Burning Moscow

The enemy in the building found our temporary artillery position. Apart from anything else, there was a machine gun on the second floor immediately, raising the muzzle to shoot at us. A long string of bullets flew over and fell in front of us, splashing mud.

The artillery company commander hurriedly yelled: "Hurry up and hide." As he shouted, the artillery and ordinary soldiers who had surrounded the cannon scattered one after another. I also squatted down and hid behind the artillery baffle on the left with the artillery company commander.

Seeing that the shooting did not work, the Germans adjusted the angle and continued shooting. This time the shooting was obviously much more accurate than before. The bullet hit the baffle of the artillery as a noise, and one of the gunners couldn't dodge, and unfortunately was hit by the bullet. His body turned a circle on the spot, then raised his hands high, head back, trying to maintain his body balance, but he failed to achieve his wish. After staggering forward, his body fell on the side of the gun. A large amount of blood flowed down the cannon to the ground.

The artillery company commander quickly ordered the soldiers around: "Come on, take him away!"

Following the company commander’s shout, two artillery soldiers bent over and ran to the sacrificed gunner and moved him away from the gun. Then one raised his hand and the other raised his foot, and carried the body to the corner of the road. Decentralized.

The company commander turned his head and glanced at the corpses of his subordinates, then turned around and calmly issued a new command: "Load the shells and prepare to continue shooting."

The effect of this round of shelling was not good. Although the two shells hit the building and blasted two large holes in the wall, they did not eliminate the enemy's firepower. The German soldier with a machine gun on the window and fired at us frantically when the shell exploded. The whole person was so scared that he shrank behind the window and temporarily stopped shooting at us. When he saw that the shell missed the room he was in, he stood up again and continued firing at us.

Seeing that he hadn't hit the target, the company commander shouted at his men: "How did it happen, why two shells didn't hit the target, so quickly reload and kill the enemy's firepower, otherwise our infantry should die."

In fact, if he didn't say it, I could see clearly. The fire from above the enemy blocked the attack path of our soldiers. Although the soldiers were at the time when the enemy's firepower weakened. He attacked again, but before rushing into the building, he was forced to retreat by the fierce firepower of the enemy, leaving behind a patch of corpses and the wounded wriggling and groaning. See this scene. I can't help frowning slightly. This is the impact distance of tens of meters. The Germans used machine guns, submachine guns, rifles and grenades to form a death blockade, and our soldiers could not rush through.

After the command of the artillery company commander was issued, the third round of shooting has not yet begun. I was about to ask what happened. I heard the elderly gunner next to him say: "Comrade company commander, our cannonballs are out."

The shells are out? When I heard the gunner say this, I couldn't help but be stunned. I said that you entered the residential area, and you shot four shells at full capacity. Could it be that all the shells were shot out?

Just wanting to ask what happened, the artillery company commander had already preemptively asked his subordinates: "Damn, we came in with ten boxes of shells, how could it be finished?"

The old gunner replied: "Comrade company commander, when we were lifting the cannon over the obstacle just now, our ammunition box was there, and we forgot to bring it."

"What are you doing in a daze? Why don't you take someone to bring the cannonball box over." The company commander scolded angrily: "Without cannonballs, our cannons are just a pile of scrap iron. We can only nest here and let the Germans take us. When the target hits."

The old gunner agreed and greeted a young soldier squatting next to him: "Hey, you come with me."

Unexpectedly, the young soldier pouted pitifully, rubbed his knees and said aggrievedly: "Comrade company commander, although I also want to move the cannonball box. But look at my leg, when I was lifting the cannon just now, I was caught The baffle hit hard, and now it’s so painful to walk.” After he finished speaking, he yelled again: “Oh, my leg hurts so much, comrade company commander, can you send someone else? "

"Send someone else?" The company commander's face was blue. After saying this, he drew out his pistol without saying a word and pointed it at the young soldier's forehead.

