Chapter 625

The howitzers of the two artillery battalions left behind by the defeated German army were still in line, which made my heart itch. These are more than 20 heavy howitzers. If they are placed in our position, when the German army attacks again, they can be destroyed by the heavy artillery crackling wildly, whether it is German tanks or infantry. It shouldn't be too late. Before the Germans recover, I'll send someone to pull these guns back immediately.

Thinking of this, I rushed to the phone and contacted shejerikov on the high ground. As soon as I heard the familiar voice, I couldn't wait to urge him: "Hey, comrade commander, the German attack was repulsed by us. When they ran away, they left all the equipment of the two artillery battalions behind. I order you to send someone immediately to bring all these guns back to me. "

"What? The enemy dropped the cannon and ran away? " Although shejerikov is in a more advanced position than I am, his understanding of the battlefield on the south slope of the highland where he is commanding comes from the reports of his subordinates at the forefront, so he is slower than me in getting intelligence. Now he heard that the German had left his artillery on the position and fled. He was also very excited. He immediately expressed his position to me excitedly: "Comrade division, please rest assured that I will send troops to get these artillery back immediately."

As soon as I put down the phone, kirilov, who was standing at the observation port with a telescope, called to me in a hurry: "Comrade oshanina, come and have a look."

I didn't know why. I went to him and looked in the direction of his fingers. I saw groups of soldiers jumping out of the trench and rushing down to the foot of the mountain. Seeing this scene, I couldn't help laughing. Then I said to kirilov, "Comrade political commissar, this lieutenant colonel xiejerikov is really acute. As soon as I called him, he sent troops out. I'm afraid that if the action is slow, these spoils will be robbed by friendly forces."

But kirilov shook his head and said, "Comrade oshanina, you are wrong. Before you put down the phone, I saw the commanders and fighters come out of the position and run towards the foot of the mountain. According to my estimation, Lt. Col. chejerikov may not have time to call his subordinates

"Who is that?" As far as I know about the Soviet army, the commanders and fighters below dare not act casually without orders from the superior. Since it wasn't Lt. Col. chejerikov who gave the order, who would it be?

While I was frowning and pondering, kirilov said lightly: "although the chief has not yet had time to give orders, the political commissar can. Moreover, according to the report of lieutenant colonel shejerikov, political commissar Comrade oberstein has been at the forefront with his commanders and fighters since the beginning of the battle. Maybe he gave the order to attack. "

According to kirilov, political commissar oberstein is a commander with rich combat experience. If he did not know how to send troops to attack in time under such circumstances, general meletzkov would not let him serve as the instructor of the second lieutenant's training team.

I turned around and saw that Pugachev was still standing in the observation post, so I told him, "Captain Pugachev, what the German army left on the battlefield are heavy guns. If there is no truck to pull them back, it is very difficult to get them back. I command you to lead two companies at once to help the officers and men of the first regiment get the guns back. " Pugachev agreed and turned away from the observation post.

After Pugachev left, kirilov put down his telescope and asked me, "Comrade oshanina, what shall we do next?"

I looked out and saw that the Gunners of the big gun in the hollow were cleaning the shells and empty wooden boxes. So I nuzzled in that direction and said, "I think we should go to see the anti tank gun that has made great achievements and talk to the Gunners again."

"I agree." Kirilov readily agreed. Then he urged me, "let's go."

As we were about to leave the observation post, Na Jia, the operator, stopped me and said politely, "report to Mr. commander, it's captain Morozov, the battalion commander of the artillery battalion. He said that he had something important to report to you."

I took the earphone and the transmitter and yelled, "Hello, is that Captain Morozov? This is colonel o'shanina. Do you have anything to report to me? "

"Report to Mr. division commander," murozov's excited voice came from the earphone, "do you see the more than twenty heavy howitzers on the battlefield?"

"Yes, Captain Morozov." I said lightly, "I have ordered the first and second regiments to go out and pull the cannons back to our position."

Morozov hesitated and said, "Comrade division commander, as you know, I'm the commander of the artillery battalion now. We can't just let the infantry do the job of carrying artillery. I think our battalion should also send someone to do it."

