Lieutenant Alfanasyev with two machine-gun teams would be holding on to the southwest corner of the building, and Second Lieutenant Chernuschenko with a few men was on the third floor, and all the people in the building who could fight with guns were already armed - yesterday morning the regiment sent weapons and ammunition, but not a single one was left!

The 87th Infantry Division has fought to this day, and the remaining infantry of the entire division is less than 2,000 people, and the division headquarters simply cannot come up with extra people to support the position on the west side of the Svisloch River. www.biquge.infoColonel Yelin and his regimental headquarters are now in the waterworks, 150 meters to the right of the "Pavlov Building," and all the personnel who can be put into battle are already on the front line -- now only three buildings remain in the hands of the Red Army, and the "Pavlov Building" is nailed to the far left.

For two nights and one day, the building was still in his own hands, and what was even more amazing was that only one comrade died: it was a comrade who was observing on the top floor, and was hit by several large-caliber shells on the top floor in the early hours of yesterday morning, and there was no news of that comrade after that. Pavlov had wanted to find the body of that comrade, but there was nothing left, as if it had evaporated.

No one remembered the comrade's full name: the other day someone called him Sasha, and someone called him Alexander, and he would have said yes, he was a very amiable young man. The only thing that can be determined is that he is a man from the 42nd regiment, who volunteered to reinforce the building. Pavlov blamed himself a little for this, but Vasily told him that this happened every day in Minsk some time ago, and it will not stop in the future: after that, Pavlov wrote down the names of all his comrades in his notebook, so that they would not become unknown martyrs.

The room was as cold as an ice cellar, and Pavlov, who was leaning against the wall, shivered and took out the last pack of cigarettes, looked at the two more, and handed one to Vasily.

Vasily took it and didn't bother to smoke it, and put it in his empty cigarette case. The sergeant no longer used his original assault rifle, but a loaded пд machine gun was placed next to it, and Vasily's sniper rifle was still leaning against the wall, but a German MP38 submachine gun was lying at his feet - the firepower was already the most important in the two days of fighting, and the single-shot rifles were all standing aside.

Pavlov lit it for himself, took two puffs, and handed the cigarette to Comrade Lieutenant, who returned it after two puffs.

"I guess we'll be able to hold out for a few more days at most." Vasily said.

"Huh?" The sergeant didn't hear clearly, vaguely not understanding.

"We've been in Minsk for so many days, and the Germans don't know how many times they've attacked, and even the iron-clad troops should be tired. It would be so cold, and it would take so many days to attack again, and I think the Germans are making a last ditch effort. ”

"It's a little different, in the past two days, watching the sound of artillery and movements, it has been an attack on all fronts, and it has been a fateful game."

"We haven't been idle for the past few months, and I've heard something about it next to the deputy commander-in-chief, who from the very beginning wanted to make Minsk a steel stronghold, a big piece of butter, and the time should be about the same."

It stands to reason that as a member of the deputy commander's guard, what the deputy commander hears and feels must not say, but Vasily's group has been fighting alone for a long time, and this will be the same conjecture of all commanders in the development of the campaign, and Vasily can also talk about his own guesses. Besides, Pavlov was definitely a staunch communist fighter, and it was okay to tell him that these things were not classified, and Vasily trusted the sergeant.

"It's cold, I think it's just that we don't give the Germans a second roundup, and when we get through this section, it's a small fight at most." Pavlov didn't care, he was used to it.

"Hehe, it's not easy to be a mouse in winter."

Pavlov also smiled when he heard the words of Comrade Lieutenant: he is a little sergeant, why do you think about the decision of the Central Committee, it is your job to hold the building, and you don't have to think about anything else.

Vasily took the cigarette handed by the sergeant again, smoked two puffs, and after only a short section, he snuffed it out. "I said Comrade Pavlov, I never heard where you are from, where is your hometown?"

Hearing Vasily's question, Pavlov's eyes seemed to warm up: in the fierce battle, hometown will always be the eternal concern of the soldiers.

"In the countryside of the Valdai."

"Oh, more than 300 kilometers south of Leningrad, hilly terrain, I've been there before, good place."

Vasily's words surprised Pavlov a little: it was a small city, and I didn't expect Comrade Captain to know, "My family is in a small village, the village of Krestovaya, and on the edge of the village is Lake Uzhin, which is very beautiful!" In the past, I used to go fishing in the lake, especially in winter, and the village would organize a fishing team, and it was like a festival. ”

"I don't know about your village, but I've been to Wuren Lake, it's so beautiful. In the autumn just before the outbreak of the Northern War, I was working as a teacher at the Leningrad Sniper School, where the instructors went on vacation to Valdai and lived on the shores of Lake Uzhin, where there were several large resorts. ”

"Hehe, Comrade Captain, our village is on the edge of the resort, very close, the vegetables and milk that the resort usually uses are basically sent by our farm, only less than two versts, I have sent it many times before I became a soldier."

Now Vasily laughed too—what a coincidence!

"Then I may have been to your village, where everyone was idle and panicked, wandering around every day, and there was a village very close to where I lived, and I walked there, and asked the farmer to borrow a boat." Vasily's thoughts went back to the fond memories of two years ago: "Rows of farmhouses, the sky was blue, and in front of them was the blue Lake Wuzhin, and there was fog on the lake. The shore is covered with dense forests of dark green, and there is a small island opposite, and there is a monastery on it. We borrowed a boat and walked around the island, remembering that the dome of the monastery was still golden. ”

"Yes, that's our Krestovaya village, and the boat you borrowed may still be ours, haha."

