At five o'clock in the morning of August 3, the rumble of thousands of artillery pieces broke the silence in the south of Kursk. Our artillery fired non-stop at the German positions that had been calibrated long ago.

Standing in the observation post of the starting position of the 52nd Guards Division, I watched through my telescope hail of shells flying in waves, red points of light crashing into the enemy group like meteors, and the sound of ballistic strokes intertwined. The cannonballs exploded violently, and the earth shook violently, bursting into a dazzling halo of light in a continuous roar, and the smoke and fire rose into the air, and clusters of rolling fireballs shone under the smoke and dust that covered the sky.

While the shelling was still going on, a number of armored vehicles drove out of the positions and headed for the enemy's positions. When they reached a minefield not far from the Germans, all the armored vehicles stopped, and quite a few fighters jumped out of the vehicles and bent down to run towards the minefield. Nekrasov, who was standing next to me, leaned close to my ear and said loudly: "Comrade commander, these are demining sappers who will open a way for our attacking troops in the minefield. ”

When I heard this, I just nodded silently, but at the same time I thought disdainfully: "Why not shell the minefield, so that when the shelling is over, there will not be many mines left in the minefield, so why risk our sappers to clear the mines?" ”

At this moment, the sound of artillery suddenly stopped. My first reaction was: Is the shelling over? Then I pointed the telescope at the sappers who were busy in the minefield, fearing that they would be machine-gunned from the German positions.

However, I looked at it for a while and found that the German positions were not moving at all, except for being shrouded in gunsmoke. I couldn't help but wonder where all the Germans in the positions had gone, were they huddled in the trenches to avoid shells, or were they hiding in anti-artillery holes?

Then. Another green flare rose in the sky. As the flare slowly fell from the sky, another strange sound was heard in the sky. While Nekrasov was still listening, I had already judged from my own experience that it was the sound of rocket shells flying in the air.

The rockets made graceful arcs over our positions and disappeared into the German positions, still shrouded in smoke, where a terrible rumble was heard.

Look at the rocket shells that constantly smashed on the German positions. I can't help but remember that two years ago, for the first time, the fighters saw a rocket shell explode in the middle of the enemy. Most of the people at that time were not jubilant when they saw that in just a few seconds, a large number of rockets covered an area the size of several football fields, leaving the German soldiers in the area with nowhere to come out and unable to respond effectively, and suffered heavy casualties, everyone was not jubilant, but was frightened and turned back.

Nekrasov saw that I was staring intently at the German positions that had been washed by rocket fire. I couldn't help but interject: "Comrade commander, under the blow of Katyusha, I believe that there will not be many survivors on the position, and the next offensive will become very smooth." ”

I don't know how long it took, but the sound of the artillery suddenly stopped, and the whole battlefield became silent.

A moment later, a red flare, representing the signal for the attack, flew into the sky.

With the launch of the red flare. The forward positions suddenly boiled, and the commanders and fighters who were hiding in the communication trenches and trenches. Screaming, he jumped out of his hiding place and rushed forward quickly. One by one, the arrows converged into the sea, rushing into the smoke and rushing forward.

At this time, the artillery fire of our army was extended, and the roar of explosions and flickering fires in the distance, and the slightly reddish night sky reflected the figures jumping everywhere. No matter how much the Germans can fight, there will only be a complete collapse in the face of our absolute superior firepower.

Before the enemy could wake up from the artillery fire, the charging commanders and fighters had already rushed over the mountains, and in an instant the positions were occupied one after another, and they were left behind in their howls. For the German soldiers who were stunned by the artillery fire. They did not pay any attention to it, did not stop at all, and continued to rush forward, leaving it to the follow-up troops to deal with. In close combat, our assault rifles showed their might, raining down bullets on the Germans, beating the panicked German soldiers to pieces.

Seeing the rapid development of the troops in depth, I nodded with satisfaction, turned my face and asked Nekrasov: "Comrade Colonel, how many reserves do you still have in your hands?" ”

Hearing my question, Nekrasov smiled a little embarrassedly, and then said: "Comrade commander, I am afraid that the progress of the troops will not go well, so in the first batch of attacks, only two regiments of troops were used, and one regiment was left as a reserve. ”

After he had finished speaking, I pointed to the position in front that had been occupied by our commanders and fighters and had been left far behind, and said, "Comrade Colonel, immediately put your remaining regiment into battle and let them clear the remaining enemy from the position. ”

"Yes!" As soon as Nekrasov agreed, he began to make phone calls, ordering his chief of staff to quickly throw the remaining regiment into battle as well.

Although I used all the strength of the 52nd Guards Division, I would definitely not let Nekrasov sing "empty city plan" here, otherwise as long as a small German force touched it, it would be enough to terminate their headquarters, so after Nekrasov finished calling, I dialed the commander of the 89th Guards Division, Seryukin.

When I heard Seryukin's voice coming out of the earpiece, I said to him in a loud voice: "Colonel, you immediately draw a regiment and send them to Nekrasov to take over their defense. ”

When Seryukin suddenly heard my order, he was stunned for a moment, and then asked cautiously: "Comrade commander, has our offensive failed?" ”

I could hear what he meant, and he wanted to ask if it was because the 52nd Guards Division had failed in the attack and suffered heavy casualties, so he transferred his troops to take over the defense, and quickly explained: "Not what you imagined, Comrade Colonel. The commanders and fighters of the 52nd Guards Division, having successfully broken through the German defensive positions as soon as the offensive began, were developing in depth. Because Nekrasov sent all his troops, I asked you to transfer troops to take over their defense. ”

Just now, there were thousands of commanders and fighters, braving the enemy's sporadic artillery fire, but at the moment there was no one. But when I looked closely, I saw the remains of many commanders and fighters in the open field, who had fallen under mortar fire from the German positions, even though they were doomed to never get back to their feet. But the hands of the commanders and fighters lying on the ground were stretched out to the front, pointing to the German positions in the distance, as if they were crawling into the enemy positions as long as they still had a breath.

