As soon as the Germans retreated, the front-line infantry was immediately busy rescuing the wounded and repairing the fortifications, and each battalion and company reported losses: there were casualties throughout the city, basically because of shelling and bombardment. The www.biquge.infoStalinist tanks, which had the audacity to rush into the open field, withdrew into the city and the woods, because the Germans were coming again - they could hold off the direct fire of the anti-tank guns, but it was obviously unwise to wait for the howitzers to fire openly.

The whole city was burning, the soldiers did not have time to extinguish the fire, those collapsed fortifications needed to be strengthened immediately, and the Germans would not rest on their laurels! In addition to the heavy losses of the tank troops, the infantry did not reimburse much for this attack, and their heavy tanks only temporarily made the Germans lose the confidence to attack.

To the east of the city, Terteny stood in his captain's seat and leaned out of his upper body, and 20 meters to the right was the BT-5 of the commander of the infantry battalion, Yevnigan Filippovich Ivanovsky.

"Ivanovsky, how's it going?" Seeing that the comrades were rushing to repair the tank, Telteny shouted.

"Two pieces of track shoes were broken, shells were fired, and wheels had to be replaced." Comrade commander of the Jibu battalion had a face of gunsmoke.

The comrades of the repair company ran over to help with the repair, "You ask the reconnaissance company to take a look at the northeast corner, I am worried that the Germans may make some moves from the woods, and let them go there to set up a few sentry posts." ”

"Yes, Captain." Ivanovsky was not only a battalion commander, but also responsible for reconnaissance, and he was trained at the Academy of Armored Forces. He and Sergei Stepanovich Mariachin were alumni of the Saratov Armored Tank School, but the two did not know each other before entering the mixed tank regiment (Mariachin graduated from 32, he graduated in 36. ）。 There were not many fast tanks brought to Stolbutch this time, and Telteny did not let them serve as the main force in tank battles, that is, rapid penetration and reconnaissance.

The forest was a few kilometers away, and the reconnaissance on foot was obviously too far away, and the reconnaissance company did not bring ski equipment, and the BT tanks were not suitable for entering the woods. But the comrades had a new car, a couple of strange captured motorcycles: the HK101 half-track.

Armed with the radio, a dozen scouts took five motorcycles to bypass their positions and make their way through the snow with difficulty.

"Looks like the Germans' new toys aren't good." Terteney thought.

It was already dawn, and the command reported that German scouts had appeared on the other side of the river west of the city, and because they occupied the commanding heights of the river, they had been bombarded back with machine guns and mortars. No German troops were found at the outposts sent out in the south of the city, and it seems that the Germans have temporarily pressed their chips in one direction of the Eastern Front.

Back in his tank, the gun commander, Sergeant Ilasovsky, reported that there were 18 shells left, only 5 armor-piercing shells, 4 armor-piercing shells, and the rest were high-explosive shells.

Sergeant Kilevnik and Loader Corporal Kokikov are refueling tanks with German diesel. Terteney inspected his tank, which found that there were two craters left behind by the storming of Latom - a memorial of 75 mm armor-piercing shells, which could not penetrate the Stalinist frontal armor at all. There were also several shell shrapnel scratches around the area, and there was no problem.

The situation is similar for other heavy tanks, so far there has not been a loss of one, the one that blew up the track has been repaired, but there are not many shells left, and the least one has only 9 rounds left!

"It's enough for a fight." The Stalinist type is good at everything, but the ammunition reserve is a little small, and it is not comparable to the T34. But the tankmen could not blame the designers and the factory, the volume of the 105-mm shells was much larger than the original ones, and 40 rounds were already full.

Since last night, Terteney has not eaten or drunk, and has taken out some hard bread in the car and nibbled on a few bites and drank some water. I didn't sleep all night, plus I didn't have a good night's rest the night before, it was like a sleeping party, but that couldn't be.

Fortunately, it didn't snow, and if it snowed heavily, the defense of tanks and machine guns on their side would not work, and the Germans easily approached the firefight, "Of course the weather in Russia helps the Russians!" ”

There was another explosion in the distance, half of the tank was drilled, and there was an observation post on the roof overhead, "To the east, there are German anti-aircraft guns, and there are planes in the sky, it should be ours!" ”

Jumping out of the tank and looking at the eastern sky with his goggles, a convoy of planes was flying towards him in the distance.

"It's an airdrop, ready to grab it!"

It was Budyonny's transport planes, and more than 50 transport planes were flying towards Stolbutch from an altitude of 4,000 meters that the German small-caliber anti-aircraft guns could not threaten, and a small number of 88-mm anti-aircraft gun shells exploded to form a cloud of smoke around the group, and more than two dozen fighters were escorting them.

