Burning Moscow

Seeing the enemy hiding under the tank, I couldn’t help sighing with regret. I thought that this kid was too cunning, and he actually hid under the wreckage of the tank. In this way, unless he was holding a bazooka in his hand, Vasily would be No matter how accurate the marksmanship, the German soldiers hiding under the wreckage of the tank could not be used.

I stood and looked to the side to see all the reactions of Gurov and the others. Seeing all of them standing in the trenches with their binoculars, I was stunned by Vasily’s amazing marksmanship just now. And Vasily maintained the prone position just now, holding up his gun and continuing to aim at the area where the German scouts were infested.

I walked by Gurov's side and smiled and said to him: "Comrade Military Commissioner, I did not lie to you, this Vasily is a shooting genius. If it were not for the cunning of the remaining German soldiers, he hid under the tank. It is estimated that I can't escape the fate of being shot." I habitually raised the binoculars again and looked at where the German soldiers were hiding.

The German soldiers hid under the tank for a while. Seeing that they heard no more gunshots, perhaps thinking that the sniper who fired at them had already left, they cautiously crawled out from under the tank. After crawling for a certain distance with his hands and feet together, no one shot him, jumped up from the ground, and dashed away at a speed faster than Powell the trapeze.

Just when I regretted that the German soldiers could run out of Vasily's range in just a few seconds, Vasily's gunshot rang. I saw the German soldier who was running, as if being pushed abruptly by an invisible giant hand, his body suddenly leaned back, and then fell heavily to the ground.

After finishing the shooting, Vasily returned the sniper rifle in his hand to the sniper standing next to him in a daze. He strode up to me, legs and heels close together, and reported to me: "Comrade Commander. Second Lieutenant Vasily reports to you. The enemy's scouts operating in front of our army's positions have all been wiped out."

"Good fight. Lieutenant Vasily." I nodded, complimenting him from the bottom of my heart.

Vasily’s report. Wake Gurov from his shocked state, he nodded appreciatively, then called Vasily to his side, patted his shoulder excitedly and said, "Excellent, boy, just do it! The Germans were killed one by one at a time and place they did not expect!"

Gurov then turned his head and asked me: "By the way, Comrade Oshanina, what is the current rank of Comrade Vasily?"

"Report to Comrade Military Commissioner. Before returning to the division headquarters, I had promoted him from superior to second lieutenant rank, and appointed him as the deputy commander of the second guard company."

After hearing my answer, Gurov frowned slightly and said to himself: "The rank of second lieutenant?"

When I saw Gurov’s expression, I thought he thought the rank I had given to Vasily was too high, and quickly explained: “That’s it, Comrade Military Commissioner. A few hours ago, I was still in the Crudo Gully. , General Guriyev, the commander of the 39th Guards Division. He wanted to use the rank of guard platoon leader and sergeant to dig him away. Not many of his proposals were rejected by me. I also announced in front of the guards commanders. The appointment of Comrade Vasily."

Unexpectedly, after hearing what I said, Gurov actually shook his head with an expression of hatred for iron and steel, and said: "Oh, what should I say about you two. General Guriyev, he still lacks courage. The capable man actually only gave others the rank of sergeant." Seeing me grinning, he glared at me, "You are not much better. At present, there are more than 400 snipers in the entire army. People. If the commander himself had seen Vasily’s marksmanship here, he might be appointed as a captain or a major directly.”

Hearing Gurov's criticism of me, I hurriedly walked into his side. He whispered: "Comrade Military Commissioner, this is not the place to speak. Let's go back to the headquarters!"

"Okay, then we'll go back and talk about it."

After entering the headquarters, Akhromeyev, who had remained silent, went straight to the telephone and called Lieutenant Colonel Heydar of the Fourth Regiment. He said on the phone: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, just now our snipers were on the position of the Second Regiment and killed a few German scouts wandering in front of your position. I order you to send a small team to search for these immediately. On the German soldier, see if there is anything of value."

After we were all seated, Gurov turned his head and said to me: "Comrade Oshanina, since you have appointed Vasily as the deputy commander of the second guard company and promoted to the rank of second lieutenant, then just keep the status quo for now. , Wait for him to achieve greater results, and then promote his position and rank."

