After listening to me, Kolobtin's self-inflicted muttering to himself: "The enemy's counterattack is too fierce, and our young men have suffered too many casualties, if only there was anything to help them." Speaking of this, he turned his head and shouted, "Chief of Staff." ”

The chief of staff of the division hurriedly took a step forward, came behind him, and promised loudly: "Arrived!" ”

"Can you call the artillery battalion to cover the enemy's position again?"

The chief of staff shook his head and said with some embarrassment: "Comrade division commander, this may not be possible, you must know that the shells of the artillery battalion were all used up when the fire was prepared before the attack just now. ”

"Don't you have any shells left? Even if there is only one cannon, it is good to shoot one at the enemy's position, even if it is half a base shell. Chief of Staff, are you sure that the artillery battalion is really out of shells? Kolobtin asked unwillingly.

The chief of staff shook his head like a rattle and replied in the affirmative. "Not a single shot left, Comrade Division Commander."

With a long sigh of helplessness, Kolobtin raised his telescope again and continued to observe the attacking forces on the battlefield.

The charge of the marines was very fast, and the fighters who were rushing fast at the moment were only more than 400 meters away from the enemy's position. At this time, the light and heavy machine guns on the German positions opened fire, and the fighters in the front rows were immediately knocked down by the dense fire, and the soldiers in the back hurriedly lay down, learning from the fighters of the special battalion, using the current craters, running and jumping to approach the high ground.

And the tanks of our army, at the moment, while constantly avoiding the shells of the German tanks on the heights, also have to try to bypass one crater after another. Because they were too busy to take care of themselves, they could only watch the German fire on the high ground rage. and could not provide the necessary artillery support for our infantry.

Fall at the back of the entire attacking team. It was three Maxim heavy machine gun crews of the Marine Corps, each group of five people, two fighters dragging heavy machine guns and running forward, followed by three fighters carrying ammunition boxes. Perhaps in order to prevent the German artillery fire from killing, they rushed forward simultaneously in three directions, with a distance of hundreds of meters between each machine-gun group.

However, their actions were discovered by German artillery, and a mortar began to chase them and fire. The artillery was the first to attack the machine-gun group on the left. The first shell fell, exploding twenty meters behind them. The sailors didn't even look at it, still dragging machine guns and carrying ammunition, bending down and rushing forward. The second shell fell more than ten meters in front of it and exploded, and the sailors stopped, squatted slightly, and as soon as the explosion was over, they quickly rushed into the smoke that had not yet dispersed.

Perhaps seeing that two consecutive shots failed to hit the target, the German gunners were in a hurry and transferred another mortar to intercept the fire. A shell exploded not far behind the machine-gun group. The last fighter froze and threw the ammunition box on his shoulder. Covering his waist with both hands, he spun around in place and fell limply. Finding that his comrade had fallen, a soldier in front of him stopped, turned around and picked up the ammunition box on the ground, carrying an ammunition box on his left and right shoulders and continuing to run forward.

Seeing that the artillery bombardment was effective, the Germans continued to speed up the firing, and there was a great posture that they would not give up until they killed the machine gun crew. Our machine-gun crews continued to rush forward fearlessly in the smoke of the explosions.

Seeing this scene, Kolobtin removed the telescope from his eyes and said with emotion: "The sailors are really good!" ”

"Your warriors are good, too!" Hearing his praise for the Marines, I couldn't help but say a word.

"My warrior is good? Lieutenant Colonel Oshanina, you're not mistaken, are you? If they were all good, they would not have been beaten back so badly by the Germans. ”

I smiled faintly and said: "Although they lost in the first wave of the attack, you did not notice that except for one second lieutenant, the rest of the commanders died honorably on the way to the charge. From this you can see that all these commanders under your command are good. ”

Kolobtin sighed again and said regretfully: "It's a pity, so many combat backbones have been sacrificed like this, it's really sad to think about. As he spoke, he picked up the binoculars again and diverted the topic: "Let's continue to look at the faces of these sailors." ”

As soon as he glanced at it with his binoculars, he immediately cried out: "Hell, this machine-gun group to the left of the sailor was knocked out by German fire." ”

When I heard him say this, I was also surprised, and I picked up the binoculars to look, but in a crater that was still smoking, there were scattered the wreckage of Maxim's heavy machine gun, and several soldiers were lying around the crater.

By the time the enemy's mortars bombarded the machine-gun group in the middle, the marines' vanguard had approached the German roof barbed wire. Some of the sailors hid in the craters and fired at the Germans on the mountainside positions, suppressing the enemy's fire and covering their comrades to continue the assault.