Comrades, take action, Stolbutch's own control area is large enough, and the airdrop from the middle air can get a good effect, and it will not be thrown on the head of the Germans. The group of planes is gradually approaching the sky above their own side, and they should be able to clearly see their own defense lines from the air.

White parachutes began to appear, and the shells that Terteney urgently needed came down!

Suddenly, a convoy of escort fighters roared north—Luftwaffe fighters were approaching Stolbutch!

An aerial battle broke out over the heads of the comrades, accompanied by the screams of Stuka as he dived: those German fighters had only come to escort Stuka, and they did not expect to meet head-on on both sides.

It didn't help the melee that was going on at the heights, but the anti-aircraft machine guns on the tanks on the outskirts of the city and the anti-aircraft guns near the positions worked just right - Stuka threw bombs accurately and ruthlessly, but it had to dive, and the anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft machine guns were not vegetarian!

Corporal Kokikov fired heavily at a stoica that was diving, and the fire of the anti-aircraft machine guns on several tanks nearby also concentrated fire! Three black bombs fell with a roar, perhaps disturbed by tracer bullets, but the bombs did not fall straight to the tank, and exploded violently dozens of meters away!

Kokikov was pushing the air wave from the explosion back into the tank, and Sergeant Ilasovsky came to his senses by patting his head - not injured, but his head was buzzing: the sound of the bomb explosion made people's heads dizzy! Even inside the tank weighing dozens of tons, the comrades felt a violent vibration, and the power of heavy bombs was not comparable to ordinary shells!

As soon as Kokikov woke up, he drilled into the hatch and planned to shoot again, but he saw the comrades on the tank next to him cheering - at an ultra-low altitude, the German bomber was falling in smoke: it was hit by a dense number of large-caliber machine gun bullets after dropping the bomb just now, and the concentrated fire of the 12.7-mm anti-aircraft machine gun was still very effective against the bomber in a dive state!

Countless parachutes are falling, the transport planes in the air have turned, and the battle in the air is still going on in the distance, with fighter jets on both sides flying up and down in the air. In addition to the personnel sent out to receive airdropped supplies, the comrades in the trenches and bunkers were watching the air battle, although they couldn't see clearly, countless people were shouting, shouting for their own eagles in the air!

There are constantly planes falling, I don't know if it's my own people or the Germans, everyone is sweating in their hearts.

A plane was smoking, and it was gliding smoothly towards its side -- the anti-aircraft gunners were not dizzy: the plane was going to make a forced landing, and if it was the Germans, it would definitely not fly this way, it must be their own people.

Sure enough, when the plane crossed itself from the trench, the fighters saw the red star on the wing. The plane landed on the snow a few dozen meters in front of the first trench of the Airborne Forces, stirred up a snowflake and mud, and only stopped after drawing a few dozen meters.

There were three striking red stars under the canopy, and without the commander's order, several airborne troops jumped out of the trench and ran at high speed towards the plane - a dense number of machine-gun bullets were fired from a few hundred meters away: the Germans also dug trenches behind their destroyed tanks, and when they saw the plane making a forced landing, they wanted to completely destroy the Soviet fighter.

Before the airborne troops could get closer, the cockpit opened, and the pilot jumped out of the cabin and crawled closer to his own people.

The pilot was wounded in the leg, and as soon as the airborne troops approached, they dragged him into the trench.

The Air Force lieutenant was bleeding from his leg, and the medics hurriedly stopped the bleeding for him, cut the leather flight pants, and turned out a small piece of thigh flesh, serious "abrasions".

The pilot was very stiff, his brows were furrowed, and he didn't cry out in pain. The conscripts asked for morphine, and he refused. Two airborne troops carried him to the field hospital in the rear.

"Comrade Lieutenant, hold on, it's almost there." The stretcher team came to carry it up, and the corporal, who served as a medic, said to the lieutenant on the stretcher.

The lieutenant actually laughed: "I can't die yet, comrade." ”

As a pilot, he was taken aback by the situation in the field hospital: there were wounded everywhere, many of them seriously, and even people were lying in the aisles. He had just seen that the whole city was in tatters, with traces of shelling and bombardment, and knew that there must be heavy casualties.

The military doctor confiscated all the morphine brought by the medic who brought the pilot: there were too many seriously wounded, and there were not enough anesthetics in the hospital.

Preferential treatment for pilots, but you have to wait for surgery.

"I'm not seriously injured, Comrade Corporal, see if you can handle it, it's just a minor operation."

The corporal nodded, and the medic looked at it, knowing that it was still within the range that the medic sergeant could handle.

"Wash it, don't use anesthetic, give it to the seriously wounded." After saying that, the lieutenant picked up his pilot gloves and bit them on, signaling for the sergeant to start. Corporal Davydov cleaned the lieutenant's wound with the alcohol he had with him, and stitched the pilot in the aisle: he could do such an operation, and he had done it, and the airborne troops sometimes suffered similar injuries during training, and it was not difficult to stitch a dozen stitches, but he did not do it without anesthetics.

