In the evening of the next day, while I was waiting for Vasily's return, Leonid Brown, deputy head of the political department of the group army. Nikolaev, guided by Basmanov, walked into our command.

I hurriedly stood up and saluted him, and said with a smile: "Hello, Comrade Deputy Director, welcome to the headquarters of the independent division. ”

Leonid looked at my headquarters and said with a smile: "Colonel Oshanina, this command of yours is in good repair, no matter how dense the enemy's shells are, they can't help you." ”

I saw that Kirillov and Akhromeyev also stood up one after another, and hurriedly pointed to them and introduced Leonid: "Comrade Leonid, let me introduce to you, this is my political commissar Comrade Kirillov, who previously served as the head of the political department of the army group. This is my chief of staff, Major Akhromeyev, from the Volkhov Front. ”

Without waiting for me to introduce his identity to Kirillov, Leonid stepped forward, shook Kirillov's hand, shook it vigorously, and said: "It turns out that you are Comrade Kirillov, and I have heard of you before the 62nd Army. Originally, before my superiors transferred me, they wanted me to be your deputy, but I didn't expect that after I came, I learned that you had been transferred to work in an independent division. ”

Kirillov shook hands with Leonid, looked him up and down, and asked suspiciously: "Comrade political commissar of the regimental level, I don't know who you are?" ”

Leonid remembered that he hadn't identified himself to Kirillov yet, and hurriedly said: "I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce myself." My name is Leonid. Nikolaev. He is the newly appointed deputy director of the political department of the group army. Responsible for the work of the Youth League. Come here today. It was to find out how the work of the Komsomol of the Independent Division was carried out. ”

Hearing Leonid explain his intentions, I couldn't help but chuckle in my heart, secretly saying that almost all the members of the Independent Division were from the Gulag concentration camp and the punishment camp, and there were youth league members in it? Thinking of this, I couldn't help but cast a pleading glance at Commissar Kirillov.

Kirillov saw the embarrassed expression on my face, nodded at me slightly, and then said to Leonid with full confidence: "Comrade Deputy Director, we have just communicated with political workers at all levels. The decision of the Military Council of the Army Group - the spirit of defending Stalingrad to the death - spread to all the units of the independent division. You have arrived just in time, so you can go with us to see if all the troops understand the decision of their superiors. ”

Leonid's eyebrows raised, and he asked rhetorically: "Comrade political commissar, I don't know which position you plan to take me to?" ”

Kirillov's face showed an embarrassed expression, and after hesitating for a moment, he smiled and said: "Comrade Deputy Director, for the sake of your safety, I still have to find a few members of the regiment to come over and ask them to report to you in detail, it's the same." ”

"No, I can't. Comrade Political Commissar. Leonid shook his head and said resolutely: "I will go to the trenches myself." Have a good chat with our commanders. ”

Kirillov thought for a moment and said: "Mamayev Gang is the front line here, it's too dangerous, and I am responsible for your safety." ”

After listening to Kirillov's words, Leonid smiled and said: "Comrade Kirillov, where is the whole of Stalingrad not the front now?" Since the commanders and military commissars can go to the forefront and talk to our commanders and fighters at the forefront regardless of their own safety, I, as their subordinates, naturally have to learn from them. ”

Seeing that Leonid was stubborn, Kirillov no longer tried to persuade me in vain, so he turned to me and said: "Comrade division commander, let's accompany Comrade Deputy Chief to the Second Guard Company to have a look." As far as I know, there is a youth group in the first row, and they had a study and discussion yesterday. ”

Looking at Kirillov's natural tone, I understood that what he said should be the truth, at least if you take Leonid there, you won't get nothing, thinking of this, I nodded approvingly and agreed.

Akhromeyev, as always, remained in the command, and only Kirilov and I took Leonid to the hideout where the regimental group was located.

Coming out of the cave and walking along the traffic trench, Kirillov led us to the door of a shelter. He stopped, turned to us and said, "This is it." With that, he lifted the curtain and walked in.

Before I entered the door, I was always unsure, fearing that Kirillov would lead us into the German hideaway if he was not careful. I lifted the curtain and went in, and found that what I feared had not happened, and that there were seven or eight young warriors in the narrow shelter, and when they saw us enter, they all got up from their seats, and raised their hands to salute us.

