Chapter 503

I learned that my promotion application was rejected, and that general Zhukov, who had been taking special care of me, personally rejected it. When I heard that, I was shocked.

"Comrade commander, this is impossible!" Bilukov, who was standing next to us, was very surprised when he heard trakov's words. He couldn't help but put in a word.

"Yes, general biliukov." Trikov looked at bilukov and said with certainty: "general shumilov, commander of the group army, has personally verified this matter with nikishev, chief of staff of the front army. He can't be wrong."

Biliukov looked around at the excited and forgetful commanders, tilted his head and said, "Comrade commander, let's go outside and have a chat." He and trakov took a few steps. When they turned their heads, they found that I was still standing in a daze. They quickly came over to take my shoulder and said with a smile, "come on, commander oshanina. Don't stand here in a daze. Let's go outside together. I have something else to say to you."

Out of the headquarters, bilukov did not stop, but directly pulled me and trekov into the car. After he finished the front co pilot position, he politely said to the driver, "driver comrade, are you tired after waiting outside for so long?"

The driver glanced at his rank, straightened up and replied, "report to general, I'm not tired."

Bilukov saw that the driver's reaction was slow, but he didn't understand the important meaning of his words in time. He had no choice but to wave to the driver and said angrily, "Comrade driver, I suggest you go to a place to have a cigarette first, and then come back when I call you."

Instead of answering him immediately, the driver turned to look at trakov in the back row. Trekov nodded to the driver and said, "Comrade driver, since general biliukov has asked you to leave for a while, you can go to other places for a while."

The driver agreed, pushed the door open, jumped out of the car and trotted away.

Seeing the driver disappear from our sight, biliukov went back to business and began to analyze with us why Zhukov rejected my promotion application. He said slowly, "Comrade commander, this is how I think about this matter. In fact, it's not a bad thing that lieutenant commander o'shanina's promotion application was rejected. On the contrary, it's a good thing. "

"What? What did you say? General biliukov, did you make a mistake that oshanina's promotion application was rejected, and you even said it was a good thing? " Trekov may have been holding fire since just now. When bilukov said that, he couldn't help but attack him.

Biliukov's face is still a calm expression. After raising his hand to stop the excited trakov, he began to analyze the cause and effect to us. He only heard him say slowly: "Comrade commander, don't worry and don't get angry. Let me explain to you slowly."

"Come on, I'll sit here and listen to you." Trekov replied angrily.

"If I remember correctly, after the establishment of the 64th army, the first chief of staff was Colonel Novikov?"

"Yes, when the group army was first established, it was indeed Colonel Novikov who took the post of chief of staff of the group army. Later, because he issued a wrong operational order, he was dismissed and sent to the military court." At this point, trikov suddenly froze. After a long time, he continued: "do you mean that general Zhukov does not agree to be promoted to lieutenant commander oshanina because he is afraid that he will repeat the mistakes of the former chief of staff?"

Biliukov didn't speak, but nodded to approve of trakov's statement.

He patted the back of the chair in front of him and said excitedly, "no wonder, no wonder. Let me just say that Zhukov has a close relationship with lieutenant colonel oshanina. Most of the time, Zhukov supports her, so she can get to the present situation. Zhukov is happy to see her promotion. How could he oppose so much? It was for the sake of organizing lieutenant colonel oshanina that she encountered similar problems. General biliukov, you have a good analysis. Nine times out of ten things are the situation you just mentioned

After that, he raised his arm and patted me on the shoulder, comforting me and saying, "commander oshanina, don't be depressed any more. You didn't hear general biliukov say that general Zhukov rejected your promotion application out of his love for you. As I said just now, this battle with the enemy near Stalingrad will not be finished in a month or two, and our troops may still retreat passively to the rear. If the commander in chief investigates the responsibility, the leaders of the group army will surely be held responsible and will be severely punished. "

After listening to bilukov's analysis and trakov's words from the bottom of my heart, my mind was immediately balanced. Although the name of the deputy chief of staff of the group army sounds good, he does not have much real power. He is just the echo of the commander and the chief of staff. He might as well continue to be my chief of staff.

Trikov raised his hand, looked at his watch, and said to biliukov, "Comrade division commander, go back and tell the commanders to take the troops back to their respective defense areas immediately, occupy the positions and rush to repair the fortifications, and arrive at the headquarters of the group army at 7 p.m. to participate in today's battle summary." Seeing that biliukov pushed the door open and wanted to get off, he added: "as long as the military officers of all divisions and brigades come to attend the meeting, the political workers will be OK."

