Burning Moscow

In the evening of the second day, while I was waiting for Vasily’s return, Leonid Nikolaev, the deputy director of the political department of the Army Group, who had a fate, walked in under the guidance of Basmanov. To our headquarters.

I quickly stood up and saluted him, and said with a smile: "Hello, Comrade Deputy Director, welcome to the headquarters of the division."

Leonid looked at my headquarters and said with a smile: "Colonel Oshanina, your headquarters is well repaired. No matter how dense the enemy's shells are, it can't help you."

I saw Kirilov and Akhromeyev also stood up one after another, and quickly pointed at them to introduce Leonid: "Comrade Leonid, let me introduce you to this It is my political commissar, Comrade Kirilov. He used to be the director of the political department of the group army. This is my chief of staff, Major Akhromeyev, from the Volkhov Front."

Leonid didn’t wait for me to introduce his identity to Kirilov and the others, so he took a step forward, took Kirilov’s hand, and shook it vigorously, “So you are Comrade Kirilov. , I have heard of you before the 62nd Army. Before the superior transferred me over, he wanted me to be your deputy. Unexpectedly, after I came, I knew that you had been transferred to a division to work."

While shaking hands with Leonid, Kirilov looked at him up and down, and asked in confusion, "Comrade regiment-level political comrade, don't you know who you are?"

Leonid then remembered that he had not yet identified Kirilov, and quickly said: "I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Leonid Nikolaev, and I am the new political group. The deputy director of the department is responsible for the work of the Youth League. I am here today to understand the development of the division’s Communist Youth League work."

I heard Leonid explain his intentions. I couldn't help but sigh, I said that almost all the members of the division came from the Gulag concentration camp and the punishment camp. Are there any youth league members in it? Thought of this. I couldn't help casting a glance at political commissar Kirilov for help.

Kirilov saw the embarrassment on my face and nodded slightly at me. Said confidently to Leonid: "Comrade Deputy Director, we have just passed the political workers at all levels and reported the decision of the Military Committee of the Group Army-the spirit of defending Stalingrad to the death has been transmitted to all the troops of the division. You are here. It just so happens that you can check with us whether all the troops understand this decision of the superior."

Leonid raised his eyebrows and asked, "Comrade Political Commissar, I don't know where you plan to take me?"

Kirilov’s face was embarrassed. After hesitating for a while, he smiled and said, “Comrade Deputy Director. For your safety, I’d better find a few members of the team and let them report to you in detail, too. It's the same."

"No, Comrade Political Commissar." Leonid shook his head and said resolutely: "I want to go to the trench myself and have a good chat with our commanders."

Kirilov thought for a while and said, "Mamayev Hill is the front line here. It's too dangerous. I'm responsible for your safety."

After listening to Kirilov’s words, Leonid chuckled and said: "Comrade Kirilov. Why is Stalingrad now not the front line? Since the commander and the military commissar can ignore their own safety, Go to the forefront and talk to our commanders. As their subordinate, I will naturally learn from them."

Seeing Leonid's stubborn opinion, Kirilov stopped making futile persuasion, and turned his head and said to me: "Comrade Commander, let's accompany Comrade Deputy Director to the Second Guard Company. According to my research I know, there is a youth league group in a row, and they conducted relevant studies and discussions yesterday."

Looking at Kirilov's natural tone, I understand that what he said should be the truth, at least if you take Leonid there, you won't get nothing. Thinking of this, I nodded in agreement. Agree.

Akhromeyev stayed in the headquarters as always, only Kirilov and I took Leonid to the shelter where the regiment group was.

Come out of the hole. Walking along the traffic trench, Kirilov took us to the door of a shelter in a light car. He stopped, turned his head and said to us: "This is it." After he said that, he opened the curtain and walked in.

Before entering the door, I was not at ease in my heart. I was afraid that Kirilov would accidentally lead us into the shelter where the Germans lived. I bit the bullet and opened the curtain to enter, and found that what I was worried about had not happened. There were seven or eight young soldiers in the narrow shelter. When they saw us entering the door, they all stood up from their sitting positions and raised their hands to salute us.

After everyone was seated again, Kirilov asked everyone with concern: "Comrades, what were you doing just now?"

