Shamlih didn't expect me to draw such a big pie for him, and his mouth was almost to his ears. After a long time, the expression on his face returned to normal, he straightened up and stood in front of me, and said with a serious expression: "Comrade commander, I will turn the rebuilt 22nd Tank Brigade into a steel brigade and beat the Germans away on the battlefield." ”

Before I could speak, a telephone next to Kravchenko rang. He grabbed it and listened for a while, and the expression on his face became serious. When I saw the change in the expression on his face, I knew that something must have happened, and hurriedly asked, "Comrade General, what happened?" ”

He covered the microphone with his hand, turned his face to me, and said, "General Oshanina, the observation post at the top of the hill reports that a German unit has been spotted and is heading towards us. ”

"What kind of German troops?" Although I heard that German troops were coming here, I was not alarmed at all, because there were now three tank brigades and one battalion, and there were anti-tank guns on the high ground. If the enemy does not have more than one division, there is nothing to worry about.

Kravchenko let go of his hand covering the microphone and asked the observation post: "What kind of Germans are they?"

He put down the phone and told me: "General Oshanina, the Germans, about twenty tanks and the same number of armored vehicles, formed a formation five kilometers from us, and rushed towards us with great vigour. It is estimated that in another ten minutes they will rush to our positions. What are we going to do? ”

"With only twenty tanks, that's easy." I instructed Shamrich: "Comrade Captain, meet the task of attacking the German tank units. I'll leave it to you. Are you confident that you can accomplish this task? ”

"Don't worry. Comrade Commander. Shamrish confidently said: "Don't look at our numbers as many as he has. But the same blow made the Germans look for teeth all over the ground. ”

After Shamlich left, Kravchenko smiled and asked me: "General Oshanina, what the captain said just now is quite interesting, and it is going to make the Germans look for teeth all over the ground." I think this is your first idea, right? ”

"Even if it's it." Instead of dwelling on these details, I digressed from the topic and asked, "How many tanks do you have that you can immediately put into battle?" ”

Kravchenko was stunned by my words, and he hesitated for a moment and asked: "Comrade General, do you think that the captain's fifteen tanks are not able to deal with the German tank troops?" ”

"Goshawks and rabbits have to do their best. Not to mention the Germans with combat experience. After I said this, I urged: "Tell me, how many tanks do you have in your hands that can be put into battle?" ”

Kravchenko thought for a moment and replied to me: "There are thirty T-34 tanks in combat readiness and ready to go into battle, do you need to send them out now?" ”

"No hurry," I was reluctant to put my troops into battle without figuring out the enemy's situation, so I rejected Kravchenko's offer and continued: "Let's go to the observation post first." ”

When we came to the observation post. Seeing the tank battalion in Shamrichh, the battle formation has been launched. With five vehicles in a row, a total of three rows, they rushed towards the enemy with full horsepower. And the German tanks in the distance have also become clearly visible from the initial black spots. The enemy's tanks lined up in a wedge formation, and later armored transports loaded with infantry.

Seeing the enemy's position, Kravchenko said strangely: "General Oshanina, what is the enemy doing, he actually sent such a force to attack us." ”

"It's simple, Comrade General." As soon as I saw the enemy's position, I guessed their intentions and explained to Kravchenko: "Perhaps the fact that you have built a defensive position here has been discovered by enemy scouts. However, since they didn't know how big you were, they sent this small and small armored force to attack you. ”

Kravchenko looked at the dust raised by the German tanks in the distance, which was higher than the dust raised by the tank battalion in Shamrichh, and couldn't help but worry again: "General Oshanina, I think we should still send troops to reinforce them." Although they are equipped with a large number of new tanks, they are smaller than the Germans, and once the fight starts, I am afraid that our people will suffer! ”

"Don't be in a hurry, Comrade General." I smiled and said to him, "This is a great workout for the Shamlih people. If you are not at ease, you can make the anti-tank artillery on the position combat-ready. At the same time, it was written that the T-34 was also ready to attack. ”

Kravchenko, as I said, gave orders to his subordinates by telephone. He stood beside me again, raised his binoculars and looked at the tank battalion that was rushing towards the enemy without hesitation, and muttered: "There are many fewer than the enemy, and if you have to rush up to the others, isn't this looking for your own death?" ”

"Comrade General, isn't that good? Although they are not as numerous as the enemy, and they are not as experienced in battle as the enemy, the courage of them to rush towards the enemy without hesitation is the most valuable. When I said this, I couldn't help but blurt out the famous sentence again: "The brave wins when they meet on a narrow road, and only a warrior with this kind of courage will not bow his head and admit defeat in the face of any difficulties." ”

"The brave wins!" After Kravchenko repeated my words, he nodded vigorously and said: "That's right, the most courageous army is the invincible army when it meets the enemy head-on. ”

"Comrade General," I reminded Kravchenko when I saw that the tanks on both sides were approaching the firing range: "After Captain Shamrichh's tank battalion has disrupted the enemy's formation, you will send your tank troops to attack and completely defeat the enemy in one go, understand?" ”

"Don't worry, General Oshanina." Kravchenko excitedly replied: "My warriors have long been ready to attack, and at the first order, they will rush out like arrows and beat the enemy to the ground." ”

At this moment, the tank battalion of Shamrikh was the first to open fire, and white smoke rose from the muzzles of fifteen tanks at the same time. Moments later, in the ranks of German tanks, the earth kicked up by the air wave sprayed into the air like a fountain. But it didn't hit a single target. The German tanks continued to rush forward at their original speed.

But the tank battalion fired at the same time for the second time. German tanks also stopped firing. The shells fired by the tanks of both sides whizzed and landed in the ranks of the opposing side, and all the German shells missed, while our troops hit a Tiger tank. The Tiger tank, despite the billowing smoke from the back half of its body, was still stubbornly charging forward.

