Thinking about the matter of the tank army, my mind could not help but flash and hurriedly asked Nekrasov: "By the way, Comrade Colonel, there is something I forgot to ask you. Is the 96th Tank Brigade, which is deployed in the rear of your division, previously subordinate to the 15th Tank Army? ”

Instead of answering my question, Nekrasov turned his inquiring gaze to his chief of staff. The chief of staff of the division immediately understood, stepped forward and replied: "Report Comrade Commander, I asked the brigade commander of the tank brigade, and he said that their brigade was newly formed in the Kursk region last month. ”

After listening to the words of the chief of staff of the division, I understood in my heart that the tank brigade that originally belonged to Rybalko was estimated to have been completely wiped out in the defense of Kyiv. However, their banner should have been brought out by Rybalko, so that it could be reorganized.

Just when I was feeling the cruelty of war in my heart, and a tank brigade with outstanding achievements said no, there was a sudden burst of gunfire outside.

"Except for what?" Without waiting for me to react, Nekrasov preemptively asked the chief of staff of the division: "Why are there gunshots outside?" ”

After the division chief of staff and Yershov looked at each other, he shook his head and said: "I'm sorry, comrade division commander, I don't know very well. But listening to the gunshots, it should not be far from us, so I immediately called to ask what was going on. With that, he picked up the phone on the table.

"Comrade division commander, comrade division commander." Before the chief of staff of the division could make a call, a soldier wearing a steel helmet and carrying a rifle suddenly broke into the outside. As soon as he entered, he hurriedly shouted: "There are Germans nearby, and when they are approaching us, they are spotted by our sentry on duty, and there is a fierce exchange of fire." ”

"What kind of strength is the enemy?" I had participated in the Battle of Stalingrad, and naturally knew that it was a very small thing for a small German unit to touch the vicinity of the headquarters of our army at all levels and an exchange of fire occurred. So asked disappreciatively.

"There was probably a platoon of soldiers who were fighting our fighters outside, and their motorcycles were hidden under the hillside." The man spoke very quickly: "In addition to the infantry, a German tank was also found in the distance. ”

Nekrasov looked at the visitor suspiciously, and asked in a suspicious tone: "Are you mistaken, thinking that our own tanks are German tanks?" ”

"That's right. Comrade division commander. Seeing that Nekrasov did not believe his words, he was so anxious that he was about to cry, and he said with a crying voice: "I have seen carefully, it is definitely the German tank, especially the white cross on the turret, which can be seen clearly in the telescope." ”

Seeing that Nekrasov was glaring at him and was about to get angry, I hurriedly stopped him and cautiously reminded: "Comrade Colonel. Whether this warrior is true or not, we will see for ourselves. ”

As soon as my words came out, Nekrasov, the chief of staff of the division, and Yershov stopped in my way. Nekrasov also nervously said: "No, Comrade Commander, it's too dangerous outside, you don't have the right to take risks." ”

"That's right, Comrade Commander, the division commander is right." The chief of staff of the division immediately chimed in: "You can play a role in stabilizing the morale of the army and boosting morale here. If something unexpected happens, it will have the opposite effect. ”

Although I will tomorrow they are all kind. But I really can't feel at ease without seeing what is going on outside. Therefore, I waved my hand at them and said in a firm tone: "Comrade Colonel, don't worry, this is not the first time I have been on the battlefield, and I will pay attention to safety." Moreover, the Germans had only one platoon. With the security forces of your divisional headquarters, there should be no problem if you want to completely eliminate them, right? ”

"Comrade commander, because the front line needs troops, the guard battalion of the division headquarters has transferred a lot of manpower to the grassroots troops." The chief of staff of the division explained to me: "The unit that is currently responsible for the security of the division command. There is only one company. If the Germans were only infantry, there would be no problem, but the Germans still had a tank, which would be a bit of a problem. ”

"Isn't it just a German tank, what's there to worry about." In order not to make them nervous, I deliberately put on a relaxed expression and said to them: "Find two fighters carrying a bazooka, and you can easily kill it by ambushing the place where the tank is about to pass." ”