A sergeant sitting next to him quickly stood up and replied: "Report to Comrade Political Commissar, our Communist Youth League team is in a meeting. I am the team leader and I am responsible for supporting the meeting."

After the sergeant finished speaking, Leonid took over: "Can you show me the minutes of your meeting?"

The sergeant didn’t know who was speaking, so he turned his inquiring gaze to Kirillov. Seeing Kirillov nodded to express his permission, he quickly turned around and took out a small notebook from a cave in the earth wall and handed it to Kirillov. Leonid sitting next to me.

When Leonid was reading the book, I moved my head over, and with the help of the dim candle light in the room, I could see the content clearly: "Discussion: Regarding the performance of the Communist Youth League members in combat.

Passed a resolution: I would rather die in a trench than a shameful deserter. Not only will he not run away, but also the people around him will not run away.

The group leader asked the group members: Is there a valid reason to leave the shooting position?

The members replied: Of all the legitimate reasons, only one can be considered, and that is death. "

After reading the notes in the notebook, Leonid closed his eyes and thought for a while, and then spoke. He said this: "I want to clarify a problem in the speech of the delegation leader. He has talked about death many times here, and said that the motherland requires us to die for victory. He obviously didn't express it accurately. The motherland We are required to win victory, not to die. Yes, some people will not be able to come back alive from the battlefield, or how can it be called war. But to fight bravely and witly. Consecrated in battle, the time for victory comes as soon as possible. This is the hero. The one who can defeat the enemy and save himself is a two-time hero!..."

Leonid had just finished speaking. Kirilov took the lead and applauded, and at the same time he heartily praised: "Comrade Deputy Director, you still have the level of what you said, and that's the point." Then he said to the other fighters, "Comrades. We, the division commander has repeatedly told commanders at all levels that every Red Army soldier is the most valuable asset of our troops. On the battlefield, we should not only consider sacrifices, but should consider how to eliminate even more on the basis of maintaining ourselves. Many enemies."

"Kirilov political commissar is right." Leonid agreed with Kirilov friendly and said: "I know a young soldier named Aleksey. * Fu. When the German devils approached him quietly, He put the light machine gun on one side and the submachine gun on the other. He held a rifle in his hand. There were full of grenades around him. If a lot of devils attacked, he would shoot with a machine gun; if a devils appeared, he would shoot with a rifle. ; When the enemy got closer, he threw a grenade. This is how he stood firmly in his bunker."

"The soldiers of our division have done a great job in this regard!" Kirilov proudly said to Leonid: "The soldiers of our division are witty, brave, and give full play to the effectiveness of the weapons handed over to them by the motherland. In During this period of hard fighting, thousands of commanders and fighters in the division demonstrated unparalleled bravery, courage, and resourcefulness, and mastered the use of various weapons."

After Leonid listened. Nodded and said: "The performance of the division is obvious to all in the entire army. Our army is now popular with a song called "Dedicated to the Heroes Guarding the City", which was written by Sergeant Panov. This song The lyrics of the song are simple and unpretentious. One of the passages is particularly popular. It is as true as life itself:

The sound of the explosion shook the streets and alleys.

The sound of motors roared day and night.

Rock-solid soldiers of the Red Army,

Defend both sides of the Volga River to the death.

Comrades said when they were about to sacrifice:

Let the enemy always remember,

The 62nd Army never retreated,

Even one step! "

"This poem is really great! The soldiers of the 62nd Army have such a law: They must not retreat, but can only destroy the enemy, and take back the territory of the motherland meter by meter from the enemy." Kirilov After the compliment from the heart, he turned his head and asked me: "Did you say so? Comrade commander."

Before Kirilov had finished speaking, a familiar voice came from the door: "Are the teachers and political comrades here?"

"Who? Come in!" Although the voice was familiar, I couldn't remember who it was for a while. Simply shouted at the outside.

With my shout, the curtain opened. Two people walked in from the outside, and stood in front of us and saluted.

Kirilov looked at the two who came in. He smiled suddenly, and he smiled and asked one of them: "Lt. Vasily, how are the results of the battle today?" It is not someone else, but Vasily and his deputy Boris who I have been waiting for.

Vasily, who was asked by Kirilov, showed a simple smile on his face. He put the sniper rifle on his shoulder, raised both hands and opened his palms at the same time, and said: "Ten, no more, no less, just killed Ten German soldiers."

