"Grissa," Yegor suddenly asked after taking a few puffs of cigarette: "Tell me, will Comrade Commander come here with the division headquarters?"
Grisa understood the reason why Yegor asked. During the Battle of Kursk, Sokov had spent some time at the division headquarters of the 188th Division. After staring at Yegor for a while, he slowly
He shook his head and said: "Egor, if it were other times, Comrade Commander might come here with the division headquarters. But today, that is simply impossible."
"Why?" Yegor asked in surprise.
"You don't know yet," Griza remembered. When the first battalion left on a hovercraft, Sokov had not yet had an accident, so he explained to Yegor: "Comrade Commander took a plane today to conduct reconnaissance over October Town.
Shot down by an enemy plane!"
Yegor stood up suddenly: "What, Comrade Commander's plane was shot down by the enemy?"
Several wounded soldiers from the Second Company who were waiting for the medical staff to bandage them heard that Sokov's plane was shot down. They all stood up from the ground and looked at Grisa, with worries written on their faces.
Seeing Yegor stand up, Grisa quickly stood up too, raised his hand and patted the other party on the shoulder, comforting him and said: "Yegor, don't worry, although the plane on which Comrade Commander was taken was destroyed by the enemy,
Shot down, but he and the pilot luckily survived with only minor injuries. He should be resting in the headquarters at the moment, and he will definitely not be able to make it here."
After learning that Sokov only suffered minor injuries after the crash, Yegor breathed a sigh of relief. After he sat down again, he murmured: "Thank God, Comrade Commander is fine. If something happens to him,
Our troops will definitely be in chaos."
"Egor, you are right." Grisa agreed with Yegor's statement: "When Comrade Commander's plane was shot down and his whereabouts were unknown, the entire army was in chaos. Don't say
I was panic-stricken at the time. Even Colonel Mashkov, the division political commissar who had always been steady, was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot. He kept calling the army headquarters or other division headquarters to ask if there was any news about the comrade commander.
.I can’t imagine what kind of consequences it would have on the troops if something happened to Comrade Commander.”
Before Yegor could speak, he suddenly heard a shout from the stairs: "Captain Yegor, where is Captain Yegor?"
Yegor turned around and saw that one of Guchakov's communications soldiers was walking up the stairs. He quickly bowed and replied loudly: "Comrade Communications Corps, I'm here."
The communications soldier quickly came to Yegor, raised his hand and saluted him and said: "Comrade Captain, the battalion commander ordered that as long as you are still alive, go and see him immediately."
"Where is the battalion commander?"
"In the doctor's duty room on the second floor."
"Grissa, I have to go see Major Guchakov. I can't accompany you anymore. I'm really sorry."
"It doesn't matter, you can go ahead and do your work. Leave the work here to me."
When Yegor followed the communication soldier downstairs, he asked tentatively: "Signal soldier, how many of the battalion commander's men are left?"
"Who else is there?" the signal soldier replied with a wry smile: "Including the group army guard company commanded by Captain Seryosha, there are only 21 people."
"What, there are only 21 people left?" Yegor was so shocked that his jaw almost dropped to the ground, "Why did you fight so badly?"
"There is no way. There are too many enemies and they are attacking from two places at the same time. Our limited troops cannot stop them from rushing to the fourth floor. We can only retreat into the conference room and continue to hold on there. If the reinforcements had not arrived in time,
, I think we have been completely wiped out."
He met a lot of commanders and fighters along the way, but Yegor found that almost all of them were from the second or third battalion, and none of the commanders and fighters from the first battalion were seen. These people were collecting the corpses of both the enemy and ours, and placed them neatly.
The corridor was covered with white cloth without distinguishing between friend and foe.
Yegor came to the doctor's duty room on the second floor. As soon as he entered the door, he saw Guchakov, Major Bunch, Seryosha and others sitting at the table, whispering something. He quickly stepped forward to lift
He saluted with his hands and said loudly: "Comrade battalion commander, Captain Yegor, commander of the second company, has been ordered to come. I follow your order, please give instructions!"
