As shots rang out, several of the captives fell to the ground.

Vaskov, who was in charge of guarding the captives, roared, rushed over and grabbed the light machine gun that had snatched the soldier's hand, kicking him to the ground. Seeing that Vaskov raised his fist high at the soldier, I saw that things were going to be bad, so I hurriedly stepped forward and stood between the two of them, and said loudly to Vaskov: "Lieutenant Vaskov, calm down, this soldier may have been angry with these puppet soldiers, so he will shoot at them on impulse." ”

Seeing Vaskov indignantly retract his fist, I turned around again and pulled up the fighter who had fallen to the ground and whispered to him: "Comrade warrior, you are so impulsive. Do you know the truth? Originally, our rescue operation tonight was successfully completed, but it was because of your unauthorized shooting that many variables were added. The sound of gunfire could alarm the Germans stationed nearby, and if they caught up, it was uncertain whether our sluggish force would succeed in escaping. ”

The soldier blushed and lowered his head to admit his mistake to me: "I'm sorry, comrade commander, I saw that they killed a lot of our comrades-in-arms, so I couldn't hold back for a while just now." ……”

"That's it!" I interrupted him and urged him: "Don't say it, I can understand your feelings, keep up with the team in front of you, don't fall behind." Then he instructed Vaskov: "Comrade lieutenant, you take your platoon in the rear as a rearguard and cover the retreat of the troops in the direction of the village. ”

At this time, Captain Burda also ran over and anxiously asked me: "Comrade division commander, the gunfire may have alarmed the Germans nearby, maybe they will soon surround us, what should we do?" ”

I pointed to the large army moving slowly ahead. To Bulda said: "Comrade Captain. You bring one row and three rows. To cover the retreat of these rescued fighters, Vaskov's second platoon and I acted as the rear guard to cover your safe evacuation. The captain agreed, and was about to turn away, when I stopped him again, and instructed: "Send at once to contact Captain Gusev, who is on the other side of the swamp, and make them ready to meet us." ”

Burda ran over and urged the rescued warriors to speed up their march, but to little avail. You must know that they were not fed because of continuous fighting before they were captured. The body had already become extremely weak, and there were many wounded among them, and the march of the whole army was even slower than that of a snail.

Seeing the sluggish troops, Vaskov sighed and said, "If only these fighters could replenish their strength and rest for a while." At their current marching pace, the Germans would be able to catch up with them even if they were on foot. ”

I also looked at the troops in the distance again, shook my head and said, "It's a pity that there is no time for them to rest now, and the first thing to consider is how to let them escape safely to our army's defense area." "I saw that the fighters of the second platoon were hiding behind the surrounding bushes. Putting the gun in front of him, he hurriedly asked Vaskov again: "Fija." Did the scouts you sent come back? The first thing we have to figure out is in what direction the Germans will come from. ”

Vaskov looked left and right, shook his head and said, "The scouts have not been sent out for a long time, and they have not returned so soon. Because the guns rang out so suddenly, no men were sent to reconnoiter the enemy in the vicinity in advance. When he said this, there was a bitter helplessness on his face.

I had to smile wryly and say, "I don't blame you for this, no one would have thought that the warrior would be so impulsive." Wherever the Germans would come, they would certainly send men here to check on the prisoners of war, and we would stay here, and if they were few of them, we would destroy them; If there are many of them, we will fight and retreat at the same time, and we must cover the safe retreat of the large army. ”

We lay on the ground for nearly ten minutes, and when the transferred large force was completely out of sight, two fighters ran panting towards our hiding place, shouting in a low voice as they ran: "Comrade lieutenant, comrade lieutenant." ”

Vaskov got up from where he was hiding, greeted him, and asked from afar: "Do you see the Germans?" ”

The scout put his hands on his waist and, gasping for breath, reported to Vaskov: "Comrade Lieutenant, there is a German camp in the west, which was alarmed by the gunfire just now, and now there is about a company of troops, which is moving in our direction. ”

