Chapter 550

Although I agreed with trakov that the troops would leave in an hour. But by the time major Oleg finished cleaning the battlefield, burying the bodies of the martyrs, and transferring the wounded to the health camp of the 29th division, more than two hours had passed.

Together with Oleg, who came in a hurry, I bid farewell to trakov, Raskin and klobkin, and left the 29th division for the assembly point of the special battalion.

Far away, I saw trucks carrying soldiers, standing in a long line by the side of the road. The soldiers who will accompany me back to the independent division are lining up next to the trucks under the command of their respective commanders. Looking at the large army of 500 people, now there are less than 200 people left, I can't help feeling sad.

Seeing me and Oleg coming, Captain Pugachev, who was watching the formation of the troops, ran up to us and told us that the whole battalion was ready to leave at any time.

I took a look at Pugachev, who was staring at me, his face waiting for my order. I asked, "Comrade captain, have you written down the names of those martyrs who lay on the barbed wire and died for the army?"

"Write it down." "Sergeant Ivan grasimenko took the lead to lie on the barbed wire, followed by private Alexander krasillov, Nikolay gihonov, leonzi ceremnov and an unknown soldier, It opened the way for our offensive forces. "

I took a look at the four names and a big question mark written on the paper. I frowned slightly and asked, "why is there another soldier whose name hasn't been written?"

"Yes, sir." Pugachev quickly explained: "because the body of another soldier has been destroyed, although we have found many people to identify, no one can identify the martyr."

"Are all the bodies buried?" I continued.

"Yes, sir." This time it was major Oleg who said solemnly, "we buried these five soldiers in a pit and marked them. I think that when the war is over, we should set up a monument at the place where they died to commemorate the achievements of these five soldiers. "

I folded the paper in my hand, put it in my briefcase, nodded and said, "Comrade major, you are right. After the end of the war, we should set up all kinds of monuments in all the places where we have fought to commemorate the martyrs who died during the Great Patriotic War in order to defend our great motherland and our great leader comrade Stalin. " Although I said this in front of my subordinates, I used to flatter the Supreme Commander himself.

"Sir, we can wait until after the war for the memorial." Pugachev said to me with a smiley face, "is it time for us to go? The soldiers are tired today. When they get back to the residential areas, they should have a good sleep, which will help them recover quickly. "

I shook my head and said, "Comrade captain, we won't go back to the residential area. After waiting for the bus, the troops will go directly to the garrison of the guard division, where they will wait for xijerikov and Gaidar."

"Not going back to the settlements?" Pugachev repeated in bewilderment.

"Yes, according to the order of the superior, the settlement must be abandoned." Due to the rush of time, I haven't even had time to tell Oleg about it, let alone Pugachev, who has been on the battlefield. In order to let them understand the reasons for evacuating the settlements, I specially explained to them, "according to the information provided by the group army command, the German army is storming the renok area, and the German army in the orlovka area also shows signs of mobilization, which is likely to launch an attack on the settlements in the short term. General trakov has just given an order for our division to withdraw from the residential area. I have informed major chejerikov to withdraw his troops to the guard area of the guard division and return to our division after joining us. "

"But, sir, why?" Pugachev asked with some incomprehension: "you know, we paid a lot to take this settlement from the enemy. But now, after only holding on for two or three days, we have to give up easily. Is the blood shed by so many sacrificed soldiers in vain? "

"All right, comrade captain." I didn't want to entangle with him too much on this issue, so I told him in a stern tone, "you know, there are only a few hundred soldiers in our residential areas, lacking heavy weapons and solid permanent fortifications. If the enemy bombed heavily with airplanes, we can't support it. Maybe before the enemy attacked, we were all destroyed by the enemy's bombs and shells. It's an order from the superior. It's not allowed to be discussed. Follow it. "

"Yes, I see." Before turning to leave, Pugachev hesitated for a moment, or asked what he thought in his mind, "do we still have a chance to return to the settlement?"

