After listening to Colonel Anchufeev's words, I suddenly felt a chill begin to rise in my spine. At the cost of thousands of men, it was only to break through the first line of defense of the Germans. If you follow the way of fighting during the day, it is estimated that even if the entire division is explained, it may not be able to break through the encirclement of the German army.

I took off my steel helmet and scratched the back of my head, a look of solemnity appeared on my face, I really didn't think that there would be so many problems in a breakthrough battle. However, I also know one thing clearly, this breakthrough may only be carried out by our division, and if it were replaced by other troops, it is estimated that all of them will be wiped out, and they may not be able to break through the German defensive line, as the failure of the breakthrough to the north a few days ago illustrates this problem. Although the tactics of Anchufeev's division were still sluggish, if I could master a force, I guess there would still be a chance to break through the few remaining German lines. So I thought of this, and simply turned my heart to the side, and said: "Comrade Colonel, if you can give me more troops and heavy weapons, then the chances of breaking through the German line will be greatly improved. ”

Colonel Anchufeev groaned slightly, smiled lightly, and said: "Well, Major Oshanina, I believe in your abilities. Lieutenant Colonel Evgeny was wounded in today's battle and withdrew from the battle, so you can take this regiment for the time being. ”

I immediately felt a warm current surging up to Colonel Anchufeev's trust, and I hurriedly crawled out of the bunker, stood in front of him, respectfully saluted him, and said sincerely: "Please rest assured, Comrade Division Commander, as long as I still have a breath of air, I will definitely make a gap in the encirclement of the Germans and cover the main force of the group army to break through the encirclement." ”

When the colonel heard this, he stretched out his hands and patted me on the shoulder, and said in an approving tone: "Well done, Major Oshanina, I am sure that you will be able to fulfill your promise, and I am waiting for your good news." Speaking of this, he paused before continuing: "However, I can't provide you with fire cover during the attack, you must know that the artillery in the Lu Dao Division was lost in the early battle. ”

As soon as I heard this, I chuckled in my heart, the Germans on this line of defense did not have heavy weapons such as artillery, tanks, armored vehicles, etc., and they made us pay such a heavy price. Even the Germans in the second line of defense are equipped with the same weapons, and our attack is tantamount to hitting a stone with an egg. And the tactic of sneaking around behind the German positions is also difficult to use again, because the Germans who run away will leak this secret. As long as we send a few more guard posts at the rear of the defensive line, even if we go around the back of the position again, we will not have any chance of success at all.

When he was suffering from gains and losses, he suddenly heard the familiar voice of Lieutenant Colonel Harpy: "Comrade Division Commander, Comrade Division Commander." Soon he appeared in front of Colonel Anchufeev, who, after standing up and saluting, excitedly reported: "Comrade division commander, we captured five mortars and more than a dozen boxes of shells while encircling and destroying the remnants of the enemy. ”

Hearing Lieutenant Colonel Harpy say this, I couldn't help but be stunned, since the Germans have mortars, then when our army attacked during the day just now, they didn't fire artillery, so our army's casualties would be even heavier. "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," Colonel Anchufeev thought of the same question, and asked with a frown: "Since there are mortars on their positions, why did they not fire when our troops launched several frontal attacks?" ”

Lieutenant Colonel Harpy glanced at me before answering Anchufeev: "According to the interrogation of the prisoners, these mortar crews arrived only an hour ago. Their task is to kill us with artillery fire when our troops attack. However, due to the timely launch of the surprise attack by Major Oshanina, the German artillery was captured by me before they could enter the battle. ”

"Great! That's great! Anchufeev looked happy, turned to me and said: "Major Oshanina, these five mortars will be assigned to you." It was necessary to break through the second line of defense of the German army as soon as possible and open the way for the whole division to advance. ”

I hurriedly stood up and saluted, and assured him: "Please rest assured, teacher, I promise to complete the task well." ”

I gathered the 7th and 8th companies and mixed them with the remnants of Evgeny's regiment to cobble together a team of more than 500 men. The original artillery fighters were then drawn from the unit and formed a mortar platoon, which was placed under the command of Second Lieutenant Miducci.

After the formation of the troops, I rushed with the troops to the second line of defense of the Germans.

After a forced march for more than an hour, the second line of defense of the Germans appeared in front of us. Several stuffy tank cars lay across the tracks, and high sandbags were piled up in the carriages, and the machine guns behind the sandbags were clearly visible without binoculars. Behind the tracks, the Germans also dug dense single bunkers, with at least one company of troops, distributed in these bunkers.

Captain Diomi had been wounded in the battle and had been sent to a makeshift medical facility for treatment, and now Lieutenant Ugad was in command of the 7th and 8th companies. The remnants of the Evgeny regiment, commanded by a lieutenant named Kozara. Now these two men are standing in front of me, waiting for my orders.

Looking at the rudimentary line of the German army, I did not rush to give the order to attack, but first asked Second Lieutenant Miducci to arrange the artillery position, and then asked the two: "Comrade two commanders, how do you think we should attack?" ”

"Needless to say, gather the fighters and rush over in a skirmish line." Captain Kozara replied without hesitation.

After listening to him, I didn't say anything, but turned my gaze to Lieutenant Ugad next to me. Ugad looked at the lieutenant and then at me before replying: "Comrade Major, I am of the same opinion as Comrade Lieutenant, that we should immediately concentrate our forces and pounce on the enemy, quickly break through the German lines, and open the way for the main forces of the army group to advance. At this, he paused, and then said, as if he had made up his mind, "I am willing to lead the troops to attack first." ”

I snorted, pointed to a few stuffy tank cars on the railroad tracks in front of me, and said coldly: "According to the way you say, let alone breaking through the German positions, even if we only rush to those cars, our people will almost be dead." ”

"So what do we do?" Ugard had been with me for a long time, and knew that I must have already been in the chest, so he took the initiative to ask for my opinion.

"Lieutenant Ugad," I didn't ramble any further, and gave the order directly to the two of them, "you go and order Second Lieutenant Miducci to open fire, and first concentrate the artillery fire to knock out these carriages." After the destruction of the carriage, artillery fire extended to the depth of the enemy's positions. Next, it's you, Comrade Captain, to lead the infantry to rush forward and wipe out all the Germans who are still resisting! Do you understand? ”

The two agreed in unison: "Please rest assured, Comrade Major, we promise to complete the task." ”

At the sound of an order, the mortar platoon of Second Lieutenant Miducci opened fire, and the discharged shells whizzed towards the German positions. In the sound of explosions one after another, the carriages on the track were directly hit by shells, and they were blown up crookedly, and the ammunition in the carriages detonated and caused a fire, and the German machine gunners inside were killed on the spot, and the rest jumped from the burning vehicles and ran to the straggler positions behind.

Although our army has only five mortars, in a narrow area it is possible to ensure the density of shelling. The shells exploded, the shrapnel whistled, and the fleeing machine gunners fell one after another, and at most only two or three people fled into the foxholes.

Seeing this, I put down my binoculars and said to Captain Kozara, who was standing next to me and was eager to try: "Comrade Captain, the artillery has destroyed the machine gun positions of the Germans, and the rest is up to you." ”

The captain saluted me, and ran briskly towards the troops who had been on standby, carrying his gun, shouting: "Comrades! It's time for us to go on the battlefield, and in order to avenge the sacrifices of the warriors, listen to my command and move forward! Advance!!! ”

Under his command, the troops, who had long been ready to go, let out a tsunami-like shout: "Ula! ~~~~" Then hundreds of fighters, with their rifles loaded with bayonets, rushed towards the German position.