The enemy in the building discovered our temporary artillery position, and without saying a word, a machine gun on the second floor immediately opened fire on our side. A long line of bullets flew in front of us and landed in front of us, sending dirt and dirt flying.

The artillery company commander hurriedly shouted: "Hide quickly." With his shout, the artillerymen and ordinary soldiers who had been surrounding the cannon scattered in all directions. I also crouched down and hid behind the artillery baffle on the left with the artillery company commander.

Seeing that the shooting did not work, the Germans adjusted the angle and continued to shoot. This time, the shooting was obviously much more accurate than just now, and the bullet hit the baffle of the artillery as loudly, and one gunner could not dodge and was unfortunately hit by the bullet. His body spun in a circle, then he raised his hands and threw his head back, trying to keep his balance, but he couldn't, and after stumbling forward, he fell sideways on the cannon, and a large stream of blood flowed down the cannon to the ground.

The artillery company commander hurriedly ordered the surrounding soldiers: "Come quickly, carry him away!" ”

With the shouts of the company commander, two artillery fighters immediately bent down and ran to the sacrificial gunner, removing him from the gun, and then one raised his hands and the other his feet, and carried the body to the corner of the roadside and put it away.

The company commander turned his head to look at the corpses of his subordinates, turned around and calmly issued a new order: "Load the shells and prepare to continue firing." ”

The shelling was not effective, and although the two shells hit the building, blowing two large holes in the wall, they did not eliminate the enemy's firepower. The German soldier who mounted his machine gun at the window and fired wildly at us, as the shells exploded. Frightened, they all shrank behind the window and stopped shooting at us for the time being. When he saw that the shell had not hit the room he was in, he got up again and continued to fire at us.

Seeing that he didn't hit the target, the company commander yelled at his subordinates: "How can you do it, why didn't the two shells hit the target, hurry up and reload and kill the enemy's firepower, otherwise our infantry will die." ”

In fact, he didn't say it, and I could see it clearly. The fire from the upper floors of the enemy blocked the offensive path of our fighters. Just now the fighters although when the enemy's fire weakened. The attack was renewed, but before rushing into the building, it was forced back by the enemy's heavy fire, leaving behind a streak of corpses and wriggling and moaning wounded. See this scene. I couldn't help but frown slightly. Just a few tens of meters of impact distance. The Germans actually formed a death blockade with machine guns, submachine guns, rifles and grenades, and our fighters could not rush through.

After the order of the artillery company commander was issued, the third round of firing was delayed. I was about to ask what's going on. I heard the elderly gunner next to him say: "Comrade company commander, our shells have run out." ”

Running out of shells? When I heard the gunners say this, I couldn't help but be stunned, and said in my heart that you have entered the settlement, and you have fired four shells when you have completed the battle, so have you all the shells been wiped out?

Just as he was about to ask what was going on, the artillery company commander had already preemptively asked his subordinates: "Hell, we came in and brought ten boxes of shells, how could we finish the battle?" ”

The old gunner replied: "Comrade Company Commander, when we were carrying the cannon over the obstacle just now, our ammunition box was placed there, and I forgot to bring it here. ”

"What are you still doing in a daze, why don't you bring someone to carry the shell box over?" The company commander scolded angrily: "Without shells, our artillery is just a pile of scrap metal, so we can only nest here and let the Germans use us as targets." ”

The old gunner agreed, and beckoned to a young soldier squatting next to him: "Hey, you go with me." ”

Unexpectedly, the young soldier pouted pitifully, rubbed his knees and said aggrievedly: "Comrade Company Commander, although I also want to move the shell box." But you see my leg, when I was lifting the cannon just now, I was hit hard by the baffle, and now I am walking in pain. After saying that, he screamed again: "Ouch, my leg hurts so much, Comrade Company Commander, can you send someone else?" ”

"Send someone else?" The company commander's face turned pale, and after saying this, he pulled out his pistol without saying a word and pointed it at the forehead of the young soldier.

