Chapter 577

As soon as Zhukov left, I couldn't wait to call several regimental commanders to the headquarters. When they heard Zhukov's latest order that I announced, they were dumbfounded.

After a short silence, verol, the political commissar of the second regiment, tentatively asked: "Comrade division commander, if we want to counterattack the positive German army, will the group army or the front army supply us with troops and technical equipment?"

Hearing verol's question, I immediately remembered that Zhukov held my hand tightly when he left and said with emotion, "Rita, please remember that you can only use the existing forces in this counterattack, and I will not send you any successor troops." Thinking of this, I shook my head and said to her regretfully, "political commissar veroll, we can only rely on our own strength to fight back this time. Our superiors will not provide any help for us."

After hearing this, verol showed a disappointed expression on her face. She said anxiously: "without reserve forces, our poorly equipped and poorly trained division is doomed to fail in launching an attack on the 4th group army of Hote's tanks. Why don't you explain this to Comrade Zhukov? "

"Even if you say that, it will not help. Comrade political instructor, you should know that the situation near Stalingrad is very serious. The troops in each defensive area are seriously insufficient. Facing the enemy's attack, they are fighting very hard. In order to reverse this unfavourable situation, it is necessary for troops like ours, which are currently not heavily engaged in combat, to constantly launch active attacks on the enemy, to contain the German forces to the maximum extent, and to reduce the pressure of the friendly forces on positive defense. "

"But, comrade division," he was interrupted by Pugachev when he wanted to say something else. He impatiently retorted to his regiment commissar: "commissar, if you can say it, comrade Division has already said it. Do you need to remind me? Please keep quiet and listen to the arrangements made by our teachers and comrades. "

When we came back from the rescue mission yesterday, the 6000 recruits supplied by the group army arrived, because considering that the second regiment had lost too much personnel, not only the battle backbone but also the commander of the regiment. In order to strengthen the leadership of the regiment, I appointed the political instructor verol as the acting political commissar of the second regiment.

Hearing my appointment, verol was still a little reluctant. She chuckled and said, "Rita, I don't want to be an acting political commissar of the second regiment. I just want to stay in the division headquarters and be your deputy to help you command the battle."

As for her unwillingness, I just simply said: "instructor veroll, what the independent division wants is an army that is loyal to Comrade Stalin and is capable of fighting. To transform these prisoners from Gulag concentration camp, we need political workers with rich political theories like you."

After listening to me, she reported to the second regiment without saying a word. Originally, I thought that she and Pugachev could get along well with each other. However, from their performance at the meeting today, I found that there were many contradictions between them. But now that the commanders are short of manpower, I can only turn a blind eye. When the second lieutenant's training team comes, I will separate them.

I turned to shejerikov and said, "chief, how are your regiment's fortifications going?" Since the troops entered this area, I repeatedly stressed the importance of fortifications to several of my commanders. When I asked about this, I just wanted to know if they carried out my orders to the letter.

Xiejerikov quickly stood up and replied, "report to division commander, all the fortifications have been completed, and our regiment has built three lines of defense. The first line of defense, with barbed wire and minefields, could resist the first wave of German invasion; The second line of defense was a trench about five meters wide and two meters deep dug by the soldiers, which could block German tanks and armored vehicles; In the third line of defense, I deployed light and heavy machine guns and mortars, and the firepower can cover the second line of defense. When the German infantry break through our first line of defense, I will order mortar fire to stop them. When the enemy is badly hit, I will order five companies in the front line to attack and encircle the enemy who has been badly hit by our army. "

"Well done, commander chejerikov." After listening to the report, I couldn't help praising him: "in terms of deployment and firepower, your deployment is perfect. However, the only disadvantage is that the firepower structure is obviously weak. If the German forces attack by small forces, it is not a big problem. If the German forces attack with large forces and are supported by tanks, artillery and aircraft, our position will be difficult to hold. "

With these words, I turned around and asked kosja, "third commander, how are your regiment's positions being built?"

Kosja also quickly stood up and replied: "report to the division commander, our regiment's position is similar to that of the first regiment. However, in addition to building artillery holes in each trench, we have also built many Tibetan soldier holes in the rear of the position, so that we can hide the surplus troops in the regiment."

