It always gets dark earlier in winter. As soon as it gets dark, the team led by Pavel sets off. In order to avoid being noticed by the Germans, they first moved eastward, walked five or six kilometers, then turned around and headed south, detouring back to the German artillery positions and launching a surprise attack when the enemy was unprepared.
Marching in a snow-covered forest with extremely poor visibility at night, Pavel, who was leading the team, could not see anything. He could only occasionally turn on the flashlight and use a compass to identify the direction. The soldiers of the small team followed him step by step. Occasionally, if they accidentally bumped into the trees nearby, the snow on the branches would slide down, leaving the soldiers with snow powder all over their heads and faces.
I don’t know how long I’ve been gone, but Christopher from the Second Company. He quickened his pace and came to Pavel's side, and said to him out of breath: "Comrade Corporal, we are all tired after walking so far, so let's take a rest first."
Pavel, who had walked in the snowy forest for a long time, also felt tired. Hearing Christopher's suggestion, he nodded and whispered to him: "Pass it down, stop moving forward, Rest where you are for five minutes!”
Soon his orders were passed down one after another, and the soldiers following him stopped, leaning against the tree trunks nearby, breathing heavily. After walking for so long, Pavel felt that his military uniform had been soaked with sweat. When he stopped, the cold wind blew, and he felt cold and wet.
Just when Pavel was wondering if he would get frostbite if he continued to stay, he suddenly heard Christopher asking from the side: "Comrade Corporal, how far have we gone?"
Pavel quickly looked at his watch with a flashlight and replied in a low voice: "We have been walking for more than two hours. According to the marching speed, it should be about five kilometers."
"Oh my God." Hearing the distance mentioned by Bavel, Christopher wailed: "We have walked for so long, and we have only walked half the distance. I am worried that I will die of exhaustion."
In response to Christopher's complaints, Pavel said somewhat displeasedly: "Christopher, if you feel you can't walk, you can go back the way you came."
"Comrade Corporal, look what you said." Although Christopher couldn't see Pavel's face clearly, he could hear his dissatisfaction from his tone, and he quickly explained: "I was just joking. , please don’t be angry.”
"Okay, the time has come." Pavel said, stood up and said to the resting soldiers: "Comrades, let's continue setting off."
After more than two hours of trekking, Pavel and his team finally arrived near the German artillery position. He was originally worried that due to poor visibility, he would not be able to detect the location of the enemy's artillery. But when he got there, he realized that he was worrying blindly. The Germans lit many fires in the garrison, and the light of the fire allowed Pavel and others to discover the location of the artillery from a long distance.
Pavel observed carefully for a while and found that the same number of covered trucks were parked near the five artillery pieces. There were two fires burning near the car. Beside the fires, there were two German soldiers wearing helmets and military coats, holding guns and stamping their feet near the fires to keep warm. A hundred or two hundred meters away, there is a tent, which should be where the German infantry lives.
Seeing this situation, Christopher said to Pavel with some excitement: "Comrade Corporal, have you seen it? The Germans only have two sentries. We crawl over and kill them, and then blow up the cannon." The mission can be completed.”
"How do you know there are only two German soldiers? Maybe there are secret sentries." Pavel glared at Christopher and said in a stern tone: "No one is allowed to take action before knowing the distribution of the enemy's forces. "
After repeated observations, Bavel finally figured out the distribution of enemy forces. The German artillery, except for two sentries, basically stayed in the truck; while the infantry, in addition to the double posts, also had two five-man patrols patrolling back and forth in the camp.
After Pavel retreated to the resting place of the team, he whispered to the crowd: "Comrades in charge of each company, come to my place for a meeting."
Soon, three soldiers, including Christopher, gathered around him. They were all leaders selected by each company. Before assigning orders, Pavel asked the soldiers to circle around him to prevent the light of the flashlight from being noticed by the Germans in the distance when he was assigning tasks.
"Comrades," Pavel carefully turned on his flashlight, drew a simple diagram on the snow, and introduced the situation to the three of them: "Look, this is a German artillery position. Except for two sentries, the rest are Sleeping in the truck. The infantry camp is more than a hundred meters away.
The mission given to us by the battalion commander was to blow up the enemy's cannon. Therefore, I decided that the comrades of the first company would be responsible for clearing the sentries on the artillery position and placing explosives on the guns; the second company would be responsible for monitoring the movements of the German infantry. If we were discovered during the bombing process, they would come to reinforce us. , you are responsible for blocking them..."
"Don't worry, comrade corporal." After hearing the order given to him by Pavel, Christopher said with some pride: "I will never let an infantryman rush to the artillery position."
In response to Christopher's statement, Pavel nodded and said to the soldiers of the machine gun company: "Your task is to respond. After the bombing is successful, you will be responsible for covering the retreat of the comrades of the first and second companies. Understood. Yet?"
"Understood!" the three warriors replied in unison.
"Now that you understand everything, let's take action."
A company of soldiers crawled towards the German artillery position. At a distance of two to three hundred meters in front, everything seemed to be going smoothly. But when he was still more than thirty meters away from the two sentries, a soldier accidentally broke a branch in the snow because he was eager for success. The sound of branches breaking alerted the German soldiers who were keeping warm. The two men quickly picked up their guns and asked loudly in the direction of the sound: "Who, who is where?"
How could the Soviet soldiers understand what he was shouting? Even if they did, they would not answer. The German sentry felt something was wrong and immediately pulled the trigger. There was a "pop" sound, and the bullet hit the soldier who had broken the branch. The falling snow powder made him panic a little. He quickly picked up the gun in his hand. submachine gun and fired a burst at two sentries.
In the crisp sound of gunfire, one sentry fell to the ground, while the other sentry lay down on the spot, shooting desperately in the direction of the bullets. But he didn't take two shots. A grenade flew from a distance and sent him directly to see God. A company of soldiers lying on the ground jumped up and rushed towards the location of the cannon. They wanted to blow up the cannon before the Germans could react.
But the German artillerymen who were sleeping in the truck had already been awakened by the sound of gunfire. They didn't even have time to put on their clothes. They picked up their weapons and shot randomly outside the truck. The intense firepower actually forced a company of soldiers to lie down on the spot and started shooting at them while lying on the ground.
When the German infantry heard intensive gunfire from the artillery position, they knew that they must have been attacked by a sneak attack. The two patrols immediately rushed towards the place where the gunfire was heard. The German soldiers in the tents were also dressing up and preparing to come out to support the artillery.
Christopher, who was responsible for monitoring the infantry, saw the enemy sentry rushing over and shouted: "Fire!" The ten submachine guns of the second company opened fire at the same time, knocking down half of the oncoming patrol, and the remaining German soldiers hurriedly They found a place to hide and fired back at the Second Company soldiers who intercepted them.
"It's broken!" Seeing this situation, Pavel was so angry that he punched the ground with his fist, and then shouted to the soldiers of the machine gun company: "Open fire, be sure to suppress the German infantry and cover it." A company of soldiers goes to blow up the enemy’s cannon!”
