On the 500-kilometer front of the Southern Front, from Zaporozhye to the mouth of the Dnieper, there was a scene of great excitement everywhere, even outside the town of Vosrivka. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

In the loess next to the river, sappers are busy laying pressure mines.

Figures swayed in the cracks in the bushes, and in the golden sunlight, the emerald green bushes shone with a ghostly glow reflected by the stumbling wires.

Behind the minefield, the shirtless infantrymen sweated like rain, and smashed sledgehammers into the wooden stakes, nailing them into the ground one by one.

After the stakes were erected in an orderly manner on the ground, the sappers carried bundles of barbed wire and roamed among the stakes, and the pieces of barbed wire hung from the stakes, and the dense spikes shivered in the sunlight.

Behind the barbed wire fence is the town of Vosrivka, and on the Dnieper side of the town, all the entrances to the town are already stacked with sandbags with Makqin heavy machine guns.

In the river-facing windows of the houses on both sides of the road, the muzzle of the Dzhegarev light machine gun dangled towards the wide Dnieper.

On the side away from the river bank, in the southeast and northeast corners of the town, anti-aircraft gunners were also adjusting the firing range of the Type 61-k 37-mm anti-aircraft guns, so that when the anti-aircraft guns flattened the barrels, they would not be blocked by houses to shoot at the river.

In the southwest and northwest corners of the town, seven or eight soldiers wielding shovels dug foxholes in the soft ground, which then joined together and became trenches.

After receiving the comment that the company commander, Captain Alexander, was qualified for engineering, Private Nikolai waved his hand and stuck the shovel into the ground, holding the shovel handle with both hands.

"Are we finally going to fight? I thought we would retreat all the way to the Urals. ”

The young private Anton threw the shovel to the side of the trench, sat on the handle of the shovel, took out a copy of Pravda, and without looking at it, skillfully tore off a rectangular strip of the newspaper.

After putting away the newspaper, Anton took out the tobacco bag, pinched out a pinch of tobacco and put it on the paper, dipped it in saliva and rolled up the paper, and a home-made cigarette appeared in his hand.

Pulling out a match and lighting a cigarette, Anton took a puff beautifully, looked up and asked Nikolai: "Dear Comrade Nikolai, do you want an Anton brand cigarette?" ”

"I felt like I could drink all the water of the Dnieper, and the cigarette only made me thirstier." Nikolai put down the kettle in his hand and wiped the water stains from the corners of his mouth.

Anton pursed his lips and said in an old-fashioned manner: "If you drink all the water of the Dnieper, the Germans will thank you, so that they don't have to swim across the river." Don't you really want one? When the Germans get here, we may not have the chance to smoke again, and I smoke one less now. I'm going to try to get all this precious tobacco out before the Germans kill me. ”

"There is an order from the superiors, this is the last line of defense, and you are not allowed to retreat a step, you are going to fight a big battle・・・・・・

"What can this be? Three months ago, we rushed into Romania, ran headlong into the Germans, and then were chased all the way out of Romania by the Germans. Together with the refugees, we fled all the way here. Is it that we don't want to stay in Romania? No, because if we don't run for our lives, the Germans will catch up and kill us. In my opinion, these positions we dug were all put on display, and they still couldn't stop the Germans. We still have to think about how to escape out of the range of the Germans before the Germans kill us. Private Anton smoked boredly and said in a strange manner.

The few soldiers next to him, no one paid attention to Anton, at most they just glanced at him, they were used to Anton's way of speaking.

When the two of them were chatting without a word, they suddenly heard shouts from the town.

"Assemble, assemble."

Along with the shouting, there was a loud whistle.

Anton frowned and looked at the sun in the sky, and said puzzledly: "It's strange, it's not time for lunch yet, why do you want to gather." ”

Several men hurriedly put on their military uniforms and trotted towards the east side of the town.

When they got into the queue and stood up straight, their eyes were quickly drawn to the few people in front of the queue.

Next to their company commander and instructor stood a group of soldiers wearing blue brimmed hats, led by a captain.