My words made the chief of staff of the division have an embarrassed expression on his face, and he said to me with a crying and laughing: "Comrade commander, do you know that in order to strengthen the anti-tank capabilities of the forward, we have equipped all the bazookas with the forward troops. There were no anti-tank weapons in the guard company, except for a small number of anti-tank grenades. ”

As soon as Yershov and the other division chiefs finished speaking, they immediately expressed their position and said: "Comrade division commander, the situation is dangerous, and I suggest that the commander be immediately transferred to the station of our regiment, which is safer than here." ”

"yes, that's a good idea." Nekrasov heard his subordinates say this and immediately agreed. And persuaded me: "The defense of the division is too weak, for the sake of safety, you should first transfer to the Yershov regiment." ”

"Comrade Colonel, I won't go anywhere until I see with my own eyes the destruction of the German troops who attacked the headquarters." Thinking that eighty percent of the German troops who attacked here were members of the Skeleton Division, I was in a bad mood, so I stubbornly said to Nekrasov: "Comrade Colonel, take me to see it." ”

Seeing that I was stubborn, Nekrasov couldn't say anything more, so he had to first order Yershov to return to his regimental command post and make all preparations against a sneak attack by the Germans, and finally said to me helplessly: "Comrade commander, since you want to see how we deal with the Germans, then please come with me." ”

When I left the command headquarters after Nekrasov, Bukov, who was standing outside the door, immediately greeted me and asked in a low voice: "Comrade commander, the situation seems to be very bad, the small German troops are not far away and the guard units are exchanging fire." ”

"The infantry will be left alone for the time being, Colonel Nekrasov's guard company will wipe them out." After I said these two words to Bukov, it suddenly occurred to me that I could notify the 96th Tank Brigade and ask them to send tanks out to relieve us of the siege. As long as they dispatched two new tanks, the German tanks, no matter how strong, would be just a moving target. Thinking of this, I stopped, leaned back into the room, and commanded the division chief of staff standing inside: "Comrade Chief of Staff. Please call the commander of the tank brigade and ask them to send tanks to support us immediately. ”

Nekrasov led me to an observation post not far away, where the soldier who had come to report stood in front of the lookout, pointed outside and said: "Commander, comrade division commander, please look. Here you can see the German tank, which is about 500 meters away from us at the moment. ”

I picked up the binoculars. First looked at the battle going on the hillside not far away, and saw that the small German troops who were sneaking up were suppressed by the fire of the guard company and it was difficult to reach the sky on the hillside, so he turned his attention to the tanks in the distance.

I saw a square-headed Tiger tank, slowly driving on the dirt slope a few hundred meters away. From time to time, it also stopped, shelling or machine-gun fire at suspicious targets in the vicinity. A lonely hut on a hillside became its target. After it stopped, it slowly turned the turret, and then the body shook violently. A single shell came out of its chamber. In an instant, the struck cabin was torn apart in the light of fire and smoke, and the shattered planks flew everywhere. After destroying the cabin, the Tiger tank emitted a puff of black smoke from its tail and then galloped towards the position where the battle was most intense.

When the tank was less than two hundred meters away from us, a clash of dirt suddenly arose on the right side of the tank's body. Seeing this scene, I knew that it should be our artillery firing, and quickly turned around. Look for the artillery that opened fire. After looking for a while, I was on the hillside in front of the left side of the observation post. A gun emplacement for an anti-tank gun was found, and four or five artillerymen were crouching next to the gun, nervously preparing for firing.

"Comrade Colonel, look!" I pointed to the anti-tank gun in the distant position and excitedly said to Nekrasov: "There is one of our anti-tank guns there, there is it." You can definitely take out the enemy's tanks. As soon as I said that, I realized that something was wrong. Coming towards us was the German Tiger tank, and in the gun emplacements on the hillside, there was only a very ordinary 45mm anti-tank gun, could they deal with the German Tiger tanks?

The answer was soon revealed. The anti-tank gun soon fired a second shot. This time it was good luck, the shell hit the body of the Tiger tank in one fell swoop. But when the smoke cleared, I found that the German tanks were not affected at all, and they were still moving towards us quickly.

