Chapter 808

The battle that followed was far more brutal than I thought.

The German infantry attacking highland 107.5, though attacked by the artillery barracks of Morozov, retreated without any doubt. But not long after, our artillery position in the south of mamayev post was attacked by long-range German artillery fire. Because the hills of mamayev Hill blocked the sight of the German artillery observers, the shells that passed from the top of the hill never hit the target, and they all fell hundreds of meters away from the artillery position and exploded.

When major Morozov saw the situation badly, he immediately asked me for instructions through walkie talkie, saying that the position of our artillery position had been found by the German army, which might lead to German bombers, and asked me whether to transfer immediately. When I got his report, I immediately thought that these howitzers are hard won and the only heavy firepower of our division. If we lose, we will have to pay more in the next battle to hold the position. It seems that it is necessary to keep the howitzers.

As soon as I was about to give the order, I thought of the weak troops on the 107.5 highland. I could not help hesitating. If there were no strong artillery fire to suppress the attacking German army, major Yaming would be very difficult for them to block the German army's attack. When I think about it, I'm in a dilemma.

Seeing that I didn't speak for a long time, Morozov, who was talking to me, was worried. He urged me desperately: "Sir, are you still there? What shall we do next, please give us your instructions! "

When I heard Morozov yelling like death, I said angrily, "what are you yelling about? I'll listen."

Morozov quickly lowered his voice and asked for instructions from me: "Comrade division, you have not said what we should do. Is it to shift positions or to continue shelling the German forces? "

I consider that the howitzers on the artillery position are not towed by trucks or carriages, but by the manpower of the artillery soldiers. The mobility is too poor. If they are really bombed by the German air force, it is estimated that the whole army will be destroyed. But I'm not willing to let the artillery withdraw. After much deliberation, he finally told Morozov: "Comrade major, don't you have six howitzers? For the sake of safety, only three cannons were left to continue firing, and the other three cannons were immediately moved and concealed. Don't hesitate. Act now. "

When I finished my conversation with Morozov and came back to the table from the telephone, kirilov, who had just received a call, looked serious and seemed to be full of worries. I couldn't help asking curiously, "Comrade political commissar, what's the matter? What's the matter?"

Kirilov nodded his head and then said to me, "according to the information transmitted by the group army command, the German army is attacking the defense areas of the 64th and 57th army while attacking our mamayev post. The situation is very bad for us."

I just wanted to ask kirilov why the group army headquarters relayed such information to us. Just as I was about to speak, I suddenly remembered that I was the new deputy commander of the group army. It was normal for them to inform us of the information of the friendly forces. Thinking of this, I shut my mouth.

Kirilov looked at the two female operators in the distance, then suddenly lowered her voice. With the voice that only four division commanders can hear, kirilov asked cautiously, "Comrade oshanina, from the present situation, the situation is very unfavorable to our army. Do you think we can keep Stalingrad

After listening to kirilov's difficult questions, I couldn't help laughing. Although the current situation is good for the German army, the situation is far from as bad as kirilov worried. I comforted him with a smile and said, "Comrade political commissar, you are too worried. Because Stalingrad was backed by the Volga River, the German army could not completely encircle Stalingrad. After the German army's attack along the river bank was blocked, several groups of our army in the city always kept a number of ferries in their own hands and kept the water transportation line behind them. In this way, our army can rely on the water transportation line of Volga River to continuously reinforce the effective forces to Stalingrad city. It was the new troops who came in many times that rescued Stalingrad from the brink of collapse and strengthened the defense of Stalingrad city. Without these new forces, no matter how tenacious our army is, Stalingrad will fall into the hands of the German army sooner or later under the attack of the German army, which has a huge advantage. Don't forget that our division has been replenished several times. If it hadn't been replenished again and again, our division would have been abolished.

In addition, from a strategic point of view, Stalingrad is behind the vast strategic rear of the Soviet Union. The reinforced forces and weapons have reliable guarantee and can accumulate a strong counter offensive force. "

When I made such an analysis, not only kirilov's face showed a smile, but also bantailiev and akhromeyev, who had never spoken, breathed a sigh of relief.

