333 Captured (10)
The German army seems to be sure to win our position, and heavy artillery and mortar shells rained down on our position. I could see from the observation hole that the forward position had been submerged in a thick smoke of gunpowder.
I raised my binoculars, trying my best to see the movement of the German army on the opposite side, to see if they had deployed infantry or tanks during the shelling. But everything was obscured by the smoke, and nothing was seen.
German artillery shells fell on the ground one after another and exploded, flashing fire, deafening explosions, and shrapnel flying everywhere. Although the place I was staying was quite safe, I was still trembling with fright, and my legs were shaking like chaff. Fortunately, I was the only one in the command post, otherwise my positive image of being at home without fear of death would be completely destroyed. Up.
Just then, a shell exploded a few meters away from the command post, and the shock wave rushed into the command post from the observation hole, and the raised mud pounced on my face like raindrops. I closed my eyes in time, lest I be fascinated by the dust, but I was still embarrassed because of that.
I was worried that the command post would be destroyed by a cannonball, so I quickly grabbed the rifle that was sitting aside, bent over and ran out of the command post.
and so on ran out of the command post, there were shells exploding everywhere, and the smoke and dust of the smoke covered the sky, as if suddenly night had fallen. Just when I didn’t know where to go, a cannonball exploded in front of the trench, scaring me to squat on the ground, and letting the Bengfei mud fall on me.
I got up, bent over and continued running along the trenches. Suddenly, another shell exploded in the trenches not far in front of me. A huge air wave knocked me head-on, and the trenches on both sides were also exploding. A long section of the ground collapsed, saying that it was too late and then soon. Before I could understand what was going on, half of my body had been buried in the soil.
Before I was struggling to crawl out, another shell exploded nearby, and the mud that was thrown up smashed down again, burying me tightly, and after a while, I lost consciousness.
After an unknown period of time, I was fainted and felt that someone was shaking my body vigorously. I slowly opened my eyes and looked at the person shaking me in front of me, as if it was the one where I reunited their husband and wife last time. What is the name of the soldier, Vasily, Andre, Amis or other names, I can’t remember it. But why did his mouth open so wide, but he didn’t make a sound?
The soldier saw that I opened his eyes, his face was surprised, and his mouth opened again. This time I vaguely heard his voice: “Comrade Major, you are awake, this is really great!” He has to concentrate on what he said to hear clearly. I don’t know if he speaks less or who is mine. There was a ball of cotton in my ears, which made me unable to hear others.
After a while, I heard faint gunfire sounding nearby, and there was a sudden cold war. I immediately understood that I was on the battlefield. I couldn’t hear the soldiers speaking clearly. It should have been injured by the shock wave of the bomb explosion. The hearing is affected. At this moment, I also remembered the name of the soldier in front of me, so I asked: “Ivan, how is the situation on the ground?”
Ivan replied anxiously: “Comrade Major, everyone on the ground is dead, let’s withdraw!”
Hearing what he said, my heart couldn’t help but sink, and I quickly asked, “Where is Lieutenant Ugarde?”
Ivan lowered his head and replied in a low voice: “Comrade Lieutenant died. He was blown to pieces by the shells, and he didn’t even leave a complete corpse capital.”
“Where is Ensign Midocchio?”
“I also sacrificed.” Ivan continued: “Immediately after the German shelling was over, hundreds of infantrymen under the cover of three tanks launched an attack on our army’s position. Lieutenant Miducci commanded the artillery, The bombardment of the enemy infantry once cut off the connection between them and the tanks and wiped out many Germans. But our artillery shells were soon gone. Comrade Lieutenant rushed towards the enemy tank with a Molotov cocktail in his hand. I died with one of them.”
“What happened later?” I continued to ask.
“After our first attack by the Germans was repelled by us, they returned to their starting positions and fired on our army’s positions again. This shelling killed all our surviving officers and soldiers. Comrade Major, the German infantry has begun. For the second attack, let’s retreat quickly. Otherwise, we will become prisoners when they attack the ground.” He said, desperately digging the soil, trying to get me out of the soil as soon as possible.
When I learned that almost all the commanders who stood on the ground had sacrificed heroically, there was no point in staying here. What I can do now is to find ways to get out of the danger as soon as possible, so I also hurriedly cooperated with Ivan to dig out.
