Hearing what Ilya said so naturally and so justifiably, I was suddenly angry, so I turned my face and said to him sternly: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I remind you that the street in front of the Germans is not the street of Paris, so why should they let them dangle in front of us in a big way? Teach them a hard lesson, and beat them so that they don't even dare to show their heads. ”

Seeing that I started a fire without warning, Ilya's face turned red, and when I finished speaking, he wiped the sweat from his forehead and carefully defended: "Comrade division commander, the disparity between our forces and the enemy is too great, and if we rashly take the initiative to attack the enemy, it is very likely to attract their retaliation, and then unnecessary losses will be caused. ”

I snorted and said dissatisfiedly, "Confused, just confused!" If we don't fight the enemy, won't the enemy attack us? I pointed with my hand at the building where our commanders and fighters were stationed in the distance, and invariably instructed him: "Immediately send a few snipers to the building and destroy all the Germans who show their heads." ”

"How many enemies can a sniper take?" Ilya said with some reluctance: "If you can replenish our reserves, you can deploy at least one platoon of troops in the building, so that you are not afraid of the enemy attacking, and you can even carry out a counter-charge and pick up the building opposite." ”

His words made me really cry and laugh, just now I thought that he was afraid of the enemy's strength and deliberately avoided the battle, but now I realized that he was disgusted that the current scale of the battle was too small. I pointed my finger at him and said, "Lieutenant Colonel Ilya, this kind of thinking of yours is unacceptable, and if you look closely at the results of Second Lieutenant Vasily's sniper team, you probably won't say that." They were in a little over a month's time. More than 400 enemies were killed. It was equivalent to killing the officers and men of two fully formed German companies. ”

I saw him after listening to me. He began to lower his head and think, deliberately not interrupting him, but deliberately leaving him a little time to think. When he looked up again, I continued: "The next task of the first regiment is to hold on to the existing territory and confront the German army on the opposite side, and there may not be a chance to attack again in the short term, so we must achieve great results." The brain can't just think about fighting big battles and look down on such petty fights with snipers. Got it? ”

"Understood, Comrade Division Commander." Ilya readily agreed.

While we were talking, Yushchenko, who was next to us, suddenly shouted softly: "The enemy has come up!" ”

I quickly stopped talking to Ilya, turned my head to look downstairs, and saw a dozen enemies emerging from the ruins, bending over with weapons in hand, cautiously approaching the building defended by our troops. Seeing them getting closer and closer to the building, and there was no movement in the building, my heart couldn't help but raise my throat, and my heart said that the warriors inside would not be sleeping. Otherwise, the enemy is so close to the building, why don't they open fire?

I turned my head to look at Elijah. He was found looking downstairs as usual, as if the ongoing sneak attack by the German troops below was just an ordinary exercise. I lowered my voice and asked dissatisfiedly: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, the enemy is almost rushing into the building, why haven't our fighters opened fire yet." ”

Hearing my question, Ilya grinned, and then said lightly: "Comrade division commander, don't worry, the doors and windows on this side of the street are blocked by bricks and stones, and the enemy can't enter at all. ”

As they spoke, the enemy had rushed downstairs, and they had apparently found that the doors and windows had been blocked. The soldiers who had been crowded together immediately dispersed, looking around for a way to enter. As soon as their ranks dispersed, there was a loud "boom", and several soldiers were swept up by the air wave in the explosion, and then fell heavily.

When I saw the soldiers struggling on the ground, my first reaction was who fired the cannon, and it was so accurate that it reimbursed nearly half of the Germans in one fell swoop. As soon as I was thinking this, Ilya cheered beside me, and he excitedly said to me: "Comrade division commander, the Germans have stepped on the mines we have planted. ”

With the explosion of the mines, the building, which had been silent, opened fire. The German soldiers standing downstairs suddenly became targets, and in an instant they all fell under the fire of our troops. The German soldiers in the building on the other side of the road, seeing that their comrades had been killed and wounded by our fire, quickly took cover, and poured out their anger on the building where our troops were guarding with all kinds of weapons.

