Seeing the enemy hiding under the tank, I couldn't help but sigh regretfully, and said that this kid was too cunning, and actually hid under the wreckage of the tank.

I stood and looked to the side, taking in the reactions of the Gurov and the others, and saw that they were all standing in the trench with binoculars in their hands, stunned by Vasily's amazing marksmanship just now. Vasily, on the other hand, remained in the same position as he had just reclined, holding his gun and continuing to aim at the area infested by German scouts.

I walked by Gurov's side and said to him with a smile: "Comrade Military Commissar, I didn't lie to you, this Vasily is a shooting genius, if it weren't for the cunning of the remaining German soldiers, who hid under the tank, they probably wouldn't have escaped the fate of being killed." As I spoke, I habitually held up the telescope again and looked at the place where the German soldiers were hiding.

The Germans hid under the tank for a while, and when they saw that no more shots were heard, perhaps thinking that the sniper who had fired at them had left, they cautiously climbed out from under the tank. After crawling with his hands and feet for some distance, he shot at him, jumped up from the ground, and sped away in the distance faster than Powell the flying man.

Just as I was feeling sorry that the Germans would be able to get out of Vasily's range in a few seconds, Vasily's guns rang out. I saw that the German soldier who was running, as if he had been violently pushed by an invisible giant hand, leaned back all of a sudden, and then fell heavily to the ground.

Vasily, who had finished shooting, returned the sniper rifle in his hand to the sniper standing next to him in a daze. Strode in front of me. Keep your legs together with your heels. It was reported to me: "Comrade division commander, Second Lieutenant Vasily reports to you that the enemy scouts, operating in front of the positions of our troops, have been completely wiped out. ”

"Good fight, Second Lieutenant Vasily." I nodded, complimenting him from the bottom of my heart.

Vasily's report woke Gurov from his stunned state, and he nodded appreciatively. Then he called Vasily to his side, patted him on the shoulder excitedly, and said: "Excellent, young man, just do it!" Beat the Germans to death one by one at a time and place they didn't expect! ”

Gurov then turned his head and asked me: "By the way, Comrade Oshanina, what is the current rank of Comrade Vasily?" ”

"Report to Comrade Military Commissar, before returning to the division headquarters, I have promoted him from the rank of private to the rank of second lieutenant, and appointed him deputy commander of the 2nd Guards Company."

After listening to my answer, Gurov frowned slightly. Said to himself: "The rank of second lieutenant? ”

When I saw Gurov's expression, I thought he thought that I had given Vasily too high a military rank. Hurriedly explained: "That's the case, Comrade Military Commissar. A few hours ago, when I was still in the Krudo ditch, the commander of the 39th Guards Division, General Guryev, wanted to poach him with the rank of guard platoon commander and sergeant. ”

Unexpectedly, after listening to me, Gurov actually shook his head, and said with an expression of hatred: "Alas, what should I say about you two." This General Guriev still doesn't have enough courage to give someone else the rank of sergeant. Seeing that I grinned, he glared at me again, "You're no better." At present, the number of snipers in the whole group army has reached more than 400. If the commander himself had seen Vasily's marksmanship here, he might have been appointed captain or major directly. ”

Hearing Gurov's criticism of me, I hurriedly walked up to his side and whispered: "Comrade Military Commissar, this is not the place to speak, let's go back to the headquarters!" ”

"Okay, then we'll go back and talk."

After entering the command headquarters, Akhromeyev, who had been silent, went straight to the telephone and called Lieutenant Colonel Gaidar of the 4th Regiment. He commanded on the phone: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, just now our snipers were on the position of the 2nd Regiment and killed several German scouts who were wandering in front of your position. I order you to immediately send a small detachment to search the bodies of these German soldiers and see if there is anything valuable. ”

After we were all seated, Gurov turned to me and said, "Comrade Oshanina, since you have appointed Vasily as the deputy commander of the 2nd Guards Company and promoted to the rank of second lieutenant, then maintain the status quo for the time being, and then promote him to his position and rank when he has achieved greater results." ”

Kirillov waited for Gurov to finish speaking, and hurriedly said to him: "Comrade Military Commissar, I think that the heroic deeds of Second Lieutenant Vasily have been published in the Bulletin of the Battle of the Front Army, which is widely distributed in the forward positions, so that every soldier who is holding on to Stalingrad can know about it, and this will effectively raise our morale." ”