After Gurov finished speaking, Kirilov quickly suggested to him: "Comrade Military Commissioner, I think that the heroic deeds of Lieutenant Vasily have been published in the Front Army combat bulletin, which is widely distributed in the front positions. Let us stick to it. Every soldier in Stalingrad can know that this can effectively improve our morale."

"Comrade Kirilov, although you are no longer the director of the political department of the group army, your suggestions are quite good. After I cross the river in the evening, I will go to the political department of the front army and show the heroic performance of Lieutenant Vasily. Inform them. Now that the Battle of Stalingrad has entered the most difficult moment, we need to build a hero to let the generals of commanders and fighters learn. This will be very helpful to improve the morale and combat effectiveness of our army."

As soon as Gurov proposed a simple idea, Kirilov immediately added: "I think the division should send special personnel to follow Comrade Vasily and record his achievements in battle. etc. Every day after dark, the results can be reported directly to our hands so that we can grasp useful first-hand information in time."

"Who is the right one to send?" Gurov asked with concern.

After I went through all the manpower I could arrange in my mind, I felt that Basmanov could not do it, because as the guard battalion commander, he has more important work to do. Mikhayev is not good either. After all, he is now the commander of an engineer company. Instead of running around with Vasily every day, it is better to let him take the engineer to use this time to build more suitable fortifications. Thinking left and right, finally thought of a suitable candidate, so he confidently said: "Let's let Comrade Boris from Erlian go with him." Everyone's faces were revealed. With a puzzled expression, he seemed to be about to ask me who this Boris was, and quickly added: "Boris is very familiar with firearms. As far as I know, the sniper rifle currently used by my division's snipers was modified by him. He has a wealth of knowledge about firearms. Even if there is something wrong with the gun during their mission, I believe Comrade Boris will be able to repair Vasily in time."

As soon as I finished talking about this high-sounding reason, everyone including Gurov nodded and agreed, so Boris officially became Vasily's follower without knowing it.

Before long, Lieutenant Colonel Heydar called us from the forward position and reported to Akhromeyev who answered the phone: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I have sent a search mission back. There are five at the foot of the mountain. A German soldier who was killed. From one of them, a copy of the defense plan of our army's front was found. It should have been drawn just now."

Akhromeyev did not ask anything of value other than the deployment map, but inexplicably asked: "Where did the Germans who were killed were shot?"

Heydar was confused by Akhromeyev’s question, and it took a while before he replied: “Report to the Chief of Staff. According to reports from soldiers who returned, all five German soldiers were shot in the head. Chief of Staff Comrade, you just said that our sniper fired a gun on the second regiment. I can’t see it. After all, the distance between the enemy and the enemy is more than 500 meters. Although the range of the gun is sufficient, it must be so perfect. Kill the enemy. At least the sniper has to stay on the high ground to our north. Where is our sniper hiding in the high ground, why didn't our people notice it?"

After we heard Gaidar’s words, we all showed knowing smiles on our faces. It seems that not to mention the enemy, even our own people, think that a sniper can hit the target at such a distance, and five shots. It's all headshots.

Akhromeyev smiled and cursed at the microphone: "Lieutenant Colonel Gaidar, although your rank is higher than mine, the location where the sniper hides is a military secret. At your level, you are not qualified to know. You are still honest. Supervise your subordinates on the spot. Use the time when there is no enemy attack and continue to strengthen your fortifications." Finished. He hung up the phone without waiting for Gaidar to speak again.

After Akhromeyev put down the phone, he suddenly slapped the table and angrily cursed: "How did this Captain Grams do it? Such an excellent sniper is under his hand, why didn't he find it? ?"

"Captain Grams?!" When Gurov heard the name, he suddenly reduced his smile on his face, frowned and asked Kirilov: "Is that the German commander who surrendered like us?"

Kirilov nodded and said affirmatively: "Yes, Comrade Military Commissioner." Seeing the faint anger on Gurov's face, he quickly said, "Perhaps Captain Grams was negligent. There are so many snipers to be selected and trained in time, and flaws are inevitable."

"Comrade Political Commissar is right!" I knew that Kirilov was helping me indirectly, and quickly agreed: "According to Lieutenant Vasily, after he joined the Second Guard Company, Grams and Gretka He had been tested. At that time, no one could have imagined that the five bullets he shot could leave only one bullet hole on the target, so he thought that his shooting level was not high, and directly eliminated him."

"How is this Grams' performance?" Gurov asked lightly.

