Burning Moscow

But I didn't care about the life and death of these German soldiers at the moment. Instead, I pulled the guard aside and glanced at the rank of superior soldier on his collar. I curiously asked: "Comrade superior soldier, what is your name."

The soldier stood in front of me, smiled shyly and replied: "Comrade Reporter, my name is Vasily Zaitsev and I come from Yaleninskja in the Ural Mountains."

When I heard this name, I couldn't help but shook, and almost fell directly to the ground. Oh my god, I didn't expect the famous Soviet sniper Vasily to be my subordinate and one of my guards.

I took a deep breath, waited for my mood to stabilize a little, and then asked: "Comrade Vasily, when did you come to my independent teacher?"

Vasily thought for a while and replied: "I used to be in the 1047 regiment of the 284th Infantry Division of Colonel Vachuk. The troops were broken up during the battle two days ago. It was Oleg and the others who saved me. I was assigned to the Second Guard Company."

Basmanov, who was standing next to him, had just seen Vasily’s marksmanship. Seeing that he did not join the sniper unit, but stayed in the guard company, he couldn’t help but curiously asked: "Comrade Vasily, since yours The marksmanship is so good, why didn't Captain Grams let you be a sniper?"

Vasily shrugged and said helplessly: "After I arrived at the Second Guard Company, Captain Grams and Lieutenant Gretka also asked me to participate in the sniper's live fire test. After the test, I was eliminated. , I don’t know why."

After I listened, I looked around and saw that there was a thin wooden plank measuring a foot long on the ground not far away, so I greeted Basmanov, pointed to the plank and said to him: "Bath Captain Manoff, you draw a target on that wooden board. It's fifty meters away, I want to see how good Comrade Vasily is at shooting?"

Basmanov agreed and ran to pick up the board. Using charcoal sticks picked from the ground, I replaced it with a round target. Take it and place it about fifty meters away. After all this, he ran back and reported to me: "Comrade Commander, you are ready."

I nodded, turned my head and said to Vasily who was standing next to him: "Well, Comrade Vasily, let's take a few shots. Let us see how your shooting level is?"

Vasily agreed and pulled the bolt to check the bullet. He aimed at the target and started shooting. In less than a minute, he burned out five bullets in the barrel. Guriyev was also alarmed by the movement here. He walked over and asked curiously: "Colonel Oshanina, what's the matter with you here?"

"That's it, Comrade General." When I heard Guriyev's question, I didn't care about checking Vasily's shooting results. I quickly turned around and explained to him: "This soldier is a sharpshooter under my hand. I'm checking. What is his shooting level."

"How is your level?" Guriyev asked, raising his binoculars and looking at the plank in the distance. After looking for a while. He put down the binoculars and asked me with a look of confusion: "Colonel Oshanina, you said he is a sharpshooter? Isn't it a mistake?"

Guriyev's words surprised me. I instinctively asked: "Why?"

Guriyev pointed forward and said, "I only saw one bullet hole in the target, and obviously four shots missed the target. Although the only shot hit the bullseye, I think it might be foolish. After all, this is the same as the target. Only fifty meters apart."

Hearing what Guriyev said, I quickly raised the telescope and looked at the target. As Guriyev said, there was only one bullet hole in the target. I put down the binoculars and looked at Vasily next to him, and saw that he was looking at me with a gun innocently. I worry that he might be nervous just now. That's why there was a situation of abnormal performance, so he told him: "Comrade Vasily. Send five more shots."

Unexpectedly, after he shot these five shots, I discovered that the target superior still only had one bullet hole. His face flushed with shame, unexpectedly, this famous sniper was also in vain. After shooting ten shots, nine shots missed the target. Seeing the embarrassment on my face, Basmanov was so angry that he kicked Vasily in the foot.

Amidst the roar of laughter from the surrounding commanders and fighters, I walked towards the target in red, wanting to appreciate the shot Vasily cast. Unexpectedly, after I picked up the target and looked at it for a few times, I found it strange. It turned out that Vasily's first shot hit the bullseye, and the next nine shots passed through the bullet holes shot by the first shot. My heart, which had sunk to the bottom, became active again. It's great. With such a great sniper, we will be able to achieve greater results in the next battle.

"Colonel Oshanina, have you seen anything famous after watching it for so long?" Guriyev brought Basmanov and a group of commanders and fighters, including Vasily, over, and jokingly confronted him as he walked. I said, "No matter how long you look at it, one bullet hole will not turn into two bullet holes."

As soon as his words were spoken, he immediately caused a lot of laughter from his men. Basmanov, who walked behind him, heard the laughter around him, and hurriedly buried his head lower, obviously embarrassed because his subordinates were embarrassed.

I handed the plank to Guriyev who walked in front of me, resisting the excitement in my heart, smiling and saying to him: "Comrade General, please take a look."

