The Germans seemed to be on the verge of our positions, and heavy artillery and mortar shells rained down on our positions. I could see from the observation hole that the forward position had been submerged in a thick smoke of gunpowder.

I held up my binoculars and tried to see what was happening on the other side of the Germans, to see if they were sending infantry or tanks during the shelling. But everything was obscured by smoke, and nothing could be seen.

German shells exploded one after another on the position, flickering fire, deafening explosions, accompanied by shrapnel flying everywhere. Although I was in a safe place, I was still scared and my legs were shaking like chaff, but fortunately I was alone in the command post, otherwise my positive image of not being afraid of death would have been ruined.

At this moment, a shell exploded a few meters away from the command post, and the shock wave rushed directly into the command post through the observation hole, and the raised earth rained down on my face. I closed my eyes in time, lest I be blinded by the dust, and I was still disgraced.

Worried that the command post would be blown up by a shell, I quickly grabbed the rifle that was sitting aside, bent down and ran out of the command post.

When they ran out of the command post, shells were exploding everywhere, and the smoke and dust that rose up covered the sky and the sun, as if suddenly darkness had fallen. Just when I didn't know where to go, a shell exploded in front of the trench, causing me to fall to the ground and let the crumbling earth fall on me.

I got up, bent down and continued to run along the trench, and suddenly another shell exploded in the trench not far in front of me, and a huge wave of air knocked me head-on, and the trenches on both sides also collapsed in the explosion.

Before I could crawl out, another shell exploded nearby, and the dirt smashed down again, burying me tightly, and after a whirlwind of the sky, I lost consciousness.

After a while, I felt someone shaking my body vigorously in a coma, and I slowly opened my eyes and looked at the person shaking me in front of me, as if it was the fighter I had reunited with their husband and wife last time, what was the name, Vasily, Andrey, Amis or whatever, I couldn't remember. But why did he open his mouth so wide, but he didn't make a sound?

The warrior saw that I had opened his eyes, a look of surprise on his face, and his mouth opened wide again. This time I vaguely heard his voice: "Comrade Major, it's great that you're awake!" "I have to concentrate on what he says to hear clearly, I don't know if he doesn't talk much, or if someone stuffed a ball of cotton in my ear, so that I can't hear others clearly.

After a while, I heard the faint sound of gunfire nearby, and I shivered violently, and immediately realized that I was on the battlefield, and that I could not hear the soldier just now, and that my hearing had been affected by the shock wave of the shell explosion. At this moment, I also remembered the name of the soldier in front of me, so I asked: "Ivan, how is the situation on the battlefield?" ”

Ivan replied anxiously: "Comrade Major, all the people on the position are dead, let's withdraw!" ”

Hearing him say this, my heart couldn't help but sink, and I hurriedly asked, "What about Lieutenant Ugad?" ”

Ivan bowed his head and replied in a low voice: "Comrade Lieutenant died." He was shattered by the shells, and he didn't even have a single corpse left. ”

"What about Ensign Miducci?"

"Sacrificed too." Ivan continued: "Immediately after the German shelling, hundreds of infantry, under the cover of three tanks, launched an attack on our positions. Second Lieutenant Miducci commanded the artillery and bombarded the enemy infantry, cutting them off from the tanks and eliminating a number of Germans. But our shells were quickly exhausted, and Comrade Ensign rushed towards the enemy tanks with Molotov cocktails in his hand, and died with one of them. ”

"And then?" I continued.

"After the first attack of the Germans was repulsed by us, they retreated to their starting positions and again opened fire on the positions of our troops. This shelling caused all the casualties of our surviving commanders and fighters. Comrade Major, the infantry of the Germans has begun a second offensive, let's withdraw quickly. Otherwise, when they attack the position, we will be taken prisoner. As he spoke, he desperately picked up the dirt, trying to get me out of the dirt as quickly as possible.

When I learned that almost all the commanders and fighters who held the position had died heroically, and there was no point in staying here any longer, what I could do now was to find a way to get out of danger as soon as possible, so I also hurriedly cooperated with Ivan to dig out the soil.

As we fled from our positions in disarray, we could already faintly see the German steel helmets swaying in the trenches. As I rushed down the hill, I saw that there were no moving objects in the passage, and there were bloody corpses everywhere, both commanders and fighters, and civilians who had moved with the troops.

