Red Moscow

"The troops of the second battalion have come up and will soon take over our defense." Guchakov said to Narva, "I have an important task for you to complete."

Narva knew that when the situation was so critical, Guchakov called himself to the command post, thinking that the task to be completed was extremely difficult, so he quickly asked: "Comrade battalion commander, what is the task?"

"Not long ago, the division called me and said that there was a destroyed German tank in front of your company's position, and there might be a big German in it." Guchakov said: "I gave you The task is to find a way to get close to that tank and find out who is the big guy inside?"

"Comrade Battalion Commander," Narva became agitated when he learned that there were some important figures from the German army in the destroyed tank. But after a while, he frowned again: "There are many destroyed tanks in front of our position. I wonder which one you want us to scout?"

"According to reliable information, the big man is staying in the destroyed Panther tank."

"Panther tank?!" Narva thought for a moment, and frowned even tighter: "Comrade Battalion Commander, I remember that tank is about 120 meters away from our position."

"It's more than 120 meters away from your position, that's really far away." In normal times, 100 or 200 meters is nothing at all, but at this moment the enemy is attacking wildly, and the position more than 50 meters away from the position At the beginning, there were traces of the Germans. At this moment, sending a troop to go deep into the enemy's midst to carry out reconnaissance under the hail of bullets would simply send them to their deaths. But since it is an order from the superior, even if you know it is difficult to complete, you must try hard. "I'll organize machine gun fire and cover your approach there."

"What should we do if we find the dead body of a major figure in the German army?"

"If you really find the dead body of a major figure in the German army, you have to find a way to drag the dead body back, understand?"

"Understood, Comrade Battalion Commander." Narva asked solemnly, "Are you allowed to carry out the mission now?"

"Wait a minute, Comrade Captain." Guchakov stopped Narva just in time when he saw Kopyto come in from the outside, and added: "Your company's strength is too small. The guard squad is under your command."

When Narva returned to his position with Kopetuo's guard squad, the troops of the second battalion just rushed over to take the defense. Captain Grisa, the commander of the fourth company, stepped forward to hold Narva's hand, and said enthusiastically: "Narva, from now on, your company's position will be officially handed over to us. You have worked hard, so go back and rest."

"Grisa," Narva and Grisa are old comrades-in-arms, and they naturally spoke more casually: "The position can be handed over to you, but we can't withdraw it for the time being?"

"Why?" Griza asked in surprise.

Narva did not answer the other party's question immediately, but pointed to the tank a hundred meters away: "See that Leopard tank that is still smoking?"

"I see." Griza nodded, and asked puzzledly: "But what does this have to do with your being unable to retreat to the rear for the time being?"

"I just received an order from the battalion commander, Lieutenant Guchakov, to take people to the Leopard tank for reconnaissance. Only after completing this task can we retreat to the rear to rest."

Grisa looked around the Leopard tank and said in shock, "Narva, are you crazy? Didn't you see that there were at least dozens of Germans near the tank? Are your people going to die?"

"This is an order from the superior, and I can only execute it. Please provide us with the necessary fire cover when we leave the position."

"Don't worry, I will immediately organize all the machine guns in the company to provide you with fire cover."

With the cover of fire provided by Guchakov and Grisa, Narva was confident that he would bring his men close to the tank and figure out who the big German figure who died inside was. When attacking, Narva left all the wounded, and only took 16 people including the guard squad, and crawled towards the wreckage of the Leopard tank on hands and feet.

From the moment Narva led people out of the trench, the machine guns organized by Guchakov and Grisa fired at the German officers and soldiers entrenched near the tank regardless. The Germans did not expect that the battle was going on until now, and there was still such fierce machine gun fire on the position. Some were killed on the spot, and some quickly moved their positions and hid in a safer place.

Seeing that the enemies near the Leopard tank were all driven away by the machine gun fire, Narva couldn't help but secretly rejoiced, and quickly accelerated his forward speed. When he was less than 20 meters away from the tank, he stopped, and then shouted to the back: "I need someone to follow me, and the rest will stay here for cover."

Copeto immediately climbed to Narva's side and volunteered, "Comrade Captain, I'll go with you."

The two approached the Leopard tank cautiously. Ke Peituo was impatient and couldn't wait to get in through the opening at the bottom of the tank. Unexpectedly, as soon as his hands touched the body of the tank, he was immediately scalded and grinned. He gritted his molars and said to Narva, "Comrade Captain, the temperature on the surface of this tank is too high for people to enter at all."

Knowing that he couldn't enter the tank, Narva couldn't help feeling anxious. If he couldn't enter the tank, how would he complete the task assigned to him by the battalion commander? When he was worrying, he suddenly heard Kopetuo say in surprise: "Comrade Captain, look quickly, there seems to be a few corpses of German tank soldiers in the open space behind the tank."

Narva looked in the direction of Copetto's finger, and sure enough, he saw the corpses of three tank soldiers in the bomb crater not far away. Judging from the posture of the three people lying on the ground, it should be that two tank soldiers supported the man in the middle, trying to stay away from the destroyed tank, but were killed by bullets flying from the position.

"Could it be that the big man we're looking for is among these three corpses?" Narva thought so, crawling towards those corpses. After he climbed up to the corpse and pushed away the corpse on the left, he turned over the corpse in the middle and found that it was a corpse whose chest had been blown to pieces. After Narva saw the opponent's rank clearly, he couldn't help being pleasantly surprised. He never dreamed that he would easily see a German general who died in battle. It seemed that this was the person the battalion commander asked him to figure out.

"My God." Coppetto, who crawled over afterward, couldn't help saying in surprise after seeing the military rank of the corpse clearly: "Could it be this German general who the superior asked us to find."

