Burning Moscow

Rokosovsky put down the phone, looked at me and said, "Lida, you are right. We need to adjust our thinking in times of war." He stood up and said to me again: " Let’s go, follow me to Dovator’s troops and see how they broke through the enemy’s defenses and rescued the besieged 50th Cavalry Division."

　　 The location of the 53rd Cavalry Division is not far from the group army headquarters, just a few minutes' drive away. Not long after the car drove in the forest, I looked out from the car window and saw a black space in the distance. They were all cavalry soldiers riding on tall horses. Almost all of them were wearing black cloaks. The car stopped about 20 to 30 meters away from the team. When we got off the car, a cavalry riding a white horse and wearing a black high-capped leather cap immediately greeted me. I fixed my eyes and saw that it was the army commander. Major General Vator. He arrived in front of us, strangled his horse, and reported to Rokosovsky loudly: "Comrade Commander, Commander of the 3rd Cavalry Army Dovator reports to you that the troops are assembled and can be reported to the enemy at any time. Launch an offense."

"Good job, Dovator!" Rokosovsky praised him loudly, and then said in a commanding tone: "But you are the commander of an army, and you don't need to lead the troops to charge. Let May Colonel Ligne will take the troops up, and when the battle is over, I will personally promote him to the commander of the 53rd Division. As for you, let's go to the observation post with me to direct the battle!"

I very much agree with Rokosovsky’s statement. After all, it’s like charging into battle. Colonel Melnik, who is the acting commander, is more suitable than Dovator. As the commander of the army, Dovator. You should stay in the office to command the troops, rather than charge like an ordinary soldier. Dovator hesitated, and then said to Rokosovsky in an imploring tone: "Comrade Commander, please allow me to explain the task to Colonel Melnik."

　　 "Go, I'll be waiting for you in the observatory." Rokosovsky agreed very readily.

　　 Dovator turned his horse's head back to the front of the line, and I followed Rokosovsky down the trench and walked towards the observation post. There are many machine gun positions in the trenches to provide fire support for the cavalry on the charge. When we passed these fortifications, the machine gun shooters stood up and stood upright on both sides of the trenches and saluted us. Before stepping into the observation post, I looked back at Dovator and saw him holding a saber high in his right hand, speaking loudly to the soldiers. Although they were too far apart to hear what he was talking about, based on the analysis of the soldiers shouting "Ula" from time to time, he must be mobilizing for battle.

　　 The facilities in the observation post are very simple. There is a wooden table in the middle of the room, a battle map is spread out on the table, and two black telephones are pressed on the map. There used to be two or three signal soldiers in the observation post. Seeing us coming in, they quickly stood up and saluted.

　　 While Rokosovsky was sitting at the table looking at the map, I took a telescope and stood in front of the observation hole to observe the enemy. The German position was on the edge of the forest four to five hundred meters away. Due to the short occupation time, it was too late to build strong fortifications, but on the basis of the original trenches, many individual bunkers were dug. The open ground between our army and the German army was covered with a thick layer of snow, so that when the cavalry attacked, their movement speed would be greatly reduced. The cavalry who lost their speed would have to pay a heavy price if they wanted to seize the German position.

　　 At this moment, Dovator ran in from outside, panting, and reported to Rokosovsky: "Comrade Commander, I have made arrangements. Can I start?"

　　 Rokosovsky nodded approvingly, and said, "Let's start!"

"Yes!" Dovator promised, walked to the table, picked up a phone, shook the handle vigorously, then picked up the microphone, and shouted commands inside: "I'm Dovator. Well, I ordered that the army artillery immediately aimed at the German position and opened fire!"

　　The artillery shells exploded before and after the German trenches. The air wave threw piles of mud and snow high in the air, and then the goddess scattered flowers like flowers. Perhaps it is because the cavalry army does not have large-caliber heavy artillery. These low-destructive artillery, although crackling and playing very lively, but I have never seen the spectacular sight of the German army flying across the binoculars.