Although the enemy's firepower weakened somewhat under the suppression of our army's firepower, as more and more sailors approached the barbed wire, the troops crowded together increased the accuracy of the enemy's fire. In order to extricate themselves from this unfavorable situation, sailors in several craters relatively close to the barbed wire threw grenades.

When the smoke from the grenade explosion cleared, the barbed wire was blown out of the passage that could accommodate two parallel passages. The sailors leapt from the crater and poured into the gap with their weapons in hand. After running a few steps, a series of explosions occurred on the ground, blowing up the sailors who rushed into the air.

It seems that my guess was correct, and the enemy had indeed laid a minefield behind the barbed wire. Look at the tanks that were originally used to crush the mines, which are still dodging the fire of the enemy's tanks and circling around those dense craters, and they are simply unable to provide artillery support and take on the task of opening the way for our infantry at the opportunity.

Some of the sailors who rushed through the barbed wire were killed by mines, some fell under the double damage of enemy mortar and machine-gun fire, and the rest had no choice but to retreat and continue to hide in the craters and fire at the enemy on the mountainside.

I turned my attention again to my special battalion, which was now also approaching the barbed wire. It may be that seeing the failure of the sailors' attack, the fighters changed their style of play. Directly from the crater, the grenade was thrown behind the barbed wire. The explosion of a grenade is used to achieve the purpose of demining.

Their approach seems to be more effective. The grenade exploded behind the barbed wire, detonating the mines laid by the enemy. After a series of violent explosions, a passage was opened up to the hillside. At this time, the fighters turned the target of the bomb to the roof barbed wire, and after the overwhelming grenade was thrown, the barbed wire was shrouded in fire and smoke.

When the smoke cleared, I could clearly see that I had been cared for by so many grenades. But this stubborn barbed wire fence was only blown out of a small hole, and it was impossible to let the troops get through. But by this time, the impatient warrior had jumped out of the crater and rushed forward with his weapon in hand.

When they rushed to the barbed wire, they found that the barbed wire had not been blown open and was impassable. But by this time the enemy on the mountainside had come to his senses, and the bullets from the light and heavy machine guns were pouring down, and the soldiers who were close to the barbed wire were knocked down in an instant.

At this critical juncture, suddenly a soldier swooped forward and lay directly on the barbed wire. There was such an example, and soon several more fighters were next to him. Lying in a row on the barbed wire.

Captain Pugachev suddenly appeared in my sight, hiding in a crater not far from the barbed wire. Seeing several fighters lying on the barbed wire fence to open a passage for the attacking troops, he seemed to hesitate. But a moment later, he jumped out of the crater, brandished the submachine gun in his hand, rushed past the soldiers who had stayed in front of the barbed wire, constantly suffering casualties under enemy fire, stepped on the body of a brave soldier lying on the barbed wire, crossed the barbed wire that blocked the way of our troops, and rushed forward bravely.

Seeing that the commander had set an example, the commanders and fighters, who were constantly suffering casualties, did not hesitate, followed their battalion commanders, stepped on the bodies of their comrades, crossed the barbed wire of the German army, and rushed to the hillside with their guns.

Just when I was looking at the special battalion's cousin, the phone in the observation post rang, and the chief of staff of the division went over to pick up the microphone and said only one sentence, then handed the microphone into my hand and said politely: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I am looking for you." ”

"Looking for me?" I hesitantly took the microphone, covered it to my ear, and asked loudly, "Hey, I'm Lieutenant Colonel Oshanina, where are you?" ”

Morozov's familiar voice came from the microphone: "Comrade division commander, it's me, Lieutenant Morozov. We have pulled the cannon to the top of the hill, please indicate our target. ”

When I heard that Morozov had finally pulled the cannon to the top of the mountain, I suddenly felt a sense of relief. I held the microphone in my hand, stared at the German tanks on the opposite hillside, and gritted my teeth and said, "Comrade Lieutenant, do you see those two German tanks on the opposite hillside?" I command you to knock them out for me at once. ”

"Yes! I'll do it right away. Morozov agreed, did not hang up, but directly conveyed my order to his subordinates: "Artillery company, listen to my command, goal: German tanks on the slope of the hill in front of you, load with armor-piercing shells, and kill them." ”

Shortly after Morozov's command was given, I saw a shell fired by a cannon battery fall on the hillside and explode. An armor-piercing shell hit the tank on the right side of the German army, seeing that its companion was hit by accidental artillery fire, and the other tank that was not hit was a little panicked, it actually stopped firing at the foot of the hill, but turned around and tried to escape. But the gunners of our artillery battery did not give it a chance, and during the firing of the second car, they hit the target with unerring accuracy, turning it into burning scrap metal.