In the following time, the German army launched three more attacks on Highland 107.5, but they all failed. However, the casualties of our army were not small. There were only less than 100 troops left on the highland, so I had to change my mind temporarily. I transferred a reinforced company of three regiments from one regiment and took a truck to 107.5 highland quickly for reinforcement. The artillery position of the Morozov battalion was destroyed by the bombs dropped by the German planes. The three cannons on the position became piles of scrap iron, and about 20 artillery officers and soldiers died in the bombing.

We were discussing whether the German army should send reinforcements to major Yamin again after the fifth charge on 107.5 highland. Basmanov rushed in. He came to me quickly and said in a low voice: "Comrade teacher, something's wrong."

What he said surprised me. The first thing I thought was that the Germans had touched the headquarters of the division? Thinking of this, my eyes immediately cruised around, searching for the position of my submachine gun. If there was to be a firefight, the submachine gun was much better than the pistol that was easy to jam.

Before I could find the location of the submachine gun, busmanov went on to say, "there's something wrong with our sniper."

"What happened to the sniper?" Hearing basmanov say so, I quickly turned my attention back to the commander of the guard battalion in front of me and asked in surprise, "what's the matter?"

"Yes, sir. We sent three sniper teams to the city today, but a few minutes ago, I got the news that two of them were completely destroyed. "

"Comrade captain, what do you mean? What is the total annihilation of the army?" Bandeleev then asked, "you know, each of our sniper teams has three people. How could six people have died? Are you mistaken? "

Regarding Bantai leiev's query, basmanov quickly explained: "Comrade deputy division commander, yes, what I said is true. The news was brought back by lieutenant Vassily, the leader of the third sniper team. " At this point, he said in a low voice, "their team also sacrificed a soldier, only he and the gunner Sergeant Boris came back."

Knowing that so many snipers have been killed, I can't help fighting a cold war. If we can kill so many snipers at once, we can imagine the strength of the other side. When I heard that one of the survivors was lieutenant Vassily, whom I was familiar with, I didn't care whether to send reinforcements to highland 107.5. Instead, I quickly asked busmanov, "where is lieutenant Vassily?"

"Just outside the headquarters."

"Then what are you doing here?" I stood up and gave busmanov a strong push, urging him. "Please bring in lieutenant Vassily. I'll ask what happened."

After a while, Lieutenant Vassily appeared in front of us. I looked him up and down. He was wearing a helmet, a cotton uniform, a raincoat and a rifle wrapped in cloth. Instead of greeting him, I asked frankly, "Comrade lieutenant, can you tell me what's going on here?"

"Yes, sir." Lieutenant Vassily and I had a lot of time to deal with, so he didn't seem nervous and restrained at the moment. He told me what he had experienced: "today, our team, as usual, went to carry out the sniper mission, and there were two other teams working with us. The location of this ambush was in Gogol street. Although it was nominally the defense area of the 13th division of the guards, most of the area was in the hands of the German army, so our three groups chose one place and quietly lurked in the ruins, waiting for the Germans to break into our guns.

Our group seems to have bad luck today. Until around ten o'clock, we still don't see any German. Just when we were disappointed, corporal Nikolay Kulikov, my observer, suddenly found a German helmet moving slowly behind a pile of gravel 100 meters away. He immediately told me what he found. I turned the muzzle of the gun, observed with the sight for a moment, and found that the trajectory of the helmet was very uneven, which should be a fraud.

Seeing that I didn't move, Kulikov was a little impatient and urged me to shoot again and again. When he heard me say that it might be a deception of the enemy, he unbelievedly poked his head out of the hiding place and raised his telescope to observe. At this time, a bullet hit him, he fell to the ground, rolling back and forth in pain, I quickly climbed over to treat him, only to find that his carotid artery was interrupted by the bullet, blood donation gushed out like a fountain, it was impossible to save, I can only watch him die in pain in front of me.