Seeing the firing between the two buildings, Ilya quickly pulled my sleeve and said to me in a pleading tone: "Comrade division commander, it's too dangerous here, so it's better to follow me back to the regimental command post." ”

I looked again at the building where the fire was being exchanged in the distance, and felt that our army should not suffer any loss, so I nodded, and followed Ilya out of the attic and back to the command post of the first regiment.

Returning to the command post, it was found that Shederikov had returned to the command post. He seemed very happy to see me coming, and together with the commissar Oberstein, he came to me, stopped, and raised his hand to salute me.

After returning the salute, he shook hands with Shederikov, and then with Oberstein, whom he had not seen for a long time, and remembering that he was recruiting troops for the regiment during this time, he asked in a friendly manner: "Comrade commissar, how is the replenishment of soldiers in the regiment recently?" ”

Oberstein hurriedly reported to me: "Report to Comrade Division Commander, after a week of recruitment, a total of 79 stragglers who had lost contact with the unit were accommodated, 45 wounded soldiers who had returned from wounded, and 277 recruits were recruited from among the residents. The skirmishers and wounded were experienced in combat, and I have incorporated them into the combat unit. And recruits may have to go through a period of training before they can go into battle. ”

"Well done," I nodded with satisfaction and said with a smile when Oberstein said that they had replenished almost one battalion of troops, "Comrade Oberstan, the training of recruits will be hard for you. Since we will not be able to supply the troops from our superiors in the near future, this group of recruits will play a vital role in the next battle. ”

"Please rest assured, teacher." When Oberstein waited for me to finish, he immediately said: "I will certainly live up to your expectations and train these recruits into qualified fighters in the shortest possible time." ”、

Shedelikov, who was standing next to him, interjected at this time: "Comrade division commander. According to the report of the cutting edge. The enemy's troops are moving towards the defense area of our regiment. I expected them to attack next, so I placed two squads of the divisional artillery battalion behind the first line of defense. Be prepared to give the enemy a head-on blow when they attack. ”

When I heard that the enemy was about to attack, I guessed that I had just seen that the German soldiers were probably only the vanguard of the enemy, and that the large forces were still behind. Thinking of this, I couldn't stay any longer, and urged Sederikov again and again: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, take me to your observation post to have a look." ”

Shedelikov did not immediately promise me. Instead, he turned his head to look at Ilya, who was following me, and the lieutenant colonel immediately replied: "I just went to observation post No. 1 with the division commander, where you can see the area where fierce fighting is taking place. ”

After hearing this, Shedelikov sighed, and then said to me: "Comrade division commander, I will take you to our No. 2 observation post, where the field of vision is broader. ”

So, having just returned to the regimental command post, I followed behind Sederikov and hurried to the No. 2 observation post of the 1st regiment. We weren't far from Command. Shederikov led us into a traffic trench on the side of the road. After five or six minutes of walking along this uncovered traffic trench, we arrived at Observation Post No. 2.

The observation post is housed in a concrete bunker next to a completely destroyed building. There were four or five warriors inside, and when they saw us coming in, they immediately stood straight up and saluted us. Shedelikov asked one of the fighters: "How is the situation?" ”

The soldier hurriedly replied: "Report to the regimental commander, the enemy's infantry, under the cover of artillery, launched an attack on the seventh building held by the first battalion, but they were all repulsed by our troops. Two squads of the 2nd Artillery Battalion, carrying two guns, had moved into the firing positions on the left and were ready to go into battle. ”

When the fighters reported, Shedrikov waved at them, signaling that they could leave. The warriors raised their hands and saluted us again, then turned and left. I walked up to the shooting hole on the left side and raised my binoculars to look out to see where Captain Kulishenko's artillery was arranged.

About three or four hundred meters from us, there is a complex of buildings that have long been razed to the ground, and the artillery squad that the soldiers call is located there. After Sergelikov and the other soldiers left, they also walked to my side and introduced me with great interest: "Comrade division commander, the artillery of the 2nd Artillery Battalion is all good, and the 57-mm guns they are equipped with can hit both the enemy's tanks and infantry, and the results achieved are not small. ”

"Comrade division commander, the enemy has begun to attack." Before I could speak, Yushchenko's voice rang out in the observation post, and I quickly turned around and walked to the shooting hole where he was, and raised the telescope again to look outside.

