The German army, which failed to attack the unknown heights, was unwilling to accept their defeat. Early the next morning, they launched a new attack. In addition to bombarding the high ground with artillery fire, more than a dozen aircraft were dispatched to simultaneously bomb the high ground and air defense positions.
Lyuba and Sweta stood in the command position. One of them looked at the enemy planes in the sky with a telescope and yelled various shooting parameters at the top of his lungs; while the other person used the red and green signal flags in his hands to send signals to various targets. Machine guns issued various orders.
The intensive firepower on the anti-aircraft positions prevented the German bombers from diving and could only drop bombs from high altitudes. The aerial bombs dropped from the sky and exploded in the snow. Pillars of black soil and white snow rose into the sky.
Two aerial bombs landed next to Sokov's battalion command post and exploded, causing snow to fall from the gaps in the roof, turning Sokov and Belkin into snowmen. Belkin patted the snow powder off his shoulders with his hands and said worriedly: "Comrade Battalion Commander, there were a bit too many enemy planes bombing the air defense positions today. I'm worried that after this battle, there will be few casualties among the female soldiers." No. If our male soldiers die, it won't matter; the female soldiers in the company are all girls and women. They are the future mothers, and we have no right to let accidents happen to them."
Although Sokov agreed with Belkin's statement in his heart, the only unit with air defense capabilities at present was Liuba's women's anti-aircraft machine gun company. If they were evacuated to a safe place because of a moment of softness, they would lose their air defense. Troops with fire cover will suffer greater losses from enemy bombing. Therefore, he could only bite the bullet and said to Belkin, "Comrade Deputy Battalion Commander, in order to defend our great motherland, no matter how much sacrifice you make, I think it is worth it."
When Belkin heard the rumble of aerial bomb explosions outside, he said heartbroken: "Faced with the indiscriminate bombing by German aircraft, how much courage and superhuman strength they need to perform their duties well. "
Sokov put his hand on Belkin's shoulder and comforted him: "Who says women are inferior to men? I firmly believe that all the soldiers of the women's anti-aircraft machine gun company will be able to withstand the blood and fire in today's battle." test.”
After the German planes ended their bombing and turned around to fly south, Sokov immediately came out of his headquarters and walked quickly along the traffic trench towards the air defense position. Part of the communication trenches had been destroyed by the enemy's air strikes. A soldier was using a shovel to clean up the soil inside. When he saw Sokov approaching, he quickly stood up and leaned his back against the trench wall to salute him with attention.
When he arrived at the air defense position, Sokov saw that there were craters everywhere. Three anti-aircraft machine guns had been blown up. There were many machine gun parts scattered near the craters. Sokov looked around and saw Liuba sitting on an ammunition box with her head in her arms. He walked quickly to her, leaned down and asked: "Comrade Lieutenant, how is the situation in your company? Are there many casualties?" ?”
However, Lyuba did not react at all to his words, and still sat there motionless. Sokov was a little anxious, and just as he was about to reach out to push him, Lida, whose face was full of smoke, came over and said to Sokov: "Comrade Battalion Commander, an aerial bomb just exploded near the lieutenant, and her ears were hit." It’s so deafening that I can’t hear you.”
Sokov thought of the instructor Sveta standing with Lyuba during the air defense operation, and quickly asked: "Where is the instructor?"
"She was sent to the health team." In order to prevent Sokov from misunderstanding, Lida emphasized: "She is still alive, but she was knocked unconscious. It won't take long for her to wake up."
"What are the casualties in the company?" Sokov repeated the question he just asked Lyuba to Lida.
"Twelve were sacrificed and fifteen were injured." Upon hearing Sokov's question, Lida's eyes turned red and she lowered her head and said, "Nadia, the one who accompanied me on the accordion last night. The girl also died. The machine gun she was operating was directly hit by a German aerial bomb, and not even a complete body was found..."
Knowing that the female soldier company had suffered such heavy casualties, Sokov took off his helmet and bowed deeply toward the crater-filled position. After he put on his helmet again, he looked down at Lyuba who was sitting on the ammunition box, and asked Lida: "Can Lieutenant Lyuba still command the battle?"
Lida glanced at her company commander, then shook her head and said, "I don't think she can command the battle anymore."
"Sergeant Lida." After confirming that Liuba was temporarily unable to command the battle, Sokov looked at Lida and said to her seriously: "From now on, you are the acting company commander of the women's anti-aircraft machine gun company. You Your mission is to destroy all enemies that appear in your field of vision, do you understand?"
"Understood!" Lida replied solemnly: "I promise to complete the task."
"Comrade Battalion Commander," a communications soldier ran over and said breathlessly to Sokov: "Lieutenant Saviev called from the high ground. The deputy battalion commander asked me to ask you to go back and answer the phone."
When Sokov heard the communications soldier say that Belkin asked him to go back to answer the phone, he guessed that something big must have happened on the high ground. He spoke to Lida and followed the communications soldier back to the battalion command post.
He walked into the command post, picked up the microphone on the table, put it to his ear and said loudly: "Is it Saviev? I am Sokov, what happened there?"
"Comrade Battalion Commander," Saviev shouted on the phone, not sure whether his ears were deafened by the shelling or because of poor phone lines: "The enemy's infantry is under the cover of three tanks. came down and launched an attack on our position."
Saveev's report made Sokov frown. He thought to himself: It's not the first day your company has been on the battlefield. Don't you even know how to deal with the German attack? Therefore, he said unhappily: "Comrade Lieutenant, the German tanks cannot climb the hillside on your side. You only need to concentrate on dealing with their infantry."
"No, Comrade Battalion Commander, you misunderstood me." Saviev said anxiously: "Our soldiers have long been accustomed to the shelling of German tanks parked at the foot of the mountain. But this time is different. These three tanks and two armored vehicles, together with nearly a hundred German soldiers, are trying to bypass our high ground along the simple road and rush towards you..."
"Hold it, Comrade Lieutenant, we must try to stop the German tanks." Sokov also said anxiously: "We must not let the enemy rush to the north slope of the high ground and separate you from the main force of the battalion."
"But, but!" After Saviev said two "buts" in a row, he finally said the difficult words: "We have no anti-tank weapons on our position, and we cannot deal with the enemy's tanks at all."
"Use cluster grenades." In the absence of anti-tank guns and anti-tank grenades, the only thing Sokov could think of was cluster grenades, so he ordered with a strong attitude: "Immediately organize soldiers to the foot of the mountain and use cluster grenades. Grenades blow up enemy tanks and they must not be allowed to charge at you. Do you understand?"
"Understood, comrade battalion commander." Saviev replied in a loud voice: "I immediately organized soldiers to blow up the German tanks and never let them go around to the rear of our position."