　　 Just after the five-minute artillery firing ended, the light and heavy machine guns in the trenches rang out, which was to suppress the German positions. At the same time, the shout of "Ula" rang out with a tsunami, and then the sound of hurried horses hoof came in from outside the observation post. Dovator has been standing next to me to observe the enemy since the shelling began, and Rokosovsky could not sit still at this time. He stood up and walked quickly to the observation hole, holding up his telescope to observe the battlefield. Case.

　　The soldiers hung their guns on the horses, wielding sharp sabers in their hands, shouting "Ula", and urging their horses to rush towards the German position. Although the cavalry is charging, their advancing speed is only equivalent to the normal running speed of infantry in a snow-free environment due to the limitation of the terrain. At fifty meters or one hundred meters, the German position was still quiet, as if there was no one. Seeing this situation, I became more worried. I saw the effect of the shelling just now. The Germans didn't have much casualties at all. Why didn't they shoot? In a blink of an eye, the cavalry had rushed to a distance of 150 meters, and our machine gun stopped shooting to prevent accidental injury.

　　 "What's the matter with the German army, why is there no movement at all? If this continues, the cavalry will be able to rush into their position in less than a minute." Rokosovsky also saw something wrong.

　　 Seeing that the cavalry had rushed to a distance of less than two hundred meters from the German position, the German position, which had been silent, opened fire. The bullets ejected from light and heavy weapons formed a dense fire net, and smashed into the charging queue like a storm. The horses rushing in the first few rows fell to the ground with a cry and threw the knight with his back on his back. Some of the soldiers who were thrown out were shot and sacrificed before they fell to the ground. The body fell to the ground and rolled forward for a certain distance before stopping. The soldiers who were lucky enough to be injured or sacrificed just struggled. Getting up from the ground, before he had time to fire his gun, he was overthrown by the intensive firepower of the German army.

　　 The next few rows found that the situation was not right, and they involuntarily slowed down the horse's speed, but it was too late, and they had already entered the German fire range. All the horses stood up first, then collectively fell backwards, sitting on their hips, falling to the side with their feet upside down, throwing the knights off their backs heavily. The cavalry in the back couldn't stop because of inertia, and stepped directly over them, rushed into the circle of firepower of the German army, and soon followed in the footsteps of these comrades. In just a few minutes, hundreds of cavalry soldiers fell in front of the German positions.

Seeing all this, Rokosovsky and I hadn't reacted much. Dovator had dropped the telescope, rushed to the table, grabbed the phone, and shouted at the artillery to order: "Aim The German position, open fire!"

　　As the shells exploded on the German positions again, the firepower to block the cavalry became sparse. The cavalry division's offensive battle formation quickly separated to the left and right, made a large circle more than 100 meters away from the German position on the two wings, and then came back.

Seeing the cavalry division’s retreat, I can’t help but frown secretly. They are not far from the German position. Under the cover of artillery fire, they can continue to rush forward under the cover of gunfire. It may only take a few tens of seconds. Can rush into the enemy's position. But at this time, he suddenly withdrew, and everything was gone.

　　 "Comrade Commander, I will personally take people to the charge this time! Please approve!" Dovator stood in front of Rokosovsky and pleaded. Although I do not approve of the commander’s personal charge, under such circumstances, it would be inappropriate to raise an objection rashly. Therefore, I kept silent and looked at Rokosovsky and saw that he would do something. What kind of decision.

"I was also a cavalry before, and I was very sentimental to this unit." Rokosovsky put down his binoculars and did not directly respond to his request. Instead, he said something to himself: "But the cavalry was in World War I. It has lost its former role. With the emergence of a large number of troops equipped with automatic weapons, rapid-fire artillery, tanks and aircraft on the battlefield, the emergence of a sprawling frontal army, hidden in a bunker and protected by barbed wire, prevented the cavalry from moving smoothly. , The once glorious cavalry force is no longer beautiful." He turned his head and looked at Dovator and said: "My comrade commander, if you want to win the German position, it’s not a matter of relying on it. Being brave is enough, and you need to use your brain."

　　Dovator didn't seem to think he would say this, and asked curiously: "Is there any good way for the commander?"

