When I saw that the tent where the women's communication class was located had become a crater, I was filled with anger. When I felt the sweetness of my throat, I chuckled and spat out a mouthful of blood. Then I just feel the whirl of heaven and earth, and fall back as soon as I feel soft. Fortunately, he was helped by Pugachev, who was standing beside him, so he didn't fall to the ground.
Razumeyeva also came and took my arm, wiped the tears on her face, and asked with concern, "teacher, are you ok?"
Just when I saw that the German planes bombed and strafed the civilians gathered on the wharf, I was filled with righteous indignation. Then the bombing of mamayev post left more than a dozen female signalmen in their infancy. I was in a hurry and would spit blood. However, after spitting blood, I felt a lot more relaxed. I gave her a grateful smile and said softly, "Lieutenant razumeyeva, I'm ok. Thank you for your concern."
With these words, I caught a glimpse of the big craters in the ravine. My heart became heavy again when I was just getting better. In a low voice, I told Pugachev, "Comrade captain, take some soldiers with you and go to restrain the remains of the women soldiers." When Pugachev promised to leave, I told him in the back, "if possible, finally find some coffins for them."
After Pugachev left, I turned to ask razumeyeva, "how many people are left in the division communication company?"
Razumeyeva thought for a while and replied, "there are still several communication classes in the third and fourth regiments, and there are about 30 people left. At first, the communication class soldiers from the 64th army came with me. Now there are only three people left, including me, and the rest are newly added later. "
My eyes looked at the soldiers who were busy treating the wounded and restraining the dead on the hillside, and said faintly, "Lieutenant razumeyeva, try to supplement the communication company as soon as possible. In the coming days, the battle we are facing here will be very cruel. If communication is not guaranteed, we will not be able to win the battle. "
Just as I was talking, I suddenly saw a group of people coming from the east of the hillside in the distance. In front of them were some soldiers in military uniforms, followed by people carrying suitcases and bags. Razumeyeva obviously also saw this scene, she was surprised to say: "what's the matter, why there are so many people?"
I shook my head and said, "come on, Lieutenant razumeyeva, let's go over and see what's going on."
Twenty or thirty steps ahead, I saw two soldiers with submachine guns in front of me, accompanied by a German officer in a flying suit. More than a dozen soldiers followed hand in hand, blocking the coming civilians. Seeing me standing in front, a soldier beside the prisoner reached out and pushed him hard from behind, urging: "don't dally, go quickly."
When he came to my front and back, the soldier on the left raised his hand to salute and reported to me, "Comrade division, that's him. It was his plane that just bombed the civilians on the dock. As soon as we saw his plane shot down by our air defense forces, the battalion commander, Captain horushov, ordered us to catch the pilot who parachuted
After he finished, he saw that the captured German pilot was still arrogant. He slapped the other side on the back of the head angrily and yelled: "Why are you still standing here? Don't you salute the Colonel?"
The German pilot gave me a scornful look, put his hands on his back, raised his head, and said defiantly, "why? You know, as a German officer, I will not salute the commander of the Russian army. "
Hearing that he was speaking Russian, I couldn't help taking a step forward and asked him curiously, "officer, do you speak Russian?" Before he could answer, I raised my voice and asked him, "Why are you doing this? Why bomb docks and kill unarmed civilians? "
The pilot looked down at me and said, "if you had handed over Stalingrad earlier, we would not have bombed this city, and the accidental injury to civilians would have been completely avoided. But judging from the present situation, you can't keep Stalingrad. Sooner or later, we will occupy it. "
I'm not interested in discussing with the German pilot whether Stalingrad can hold on. I look at the civilians who are trying to break through the soldier's cordon and ask coldly, "what's your name?"
"Jensen, Luftwaffe Lieutenant Rudy Jensen."
"Comrade teacher, what should we do with him?" Razumeyeva, glaring at Lieutenant Jensen, asked in a low voice.
Razumeyeva's problem reminds me that the bombing of German planes caused countless casualties among the civilians gathered at the wharf, turned the ferry into a hell on earth, and the dozens of female soldiers who were bombed to death. At the thought of this, I was so angry that I raised my hand and asked the soldier who had spoken to me to come.
Just as I wanted to order him to shoot the German pilot on the spot, a nervous cry came from behind: "Sir, please wait, please wait."
