Red Moscow

The German army who failed to attack the unnamed highlands was not reconciled to their failure. Early the next morning, they launched a new attack. In addition to bombarding the high ground with artillery fire, more than a dozen aircraft were dispatched to bomb the high ground and air defense positions at the same time.

Liuba and Sveta stood at the command position, one of them looked at the enemy plane in the sky with a telescope, and shouted various shooting parameters hoarsely; A machine gun issued various orders.

The dense firepower on the air defense positions prevented the German bombers from diving, and could only drop bombs from a height. The aerial bomb that fell from the sky exploded in the snow, and columns of mud mixed with black soil and white snow rose into the sky.

Two aerial bombs landed next to Sokov's battalion command post and exploded, causing snow to fall from the cracks in the roof, turning Sokov and Belkin into snowmen. Belgin patted the snow powder off his shoulders with his hands, and said worriedly: "Comrade battalion commander, there are too many enemy planes bombing the air defense positions today. I am worried that if this battle is fought, the casualties of the female soldiers will be small." No. If our male soldiers die, it’s okay; the women’s company is full of girls, women, they are the mothers of the future, and we have no right to let accidents happen to them.”

Although Sokov agreed with Belkin's statement in his heart, the only unit with air defense capability at present is Liuba's women's anti-aircraft machine gun company. The troops covered by fire will suffer greater losses in the enemy's bombing. Therefore, he could only bite the bullet and say to Belkin, "Comrade deputy battalion commander, in order to defend our great motherland, no matter how much sacrifice you make, I think it is worth it."

Belkin heard the rumble of the bomb explosion outside, and said with a stab of heart: "Facing the indiscriminate bombing by German planes, how much courage and superhuman strength are needed for them to fulfill their duties well. "

Sokov put his hands on Belkin's shoulders and comforted him, saying, "Whoever says women are inferior to men, I firmly believe that all the soldiers of the women's anti-aircraft machine gun company will be able to withstand blood and fire in today's battle." test."

After the German planes ended their bombing and turned around to fly south, Sokov immediately came out of his command post and walked quickly along the traffic trench towards the air defense position. Part of the traffic trenches had been blown down by the enemy’s air strikes. Some soldiers were using shovels to clean up the accumulated soil inside. When they saw Sokov approaching, they quickly stood up and leaned against the trench wall, saluting him.

When he arrived at the air defense position, Sokov saw that there were bomb craters everywhere. Three anti-aircraft machine guns had been blown up, and there were many machine gun parts scattered around the bomb craters. Sokov looked around and saw Liuba sitting on an ammunition box with her head folded, so he walked up to her quickly, bent down and asked, "Comrade Lieutenant, how is the situation in your company? Are there many casualties?" ?”

Liuba, however, did not respond to his words at all, and sat there motionless. Sokov was a little anxious, and when he was about to reach out to push him away, Lida, whose face was full of gunpowder, came over and said to Sokov, "Comrade Battalion Commander, an aerial bomb exploded near the lieutenant just now, and her ear was injured." I'm deaf, I can't hear you."

Sokov thought of the instructor Sveta who stood with Liuba in the air defense operation, and quickly asked, "Where is the instructor?"

"She was sent to the health team." In order to prevent Sokov from misunderstanding, Lida emphasized: "She is still alive, but she was stunned, and she will wake up in a short time."

"How are the casualties in the company?" Sokov repeated to Lida the question he had just asked Liuba.

"Twelve were sacrificed and fifteen were injured." Upon hearing Sokov's question, Lida's eyes turned red, and she lowered her head and said, "Nadya, that is the one who played me with the accordion last night. The girl also sacrificed. The machine gun she manipulated was directly hit by a German aerial bomb, and not even a complete body was found..."

Knowing that the women's company suffered heavy casualties, Sokov took off his helmet and bowed deeply towards the bomb-cratered position. After he put on the helmet again, he looked down at Liuba who was sitting on the ammunition box, and asked Lida, "Can Lieutenant Liuba still command the battle?"

Lida glanced at her company commander, then shook her head and said, "I don't think she can command the battle anymore."

"Sergeant Lida." After confirming that Liuba was temporarily unable to command the battle, Sokov looked at Lida and said to her with a serious expression: "From now on, you are the acting company commander of the women's anti-aircraft machine gun company. You Your mission is to destroy all enemies that appear in your field of vision, understand?"

"Understood!" Lida replied solemnly, "I promise to complete the task."

"Comrade Battalion Commander," a communications soldier ran over and panted to Sokov, "Lieutenant Savyev called from the high ground. The deputy battalion commander asked me to ask you to go back and answer the phone."

When Sokov heard that the communicator said that Belkin asked him to go back to answer the phone, he guessed that something serious must have happened on the high ground, so he told Lida and followed the communicator back to the battalion command post.

He walked into the command post, picked up the microphone on the table, and said loudly to his ear: "Is it Savyev? I'm Sokov. What happened to you?"

"Comrade Battalion Commander," he said in a loud voice over the phone, not knowing whether Savyev's ears were deafened by the shelling or because of the bad phone line: "The enemy's infantry, under the cover of three tanks, Down, attack our position."

Savyev's report made Sokov frowned, and he said to himself: It's not your first day in the field, don't you even know how to deal with the German attack? So he said unhappily: "Comrade Lieutenant, German tanks can't climb the hillside over there. You just need to concentrate on dealing with their infantry."

"No, Comrade Battalion Commander, you misunderstood me." Savyev said anxiously: "Our soldiers have long been accustomed to shelling German tanks parked at the foot of the mountain. But this time is different, These three tanks and two armored vehicles, with nearly a hundred German soldiers, attempted to bypass our high ground along the simple road and rush towards you..."

"Stop it, Comrade Lieutenant, you must try to block the German tanks." Sokov also said anxiously: "You must not let the enemy rush to the north slope of the high ground and separate you from the main force of the battalion."

"But, but!" After saying two "buts" in a row, Savyev finally spoke out for his embarrassment: "We don't have anti-tank weapons on our positions, and we can't deal with enemy tanks at all."

"Use cluster grenades." In the absence of anti-tank guns and anti-tank grenades, the only thing Sokov could think of was cluster grenades, so he ordered with a strong attitude: "Immediately organize soldiers to the foot of the mountain and use cluster grenades." The grenade blows up the enemy tanks, they must not be rushed. Understand?"

"Understood, Comrade Battalion Commander." Savyev replied in a loud voice: "I will immediately organize soldiers to blow up the German tanks and absolutely prevent them from going around the rear of our position."