As soon as the order was given, the detachment immediately spread out in a scattered formation, and the fighters, one by one, carrying their weapons, rushed in the direction of the gunfire after Captain Starcha. The bazooka was carried on the right shoulder by a burly warrior, with a box of cannonballs under his left armpit, and although the weight was not light, it was quite fast, almost all the way through the middle of the group.

I was sighing in my heart for the strength of this soldier, and Ramis, who had been standing beside me with a gun, suddenly asked me: "Comrade division commander, what should we do?" ”

"What should I do?" I looked at him puzzled, and replied in a very natural tone, "What else can I do, keep up with them." After that, I also chased after him with a gun.

It was just over 200 meters from the edge of the forest, but the thick snow greatly affected my running speed, and by the time I ran out of the forest out of breath, the soldiers had already exchanged fire with the German infantry under the cover of tanks and armored vehicles. Without saying a word, I threw myself headlong into the snow, aimed at the figure in front of me and pulled the trigger.

As soon as he hit the shuttle, he suddenly heard a strange noise, and then a dazzling fire burst out not far from him, and behind this fire was a long white tail smoke. I involuntarily stopped shooting, keeping my eyes fixed on the path of the fire. I saw that this firelight dragged a long white smoke, drew a dazzling and beautiful arc in the twilight, and then plunged straight into the German attack queue. As I watched, the flash of fire hit a German tank. A puff of smoke rose from the tank as a huge fireball rose into the sky, followed by a loud explosion. It turned out to be a rocket fired by our army, which accurately hit the German tank.

I lifted myself up to see what the German tanks had been blown up into. Before I could see clearly, someone next to me suddenly pounced and crushed me to the snow. I was caught off guard and plunged my face into the snow. Fortunately, the snow is relatively deep, otherwise, such a big impact will hit the ground, and the iron will definitely break.

I looked up with difficulty, and was just about to scold this reckless fellow for a few words, when I suddenly heard a strange sound of "snort", like the sound of tearing cloth, and then I saw the bazooka launch position not far away, which was hit by a dense stream of bullets as if it were boiling a pot, and the snow on the ground was raised high.

When everything calmed down, I saw a loaded bazooka thrown on the snow, and two soldiers, bloodied by bullets, lying motionless in a pool of blood, dead no longer able to die. Seeing all this, I couldn't help but be terrified, what kind of weapon did this German use, and it was so powerful?

"Comrade division commander," as soon as the man on my back spoke, I immediately heard that it was Ramis, he moved his body away a little, and then said: "This is the MG42 general-purpose machine gun that the Germans have just equipped their troops, it has a fast rate of fire and strong lethality, and if anyone is unfortunate enough to be hit, then he will be shot several times in an instant, and the possibility of survival is very small." A few days ago, on the way to the transfer of our division, the 1075th Regiment encountered the Germans armed with such machine guns, and as a result, almost a battalion of fighters fell under the gun. ”

"What?" I'm not a military fan, so I don't know what this machine gun has been proud of in World War II, but I can't help but be furious when I hear that so many of my subordinates have died at gunpoint. I looked up at the German position and saw that the machine gun was mounted on an armored vehicle, and the shooter had turned the muzzle of the gun to strafe other areas of heavy fire from our troops.

I turned my head to look at the bazooka in the snow not far away, put the submachine gun down in my hand, took a deep breath, and rolled to the side. Since there were no obstacles such as bushes on the snow in the middle, I only rolled a few times before rolling smoothly to the side of the bazooka.

I threw the bazooka over my shoulder, and without getting up, I lay on the ground, aimed it in the direction of the armored car, and pulled the trigger. The rockets flew towards the German queue with a long stream of white smoke, and I didn't bother to check the results, so I threw the bazooka to the side and quickly rolled to the position I had just taken.

As soon as he rolled back into place, a violent explosion was heard. I didn't know if I was a blind cat who ran into a dead mouse and hit the armored car accurately.

"Well done, Comrade Division Commander." Lying on the snow next to me, Ramis praised me sincerely.

Before I could be humble, there were a steady stream of explosions and screams ahead. When I looked up, it turned out that the ammunition in the armored car had exploded, and the German soldiers next to the car were crying wolf.

"Brothers, follow me!" Following the voice of Captain Starcha, a dozen warriors in white camouflage uniforms stood nearby, and rushed towards the enemy on the opposite side with their weapons in hand.