Seeing that the enemy's tanks had been killed, I turned my attention to our tanks again, and found that during the period just now, two more were actually destroyed by the enemy's tanks, and only four of them stopped at a distance of 200 meters from the barbed wire, lined up, and put on a posture ready to shell the enemy's positions.

"Comrade division commander," Morozov's voice came from the microphone again, and he continued to ask: "The enemy's tanks have been killed. What's our next target? ”

By this time, both the special battalion and the marines had already crossed barbed wire and minefields and were advancing into the enemy's depth. When they were still fifty or sixty meters from the enemy's mountainside position, they were blocked by a dense network of fire woven by the enemy's mortars and light and heavy machine guns.

I hurriedly shouted into the microphone: "Lieutenant Morozov, I order you to take out all the enemy's mortar positions on the mountainside. ”

For my command. Morozov clearly had some scruples. In particular, he reminded me: "Comrade division commander. It's too close, and I'm worried I'll hit my own people. ”

As soon as I heard this, I was furious, how can there be no immortal in battle, if I don't rush forward, the hundreds of commanders and fighters who are crushed under the position on the mountainside will be killed by the enemy's light and heavy machine guns and mortars sooner or later. I said unceremoniously: "Comrade lieutenant, I can't care so much about it, if you don't finish off the enemy's mortars." Our troops are all finished. After saying that, without waiting for him to speak, I hung up the phone without hesitation.

Seeing that I hung up the phone, Kolobhutin gently patted me on the shoulder and comforted me: "Lieutenant Colonel Oshanina, you are doing the right thing, there are some costs that must be paid in order to win the victory. When he said this, he suddenly turned to his division chief of staff and said: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, you go and call the tank detachment by radio." Let them concentrate their fire and take out the light and heavy machine guns on the enemy's positions. As long as the heavy fire of the enemy is eliminated. Then our troops will definitely be able to rush to the high ground. ”

As soon as the chief of staff agreed, he was going to go out. I suddenly remembered something important, and hurriedly stopped him: "Chief of Staff, please wait a minute, I have a very important matter to ask you." ”

The chief of staff stopped and asked with a puzzled face: "Division Commander Oshanina, do you have any instructions?" ”

"I can't talk about the instructions, so I want to ask about the situation on the high ground opposite." I pointed out with my hand and said, "Before I came here to fight, I heard General Chuikov say that after the enemy seized the position, some of the soldiers guarding the heights died, some of them withdrew to the 165th height, and the remaining part retreated into the tunnel. I wonder if you will be able to contact them and let them take the opportunity to launch a counterattack from behind the enemy and help us reclaim Heights 158? ”

Hearing me say this, the chief of staff of the division did not dare to answer casually, but turned his eyes to Kolobtin, who was on the side, asking for help. Kolobtin slapped his forehead and said with annoyance: "Oh, if you don't say it, I still forgot that there is such a force hidden on the high ground, if we had let them fight earlier, our attack would not have suffered such a large number of casualties." After speaking, he hurriedly instructed the chief of staff: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, you immediately go and get in touch with the commander of the defenders in the tunnel of the 158th Heights, and let him lead the troops to attack from the enemy's rear, and attack us from front to back to seize the high ground." ”

As a result of the support of our artillery, the mortar fire points on the hillside of the German army were destroyed one by one by the artillery batteries of Lieutenant Morozov. And those light and heavy machine gun fire points that were once rampant were also reimbursed one by one by our tanks at the foot of the mountain.

Seeing that the enemy's firepower was weakening, the commanders and fighters who were originally lying on the ground immediately got up from the ground and rushed upwards with a shout. As tank and cannon fire turned to the hilltop position, they rushed into the trenches and engaged the surviving Germans in hand-to-hand combat.

When he saw a bright red flag, waving in the wind in the trenches, Kolobtin shouted excitedly again: "Look, Lieutenant Colonel Oshanina, our troops occupy the enemy's mountainside positions. It's amazing, the sailors of the Marine Corps, and even raised their flags. ”

I looked at the red flag of the Marine Corps, and I couldn't help but feel bitter, other units have their own military flags, but I, the newly formed independent division, let alone my own military flag, do not even have a red flag. When this battle is over, I must go to Chuikov to talk about this matter, and ask him to issue a military flag to my division, even if there is no flag-awarding ceremony, I will admit it.

While the marines were still fighting the enemy on the mountainside, Pugachev had already led hundreds of men, quickly climbed over the mountainside to the top of the mountain, and charged the enemy's last position.

They formed battle formations in squads, opened the way with grenades, and quickly approached the enemy's positions by using large and small craters.

