Red Moscow

According to the order given by Sokov, the troops of the army group pursuing southward all retreated to the north of Yakovlevo for rest and reorganization after the battle. The task of sticking to the town naturally fell on the 46th Infantry Brigade.

After receiving this order, Lieutenant Colonel Uzakov, the brigade commander, found four battalion commanders under him, handed over Sokov's order to them, and asked: "Comrades battalion commander, the commander ordered us What do you think of the brigade sticking to the town of Yakovlevo?"

"Comrade Brigadier." The battalion commander was the first to speak: "The Germans already have fortifications in the town. We only need to reinforce them, which is enough to block the enemy's attack."

According to the idea of ​​the first battalion commander, the north of the town is the main force of the group army. As soon as the battle in the town starts, reinforcements will be obtained soon. Therefore, he proposed to use the original fortifications to organize the defense and resist the possible German attack. .

After the first battalion commander finished his speech, the third battalion commander immediately raised his concerns to Uzakov: "Comrade brigade commander, if we put all the troops in the town, once the German army launches an attack, we will be encircled. Therefore, I suggest choosing a suitable location in the south of the town and establishing an outpost."

"Establish an outpost?" Uzakov asked. "Why do you want to do this?"

"We set up an outpost in the south, so that once the enemy tries to attack the town, the troops at the outpost can detect and stop them in advance, buying us valuable time."

Regarding the statement made by the commander of the third battalion, the chief of staff of the brigade expressed his support: "Comrade commander, I think the commander of the third battalion is right. Set up an outpost to the south of the town. Once the German army tries to approach the town, the troops at the outpost will Early warnings can be issued in a timely manner, and initial blocking missions can be implemented, allowing us enough preparation time."

"Then where do you think we should set up the outpost?"

"Comrade Brigadier," said the third battalion commander ahead of the brigade chief of staff: "When our battalion was chasing the enemy, I found a small abandoned village three or four kilometers south of the town. over there."

Seeing that the third battalion commander's thoughts coincided with his own, the brigade chief of staff also nodded and said: "Comrade brigade commander, the third battalion commander is right, we can definitely set up the outpost there."

After staring at the map for a while, Uzakov felt that the location chosen by the chief of staff of the brigade and the commander of the third battalion was very suitable for establishing an outpost. He nodded slightly and asked, "Then which troops should we send to establish an outpost?" ?”

The commander of the third battalion and the chief of staff of the brigade looked at each other, then stepped forward and said, "Comrade brigade commander, if you trust me, you can entrust this task to our battalion."

Uzakov didn't speak, but just stared at the commander of the third battalion, wondering whether such an important task should be entrusted to the third battalion.

Seeing that Uzakov did not speak for a long time, the chief of staff of the brigade was worried about the silence, and quickly asked the third battalion commander: "Third battalion commander, which company do you plan to send to establish an outpost?"

"Lieutenant Paul's Ninth Company."

"Lieutenant Paul?!" The commander of the second battalion, who had been silent for a while, frowned and interjected after hearing the name spoken by the commander of the third battalion, "I know all the platoon-level officers in your battalion. What did you say about Lieutenant Paul?"

"Comrade Second Battalion Commander," the Third Battalion Commander explained to him, "Lieutenant Paul is a commander we rescued when we liberated the prisoner-of-war camp."

"Oh, so it's the commander who was rescued from the prisoner-of-war camp?" Hearing what the third battalion commander said, the second battalion commander showed a contemptuous expression on his face: "Is it appropriate for him to be in charge of such an important area?"

Lieutenant Paul, the company commander, was originally a commander of the 69th Army, with 20 years of military experience. On the first day of the Battle of Kursk, he and more than 30 soldiers unfortunately became prisoners of the German army and were locked up in Yakuza. In a prison camp in the forest north of Kovlevo. When the 46th Infantry Brigade under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Uzakov occupied the prisoner-of-war camp, Lieutenant Paul and more than 2,000 prisoners of war imprisoned here were liberated.

Because the infantry brigade had suffered a severe reduction in personnel in the early battles, Sokov agreed with Uzakov to incorporate all the rescued commanders and fighters into the infantry brigade. And arrange some officers with combat experience to take over the positions of grass-roots commanders. It was under such circumstances that Lieutenant Paul became a company commander of the brigade.