I wanted to find out where the German sniper who killed Kulikov was, only to find out that a team of German soldiers came out carefully from behind the ruins and approached us with guns. Because I was outnumbered, I had to drop Kulikov's body and move quietly with sergeant Boris. "

"Comrade lieutenant, have you found the position of the German sniper?" After listening to his story, I suddenly had the lens of "soldiers on the city". There were a lot of Soviet snipers in it, who became the ghost of this excellent German sniper. Even Vasili almost died several times.

Vassily nodded and said in an uncertain tone: "I think I may have found the location of the German sniper. When we were moving, I found that in the middle of a pile of bricks in the distance, there was a dazzling reflection of the lens. If I didn't see the German team rushing towards our hiding place, I thought maybe I would try to kill this sniper. "

"What about the other two groups?" I continued.

Vassili was silent for a moment, then said haltingly: "Sir, I think they were killed by the same sniper, because almost all of them were shot in the head. You know, these snipers have a lot of fighting experience, but they were killed quietly today. I think they should be snipers who met the German army. "

"What expert is so powerful?" Bantai leiev asked unhappily, "it's so easy to kill our seven snipers."

The sacrifice of seven snipers made my heart ache. I'm more and more convinced that the German colonel who killed many Soviet snipers in the movie is real. It seems that Vasili Zaitsev and his family are really in big trouble. Seeing that Bantai leiev seemed a little distrustful of Vasili's words, I quickly came out to make it over: "well, comrade deputy division commander, stop talking. I believe what the second lieutenant said is true. Maybe this mysterious sniper is the one the German army specially found to deal with our sniper. "

"The teacher has a point." Kirilov, who had not spoken for a long time, suddenly said: "because our sniper troops are developing rapidly, the growing sniper troops have annihilated no less than 1000 enemies in this period of time. Both the newspapers of the group army and the leaflets of the divisions have reported this.

I think it is certain that some leaflets have fallen into the hands of the enemy. The German who suffered a great loss began to study our snipers' fighting methods and began to take positive measures against our snipers. Personally, I think that although we publicize the achievements of our snipers in newspapers and magazines, it can boost our morale, but it also exposes our sniper's combat experience. The result of doing so is to make the enemy know the operational characteristics of our snipers prematurely. As long as we kill one or two of the officers, degan will immediately bombard my predetermined ambush site. "

"The political commissar is right," akhromeyev echoed, "the arrival of this communist sniper has put forward a new task for us: to find him, study his idiosyncrasy and means, wait patiently for the opportunity, and end his evil life with an accurate and decisive shot."

"Lieutenant Vasili," I felt a little helpless in the face of this headache German sniper. I could only ask Zaitsev in front of me, "what can you do to deal with this German sniper?"

Instead of answering my question immediately, Zaitsev asked cautiously, "Mr. teacher, can you give me some time to think about it? I'll go back and discuss with other sniper comrades, maybe I can figure out some way

"In that case, go back first." I readily agreed to his request. At the same time, I reminded him: "don't sit there alone and rack your brains to find a way. You should communicate more with other snipers, especially with your sniper instructor, Captain Grimes. He used to be a German officer. He should know a lot about the training methods of German snipers. Maybe you can get something useful from him. "

Lieutenant Zaitsev nodded, raised his hand and left the headquarters.

Although the mysterious German snipers killed seven of our snipers, they were negligible compared with the situation outside, so as soon as Vasili Zaitsev left, we started to study the defense of highland 107.5 and the night attack tonight.

Because Morozov's artillery position was destroyed by the German air force, and the remaining artillery did not dare to continue to fire, so the German army once again launched an attack on the 107.5 highland, the pressure was much less, and they once rushed into the second regiment's position on the top of the mountain and fought hand-to-hand with our defenders. Fortunately, the second commander, Lieutenant Colonel Oleg, personally led two companies to rush up, and then drove out the German troops who rushed into our fortifications.