The young soldier was frightened, and hurriedly reached out and grabbed the company commander's hand holding the gun, and begged bitterly: "Comrade company commander, don't you see that my leg is really injured." Don't you have a little compassion? ”

I crouched next to me in silence, watching the young warrior's performance with a blank face. After glancing at me, the company commander said coldly: "On the battlefield, compassion is not allowed to be stored. I give you two choices, either go and get the ammo box or die at my gun, there is no third option. ”

The young soldier glanced at the company commander indignantly, and muttered: "Alas! You're all beasts, and you don't have any sympathy at all. Ouch, my legs......" He tried to stand up as soon as his body moved, but was grabbed by the old gunner and reminded him: "Do you want to stand up and be a target for the Germans?" Crawl past. After saying that, the old gunner was lying on the ground, leading his hands and feet and crawling forward in the direction from which we came, and the timid soldier sighed and obediently followed and crawled forward.

Ahead was the T-junction, and the buildings occupied by the Germans were facing our path, and we could not advance on both flanks without destroying the enemy's firing points and occupying the buildings. Due to the irregular arrangement of the buildings in the residential area, if it were not for the fact that this building was in the blind spot of our tank fire, otherwise we would not have had to push the cannon to such a close position to shoot, and we could destroy all the fire points in the building with just a few shots from the tank.

I looked at the troops in front of me who were suppressed by fire, and roughly counted the number of people, and saw that there were only two hundred at most. You must know that Oleg's assault team and Shederikov's support detachment add up to 1,500 people, and I don't know where the remaining thousands of people went?

I looked at the German machine gunners who were shooting frantically, and then at the submachine gun in my hand, and felt that at such a distance, I didn't use a submachine gun to kill this enemy, if only I had a rifle. Rifles come to mind. I hurriedly looked left and right, and saw several soldiers lying on the left side of the wall, all of them were infantry who had come in with me, and the other two were lying there motionless, blood seeping out from under their bodies, it seemed that they had been hit by enemy machine guns and had been killed. I saw the rifle of one of the fighters and threw it just three or four meters away from me. So I put the submachine gun on the ground and rolled to the rifle in between the enemy's machine gun fire. Grabbing the rifle and rolling back behind the gun's shutter.

My actions frightened the artillery company commander. He rebuked me repeatedly, saying, "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, what are you doing here? If something happens to you, how will this battle be fought, how will it be fought? ”

I pulled the bolt and checked. I saw that the bullets inside were full. For the concern of the artillery company commander. I nodded gratefully, then explained: "This enemy machine gunner must be knocked out, otherwise our artillery will not be able to fire." "Finished. I knelt on one knee, lifted the gun, didn't even aim, fired a shot at the approximate position, and after the shot, I quickly leaned down and pulled the bolt back from the cartridge case.

The commander of the artillery company, who had been observing, said regretfully: "Alas, it's a pity, the shot was missed, if only it were a little to the right." ”

I quickly got up and fired another shot in that direction, and when I was done, quickly crouched down again.

"It's still missing." The artillery company commander saw that I didn't aim at all, and he was shooting by feeling, with a disdainful expression on his face, but he still maintained a minimum of respect for me: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I think you better stop fighting, it's too dangerous." Let's wait for my fighters to bring the shells, and we'll blast them off with cannons. ”

I said to myself, "Where did you shoot the gun just now?" ”

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," said one of the gunners lying in front of me, before the company commander could speak, "the second shot hit the machine gunner next to him and almost hit him in the left hand, startling him so much that he even paused for a moment. ”

Hearing the gunner say this, I secretly calculated the angle of the shot in my heart, and after taking a deep breath, I jerked up and fired a third shot. As I leaned down again, I thought to myself: If I don't hit again, I won't fight, so as not to be embarrassed in front of these artillerymen, and I should wait for the shells to come and blast them off with the cannons.

