The night of July 7 was not destined to be a quiet night.

I had just helped Romanov prove his innocence when I heard a rumbling explosion outside, and the sound of anti-aircraft guns, which was also muffled by the sound.

My eyes turned to the door, and I was about to send someone out to see what was going on outside. Yushchenko had already rushed into a panic and shouted at me: "Comrade commander, air raid siren, we are under air raid by the Germans. ”

"Let's go!" Almost as soon as Yushchenko finished speaking, Bezikov and Akhromeyev rushed up, grabbed one of my arms, and before I could come to my senses, they carried me and forced me out. I heard Kirillov still behind him say loudly, "Hurry up and get Leda to safety." ”

Rushing out of the door, the entire city was shrouded in gunsmoke and firelight, and in the earth-shattering explosion, the tiles of the building opposite the headquarters were shaken down to the sidewalk, knocking down several commanders and fighters who ran by. Before I could give the order, the Bezikovs had already carried me to a makeshift dug nearby.

We were still five or six meters from the bomb shelter when a bomb fell not far behind us. The explosion slammed the three of us to the ground, and it made me feel as if my internal organs had shifted out of place, and I felt lazy lying on the ground, not wanting to move at all, not even wanting to do the simple act of getting up.

Bezikov was the first to get up, and he first asked me in a nervous and muffled voice: "Comrade commander, are you okay?" ”

As soon as I opened my mouth, the pain in my heart made me even change my voice: "I'm fine!" ”

"What about you, Major Akhromeyev." Bezzikov grabbed my arm and tried to lift me up. But he didn't move, so he had to ask Akhromeyev again: "You're not hurt, are you?" ”

"I'm fine, Comrade Chief of Staff." When I saw Akhromeyev get up from the ground, he raised his hand to wipe the blood from his nose, but he cooperated and grabbed my other arm and assisted Bezzikov in lifting me from the ground.

The two dragged me into the dimly lit bomb shelter. Putting me in a relatively safe place, I sat down and started gasping for air. Bezikov asked Akhromeyev with concern: "Major, are you alright, I just seem to have seen your nose bleed." ”

Akhromeyev shook his head and said calmly: "It's okay, Comrade Chief of Staff." I wasn't hurt, but I just fell and accidentally hit my nose on the ground. ”

I rested with my back against the wall for a while and felt much better. Only then did he ask, "Chief of Staff, what the hell is going on?" Where did the planes of the Germans come from? "I ask this with a sense of anger, because to the south of the city we have a regiment of self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, which they can easily deal with even if twenty or thirty planes come.

Bezikov shook his head and said with an embarrassed expression: "I'm sorry, Comrade Commander. I do not know. ”

I looked out of the cave and saw it in the dark streets. Columns of fire burst into the air, and the air became scorching with the raging flames, and the spicy smoke was blown down the street and into the hole, making us cough violently while we couldn't open our eyes.

I don't worry about Kirillov and Danilov, who are still in the command. Hurriedly raised his hand and patted Akhromeyev on the shoulder, and said to me loudly: "Major, the deputy commander and the military commissar are still in the command, you go and see if they come out?" ”

Akhromeyev said yes and rushed out. But he was stopped by Beziakov reaching out. He looked at me with teary eyes, and after a violent cough, he said to me in a loud voice: "Comrade Commander, it is too dangerous outside now, and it will be dangerous for the major to go out." ”

"But I'm not worried about the safety of the deputy commander." I said out loud.

Bezikov moved his body a little towards me and whispered in my ear: "Don't worry, Major Yushchenko will get them out." In the opposite direction of us, there are several bomb shelters. ”

"Hell, when were these bomb shelters dug, why don't I know?" If it weren't for the sudden bombing, I wouldn't have noticed that there were so many bomb shelters in the city.