After everyone was seated again, Kirillov asked everyone with concern: "Comrades, what were you doing just now?" ”

One of the sergeants sitting next to him quickly stood up and replied: "Report to Comrade Political Commissar, our Komsomol group is in a meeting. I'm the team leader and I'm in charge of supporting the meeting. ”

After the sergeant finished speaking, Leonid took over: "Can you show me the minutes of your meeting?" ”

The sergeant did not know who was speaking, so he turned his inquiring gaze to Kirillov, and when he saw that Kirillov nodded in permission, he quickly turned around and took out a small notebook from a hole in the earthen wall and handed it to Leonid, who was sitting next to me.

When Leonid was looking through the book, I leaned my head over and made a clear reading of the contents with the help of the dim candle light in the room: "Discussion: about the Komsomol members fighting in the table.

Tong Guò Resolution: It is better to die in the trenches than to be a shameful deserter. Not only do you not run away, but you also have to keep those around you from running away.

The regimental leader asked the regimental members: Is there a valid reason for zài to leave the firing position?

The members replied: Of all the valid reasons, there is only one that can be considered, and that is death. ”

After reading the records in the notebook, Leonid closed his eyes and thought for a moment, and then spoke. Here's what he said: "I would like to clarify a question in the statement made by the head of the mission. Here he spoke many times about death, and said that the motherland demanded that we die for victory. He clearly didn't express it accurately enough. The motherland demands that we go for victory. And not to die. Yes. Some will not be able to return alive from the battlefield. Otherwise, it can be called war. And it is a hero to fight with wit and courage, to dedicate oneself in battle, and to promote the early arrival of the moment of victory. A person who can both defeat the enemy and save himself is a two-time hero! ……”

As soon as Leonid finished speaking, Kirillov took the lead in applauding, and at the same time praised him heartily: "Comrade Deputy Director. Or what you said has a level, and it gets to the point. Then he said to the other soldiers, "Comrades, the division commander has said many times to commanders at all levels that every Red Army soldier is the most valuable asset of our troops, and on the battlefield, we should not only consider sacrifice, but also how to destroy more enemies on the basis of maintaining ourselves." ”

"Commissar Kirillov is right." Leonid echoed Kirillov in a friendly manner and said: "I know a young warrior named Alexey. Popov. When the German devils quietly approached him, he racked his light machine gun to the side. Put the submachine gun on the other side. He had a rifle in his hand. There are grenades all around. If a lot of devils attack, he will shoot with machine guns; If there is a devil. Shoot with a rifle; When the enemy crawled closer, he threw grenades. That's how he stuck to his bunker with all the time. ”

"The fighters of our separate division did a fantastic job in this regard!" Kirillov proudly said to Leonid: "The fighters of our separate division fought with resourcefulness, bravery, and gave full play to the effectiveness of the weapons handed over to them by the Motherland. During this period of hard fighting, thousands of commanders and fighters of the Independent Division showed unparalleled bravery, courage, resourcefulness, and mastery of the use of various weapons. ”

After hearing this, Leonid nodded and continued: "The appearance of the independent division is obvious to all in the entire group army. There is now a popular song in our army group called "To the heroes who defend the city", which was written by Sergeant Panov. The lyrics of the song are unpretentious. One of them is particularly popular. It's really like life itself:

The sound of explosions shook the streets and alleys,

The sound of the motor roared day and night.

Rock-solid Red Army soldiers,

Defend both sides of the Volga to the death.

When the comrade was about to die, he said:

Let the enemy always remember,

The 62nd Army never retreated,

Even if it's just one step! ”

"This poem is so well written! The servicemen of the 62nd Army had such a rule: they must not retreat, they can only destroy the enemy and take back the territory of the motherland from the enemy, meter by meter. After Kyrilov's heartfelt compliment, he deliberately turned his head and asked me: "Do you say yes?" Comrade division commander. ”

Before Kirillov could finish speaking, a familiar voice came from the door: "Are the division commander and comrade political commissar here?" ”

"Who? Come on in! Although the voice was familiar, I couldn't remember who it was for a while, so I just shouted outside.

As I shouted, the curtain opened, and two men walked in from the outside, standing in front of us and saluting.

Kirilov looked at the two people who came in, and immediately smiled, and he asked one of them with a smile: "Second Lieutenant Vasily, how is the result of today's battle?" "It's none other than Vasily and his deputy, Boris, who I've been waiting for.

