When the battle was over, Basmanov and I set out with our guards on the high ground where the battle had just been raging.

There are only a few craters on the north slope because of the few shells that have fallen. When I reached the top of the hillside, I found that it was completely empty earth that had been plowed several times by artillery fire. The gun emplacements on the hill have long been gone, and in the smoke-filled dirt, broken parts of the guns can be seen from time to time.

I looked around, but I didn't see a single figure. Thinking that the artillery company might be wiped out, I couldn't help but panic for a while, so I asked loudly: "Where are the commanders and fighters of the artillery company?" ”

However, there was no response.

Basmanov stepped forward, stood beside me, and shouted around: "Anyone? Anyone else? ”

After his shouting, there was still silence on the battlefield.

Seeing this, the guards behind me immediately rushed ahead of us and began to search the void with their heads down. Soon they dug out a commander and fighter from the soil, but after checking the results, they regretted to find that the other party had already died.

I hurriedly instructed the guards: "Keep looking, see if there are any artillery brothers alive." ”

The guards agreed, bending over the dirt to search for survivors. Soon two more warriors were dug out of the soil, but unfortunately none of them were alive.

Seeing this, Basmanov said to me with a little concern: "Comrade commander, you see that the artillery positions on the top of the hill have been razed to the ground, and there may be no survivors at all. ”

Although I agreed with his statement, I was not reconciled in my heart, and just stared at the guards searching in front of me without saying a word. Hopefully a miracle will happen.

Ten minutes passed. The guards dug up the bodies of more than 20 martyrs from the soil. Neatly laid out in front of us. I took off the steel helmet from my head and bowed deeply to the remains of the martyrs. When I put on my steel helmet and was about to summon Basmanov to look in the tunnels of the infantry company, I suddenly heard a guard call in surprise: "Look, the earth is moving over there, and the people buried under it must still be alive." ”

"Quick, quick, hurry up and dig him out!" Hear the guard say that. Before I could see where I was, I couldn't wait to give orders to everyone.

Several guards pounced on a small mound not far to my left, and dug out the people buried underneath. Because the rescued man was covered in dirt and his clothes were in tatters, I couldn't tell whether he was a soldier or a commander at all, so I immediately walked over quickly, grabbed his dusty hand tightly with both hands, and said excitedly: "Comrade artilleryman, you have worked hard!" ”

The man who was being supported by the two guards looked at me and said in a weak voice, "Hello." Comrade Commander! ”

"Who are you?" Basmanov asked aloud from the side.

"Gagkaev," the other party replied weakly, "Captain Gagkaev, commander of the 5th Company of the 1008th Anti-Tank Destroyer Artillery Regiment." ”

"Comrade Captain." Basmanov walked up to the captain, took his other hand, shook it vigorously, and said in a loud voice: "You and your men are doing well. Thanks to your bravery and tenacity, you inflicted heavy losses on the enemy's tank units, and our infantry was able to repel several German attacks in succession. ”

"Comrade Major," I waited for Basmanov to finish, and then continued, "write down the name of the captain and report it to the army headquarters in the evening." The report said that he was brave and tenacious in battle, and in recognition of his brave fighting spirit, he was given the honor he deserved. ”

"Yes, Comrade Commander." Basmanov agreed, took out a pen and paper from his briefcase, and wrote down the name of Captain Gagkaev.

Since I had to inspect the tunnel fortifications next, I asked the guards to bring Gagkaev with me, and I was going to have the sanitary officer of the infantry company check him first to see if he was injured.

The positions of the infantry companies, although under enemy fire, were also plowed into a void. More than a dozen soldiers were rushing to repair fortifications in the trenches that had been blown up.

Seeing our arrival, immediately a lieutenant ran over and saluted me and Basmanov. Basmanov smiled and introduced to me: "Comrade commander, this is the commander of the seventh company. ”

While shaking hands with the commander of the seventh company, I asked with concern: "Comrade company commander, what are the casualties of your company in the battle?" ”

"There are still twenty-one soldiers left in the company," the seventh company commander licked his chapped lips and replied with a wry smile, "but we still have a heavy machine gun and seven assault rifles, and we can continue to fight." ”

I knew that with Sederikov's character, it was impossible for each company of the new regiment to have only 100 people, so I curiously asked the commander of the seventh company: "How many people are in your company?" ”

"197 people, Comrade Commander." The Seventh Company Commander replied in a loud voice.