"I don't know," I replied with a gloomy face, but I knew in my heart that the question Pugachev asked was the one that would come to every commander who received the order. Just as I know that the battle of Stalingrad is a war in which both sides have invested millions of troops, and its tragic degree is beyond everyone's imagination, but I can only keep silent and can't be a prophet to tell these upcoming events in advance. When I saw Pugachev standing in front of me and didn't want to leave, I impolitely urged him: "Captain, let your troops get on the bus. It's time for us to start."

When Pugachev saw my displeasure, he gave a military salute in a hurry and ran to the commanders and fighters who had finished the formation. At the same time, he called out in a loud voice: "all aboard

My jeep was at the front of the whole team. At the beginning, no one in the car spoke. After driving in silence for a while, Oleg, who was sitting in the co driver's seat, turned around and asked hesitantly, "Comrade division commander, what should we do next after the troops have withdrawn from the station?"

"According to general trakov's order, after the troops going out to perform tasks return to the garrison, their main task is to teach the new soldiers who stay at the garrison combat experience and help them train, so that the combat effectiveness of the whole army can be rapidly improved." At this point, I would like to ask a rhetorical question: "why, comrade Oleg, is the task clear?"

"It's not very clear," major Oleg said unexpectedly. "The absolute majority of our division's soldiers have not received any military training. It's impossible to improve their combat effectiveness in a short period of time if there is no backbone to enrich their troops. You see, can you ask Comrade General to let other troops support some of our fighting backbones? "

When I heard his suggestion, I was still very excited, but when I thought about it again, I could only sigh and say, "this idea is good, but general trakov will definitely not agree. Nowadays, the casualties of all units of the group army have been greatly reduced. The remaining fighting backbones are precious to the commanders of all units. They are reluctant to give them to others. We should know that as long as there are many backbone fighters in the army, the combat effectiveness can be formed quickly after the recruitment of new recruits. "

Just at this time, the front suddenly came a dense gunfire.

The driver quickly turned the steering wheel and pulled the car to the side of the road. Waiting for the car to stop, the driver turned to me and asked, "Comrade division, maybe the Germans are seizing it with our army. It's too dangerous. Shall we turn back?"

I looked at the outside environment and thought that this is also the rear of our army. How could the enemy come out? Then he listened to the gunfire coming from the front. It seemed that the scale of the battle was not large. He replied to the driver, "no, just stop here and wait for us." Then he patted Oleg on the shoulder and said in a loud voice, "major, let's go down and see what's going on?"

Oleg and I pushed the door open and got out of the car on both sides to see what was going on. Unexpectedly, on the right side of the road is a soil slope with a forest, which completely blocks our sight. We can't see what happened on the other side of the slope.

At this time, the motorcade behind also stopped. Pugachev trotted over with more than a dozen soldiers. From a long distance, he repeatedly asked, "Comrade division, what's the matter? What's the noise of the guns in front of you? "

I shook my head and replied, "I don't know. But judging from the density of gunfire, the scale of the battle should be small. "

At this time, Oleg, who had observed the surrounding terrain, suddenly opened his mouth and said, "Comrade division, let's go up to the hillside and have a look. We can see clearly the fighting from there." Then he said to Pugachev, "Comrade captain, you should start your troops immediately and get ready for battle."

I looked up at the vegetated hillside, nodded, and then said, "Comrade major, take some soldiers with me to have a look." With that, I took the lead and went up the hill.

At the top of the hillside, there are many trees, but the vision is very wide. You can not only observe the enemy's situation, but also not easily be found by the enemy in the distant battlefield. I found a stump and stood up, holding up my telescope and looking at the place where the guns sounded.

About a kilometer to the northeast, there was a garbage dump, where there were smashed tanks and armored vehicles, both our army and German army. Some of the vehicles looked complete, while others were torn down into a mess of parts. A T-34 tank without tracks is stopping in this pile of scrap metal and shelling in the distance. One after another, shells fell around the tank and exploded, causing the broken parts to tumble around. A little further south, on the outskirts of the dump, there are more than a dozen single person bunkers in which people are shooting with rifles and light machine guns. These people did not wear helmets, nor did they wear the uniform of our army. They were all dressed in uniform blue cloth.

