Leviakin walked up to me, patted me on the shoulder, and said in a friendly manner: "Don't be so polite, I'm saving my life too." After a pause, he continued, "What's next for you?" ”

"Call the commissar, I want to ask him how the whole situation of the army is now." As the commander of a division, although I stayed at the front and commanded the operation, I still needed to grasp the situation of the entire unit in a timely manner.

"Leda, you're finally calling. What's going on over there? As soon as the phone was connected, the anxious voice of political commissar Yegorov came from the opposite side.

"I'm fine, the troops are fighting stubbornly with the enemy." I replied vaguely, lest he be worried, and then asked, "What is the condition of the troops who have been withdrawn from the city?" ”

"In accordance with your orders, the 1073rd Regiment held out in the fortifications built outside the city, having just repelled a German attack. And the 1075 regiment, which served as a reserve, was resting. ”

"How many troops do you have left for the two regiments?" My concern is how many troops are currently available.

"Due to the long fighting, more than half of the two regiments have suffered casualties, and although they have been replenished several times along the way, there are currently 1,900 men left in the 1073rd Regiment and 2,300 in the 1075th Regiment, with a total strength of only more than 4,000 people." The commissar must have memorized these data for a long time, and as soon as he heard my question, he immediately answered me unequivocally.

If people who don't know the inside story of the road hear these data, they will be complacent, thinking that the structure of the army is almost complete. But the reality is that these regiments were initially staffed with 5,000 men, and after several replenishments along the way, the actual strength of each regiment should have exceeded 10,000 men, and now only one-fifth of the strength is left, and it is conceivable how brutal the battle they have experienced.

As I was calculating the number of troops, the voice of the political commissar came again, and he said with concern: "Lida, I think you should have just withdrawn from the city immediately, and your position is in the division headquarters, instead of staying on the front line and fighting to the death with the enemy face to face like ordinary soldiers." ”

"Yes, Comrade Division Commander." Leviakin, who was standing next to him, probably also heard the words of the political commissar and helped him persuade me: "The troops here are under my command, you can go back to the command post with peace of mind." ”

"No, not yet." I frowned for a moment and said categorically: "The enemy attack has just begun, and I will stay and wait until the warriors have repelled them before leaving." ”

After hanging up, I waved my hand at Leviakin, interrupted what he wanted to say later, and explained: "You don't need to say, the fighters are bleeding and dying, and I, as their division commander, must not leave my combat post at such a time." ”

My words seemed to move everyone present, but only I knew in my heart that it was just a high-pitched singing, just kidding, the fighting outside was so fierce, I had to withdraw from the building at this time, and it was estimated that before I ran far, I would be beaten into a sieve by the German guns, so I would not take this risk.

"Alright, let's go outside and have a look." To prevent them from continuing, I took the initiative to change the subject. When I got up, I habitually went to get the submachine gun on the table, but I grabbed it, and then I remembered that I didn't know where I threw it when I ran for my life just now.

Although I had no weapons, I took the lead and went out. As soon as I opened the door, the sound of gunfire outside suddenly became clearer, and a group of soldiers with loaded guns ran in front of me to support the place where the battle was raging.

When I returned to the observation point, I found that the walls of a section of the corridor had been blown down by shells, and several soldiers were lying on the masonry and shooting outside. I stood by the window and looked cautiously out to see that the German tanks were already approaching downstairs, and there were two other armored vehicles, covering hundreds of German soldiers rushing towards us.

Looking at the tanks that are getting closer and closer, I can't help but get nervous, our army does not have any decent anti-tank weapons, and in the face of such a behemoth, the fighters can only rush over and blow up with Molotov cocktails, but under such an offensive of the enemy, do they have such a chance?

While I was thinking about it, suddenly a dull explosion was heard downstairs, and I looked out again to find a puff of smoke coming from the right track position of the German tank.

"Great, the Germans are pressing our mines." Leviakin's excited voice came from the side.

"What's going on?" Puzzled, I asked the general who was standing across from me.

"The tank pressed on the mines we planted, and although they were only infantry mines, if they happened to hit an important part of the tank, it would still be finished."

As if to annotate his words, the smoking tank roof slammed open, and two tankmen in black uniforms crawled out of it. Before they could jump out of the tank, a chubby warrior stuck out his gun from the window next to me and swept at them. Countless blood flowers suddenly burst out of the tankman's body, and his body shook a few times, and then he fell on the tank.

The machine gunners in the armored vehicles behind raised their machine guns and fired fiercely at us. The bullets hit the walls and window frames, and a ricocheting bullet flew past my ear, so frightened that I quickly shrank my head and hid behind the wall. And the fat warrior who shot was not so lucky, and a volley of bullets hit him impartially. I saw that his body stiffened, and the weapon in his hand fell to the ground with a snap, and then the whole person fell on his back, lying on the ground motionless.

Seeing this warrior die in front of me, I didn't have the slightest emotional turmoil, maybe I had seen too much life and death, and I had become numb to these things. When the enemy stopped firing at us, I looked out again to check on the situation. The armored car had already driven up to the side of the blown up tank, and the machine guns on it were frantically suppressing the fire of our troops.

When I saw the arrogant expression of the German machine gunner, I couldn't help but blood gushing up, and shouted at Leviagin, who was next to me: "Comrade General, find me a rifle." ”

Soon a rifle was handed over from the hands of the other fighters, and I put it on the windowsill and aimed it in the direction of the armored car, and almost without aiming, I pulled the trigger. As the gun rang out, the Heavy threw his head back, and the whole man lay on top of the machine gun.

"The division commander is really good marksmanship!" Leviakin complimented me on the side.

"Help me get the bullets." I didn't answer him, but handed him the gun, and I couldn't pull the bolt with one hand. While the general was loading my bullets, I looked down with a telescope.

Another armored car was parked far away, and an officer was directing the troops to rush upward. Looking through the binoculars, I felt that this officer was quite familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere.

Before I could figure it out, Leviakin had already handed over the rifle. I took the gun and put it on the windowsill again, intending to kill the German commander. I was surprised to find that the officer had disappeared from my view.