Chapter 493

I didn't speak. I just raised my hand to salute, and finally looked at Sologub's body on the ground. Then I turned and walked out of the hiding place.

I walked back along the trench, and from time to time I met the officers and men who were carrying and supporting the wounded. The commanders and fighters all stopped, leaned over, leaned back against the trench wall, raised their hands to salute me, and they didn't move on until I passed.

I don't feel too sad about the sacrifice of Colonel Sologub. I've seen too much life and death since the war. During the war, human life was as cheap as grass, not to mention a colonel, even a general might die. In the brutal battle of Stalingrad, Sologub was not a sacrificial colonel. As soon as he was about to raise his hand to salute, trakov stepped forward, took his hand, and warmly said, "Hello, our Soviet hero, nice to meet you here." After shaking hands, he turned to us and said, "maybe you don't know him yet. This is a hero of the Soviet Union. In addition to lieutenant colonel mikhalisin, the deputy division commander of the 112th division, general gorazkov and Colonel shariokin all came forward one by one to shake hands with him and pay homage to him. When they had finished shaking hands, I came forward, reached out and shook hands with him, and said politely, "Hello, Colonel godlevski. Nice to meet you."

"You are not simple, comrade commander." Goderevsky took my hand and said in a friendly way: "although I have never seen you before, I have long known you. The fact that you and four soldiers beat back the enemy's tank troops has greatly inspired the morale of all the officers and men of our division. "

I don't think much of what he said. When I was fighting tanks, I was still in the headquarters of the 62nd group army as an adjutant of general korpakchi. At that time, the 112th division was assigned to trakov's group army from the battle sequence of the 62nd group army. It was too far fetched to talk about boosting morale. But since he talked about it, I couldn't be too cold, so I laughed at him.

Unexpectedly, he misunderstood that I was being modest. He patted me on the shoulder with his left hand and turned to the left and right commanders and said, "you see, comrade lieutenant colonel is so modest. He has made such a great contribution, but he is not willing to show off at all. It's really a rare good commander!"

Before he could go on, trakov interrupted him and said, "Comrade Colonel, you have to be prepared. I have bad news for you."

When he heard what trakov said, godlevski's smiling face became serious. He said with a straight face, "Comrade commander, please tell me!"

"Your division commander, Colonel Sologub, died in honor while crossing the river?"

"What?" When he heard the bad news, godlevsky was shocked. His face showed an incredible expression. He grabbed mikhalisin's arm, shook it hard, and asked aloud, "Comrade deputy division, is general trakov telling the truth?"

Mikhalisin's eyes turned red. He nodded slightly to show that what trikov said was true. At the same time, he added: "the ferryboat on which Comrade division took was hit by the enemy's gunfire when it was near the shore. The explosion of the shells caused the death of the ammunition. There were more than 200 people on board, and less than 50 survived. "

The deputy division commander and the artillery chief of the 112th division were talking about Sologub's sacrifice. Trikov quietly pulled me aside and asked in a low voice, "o'shanina, have you reported Sologub to shumilov?" Seeing me nodding, he then asked, "who has he appointed to take over the position of commander of Colonel Sologub?"

When I heard trekov's question, I said with some embarrassment: "Comrade commander, it's comrade sheljiuk, the military commissar of the group army who talked to me. After listening to my report, he said that now the 112th division no longer belongs to the combat sequence of our group army, and they have no right to decide the new division commander."

After hearing this, trikov slapped his forehead with his palm and scolded in a low voice: "confused, confused!"

Trekov's words made me feel very embarrassed. I should have reported it to him in time when I came here just now. As a result, I was busy watching the artillery equipment crossing the river and forgot about it.

Trikov looked up and saw that I was blushing. He gave me a light smile and explained to me, "o'shanina, don't be so thoughtful. I'm not talking about you, I'm talking about myself. I am so confused that I should have forgotten such an important thing as to put the 112th division in the 62nd army. "

Hearing that the commander was apologizing to me, I quickly said, "Comrade commander, I am also wrong about this matter. I should have reported it to you as soon as I saw you

After godlevski and mikhalisin finished talking, they came to trakov. Qi Qi raised his hand to salute him and asked in one voice, "Comrade commander, who is the new teacher of our division?"