The young soldier was terrified. He quickly reached out and grabbed the company commander’s gun, and pleaded bitterly: "Comrade company commander, don’t you see that my leg is really injured. Don’t you have any sympathy? ?"

I squatted by the side in silence, watching the young soldier's performance blankly. After a glance at me, the company commander said coldly: "On the battlefield, compassion is not allowed. I will give you two choices, either to fetch the ammunition box or die under my gun. Three choices."

The young soldier glanced at the company commander angrily, and muttered: "Oh! You are all a group of beasts, and there is no sympathy at all. Ouch, my legs..." He tried to stand up as soon as his body moved, but he was caught up. The old gunner grabbed him and reminded him: "Do you want to stand up and be the target of the Germans? Climb over." After speaking, the old gunner was lying on the ground, taking the lead and crawling in the direction where we came from. The little warrior sighed, and obediently followed behind and crawled forward.

The front is a T-junction. The building occupied by the Germans is just facing our way forward. If we don't destroy the enemy's firepower and occupy the building, we will not be able to develop to the two wings. Due to the irregular arrangement of the buildings in the residential area, if the building is not in the dead corner of our tank fire, otherwise we don’t need to push the cannon to such a close position to shoot, just the tank fires a few shots. You can destroy all the firepower points in the building.

I looked at the troops in front of me that were suppressed by fire, and I roughly counted the number of people, and found that there were only two hundred at most. You know that Oleg's commando team and Sederikov's support team have a combined number of 1,500 people. I don't know where the remaining thousands of people have gone?

I looked at the German machine gunner who was shooting frantically, and looked at the submachine gun in my hand. I felt that at such a distance, I didn't use a submachine gun to kill the enemy. It would be great if I had a rifle. Think of rifles. I quickly looked around, and saw several soldiers lying on the wall on the left. They were all infantry soldiers who came in with me. The other two were lying motionless there. Blood leaked from under their bodies. They seemed to be Shot by the enemy's machine gun, he has already sacrificed. I saw the rifle of one of the soldiers and threw it just three or four meters away from me. So I put the submachine gun on the ground, and while the enemy's machine gun was shooting, one of them rolled to the side of the rifle. Grabbing the rifle, another test rolled back behind the baffle of the artillery.

My actions terrified the artillery company commander. He repeatedly rebuked me and said, "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, what are you doing? If something happens to you, how will this battle be fought and how will you fight it?"

I opened the bolt and checked it. See that the bullets inside are full. Concern for the artillery company commander. I nodded gratefully, and then explained: "The enemy's machine gunner must be knocked out, otherwise our artillery will not be able to shoot." Finished. I knelt on one knee and raised the gun without even aiming. I fired a shot at the approximate position. After the shot, I hurriedly bent down and pulled the bolt out of the shell.

The artillery company commander who had been observing regretfully said, "Oh, it's a pity that I missed it. It would be nice if I was a little bit to the right."

I quickly lifted up and shot another shot in that direction. After the shot, I quickly squatted down again.

"It's still missed." The artillery company commander didn't even look at me. He was shooting based on the feeling, with a disdainful expression on his face, but he still maintained a minimum respect for me: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I see Don't hit it anymore, it's too dangerous. Let's wait for my soldier to get the cannonball, and let's blast him off with the cannon."

I said to myself: "Where did you shoot the gun?"

"Comrade lieutenant colonel," before the company commander could speak, a gunner lying in front of me had already answered first: "The second shot was shot next to the machine gunner and almost hit him in the left hand, which shocked him. Even the shooting stopped for a moment."

Hearing the gunner's words, I secretly calculated the shooting angle in my heart. After taking a deep breath, I suddenly raised my body and fired a third shot. As I leaned down again, I silently thought in my heart: There are only three things, if I can’t hit it again, I won’t fight it, so as not to be embarrassed in front of these artillerymen, I should wait for the shells to get them and shoot him with cannons. Drop.