"Good, good!" After praising kosja, I was just about to ask the acting head of the second regiment, Pugachev. When I saw verol sitting next to him, I suddenly remembered that the mixed regiment of Vinica Infantry School where she worked had been under siege of the enemy for three days and had to break through the siege after running out of ammunition and food. It seems that their fortifications must have something to learn from, So I humbly asked veroll: "political commissar veroll, I have a question to ask you!"

When verol heard me talking to her like this, he stood up and said, "Sir, if you have anything, please tell me. I will tell you everything."

I nodded and asked curiously, "political commissar verol, I remember when we first met, you said that the mixed regiment composed of your Vinica Infantry School held fast in the enemy's encirclement for three days, and finally had to give up the position to break through because of running out of ammunition and food. Am I right? "

"Absolutely right, comrade teacher." Verol didn't know why I asked, but he nodded.

"I want to know what kind of fortifications your regiment built at that time, and why they could resist for three days under the strong German offensive?"

After listening to my question, verol took out her notepad and pencil from her briefcase, turned to a blank page and explained to us with a pencil: "the top of the hillside where our regiment was at that time was a flat platform. As a rule, our fortifications should be built on the edge of the hillside platform, so that we can have a clear view of the dynamic of the attacking German army, and at the same time, it is convenient to play our firepower from a commanding position and kill the German army. But after discussion, our leader and political commissar showed the circular fortification to the center of the flat platform on the top of the slope. In this way, the attacking German army could not see us at the foot of the hillside, and neither artillery nor heavy machine gun fire could pose a threat to us. As soon as the attacking German army rushed up the steep slope and showed up, it had been knocked down by the intensive firepower of our army before we could see where our army was. So the Germans attacked for three days, and there were German bodies all over the hillside, but they were unable to take our positions. "

"Is there a lot of casualties in your regiment?" Gaidar, who had never spoken, couldn't help asking.

Veroll nodded and replied, "although the German long-range artillery and infantry firepower can't do much damage to our defenders, they have airplanes and mortars. The bombing of airplanes and a large amount of warping firepower such as mortars reduced our regiment by nearly 40% on the first day. "

When he heard verol's words, Pugachev was surprised. He didn't care to quarrel with verol. Then he asked, "if the troops are reduced by 40% on the first day, then on the third day, all your troops will be gone."

Verol waved his hand and said, "after the first day of fighting, the commander of the regiment called a meeting of the commanders of each company to discuss the Countermeasures for dealing with the enemy's attack. A battalion commander pointed out at the meeting that our casualties during the day were mainly caused by German aircraft bombing and mortar bombardment. In this case, we should dig more air raid shelters in our positions to reduce the casualties during German air strikes. "

"Does it work?" Even shejerikov, who had always been steady, could not help interrupting when he heard this.

"Of course it works." Verol replied without hesitation: "it is because we have dug a lot of gun holes in the position, so the total number of casualties of our regiment in the next two days did not exceed 300."

"It's a miracle that less than 300 people died in two days." Gaidar said to me with emotion: "Sir, we should also learn from the mixed regiment and build our fortifications into ring fortifications that are easy to defend but difficult to attack."

As for his proposal, I didn't oppose it. I just nodded and said faintly, "Lieutenant Colonel gedar, there are many architectural engineers in your regiment. They can gather their wisdom and study how to build the fortification. You know, our division will move to mamayev post in the near future. Judging from the current offensive situation of the German army, it will become the focus of contention between the enemy and us. Therefore, having perfect and solid fortifications is of great help to our defense. "

After listening to me, Gaidar asked verol, "Comrade Deputy commissar, how far is your circular fortification from the edge of the hillside?"

Verol immediately understood what he meant: "the distance is about 70 meters. German Grenades can't be dropped that far, and curved weapons such as mortars can only be fired blindly, which is not a big threat to the position."

Hearing the conversation between Gaidar and verol, it suddenly occurred to me that when Li Yunlong attacked Yamazaki brigade, the Japanese army was hiding in similar fortifications? Fortunately, because of the cultural differences between the East and the west, the Germans would not have the same thinking as Comrade Li. They sent troops to advance in the way of civil engineering, and then used hand grenades to blow up the ring fortifications. Otherwise, it is hard to say how many people would be left in the mixed regiment.

