A few dozen meters away, under a tree, four motorcycles were parked, and seven or eight German soldiers were relying on the vehicles, shooting wildly at the attacking soldiers. These enemies should be the motorized detachments that Panfilov mentioned last night that bypassed the line of defense and ran to the rear of our army to sneak attack.

I once commanded the guard battalion of the 316th Infantry Division, and I was deeply impressed by the strong combat effectiveness of this unit, and with their equipment and combat experience, it was easy to eliminate the rampant German soldiers on the opposite side. But now what is fighting the enemy is nothing more than a temporary guard platoon composed of staff officers, clerical staff, and political workers, and its combat effectiveness has been greatly reduced. In addition, almost all of their equipment is mainly pistols, and occasionally a few rifles are considered heavy weapons, which is more than a grade behind the German army in terms of firepower configuration. Allowing such troops to attack is tantamount to suicide. However, these soldiers knew that the headquarters of the Daoist Division was attacked, and they instinctively ran out of the place where they were staying, and bravely charged in the face of the enemy's dense fire without hesitation.

Watching one soldier after another fall, my blood suddenly gushed upward, and I didn't care about my personal safety, so I wanted to rush out with my gun. Unexpectedly, I was grabbed by Panfilov again, he grabbed my sleeve tightly, and scolded me in a stern tone: "Stand still! What do you want to do, break out of the city and be the target of the enemy's gun? Without waiting for me to speak, he turned his head and shouted below: "My comrade political commissar, has the phone been connected?" ”

"Got through!" The political commissar replied below: "The 1073 regiment was contacted, and they immediately sent a company to relieve the siege." ”

Relieved to hear that reinforcements would soon arrive, I struggled to half-crouch down, put my gun on the door frame, and pulled the trigger on the position of the Germans. Submachine guns are effective in melee combat, but it is not so easy to accurately hit targets at a distance. I ran out of bullets in the magazine in one go, but I only sparkled the shell of one of the motorcycles, and I didn't even hurt the German soldiers.

My shot once again attracted the attention of the Germans, and almost as soon as I ran out of bullets, a few incoming bullets hit the door frame. Fortunately, I had to go down two steps at the time, otherwise I would have been hit by a bullet.

Panfilov, who had been standing against the wall, first bent down and pulled out a magazine from the corpse of the German soldier, then took the submachine gun from my hand, and said as he changed the magazine: "Lida, don't shoot yet, stay here and wait patiently for a while." Our reinforcements will arrive soon. When they arrived, we rushed out of the city together. ”

"Yes!" I agreed to take the gun from his hand, crouched down, and listened with my ears pricked up to hear the movement outside. Although the gunfire outside was still ringing, it was noticeably much sparser than before, except for the sporadic sound of pistol and rifle fire, most of the time it was the clatter of submachine guns and machine guns. Judging from the gunfire outside, most of the commanders and fighters of the guard platoon were killed, and only a few survivors were still fighting stubbornly against the Germans.

Hearing that the Germans had the upper hand outside, I couldn't help but raise the muzzle of my gun and point it at the entrance, my finger pulling the trigger, ready to shoot without hesitation as soon as I noticed someone coming up, and absolutely not let the Germans rush into the division headquarters.

I don't know how long it has been, and no one has come out of it, but I don't dare to relax in the slightest. Just when I was nervous, the gunfire outside suddenly intensified again. Hearing the gunshots, I couldn't help but panic even more, and turned my head to look at Panfilov, who was standing next to me, only to find that he was happy.

"It's our reinforcements that have arrived!" He said excitedly.

As if to confirm the correctness of his judgment, a voice suddenly sounded over his head: "Is there any one of your own inside?" "Speaking Russian, not German, which I am familiar with.

"Leda, don't shoot, it's your own people." Panfilov lowered the muzzle of my gun with his hand, and then shouted at the top: "I am the division commander Panfilov." What part of you are in? ”

"We are from the 1073rd regiment, and when we heard that the division headquarters was attacked by the Germans, we were ordered to come to the rescue." The man above replied and cautiously walked in from the outside. Seeing that the people who came in were wearing khaki short fur coats and cotton military caps, typical of our army's dress, I couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, put away the guns in my hands and stood up straight.

The person who came, a lieutenant, came to Panfilov, changed the pistol he was carrying to his left hand, then raised his hand in salute and reported: "Comrade General, the lieutenant company commander of the 1073 regiment, Ramis, has come to report to you. Our company is out to clear the remnants of the enemy, please instruct! ”

Hearing the gunfire outside thinning out again, it is estimated that the battle is nearing its end. Panfilov put his pistol in his holster and said, "Let's go, let's go out and see." After saying that, he raised his leg and walked out.

