November 8 at 6 a.m. on the west bank of the Svisloch River in the Minsk district. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 The snow was pouring down over the city, the sky was just cloudy, there was no smoke in sight, there were surprisingly no explosions, only the sporadic sound of gunfire broke the rare silence - it was a ruined city shrouded in heavy snow.

Vasily Grigoryevich Zaitsev got up from his bunk and looked at his luminous watch.

"Alyosha, Sasha, on duty." Ludvik, who was lying on the side, had also woken up, and Vasily shook the two big men who were snoring.

Alyosha opened his eyes, only to see the faint light of the candle, got up and put on his German overcoat, and picked up the MG34 machine gun that he placed beside him.

They fought guerrilla warfare in the western city of Minsk for almost a month, reaching the building through the sewers only a few days ago, and now defend the concrete building with 24 other comrades of the Red Army and 35 comrades from the localities. Originally, they shared a rest point with Shidorenko's group, but after the Germans launched another large-scale attack on the city, they lost contact with each other, and I don't know what happened to them?

The team of four was not damaged, and the superb military qualities and good luck played a role, but Alyosha also forgot how many German troops the group had eliminated - the fascists who were reimbursed under their own machine-gun fire had not three hundred but two hundred and five, and they could not remember, nor did they have a chance to count them. How much did the team leader Vasily kill? Even if you ask Comrade Lieutenant, I don't know it myself, but what I can be sure of is that the total number of records has definitely exceeded 300!

In the basement cafeteria, the early comrades are sorting out the garbage left by last night's dinner, and the iron tong on one side is steaming for today's comrades' breakfast: cabbage stewed potatoes.

Yesterday was the 24 th anniversary of the October Revolution, and the comrades in the building clearly heard through the loudspeakers the news of the military parade on Red Square: at the suggestion of several comrades, according to the custom of the Red Army, the comrades who did not go to work after dark had a dinner. Although the food was quite simple, everyone was in high spirits, and it was estimated that comrades from other defense points were also celebrating the same thing.

In the past two days, the German offensive seems to have weakened a little, and yesterday before the dinner, everyone swore to Comrade Lenin and the Soviet Fatherland in the "Lenin Room" set up in the basement: swear to defend the building to the death!

The battle line around Lenin Square seemed to be temporarily fixed, and no one could easily move forward, and the building where Vasily was located was the most important defensive support point of the Red Army in the southeastern corner of the square. 28 soldiers plus more than twenty armed townspeople, equivalent to a platoon of armed men, was guarded, and under the unified arrangement of Sergeant Pavlov, this was enough.

I heard from the comrades who sent it two days ago that this building had been named the "Pavlov Building" by the deputy commander-in-chief, which also determined the identity of the sergeant's commander to a certain extent. Vasily's group was higher in rank than sergeant, but, like Lieutenant Afanasyev, Second Lieutenant Chernushenko, and Sergeant Sobgaida, offered to be under the unified command of Comrade Sergeant.

Officers listen to the sergeant, which is very rare in the Red Army, but this is Minsk, anything can happen! The comrades who sent it also had good news - all the defenders of the building had been awarded the "Medal for Bravery", including the citizens in the building, because they were also contributing to the defense of the building.

The good news excited many comrades, Vasily did not have many psychological ups and downs, but for ordinary Red Army soldiers, it was a great honor to receive a "medal for bravery", not to mention those citizen comrades. Aunt Yulina, the eldest in the building, was even more incredulous: she was awarded the "Medal for Bravery"!?

"Comrade Yurina, you also participated in the defense of the building and also delivered us ammunition. Besides, without your exclusive recipe for stewed potatoes, how can comrades have the strength to fight the fascists?! ”

Listened to the head of the Internal Affairs Forces (it is not surprising that in the Great Patriotic War, civilians sometimes even called Red Army soldiers as their chiefs, such a smooth, unpretentious Soviet characteristic. Aunt Yulina smiled very happily - many comrades knew about Vasily's deeds, and they also knew that he was a member of the deputy commander-in-chief's guard, and in Aunt Yulina's heart, what Comrade Vasily said made sense.

Yulina is 72 years old this year, and she is still very healthy, and she volunteered to take a few women comrades in charge of cooking and washing clothes for her comrades in the building. A few days ago, when the fighting was at its peak, he even personally hung bullets and brought them upstairs to deliver ammunition! Also braving artillery fire to press bullets for comrades!

"Aunt Yurina, what are you eating today?" As soon as he walked into the cafeteria, Alyosha, who had a big appetite, asked: He lost 20 pounds during this time!

The aunt holding the headscarf was holding a big spoon, and when she saw Vasily walk in, she waved the wooden spoon: "The old way, cabbage stewed potatoes!" After speaking, he took the lunch box handed by Alyosha and filled a bowl full of large ones.

The desk that had been moved down upstairs was used as a dining table, and the four Vasily quickly finished the breakfast in the lunch box, stuffed the lunch box into their bags, and picked up the weapon that was placed by their side and went upstairs.

The team of four, with the exception of Vasily, who was still using his sniper rifle, had changed their weapons - Ludvik was using a captured German 98K sniper rifle, which had been taken from a German sniper team that Vasily had taken out at close range; Alyosha used an MG34 machine gun with a bipod; Carrying an MP38 submachine gun and a 75-round saddle drum for three machine guns pinned to his waist, Sasha became Alyosha's secondary shooter.

As soon as you go upstairs, the cold wind is biting, the building is already full of holes, and there is even no outer wall on the west side, which is a memorial left by the German dive bombers. There were holes everywhere, the top floor was basically gone, and the fallen structures and masonry were scattered around the building, which became the best cover.

"It's snowy!"

White and visibility, Vasily unconsciously tightened his coat. Ludwick looked at the sky and said, "I guess it will be a little smaller." ”

Ludwick was the weather forecaster in the group, and everyone believed him because he didn't miss it.

"Will it stop?" Sasha asked: This is white, there is no need to fire a gun, and the Germans do not come out at all.

"It's early, it's intermittent at least for the next two or three days."

As was the old rule, the two big guys stayed on the first floor to replace the machine gunners on duty, and Vasily and Ludvik went up to the third floor, where the view was better.

Since Ludvik said that the snow would be lighter, the vigilance of the Germans who were dazed by the heavy snow would definitely drop a little, and Vasily's work would come.

(Blood Bat is rarely updated in the early hours of the morning, because today is a very special day!) Book friends, remember what day was 30 years ago today? Many people have forgotten and don't even know that at six o'clock in the morning of February 17, 1979, the Chinese People's Liberation Army, assembled on the Sino-Vietnamese border, launched an all-out general attack on 11 counties in 6 provinces of Vietnam from the two directions of Guangxi and Yunnan with the strength of 9 armies!

Defend yourself and defend the frontier!

The Blood Bat is proud today because my father was one of them.

The banner of the fathers is still fluttering; The inheritance of my generation has not dared to forget! Remember those martyrs! They shed their blood for the motherland, and it is precisely because of their efforts that we have a beautiful today! (To be continued.) )