Hearing that the second battalion commander questioned Lieutenant Paul's loyalty at this moment, Uzakov said: "Comrade second battalion commander, I hope you will not have any prejudice against Lieutenant Paul. There is a precedent for officers who have acted valiantly in previous battles. I am sure that Lieutenant Paul will not let me down if he is responsible for holding such an important position."

The chief of staff of the brigade pondered Uzakov's words carefully, and felt that it seemed quite reasonable. It is said that when Sokov was transferred from the 21st Army, several of the commanders who brought him were captured. Their performance in this battle of Kursk was very outstanding. For example, Captain Guchakov, it is said that he will soon receive a medal and be promoted to major.

After Uzakov said, he turned his attention to the third battalion commander and told him: "Third battalion commander, call Lieutenant Paul here, and I will personally explain the task to him."

Hearing that Uzakov asked the commander of the third battalion to invite Lieutenant Paul over, the commander of the second battalion, no matter how thoughtful he was, did not dare to explode at such a time, and could keep silent without saying a word.

Lieutenant Paul, who didn't know what happened, came to the brigade headquarters tremblingly after receiving a call from the third battalion commander.

As soon as he entered the door, he saw that the room was full of people, and he became more nervous.

He quickly found Lieutenant Colonel Uzakov, the brigade commander, among the crowd. He hurriedly took two steps forward, raised his hand to his forehead, and said loudly: "Report to Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, Lieutenant Paul, the commander of the 3rd Battalion and 9th Company, has been ordered to come here." , I am waiting for your order, please instruct!"

"Please rest easy, Comrade Lieutenant." Uzakov looked at the middle-aged officer in front of him, waved to him, and said, "Come to me!"

After Lieutenant Paul walked to the table, he pointed to the map on the table and said to Paul: "Comrade Lieutenant, I have an important task for you now. You immediately take your company to the town Village to the south, build an outpost."

After seeing clearly where Uzakov was pointing at, Paul asked nervously: "Comrade Brigadier, may I ask, what is the mission of our company?"

"Your company has established an outpost in the village. The task is to monitor the enemy in the direction of Belgorod." Uzakov explained to him: "Once you find that they have any trouble, report it to the brigade immediately. If the enemy Trying to attack the town by surprise, your company will have to stop them for a while to buy us time to prepare for battle."

"Comrade Brigadier, please rest assured." Lieutenant Paul waited for Uzakov to finish speaking, and immediately expressed his position: "As long as our company still sticks to the village, the enemy will never want to move forward."

"Comrade Lieutenant, the village is three or four kilometers away from the town. Due to the shortage of communication equipment in the brigade, it is not possible to lay telephone lines for you for the time being." Send someone back to report."

"Understood, Comrade Brigadier!" Lieutenant Paul asked tentatively after answering this question: "Are you allowed to leave?"

"Allowed!" Uzakov gave the other party an affirmative answer, and then extended his hand to him: "Good luck!"

"Comrade Brigadier!" After Lieutenant Paul left, the chief of staff of the brigade probably felt that there was no telephone line, which would delay the fighter plane, so he said to Uzakov: "It is three or four kilometers away from the town to Lieutenant Paul's station. , if you don’t lay a telephone line for them, I’m afraid that if there is any urgent matter, I’m afraid it will be delayed because there is no time to deliver the message.”

"Comrade Chief of Staff." Hearing what his chief of staff said, Uzakov replied with a wry smile: "I also want to lay telephone lines for them, but our current communication equipment is in short supply, and now we can only barely establish a connection with the headquarters. Contact with the battalion-level units below. In my opinion, let’s do this first. Once the superiors have supplemented us with enough communication equipment, I will give them priority in laying telephone lines.”

Lieutenant Paul led more than 100 commanders and fighters of the Ninth Company, and after an hour's march, they came to the village south of Yakovlevo Town. This is a village that has long been abandoned. The collapsed well, the wooden houses that were burned into black frames, and the open space full of weeds all clearly indicate that there has been no human habitation here for a long time.