"I think it must be." Narva said hesitantly: "But how do we get his body back? You know, there are Germans all around. If they see us carrying the body and running towards the position, they must They'll shoot at us. No matter how fast we run, we can't outrun the enemy's bullets."

"Comrade Captain, I have a solution." Kopetuo said, took off his rain cape, spread it on the ground, turned the body over twice, put it on the rain cape, and then said to Narva: "We One person grabs one end of the poncho and drags him to crawl towards the position, so that the possibility of being discovered by the enemy is very small."

Just like that, the two dragged the corpse on the poncho and moved towards the position little by little. When the two struggled to climb to the position where the troops were on standby, they were already exhausted. A soldier ran over and said to Narva: "Comrade Captain, this place is not far from the trench. As long as we can run faster, we can return to the position soon."

Before Narva could speak, the warrior called for a companion to act first. After the two got up, each grabbed a corner of the poncho, bent their waists and ran towards the position. But their actions were quickly discovered by the Germans not far away, and several guns shot at the two of them immediately. The two ran forward for less than ten meters, and were shot one after another and fell to the ground.

Seeing that his soldiers sacrificed so cheaply, Narva quickly turned to those soldiers who wanted to get up and continue dragging their ponchos: "Everyone is there, follow my order, no one is allowed to get up, and they all take turns dragging the corpses." Climb back to position."

The German army noticed the strangeness of this small unit and immediately concentrated their firepower to block their retreat. At the same time, there was another wave of enemies coming around from the side, trying to destroy them. Fortunately, the firepower of the machine guns on the position was relatively strong, and the enemy who saw the roundabout side was crushed and unable to move.

In this way, Narva's small army finally dragged the corpse back to the trench smoothly after sacrificing another five soldiers. Griza, who came up, looked at the corpse on the trench and asked curiously, "Narva, whose corpse you snatched back?"

"I don't know." Where did Narva know Hornerdorf, he could only shake his head and say, "He should be the important figure in the German army that the superiors are looking for."

Knowing that the body had been snatched back, Guchakov hurried out to check. He knew some Germans, and through the dog tags hanging around the neck of the corpse, he immediately identified the deceased. He got up and patted Narva on the shoulder, and said excitedly: "Comrade Captain, you have done a great job. If I'm not mistaken, this is the body of General Hornerdorf, the commander of the German Sixth Armored Division."

"What, he is the commander of the German Sixth Armored Division?" Narva stared at the corpse on the ground with an unbelievable expression on his face. He didn't expect to kill a German division commander so easily. At the same time, he suddenly realized why the Germans attacked like crazy, could it be to get back the body of their division commander?

The corpse was quickly sent to the division headquarters. After confirming Hornadorf's identity through the corpse's uniform and dog tag, Sokov told Koida: "Comrade Colonel, order someone to find a coffin."

"Comrade Commander, where can I find a coffin for you at this time?" Koyda said with a wry smile, "It is impossible for us to carry a few coffins with us when we are marching and fighting. And the collective farms in the nearby villages have all run away. , let alone find a coffin.”

"If you can't find a coffin, cut wood and make a coffin immediately." Sokov said in a stern tone: "Although General Hornadorf is our enemy, the dead are the most important, and we must let him rest in the ground." .”

"Okay, Comrade Commander." Keida thought that there are carpenters in the army, and there should be no problem asking them to rush to make a coffin, so he replied straightforwardly, "I will arrange for people to customize the coffin immediately."

After confirming Hornadorf's identity, Sokov felt that he should immediately report the matter to his superiors, and quickly ordered the radio operator he brought: "Send a report to the headquarters of the Front Army, saying that the 562nd Regiment of the 188th Division is standing firm. During the battle at the position, General Hornerdorf, commander of the German Sixth Armored Division, was killed."

Konev was shocked when he received the telegram from Sokov. He said to Susaikov and Zakharov who were sitting at the table: "Major Sokov will send a telegram saying that his troops are on the defensive. During the battle, he successfully killed General Hornerdorf, the commander of the German Sixth Armored Division."

Susaikov took the telegram and asked cautiously: "Comrade Commander, do you think this telegram is reliable?"

"I believe Major General Sokov." Konev said without hesitation: "It is absolutely impossible for him to joke about this kind of thing. And at the end of the telegram, he also specifically mentioned that the body of General Hornadorf is in the in his hand."

"So, the days in Major General Sokov's telegram are all true?" Susaikov said pleasantly, "This is a remarkable victory. I suggest reporting this matter to the Supreme Command immediately."

"Yes, Comrade Commander." Zakharov echoed: "We should report such results to the Supreme Command."

Seeing that his two partners were eager to report the results of Sokov's battle to the Supreme Command, Konev only thought for a moment, then nodded and agreed: "Okay, Comrade Chief of Staff, then you will report to the Supreme Command personally. Antonov reports."

Antonov received Zakharov's report and repeatedly confirmed that the results of the battle were correct before reporting the matter to Stalin. At the same time, the news was reported to Vatutin.

After hearing what Antonov said, Vatutin asked in an unbelievable tone: "Comrade Chief of Staff, General Sokov's troops, did they really kill Hornadorf, commander of the German Sixth Armored Division?"

"Of course it is true." Antonov replied affirmatively, "How can such a thing be a joke?"

"The Sixth Armored Division of the German Army is the most aggressive attacking force in the Prokhorovka area. Their division commander is dead, which will deal a fatal blow to their morale." Vatutin asked anxiously: "When does the Supreme Command plan to launch a counterattack against the enemy?"

"Don't worry, Comrade Vatutin." Antonov replied: "The time for a counterattack is not yet ripe. Our army's current strategy is to rely on the existing fortifications and consume a large amount of the German army's effective strength. When the enemy becomes When we are exhausted, our army will choose the right time to launch a comprehensive counterattack."