After I heard this, I immediately turned my head to look at Basmanov and ordered in an unquestioning tone: "Comrade Major, the casualties of the 7th Company have reached almost 90%, and a company will be immediately transferred from the high ground behind to take over the defense, and the commanders and fighters of the 7th Company will go to the rear to rest and recuperate. ”

Hearing that they were going to be transferred to the rear to rest, the commander of the seventh company was a little anxious, and said loudly: "Comrade commander, we don't need to rest, really, we don't need to rest." We can keep fighting......"

Before he could finish speaking, I interrupted him and said to him in a serious tone: "Comrade Lieutenant, your task has been completed, and what we need to do now is to rest in the back and replenish the troops as soon as possible." As long as you have formed combat effectiveness, are you still worried that there will be no battle to fight? ”

When the Seventh Company Commander heard me say this, the expression on his face became happy again.

At this time, Basmanov said to him: "Commander of the Seventh Company, the commander wants to see your tunnel fortifications, you can take her to see it." By the way, I will also use your company's telephone to contact Captain Rosenberg. ”

The commander of the seventh company led our group along the trench that was half buried in the empty soil, and came to the mouth of the tunnel without much effort. The exit of the tunnel may have been blown up by German shelling, and at the moment seven or eight fighters were clearing the soil at the entrance of the cave. I don't know who shouted, "The commander is here!" Everyone stopped what they were doing. Surrounded by.

I saw the uniforms of each of them. It's all in tatters. His face was blackened by gunsmoke. Several fighters had bandages on their heads, shoulders, arms and even legs. With a smile on my face, I shook hands with the soldiers who had just fought the Germans armed to the teeth, and had a brief chat with each of them.

I glanced up the southern slope and saw that from the mountainside to the foot of the hill, there were scattered corpses of the Germans, lying on the hillside in various positions, and most of the hillside was laid in a mess. I pointed downwards and said to Basmanov with a frown: "Major." When the troops arrived, let them clean up the corpses of the German soldiers below, so that the corpses would not decompose and cause epidemics. ”

"Understood." In response to my order, Basmanov immediately drew inferences, "I asked the troops to dig several large pits underneath and threw the corpses of the Germans into them and buried them." ”

"That's fine." I knew that this would be the easiest way to do this when there were not enough men, so I agreed, adding: "Don't forget to leave all the weapons that the Germans still have on them." ”

After leaving the heights, I drove along the road to the headquarters of the 51st Guards Division. Since our troops had just inflicted heavy losses on German units in this section. So on the way, I saw nothing but blown up tanks and killed soldiers. I also saw a contingent of prisoners composed of nearly 100 German officers and soldiers, escorted by our commanders and fighters, walking towards the rear. For them, this war, which is still going on, has ended early.

At the headquarters of the 51st Guards Division, I saw the division commander, Major General Tavartkiradze, the commander of the tank corps, Colonel Berey, and the commander of the 90th Guards Division, Chernov, on campus, but also the deputy commander of the Front, Apanashchenko, who was on his own. When he saw my arrival, he nodded with a smile and said lightly: "Comrade Oshanina, you are here." ”

"Comrade General," although he was of a higher rank than me, in the current situation, I spoke to him in a very stern tone: "How can you casually run to the front, don't you know how dangerous it is here?" ”

Apanashchenko didn't care about my attitude, turned his head to look at Tavart Kiradze and them, turned his head again, shrugged his shoulders, and said disappreciatively: "Comrade Oshanina, although the front line is very dangerous, as long as the senior commanders and soldiers stay together, it can have the effect of boosting morale and stabilizing the morale of the army. ”