"Comrade company commander," seeing the situation in front of him, the deputy company commander asked Paul for instructions: "The houses in the village are simply uninhabitable. Where will our soldiers live tonight?"

"Deputy company commander," Paul glanced at the surrounding environment, and said to the deputy company commander: "Let the soldiers dig a trench to the south of the village, and if possible, dig a few more shelters, and we will have a place to live." gone."

"Comrade company commander, digging trenches and shelters is a big project." Hearing Lieutenant Paul's order, the deputy company commander said with some embarrassment, "Even if we do it now, I'm afraid we won't be able to do it well until dawn."

"Then when will the digging be done and when will we rest." Seeing that the deputy company commander didn't go to convey the order, but just kept raising difficulties, Paul said impatiently: "Comrade deputy company commander, we don't know that we are going to be stationed here." How long will it take? If there are no fortifications and shelters, not only will the soldiers have no place to live, but if the enemy attacks, we will have no fortifications, so how can we stop them?"

Seeing that Paul got angry, the deputy company commander didn't dare to talk anymore, so he could only obediently carry out the order to let the soldiers dig a defensive trench in the south of the village using the ravine.

When most of the commanders and fighters in the company started to build fortifications, Paul called a squad leader and said to him: "Comrade squad leader, you take your squad and go to the south to serve as a guard. Once you find traces of the enemy, hurry up immediately." Come back and report. Understand?"

"Understood, Comrade Lieutenant." The squad leader replied loudly.

Not long after the squad leader left, the deputy company commander came back and reported to Paul: "Comrade company commander, some soldiers just reported to me that many corpses were found a few hundred meters west of the village."

"Corpse?!" Paul asked in surprise, "Do you know whose corpse it is?"

"There are both Germans and our own." The deputy company commander replied, "I guess there was a battle nearby when our army pursued them, so the corpses were left behind."

"Take me to see."

Paul and the deputy company commander hurried to the place where the corpse was found with more than a dozen soldiers. Sure enough, as the deputy company commander said, the corpses here included both Germans and Soviet soldiers. Judging from a destroyed German armored vehicle next to it, it should be the enemy in the armored vehicle, who was overtaken by Soviet soldiers here, and the two sides fought. In the end, the enemy was wiped out by coefficients, and the Soviet army also suffered certain casualties.

When Paul expressed his judgment, the deputy company commander said with some disbelief: "Comrade company commander, how do you know that the two sides did not die together?"

"Look around these corpses." Paul pointed to the scattered corpses on the ground, and asked the deputy company commander, "Did you find any weapons?"

The deputy company commander took a closer look and found that there were really no weapons. If you see this situation on the battlefield, there is only one explanation. The weapons of the dead on both sides were taken away by the officers and soldiers of one side. From the fact that no weapons were left behind, the party who took away the weapons searched very carefully, and under the circumstances at the time, only the Soviet army could do this.

After trying to understand this truth, the deputy company commander had a little more admiration for Lieutenant Paul in his heart, and he then asked: "Comrade company commander, what should we do with these corpses?"

Paul roughly counted and found that there were more than 30 corpses here, and it would definitely take a lot of time to bury them all based on the dozen or so people he had brought. After some thought, he said to the deputy company commander: "Comrade deputy company commander, let the soldiers arrange the corpses first, and come and bury them when we have time."

The deputy company commander was worried that Paul would order these corpses to be buried on the spot. In that case, he would need to send someone back to get the tools. Hearing Paul's order at this moment, he couldn't help secretly heaving a sigh of relief, and quickly led the soldiers to get busy.

The trenches and shelters were all dug at ten o'clock in the evening. After Paul arranged for each squad to enter their respective shelters, he said to the deputy company commander in charge of night duty: "Comrade deputy company commander, our fortifications and shelters have all been dug. , the soldiers also have a place to sleep. How many sentries did you arrange for the sentries on duty at night?"

"Four people." The deputy company commander stretched out four fingers and said, "A group of two will be on duty on both sides of the trench."

"No, there are too few four people." Paul shook his head and said, "We don't know if the enemy will come over at night, so we must be more vigilant, and we must set up squad posts, and they must be the strongest squad, so that we can be defeated." Make sure nothing goes wrong."