To his surprise, trakov said coldly: "with his shouts, a second lieutenant in a cornice hat ran out of the building. When he saw two generals standing at the door, he saluted them and said," Hello, general, what can I do for you? "
Trikov raised his hand and asked, "Comrade lieutenant, I'm trikov, deputy commander of the 64th army. This is general shumilov, commander. We need to contact the headquarters of the front army in case of emergency. Can you call the headquarters directly? "
The second lieutenant nodded his head and replied, "yes, comrade general, but only to the duty room of the headquarters of the front army."
Hearing what the second lieutenant said, shumilov could not wait to say, "then take us."
The second lieutenant hesitated and said, "Comrade General, you should know that the air defense headquarters here does not allow outsiders to use the communication equipment here without the authorization of the superior."
"Comrade lieutenant, I remind you that we have something important to contact the headquarters of the front army immediately. If we are delayed, can you take the responsibility?" he said
The second lieutenant was even more hesitant when he heard what trakov said. For him, there are two generals on the one hand, and there are no rules that can be violated. Any choice may bring trouble to him. Seeing the embarrassing scene, I quickly stepped forward, put my hand around the shoulder of the second lieutenant, and said in a friendly way, "Comrade second lieutenant, I know it's very difficult for you, but we really have something very important to contact with the headquarters. You can accommodate yourself. If the higher authorities blame it, we will testify for you. "
When I took the second lieutenant's shoulder, his face turned red with shame. After listening to what I said, he hesitated for a moment. At last, he gritted his teeth and stamped his feet, and said, "OK, that's it. General, please follow me Then he made a gesture of invitation to them.
The second lieutenant gently broke free of my arm and led the way to the building. Trekov and shumilov followed. As he passed me, trakov whispered, "well done!" Then go inside.
When I heard trakov's praise, I grinned silently and followed them.
The lieutenant led us to a spacious office, which had no furniture except a huge desk and a few chairs. The second lieutenant pointed to a telephone on the desk and said to trikov, "Comrade General, this telephone can communicate with the duty room of the headquarters of the front army."
Trekov went straight over, picked up the phone and was ready to make a call. But shumilov found a chair to sit down, leaned back, looked up and asked the second lieutenant, "Comrade second lieutenant, it's very cold here. We didn't see many people all the way in."
The second lieutenant replied, "report, comrade general, our headquarters has just been requisitioned and has not yet been put into use. As you can see, except for a few soldiers on duty, there is no one else. Comrade general, I have other things to do. Will you allow me to leave? "
Shumilov nodded and said politely, "go ahead, comrade lieutenant. We'll leave after we call. "
When the second lieutenant left, trakov called the duty room of the headquarters of the front army. He said, "Hello, I'm general trakov. I have something important to contact with the chief of staff, general nikishev."
After hearing this, the staff in the duty room politely replied, "Hello, general trakov. General nikishev was out just now. Please wait a moment. I'll see if he's back? "
With little effort, general nikishev's voice came out of the microphone. He said with a smile, "Comrade trakov, we haven't been separated for a long time. Why did you call me so soon? Have you returned to the front line?"
Trikov laughed twice and said, "chief of staff, I'm in such a hurry to call you because I have something important to ask you."
"What's the matter? Go ahead. "
"I don't know where the 204th infantry division and the 23rd tank army assigned to our group army by the front army are? You know, general shumilov and I knew nothing about the location of these two troops. In 24 hours, our group army and the 62nd group army are going to carry out counter assault against the enemy. At the moment, there are still two troops missing. How can we fight this battle? "
Nikishev was silent for a moment, and then replied: "the last information received by the headquarters of the front army is that these two troops are near the Don river. I suggest you go to the area between the Don River and the Liska River to find these two troops. Comrade trakov, as an old friend, I would like to remind you that general gordov is very angry with you for allowing the troops to withdraw without authorization. If this counterattack fails again, you will be in great trouble. "
Trikov nodded to the phone and said, "thank you for your relationship, nikishev. I'll find these two troops as soon as possible." Then he hung up.