Unexpectedly, the gunner lying in front of me actually straightened up from the ground and said in an incredible tone: "Oh my God, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, you are so powerful, you actually killed that machine gunner!" ”

Hearing the gunner say this, I also straightened up and looked ahead, only to see that the invincible German machine gunner was lying motionless on the windowsill, and the machine gun that had caused us casualties also fell downstairs.

Seeing that I had really killed the enemy's machine gunner, the artillery company commander gave me a thumbs up and praised: "Good marksmanship!" ”

The old gunner and the timid young soldier each carried a box of shells and ran back, judging from the brisk pace of the young soldier, his leg was not injured at all, and he was reluctant to carry out the task just now, still because he was greedy for life and afraid of death, and he was afraid that after leaving the cover of the cannon baffle, he would be killed by German bullets.

But now is obviously not the time to think about who is afraid of death and who is bold, and the first task now is to take down the building on the other side, otherwise our team will not be able to move forward.

Without the interference of the enemy machine gunners, the artillerymen could calmly take aim, so the remaining few firing points were killed by them one after another like targets.

Originally, for the sake of safety, the artillery company commander also wanted to order the soldiers to fire a few more shots. But when I saw smoke billowing from the rooms of the building that had been blown open, and our soldiers rushed out of the hidden buildings on both sides, and pounced on the building, I patted the artillery company commander on the shoulder, waved his hand at him, and said: "Forget it, Comrade Company Commander, don't let your soldiers waste ammunition anymore." The rest of the battle is left to the infantry. Let's move on. ”

As we moved back on, I had the opportunity to count what casualties had been inflicted on us by the German machine guns, one of the artillery killed, five of the fighters of the reserve were killed, eleven wounded, and in a few minutes we had lost nearly two squads of men.

The sound of gunfire and explosions in the city was heard, and I could hear the sound of windows shattering and falling to the ground, and I wondered if any soldiers would be injured by the broken glass that fell from the sky.

The battle for the remaining buildings was far more brutal than I had imagined. Our commandos. The enemy, in the buildings on both sides of the road, condescendingly formed an impassable net of fire with dense firepower, blocking the path of our assault and support detachments.

When the artillery company commander saw this scene, he was also very anxious, pointed to the enemy's firing point in front of him, and said to me: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, you see, the enemy's firing points are on both sides of the road, and if we shoot at a bad angle, even if we open fire." It is not necessary to destroy the enemy's firing points. ”

The fighters of the commando team were in groups of three or five. Wave after wave rushed forward, and one after the other were knocked down by bullets fired from those windows on both sides of the road. Seeing the streets strewn with the corpses of our soldiers and many of the dying wounded, my heart pounded, and I thought it would be nice if the mortar company were still here. At least they can make smoke grenades. Let the smoke obscure the enemy's view. to cover the approach of our fighters to these buildings.

Just when I was anxious, Gaidar actually arrived with the Guards mortar company that I was talking about. Seeing this new force that suddenly appeared, I thought I was dreaming for a moment. Rubbing his eyes vigorously, he realized that it was indeed the mortars who had arrived. I hugged Captain Gaidar excitedly and said with a grim face: "Comrade Captain, you are really timely. ”

After gently pushing the lieutenant away, I walked up to the mortar company commander, steadied my excitement, and instructed him: "Comrade company commander, immediately fire smoke bombs on the road ahead to cover our troops' charge towards the building." ”

The commander of the mortar company agreed, and went to the rear command to set up mortars. Gaidar walked up to me, and was about to speak, when he suddenly pointed not far away and said: "Comrade division commander, look, isn't that Captain Oleg?" ”

I looked in the direction of my finger and saw Oleg coming out of a battered building on the left, carrying a submachine gun, wearing a steel helmet, no military uniform, and his bare upper body was covered with bandages, and blood oozed from under the bandages. Originally, I wanted to reproach him for a few words, but when I saw him hurt like this, I swallowed the words that came to my lips again.

After raising his hand to salute me, he reported with a blank face: "Comrade division commander, except for the first two buildings in the residential area, the rest have been taken by our commando team. ”

"Where is Captain Sederikov?" I saw only Captain Oleg, who commanded the commando detachment, and the head of the support detachment, Captain Sedrikov, who I never saw.