I turned to see Grimes, Beckman, gretka, Mikhail and a group of soldiers scurrying up the south slope. They were all wearing German uniforms. I really don't know how they got through the friendly line.? If I didn't see the soldier who came to the front of the line holding the flag of the independent division high in his hand, I would also regard them as German.
Beckman went between me and lieutenant Tucson, and said frankly, "Sir, this pilot has been captured. Please give him the treatment that an officer should have."
Although Beckman spoke Russian very well, the sharp eared Lieutenant Tucson recognized that he was not a Soviet and asked in surprise, "are you German, captain?"
Beckman turned to look at the air force lieutenant, nodded and said with certainty, "yes, Mr. lieutenant, some of our officers from the 103rd infantry regiment." At this point, he seemed to feel something was wrong. He quickly changed to German and chatted with the air force lieutenant.
After they talked for a while, Beckman turned to me and said sincerely, "Sir, I've talked to this air force lieutenant. Everything he does is under orders. If he doesn't shoot at the dock, he will be sent to the military court after he goes back."
An old lady with a child in her arms broke through the cordon temporarily set up by the soldiers, staggered up to me and roared hysterically, "Comrade Colonel, you see, they did all this. They are not human beings, they are animals. You can decide for us! " Then she handed the baby to us. This is a beautiful little girl, but in her face, which is blackened by the smoke, there is no sign of life.
"Teacher, you see, the little girl has..." razumeyeva didn't finish her words, so she blocked her mouth with her fist to avoid crying out loud because she couldn't control her emotions.
I looked at Beckman pleading for Lieutenant Tucson and said, "Captain, I want to ask you, if this old man is carrying your child in his arms, what kind of decision would you make?"
With that, I turned around and walked in the direction of the headquarters without looking back. The soldiers obviously understood what I meant. They let go of the guard line, which was made up of arm in arm. They let the insulted civilians yell and rush to the prisoners who were unable to resist. In the "bang bang" sound of the body being punched and kicked, the air force Lieutenant Tucson yelled: "don't give me to them, Captain, please! Please don't give me to them, captain. I beg you!... "
I ignored the cry of the prisoner and walked on. When I lifted the curtain of the headquarters, the scream of the prisoners in the distance stopped.
I was followed by three former German officers in addition to Mikhail. After I politely asked them to sit down, I solemnly asked Mikhail: "Lieutenant Mikhail, I ask you why you are still wearing German uniforms. Don't you worry about misunderstanding with our troops when you cross the friendly defense line, leading to an exchange of fire?"
Mikhayev quickly stood up from the stone bench, straightened up and said to me, "report to Mr. commander, this is the situation. When the first and second regiments you led, as well as the third and fourth regiments of major kosga and major gedar, set out, small groups of German troops have been found on the road leading here. For the sake of safety, commander Oleg and commissar verol decided to let us continue to wear German uniforms and quickly rush to the new defense area. Before passing through the friendly defense area, commander Oleg sent people to inform the friendly forces that our troops returned from the enemy's rear after carrying out their tasks, so many people were wearing German uniforms. I hope they will not be nervous and avoid conflicts. "
"Do you know where the third and fourth regiments are? Where are Colonel Oleg and commissar verol first? " At present, except one regiment and two regiments, I don't know where the three regiments and four regiments are, so as soon as he finished, he asked in a voice.
After listening to me, Mikhail shook his head and said, "I don't know where the three regiments and four regiments are, because we didn't see them at all on the way here. Commander Oleg and political commissar verol are placing troops at the foot of the hillside. I'm afraid you'll be in a hurry. Let's let you know first
"Do you have communication equipment in your regiment?" After the German bombing, it can be said that all the communication equipment on the position was destroyed, so I had to go to the hospital in a hurry, hoping that the fifth regiment would have redundant communication equipment, so that I could resume contact with the group headquarters and the first regiment as soon as possible.
Mikhail yev thought about it, nodded and replied, "Comrade teacher, I think there should be."
For his answer, I said discontentedly: "there is, there is no, what is there?"
After listening to this, Mikhail yev replied with a bitter smile: "Comrade division commander, do you forget that I don't belong to the fifth regiment, but the company commander of the engineering company of the division, so I don't know much about the situation of the fifth regiment."
What he said reminded me that it was true. No wonder Oleg and verol asked him to report to me first. It turned out that Mikhail yev belonged to the army directly under the division. I looked at the other three Germans in the headquarters, and it was obviously inappropriate to give them the next task, so I told Mikhail: "Comrade second lieutenant, you should go to Oleg and verol immediately, and ask them to report to my headquarters immediately. If you have communication equipment, bring them together, and I need to get in touch with other regiments immediately."