When the two of us fled the position in embarrassment, we could already vaguely see the German helmets shaking in the trenches. When I rushed down the hillside, I saw that there were no moving objects in the passage. Flesh and blood corpses were everywhere, including commanders and soldiers, as well as civilians who moved with the troops.
I wonder if Ivan had already guessed that we would defeat the war, so he found the way ahead of time. No, when I came from the position, he led me quickly into the endless forest to the east. I followed him, running deep and shallow in the forest, out of breath, and the scene in front of me gradually became blurred.
Wait until Ivan stopped and told me, “Comrade Major, all right! It should be safe here. Let’s rest for a while.”
I sat on the ground with my back leaning against a big tree, panting heavily.
Before I could evenly breathe, I suddenly heard a thunderous voice next to me: “Who? No one is allowed to move, raise your hand!”
I originally went to grab the rifle, and found that when I ran away with Ivan, I didn’t even bother to get the gun. Fortunately, the pistol was still there, so I quickly stretched my hand to my back, quickly opened the holster, and pulled out the pistol. Aimed at the location where the sound came from. As for Ivan, bare-handed, without even intending to resist, he raised his hands obediently.
Two warriors with rifles turned out from behind the tree. When they looked at the uniforms they were wearing with helmets and the raincoats with hoods on them, they knew they were their own. I quickly lowered my gun, stood up, and asked loudly, “Which part of you are you?”
The other party saw me put down the gun and lowered the muzzle, and replied: “We are the guard class of the editorial department of “The Brave”
“The editorial department of “The Brave”?” I remembered the political worker who had been with me just now, and hurriedly asked: “Is your person in charge a battalion-level political instructor Zalilov?”
“Yes, Comrade Commander.” When the two soldiers heard me telling the order of the head of the editorial department, their faces showed joy, and they quickly asked: “When the Germans were shelled just now, we and the instructors Ran away. Do you know where they are?”
I shook my head and said, “I’m sorry, comrade soldier, my soldier and I just withdrew from the position. I came here by accident. I don’t know the whereabouts of Instructor Zalilov.”
Seeing the disappointed expressions of the two soldiers, and looking at the embarrassment of Ivan and I, I suddenly felt that I should form a team with them, and then try to escape from the German encirclement to find the troops of the front army. . So I asked tentatively: “Comrade fighters, since you and the comrades in the editorial department are separated, it is better to go with us. When we are out of danger, it is not too late to slowly inquire about the whereabouts of the instructor Zalilov.”
“Yeah, two friends.” Ivan said to me, “The Germans have now captured the highlands on both sides of the passage. If we return, we will either be killed or captured. It is better to find in the forest. One way, escape the encirclement of the Germans, and when you return to the army, you can inquire about other people’s news.”
After listening to our words, the two soldiers hesitated and stood still and did not make a statement. Ivan stepped forward and took the shoulders of the two of them, and said carelessly: “Okay, don’t think about it, let’s go with us.” In this way, under Ivan’s persuasion, the two fighters finally agreed to walk with us.
We rested on the spot for half an hour, and then continued to move forward. Without tools such as compasses, we quickly lost our way in the dense forest. Although it was still sunny and sunny outside, the light in the dense forest was as dark as night. Looking around the dark jungle, I couldn’t help feeling hairy in my heart. I quickly reached out and grabbed Ivan’s belt in front of me, lest he walk too fast and hurt me Stay here alone.
I don’t know how long we walked, we finally walked out of the darkness and came to a lot of sparse trees. Ivan first came to a big tree, sat down with his back leaning on the trunk, and said: “I’m tired from walking, everyone should sit down and rest, eat and drink some water before continuing to walk.” Seeing the three of us People sat down next to him silently, and he patted the shoulder of the soldier nearest to him again, and said as if chatting with an old friend, “Hey, I said Comrade soldier, do you have any food? Give it to us, Comrade Major and I haven’t eaten anything for a day.”
The soldier took out a small piece of bread wrapped in paper from his bag and handed it to him. Ivan was also welcome, opened the paper bag, took a piece of bread to me, and then he stuffed the rest into his mouth. Although I was so hungry that my chest was on my back, I still asked the two soldiers politely: “After walking for so long, I guess you are hungry too. You should eat this bread!” After finishing speaking, I handed the bread to theirs. In front of him, he secretly swallowed.
The two soldiers waved their hands and said, “Comrade Commander, you should eat this bread. We still have it here.”
