The war would break out at 3 a.m. on June 22, Eastern European time, and that time was getting closer.

Moscow had already determined that the Germans were going to attack, but a few hours before the outbreak of the war it was still impossible to completely determine the timing of the German attack.

For the 284 Infantry Division, the officers and men have no more illusions, all they have to do is wait quietly. The army was moving towards Minsk, the troops were still moving towards the border, and the infantry division was replenished with some heavy weapons and even a large number of mines.

"All of you, in addition to digging trenches, must have all of our mines planted in front of our positions by June 22." The order of the division commander Pugachev was absolute, and he believed very much in the prophetic information provided by Yang Mingzhi.

However, most of the army was not as dedicated as the 284th Division, and many units were not ready for war.

"These recruits, even just learned to shoot. It is also because of this that the Soviet Union indiscriminately mobilized young people of appropriate age, which led to the death of a generation of men. Yang Mingzhi can only complain by himself, no matter what, the mobilized soldiers are also comrades-in-arms.

When the war began, he knew very well that a large number of soldiers would be killed, and the entire infantry division would be seriously reduced.

No matter how much it was, since the war was coming, then enjoy the pre-war tranquility until the evening of June 21, when Yang Mingzhi rushed to the division headquarters.

The staff officers were very optimistic about the war, and this mood was undoubtedly an ecstasy for the division commander. Yang Mingzhi slapped the table angrily and said loudly: "Comrades, the war will break out tomorrow. A large city like Minsk will be the target of the first round of German attacks, and it is likely that our positions will also be subject to air strikes. ”

Pugachev raised his head, these days he was stationed in the village of Badikinskaya, and the possibility of war seemed to be only as imminent as various documents said, but life here was still peaceful.

"Comrade Berekov, the date of the enemy's attack has not been reported by the superiors, so how can you insist that it will be tomorrow?" The commissar questioned.

Yang Mingzhi can't say why, he can't say that I will enter the city in the next four years, and at present, the division commander is only interested in his words, and the other people will regard themselves as crazy. So he only said that it was a guess, but the result would not be much worse.

The atmosphere in the division headquarters was very delicate, there was pre-war tension, but also longing for war.

Pugachev immediately ordered the soldiers to sleep peacefully, no matter what the situation would be tomorrow, if the Germans wanted to fight, then get up and fight.

That night, Yang Mingzhi pouted his wife and insisted on setting up a tent outdoors.

"Brother, why are you like this, how nice it is to live in a house."

Yang Mingzhi didn't listen to her complaints, and pointed directly to the moon in the sky. "My dear, the war is about to break out in a few hours. This area will be a major attack for enemy planes, and I don't want us to be blown up in the room. ”

The tent was quickly set up, and there was snoring in the barracks. Yang Mingzhi's nerves were tense, and his wife in his arms had already fallen asleep.

The Soviet-German war is about to break out, and seeing his lovely wife, I don't know how many families have been separated and destroyed because of this war, thinking about him also falling asleep.

On June 22, the clock was early in the morning. Soviet school students go home for the weekend, graduates begin their day of study, Moscow's youth take to Red Square, people on the Black Sea coast begin to gather on the seashore, Leningrad is still daylight, and factories in Stalingrad continue to spew black smoke.

At 3:45 a.m., the first rays of the sun shone on Moscow, and just forty minutes earlier, the Great Patriotic War had broken out when Axis troops, numbering four and a half million, invaded the Soviet Union.

The German Air Force was the first to cross the border, attacking all airfields they found, and most of the planes were destroyed directly on the ground, so that only a few planes of the Soviet Air Force could take off for combat. The Soviet pilots fought back hard, and finally had to make an emergency landing because they ran out of fuel, and even chose to crash into the enemy tanks and kill themselves.

Stuka dive bombers, Henschel bombers, which, under the cover of fighters, bombed Soviet cities according to pre-war plans. In the skies over Minsk, Vilnius, Kyiv, and Smolensk, enemy planes appeared in the air and dropped bombs with impunity.

A violent explosion not far away washed away the silence of the early morning, and the rallying call sounded in the barracks.

Yang Mingzhi woke up in shock, and the war had begun.

Pugachev ordered all the junior officers to rush to the division headquarters, and soon a telegram from the higher authorities came, which was forwarded by the commander of the North-Western Front, Pavlov, to Stalin's order. "From now on, the Germans tore up the peace treaty, the war began, and all the troops met the enemy and defeated him."

Pugachev looked left and right, "Do the comrades understand?" War broke out, and everyone was ready for battle. ”

The prophecy of Berekov (Yang Mingzhi) came true, and the commissar and those who had previously mocked it had nothing to say. They didn't care about anything else, and rushed to their defense areas one by one to reorganize their armaments.

Yang Mingzhi also came to his troops, and the special anti-tank battalion was assembled.

He held the draft plan in his hand, which was a tactical arrangement for the battalion to block the battalion after the enemy broke through the first line of defense and made contact with the 284th Infantry Division.

