War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 36 Hero Title Application Report

"It's Kaze! Kaze is still alive!" Wei Ran excitedly exclaimed holding the microphone.

The Aleutian company commander snatched the microphone and shouted at the top of his voice, "Hound! Hound! Do you need support?"

Located in a dense forest behind the German positions, Kaze looked up at the approaching dogs barking around him and the flashlight beams that swept across his face from time to time, and then looked down at the wound on his thigh that was pierced by bullets. Cai sat down tiredly leaning against a red pine tree, endured the pain and replied to the microphone, "No, no, let's send out new artillery spotters! The hunting dog has applied to withdraw from the call sign sequence."

"Goodbye. My comrade in arms."

The Aleutian company commander was reluctant to put down the microphone for a long time, but Kaze, who was on the other side of the radio signal, had already ignited the grenade hidden between the radio and his waist.

"We've lost artillery spotters forever"

Aleutian threw the microphone on the table and made a soft bang, but his muttering was completely covered by the dense artillery fire.

The difference was less than 1 minutes before and after, shells fired from the bank of the Don River crossed position 19, and accurately hit the artillery position behind the German army.

Without artillery support, the Germans on the opposite side immediately fell into a decline in the ensuing battle.With the only four remaining anti-tank artillery and a large number of machine guns crossing fire, although the German army on the battlefield suffered a devastating blow, it also added a large number of troops to the trench 400 meters away. The incoming mortars also brought the No. 19 position, which had just gained a little advantage, back to the critical moment again!

"Counterattack! Give me a counterattack!" Vanya yelled at the four mortars of different calibers holding up the iron horn.

And the Aleutian company commander shook the phone handle, contacted the rear and shouted an artillery observer.

Before the arrival of the new artillery observers, those veterans who joined not long ago were not willing to hide in the bunkers, but led the recruits under their hands to shoot mortar shells and a large number of bullets at the fastest speed. It poured out on the battlefield outside the trenches, repulsed the Germans' charge again and again, and suppressed them beyond the center line of the battlefield with all their strength.

Amidst the rumbling explosions, the battle that had just started entered the most difficult stage unexpectedly!And the casualties and losses at position 19 are also rising geometrically!
Half an hour later, an artillery observer with glasses arrived at position 19. After observing with a telescope, he directly called the artillery to clean up the trenches dug by the Germans.

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 guns and guns was replaced by howling one after another.

Wei Ran and Zoya each shuttled through the muddy trench with a flashlight, busy counting the casualties.In the command post, Company Commander Aleutian, Vanya, whose temples were bruised by shrapnel, and the artillery observer who had just been sent over, were frowning at the topographic map of the position.

"How about the casualties?" Company Commander Aleushin immediately put down the pen in his hand and asked when Zoya and Wei Ran came back.

Zoya sighed, and handed the rain-soaked notebook to Wei Ran.

"Two anti-tank guns were lost, all heavy mortars were blown up, and one set of 82mm mortars was usable. Personnel loss."

Wei Ran made quick calculations, and said under the concerned gaze of the two people on the opposite side of the table, "There are less than 20 people left who are still fighting, and there are probably less than [-] wounded."

Aleutian turned half a circle around the table, looked up and asked, "Are the anti-tank guns coming out of the trenches still effective?"

Wei Ran hurriedly replied, "The artillery is intact, two members of the artillery crew were injured, and a new gunner has just been added."

"Mobilize another anti-tank gun!" Aleutian said decisively, "In addition, deploy two more machine gun points in that trench!"

"Comrade Aleut!"

The new artillery observer had to remind, "As I said just now, no matter whether it is the east bank of the Don River or the west bank, we are running out of artillery shells. Maybe in the next battle, our artillery will not be able to provide any artillery shells at all." effective support."

"I know"

Captain Aleutian nodded absently, "Vanya, let's make arrangements now. We must arrange the gun positions before dawn, and arrange another group of people to bury the unused mortar shells outside the barbed wire. "

Vanya stood up upon hearing this, and walked out of the command post in silence.

"Victor"

The Aleutian Chaowei beckoned, "Organize the rest of the people and use your spare time to widen our trenches!"

"How wide is the digging?" Wei Ran asked subconsciously.

"Enough to trap the tank on the other side," Aleutian said without raising his head.

Wei Ran frowned, quickly picked up the tin horn on the table, and ran out of the command post the second.

Soon, the No. 19 position, which had just ceased fire, turned into a construction site again. The living soldiers were biting and dragging the anti-tank artillery, or wielding pickaxes and engineer shovels, using the existing trenches to build anti-tank trenches.

But in fact, everyone knows that this futile effort can only be regarded as a drop in the bucket for the current battle situation.But even so, no one was lazy, even the blue hat who had been taciturn and the artillery observer who didn't know his name joined the task of digging anti-tank trenches.

In the increasingly heavy rain, the time came to the early morning of the 27th, and the situation on the entire Don River battlefield became more and more dangerous, and the German soldiers on the opposite side of the 19th position were also stepping up digging trenches under the cover of the rain.

It's just that now, the Aleutians no longer dare to organize a counterattack. Although they have a lot of shells in their hands, there is only the last mortar left.

Fortunately, the Germans on the opposite side didn't know their real situation, so during the whole day, the two warring parties unexpectedly worked hard to dig their respective trenches in a strange tacit understanding and under the increasing torrential rain.

When the torrential rain that had lasted for two days finally stopped on the morning of the 28th, the trenches of the Germans on the opposite side had begun to take shape, and the mortar bombs on the 19th position became more and more dense, so that the people who had been digging anti-tank trenches Wei Ran and the others had to stop their work.

At noon, under the cover of mortars, heavy machine guns and even a few small-caliber artillery, more than 19 tanks led teams of German infantry into the battlefield, aiming their guns at the trenches of position [-]!

"Not surprisingly, this should be the last battle."

While speaking, Aleutian took out a simple half-folded letter paper 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 here tremblingly, opened the damp letter paper. The pen writing on it was slightly blurred, but it could still be seen clearly. This was an application report for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. The unit that was awarded the title only had a vague sentence "all soldiers of the Don 19th position".

　I'm celebrating my girlfriend's birthday today, so the update is late.

　　So please wish my girlfriend a happy birthday.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)