"Then send someone." After I finished this sentence, a bold idea suddenly appeared in my mind, and then I said, "after the howitzer is pulled back, I'll give it to you. If you can gather enough people, I can promote your artillery battalion to artillery regiment, and you are the artillery commander. "

"What, artillery, artillery, artillery regiment, commander?" My words made Morozov stutter.

"Yes, Captain Morozov, as long as you can draw enough people from the division, I can promote your artillery battalion to artillery regiment." At this point, I looked at the artillery commanders and fighters who were still crowded together on the south slope, and urged him: "Comrade captain, if I were you, I would not stay where I am, but I would take my troops to move those howitzers back to the battlefield."

"Well, I'm going." With that, Morozov hung up the communication.

In the distance, the artillery on the hillside quickly divided into two groups, one remained in place to guard the mortars on the hillside; The other group, led by Morozov, rushed to the top of the hill, ready to cross the top of the hill and enter the battlefield directly.

Kirilov and I left the observation post, followed the trenches and trenches built by the second regiment, and came to the front of the anti tank gun which had made great contributions. I saw the busy gunners and cried out: "Hello, comrades

Hearing my cry, the Gunners stopped their work and stood upright to salute us.

I went up to a gunner and yelled at him, "Comrade soldier, who is in charge here?"

I yelled at him because I was afraid that he would be deafened in the battle just now and would not hear my voice. Unexpectedly, after listening to what I said, he asked again in a loud voice: "Comrade commander, what did you say? I didn't hear you clearly. Please say it again

"Who is in charge here?" Kirilov was afraid that my voice was not loud enough, so he repeated what I had just said.

After hearing this, the gunner nodded, pointed to a dark faced Sergeant nearby, and said in a loud voice, "Comrade commander, this is sergeant tyakonov, our artillery commander."

The sergeant saw our eyes turned to him and guessed that we had something to say to him. He quickly came over, raised his hand and saluted kirilov and me, and then reported, "report to commander comrade, Sergeant proto tyakonov, commander of the second company of anti tank company, report to you and wait for your orders."

Kirilov stepped forward, put his hands on his shoulder, patted him hard, and said aloud, "good job, good job sergeant tyakonov, you've played really well. With your gun, the German tanks were defeated, and even more than a dozen of them were killed. "

"We killed 17 tanks, comrades of political commissars at the regiment level." Tyakonov took a look at kirilov's military rank on the collar, and then politely replied, "it's a pity that all our other artillery positions were destroyed by the Germans soon after the battle started, otherwise we will be able to completely annihilate the German tank battalion."

Kirilov's face was full of laughter. He solemnly said to tyakonov, "you have made great contributions in today's battle. I will apply to the higher authorities for medals for you and your artillery squad."

I can't agree with what tyakonov said. If their artillery squad didn't happen to hide in a place that the German couldn't find, let alone cold fire the German tank battalion, it would have been blown to pieces by the intensive German artillery fire.

"Sergeant tyakonov, what were you doing when we came?" When I saw the neat wooden boxes stacked next to the cannons and the piles of cartridge cases not far away, I couldn't help asking curiously.

"Report, comrade Colonel," tyakonov replied quickly, facing me, "we are collecting ammunition for the next battle. Will we be allowed to continue? "

For his answer, I nodded with satisfaction and quickly replied: "of course, it's needless to say, you can continue to work!"

After saying goodbye to tyakonov and his gun crew, kirilov and I walked towards the highland where a regiment was stationed. When I got close to the highland, I could see that the north slope of the highland was full of charred and smoky craters. The front trench had been completely blasted, and only the circular tunnels on the East and west sides remained relatively complete.

We climbed up the hillside and walked forward with one foot deep and one foot shallow. As a result of the intensive German artillery, the land here was blasted into virtual soil. I accidentally tripped over something under my feet, and my hands touched the ground with sharp shrapnel.

Kirilov quickly held me and asked with concern, "Comrade oshanina, are you ok?"

I shook my head, picked up a handful of soil from the ground, and then let the soil flow along my fingers. When there were only a few pieces of black shrapnel left, I put my hand in front of kirilov and said with emotion: "Comrade political commissar, you see, there are several shrapnel in any handful of soil, which shows how fierce the enemy's shelling was."

