Amidst the rumbling sound of artillery, the soldiers of Position 19, under the command of the Aleutian company commander, pushed the two heavy mortars weighing 280 kilograms into the specially dug bunker, even the five The Zis-3 anti-tank guns are also tightly protected by layers of sandbags.
But the strange thing is that after a brief counterattack of less than five minutes, the Germans once again stopped making any movement!
Fortunately, Wei Ran, who entered the command post for the first time at the invitation of the Aleutian company commander, asked doubtfully, "Why are these Germans so honest today?"
"Indeed. Too honest," Vanya said with the same confusion.
Before Captain Aleutian could say anything, the phone on the table in the center of the command post rang suddenly. The former and Vanya looked at each other, and then picked up the phone receiver.
"What did you say?!"
The Aleut Captain exclaimed, and then quickly said, "Okay, I understand."
" Bang!" Hanging up the phone with a sound, Captain Aleutian urgently pulled up a map and said, "I just received news from the rear. Artillery observer Kaze, who set out an hour ago, discovered that the Germans had withdrawn from their position. There are a lot of troops, but there are only less than 100 people on the opposite side now!"
"Should we go up and eat them?" Vanya said excitedly.
The Aleutian company commander shook his head, "In addition, there is bad news. The German army has begun to attack from the east side of the army group position, and they seem to be preparing to forcefully cross the Don River from there.
< p>For this reason, positions 18 and 14 next to us will be transferred to the main battlefield, and only we and position 17, one kilometer away, will perform defensive tasks.""Will. Is there no fraud?" Wei Ran reminded worriedly.
Aleutian shook his head, "It's not clear yet, but the order should have been sent to those two positions. In addition, soon, a radio will be sent to us from the rear, so that we can directly communicate with Kaze and the others are in contact.”
The more I heard it, the more it sounded like he was trying to lure the tiger away from the mountain...
Wei Ran muttered to himself, he didn’t believe that the cowhide notebook would be kind enough to send him here for vacation. . And the most critical evidence is that none of the five ZIS-3 anti-tank guns currently on the position have nine five-pointed stars representing performance on their shields.
What does this mean?
This shows that there will definitely be fighting next, and given that on July 29, the 64th Group Army will be forced to retreat to the east bank of the Don River, so looking at all the clues, it can be said that among them The battle that accumulates 9 five-pointed stars for an anti-tank gun will take place in the next five days!
"No matter what conspiracy the other side is planning, please inform everyone to be on guard!"
"Aleutian, or I will lead a team of people to the opposite side..."
Before Vanya finished speaking, Aleutian once again rejected his proposal., "Don't take risks. We don't have many people and we can't afford any losses. At this time, stabilizing the current front is more important than anything else."
At this point, Aleutian looked at Zoya , "I'll take you back to the rear."
But Zoya shook her head and said with a smile, "I'll stay with you."
Aleutian was about to say something However, Wei Ran and Vanya had already voluntarily left the humid command post, leaving space for this pair of men and women.
About half an hour later, the radio sent from the rear was placed on the table in the center of the command post, but Kaze, the artillery observer who sneaked to the rear of the German position to conduct reconnaissance, did not receive it back all night Any news.
While everyone was waiting anxiously, the whole night passed safely, but the sound of firefights on the east side of the Don River position became more and more intensive, and there was no stopping even until the sun rose again. signs.
As the daylight dawned, the radio that had been silent all night suddenly rang Kaze’s call. Wei Ran, who had been pulled over before dawn, immediately woke up Wei Ran who was sleeping in the corner. Vanya.
But on the radio channel, Kaze was not calling Position 19, but the artillery in the rear of the entire Don River position.
Less than two minutes after the brief exchange between the two sides ended, the rumbling sound of artillery came from the direction behind. The artillery shells with whistles passed over the No. 19 position and hit hard. to the rear of the German position.
In the radio channel, artillery observers notified the Soviet artillery to adjust the bombardment range again and again, and the whistle above the head was also changing slightly.
After a while, Captain Aleutian and Zoya also returned to the command post, and happened to hear the good news from Kaze - the German artillery position had been blown up!
The Aleutian Company let out a long sigh, "Now our pressure is much less."
"Should Kaze command the artillery to plow the German position opposite us?" Vanya encouraged, still obsessed with the German position on the other side.
“Forget it”
The Aleutian captain shook his head without thinking, “It’s not easy for the three of them to find the German position. Don’t let them risk it. It’s not worth it to come back and deal with the Germans on the other side with the risk of being exposed. Okay, you two can go and rest, and Zoya and I will be responsible for keeping watch.”
Wanya. After hearing this, he immediately took the small bag that was originally used as a pillow, pulled Wei Ran away from the command post, found a relatively dry bunker and got into it.
"Aren't you going to sleep anymore?"
Wei Ran, who was already lying down, looked at Vanya curiously and saw that the other person was holding a small file in one hand and a small file in the other. His hand was about to take something out of the bag.
"I'm not going to sleep anymore. You should go to sleep first." Vanya made a move and stuffed the file in her hand into the satchel she had just opened.
Wei Ran didn’t care, turned over and rested his head on his arm.His eyes closed. Although there was no exchange of fire in the past two days due to the rain and the possible conspiracy of the Germans on the opposite side, he told stories for two consecutive nights and helped guard the radio station for two hours in the morning. He had already I was so sleepy that I couldn't open my eyes.
Soon after, Wei Ran’s snoring sounded in the bunker, but Vanya, who had her eyes closed, opened her eyes and quietly took out a file and a piece of paper from her bag. The copper sheet cut from the shell shell quietly walked out of the bunker, found a dry and cool location, and evasively used a small file to file off finely divided light yellow metal powder on the copper sheet.
At the same time, the three Kazes who were heading towards position 19 and had completed the artillery guidance task were hiding at the edge of the damp forest, taking turns observing the damage effects with a telescope.
"Would you like to come and see my house?" Cyril, the veterinarian, asked in a low voice, while pointing his finger in the direction, "It's in a village not far from here."
"Don't take this risk." Artillery observer Kaze shook his head and whispered, "If there are Germans stationed there, we will not be able to complete the next mission."
"Let's come out. I didn’t bring much food with me when I arrived, how about you wait here while I go back to get some food?”
The veterinarian Cyril opened his sack and showed it to the two of them. In addition to a set of tattered civilian clothes, there was only a squashed boiled potato and a small, pitiful tin can. But even so, this was a piece of food near the position when we set off. Found on the body of a German.
Artillery observer Kaze hesitated for a moment and finally nodded, "Be careful. If you don't come back before dark, Beshev and I will move immediately."
" Don't worry, I'm very familiar with this place."
After the veterinarian Cyril said that, he immediately poured out all the contents of the bag, then put on the old clothes he had brought with him before setting off, and restored himself to his original shape. Removing the desolate appearance before joining the army, he got into the depths of the forest and disappeared.