On the way back to the regimental headquarters from the company command post, I couldn't help but laugh when I thought of Bilyukov's cousin just now, and I smiled and said to Lukin: "Comrade Captain, our division commander Bilyukov is really interesting, because he was not worried about the safety of his son, he personally ran to the forward command post and sat and waited for several hours. Seeing that his son had returned safely, he didn't say a word, just patted the child's shoulder, and turned to leave. ”

Lu Jin also smiled: "Yes, I also felt quite surprised by the situation just now. I thought that when they met father and son, they would first have a hug, and then the division commander would say a few words of encouragement to Captain Slavin. I guess that when the division commander patted him on the shoulder, Slavin, the son, already understood what he wanted to say to his father. ”

I was going to go on to say: this is probably a little bit of a good idea. As soon as I wanted to say it, it suddenly occurred to me that Russia didn't seem to have this idiom, so I closed my mouth and just smiled slightly.

When he was about to enter the regimental headquarters, Lukin cautiously asked: "Comrade regiment commander, does the deployment of the troops need to be adjusted?" ”

I thought about it, shook my head and replied, "No, let's follow your original deployment." The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd companies held the first line of defense of the regiment, the 4th, 5th, and 6th companies were on the second line of defense, and the 7th company and the guard platoon were deployed near the regimental headquarters. ”

I lifted the curtain and walked into the regiment headquarters, and Lukin walked in, looked left and right, and said a little embarrassed: "I'm sorry, Comrade Regiment Commander, the headquarters is so simple that there is not even a marching bed, and I can't even find a place for you to rest." ”

I waved my hand. Said disapprovingly: "Comrade Captain, you don't have to worry about this, I can lie on the table and sleep for a while." "Speaking of which. I raised my hand and looked at my watch, and told him: "Comrade Captain, you should keep an eye on the distribution of weapons, it is two o'clock in the morning, and there are still more than two hours before dawn. Enter the respective combat positions. ”

When Lukin left, I looked around through the dim light of the room, which was empty. In addition to the wooden table in the middle and a few stools next to the table, there was also a gun rack with two rifles on the wall. I walked over and picked up both rifles. Pull the bolt and look at it. Seeing that there were bullets in it, he picked one up and walked back to the table. As soon as I put my rifle on a stool within reach, I lay down on the table and began to sleep.

After a while, I was awakened by the sound of gunfire. I quickly sat up straight, rubbed my eyes, and raised my hand to look at my watch, it was just five o'clock in the morning. The Germans could not wait to attack. I grabbed my gun and wanted to go out to have a look, but before I could get out, I was stopped by Lukin who came in. He said: "Comrade regiment commander, don't worry, the Germans are attacking the defensive ground of the 229th Division on the right flank of our regiment. I have already sent a combat alert to the troops, and the 1st and 2nd companies of the first line of defense have entered combat condition. ”

"Did you find the enemy on the front of my regiment?" I asked, always fearing that the enemy, finding out that we had captured their baggage camp, would launch a frantic attack on our position.

"No, not a single enemy was seen."

"What? Not a single enemy? I couldn't believe Lukin's answer.

"Yes, Comrade Commander." Lukin gave me an affirmative answer: "After the retreat of our troops yesterday, the Germans occupied our positions. By the time we received the order to return to the defensive positions, the Germans had already withdrawn, and I reckon they probably did not even notice that our regiment had reoccupied their positions. ”

"Where can you see the frontier?" I asked.

"You're going to observe the frontier?" Lukin was stunned for a moment, then came back to his senses and said, "Comrade Regiment Commander, please come with me." I will take you to the observation post, from where you will be able to clearly see the entire defensive position of our regiment. ”

Lukin led the way, and I followed him with my rifle and walked south along the trench. After walking about two or three hundred meters, we entered an observation post built in a trench, in which two soldiers were observing the enemy's situation, and when they saw me and Lukin coming in, they quickly stopped their work and straightened up to salute us.

Lukin asked the two fighters, "Is there any situation?" ”

The eyes of the two warriors swept over me and Lukin, as if they were hesitating to report to Lukin. Seeing that the two of them had not replied for a long time, Lukin frowned and wanted to get angry, but he accidentally noticed the gaze of the two of them staying on me, and immediately understood why they were slow to react, so he ordered: "This is the regimental commander, Lieutenant Colonel Oshanina, you should report to her." ”

Hearing him say this, one of the fighters came up to me and, after saluting, reported: "Report to Comrade Regiment Commander, in front of the positions of our regiment, no trace of the enemy has been found. ”

I nodded, walked over to the observation hole, and held up my binoculars to look into the distance. The location of this observation post has a wide field of vision, from here you can clearly see the two lines of defense of our regiment, the front of the position is calm, not even a figure can be seen in the distance, perhaps the Germans thought that this section was not guarded by our troops, so they did not send troops to attack our regiment's position.