"Ten?!" Kirilov, who had just sat down, jumped up from his position. Although I sat in the distance and didn't move, I was still stunned by Vasily's amazing record. Although I understand that he will be a familiar sniper in later generations, I didn't expect him to create such a good result for the first time on a mission.

But Leonid didn’t know what was causing Kirilov, who had always been very stable, to lose his stance, so he approached me and asked in a low voice, “Colonel Oshanina, you all confused me. What's going on?"

I pointed to Vasily and introduced him: "Comrade Deputy Director, let me introduce to you. This second lieutenant is the best sniper in the division. When he participated in the Crudo raid battle with me yesterday, he relied on his With superb shooting skills, 17 enemies were killed. After returning to Mamayev Hill, he used a sniper rifle on the southern plateau and killed five German scouts 500 meters away."

"Wait, Colonel Oshanina." Before I finished speaking, Leonid asked hurriedly: "What did you say about his name? Vasily? Was it Vasily Zaitsev? "

"Yes," I was a little surprised when Leonid, the deputy director of the political department from the group army command, called out Vasily's name. Can't help but ask curiously: "Comrade Deputy Director, you have known him before?"

"No, I don't know him." Leonid shook his head. Then he took out a newspaper from his briefcase and handed it to me. Said: "But I have seen his name in this battlefield newsletter, and I know he is a great sniper."

I took the newspaper in his hand and found that it was more appropriate to call it a flyer than a newspaper. Except for the masthead of the "Battlefield Express", on a piece of 16-format news paper, all that was left was news reports. The articles are very short. But it clearly and convincingly reported those Red Army soldiers who were not afraid to sacrifice to create victory!

Under the report about Vasily, there was a headline "Destroy and burn 7 German tanks!", I saw the following report read: "Red Army fighters Yakov Shelbina and Ivan Nikitin He was wounded and never left the battlefield. The loyal son of the motherland did not repel the enemy’s last attack. He kept fighting. In less than half an hour, these two brave anti-tank gunners destroyed 7 German tanks. "

I handed the newspaper to Kirilov, and then told Boris: "Comrade sergeant, tell your experience today to the deputy director of the political department of the group army, so that he can publish your heroic deeds. In our new issue of Battlefield Express."

"Comrade Oshaninna is right, Comrade Warrior, tell me about your combat experience today." Leonid said to Boris in an sincere manner, and in order to encourage him to speak in more detail, he even threw it out. A huge pie: "Comrades, you may not know yet. The whole country is watching us, watching what is happening in this city named after the Supreme Commander himself. This is issued by the Front Army Command. The battlefield bulletin, although very crude. But the readers are not just the soldiers fighting in Stalingrad. Some good reports will even be reprinted by other domestic newspapers, Caucasus, Crimea, and even Lieutenant Vasily’s. Hometown-Ural.” When he said this, Leonid paused for a moment. After taking a deep breath, he added enthusiastically: “Even when Comrade Stalin was eating in the morning, he could read it in the newspaper of the day. To your brilliant record. As long as he remembers your name, Lieutenant Vasily. You will become famous in one fell swoop."

Leonid's last words caused an uproar. Everyone didn't want to be a sniper like Vasily, who had the opportunity to be remembered by the Supreme Commander himself. So they started talking.

After I waited for the room to be quieter, I shouted again: "Be quiet, please be quiet. Next, I would like to ask Lieutenant Vassily's deputy Sergeant Boris to tell everyone about the battle today."

As soon as my voice fell, warm applause broke out in the shelter. After the applause stopped, Boris, who was flushed with excitement, stabilized his emotions, glanced at Vasily, who was sitting next to him holding the sniper rifle, and began to tell the story of today’s battle: "This morning before Lieutenant Vasily set off. , I was worried that if we were two of us with two guns, if we encountered a little more enemy, we would not be able to get away, so I called two submachine gunners. Four of us, in Lieutenant Vasily’s Under the leadership, he ditched towards Crudor, the fiercest battle yesterday.

Unexpectedly, we had just passed through Cekhovsky Street and discovered that the Germans had established an offensive position here. They used artillery and tank guns to fire in the direction of the Crudeau gully to cover their infantry assaulting the gully.

