"The troops of the Second Battalion have arrived and will be able to take over our defense soon." Guchakov said to Narva: "I have an important task now, and I will leave it to you to complete."
Narva knew that when the situation was so critical, Guchakov called himself to the command post and thought that the task necessary to be completed was extremely difficult. He hurriedly asked: "Comrade Battalion Commander, I don't know what the task is?"
"The division called me not long ago and said that in front of your company's position, there was a destroyed German tank, and there might be a German big man." Guchakov said: "The task I gave you is to find a way to get close to that tank and figure out who the big man inside is?"
"Comrade Battalion Commander," Narva was a little excited when he learned that there were German majors in the destroyed tanks. But after a moment, he frowned again: "There are many destroyed tanks in front of our position. I wonder which one do you want us to reconnaise?"
"Based on reliable intelligence, the big man stayed in the destroyed Leopard tank."
"Leopard tank?!" Narva thought for a moment, frowned even more: "Comrade Battalion Commander, I remember that tank is about one hundred and twenty meters away from our position."
"It's really far away from your position more than 120 meters." If it's normal, these two hundred meters are nothing, but the enemy is attacking wildly at this moment. At the beginning of the position more than 50 meters, there are traces of Germans. At this moment, a unit was sent to the enemy in a rain of bullets and into the middle of the enemy to conduct reconnaissance, which is simply to let them die. But since it was an order issued by their superiors, even if they knew it was completed, they must try it hard. "I will organize machine gun fire to cover you to get close to there."
"What should we do if we find the body of a major German soldier?"
"If you really find the body of a major German army figure, you have to try every means to drag the body back, do you understand?"
"I understand, Comrade Battalion Commander." Narva asked with a solemn expression: "Are you allowed me to perform the mission now?"
"Wait a minute, comrade Captain." Guchakov happened to see Kopeto coming in from outside, so he called Narva and added: "Your company has too few troops. I will place Kopeto's guard squad under your command."
When Narva brought the guard squad of Copeto back to his position, the troops of the Second Battalion rushed over to take over the defense. Captain Grissa, the commander of the fourth company, stepped forward and held Narva's hand, and said enthusiastically: "Narva, from now on, your company's position will be officially handed over to us. Thank you for your hard work, take it down and rest first."
"Grissa," Narva and Grissa are old comrades-in-arms, and they speak naturally more casually: "The position can be handed over to you, but we cannot take it down for the time being?"
"Why?" Grissa asked in surprise.
Narva did not answer the other party's question immediately, but pointed his finger at the tank a hundred meters away: "Did you see the leopard tank that is still smoking?"
"See it." Grissa nodded and asked in confusion: "But what does this have to do with you not being able to retreat to the rear for the time being?"
"I just received an order from the battalion commander Captain Guchakov to take people to the Leopard tank to conduct reconnaissance. Only after completing this task can we retreat to the rear and rest."
Grissa looked around the leopard tank and said in shock: "Narva, are you crazy? Haven't you seen at least dozens of Germans near the tank? Are you planning to take your people to die?"
"This is the order from my superiors, and I can only execute it. Please give us the necessary fire cover when we leave the position."
"Don't worry, I will organize the machine guns in the company immediately to provide you with fire cover."
With the fire cover provided by Guchakov and Grissa, Narva was confident that he would bring his subordinates to the tank and figure out who the German major dead inside was. When he attacked, Narva left all the wounded, with only 16 people including the guard squad, crawling towards the wreckage of the Leopard tank with his hands and feet.
From the moment Narva led his men out of the trenches, the machine guns organized by Guchakov and Grissa shot at the German officers and soldiers entrenched near the tanks regardless of the battle. The Germans did not expect that the battle would still be in the position, and some were killed on the spot, while others quickly moved their positions and hid in safer places.
Seeing that the enemies near the Leopard tank were driven far away by machine gun fire, Narva couldn't help but feel secretly happy and quickly accelerated the speed of his advance. When the tank was less than twenty meters away, he stopped and then shouted to the back: "I need someone to go with me, and the rest will be left here to cover."
Kopeto immediately climbed to Narva's side and volunteered to say, "Captain, I'll go with you."
The two of them approached the Leopard tank carefully. Kopeto was impatient and couldn't wait to get in through the hole at the bottom of the tank. Unexpectedly, as soon as his hand touched the tank's body, he immediately grinned with scalding. He bit his back teeth and said to Nalva, "Comrade Captain, the temperature on the surface of this tank is too high, and people can't get in at all."
When he learned that he could not enter the tank, Narva couldn't help but feel anxious. If he could not enter the tank, how could he complete the task assigned to him by the battalion commander? Just as he was worried, he suddenly heard Kopeto say in surprise: "Captain, look quickly. There seem to be a few corpses of German tank soldiers in the open space behind the tank."
Narva looked in the direction of Copetus' finger and saw the bodies of three tank soldiers in the bullet crater not far away. Judging from the posture of the three of them lying on the ground, it should be two tank soldiers who were supporting the man in the middle, trying to stay away from the destroyed tank, but were killed by bullets flying from the position.
"Are the big man we are looking for? Is it among these three corpses?" Narva thought so, crawling towards the corpses. When he crawled in front of the corpses, pushed away the corpses on the left, he turned over the corpses in the middle and found that it was a corpse with all its chests blown away. After Narva saw the other party's rank clearly, he couldn't help but feel surprised. He never dreamed that he would easily see a German general who died. It seemed that this was the person the battalion commander asked him to figure it out.
