Red Moscow

Poor Papchenko didn't know that this attack was without any fire cover, and he asked excitedly: "Comrade Commander, when will Colonel Bely's tank unit reach the starting position?"

"Lieutenant Colonel Papchenko," Sokov replied with some embarrassment: "There was an accident. The tank troops ran out of high-explosive grenades, and only armor-piercing shells remained. You also know that armor-piercing shells are effective against the enemy's firepower." It's not big, but it will take at least two hours for the new high-explosive grenade to arrive. And the superior ordered us to attack immediately, understand?"

"Understood, Comrade Division Commander." Knowing that the troops would not be supported by tank troops when they were attacking, Papchenko was suffocated, but he could not attack Sokov, so he could only bite the bullet and reply. : "We will attack immediately."

After putting down the phone, Papchenko called a communications soldier and told him, "Go and find the battalion commanders, and I will assign them offensive tasks." When the communications soldier turned to leave the command post, he again Added a sentence later, "It's the three battalion commanders in our regiment. The battalion commanders of the 124th regiment don't need to be called over."

The three battalion commanders soon appeared in front of Papchenko. They knew that the regiment commander must have assigned them a combat mission when they called them, and their faces were full of expectations.

"Comrades battalion commander, just received an order from the division headquarters." Papchenko said with a straight face: "Order us to attack the enemy's position immediately."

"Initiate an attack immediately?" The first battalion commander asked curiously: "But Comrade Commander, the tank that the superiors promised to send to cover our attack has not entered the attack position yet!"

"Let the tanks go to hell." Hearing what the first battalion commander said, Papchenko immediately became angry, and roared angrily: "Even without the support of tanks, we will definitely be able to take the enemy's position."

The second battalion commander heard something was wrong from Papchenko's tone, and asked cautiously: "Comrade commander, didn't the division headquarters say that we can be covered by tank fire when we attack? Did something happen?" ?”

Papchenko said weakly like a discouraged ball: "The division commander just called me and said that the tanks used high-explosive grenades, which were used up during the attack. .It will take two hours before the high-explosive grenades for tanks can be sent up from the rear.”

"Comrade commander!" The second battalion commander asked in amazement: "Since it only takes two hours for the high-explosive grenade to be sent to the rear, why don't we continue to wait? You know, we will send the enemy a second attack." When the defense line launched an attack, it could not get the support of the artillery on the left bank, and since it could not even get the support of the tanks, the troops would suffer huge casualties."

"There's no way," Papchenko fired, and realized that Sokov's order was helpless. He walked to the table and sat down, took out a cigarette case from his pocket, and pulled out a The cigarette was in his mouth, but he didn't light it immediately. He continued: "The superior ordered the division commander to launch an attack immediately. The division commander had no choice but to order us to attack the second line of defense without any cover."

"What a pity!" The third battalion commander stepped forward, lit a match, and helped Papchenko light a cigarette: "If the battle can be carried out according to the division commander's deployment, how many unnecessary casualties will be reduced."

"That's right." The second battalion commander promptly agreed with the third battalion commander's statement: "If we follow our previous style of play and just capture the enemy's first line of defense, we will at least lose one battalion's troops. And Under the command of the division commander, we only suffered less than one company casualties, and successfully occupied the enemy's position."

"Okay, don't say these things are useless." Papchenko took two puffs of cigarettes, threw the cigarette butts on the ground and crushed them with his toes, then stood up and said to the battalion commanders: "You all go back to your respective schools. Go to the battalion, and after ten minutes, the first battalion will take the lead in charging the enemy's position; after they lose their ability to attack, the second battalion will take over..."

The next development was as expected by Papchenko. When the commanders and fighters of the first battalion rushed more than 200 meters away from the enemy's position, they were fired by intensive machine gun fire on the position. The soldiers rushing to the front were shot and fell to the ground one after another, while the rest of the soldiers quickly lay down on the ground and fought back.

Papchenko saw that the first battalion was suppressed by the enemy's firepower and could not move forward at all, so he picked up the phone to connect with Sokov, and pleaded with him: "Comrade commander, the enemy's firepower is too fierce. The attacking force suffered heavy casualties, and I request you to provide us with artillery support."

"I don't have artillery support here." The 122nd regiment was unable to break through the enemy's second line of defense, and Sokov was also anxious. He wanted to provide artillery support for the regiment, but it was a pity that a clever woman could not live without rice. Now that he didn't have tanks or cannons in his hands, how could he provide artillery support for the troops. He could only say helplessly: "Didn't I tell you that in front of the German positions, set up a few more machine gun fire points to suppress the enemy's firepower. Have you forgotten?"

