In the middle of the residential area No. 3 marked by Captain Schwarzenegger, the independent 8th Marine Brigade, which was under the Soviet Coastal Army, was set up in an inconspicuous grey farmhouse.

In the basement of the farmhouse, Navy Colonel Levchenko, the commander of the 8th Marine Brigade, raised his left hand, slapped the dust falling from the roof from time to time, stared at the combat map spread on the table, and anxiously thought about the next combat plan.

The 8th Independent Marine Brigade was originally used as a reserve force and was arranged on the south side of the highway leading from the eastern mountainous area to the Sevastopol Fortress. Once the defense line to the east is lost, you can rush to the outer defense line in the east according to the orders of the superiors at any time, or contact the remaining troops retreating from the eastern defense line, and continue to block the advancement of the Axis troops in the second line of defense stationed by the 8th Independent Marine Brigade.

However, the orders from the Coastal Army Command in the fortress almost shocked Colonel Levchenko.

The first order was that a small group of enemies landed at Kelson Point south of the fortress. In order to eliminate this group of enemies, the Army Command decided to draw a battalion of troops from the 8th Marine Brigade and cooperate with other troops to drive the landed enemies into the sea.

One night later, the second order from the Army Command almost made Colonel Levchenko curse.

The content on the telegram was that the counterattack failed and the 8th Independent Marine Brigade immediately built fortifications in the direction of Kelson Corner, and beware of the enemies coming from behind.

Thinking of the ubiquitous political workers, Colonel Levchenko put the almost blurted out curse back into his stomach, and instead dispatched troops with a lot of anger, facing the direction of Kelson Corner to the west, mainly civil buildings, and foxgloves as auxiliary to start building defense lines, and sending reconnaissance troops to detect the enemy's movements.

The remnants of the troops who were originally sent to counterattack the landing field of Kelson Corner retreated to the defense line, bringing the latest news that the landing was Italians, and these Italians were very good at fighting, and they all dared to fight bayonets.

After a difficult night, the next day, the sound of gunfire from the West alarmed Colonel Levchenko.

How many troops did the Italians have to launch an attack so quickly?

According to this progress, it is estimated that the Italians will be able to fight their troops today.

At noon on the day the Italians launched an attack, a third order from the Army Command was sent to him.

The German army in the mountainous area in the east had launched an attack in parallel with the Italians from the west. The German army's artillery fire was very fierce, and friendly troops on the outer defense line were under great pressure. If the defense line was lost, your troops must be careful of the attacks from behind.

The attack from behind?

Well, it should be the strong pressure that made the "men" of the Group Army Command panic. The east side, which was originally the main defense direction, turned out to be behind it. Colonel Levchenko's stomach was even more angry.

In the evening of that day, gunfire sounded closer and closer, and the sailors of the Independent 8th Marine Brigade wearing black naval shirts finally entered the battle.

The battle was not large. After a short battle in the evening, the Italians occupied several damaged houses in the south of the residential area. Then night fell, and the two sides ceased fire to spend the night.

At night, under the arrangement of Levchenko, a company of sailors launched a night attack, trying to seize the house occupied by the Italians, but the other party was prepared for it.

The flares and fires shining as the guns and guns opened fire broke through the night. After more than an hour of fierce fighting, the night attack failed.

The next day, the Italians did not take any offensive actions for the whole morning, but two consecutive news came to Colonel Levchenko's ears, letting him know the seriousness of the matter.

First, the troops monitoring the Italians issued a warning that new enemies appeared outside the residential area, the Germans wearing fancy military uniforms and m35 steel helmets.

It was obvious that the Italians did not continue to launch an attack for a whole morning, but were waiting for reinforcements.

Another news comes from the Army Command: the defense line to the east was broken by the Germans, and the retreating defenders continued to resist within the second line of defense, and were not allowed to retreat one step.

Before receiving this order, troops who had retreated from the eastern front were intercepted by the sailors and were then enriched into the defense line of the 8th Independent Marine Brigade.

After learning these two news, Colonel Levchenko learned about his and his subordinates' situation at this time.

At this time, there is no difference between the front line and the back line. For the 8th Marine Brigade, there are front line everywhere and behind line everywhere.

By noon, violent shellings descended on the defense zone of the 8th Marine Brigade. Smoke was everywhere and smoke filled the dust. The already dilapidated building complex directly turned into rubble piles.

Even hidden in the basement, Colonel Levchenko could feel the intensity of the shelling from the shaking roof, the scattered dust, and the violent explosion.

The shelling lasted for about an hour before it ended, followed by continuous gunfire.

The German and Italians on both sides of the east and west launched an attack at the same time. About fifteen minutes after the battle started, Levchenko received the first report requesting reinforcements.

In less than twenty minutes later, two reports of requesting reinforcements were sent to Levchenko.

After sending out the last reserve team, Levchenko asked his staff to burn the documents and asked the adjutant to take out the last two bottles of vodka from the brigade headquarters.

After pouring half a cup of vodka for each member of the brigade, Colonel Levchenko shook the bottle of only one-fifth of the wine left in his hand and clinked glasses with his subordinates one by one.

"The order given to us by our superiors is to stick to our positions and not take a step back. As soldiers, we must execute the orders. The reserve team has been sent out, and we will be the last reserve force. Cheers for the great Soviet."

Lifting his head, Levchenko drank the wine in the bottle in one go, then took the helmet and a Bobosha 41 submachine gun from his adjutant, took the lead in walking out of the basement and headed straight to the east of the battlefield.

Walking through the rubble in the rain of bullets, Levchenko soon heard the shouts.

"The German tank is coming up, hurry, aim it."

Following the sound, Levchenko bypassed the waist-high broken wall and found an 85mm anti-aircraft gun that was fighting.

Looking at the pointing of the anti-aircraft gun muzzle, Levchenko instantly widened his eyes. More than 200 meters away, a tank with an oversized wedge-shaped turret that looked very cruel and dreamy, slowly approaching. Behind the tank, between the ruins of the battlefield, the agile figures of German infantry flashed from time to time.

"boom·····"

The sound of the 85mm anti-aircraft gun fire brought Colonel Levchenko back to reality from the shock. The tank with a dream turret on the opposite side stopped, but there was no smoke, and there was no tank hand running away. Instead, the dream tank turret slowly turned and pointed to the location of the 85mm anti-aircraft gun.

"Quickly, he saw us, let's do it again................." a gunner shouted.

However, the machine gun bullets came faster than the shells. The tank guns on the opposite side did not fire, but the machine gun bullets took the lead in counterattacking.

The bullet hit the anti-aircraft gun, bringing out a flash of fire. The gunner, who was originally shouting "One more shot", plunged to the ground, with two more blood-stained bullet holes on his chest.

Colonel Levchenko fell to the ground earlier and avoided the flying bullets.

"Quick, load the shells and have another shot." Colonel Levchenko shouted on the ground.

"The enemy's firepower is too fierce, we can't look up." Another gunner lying on the ground was dodging bullets.

"Tell me, which armor-piercing bomb is?" Levchenko shouted.

"The armor-piercing bullets are there..."

Levchenko ran to the ammunition box, took out an armor-piercing projectile, and shouted to the gunners: "We must stop it, you go and control the artillery, I'll get on the projectile."

Infected by Levchenko's will, three people in the surviving gunman stood up and re-controlled the artillery. Levchenko then stood up and stuffed the shell into the barrel.

The anti-aircraft gun fired again, but to no avail, but it was flew with a 105mm caliber high-explosive bomb.

Amid the explosion, Colonel Levchenko's originally tall body was torn apart by shrapnel.

Can't penetrate it...
Chapter completed!