Chapter 491

"Who are you? Comrade commander. " Trekov asked coldly.

I habitually looked at the other party's badge and found that it was actually a battalion political commissar. It seems that he was either the political commissar of the division or the director of the political department. Thinking of this, I couldn't help looking at lyudnikov standing on one side.

When lyudnikov asked about it, he just wanted to make an introduction. The commander had straightened up and saluted him. He replied in a loud voice, "Comrade deputy commander of the report, I'm jitov, political commissar of the battalion level. Now I'm the political commissar of the 138th division."

After turning around him with his back hand, he suddenly asked, "since you are the commissar of the division, where have you gone since you don't stay in the headquarters to fight with colonel lyudnikov?"

"Report, comrade deputy commander, I have been ordered to lead the troops to carry out counter assault against the enemy," Titov replied loudly

"Since you are leading the troops to carry out counter assault, how can you leave the troops behind and run back alone?" Trekov was obviously questioning.

Titov's body was still straight, and he replied humbly: "Comrade commander, on the battlefield, the tanks of the enemy and us were all lost, and our infantry, like the enemy's infantry, were exhausted and unable to attack. I came back to the division headquarters because I thought that there were still two company reserves in the division. If they were put into combat, the stalemate on the battlefield would be reversed at one stroke. "

Trikov's tense face eased down and asked kindly, "commissar jitov, it's like transferring the reserves. You can make a phone call. You don't have to run back to the headquarters yourself."

"Comrade commander, please allow me to explain to you." Titov calls trakov deputy commander, while lyudnikov habitually calls him commander. After seeing trekov's nod, lyudnikov went on to report: "our division has no other communication equipment except a radio station and a small number of telephones at present. Most of the time, we have to convey orders to the lower level, and we can only let the signalmen carry orders to inform the troops. " Speaking of this, he lowered the volume and said in a low voice, "Comrade commander, can you supply some communication equipment for our division?"

Trekov shook his head with a wry smile and said, "I want to not only supply your division with communication equipment, but also supply you with weapons and ammunition, and even send you a reserve team. But I can't do it. At present, a considerable part of the logistics supply of the group army is still on the train from Tula to Stalingrad. It is still unknown whether it can be transported smoothly. "

After trakov finished, the headquarters fell into a brief calm.

Seeing that several people were speechless, I quickly stepped forward and said to trikov, "Comrade commander, let's go outside and have a look. Maybe our troops have repulsed the enemy."

"Yes, yes, yes, comrade commander, let's go out and have a look." Lyudnikov saw that I had relieved him, looked at me gratefully, and echoed.

"Come on. By the way, let's see which army just arrived by train. "

When we went out of the division headquarters, came to a nearby hillside, and looked at the battlefield with binoculars, we found that the battle was over. The enemy's tank troops have been completely annihilated, and dozens of abandoned tanks are smoking in the grassland. As for the infantry, there were not many people who escaped. Most of them were either killed or captured by our army. At the moment, our officers and men are cleaning the battlefield, some are collecting weapons and ammunition from the enemy, some are treating the wounded.

After looking at the battlefield for a while, I turned my telescope to the location of the artillery position, where the smoke of gunpowder filled the air. There were only four or five intact cannons left on the position, and there were not many people around. This shows how heavy the casualties of the artillery regiment were in the air raid just now.

At this time, jitov suddenly pointed to the distance and yelled: "Comrade deputy commander, look, someone is coming, maybe the commander of that army."

I looked in the direction of his finger and saw a group of soldiers coming towards us. A few people in front of them were wearing big eaves hats. At a glance, they knew that they were commanders, followed by a group of soldiers wearing helmets. Without saying a word, trikov put the telescope away, took it in his hand, and went down the hill to meet the soldiers.

As the group of soldiers approached, I could see clearly that a major general was walking in the front, a colonel in his left rear, and a political worker in his right rear, followed by Guard soldiers.

They stop in front of trekov, and the three commanders raise their hands to salute him. After giving a salute, trakov politely asked, "I'm deputy commander of the 64th army. Mr. trakov, general, what part of the army are you from?"

The major general straightened up, his hands drooping naturally, his fingers sticking to the seams of his trousers, stepped forward and replied, "general trakov, we are from the 98th infantry division. I'm major general grazikov Then he leaned aside, pointed to the two commanders behind him and said, "this is chief of staff, Col. Xie Liaojin, political commissar Tarkin."

After shaking hands with the three of them in turn, trakov introduced us. He started with lyudnikov: "this is colonel lyudnikov, the commander of the 138th infantry division. Next to him is Comrade Titov, his political commissar." But when he introduced me, he stopped for a moment and seemed to be thinking about what identity I should be given. After a while, he said slowly, "this lieutenant colonel o'shanina is temporarily the chief of staff of the group army."