"Comrade Kirillov, although you are no longer the head of the political department of the group army, the construction you mentioned is quite good, and after I cross the river in the evening, I will go to the political department of the front army and inform them of the heroic table of Second Lieutenant Vasily. Now that the Battle of Stalingrad has entered the most difficult moment, we need to establish a hero for the vast number of commanders and fighters to learn, which will be very helpful in improving the morale and combat effectiveness of our army. ”

As soon as Gurov came up with a simple idea, Kirillov immediately added: "I think that the division should send special men to act with Comrade Vasily and at the same time record his achievements in battle. After dark every day, the results of the battle can be reported directly to us, so that we can grasp useful first-hand information in time. ”

"Who is the right one to send?" Gurov asked with concern.

After going through all the manpower that could be arranged in my head, I felt that Basmanov would not be able to do it, because as the commander of the guard battalion, he had more important work to do. Mihayev can't do it either, he is now the commander of the engineer company after all, instead of running around with Vasily every day, it is better to let him lead the sappers to use this time to build more suitable fortifications. After thinking about it left and right, he finally thought of a suitable candidate, so he said confidently: "So be it." Let Comrade Boris of the Second Company go with him. When I saw everyone, there were puzzled expressions on their faces. As if ready to ask me who this Boris is. Quickly added: "Boris is very familiar with firearms, and as far as I know, the sniper rifles currently used by the snipers of our division have been modified by him. He has a lot of knowledge of firearms, and even if there is a malfunction of the gun during their mission, I am sure that Comrade Boris will be able to repair Vasily in time. ”

As soon as I finished saying this high-sounding reason, everyone, including Gurov, nodded their heads one after another. agreed, so Boris officially became Vasily's henchman without knowing it.

It didn't take long for Lieutenant Colonel Gaidar to call us from the forward positions and report to Akhromeyev, who answered the phone: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the unit I sent to carry out the search mission has returned. At the foot of the mountain, there were a total of five German soldiers who were killed, and from one of them, a map of our army's front line was searched, which should have just been drawn. ”

Akhromeyev did not ask what was of value other than the armament map. Instead, he asked inexplicably: "Where were the killed Germans shot?" ”

Gaidar was puzzled by Akhromeyev's question, and it took a while for him to answer: "Report to the chief of staff." Returning fighters reported that all five German soldiers had been shot in the head. Comrade Chief of Staff, you just said that our snipers fired at the positions of the Second Regiment, but I don't see it, after all, the distance between them and the enemy is more than 500 meters, and although the range of the guns is sufficient, in order to kill the enemy so perfectly, the snipers must at least stay on the high ground to the north of us. Where are our snipers hiding on the high ground, why aren't our people noticing? ”

When we heard Gaidar's words, we all smiled knowingly, and it seemed that not to mention the enemy, even our own people, thought that the sniper could hit the target at such a distance, and all five shots were headshots.

Akhromeyev smiled at the microphone and scolded: "Lieutenant Colonel Gaidar, although your military rank is higher than mine, the location where the sniper is hiding is a military secret, and with your rank, you are not qualified to know." You should honestly urge your men to continue to strengthen your fortifications while there is no enemy attacking. With that, he hung up without waiting for Gaidar to speak.

After Akhromeyev put down the phone, he suddenly slapped the table and scolded angrily: "How did this Captain Grams, such a good sniper is under his command, why didn't he find out?" ”

"Captain Grams?!" When Gurov heard this name, he immediately restrained the smile on his face, frowned and asked Kirillov: "Is that the German commander who is like us surrendering?" ”

Kirillov nodded and said with certainty: "Yes, Comrade Military Commissar." Seeing the faint anger on Gurov's face, he hurriedly said: "Maybe Captain Grams was negligent, after all, so many snipers have to be selected and trained in a short period of time, and mistakes are inevitable." ”

"Comrade Commissar is right!" I knew that Kirillov was indirectly helping me to speak, so I quickly chimed in: "According to Second Lieutenant Vasily, after he joined the 2nd Guards Company, Grams and Grettka used to evaluate him. At that time, no one could have imagined that the five bullets he fired could leave only one bullet hole on the target, so they thought that his shooting level was not high, and he was directly eliminated. ”

"How's this Grams' cousin?" Gurov asked lightly.

