On the evening of June 14, 1943.

On the defensive line of the 12th Army, Major General Gretchko divided his five infantry divisions into two echelons.

The 4th, 74th and 261st Infantry Divisions are the first echelon, and the 176th and 349th Infantry Divisions are the second echelon.

In the forward position of the 4th Infantry Division, the northernmost part of the army group's defensive line, Major Malenkov was hiding in a semi-underground bunker and, with the help of scissor-type binoculars, was peeking at the positions of Vlasov's 1st Army opposite.

Major Malenkov was the operational staff officer of the 21st Tank Army, to which he belonged and the friendly 23rd Tank Army were reinforced to the 12th Army and used to strike at the 1st Army under the command of the great traitor Lieutenant General Vlasov.

Because the width of the battlefield was not large, the 21st Tank Army was the first to rush to the battlefield and was used by the 12th Army as the first stage of the offensive.

The main forces were taking advantage of the night to enter the battlefield, and Major Malenkov rushed to the forward position early with a group of staff officers to survey the terrain of the battle, and at the same time communicate with the friendly 4th Infantry Division, which was attacking together.

A road connected the town of Nova Toshkivsik with the city of Gorskoye to the west, and the 4th Infantry Division built fortified positions on both sides of the road.

The main defensive zone of the whole position is 5-6 kilometers deep, consisting of 2-3 positions, built with continuous trenches, and connected by communication trenches, and the second defensive zone where the second echelon of the rear is located is 12 kilometers away from the front line.

In the middle of the position, the ground was covered with wooden stakes, and between the wooden stakes was a hideous barbed wire, and countless mines were hidden in the loess under the wooden stakes.

These defensive means, which the 4th Infantry Division was proud of and felt extremely safe, made Major Malenkov feel very troubled.

If the 21st Tank Army wanted to attack from here, it had to clear mines in advance before it could allow tank units to enter the battlefield.

However, fortunately, the terrain here is very suitable for armored troops to fight, there are no rivers to block, there are no hateful swamps, and the enemy on the opposite side is a rebel army, and the combat effectiveness is not strong, so it should be a relatively easy battle to win.

As night began and the sky was covered with stars, Major Malenkov returned to the town of Novotoshkivsk to join up with the other staff officers.

The next morning, Major Malenkov got up early to wash up and rushed to the southernmost part of the position of the 4th Infantry Division.

In a relatively high position, with the help of telescopes, Major Malenkov saw that it was an endless field of farmland, dotted with green and yellow ground, and a burst of vitality came from the surface, which made people feel relaxed and happy.

"If there were no Germans, no war, how beautiful the world would be."

Major Malenkov sighed as he sketched on a brief topographical map, planning how many troops could be deployed on the land to launch an offensive.

The pencil in the Major's hand had just drawn a few patterns when he suddenly stopped and looked up at the western sky.

Patches of black dots appear in the blue sky, like swarms of mosquitoes in summer.

"Buzz ······"

The cacophony of noise falling from the sky, like an invisible paste wrapped around his body, made Major Malenkov feel very uncomfortable.

"Hidden."

With a short word, Major Malenkov put away his pen and paper and strode towards the nearest underground bunker.

The two subordinates quickly put away the scissor binoculars and carried them on their shoulders, and ran to cover after the major.

After hiding in the bunker, Major Malenkov felt a little more stable in his heart, and stood at the entrance of the bunker to look up at the sky and observe the movement of the German aircraft group in the sky.

There was a false alarm, and the group of planes flew over the position, without the slightest dive posture and without bombing.

The plane flew overhead, the pervasive noise still enveloping everyone in the bunker, and a strange whistling sound fell from the sky, slapping the ground with a gust of wind.

"Boom Boom Boom ·····" The sound of explosions beat like a drum in the major's heart, and Major Malenkov dodged and retreated into his bunker.

The tremors from the ground made the soles of his feet tingle, and above the bunker, wisps of dust fell, falling on the ground and people.

Rockets, rockets! This sound is definitely a rocket.

The well-informed Major Malenkov had seen the scene when the "Katyusha" rockets were fired, and immediately judged what kind of weapons the enemy was using on the opposite side.

Through the machine-gun firing port in front of the bunker, Major Malenkov clearly saw that the front of the position was already shrouded in gray-black soot, and countless miniature "mushroom clouds" bloomed on the ground, enough to make the dense phobia suffer a severe attack.

Dense shells fell on the positions of the 4th Infantry Division, and 150-mm rockets and mortars formed the first echelon of strike fire, covering barbed wire, minefields and front-line positions.

105-mm howitzers and 150-mm howitzers, which formed the second echelon of firepower, and then not to be outdone, the MRS 18-mm howitzers of the 210 type were not left behind.

The shells rained down like a hail, instantly changing the positions of the 4th Infantry Division beyond recognition.

The minefields that had been hidden beneath the ground became the surface of the moon, replaced by countless mottled craters stacked on top of each other, and the few surviving wooden stakes were stuck in the ground diagonally, and the rusty barbed wire was torn off like boiled noodles.