"Ravlendi, you lead a company to help the 2nd Infantry Regiment. Evgeny, you lead the 2nd Company to help the 3rd Infantry Regiment. And I was responsible for leading the three towns to guard the core of the defensive line. Remember, your mission is not to shoot enemy infantry, only tanks are your prey. ”

Yang Mingzhi split his own team, so that he could effectively destroy the enemy's leading tank force. Many old Maozi didn't know the scene of the enemy's armored group assault, and the only way to deal with them was to use heavy weapons to be tough with them, and now Yang Mingzhi knew that the safety of the entire infantry division actually depended heavily on the RPG in his hand.

After the outbreak of the war, the fighters reacted very quickly and quickly entered their combat posts one by one.

They have planted all kinds of mines on time, but unfortunately the higher authorities have not distributed much, and the overall planting density is not good. Pugachev did not put all his hopes for defense on new weapons. Anti-aircraft guns and 76 mm infantry guns are quite good anti-tank weapons.

But his plans soon changed dramatically, as the second round of German air strikes began to focus on Soviet concentrations.

The 284th Infantry Division is located on the outskirts of Minsk, and the village of Badikinskaya here is an excellent landmark, after all, it is surrounded by a large amount of open space. The grains are just beginning to sprout after the sowing season, and they will inevitably be crushed by enemy tanks.

Now the dive bomber group focused on attacking the artillery regiments of the infantry divisions. Pugachev's artillery regiment had some heavy weapons of mass destruction, 152-mm howitzers and 122-mm howitzers, which were large and undisguised, and became direct targets on this plain.

Countless aerial bombs fell, and the earth trembled. Yang Mingzhi saw billowing black smoke coming out of the direction of the artillery regiment, and the enemy planes really focused on attacking there.

After the enemy plane finished its mission, it did not forget to return to the Soviet position to fire another round of bullets, and Yang Mingzhi ordered his troops to quickly enter the trenches, and his troops were not killed in a single battle.

However, the 284 Infantry Division experienced very heavy losses in this air raid, and the artillery regiment lost more than half of its heavy artillery. Many artillerymen died before they could figure out the situation, and they scattered the shells and even caused the explosion.

Pugachev's fur stood on end. "Order the troops, quickly check the casualties. The division was ordered to belong to a field hospital and make every effort to help the wounded. ”

This order is also to star fruit, "Husband, let me go, our comrades-in-arms are bleeding." ”

But Yang Mingzhi didn't want her to leave, so he ordered as the battalion commander: "You are my woman, you are the health worker directly under my battalion." ”

Star fruit is indeed as he said, the girl has left the division of the field hospital, and now her immediate boss is her husband. This was an order from the chief and husband, and she must first check the casualties of the fighters of her unit.

Yang Mingzhi was very relieved that only five of his own people were injured in the enemy's air raid, and one of them was hit in the arm by an enemy plane's bullet. The bullet passed through the flesh, the bleeding had stopped, and I saw my wife wrapping the soldier in gauze. She's very skilled, after all, it's her job.

But the casualties of the other troops were very bad, and although the war began, there were still a few days before the enemy came into contact with the defenders of Minsk. According to the statistics, the first artillery regiment suffered the most serious losses due to the explosion of the ammunition depot, and only three 152-mm howitzers were used in the heavy artillery at the end. The losses of the 2nd Artillery Regiment were slightly lighter, but a number of guns were also scrapped.

Artillery is the guarantee of the firepower of the army, and now Pugachev is under very great pressure. Casualties and losses in the aftermath of the raid exceeded 500 people, and many soldiers saw enemy planes dive, accompanied by a loud roar of heavy aerial bombs, followed by violent explosions.

It was already the third day of the outbreak of the war, and many people who did not die immediately in the air raids began to show bad conditions, and by the afternoon many had vomited blood and died.

"This is because the shock wave of the explosion injured the internal organs, and many people at that time did not see the injuries on the surface, but the actual internal organs were already failing." Yang Mingzhi explained to his wife, and warned his own people that when they were lying down under enemy shelling, they should try to avoid the shock wave in a push-up state.

This is the experience summed up in the war, but only a small number of people in the current Soviet army have been on the battlefield, and for the large number of recruits of the 284th Division, this is their first and last time on the battlefield. The tragic situation after the air raid was also the first time they had encountered it, and panic spread among the fighters, and some even walked and failed to speak.

It is very important to stabilize the morale of the army, and political commissar Batykin came up with wartime regulations. "Comrade division commander, according to the regulations, those who disturb the morale of the army should be shot on the spot!" Pugachev has not been so tough, but if the rumors are allowed to develop, the psychological defense of the recruits will quickly collapse, and the position will naturally be self-defeating.

The two soldiers were convicted of betrayal and executed in public.

Pugachev resolutely informed the troops: "Comrades, we are the Soviet Red Army. There are no cowards in our ranks, and no matter how lightly the defeated are still in accordance with the regulations, they will be shot! ”

Yang Mingzhi's face was indifferent, and he firmly believed that he and his wife would successfully survive the war years.

He naturally wants to lay a piece of the sky in this troubled world, but he also knows that danger is everywhere. So Yang Mingzhi looked up at the sky and looked at the scorching sun. "God, since you sent me to this era, you will never let me die easily, will you?"