After shaking hands, grazikov and lyudnikov came to me and said in a friendly way, "Comrade commander, I didn't expect you to hold such an important position in the headquarters of the group army at such a young age."

I didn't know how to reply him, so I had to smile at him.

After we got to know each other, we went back to the division headquarters of lyudnikov. Trikov asked curiously, "general gorazkov, how did your division suddenly appear in the 74th meeting station? Is there any combat mission? "

Gorazkov nodded and replied, "yes, comrade deputy commander. Our division received an order from the higher authorities. The whole division took the military line and rushed to the Dun River to assist the 112th infantry division of the 62nd group army to attack the German troops who had built Fortifications on the left bank of the Dun River and destroy them or drive them across the Dun river. "

"Wait a minute, Comrade General." "What did you say just now, the 112th division of the 62nd army? You know, this division belongs to the combat sequence of our 64th army. "

Gorazkov took off his hat, raised his hand to touch the back of his bare head, and said awkwardly, "Comrade deputy commander, that's what I was ordered to say. Originally, our division was subordinate to the 64th group army, but when the army boarded the vehicle, it received an order saying that we had been assigned to the 62nd group army. "

After hearing this, trakov's face changed greatly, and he walked back and forth in the room without saying a word. After walking for a while, he stopped, turned around and asked lyudnikov, "Comrade Colonel, can your division's radio contact the headquarters of the group army?"

"Yes, comrade commander." Lyudnikov immediately gave a positive answer.

After contacting shumilov, trikov asked hastily, "Comrade commander, why is the 112th division in the 62nd army?"

Shumilov quickly comforted him and said, "don't worry, comrade trakov. Listen to me. After you left, we received a phone call from the headquarters of the front army, saying that in order to facilitate command, the headquarters decided to assign the 112th and 229th infantry divisions and other units originally belonging to our group army to the 62nd group army. At the same time, we will allocate other newly formed forces to our 64th army. "

"I just met with major general gorazkov, the commander of the 98th division, and learned from him that they were going to rush to the Dun River to coordinate with the 112th division. The two divisions attacked each other from left to right to destroy the enemy who occupied the left bank of the Dun river. Is that so? "

"Yes, comrade trekov." Shumilov replied patiently: "this is a death order from the headquarters of the front army. It must be completed today. However, since it is the combat task of the 62nd army, you need not worry about it. After all, you are still the deputy commander of the 64th army, not the commander of the 62nd army. "

"No, general shumilov." Trekov said firmly, "how can two forces that are not familiar with each other cooperate in an unfamiliar area? I have to go to the Dun River to coordinate and command their operations, so as to ensure that I can complete the orders assigned by the headquarters of the front army. "

Shumilov was silent for a moment, and then agreed to trakov's proposal. He also specially told him, "Comrade trakov, you'd better contact Colonel Sologub of the 112th division immediately to discuss the attack time of both sides, so as to ensure the favorable cooperation between them."

"I see. General shumilov, please don't worry. I'll get in touch with Sologub."

"In that case, I wish you good luck! General trakov, take care

After interrupting the communication with shumilov, trakov gave the call code of the 112th division to the signalman and asked him to contact the division headquarters of the division.

Soon Sologub's low voice came out of the microphone: "Hello, this is Mr. Sologub, Colonel. Where are you?"

"Hello, comrade Colonel, I'm trekov," trekov said aloud

"Comrade General, do you have any instructions?" Sologub asked politely.

"Comrade Colonel, where are your troops?"

"On the right bank of the don, Comrade General."

"What?" After hearing this, trikov was surprised and asked, "if you want to carry out the order to attack the left bank German army, don't you want to cross the Don river by force?"

"Absolutely right, Comrade General."

"Are there enough ships?" Trekov asked with concern.

"We didn't collect many boats. Because they were all small boats, we could only transport infantry. The rest of the heavy guns and trucks were left on the right bank."

"When are you going to attack?"

"In about an hour. During the attack, my artillery director, Colonel godlevski, will provide us with the necessary artillery support for the attack. "

"Listen, Colonel Sologub." Trekov said eagerly, "I will take the 98th division with you to the river Don as soon as possible and attack the German troops on the left bank of the river Don with you. I beg you to let the artillery fire take a longer time to prepare, try to use the artillery fire to destroy the enemy's resistance and reduce the casualties of troops crossing the river. Do you understand? "

"I see, comrade commander. I will carry out your order firmly."