Rokosovsky pointed to the open ground in the distance and said to Dovator: "You see, the German army has arranged very powerful firepower on the front. This can be seen from the casualties of the cavalry just now. But. If you look again, the retreat unit’s organizational system is still very complete. In other words, the two wings of the German army are relatively weak. When you lead the charge, you can use it as the main breakthrough. Also, you have to remember that when approaching the enemy After the position, you can no longer charge in a cavalry formation, you must immediately order the soldiers to dismount and turn into infantry, creep forward, and approach the opponent's position a little bit. Understand?"

　　 "Understood! Comrade Commander." After Saluting Rokosovsky, Dovator turned and ran out of the observation post.

What Rokosovsky said just now gave me a lot of benefits. After all, he is a man who has fought for more than ten years and has a wealth of combat experience. The problem is clear, and you can discover the German defense line at a glance. The weak link.

　　 A new round of offensive began soon. During this charge, the soldiers did not wield their sabers anymore, but instead held the guns that were hung diagonally on the horses in their hands. After all, this is the era of hot weapons. If you can't rush in front of the enemy, holding a saber and using your bare hands are almost the same. When the troops rushed to the position where they were frustrated last time, the soldiers jumped off their horses, lay down on the ground, crawling forward on all sides, and stopped from time to time. They used the corpses of their sacrificed comrades and horses as bunkers, facing forward. The enemy shoots.

　　 This cavalry change to infantry offensive mode only reduced some casualties. Seeing that the machine gun shooting was no longer effective, the Germans used mortars to bombard the attacking troops. The cannonballs fell into the queue with howling, and many soldiers who were crawling forward were pulled up from the ground by the blast, thrown high in the air, and then fell heavily. Fortunately, the soldier who was not hit by the shells was still crawling forward desperately.

"Comrade Commander," seeing the heavy casualties of the attacking soldiers, I couldn't help but say to Rokosovsky standing next to him: "You can't fight like this anymore, you see the soldiers' casualties are too great. If not If there is enough artillery to suppress the German army, even if we take this position, our people should die."

"I'm all dead, and we must continue to fight." Rokosovsky replied blankly: "This German line of defense separates us from the 50th Division. If we don't occupy this position as soon as possible. , The besieged troops are all over."

　　 Hearing Rokosovsky's words, I had nothing to say, so I closed my mouth obediently, picked up the telescope and looked for Dovator on the battlefield. But I searched it several times and still didn't see his shadow. This is because the cavalry, whether they are warriors or commanders, wear black cloaks. It is really not easy to find someone who is looking for from thousands of people.

　　 Just when I was about to give up searching for Dovator, I unexpectedly saw a white horse and a knight wearing a black cloak lying in the snow 70 or 80 meters away from the observation post. I remember when I came just now, I saw Dovator riding a white tall horse. Could it be him? I turned my attention over there.

　　 After only looking at it for a while, I understood what was going on. It must have been the warhorse that was injured by shrapnel and fell over when it was charging. After falling to the ground, it also pressed one of the knight's legs on its back underneath. The knight was lying on his back on the snow, trying hard to pull out his leg under the horse's body. The horse twitched a few times on the ground, leaped upward, and fell again. The knight took advantage of the short time the horse leaped to quickly move his leg out. The knight seemed to be injured, and after pulling out his leg, he lay motionless on the snow.

　　 Of course, my head was suddenly hot, and I put down my telescope and rushed out of the observation post. After crawling out of the trenches, I bent over and ran quickly towards the knight. When he walked to the knight, it was Dovator. Seeing me appearing in front of him, he squeezed a smile on his face and said, "I was hit by shrapnel in my leg, so I can't move." Without a word, I grabbed his clothes with both hands and dragged him back to observe. Go.

　　 From time to time, shells exploded near me, and the falling mud and snow slammed on me. Although it was extremely dangerous at the time, I didn't even do any evasive actions. I just tried hard to drag Dovator back. After only dragging for more than 20 meters, I was so tired that I could catch my breath. Fortunately, a few soldiers rushed out of the trenches and took their commander from my hand. At the same time, there were two soldiers. I ran back into the trenches.

