The cold, gloomy night of the wasteland seemed to be split open, and the whistling shells formed a huge barrage that stretched forward 100 yards every three minutes, and the unprecedented shelling poured thousands of tons of bombs into Soviet minefields and barbed wire, and the attack was so dense and accurate that one lieutenant [***] officer later commented that the infantry units "could simply sit back and enjoy it." ”

A number of Chinese tanks broke into the Soviet artillery positions. The tanks were pressed back and forth, and the Soviet gunners were either crushed to pulp or killed by the machine guns on the tanks. Some turned around and ran, while others resisted until they were left on the battlefield. Some brave Soviet soldiers, like Anatoly of the 104th Mechanized Infantry Division? Sergeant Shura, single-handedly fighting the tank, threw a grenade at the turret of one of the "Walker" tanks, only to see that the grenade was bounced off and the tank was not damaged at all. The machine gunners of the Chinese tanks, however, beat Sergeant Shura into a leaky pot of blood.

In fact, the Soviet army was preparing to carry out a more massive counter-assault. According to Stalin's orders, a large number of tanks, artillery and armored vehicles were concentrated and transported to the front line, which may also explain why so many planes were gathered on the Soviet front line and rear airfields after the repeated strikes of the Chinese Air Force. The timing chosen by the Chinese for this attack was very successful, and the Soviet Aerospace Forces were ready to seize air supremacy with the Chinese Air Force to kill the opponent at once. Having lost air supremacy, the Soviet army once again fell into a situation of being passively beaten.

During the offensive, the Chinese army's aviation, artillery, mechanized infantry, and tank units were well organized. The tank units of the Chinese army were far superior to those of the Soviet army. The Soviets simply could not cope with the formidable offensive of the Chinese army. Some of the hastily assembled Soviet units did not have new artillery that could compare with the Chinese army, and their communications equipment did not guarantee a rapid and flexible concentration of fire in a defensive battle. The Soviet army had very few anti-tank weapons, and the tanks were still old tanks that were outdated. This poorly trained, outdated unit, supported by "mental strength" and the pistols of the commissars, was doomed to failure in a critical moment. It was their German allies who played an important role at the critical moment.

At this time, Captain Newman, a sergeant of the German Volunteers, looked at the gray sky and had a faint feeling of uneasiness in his heart.

Two German soldiers were distributing food to everyone, and each German soldier was given a sausage and a few slices of bread. After eating the last bit of food, they were still hungry. Everyone was so thirsty that the water in the kettle was drained after the battle. They were allowed to get off the bus and go to convenience, but everyone just wanted to drink water. In the middle of an uninhabited field, there were neither wells nor troughs. Everyone felt a chill in their hearts.

From time to time, the gray sky behind and above the German soldiers was cut through by lightning-like lights, but these lights had nothing to do with lightning, and those lights were "God of Fire" rockets fired by the Chinese at their trapped Soviet units (i.e., Chinese "Zhurong" 180-mm rockets). Judging from the fires burning everywhere on the horizon, it was a battle of no small scale. Soon the rumbling of cannons was heard.

The Germans had planned to find a place to spend the night, but now they were faced with another hellish ordeal and wondering if they would survive this time. Sergeant Newman's temples jumped abruptly again.

They entered the city, which was already dark and empty. The light of the fire from the edge of the city told them that the battle was raging somewhere to the west. Thunderous explosions filled the ears. All the houses shook to the sound of explosions.

It began to rain in the sky, and the German soldiers were ordered to get out of the car, from which they jumped like some sleepwalkers. The ground trembled with the nearby explosion, and immediately spread through their numb limbs. They followed the officer as the truck pulled into a nearby street. Newman felt his eyelids fall heavily, and sleepiness caused Newman to stumble in a semi-conscious state following in the footsteps of those in front of him, unaware that they were about to be thrown into battle again.

All Newman knew that night was full of fires, explosions, and crashing houses. Newman felt his feet grow smaller and smaller in those heavier and heavier military boots, his temples burned like fire, and Newman began to have a fever. Wet clothes, pockets full of ammunition, and extreme fatigue were crushing Newman's not-so-strong body.

Newman lay down under a shed at the entrance to a building, which was barely exposed to the rain, only when the wind was particularly strong. After sleeping for a few hours, he was woken up and saw more than 100 pale and haggard faces like himself. Newman scanned his surroundings. In front of the gate, where they lay down to rest, was a building of several floors. The gray walls of the building are mottled by the rainwater that runs down the windows of the rooms all year round. Next to the building is a row of small, dilapidated houses, whose streets have been completely buried by the rubble of houses that collapsed in Chinese shelling yesterday afternoon.