After the reserve entered the battlefield, except for a small number of people who stayed behind to collect the remains of our commanders and fighters. The rest quickly rushed into the forward positions and began to clear the remnants of the German army that the first group of troops had not bothered to destroy.

After seeing that the battlefield was slowly calming down, I said to Nekrasov: "Comrade Colonel, you leave your chief of staff behind to receive the commanders and fighters of the 89th Guards Division, and we will go to the front together. ”

"But, Comrade Commander." Hearing me say this, Nekrasov pointed to the shells that occasionally exploded on the open ground outside, and said worriedly: "Look at it. The German long-range artillery was firing cold artillery at us, and if we went any further, it was easy to be dangerous. ”

"Comrade Colonel," I smiled gratefully at his concern, and then said: "I remember that General Rokossovsky once said that the commander can only fight more bravely if he is with his own troops. Since my warriors are fighting at the front. Can I, as their commander, always hide in the rear headquarters? ”

Hear me say that. Nekrasov knew that I had made up my mind, and no matter how much he said, I would not change my mind. I could only nod and reluctantly say: "Well, Comrade Commander, for your safety." You must act in concert with my command. Can you do it? ”

Without waiting for me to answer, he asked himself and said: "If you cannot accede to my request, then I can only disobey the order and send someone to forcibly return you to the army headquarters in the rear." ”

"No problem, no problem. Comrade Colonel. "I was deeply afraid that Nekrasov would be stubborn and really send me back to the army group headquarters in the rear, so I had to promise: "I will act with your division command." ”

It was only after receiving my promise that a smile appeared on Nekrasov's face, and after making a phone call to the chief of staff of the division, he arranged for the reception of friendly troops, and then followed me towards the position that had just been occupied.

Fearing for my safety, Basmanov surrounded me with more than a dozen fighters as he crossed the open field, not only to block the bullets of the sniper rifles flying from a distance, but also to block the shrenel even if the shells exploded not far away. Originally, I didn't want to do this, but Basmanov insisted on doing it, and I let him do it in order to reassure him.

Nekrasov, who was walking beside me, asked as he walked: "Comrade commander, do you think that the offensive we launched this time will be able to take Tomarovka?" ”

"No problem, Comrade Colonel." To his question, I said with certainty: "I can responsibly tell you that today's offensive will definitely be successful, and Tomarovka will definitely be occupied by us." ”

"But our previous attacks on Tomarovka ended in failure." Nekrasov said with some lack of confidence: "I am afraid that today's attack will end up in failure." ”

"Comrade Colonel, you are too pessimistic." I smiled at him and said, "In the first few attacks, we only had the 67th Guards Division engaged in battle, and the artillery support was also limited, so we couldn't gnaw at this hard bone of the enemy. But now, you look at how many troops we have? The first group of troops to fight alone consisted of three divisions, and all of them were Guards divisions with strong combat effectiveness. The progress of the other two divisions, I don't know for the time being, but you look at our troops, who have managed to break through the outlying positions of the German troops, are advancing in depth. ”

"Comrade commander, according to reconnaissance, the Germans have increased their forces to Tomarovka in the past two days, and at the same time laid a lot of minefields." Nekrasov continued: "It may be difficult for us to clear the defenders of the city in a day or two. ”

"Even if they increase their troops, it won't help." I confidently said: "Comrade Colonel, you must know that our total strength south of Kursk is three times that of theirs. Moreover, their limited forces must be distributed in the vast area from southern Kursk to Kharkiv. In this way, the Germans, who lacked mobile forces, could only stay in their positions honestly and wait for us to beat them. ”

Hearing me say this, the gloom on Nekrasov's face dissipated, and he finally showed a little smile: "Comrade commander, listening to you say this, my heart is steady. ”

When we arrived at the occupied German headquarters, the bodies had been cleaned up, but there was still a strong smell of blood in the house. I ignored the strange smell and urged Nekrasov: "Comrade Colonel, tell your communications corps to quickly set up the telephone line, I want to talk to the army group headquarters." ”

As soon as the communications corpsman set up the telephone, I immediately dialed the headquarters of the army group, and when I heard Danilov's voice coming from the receiver, I immediately smiled and said to him: "Hello, comrade deputy commander. ”

When Danilov heard my voice, he also smiled and said: "Comrade commander, it seems that I am very happy to listen to your voice, it seems that our 52nd Guards Division is fighting well." ”

"That's right, Comrade Deputy Commander." I said lightly: "After the shelling, the commanders and fighters of the 52nd Guards Division launched an attack, quickly broke through the defensive positions on the outskirts of the German army, and were developing in depth. ”

"Great, great, it's great!" After hearing this, Danilov excitedly said three times in a row that it was too good, and then asked in a low voice: "Comrade commander, you said that our troops, can we occupy Tomarovka today?" ”

His question silenced me. I thought for a while and replied: "Comrade Deputy Commander, it's hard to say. You must know that the German positions broken through by the 52nd Guards Division were only defended by the strength of two German regiments, and in the early artillery preparations, the enemy's positions were seriously damaged, so their defenses were quickly broken through by us. And the city of Tomarovka ......"

At this point, I fell silent again. But fortunately, Danilov also understood what was going on, and hurriedly continued: "Comrade commander, I understand. The reason why the 67th Guards Division's attacks on Tomarovka ended in failure was mainly due to the lack of troops and firepower. Now that we have gathered three main divisions, coupled with powerful ground artillery fire, I believe that the German troops inside will not be able to hold it. (To be continued.) )