Chapter 776

At dawn, I lay in the trench, raised my telescope and looked to the northwest village. In the morning fog, outside the red, green and yellow village hut, there was no one to see or hear. It was as quiet as a Russian rural landscape.

"Sir, what are you looking at?" My ear suddenly rang Bantai leiev's voice, I quickly put down the telescope, turned to the side to see, only Bantai leiev with two guards came along the trench. The soldier standing in the trench, as the Colonel passed them, quickly straightened himself up and raised his hand to salute him.

I shook my head and said to Bantai leiev, who had just come by, "I didn't see anything. I didn't see people or hear anything. It seems that there is no one in the whole village."

Bantai leiev also raised his telescope to look at the village, and then said: "the village has not experienced war. It seems that the village's collective farm workers evacuated before the enemy came."

"And our troops didn't fight here," I nodded, adding, "otherwise, the village wouldn't be without a trace of war."

"What do you do next, send someone to scout?" Bantailiev said, and waved to basmanov, who was standing nearby, and told him, "Comrade captain, go to prepare a reconnaissance team immediately, and go to the village in front of you to make a reconnaissance, so as to find out what's going on there."

"I see. I'll arrange the staff right now." Busmanov agreed, turning around and leaving.

I quickly stopped busmanov: "Captain, wait a minute." Because at this moment, I think of one of the experiences that yelaimenko taught me last time, which requires that the commander must be familiar with the terrain near the position. What other people reported to me was never as good as what I saw with my own eyes. So at this moment, I made up my mind to take people to the village to see what happened.

Bantai leiev saw me stop basmanov, and asked politely with a smile, "Comrade teacher, do you have anything else to add?"

I shook my head and said to busmanov, "Captain, you take a platoon and follow me to the village."

Bantai leiev heard that I wanted to go to the reconnaissance in person. He was immediately frightened and stopped me immediately. He said, "Sir, comrade, I can't do this. You are the head of a division. You can't take risks at will. Otherwise, I'd better take people with me. "

"Comrade deputy division commander," I gave him a grateful smile for his concern, and then said, "have you forgotten what commander yeliomenko said in our headquarters last time? He said that last night, the commander should go to the place where he should go in person, and understand what he should know in a timely manner, so that he can make a better targeted combat plan. When I take people to the village for on-the-spot reconnaissance, I can find out the terrain nearby, so that I can close my eyes and have a bright battlefield image in front of me. Even if I leave the map, I can command the troops to fight. In this way, we can master the initiative of the battlefield one step faster than the enemy in a life and death battle, and ensure that we have a higher chance of winning. "

Hearing what I said, bantaileiev knew that further persuasion was useless, so he had no choice but to say, "in this case, I reserve my opinion." Then he said with concern, "but Sir, you should pay more attention to your own safety. There are too few platoons. Why don't you take the guards with you?"

"No, No." Although there are 30 or 40 people in a platoon, the goal is not big. If we really take the guard company according to what he said, the movement of more than 100 people is too big. In order to avoid his kindness, I said tactfully, "Comrade deputy division commander, the village is not far from here. Even if something happens, the troops on the hills can come to support us in time. If hundreds of people walk towards the village, maybe they will really expose the target. " Having said that, I saw basmanov still standing in a daze, and urged him: "Captain, what are you still doing? Take a platoon and let me go."

"Yes Basmanov, hearing my cry, regained his mind. After a promise, he turned around and ran to the direction of the division headquarters, ready to call the troops to follow me to the village for reconnaissance.

After basmanov left, I saw two soldiers of the guard company standing nearby, Mikhail ROV and ruhovitzki, who I knew. They waved their heads and said, "soldier comrade, come with me. Captain basmanov will catch up with other soldiers in a moment."

"Comrade division," seeing that the three of us were going to climb out of the trench and go to the village first, Bantai leiev was a little flustered again. He stopped me again and advised me bitterly, "Comrade division, there are only three of you. It's too dangerous. You'd better wait for captain basmanov to bring people here before you go out."

I patted the submachine gun on my shoulder and replied with a smile: "Comrade deputy division commander, you can rest assured that as long as we have this submachine gun, even if we encounter a small group of enemy troops, we are fully capable of protecting ourselves." After that, without waiting for him to speak, I took the lead in climbing out of the trench and strode toward the village northwest of the hill.

After climbing out of the trench, Mikhailov and ruhovitzki walked on both sides of me with their guns. As they walked, they watched all around with vigilant eyes, so as to prevent unexpected accidents.