When shumilov saw that trakov put down the phone, he also stood up. The phone was loud just now. He didn't need trakov to introduce the situation. He had a clear idea. He shook his head and said, "come on, comrade trakov. I've heard what he said just now. We don't have much time left. We should go to our troops."
Leaving Stalingrad, the driver could not help speeding up because there was no enemy aircraft in the air. In order to find the lost troops as soon as possible, as soon as he met the scattered small troops on the road, he stopped to ask what part of the other party was, and then asked them politely if they knew the whereabouts of the 204th infantry division and the 23rd tank army. In this way, we spent the whole night on the open grassland and searched for another morning. It was not until noon that we met a convoy escorting the wounded to retreat. From their mouths, we knew that there was a tank troop stationed in zherkov area, which might be what we were looking for. So our motorcade went to zherkov without stopping. In a farm there, I saw a long line of tanks. When we saw our car, several soldiers came up on motorcycles, stopped us and began to check our identity. Trekov pushed the door open and went down. "What part of you are?" he asked The other side looked at trakov's rank and replied respectfully: "report general, we are a tank brigade under the jurisdiction of the 23rd tank army. Who are you, please? "“ I'm general trakov, deputy commander of the 64th army. Commander General shumilov is in the car. Is your brigadier in? I want to see him immediately. " The tank soldiers led us to the brigade headquarters. The commander of the tank brigade was a colonel with a beard. He was sitting at the table drinking tea when he saw his subordinates leading two generals coming in and stood up to meet them. After indicating his identity, trakov asked: "Comrade brigade commander, why do your tanks line up like a parade on the roadside? Are you not afraid of being bombed by enemy planes?" The brigade commander's face was red. He answered, "Comrade deputy commander, my troops have arrived here for two days, and what orders have not been received, they can only stay here." Let's get the troops moving now. By the way, where is your military headquarters? "“ Report to Comrade General that the military headquarters is located in the Shengli state farm in October. "“ Show me where the Shengli state farm is in October. " He took the map from the table and handed it to the commander. Then our motorcade went to the "October victory" state farm to find the headquarters of the 23rd tank army. As the car passed a small village, trakov suddenly called out to the driver, "stop, pull over." After the car stopped, general shumilov opened his eyes and asked, "to the state farm?" Trekov shook his head and said, "not yet. This is vorokinsky village, the headquarters of the 62nd army. Let's go to see general korpakchi and discuss with him the details of tomorrow's anti assault." The Sentinels on duty at the gate of the headquarters of the 62nd group army, seeing our arrival, took the initiative to come up and greet us without waiting for trekov to ask, "Hello, general trekov, the commander is in. Please come in." As for me, they are more familiar with me. After all, I was a deputy commander in this headquarters for a period of time, so when I entered, the sentry nodded to me and said hello. On the contrary, shumilov was inadvertently ignored. When we walked into the headquarters, colparke had just finished a phone call. Judging from his expression, the content of the call was not pleasant. "How do you do, general kolpakchi?" trekov called to him As soon as kolpakchi, who was originally sad, saw that it was trakov, he was immediately overjoyed. He quickly came up to shake hands with him. Fortunately, he asked strangely, "Comrade trakov, how can you come to my headquarters today when you are free?"“ I'm looking for two separated troops, passing by your headquarters, so I'd like to say hello to you and discuss the details of tomorrow's operation by the way. " Korpakchi called trakov and sat down. As soon as he looked back, he saw me standing next to him, with a surprised expression on his face: "isn't this comrade oshanina? Aren't you working as a team leader? Why did you come here with Comrade trakov?" I quickly replied, "Comrade report commander, I have transferred the post of head of the group to someone else. I went with general trakov to the headquarters of the front army in Stalingrad to accept the mission and just came back. " Kolpakchi's eyes fell on shumilov, who had been ignored all the time, and asked trekov in surprise: "Comrade trekov, who is this general? I've never seen it before. Is it your new deputy? " "General korpakchi, I forgot to introduce him to you. This is general shumilov, the commander of our army group," he explained Kolpakchi gave trekov a sympathetic look and then asked sumilov to sit down. Next, kolpakchi entertained us with that rich lunch, and at the same time, he and the two commanders began to formally discuss the joint military operation in the early morning of tomorrow.