As the second regiment dispatched troops to reinforce the 107.5 highland, the southern highland where the division headquarters was located had no other troops except one company of the second regiment and three unsatisfied companies of the guard battalion, and the defense strength of the whole highland suddenly became much weaker. Seeing this situation, akhromeyev asked me, "Comrade division commander, do you think we have so few troops in the highland where we are? Should we draw troops from other regiments to strengthen it?"

Instead of expressing my own opinion, I asked, "Comrade chief of staff, which regiment do you think is more appropriate to deploy troops to strengthen the defense of the Highlands?"

Akhromeyev thought for a moment, and then put forward: "Comrade division, judging from the results of this trip to the north, the results of the first battalion of the third regiment are second only to the first battalion of the first regiment of Nikolay and the second battalion of the first regiment of shereblenny. Do you think we should transfer captain dubrovsky's battalion here? "

"I don't have any opinions," I asked kirilov and bantailiev habitually after I finished this sentence, "political commissar and Deputy teacher, what are your opinions?"

"No problem." The two replied in unison.

"Well, now that we have come to an agreement, let's transfer the first battalion of captain dubrovsky to strengthen the defense of the division's high ground." After I finished my statement, I specially stressed: "as for the three regiments and three battalions that Captain Dragan is the commander of the battalion, the plan for the night attack will remain unchanged. The only difference is that the third battalion is no longer in charge of the night attack task. The chief of staff will call later to make this clear to lieutenant colonel kosga

After dark, the troops led by Captain Dragan divided into three groups and went into Kursky street, Orlowski street and proletarian street to attack the German troops stationed in these areas. Before the troops set out, I tried my best to contact major general rojmtsev, informed him of the whole incident and asked for his assistance.

After hearing my briefing, rodymzev was overjoyed and immediately declared his position to me that he would send special personnel to serve as guides for our troops, so as to avoid the situation that our commanders and fighters would delay their fighters because they were not familiar with the road.

At about 11 p.m., the battle reports about the night attack were continuously transmitted back to the headquarters through captain Dragan's three walkie talkies: after successfully seizing a building occupied by the German army, a company in Kursky street was found by the German army in the process of advancing to other buildings, and the two sides were engaged in fierce exchanges of fire.

In the two company of Orloff street, the situation is almost the same. They captured two or three buildings occupied by the German army without dreading the enemy, and only by means of daggers and shovel. They were finally discovered by German troops when they expanded their fruits, and both sides were relying on the buildings occupied by themselves.

The proletarian Street forces were the third company and some other units of the battalion under captain Dragan's command. They had the worst luck. As soon as they entered the proletarian street, they were found by the German sentry and fired a gun to the police. With the gunfire, hidden in the buildings, ruins and sewers, German machine guns, one after another from these places to our soldiers shot hard.

More than a dozen soldiers rushed to the front and gave their precious lives under the intensive fire of the enemy, while the rest of the soldiers fell down on the spot and shot back from behind the ruins or rubble.

Seeing that we were overwhelmed by the fire, the German army launched a counter charge to the area where the third company was located. They came to the third company in a dense formation in an attempt to defeat our troops. Caught unprepared by the German army, Captain Dragan had to command his troops to retreat while fighting, and then he retreated to the area defended by the 13th division of the guards.

Because of Captain Dragan, they used every building to fight as they retreated. It was only when the floor and clothes were on fire that they withdrew from the temporary position. In this way, it took two or three hours for the enemy to advance less than 200 meters.

At the intersection of red Petersburg street and Communist Youth League street, Captain Dragan's troops joined a small unit of the 13th division of the guards and quickly occupied a three story building at the corner, from which all the approaching roads could be effectively controlled. Captain Dragan ordered all exits to be fenced, and all windows and openings in the walls to be used as firing holes against the enemy.

Seeing such a report, I couldn't help frowning. I thought that Captain Dragan would lead his troops to attack the enemy and get good results. I didn't expect that the company led by the captain was defeated by the German troops stationed in proletarian street. I was so disappointed.