Newman saw the veteran walking towards Newman with two boxes of hot soup, and God knows where he found them. Newman watched blankly as he jumped over puddles of water with these things and walked towards Newman. His military uniform was dirty, and his emaciated face under the steel helmet was quite in tune with his surroundings. Everywhere above them, there were gray rain clouds drifting into the sky.

The veteran put down the soup box in his hand and said, "Those who want to eat can open their eyes." When Newman heard this, he quickly shook Sergeant Wolff, who was always sleeping soundly. He jumped up reflexively, but when he realized that it was not a shelling or an attack, he fell silent again, muttering some muttered words and rubbing his sore, swollen body with his hands.

He said in a tone of anguishment and boredom, "God, I've had enough of this. Where are we now? What the hell are we doing here? ”

The veteran said, "Come and eat." ”

In silence, they swallowed the millet porridge brought by the veteran, and the porridge began to cool. Some soldiers now prefer to sleep a little longer. Then they were ordered to set off, and they walked slowly along the badly damaged neighborhood, and when they were told to watch out for shells or planes, everyone quickly fell to the ground and got up from the ground again...... The German soldiers came to a corner of a city badly damaged by the fighting, and among the ruins there was a huge "Tiger" tank. The tank rolled a deep ravine in the rubble, but an anti-tank mine blew off the tank's right track. Despite this, the tanks continued to fire shells at nearby enemies.

The Soviet soldiers hidden in the ruins seemed to be waiting for the Chinese to attack, and those Chinese positions were very close to them. Newman and Wolf sat down in a pile of rubble with a pit, about 800 meters in front and about 500 meters behind. Panting, they lowered the tiles and stones they could to carry to the bottom of the pit, which was a pool of black, muddy water. They looked at each other in a blank silence, having said everything that could be said in such a situation, and life became a kind of waiting at this time. The things they went through were enough to drive them crazy.

Wolf looked at Newman and said, "You look so dirty. ”

Newman smiled wryly and said, "I seem to be sick. ”

Wolf replied, "They are all sick. His eyes remained motionless as they watched the destroyed world around them. Their eyes met for a moment, and Newman noticed a deep tiredness and depression in Wolf's countenance.

Oh, yes! As a German, why did you run so far and fight for the "Bolshevik plague"?

The "Tiger" tank next to them fired a shot, and the Chinese on the opposite side immediately returned five or six shells. The shells blew some of the rubble in all directions. These shells knocked down several Soviet soldiers at once, and the screams suddenly rang out. Suddenly all this made it unbearable for some Soviet soldiers, who fell into complete depression. Their cries caught the attention of Wolf, who looked at the Red Army soldiers with some annoyance.

"Now for God's sake! Rise up and fight! You fools! ”

"Just let the Chinese beat them to death! They are going to die anyway, and they can't do anything. A German soldier said coldly.

A strong shiver spread through Newman's body, and a violent explosion caused him to fall to the ground immediately.

In the distance, there was the sound of tank tracks rolling, Newman carefully raised his head and looked forward, he saw that the Soviet soldiers who had just cried had become bloody corpses, and in the distant smoke, a Chinese tank with a large black and red "man" badge painted on its body slowly rolled over the rubble and drove towards this side.

The "Tiger" tank opened fire again, this time because of the close distance, the Chinese tank was hit, Newman saw that the body of the tank instantly flashed with fire, steel sparks splashed everywhere, and then black smoke came out, as if suddenly lost its life.

Newman stared at the Chinese tank closely, because it did not explode as he had imagined, when the immobile "Tiger" tank opened fire again, and the German gunners fired with great accuracy, and the turret of the Chinese tank was hit and was flipped to the side at once. Newman saw two Chinese tankers leap out of the car with agility, their pants on fire, but they rolled on the ground, dodging bullets to extinguish the flames from the wet mud on the ground, and then dodged behind a broken wall. While they were dodging, the surrounding Soviet soldiers continued to shoot at them, but none of them could hit.

The "Tiger" tank opened fire again, and a self-propelled assault gun, which was not far behind the Chinese tank just now, was hit and immediately burst into flames.

"Well done!" A German soldier shouted excitedly.

But his voice was quickly drowned out by a loud explosion, two shells were fired out of nowhere, and for a moment there was a cloud of rubble flying around Newman, and a distant wall collapsed, nearly burying the German soldier inside.

Newman's eyes widened in horror as he saw a Chinese tank with a black hole in the barrel facing in the direction where he and Wolf were.

"Get down!" Wolf pulled Newman into a crater as the Chinese tank fired, and Newman heard the sound of shells grazing over his head, followed by a loud bang and a scorching heatwave.

The screams came again, this time it seemed that the Germans were injured, because Newman heard someone crying "Mom" in "German"!

The Tiger opened fire again, but this time the Chinese tank was not hit, and the shells fired by the Germans exploded around it, and the Chinese tank, as if it had eyes, immediately turned its turret to the position of the Tiger tank.