Trekov spread his hands out, shrugged, and said, "I'm sorry, comrades, I don't think I can answer your question. Since your division and the 98th division have been assigned to the fighting order of the 62nd group army from today on, I, the deputy commander of the 64th group army, have no right to appoint new division commanders. "

Mihalisin asked anxiously, "Comrade commander, what can we do? Without a division commander, the troops would be scattered, and their combat effectiveness would be affected... "Comrade commander, comrade commander!" At this moment, a familiar cry came from a distance. I turned to look around and saw the herald sidtorin running towards us. Seeing that sidtorin was running so fast, I guessed that there might be some urgent order to give to trikov, so I said to trikov, "Comrade commander, you see, the messenger sidtorin is running here. It seems that there is some important order to give to you." Trekov nodded in agreement with what I said. Sidtorin came panting in front of us, raised his hand to salute trikov, then handed a piece of paper to him, panting and saying, "Comrade commander, the telegram we just received from the headquarters." Trakov took a look, then turned to goderevsky and mikhalisin, who were standing nearby, and said, "I just received a telegram from commander shumilov, who said that he had just contacted general korpakchi, acting commander of the 62nd army, about Sologub's sacrifice at school. Now, colpakchi has appointed Colonel yermorkin, the deputy chief of staff of the headquarters, as the new division commander of the 112th division. At present, the colonel is on his way here. You should seize the time to do a good job in reception. " After they agreed, mikhalisin asked, "Comrade commander, would you like to stay and wait for the new teacher?" Trekov waved his hand and said, "I have other things, so I won't stay here. Good luck to you Then he shook hands with the four commanders of the two divisions one by one and took me to the jeep in a hurry. On the way, I asked curiously, "Comrade commander, where shall we go next?"“ According to commander shumilov's orders, we will immediately rush to the 229th division and urge the withdrawal of Colonel sarren's troops and the 66th marine brigade. "“ Aren't these two troops playing very well? Why retreat? " I don't know about other troops. I stayed in the 229th division two days ago to command the troops with sarin. In front of us, the enemy's attacks were beaten back again and again, and the division still had the strength to persist for a longer time“ The present situation is very unfavourable to us, comrade oshanina. " After getting on the jeep, trakov patiently explained to me: "next, we have to face more brutal battles. In this way, we need troops with combat experience to quickly build fortifications along the Volga River to prevent the enemy from quickly approaching Stalingrad." For the first time, I heard from trakov the defensive position of Volga River. It can be seen that the Soviet Army's resistance in the Don river valley ended in failure. They will gradually retreat from the existing position, enter the new position of Volga River while fighting, and continue to fight with the enemy. As we were about to reach the 229th division, we heard a lot of gunfire coming in front of us. He urged the driver to speed up and get to the division headquarters as soon as possible. The division headquarters was set up on a small hill full of trees. When we arrived at our destination, we found that the division headquarters had been transferred. We did not see sarin, but bandulin, the director of the political department who stayed behind to command the army after it was cut off. Listen to him, the main force of the division and the 66th marine brigade had withdrawn an hour ago, At present, only one battalion and another company are left to take up the blocking task“ Where is the most intense gunfire? " Trekov asked anxiously“ Report to commander, "bandurin replied," it's an unknown highland in front of us. One of our companies is blocking the enemy. If they fail there, the enemy will pounce on us. "“ Let's go to the top of the mountain and have a look. " Bandurin had intended to dissuade him, but seeing his serious expression, he opened his mouth and swallowed it back. We came to the observation post on the top of the mountain and looked at the Nameless Highland in front of us with binoculars. Due to the bombardment of the enemy's cannons and tank guns, the opposite position was shrouded in a thick smoke of gunpowder, and nothing could be seen at all. When the enemy's shelling stopped, the enemy infantry gathered near the hillside and charged. From the telescope, I could see that on the position surrounded by fireworks, not only could I not see a figure, but also I could not hear a shot. Even when the enemy's forward troops had approached the hillside carefully, there was still no movement. See this scene, I can't help but hold a sweat, heart said the position of the commanders and fighters will not be sacrificed, right? I'm worried, and so are trakov and bandurin. Trikov even gave an order to bandulin: "Comrade bandulin, when the enemy reaches the top of the mountain, he immediately orders the heavy and heavy machine guns on our position to open fire, and we must use fire to fight the enemy down."