Although the enemy was killed and wounded by our artillery fire, they were not willing to sit idly by. Taking advantage of the cessation of the shelling of our tanks, dozens of German soldiers jumped out of the collapsed trenches with rifles with bright bayonets and rushed towards our fighters regardless of life or death.

However, Pugachev obviously did not want his fighters to fight bayonets with this group of German soldiers, he first threw a grenade, picked up the submachine gun in his hand and fired at the enemy, under his demonstration, the rest of the fighters would not be stupid enough to really fight bayonets with the enemy, and also followed the example of the battalion commander, and pulled the trigger on the enemy who rushed up. The German soldiers, who wanted to come and meet our army in terms of stabbing and fighting, fell in an instant, and the rest fled back to the trenches.

Pugachev was about to rush forward with his warriors and kill these enemies without leaving a single piece of armor, but unexpectedly, a mound of earth not far away, which had always remained silent, suddenly shot out a dense number of bullets, knocking down a lot of our fighters. It turned out that there had been a hidden fire point of the German army here, and it seemed that they wanted to catch our army by surprise, but I didn't expect them to really get their wish.

Pugachev and his men were forced to lie down in the crater again and throw grenades at the bunker. A soldier with something on his back crawled towards the bunker under the cover of the smoke from the explosion of the grenade. When I saw this scene, my heart rose to my throat, and I wondered uneasily whether this warrior would succeed in blowing up the enemy's bunker.

Unexpectedly, this soldier climbed to a place more than twenty meters away from the enemy's bunker and stopped, picked up a gun, and aimed at the enemy's bunker. Then the muzzle of the gun erupted a stream of red flames, and the fire dragon jumped out for dozens of meters, jumping directly through the shooting hole. The bunker suddenly burst into flames, and after a while, a series of explosions occurred inside, and the enemies in the bunker seemed to be all repaid.

Flamethrower? Hell, Pugachev's fighters, what are equipped with such high-end weapons, how do I not know? Before I could come up with a reason, Kolobtin, who was next to me, had already said enviously: "Lieutenant Colonel Oshanina, I didn't expect your troops to be equipped with flamethrowers, this is a good thing, it is perfect for dealing with the enemy hiding in the fortifications." ”

After the flamethrowers of our troops saw the success, the Germans in the trenches decisively made an astonishing decision, someone actually picked up a white shirt with a bayonet, waved it desperately, and surrendered to our troops.

Although he saw that the enemy had made a gesture of surrender, Pugachev did not act rashly, he only ordered a few fighters to come forward to collect weapons and receive prisoners of war, while the rest of the fighters were still lying in the crater, vigilantly monitoring the German soldiers, lest they engage in any conspiracy.

Fortunately, the Germans did surrender, they first threw their weapons out of the trenches, and then walked out of the trenches with their hands held high. Seeing this, Pugachev stood up, raised his right hand and waved it forward, signaling for the fighters to come forward. Seeing the signal he sent, the fighters hiding in the trenches swarmed up to seize the enemy's positions.

When I saw a group of marines also climbing to the top of the hill with a red flag held high, I put down my binoculars and asked Kolobtin, with some dissatisfaction: "Comrade Colonel, have you made contact with the commander of the defenders on the high ground?" Why didn't you see their shadows throughout the battle? ”

"Chief of Staff, what the hell is going on?" Kolobtin saw that on the top of the hill opposite, except for the special battalion and the sailors of the Marine Corps who participated in the attack, he did not see the so-called highland defenders at all, and he couldn't help but vent his anger on the chief of staff behind him.

The chief of staff said aggrievedly: "Comrade division commander, I have ordered the operator to keep calling the defenders in the tunnel opposite, but they have never been able to get in touch, and perhaps their communication equipment has been damaged. ”

"And what are you still standing here for? Don't go ahead and don't get in touch yet. ”

The chief of staff agreed in a panic and ran out of the observation post with a quick pace.

I looked at the sky and said happily: "Comrade Colonel, we are so lucky today, the enemy's air force did not make a sortie, otherwise it is a question whether we can recover the 158 heights." ”

Kolobtin, apparently not as optimistic as I was, said thoughtfully: "Yesterday the Germans bombed Stalingrad, causing heavy losses to our army and civilians. They are not with us today, but they are going to bomb Stalingrad, or to bomb other areas that are about to be attacked, such as the Reynolds area, and the Orlovka area. ”

When Kolobtin said Reynolds, I didn't care, after all, it wasn't my defense zone. But when I heard him mention Orlovka, my heart could not help but tremble, if the enemy attacked, Major Shedelikov and the settlement where they were stationed would bear the brunt. (To be continued......)