Just as we were pushing each other away, a faint voice came from nearby: “Hey, where is who? Is it your own?”
“Who?!” Ivan yelled, grabbed a rifle from a soldier’s arms, and rushed in the direction of the sound. We were afraid that he would suffer, and we followed closely behind. I stood up and stuffed the piece of bread into my mouth.
Behind a tree not far from where we were just now, an officer in a big brimmed hat was sitting with his back against the trunk, holding a pistol in his hand and pointing at us nervously. “Comrade Political Instructor, is that you?” Two soldiers ran past me and stepped forward to help the commander.
I heard their names, and I knew that the person lying on the ground was Zalilov who was in a conflict with me just now. So I said unceremoniously: “Comrade Political Instructor, I don’t know what you are doing here? You must know that the Germans are not too far away. If you don’t leave, you will be caught by them and you will be captured.
Zalilov looked at me up and down, apparently recognizing me, with a bitter smile on his face, and said: “So it’s you, Comrade Major. My leg was injured and I was injured by shrapnel. When you get here, you can’t go anymore.” At this point, he paused, and then said: “When you were in the passage just now, what you said was correct. When breaking through, in order to ensure the marching speed of the troops, it is not necessary. Things can be thrown away. I’m sorry!”
I was still sullen, but when I heard Zalilov apologize to me, I couldn’t help but feel softened again. I quickly changed a smile and asked in a friendly way: “Comrade Instructor, can you still walk around?”
Zalilov smiled bitterly and replied: “It may not work. You should go first, and I will rest for a while and go after you.”
“Comrade instructor, what are you talking about.” Although the Soviet army has no tradition of not abandoning and not giving up, since I saw the wounded lying here, I would never leave, besides, I still walked with us. Two of the soldiers are his subordinates, so they can be used as free labor. I turned and told the two fighters: “Comrade fighters, go and cut down two small trees, make a stretcher, and carry the political instructor away.”
“Yes, Comrade Commander.” The two soldiers agreed and ran to the side to cut down the tree quickly.
Zalilov said to me gratefully: “Thank you, Comrade Major.”
I walked up to him and squatted down, holding his hand and said: “Comrade instructor, please rest assured, we will definitely lift you out of the encirclement.”
Then we talked more harmoniously. Through small talk, I realized that the Zalilov instructor was actually a poet. He had been working in Moscow. Later, because the editor-in-chief of the 2nd Assault Army “The Brave” Vsevolod Bagritzki, the son of the famous Soviet poet Aduard Bagritzki, died in the winter battle. In order to prevent this post from being vacant for a long time, Zalilov was sent from Moscow to the Political Section of the 2nd Assault Army as the editor-in-chief of the newspaper.
Two fighters came over with a simple stretcher and carried Zalilov on the stretcher. Because of the need to carry people, Ivan and I carried the rifles on their backs.
We don’t know where we just headed, so we can only walk forward in the forest, hoping to reach a safe place in the end.
just walked aimlessly for two days I ate all the food I brought with me, but I was still wandering in the endless forest. People are already extremely tired because they can’t eat enough to sleep well, and the steps under their feet are getting smaller and smaller.
Just when we were on the verge of despair, Zalilov on the stretcher suddenly pointed to the front and said in surprise: “Comrade Major, there is a road ahead, and you can pass through to reach the station of the 59th Army.” Hearing him say this, everyone Suddenly he raised his spirit again and accelerated the pace of the march.
After walking for five or six minutes, a simple road appeared in front of it.
I saw the hope of escape, and my tense nerves relaxed. I sat down on the ground and said to them: “We are out of danger, let’s rest and go.”
“No.” Zalilov resolutely said: “Wait until you pass that road and rest. There may be Germans here.”
“I can’t walk anymore, you go first. Ivan stays.” I was really tired, and I didn’t want to move anymore when I sat down.
Zalilov saw that I really didn’t want to leave, so he had no choice but to say: “Well, let’s go first, you can come here as soon as possible.” Then he urged the soldiers who carried him to speed up the march.
Just when they set foot on the highway, there was a roar of motors not far away, and after a while, a German armored car appeared. There were people on the road, and the machine gun on the armored car fired. The bullets flew towards them, knocking down the soldier carrying the stretcher. The two fell to the ground and threw Zalilov out of the stretcher.
“No, there is an ambush. Ivan, run!” Seeing that the situation was not good, I got up, turned around and ran back.