forward and backward, the windshield was smashed by flying shrapnel and stone fragments, and a warm and choking smell of gunpowder rushed into the car.

"Quick! Hurry up!! Get out into the forest! Ramis shouted as he shot into the smoke.

After rushing forward for a few dozen meters, the jeep that had already rushed into the forest got rid of the smoke that blocked the view and continued to rush into the depths of the forest at full speed. Ramis said loudly as he changed the magazine: "It must be a small German unit, they are attacking us with mortars." After changing the magazine, he patted Grisa on the shoulder with his free right hand, and said: "Continue to drive in the direction of the division headquarters, as long as we enter our own area, these German devils will not have anything to worry about." ”

The car drove forward in the forest for another five or six minutes, and then came to a large wooded area with relatively few trees. The woods were dotted with a dozen green tents, with sporadic military personnel moving in between. I recognized at a glance that this was where my division headquarters was located!