I wonder if Ivan had already predicted that we would lose the battle and explored the road in advance. No, as soon as I got down from the position, he led me swiftly into the boundless forest to the east. I followed him, running deep and shallow in the forest, running out of breath, and the scene in front of me gradually became blurred.

When Ivan stopped, he told me: "Comrade Major, all right! It should be safe here, so let's rest for a while. ”

I sat on the ground with my back against a big tree, gasping for air.

Before I could even out my breath, I suddenly heard a thunderous voice next to me: "What person?" No one is allowed to move, put your hands up! ”

I went to grab the rifle, and found that when I ran away with Ivan just now, I didn't bother to get the gun, but fortunately, the pistol was still there, so I quickly reached for my waist, quickly opened the holster, pulled out the pistol, and aimed at the location where the sound came. And Ivan, who was bare-handed, didn't even have the intention of resisting at all, and obediently raised his hands.

From behind the tree, two soldiers with rifles turned out, and when they saw the steel helmets they were wearing, the military uniforms they were wearing, and the raincoats with hoods on their bodies, they knew that they were their own people. I quickly lowered the muzzle of my gun, stood up, and asked loudly, "What part of you are?" ”

Seeing that I had lowered my gun, the other party lowered the muzzle of the gun and replied: "We are the guard squad of the editorial department of the newspaper Brave. ”

"The Brave editorial board?" I remembered the political worker who had just fought with me, and hurriedly asked: "Is your person in charge of the battalion-level political instructor Zalilov?" ”

"Yes, Comrade Commander." When the two soldiers heard me say the order of the head of the editorial department, their faces showed happy expressions, and they hurriedly asked: "When we were shelled by the Germans just now, we and the instructor ran away. Do you know their whereabouts? ”

I shook my head and said, "I'm sorry, comrade soldier, my fighter and I just withdrew from our positions and came here by mistake, and I don't know the whereabouts of Instructor Zalilov." ”

Seeing the disappointed expressions on the faces of the two soldiers, and looking at the disgraced faces of Ivan and Ivan, I suddenly felt that I should team up with them, and then find a way to escape from the German encirclement and find the troops of the Front. So I asked tentatively: "Comrade soldiers, since you and the comrades in the editorial department are separated, it is better to go with us." When we are out of danger, it is not too late to inquire about the whereabouts of Instructor Zalilov. ”

"Yes, two friends." Ivan said to me, "The Germans have now captured the high ground on both sides of the pass, and if we return, we will either be killed or captured, so it is better to find a way through the forest to escape from the encirclement of the Germans, and when we return to the army, we will inquire about the others." ”

After listening to our words, the two fighters hesitated a little and stood in place for a long time. Ivan stepped forward and grabbed the shoulders of the two of them, and said with a big grin: "Okay, don't think about it, come with us." "In this way, under Ivan's persuasion, the two warriors finally agreed to go with us.

We rested for half an hour and then continued on our way. With no tools like a compass, we quickly got lost in the dense forest. Although it was still a sunny day outside, the light in the dense forest was already like night, and looking around at the pitch-black jungle, I couldn't help but feel a hairy feeling in my heart, and hurriedly reached out and grabbed Ivan's belt in front of me, lest he walk too fast and leave me here alone.

I don't know how long we walked, but we finally came out of the darkness and came to a sparsely wooded area. Ivan was the first to come to a big tree, sat down with his back against the trunk, and said, "I'm tired of walking, so let's all sit down and rest, eat something and drink some water, and then continue walking." Seeing the three of us sitting down next to him silently, he patted the nearest soldier on the shoulder and said, "Hey, I said comrade soldier, do you have anything to eat?" Give us some points, Comrade Major and I haven't eaten for a day. ”

The warrior took a small piece of bread wrapped in paper from his bag and handed it to him. Ivan was not polite, opened the paper bag, picked up the bread and tore a piece of it for me, and then he stuffed the rest into his mouth. Although I was so hungry that my chest was pressed against my back at the moment, I still politely asked the two soldiers: "After walking for so long, I guess you are also hungry, so you should eat this bread!" With that, he handed the bread to them, but he swallowed secretly.

The two soldiers waved their hands again and again and said, "Comrade commander, you should eat this bread, we still have it here." ”

Just as we were shirking each other, a faint voice came from nearby: "Hey, who's where?" Is it your own person? ”

"Who?!" Ivan roared, grabbed the rifle from the arms of one of the fighters and rushed in the direction from which the sound came. Fearing that he would suffer, we followed, and I shoved the loaf of bread into my mouth as I stood up.

