The two sides maintained a stalemate for more than an hour. Seeing that it was getting late, two snipers couldn't hold it any longer. They whispered to Matvey: "Comrade Sergeant, I guess the German snipers will definitely not show up." , let’s go back first.”
Matvey felt that there were five of them crowded in this small area. If they were bombarded by the Germans, they might be beaten all at once, so he nodded slightly and said: "Okay, Norma will stay, and the rest of the comrades will return first." Position. Our road leading to the rear must also be under surveillance by German snipers. Be careful when you go back."
Ajik lay on the cold ground for several hours, filled with complaints. If he hadn't been worried about the snipers across the river, he would have run back to his position. When he heard Matvey say this, he immediately said: "Understood, Comrade Sergeant, we will be careful."
After saying that, Ajik put the Mosin-Nagant rifle on his back, turned around and crawled towards the position. The other two snipers, seeing that Ajik had taken the lead in taking action, naturally did not hesitate and followed him towards the position.
Jetrov, who was staying in the observation post, saw that three soldiers had successfully returned from the hiding place, and quickly asked the leader Ajik: "Where is Sergeant Matvey?"
"Comrade Battalion Commander," upon hearing Jetrov's question, Ajik quickly replied: "He and Norma are still in the lurking location."
Jetrov asked in confusion: "Why haven't they come back yet?"
"There is a German sniper across the river." Another soldier replied: "Senior Sergeant Matvey said that man posed too great a threat to us and might cause us losses if we did not eliminate him, so he and The two of them, Norma, stayed behind to defend the enemy's sniper and find a way to kill him."
After Jetrov informed the three snipers about the results they had achieved, he was about to report to the regiment when the phone hanging on the wall rang first. He took off the microphone and put it close to his ear, and Sokov's voice came from the receiver: "Comrade Captain, this is Major Sokov. How is the situation there? Have all the snipers you sent returned?"
"No, Matvey and another sniper named Norma are still in the lurking position." After Jetrov briefly reported the situation to Sokov, he said: "After they wanted to kill the German sniper, Return to the position."
Sokov looked out the window and saw that it was getting late and the visibility was limited. Even if the sniper was discovered, it was estimated that Matvey and the others would not be able to accomplish anything, so he said casually: "I know."
Seeing Sokov put down the phone, Potukin quickly asked: "Comrade division commander, what is the result of the sniper team of the first battalion today?"
"Four enemies were killed." After Sokov finished speaking, he asked: "Chief of Staff, is it true that the artillery battalion really doesn't have a single artillery piece?"
Potukin thought for a while and replied: "I heard a report from the artillery battalion commander today that they repaired a scrapped artillery. However, there were a few shells, only seven."
"What caliber of artillery is it?" Sokov then asked.
"762 mm," Potukin quickly replied: "It's a cannon!"
"Very good!" Sokov waited for Potukin to finish and immediately ordered him: "Chief of Staff, you immediately call the artillery battalion commander and ask him to move this artillery to a position close to the front to bombard the German snipers. s position."
Regarding Sokov's arrangement, Potukin said with some embarrassment: "We only have one cannon, but the shells are limited, so it may not be effective."
Sokov didn't talk nonsense to him, and just said calmly: "Obey the order!"
Soon, the artillery battalion's artillery was dragged behind the first battalion's position. The gunner looked at his battalion commander and asked: "Batalion Commander, where should we fire?"
The battalion commander said with some laughter and tears: "It is said that there is a sniper lurking in front of the German position on the other side of the river. He shot and killed several of our soldiers today. The purpose of our shelling is to drive him out of his hiding place and let him escape." Our snipers took him out. You are the most experienced gunner in this battalion. Where do you think the German snipers might be hiding?"
The gunner picked up the telescope and looked at the other side for a while, and then said: "Comrade Battalion Commander, although the visibility is a bit low, I can still see clearly that there are many bomb craters on the opposite side. The German sniper must be hiding in one of the craters. Inside. We can definitely use cannon to blast him out of his hiding place."
"I will leave this matter to you." The battalion commander said to the gunner: "You have to remember that we only have seven rounds of artillery shells. Once the shells are used up and the snipers have not been driven out from their hiding places, we will Even if the mission fails."