The building I saw at Observation Post No. 1 was currently being shelled sporadically by the Germans, and fragments of masonry were flying in the smoke of the explosion. Behind the German building, there were about a dozen tanks, armored vehicles, and infantry, which were rushing through the ruins and rushing towards the building where our troops were stationed.

Just now I heard Lieutenant Colonel Ilya say that there was only a battle group of about a dozen people in the building, and I was afraid that they would not be able to hold their positions in the face of such an enemy attack, and I was planning to ask Sederikov to send reinforcements. However, I saw that many soldiers from all directions, carrying weapons, bent over and running quickly to the building, it should be the troops in the rest of the area who took the initiative to rush to reinforcements.

And the two artillery guns of our army, which were arranged on the left side, could not help but preemptively open fire when they saw that the enemy's tanks and armored vehicles were covering the infantry getting closer and closer to our fortifications. Due to the haste of the shooting, two rounds of fire in a row did not hit the target, and all the shells landed on the left and right of an armored car rushing to the front and exploded, setting off a cloud of scorched earth with snow powder.

However, the armored car that rushed to the front, after dodging the first two rounds of fire, was finally hit by our artillery, and the armored car with thick smoke immediately collapsed there and could not move. When our artillery saw that the enemy's armored vehicles had been hit, their morale was greatly boosted, and they turned their guns and aimed at the other two armored vehicles that were following behind, and began to fire fiercely at them. The two armored vehicles had bad luck and did not go far before they were shot and caught fire. The ammunition in the car also cut down a lot of the German soldiers who were following the armored car.

Three armored vehicles were destroyed in succession, and the German tanks and armored vehicles were thrown out of formation and scattered everywhere. And our artillerymen, seizing the opportunity of the enemy's confusion, opened fire again decisively, and once again destroyed an armored vehicle scurrying like a headless fly. Due to the smoke from the burning of German armored vehicles, which obscured the field of vision of the artillery observers, the shells hit the open ground without exception in the next few rounds of shelling, and the flying shrapnel only cut down a few hapless German soldiers, while the enemy's tanks and armored vehicles were unscathed.

Due to the continuous fire of our artillery, the position where they were located was exposed, and the German tanks, which had been scurrying around, drove behind the rubble pile one after another, and concentrated their artillery fire on our artillery positions. Dozens of shells fell nearby and exploded, some shrapnel hit the defensive shields of the artillery, and some shrapnel cut our gunners down, but it did not affect our artillery in the slightest to continue to fire stubbornly. A gunner standing behind the shield, the shrapnel of the steel helmet on his head flew away, and he didn't bother to pick it up, but continued to stick to his post.

After firing several shots in succession, a German tank quickly rushed out from behind the rubble and rushed towards the location of our artillery. However, before it could go far, two of our artillery guns fired intensively at it, and soon the tank was hit by two shells in a row, and black smoke rose from the halfway point of the tank.

No sooner had one tank been dealt with, and two more armored vehicles drove out from behind the rubble, and following the example of that tank, they quickly rushed towards the artillery positions of our troops. But they didn't get far before they were hit by bullets and caught fire, and the German driver, seeing that the situation was not good, turned around and fled in the smoke-emitting armored car.

The German infantry, who were charging at our positions, shot their tanks and armored vehicles one after another and burst into fire, and they also panicked and turned around and ran back with the armored vehicles.

Seeing that the enemy was going to run, our artillery increased the rate of fire. Before the shelling stopped, at least two more armored vehicles were destroyed, one tank was damaged, and more than thirty infantry units were eliminated.

It was not until the end of the battle that Shederikov and I went to visit the artillerymen that in order not to lose their fighters and to annihilate the invading enemy, the artillerymen ignored the technical requirement of the artillery's maximum rate of fire of six rounds per minute, and used the maximum physical strength to maximize their firepower. The loader was so tired from loading dozens of shells in a row that he couldn't stand up, so he knelt on the ground and continued to load. Due to the long firing time of the artillery and the speed of firing, the barrels of the guns were red.

After listening to the presentation of the artillerymen, I deliberately went with Sederikov to inspect the artillery, and found that the army green protective paint on the barrels of both guns had turned patina, and if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I couldn't believe it was true. (To be continued......)