Chapter 658

As soon as I put down my earphone and transmitter, kirilov, who was standing by, reproached me solemnly and said, "Comrade division, how can you order Comrade xiejerikov to give up his apparent position? If the enemy occupies the position of a regiment, they can fight in two ways, one towards the high ground where we are, and the other towards the wharf on the Volga River. Once the enemy forces rush to the river, they will drive all the thousands of soldiers and residents on the dock into the river. "

Kirilov's words surprised me in a cold sweat. Although I thought about it for a while and thought that he was right, I didn't call chejerikov again. After all, I just gave an order to the regiment to give up the northern highland when necessary. After a few minutes, I ordered to cancel the previous order, which would affect my prestige in the army. So I had to harden my head and say to kirilov, "Comrade political commissar, you don't have to worry. Except for a commander who is good at fighting, the regiment now has a good commander, There is also a political commissar who is good at political agitation. Under their command, I firmly believe that the position will be held. "

"I hope so." When kirilov saw that I was obstinate, he did not persuade me any more. Instead, he gently suggested to me, "but we should prepare for the worst."

Although I was calm on the surface, I didn't have the bottom in my heart. For the sake of safety, I picked up the phone again and directly dialed the second regiment to ask the messenger to find Pugachev. When I heard Pugachev's voice coming from the receiver, I gave him a direct order: "major Pugachev, I order you to immediately send two companies to strengthen the troops stationed on the riverside position after the enemy's shelling stops. We must ensure that even if the enemy breaks through the position of a regiment, it will not be able to get close to the wharf of the Volga River. "

"I see." Pugachev gave a loud promise, and then he lowered his voice to remind me: "Sir, I think you may have made a mistake just now. I'm just a captain, not a major."

"Don't talk to me. Do you think I'll be so confused that I forget your rank? To tell you the truth, commander trakov has promoted you to the rank of major When I heard that Pugachev's breathing became urgent because of this unexpected news, I lost no time to pour him a basin of cold water. "But I remind you that if you let a German soldier approach the wharf, even if he was blown away by a bomb, I will withdraw your post. Do you understand? "

Pugachev quickly expressed his determination to me: "please don't worry, sir. I'll arrange the manpower right now. As long as there is a soldier in the second regiment, we will never let the enemy pass our position."

Putting down the phone, I bowed my head and thought that if I want to keep the high ground, infantry alone may not be enough. It's time to use the artillery battalion and tank battalion. So I called the artillery battalion commander molozov again.

As soon as I got through the phone this time, I would like to express my congratulations to Morozov: "Comrade Morozov, I would like to congratulate you. Commander trakov has just promoted you to the rank of major."

After listening to this, Morozov giggled twice, and then asked with deep understanding, "Comrade division, you call me. Maybe it's not just for my promotion. Is it our artillery battalion's turn to attack again?"

It's easy to talk to a commander like Morozov who is good at understanding the intentions of his superiors. I took his words and said, "Comrade major, you guess a lot. According to the observation reports of the 1st and 2nd regiments, the enemy's infantry of about one regiment, under the cover of dozens of tanks, were rushing towards the northern highland where the 1st regiment held fast. I order you, as soon as the enemy's shelling stops, to send mortar companies to set up artillery positions on the northern highlands to provide the necessary artillery support for the officers and men of the first regiment. "

"Do you need an antitank company?" Asked Morozov.

"No, I can't use them yet." At present, there are only ten guns left in the anti tank artillery company. If we lose them again, our division's anti tank force will be almost exhausted. In that case, we will be helpless in the face of the fierce tanks. I remember that the anti tank rifle company, which was withdrawn from highland 107.5 last night, was temporarily assigned to the artillery battalion. If we really want to fight tanks, they are the best candidates. Thinking of this, I said to the microphone, "major Morozov, didn't I transfer an anti tank rifle company to you last night? Let them enter the position later. With them, we can still clean up the enemy's tanks. "

"I see, sir. I'll make arrangements now."

"Do you need to call the tank battalion again?" Kirilov, seeing that I had finished the call, immediately reminded me.

"You have a point. I'll fight now." Then I picked up the phone again and called pelsky of the tank battalion. The order I gave him was very simple: "Comrade perskin, I order you to immediately arrange for the soldiers to check the fuel and ammunition of the tanks and prepare for all battles." Before I hung up, I added to him, "Oh, I almost forgot to tell you, because you are outstanding in the battle. Commander trakov has just promoted you to the rank of major." With that, I hung up without waiting for any response from him.