Vasily, who was asked by Kirillov, had a simple smile on his face, he put the sniper rifle on his shoulder, raised his two hands and opened his palms at the same time, and said: "Ten, no more, no less, just killed ten German soldiers." ”

"Ten?!" Kirillov, who had just sat down, jumped up from his position, and although I sat at a distance and did not move, I was still stunned by Vasily's amazing record. Although I understand that he is a familiar sniper in later life, I really didn't expect that he would be able to achieve such good results in his first mission.

But Leonid couldn't figure out what the reason was, so that Kirillov, who had always been very steady, lost his temper, so he approached me and asked in a low voice: "Colonel Oshanina, you have confused me, what is going on?" ”

I pointed to Vasily and introduced him: "Comrade Deputy Director, let me introduce to you, this second lieutenant is the best sniper of the independent division, and he killed 17 enemies with his superb shooting skills yesterday when he participated in the battle of the Krudo Gully with me. After returning to Mamayev Hill, he used a sniper rifle on the southern high ground to kill five German scouts who were 500 meters away. ”

"Wait, Colonel Oshanina." Leonid didn't wait for me to finish. He hurriedly asked, "What did you just say his name?" Vassili? It's called Vasily. Zaitsev? ”

"Yes." For Leonid, the deputy head of the political department from the headquarters of the army group, he called out Vasily's name in one mouth. I was slightly surprised in my heart, and couldn't help but ask curiously: "Comrade Deputy Director, you knew him before?" ”

"I don't know, I don't know him." Leonid shook his head, then took out a newspaper from his briefcase, handed it to me, and said, "But I have seen his name in this battlefield express and know that he is a great sniper. ”

I took the newspaper from his hand. It was found that it was more appropriate to have a flyer than a newspaper. On a sixteen-page piece of newspaper, except for the masthead of the "Battlefield Express," the rest were all kinds of news reports. The articles are very short. But it is a clear and convincing report on those Red Army soldiers who are not afraid of sacrifice to create a victory!

Underneath the report on Vasily was a "Destroy and burn 7 German tanks!" The following report reads: "Red Army soldier Yakov. Shcherbina and Ivan. Nikitin was wounded and did not leave the battlefield. The loyal son of the Motherland continued to fight until he repelled the last attack of the enemy. In less than half an hour, these two brave anti-tank gunners destroyed 7 German tanks. ”

I handed the newspaper to Kirillov, and then instructed Boris: "Comrade Sergeant, tell this comrade from the deputy director of the political department of the group army about your experience today. So that he can publish your heroic deeds in the new issue of our Battlefield Bulletin. ”

"Comrade Oshanina is right, Comrade Warrior. Tell me about your experience of fighting today. Leonid spoke to Boris in a sincere manner, and in order to encourage him to be more detailed, he even threw out a huge pie: "Comrades, you may not know, but the whole country is watching us, watching what happened in the city named after the Supreme Commander himself. The Battlefield Bulletin, published by the Front Command, was rudimentary, but it was not just read by the soldiers who fought in Stalingrad. Some good reports were even picked up by other newspapers in the country, in the Caucasus, in the Crimea, and even in the Urals, the hometown of Second Lieutenant Vasily. Speaking of this, Leonid paused for a moment, and after taking a deep breath, he added with enthusiasm: "Even Comrade Stalin, when he was eating in the morning, could read about your brilliant achievements in the newspaper of the day. As long as he remembers your name, Ensign Vasily, you will become famous in one fell swoop. ”

Leonid's last sentence caused an uproar, and everyone didn't think that a sniper like Vasily would have the opportunity to be remembered by the Supreme Commander himself, so they started to talk about it.

I waited for the room to be a little quieter, and then shouted loudly, "Quiet, please be quiet." Next, I would like to ask Sergeant Boris, the deputy of Second Lieutenant Vasily, to tell you about today's battle. ”

As soon as I finished speaking, there was a round of applause in the shelter. After the applause stopped, Boris, who was flushed with excitement, steadily grasped his feelings, glanced at Vasily, who was sitting next to him with a sniper rifle, and began to tell the story of today's battle: "Before I set off with Ensign Vasily this morning, I was worried that if there were two of us with two guns, we would not be able to get out if we encountered a slightly larger number of enemies, so I called two submachine gunners. In groups of four, led by Second Lieutenant Vasily, we rushed to the ravine of Krudo, where yesterday's battle was fiercest.

Unexpectedly, as soon as we crossed Tskhovsky Street, we found that the Germans had established an offensive position here. They shelled the Crudo gully with artillery and tank guns to cover their infantry charging towards the gully.

