Chapter 505

When trakov told us where we were going, I rolled up the map and stuffed it into the map bag. At the same time, I told the driver, "Comrade driver, let's go to the 62nd army headquarters in weljiaqi village."

The driver nodded and replied in a low voice, "yes, comrade commander."

With the map in place, I looked out of the window and thought about the special mission we were going to carry out. At this time, I really realized how much love Zhukov showed me when he rejected my promotion application. The brutal battle of Stalingrad has just begun, and our army is in a very disadvantageous position. In order to reverse this unfavorable situation as soon as possible, today's supreme command has imposed a particularly heavy punishment on the commanders below, not to mention the division commanders and brigade commanders in the troops below, even the chief of staff and even the commanders of the group army. According to the preferences of the Supreme Commander himself, they say that they should be replaced or even sent to the military court directly.

Maybe it's because I've been looking out of the window and not talking. Trekov asked with concern, "what are you thinking, o'shanina?"

I take my eyes back from the window, try to squeeze a smile at him, want to find a relaxed topic to chat with him. As he was about to open his mouth, it suddenly occurred to him that the purpose of our visit was to remove his old comrade in arms. At this time, some words could not be said casually in front of him. After a moment's hesitation, I asked, "Comrade commander, I heard that you mentioned at the meeting today that you had studied in the Military Academy of vorongze. Is that true?"

Trekov nodded hard and said, "yes, I studied at the Military Academy of vorongze for three years. At present, in the Stalingrad front army, not to mention the commanders of the group army, many of the division commanders, brigadiers and even commanders of the following troops, like me, graduated from the volongzhi military academy. O'shanina, why do you suddenly think of asking this? "

"Comrade commander," I said tentatively to him, what I had in mind, "is the Military Academy of vorongze still recruiting students? If it's possible, I'd be very happy to go to the college for some time. "

"You want to go to the military academy in vorongze now?" There was a slight displeasure on trekov's face when I said that.

I think he misunderstood me and quickly explained: "Comrade commander, I think you have a misunderstanding. I really want to improve my campaign, tactics and military technology level at the Military Academy of vorongzhi, but not now. We have to wait until we win the battle in front of us."

Trikov's face softened, and he said with a kind face, "that's good. As soon as the battle is over, I'll arrange for you to study at the Military Academy of vorongze. I know a lot of instructors in the college. They can take care of you then. "

After thanking him sincerely, I changed the topic in time: "Comrade commander, are you familiar with general lopagin?"

"Yes," said trekov, with a gloomy look, "I knew Comrade lopagin before the war. I always thought he was a strong and decisive commander. I didn't expect that since he became commander of the 62nd army, he had behaved so badly that he not only repeatedly disobeyed the orders of the front army, but even the orders of the supreme command. You know, today I was ordered to carry out the task of removing him from his post. I feel very sad... "

Just then, the jeep slowly stopped. As soon as the car stopped, I asked the driver in the front row, "Comrade driver, have we arrived at weljiaqi village?"

"Report, comrade commander, we haven't arrived yet." The driver replied without looking back.

Listening to the driver's words, trakov asked impatiently, "then why do you stop? Don't you know we have something urgent to get to the 62nd army headquarters as soon as possible?"

The driver looked back and said wrongly, "report, comrade commander, a team of tanks are coming forward. Because the road is too narrow, I purposely stop by the side of the road to make way for them. "

"Tank? What tank? " Trekov opened the door, got out of the car and walked to the middle of the road.

Seeing that trakov got out of the car first, I pushed the other side door and got out of the car, standing on the side of the road and looking forward. I saw a team of about 30 tanks in front of us, driving towards us along the road, with high dust behind them.

Maybe we were found standing on the side of the road, and an armored car in the queue sped up towards us. More than 20 meters away from us, the armored car stopped, then the door opened and a general without a military cap came down. Seeing his black hair, I immediately recognized the person I knew, general Moskalenko, commander of the first group army of tanks.

Seeing him coming towards us, trekov quickly welcomed him, and I trotted with him. They stopped two or three steps apart, saluted and shook hands, then hugged each other tightly. After the separation, I quickly stepped forward and raised my hand to salute moscalenko.

Moskalenko nodded to me, turned and asked trakov, "Comrade trakov, what are you doing here? Is it going to the village of welgache to find general lopagin? "

Trikov nodded. Now that the other party had guessed where he was going, he would no longer hide anything from him. Instead, he told him the truth: "yes, I went to weljaqi village and was ordered to remove the command of Comrade lopagin of the 62nd army and take over the rest of his troops."

