The cannonballs burst into the canopy of the trees, sending branches flying.

The Germans, who were hiding in a single bunker under a tree, were blown up by shrapnel flying everywhere. They crawled out of their bunkers and ran backwards to find safe areas to escape the shelling.

In the face of the weak resistance of the Germans, Captain Kozara quickly led his troops around the flaming wagons, slammed into the enemy's position, and engaged in a brutal white-knuckle battle.

After seeing that the two armies were mixed together, for fear of accidentally injuring my own people, I immediately ordered the artillery to stop firing. Then I called Ugad to the front and commanded: "Comrade Lieutenant, the 7th Company will remain on guard, and you will lead the 8th Company up to help Captain Kozara and destroy the enemy in the position." Remember, move fast! Be fierce! ”

"Understood! Comrade Major, I promise to complete the task! Ugad answered me loudly, then ran a few steps forward, shouting at his men, "Eight companies, follow me!" ”

The reason why I sent the Eighth Company at this time was because I had selfish intentions, after all, they were all my descendants, and they were handy in commanding in wars. As for the soldiers of the Yevgeny regiment, because they were temporarily assigned to me, I am not familiar with the commanders and fighters in the regiment, and those commanders and fighters are not necessarily convinced of me, and the team is not easy to control. So I didn't hesitate to hand over the main attack task to them just now, and now that the overall situation has been decided, I will send my descendants to clean up the mess.

The addition of the Eighth Company became the last straw that broke the camel's back, and the resistance of the Germans collapsed in an instant, except for those German soldiers who were engaged in hand-to-hand combat with our army, and the German soldiers in the distance had begun to flee in groups.

Seeing that the victory was decided, I asked Miducci to assemble the mortar platoon and was about to advance with them and the fighters of the 7th Company when I suddenly heard a shout from behind: "Major Oshanina!" Major Oshanina! Please wait a moment. ”

Turning around, I saw that the division commander, Colonel Anchufeev, and a group of staff officers from the division headquarters were hurrying towards me.

I told Miducci and the Seventh Company to stand by on the spot, and then I trotted forward all the way, saluted and reported: "Report to Comrade Division Commander, Major Oshanina has been ordered to come and listen to your orders, please instruct!" ”

The colonel returned the salute, nodded at me, and said approvingly with a smile on his face: "Comrade Major, what I want to say is: you are good!" As he spoke, he reached out and patted me on the shoulder, ignoring me as I grinned in pain, and continued, "I really didn't expect that you would break through the second line of defense of the Germans in just half an hour." Attaboy! You and your warriors are doing well! ”

I grinned silently, and then asked Colonel Anchufeev: "Comrade Colonel, we have broken through the second line of defense of the Germans. So what's next for us? ”

"The task is clear, Comrade Major." Although Colonel Anchufeev tried to put on a serious expression when assigning the task, the slightly upturned corners of his mouth already revealed the joy in his heart. "Go ahead and take the third line of defense of the Germans and open the passage to the Volkhov River for the main forces of the army group."

I snapped to the ground and replied loudly: "Please rest assured, comrade division commander, I promise to complete the task!" ”

"Go ahead! Major Oshanina. The colonel gently pushed my arm and said earnestly: "Whether the whole army can break through the enemy's siege depends on whether you can quickly break through the remaining German lines. ”

For Colonel Anchufeev's trust, I feel heavy in my heart, to be able to break through the second line of defense of the German army in such a short time, in addition to the fire support of the mortar platoon, there is also a certain element of luck, the Germans did not expect that the Soviet army, which had attacked the first line for a day and suffered heavy casualties, would launch a new offensive in such a short period of time, and we were caught off guard. I can now assure you that the German army in the third line of defense will never make the mistake of taking it lightly again, and the line of defense at this moment must be in full swing.

The third line of defense is different from the first two, and the narrow-gauge railway passes between two hillsides 100 meters apart. The Germans built barricades in the middle of the tracks, with sandbags and wood. The trees in front of the fortifications on the hillsides on both sides have been cut down, and the fire points on the positions have a wide field of vision, which is easy to defend and difficult to attack.

When I saw this scene through the binoculars, I couldn't help but mutter, can such a defensive position be captured with only our little strength and a few mortar fire cover?

Captain Kozara and Lieutenant Ugad stood beside me, also holding binoculars to observe the enemy. Seeing that I didn't speak, the two could only continue to remain silent.

In the end, Captain Kozara couldn't hold it back, and preemptively spoke: "Comrade Major, how do you think we should attack?" ”

I removed the binoculars from my eyes and said slowly, "It seems that the Germans are very well defended, and we need to fire reconnaissance first." Saying this, I turned to Kozara and said, "Comrade Captain, you first take a company and launch a feint attack on the slope on the left. Fight and withdraw, I want to see how the enemy's firepower is equipped. "With that, I called Second Lieutenant Miducci, who was not far away, and asked his mortar platoon to fire two volleys into the hillside to cover Captain Kozara's feint.

The assault began five minutes later, and on the hillside on the left was a cloud of fire and smoke, and Captain Kozara rushed towards the position with a shout of nearly a hundred soldiers.

As soon as they rushed down the slope, the German fire points on the hillside opened fire. A dense stream of bullets rained down on the charging team, and the front row of soldiers was knocked down in unison. Instead of continuing to rush forward stupidly, the fighters in the back lay down on the spot and fired back at the hillside.

I looked at my watch, it had only been a few minutes since the attack began, and I was considering whether to let the lieutenant and them withdraw immediately, or whether to let the second lieutenant's artillery fire two more salvos and let the captain's troops continue to rush forward.

Several shells whizzed down the hillside and exploded, kicking up clouds of dirt, and then another shell hit the barricade in the middle of the railroad tracks, and the blast lifted the human stump and weapon parts high into the air.

"What's going on?" I asked Ensign Meducci in the distance, in a loud voice: "Comrade Ensign, who told you to open fire without permission?" ”

In the distance, Miducci excitedly shouted: "Comrade Major, it was not me who fired the cannon. It's reinforcements, it's our reinforcements coming. ”