When he saw the enemy's tanks and artillery, Second Lieutenant Vasily beckoned a few of us to look for a pile of rubble and hide it so as not to be discovered by the enemy in front. Vasily and I lay on the second floor of a building that had been blown down by two walls, carefully observing the enemy position in the distance, and although we were more than 200 meters away from the enemy, I still felt that my heart beat a lot faster when I observed. ”

"Keep it short." Leonid, who was recording, saw that Boris was a little wordy and couldn't help but urge him.

Boris, who was addicted to speaking, was interrupted by Leonid like this, and suddenly stuttered a little, and couldn't say a complete sentence for a long time. I quickly stood up and walked over to him. Gently pat him on the shoulder. He comforted him and said, "Comrade Sergeant, don't be in a hurry, just tell me all about today's battle in the way you usually speak." Then I smiled and said to Leonid, "Look, Comrade Deputy Director, you just did this, and our fighters don't know what to say." ”

Leonid laughed twice. Then he apologized to us and said, "I'm sorry, Colonel Oshanina, but I was too anxious. Comrade Sergeant, go on, try to be as detailed as possible, don't worry, I will definitely not interrupt you this time. ”

Seeing that the deputy director of the political department apologized to him, Boris grinned silently, and then continued: "I was lying on the second floor and carefully observed, and found that the enemy had five tanks. Three more guns were firing non-stop. The separation between each cannon was wide, and one was farther away from us than the other. All three guns were placed behind the tank. Arranged in a straight line, it forms an angle to where we are hiding.

I saw that the German artillerymen running back and forth next to the artillery were all neat and well-coordinated, and they looked like they were well-trained. I quietly approached Vasily and asked him in a low voice: 'Comrade Ensign, shall we shoot now?' ’

The second lieutenant shook his head and said, 'Don't hurry, wait a little longer, if you open fire rashly now, it will be easy to alarm the enemy.' Alarming the enemy, none of us could escape if their tanks turned around and opened fire on us. ’

Listening to him explain the reason why he couldn't fight for the time being, I was a little anxious, the enemy artillery had more than a dozen people, plus a few tanks, once the Germans discovered our firing position, it was really impossible to get out.

Just as I was about to give up, I saw that Ensign Vasily was engrossed in aiming, and his finger was on the trigger. I was deeply afraid that it would affect him, so I quickly held my breath and looked at him intently.

When he pulled the trigger, the German cannon in the distance opened fire. The sound of the guns being fired drowned out by the sound of the gunshots, and a German officer standing behind the running position with a telescope was knocked down, and I saw with my own eyes that the bullet came out of the back of the head and the front of the head, and the officer fell on his back on the rubble without saying a word. Because there were no other German soldiers in the vicinity of where the officer was standing, he was killed and no one noticed him at all.

After the first shot, Second Lieutenant Vasily quickly withdrew the cartridge case, extended the muzzle of the gun again, and aimed at the next target, which he aimed at a soldier who had come to carry the shell box behind. The soldier had just bent down to pick up a box of shells and was about to stand up straight when the second lieutenant fired again. I saw that the German soldier's head was thrown back, the shell box in his hand was also gone, and the whole person fell heavily to the ground.

Since most of the German artillery was busy firing, no one noticed that behind them, already an officer and a soldier had fallen under the snatch of our snipers.

When the second lieutenant aimed his gun at the back of the enemy artilleryman for the third time, a soldier in the same gun position as the killed artilleryman probably looked back to see what was going on, perhaps because he saw that the shells had not been sent up for a long time. When he saw his companion fall to the ground, he probably thought that the other party had been accidentally knocked down, so he hurriedly ran over to see if he could help. Unexpectedly, he approached, and suddenly found his companion lying motionless in a pool of blood, and when he turned to call the rest of his companions, the second lieutenant fired a third shot. Just then, the enemy's artillery was firing again, and the loud sound of artillery muffled the sound of the second lieutenant's gunfire and the unfortunate soldier falling to the ground. ”

When everyone heard this, they couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, and Kirillov said with emotion: "It's really wonderful." Then he urged Boris: "Comrade Sergeant, don't stop, say, continue to talk." ”

Boris nodded again, and continued: "After destroying three enemies in a row, the second lieutenant aimed at a German soldier standing next to the gun, and it seemed that he was a loader, because he was holding a shell in his hand at the moment. As soon as the shell casing in the bore was withdrawn, he immediately loaded the shell in his hand with his hands and feet. As soon as he stood up and wanted to get new shells, the bullets from the second lieutenant's sniper rifle arrived, and the German soldier who had been shot crooked and pounced directly on the soldier who was pulling the gun rope next to him.