Bantai leiev saw the unhappy expression on my face and asked carefully, "Comrade division commander, Captain Dragan, their progress is not smooth. Why don't you let me take an army to reinforce them

"No, comrade deputy, you can't go." Although I understand that Bantai leiev is also kind-hearted, he does not want to see my first night attack after becoming deputy commander of the group army turn into what it is now, so he tries his best to help me remedy it. Although I also know that if we don't send reinforcements, tonight's sneak attack may turn into a war of attrition, it's a bit too much to make a fuss for a deputy division commander to come out in person. So after I denied his offer, I told akhromeyev: "Comrade chief of staff, call Commander xijerikov immediately and ask him to send a battalion immediately, To reinforce captain Dragan on proletarian street

After receiving my order, shejerikov immediately sent the second battalion of shereblenny to skillfully pass through the crisscrossed streets of several enemy and our defense lines. After arriving at the proletarian street, where the troops were idle, they cleared the remaining German troops in several buildings, and most of them rushed up from behind the German troops who were attacking captain Dragan, The German army was beaten to pieces, and the third company was rescued.

After receiving the war report from shereblenny, I showed a happy smile on my face. I patted the war report on the table and excitedly said to kirilov and bantaileiev: "let's have a look. The commander like shereblenny can use it at ease. As soon as his team went up, it was easy to defeat the German army. At present, the results are expanding."

After I finished, bantailiev added: "Comrade division commander, we should take advantage of the victory to pursue, let the sherebrian camp turn around and develop towards Kursky street and Orlovsky street, and strive to eliminate all the German troops in these three areas before dawn. In this way, first, we can contain the German troops and disrupt their deployment; Second, after exchanging the complete defense area with the 13th division of the guards, our flank safety will be more guaranteed. "

"The deputy division commander's opinion is quite right." after briefly affirming bantailiev's proposal, I gave an order to akhromeyev: "chief of staff, contact captain shereblenny immediately, ask his troops to divide immediately, push forward to Kursky street and Orlovsky street, strive to meet with the friendly forces fighting in the above blocks, and before dawn, Clean up all the German troops in three blocks and hand over the complete defensive zone to the 13th division of the guards. "

At six o'clock in the morning, he excitedly reported to me through a walkie talkie: "report, comrade division commander, after fierce fighting, we have eliminated all the German troops in Kursky street, Orlowski street and proletarian street. At present, two companies of the 13th division of the close guard infantry are entering the above blocks. " After the report, he asked me again, "Comrade teacher, what should we do next?"

"Comrade captain, according to the original order, immediately lead your troops back." After pondering for a moment, I replied to him, "as for the defense of these three blocks, only the two incomplete companies close to the 13th division can't hold. You will send my order that Captain Dragan will lead all the officers and men of the Third Battalion and stay for the time being to assist the friendly defense. "

At the end of the call with shereblenny, I went back to the table and informed kirilov of the results of the second battalion of the regiment. After clearing the German army in the block, I hesitated for a moment and then tentatively put forward: "comrades, I believe you have seen the performance of captain shereblenny. I believe you have no objection to his series of results?"

Kirilov and the three of them shook their heads in unison and replied, "no!"

"In this case," I saw that everyone's attitude was very unified, so I struck while the iron was hot and said, "I think he's only a captain at present, which is a bit unfair to him. So I would like to propose that he be promoted to the rank of captain. Do you have any objection? "

The three shook their heads in order to show that they had no objection. And Bantai leiev looked around and then took the initiative to say, "Comrade division commander, Captain shereblenny has also performed very well in this northward operation and has achieved a series of excellent results. If we just promoted him to captain, wouldn't it be a bit petty? I think it's better to directly promote him to major. Anyway, you are now the deputy commander of the group army, and you have full power. "

"I agree with Comrade bandeleev." Kirilov said: "at present, the commanders of the battalions in the division are either captains or majors. Only shereblenne and basmanov are captains. I agree with Comrade bantailiev's proposal to promote captain shereblenny to major. At the same time, I strongly recommend that captain busmanov, the commander of the guard battalion, be promoted to the rank of major. "

I have always felt very guilty about basmanov's low rank. Now that kirilov has offered to promote him to his rank, I have also agreed.