As soon as the communication with Sologub was over, trakov urged gorazkov: "Comrade General, please urge your troops to get on the train as soon as possible, take the military train along the railway line and get to the Dun River as soon as possible, and attack Col. Sologub's forces from left to right, so as to wipe out all the German troops on the left bank."

"Yes, comrade deputy commander, I'm going to deploy it now." Gorazkov gave a loud promise and left the division headquarters with his two deputies.

After gorazkov and them left, I asked trakov softly, "Comrade commander, what shall we do?"

"Go back to the car. We drove to the Dayton River by car, and then we found a high ground where we would set up the command post and command the two divisions to fight together. "

As a result of trekov's urging, the driver drove very fast. In less than 40 minutes, we followed the railway to the place only three or four kilometers away from the Don river. Here, the railway leading to the Don river railway bridge has been blown off. At least a few hundred meters long railway track has become a twisted twist. It seems that the 98th division's troops have to get off and walk after they arrive here.

We climbed up a nearby hillside. There were craters on the top of the hillside. Trekov jumped into a crater more than half a person deep, looked left and right, and said, "the view here is wide. The temporary headquarters is here."

I couldn't help looking up in the air when I saw that trakov had set up the command post in the crater. I was afraid that the enemy's plane would appear in the sky at this time. Trikov looked at my absent-minded look and said with some displeasure, "o'shanina, what are you looking at? Don't let the messenger move the telephone here soon." I quickly convergence mind, a loud promise, run downhill to find still stay in the car signalman.

After our headquarters were set up, the force crossing operation of the 112th division began.

First, the artillery of the 112th division fired at the German position on the left bank. I don't know why, each gun only fired a few shells, then stopped shooting, and then the infantry of the division began to force action.

I saw through the telescope that the equipment for infantry to cross the river was really poor. Except for two or three ferries full of commanders and fighters, the rest of the soldiers were forced to cross the river with wooden rafts and a few door panels tied together. Seeing this scene, my heart was half cold. I said, Colonel Sologub, don't you want your department to come down and die? A few machine guns were mounted on the ferry, which could suppress the enemy's firepower to a certain extent. However, the wooden rafts and door panels that the soldiers rowed by hand were the living targets without any self-defense ability. As long as the German guns fire at the same time, your troops will almost die before crossing the river.

As soon as I thought about it, the German artillery on the left bank opened fire. The roaring shells landed in the dense forced crossing line and exploded. Water columns burst into the sky. From time to time, wooden rafts and door panels, together with the officers and soldiers on them, were blown to pieces. Some rafts were broken up, and the officers and men fell into the rolling Don river one after another. They were swept down by the turbulent river.

"What are you doing, Colonel Sologub? Why don't you fire? Are you going to keep your heavy guns? We don't need artillery to suppress the enemy's artillery. They can annihilate all our troops crossing the river just like shooting at a target! I command you to fire immediately! Get all the shells out

Unexpectedly, Sologub's anxious voice came from the opposite: "Comrade commander, it's not that I don't let the artillery fire, our shells are all finished. Don't worry, even if there is no artillery cover, I promise to complete the task. I'll get on board immediately and lead the soldiers to the left bank. " With that, the call was terminated.

Trekov held the microphone without any sound and looked ahead. He looked into the distance at the fiery Don river. Inadvertently, a crystal tears, along his cheek down to the jaw.

Just then, the whistle of the train came from the foot of the mountain. I turned around and saw that the train full of 98th division troops was coming in our direction. I quickly called to trikov: "Comrade commander, you see, the 98th division's troops are coming. As long as they attack from the enemy's rear, they can surely cover the 112th division's successful landing on the left bank and wipe out the enemy."

Five minutes later, gorazkov and his political commissar ran up the hill breathlessly and stood on the top of the crater to salute trekov: "Comrade General, the 98th Division has arrived smoothly. At present, the deputy division commander is assembling troops. It is estimated that in ten minutes, he can launch an attack on the enemy."

"That's great," trakov said. After two steps, he jumped out of the crater and pointed to gorazkov in the distance?, At present, the 112th division is crossing the river by force. Because all their shells have been fired, the artillery can not provide the necessary artillery cover for the infantry crossing the river, and can not suppress the artillery fire of the enemy on the left bank, so that the troops crossing the river suffer heavy casualties. "

Gorazkov took the telescope in trakov's hand, looked at it, and then said firmly: "please rest assured, comrade general, I will personally lead the troops to attack. I must occupy the enemy's Riverside position as soon as possible and cover the smooth landing of the 112th division." Then he turned to his political commissar and said, "Comrade political commissar, you should immediately spread out the artillery of the division under the hillside to bombard the enemy's positions and relieve the pressure of the troops crossing the river."