However, I didn't care about the life and death of these German soldiers at the moment, but pulled the guard aside, glanced at the rank of senior soldier on his collar badge, and asked curiously: "Comrade senior private, what is your name?" ”

The soldier stood in front of me, smiled shyly and replied: "Report to Comrade Division Commander, my name is Vasily. Zaitsev, Yaleninskoya from the Urals. ”

When I heard the name, my body shook and I almost fell straight to the ground. Oh my God, I didn't expect the famous Soviet sniper Vasily to be my subordinate and one of my guards.

I took a deep breath, waited for my feelings to stabilize a little, and then asked, "Comrade Vasily, when did you come to my independent division?" ”

Vasily thought for a moment and replied to me: "I was originally in the 284th Regiment of the 1047th Infantry Division of Colonel Vachuk, and the troops were scattered in the previous two days of fighting, and it was Oleg who saved me and assigned me to the 2nd Guards Company. ”

Basmanov, who was standing next to him, had just seen Vasily's marksmanship, and seeing that he did not go to join the sniper unit, but stayed in the guard company, he couldn't help but ask curiously: "Comrade Vasily, since your marksmanship is so good, why didn't Captain Grams let you become a sniper?" ”

Vasily shrugged his shoulders and said helplessly: "After I arrived at the 2nd Guards Company, Captain Grams and Ensign Grettka also asked me to participate in the sniper's live-fire test. After the assessment, I was eliminated, and I don't know why. ”

When I had finished, I looked around, and saw a thin and tattered plank on the ground not far away. He greeted Basmanov. Pointing to the plank, he said, "Captain Basmanov." You draw a target on that plank, put it fifty meters away, and I want to see what the level of shooting is really from Comrade Vasily? ”

Basmanov agreed, ran over and picked up the plank, changed the charcoal strip he had picked up on the ground, changed it to a round target, and took it to a place about fifty meters away and placed it. After this qiē, he ran back and reported to me: "Comrade Division Commander. You ready. ”

I nodded, turned to Vasily, who was standing next to me, and said, "Okay, Comrade Vasily, let's shoot a few shots, let's see how good your shooting skills are?" ”

Vasily agreed, pulled the bolt of the gun, checked the bullets, and began to shoot at the target. In less than a minute, he had emptied five rounds in the chamber of his gun. Guriev was also alarmed by our movements here, and he came over and asked curiously: "Colonel Oshanina." What's going on here? ”

"That's right, Comrade General." Heard what Guriev asked me. I didn't bother to check Vasily's shooting results, so I quickly turned back to him and explained: "This soldier is one of my sharpshooters, and I am testing his shooting skills." ”

"How's the level?" Guriev asked, holding up his binoculars and looking at the plank in the distance. After looking at it for a while, he put down his binoculars and asked me with a puzzled expression: "Colonel Oshanina, you say he is a sharpshooter?" Make no mistake, right? ”

Guriev's words took me aback, and I instinctively retorted: "Why?" ”

Guriev pointed forward and said: "I saw only one bullet hole in the target, apparently four shots missed." Although the only shot hit the bull's-eye, I think it may have been blinded, after all, there is only 50 meters between here and the target. ”

Hearing Guriev say this, I hurriedly raised my telescope and looked at the position of the target, and sure enough, as Guriev said, there was only one bullet hole in the target. I lowered my binoculars and looked at Vasily next to me, only to see him looking at me with an innocent look at me with a gun. I was worried that he might have been nervous and that he was out of order, so I ordered him: "Comrade Vasily, take another five shots." ”

I didn't expect that after he had fired these five shots, I found that the target superior still had only one bullet hole, and my face was flushed with shame, but I didn't expect that this famous sniper was also in vain, and after ten shots, nine of them missed the target. Seeing the embarrassed expression on my face, Basmanov was so angry that he stepped forward and kicked Vasily twice.