As soon as we had finished our discussion, basmanov came in from the outside and reported to me, "Comrade division commander, Lieutenant Vasili Zaitsev is here."

Last night, I was thinking about how to capture the three blocks. I had forgotten about the German sniper. When I heard busmanov mention Vassili's order, I remembered this matter and immediately told him, "let him in."

As soon as Vasili Zaitsev appeared in front of me, I couldn't wait to ask, "Comrade lieutenant, after a night's discussion, have you come up with any solution?"

Vassily nodded and replied, "Mr. reporter, I had a heated argument with several good snipers in the shelter. Each of them has published his own suggestions and ideas, which they sum up by carefully observing the enemy's forward positions every day. All kinds of schemes and temptations have been put forward. Although on the surface, what they say is very good, the characteristic of sniping technology is that although others have rich experience, the final result depends on the shooter himself. When you meet the enemy face to face, the shooter should innovate, invent and take new actions every time. Sticking to the rules is suicide for snipers. "

Seeing that he wanted to talk on and on, I interrupted him and asked, "Comrade lieutenant, I asked you to ask captain Grimes for advice. Did you go?"

"Yes, sir." After answering me in the affirmative, Vassily continued, "Captain Grimes asked me a lot of detailed questions after listening to me. Finally, he came to a bold conclusion that the mysterious sniper who killed our seven snipers should be the instructor of a Sniper School in Germany. According to his judgment, the person who can reach this level should be major Erwin Konig, the principal of the school. "

Hearing Vassily say so, I can't help but be stunned. I think it's not the colonel in the movie. How can I become a major now? "What else did captain Grimes say?" he asked casually

"No, the captain said that although he had heard of the headmaster of the Sniper School, he had never dealt with him and could not give me any valuable advice." Vassily shook his head and replied regretfully, "when I got back to my shelter, I got the good snipers together and started talking.

"Where are the snipers from Berlin?" We ask each other questions. I'm very familiar with the shooting and camouflage characteristics of the snipers, and I can easily tell which ones are experienced; Who are the novices; Who are cowards; Who are the stubborn and resolute enemies. However, what is the characteristic of this German "super sniper" is a mystery to me. As it was the first time I met him yesterday, I didn't find any obvious characteristics of him. It's hard to say where he is. It's possible that he often changes positions and is looking for me as carefully as I am looking for him. "

After hearing these words from Vassily, I thought to myself that although captain gramus said that he was not familiar with the headmaster of the Sniper School, judging from the fact that he repeatedly asked Vassily for details, I think he was lying. Maybe he and the headmaster are very familiar friends, but they just don't want to see their friends die under the gun of the Soviet army, so they shirk that they don't know each other. However, as it was only my own conjecture, I did not say it. Instead, I asked Vassily, "Comrade lieutenant, what are your plans today?"“ Mr. report, "Vassili replied respectfully," I'm going to take two excellent snipers out today and let them try their luck with me. Maybe with their experience, we can find some clues. " Although there have been snipers in the independent division for a long time, I'm not a good sniper except Vassily. So I take this opportunity to ask, "Lieutenant Vassily, who are you going to take today?"“ Corporal Morozov and sergeant shaykin, "Vasili said confidently," they are the best snipers in our team. With their company, I believe we can find this mysterious sniper. " Corporal Morozov, that's the first name I've heard. But sergeant shaykin, I am very familiar with him. Last time he was attacked by German troops disguised as our army, he led the enemy away regardless of safety and saved the lives of commander Oleg and me. For his marksmanship, I have some impression that he is an excellent sniper, which is not too much“ Well, now that you've chosen your men, let's go as soon as possible. " Then I reached out to him and said, "good luck to you!"