When he saw the enemy's tanks and artillery, Lieutenant Vasily asked us to find the rubble to hide, so as not to be discovered by the enemy in front. Vasily and I lay on the second floor of a building that was blown down by two walls, carefully observing the enemy's position in the distance. Although we are more than two hundred meters away from the enemy, I still feel my heartbeat when I observe. Suddenly speeded up a lot. "

"Keep it short." Leonid, who was recording, saw that Boris was a little wordy and couldn't help but urge him.

The addicted Boris was interrupted by Leonid, and he stammered a bit, unable to say a complete sentence for a long time. I quickly got up and walked to him, patted his shoulder gently to comfort him. Said: "Comrade sergeant. Don't worry, just follow the way you usually speak, and tell the story of the battle today." Then I smiled and said to Leonid. "Comrade Deputy Director, take a look. You just did this, our soldiers don't know what to say."

Leonid chuckled twice, then apologized to us and said, "I'm sorry, Colonel Oshanina, I'm too impatient. Comrade Sergeant, please go on and talk as much as possible. You can rest assured. I will never interrupt you again."

Seeing the deputy director of the Political Department apologize to him, Boris grinned silently, and then went on to say: "I lay on the second floor and observed carefully, and found that the enemy had five tanks and three artillery pieces. Keep firing. The distance between each gun is very wide, one is farther from us than the other. The three guns are placed behind the tank, arranged in a straight line, forming an angle with our hiding place .

I see those German artillerymen running back and forth next to the artillery, all of them are neat and coordinated. At first glance, it looks like a well-trained. I approached Vasily quietly and asked him in a low voice: ‘Comrade Ensign, shall we shoot now? ’

The ensign shook his head. Say: ‘Don’t worry, wait a minute, if you open fire rashly now, it’s easy to alarm the enemy. Alarmed the enemy, as long as their tank turned around and fired at us, none of us could escape. ’

I was a little anxious after hearing him talk about the reason why he could not fight for the time being. The enemy’s artillery consisted of more than a dozen men, plus a few tanks. Once the German army found our shooting position, there was really no way to get out.

Just when I was about to give up. However, he saw Lieutenant Vasily aiming intently, with his finger on the trigger. I am deeply afraid of affecting him. He quickly shut his breath and looked at him intently.

When he pulled the trigger, the German cannon just far away fired a shot. The sound of the gun’s popping concealed the gunfire. A German officer holding a binoculars standing behind the running position was knocked down. I saw the bullets from the back of the head and out of the forehead. The officer didn’t say anything. With a sound, he fell on his back on the rubble. Because there were no other German soldiers near the officer's station, no one found him after he was shot dead.

After a shot hit, Lieutenant Vasily quickly withdrew from the cartridge case, stretched out the muzzle again, and aimed at the next target. He aimed at a soldier who came to carry the shell box behind. The soldier had just bent over and picked up a box of cannonballs, and when he was about to stand up straight, the ensign fired again. I saw the German soldier's head tilted back, the shell box in his hand was also let go, and the whole person fell heavily to the ground.

Since most of the German artillery was busy shooting, no one noticed that behind them, an officer and a soldier had fallen to our snipers.

When the second lieutenant aimed his muzzle at the back of the enemy artillery for the third time, a soldier in the same gun rank as the killed artillery might be because he saw that the artillery shell had not been sent up for a long time, so he wanted to look back. He saw his companion fell to the ground, he might think that the other party was accidentally knocked down, so he ran over to see if he could help. Unexpectedly, he approached, and suddenly found his companion lying motionless in a pool of blood. When he turned to call the other companions, the second lieutenant fired a third shot. It just so happened that the enemy's artillery was firing again, and the loud sound of the artillery concealed the second lieutenant's gunshots and the sound of unlucky soldiers falling to the ground. "

When everyone heard this, they couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Kirilov also said with emotion: "It's really wonderful." Then he urged Boris again: "Comrade sergeant, don't stop, say, keep going. Say."

Boris nodded again, and then said: "After destroying three enemies in a row, the second lieutenant is aiming at a German soldier standing next to the artillery. It looks like he is a loader, because at this moment he is holding it in his hand. He was holding a cannonball. As soon as the cannonball shell in the barrel came out, he immediately filled the cannonball in his hand quickly. He just stood up and wanted to get a new cannonball, the bullet shot from the ensign's sniper rifle When he arrived, the German soldier who was shot tilted and leaped directly on the soldier who was pulling the cannon rope next to him.