"Those guys are NKVD people, and I feel like something is going to happen." Nikolai whispered.

"These guys can't beat the Germans, it's very good to clean up their own people." Anton pouted.

After the queue was counted, Anton and Nikolai saw the company commander Alexander and the captain of the NKVD unit under him talking a few words, and the captain of the NKVD waved behind him.

Two NKVD soldiers escorted a soldier to the front of the queue.

"Isn't that Nikonov? Didn't he go to the hospital? What's going on. Anton whispered.

"Don't talk, just watch, I'm afraid something will happen." Nikolai said with a calm face.

Anton also saw at this time that Nikonov was hanging his head and looking trembling.

The NKVD captain walked up to Nikonov, grabbed Nikonov's right hand, wrapped in a white bandage, and raised it high above his head.

"Ah・・・・・・" was pinched into the wound, and Nikonov screamed in pain.

"You all know him, his name is Vladimir Nikonov, a senior soldier in your company, and a comrade-in-arms. He received a gunshot wound to his hand and went to a field hospital in the rear. It's just that, after the doctor's evaluation, I want to tell you that the gunshot wound on his hand was inflicted by himself, which is a cowardly act of self-inflicted injury. ”

Captain NKVD's cold gaze swept across the queue several times, and then said: "I am Captain Willian Schunezel, the commander of the 3rd Correctional Battalion of the Front Army, and I am here to tell you what the consequences of disobeying military orders and being a coward. ”

Putting down Nikonov's hand, Captain Schunezel stepped aside.

Two NKVD soldiers took Nikonov a few steps forward, then let go of their hands.

"According to the verdict of the military tribunal of the Front, Vladimir Nikonov was sentenced to death, and this is the verdict."

Schunezel handed the verdict in his hand to the company commander Alexander on the side, then took out a piece of paper and read it aloud: "Anton Ivanov, Nikolai Petrovich, Peter・・・・・・"

Six names were pronounced in a row before Captain Schunezel stopped.

The six soldiers whose names were read out of the queue looked at Honezel in confusion, not knowing what they were asking them to do.

"Pick up your guns, stand in line, face Nikonov, raise your guns." Schunezel issued a barrage of orders.

The six men did as Shunezel had ordered, and the muzzles of the six black holes were pointed at Nikonov, who was trembling.

"Ready, loaded, fired."

"Bang・・・・・・" Six gunshots rang out one after another, and Nikonov fell to the ground, blood flowing from under the corpse, staining a large area of the ground red.

"You've all seen it, this is what happens to cowards, remember what happens to him." Captain Schunezel said, pointing to the corpse on the ground.

With that, Captain Schunezel turned his gaze to the six Anton who were executed.

"Do you know why you are here to carry out the execution?" Schunezel asked.

Seeing Captain Schunezel's unkind gaze, a strong sense of crisis rose in Anton's heart.

"I've been told that the six of you are often spreading the word of failure in your company. As punishment, from now on, you will be my subordinates and go to the punishment camp under my command to mend your ways. Go back and get your personal belongings and report back to me in five minutes. ”

With a sad face, the six Anton ran to the town・・・・・・

About half an hour later, two trucks stopped on the bank of the river west of the city of Tavrisk.

Captain Schunezel slipped out of the cab and waved for the six new soldiers to stand beside him.

Pointing to the soldiers who were working hard to build fortifications on the shore, Captain Schunezel said, "You don't see those people, they are your new comrades-in-arms." Like you, they are here to mend their ways. ”

Pointing to a red flag planted on the position, Captain Schunezel said: "Remember the location of this red flag, and when the battle starts, my men and I, as well as the Maxim heavy machine gun, will be behind that red flag." If any of you retreat behind the Red Flag without my orders, I and the machine gun will treat you like Germans. ”

Seeing the lifeless six people, Honezel said, "Don't stand here, go and report for duty, remember what I just said." ”

Hanging his head, as he walked past Honezel, a sentence suddenly came out of Anton's mouth.

"Comrade battalion commander, when are the Germans coming?"

"Don't worry, you'll see them soon." Schunezel said.