I really couldn't laugh at Apanashchenko's theory, saying that if you were killed by the Germans at the front, it would definitely boost the morale of the German army, and our side would be terrified. I took a deep breath, tried hard to restrain my impulses, and said to him in as calm a tone as possible: "Comrade General, you have not informed Commander Vatutin in advance of your appearance this time, so that he could not find anyone when he wanted to discuss the battle plan with you. That's why I was ordered to go to the front to find your whereabouts. ”

My half-truths and half-truths made Apanashchenko look a little embarrassed when he heard them. In order to get rid of the embarrassment, he shifted the topic to the air-ground coordinated operation that had just ended: "Comrade Oshanina, you have just fought very well, and the cooperation between the air force and the army can be called perfect. As soon as the German tanks were concentrated, our bombers flew over and dropped bombs on them. Before the smoke of the bombardment had cleared, our tanks rushed up again, easily knocking the remaining tanks to pieces......"

Although I saw in my telescope the sudden air-ground coordinated operation, hearing Apanashchenko talk about it at this moment still aroused my great interest. As soon as he finished speaking, I turned my head and asked Beray and Chernov, who were standing next to me: "Two comrades colonels, I would like to ask, which unit is the German army that has just been repulsed by you?" ”

My words widened the eyes of several people present in surprise, and after a moment Colonel Bere timidly asked me: "Comrade commander, do you really not know which unit we have defeated?" ”

I shook my head, and said with some embarrassment, "After I left the high ground, I rushed straight here, and I really didn't have time to ask which unit the captured prisoners were. ”

Tavartkiradze took a step forward and said to me respectfully: "Comrade commander, allow me to report to you. Seeing that I nodded his head in agreement, he reported with a bit of smugness on his face, "The troops that were crushed by the tank corps and the 90th Guards Division were the 'Reich divisions' of the German army. When they retreated into the defense area of our division, they disrupted the ranks of the 'Hitler division' that was attacking the positions of our division. Now the two SS divisions of the German army, under our combined strike, have retreated to the west of Yakovlevo. At present, we have gradually restored the No. 2 and No. 3 positions that were originally lost. ”

"In this battle, the comrades of the Air Force have made great contributions." Apanashchenko added with emotion: "Thanks to their heroics, the Germans were crushed and could not stop effective resistance. At this point, he paused for a moment, and then said with a hint of regret, "It's a pity that we had too few troops at our disposal, otherwise we might have been able to drive the enemy back to Belgorod." ”

I did not express any opinion on Apanashchenko's optimistic speculation, but only smiled faintly in return. I knew in my heart that the reason why the German army was so embarrassed by us was not because our strength was far superior to that of the other side, but because of the sudden appearance of the air force, which took the German army by surprise. Once they came to their senses and took the necessary countermeasures, we were able to achieve very little.

In order for Apanashchenko to obediently return to the headquarters of the Front, as soon as my eyes rolled, I came up with a good solution, and said to him with a smile: "Comrade General, in order to let Commander Vatutin know the detailed process of our defeat of the 'Hitler Division' and the 'Reich Division' as soon as possible, I think it is necessary for you to immediately return to the Front Headquarters and personally report to him the detailed process of the entire battle. In order to increase the persuasiveness, I deliberately made a regretful expression, "If it weren't for the fact that I had to stay and command the troops, I would have wanted to personally report this great victory to Commander Vatutin, after all, the reports on the telegram were too dry." ”

Hearing me say this, Apanashchenko was really deceived by my little trick, and he stood up and said: "Comrade Oshanina, you are right, you have more important things to do to stay at the front, and I will report to General Vatutin. But you must remember to send a telegram to the commander first, so that he knows first. ”

"No problem, Comrade General, I'll arrange the telegram right away." I asked in a flattering tone, "Do you need me to send someone to escort you back?" ”

"No need," Apanashchenko waved his hand and said with a big grin: "The part of the road I am going to take is under the control of our army, and there should be no danger." The front line needs manpower, so let's use the fighters you want to arrange for more important places. ”

Watching Apanashchenko leave, I finally let go of the stone in my heart. Then he called Colonel Bere to his table, pointed to the map that was spread out on it, and laid them out a new defensive zone. (To be continued.) )