Successive trenches crumbled, sandbags were thrown out, and sharp shrapnel cut through all obstacles in the way.

Everyone wittily burrowed into the caves and underground bunkers, opened their mouths wide or covered their ears, praying that the shells would not fall on the bunkers they were in.

Leaving the machine-gun firing port, Malenkov walked on the trembling ground, sat down on an ammunition box in the corner of the bunker, and said to a staff officer next to him: "Damn, the enemy on the opposite side actually made the first move, and now we don't need to go to them, they took the initiative to send them to death, saving us a lot of trouble." ”

The staff officer was also optimistic, and said with a smile: "We have a solid position to provide cover, which is much more advantageous than taking the initiative to attack, and now, we are going to fight a defensive counterattack." ”

"Yes, as long as we resist the first wave of attacks, it won't be long before our reinforcements arrive, and they will take advantage of the situation to counterattack their positions." Major Malenkov said.

"I think in less than an hour we'll be able to meet those traitors." The staff officer said.

"Almost." Major Malenkov said.

Soon, however, a wave of panic spread through the bunker.

"Major, it's been an hour, and the enemy shelling has not stopped." The staff officer whispered.

Major Malenkov raised his hand to look at his watch and said with a blank face: "I know, but what else can we do but wait?" ”

The staff officer closed his mouth in understanding, clasped his hands to his chest, and continued to count the explosions of the shells in silence.

Major Malenkov, while hiding from the shells in the bunker, did not know that on the surface outside the bunker, the road was used as the axis from the town of Novovkishivsk to the east to the city of Voroshilovgrad, and the depth was 60 kilometers covered by German fire.

Batch after batch of planes flew over the ground positions to the rear beyond the range of ground artillery fire, dropping hundreds of tons of bombs.

The 6th Air Force of the Luftwaffe faithfully played the role of its own strategic air force.

A group of HE-111 bombers, with 50, 250 and 500 kg of bombs, bloodbathed the headquarters of the 12th Army, the transport hub of the city of Voroshilovgrad.

In one bombing, with the railway station as the center, nearly a fifth of the city was reduced to rubble.

The sound of air raid sirens, the explosion of aerial bombs, and the roar of anti-aircraft guns resounded throughout the city.

Soon, scenes of fighters chasing, circling and biting each other appeared in the sky, letting the world know that the first to step into the battlefield was always the air force.

Voroshilovgrad was bombed by medium bombers, and all moving objects on the road extending west from the perimeter of Voroshilovgrad to the forward positions were strafed by ground attack aircraft.

The ME-110 and FW-190G ground attack aircraft were the main force, skimming the ground almost close to the treetops.

Rockets trail black trails, aerial bombs make terrifying arcs, tearing apart all moving objects on the road or driving them to the sides of the road.

Aviation machine guns and 20mm cannons swept across the ground, digging countless craters into the ground, and blood and flesh flew when they fell on people and animals.

Unlike the HE-111, which is also a medium bomber, the JU-88 with dive bombing capabilities has a more sophisticated mission.

From the forward positions to Voroshilovgrad, any place where artillery positions were suspected to have been deployed in previous aerial reconnaissance were subjected to dive bombardment by JU-88, followed by relentless strafing.

On the ground, which is more than 50 kilometers wide from north to south and 60 kilometers deep from east to west, the Luftwaffe and ground artillery fire joined forces to give the Russians a glimpse of the aesthetics of violence in Greater Germany.

Hiding in the bunker, Major Malenkov had no idea what was happening behind him, and could only helplessly count the time covered by German artillery fire.

Just after an hour and a half, Major Malenkov was keenly aware that the sound of the shell explosion had greatly subsided.

The major stood up, walked quickly to the machine-gun firing, looked out through the firing port, but did not see the shadow of the enemy attacking on the opposite side.

The infantry in the bunker, led by the officer, had just rushed out of the bunker and then came in again in disgrace.

"Air raids, air raids."

An air raid on surface positions for half an hour began.

ME-110 and FW-190G ground attack aircraft swept over the position, dropping bombs one after another.

The bomb disintegrated in the air before it landed, releasing the SD-2 Butterfly Bomb hidden inside, flying and smashing into the ground, either airborne or grounded, mercilessly covering all living beings exposed to the ground.

Blowing the "Jericho horn", the JU-87 Stuka dive bomber rushed to the ground and smashed the aerial bomb precisely at the point of fire.

Major Malenkov hung his head, sat on the ammunition box and continued to count the time, not knowing that a huge crisis was falling from the sky.

A 500-kilogram bomb was dropped by a JU-87 dive bomber on a trajectory almost perpendicular to the ground and fell straight into the bunker where Major Malenkov was located.

"It's almost half an hour, and the Germans are really ······"

"Rumbling ······" A loud bang came from his ears, and Major Malenkov felt a wave of air carrying smoke and dirt, and pounced fiercely from the right, and his body flew out involuntarily, and he lost consciousness as soon as it was dark in front of his eyes.