Yesterday, when 400 soldiers were under my command, I had the idea of taking them to attack the German headquarters and capture Guderian alive. But I soon found that the soldiers had too few weapons, most of them were still unarmed, and I did not know what kind of weapons the German troops at the Ludao Defense Command were equipped with, and how the troops were deployed.

Now the newly formed reinforced battalion has 700 men, equipped with a large number of submachine guns, machine guns, and even a mortar company, and is a force that is not weak in combat from any point of view. After the troops were assembled, I returned with them to Volokramsk, instead of going to Tolstoy's estate, where Guderian was. Because I clearly know that even if I launch a surprise attack, it will not have much effect, and the commanders and soldiers of this newly cobbled together unit are not familiar with each other, and the mutual cooperation will not be good, and the combat effectiveness will be greatly reduced. Besides, there are pillboxes, trenches, and tanks around the manor, and with our equipment, it is difficult to end the battle in a short time. Once we are entangled by the defenders, we will be annihilated by the German reinforcements around us. Rather than take such a risk, I should go back and report the situation to Zhukov truthfully, and ask him to send planes to bomb it more conveniently.

With such a large force, I was really unwilling to go back quietly without making a fuss in the enemy's rear, so I especially wanted to find an opportunity to beat the Germans, so as to stimulate the morale of our army.

When the troops marched near the improvised road where we had seen the German mechanized troops two days earlier, I finally made up my mind to organize my troops to fight an ambush here. According to my speculation, the purpose of the German army's creation of such an improvised road in the forest was to mobilize troops and transport materials. It is not possible for large troops to pass by every day, most of the time it is only for small troops or convoys. With the current strength of our army, it is no problem to eat the small units of the German army.

The independent battalion now has four companies, three of which are infantry and one mortar, the battalion commander is Second Lieutenant Ferstov, the instructor Pavlov is the battalion commissar, the commander of the first company Lukin, the commander of the second company Sapochuk, the commander of the third company Resdayev, and the commander of the mortar company Ishaev. Forty other men remained, and a guard platoon was formed, led by sniper Agumint. The reason why I have arranged all the people I am familiar with to serve as conductors below is because I am very familiar with them, and when I am in battle, I can command like an arm; Second, I am somewhat selfish, and I want to use this to cultivate my strength in the army, and it is not a bad thing to be able to have a few troops under my direct command after becoming a big official in the future.

The improvised road was north-south, and I divided my troops into two parts, with Lukin's first company ambushing on the east side of the road, and I leading the second, third, mortar companies, and guard platoons to ambush on the west side of the road.

To fight an ambush, laying mines is indispensable, and Felstov turned out to be the commander of an engineer platoon, and laying mines is his old profession, so this kind of technical work was naturally handed over to him. After all, he is an expert, he can't do it without admiration, and in less than ten minutes, all forty mines were planted.

Before the ambush, I summoned several company commanders to come over and assign tasks, and I issued a series of orders to them based on my knowledge: "Feelstov, you and the 2nd Company are lurking fifty meters from the road, and as soon as the German vehicles enter the ambush circle, you immediately detonate the mines." "Of the mines just laid, the only anti-tank mine needed to be detonated remotely, which is why I ordered him to do so.

"Yes, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." He replied very crisply.

"Sapochuk, after the explosion of mines, the Germans will be plunged into temporary chaos. At this time, the light and heavy firepower of the second company opened fire together, and after a volley of fire on the enemy, the charge began. At such a close distance, because of the obscuration of trees, mortars have no use, so they can only rely on grenades to exert their power, and they must throw bombs while charging to give the enemy maximum fire damage. Do you understand? ”

"Totally understood, Comrade Commander."

"Lukin," I turned my head back to Lukin, who had made a good impression on me for the past two days, "when the Germans are unable to resist the attack of the second company and retreat in your direction, you will lead your troops to attack on all fronts, and you will be sure to annihilate the remaining German troops." Do you understand? ”

"Got it! Comrade Commander," he replied excitedly, and looking at his expression, it seemed that he had long been looking forward to such an opportunity to teach the German devils a good lesson.

"Pavlov," I gave Pavlov the last order: "You and the 3rd Company stay in the middle of the forest, take care of the concealment and care for the wounded, and then come and join us when the battle is over." ”

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," he said with some grievances, "how can I, as a political worker, stay in the rear when all the other comrades are fighting the enemy?" ”

"I put the wounded in the back, and I need someone to calm their emotions, and only you are the best fit for this job." When I was fighting, I didn't like to have a political worker next to me, so I could send him as far as I could.

Two companies with a guard platoon of more than 400 people lying motionless in the snow, all wearing white cloaks, this is a good thing found from the warehouse, which can not only keep out the cold but also achieve the effect of concealment.

Minutes and seconds passed, and two hours had passed since the troops had entered the lurking position, and there was still no movement on the road, and I was already shivering from the cold. Just as I was about to announce the cancellation of the undercover order, the roar of the motor of the car could be heard faintly in the north.

"Coming, coming, Agumint, you listen to the motor of the car, the German convoy is coming soon!" As I spoke, I lifted my binoculars and looked in the direction the sound was coming from.

In my binoculars, I saw a convoy of German cars, with a machine gun on the roof of the cab of the lead car, and the carriage was full of loaded guns, German soldiers wearing steel helmets and gray-green military coats, so there were six trucks full of soldiers.