Holding the stretcher pole in his hand, he gritted his teeth, beads of sweat popped out of his head, and watched the sergeant stitch it with stitches.

"Whew", after sewing the last burst, Davydov exhaled, just now he felt even more nervous than the lieutenant! Disinfect and bandage again, no penicillin was used, just a little sulfonamide, and it should not be infected.

The lieutenant had recovered his breath, but there were two clear rows of teeth marks on his gloves.

"Comrade Lieutenant, you are the toughest fighter I have ever met." Davydov was sincerely impressed.

"It's okay, hehe." He could still laugh. Stretched out his hand: "Maresyev." ”

"Davydov."

This is considered an acquaintance, "Send me to you, I can still be a **** fascist in the trenches." "Get up.

As long as such an injury is stitched, a lame leg can still fight, but the corporal does not agree and wants the lieutenant to stay in the hospital. After a dispute, the pilot did not want to stay in the way, so he had to carry him to the command on his side.

Wounded, Malesyev is like no one, because he is Alexei Petrovich Malessyev!

In the history of the Great Patriotic War of the USSR there are many famous combat heroes: Vasily, Pavlov, Korothukov and many others, who proved with their heroic deeds that they are worthy of being loyal communist fighters! But if you talk about who was the first iron man of the Great Patriotic War, it is estimated that many military history researchers will say that it is Alexei Petrovich Malesiev!

The life of Malesyev can be summarized not only in terms of "iron man", but even superman! He was strong-willed because he "once" shocked the world with what he "had"!

Alexei Petrovich Malesyev was born in Stalingrad in 1916 (he was born Tsaritsyn. A working-class family in the nearby city of Kamesin, who lost his father at the age of 3, entered a factory apprenticeship class after graduating from 8-year high school, and participated in the construction of the Komsomolsk city on the Amur River. He joined the army in 1937 and graduated from the Bartesk Military Aviation School in 1940. After the start of the Great Patriotic War, as a fighter pilot, he shot down four enemy planes in half a year. In March 1942, during an air battle in the area of the Demyansk landing site (in the Novgorod region), his plane was damaged and seriously wounded. He crash-landed behind the enemy in a wounded plane, and what happened next can be described as an incredible miracle! Alone, with both legs seriously wounded, he trudged through the ice and snow for 18 days and nights (the last few days were crawling) to sneak back to his own line of defense!

Maybe a little luck was not discovered by the Germans, but one can hardly imagine what kind of strong will he had to spend those 18 days in the snow-covered forests of Novgorod in March! Crawl, 18 days!

After both legs were amputated, Malesyev learned to use a prosthetic limb (high amputation) with a strong will, and after hard work, he learned to use a prosthetic leg to fly a fighter jet. At their personal request, they were sent to combat units. From June 1943, he participated in operations in the Kursk arc and the Baltic Sea coast area within the formation of the fighter aviation regiment, and shot down 7 enemy planes! During the war, he made 86 combat sorties and was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for his victorious completion of combat missions and bravery in battle.

"For a real man, for a real Soviet, no difficulty can crush him!" According to his story, the famous Soviet writer and journalist Boris Polevoy spent 19 days covering the Nuremberg trials in 1946 to write the novel "The Real Man" (translated as "The Legless Flying General"), which was adapted into an opera of the same name in 1947 by the famous musician Prokofiev, and in 1948, the novel was brought to the screen by Alexander Stolpel. May 20, 2001 was the 85th birthday of this "legend", but he categorically refused to accept the title of "legend".

"I'm a man, not a legend! There's nothing particularly unusual in what I've done. It makes me uncomfortable to turn me into a legend. ”

Years later, he said, "Life has worn me out, of course, terribly." But if I had to start all over again, I'd still have to be a pilot. Even now, it is impossible for me to think of the sky without a strange and sublime feeling. The best moments of my life were connected to airplanes. When I was in the hospital, I felt like I had flown to the pinnacle of happiness when my card was written with the words "suitable for various flying jobs". ”

On May 18, 2001, a grand party was held in the Central Auditorium of the Russian Army to celebrate the 85th birthday of Maleseyev. However, shortly before the start of the party, Malesiev suffered a heart attack and died in the hospital. The party was held as scheduled, but the opening was not warm applause, but a long silence of all the soldiers......

Warriors are always able to work miracles because they have an incomparably strong will! Some people say that it is idealism that the will can overcome pain, but Alexei Petrovich Malesyev told the world with his actions - many times, the will can overcome pain!

(Another hero has appeared, and the word count in this chapter is still quite solid, so it goes without saying that the blood bat is cheating on the word count again, hehe.) (To be continued.) )