"O my God." After crept over, Copeto, who saw the rank of the corpse, could not help but say in surprise: "Is the big man we asked us to find? Is it the German general?"
"I think it must be." Narva said hesitantly: "But how can we get his body back? You know, there are Germans around. If they see us carrying the body toward the position, they will definitely shoot us. No matter how fast we run, we will not be faster than the enemy's bullets."
"Captain, I have a way," Copeto said, taking off the poncho on his body, spreading it on the ground, turning the body over two and putting it on the poncho, and then saying to Nalva: "One of us grabbed one of the ponchos and dragged him to crawl towards the position, so that the enemy might find it very little."
In this way, the two dragged the bodies on the raincoat and moved little by little towards the position. When they climbed to the position where the troops were on standby, they were exhausted. A soldier ran over and said to Nalva: "Comrade Captain, this is not far from the trench. As long as we can run faster, we can return to the position soon."
Before Narva could speak, the soldier called a companion to take action first. After the two stood up, they each grabbed a corner of the raincoon, hugged their waists and ran wildly towards the position. But their actions were soon discovered by the Germans not far away, and several guns were immediately fired at the two. The two ran forward for less than ten meters, and then they were shot and fell to the ground one after another.
Seeing that his warriors were sacrificed so much, Narva hurriedly rushed to the soldiers who wanted to get up and continue to drag the raincoat to run away: "Everyone has it. Follow my orders, no one is allowed to get up, and they all take turns dragging the bodies back to the position."
The German army noticed the strangeness of this small army and immediately concentrated its firepower to block their retreat. At the same time, an enemy detoured from the side, trying to destroy them. Fortunately, the machine guns on the position were quite powerful, and the enemy detoured from the side was so pressing that they could not move.
In this way, Narva's small army finally dragged the body back to the trench after another five soldiers were sacrificed. Grissa, who came up, looked at the corpse placed on the trench ground, and asked curiously: "Narva, whose body you snatched back?"
"I don't know." Narva knew Hornadolph wherever he could only shake his head and say, "He should be the German master who is looking for by his superiors."
When he learned that the body had been stolen, Guchakov hurriedly came out to check it out. He knew some German, and through the dog sign hanging around the neck of the corpse, he immediately determined the identity of the deceased. He stood up and patted Nalva on the shoulder, and said excitedly: "Captain, you have made great contributions. If I am not wrong, this is the body of General Hornerdolph, the commander of the 6th Armored Division of the German Army."
"What, he is the commander of the 6th Armored Division of the German Army?" Narva stared at the corpse on the ground, with an incredible expression on his face. He did not expect that he would kill a German division commander so easily. At the same time, he suddenly realized why the Germans launched an attack like crazy, was it just to snatch the body of their division commander?
The body was quickly sent to the division headquarters. After confirming Hornadolph's identity through the corpse's uniform and dog tag, Sokov ordered Koida: "Comrade Colonel, please order someone to find a coffin."
"Comrade Commander, where will I find you a coffin at this time?" Koida said with a wry smile: "We march and fight, it is impossible for us to carry a few coffins with us. In the collective farms in nearby villages, everyone ran away, and we couldn't find coffins."
"If you can't find the coffin, cut the wood and make a coffin immediately." Sokov said in a stern tone: "Although General Hornerdolph is our enemy, the dead are the most important, so he must be buried in peace."
"Okay, Comrade Commander." Koida thought that there were carpenters in the army and asked them to make a coffin. There should be no problem, so she answered readily: "I will arrange for people to customize the coffin immediately."
After confirming Horadolf's identity, Sokov felt that he should report the matter to his superiors immediately, and quickly ordered the radio operator he brought: "Send a report to the Front Command that my 562nd Regiment of the 188th Division killed General Horadolf, the commander of the 6th Armored Division of the German Army in the battle to hold his position."
After receiving the telegram from Sokov, Konev looked shocked. He said to Susaikov and Zakharov who were sitting at the table: "Major General Sokov came with a telegram, saying that his troops successfully killed General Hornadolph, the commander of the 6th Armored Division of the German Army in defensive operations."
Susaikov received the telegram and asked cautiously: "Comrade Commander, do you think this telegram is highly credible?"
"I believe Major General Sokov." Konev said without hesitation: "It is absolutely impossible for him to joke with such things. And at the end of the telegram, he also specifically mentioned that General Hornadolph's body was in his hands."
"So, is the inner day on Major General Sokov's telegram true?" Susaikov said in surprise: "This is an amazing victory. I suggest reporting this matter to the Supreme Command immediately."
"Yes, Comrade Commander." Zaharov echoed: "We should report such results to the Supreme Command."
Seeing that his two partners were eager to report the results of Sokov to the Supreme Command, Konev only thought for a moment and nodded in agreement: "Okay, Comrade Chief of Staff, then you will report to Antonov in person."
Antonov received a report from Zakharov and repeatedly confirmed that the results of the battle were correct before reporting the matter to Stalin. At the same time, he informed the news to Vatujing.
After hearing Antonov's words, Vatuting asked in an incredible tone: "Comrade Chief of Staff, General Sokov's troops, have they really killed Hornadorf, the commander of the 6th Armored Division of the German Army?"
"Of course it's true," Antonov replied affirmatively, "How could such a thing be kidding?"
"The one with the strongest attack in Prokholovka now is the German Sixth Armored Division. Their division commander was killed, which will bring a fatal blow to their morale." Vatuting asked anxiously: "When will the Supreme Commander launch a counterattack against the enemy?"
Chapter completed!