Looking to the southwest, there were three German armored vehicles, a dozen tricycles and dozens of German infantry. Perhaps they were worried that they would be hit by the tank fire of our army. Armored vehicles and motorcycles were far away from each other. The machine guns on their vehicles kept shooting at the dump, covering the infantry to leap forward. Not far from the armored vehicles and motorcycles, there was a German mortar position, which was firing shells, but their target was not the individual bunker outside, but the tank in the middle of the dump.

I saw here, heard footsteps behind me, and turned to see that major Oleg had come with some soldiers. When he came to me, I jumped off the stump, handed the telescope to him, and said to him, "there are not many German troops, probably only a few dozen, but there are armored cars and mortars. The number of defenders is very small. In addition to a dozen people, there is also a tank. But what I don't understand is, why did the German army attack a dump? "

Major Oleg stood on the stump, raised his telescope, looked at it only a few times, then bowed his head to me and said, "Comrade division, since I am not wrong, the dump you mentioned should be our temporary armored maintenance base. Don't you see that all the people who are fighting are wearing work clothes?"

"Work clothes?" When I heard Oleg say that, I blushed and quickly turned away from the topic and asked, "major, do you think they can block the enemy's attack?"

Almost without thinking, Oleg shook his head and replied, "according to my observation, these workers are too weak to resist the German attack. You see, the tank guns have been firing for such a long time. Except one or two of them were in the attack line of the enemy infantry, the rest of the shells didn't know where they had gone. Besides, the machine guns of the workers are shooting all the time, but I don't see any German being knocked down by them at all. "

"It seems that we should help them, or they will be wiped out by the Germans." I said to myself. After that, I pulled a soldier and told him, "Comrade soldier, go down the hill immediately and tell captain Pugachev to find more people to help Lieutenant Morozov pull the gun up the hill."

As soon as I finished my command, before the soldiers left, I heard the sound of orderly chanting from below. I took a few steps outside, bent down and looked down the slope. Lieutenant Morozov was directing a group of soldiers to pull artillery towards the top of the slope.

In just a few minutes, two cannons were pulled to the top of the hill by the soldiers. Morozov came up to me, wiped his sweat and asked in a loud voice, "Comrade division commander, artillery company is in position. Please direct the shooting target."

"Good job, Morozov." After a loud compliment, I pulled him to the stump and asked Oleg to give him the telescope. Then I pointed to him and said, "there are three German armored vehicles, a dozen motorcycles and a mortar position over there, covering dozens of infantry and attacking our armored repair station. We can't watch our repair station being knocked down by the enemy, so we have to help them out. Now I order you, when Pugachev's infantry attack the enemy's flank, you will use artillery to kill all the German armored cars, motorcycles and mortars. Do you understand? "

"Yes, I promise to finish the task." Morozov jumped off the stump and gave me back the telescope, so he commanded his men to pull the cannons to find a suitable position and set up the artillery position.

After this period of running in, several subordinates around me have some understanding of my combat style. No, before I gave the order, Pugachev had arrived at the top of the mountain with a company of soldiers. After he asked the soldiers to stand by, he came up to me and asked for instructions: "Comrade division commander, the troops have been assembled. They can fight at any time and wait for your orders."

"Come and see, captain." Although it's about one kilometer away from the battlefield, it's commanding and has a wide field of vision. Even if you don't need a telescope, you can see the situation on the battlefield. I pointed to the German troops approaching the repair station and said to Pugachev, "Comrade captain, your task is to lead the troops to attack from the German side and teach them a good lesson. Don't worry, the enemy's armored vehicles and mortars, Lieutenant Morozov and his Gunners will clean them up. "

"I understand." Pugachev agreed, pulled out his pistol, raised it above his head, and yelled at his men, "brothers, come with me!" With that, he took the lead to walk down the hill. Behind him, hundreds of soldiers with weapons followed him down in silence.