Amid the laughter of the commanders and fighters around me, I walked over to the target in a red flash, wanting to admire the shot that Vasily had fired. Unexpectedly, after I picked up the target and looked at it a few times, I noticed something unusual, it turned out that Vasily's first shot hit the bull's-eye, and the next nine shots all passed through the bullet holes of the first shot. It's great that my heart, which had sunk to the bottom, is alive again, and with such a great sniper, we can achieve even greater results in the next battles.

"Colonel Oshanina, have you seen anything famous after looking at it for so long?" Guriev came over with Basmanov and a group of commanders and fighters, including Vasily, and said to me mockingly as he went: "No matter how long you look, one bullet hole will not become two." ”

As soon as his words came out, it immediately caused a laugh among his subordinates. Basmanov, who walked behind him, heard the laughter around him and hurriedly buried his head lower, apparently embarrassed by the ugly appearance of his subordinates.

I casually handed the plank to Guriev, who had come to me, and with a smile in my heart, I smiled and said to him: "Comrade General, please take a look." ”

Guriev took the plank with a smile and admired it disapprovingly, but without looking twice, the expression on his face became stiff, and he stared at the target with a senile expression, without blinking his eyelids. Guriev's unusual expression attracted the attention of his subordinates, and everyone fell silent.

The sudden silence of the environment relieved Basmanov from his embarrassing situation, and he walked to Guriev's side and looked over to see what was going on. Unexpectedly, at first glance, he also had the same expression as Guriev, and his breathing became rapid. After a long time, he struggled to squeeze out a sentence from between his teeth: "Genius, it's just genius!" ”

Basmanov's words woke Guriev from shock, and he shoved the plank into Basmanov's hand. Take a step forward and walk to my side. In a pleading tone, he said to me, "Colonel Oshanina. I beg you from the bottom of my heart, please give me this warrior! ”

"No, Comrade General. This is absolutely not a no-no. "I did not hesitate to refuse Guriev's request, and if he had not had enough troops to let me support one or two companies of him, I would have agreed, but this private Vasily in front of me was a treasure. If he just takes a battalion in exchange, I won't give it to him.

Although I refused, Guriev obviously refused to give up, and after turning his head and looking at Vasily seriously, he said decisively: "Colonel Oshanina, this soldier is only a senior soldier in your independent division. Well, let him come to my unit, and I will make him a platoon commander in the guard company, and at the same time promote him to the rank of sergeant. ”

A talent like Vasily is rare in a century. I'm definitely not going to let it go. Seeing that Guriev had already won over Vasily with the addition of an official to the knighthood, I was not to be outdone: "Comrade General. Vasily is my subordinate, and no one can take him away without my permission. Speaking of this, I deliberately slowed down my tone, "Since you have just mentioned the issue of Comrade Vasily's low rank, I will do my best to solve it." ”

"Colonel Oshanina," said Guryev's chief of staff, "since you also think that Comrade Vasily's rank is too low, what kind of position are you going to give him?" ”

The chief of staff commanded me in such an army that I had to make a promotion to Vasily on the spot. Since Guriev had already made a wish to Vasily with the post of sergeant platoon commander, the post I proposed could not be lower than this. After a little consideration, I did not hesitate to announce to Vasily: "Comrade Vasily, from now on, you will be the deputy commander of the 2nd Guards Company, and your rank will be temporarily promoted to the rank of second lieutenant. ”

As soon as my words came out, there was an uproar all around, and from the whispers of everyone, I could hear their envy for Vasily, who had suddenly become an officer from an ordinary soldier. For such an unexpected surprise, the honest Vasily still stood in place, still with a harmless smile on his face, as if what had happened had nothing to do with him.

Seeing that I had officially announced the promotion of Vasily's rank, Guriev no longer insisted, but sighed regretfully and said to me in an envious tone: "Colonel Oshanina, I admire your ability to recognize people. A few minutes ago, I was even secretly laughing at you in my heart because this warrior's bullets missed the target one after another, but I didn't expect that the actual situation was far beyond our imagination. I congratulate you on having such a good sharpshooter under your command. With that, he held out his hand to me and shook my hand in a friendly manner.