After being reminded by Sokov, Papchenko immediately remembered that Sokov had indeed reminded himself in this way, and he just patronized the troops to attack, but in the end he forgot this important matter. Thinking of this, he quickly said into the microphone: "Understood, Comrade Commander, I will immediately send someone close to the enemy's position, choose a suitable location to establish a machine gun fire point, and suppress the enemy's attack..."

Unexpectedly, before he finished speaking, he rushed into a soldier with a gun from the outside. As soon as the soldier entered the command post, he shouted in a panic: "Comrade commander, you were killed, you were killed..."

Hearing the soldiers talking nonsense, Papchenko couldn't help but get angry, wishing he could step up and give him a big mouth, but considering that he was talking to Sokov, in order not to leave a bad impression on the teacher, he I chose forbearance. Holding the microphone, he said viciously to the soldiers: "Your commander is still standing in front of you, and he was not killed by the enemy!"

Seeing that Papchenko got angry, the soldier immediately realized that he had said something wrong, and explained in a panic: "Comrade commander, I am not talking about you, I am talking about..."

"Who was killed?" Before the soldier finished speaking, the second battalion commander had already rushed in from the outside, grabbed the soldier's skirt, and asked nervously: "Did the first battalion commander be killed by the enemy's bullets?" ?”

"No, not the first battalion commander." The soldier who was already very nervous was grabbed by the skirt of the second battalion commander, and became even more panicked: "It was Wu Liya, the enemy killed Wu Liya."

"Who is Wu Liya?" Papchenko frowned and said disapprovingly when he heard the soldier's name, "I thought the first battalion commander was killed by the enemy, but it turned out that it was Wu Liya who was killed..."

Whoever Papchenko hadn't finished speaking, suddenly trembled all over his body. He rushed in front of the soldiers, grabbed the skirt of the second battalion commander's loosened just now, and asked viciously: "Wu Liya you said, Is it the female hygienist Wu Liya?"

"Yes, Comrade Commander, it's really her." The soldier carefully pulled his skirt out of Papchenko's hand, and said cautiously: "She was killed by an enemy sniper while rescuing the wounded on the battlefield. .It was hit on the head, and even the brains were blown out."

Although there are only soldiers and civilians on the battlefield, and there is no distinction between men and women, both sides in the war silently follow a principle that they should not shoot at the other side's medical staff during the battle. Now the enemy is actually shooting at the health worker, even a female health worker. Hearing this news, Papchenko couldn't help the blood rushing to his head. He grabbed the submachine gun on the table and shouted at the chief of staff of the regiment sitting by the table: "Chief of staff, I will leave this to you. I took people to kill these beasts, and they shot at women."

When passing by the Second Battalion Commander, he gave him a hard push: "Take the Second Battalion and follow me to charge up, and we must wipe out all these beasts who are not as good as animals."

Seeing Papchenko leaving with the second battalion commander and the soldier with a gun in hand, the chief of staff of the regiment hesitated for a while, then grabbed the microphone that Papchenko threw on the table, and cried to Sokov Report: "Comrade commander, it's not good, something happened. The head of the regiment personally led people to rush up."

"What the hell, Papchenko actually charged himself, it's just nonsense." Sokov also heard part of what happened just now through the phone. He led the charge in person, and he quickly ordered into the microphone: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I order you, immediately go to Lieutenant Colonel Papchenko and pull me back."

"Comrade Commander," Sokov had just finished speaking when he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned his head and saw that it was Ivanov. Ivanov sighed, and said: "Wu Liya is the best female health worker in the division. She once carried more than 30 seriously wounded people from the battlefield. Everyone likes her very much. I didn't expect that she would die in the enemy's sniper attack." Under the gun in his hand, it is very normal for Papchenko to have such a reaction. You just let him go, if you don’t let him kill a few enemies with his own hands and avenge Wu Liya, I don’t think he will in his life Peace of mind."

"Okay, Comrade Deputy Division Commander. Since you said so, then my original order is cancelled." After Sokov said this with a heavy heart, he said into the microphone: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I cancel the previous order." Order. Since the head of the regiment personally led the charge, the work in the regiment will be entrusted to you, and if there is any latest situation, please report to me immediately!"

"Understood, Comrade Commander." The chief of staff of the regiment waited for Sokov to finish speaking, and quickly replied, "I will report the situation here to you at any time."