Chapter 723

As soon as I hung up the phone, the bell rang again. I put the receiver close to my ear and asked impatiently, "I'm Mr. o'shanina. Where are you?"

After a moment's silence in the receiver, Oleg's cautious voice came: "Sir, it's me, Oleg."

"What can I do for you? Come on

"Well, I heard gunshots and explosions outside, so I came out of the headquarters to see what happened. It turned out that to the east of the fourth regiment's position, it was faintly flashing with fire, as if they were exchanging fire with the enemy At this point, Oleg asked tentatively, "do you need us to send reinforcements?"

"No, commander Oleg. Now it's hard to tell the enemy from us in the dark. You can't help but make trouble when you go. " I refused his proposal without hesitation and said to him sternly, "your responsibility is to strengthen the guard of your position and prevent the enemy from sneaking into your position when they attack the fourth regiment highlands."

After I put down the phone this time, even akhromeyev couldn't hold his breath and asked me, "Comrade division, do you need to send someone to the North highland for reinforcement?"

I rolled a white eye at him and asked in dissatisfaction: "reinforcement? Why reinforce? Gaidar's four regiments now have more than 1000 people. If they can't do anything about one of the enemy's platoons, what's the use of keeping such troops? It's better to simply withdraw the organization. " Seeing my bad attitude, kirilov and bantaileiev looked at each other and closed their mouths. They didn't agree with me.

It took more than half an hour for Gaidar to call again and report to us that most of the enemies who attacked were annihilated, and only a few of the quick footed ones escaped. When I heard that the enemy had escaped, I immediately became anonymous and said loudly to akhromeyev who was answering the phone: "chief of staff, let commander Gaidar come to the headquarters immediately and report the fighting situation to us face to face."

Gaidar, who came to report the situation of the war to us, was not alone. When he walked gingerly into the headquarters, I caught a glimpse of a despondent commander behind him.

When Gaidar came up to us and raised his hand to salute, I looked over his shoulder at the helmeted commander behind him, who, from his badge, was a second lieutenant. I didn't care to salute gedar, so I asked him curiously, "commander gedar, who is the second lieutenant behind you?"

Gaidar didn't look back at the second lieutenant behind him, so he straightened his back and said to me, "report to Mr. division commander. His name is atakuz. He is the platoon leader of the regiment's reconnaissance platoon. Just now he took people to the enemy's position for reconnaissance."

Atakuz, when I heard the name, I heard it as atakuz's pants. I couldn't help laughing. But I immediately realized that this was not the time to laugh. I quickly restrained my smile and asked with a straight face, "tell me, Lieutenant atakuz, how was your reconnaissance tonight?"

Atakuz's face turned red and his head was lower. He replied in a low voice, "I'm sorry, comrade division. Tonight's reconnaissance operation failed."

"Failed?" Without waiting for me to express my opinion this time, akhromeyev was already in a hurry. "Atakuz, it's not one day or two when you become the reconnaissance platoon leader. You have completed so many reconnaissance missions. Why did you fail today?" After criticizing atakuz, he turned to me and explained, "he is also a member of the second lieutenant training team."

I heard that it was a comrade in arms from Volkhov with akhromeyev. My face softened. In order not to make atakuz nervous any more, I said with a kind face: "Comrade lieutenant, please give us a detailed report of your action tonight. In this way, I can judge the cause of the failure of the reconnaissance mission. "

Atakuz looked up at me, nodded, and then began to tell: "tonight, I received the command from the commander to go to the enemy's newly built defensive position to carry out the reconnaissance mission. Before I set out, I carefully observed the situation outside and found that the enemy's defense outside the river embankment seemed not tight, so I took four soldiers along the outside of the river embankment, down the river and quietly approached the enemy's position.

When we were more than 200 meters away from the enemy's position, we still didn't find the enemy's patrol or sentry. I thought the situation was wrong, so I ordered everyone to stop. After careful observation to make sure that there was no enemy ambush nearby, I let the soldiers continue to move forward. In order to get in safely, two soldiers were in front of us to explore the way. The other two soldiers and I kept a distance of 30 meters with them and followed them slowly.

Can not go far, bang a loud bang, like a bomb fell on our side like explosion. The two soldiers looking ahead fell into the light of the fire. One soldier fell directly into the river and was washed away by the river; But another soldier fell to the ground, covering his eyes with his hands, and kept rolling and screaming

Hearing this, kirilov couldn't help asking, "Comrade lieutenant, where did the shell come from? Have you made it clear at last?"

Atakuz shook his head and said with a bitter smile: "when I was lying on the ground with the other two soldiers, I thought to myself that they didn't seem to have been hit by shells. If it was shells, I didn't hear the shrill sound of shells flying in the air. The soldiers in front of me should have stepped on mines. At this moment, a flare rose in the sky. When I saw the situation, I rushed up to the ground and pulled the wounded back to our position under the cover of the other two soldiers. "

"If you step on the land mine, you must have alerted the Germans in the fortification. Maybe they will catch up soon. How did you get out of danger?" Bantai leiev asked curiously after listening to the second lieutenant.

Atakuz took a look at the military rank on bandeleev's badge. Because he couldn't figure out the position of the other party, he could only call him by his military rank: "Comrade Colonel, you are right. Time is not long, more than a dozen German soldiers appeared on the river bank, shouting and chasing us. As I was carrying the wounded on my back, it was impossible for me to walk too fast, so the other two soldiers took the initiative to stay behind to stop the enemy and cover my transfer with the wounded on my back.

