Chapter 375

A few minutes later, our troops pulled out of the swamp. The team walked through the jungle towards the village of piatnica to the south.

Before departure, Captain Gusev ordered his men to put up a simple stretcher for vaskov, and specially selected four strong soldiers to carry the stretcher.

As we walked, Captain Gusev, who was walking side by side with me at the front of the line, suddenly said to me, "Comrade division, I think something is wrong."

When I heard what Gusev said, it suddenly occurred to me that he would not doubt that vaskov was a German spy, or why the soldiers who were engaged in the task of luring the enemy died and he escaped alone. Thinking of this, I asked coldly, "Comrade captain, what do you think is wrong?"

The captain didn't seem to be aware of the change in my expression and made a serious analysis to me: "Sir, comrade, although we beat the Germans hard just now at the edge of the swamp, they retreated a little too fast. Is there any conspiracy?"

After I found out that what the captain wanted to say had nothing to do with vaskov, I was relieved. It seemed that I thought too much, so I said with disapproval: "when the Germans were hit suddenly, they might think they were ambushed by our army, and they were afraid that the whole army would be destroyed, so they retreated in a panic."

"But..." gushev wanted to say something else, but I interrupted him. I said impatiently: "nothing, but the Germans are not fools. They know that they can't attack us through the swamp hundreds of meters wide without heavy firepower, so they are forced to retreat. Well, comrade captain, let your men speed up the March, get to the village and join the company, and return to the headquarters as soon as possible. "

Gusev reluctantly agreed, and then issued an order to speed up the march to the troops. With his order, the soldiers immediately quickened their pace and made rapid progress towards the village.

Captain bulda and some soldiers were standing at the edge of the trench at the entrance of the village, looking around. They saw us coming out of the woods and trotted to meet us. When he saw bulda coming, Gusev stood still, raised his right hand and said, "stop the troops!" With his command, the marching troops stopped.

Captain bulda ran up to us, raised his hand to salute after standing at attention, and reported: "Comrade division commander, the rescued soldiers have boarded the vehicle and are ready to leave at any time. Please give us your instructions."

I saluted and asked, "is the truck enough?"

Burda shook his head with a bitter smile and said, "because there are too many soldiers rescued and we don't have enough trucks, so I only let the wounded and some weak soldiers get on the bus first, and the rest of the soldiers and guards are still in the village."

"You are right, comrade captain. Let the wounded return to the division headquarters first, and we will leave after the truck returns. " It is undeniable that his arrangement is the most reasonable, so I am not afraid to praise him. After that, I said to Gusev standing beside me, "come on, comrade captain, let's go back to the village together."

At my command, the troops that had just stopped moved on.

At the entrance of the village, bulda told one of the soldiers, "go and inform the driver. You can start."

The soldier agreed and ran away.

At this time, from the air came a faint roar of the motor.

I stopped, looked up into the air and said to myself, "what's that sound?"

"It's a plane, it's a German plane." Gushev yelled in my ear, and then ran to the village, shouting: "air raid alarm, hide quickly!"

With his shouts, bulda came back to himself and ran to the village, shouting: "air raid siren! Air raid alert! All of you get out of the car and hide

The German plane came so fast that the soldiers on the truck began to get off. Three enemy planes had already flown over the village and roared down.

Although I have been an antiaircraft gunner and shot down several German planes, without antiaircraft machine gun and antiaircraft gun, I can neither blow up the MIDI's plane with the three eight big cover like some gods, nor blow up the Japanese plane with a hand grenade like the experts in the drama. The only thing I can do is to lie down on the spot and protect my life.

Three enemy planes swooped and strafed at the village, and bombs were dropped one after another. The smoke of gunfire quickly spread throughout the village. The house that was hit collapsed and was immediately reduced to ruins. The trucks parked on the street were hit one after another and were blown apart. The soldiers who couldn't dodge by the side screamed and fell down.

Maybe I saw many comrades in arms falling down one after another. A red eyed soldier stood in the middle of the street, raised his submachine gun and fired at the enemy plane in the air. But his shooting did not play any role. The enemy plane dived at him, and two long strings of machine gun bullets cut him into two sections.

Seeing this bloody scene, I closed my eyes painfully and buried my head deep in the trench, expecting the enemy plane to leave as soon as possible.

After firing all the ammunition, the enemy plane finally stopped attacking the ground, flapped its wings and flew to the distance.

Watching the enemy planes leave, the village began to ring: "air raid lifted! The air raid is off There was a loud cry.

I got up, walked out of the trench, and walked along the street with a blank face. Looking at the burning trucks, the soldiers who died in various positions, and the wounded who were moaning on the ground, I asked myself, "did I do something wrong? If I wasn't afraid that my capture would be exposed, I wouldn't let vaskov take people to attack the East camp. When it was found that there were hundreds of captured soldiers of our army nearby, I would not have taken the troops to rescue them if it was not for my momentary weakness. If we don't bring troops to them, maybe the Germans won't find out, and they won't attract such cruel revenge. "

Maybe I was so preoccupied that I didn't hear Gusev yelling at me. Later, he grabbed my shoulder and shook it a few times, which made me wake up from my meditation. Looking at the black faced Gusev, I asked cautiously, "Comrade captain, are our casualties serious?"

Gusev nodded painfully and said in a heavy voice: "our trucks were all destroyed. Because the enemy plane came so suddenly, the wounded on board didn't have time to move. Fortunately, there were no casualties outside the village in the second company, and only one platoon in the first company. And those rescued soldiers, probably more than 200 casualties

Hearing such heavy casualties, my heart suddenly sank. Three enemy planes had brought such heavy casualties to our army. If we had another two, we would have lost our army. Thinking of this, I quickly said to Gusev, "Comrade captain, take the troops away from the village immediately, so that even if the enemy plane comes back, we can immediately hide in the woods."