Unexpectedly, the gunner lying in front of me straightened up from the ground and said in an unbelievable tone: "Oh my God, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, you are so amazing, you actually killed that machine gunner!"

When I heard the gunner say this, I also straightened up and looked forward. I saw the incredible German machine gunner just lying motionless on the windowsill, and the machine gun that caused us casualties fell downstairs.

Seeing that I really killed the enemy's machine gunner, the artillery company commander raised his thumb at me and praised: "Good marksmanship!"

The old gunner and the timid young soldier ran back with a box of shells each. Judging from the brisk pace of the young soldier, his leg was not injured at all. Just now he was reluctant to perform the task because of greed and fear. Die, I'm afraid that after leaving the shield of the cannon baffle, I will be killed by German bullets.

But now is obviously not the time to consider who is afraid of death and who is bold. The first task now is to take down the building opposite, otherwise our team will not be able to move forward.

Since there was no interference from enemy machine gunners, the artillery could take aim calmly, so the remaining few firepower points were killed one by one like a target.

To be safe, the artillery company commander wanted to order the soldiers to fire a few more shots. But I saw billowing smoke in the rooms where the walls of the building were blown up, and our soldiers rushed out of the hidden buildings on both sides, and when they pounced on that building, I patted them. On the shoulder of the artillery company commander, he waved his hand and said, "Forget it, comrade commander, don't let your soldiers waste ammunition. Let the infantry solve the rest of the battle. Let's move on."

When we moved forward again, I had the opportunity to count what kind of casualties the German machine gun caused to us. One artilleryman was killed, five soldiers from the reserve team were killed and eleven wounded. In just a short time Within a few minutes, we lost nearly two squads of troops.

The sound of gunfire and explosions in the city became a whole, and at the same time, I could hear the sound of window glass breaking and falling to the ground. I wonder if any soldiers were injured by this broken glass falling from the sky?

The battle for the remaining buildings is far crueler than I thought. Our commando. In the buildings on both sides of the road, the enemy condescendingly used intensive firepower to form an insurmountable fire net, blocking the way forward for our commando and support units.

When the artillery company commander saw this scene, he was very anxious. He pointed to the enemy's firepower point that was shooting wildly in front of him and said to me: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, you see, the enemy's firepower point is on both sides of the road. Our shooting angle is not good. . It may not be able to destroy the enemy’s firepower point."

The soldiers of the commando were in groups. One after another, he rushed forward, and one after another was knocked down by the bullets shot from the windows on both sides of the road. Seeing the corpses of our soldiers and many dying wounded lying on the street, my heart suddenly tightened, and my heart said that it would be great if the mortar battery was still here. At least they can produce smoke bombs. Let the smoke block the enemy's sight. To protect our soldiers from approaching these buildings.

When I was very anxious, Gaidar arrived with the guards mortar company I was talking about. Seeing this new force suddenly appeared, I thought I was dreaming for an instant. Rubbing his eyes vigorously, he found that the mortars had indeed arrived. I excitedly hugged Captain Gaidar, and said with a face: "Comrade Captain, you are so timely."

After gently pushing the captain away, I walked in front of the mortar company commander, stabilized my excitement, and told him: "Comrade company commander, immediately fire smoke bombs on the road ahead to cover our army to the building. Start a charge."

The mortar company commander agreed and went to set up a mortar under the rear command. Gaidar walked to my side, just about to speak, suddenly pointed to a short distance and said: "Comrade Commander, look, isn't that Captain Oleg?"

I looked in the direction of my fingers, and saw Oleg coming out of a broken-down building on the left. He was carrying a submachine gun, wearing a steel helmet, not wearing military uniforms, and was naked. His upper body was covered with a bandage, and blood oozes under the bandage. Originally I wanted to blame him for a few words, but when I saw him hurt like this, I swallowed the words that came to my lips.

After he raised his hand to salute me, he reported blankly: "Comrade Commander, the buildings in the residential area, except for the first two buildings, have been captured by my commando."