"Comrade Commander, this bomb shelter began to be dug by the Military Commissar long after the appearance of the small units of the German army. It's just that you weren't in the headquarters at the time, so you didn't know about it. Bezikov said with emotion: "Fortunately, we dug an air-raid shelter, otherwise I don't know how many people would have been sacrificed in vain." ”

"What about our anti-aircraft artillery regiment?" At this time, I couldn't help but think of the anti-aircraft artillery regiment equipped with a large number of self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, and couldn't help but ask: "Where the hell are they?" ”

As I spoke, enemy planes in the sky swooped down one after another, dropping the bombs they were carrying in the city. Many buildings collapsed in the sound of explosions, raising a cloud of smoke and dust that obscured our view. I vaguely saw that the building I was in was also hit by a bomb, and my heart suddenly sank as if the ground was sinking. I didn't say anything, but I knew in my heart that if there were still people in the building who didn't escape, I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to save my life.

At this time, the sound of dense anti-aircraft artillery fire suddenly sounded outside, and the planes that were diving and dropping bombs were not bursting into black smoke clouds. An unlucky plane was hit by splinters, one wing was blown to pieces, flipped in the air and planted, and exploded on the ground, turning into a ball of flames. The rest of the planes were frightened and hurriedly changed from dive to pull-up, trying to escape from this dangerous area as soon as possible.

When Akhromeyev saw this scene, he exclaimed in shock: "It's our self-propelled anti-aircraft artillery regiment, as long as there are them, few of these enemy planes that come to carry out bombing missions will be able to fly back." ”

The next thing that happened was really as Akhromeyev said. The German air force seemed to be particularly afraid of the anti-aircraft artillery regiments, and after raising the altitude, they indiscriminately dropped the bombs they were carrying, turned around and flew south. But since they came, our anti-aircraft artillery regiment would certainly not let them escape easily, so they chased after them and continued to beat them with dense fire. I saw with my own eyes at least five enemy planes being hit. Either it exploded in the air or it was planted from the air with a long tail of smoke in tow.

When the bombing was over, the whole city was in flames, and it was clear that I could not stay here, so I had to move outside the city with the Beziakov tanks.

In a tent in the forest, I met Kirillov and Danilov, whose faces were blackened, and saw that both of them had escaped with their lives. I couldn't resist stepping forward and giving one of them a hug. Then I asked Kirillov curiously: "Comrade Military Commissar, how did you escape?" ”

Kirillov said with a wry smile: "After they left with you, Bezkov, Yushchenko took a group of fighters and dragged me and the deputy commander to the bomb shelter outside. No, as soon as the bombing was over, he saw that the city was full of fire, and no one could stay, so he led us to the forest outside the city. ”

I saw Yushchenko standing next to him, walked over and put my hands on his shoulders. He patted it lightly twice and said amicably: "Comrade Major, you are good, well done!" ”

Yushchenko came to stand up and said loudly: "Serve the Motherland of the USSR!" ”

"Are there any casualties?" The thought of the bombing scene I had just seen in the bomb shelter made me feel palpitations, and at this moment I saw people I knew standing in tents, and I was in the mood to ask about the casualties in the city.

The expression on Yushchenko's face darkened. "The guard battalion lost 75 people and wounded 27 people," he muttered. The building where the headquarters was located was hit directly by German bombs. The communications corps, which did not have time to withdraw, lost about 30 people, and Major Bukov was directing the manpower to search and rescue the survivors in the rubble. ”

When I heard that the guard battalion had suffered hundreds of casualties, my heart felt as if someone had pulled me hard. I turned to Danilov and asked: "Comrade Deputy Commander, do you know where this enemy plane came from?" ”

Danilov shook his head. With a blank face, he said: "The enemy planes appeared so suddenly that before our air defense post had time to sound the alarm, the enemy planes began to bomb the city." ”

Just then, Travkin's voice shouted a report from outside the tent. I casually agreed, "Come in, Captain Travkin!" ”

The curtain opened. Four people walked in from the outside, making the cramped tent even more cramped. Naturally, the leader of the reconnaissance battalion was Captain Travkin, behind him was a serviceman in a pilot's uniform, followed by two fighters with submachine guns.

