Burning Moscow

I took three companies of commanders and fighters along the bumpy dirt road on the south side of Mamayev Hill, and swiftly marched towards the 107.5 heights.

Not long after I walked out, two roads appeared in front of him. One passed through the open land and could directly reach the high ground; and the other one was to the Soviet Avenue. I stood at the street corner and hesitated for a while, then decisively waved to the left and said to the three company commanders: "Let's go here."

Regarding my order, Igratov and Hubbar did not express their opinions casually because they were not familiar with me. And Basmanov, as my guard battalion commander, knew that the soldiers of the three regiments were on the open ground yesterday and were destroyed by German artillery fire, so for the sake of safety, take more detours. He did not complain.

One hundred meters away from the dormitory area, you can see that the dirt road has been bombed with pits everywhere. On both sides of the road are lying dead bodies and wounded soldiers. There are both commanders and soldiers of our army as well as officers and soldiers of the German army. Came here for a fierce battle. The closer we were to the destination, the more dead bodies and wounded soldiers we saw. Hygiene personnel in khaki uniforms were treating the wounded.

Seeing this scene, Basmanov leaned close to my ear and asked in a low voice: "Master, do we need to call in our division's health team to help?"

I waved my hand and denied his proposal: "No, when the fighting in the regiment is over, it is estimated that there are still many wounded people who need the medical team to treat, so there is no need to do so."

I ignored the wounded and victims on the side of the road, and led the troops into Soviet Avenue. On the street, I found several bombed German tanks and many German corpses lying on the street.

I looked at the destroyed tank and the corpses on the ground, standing in a daze, thinking that the German army really rushed here and had fierce battles with the defenders. In this way, the brigade commander and political commissar of the 92nd Brigade felt that the dormitory area could not be kept, and led the people from the brigade headquarters to retreat.

I walked aimlessly on the street with my troops. Passing between the bombed barricade and the collapsed house, I came to the west side of the plateau without knowing it. At this time. I unexpectedly discovered that there was a huge factory building at the foot of the mountain. Although the walls were destroyed in several places, I still saw a lot of officers and soldiers coming in and out.

I didn't know where it was, so I stopped the troops behind and walked in with Basmanov and a few soldiers. After walking into the empty factory building, I saw dozens of stretchers lying neatly placed under an uncollapsed corner of the wall. There were also many commanders with gauze wrapped around their heads, arms, or legs, sitting on a pile of rubble nearby.

Seeing us coming in, a male hygienist walked over and saluted me and said, "Comrade Colonel, this is the place where the 92nd Infantry Brigade casualties are temporarily parked. Do you have anything to do?"

"Are you from the 92nd Brigade?" I asked politely, looking at the haggard-faced hygienist in front of me.

The health officer shook his head and replied, "I belong to the 39th Guards Regiment. The troops were all fired up. I originally followed the order. We should go to the 42nd Guards Regiment to report. But before leaving, the 92nd Infantry Brigade drove over. , The superior changed the order. Let us stay."

"Is there a commander among these wounded?" I thought about my journey along the way, and I didn't even see a high-level commander, so I asked the health officer with a fluke.

The hygienist nodded, pointed to a small room on the east side, and said: "In that room, a commander who was shot in the abdomen is lying in it and resting. He is a navy captain."

When I walked towards the hut. I was still whispering to myself: Captain of the Navy, it wouldn't be so coincidental. Could it be the Captain Le Musef that I met early in the morning?

I walked into the hut and saw one wearing only a big brimmed hat. The commander, dressed in black army pants and covered with gauze around his waist, lay on a concrete platform padded with a blanket. Seeing me entering the door, he put his hand on the stage, sat up with difficulty, and raised his hand to salute me and said, "Comrade Colonel, we meet again."

I didn’t care about paying back the gift, and stepped forward to hold his arms, and said with concern: “Comrade Captain, you are hurt, don’t be so polite, hurry up and lie down and rest.” After finishing speaking, he rushed to follow him. Smanov and the soldiers shook their heads, they immediately understood, and ran over to help the captain lie down again.

