War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 28 The German Conspiracy
Amidst the rumbling cannons, the soldiers at Position 19, under the command of Company Commander Aleutian, pushed the two heavy mortars weighing 280 kilograms into the specially dug bunker, and even the five zis-3 The small anti-tank guns are also tightly protected by layers of sandbags.

But the strange thing is that after only a brief counterattack for less than five minutes, the Germans died down again and there was no movement!

Fortunately, at the invitation of the Aleutian company commander, Wei Ran, who entered the command post for the first time, asked suspiciously, "Why are these Germans so honest today?"

"It's really too honest," Vanya said in the same doubt.

Before Company Commander Aleutian could say anything, the phone placed on the central table of the command post suddenly rang.The former and Vanya glanced at each other, then picked up the phone receiver.

"What did you say?!"

The Aleutian company commander let out an exclamation, and then quickly said, "Okay, I see."

"Crack!" Hanging up the phone with a sound, the Aleutian company commander pulled a map urgently and said, "Just received the news from the rear, the artillery observer Kaze who set off an hour ago discovered that the Germans had withdrawn from their positions There are a lot of troops, and now there are no more than 100 people in the opposite position!"

"Shall we go up and eat them?" Vanya said excitedly.

Company Commander Aleutian shook his head, "Besides, there is bad news. The German army has begun to attack from the east side of the Army Group's position, and they seem to be planning to forcefully cross the Don River from there.

For this reason, the No. 18 and No. 14 positions next to us will be transferred to the main battlefield. Here, only we and the No. 17 position one kilometer away will perform defensive tasks. "

"Will there be fraud?" Wei Ran worriedly reminded.

Aleutian shook his head, "It's not clear yet, but the order should have been sent to those two positions. In addition, soon, the rear will send us a radio so that we can directly contact Kaze and the others."

The more it sounds, the more it sounds like "teasing the tiger away from the mountain".
Wei Ran muttered to himself, he didn't believe that the cowhide notebook would kindly send him over for vacation.And the most crucial piece of evidence is that none of the five ZIS-3 anti-tank guns on the field now have nine five-pointed stars representing their achievements on the shields.

What does this mean?
This shows that there will definitely be battles in the future, and since the 7th Army will be forced to retreat to the east bank of the Don River on July 29, based on all the clues, one of the anti-tank guns can accumulate enough The battle of 64 five-pointed stars will happen in the next five days!

"No matter what conspiracy the other party is doing, notify everyone to strengthen their vigilance!"

"Aleutian, otherwise I will take a team to the opposite side."

Before Vanya finished speaking, Aleutian rejected his proposal again, "Don't take any risks, we don't have many people, and we can't afford any loss. At this time, stabilizing the current front is more important than anything else."

Having said that, 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, but Wei Ran and Vanya had already voluntarily left the damp command post, leaving room for the couple.

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 investigate, did not send back any news all night.

While everyone waited anxiously, the whole night passed safely, but the sound of firefighting on the east side of the Don River position became more and more intensive, and even until the sun rose again, there was no sign of stopping.

As the sky brightened, Kaze's call suddenly rang out from the radio that had been silent all night. Wei Ran, who was pulled over before dawn in the morning, immediately woke up Vanya who was sleeping in the corner.

But on the radio channel, what Kaze called was not the 19th position, but the artillery in the rear of the entire Don River position.

Less than two minutes after the short exchange between the two sides ended, the sound of rumbling artillery came from the direction behind him, and the shells with whistle sounded across the sky over position 19, and slammed into the rear of the German position.

On the radio channel, the artillery observers notified the Soviet artillery to adjust the shelling range again and again, and the whistle above the head was also changing slightly.

After such a short time, the Aleutian company commander and Zoya also returned to the command post, and happened to hear the good news from Kaze—the German artillery position was blown up!
The Aleutian company commander let out a long breath, "Now our pressure is much less."

"Do you want to let Kaze command the artillery to plow the German position opposite us?" Vanya, who was still loyal to the German position on the other side, urged.

"never mind"

The Aleutian company commander shook his head without even thinking about it, "It's not easy for the three of them to find the German position, don't let them take the risk of being exposed and come back to deal with the Germans on the opposite side, it's not worth it at all. Alright, you two go to rest, and Zoya and I will be in charge of listening."

Upon hearing this, Vanya immediately took the small bag that was used as a pillow, pulled Wei Ran away from the command post, found a relatively dry bunker and got in.

"Are you not going to sleep anymore?"

Wei Ran, who was already lying down, looked at Vanya curiously, only to see that he was holding a small file in one hand, and was about to take something out of the bag with the other hand.

"Don't sleep anymore, you go to bed first." Vanya paused, and stuffed the file in his hand into the satchel he just opened.

Wei Ran didn't care, turned over and leaned on his arm and closed his eyes. Although there was no exchange of fire in the past two days because of the rain and the possible conspiracy of the Germans on the opposite side, he talked for two consecutive nights In the early morning, he helped watch the radio station for two hours, and he was already too sleepy to keep his eyes open.

Not long after, Wei Ran's snoring sounded from the bunker, but Vanya, whose eyes were closed, opened them, quietly took out a file and a piece of copper cut from a shell casing from his bag. He quietly walked out of the bunker, found a dry and cool place, and evasively used a small file to file off the finely divided light yellow metal powder on the piece of copper skin.

At the same time, on the way to position 19, the three of Kaze, who had completed the task of guiding the artillery, were hiding at the edge of the damp forest, taking turns observing the damage effect with a telescope.

"Would you like to visit my house?" Veterinarian Cyril asked in a low voice, while pointing in the direction, "It's in a village not far from here."

"Don't take this risk." Artillery observer Kaze shook his head and said in a low voice, "If there are Germans stationed there, we will not be able to complete the next mission."

"We didn't bring much food with us when we came out, why don't you wait here and I'll go back and get some food myself?"

The veterinarian Cyril opened his sack and showed the two of them. In addition to a set of tattered civilian clothes, there was only a boiled potato that had been crushed long ago and a small, pitiful iron sheet. Canned food, but even so, it was found on the body of a German near the position during the departure.

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 am very familiar with this place."

After the veterinarian Cyril finished speaking, he immediately poured out all the contents in the bag, then changed into the old clothes that he brought in advance when he set off, and restored himself to the downcast appearance before joining the army, and then went into the depths of the forest and ran away. the shadow.

　Thanks to the little beauties of Feiwushou and Doudou for rewarding 100 points respectively

　　
　
(End of this chapter)