Kirilov took a piece of shrapnel from the palm of my hand and looked at it. He also said with emotion: "yes, when I was just at the observation post, I was also thinking about what kind of troops were holding this position. Under the heavy artillery fire, none of them wavered, and none of them became deserters. They were nailed on this high ground like nails, It's holding the Germans back

I threw away the shrapnel in my hand and raised my telescope to look at the troops carrying the cannons in the distance. Although there were many trucks behind the cannons, almost all of them were destroyed by tyakonov's gun crew, and several intact trucks could not be found. Therefore, only two or three of the captured cannons were towed from the back of the trucks, and the rest were dragged to the high ground by our soldiers.

At this time, a group of people came up from the foot of the mountain, with two German tank soldiers in the middle. When they approached, I found that one of them was the new political commissar of a regiment, oberstein, and quickly met him. At the same time, from a long distance, I took the initiative to greet him: "Hello, is that political commissar oberstein?"

Oberstein and his men were escorting the two prisoners up. When they heard someone calling him, they quickly looked up. Seeing kirilov and I standing on the hillside, we rushed out of the crowd, quickly came to us, raised our hands and saluted. At the same time, we were a little surprised and asked, "teacher, political commissar, how did you get to the front position?"

When he said this, kirilov said solemnly with a straight face: "why, political commissar oberstein, don't you welcome me and my teacher?"

"How can that be?" Oberstein hastily did not recognize kirilov's joking. He hastily explained: "the battle here has just ended, and it's not very safe. You and the division commander are the backbone of the division. You can't come to such a dangerous place casually."

"Political commissar oberstein, as a political commissar of the regiment, you can take the lead, stay in the most dangerous place with the soldiers, and fight with them against the Communist aggressors. Can't we be the political commissar of the division as well as you?"

I saw the two prisoners surrounded by the soldiers. As soon as kirilov finished, I asked oberstein, "political commissar oberstein, what's the matter with these two prisoners?"

Oberstein looked back, then turned to report to me: "when I led the troops to clean the battlefield, when I passed a destroyed tank, the top hatch of the tank was suddenly pushed away. A German tank soldier dragged a unconscious German lieutenant to climb out of the tank. In this way, we captured them."

Kirilov called two of the guard battalions who were with us, and then whispered to them, "take them to the division headquarters and find some German speaking people to interrogate them."

After the captives left, we and oberstein went to the south slope. As we walked, I asked oberstein, "political commissar oberstein, I want to ask, where did your troops hide when the German troops shelled the Highlands? You know, according to my observation just now, we can't see the front position any more. Under the cover of virtual soil, it becomes uneven and strange. "

Oberstein pointed to the complete trench to the West and explained to us: "although the German artillery fire was fierce, they only destroyed our positions on the north slope, while the other three positions suffered little loss. I asked the soldiers to dig a lot of anti artillery holes in the trench on the west side. When the enemy shelled, we would hide in it, so there were not many casualties. "

After listening to oberstein's words, kirilov specially stopped and carefully looked at the gun holes in the West trench. He said with emotion, "political commissar oberstein, your method is good. Our soldiers are hiding in it. No matter how fierce the German artillery fire is, you can't do anything about it. When the shelling stops and they attack, you can also attack from the gun hole in time and use the terrain to stop the enemy. "

We chatted for a while and saw that oberstein and the commanders and fighters were in high spirits. After a few words of encouragement, I and kirilov rushed back to the division headquarters.

At the moment, akhromeyev is interrogating the captured German tank soldiers inside. Besides mikheiev, the commander of the engineering company, he is also second lieutenant gretka, who has a guard company.

Two German prisoners sat on stools, behind them two soldiers with submachine guns and glaring eyes.

Before we went back to the headquarters, it is estimated that akhromeyev had interrogated the names, ranks, positions and troop numbers of the two men, because I heard akhromeyev ask, "what is the mission that your battalion received?"

"Cooperating with the infantry to seize the mamayev post, the purpose is to occupy the docks of Stalingrad and cut off all links between the city and the other side of the Volga River."

"When were you transferred to this combat area?"

The tank Lieutenant looked up at him and said, "in May this year, after we defeated your troops in the direction of Kharkov, my battalion has been fighting in this direction."

"Do you think your troops can take Stalingrad?" When I heard akhromeyev's question, I paid special attention to the expression of lieutenant gretka. When I saw that he was taking notes, he was stunned for a moment, and then continued to record the interrogation record in the book as if nothing had happened.