After the captain lay down, I stood in front of him and asked, "Comrade captain, how did you get injured?"

Lemusev looked up at me and said in a slow tone: "As soon as our battalion repelled the German attack on the high ground, we received a call from the command headquarters saying that the enemy had rushed into Soviet Street. Let us quickly support it. Get support. After the order, I took my battalion and rushed down the hillside, entered the establishment on both sides of the street, and shot at the enemy on the street from a high position. After commanding the soldiers to blow up a few tanks, I was unfortunately killed. A machine gun from a tank hit, if my soldiers hadn't brought me down in time, I think I would have sacrificed."

"Was the enemy still attacking Soviet Street when you were injured?"

"Yes, when I was carried by the soldiers, the battle continued. But it didn't take long for the enemy's attack to be repelled by us."

"After the battle, has the brigade command sent someone to contact you?"

"No," Lemusev shook his head and gave me a negative answer: "Actually, when our battalion entered the dormitory area and started fighting with the attack on Soviet Street, I sent someone to contact the brigade headquarters. As a result, I sent someone to contact the brigade headquarters. The person I went to did not come back, maybe it was sacrificed, until the end of the battle, we did not get the next order from the brigade command."

Seeing that he didn’t know anything about the retreat of the brigade headquarters, I didn’t continue to ask, but politely said a few words that would allow him to heal his wounds and try to return to the army as soon as possible, so I took Basmanov and the others. go away.

Coming out of the workshop, Basmanov asked me again: "Master, where are we going next?"

I looked up at the high ground that was not far away, and said to it, "Where else can I go? Of course, I went to the high ground to find out why the commander of the 92nd Brigade retreated without authorization."

When we came to the position on the top of the hillside, two sailors greeted us immediately. They asked with a stern face, "Which part of you are you?"

I turned my head and looked at the troops wearing khaki uniforms and blue overalls behind me. I understood the reason for the unfriendly attitude of the sailors to me. Maybe it was because they watched their own brigade commanders become deserters, so they faced those wearing the same uniforms. people. There is a sense of distrust.

I didn't care about their attitude, and calmly said: "Comrade soldier, I am Colonel Oshanina, the commander of the independent division. I was ordered to lead the troops to reinforce you. Where is your highest commander, take me to see him."

The sailor heard me say that. The expression on his face immediately became rich. The two smiled and said to me: "It turned out to be the commander of the friendly army. The troops on the high ground are currently under the command of Comrade Vlasov, the director of the political department of the brigade. We will take you to see him."

When we showed up at Vlasov’s command post, he was taken aback for a moment, and then he recognized who I was. He asked politely and distancingly: "Comrade Colonel, may I ask if you have anything to do here?"

"I was ordered to reinforce you."

"Ordered to reinforce?" Vlasov asked unexpectedly: "Whose order?"

"Command of General Trikov, commander of the group army, and General Krylov, chief of staff."

Although I have already explained my intention. But Vlasov still said in a skeptical tone: "Comrade Colonel, please allow me to say that in today’s daytime battle, in order to defend this position, the number of casualties of our brigade exceeded 1,500. If I will now If the position is handed over to you, will you confirm that your troops can hold here?"

Regarding Vlasov’s doubts, Basmanov wanted to come forward to argue, but I stopped him. I fixed my eyes on Vlasov, and said lightly: "Comrade Vlasov, I want to tell you one thing. My teacher has sent troops twice to serve as defense for this highland since it was stationed in Mamayev Hill. Several battles proved that the Germans had never moved forward except in front of our division’s position, dropping piles of corpses, burning tanks, and armored vehicles."

Seeing Vlasov's face, it flushed with my words. Knowing that he is a sailor commander who values ​​honor above all else, I quickly set him up a step: "Of course, in order to defend the position, my division's troops also paid a lot of casualties. Just yesterday, I sent troops to reinforce the high ground. Just when I entered the open ground, it was because of the coverage of the enemy’s artillery fire. All the heroic sacrifices were made."