When I returned to the highland, because I saw that there was an exchange of fire on the hillside, I was afraid of being injured by mistake. So I had to find a crater at the foot of the hillside to hide. When the battle was over, I carried the wounded back to the position. "

"Did the other two soldiers come back safely?" Asked akhromeyev with concern.

"No, none of them came back..." atakuz could not help but shed tears before he finished his sentence.

"It's not your fault," my nose was sour when I saw a big man wiping tears in front of me for his comrades in arms. "It's all our fault that the commanders underestimated the cunning of the enemy." After pinching my nose, I asked, "what's the situation of the wounded?"

Atakuzlian quickly wiped his tears and answered in a loud voice: "report to division commander, the wounded were shot in the face and chest respectively. They were sent to the health camp. After first aid by military doctors, they were out of danger."

Having said that atakuz failed in reconnaisance, it's time for me to ask gedar how he fought the defensive war tonight. I looked at Gaidar with a straight face, snorted heavily, and asked coldly, "Comrade commander, how many Germans have you wiped out in the battle tonight?"

Gaidar replied awkwardly, "37 people were killed and 11 escaped."

After two sneers, I asked, "how about the casualties of your regiment?"

Although Gaidar blushed with shame, when he heard my question, he could only honestly answer: "149 people were killed and injured, of which 73 were killed and a light machine gun was lost."

As soon as his casualty data were exported, everyone was shocked. Our army, on guard, fought a night battle with the German army, and the number of casualties was two or three times more than that of the enemy. Angry, kirilov pointed to Gaidar's nose and asked aloud, "commander Gaidar, I hope you can give the division an explanation. We had expected that the enemy would send small troops to sneak attack at night. We specially asked you to arrange the guard and two machine guns on duty. We didn't expect that you would be beaten so badly by the enemy. Tell me, what's going on? "

Gaidar looked at me and saw that I was just staring at him without saying a word. He summoned up his courage and said, "Sir, political commissar, please allow me to report the details of the battle to you."

I turned to look around and saw that everyone was standing. I said to them, "what are you doing standing on your feet? Sit down first and let commander Gaidar tell us slowly." With that, I took the lead to the table and sat in my own position.

Seeing me sit down, kirilov, bantaileiev and Akhromeev sat down one after another. Gaidar went to the position opposite me and sat down. Seeing that I was staring at him, he quickly got up again and stood upright opposite me.

"Come on, commander Gaidar," I said calmly, "now let's all sit down and listen to how you explain why there is such a huge ratio of casualties between us and the enemy in tonight's battle?"

"Yes, sir." Gaidar replied in a hurry: "the enemy came up from the east of the highland. As that direction was near the river, it was never the enemy's attack area, so I only put a machine gun on duty. As soon as the enemy appeared, he was found by our machine gun shooter. He shot decisively and knocked down several German soldiers who rushed to the front. The rest of the German soldiers lay down on the spot and threw grenades at the machine gun fire point. The machine gun shooter, CO shooter and ammunition man were all killed in the explosion.

Then, after hearing the news, the patrol team and the German soldiers who rushed into the trench were on fire. There are two shelters nearby, in which there is a multi company unit. If they were all experienced veterans, the enemy could have been easily eliminated, but inside they were all new fighters who had just been added. They had no military training or combat experience. They heard the fierce gunfire and explosion outside and ran out like a nest.

It was because they filled the trenches that the reinforcements I sent couldn't get through. And the enemy fired wildly at these chaotic recruits, and they fell in pieces. Later, when there were not many people standing in the trenches, experienced veterans would step on the bodies full of pits and valleys and rush towards the enemy. "

Gaidar's explanation made me clear the cause of such a wide gap in casualties. I sighed and asked helplessly, "commander Gaidar, how many veterans have been injured and killed besides the new recruits?"

"There were 25 casualties, of which 13 were killed." Gaidar replied briefly and clearly.

When I heard the number of casualties, I had a little balance in my mind. The two battalions newly added to the fourth regiment were more suitable for recruits than for ordinary people in military uniforms. If they had not added to the chaos, we might have wiped out all the German troops. Thinking of this, I asked: "Comrade commander, after the battle, have you taken any effective measures to prevent the enemy from sneaking attack again?"

"Yes, sir." "We laid mines in the direction where the enemy touched us," Gaidar said with certainty. In this case, it is impossible for the enemy to come to our position like this again tonight to harass us. "“ Comrade Gaidar, "kirilov stood up and told him," remember to prepare a detailed map of the distribution of mines, so that in the future, when not in use, we can all safely come out, so as not to blow up our own people. " After Gaidar explained the heavy casualties in the battle tonight, the atmosphere became harmonious. Akhromeyev then studied with him how to seize the time to train new soldiers and quickly form combat effectiveness. Bantai leiev said to me in a low voice: "Comrade division, judging from the failure of reconnaissance tonight. The second lieutenant's reconnaissance team stepped on the mine and alerted the enemy. It may not be possible to approach the enemy's position from the river bank in the future. In my opinion, we should find a way as soon as possible and try to approach from other directions. " As for Bantai leiev's suggestion, I said without saying yes: "Comrade deputy division commander, we used to sneak down the river many times to attack the enemy's camp. The first way we took was to float down the river by boat, and the effect was not bad." As soon as Bantai leiev heard this, he immediately followed my words: "Sir, since we used to take the boat way before, when we reconnoiter the enemy, we can also let the scouts take the boat to the back of the enemy's position to reconnoiter."“ But what about the reconnaissance? " I asked, "they may not be able to use their boats when they return. If they want to walk, they will have to risk passing over the enemy's well defended and minefield embankments. In this way, their lives will be in danger. If they die, the so-called reconnaissance mission will also fail. "