"Where is Captain Sergeikov?" I only saw Captain Oleg, who commanded the commando team, and Captain Sergeykov, who was in charge of the support unit. I have not seen him yet.

"When the fighting was going fiercely, an enemy armored vehicle rushed out from the north. Comrade Lieutenant guessed that the enemy might have moved reinforcements, so he led eight support teams to the north of the settlement to build defenses. The fortification is to prevent the German army from breaking through in this direction; the other is to prevent possible reinforcements from the enemy.

The smoke bombs from the mortar company exploded on the street, and the buildings on both sides were soon enveloped in smoke, and the firepower points that were shooting stopped one after another. Seeing this situation, Oleg said to me excitedly: "Comrade Teacher, let's just look at me next. I promise to take down these two buildings within half an hour."

"Comrade Captain, wait a minute." Seeing him turning to leave, I quickly stopped him, stepped forward and took his hand and said: "Be careful, and promise me that you must come back alive."

Oleg nodded vigorously, took a step back, raised his hand to pay me a solemn military salute, and solemnly assured me: "Comrade Commander, please rest assured, I will definitely come back alive." He ran to his men without returning.

"Comrade Commander! Comrade Commander!" A series of hurried shouts came from behind him.

I turned my head and saw that it was Operator No. 4 running towards me from a distance. Since we entered the residential area, I have not noticed him, and I don't know where he is hiding.

I asked angrily: "What's the matter?"

"Comrade teacher! Comrade teacher!" I don't know if he didn't hear my answer, or deliberately, or kept calling me.

"What's the matter?" I asked, raising my voice.

"Comrade Commander... Captain Sederikov," the operator No. 4 was out of breath and was so tired that he couldn't listen to it," said Sederikov, saying that there is an important enemy situation to report to you! "

I took the telegraph operator to a safe place, put on the headset, and shouted into the microphone: "Hey, is it Captain Sejerikov? I'm Lieutenant Colonel Oshanina, commander."

"Comrade Commander, I am Captain Sergeikov."

"What happened?"

"The enemy's reinforcements, reinforcements are coming!"

"What? Enemy's reinforcements?" Sergeikov's words startled me. The enemy came too fast, and within an hour, their reinforcements rushed over. "What kind of force is the enemy?"

"I saw two tanks, an armored vehicle, and about one company of infantry."

Lieutenant Sergeikov's troops had no anti-tank weapons and could not stop the enemy's charge. I pondered for a moment, and then asked, "Probably how long will it take to reach your defensive position."

"Ten minutes at most, no more."

After listening to Sergeikov’s report, I felt that the matter was serious. The enemy’s reinforcements arrived before the settlement was completely captured. If the enemy's tank rushes into the settlement along this road. Our troops will be defeated, and measures must be taken to prevent this bad situation from appearing.

As soon as I turned my head, my gaze coincided with that of Gaidar. He asked nervously, "Comrade division commander. Are the enemy's reinforcements here?"

I nodded. He didn't speak, but he had already acquiesced that what he said was a fact.

"Then what shall we do?"

At this moment, I have already thought out the countermeasures. Quickly gave him an order: "Comrade Captain, you immediately return to the starting point of our offensive, and take the five tanks to reinforce us, bypassing the settlement, and rushing to the defense zone of Sederikov to assist them in repelling the enemy reinforcements. Offense."

Gaidar agreed, and then he called two soldiers and ran south along the road to the settlement.

After Gaidar left, I called the company commander of the cannon company in front of him and told him: "Comrade company commander, I order you to immediately let the artillery fire at the firepower points just exposed by the enemy, and we must clear them all as soon as possible. The assault team to cover our rush into the building."

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," the commander of the cannon company said embarrassedly: "If we fired, the bricks and tiles that were blown down would be injured by the commanders below."

"I can't take care of that much," I said involuntarily, "I don't want to eliminate these enemies entrenched in the building as soon as possible. When the enemy's reinforcements break through the defense line of Captain Sederikov and attack the settlement, I am afraid that you will be there. I can't cry even if I cry. Comrade company commander, stop talking and execute the order."

