With the regiment provided by Colonel zhicaolif for free, my mood suddenly became very good. I now command more than 1000 people, nearly 2000, plus artillery and tank support, to clean up the opposite of the German guy, it is not easy and pleasant to chop melons and vegetables. Because of this, I now have leisure, standing on the hillside, smilingly looking down at the deployment of troops.
Major awakov's artillery barracks were towed by wagons. At the foot of the slope, the driver stopped the carriage, helped the artillery to unload the guns, and then drove the carriage far away so as not to hinder the traffic. Awakov was an experienced artillery commander. He was down the slope directing the artillery soldiers to push their guns to the high ground on both sides. Ten guns were placed on the high ground in the north. There was a big gap between the guns. According to him, this was the channel for tanks to attack. The remaining 20 guns were deployed in the southern highlands, where he himself stayed to command.
The infantry regiment of commander ceremnov also entered the south side of the hillside and began to arrange troops. A dozen neat infantry squads, like a carpet, quickly covered the south side of the whole hillside.
The 58th brigade's signalmen are not idle either. They are laying telephone lines between the two Highlands, so that communication between the two highlands can be avoided by sending correspondents or shouting.
I walked to a tank in front of the troop line, turned the butt of the gun and knocked on the turret twice. Soon the top cover came open. Then captain vitorganov came out of the tank and asked in a loud voice, "Comrade major, do you have any instructions?"
"Captain vitorganov, your attention please." Although I had just given him a task, I was still not sure, so I told him again: "the artillery will start shooting at the German position at 6:50. Your tank troops will attack immediately after the shelling starts, and they must rush into their position before the German has a good memory of the shelling. Do you understand? "
"I see, comrade major. I've already conveyed your order to all the soldiers. As soon as the time comes, we will rush to the German positions. When they find out, we have rushed to them and started to deal with them with tank shells and machine gun bullets. "
I was very satisfied with the captain's reply, nodded and walked over from the infantry square.
Cheremnoff and several commanders gathered around to discuss something. When they saw me, they stood up straight and said, "major oshanina, Hello! Commander cheremnoff reports to you that the 174th regiment is deploying combat missions. Please give instructions! "
"Please go on!" After that, I turned and went to the command post. Anyway, the infantry was under the command of such an experienced commander, so I didn't have to worry about it.
Back to the command post, I found that it was quite busy here. There were sentinels standing guard at the door, and commanders at all levels came in and out of the room from time to time. On the wooden table next to Colonel zhicao Lifu, I don't know when there were several telephones. It was through these telephones that he kept in touch with his subordinates.
When I went in, he just finished a phone call and saw me enter the door. He immediately asked me to sit down and offered me a cup of hot tea. After all this, he asked, "is everything ready outside?"
I put the cup on the table and stood up to answer, "yes, comrade colonel. As soon as the time is up, the artillery will be able to fire at the German position. "
He raised his hands and pressed them down, motioned to me to sit down, and said politely, "major o'shanina, don't worry. This is your territory. Take it easy." Then he looked down at his wrist watch and said, "there are two minutes left."
Just then, a lieutenant came in breathlessly, came to him and handed him a piece of paper: "report to Comrade Colonel, this is a telegram just sent by the headquarters of the group army."
Rizaolifu answered with a smile, said thank you to the lieutenant, and then looked down at the telegram. Without looking at a few lines, his face became very serious.
Just as rizzolif was reading the telegram, a major commander came up to me, raised his hand and looked at my watch. Then he picked up the phone on the desk, shook the handle a few times, and said to the microphone, "is it major awakov? I'm the chief of staff. Are you ready? "
After receiving the other party's reply, he covered the microphone with his hand and said to rizaolifu, "Comrade brigade commander, major awakov has made all preparations and is waiting for your final order."
Almost at the same time that rizaolifu took over the microphone, I raised my hand and looked at my watch. The time just pointed to 6:50. I raised my head and waited for zhizolifu to issue the final order to his subordinates.
Unexpectedly, Cao Lifu took a deep breath and kept silent for at least ten seconds. Then he said something startling: "Comrade major, I order: the original artillery mission will be cancelled, all artillery will withdraw from the position and quickly turn east." With that, he hung up decisively without waiting for the other party to have a chance to say anything.
"Comrade Colonel, why is that?" When I heard the inexplicable order he suddenly issued, I couldn't help being a little anxious. I stood up in a hurry and asked, "why should I suddenly cancel the order of shelling?"
Not only me, but also his chief of staff was at a loss. When everything was ready and ready to attack the enemy at any time, the plan was suddenly cancelled, and no one could understand. Colonel zhicao Lifu handed the paper to the chief of staff, and then said to me in a low voice, "major oshanina, I'm sorry. Just received a call from the headquarters of the group army, saying that the German army is launching an attack on the miasnebol area, and the 59th group army is retreating in that area. In order to prevent the retreat of the group army from being cut off, our brigade should quickly rush to the area to support the 59th group army. " Then he waved to his chief of staff and the rest of the room and said, "pack up and we'll go right away." Then he apologetically said to me, "besides the artillery, I will take the 174th infantry. This is the order of the superior. I can't disobey it. I can only say sorry to you. " With that, he patted me on the shoulder, sighed and turned away. With the departure of Colonel zhicao Lifu, I fell down on the stool as if I had been drained of all my strength. My mind was blank, and I watched the communication soldiers of the 58th brigade dismantling the telephone lines and telephones in the command post.