"Lida," Rokosovsky flew at me as I was sitting in the observation post and panting. "You have to figure out that you are a commander, not a hygienist. It's not a matter of rescuing the wounded. It's up to you to do it."

　　 "Comrade Commander, I'm sorry, I was wrong." I didn't want to excuse anything. I was really too impulsive just now. Seeing Dovator was injured, I rushed out desperately without considering the consequences of doing so. Fortunately, I was lucky and came back intact. However, people are not so lucky every time, maybe because of one's own impulse and lose their lives that day, so I can't tell, so I hurry up and admit my mistake.

　　 The battle went very poorly. After the cavalry was changed to infantry, the attack was still repelled by the Germans. Because it was getting late and the commander Dovator was injured again, no new offensive was organized. Although we no longer launched an offensive, Rokosowski and I did not return to the headquarters of the Group Army. We continued to stay in the 53rd Cavalry Division.

　　 On the 14th, the battle lasted for a day. In the morning, Colonel Melnik had just led the troops to take the position. At noon, under the cover of artillery and aviation, the Germans took the position back. The two armies were engaged in repeated tug-of-wars on this position. From the observation post, I clearly saw that the corpses of the dead on both sides filled the trenches. The 1st Guards Tank Brigade of Katukov, which was replenished in the afternoon, went into battle. Under the command of such a military genius, the victorious Libra inevitably tilted towards us. In the evening, the 50th Cavalry Division, which had been besieged for two days, finally succeeded in highlighting the siege and joined our division.

　　 That night, I still stayed at the cavalry garrison with Rokosovsky, because he had to deal with too many things. In addition to our rescue of the 50th Cavalry Division, we also achieved ideal results in several other locations: first, the student regiment and the 289th anti-tank regiment broke the German siege, and the subsequent two cavalry divisions successfully joined forces; The 79th Infantry Division severely damaged the two German infantry divisions that had come in and held the line of defense firmly.

　　 Rokosovsky and I were in the cavalry garrison and we stayed until the afternoon of the 15th before leaving. This is because Rokosovsky is going back to the headquarters to arrange tomorrow's counterattack. Otherwise, he doesn't know when he will leave.

　　 Before the car reached the headquarters, I heard a dog barking outside, so I rolled down the window probe and looked out. I saw a strange line in the clearing near the church, and everyone in the line was holding a military dog ​​in his hand.

"This should be the anti-tank army dog ​​company sent by Comrade Zhukov." Rokosovsky looked at this strange team with interest, then turned his head and said to me: "I hope they can be as legendary. ~www.wuxiaspot.com~ became the nemesis of German tanks."

　　 The car stopped not far from the line because it saw Ma Lining, the Chief of Staff, standing in front of the queue, talking to a captain. Knowing that the chief of staff would bring the captain into the headquarters to meet, so Rokosovsky and I got out of the car and didn't stop much. We just rushed to the saluting soldiers in return and went directly to the headquarters. Go.

　　As I passed by this unit, I couldn't help but look curiously again, and unexpectedly found that the captain standing next to the chief of staff was looking at me intently. The captain is tall and thin, looks very young, only twenty-five or sixteen years old. Although there is a long scar on his right cheek, it does not affect his handsome appearance in the slightest. I don't know why, when I saw him, I suddenly felt a sense of deja vu. But I went through the young opposite **** I knew in my mind, and I still couldn't remember where I saw this captain officer.

　　 I stopped unconsciously and stood there and looked at the captain. When I saw a smile on his face, my heartbeat speeded up somehow, and my face felt hot.

　　 "Lida!" Rokosovsky may have seen me stop and urged me impatiently in front: "Hurry up, we still have a lot of work to do when we go back."

　　 I promised, covering the violently beating heart with my hand, and following Rokosovsky, I continued to walk towards the headquarters. As soon as I walked a few steps, I heard a rapid running sound from behind, and then a person hugged me from behind. Before I could return to my mind to make any response, a magnetic voice rang in my ear: "Lida Chika, my dear! Is that you?"