The commander of the cannon company saw that I gave him the command to fire the cannon in an unquestionable tone, so he gritted his teeth and stomped his feet, then turned to convey the command to his men. Actually, I don’t know what he’s worried about, but if we don’t take a decisive approach to the remnant enemy, wait for reinforcements to rush in and exchange fire with our troops in the settlement. The well-trained soldiers and we have trained for two days. The gap between the fighters came out. Don't say that they can count as ten, even if they hit us two or three, our army will be defeated by the loss of morale.

The shelling of the cannon company began. After they fired two rounds at the building on the left, they turned the muzzle and fired at the building on the right. As soon as the sound of the cannon fell, the enemy's firepower point was resurrected, and they felt violently shot at the smoke-covered street. Because of the smog, I couldn't see the casualties of the soldiers in this charge, but the charge under such intensive firepower, coupled with the bricks and tiles falling from the sky, would definitely cause casualties. But the only advantage is that because the enemy can't see the offensive troops of our army, the shooting accuracy is a little bit worse, and the chances of the assault team rushing into the building are much higher.

After about ten minutes, the sound of shooting and explosions from the smoke became sparse, and I quickly asked the cannon company and mortar company to stop firing.

When I was finished with all this, I listened carefully. Most of the gunshots were made by our army using sand submachine guns and Mosin Lagan rifles. It seemed that our army had taken the initiative in the building.

When the breeze dissipated the smoke and let the building reveal its original appearance, the wall on the side of the street was almost destroyed by gunfire, exposing the sparsely beaten furniture in the room. The commandos and the soldiers of the support squad who had cleared out the remnants of the enemy were walking out of the building one after another.

I walked up with the two soldiers and shouted loudly: "Oleg, Captain Oleg, where are you?"

As I shouted, a familiar voice came from the top of my head: "Comrade Master, I am here."

I looked up and clearly saw Oleg sitting on the floor on the second floor, and a soldier next to him was bandaging the wound on his leg. Seeing that he was injured again, I asked with some worry: "Captain Oleg. Are you not seriously injured?"

Oleg waved his hand, grinning silly and said, "It doesn't matter, it's just being stabbed by a German bayonet. It just bleeds a little bit, but it doesn't affect walking."

Hearing that he was okay, I put a bit of a snack, looked up and told him: "Comrade Captain, hurry up, gather all the troops in the city, leave the necessary troops behind, and follow me to the settlement. Reinforce Lieutenant Sederikov to the north. The enemy’s reinforcements are attacking his position."

"What. The enemy's reinforcements are coming?" Oleg was shocked when he heard the news, struggling to get up from the ground, and immediately greeted the soldiers still in the building to gather outside.

Just when I talked to Oleg. The commander of the cannon company ran up to me. Ask me the task: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel. What is our company's next combat task?"

"Are there armor-piercing shells?" Although we have five tanks on our side, if we can add another artillery company, it will not only reduce our defensive pressure. At the same time, it can reduce unnecessary casualties of the troops, so why not do it.

The company commander thought for a while and replied: "Comrade lieutenant colonel, we have armor-piercing ammunition, but there are not many, only two boxes."

"Two boxes are enough." I was worried that he said no. Since there are two boxes, it is more than enough to pack two enemy tanks. "Comrade company commander, you immediately bring both guns and armor-piercing shells, we Let's go to the front and teach the Germans."

"Okay, I'll go right away." After the artillery company commander said, he turned and ran away.

At this time, operator No. 4 came to me again. Seeing him appear, I can't help but frown. I don't know what bad news he has brought me this time. I didn't wait for him to speak, and asked first: "Comrade telegraph operator, why are you alone? Where is the telegraph operator No. 5? As soon as I entered the residential area, I didn't see him."

The operator’s mouth twitched, and then whispered, “He died. He was killed by a German sniper shortly after entering the settlement.”