When kirilov saw that I had made so many phone calls at one go, he couldn't help saying with emotion: "Comrade division, you have considered very carefully. If this arrangement is really made, even if the enemy occupies the surface positions of a regiment, it will not pose much threat to us."

Akhromeyev came over from the telephone and reported to me, "report to division commander, I have just talked with major gordonov, the head of the third regiment, on the phone and asked him to prepare for sending troops to reinforce regiment one."

I nodded and said confidently, "well, we have done all the things we should do. The rest depends on how the enemy plans to attack our conservative mamayev post."

After hearing this, kirilov said with a smile, "we have made all the preparations for the battle. I'd like to see if the fierce Germans can occupy the positions of a regiment."

Akhromeyev looked at the place where the signalmen were staying, and then asked me in a low voice: "Sir, do you need to send the signalmen to check the line? If you don't have a phone and only rely on the telephone, I'm afraid it will leak the secret. "

I waved my hand and said with disapproval, "anyway, I can still get in touch with Yituan through the telephone now. It doesn't matter whether there is a telephone or not. Moreover, with such heavy artillery fire, to let the signalmen check the lines is to let them die. Even if they risk their lives to resume communication, who can guarantee that the enemy's artillery will not blow up our telephone line again? "

Kirilov also agreed with me in time, saying: "I think the division commander is right. There are not many signalmen in the division. It is not worth the sacrifice. As for the chief of staff's worry about leakage, I don't think it's that serious. Even if the enemy eavesdrops on the communication between the division headquarters and the first regiment, they don't have enough time to adjust their combat deployment according to the situation of the battlefield. "

While we were talking, razumeyeva came up and handed me a telegram she had just received. After looking at it for a few minutes, I handed it to kirilov and said, "the enemy is crazy. They launched a fierce offensive against Stalingrad from the north, West and South at the same time. They have the posture of never giving up until they occupy the city."

After kirilov finished reading, akhromeyev took the telegram in his hand and asked, "teacher, political commissar, what's wrong with the enemy? They did not attack sooner or later, but today they launched an all-round offensive against Stalingrad

Although I vaguely remember that the German army launched an attack on Stalingrad these days and almost drove the 62nd group army into the Volga River, I don't know exactly why. So I looked at kirilov smilingly and asked, "Comrade political commissar, what do you think?"

Kirilov frowned and walked back and forth in front of us for two times. Then he stopped and said in an uncertain tone, "I think of a possibility, and I don't know if it's accurate."

"What's possible? My good political commissar, please tell me. " When akhromeyev saw kirilov playing tricks on him, he was a little upset and urged him to speak out.

"After the division commander went to the headquarters of the group army yesterday, comrade gurov, a military commissar of the group army, came to the fifth regiment."

Gurov went to the command post of the fifth regiment. Why didn't kirilov tell me about this last night? However, this is not the time to investigate this, so I also asked him curiously, "political commissar, did comrades of the military commissar go to the command post of the fifth regiment and say that they have information about the enemy's massive attack today?"

"I think the information he told me has a lot to do with the enemy's comprehensive attack today." Kirilov nodded thoughtfully, and then said: "Comrade military commissar said that the German commander Paulus reported the news of the troops entering Stalingrad to the German base camp yesterday morning. It is said that there were special gatherings and processions in Germany to celebrate the capture of Stalingrad. Maybe Paulus thought that he could occupy our city before dark yesterday at the latest. But the whole day passed, and the enemy was still in the position of yesterday morning. I think Paulus was afraid of lying about the military situation and being punished by Hitler, so he had to order his troops to launch an all-round offensive against Stalingrad. "

"The commissar made a lot of sense." After listening to kirilov's account, I understand why the German army launched such a large-scale attack because they published the information of occupying Stalingrad prematurely. At present, in order to save their face, they launched an attack on our city like crazy.

Knowing the reason of the enemy's attack, my heart became heavy. Although I said that I had confidence in the commanders and fighters of the first regiment, I was more and more confused. After all, after such a long time of fighting, the number of soldiers of the first regiment has been seriously reduced, from 2000 when I went to the position to 600 now, which is equivalent to three-quarters of the casualties. It seems that when the battle is over, I will withdraw the first regiment from the position and replace it with the third regiment, which has more troops.

Kirilov raised his hand, looked at his watch and said to himself, "the enemy's shelling and bombing has been going on for almost an hour, and I don't know when it will stop."

Just when the three of us were burning with anxiety, the enemy's air strikes stopped. The enemy's artillery fire began to extend, focusing on the southern highland where the division headquarters was located. At the same time, approaching the northern Highlands, the German infantry began to attack the positions of the first regiment.