Looking at the densely packed commanders and fighters, I couldn't help frowning, such a dense formation squeezed into the rudimentary trenches, if it was shelled by the Germans, it would inevitably cause heavy casualties. Seeing this, I put down my binoculars, turned around and called Lukin over, and asked him in a stern tone: "Comrade Captain, is there any bunker like an anti-artillery hole in our army's position?" ”

Although Lukin didn't understand why I was asking, he nodded and said, "Yes, although we don't have strong fortifications on our positions, there are still quite a few hidden troops that can be stationed. ”

I asked him to come to the observation hole, pointed to the trench in the distance and said to him, "Comrade Captain, come and see." Hundreds of commanders and fighters were crammed into the narrow trenches, and it was difficult to even turn around, and if they were discovered by enemy reconnaissance planes and attacked by enemy artillery fire, our casualties would definitely not be small. ”

Lukin raised his binoculars and looked at them for a moment, and suddenly his face was flushed with shame, and he quickly explained to me: "Comrade regiment commander, you also know that almost all of the regiment are new fighters, and they lack sufficient combat experience......

I raised my hand to interrupt his words and ordered: "Comrade Captain, you immediately call the several company commanders in the front position, and ask them to leave one platoon on the position to serve as a guard, and the rest of the people will go back to the shelter first, and then come out when the battle has begun." ”

Lukin said yes and ran to the side to make a phone call.

A few minutes later, Lukin returned to me, and after wiping the sweat from his forehead, he reported to me: "Comrade regimental commander, the order has been given to the troops. ”

Almost at the same time as he reported, the personnel in the trenches began to slowly dwindle, and after only a few minutes, the originally crowded trenches became somewhat empty. The fighters who remained in the trenches lined up, each defending a distance of about three meters.

Seeing the loose defensive formation in the trenches, I nodded with satisfaction and said, "It seems that one company on each line of defense is sufficient, and the remaining two companies can be used as reserves to enter the battle at the right time." ”

Lukin and I stood in front of the observation hole for two or three hours, and although there were fierce gunfire on both sides, there was still no movement in front of our regiment's position. I couldn't help but lose my patience, shoved the telescope into Lukin's hand, walked to the only stool in the observation post, sat down, and asked the soldier standing straight next to me: "I say, comrade soldier, is there any water?" Bring me a drink. ”

The soldier said: "Comrade regiment commander, please wait a moment, I will pour water for you." With that, he ran out of the observation post.

Looking at his departing back, I casually asked Lukin: "Comrade Captain, is there a situation?" ”

Lukin didn't put down his binoculars, shook his head with his back to me, and replied, "There is still silence in front of the position, and there is not a single figure to be seen, has the enemy really forgotten about our place?" ”

I looked out of the door boredly, and saw that the soldier who had just left, holding a teapot in one hand and two teapots in the other, was walking briskly towards the observation post, and hurriedly beckoned Lukin: "Okay, Comrade Captain, rest for a while, take a sip of tea and then continue to observe." ”

Lukin put down the binoculars, turned to me and said, "Comrade Regiment Commander, please wait a moment, I'll watch it one last time, if there is no hostility, I'll go over and drink water." As he spoke, he picked up the binoculars and looked out, while his mouth kept saying, "No, it's nothing, not a single enemy can see it." ......" At this, he suddenly fell silent, and after a while, he suddenly raised his voice and shouted loudly: "Enemy, it's the enemy's motorized troops!" ”

Hearing his shout, I jumped up from my stool, rushed to the observation hole with a lunge, snatched my telescope from his hand, and asked as I looked: "Where is the enemy?" ”

Lukin pointed at me and said, "Comrade regimental commander, you look in a little direction, the enemy is there. ”

I looked over from the position he pointed out, and saw dust in the distance, and it seemed that a mechanized unit was marching at high speed, because the dust was so high that it affected my vision, and I couldn't see clearly what size of the enemy troop, so I quickly ordered Lukin: "Comrade Captain, you immediately call the company commanders and ask them to prepare for battle, and the enemy is not allowed to open fire casually until he has approached a 100-meter range of the position." Just go! ”

I ordered Lukin in such a hurry because we lacked enough anti-tank weapons, not to mention anti-tank guns, and the whole regiment had only a few hundred Molotov cocktails and anti-tank mines, not even a single anti-tank gun. If the target is exposed too early, the enemy's tanks only need to stop a few hundred meters away from the position and calmly carry out artillery fire on our troops. (To be continued......)