I know that Gurov is dissatisfied with my use of surrendered German commanders without the permission of the group army headquarters, so I will have the opportunity to speak nicely for Grams. I will never let it go. "Since I transferred his company to the original station of the fifth regiment, I have not only trained many outstanding snipers for our troops, but also led the team to participate in battles with the Germans several times, and achieved considerable results. I can report to you responsibly now that Captain Grams has broken with the fascist bandits represented by Hitler and resolutely stood in our camp."

After listening to what I said, the expression on Gurov's face became calmer, and he said in a flat tone: "Well, Comrade Oshanina, since you are taking your future for the surrenders like Grams. As a guarantee, I won’t say anything, I just hope you can do it for yourself."

"Comrade Military Commissioner, you see, this is the manuscript I wrote for the Fight Express." When Kirilov saw that I was tactfully criticized by my superiors because of the Grams matter, he promptly stood up and relieved me: " Can you see if there is anything that needs to be modified?"

Gurov took the manuscript in Kirilov's hand and read it out loud after a few glances: "Our hero's sniper Vasily is fighting bravely! Comrade Vasily Zaitsev is from Ural. A sniper in the mountains, he was a member of the Lenin Communist Youth League of the Soviet Union. In the defense of the Krudau Gully, he killed 17 German devils alone. After returning to Mamayev Hill, he killed 17 German devils alone. With his amazing marksmanship, he killed 5 German soldiers with 5 rounds. We believe that in the next battle, he can kill more German soldiers. Everyone should look at Comrade Vasily!"

I heard this short and straightforward report. Before I thought about how to evaluate it, both Gurov and Akhromeyev yelled in unison: "Awesome, Kirilov ( (Political Commissar) Comrades came from political and ideological work, and the writing is really great!"

Regarding the comments of the two of them on Kirilov’s article, I was secretly smiling and had to echo: "Yes, the comrades of the political comrades wrote great. I believe that this kind of report will be published in the fighting express, which will definitely be an inspiration. Soldier, the effect of boosting the morale of our army."

After Gurov left at dark, Akhromeyev called Vasily, who was resting in the guard company, and Boris, who was about to cooperate with him, to the headquarters. After Akhromeyev introduced Vasily’s identity to Boris, he instructed him: "Comrade Boris, from today, you will fight with Comrade Vasily. In a word, where is he, you It's somewhere. Even if he goes to the bathroom, you have to squat next to him." Kirilov and I couldn't help but laugh at the last sentence of Akhromeyev's rush. stand up.

After laughing, I walked up to Boris and solemnly said to him: "Comrade Boris, from today onwards, you will officially become the deputy of Lieutenant Vasily and you will be promoted to the rank of sergeant. Yours There are two tasks. The first is to record the achievements of Comrade Vasily at any time. Whether it is killed or injured, you must record in detail. The second is to be responsible for the maintenance of Comrade Vasily’s guns and to remove the guns for him in time. The malfunctions that have made the sniper rifle he uses are always in the best condition. Understand?"

"Understood, comrade commander." The newly promoted Sergeant Boris replied loudly.

After Boris finished his statement~www.wuxiaspot.com~ I came to Vasily again, glanced at his collar, and the new sniper rifle with scope on his shoulder, nodded in satisfaction, and then Said to him: "Lt. Vasily, from today on, where you fight and how you fight, you are free to play. Our division does not make hard and fast rules. I have no other requirements for you, just hope You and Sergeant Boris can come back without incident every night."

Kirilov also came over, stretched out his hand to the two of them, and after shaking hands in turn, said to the two of them: "Second Lieutenant Vasily and Sergeant Boris, the leaders of our division have high hopes for you. I hope you In the next battle, even greater results can be achieved."

"Second Lieutenant Vasily," Akhromeev saw that Kirilov and I had spoken to Vasily. As the chief of staff, he was also obliged to say a few words: "We will promptly transfer the results you have achieved. The superior reported that it may not be long before a few shiny medals will be hung on your chest."

Hearing that he might be awarded a medal, Vasily's eyes lit up, and then he said loudly: "Please rest assured, commanders, I promise you will not disappoint your expectations of me and complete the tasks assigned to me by your superiors." (To be continued)

ps: I would like to thank my book friend Laoganpa, d, wzzhnag68, Luo-xia, Nian Guofeng, and a555a for their precious monthly support!