"Don't worry, comrade battalion commander." The gunner replied with a smile: "Don't look at there are more than ten or twenty bomb craters over there, but based on my experience, there are no more than five craters where you can hide. I am completely confident. He bursts out from hiding."
After adjusting the shooting elements, the cannon fired towards the open space in front of the German position. The first shell landed in an empty crater and exploded, sending a cloud of mud rising into the sky.
Matvey and Norma saw expressions of surprise on their faces when they saw that the area where German snipers were hiding was suddenly under shelling. They knew in their hearts that unless the German snipers were willing to be killed by artillery shells, they would never be able to stay motionless in the crater. As long as the enemy moves, they have a chance.
So Matvey said to Norma: "Norma, you and I both know the crater where the German snipers are hiding. Now I will divide the work. I will be responsible for the right side and you will be responsible for the left. As soon as the sniper appears, shoot immediately." Kill him. Remember, we only have two or three seconds to shoot. Once we miss him, it will not be that easy to find him again."
"Don't worry, Comrade Sergeant." Norma replied while concentrating on aiming: "As long as he shows up, I will never let him escape safely."
The Soviet artillery shells landed in front of the German position. The German observation post was stunned for a moment and thought to themselves, why is the accuracy of Russian artillery so bad? It is still dozens of meters away from our position. Just as he was thinking about it, another artillery shell landed in the open space in front of the position and exploded, sending up a cloud of mud into the sky again.
Seeing this situation, the observation post immediately understood that the reason why the Soviet artillery shells landed in the open space and exploded was not that they missed the target, but that their attack target was the sniper hiding in the crater in front of the position. Thinking of this, he immediately called the German commander and reported the situation to him.
The German commander was shocked when he learned that the Soviet artillery was preparing to kill his own sniper. He quickly called the artillery in the rear, hoping that they could suppress the Soviet army with artillery fire to cover the sniper's successful escape.
Unexpectedly, after receiving the call, the artillery watchman immediately asked: "Mr. Major, do you know where the Russian artillery is?"
These words stopped the German commander. How did he know the location of the Soviet artillery? He could only ask the other party to wait while he sent someone to notify the observation post and asked him to quickly report the location of the Soviet artillery.
When the German observation post reported to the commander and the commander called the artillery, the artillery battalion's cannon fired three more shells, accurately hitting three other empty craters. The raised soil scattered the sniper hiding in the crater next to him. The sniper hiding in the crater was really on the verge of tears at this moment. He didn't expect that after being pushed up by the Soviet sniper, he didn't even have a chance to show his face. Now the Soviet army is actually shelling their hiding place directly. If their own artillery fire is not suppressed, it may be difficult for them to escape unscathed today.
Soon enough, just as the sniper was thinking wildly, the sixth shell fired from the cannon directly hit the crater where the sniper was hiding. The shock wave generated by the explosion pulled the sniper up from the crater, threw him high into the air, and fell heavily to the ground. Just as he fainted, two bullets flying from the other side were drilled into each other. The top of his head and shoulders were removed, allowing him to leave this world that he missed without any pain.
While the Soviet army was shelling, Matvey and Norma stared intently at the crater where the snipers were hiding. Seeing that the artillery shells fired by their own artillery landed in the empty crater, both of them were very anxious, but they could not notify the artillery to adjust the shooting parameters. They could only pray silently in their hearts, hoping that the artillery comrades would hit the target. The next cannonball can hit the target accurately.
Seeing one shell after another miss, both of them were about to collapse. Just when the two were on the verge of despair, the shell finally hit the crater where the sniper was hiding. Seeing the sniper flying into the air, the two of them shouted "Ula" in their hearts and pulled the triggers in their hands. Almost at the same time as the sniper landed, the bullets they fired accurately hit the target.
The artillery battalion commander saw a figure flying out of the crater through the telescope, and immediately realized that they had hit the target and completed the task assigned to them by their superiors. He quickly put down the telescope and said to the gunner who was still preparing to load the last shell: "Okay, comrade gunner, the sniper has been killed. Let's move quickly, otherwise when the German artillery fire comes, we will retreat if we want." That's too late."