I wanted to rush along, but I saw that there were only seven or eight figures shaking next to the burning tanks and armored vehicles, and the captain and they were enough to deal with it, so I stopped after running a few steps. Ramis, who was in charge of keeping me safe, asked strangely: "Comrade division commander, why didn't you rush?" ”

As I watched the battle between the Captains and the Germans, I replied lightly: "No, these Germans, Captain, they can easily solve them." "Actually, I was saying in my heart that the battle was almost over, and if I rushed forward and was killed by a stray bullet, it would be wronged enough, and it would be safer to stand here and watch the battle.

There was no suspense in the battle, and after the detachment rushed up, the German soldiers who were not defeated raised their hands and surrendered.

I was about to go with Ramis when I saw Captain Starcia hurrying over with the communications corps. A few steps away from me, he shouted anxiously: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, no, something is wrong!" ”

Hearing him shout like this, my heart couldn't help but sink down, and I secretly said: Could it be that something happened to Rokossovsky? Hurriedly took a few steps forward, grabbed the clothes on his shoulders, and nervously asked, "What's the matter?" What happened? ”

The captain bowed his head and replied in a low voice: "I just received a report from a parachute that several wrecked black sedans were found on the side of the road, and most of the commanders in the cars were killed. ”

Although I was anxious, I still kept a trace of sobriety, and heard that only most of the commanders had died, but not all of them. So I asked with luck: "So where is the rescued commander?" ”

"Parachutes they are rescuing and should be able to save lives."

"Take me there!" I grabbed his clothes and tried to lead him without saying a word.

The captain carefully removed my hand from his shirt before he said, "Follow me!" ”

They had followed the captain for about a few hundred meters, and when they reached the edge of the village, I saw a group of people coming from the opposite side, and instinctively raised my gun. When the captain saw my move, he quickly grabbed the muzzle of the gun, gently turned it aside, and kindly reminded me: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, please don't be nervous, it's your own person." ”

When we had joined up with the group of soldiers, an officer stepped out across from us and reported the battle to Captain Lu, while I looked around to see where the wrecked car was. Maybe it's because it's blocked by the surrounding buildings, but I don't see anything.

Looking around, Captain Starcea brought the commander to me and said, "This is my company commander, and he is in charge of the area around the village of Peshki. ”

After listening to the captain's introduction of his identity, the commander stepped forward to salute me, and was about to report his rank and name in accordance with the regulations, when I was unceremoniously interrupted: "Comrade commander, I want to ask you, isn't there a regiment and a detachment of tanks stationed in the village?" Where did they go when the battle took place? ”

The commander's eyes moved to the captain next to him, and when he saw him nodding, he replied to me: "Originally, the village was stationed with troops transferred from the reserves, but they left early this morning, as if the defense line was tight somewhere, and they needed to go over for reinforcements; As for the tank detachment, it had just had lunch, and all but the tank that left the guard drove away. I later heard from a soldier that the tanks looked like they had gone somewhere else to refuel. ”

Hearing him say this, I sighed in my heart, it is really better to be a man, and it was not easy for Stalin to send a regiment of troops to be stationed here, but I didn't expect to be transferred early or late, just before the enemy came to attack, it seems that Rokossovsky is more than lucky. However, I still asked with a hint of luck: "I heard that you saved a few commanders, where are they now?" ”

"I've placed them in a nearby house." The commander glanced at the captain beside me again, then turned to the side and said to me politely: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, please come with me, and I will take you to meet them." ”

The house where the commander of the 16th Army was housed was not far away, and it was only twenty or thirty meters away. I saw two warriors standing guard at the door, and when they saw us approaching, they immediately stood up and saluted. I didn't bother to return the salute, just pushed open the door and walked in. In the dimly lit room, there was a large wooden table, and around it sat seven or eight dejected officers. I walked in, and before I could see the people's faces, I asked aloud in a hurry, "Which of you is the commander of the highest rank?" ”

"Leda!" A familiar voice popped up. "Is that you?"

The voice sounded familiar, as if it were the voice of Colonel Malinin, chief of staff of the group army. I hurriedly asked, "Colonel Malinin?" ”

"It's me, Leda." Malinin stood up from the table, jumped over and grabbed my shoulders with both hands, shook it vigorously and said, "Something's wrong, something is wrong!"