We were talking when suddenly a sailor broke into the command post. He hurriedly shouted: "Report to Comrade Director of the Political Department. The situation is not good. The enemy's troops are advancing towards us. It seems that they want to attack us again."

"How many troops does the enemy have?" Vlasov and I asked in unison.

After glancing at me with a strange look, the sailor continued to report to Vlasov: "There are eight tanks, followed by a multi-company infantry, and several armored vehicles."

"Take me," said Vlasov, grabbing the pistol lying on the table and going out.

I hurriedly stopped in front of him and said to him: "Comrade Vlasov, our troops are now taking over the position. Let me take care of this matter."

Unexpectedly, he actually said to me righteously: "I'm sorry, comrade colonel, according to the regulations, I have not officially handed over defense to you, so this battle can only be completed by my troops."

"I will send an anti-tank rifle company to cooperate with you and try to get rid of the enemy's tank first, so that when we fight the enemy infantry, we can relax."

"Comrade Colonel, it is necessary for me to remind you that before I formally hand over the position to you, it is up to me to decide how to fight." After that, he called the soldier who reported the news and left the command post.

Seeing Vlasov's back, I really couldn't laugh or cry. I secretly cursed that these old guys were short-sighted and lacking in their heads. It's all this time. Is it important to hand over defense? I didn't think about how to beat the enemy back, but always cling to the rigid rules. It would be strange to win the battle in this way.

Basmanov walked to my side and asked carefully, "Master, what should we do?"

Although Vlasov didn't know how to promote, I couldn't stand by, so I ordered Basmanov: "Order the troops to enter the position and be ready for battle."

"But the sailor's side?" Basmanov felt a little embarrassed about Vlasov's attitude just now.

"Regardless of him, follow my orders."

I walked out of the command post and saw Basmanov commanding the guard company, anti-tank rifle company, and militia company into the position. On the other hand, Vlasov led thirty or forty soldiers running down the mountain, and it seemed that they wanted to compete with the Germans at the foot of the mountain.

Due to the bombardment of enemy aircraft and artillery, there was no decent fortification on the top of the hillside. Except for a few short trenches that were considered complete, the rest of the area was destroyed by bombing, so the absolute majority of the soldiers were hidden in the crater.

Vlasov took his men with him. When they came to the foot of the mountain, they also jumped into the crater at the foot of the mountain. Or hiding in a wrecked tank.

The four fast-driving tanks were already less than a hundred meters away from them, and there were fifty or sixty soldiers trotting behind the tanks and running towards the high ground.

I walked up to Hubbard and asked him loudly, "Comrade Captain, can I hit the enemy's tank so far?"

Hubbar checked the distance visually, and then replied that I said, "Report to the commander. The enemy's tank has entered our range, but the weather is getting darker, and the soldier's shooting accuracy may be affected."

With a wave of my hand, I said impatiently: "I can't take care of so many. Two dozen anti-tank rifles will fire together, and you can always hit two. Captain, immediately give your soldiers an order to face the enemy tanks. shooting."

Hubbar agreed and ran away. At this moment, Vlasov at the foot of the hillside had ordered the soldiers to open fire, and dense bullets hit the body of the tank. There was only a series of sparks. However, the soldiers who followed did not have that good luck. They were knocked down a dozen, and the rest hurriedly shrank behind the tank. To avoid the bullets of our army.

I raised my binoculars and looked down. I saw two soldiers crawling out of the crater and crawling towards the tank. When they were only ten meters away from the tank, the two suddenly raised their hands and threw the anti-tank grenade in their hands. Among the tanks that were rushing, two of the tanks lit up on their bodies, dragged heavy smoke and drove forward for a certain distance, then stopped, and then the driver pushed away the top hatch of the turret from the bottom of the car or the turret. , Turned around and fled back.

Seeing his companion exploded and caught fire. The other two tanks slowed down, together with the four tanks behind. The gun was fired at Vlasov's hidden place. Due to the short distance, the sailors did not have strong fortifications. The German tank guns were almost empty, and each shot would kill one or two sailors.