Guriyev smiled and took the plank, and when he brought it in front of him, he admired it disapprovingly. The expression on his face became stiff without even looking at it. He stared at the target stupidly with a dementia-like expression , Eyelids looked at without blinking. Guriyev's abnormal expression caught the attention of his men, and everyone fell silent.

The sudden silence environment freed Basmanov from the embarrassment. He walked to Guriyev's side and looked over to see what happened. Unexpectedly, he looked exactly like Guriyev's expression, and his breathing became quicker. After a long time, he struggled to squeeze a sentence from his teeth: "Genius, it's a genius!"

These words of Basmanov awakened Guriyev from the shock. He thrust the board into Basmanov’s hand, stepped forward to my side, and pleaded with me. Said: "Colonel Oshanina, I sincerely plead with you. Please give me this soldier!"

"No, Comrade General. This is absolutely impossible." I refused Guriyev's request without hesitation. If it is said that his troops are insufficient, let me support one or two companies of him. I will definitely agree, but the superior Vasily in front of me is a treasure. Even if he trades a battalion, I will not give it to him.

Although I was rejected, Guriyev obviously refused to give up. He turned his head and looked at Vasily seriously, then decisively said: "Colonel Oshanina, this soldier is only in your independent division. A high-ranking soldier. Let’s do that. Let him come to my army, I let him be the platoon leader in the guard company and promote him to the rank of sergeant.”

A talent like Vasily is rare in a century, and I will never let it go easily. Seeing that Guriyev had already used Vasily as an official to win over Vasily, I also said not to be outdone: "Comrade General, Vasily is my subordinate. No one can take him without my permission. Go." At this point, I deliberately slowed down. "Since you just mentioned the issue of Comrade Vasily's low rank, I will resolve it as soon as possible."

"Colonel Oshanina," said Guriyev's chief of staff, "Since you also think that Comrade Vasily's rank is too low. What kind of position do you plan to give him?"

The chief of staff put me in such an army and forced me to promote Vasily on the spot. Since Guriyev had already made a wish to Vasily in the position of sergeant platoon leader, the position I proposed could not be lower than this. After some consideration, I announced to Vasily without hesitation: "Comrade Vasily, from now on, you will be the deputy commander of the Second Guard Company, and you will be temporarily promoted to second lieutenant."

As soon as my words were spoken, it immediately caused an uproar in the surroundings. From everyone's whispers, I could hear their envy of Vasily. I envy him from an ordinary soldier to an officer. For such an unexpected surprise, the honest and honest Vasily still stood in place. There was still a harmless smile on his face, as if what happened had nothing to do with him.

Seeing that I had officially announced that I had been promoted to the rank of Vasily, Guriyev stopped insisting, but sighed regretfully, and said to me in an enviable tone: "Colonel Oshanina, I admire your knowledge of people very much. Ability. A few minutes ago, I even missed the target one after another for this soldier’s bullets, and laughed at you secretly in my heart. I didn’t expect the actual situation to be far beyond our imagination. For you have such an outstanding sharpshooter, I congratulate you." He stretched out his hand to me and shook hands with me amicably.

Although Guriyev has stated that he will not compete with me for the newly promoted Vasily Lieutenant, his chief of staff looked at Vasily unwillingly, and felt extremely annoyed that he had lost such a sharpshooter. Not only the chief of staff, but the rest of the commanders at the rank of lieutenant, and ordinary soldiers showed regrets on their faces.

When I was anxious about how to get out, the mortar company sent to assist the 114th Regiment in attacking the Dolji Gully came back. Seeing Morozov appearing in front of me, I hurriedly asked with concern: "Major Morozov, has Dolji been captured by the ditch?"

Morozov nodded vigorously, and replied in an affirmative tone: "Yes, comrade commander. Although the enemy holding on to the Dolji gully has strong firepower, the entire army was wiped out by the heavy blow of my mortar company. Up."

Seeing that the soldiers following him were wounded to varying degrees, I hurriedly asked: "How about the casualties of the troops?"

After Morozov heard this, he shook his head and said, "The casualties are small. Since we didn't know that the enemy's gutters were also equipped with mortars, we set our artillery positions very forward. As a result, after the first round of shelling, We were fired back by the enemy’s artillery fire. Two of our guns were blown up on the spot. A dozen artillery soldiers died and twenty people were injured.” When he said this, his voice suddenly became louder, “But we are all Without being intimidated by the ferocious enemy, he immediately organized a counterattack against the enemy’s artillery. In the shortest time, the enemy’s three mortar groups were destroyed, and the infantry brothers covering the guards rushed into the gutter."

After Morozov finished reporting the situation, Basmanov walked to my side and asked in a low voice: "Comrade commander, we have completed the task assigned to us by the group army command. What should we do next?"