"While the battle was raging, an enemy armored vehicle rushed out from the north. Comrade Lieutenant guessed that the enemy might have gone to bring reinforcements, so he led eight support detachments around the north side of the settlement to build fortifications, first, to prevent the Germans from breaking through from this direction; The second is to prevent possible reinforcements from the enemy. ”

Smoke bombs from the mortar battery exploded in the streets, and the buildings on both sides were soon covered in smoke, and the firing points that had been firing stopped firing one after another. When Oleg saw this, he excitedly said to me: "Comrade division commander, it's up to me next, and I promise to take down these two buildings within half an hour." ”

"Comrade Captain, wait a minute." Seeing him turn around to leave, I hurriedly stopped him, stepped forward and took his hand and said, "Pay attention to safety, promise me that you must come back alive." ”

Oleg nodded vigorously, took a step back, raised his hand to salute me with a solemn military salute, and solemnly assured me: "Comrade division commander, please rest assured, I will definitely come back alive." With that, he ran to his men without looking back.

"Comrade Division Commander! Comrade division commander! There was a series of hurried shouts behind him.

I turned my head to see that operator number four was running towards me from a distance. I haven't noticed him since we entered the settlement, and I don't know where he's hiding.

I asked angrily, "What's the matter?" ”

"Comrade Division Commander! Comrade division commander! "I don't know if he didn't hear my answer, or if he did it on purpose, or if he kept calling me.

"What's the matter?" I raised my voice and asked.

"Comrade Division Commander...... Captain Sederikov, "the fourth operator is out of breath and tired to listen to his mouth," said Sederikov, saying that there is an important enemy situation to report to you! ”

I took the operator to a safe place, put on headphones, and shouted into the microphone: "Hey, is it Captain Sederikov?" I am the division commander, Lieutenant Colonel Oshanina. ”

"Comrade division commander, I'm Captain Sederikov."

"What's wrong?"

"Enemy reinforcements, reinforcements are coming!"

"What? Enemy reinforcements? "Shederikov's words startled me. The enemy must have come too quickly, and in less than an hour, their reinforcements arrived. "What kind of strength is the enemy?"

"I saw two tanks, an armored car, and about a company of infantry."

Captain Sederikov's troops did not have anti-tank weapons and could not stop the enemy's charge. I pondered for a moment, then asked, "How long will it take to reach your defensive position?" ”

"Ten minutes at most, no more."

After listening to Sederikov's report, I felt that things were serious, and the enemy reinforcements had arrived before the settlements had been completely captured here. If enemy tanks rushed into settlements along this road. Our forces will be routed, and something must be done to prevent this from happening.

I turned my head, and my gaze met Gaidar's. He asked nervously, "Comrade division commander." Is it the enemy's reinforcements that have arrived? ”

I nodded. He did not speak, but had already tacitly acknowledged that what he was saying was the truth.

"So what do we do?"

At this moment, I had already thought about what to do. Hurriedly gave him an order: "Comrade Captain, you immediately return to the starting point of our offensive, take the five tanks that have come to reinforce us, bypass the settlement, rush to the defense area of Sederikov, and assist them in repelling the attack of enemy reinforcements. ”

Gaidar agreed, and then he called two fighters and ran south along the road towards the outlodge.

After Gaidar had left, I called the commander of the cannon company to him and instructed him: "Comrade company commander, I order you to immediately let the artillery open fire and fire at the points of fire that the enemy has just exposed, and to clear them all out and cover our assault team to rush into the building." ”

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," said the commander of the cannon company with some embarrassment, "if we open fire, the masonry and tiles that will be blown down will be smashed by the commanders and fighters below." ”

"I can't care so much," I said involuntarily, "and I won't be able to cry when the enemy's reinforcements break through the line of Captain Sederikov's line and storm the settlements." Comrade company commander, stop talking about it and carry out the order. ”

When the commander of the cannon company saw that I had given him the order to open the cannon in an unquestioning tone, he gritted his teeth and stomped his feet, turned around and went to deliver the order to his men. Actually, I don't know what he was worried about, but if we don't deal with this remnant of the enemy in a decisive way, and wait for reinforcements to rush in and exchange fire with our troops in the settlements, the gap between the well-trained soldiers and the soldiers we have been training for two days will come out. At that time, not to mention that they can be ten with one, even if they beat two or three of us one by one, our army will be crushed due to the loss of morale.