"Comrade commander," said Agumint, who had been observing the enemy with his scope, and said to me softly, "there are 30 soldiers in each carriage, plus three in the cab, and there are 33 people in one car, for a total of 198 people in six cars. After a pause, he said with some concern: "Although we have twice as many people as them, it will be difficult to quickly annihilate them. ”

I looked at the car convoy that was getting closer and closer, and found that the German vigilance was not high, and the machine gunner in the lead car actually held the machine gun in one hand, turned his head and talked and laughed with the people next to him, maybe they would never have dreamed that they would be accidentally ambushed in their rear. So he said to Agumint disapprehantly: "Don't worry, you see that the Germans are not at all defenseless, as long as our attack is fast, we can end the battle before their reinforcements arrive." ”

The German car convoy drove unnoticedly into the ambush circle of our troops. There was a loud bang on the ground, and the earth trembled, and I didn't have to see it to know that it was Feelstov who had detonated a remote-controlled mine. The poor military vehicle was blown up more than three meters high by a powerful anti-tank mine, and the fragments of the car and the broken limbs of the German soldiers fell from the sky one after another, scattering irregularly on the snow near the explosion point.

The five trucks that followed closely behind stopped, and the machine guns on the roof of the cab roared, and the German machine gunners were aimlessly firing in all directions because they did not know where the attack was coming from.

I heard Agumint pull the trigger next to me, and then I saw the machine-gun shooter in the second car tilt his head back, and then the whole thing disappeared from my view. The co-shooter next to him quickly grabbed the machine gun, and before he could pull the trigger, he was shot in the head by Agumint. At the same time, all the light and heavy weapons of the second company opened fire together, and a dense stream of bullets was fired at the convoy.

Despite the surprise attack, the Germans did not panic, and the well-trained soldiers jumped out of their cars and opened fire in all directions. But many more soldiers were hit by our bullets as soon as they got up and before they could jump out of the carriage, either falling directly into the carriage or hanging headfirst on the compartment. The cab door of the third car opened, and a German officer in a large-brimmed hat stumbled out, looked around in a panic, raised his pistol in his right hand, and shouted at the chaotic ranks. At this time, Agumint wasted no time in firing another shot, and the German officer covered his right shoulder with his hand, sat on the pedal of the door, and did not know where the pistol had been dropped. He struggled to his feet, trying to shout a few more words, but was hit by a bullet flying out of nowhere, clutching his chest and falling headlong into the snow.

"Ulla! Ulla!! The fighters jumped out of the snow, shouted slogans with their weapons in hand, and rushed forward as they ran, shooting as they went, and many of them slowed down as they charged, throwing string-drawn grenades into the German convoys. One of the fighters had just pulled the string, and before he could throw the grenade out of the box, he was hit by one of the enemy's bullets, his body shook, and then he fell silently. A soldier with a gun was about to rush past his corpse when the grenade that fell to the ground exploded, and the charging warrior screamed and fell on his back covered in blood on the snow.

In the face of the charge of our army, some outlaws in the German army also met them with submachine guns, but as soon as they rushed to the edge of the road, they stepped on the mines that Feelstorff had already planted, and after being blown up, they had to retreat and continue to resist stubbornly relying on the cover of cars.

At a distance of fifty meters, the warriors quickly rushed forward and engaged in close combat with the enemy. A scuffle ensued on the road, with the sound of gunshots, the short explosion of grenades, and the screams of those who were shot......

Although the Germans suffered heavy losses, they resisted stubbornly in place and did not retreat into the forests to the east as I had envisaged. Fortunately, Lukin was not a conformist, and he saw that the Germans had not retreated according to the route we had set in advance, so he took the initiative to lead his troops to attack. The fighters of the first company, while rushing onto the road, unfortunately also stepped on a mine that we had planted ourselves. This kind of mine, which explodes when stepped on, could not distinguish between friend and foe, and it also blew down more than a dozen fighters in an instant. However, the attack of the first company became the last straw that crushed the enemy's defenses, and the stubborn resistance of the German troops was soon completely destroyed, the gunfire fell silent, and the remaining soldiers obediently laid down their weapons and surrendered to us with their hands raised.

After the battle, I took the guards to the road, after all, now that I am a lieutenant colonel, there is no need to charge with the troops like a lieutenant. I took Agumint to inspect the battlefield that was being cleaned, and several German soldiers covered in blood were lying on the ground moaning, watching me walk by, they stretched out their hands and opened their eyes wide, and whispered words that I did not understand, presumably trying to save them. Even though they are our enemies, the look in them is heart-wrenching. I turned around and instructed Agumint behind me: "Agumint, you go and arrange a few stretchers to carry these German soldiers together." ”

"Comrade commander, we still have so many wounded to carry, and if there are so many more German devils, I'm afraid we won't have so many manpower!"

"Who said let our comrades carry it?!" I said impatiently, "Didn't you capture even a German prisoner?" These wounded let them be carried. ”

Lukin quickly counted the casualties for me, and the ambush killed 145 Germans, wounded 18, and captured 35. Our troops suffered 47 casualties and 21 wounded, half of which were caused by mines planted by themselves.

I gathered Ferstov, Pavlov, Lukin and some of the platoon commanders, and I excitedly walked two times in front of the queue, then raised the slip of paper with the number of casualties in my hand and said loudly to them: "Comrades, this ambush today is really beautiful. In this battle nearly 200 German devils were wiped out, and we suffered less than 70 casualties. What does this mean? At this point, I paused to see that everyone was excitedly exchanging heads, and no one answered my question, so I had to continue: "It shows that the combat effectiveness of our team is not worse than that of the German devils." As long as you are well-planned and properly commanded, you don't have to pay a huge price to fight a good battle, and you can also destroy a large amount of the enemy's vital forces. ……”