Seeing that the issue of fortifications has been almost discussed, I would like to make a concluding speech at the end of this paper: "I will just talk about fortifications for the time being. The fortifications of chejerikov and kosja are the standard configuration in the course of the Military Academy of vorongze. If they can be combined with the circular fortifications mentioned by political commissar verol, then our chances of winning will be higher. Next, we will continue to discuss the task of counterattacking against the enemy face-to-face, which our superior assigned to our division. "

After my words, the room fell into silence again. Seeing that no one spoke, I casually named a commander and asked him to answer my question: "Comrade Pugachev, please tell me your opinion."

"Comrade division commander, the Germans have suffered a lot from our division several times. When they know that we have built fortifications in this area, they will certainly build fortifications to prevent possible counter attacks. We can only wait for them to leave the solid fortifications and launch an attack on our positions. We should quickly rush out of the fortifications and take short raids to wipe out the enemy's effective forces. "

"Comrade Pugachev's opinion is good, and I support it." After listening to Pugachev's words, kosgachev first expressed his support, "the tactics of fortress to fortress and attack to attack have always been the magic weapon for our army to win."

"I also support Comrade Pugachev's views." After kosga's statement, even verol, who had conflicts with Pugachev, expressed his support.

I can't help humming when I hear the term "short assault". I know in my heart that this kind of tactics is a kind of wrong pure defense tactics. A few years ago, it caused the failure of the fifth anti "encirclement and suppression". If I listen to their opinions and adopt this kind of tactics, then the annihilation of the independent division will not be far away.

Seeing that Gaidar also stood up and wanted to express his position, I quickly raised my hand to stop him, and said firmly in an unquestionable manner: "commander Gaidar, stop talking. Pugachev's tactics are not suitable for our division. When the training and weaponry of the troops are not as good as those of the Germans, it is not worth the loss to use such tactics to compete with the enemy. "

"Comrade division commander," shejerikov said on his own initiative, ignoring Gaidar, who was standing beside him with a stiff face. "Judging from the series of victories we have won since the establishment of the independent division, we have adopted the tactics of ambush and sneak attack in all battles with less casualties and more seizures. I have an idea. I don't know whether to say it or not. "

"Say what you have." Seeing that shijerikov stood by my side without hesitation and supported me, I couldn't help smiling with satisfaction and encouraging him to say, "go on and tell the commanders what you think."

With my encouragement, shijerikov said with a clear mind: "comrades, I don't know if you have noticed just now. When the division commander explained the task, he once specifically mentioned that general Zhukov's original words were:" I only give you the task of counterattack. You are the master of how to fight. No one will interfere in your decision. "

After listening to Xie jielikov's words, several commanders here all nodded and said, "yes, but what's the use of that? In any case, if we do not provide technical equipment, we will not have friendly forces to cooperate with us in our operations. "

Xiejerikov smile, and then said: "in addition to political commissar verol, who is not an old man who has fought several battles with the division commander? Don't you even know the division commander's way of using troops? In addition to covering the retreat of the group army and having a hard fight face to face with the Germans in the two days when we were guards, we used ambush and sneak attack in the rest of the time. Facts have proved that this tactic is effective for our division. Originally, half of the soldiers in the army had no weapons, but after several battles, almost all the soldiers had weapons of different systems in their hands. What does this mean? "

"Well, I say Sergeant Sergeant jerichoff," kosga said impatiently as he heard this. "Don't go around all the time. Can you just get to the point?"

"Don't worry, commander kosga," verol said unexpectedly for sergeikov. "I think I understand what sergeant sergeikov means. What he wanted to say was that the counterattack against the German army was totally different from the way it used to be. Since we don't have the support of artillery, tanks and air force, if we want to win, we must adopt unconventional tactics such as night attack or ambush. Colonel chejerikov, am I right? "

Seeing that the female commander fully understood her intention, she replied with a smile, "absolutely right, political commissar verol."

"Sir, I have another question." Before I could say what I wanted to say, Gaidar took the lead again.