On the way back, I saw groups of German soldiers holding their heads in both hands, escorted by the soldiers, heading east. He couldn't help but ask trekov curiously, "Comrade commander, where will these prisoners be taken?"

Trekov glanced out of the window and said with disdain, "where else can I go? Stalingrad, of course. "

I was a little surprised and asked, "it's still more than 200 kilometers away from the city. I won't let them walk like this."

Trekov shook his head and said, "about ten kilometers eastward from here, there is a meeting station. Usually when the prisoners are escorted there, they will be sent to Stalingrad by military line."

Although the troops I led in the past had captured many prisoners, I always sent people to send them to the higher authorities after they came back, and I never cared about their whereabouts again.

Back at the headquarters of the group army, shumilov, military commissar sergeuk and chief of staff Raskin were studying around the map on the table. Seeing us enter the door, shumilov stood up straight, nodded at trikov and said politely, "Comrade trikov, you are back."

"Back, comrade commander. What are you studying? "

"Comrade trekov, come and have a look. Although we have won today's battle, with the character of the enemy, we are not willing to lose. We are sure to retaliate. They are sure to concentrate their superior forces on our positions in a short period of time. "

"You are quite right, comrade commander. What you are worried about, lieutenant commander o'shanina has just mentioned to those teachers. I believe you all know what you are worried about now. "

"Two comrades, do you need to call those teachers immediately?" Chief of staff Raskin asked.

Trekov waved his hand to deny his proposal, and explained: "before I returned to the headquarters, I had informed the military commanders of all the combat units to come to the headquarters in the evening for a combat summary meeting." At this point, he looked around and asked curiously, "Comrade commander, where's comrade Abramov, military Commissioner?"

"The front army has just sent a batch of materials to our group army. Abramov is responsible for the logistics of the group army, so he took people to receive the materials."

"Since Comrade Abramov is not here, I'll tell Comrade serjiuk about this. Anyway, he is also a military commissar of the group army and is responsible for the political propaganda of the army."

"General trakov, do you have any instructions?" When sheldyuk heard trakov mention his name, he got up from his seat and asked politely.

"Well, comrade military commissar, I want to talk to you about political propaganda." Trekov walked around the table to him and told the military commissar the story of the regiment certificate we had just heard.

After hearing this, serjiuk clenched his fist, waved his fist, and said aloud, "great. I'll ask the Political Department of the group army to sort out their heroic deeds immediately, and then print and distribute propaganda tabloids to let every commander and fighter of the group army know about them, so as to boost their morale and gather the combat effectiveness of the army through propaganda."

After sheldyuk left, trakov told Ruskin: "chief of staff, there will be a meeting here later. All irrelevant people will go out."

The unrelated people in trakov's words refer to the communication staff who came to the headquarters to answer the phone today. Raskin, as one of his subordinates, was naturally able to understand what he said and hasten to clear the site.

The summing up meeting of the battle is scheduled for 6 p.m. Half an hour before six o'clock, the commanders of divisions and brigades of the participating troops arrived one after another. Since they went back to rest, I was in charge of reception for the time being.

Maybe it was a great victory today, so every commander came with a happy face. When you shake hands with me, in addition to saying hello, you have to say a few more words.

Lyudnikov and kuropatenko are together. When lyudnikov shook hands with me, he also repeatedly expressed his thanks to me for winning so much honor for their division, which could wash away the humiliation of their early defeat.

When he shook hands with kuropatenko, he said to me with a straight face: "commander o'shanina, you are not interesting enough."

"Why do you say that? Comrade teachers. " What he said confused me.

"Our division and lyudnikov's division have been fighting side by side. We can say that we have fought and achieved the same results as them. Why is it that only one of their divisions was promoted to the guard division, while our division didn't get any honor? "

When I heard that he mentioned the guard division, I knew that he was joking. I quickly replied, "Comrade Colonel, there are still some battles to be fought in this battle. If your division performs well next time, I will fight for it from the higher authorities, so that you can also be promoted to guard division."

"That's great, commander o'shanina." Kuropachenko may be so casually said, did not expect that I actually gave him a solemn promise, he suddenly excited voice all expressed the tone, "I really don't know how to thank you, just give you a gift." With that, he drew his legs together and straightened up, and saluted me solemnly.

After hearing that I promised kuropatenko that I would fight for the number of guards for his division in the future, the rest of the division commanders and brigades gave up and rushed to surround me in the middle, urging me to fight for the glorious number of guards at the right time.