"The rest of the army!" Moskalenko said in a sarcastic tone: "general lopagin can command no more than 100 troops. It's the same whether you take over or not."

"What, less than a hundred people left?" Trekov was startled by the data and asked in surprise, "Comrade Moskalenko, what's the matter? Didn't the front army tell me that there are still tens of thousands of divisions?"

Moskalenko sneered twice and asked, "Comrade trakov, do you know lopagin?"

Trekov nodded hard and replied, "yes, I knew him long before the war. In my impression..."

Moskalenko interrupted him and said: "Comrade lopagin before the war, don't mention you, even I know very well, but now..." he pauses for a moment and continues with regret, "he has become so unrecognizable to me."

Upon hearing this, trakov said to him in a relatively calm tone, "general Moskalenko, I hope you will be very responsible and sincerely tell me what you think of general lopagin."

The tank troops passed us, and all the sounds were covered by the roar of huge motors. Both trakov and Moskalenko remained silent at this moment, waiting for the tank troops to leave.

"Comrade trakov, I can't hide it from you," Moskalenko said bitterly after the tanks passed. "The former general lopagin gave people a feeling of confidence and victory, which is why he was appointed commander of the 62nd army. But now, he gave me the impression of panic and depression. When I met him yesterday, he and his headquarters were being pursued by German infantry, so I rescued him. Here, you see, it's the tank unit that just passed. It's my 158th tank brigade. In yesterday's battle, the tracks of four tanks were interrupted by German anti tank guns, so I left these tanks in the defensive positions to the west of the village as fixed turrets to provide the necessary artillery support for the infantry holding the positions. "

"General Moskalenko, where are you going?" trekov asked stiffly, biting his lip

Moskalenko shrugged his shoulders and replied, "who knows, anyway, the order is to go east to Stalingrad, to find a place to supplement, and then to fight again." At this point, he raised his hand, looked at his watch, and urged, "it's getting late, comrade trakov. I suggest you rush to the headquarters as soon as possible, or the Germans will come again later."

Moskalenko shakes hands with trakov to say goodbye, turns to get on the armored car and leaves. Trekov stood silently by the side of the road, staring at the distance as if thinking about something. I didn't disturb him. I just stood quietly behind him.

He turned his head, looked at me and said, "Comrade oshanina, let's go. We are going to the headquarters of the 62nd army. No matter how many people are left, we can bring back as many as we can."

We soon arrived at the village of welgiach, which had been blown up in ruins by German planes. In front of a civilian house that has not yet collapsed, we saw a sentry standing guard and two jeeps that have been parked. It is concluded that the headquarters of the group army is located there.

The sentry saw me and trakov get off the jeep and straighten up to attention.

Without waiting for trekov's command, I went up to the sentry and asked, "Comrade soldier, is the commander here?"

"Yes, comrade commander." The sentry glanced at my rank and trekov's, and reported respectfully“ It's packing up and ready to move right away. "

When we walked into the house that had not yet completely collapsed, lopagin was facing us with his back. He was directing the signalmen to dismantle the telephone line and the radio station, so that he didn't notice our arrival at all. Although in my eyes, the actions of these signalmen have been very sharp, lopagin also urged: "hurry up, hurry up, comrades of the soldiers, your actions are too slow."

Trekov and I stood at the door for a while, looked around the large dilapidated house, then walked straight behind lopagin and asked coldly, "general lopagin, where are you going?"

Lopagin was startled by trakov's voice. He turned around and found that it was trakov standing behind him. He weakly replied, "where else can I go? Comrade trakov, as you can see, the enemy is not far away from us. It may arrive soon. I will take the troops to move. "

"Troops!" Trekov snorted coldly, "I was just about to ask, where are your troops? You know, there are more than 80000 troops in ten divisions under your command. I didn't see them on my way here. Where did they go? Well

Looking at trakov's stern expression, lopagin tried hard to smile, but his smile was unnatural. He stammered: "we should know that our troops and technical equipment are inferior to those of the enemy..."

Before he could finish his defense, trikov interrupted him and announced coldly, "general lopagin, I'll officially inform you now. You have been relieved from your post as commander of the 62nd army. I will take your place. "

Hearing the news, lopagin stood in a daze. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but he didn't say a word. Those originally busy signalmen were stunned when they heard that lopagin had been relieved of his post. They all stood in a daze.

I coughed and went up to them and yelled, "what are you still standing for? Do you want to leave all these precious communication equipment to the Germans? " When I said that, the signalman quickly picked up his things.

At the moment, lopagin seemed to be a teenager, hunched down. He asked weakly, "general trakov, what are you going to do with me?"