"Yes After a clear promise, Mikhail turned and ran out of the headquarters.
When there were only me and three other German officers left in the headquarters, I sat down at the table again and looked at Beckman. Seeing that he was still depressed, I said coldly, "Captain Beckman, are you still disappointed about that air force Lieutenant?"
Beckman looked up at me, did not speak, just a wry smile, no doubt default my guess is correct. Seeing that he didn't reply, I went on: "Captain Beckman, when the German planes bombed the docks and mamayev post, you didn't arrive. If you had seen the crimes committed by the German air force against civilians, you would not have pleaded for the pilot. "
"But, captain." Beckman said unconvinced: "that pilot has been captured by you. You can send someone to send him to the prison camp, instead of giving up control of the captured pilot and causing him to be killed by the civilians who are out of control. "
Beckman's complaints were directly ignored by me. I don't regret the decision to hand over the pilot to the civilians. Moreover, even if there were no civilians coming from the dock at that time, I would not hesitate to order the pilot to be shot and avenge our dead commanders and fighters.
Mihayev soon came to the headquarters with Oleg, verol and my guard battalion commander basmanov. When so many people came in, the small headquarters was very crowded. When I saw Pugachev lift the curtain from the outside, I immediately ordered him: "Captain Pugachev, take gramus and Beckman to have a rest first." Although these Germans have turned to us, I don't want to let them know what will happen next, so I tried to get rid of them.
After Pugachev and captain gramus left, basmanov had rushed to say, "Comrade division, I have a problem with you," without waiting for Oleg to speak
"Yes, what is it? Let's hear it
Basmanov chuckled and said, "I'm your guard battalion commander, but I find that you can't remember it. You don't like to take guards everywhere. If that's the case, what's the point of my being a battalion commander? I might as well be a company commander in an ordinary company. "
When I heard basmanov's complaint, I laughed with embarrassment and apologized to him, saying, "Captain basmanov, it was my fault that I always ignored you as the commander of the guard battalion. You can rest assured that from today on, wherever I go, I will take the soldiers of the guard camp. In that case, you won't have any more opinions, will you? "
Seeing what I said, basmanov didn't say any more, just showed a proud smile on his face.
At this time, Oleg got a chance to speak. He asked busily, "Comrade division, on our way here, we saw German planes bombing mamayev post from a distance. How many casualties did our troops have?"
My mood, which had just improved, became heavy again because of his words. I calmly and seriously said: "because the enemy's aircraft had flown over the Highlands twice in a row to bomb the wharf on the Volga River before bombing us, when the enemy aircraft appeared for the third time, everyone, including me, relaxed their vigilance, resulting in heavy losses in the enemy's sudden air attack."
Verol looked at my face and asked tentatively, "Comrade division, are the casualties of the other four regiments serious?"
"Although I have not received specific reports of casualties, judging from the situation just after the bombing, the number of casualties of regiments 1 and 2 has reached about one third." Speaking of this, I suddenly thought of veroll's question, asking for four regiments instead of two. I frowned and asked strangely, "political commissar veroll, on your way here, didn't you see the three regiments and four regiments of kosja and Gaidar?"
Oleg and verol shook their heads together, indicating that they had not seen the two regiments on the road.
When I knew the whereabouts of the two regiments were unknown, I couldn't help getting a little flustered. I even asked Oleg, "commander, do you still have communication equipment in your regiment?"
Hearing my question, Oleg nodded and replied, "yes, we brought the telephone when we came. At the door, we met lieutenant razumeyeva. She and our regiment's signalmen are setting up the communication antenna. I think she will come in in a few minutes. "
As soon as Oleg's voice fell, razumeyeva came in from the outside. Behind her, a male signalman was carrying a telephone. Without waiting for my order, she asked the soldier to put the telephone on the stone table at the door. After a simple debugging, she turned to me and asked, "Comrade division, which regiment do you want to contact first?"
"A regiment, a regiment of lieutenant colonel chejerikov." As for the three regiments and four regiments that have lost contact for the time being, I still have no energy to pay attention to them. The first thing I want to know now is the casualties of one regiment in the main position during the air raid just now.