It didn't take long for the wound on my shoulder to heal, but I couldn't stand his old man's shaking method, so I quickly grabbed his hand and asked with concern, "What's wrong?" Comrade Chief of Staff, don't be in a hurry, speak slowly. ”

He replied with tears in his voice: "When we were moving, we were attacked by German tanks, and the convoy was broken up. Fortunately, I met the fighters of the Airborne Forces, who destroyed the enemy's tanks, eliminated the infantry, saved a few of us. But when I went to look for it, I found that the commander's car had been destroyed. ”

"You mean the commander has been killed?" I cautiously asked this question of my concern. It is important to know that Rokossovsky was an important figure, and if he had died at this time, the entire history of the Great Patriotic War would have changed dramatically.

"We found only the bodies of the guards and the driver in the car, not the commander. I don't know if he was captured or fled to the woods. ”

"Comrade Chief of Staff," I felt much more relieved when I heard that Rokossovsky's body had not been found, and hurriedly comforted him and said: "Don't worry, the enemy who came to attack should have been destroyed, and the possibility that the commander was captured can be ruled out." According to my surmise, he must have seen the danger and abandoned the car and fled to the forest. After saying that, I turned around and asked Captain Starcha again: "Comrade battalion commander, how many people are there under you?" ”

The captain said with a crying face: "Originally, there were more than 150 people, but in the battle just now, more than 60 soldiers were sacrificed, and there were more than a dozen wounded, and the number of troops that could be used was only about 70 people. ”

There were only more than 70 people, and there were indeed fewer people to search such a large forest outside the village, but there was no way to transfer people from other places in a hurry. Just when I was in a dilemma, the walkie-talkie brought by the captain suddenly rang, and the communications soldier chatted with the other party for a few words, and then handed the captain the headset and microphone.

The captain listened for a moment, and then told me: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, a convoy has come from the north of the village, and the soldier in charge of the guard has come forward to check, is it our own unit?" ……”

Before he could speak, Ma Linin interjected and asked, "Is it the original army guarding the village?" ”

"No, Comrade Colonel." The captain gave him a negative answer, then looked at me and said, "They said that they were from the 1077th Regiment of the Eighth Guards Division, and they were ordered to protect you back to the division headquarters. ”

The troops of the 8th Guards Division, how could they know that I was here? I looked at Ramis on the side with a puzzled look, and seeing that I had noticed him, Ramis stepped forward and explained to me in a low voice: "I was afraid that you would be in danger, so when Grissa left just now, I motioned for him to go back and bring someone to protect you." ”

Hearing this, I understood why Grissa had such strange expressions when he drove away. But now that we need manpower, the arrival of these fighters will solve my big problems. So I instructed Captain Starcha: "Comrade Captain, let your fighters bring the convoy here." ”

After a short time, I heard the sound of a car moving, so I said, "The car is coming, I'll go and see." ”

As soon as I stepped out of the room, a motorcade slowly pulled up and stopped a few paces away from me. I took a closer look, and in addition to the jeep that opened the road in front, there were seven trucks with canopies in the back. After the car stopped, two people jumped out of the jeep and ran towards us. Although it was dark, I could see that one of them was Grissa, who had broken up a few hours earlier, and the other was a major.

The two of them came to me and stood up and saluted, and Grissa was the first to speak: "Comrade division commander, driver Grissa reports to you that I have been ordered by General Leviagin and Comrade Political Commissar to bring troops to pick you up and take you to the division headquarters. ”

"We'll talk about it later," I said, turning my gaze back to the Major. Seeing that I was staring at myself, the major was a little nervous and hurriedly reported to me: "Comrade division commander, Major ......, commander of the 1st battalion of the 1st Infantry Regiment of the 1077th Infantry Regiment"

Before he could finish speaking, I interrupted him and asked solemnly, "Comrade Major, how many people have you brought here?" ”

The major didn't expect me to ask so straightforwardly, and he was stunned for a moment before replying, "There are one hundred and ninety-three people in the whole battalion." ”

A battalion is only this kind of people? I couldn't help but sigh again, the attrition was so great, and the cruelty of the battle could be seen from this. But I quickly stabilized my mood and gave him an order: "Comrade Major, the commander of the army group, General Rokossovsky, is missing, you immediately order the fighters to get out of the car, in groups of five, and go to the forest outside the village to search. ”

"Yes!" He said yes, turned around and was about to run.

"Wait a minute," I stopped him, and admonished, "search carefully, see people alive, and carry back the body of the commander even if he dies." Do you understand? ”

"Understood. Comrade division commander, please rest assured that I promise to complete the task. With that, he gave a military salute, turned and ran towards the convoy.

Soon his voice sounded on the other side of the convoy: "The whole battalion is there, listen to my orders, get out of the car!" ”