When the soldier saw his companion falling on his body, he was frightened and panicked, because he couldn't understand how his companion fell suddenly covered in blood. Maybe he thought it was a stray bullet, so he hid his whole body behind the cannon baffle. Before he could figure out what was going on, the fifth bullet shot by the second lieutenant fell again, and the German soldier lost his life before even screaming.

After shooting these five shots, Lieutenant Vasily took the gun back. I asked him strangely: ‘Comrade Ensign, the enemy next to the other two cannons. Why didn't you fight? ’

The second lieutenant gave me a hand and whispered to me: ‘The enemy found that the gunner of one of their guns was dead, which would definitely arouse suspicion. Don't say they will adjust the muzzle of the tank. Just recruiting a group of infantry is not something we can handle. They haven't found out yet. We transfer immediately. ’

Although the second lieutenant said so, I was still dubious, but since it was an order from a higher level, it could not be discussed and could only be executed unconditionally, so I had no choice but to bite the bullet and follow the second lieutenant back. "

"Have you been discovered by the enemy?" Leonid stopped the pen in his hand again and asked curiously.

Boris nodded first, then shook his head abruptly. See his contradictory reaction. Kirilov said impatiently next to him: "Comrade sergeant, what do you mean by nodding and then shaking your head? Let's ask you if you were discovered by the enemy. You just need to answer whether we have it or not?"

Boris was silent for a moment, and then replied decisively: "Comrade political comrades, although the enemy noticed the situation behind them, they did not find us. Not long after we evacuated, the enemy tank turned its muzzle to face it. The buildings on both sides of the street were bombarded blindly, and the building we used to hide was destroyed by the bombardment."

In order to prevent the combat experience described by Boris, Kirilov and Leonid always interrupted him. So I asked first: "Next, where did you eliminate the other five German soldiers?"

"Report Master," Boris said with a smug smile on his face, "Still in the same position."

"What, the same location?" Hearing what he said, not only me, everyone in the room except him and Vasily was stunned. After a while, Kirilov asked hesitantly: "Didn't you say that you retreated?"

Boris nodded and replied, "Yes, after we eliminated five German soldiers. We did retreat. But after the enemy’s shelling was over, Lieutenant Vasily told me that once the enemy did not find us. Very much. We will leave soon. If we sneak back again, there may be an unexpected gain. That's it. Our team has returned to the street just now. At this time, the cannons and the enemy’s corpses on the street have been removed. Re-selected a hidden place, quietly waiting for the new prey to be hooked.

After about half an hour, three German soldiers returned from the direction of Crudeau Gully and walked along the street towards our hidden place. At that time I asked Lieutenant Vasily quietly: ‘There are three enemies, which one shall we fight first? ’

Lieutenant Vasily told me softly: ‘When the enemy passes under the building where we are, kill the last one first. This will not easily attract the enemy’s attention. Then, kill the enemies who are in the front. And the enemy walking in the middle saw that his front and back companions were killed. In a short period of time, he must hesitate for a moment in order to run forward or run back, then we can easily kill him. . ’

When the three enemies passed by our downstairs~www.wuxiaspot.com~ Lieutenant Vasily shot and killed the last enemy who was walking decisively. While the two enemies in front were panicked, he killed them cleanly. The enemy at the forefront. And the enemy walking in the middle, really like the ensign analysis, did not immediately run forward or backward, but stood in a daze, seeming to be considering where to run. Comrade Ensign might not give him so much time to consider, and decisively shot him to see God. "

The people in the room couldn't help laughing at Boris's humor. After laughing for a while, Leonid asked: "What else, where are the two German soldiers?"

"Originally, we thought that the results of today's battle would end here. We didn't expect that just as we were about to get up and leave, there was the roar of motorcycles on the street. I looked in the direction of the sound and saw a three-wheeled motorcycle. Coming towards us, there were two German soldiers in the car. After Comrade Vasily shot and killed the German soldier sitting in the sidecar in a standing position, he did not wait for the motorcyclist to recover, and then cleanly killed him. To be continued)

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