Although Guriev had already made it clear that he would not compete with me for the newly promoted second lieutenant Vasily, his chief of staff looked at Vasily with a look of reluctance, and was extremely annoyed at the loss of such a sharpshooter. Not only the chief of staff, but also the other commanders at the rank of lieutenant, ordinary soldiers all showed regretful expressions on their faces.

While I was anxious about how to get out, the mortar company sent to assist the 114th Regiment in the attack on the Dolji Gully returned. Seeing Morozov, who appeared in front of me, I quickly asked with concern: "Major Morozov, has Dorgi taken the ditch?" ”

Morozov nodded vigorously and replied in the affirmative: "Yes, Comrade Division Commander." Although the enemy's firepower in the Dolji Chong Gully was strong, it was completely annihilated by the heavy blows of our mortar battery. ”

Seeing that the soldiers who were following him were all wounded, I hurriedly asked, "What about the casualties of the troops?" ”

After hearing this, Morozov shook his head and said: "The casualties are not big. Since we did not know that mortars were also arranged in the enemy's ditch, we set our artillery position very far forward, and as a result, after the first round of shelling, we were met with enemy artillery fire in return, and two of our guns were blown up on the spot, more than a dozen artillery pieces were killed, and more than 20 people were wounded. "But none of us was intimidated by the ferocious enemy, and immediately organized a return fire on the enemy's artillery, destroying in the shortest possible time three of the enemy's mortar groups, covering the infantry brethren of the Guards Division rushing into the gully." ”

After Morozov finished reporting on the situation, Basmanov walked up to me and asked in a low voice: "Comrade division commander, we have completed the tasks assigned to us by the army group command, what should we do next?" ”

"I know what I know." After I had said this, I walked towards Guriev, who was talking to a group of his men in the distance. Come behind him. I stopped. Politely called: "Comrade General." ”

Guriev heard that it was me. Hurriedly stopped the lecture and turned around, looked at me and asked with a smile, "Colonel Oshanina, is there something wrong?" ”

"Comrade General," no matter how familiar I was with Guriev, in front of many of his subordinates, I still behaved in a proper manner and reported to him in accordance with the regulations: "Our unit has completed the task of cooperating with the Guards Division, can we go back?" ”

Guriev tilted his head and looked at the mortar company and guard platoon in the distance, which were already lined up in a neat line. He nodded and said, "Yes, there is nothing for you here, you can take the troops back to Mamayev Gang, it is also an important defensive area, and you can't take it lightly." After saying that, he came over, shook my hand vigorously, and said, "Thank you, Colonel Oshanina, and I hope that in the future we will have the opportunity to fight side by side." ”

"There will be, Comrade General. I look forward to that day coming soon. With that, I let go of his hand. He took a step back and gave him a solemn military salute. Turning around, he strode towards the troops he had already assembled and was ready to standby.

When we returned to Mamayev after more than an hour, I had the mortar company and guard platoon disband on the spot, and only Basmanov and Vasily returned to the division headquarters with me.

When I walked to the door, I saw two unfamiliar faces at the door, and when they saw us coming, they hurriedly greeted us and raised their hands to block our way.

"What part of you are from?" Basmanov walked past me, stood in front of me, and asked the two fighters dissatisfiedly.

Without waiting for the two fresh-faced fighters to answer, two other fighters standing guard came first, and after saluting me and Basmanov, they reported: "Report to the division commander and the battalion commander, both of them belong to the army group headquarters. ”

At the headquarters of the army group, when I heard the name of this unit, I immediately understood that there might be someone from the headquarters waiting for me in the headquarters, either Gurov or Chuikov, so I shook off the two hands that stood in front of us and walked quickly towards the hole. The two soldiers tried to catch up and stop me, but they were stopped by two of our sentries and whispered to them, "That's our division commander." ”

Hearing the sentry's words, the two soldiers were taken aback: "Ah, she is the commander of the independent division, why is she a woman?" ”

As soon as I walked into the headquarters, Akhromeyev, who was sitting at the table, stood up and greeted me politely: "Comrade division commander, you have come back, you have worried us badly." ”

"Are you all right?" Kirillov also got up and asked me with concern.