"I know it in my heart." After I said this, I walked towards Guriyev who was talking to a group of his men in the distance. Coming behind him, I stopped and yelled politely: "Comrade General."

Hearing it was my voice, Guriyev stopped talking and turned around. He looked at me and asked with a smile: "Colonel Oshanina, what's the matter?"

"Comrade General," no matter how familiar Guriyev and I are. But in front of many of his subordinates, I still behaved quite well. Report to him in accordance with the regulations: "Our department has completed the task of cooperating with the guards. Can we go back?"

Guriyev tilted his head to look at the mortar company and the guard platoon that had been lined up in the distance, nodded and said, "Yes, there is nothing for you here. You take the troops back to Mamayev. Go to the post, there is also an important defensive zone, and you can’t take it lightly.” After speaking, he walked over and shook my hand vigorously and said, “Thank you. Colonel Oshanina, I hope we will pay back in the future. There is a chance to fight side by side."

"There will be, Comrade General. I look forward to this day coming soon." After saying this, I let go of his hand, took a step back, paid him a solemn military salute, and turned and strode towards myself. The troops walked.

When we returned to Mamayev Hill for more than an hour, I let the mortar company and the guard platoon disbanded on the spot, and only returned to the division headquarters with Basmanov and Vasily.

When I walked to the door, I saw two strange faces at the door. Seeing us coming, hurriedly greeted us, raising his hand to block our way.

"Which part of you are you?" Basmanov walked past me. He stood in front of me and asked dissatisfiedly to the two soldiers.

Before the two soldiers with fresh faces could answer, the other two soldiers on guard came first. After they saluted me and Basmanov, they reported: "Report to the division commander and the battalion commander. The two of them are the command of the group army. of."

From the headquarters of the group army, upon hearing the name of this unit, I immediately understood that there might be people from the headquarters waiting for me in the headquarters, either Gurov or Cuikov. So I pushed away the two hands blocking us and walked quickly into the hole. The two face-to-face soldiers wanted to catch up and stop me. But it was blocked by our two sentries, and at the same time whispered to them: "That's our division commander."

Hear the words of the sentry. The two fighters were taken aback: "Ah, she is the commander of the independent division, why is she a woman?"

As soon as I walked into the headquarters, Akhromeyev, who was sitting at the table, stood up and greeted me politely: "Comrade Commander, you can come back, and worry us badly."

"Are you okay?" Kirilov also got up and asked me with concern.

I just nodded to the two of them. Before I had time to answer, I walked straight to the other commander sitting at the table, raised my hand and saluted and said, "Hello, Comrade Military Commissioner, you are welcome to come to the independent division for inspection. jobs."

Gurov stood up, stretched out his hand to me, shook my hand and released it, and pointed at me with his finger: "Colonel Oshanina, you are the leader of the first division, why do you personally lead the team? Performing such a dangerous task?"

On this occasion, the high-profile re-singing still had to be sung, so I replied loudly: "Comrade Military Commissioner, I did this to improve the morale of the troops." After speaking the scene, I lowered my voice and asked curiously: "Comrade Military Commissioner, why are you free to come to me today?"

Gurov sat down and said angrily, "Colonel Oshanina, do you think I came to see you specifically? I received an order from the Front Army Headquarters to rush to the east bank of the Volga River overnight. Reporting to work. Now that it’s still dark, and the ship that picked me up hasn’t come over, I seem to be here to rest and rest.” At this point, he suddenly stared his eyes and asked with an unhappy expression: “ Why, don't you welcome me to you?"

I knew he was joking to me, so I quickly said with a smile: "Look at what you said, Comrade Military Commissioner, I would like you and the commander to come to me every day. Only if I have a good relationship with you, I will have the opportunity to become prosperous. , Step into the ranks of generals as soon as possible." My words immediately caused everyone to laugh.

In the laughter of everyone, Basmanov and Vasily walked into the headquarters. Seeing two people coming in, I quickly waved to let them come. When the two of them stood in front of me, I first introduced my guard battalion commander Basmanov to Gurov, and then I pulled Vasily in front of me, and solemnly introduced them to several people. Said: "Military commissar, political commissar, chief of staff, now I will introduce you to the outstanding snipers I just discovered."

When they heard the term sniper, the expressions on the three of them were very cold. After all, there are as many as twenty or thirty snipers in the independent division, and one more sniper would be of little importance to them. See me at this moment to introduce a sniper to them. Although all three of them had smiles on their faces, I could see that they were only polite smiles.

See this scenario. I did not go on, but coughed lightly, and told Basmanov: "Comrade Captain, tell the commanders here what you have seen and heard today." After that, I ran. When I went to Razumeyeva, I went to find water to drink. After drinking, he brought Vasily a glass.

Vasily took the teacup with both hands. He thanked me in a low voice, standing still in a straight military posture.

