"It's Kaze! Kaze is still alive!" Wei Ran exclaimed happily, holding up the microphone.
The Aleutian company commander grabbed the microphone and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Hound! Hound! Do you need support?"
Located in a dense forest behind the German position, Kaze looked up at the barking dogs getting closer and closer and the flashlight beam that swept across his face from time to time. Then he looked down at the wound on his thigh that was penetrated by a bullet.
Then he sat down tiredly and leaned against a red pine tree. He endured the pain and replied into the microphone, "No... no need, send out a new artillery observer! The hunting dog... applied to withdraw from the call sign sequence."
"Goodbye...my comrade."
The Aleutian company commander was reluctant to put down the microphone, and Kaze, who was on the other side of the radio signal, had already ignited the grenade hidden between the radio and his waist.
"We have lost our artillery observer forever"
Aleutian dropped the microphone on the table and made a soft clang sound, but his mutterings were completely covered up by the dense artillery fire.
Less than a minute later, artillery shells fired from the Don River bank crossed Position 19 and accurately hit the artillery position behind the German army.
The Germans on the opposite side of the position had no artillery support and immediately fell into decline in the ensuing battle. Under the crossfire of only four anti-tank artillery pieces and a large amount of machine gun fire, the German troops on the battlefield suffered devastating losses.
The attack, but at the same time, it also added a large amount of troops to the trench 400 meters away, and the mortar fired immediately by the opponent also brought Position 19, which had just gained a slight advantage, back to a crisis point again!
"Counterattack! Counterattack!" Vanya shouted at the four mortar emplacements of different calibers while holding a tin trumpet.
The Aleutian company commander shook the phone handle and contacted an artillery observer from behind.
Before the new artillery observers arrived, the veterans who had just joined not long ago were not willing to hide in the bunker. Instead, they led their recruits to move mortar shells and a large number of bullets as quickly as possible.
It poured out onto the battlefield outside the trenches, repelling the German charges again and again, and suppressed them outside the center line of the battlefield with all its strength.
Amidst the rumbling explosions, this battle that had only just begun suddenly entered the most difficult stage! And the casualties and losses at Position 19 also increased exponentially!
Half an hour later, an artillery observer wearing glasses arrived at position 19. After observing with a telescope, he directly called in artillery to clean the trenches dug by the Germans on the opposite side.
After this round of artillery fire, the battle in the rainy night finally came to an end, and at the same time, the sound of gunfire was replaced by the sound of gunfire.
Wei Ran and Zoya each held flashlights and shuttled through the muddy trenches, busy counting casualties. In the command post, the Aleutian company commander, Vanya, whose temples were scratched by shrapnel, and the man who had just been sent over
The artillery observer was frowning at the terrain map of the position.
"What's the casualty situation?" Captain Aleutian asked when he saw Zoya and Wei Ran coming back and immediately put down the pen in his hand.
Zoya sighed and handed the rain-soaked notebook to Wei Ran.
"Two anti-tank guns were lost, all heavy mortars were blown up, and there was still one usable 82mm mortar. Personnel losses..."
Wei Ran made a quick calculation and said under the concerned gazes of the two people across the table, "There are only less than a hundred people with fighting ability left, and there are probably less than 20 wounded."
Aleutian walked half a circle around the table, raised his head and asked, "Are the anti-tank guns that came out of the trenches still effective?"
Upon hearing this, Wei Ran quickly replied, "The artillery is intact, two members of the gun crew were injured, and new gunners have just been added."
"Assemble another anti-tank gun!" Aleutian said decisively, "and place two more machine gun positions in that trench!"
"Comrade Aleut!"
The new artillery observer had to remind, "I have just said that whether it is the east bank or the west bank of the Don River, we no longer have many artillery shells in reserve. Maybe in the next battle, our artillery will not be able to provide any
Effective support.”
"I know"
The Aleutian captain nodded absently, "Vanya, let's make arrangements now. We must set up the artillery positions before dawn, and arrange a group of people to bury all the unused mortar shells outside the barbed wire fence.
"
After hearing this, Vanya stood up and walked out of the command post silently.
"Victor"
The Aleutians waved to Wei Ran, "Organize the remaining people and use your free time to widen our trenches!"
"How wide should the digging be?" Wei Ran asked subconsciously.
"Enough to trap the opposing tanks," Aleutian said without raising his head.
Wei Ran frowned, quickly picked up the metal speaker on the table, and ran out of the command post.
Soon, Position 19, which had just ceased fire, once again turned into a construction site. The surviving soldiers were dragging anti-tank artillery pieces, or wielding pickaxes and engineer shovels, using existing trenches to build anti-tank trenches.
But in fact, everyone knows that this futile effort can only be a drop in the bucket for the current battle situation. But even so, no one is lazy, not even the blue hat who has always been silent and the artillery whose name is still unknown.
Observers, all joined in the task of digging anti-tank trenches.
In the increasingly heavy rain, it came to the early morning of the 27th, and the situation on the entire Don River battlefield became increasingly dangerous. The German soldiers opposite Position 19 were also stepping up digging trenches under the cover of the rain.
But now, the Aleutians no longer dare to organize a counterattack. Although they have a lot of artillery shells, they only have the last mortar left.
Fortunately, the Germans on the opposite side did not know their true situation, so throughout the whole day, the two warring parties worked hard to dig their own trenches in a strange tacit understanding and in the increasingly heavy rain.
When the torrential rain that lasted for two days finally stopped on the morning of the 28th, the German trenches on the opposite side had begun to take shape, and the mortars hitting position 19 became more and more dense, so much so that the soldiers who had been digging anti-tank trenches were stunned.
Wei Ran and others had to stop what they were doing.
At noon, under the cover of mortars, heavy machine guns and even a few small-caliber artillery, more than 20 tanks drove onto the battlefield with groups of German infantry, aiming their muzzles at the trenches of Position 19!
"If nothing else, this should be the last battle."
While Aleutian spoke, he took out a simple folded letter from his pocket and handed it to Wei Ran, "Comrade postman, I allow you to be a deserter now, but you must send this report to the headquarters of the 64th Army."
Before he finished speaking, Aleutian picked up the submachine gun on the table, bent down and got out of the command post.
Wei Ran, who was specially called, trembled and opened the damp letter paper. The pen writing on it was a little blurry, but he could still see clearly. This was an application report for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, and the application above
The unit that was awarded the title only had a vague sentence of "all soldiers of Don position 19".