I looked at Travkin and the three people behind him and asked curiously, "Captain, can you explain to me what the hell is going on?" Then I pointed to the man in the pilot's uniform with my hand and asked, "Who is he?" ”

"Report to Comrade Commander, this is the German pilot we captured." Travkin reported to me: "I saw that after his plane was shot down, a pilot parachuted out, so he rushed over with the fighters. This guy was quite stubborn, hiding behind the wreckage of the plane and shooting at us until he ran out of bullets before we were captured. ”

"Comrade Captain, when you caught this pilot," I glared at the German pilot viciously, and then asked Travkin, "Are there any casualties among the commanders and fighters?" ”

Travkin nodded and replied: "Yes, Comrade Commander." One was sacrificed, two were wounded. ”

"Ask him," I said, looking at the captured German pilot, who was still holding his head high and arrogant, and said in disgust, "how did they bypass our air defense posts and get into the skies over the city?" ”

Travkin agreed, turned to the German pilot, and muttered. The German pilot snorted and replied in an impatient voice.

Travkin immediately translated to us: "He said that they knew that there was our self-propelled anti-aircraft artillery regiment to the south of the city, so they came to bomb this time, and they received an order to fly northwest first, and then turn around and bomb our city south after flying over our city." ”

"The Germans are cunning." After listening to Travkin's translation, Danilov waved his hand and asked them to take the prisoners away, and then said with emotion: "Our observation posts are usually arranged in the south, so even if we find enemy planes appearing, we do not arouse sufficient vigilance when we see that they are flying in a direction other than ours." ”

"We have to learn this lesson," Kirillov continued, "and when we lay out anti-aircraft posts in the future, we must deploy them not only on the side facing the enemy, but in all directions." In this way, no matter which direction the enemy is coming from, our air defense posts can give a timely warning and let us make the necessary preparations in advance. ”

While they were talking, I suddenly remembered a piece of history, the deputy commander of the Front, General Apanashchenko, who died heroically at the end of the Battle of Kursk when his headquarters was attacked by German air strikes. I didn't expect to almost repeat the same mistake today. And now, Apanashchenko is still alive and well, and if Vatutin is allowed to restrain his movements and prevent him from coming to the front casually, it is estimated that the tragedy will not be repeated again.

While I was thinking about it, Bezikov interrupted my contemplation, and he said with a sad face: "Comrade commander, almost all of our communications equipment has been destroyed in the bombing just now, which means that we cannot get in touch with either the front headquarters or the troops below. ”

Bezikov's words made me break out in a cold sweat, I didn't expect that the sudden bombing by the German army not only destroyed the city we were in, but also made us lose contact with the outside world. I knew in my heart that if we did not restore contact with the outside world as soon as possible, the units of the Sixth Guards Army would fall into a chaotic situation of fighting separately because of the loss of unified command, and they might be broken by the Germans at that time.

Thinking of this, I asked Yushchenko aloud: "Major, when you were rescuing people in the ruins of the headquarters, did you have the chief of communications Lopukhov and the chief of intelligence Rasmikhin?" ”

"No, Comrade Commander." Yushchenko was afraid that I would not understand what he said, and he went out of his way to emphasize: "At least among the bodies we found, neither of them was found." I guess they all managed to move during the explosion. ”

Hearing that the bodies of the two were not found, my heart was a little more reassured, and then I instructed Yushchenko: "Major, you immediately arrange for people to search around the city to see if you can find the whereabouts of the two of them." With that, I gently nudged him, "Go ahead!" ”

After Yushchenko left, I instructed Akhromeyev: "Major, I will give you a task now, immediately take people to the nearby troops, and first get some communication equipment from them, so that we can restore communication with the outside world as soon as possible." (To be continued.) )

PS: I recommend the new books of several friends in the same group, I hope that readers can like it greatly: "Usurpation of Qin" by the Millennium Dragon King, "Rebirth of the Southern Ming Emperor as an Emperor" by Rogue Rabbit, "Red France" by Villadelle, "The Heavy Weapon of the Country" by Ronghai, "Rebirth of the Tang Crown Prince" by Yue Qilin and "Red Song" by Mr. Foshan Zan.