Anton said something silently and walked towards the river.

Captain Schunezel's gaze suddenly turned to the southwest, where a barrage of artillery could be heard.

In the southwest sky, clouds of black smoke of various sizes burst out, and a small plane was shuttling through the smoke and flying westward, and more smoke chased the plane into the sky.

Seeing the monoplane on board, Schunezel recognized that it was a reconnaissance aircraft often used by the Germans.

After another busy afternoon, Captain Schunezel successfully "recruited" 400 soldiers who needed to be rehabilitated, which was exactly half of the full number.

After assigning the defensive positions of the various companies, Captain Schunezel dutifully checked the progress of the construction of the positions again before evening.

Minefields, barbed wire, continuous trenches, machine-gun fire points, communication trenches・・・・・・

After some inspection, Captain Schunezel realized that his position had taken shape, and what he needed to do was to set up more bunkers and crossfire points to arrange a death feast for the approaching Germans.

Captain Schunezel looked at the position and was thinking about how to strengthen the defenses when he suddenly touched his right cheek and looked up at the sky.

"It's raining ・・・・・・"

・・・・・・

In the western part of the city of Pavomysk in central Ukraine, Guderian sat in a bucket car propped up with a rainproof canvas, watching his troops crawl in the mud outside the window.

As he passed an Opel lightning truck, Guderian saw that the mud on the ground barely reached half of the truck's wheels.

The sidecar motorcycle was no longer as swift as it had been, stumbling eastward, most of its body covered in wet mud.

Moving on, Guderian saw for the fourteenth time that a tank No. 4 was parked on the side of the road, and the tankmen gathered around the tank, craned their necks and looked west.

Surely waiting for the trailer of the maintenance department, Guderian was very experienced in guessing what the tankmen thought.

Before dark, Guderian finally entered his destination, the city of Pavomaisk.

After finding the headquarters of the 2nd Panzer Army, Guderian asked: "At the current progress, when will we see the Dnieper?" ”

"We can't see it until the rain stops, and even if it stops, we have to kill the Russians who are blocking the road first." Lieutenant General Thoma said.

"Huh? Didn't the captured Russians say that their main forces had all been withdrawn to the east bank of the Dnieper? Who's in the way? ”

"The reconnaissance unit was in the Kirovgrad area ahead and found that the Russians had built fortifications around the city. After killing the Russians who stood in our way, we only had to walk another eighty kilometers to see the Dnieper. ”

"To be honest, the Russians played this hand really beautifully, and as an enemy, I have to admire their courage." Guderian said.

"It is really admirable that they dared to throw away half of Ukraine. Looking at their posture, they want to fight us in a decisive battle on the Dnieper. Lieutenant General Thoma said.

Guderian took a sip of hot coffee to dispel a lot of the chill on his body.

"By the time we cross the Dnieper, maybe I'll get a new nickname, Heinz the Swimmer. The weather and roads in Russia were on their side, and I couldn't find the feeling of a Scud anymore. ”

The adjutant rushed into the room and handed a telegram to Guderian.

"Balk also found Russian troops in Kafbas, let me see where these two cities are. Well, well, Kirovgrad is a little westerly, closer to us. Kafbas is a long way off, with a distance of nearly a hundred kilometers between the two cities. Well, that's it. ”

"Send a telegram to Balk in my name, asking him to transfer the 60 Motorized Rifle Division to your command, and then go through here and kill the Russians in Kirovgrad first. And then there's Kavbas, in short, before the infantry arrives, we have to clear the west bank of the Dnieper, all the Russians who stand in our way. Guderian said, drawing an arc on the map.

Guderian's new order had just been given, and the adjutant trotted back to Guderian.

"This is a new order from the army group headquarters, and our army group has a new number."

"Army Group South Ukraine, well, the name is apt." Guderian said.

"Let me guess, our Balkan Army Group was renamed Army Group South Ukraine, and Marshal Rundstedt's troops must be Army Group North Ukraine."

"That's not the point, the point is how we were able to cross the Dnieper, we were delayed for too long." Guderian said. (To be continued.) )