The battle lasted for nearly an hour, and various exciting battle reports were transmitted from time to time through the walkie-talkie in the car.

"Comrade division commander, I am Colonel Chistyakov. My mixed group has taken possession of the south of the city and cleared the remnants of the enemy. At the moment, Lomov is leading his troops to the west of the city to assault ......"

"Comrade division commander, I am political commissar Slavkin. After the battle, we mixed the cadet regiment and have occupied the city center. Now the regimental commander, Lieutenant Colonel Mlagintsev, is advancing with the main force of the regiment to the east of the city, preparing to meet the cavalry corps of General Priev......"

……

"Division Commander Oshanina," said General Katukov, perhaps because his tanks were not moving at high speed, so the voice was particularly clear: "The German armored forces in the city have been completely wiped out by us, and except for a few buildings where German submachine gunners are firing at us, there are no more formed enemy units to be seen." Our brigade has just occupied the north of the city and is clearing the enemy's firepower points, so please send infantry to assist as soon as possible. ”

"Okay, I'll inform Colonel Chistyakov at once and ask him to send troops over to assist you." Interrupting the call with General Katukov, I immediately addressed Chistyakov again: "Comrade Colonel, General Katukov has captured the north of the city, and you will immediately send an infantry unit over to assist him in eliminating the enemy hiding in the building." Also, the Cadet Corps has taken the city center, so be careful not to misunderstand your troops when they pass by, so as not to misunderstand with friendly fire. ”

"Understood," Chistyakov agreed unusually cheerfully, "we have met very weak resistance in the course of the attack, and now the troops have occupied the west of the city and are clearing out the remnants of the enemy. I immediately ordered Major Kuleshov to rush over with a battalion to support. ”

I walked to the door of the car and looked in the direction of Cumbre del Sol, listening to the explosions and watching the red light from the burning buildings, which stained half of the sky.

At this moment, the battle situation is progressing surprisingly smoothly, even if it is only to temporarily drive the enemy out of the city of Cumbre del Sol, the first attack launched by me after taking charge of the 8th Guards Division can be regarded as a brilliant result, and it will inevitably be praised by the relevant parts of the superiors. Originally, I should be in a very good mood at the moment, but I don't know why I felt a little nervous.

Major Dulov, who was good at observing words and feelings, noticed my uneasiness and, in order to divert my attention, began to pat my ass: "Comrade division commander, judging from the battle report, our division is progressing smoothly, and has now occupied most of the city, as long as General Priev's cavalry corps can successfully recapture the three lost settlements, it will be able to quickly join up with our division. In this way, even if you can't wipe out all the enemy forces in the city, you can drive them all out of the city. And the offensive battle you planned and commanded will be a great victory. ”

Hearing the Major say this, and thinking of Zhukov's hint to me, I knew that this battle was related to my future future, and I couldn't help but become more and more nervous. Looking at the battlefield in the distance, I took a deep breath and felt that since the overall situation had been decided, there was no need to stay so far away from the battlefield, and it was better to go to the city to have a look, so I decisively ordered: "Comrade Major, let's go to Sun Hill City." ”

The major was stunned for a moment, but immediately nodded in agreement, then ran to the door of the car and shouted outside: "Captain Yushchenko, the division commander has an order, immediately set off for Sun Hill City." ”

With his command, the alert troops outside began to shrink and assemble rapidly, and began to board the covered trucks that had been parked in the forest one after another. Looking at the fighters running back and forth outside, I couldn't help but feel a change in Yushchenko's attitude, he was worthy of coming from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, he was very experienced in guarding important targets, and not only set up fixed sentry posts and patrols around the communication vehicles, but even arranged secret posts in many places, so that even if the enemy came to sneak attack, he could organize effective resistance even on the ground. If some time ago it was they who served as guards at the division headquarters, then the division commander Panfilov would not have died.

Thanks to the car, it took less than ten minutes for our convoy to enter the city of Cumbre del Sol. I looked out of the car door, and the city of Sol Hill was really not worthy of its name, not only did it have no mountains, but it didn't even have a city wall.

At this time, the explosion of artillery shells was barely heard in the city, only the sound of gunfire everywhere. After the car stopped, I just wanted to get out of the car, but Yushchenko stopped me, and he said with a blank face: "Comrade division commander, although our army occupies most of the area of Sun Hill City, there are still many enemies who have escaped the net and are hiding in the buildings of the city and shooting cold shots. For your safety, you should stay in the car. ”

"Yes, Captain Yushchenko was right." Major Durov echoed him: "It's dark outside, and you can't see anything clearly, so stay in the car and command the battle." ”

I was hesitating whether to stay in the car or to run to the front line to get a few shots, when suddenly there was a roar of tank motors in the distance, and Yushchenko, who was under the car, was the first to shout: "Enemy tanks, ready to fight!" ”

According to what I just observed, our convoy had no anti-tank equipment at all, and if we wanted to fight the tanks with rifles, submachine guns, and a few machine guns in the hands of the soldiers, it would be like looking for death.

The fighters quickly fell to their stomachs and pointed their guns in the direction from which the sound of the motors came. Major Dulov and Yushchenko, who had scurried into the car, got out of the car with me left and right, ready to run to the building that was still burning on the side of the road.

"It's our tank!" The tanks that drove over, illuminated by the bright lights, immediately saw clearly the model of the sharp-eyed fighters, not the German tanks, but the T-34s of the tank brigades. Dulov and Dulov also saw clearly that it was their own tank, stopped, and let go of the hand that was holding me.

The tank stopped in front of the convoy, the hatch opened, and a tall tankman jumped out of it, asking in a loud voice: "Where is your commander?" ”

Dulov stepped forward quickly and said loudly: "I am Major Dulov, is there anything wrong?" ”

The tank crew jumped out of the tank, ran in front of him, and after saluting, reported: "Comrade commander, I am from the tank brigade." After we occupied the northern part of the city, the brigade commander ordered us to turn around and return to support the infantry units behind, only to encounter enemy anti-tank men on the way. We've already had three tanks destroyed, and I'm here to get the help of the infantry, and without the infantry to get rid of these pesky anti-tank fighters, we can't advance in the city. ”

By the time the tankman said this, I had already walked in front of him. When he had finished speaking, I turned to Dulov and Yushchenko and said, "Order the troops, keep up with the tanks, and go and destroy all the enemy's anti-tank men." ”