Seeing this, Nekrasov couldn't help but scold: "Hell, this German tank is too strong, shoot at such a close distance, and you haven't waited to kill it." ”

The German tank that had been hit had apparently spotted the gun position on the hillside, stopped its advance, turned its muzzle to the position of the anti-tank gun and fired a shot directly. The tank shell hit the anti-tank gun, which had fired two shots in a row, and after the earth-shattering explosion, I saw a large crater there. Several artillery fighters lay on the perimeter of the pit, and the anti-tank guns were overturned to the ground, and the barrels were bent at an odd angle.

"We ...... Our anti-tank guns, just ...... That's it? "Although Nekrasov, like me, witnessed the destruction of anti-tank gun emplacements by German tanks, he said in disbelief: "We hit the enemy's tanks, and the tanks are fine; And their tanks hit our artillery, but the positions were destroyed? ”

Looking at the German tanks approaching closer and closer, my heart rose to my throat, and my heart said that if it rushed forward, I would have to turn around and run away, and the flesh and blood of man could not stop the steel monster of the Germans.

One hundred and fifty meters, one hundred meters, eighty meters. I have been silently calculating in my mind how far away this menacing tank is from me. I even made a plan that as soon as the tank came within 50 meters, I would turn around and flee regardless of 3721. On the battlefield, bravery is necessary. But in the face of the rushing German tanks, standing there motionless, it is not brave but stupid.

Just as I began the countdown, two more puffs of earth rose to the left and right of the Tiger tank. Seeing this, I was amazed and thought to myself, what is going on, is Nekrasov still hiding anti-tank gun emplacements somewhere else? But when I turned my head to look at him, I was surprised to find that his face was also blank.

Before I could figure out what was going on, a bright fire suddenly rose from the body of the invincible Tiger tank, and then the whole car was covered in billowing black smoke. A moment later, I heard the roar of tank motors, and looked in the direction from which the sound came, and saw four or five new tanks of our army, lined up, rushing rapidly from the right side of the high ground. As they marched, they continued to shoot at the German infantry hidden on the hillside, and the German officers and men, who had been in a stalemate with our troops, immediately became confused.

Seeing the appearance of these tanks, Nekrasov breathed a sigh of relief, then put down his binoculars and said to me with relief: "Comrade commander, thank God, it is the tanks of the 96th tank brigade. ”

Due to the timely appearance of our tanks, the complete end of the German plan for a sneak attack was announced. When the German infantry found that the tank they were relying on had been destroyed, they saw that our army was strong, and they all laid down their arms and raised their hands in surrender.

When Nekrasov saw those German prisoners with their hands raised and escorted into the trenches by our commanders and fighters, he couldn't help but snort and said in a disdainful tone: "I thought that the German officers and soldiers of the skeleton division were so tenacious, but I didn't expect it to be a pus, and when he saw that he couldn't beat us, he immediately raised his hand and surrendered." ”

"Comrade Colonel." When I heard him say this, I said with a little cry and laughter: "If it weren't for the commanders and fighters of the tank brigade who came in time, that destroyed Tiger tank would have been enough to raze your division headquarters to the ground." ”

I raised my hand and looked at my watch, and seeing that the time was already pointing to nine o'clock, I said to Nekrasov: "Okay, Comrade Colonel, the time is not early, and I will rush back to the headquarters of the army group at once while it is not yet dark." ”

"Do you need me to send someone to escort you, Comrade Commander?" Hearing that I was going back to the headquarters of the army group, Nekrasov's face showed a relieved expression, and he asked me flatteringly: "You know, after all, it is dozens of kilometers away from the headquarters, and it is entirely possible to encounter a small German army on the road, which is really unsafe." ”

"No, no, Comrade Colonel." I considered that if we were unlucky and encountered the enemy on the road, the people sent by Nekrasov would not only not be able to help, but might expose the target, so I directly rejected his kindness: "We only have one car, the target is not big, even if the enemy finds out, we can quickly get out." (To be continued.) )