Seeing the lieutenant following Panfilov out the door, I followed him with my submachine gun, but my finger was still habitually on the trigger.

By the time I got to the door, the battle outside was over. In addition to the soldiers who were killed, three of the German soldiers who came to sneak attack were taken prisoner and were being escorted by the soldiers towards this side.

Panfilov pointed to the German soldiers who had been taken over, and said to Lamis: "Go find someone who understands German, and interrogate these prisoners, see which unit they are, and how many people have come?" ”

"Yes!" The lieutenant agreed, and ran forward with his gun in hand.

"Da Da Da!" With three gunshots, Panfilov, who was standing in front of me, shook his body, and then he covered his chest with his hands and fell backwards, "plopping" beside me.

I was stunned for a moment, then looked down to see that next to the bodies of the two soldiers, there was still a German soldier lying there, and he had fired a few bullets just now. Almost instinctively, I raised my gun to aim at him and jerked the trigger. Although the effect of the submachine gun from a long distance was not good, it was easy to hit a target a few meters away, and the dense bullets suddenly beat the wounded German soldier into a bloody blur, and blood rained.

I understood at this time that it was two German soldiers who had just attacked the division headquarters, one of whom was knocked down in a fight with the guards, and the other was killed by Panfilov after throwing a grenade into the headquarters. I ran out of bullets from my magazine, and went up to kick the German soldier I had beaten to a bloody pulp, and only then turned to check on Panfilov's wounds, making sure that he could not die again.

Panfilov lay on his back on the ground and spasmed, the blood flowing from the wound on his chest slowly merged into a stream, and the stream slowly melted into a river, and then slowly seeped into the earth, and slowly stained the white snow.

"My old fellow, what's wrong with you?" I and the soldiers who gathered around stood in a daze in front of the division commander before the commissar who came out of the house saw this scene, rushed forward with a cry of sorrow, and hugged Panfilov's body.

Seeing that our group of people were all around in a daze, political commissar Yegorov couldn't help but be furious: "What are you all doing standing there stupidly, why don't you come and take a hand and carry the division commander to the headquarters!" ”

Hearing the political commissar's anger, I came back to my senses and hurriedly commanded the people next to me to take action: "You four, help the political commissar carry the comrade division commander to the headquarters." ”

The fighters lifted Panfilov up with all hands and feet, and walked towards the headquarters in a cluster. I called Lieutenant Ramis again and instructed him: "Comrade Lieutenant, you should immediately bring a few men and go to the military doctor." Be fast! ”

"But!" Ramis said with some embarrassment: "Just now, Comrade Commander asked me to interrogate these German soldiers. ”

Hearing him say this, I couldn't help but become angry without a name, Lao Maozi was dull in his work, and he couldn't distinguish between priorities and urgency, and I didn't save face for him at the moment, and yelled at him directly: "Just now, now is now!" Don't you see how many of our comrades were killed by those German soldiers! I also interrogated a fart, all of them were dragged to the edge of the woods and shot, and no one was left! ”

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel! Isn't it a bit ...... to do that" Ramis wanted to contradict me, but before he could finish speaking, I interrupted him and gave him an order directly: "This is my order, do you understand?" You should resolutely carry out the orders of your superiors, not question them, and hurry up and complete the tasks I have given! ”

"Yes!" Seeing that I was angry, Ramis reluctantly agreed, turned and went on a mission.

With a few gunshots, the three German soldiers who had just been captured fell to the ground. I watched the process of the German soldier being shot with a blank face, and then turned around and walked towards the headquarters with the gun in my hand.

The wooden table in the headquarters that had just been overturned had been rearranged, and a gas lamp had been hung on the roof again, illuminating the whole room. Panfilov was placed on a marching bed by the wall, and several fighters who had just brought him in stood aside, while the commissar was squatting beside the bed, almost putting his lips into the ear of the division commander, and shouting: "Ivan Vasilyevich, my dear old fellow, wake up!" ”

I also walked to the bedside and saw that although the commissar was shouting loudly, Panfilov did not respond at all. "Did you hear me, old man? You have to resist, don't die, there is more work in the future, maybe tomorrow you will need to command the troops to carry out a counterattack. Did you hear me?! ……”

But Panfilov's eyes were still closed, and when I saw this scene, I couldn't help but sigh secretly, I was shot in the chest and shed so much blood, it is estimated that the division commander is more than lucky.