"Go ahead, comrade Gaidar."

"As the German tanks of the fourth group army suffered a great loss from our division, they will strengthen their defense. What I want to ask is, how can we secretly move our troops near their camp and surprise them to attack without the help of German air reconnaissance and ground reconnaissance

Gaidar's words immediately stopped all the people including me. Yes, the German army is not a fool either. They have suffered so much from our division. If they don't know how to take a cut and gain wisdom, then all the German commanders can go back home and retire.

Just as everyone was silent, basmanov's voice calling for a report came from the door. I quickly called out: "come in, Captain basmanov."

Basmanov walked into the headquarters, but I was surprised to find that he didn't come in alone. Behind him were two women with bandages.

I went to meet him. Without waiting for him to salute, I looked at two women and asked, "Comrade captain, what's the matter? Where are the people from?"

Basmanov looked back at the two women behind him and replied, "Mr. reporter, just now a group of common people wanted to pass our division's defense area and were stopped by us. After investigation, we learned that they were all refugees who had escaped from Stalingrad city. They wanted to go south to find a suitable ferry to the East Bank of Volga River. "

After listening to basmanov's words, I thought I had heard the wrong thing. I quickly asked, "Comrade captain, what did you say? These are the refugees who escaped from Stalingrad, not to Stalingrad? "

"Yes, sir." Busmanov gave me a positive answer. I went up to a slightly older woman and asked softly, "comrades, I want to ask you, why do you want to escape from Stalingrad?" Hearing my question, the woman not only didn't answer my question, but covered her face and sobbed in a low voice. Seeing that she couldn't find any useful information here, I came to another young woman and asked with a kind face: "girl, can you tell me your name?"“ My name is zolova. I'm a resident of Stalingrad The young woman was obviously braver than her companion, and she answered my question in a low voice“ Then why do you want to escape from the city? "“ These days, the German bombed Stalingrad every day. Thousands of bombs fell from the sky. It's really terrible. It's like there's a storm and the whole city is paralyzed. We hid in the air raid shelter, heard the sound of bomb explosion outside, and saw that the sky was full of smoke and haze. Even in broad daylight, it looked like night. " Listen to her say so, I can't help but frown and ask: "didn't the municipal Party committee organize your evacuation?" Zorova bit her teeth, shook her head and said: "the staff of the Soviet Area told me quietly that the superior had given an order that if the evacuation was started or the mines were laid in the factory, the residents would think that the army was going to hand over Stalingrad to the Germans, causing unnecessary panic, so the superior ordered that the evacuation should never be carried out."“ How did you get out now? " I asked with concern“ German planes bombed the city for several days. No complete building could be found in the city. The streets were full of broken bodies. It was not until then that the leaders of the municipal Party committee ordered that the residents of the city be evacuated to the East Bank of the Volga River. But because there were too many people to evacuate and there were not enough ships, thousands of people were killed by German bombs while waiting for the ferry at the dock. We have no choice but to leave the city and look for a new ferry to the south to get to the east bank as soon as possible. "“ If you go further south, you will be the German defense area. They will kill you all. " I do not know when to come to our side of veroll, worried said“ Comrade commander, don't worry. " The woman who sobbed just now wiped a handful of tears and said intermittently, "I'm a local. I know there's a hidden ferry by the river. We can cross the river safely." When I heard her saying this, I suddenly had an idea in my mind that since she was a local, maybe she knew that there was some path that ordinary people didn't know, and that she could quietly touch the German garrison. Thinking of this, I asked the woman curiously, "comrades, is there any unknown path from here to orlovka besides the official highway?" The woman didn't answer me. Instead, she put a handkerchief on her nose and asked zuolova, "zuolova, do you know such a path?" Zorova nodded and said, "yes, I'm a staff member of the Survey Bureau. When I was building roads, I used to come here with engineers to survey the terrain." I'm overjoyed to hear her say that. It doesn't take much effort to find a place. We were just worried about how to get close to the German camp. Here comes a common man who is familiar with the terrain. Shejerikov, after listening to them, showed even more exaggeration, and even yelled "Wula!" in unison The two common people were scared to be at a loss.