In the middle of Captain Schwarzenegger's residential block No. 3, the headquarters of the 8th Marine Brigade of the Separate Marine Brigade of the Soviet Primorsky Army was set up in an inconspicuous gray farmhouse.

In the basement of the farmhouse, the commander of the 8th Marine Brigade, Admiral Levchenko, raised his left hand, patted the dust that fell from the roof from time to time, and his eyes were fixed on the combat map spread on the table, anxiously thinking about the next battle plan.

The 8th Separate Marine Brigade was originally intended as a reserve, located on the south side of the road leading from the eastern mountains to the Sevastopol fortress, and in the event that the eastern line of defense was lost, it could at any time rush to the eastern perimeter line on the orders of the superiors, or receive the remnants of the defeated troops from the eastern line of defense, and continue to block the advance of the Axis forces in the second line of defense garrisoned by the 8th Independent Marine Brigade.

However, one after another orders from the headquarters of the Primorsky Army Group in the fortress made Colonel Levchenko almost stunned.

The first order was that a small force of the enemy had landed at Cape Kerson south of the fortress, and in order to destroy this group of enemy, the command of the army group decided to draw a battalion from the 8th Marine Brigade and work with other forces to drive the landing enemy into the sea.

One night later, the second order from the command of the army group almost made Colonel Levchenko scold.

The telegram read, after the counterattack failed, and the 8th Separate Marine Brigade immediately built fortifications in the direction of Cape Kelsen, beware of the enemy from behind.

Thinking of the ubiquitous political workers, Colonel Levchenko choked back the scolding that almost blurted out in his stomach, and instead distributed his troops with a belly full of anger, facing the direction of Cape Kerson to the west, with mainly civilian buildings and foxholes as auxiliary, began to build a defensive line, and sent reconnaissance troops to reconnoiter the enemy's movements.

The remnants of the troops originally sent out to counterattack the landing ground at Cape Kelsen withdrew into the defensive line, bringing the latest news that it was the Italians who had landed, and that these Italians were very capable of fighting, and all of them dared to fight with bayonets.

After a difficult night, at dawn the next day, the sound of gunfire from the West alarmed Colonel Levchenko.

How many troops did the Italians have to attack so quickly.

At this pace, it is estimated that the Italians will be able to break out into battle with their own troops today.

At noon on the day of the Italian attack, a third order from the command of the army group was delivered to him.

The Germans in the mountains to the east have launched a simultaneous attack with the Italians from the west, the German artillery fire is very heavy, and the friendly forces on the outer line are under great pressure, if the line is lost, you must be careful of attacks from behind.

An attack from behind?

Well, it should be the strong pressure that made the "old guys" of the army group command panic, and the east, which was originally the main defensive direction, turned out to be the back, and Colonel Levchenko's stomach burned with even more anger.

In the evening of the same day, the guns were getting closer and closer, and the sailors of the 8th Independent Marine Brigade, dressed in black navy shirts, finally entered the battle.

The fighting was modest in size, and after a brief evening of fighting, the Italians captured several dilapidated houses in the southern part of the residential area, and then nightfell and the two sides invariably ceaseed fire for the night.

During the night, under the arrangement of Levchenko, a company of sailors launched a night attack in an attempt to seize the houses occupied by the Italians, but the other side was already prepared.

The night was torn apart by the glow of flares and guns from both sides, and after more than an hour of fierce fighting, the night attack failed.

The next day, for a whole morning, the Italians did not make any offensive moves, but two news in a row reached the ears of Colonel Levchenko, and he understood the seriousness of the matter.

First, the troops monitoring the Italians warned that a new enemy had appeared on the outskirts of the residential area, Germans in fancy military uniforms and M35 steel helmets.

It is clear that the Italians did not continue their offensive for a whole morning and were waiting for reinforcements.

Another piece of news came from the army group headquarters: the eastern line of defense had been broken by the Germans, and in response to the retreating defenders, they continued to resist within the second line of defense, and were not allowed to retreat a single step.