Gusev immediately replied, "OK, I'm going to assemble the team." With that, he ran to the second company at the entrance of the village, because chumak company is the only company with the most complete organizational system at present. If he wants to move quickly, he needs young men like them to help carry the wounded.

As soon as Gusev left, I saw captain bulda limping towards me. I was startled to see him like this. I quickly met him, held him and asked with concern, "Comrade captain, are you injured?"

Burda waved his hand and said, "report to Mr. commander, I've been wiped by shrapnel. It's not in the way. It's too dangerous in the village now. Maybe the enemy plane will come again. You'd better order the troops to move first. "

I nodded to comfort him and said, "Comrade captain, don't worry. I've asked captain Gusev to arrange the transfer of troops. You'd better bandage the wound first."

"All right." With my help, bulda came to the door of an open house, sat on the threshold, took out a first-aid kit from his briefcase, bit it in his mouth, rolled up his trouser legs and began to dress it by himself.

After dressing, he stood up again with my help. First, he said thanks and then said, "Sir, I forgot to tell you something. Before you and captain Gusev arrived at the village, I contacted the division through the company's telephone and asked them to send a truck to pick us up. " At this point, he raised his hand, looked at his watch and said, "in terms of time, maybe in a few minutes, they will be outside the village."

"Great, comrade captain." When I heard him say this, I patted him on the shoulder excitedly and said happily, "well done, you have made great contributions. When I get back to my division, I'll write a report to my superiors and apply for a medal for you. "

Maybe I slapped it too hard and it hurt so much that bulda grinned. Before he could speak, Captain Gusev and captain chumak came in with their troops from outside the village. Gushev stopped in front of us, ordered chumak to take the soldiers of the guard company to rescue the wounded, and then said to me, "Comrade division commander, the situation is very bad. All the trucks have been destroyed. If we want to take so many wounded people back to the division headquarters, we have to walk for at least ten hours."

I laughed, comforted him and said, "Comrade captain, don't worry. Just now, Captain bulda reported to me that before we arrived at the village, he had talked with the division headquarters. The division headquarters had sent a motorcade to pick us up. It should be here soon. "

"Burda, you are wonderful." After listening to me, Gusev slapped bulda on the shoulder with excitement. He's more powerful than me. He slaps bulda to the ground. He quickly went up to help bulda, and at the same time, he joked: "I said, man, how weak you are, you fall to the ground with a tap."

Burda grinned bitterly and did not speak. I quickly explained to him, "Comrade captain, Captain Burda's leg is injured."

"Yes? Where? Let me see. " Gusev said that he would stoop down to examine bulda's wound.

Bulda quickly stopped him, then raised his head and said to me, "Comrade division, that motorcycle is still in good condition. Why don't you go back to the division by motorcycle first. It's too dangerous here. You're the head of a division. You can't stay and take risks. "

"Yes, comrade captain is right. I support him." As for Burda's proposal, Gusev immediately expressed his support, and he also firmly said to me: "Sir, comrade, you'd better go back to the division department first. If you have me here, you can rest assured."

To tell you the truth, the scene that the enemy planes bombed the village indiscriminately just now and our army was unable to fight back made me feel afraid. Now that there is such a good opportunity, I can't let it go easily. But as a division commander, if they just made a proposal, I would agree immediately, which would affect my image in their eyes. So I pretended to be in a dilemma and said, "it's not very good. The soldiers haven't left yet. What's the point of me going first?"

"There's nothing wrong. If you leave now, no one will say anything." When Gusev said this, he summoned the motorcycle and rode with Burda to the sidecar of the motorcycle. I half pushed myself into the sidecar and said to them in a serious manner, "in that case, Captain Gusev and captain Burda, I'll leave everything here to you. Remember to get the troops out of the village as soon as possible. " Then he told the motorcyclist, "Comrade soldier, let's go." Not far from the village, the motorcycle ran into a long line of trucks. The motorcade stopped not far away from us. The door of the first car's co pilot opened and a second lieutenant came down from the car. He ran to me and raised his hand to salute: "report to Mr. division commander, second lieutenant Peskov. On the order of the chief of staff, he led the motorcade to meet the troops carrying out the task, waiting for your order." I saluted in the sidecar, looked at the invisible motorcade, and asked the second lieutenant, "Lieutenant Peskov, how many trucks have you come?"“ Mr. reporter, a total of 35 vehicles have arrived. " It's said that there are thirty-five cars. It should be no problem to load all the people in the village. So I nodded and told Peskov, "Comrade second lieutenant, lead the motorcade forward to meet captain Gusev. They are waiting for you outside the village at this time." The second lieutenant agreed, saluted and ran back to the car. After the team restarted, I let the motorcycle continue to move forward to the division headquarters. After more than half an hour, I returned to the division headquarters. As soon as I got out of the car at the gate of the division headquarters, I vomited into darkness. It's not easy to stop vomiting. Two soldiers on duty came from the side and helped me into the division headquarters. As soon as he entered the headquarters, he saw captain boroda on the phone. When he saw me coming in, he quickly said to the microphone, "Comrade commander, please wait a moment. Mr. o'shanina is back. I'll let her talk to you." After that, he covered the receiver and whispered to me, "Comrade division commander, it's general kolovnikov, commander of the group army." I gently broke free from the support of the two soldiers, waved to them to step down, then swayed to boloda's side, took the phone from his hand, took a deep breath, politely said to the microphone: "Hello, comrade commander, this is major oshanina."