The shelling of the cannon battery began. After firing two rounds at the building on the left, they turned the muzzle and opened fire on the building on the right. As soon as the cannon fell, the enemy's firing points were revived, and they opened heavy fire on the smoke-shrouded streets. Because of the smoke, I couldn't see the casualties of the soldiers who charged this time, but with such a dense fire, coupled with the masonry and tiles falling from the sky, the casualties were certainly inevitable. However, the only advantage is that because the enemy cannot see our attacking troops clearly, the accuracy of the shooting is slightly worse, and the chances of the assault team rushing into the building are much greater.

After about ten minutes, the sound of shooting and explosions from the smoke became sparse, and I hurriedly told the cannon and mortar companies to stop firing.

When I was done with this qiē, I listened attentively, and most of the gunfire was the sound of our troops using Bobosha submachine guns and Mosin Lagan rifles, and it seemed that our troops had taken the initiative in the building.

When the breeze blew away the smoke and re-exposed the building to its original form, the walls on the side of the street were almost destroyed by artillery fire, revealing the battered furniture in the room. The commandos and the fighters of the support detachment, who had cleared the remnants of the enemy, were coming out of the building one after another.

I walked up with two fighters and shouted: "Oleg, Captain Oleg, where are you?" ”

As I shouted, my familiar voice came from above my head: "Comrade division commander, here I am." ”

I looked up and clearly saw Oleg sitting on the floor on the second floor, next to a fighter bandaging the wound on his leg. Seeing that he was wounded again, I asked with some concern: "Captain Oleg." Your injuries aren't serious, are they? ”

Oleg waved his hand, grinned and said: "It doesn't matter, it was just a cut by the bayonet of the Germans." It's just a little more bleeding, but it doesn't affect walking. ”

Hearing that he was fine, I relieved myself a little, looked up and commanded him: "Comrade Captain, hurry up and gather all the troops in the city, leave the necessary remaining troops, and follow me to the north of the settlement to reinforce Captain Schederikov." Enemy reinforcements are attacking his positions. ”

"What. Enemy reinforcements are coming? When Oleg heard this, he was taken aback, and quickly struggled to his feet from the ground, and immediately shouted to the fighters who were still in the building to gather outside.

Just as I was talking to Oleg. The company commander of the cannon company ran to my side. Ask me for the task: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel. What is the next combat mission of our company? ”

"Are there armor-piercing shells?" Although we have five tanks on our side, one more artillery battery can reduce the pressure on our defenses. At the same time, it can also reduce unnecessary casualties among the troops, so why not.

The company commander thought for a moment and replied to me: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, we have armor-piercing shells, but there are not many of them, only two boxes. ”

"Two boxes are enough." I was worried that he said no, since there were two boxes, it would be more than enough to pack two enemy tanks, "Comrade Company Commander, you immediately bring two guns and armor-piercing shells, and we will go to the front together to teach the Germans a lesson." ”

"Okay, I'll go right away." After the artillery company commander finished speaking, he turned around and ran away.

At this time, operator number four came to my side again. I couldn't help but frown when I saw him appear, wondering what bad news he had brought me this time. I didn't wait for him to speak, and asked first: "Comrade newspaper operator, why are you alone, where is the fifth newspaper operator?" It seems that from the moment I entered the settlement, I did not see him. ”

The corners of the operator's mouth twitched, and then he replied in a low voice, "He died." Shortly after entering the settlement, he was killed by German snipers. ”

Sniper, hearing this term, I broke out in a cold sweat. Luckily I wasn't spotted by the snipers, otherwise I might have become a sniper by now.