At this time, Gurov and the three of them had listened to Basmanov's whole story, and their faces showed incredible expressions. After a long time, Akhromeyev said in a skeptical tone: "Captain Basmanov, what you said is true? You won’t see us being bored in the headquarters all day, so deliberately Make up jokes to make us happy."

As soon as he finished speaking, Gurov and Kirilov laughed overwhelmingly. It seems that they also agree with Akhromeyev's statement. Although Basmanov and Vasily still have smiles on their faces, I am full of apologies for Vasily. Originally wanted to introduce him to the higher-level commander, but he was ridiculed.

Gurov is a commander I respect, and I don't want to argue with him. So after their laughter stopped, I said politely: "Comrade Military Commissioner, facts speak louder than words. I understand that what Captain Basmanoff said is a bit weird, so let's talk about facts. We will now take Lieutenant Vasily out and find a place to shoot a few shots for everyone to see the effect. I don't know how you feel about it?"

After listening to me, Gurov turned to look at Kirilov and Akhromeyev sitting on the left and right, and said to them: "Since Colonel Oshanina has invited us, then we Just go outside and see if Comrade Vasily’s marksmanship is as magical as Captain Basmanov said."

"Comrade Chief of Staff." Seeing Gurov stood up from his seat, I suddenly remembered that I had been away for so long. I don’t know the situation on the position, so I quickly asked Akhromeyev: “How is the situation in the high ground ahead? Has the enemy attacked again?”

Akhromeyev shook his head repeatedly and replied, “It’s strange to say that today’s Mamayev Hill seems to have been forgotten by the enemy. It was neither bombed nor shelled by the enemy. I really don’t know who the enemy is. It's not a conspiracy. But in front of the fourth regiment's position, several enemy scouts are active. Our snipers are staying on the mountainside position of this highland, ready to kill them." He said, his eyes Quickly glanced at Gurov, and then cautiously asked me for instructions, "Comrade Commander, or else, I will stay on duty in the command post later and will not go out with you?"

"No!" I vetoed his request very simply, and said in an indisputable tone: "Since there is no war on the high ground, then all of us should go to see Comrade Vasily's superb marksmanship together. Since you are talking about four. The enemy's scouts appeared in front of the regiment's position, so let Comrade Vasily show **** them." After speaking, I couldn't wait to greet everyone to leave with me.

A total of eight of the two guards brought by Gurov, a few of us, walked along the traffic trench to the mountainside position of the New Second Regiment. Seeing our arrival, Horusov, who was in the trenches, greeted me in a panic, and he asked me nervously, "Comrade Commander, why are you all on the ground?"

I did not answer his question, but instead asked: "Captain Horusov, I ask you, where is the sniper?"

I thought Khorushov would tell me where the sniper was hiding in front of the position. I didn’t expect that he would directly call a soldier next to him in a helmet and a raincoat with a hood to come over and introduce me. "Comrade commander, this is the sniper from the Second Guard Company. The task he accepted was to kill the German scouts who were performing reconnaissance missions in front of the positions of the Fourth Regiment."

Since there was no military rank on the collar of a sniper with a scoped rifle, I had to ask vaguely: "Comrade sniper, have you killed the enemy?"

The sniper slapped up and straightened his body and reported to me: "Report to Comrade Commander, because the enemy is too far away from here, I haven't been able to destroy them for the time being."

"Comrade Vasily, come to me." I called Vasily in front of me, took the rifle with a scope from the sniper, and handed it to Vasily, and asked him: "Can you use it? Does this rifle kill the enemy?"

Vasily took the rifle and looked at it, then straightened his body and replied to me, "Comrade Commander, I can try it."

When Vasily was lying on the trench wall and setting up his gun, Kirilov walked to my side and reminded me in a low voice: "Comrade Oshanina, is this Vasily as powerful as you said? Don’t miss the target, so you can’t get off the stage in front of the military commissar~www.wuxiaspot.com~ I raised my binoculars and looked forward to the position of the Fourth Regiment. I saw that among the ruins of the tanks, there were Several dark shadows were constantly moving, and they looked like German scouts. When I saw this, I couldn't help taking a breath, and hurriedly asked Kirilov: "Comrade Political Commissar, what do you mean by this? How far is the location of the German scouts? "

"It's at least five hundred meters away," Kirilov said, pointing at me, not knowing what good deeds to say. At this moment, there was a clear gunshot in our ears. .

Vasily shot!

I quickly raised the binoculars and looked towards the place where the ruins of the tank were piled up. I saw a moving black figure suddenly paused, and then fell to the ground.

"Oh my God, I hit it so far?!" Kirilov murmured in my ear.

Then there were the second, third, and fourth gunshots in turn. With the sound of gunfire, three more moving shadows fell to the ground. The last German soldier found that his comrades fell to the ground one after another, and hurriedly hid in the place of a tank, and entered Vasily's shooting corner. (To be continued)