"Based on the results we have achieved in the Kharkov and Don river basins, I think this possibility exists completely."

Akhromeyev listened to him, snorted coldly, and said contemptuously, "Mr. lieutenant, I can tell you very responsibly that even if you occupy the mamayev post, you can't occupy Stalingrad. Our great Soviet Red Army will completely bury you outside this heroic city. "

The captured Lieutenant glanced up at a second lieutenant gretka who was making a record, and suddenly said to him coldly, "Mr. second lieutenant, if I am not wrong, you are wearing the uniform of our German defense forces. Don't you think it's a shame to serve our enemies as a German soldier? "

The Lieutenant's words made lieutenant gretka blush. He bowed his head and didn't know how to answer. Seeing the embarrassed look on lieutenant gretka's face, I stepped forward and said in a loud voice, "you're wrong, lieutenant. It's true that lieutenant gretka used to be a German soldier, but now he has chosen to be on our side. It's a shame for the soldiers to say that he helped us, but what I want to tell you is on the contrary. They are not fighting against the Germans, but against the Communists headed by Hitler. What they do today, waiting for Germany to be reborn, will become an honor and be recorded in history. " What I said made the depressed lieutenant gretka raise his head again. He looked gratefully, as if he wanted to say something to express his feelings. I raised my hand to stop him. Instead, I told akhromeyev, "Comrade chief of staff, these two Germans are nobody. They have limited knowledge. They don't need to be interrogated any more. Send someone to send them to the headquarters of the group army." Akhromeyev nodded at me, stood up and went to the two prisoners, looked at them without expression, then raised his head and told the soldiers standing behind: "take them away." With that, he lifted his leg and went out. After akhromeyev left with the prisoners, the emotional second lieutenant gretka saluted kirilov and me and asked respectfully, "Sir, political commissar, do you have any orders?"“ No, Lieutenant gretka. Go back and rest Kirilov saw gretka's back as he left and said with some emotion, "Comrade o'shanina, maybe you are right. Judging from the performance of the former German lieutenant, he really took refuge in us. " As soon as I sat down, I was about to say a few words to kirilov. Suddenly, there came a series of shouts from outside: "enemy plane, enemy plane! Air raid siren, air raid siren! Hide, hide When I heard the shouting outside, I jumped up from my seat. My God, the enemy plane didn't come early or late, just in time for us to carry guns. Since most of the cannons are manually towed, they are still in the open field. When the enemy planes come, they will become their targets? Thinking of this, I couldn't sit still any more, so I started to run out to see where the officers and men carrying the cannons were. Panting for breath, I ran into the observation post, stood in front of the observation port, raised my telescope and looked into the distance. I saw at least two or three hundred officers and men dragging about ten guns to the high ground seven or eight hundred meters away. There are two enemy planes circling in the air. It seems that they may dive down at any time. At such a long distance, the commanders and fighters had no means of communication. Before they got new orders from the higher authorities, they had to speed up their pace under the nose of the enemy plane, trying to pull the artillery back to our position as soon as possible. Kirilov also came in a hurry at this time. He also saw the dangerous scene and said anxiously, "Comrade oshanina, what can we do? If the enemy's planes dive and bomb, all the commanders and fighters in the open will be ruined. " He walked anxiously around the room, muttering, "what should I do? What should we do? Someone should be sent to inform these officers and men to throw away their guns and quickly return to the high ground. " At this point, he stopped and yelled at the guard outside, "somebody A guard quickly came to the gate of the observation post. Kirilov yelled at him, "Comrade soldier, I order you to run to inform the officers and men who are carrying the guns. Throw away the guns immediately and find a place to hide first." The soldier agreed, stepped out of the trench and ran quickly to the opposite highland. Looking at the back of the soldier, I prayed in my heart: I hope the soldier can convey kirilov's order in time, so that we can reduce some unnecessary losses. If the cannon is dropped, we can capture it again; If the soldiers die, they can't survive. Unfortunately, the weather was not as good as expected. Before the messenger ran to the opposite highland, the German plane began to dive down and shoot at the ground's artillery carrying officers and soldiers. In an instant, the smoke filled the open ground, the shell boxes carried by the soldiers were detonated, and shrapnel flew everywhere in the air, which made our soldiers fall into a pool of blood.