On the road from the hill to the village, except for the footsteps of the three of us, we couldn't understand any sound, and we couldn't see a figure. It was more and more terrifying.

After we entered the village from the south of the village and walked along the street, we still couldn't hear any movement or see a figure. The whole village was as silent as a tomb, only heard the footsteps of the three of us.

Maybe some villagers were so flustered when they evacuated that they didn't even close the door. At the door of the wooden house on the street, there were bags, pillows and children's small boots. We can imagine how the villagers were forced to leave their homes in a hurry under the pressure of the Communist invaders.

When I first entered the village, I took a chance, hoping to meet one or two villagers in the village. I inquired about the situation nearby. But after walking half a village, I was completely disappointed. I even pushed open the doors of five or six families and went in to have a look. I didn't even have a personal picture.

I'm planning to go to the north of the village. If I can't see anyone, I'll turn back to the headquarters on the hill. Just then, I heard orderly footsteps coming from behind. I stopped and looked back. It turned out that busmanov, with dozens of soldiers, was trotting towards us.

It turned out that I was not a villager in the village. The hope just rising in my heart broke like a soap bubble in the sun. Waiting for basmanov to come to me, I told him: "Comrade captain, let the soldiers go to the house in the village and check to see if they can find any people or food."

"Yes." Basmanov agreed, and then called out several squad leaders in the guard platoon, and asked them to take their own people to search nearby.

Looking at the scattered soldiers, although I don't have any hope of finding anyone, I still hope that the soldiers can find some food from the village, which can prolong the time of our lonely army staying behind the enemy.

As the village was not big, the soldiers who went to search soon came back and reported to me that there was no one in the village. Although we didn't find the villagers, most of them had some harvest. Some soldiers were holding a few hard and moldy bread, some soldiers were holding a can of half drunk honey, and some soldiers were carrying half a bag of flour.

Seeing the things they brought back, basmanov pointed to the soldier holding the moldy bread and yelled: "Damn, the bread is moldy and hard as stone. Can it be eaten? Get rid of it. " The soldier who was reprimanded by him could only honestly throw aside the bread that he could not eat at all.

Busmanov went up to the soldier carrying half a bag of flour and told him, "put down the flour." After the soldier put down the powder bag, basmanov suddenly raised his hand and slapped the soldier's helmet. Then he cursed: "you are silly, what are we doing with flour now? I can't prepare two ovens to bake bread for you, can I? "

Finally, he went to the soldier who took the honey, nodded and said with approval, "you are still smart and know how to take back the honey left by others. After going back later, make honey water for the teacher and Deputy teacher to drink. "

Basmanov's flattery made me smile. When he came back to me, I said to him, "Comrade captain, since there is no one in this village, let's go back."

"Comrade division, since all the houses in the village are empty, it's better to let our troops live in the village. It's much better than the trenches on the hills." Basmanov suggested tentatively to me.

Without hesitation, I waved my hand and rejected his proposal: "Captain, this village is surrounded by open land. Once the enemy comes, we are likely to be surrounded. Even if we break through the enemy's encirclement and retreat to the foothills, there will be a lot of casualties on the way. If we are stationed on the hills, the situation will be very different. We can not only have a wide field of vision, but also rely on our position to defend even if the enemy attacks. " At this point, I looked around and said to him, "is everyone here? If we get there, we'll go back to the mountains. "

Basmanov also looked left and right, and then replied to me, "Mikhailov and zhuhovitzki are not here."

Listening to what he said, I looked into the line in front of me. No, Mikhailov and ruhovitzki who came into the village with me did not know where they had gone. I was deeply afraid of what would happen when they and most of them were dispersed. I immediately told busmanov, "Captain, organize people to find them immediately."

"We are here, sir." Without waiting for basmanov to assign his hands, Mikhail ROV and ruhovitzki's voice came from a distance. I turned to follow him. They were walking towards us with a lot of glass jars in their arms. While walking, he said: "Hey, guys, don't stand there foolishly. Come and help quickly. We can't carry so many things." Basmanov looked at me and waited for my order. Seeing that I nodded and agreed, he immediately waved his hand and asked five or six soldiers to help Mikhailov and rukhowitsky carry things.

When a group of people came back to me, I saw that they were holding a variety of homemade vegetable cans, including pickled cucumbers, pickled mushrooms, pickled tomatoes, and even a bottle of vodka. Seeing this scene, I couldn't help asking Mikhailov and zhuhovitzki curiously, "Hey, comrade soldier, where did you get these things from?"