Because the scout's voice was so loud, I could hear what he was saying clearly, even from a distance of a few meters. A sergeant lying next to me, after listening to the scout's report, was already pale with fright, and said to me in a trembling voice: "Comrade division commander, there are hundreds of Germans in a company, and we are only about 30 people, and the disparity in strength is too great, so let's retreat first while the Germans have not discovered us." ”

"Shut up, you coward." Vaskov was returning to report the enemy situation to me, and when he heard what the sergeant said, he immediately scolded viciously: "Have you ever thought that if we retreat without permission, the Germans will easily catch up with the slow-moving large army, do you think those soldiers who can't even walk steadily can withstand these wolf-like pursuers?" ”

After Vaskov finished scolding, I also said with some concern: "The disparity between our strength and the Germans is too great, if we fight hard, even if we all die, we may not be able to stop the pursuers behind." After thinking about it, I continued: "Otherwise, you take two squads to chase the large army in front, and I lead one squad to lead the enemy in the opposite direction." ”

With that, I stared intently at Vaskov, waiting to see how he reacted. To tell the truth, I have a task from the bottom of my heart, this task of luring the enemy, Vaskov is the best candidate, but at this life-and-death juncture, there are some scenes that must be said, so as to have a stimulating effect.

Sure enough, my words angered Vaskov, his face swelled, and he said angrily with a stiff neck: "Comrade division commander, what you said is not right. Don't say that you are a division commander, even if you are an ordinary soldier, as long as we men have not died, we must not let a woman take risks for us. ”

Vaskov's words immediately resonated with the fighters around him, and they said in unison: "The platoon commander is right, we must not let the division commander comrade take risks for us." ”

Even the sergeant, who had been a little panicked just now, stood up and expressed his determination to me: "Comrade division commander, let me take my squad to lure the enemy away. You and Comrade Platoon Commander will take the other two squads to follow the withdrawal of the large troops. ”

"Don't argue." Vaskov stopped the argument from going on. He said categorically: "I have already decided, I will lead one squad to lead the enemy away, and the division commander and the other two squads will withdraw first." Seeing that someone seemed to want to say something, he glared at him and said in an unquestioning tone, "This is an order, carry it out." ”

I took Vaskov's hand and said to him with concern: "Fija, it's all up to you." Remember. Be sure to come back alive. ”

Vaskov let go of my hand, raised the submachine gun in his hand high, and shouted to the fighters next to him: "First class, follow me." After shouting, he took the lead and ran to the west, and then a dozen warriors came out from behind the bushes and ran after him.

After Vaskov and they left, I took the remaining two squads to the south and went to catch up with the transferred large forces.

They had not gone far in the jungle when heavy gunfire was heard behind them. I stopped. Looking towards the place where the gunshots rang out, I couldn't see anything. But in my heart, I still silently prayed for Vaskov: Fija, I hope you can come back safe and sound.

We soon caught up with the large army in front, and when Burda saw that I was catching up with quite a few soldiers, he asked curiously: "Comrade division commander, why did you catch up so quickly?" And what about Lieutenant Vaskov? ”

I looked at the slow-moving large force, frowned and said to Burda: "Vaskov led the German pursuers in the opposite direction. Comrade Captain, let the soldiers of the guard company help these comrades who have just been rescued, and let them speed up, otherwise when the Germans catch up, we will be all finished. ”

Bulda agreed, and immediately went and ordered his men to carry out my orders. When the soldiers of the guard company stepped forward, some of them carried the wounded who had difficulty moving on their backs, and those who did not carry the wounded on their backs held a soldier in one hand, so that they would not fall down if they walked too fast. In this way, the march of the entire army was slightly faster.

The march through the jungle was nothing, but when passing through the swamp, despite the help of the soldiers of the guard company, many exhausted prisoners of war were swallowed up by the swamp. When we made our way through the swamp with great difficulty and joined the Second Company, Burda's tears could not help but fall, and a dozen of his warriors, who had wounded on their backs, sank in the boundless swamp with the wounded.

I didn't care to count the number of people, so I hurriedly took a company of fighters and escorted them back to the village of Pyatnica to rest, and at the same time ordered Gusev to prepare the second company for battle, set up mortars and heavy machine guns on the edge of the swamp, and prepare to meet Vaskov and them at any time who broke through.