"Quick! Let's get out of here! Wolf said anxiously beside Newman, "Look there, there are two more!" ”

Newman looked in the direction he was looking in, and saw two Chinese tanks unceremoniously tearing down the broken walls and driving over.

The three Chinese tanks that appeared in front of the "Tiger" tank at the same time did not bother the gunners of the "Tiger" tank, and the "Tiger" tank fired again, hitting the Chinese tank just now, and there was another splash of steel, and the Chinese tank rose into smoke, but this time the turret did not fly off, but crooked to the side.

The other two Chinese tanks spotted the immobile German "Tiger" tank, quickly turned the muzzle and opened fire, only to hear a series of deafening explosions, Newman and Wolf lay in the crater, not daring to look up, everywhere flying sand and gravel, as if to bury them both in the crater.

It was easy to wait for the sound of the cannon to fall silent, and Newman and Wolf raised their heads slightly, and by this time the broken walls of the houses that were still standing around them had almost been razed to the ground, and only the chimneys of some houses were still standing alone on the ground. The "Tiger" tank had by this time turned into a pile of burning scrap steel.

Two Chinese tanks were heading towards the positions of the German and Soviet troops. Around them, lying on the ground, were the corpses of Soviet and German soldiers.

Undetected by the Chinese tanks and infantry behind, Newman and Wolf jumped out of the crater and ran in the direction of their troops.

The machine guns of the Chinese tanks roared, and Newman's surroundings were once again torn apart by the glare of the machine-gun bullets, and the two began another run full of fear. The fires, explosions, and traces of long and short tracer bullets around them made their fighting spirit disappear without a trace. Newman heard the incessant screams of some of his wounded comrades, as well as the loud explosion of shells falling to the ground.

Newman did not dare to look back, he just bent over and ran forward, suddenly, two Chinese tanks appeared in front of him, and there were Chinese infantry figures in the smoke of gunfire, Newman realized that he ran in the wrong direction, he immediately turned his head and ran to the other side, at this time there was a shouting and scolding of the Chinese behind him, and then, a series of bullets were strafed.

Similar to the new Soviet-made "**Sha" submachine gun used by the Germans, the Chinese submachine gun fire is very fierce, Newman hid behind a broken wall, and fired at the Chinese in the smoke with the "mp40" submachine gun in his hand, he immediately attracted more return fire, and there were bullets flying everywhere, so that he could not raise his head at all.

"Come over here! Fast! Not far away, Wolf shouted as he threw a grenade.

Under the cover of the grenade explosion, Newman ran to him in a hurry, and the two ran backwards alternately.

"How are they all tanks of the Chinese!" Wolf scolded, "Where are all our 'big stupid elephants'? ”

Suddenly, a Chinese self-propelled assault gun appeared directly in front of the two, and the muzzle of the gun was pointed straight at them.

Newman and Wolf glanced at each other, and each of them turned and threw themselves at the crater on the side, and the moment their feet were off the ground, the other opened fire.

Newman could seem to hear the sizzle of a cannonball bursting through the air, followed by a loud bang.

As if the giant was lifted up by his feet and thrown into the air, Newman felt a wave of heat rush over his face, and his whole body shook violently, and then the surroundings seemed to be quiet all of a sudden...... When Newman woke up again, he found himself on a makeshift stretcher in a field hospital, surrounded by wounded people.

The battle continues outside. Newman lay there, in pain listening to the endless explosions around him.

"You're finally awake." On another stretcher, Wolfe, with gauze wrapped around his head and only one eye exposed, grinned ugly at him.

"How's our case?" Newman asked.

"The troops have received orders to retreat westward, but find that the enemy has cut off the retreat on our rear flank." "Several attempts to break out to the west have failed," replied Wolff, "and we are now surrounded by enemy swarms from the north, east, and south, and the encirclement is shrinking little by little. ”

Several Soviet officers walked in, and Wolf glanced at them and whispered: "Our situation is getting worse and worse. The officers were still trying to debunk the rumors that we were not surrounded. ”

Explosions were heard from outside, indicating that they were being bombarded indiscriminately from the ground and air. Medics kept carrying the bleeding wounded here. After Newman's comrades had visited him, he returned to his position to prepare for the onslaught of the enemy. A medic gave Newman an injection, and then he asked Newman to give up his place to a German soldier who was bleeding and unable to stand.

Newman staggered out of the dimly lit basement into the bright sunlight outside. There is also a warm sun shining on the ruined city. Puffs of smoke rose from the ruins and hung over them. Groups of lightly wounded looked around and talked about something, their faces visibly showing despair and fear, and one of them told Newman that they had been completely surrounded by the Chinese.

(To be continued)