Behind a tree not far from where we had just been, an officer in a large-brimmed hat sat with his back against the trunk of the tree, holding a pistol in his hand and pointing nervously at us. "Comrade Political Instructor, is that you?" Two soldiers ran past me and stepped forward to support the commander.

I heard them call each other, and the person who was lying on the ground was Zalilov, who had just clashed with me in the passage. So I said very politely: "Comrade political instructor, I don't know what you are doing here?" You must know that the Germans are not too far from here, and if you don't leave, they will find you, and you will be taken prisoner. ”

Zalilov looked me up and down, apparently recognizing me, and with a bitter smile on his face, he said, "It was you, Comrade Major. I was wounded in the leg, I was wounded by shrapnel, and I couldn't walk here. At this point, he paused for a moment, and then added: "You were right when you were in the passage just now, when breaking through, in order to ensure the speed of the troops' march, there are some unnecessary things that can be discarded. I'm sorry! ”

Originally, I was still strained, but when I heard Zalilov apologize to me, I couldn't help but soften my heart a little, and I quickly changed my smile and asked in a friendly manner: "Comrade instructor, can you still walk?" ”

Zalilov replied with a wry smile: "Probably not. You should go first, and I will rest for a while, and then I will go after you. ”

"Comrade instructor, what are you talking about?" Although the Soviets do not have a tradition of not abandoning or giving up, since I can see the wounded lying here, I will never leave, and besides, the two soldiers who accompanied us are his subordinates, so I can use them as free laborers. I turned around and instructed the two fighters: "Two comrades soldiers, go and cut down two small trees, make a stretcher, and carry the comrades political instructors away." ”

"Yes, Comrade Commander." The two warriors said yes and ran to the side to cut down the tree.

Zalilov said to me gratefully: "Thank you, Comrade Major. ”

I walked up to him, squatted down, held his hand, and said, "Comrade instructor, please rest assured, we will definitely carry you out of the encirclement." ”

Then we had a much more harmonious conversation, and through small talk, I realized that the instructor Zalilov was actually a poet, and he had been working in Moscow. Later, because the editor-in-chief of the 2nd Shock Army "Brave" Vsevolod Bagritsky, the son of the famous Soviet poet Eduard Bagritsky, died in the winter battles. In order not to leave this post vacant for a long time, Zalilov was sent from Moscow to the political department of the 2nd Shock Army as the editor-in-chief of the newspaper.

Two fighters came over with an improvised stretcher and carried Zalilov onto the stretcher. Because they had to carry people, the rifles on their bodies were carried by Ivan and Ivan.

We don't know where we are going, so we can only keep walking in the forest, hoping to reach a safe place in the end.

After walking aimlessly for two days, I ate all the food I had with me, and I ended up wandering around the endless forest. And everyone is extremely tired because they can't eat and sleep well, and the steps under their feet are getting smaller and smaller.

Just when we were on the verge of despair, Zalilov, who was on a stretcher, suddenly pointed ahead and said in surprise: "Comrade Major, there is a road ahead, and you can reach the station of the 59th Army by crossing it." Hearing him say this, everyone immediately lifted their spirits again and quickened the pace of the march.

After walking for five or six minutes, an improvised road appeared in front of me.

I saw the hope of escape, and my tense nerves relaxed, and I sat down on the ground and said to them, "It's almost time to get out of danger, let's rest and rest before we go." ”

"Nope." Zalilov said resolutely: "Wait until you cross that road and rest, there may be Germans here." ”

"I can't walk anymore, so you go first. Ivan stayed. "I was so tired that I didn't want to move anymore when I sat down.

Seeing that I really didn't want to leave, Zalilov had no choice but to say, "Okay, let's go first, you can come here as soon as possible." Then he urged the warriors who carried him to speed up their march.

Just as they were stepping onto the road, the roar of a motor was heard not far away, and after a while, an armored car of the Germans appeared. Seeing that there were people on the road, the machine guns on the armored car opened fire, and the bullets flew towards several of them, knocking down the fighters carrying the stretchers in one fell swoop. The two fell to the ground and threw Zalilov on the stretcher far away.

"Not good, there is an ambush. Ivan, run! Seeing that the situation was not good, I got up, turned around and ran back.