Seeing that I was besieged, bilukov came to help me out. He pushed aside the commanders who were crowded in front of me and yelled at them: "comrades commanders, what are you doing? Can't you see that this is the headquarters of the group army? It's noisy. What's it like? "

They all shut up and began to walk to their seats. I saw the commanders around me disperse. I just wanted to catch my breath and thank bilukov by the way. I didn't expect him to say: "commander o'shanina, you've been a regiment commander under my command. If you want to be promoted to the guard division in the future, you can't forget my 214 division!"

When people around him heard what biliukov said, they burst into laughter. Some people also said loudly, "general biliukov, you have to fight for the promotion of the close guard division by your own strength. You can't say that human feelings go through the back door."

Just as everyone was laughing and laughing, a stern voice came from the gate of the headquarters: "comrades, please be quiet. Comrades of the commander and deputy commander are here. " Hearing this voice, there was a complete silence in the headquarters. All the people stood upright and waited for the arrival of the conference host.

After trikov, shumilov and Raskin came to their seats and sat down, trikov raised his hand and pressed down, saying, "comrades, don't stand, all sit down. We'll have a meeting now."

At this summing up meeting, we did not talk too much about the process of winning, but discussed some problems existing in the fighting.

After listening to the speeches of several division commanders, trikov stood up again and began to talk about some of his views on the current war situation. I quickly took out a pen and paper from my briefcase and began to record, so as to accumulate my experience. We all know that our troops have been forced to retreat under the powerful attack of the enemy since the fighting started in July. But the defeat in the battle did not make us lose our fighting spirit. Here, I boldly predict: one day, these invincible German marshals will become the defeated generals of our army. "

As soon as trikov said that, he was interrupted by warm applause. I quickly put the book and pen on my lap and clapped with you. It wasn't until trakov raised his hand and pressed it down that the applause stopped.

"To a large extent, the enemy's superiority was due to the fact that our army units had not yet formed a combat formation when they launched the attack," he added. If we have two or three days to organize our defense after we reach the designated position. The enemy can never easily break through the defense of our group army if they form combat formations according to regiments and battalions, repair trenches and bunkers, organize fire coordination and communication, replenish ammunition and organize logistic supply.

When the German army was preparing for the artillery fire on the defensive area of our group army, I stayed in the observation post close to the front line and noticed their tactical weakness: their artillery and mortar firing points were scattered, and they only fired at the front line instead of in depth; There is also a lack of extensive firepower maneuver in combat.

During my years at the Military Academy of vorongze, I studied many German battles on the Western Front during the first World War. I understand the German generals' views on the role of artillery in future wars (such as Bernhard's ideas). Therefore, in the first few days of the battle in the Don river area, I thought that the enemy artillery would perform orthodox coordinated actions: accurate slow entry barrage fire, fast lightning like fire maneuver and artillery maneuver. But this is not the case. I was disappointed to see that the enemy artillery still used the old method, slowly gnawing one trench after another with artillery fire.

If we have a deeper defense depth configuration and do not add anti tank reserves, we can not only contain the enemy's attack, but also kill the enemy in large quantities.

German tanks dare not charge without the cooperation of infantry and the support of air force. I read in foreign newspapers that the German tank soldiers were brave, resolute and swift. But this time on the battlefield, I didn't see these characteristics of the enemy.

The advantage of German infantry was that their submachine guns had good performance and strong firepower. However, I did not see them show rapid movement and bold attack on the battlefield. Because the German infantry had enough ammunition, they did not hesitate to use bullets when they attacked, but they often fired blindly in order to embolden themselves.

The German front was easy to observe, especially at night, because there were many tracer bullets and various colored flares flying over it. The enemy seems to be afraid of the dark, or they may feel lonely without shooting. The enemy's maneuvers are also easy to monitor because their motorcade always has its headlights on when driving on the grassland.

In combat, the enemy's air force has the best combat capability, and the contact and cooperation between the enemy's air force and ground forces are well organized. We can feel that the German pilots are familiar with the tactics of the German army and our ground forces. As long as the enemy infantry is suppressed by our artillery or machine gun fire, the German aircraft will come soon. The dive bombers formed a circular formation and bombed our battle formation and artillery positions in turn.

The above is my preliminary conclusion of studying enemy tactics. I hope that all commanders here will also learn to observe the enemy and study their strengths and weaknesses. Be familiar with their habits, so that you can know yourself and the enemy. I'm finished

As soon as trikov finished his speech, there was another round of thunderous applause. With their applause, everyone agreed with his brilliant summary.