We waited for three or four hours, and the sound of the former gunfire in the jungle opposite the swamp became dense and thin, and at first the sound of our Bobosha submachine guns and rifles could be heard in the sound of gunfire, and then the sound of the gunfire was almost inaudible. Captain Chumak sighed on the side and said: "Listen, the gunfire of our troops is no longer audible, maybe Vaskov and they all died." ”

"Shut up!" Perhaps seeing that my face was pale, Gusev was afraid that I would get angry, so he hurriedly rebuked Chumak: "Comrade Captain, as long as the gunfire has not stopped, it proves that our fighters are still fighting, and they still have hope of protruding from the enemy's encirclement." ”

At that moment, someone suddenly shouted, "Look, someone has come out of the woods." ”

I hurriedly raised my binoculars and looked across the swamp, only to see Vaskov alone, running a few steps with a submachine gun, then turning around and firing a few shots in the back. Without much effort, he ran into the swamp, perhaps running out of bullets, and after a few steps, he threw away his submachine gun and walked quickly towards us. I looked at the woods again, and saw no other warriors except Vaskov, perhaps all of them were killed.

When Vaskov reached the middle of the swamp, the Germans who had chased him from the jungle also began to enter the swamp and chased him from a distance. As he chased back, he shot at the bullet around Vaskov, splashing small jets of water.

"Captain Chumak, what are you still doing?" Before I could speak, Gusev, who had made a decisive decision, gave an order to Chumak on the side: "Machine guns and mortars should immediately open fire and wipe out all the Germans who caught up in the swamp." ”

"Boom!" With a bang, a mortar shell landed in the middle of the enemy's ranks and exploded, setting off a huge column of water, and several Germans around them fell into the water with a puff.

"Machine gun fire!" Following Chumak's order, the heavy machine-gun shooter pulled the trigger fiercely, and a dense stream of bullets rained down on the enemy in the swamp. Seeing that the enemy who rushed to the front fell one after another, the Germans set up machine guns on the shore and fired wildly at our side, so as to cover the soldiers behind them to rush up and support.

Whenever a new enemy entered the swamp, the mortar shells would fall into their ranks and explode, and after five or six explosions in a row, the enemy behind would honestly stay on the shore and not dare to continue to rush forward.

Seeing that Vaskov was still a few steps away from rushing ashore, a machine gun bullet hit him in the back, and as a splash of blood flew in his back, he snorted, leaned forward, and fell headlong into the muddy water.

"Vaskov!" Seeing that Vaskov was wounded in front of me, I couldn't help but scream, and two fighters bent down and ran past me, jumped into the muddy water, and dragged Vaskov backwards by picking him up.

Vaskov was placed in front of us, and Gusev cut his uniform with a dagger. I couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness when I saw the wound on his back that kept bleeding out.

"It's okay, it's just a skin injury, not a bone." Gusev took a first-aid kit from another fighter and said as he bandaged him.

"Comrade division commander," Vaskov, who was lying on his stomach with his head down, said with difficulty, "has the large army been safely transferred?"

Although he couldn't see it, I nodded vigorously and said, "Comrade Lieutenant, don't worry, the rescued soldiers have now returned to the village. You and your warriors are doing well, and you have bought precious time for the transfer of the large army. ”

"Okay, Comrade Division Commander." After dressing the wound, Gusev said: "Comrade Lieutenant should be immediately sent to the medical station, where there are doctors and hygienists who can take better care of him." ”

I raised my binoculars and looked again at the Germans on the other side of the swamp, and saw that they had given up their intention of entering the swamp to pursue us after being hit by our fire, and were cautiously retreating into the jungle. Seeing that the enemy was retreating, my hanging heart also relaxed, and I turned around and ordered Gusev: "The Germans are retreating, and it seems that they are being beaten by us." Captain Gusev, take your men and equipment, and we'll withdraw too. (To be continued......)

PS: Bow and thank the crazy wild thing, P Mouyu, @@@@@@@@等童鞋的宝贵月票支持.