Prior to receiving this order, units that had already been defeated from the eastern front had been intercepted by the sailors and subsequently reinforced into the line of the 8th Separate Marine Brigade.

After learning these two news, Colonel Levchenko knew the situation of himself and his subordinates at this time.

At this time, there was no longer a distinction between the front line and the back, for the 8th Marine Brigade, everywhere was the front line, everywhere was behind the back.

By noon, heavy shelling had descended on the 8th Marine Brigade's defense area, and the smoke and dust were everywhere, and the already dilapidated buildings were reduced to rubble.

Even hiding in the basement, Colonel Levchenko could feel the intensity of the shelling from the shaking roof, the scattered dust, and the violent explosions.

The shelling lasted about an hour before it ended, followed by a continuous burst of gunfire.

The Germans and Italians on the east and west attacked at the same time, and about fifteen minutes after the battle began, Levchenko received the first report of a request for reinforcements.

In less than twenty minutes after that, a company of two reports requesting reinforcements was delivered to Levchenko.

After sending out the last reserves, Levchenko had his staff officers burn the papers, and the adjutant took out the last two bottles of vodka from the brigade headquarters.

After pouring half a glass of vodka for each member of the brigade headquarters, Colonel Levchenko shook the bottle that had only one-fifth left in his hand and clinked glasses with his subordinates one by one.

"The order given to us by our superiors is to hold our positions and not to retreat a single step. As soldiers, we must carry out orders. The reserves have all been sent out, and we will be the last reserves. Cheers to the great Soviets. ”

Raising his head, Levchenko drank the wine from the bottle, then took the steel helmet and a Bobosha 41 submachine gun from the adjutant, and led the way out of the basement and headed straight for the eastern part of the battlefield.

Walking through the rubble of the rain of bullets, Levchenko soon heard shouts.

"The tanks of the Germans are coming, quick, aim at it."

Following the sound, Levchenko walked around a waist-high wall and found a fighting 85-mm anti-aircraft gun.

Looking at the direction of the muzzle of the anti-aircraft gun, Levchenko's eyes widened instantly, more than 200 meters away, a tank with a large wedge-shaped turret, looking brutal and dreamy, was slowly approaching, behind the tank, between the ruins of the battlefield, from time to time flashed the agile figure of the German infantry.

"Boom ·····"

The sound of the 85-mm anti-aircraft gun firing pulled Colonel Levchenko back from the shock, and the tank with the dream turret on the opposite side stopped, but there was no smoke, and no tankers fled, but the dream tank turret slowly turned and pointed to the position of the 85-mm anti-aircraft gun.

"Quick, he's seen us, one more shot······ One more shot······" One of the gunners shouted.

However, it was the machine-gun bullets that came faster than the shells, and the tank guns on the opposite side did not fire, but the machine-gun bullets were the first to counterattack.

The bullet slammed into the anti-aircraft gun, bringing out a flash of fire, and the gunner, who had been shouting "one more shot", fell to the ground with two more blood-stained bullet holes in his chest.

Colonel Levchenko threw himself to the ground one step earlier, dodging the flying bullets.

"Quick, load the shells, and do one more shot." Colonel Levchenko shouted as he lay on the ground.

"The enemy's fire is so fierce that we can't raise our heads." Another gunner, lying on the ground dodging bullets, shouted.

"Tell me, which armor-piercing bullet is it?" Levchenko shouted.

"Armor-piercing shells ······ there"

Levchenko ran to the ammunition box, took out an armor-piercing shell, and shouted to the gunners: "We must stop it, you go and control the artillery, I'll load it." ”

Infected by Levchenko's will, three of the surviving gunners stood up to regain control of the artillery, and Levchenko followed suit and stuffed the shells into the chamber.

The anti-aircraft guns opened fire again, but to no avail, in exchange for a flying 105 mm caliber high-explosive shell.

In the explosion, Colonel Levchenko's originally tall body was torn apart by shrapnel.

Can't you wear it······

With the last reluctance, Levchenko's consciousness plunged into eternal darkness.