Chapter 438

Looking at the burning battlefield in the distance, kolpakchi asked anxiously, "Comrade trakov, I think the investigation of who gave the troops the retreat order can be delayed a little. At present, the first thing we should do is to immediately issue an order to stop the troops crossing the river, organize defense on the right bank and support the two wings on the bank. "

"You have a point. I'll use all the communication equipment in the observation station to give the order to the troops." With that, trikov told his first communications staff to inform the troops of their decision to stop crossing the river and organize defense on the spot through radio and telephone.

Seeing that the staff of the observation station were busy, trakov could not help mentioning the old story again: "kolpakchi, tell me, who will give the order for the troops to withdraw?"

When kolpakchi heard trakov's question, he frowned and tapped his fingers on the table. He seemed to be trying to figure out how to answer it.

Seeing that korpakchi was slow to speak, shemikov could not help but step forward and said to trikov, "Comrade General, can I have a word?"

If someone suddenly comes out to talk like this, trakov may not give each other a good look, but shamikov once saved his life, and the relationship between them is different. He nodded at shamikov and motioned to the captain to continue.

"I think it might be the Germans who sneaked into the rear of our army, dressed up as our army, and then gave this fake order to the army," said shamikov

Unexpectedly, as soon as this hypothesis of shamikov came out, trakov shook his head and denied his inference: "Comrade captain, this may not exist. Even if the Germans give false orders, at most, the grass-roots commanders are deceived. After receiving the false orders, one or two companies withdraw from the fighting. I believe that. However, the troops now withdrawing from the position are not one or two companies, but a division and two brigades, including a tank brigade. It proves that the person who conveyed the order directly conveyed the order to the Division brigade commander, and the person who received the order was familiar with the other party after all, otherwise they would never withdraw from the battlefield in the most fierce war. "

"As long as we can get in touch with the senior commanders in the retreating forces, we can find out who actually gave this ridiculous order," interrupted korpakchi, who had not spoken

Just then, a staff officer came running from outside the observation post and exclaimed excitedly: "report to commander, we have contacted major general biliukov, the commander of the 214 division. He has ordered the troops to stop crossing the river and quickly return to the original defensive position."

Hearing that a senior commander of the river crossing force was contacted, trakov breathed a long sigh of relief and then asked, "where is general biliukov?"

"After he received the new order, he was rushing to us with the political commissar of the division, soboli. It is estimated that he will arrive in ten minutes."

While waiting for the arrival of bilukov and his political commissar, gurov called the observation post. As soon as he got through, he asked korpakchi with concern, "Comrade commander, what's the situation over there?"

"The enemy's attack has been repulsed, the artillery of the marine brigade is building fortifications, and the troops who are flocking to the ferry are returning to their positions one after another. What's the situation over there, comrade military commissar? " Colpakchi replied.

"At present, the enemy's counter attack has been restrained by our army, and the defense line is still stable in the actual control area at noon. I let the troops fortify overnight to cope with the possible German counterattack tomorrow. "

"Comrades of the military commissar," korpakchi hesitated for a moment, but could not help asking, "I want to ask, how is the 168th tank brigade?"

Gurov was silent for a moment, sighed, and said, "Oh, don't mention it. After defeating the German tanks, there were only three tanks left in the brigade. The tank of brigade commander Colonel Rogin was destroyed by the shell, and he was also seriously injured. After simple treatment, the military doctors have taken him and the seriously injured soldiers to Stalingrad through the pontoon."

Just then, the division commander and political commissar of the 214th division arrived. As soon as they entered the observation post, the major general said in a loud voice, "Comrade commander, what's the matter? My troops are doing well in their positions. Why did they suddenly order us to withdraw and cross the kier River to build a new line of defense? "

Trakov looked at him in surprise and said, "general biliukov, when did I give an order to retreat? You know, if I had to order the troops to retreat, I would not have stayed in this observation post. If there are no troops in front to block, the enemy's tanks will only take a few minutes to rush in front of the observation post. "

"But Comrade commander, this withdrawal order was indeed issued by the headquarters of the group army."

"What? General biliukov, what did you say? Is the order from the headquarters of the group army? "

"Yes, comrade commander." General biliukov said, took a neatly folded piece of paper from his pocket, handed it to trakov, and said, "look, this is the written order of the group army command for us to withdraw. The order was sent by the communications staff of the headquarters in person. "

"Who signed the order." After receiving the document, trakov did not open it immediately. Instead, he asked frostily. Bilukov was startled by his expression, but he replied honestly: "Comrade report commander, it is colonel Novikov, chief of staff of the group army, and Abramov, member of the Military Commission and political commissar of the division level who signed the order." After listening to this, trikov slapped the table fiercely, bit his back teeth and said, "confused, who gave them the right to order the troops to retreat at will at the most critical moment of the war without my permission." At this point, he gave a pause and ordered a staff officer: "connect me with the headquarters of the group army immediately. I want to talk to the military Commissar." When he got through to Abramov, trakov said in a blunt tone, "Comrade military commissar, I'd like to ask Wen, why do you give an order to the troops to withdraw?" The other party recognized trikov's displeasure and explained to him, "Comrade commander, this is the situation. I received information that the Germans, with the advantage of the air force and artillery, under the cover of tanks, rushed down to kirskaya. As you know, our troops are reorganized from the reserve forces. Most of the soldiers are new recruits and lack of combat experience. In order to avoid the end of the whole army after the troops are surrounded, after discussing with the chief of staff, Colonel Novikov, I decided to let the troops quickly cross the river before the enemy's encirclement is formed, and then quickly establish new defensive positions after crossing the river. So we sent orders to the 214th infantry division, the two marine brigades and the 137th tank brigade to withdraw to the left bank of the Don river through the radio station "Do you know, comrade military commissar?" he said with a gloomy face? Is it because of the wrong order you sent out, how much did we pay? One division and three brigades withdrew from their positions at the same time, and tens of thousands of people poured into the Don River and the kier river ferry. In order to stop the flow of people and motorcade to the ferry, I sent General Browder to take my staff to the ferry. The enemy plane found the ferry was crowded with people and cars, and then carried out a fierce bombing of the ferry. In the enemy's bombing, general Browder, Lieutenant Colonel sidtorin, Colonel brillouv and many other commanders of the group command all died with honor. " At the end, trakov's voice choked. With that, he hung up decisively without waiting for the other party to speak. After putting down the phone, trakov looked at bilukov and his political commissar standing in front of him, stabilized his mood, and asked, "Comrade General, in the air raid just now, how many casualties did your troops have?" With a twitch in the corner of his mouth, biliukov replied, "report to the commander, there is a regiment with a large number of casualties. One third of the soldiers were killed and the regiment commander and political commissar were killed. There is only one deputy battalion commander and seven company commanders left in the four battalions."