I knew that Gurov was dissatisfied with my use of the German commander who surrendered to Cheng without the permission of the army group headquarters, so I would never let go of the opportunity to say good things about Grams: "Since I transferred his company to the original station of the 5th Regiment, not only have I trained many excellent snipers for our troops, but I have also personally led the team to participate in battles with the Germans on several occasions, and have achieved considerable results. I can now responsibly report to you that Captain Grammers has broken with the fascist bandits represented by Hitler and is resolutely on our side. ”

After hearing what I said, the expression on Gurov's face softened, and he said in a flat tone: "Well, Comrade Oshanina, since you are vouching for your future for Grams, I won't say anything, I just hope that you will do it yourself." ”

"Look, Comrade Military Commissar, this is the manuscript I wrote for the Battle Express." When Kirillov saw that I was being tactfully criticized by my superiors because of the Grahms matter, he stood up in time to relieve me: "Do you see if there is anything that needs to be changed?" ”

Gurov took the manuscript in Kirillov's hand, and after looking at it a few times, read it out loud: "Our heroic sniper Vasily is fighting heroically!" Vassili. Comrade Zaitsev was a sniper from the Ural Mountains, a member of the Lenin Communist Youth League of the USSR. In the defense of the Crudo Gully, he alone killed 17 German devils. After returning to Mamayev Heights, he killed five German soldiers with five bullets with his amazing marksmanship. We believe that he can kill more German soldiers in the next battle. Everyone should be on par with Comrade Vasily! ”

When I heard this short and straightforward report, and before I could think about what to say, both Gurov and Akhromeyev shouted in unison: "Great, Comrade Kirillov (political commissar) came from a political and ideological background, and it is really well written!" ”

As for the comments of the two of them on Kirillov's article, I secretly smiled bitterly and had to echo it: "Yes, Comrade Political Commissar has written a wonderful article, and I believe that such a report published in the Battle Express will definitely have the effect of motivating the fighters and boosting the morale of our army." ”

After Gurov left after dark, Akhromeyev called Vasily, who was resting in the guard company, and Boris, who was going to cooperate with him, to the command. Akhromeyev, after introducing Vasily to Boris, instructed him: "Comrade Boris, from today onwards, you will fight with Comrade Vasily, in a word, where he is, you will be there." Even if he goes to the toilet, you have to squat next to him. Hearing the last words of Akhromeyev's words, Kirillov and I couldn't help but laugh.

After laughing, I walked up to Boris and said to him solemnly: "Comrade Boris, from today you will officially become the deputy of Second Lieutenant Vasily, and at the same time be promoted to the rank of sergeant. Your task is twofold: first, to keep a record of the results of Comrade Vasily's battles at all times, whether killed or wounded, you must keep a detailed record. Second, he was responsible for the maintenance of Comrade Vasily's firearms, and promptly eliminated the problems of his guns, so that the sniper rifles he used were always in the best condition. Do you understand? ”

"Understood, Comrade Division Commander." The newly promoted Sergeant Boris replied loudly.

After Boris finished speaking, I came to Vasily again, glanced at his collar badge and the new sniper rifle with a scope on his shoulder, nodded with satisfaction, and then said to him: "Second Lieutenant Vasily, from today onwards, where you fight and how you fight, you are free to play, and our division headquarters does not make hard and fast rules. I have no other requirements for you, except that you and Sergeant Boris will come back safe and sound every night. ”

Kirillov also walked over, stretched out his hand to the two of them, shook hands in turn, and said to the two: "Second Lieutenant Vasily and Sergeant Boris, the leaders of our division have high hopes for you, and I hope that you will achieve greater results in the next battle. ”

"Second Lieutenant Vasily," Akhromeyev said to Vasily when he saw that Kirilov and I had spoken to him, and as Chief of Staff, he was also obliged to say a few words: "We will report to our superiors in a timely manner what you have achieved, and it may not be long before a few shining medals will be hung on your chest." ”

Hearing that he might receive a medal, Vasily's eyes lit up, and then he said loudly: "Please rest assured, commanders, I promise to live up to your expectations of me and complete the tasks assigned to me by my superiors." (To be continued......)

PS: I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the book friend Lao Godfather, tonnyted, wzzhnag68, Luo-Xia, Nianguofeng, and a555a children's shoes for their valuable monthly ticket support!