I just nodded at the two of them, and before I could answer, I walked straight to the other commander sitting at the table, raised my hand and saluted, and said, "Hello, Comrade Military Commissar, you are welcome to the Independent Division to inspect the work. ”

Gurov stood up, stretched out his hand to me, shook it with me, and after releasing it, he pointed his finger at me and said, "Colonel Oshanina, you are the commander of the first division, why do you personally lead the team on such a dangerous mission?" ”

On such occasions, I still had to sing the high-pitched songs, so I replied loudly: "Comrade Military Commissar, I am doing this to raise the morale of the troops. After finishing speaking, I lowered my voice and asked curiously: "Comrade Military Commissar, why do you have time to come to me today?" ”

Gurov sat down and said angrily: "Colonel Oshanina, do you think I came to see you on purpose?" I received an order from the headquarters of the Front Army to rush to the east bank of the Volga overnight to report on my work. It's not dark yet, and the boat that picks me up hasn't come yet, so I think you're here to rest. Speaking of this, he suddenly widened his eyes and asked with an unhappy look: "Why, you don't welcome me to you?" ”

I knew that he was joking with me, so I hurriedly smiled and said: "Look at what you said, Comrade Military Commissar, I wish you and the commander came to me every day, and only by having a good relationship with you can I have the opportunity to soar and enter the ranks of generals as soon as possible." My words immediately caused everyone to laugh.

To the laughter of everyone, Basmanov and Vasily walked into the command. When I saw the two of them coming in, I hurriedly beckoned them to come over. When both of them were standing in front of me, I first introduced Gurov to my guard battalion commander Basmanov, and then I pulled Vasily in front of me. He solemnly introduced to several people: "Military commissar, political commissar, chief of staff. Now I'm going to tell you about the great sniper I've just discovered. ”

When you hear the term sniper. The expressions on the faces of the three of them were all indifferent, after all, there were now as many as twenty or thirty snipers in the independent division, and one more sniper would be an insignificant matter for them. At this moment, I specially introduced a sniper to them, and although all three of them had smiles on their faces, I could tell that it was only a polite smile.

Seeing this, I didn't continue, but coughed lightly. Basmanov was instructed: "Comrade Captain, tell the commanders here what you have seen and heard today. With that, I went to Razumeyeva to find water, and when I had finished drinking, I brought Vasily a glass.

Vasily took the teacup with both hands and thanked me in a low voice, still standing in a straight military posture.

At this time, Gurov and the three of them had already heard Basmanov finish the whole thing, and all three of them had expressions of disbelief on their faces. It's been a long time. Akhromeyev said in a skeptical tone: "Captain Basmanov, what you said is true, right?" Won't see us bored in Command all day. So deliberately make up jokes to amuse us. ”

As soon as he finished speaking, Gurov and Kirillov laughed happily, and it seemed that they agreed with Akhromeyev. Although Basmanov and Vasily still had smiles on their faces, I was full of apologies for Vasily, and I wanted to introduce him to the superior commander, but I didn't expect him to be ridiculed.