Mikhail lov waved his head in the direction of coming and said, "Mr. reporter, we found a supply and Marketing Cooperative in the north of the village. All these things were taken from it. There were sweets and enemas, but they were broken, so we only brought home these homemade glass cans and a few bottles of wine. "

My eyes fixed on the soldiers' hands and asked, "have you moved all the things in the supply and marketing community?"

"No," replied jouhovitzki“ There are at least 50 or 60 cans, and a lot of vodka, but we can't take any more, so we just came back with a few things. "

Thinking that the food left here can only rot in vain, or it can solve the problem of food shortage, I told busmanov, "Captain, you should take twenty people to the supply and marketing community immediately and bring back all the food you can eat and drink."

When I finished, busmanov asked carefully, "do you want all the vodka back?"

"Not to mention, my comrade captain." I pushed basmanov's shoulder from behind, and said impatiently: "vodka can not only protect the soldiers on duty at night from the cold, but also be used to clean the wounds of the wounded. Remember, if you see a cart or something, use it to pull things back. "

Basmanov and a group of soldiers, led by Mikhailov, walked quickly to the north of the village. I said to zuhovitzki and several other soldiers standing in front of me, "put these cans in your backpacks. It's easy to carry." As they packed tins and vodka into their backpacks, I added, "when you get back to the headquarters, gather all these things and distribute them to the regiments. We stayed behind enemy lines for a long time this time. It's not enough to let the soldiers chew dry bread. We should let them eat vegetables to supplement their nutrition. Do you understand? "

"I understand!" The soldiers replied neatly.

When we returned to our position with a full load, bantaileiev, shejerikov and kosja, who were waiting in the trenches, were stunned. Bantai leiev was surprised and asked, "I said, sir, where did you get these things?"

I waved my head in the direction of the village and said with pride, "these things are from the supply and marketing cooperatives in the village. Shejerikov and kosja, both of you will bring people to the division headquarters to collect things later. "

Before they could answer me, Bantai leiev frowned and said, "Sir, is it appropriate for you to bring all the things from the village supply and marketing cooperative? You don't have discipline, do you? "

"There's nothing wrong with it." I waved my hand and said to myself, "we have to stay behind the enemy for several days. We can't let the soldiers chew dry bread with cold water every day. We still need to let them eat some vegetables to supplement nutrition, so that they can have enough physical strength to complete the next combat tasks."

Originally, I thought Bantai leiev would refute me like a positive character in a movie, saying: "if the soldiers don't eat vegetables and supplement nutrition, they can't complete the combat mission and win the battle?" Unexpectedly, he nodded and echoed me: "Mr. teacher, you are right. Well, we'll divide the cans and vodka equally among the groups later The cooperative attitude of the deputy division commander made it impossible for me to say a lot of things I had prepared in advance. I tried to smile on my face and gave an order to xiejerikov and kosja: "two commanders, find some soldiers to help move these things to the division headquarters, and then we can distribute them."

On hearing my order, the long-awaited shijerikov and kosja waved to the soldiers around them and asked them to help the soldiers of the division guard company carry things.

In the division headquarters.

Looking at the soldiers of the first and third regiments who happily distributed cans and vodka, Bantai leiev said with emotion: "Sir, I've convinced you that it's a good idea to move back the food from the empty village supply and marketing community, It's wonderful... I never thought of such a simple and practical way to supplement the army's supplies before. " Speaking of this, he paused for a moment, and then added: "Sir, I think there should be such abandoned villages nearby. When the Germans occupied this area, they searched the villages and found that there was no one inside, they did not destroy the villages, so a lot of useful resources were left behind. I suggest that scouts should be sent immediately to carry out reconnaissance in the vicinity. Once such a village is found, people should be sent immediately to move back all useful things in the village. "

Seeing Bantai leiev's exuberant appearance, I couldn't bear to disappoint him, so I followed his meaning and said, "well, that's it. Comrade deputy division commander, it's up to you to arrange the selection of the scouts, and at the same time to set up a temporary carrying team. Once such a village is found, they will be sent to move back all the useful things in the village. "

When leiev went out to arrange work, I went to the operator and asked him, "Comrade operator, is there any news from the city?"

"Yes, sir." The operator with headphones said and handed me a telegram.

I took the telegram to my eyes and saw it written briefly: "early this morning, the first round of the enemy's attack in the factory area was repulsed by our army and the enemy suffered heavy losses. But after a short rest, the enemy, who was unwilling to lose, put himself into the second echelon and the reserves. At present, the fighting is going on fiercely. "