Guchakov stood up and came to Yegor, stretched out his hand to pull his hand from his forehead, then pulled his hand towards the area in front of him, gave him a warm hug, and said excitedly: "Yegor
Gore, it's so hard to see you alive."
"Comrade Battalion Commander, so am I."
Guchakov let go of Yegor, took a step back, and then asked: "Second company commander, how many people are left in your company?"
"Report to Comrade Battalion Commander," Yegor straightened his body and said, "In addition to me, there are still six people in our company who can breathe."
Hearing Yegor's answer, Guchakov's mouth twitched violently for a few times, and then said with a sad face: "I really didn't expect that after this battle, there are less than 15 people left in our battalion.
"
21 people plus 6 people, shouldn't there be 27 people? Why did the battalion commander say there were only 15 people? Yegor was stunned at first by Guchakov's statement, but when he saw Seryosha standing aside
, he immediately understood that among the number of people mentioned by Guchakov, Seryosha's men were probably excluded from the calculation.
"Don't worry, Captain Yegor." Guchakov comforted him and said: "Comrade Commander will replenish the soldiers we lost in the battle."
Hearing Guchakov mention Sokov, Yegor couldn't help but said: "Comrade Battalion Commander, you may not know that something happened to Comrade Commander today."
"Comrade Commander, something happened?" Guchakov still didn't know that something happened to Sokov, so when he heard Yegor say this, he couldn't help but asked in surprise: "What on earth is going on?"
"I heard from Captain Grisa, the commander of the fourth company, that Comrade Commander was attacked by enemy planes when he was conducting reconnaissance in October Town. The plane he was on was unfortunately shot down by the enemy..."
When Guchakov learned that Sokov was in trouble, his vision suddenly went dark, his body shook twice, and he fell backward. Fortunately, Seryosha and Major Bunchi helped him in time, preventing him from falling to the ground.
.
Seryosha supported Guchakov and said emotionally: "Captain Yegor, how is Comrade Commander doing now?"
"Still alive. It is said that he was only slightly injured when the plane crashed. He is resting in the headquarters now. There should be nothing serious. However, based on his physical condition, he will not come here for inspection in a short time."
"Comrade Commander is still alive!" Hearing that Sokov was still alive, Guchakov immediately resurrected with full health on the spot. He grabbed Yegor's arm and asked excitedly: "Is everything you said true?
"
"Of course, comrade battalion commander." Although his arm was sore from being grabbed by Guchakov, Dang Yegor did not dare to struggle, but endured the pain and said, "That's what Captain Grisa, the fourth company commander, told me.
"
"Signal soldier!" Guchakov was obviously still dubious about Yegor's statement. He quickly called the communication soldier and told him: "You immediately go to the second battalion commander Major Golia. Once you see him,
Just invite him here."
"Major Guchakov, what do you want from me?" Before the signalman left, a commander wearing a helmet and carrying an assault rifle came in from the door. He said to Guchakov with a smile.
: "I'm right here. If you want to ask anything, please just ask."
Seeing Golya appearing at the door, Guchakov quickly walked over, grabbed his arm excitedly, and couldn't wait to ask: "Major Golya, I heard that the plane on which Comrade Commander was traveling was shot down by an enemy plane.
Is there nothing wrong with him?"
"Huh?!" Golia was a little surprised when he heard Guchakov asked about this matter: "Major Guchakov, who did you hear about this?"
Guchakov, who was eager to know Sokov's safety, asked with great emotion: "Tell me quickly, how is Comrade Commander's condition? Is his life in danger?"
"How is that possible?" Golia shrugged his shoulders and said disapprovingly: "How can life be in danger? Although Comrade Commander's plane was shot down by the enemy, when it landed, the pilot pulled up the nose of the plane in time.
, he and Comrade Commander only suffered minor injuries and will recover after two days of rest."
After receiving the concrete information from Goliya, Guchakov's heart in his throat returned to his stomach again. He took a few steps back, sat on a back chair, and breathed heavily.
The moment he spent just now made him feel more tired than he had been fighting for a whole day.
"Major Guchakov, I came here to ask you something."
"You want to ask me something?" This time it was Guchakov's turn to be confused: "What is it?"