"You should go to the front command in Stalingrad at once, where someone will tell you what to do?" Trekov replied stiffly, and then asked, "is there any other commander in the headquarters?"

The dejected lopagin shook his head and answered with a gloomy face, "no, I'm left alone. In addition to these signalmen, there is about a platoon of troops on the defensive position in the west of the village, as well as four heavy tanks with damaged tracks. If they are attacked by the enemy, they will be able to withstand it for a while. "

"Come on, general lopagin, I'll have my messenger sidtorin accompany you to Stalingrad. As for the soldiers in those positions, I will take them to join general colpakchi's forces. " Then he yelled at the door, "private sidtorin, come in."

With his shouts, little sidtorin came in quickly, raised his hand to salute trikov, and asked, "Comrade commander, sidtorin has been ordered to come and wait for your instructions!"

"Sidtorin," trikov pointed to lopagin and said to sidtorin, "your task is to escort general lopagin to Stalingrad."

"And you? Comrade commander. " "Four of us will come out this time," he asked anxiously. "If I leave, who will protect you?"

I went to him, took sidtorin's shoulder, raised his submachine gun, comforted him and said, "sidtorin, don't worry. Although you want to leave, I'm still here. You know, I've been to the front line and fought many battles in person. I'm very competent in such small matters as protecting the safety of the commander. "

Sidtorin looked at trekov and me, and finally decided to say to me, "well, comrade commander, I'll give you the safety of the commander." Seeing that I nodded to him, I went to lopagin's side, stretched out my hand, made a gesture of invitation, and politely said, "Comrade General, please!"

After lopagin left, seeing that the signalmen were almost ready, I urged trakov: "Comrade commander, it's time for us to leave. It's too close to the enemy here. Maybe they'll come up at any time. " As soon as the words fell, there was a fierce gunfire outside.

At that time, I wanted to slap myself hard. It's really crow's mouth. The good ones don't work, the bad ones. As soon as I said that the Germans were coming, they called. Listening to the gunfire outside, I don't know if we can evacuate safely.

Trekov quickly asked the signalmen, "any of you who are familiar with the position in the west of the village, take me to have a look immediately."

A signalman with a walkie talkie on his back came out of the crowd, raised his hand and reported to trikov, "report to commander, my walkie talkie can directly contact the tanks in the position."

After hearing this, trikov was overjoyed. He immediately ordered the signalman to contact the tank soldiers in the position immediately

The signalman said with some embarrassment, "Comrade commander, we have only one platoon of infantry and four tanks in our position. We may not be able to hold the enemy for long. It's not like this. We can leave by car and get in touch with them on the way. "

Hearing the proposal of the signalman, I quickly echoed: "Comrade commander, this soldier is right. Let's move first, and then contact the position on the way."

"But..." as soon as trikov wanted to say something, I interrupted. I grabbed the conversation and said, "nothing. But you are the commander of the group army. If anything happens to you, we will lose a lot. Now don't say anything, just listen to my arrangement. All of you, get on the jeep and get out of here. Don't hesitate, everyone. Carry out it immediately. " In this way, a group of us surrounded trakov and got on the jeep at the door.

When I got on the bus, I found that the jeep was really big. Trakov was sitting in the co driver's seat, and five signalmen and I were facing each other in the back. It didn't seem crowded at all.

I quickly got in touch with the tank soldiers in the position. Wearing earphones, I said loudly to the transmitter, "I'm commander o'shanina, chief of staff of the group army. Who are you?"

Soon a low voice came from the earphone: "Hello, comrade commander. This is lieutenant yambekov of the 158th heavy tank brigade. Do you have any instructions? "

"How many troops of the enemy are attacking you?"

"Report Comrade commander, the enemy has sent out 30 tanks and a motorized infantry, and they are launching a fierce attack on our position." "In the face of the enemy's attack, we won't be able to resist it for long, so I suggest that the headquarters of the group army be transferred immediately," Lieutenant yambekov yelled Just as he was talking, he heard a loud bang from the earphone, and then there was no sound.

I yelled a few more words at the transmitter, but there was no reply. So angry that I took off my earphone, threw the transmitter to the messenger, and said angrily, "Comrade soldier, check immediately to see if the walkie talkie is broken." The signalman took it over and tried to listen to it. He immediately replied, "report commander, the walkie talkie is good. Maybe the signal is bad, so the communication between the other party and us is interrupted." Cui KOV, who was sitting in the co pilot's seat, heard what I said and immediately told the driver, "Comrade driver, find a higher hillside and drive up. We need to immediately resume contact with the position."