Upon hearing the artillery battalion commander's order to retreat, the artillery commander was unambiguous and immediately ordered his men to stop loading, and several artillerymen dragged the artillery and ran back. As soon as they ran more than two hundred meters, the German artillery shells roared towards them and landed directly on the location where the artillery had just been set up.
The artillery commander felt that the ground beneath his feet was shaking slightly, and he couldn't help but said to the artillery battalion commander with lingering fear: "Comrade battalion commander, fortunately you gave the order to retreat in time, otherwise we would definitely be doomed today."
The artillery battalion commander saw that the place where he had just been was blown into a sea of fire, and he felt panic in his heart. However, in front of his subordinates, he still pretended to be calm and said: "Comrade gunner, even if I don't give the order, we will withdraw at this moment. You must know that our artillery only has seven rounds of shells, and it will be delayed for more than ten or twenty seconds at most." , that’s all, it’s all gone. Okay, today’s mission has been completed, you can go back to the station first, I’m going to report to the Chief of Staff.”
After Matvey and Norma killed the German snipers, they did not immediately return to the 1st Battalion's position, but continued to lie motionless in the lurking position. According to Matvey's idea, the German army used artillery fire to suppress the artillery on the Soviet position in such a short period of time, which proved that they valued this sniper very much. Many German soldiers would definitely leave the position later. Then it will be a good opportunity for them to snipe.
After the German artillery fired rapidly for five minutes, they saw that the Soviet artillery was silent and thought they had killed it, so they stopped firing. The commander who was staying at the forward position saw the sniper lying motionless dozens of meters away and wondered whether he was dead or alive, so he sent two soldiers to check.
The two soldiers bent down and carefully ran in front of the sniper. As they bent over to look, Matvey and Norma pulled the trigger. Norma shot down the enemy standing on the left with one shot. Although the enemy on the right was also shot, the shot was in the leg. Although he was temporarily unable to walk, it was not fatal.
Seeing the German soldier rolling on the ground, Norma turned her head and glanced at Matvey, wondering what happened to the sergeant to miss the bullet. When he raised his gun and was about to reload, he was stopped by Matvey: "Norma, don't shoot. As long as he is still alive, the Germans will definitely send someone to rescue him."
Hearing Matvey's statement, Norma was stunned for a moment, and then he understood. He knew that Matvey did this to fish, and to use a wounded man to mobilize more German soldiers from the position, and then he would fight again. Pick them up one by one. Thinking of this, he immediately pointed his gun at the German position, preparing to shoot as soon as he saw any moving figures.
The German commander saw that the two soldiers he sent were killed and wounded by the Soviet sniper as soon as they approached the sniper. Without thinking about it, he quickly sent two more soldiers to check the sniper attack. With the life and death of his hand, he dragged the injured soldier back. The two soldiers were shot dead by Matvey and Norma not far from their position.
"There are snipers." Seeing that the four soldiers sent in succession fell down in the shortest time, if the German commander did not understand that there were snipers on the other side, he could go buy a piece of cheese and kill him. After looking towards the dark opposite bank for a while, he asked the soldiers around him, "Which of you saw where the Russian snipers were?"
"Mr. Major," a soldier standing next to him replied tremblingly: "It's too dark to see clearly the direction in which the bullets are flying."
"Hell!" The German commander also knew that in such dark light, it would be even harder to find the location of the Soviet sniper. He originally wanted to stop the rescue operation, but when he heard the frightening screams of the wounded soldier in the distance and the unknown sniper next to him, he had to change his mind and sent several more soldiers to rescue.
In just five minutes, eleven more soldiers fell to the guns of Matvey and Norma. But because there were too many corpses and it was too dark, a soldier finally succeeded in approaching the wounded and the sniper. But after he saw that the sniper was already dead, he put the wounded on his back and ran towards the position step by step.
Matvey and Norma saw the moving target. Although they fired several shots in succession, the bullets all hit the wounded on the backs of the German soldiers. When the soldiers dragged the wounded into the trench, they found that their companions had been shot seven or eight times and died. He put the body aside and reported to the commander: "Mr. Major, I checked carefully. My sniper was shot in the head and shoulder and died almost on the spot."
After listening to the soldiers' reports, the commander couldn't help but feel extremely upset. In order to save a dead man, he actually lost the lives of fifteen more soldiers. Such a loss was really too great.