When the troops arrived at the foot of the mountain and walked out of the woods, Pugachev waved his pistol and then took the lead in charging forward. More than one hundred soldiers were not willing to be outdone, and they followed him quickly.

I raised my hand and looked at my watch. I calculated their speed in my heart. It was estimated that in three or four minutes, they would rush in front of the Germans and take them by surprise.

The Germans found them before they reached half the distance. First, the machine guns on the armored cars and motorcycles turned around, then the mortars turned around, and the German Gunners were rapidly adjusting their angles to shoot them.

The enemy's machine gun fire, so that the troops are charging, there are 10 soldiers unfortunately shot to the ground. Before their machine gun fire could do more damage to us, Morozov's cannons opened fire.

This time, Morozov brought experienced gunners to hit a fixed target more than 1000 meters away, with a very high hit rate. In the first round of shooting, a shell hit the armored car in front of the enemy. After the smoke dispersed, I saw that the armored car had been damaged. Another shell exploded next to a motorcycle, and the blast overturned the motorcycle directly. The machine gunner who rolled out of the sidecar rolled on the ground for a few times and then lay still on the ground. It seemed that he was taken away by the flying shrapnel.

After being stopped by the enemy's firepower, Pugachev's troops immediately changed their battle formation and attacked in groups with the squad as the unit. One class lay down and shot to suppress the enemy's firepower, while the other class bent forward; After occupying a favorable position, lie down and shoot again to cover the advance of another class. After using this alternate shield tactics, although they were also killed by the enemy's artillery and machine gun fire, there were not many casualties.

After the Gunners fired in the second and third rounds, all the German armored vehicles were destroyed, and even two or three motorcycles were destroyed. Next, they adjusted the muzzle and opened fire on the enemy's mortar position. I don't know which gun fired the shells, which directly hit the ammunition box of the enemy's artillery position. One after another, the sacrificial shells exploded, which made the German artillery on the position turn upside down. Several machine gunners on motorcycles nearby were also affected by the flying shrapnel, and they fell out of the sidecar one after another. Pugachev's troops took advantage of this opportunity to rush to the place where the enemy parked their motorcycles. After close combat, they killed or captured the Germans on the motorcycles. Next, except for a few soldiers who took care of the prisoners, the rest turned and rushed towards the German infantry who were in a dilemma. Seeing that their armored vehicles, motorcycles and mortars were destroyed one by one, and seeing a group of soldiers rushing down the mountain like tigers, the German infantry thought that they had met a large army of our army, and their taxi morale suddenly dropped to the extreme. After several recalcitrant soldiers were killed by random guns, the remaining 20 soldiers were scared out of their wits and obediently raised their hands to surrender to the soldiers“ Great, we won When Oleg saw the scene of the remaining German soldiers raising their hands to surrender, he couldn't help shouting excitedly. Then he urged me: "Comrade division, since the battle is over, let's go and have a look now, and talk to the workers in the armored repair station by the way." With that, he raised his legs and wanted to follow Pugachev's attack route. I quickly stopped him and said, "major, wait a minute. You're going in the opposite direction. Our jeep is here. It's too far. Let's go by car. " After listening to me, Oleg scratched the back of his head, grinned sheepishly, and obediently followed me down the hill. After completing his task, Morozov also asked the soldiers to help them get the cannons down the hill. When my car came outside the repair station, Pugachev was chatting with two men in tooling. When he saw me coming, he came up with the two men. After the meeting, he first raised his hand to salute, and reported: "report to Mr. commander, the special battalion has successfully completed the task you gave us and completely annihilated the enemy's motorized detachment."“ Well done, Captain Pugachev I took a look at the people wearing tooling next to me. One is a middle-aged man, who looks like a leader. The young man next to me should be his secretary or something. Then I turned and asked Pugachev, "Comrade captain, are these two The middle-aged man nodded and laughed at me, took the initiative to introduce himself and said, "Hello, comrade commander. I'm sharloviev of the armored maintenance station of the front army. This is martnovich, the technical assistant at the maintenance station With that, he reached out to shake hands with me.