Gurov was a commander whom I respected, and I did not want to argue with him, so when their laughter had stopped, I politely said: "Comrade Military Commissar, facts speak louder than words, and I understand that what Captain Basmanov said is a bit too unbelievable, so let's talk about the facts." We're going to take Second Lieutenant Vasily outside now and find a place to shoot a few shots for everyone to see. I don't know what you think? ”

After listening to what I had said, Gurov turned his head to look at Kirillov and Akhromeyev, who were sitting on the left and right, and said to them: "Since Colonel Oshanina has sent us an invitation, let's go outside and see if Comrade Vasily's marksmanship is as amazing as Captain Basmanov said." ”

"Comrade Chief of Staff," seeing Gurov get up from his seat, I suddenly remembered that I had been away for so long and did not know the situation on the position, and quickly asked Akhromeyev: "How is the situation on the high ground ahead, has the enemy attacked again?" ”

Akhromeyev's head shook his head again and again, and replied: "Strange to say, today's Mamayev Gang seems to have been forgotten by the enemy, and it has not been bombed or shelled by the enemy, so I really don't know if there is any conspiracy of the enemy." However, in front of the position of the 4th Regiment, there are several enemy scouts active, and our snipers are staying on the mountainside position on this high ground, ready to kill them. As he spoke, his eyes quickly glanced at Gurov, and then cautiously asked me for instructions, "Comrade division commander, why don't I stay on duty in the headquarters later and not go out with you?" ”

"No way!" I rejected his request unusually simply, and said in an unquestioning tone: "Since there is no fighting on the heights, let us all go together and see Comrade Vasily's superb marksmanship." Since you said that enemy scouts appeared in front of the positions of the 4th regiment, then let Comrade Vasily show how to take them out. With that, I couldn't wait for everyone to leave with me.

A few of us, with two guards brought by Gurov, a total of eight people, came along the traffic trench to the mountainside position of the New 2nd Regiment. Seeing our arrival, Khrushov, who was in the trenches, greeted me in a panic, and he nervously asked me: "Comrade division commander, why did you all come to the position?" ”

Instead of answering his question, I asked rhetorically: "Captain Khrushov, I ask you, where are the snipers?" ”

Originally, I thought that Khrushov would tell me that the snipers were hiding in front of the position or something, but I didn't expect him to directly call a soldier wearing a steel helmet and a hooded raincoat next to him and introduce him to me: "Comrade division commander, this is a sniper from the 2nd Guards Company, and he has accepted the task of killing the German scouts who are carrying out reconnaissance missions in front of the positions of the 4th Regiment. ”

Since I was holding a sniper with a rifle with a scope without any rank on it, I had to ask vaguely: "Comrade sniper, did you kill the enemy?" ”

The sniper snapped upright, straightened up and reported to me: "Report to Comrade Division Commander, because the enemy's position is too far from here, we have not been able to defeat them for the time being. ”

"Comrade Vasily, come to me." I called Vasily to myself, took the rifle with a scope from the sniper, handed it to Vasily, and asked him: "Can you knock out the enemy with this rifle?" ”

Vasily took the rifle and looked at it, then straightened up and replied to me: "Comrade division commander, I can give it a try." ”

When Vasily was lying on the wall of the trench and setting up his guns, Kirillov came up to me and reminded me in a low voice: "Comrade Oshanina, is this Vasily really as powerful as you say?" Don't miss the target when the time comes, so that you can't get off the stage in front of the military commissar. ”

I raised my binoculars and looked in front of the position of the 4th Regiment, and saw that in the ruins of those tanks, there were several black shadows constantly moving, apparently German scouts. When I saw this, I couldn't help but gasp and hurriedly asked Kirillov: "Comrade commissar, how far did you say from here to where those German scouts were?" ”

"At least five hundred meters," Kirillov said, pointing his finger at me, as if he didn't know what to say, when a crisp gunshot rang out in our ears.

Vasily shot!

I hurriedly raised my binoculars to look at the place where the tank ruins were stacked, and saw a moving black shadow suddenly pause, and then fell to the ground.

"Oh my God, you hit it so far?!" Kirillov murmured in my ear.

Then a second, third, and fourth gunshots rang out. As the gunshots rang out, three more moving black shadows fell to the ground. The last German soldier, finding himself falling to the ground one after another, hurriedly ducked to the point of a tank and entered the blind spot of Vasily's shooting. (To be continued......)