When the soldier saw his companion fall on top of him, he panicked with fright, for he could not understand how his companion could suddenly fall covered in blood. Maybe he thought it was a stray bullet, so he hid his whole body behind the cannon's baffle. Before he could figure out what was going on, the fifth bullet fired by the second lieutenant fell again, and the German soldiers didn't even have time to scream. and lost his life.

After these five shots. Second Lieutenant Vasily put the gun back. I asked him curiously: 'Comrade Second Lieutenant. The enemy next to the other two cannons, why don't you fight? ’

The second lieutenant took me by the hand and whispered to me: 'The enemy will certainly arouse suspicion when he discovers that the gunners of one of their guns are dead.' Not to mention that they will turn the muzzle of the tank over, even if they recruit a group of infantry, it is not something we can handle. Before they found out, we immediately transferred. ’

Although the second lieutenant said so, I was still skeptical. However, since it was an order from the superiors, it could not be discussed, and could only be carried out unconditionally, so I could only follow the second lieutenant and retreat. ”

"Have you been discovered by the enemy?" Leonid stopped the pen in his hand again and asked curiously.

Boris nodded, then shook his head violently. Seeing this contradictory reaction of his, Kirillov said impatiently next to him: "Comrade Sergeant, what do you mean by nodding first and then shaking your head?" We now ask you if you have been discovered by the enemy. You just have to answer that we have. Or not? ”

Boris was silent for a moment, and then replied decisively: "Comrade commissar." Although the enemy was aware of the situation in their rear, they did not notice us. Not long after we evacuated, the enemy tanks turned their guns and launched a blind shelling of the buildings on both sides of the street, and the buildings where we had been lurking were blown up in the shelling. ”

In order to prevent Boris from telling about the battle, he was always interrupted by Kirillov and Leonid, so I preemptively asked: "Next, where did you eliminate the other five German soldiers?" ”

"Report to the Divisional Commander," Boris said with a smug smile on his face, "still in the same position." ”

"What, same location?" Hearing him say this, not only me, but everyone in the room except him and Vasily was stunned. After a long while, Kirillov hesitated and asked, "Didn't you say you retreated?" ”

Boris nodded, and replied, "Yes, we did retreat after we had eliminated five German soldiers. But when the enemy shelling was over, Second Lieutenant Vasily told me that if the enemy did not find any trace of us, he would soon leave. If we dive back again, we might have something unexpected. And just like that, our group was back on the street. At this time, the cannons on the streets and the corpses of the enemy were removed, and a place of concealment was re-chosen, quietly waiting for the new prey to take the bait.

After about half an hour, three German soldiers returned from the direction of the Crudo Gully and walked down the street towards our hiding place. At that time, I quietly asked Second Lieutenant Vasily: 'There are three enemies, which one shall we fight first?' ’

Second Lieutenant Vasily whispered to me: 'When the enemy passes under the building where we are located, kill the last one first, so that it is not easy to attract the attention of the enemy.' Next, take out the enemy who is at the forefront. And the enemy who walks in the middle sees that his companions in front of and behind him have been killed, and in a short time, there will be a momentary hesitation in order to run forward or flee backwards, and then we can easily kill him. ’

When the three enemies passed by our downstairs, Second Lieutenant Vasily decisively shot and killed the enemy who was walking last, and while the two enemies in front of him were panicking, he cleanly killed the enemy who was walking in the front. And the enemy, who walked in the middle, really did not immediately run forward or backward, as the second lieutenant analyzed, but stood in a daze, as if thinking about where to run. Comrade Ensign probably wouldn't have given him so much time to think about it, and decisively shot him to God. ”

The people in the room couldn't help but laugh when they heard Boris speak so humorously. After laughing for a while, Leonid asked, "And what about the two German soldiers?" ”

"We thought that today's victory would end here, but just as we were about to get up and leave, we suddenly heard the roar of motorcycles on the street. I looked in the direction from which the sound came and saw a three-wheeled motorcycle approaching us, with two German soldiers on board. After Comrade Vasily killed the German soldier sitting in the sidecar in a standing position, he did not wait for the motorcyclist to come to his senses and killed him cleanly. (To be continued......)

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