"Report! Comrade commander, I have brought in a military doctor, can I come in? "There was a report at the door, and I followed it to see that it was Ramis and another officer carrying a small leatherette suitcase.

"Quick! Hurry up and see how Comrade Division Commander is doing? The political commissar seemed to grasp a life-saving straw, and loudly greeted the two people who had just come in.

The officer carrying the small box stepped forward, went to Panfilov's bed and squatted down, grabbed his wrist and checked his pulse, sighed softly, moved his hand to the carotid artery of the division commander and touched it, then stood up, shook his head and said: "It's too late, Comrade Division Commander has died!" ”

"." The political commissar stood up suddenly, grabbed the military doctor's collar, and shouted angrily: "You must be mistaken, the division commander is not dead, you hurry up and check again." ”

The military doctor smiled bitterly and said, "Comrade Political Commissar, I have carefully checked it just now, and the division commander has really died. You see, there is no breath anymore. Blood also came out of his mouth. Believe me, I'm a doctor with nearly 20 years of medical experience, and I can't even tell the difference between dead and alive. ”

After listening to the words of the military doctor, the political commissar took two steps back, sat on the ground, and muttered: "No, no, no, you must be mistaken." ”

"Comrade division commander, I have good news for you!" With the voice rushing in an officer, I looked back and it turned out to be Leviagin, the commander of the 1077th regiment, who had left last night.

Seeing a group of us standing in the room without speaking, Leviakin, who had just come in, couldn't help but ask curiously: "What's wrong with you, is something wrong?" ”

"Comrade division commander has died!" I replied to him in a low voice.

"What, Comrade Division Commander died?" He rushed to the bed in two steps and bent down to examine Panfilov's body. When it was confirmed that this was not a joke, the whole person couldn't help but be stunned and stood in front of the bed in a daze.

Just when the room was sad, the telephone on the desk rang at an inopportune time. Seeing the commissar sitting on the ground muttering to himself, Leviagin standing in front of the body in a daze, I quickly walked over to the phone. put the submachine gun on the table, and then grabbed the microphone: "316 Division Headquarters, please speak!" ”

"Leda! It's you. Rokossovsky's excited voice came from the microphone: "Let General Panfilov answer the phone." ”

I took a deep breath before answering in a deep voice: "Comrade commander, General Panfilov has died!" ”

"What?!" Rokossovsky was taken aback by my words, and he couldn't help but raise his voice and asked: "What did you say?" Say it again. ”

"General Panfilov died!" I repeated what I had just said, and the tears that I had been holding back finally came out of my eyes. Hearing that the other party hung up the phone, I also put down the microphone and wiped the tears from my face with my hand, but soon new tears welled up.

When the phone rang again, I sniffed hard before picking up the microphone again and saying, "I am the commander of the 316th Infantry Division!" ”

"Leda!" This time it was no longer Rokossovsky who spoke, but the commander of the Front, Zhukov.

"Comrade General!" Hearing this long-lost voice, I couldn't help but be a little excited: "General Panfilov died. ”

"I know, Leda. This is war, and death is inevitable. Zhukov comforted me and said: "Don't be sad, I have a message that I hope you can convey to all the commanders and fighters of the 316th Division." ”

"Say it, Comrade General!" I sniffed again as I spoke.

"The Supreme Soviet has just made a decision: in recognition of the heroic performance of the 316th Infantry Division in the defense of Moscow and the great results it has achieved, it is hereby awarded the glorious title of the 8th Guards Division!"

"Great! Comrade Commander. I will convey this good news to all the commanders and fighters of the 316th Infantry Division. ”

"And!" Zhukov continued: "Are there any other commanders in the division now? ”

"Yes," I replied, looking at the commissar and general next to me, "in addition to the commissar Comrade Egorov, there is also the commander of the 1077 regiment, General Leviakin." ”

"I order you to take over the command of the division immediately!" Zhukov ordered.

"But," I said, looking at the general standing next to me again, "the highest rank here is Major General Leviakin, and I think it would be more appropriate for him to command the Guards Division than I am." ”

"I order you to take over as commander! Got it? Zhukov categorically ordered.

"Yes! Comrade Commander. "I understood Zhukov's temper and knew that his orders could not be violated, so I had to agree to take over the command of the division.

"I will convey this appointment to Rokossovsky, you hurry up and arrange the defense of the division. If you have any questions, you can call me directly. With that, there was no sound in the microphone.