Fortunately, the group's telephone was not damaged in the air raid, and razumeyeva soon got in touch with the other party. When I heard the lieutenant say that sergeant chejerikov was on the line, I quickly walked over, took the earphone and transmitter in her hand, and cried out, "Hello, Hello, Sergeant chejerikov, can you hear me? I'm Colonel oshanina
"Sir, I can hear you very clearly." I could hear the voice of chejerikov clearly in my headphones. I quickly asked, "how are the casualties of your regiment?"“ "Report to division commander," said shijerikov with a heavy tone, "because during the air raid, most of the soldiers were digging fortifications and were caught off guard, resulting in heavy casualties. According to our simple statistics, there are about 700 casualties, of which 400 died on the spot and more than 100 were seriously injured. Even if they are cured, they will leave permanent disabilities. " Although I had a general understanding of the casualties of regiment 1 and regiment 2 for a long time, my heart still sank when I heard the report of shejerikov. On the first day when I entered the Highlands, I was killed and injured more than 1000 people without even seeing the German shadow. If the German army used aircraft and artillery to saturate the Highlands, We don't know how many casualties we have. No wonder so many divisions and brigades in history were lost after two days of holding fast on the highlands. It turned out that they were all sacrificed under the heavy German artillery fire and the indiscriminate bombardment of aircraft“ Comrade teacher, comrade teacher, are you still there? " Because I was too preoccupied and didn't speak for a long time, I was misunderstood by Xie jerikov on the other side that I was offline. He called loudly one after another, and then he came back to me“ I'm still here, Lieutenant sergeant chejerikov I said faintly, "how are your regiments doing?"“ The trenches on the hillside and the top of the mountain had been dug, but unexpectedly, most of them collapsed when they were bombed by German planes, and they had to be repaired before they could be used. To the south of the hillside, we have dug several caves for Tibetan soldiers, each of which can hold one or two platoons of troops. "“ This is far from enough. Comrade xiejerikov, the fortifications of your regiment are far from enough. " I heard that only one or two companies of troops could be put into the dug hideout, so I was very dissatisfied and said, "think for yourself how many people there are in your regiment. If the surplus troops can't be hidden, can you put them on the hillside and let the German planes be the targets for bombing? So you have to build a cave for two or three companies before dawn tomorrow. "“ I see, sir. " "I immediately arranged for a special person to excavate the Tibetans' cave," he said simply As soon as I finished the call with shijerikov, I immediately ordered razumeyeva: "Comrade second lieutenant, immediately contact the third and fourth regiments of kosja and gedar to see where they are now and why they have not arrived at mamayev post so late." Maybe it was because I suffered a big loss in the German air raid today, and the third and fourth regiments didn't arrive at the designated position, so I spoke very sternly. Razumeyeva quickly contacted lieutenant colonel gedar. When she said she had contacted each other, I said to myself, "thank God, I have contacted them at last. Otherwise, I thought they had crossed the river to the other side of Volga." With headphones on, I went straight to the transmitter and said, "Hello, Colonel gedar, this is colonel oshanina. Tell me, your fourth regiment, and commander kosga's third regiment, where are they now? " Intense gunfire came from the earphones, and Gaidar yelled: "report, comrade division commander, I and the third regiment of Colonel kosga are on the 107.5 highland to the west of mamayev hill. We are organizing troops to fight back against the German army who just occupied the highland."“ What? " Gaidar's words surprised me. I said angrily, "nonsense, it's nonsense. Your task is to go to the mamayev post to set up defense. Now what are you doing in the 107.5 highland? "“ Comrade division commander, "Gaidar, who was scolded by me, tried his best to explain to me through the wireless microphone:" if the Germans occupied the 107.5 highland, they could not only drive straight into Stalingrad, but also their troops would detour eastward, which would cut off all the links between our division and the main forces of the group army in the city. "“ Who ordered you to attack highland 107.5? " Although what he said was reasonable, I said discontentedly: "you know, it's the defense area of the friendly forces. They are there to resolutely block the Germans. Do you need you and kosja to meddle in their business?"“ It's not like that, comrade division. It was because the defenders who held the high ground retreated that the German took the high ground. The scouts I sent found out this situation. After they came back to report it to me, Lieutenant Colonel kosga and I decided to change the direction of our March, attack highland 107.5, eliminate the Germans who occupied the Highlands, and ensure the safety of the flank of mamayev post. "“ What do you mean, the original garrison on the high ground has retreated? " I can't believe my ears“ Yes, comrade division commander, the garrison retreated without fighting. "