Sniper, when I heard this term, I was in a cold sweat. Fortunately, I was not discovered by the sniper, otherwise I might have become the result of the sniper's battle at the moment.

The telegraph operator handed the headset and microphone over without any explanation, and said, "Comrade commander, the chief of staff of the group army is online, and he wants to talk to you."

I took the headset and put it on. As soon as I heard Colonel Ruskin’s voice coming from it, I hurriedly reported to him: "Report to the Chief of Staff of the Army Group. I will report to you that after fierce fighting, our division has succeeded. Land has taken the settlement."

"Great, Comrade Oshanina, great!" When Ruskin heard the news, he was overjoyed and even claimed to praise me. Then he asked: "Is any enemy fleeing?"

"Comrade Colonel," I answered him solemnly, "During the battle, an enemy armored vehicle rushed out from the north of the settlement and brought back the enemy's reinforcements."

"What, the enemy's reinforcements?" Upon hearing this news, Ruskin's tone also became solemn, and he asked specifically: "I want to know, what measures have you taken?"

"When the enemy’s armored vehicle just escaped from the settlement, it was discovered by a regiment commander, Sergeikov. He immediately took eight small troops to the north, and built a road that could prevent the enemy from breaking through and stop the enemy. Reinforced defense line. I will now take people to that line of defense and find a way to repel this reinforcement enemy."

"Good job. When you need support, just contact me and I will let the artillery of the group army provide you with artillery support. Now that the settlement is taken down, you must defend it resolutely until the defending troops arrive. until."

When I came to Sergeikov's defense line, I found that the trench they dug temporarily was really shabby. It was just as deep as my knees, and people squatted in the trenches were neither standing nor standing. Although the captain brought more than 400 people when he came, they were spread out in a trench that was several hundred meters long, and the range of each person to guard was about one meter.

The enemy's reinforcements were stopping a few hundred meters away, neither advancing nor retreating, as if they were waiting for something. I watched these uncertain Germans with a telescope for a while, then put down the telescope and asked Sederikov next to him: "Comrade Captain, is there anything about the enemy's reinforcements?"

Sergeikov shook his head, with a puzzled look on his face, and said in a puzzled manner: "I don't know. The enemy's troops were rushing toward us aggressively, but they stopped suddenly when they reached the current position. Moving forward, I don’t know what they are waiting for. Do they still have reinforcements coming?"

I raised my hand and looked at my watch. It was almost noon. I looked up and said to Sederikov: "Comrade Captain, when our tank detachment arrives, immediately organize troops to fight back, and we must defeat this German army."

I don't know how to do it. Forty minutes have passed since I gave the order to Gaidar, but there was still no trace of our tank detachment on the battlefield, and the cannon company did not enter the position.

At this moment, the enemy's forces began to move.

After the two tanks fired two guns on the spot, UU Reading www.uukanshu.com accelerated towards our army position, and the infantry also lined up in a skirmish formation and rushed up behind the tanks.

A few tank shells were shot very accurately. They exploded before and after our trenches. The waves of the explosion pulled several unconcealed fighters from the ground, threw them high into the air, and then fell heavily. Hearing the dull noise when they landed, I don't even know that these soldiers are either dead or wounded.

The tank stopped a hundred meters from our position and began to bombard our trenches with tank artillery, covering the infantry behind to charge forward.

Facing the German soldiers rushing up aggressively, some of the soldiers panicked and started to fire desperately. The gunshots on the ground suddenly rang like beans. There were a lot of bullets, but not many hit the target. I could count the German soldiers who fell on the ground with one hand.

Seeing this scene, Sejerikov quickly lifted his body and shouted to both sides: "Stop shooting, stop shooting. Don't panic, everyone don't panic, wait until the enemy gets closer to fight!" (To be continued... )

ps: Bowing and thanking the book friends:, the dead Hachi, Mo Hanha, and Chu Xiangshui for their precious votes.