"It's like this. When my men were searching on the first floor, they found the entrance to the basement. When they went in to check, they found that there were not only the residents of the town, but also hundreds of German wounded." Golya told Guchakov.
: "In addition, there is a squad of soldiers inside, two of whom I know, and they are Captain Seryosha's subordinates. They told me that these German wounded were enemies. Before they rushed into the inpatient building, you sent people to settle them in the basement.
. I came to you just to ask, is what they said true?"
"Yes, what they said is true." Knowing that many of his subordinates were still alive, Seryosha seemed particularly excited. He took two steps forward and said to Golya: "Comrade Major, these German wounded are indeed
We moved to the basement before the enemy broke into the building."
"I have a question, why do you put so many wounded German soldiers in the basement?"
"This is my idea." Guchakov saw a trace of hesitation flashing in Seryosha's eyes and said first: "Comrade Commander once said that we are soldiers, not butchers. For enemies who have lost their resistance, we
Give them preferential treatment. The wounded Germans you see in the basement were captured when we captured the building. They were moved to the basement because I was worried that they would be harmed after the Germans stormed into the building."
"So that's it." Golia nodded and said thoughtfully, "That's it."
While the two were talking, the regiment leader, Lieutenant Colonel Majevo, ran in sweating profusely. Seeing Guchakov sitting in the room, he quickly opened his arms and said excitedly: "Guchakov
Major, it's so good to see you alive."
When Guchakov saw the group leader appearing, he naturally could no longer sit still. He quickly stood up and saluted, shook hands and hugged. After completing these steps, he smiled bitterly and said to Majevo: "Comrade group leader, fortunately you sent
The reinforcements arrived just in time; if they had been a little later, our entire army would have been annihilated."
"How many of you are left?"
"I still have 15 men." After Guchakov answered this question, he glanced at Seryosha and Major Bonchi who were standing next to him, and continued: "Captain Seryosha still has 11 people, and Bonchi
He is the only one left in the major's tank battalion."
Majevo saw that the second company commander Yegor was also there, and asked curiously: "By the way, where is the first company commander Narva?"
Guchakov's head lowered, and he said with a sad face: "Since the enemy used heavy artillery to bombard the outpatient building in front, I have no news about him. He must have been sacrificed."
"Sacrificial?" Majevo shook his head and said, "Major Guchakov, let's not make such damn inferences before we see his body. When I came here, I passed the ruins of the outpatient building.
, a platoon leader who was busy there reported to me that there seemed to be movement in the ruins, and it might be that our own people were trapped. I have instructed them to carry out rescue operations as soon as possible and must rescue the comrades buried in the ruins.
.”
"Comrade Head," Hearing that there were still voices coming from the ruins of the outpatient building, Guchakov couldn't sit still. He quickly asked Majevo: "Can I leave?"
"Leave? Where do you want to go?"
"Comrade head, didn't you say that there seem to be alive soldiers in the ruins of the outpatient building?" Guchakov explained to Majevo: "I want to rescue them."
"You must be very tired after fighting for such a long time." But Majevo denied Guchakov's request: "You should seize the time to rest. I have already given the task of rescuing the trapped soldiers to you.
Third Battalion, I believe they will not betray my trust in them."
Although Majevo did not agree to go to the outpatient clinic building by himself, Guchakov still felt uneasy. He quickly turned around and ordered the signal soldier standing beside him: "Signal soldier, you rush to the outpatient clinic building immediately to assist the comrades of the third battalion.
Search the ruins. Once there is news about the company commander, come back and report to me immediately."
"Comrade Commander," Golia asked Majevo curiously after the communications troops left: "Have you reported the situation here to the division headquarters or the group army headquarters?"
"The division headquarters is now in the outer position outside the town. Even if I don't report, the division commander and political commissar can understand the situation here." Majewo explained: "With my rank, I am not qualified to directly report to the group army headquarters.
Let’s wait for the division commander and political commissar to report to the comrade commander.”
"Comrade Commander," Guchakov is now considering that the army will definitely have many battles to fight in the future, but his troops have basically been completely lost. If they don't replenish their troops, they will have no experience in participating in the war, so he tentatively said
Asked Majewo: "I wonder when our superiors can make additional supplements for us?"