At the time of the third round of firing of the tank battalion, it was only more than five hundred meters from the enemy's tank ranks. At such a close distance, the hit rate increased all at once. Not only the two tanks were hit, they stopped on the plain and began to burn, but even the armored personnel carriers that followed behind. One was also blown up, and the soldiers in the car jumped down like dumplings.

"Amazing, just amazing!" Seeing that the tank battalion had reimbursed the Germans for three tanks and one armored personnel carrier, Kravchenko couldn't help but applaud again and again, and he said proudly: "If there are a few more rounds of such shooting, the German tanks will be fully reimbursed." ”

By the time the tank battalions had completed the fifth round of firing and the Germans had completed the third round, the tanks of both sides had been intertwined. Due to the close proximity to each other, there was no need for special aiming, as long as the cannon was fired in the general direction. Almost hit the target.

Although the tanks of our army were superior to the Germans, they were hit at a distance of several tens of meters. Especially when the side armor is hit, it also cannot escape the fate of fire and burning. Of course, the Germans suffered even more heavy casualties, and by the time they penetrated the ranks of the tank battalions, there were less than seven tanks left, and eleven armored vehicles remained.

Seeing that the German armored units were within range of the anti-tank guns, Kravchenko immediately picked up the phone, called the anti-tank gun positions and gave a brief order: "Open the gun!" ”

Shortly after his order was given, I heard a short tail note in the air, and not only the anti-tank guns were firing, but even the T-34 tanks were coming out of their hiding places, taking up an ideal firing position and firing at the enemy. Waves of shells rained down, and in a very short time the ballistic sound was resounding, and in the deafening roar, I saw the position of the German tanks, black smoke wrapped in clumps of fire rising into the air.

When the smoke cleared, I saw new earth that had been turned up, and destroyed tanks and armored vehicles that were constantly burning, and around the crater, there were many soldiers who had not died immediately rolling and groaning. A tank on fire tries to escape from the land of death. It didn't get far before seven or eight shells hit it directly, and it struggled to drive some distance before stopping, and then there was an earth-shattering explosion that knocked over the turret.

When Kravchenko saw this, he immediately smiled from ear to ear, patted me on the shoulder, and said loudly: "Look, General Oshanina, the German tanks are so vulnerable, we killed them all in just a few minutes." ”

"Well done, Comrade General," I saw that he was very happy, and I casually praised him. Seeing three of our army's new tanks burning on the battlefield in the distance, my heart couldn't help but raise my throat, and my heart said: "It can't be Captain Shamrichh's tank, destroyed by the Germans, right?" ”

Kravchenko looked at me staring into the distance in a daze, and hurriedly asked with concern: "Comrade General, what are you looking at?" ”

I pointed to the burning tanks in the distance and said, "Look, there are a few of our tanks burning over there, and I don't know if there are any tanks of Captain Shamrich in there?" ”

"No, no." Kravchenko confidently said: "I had a careful look at it when the tank battalion passed by the foot of the hill just now. The captain's tank was in the first row, and the tanks that were concentrated were all in the second and third rows, and it would definitely not be his tank. ”

Although Kravchenko was quite sure, my heart was still unsteady, "No, I didn't feel at ease until I saw Shamlikh safe and sound." Comrade General, let me go to the front and have a look. ”

Kravchenko saw that I would not be willing to see Shamrikh with my own eyes, so he did not stop me, and personally accompanied me to the front in the car to check.

As the car approached the burning tank, I saw a lot of corpses near the wreckage of the tank, and the heart that had been in my stomach was lifted again. I hurriedly told the driver to stop, pushed the door open and jumped out, and ran briskly towards the corpses.

On the ground, not far from the tank, there were two fighters, one squatting and the other sitting. I walked over and realized that the squatting warrior was bandaging the wounds of the seated warrior. I stopped next to them and nervously asked, "What the hell is going on, why are there so many corpses near the tank?" ”

The soldiers who were being bandaged looked up at me and replied weakly: "These dead are almost all Germans, and after escaping from the burning tanks, instead of surrendering, they use the pistols they carry with them to shoot at us." "Look, Comrade Commander, the enemy has lost eleven men, and we have six dead. ”

I saw the burning tank and nervously asked, "Is there anyone else in the tank?" ”

"Yes, Comrade Commander." The crouching warrior replied to me, "But they are all sacrificed, and I can't even carry their bodies out of it," and he sighed.

"Where's Captain Shamrich?" Although I knew that there was no Shamrih in the hands of the killed and wounded tanks, I was now bent on finding out his whereabouts as if I had suddenly suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder.

The soldier looked at me and said strangely, "Captain's tank is fine, No, he's coming towards us." "I looked in the direction of the warrior's finger and saw Kravchenko walking towards me with Shamlikh, talking and laughing. No wonder I never saw Kravchenko coming, it turned out that he had made a special trip to find Shamrichh.

Shamrish came to me, raised his hand and saluted, and reported with some pride: "Comrade commander, Shamrih, the commander of the tank battalion, reports to you that we have completely annihilated the German tank units and lost three tanks ourselves. ”

I stepped forward and shook Shamrichh's hand and said to him excitedly: "Comrade Captain, you are a good example, you have completely annihilated the German tank unit at the cost of only three tanks, what a good example!" ”

After I let go of his hand, I moved on to Kravchenko: "Comrade General, immediately order someone to clean up the battlefield and make all preparations for battle." If our troops had won the tank battle in Prokhorovka, it was possible that more German tanks would have passed here. Your mission is to eliminate as many of them as possible. (To be continued.) )