Seeing the continuous casualties of the sailors, I yelled at Huber in the distance: "Captain Huber, what are you doing, haven't you seen the enemy's tank shelling our sailors?"

"Comrade Commander, please wait a moment, we will fire right away!" Seeing that I was furious, Huber quickly defended: "The soldiers are choosing the shooting position. They can shoot at most in another minute."

Before I could get angry at Hubbar, Basmanov suddenly screamed: "Master, look at it, there are troops behind us coming up?"

Are there troops coming up? Hearing Basmanov's words, I couldn't help but stunned, saying that it was my own unit, but except for the commanders of the three companies I brought, I didn't notify the other units to come over?

I turned and looked behind, and saw a gang of people, about one hundred fifty and sixty, coming up from the hillside. When they got closer, I discovered that the lead was actually the wounded Captain Lemusev. He was wearing a military uniform, carrying a German submachine gun, and walking at the forefront of the entire team. The commanders who followed included sailors in black uniforms and a few infantry in khaki uniforms, but judging from the way they walked, most of them were wounded.

Hell, the defenders on the ground are not dead, and it is not your turn to fight the wounded. I quickly asked Basmanov to help me climb out of the trenches and ran to meet the captain of the navy. I stopped Lemusev in front of him and said loudly to him: "Comrade Captain, what are you going to do? You know, you are all wounded. If you want to fight, it will not be your turn."

The captain smiled bitterly at me and said: "Comrade Colonel, thank you for your kindness. This position belongs to our 92nd Brigade. As long as one of us is there, we will never let the Germans move forward. Although we are a little less manpowered, we He can still fight." After he finished speaking, he half turned around, raised the submachine gun in his hand, and shouted loudly: "Comrades, let us serve the motherland for the last time and go forward! Go ahead at full speed!"

The wounded behind him also shouted in unison: "Go ahead! Go ahead at full speed!"

Seeing the wounded passing by me one by one, striding forward to the foot of the mountain, I couldn’t help but feel sad, and scolded Colonel Tanasorov and Political Commissar Andreyev, the commander of the 92nd Brigade. , If it were not for your greed and fear of death and fleeing, these fighters would not know that they were going to die, and would charge the enemy without hesitation.

The German tank fire almost wiped out the sailors at the foot of the hillside, and then turned the gun muzzle and fired at the sailors who were charging down the hillside.

Seeing tank shells exploding in the queue of sailors, soldiers fell from time to time. When I was about to fire at Hubbar again, the anti-tank rifle company finally opened fire. The two tanks closest to our position were honored to be the first victims, burning like their companions.

The sailors had just rushed to the foot of the hill, and the remaining four tanks were also turned into four piles of burning scrap iron under the blow of the anti-tank rifle company. Seeing that the tank they were relying on was destroyed, the German infantry lost the courage to continue the attack and began to retreat and retreat.

Seeing this, I quickly ordered Basmanov: "Captain Basmanov~www.wuxiaspot.com~ You immediately lead the troops with Igratov and join the counterattack. You must destroy this enemy. ."

Basmanov heard my order and agreed with excitement, jumped out of the trench, raised his submachine gun high, and shouted at the soldiers still in the trench: "Comrades, follow I'll come!" After shouting, he brandished his submachine gun and took the lead to rush down the hillside.

When the guard company and the militia company rushed down the hill, I raised the telescope again and focused on Lemusev. He was not walking fast because of an abdomen injury, and soldiers rushed past him continuously. Without walking a long distance, he would raise the submachine gun in his hand high, turning his head and shouting twice at the soldiers on the left and right to stimulate their morale.

Seeing that Basmanov had run close to him, and when he could run a few more steps to run alongside him, the captain's body suddenly lifted back, followed by a pause, and staggered forward two more times. Step, he fell to the ground.

Seeing the captain fell to the ground, Basmanov hurriedly rushed to his side, knelt down and hugged him, seeming to be checking the captain's injuries. When I saw the captain fell to the ground, I felt as if I was slammed by someone. Although I saw Basmanov taking out the first aid kit and bandaging him, I knew that the captain was almost always Sacrificed. (To be continued)