"Why didn't I run into you?" Vasily also felt that it was too much of a coincidence.

"In 38 years, I will be in the army." said that Pavlov missed his hometown even more: "I haven't been back for three years, and I don't know what happened to my family." ”

"When the war is over, Comrade Captain, I invite you to come to my house as a guest and stay for a few days."

This period of fighting side by side has already forged a deep friendship among the comrades in the building - Pavlov is not false, if his home were in the Far East or Siberia, then he would not have issued any invitations, it is not very realistic: Valdai is still quite close, not far from Moscow or Leningrad, and the transportation is convenient.

"Then it's decided, when the time comes, I'll go to your house for a few days, go fishing on the lake, and then go to my hometown, and I'll invite you to hunt in the mountains."

"Comrade Captain seems to be from the Urals, right?"

"Well, mountain people, my father used to be a hunter, and now he is a forest ranger, when I was a child, I often went hunting with my father and brother, we have many wild beasts, and the place is not as beautiful as your hometown, but there are good things in the mountains."

"Okay, let's go together then." After speaking, Pavlov looked outside through the observation hole, and except for the sporadic explosions in the distance, everything was normal on the snowy battlefield.

The corpses left by the Germans could be seen everywhere in the snow, all frozen and hard, some had been covered with ice and snow, and more were exposed, and the postures were strange.

Today is a good day, the sun has risen, and it is not known whether the Germans will go on the offensive or not.

"Comrade Captain, you've killed 500 of them, haven't you?"

"It's hard to say, I didn't think about it, and the previous ones may be about the same, who knows." Vasily did not know, maybe with the possibility of being killed in Finland, it would be about the same.

"When the battle is over, you may be nominated and awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. When the war is over, go back to the village with your comrades-in-arms who are Heroes of the Soviet Union, and have a face. ”

Pavlov was joking there.

"Needless to say me, I guess you'll be nominated too."

"Hero of the Soviet Union", this is the yearning of all the commanders and fighters of the Red Army, and the two are not exempt from vulgarity, and other comrades will also mention how they would if they were awarded the title of "Hero of the Soviet Union" when they chatted.

"Unlikely, I can't compare to you." Pavlov did not expect extravagance, at most he thought about it privately.

"What's impossible, I didn't hear the comrades who sent the ammunition that said that the deputy commander personally named this building after you, not to mention the whole of Minsk, it is estimated that the whole country already knows your name, and I rely on you to stain the light. Nothing to say, we will be a nail in the coffin in the entire central Minsk, whether for propaganda or for the actual role of the battlefield, it is only a matter of time before you receive the medal "Golden Star". ”

After staying by the side of the deputy commander-in-chief for a long time, Vasily will also know the habits of the deputy commander-in-chief: Comrade Marshal said that morale and example are very important in the war, and he and Pavlov have become typical pacesetters in the defense of Minsk, and the title of "Hero of the Soviet Union" of the two cannot be run, even if they are sacrificed.

Alexander walked in with a sack on his back, sat down next to Pavlov, and took out a couple of magazines for MP38 submachine guns and a box of German submachine gun bullets from the sack and handed them to Vasily, all of whom his comrades had ventured out to collect from German corpses before dawn.

There were still some German rifle bullets in the sack, and I would have to send some to Sasha later.

"Comrade Captain, Comrade Sergeant, Aunt Yulina said that she just cooked some hot soup, let everyone change shifts and drink some, if you don't have time, you will send it up."

Vasily put the magazine to the side, "Oh, I'll go down in a moment." ”

Alexander didn't mean to leave yet, as if he had made up his mind, "Comrade Captain, when the battle is over, can you help me tell me that I want to join the army." ”

"Hehe, you're already a warrior."

"Not officially."

"No problem, you are guaranteed to become a glorious Red Army soldier, and your military age will be counted from the time you participate in the battle." Vasily half-joked with the young man in front of him: such a warrior who had been tested in fierce battles would of course be welcomed by the troops: in times of war, the procedure for recruiting troops could also be simplified.

"Pavlov, I think you'll recruit Alexander, it's no problem to be a scout."

"Okay, you can do it later."

Hearing that Pavlov agreed, Alexander left happily.

"Good lad, a good soldier." Vasily said, looking at Alexander's back.

Since participating in the battle, Alexander has learned to use all the light weapons in the building, and there are at least a dozen or twenty fascists eliminated, and everyone wants such good soldiers.

"By the way, Pavlov, in the future, you will call me Vasily, Comrade Lieutenant sounds awkward."

"Okay, you can call me Yakov too."

A brother in a trench doesn't need to be so polite.

"You go get something to eat first, I'll watch."

Vasily nodded, "I'll bring it to you." As he spoke, he got up and went downstairs with a submachine gun on his back and a lunch box.

The cauldron in the basement was still steaming, and Alyosha and Palovin were sitting on the side and drinking the soup - hot soup on a cold day was the greatest pleasure.

"Aunt Yulina, what good things have you prepared for us?"

"I don't know, the boys brought it."

It's strange now, even the chef comrades don't know what they've done?!

Alyosha, who had just finished drinking the hot soup, put down the cup in his hand: "The canned food that everyone searched from the Germans last night, plus the aunt's exclusive secret recipe mashed potatoes." It's like butter, but it's a little different. ”

As he spoke, he pointed to the tin cans that had been opened on the ground.

Vasily put his teacup and Pavlov's lunch box on the table, and Aunt Yulina brought it to serve the soup and cut some bread for Comrade Lieutenant.

Picking up the tin box, I saw that there were two more on the table next to it: one had been opened, and the other was complete. (To be continued.) )