The telegraph operator handed over the headset and microphone without saying anything, and said: "Comrade division commander, the chief of staff of the group army is on the line, and he wants to talk to you." ”

I took the headphone strap, and as soon as I heard the voice of Colonel Raskin coming from inside, I hurriedly took the initiative to report to him: "Report to Comrade Chief of Staff of the Army Group, I report to you that after fierce battles, our division has succeeded in seizing the settlements. ”

"Fantastic, Comrade Oshanina, fantastic!" When Raskin heard the news, he was overjoyed, praised me repeatedly, and then asked, "Has any enemy escaped?" ”

"Comrade Colonel," I replied with a stern expression, "during the battle, an enemy armored vehicle rushed out from the north side of the settlement and brought back enemy reinforcements. ”

"What, enemy reinforcements?" Hearing this, Ruskin's tone also became solemn, and he deliberately asked, "I want to know, what kind of measures have you taken?" ”

"As soon as the enemy's armored vehicles escaped from the settlement, they were discovered by the commander of the regiment, Sederikov, who immediately led eight small troops around the north and built a line of defense that would prevent the enemy from breaking through and from reinforcing the enemy. I'm going to rush to that line now, and find a way to repel this enemy who has come to reinforce me. ”

"Good job, if you need support, just contact me, and I'll let the group artillery provide you with artillery support. Now that the settlement has been taken, it must be held resolutely until the troops who receive the defense arrive. ”

When I came to Shederikov's line, I found that the trench they had temporarily dug was really shabby, and it was just up to my knees so deep that one could neither squat nor stand in the trench. Although the captain brought more than 400 people with him when he came, they were spread out in a trench several hundred meters long, and each person had to guard an area of about one meter.

Enemy reinforcements were stopped a few hundred meters away, neither advancing nor retreating, as if waiting for something. I observed the indecisive Germans with my binoculars for a while, put down the binoculars and asked Sedelikov beside me: "Comrade Captain, is there any movement in the enemy's reinforcements?" ”

Sederikov shook his head, with a puzzled look on his face, and said puzzledly: "I don't know, the enemy's troops were originally rushing towards us with great momentum, but they didn't expect that after reaching their current position, they suddenly stopped advancing, and I don't know what they were waiting for." Do they have reinforcements coming? ”

I looked up at my watch, and it was almost noon. I looked up at Shedelikov and said, "Comrade Captain, as soon as our tank detachment arrives, immediately organize troops to counterattack, and we must crush this German army." ”

I don't know how, forty minutes have passed since I gave the order to Gaidar, but there is still no trace of our tank detachment on the battlefield, and the cannon company has not entered the position.

It was at this moment that the enemy's troops began to move.

The two tanks, having fired two shots at the same place, accelerated towards our positions, and the infantry also formed a straggler formation and rushed up behind the tanks.

A few tank shells hit accurately, exploding in front of and behind our trenches, and the blast of the explosion lifted several unconcealed fighters from the ground, threw them high into the air, and then fell down with a heavy blow. Hearing the dull sound of them as they landed, I knew without looking at them that these warriors were either dead or wounded.

The tanks stopped a hundred meters from our positions and began to bombard our trenches with tank guns, covering the forward charge of the infantry behind.

In the face of the German soldiers rushing up violently, some soldiers panicked and opened fire desperately, and suddenly the gunfire on the position rang out like bursting beans. There were a lot of bullets, but there were not many that hit the target, and I could count the German soldiers who fell to the ground on one hand.

Seeing this, Sedelikov quickly raised his body and shouted to both sides: "Stop shooting, stop shooting." Don't panic, everyone, wait for the enemy to get closer before fighting! (To be continued......)

PS: Bow and thank the book friends: moung, the dead hedgehog, Mo Hanha, and Chu Xiangshui for their precious votes.