As our highlands were suppressed by the enemy's heavy artillery fire, we could not observe the enemy's attack, so we had to be constantly reported to me by the commander of the front line, shijerikov. "Report to division commander, a platoon of the ninth company in the position at the foot of the mountain where we first exchanged fire with the German army. But because the platoon leader was just promoted from a soldier and lacked command experience, he made the mistake of improper use of troops in the battle and immediately put the whole platoon into the battle. Under the heavy gunfire of German tanks, the platoon suffered huge casualties. After repulsing the enemy's first attack, there were only two seriously wounded men left in the position. When the enemy launched a second attack, they resolutely pulled the grenade and died with the German army

Although I heard that shejerikov reported to me that all the commanders and fighters of a platoon had died, I was not surprised. At the moment, what I was concerned about was not the number of casualties, but whether the Highlands could be held. When shejerikov's speech came to an end, I immediately asked, "what measures have the commanders on the Highlands taken?"“ When the commander of the eighth company in the hillside position saw that the position at the foot of the mountain had been lost, he immediately organized two platoons to fight back, and tried to take advantage of the enemy's unstable foothold to take the position back from their hands. But as soon as the two platoons left the position, they were covered by German tank fire, and only a dozen of the wounded returned to the position. In this way, the eighth company did not succeed in counterattack, but suffered heavy losses, which made it difficult to defend the hillside position“ Sergeant chejerikov, transfer the reserves to the hillside position immediately. Remember that the enemy's artillery fire is fierce. If the more troops are put into the position at one time, the more casualties there will be, the faster they will be. Therefore, only two platoons will be sent into the position at a time. If there is one class injured or killed, we should immediately add another class from the fortifications behind, so that we can withstand the enemy's attack. "“ Sir, I have a request. " After I had finished, Xie jerikov suddenly said, "I hope you will agree."“ Say, as long as I can do it, I will promise you. " Although I agreed so readily, xiejerikov still said in a timid way: "Comrade division, as you know, our regiment has been fighting with the enemy since it entered the mamayev post. If it wasn't for the serious staff reduction in the regiment, I wouldn't have said that to you... "" just say what you want to say. Don't be so fussy. " Before he finished, I impatiently interrupted him: "after a long time, don't you just want the reserves? I'll give you whatever you want. Is one regiment enough? " Hearing that I had added a regiment to him, Jerry cofton was very happy. He said happily, "the strength of a regiment is really great. At present, there are less than 400 members left in our regiment. If we don't add any more, we can almost cancel the organizational system by this evening. "“ Well, stop talking nonsense. " I said solemnly, "I'll transfer the third regiment right away. When they arrive, the regiment will be under your command. If you still let the northern highland fall after being supplemented, you don't have to go back to the division headquarters. Just shoot yourself in the head with a gun. " With that, I threw the earphone and transmitter to razumeyeva and said, "Comrade lieutenant, call the third regiment for me." Then he went to the table, picked up the phone and dialed the second regiment. Pugachev, who answered the phone, said: "Comrade major, the situation of the first regiment is very bad at present. There are only less than 400 people left in the whole regiment. You should immediately send a company to reinforce him." Originally, I thought that Pugachev would complain to me. After all, the highland where we were was was being heavily shelled by the German army. Unexpectedly, he said, "Comrade division, since a regiment has been reduced so much, it may not be helpful for a company to go up. Shall I send a battalion to them?" I'm glad to hear that Pugachev is so knowledgeable. Although I also wanted to agree to Pugachev's request, I thought that if the northern highland could not be defended, then it would be our highland to bear the enemy's fierce attack. If we did not have enough troops, we might not be able to defend. So I said to him, "no, comrade Pugachev, I intend to drop all the three regiments. I want you to send a company first in order to ease the shortage of troops in lieutenant colonel chejerikov's area. " As soon as I put down the phone, I heard razumeyeva raise her hand and shout: "I'm connected with the third regiment." Before I could walk over, akhromeyev, who was standing near her, stepped forward, took the earphone and the transmitter from her hand, and said, "I'll talk to major Godunov." Akhromeyev said to the microphone, "Hello, is that major Godunov? I'm captain akhromeyev, chief of staff of the division. " I couldn't help but feel ashamed. When I asked for the rank of trokov, I didn't ask for two. To say the least, even if I don't give the title of basmanov, my battalion commander, how can I forget akhromeyev, the chief of staff, who is my right arm. Now he is in the rank of captain to command a group of lieutenant and major, which sounds very awkward. No, after dark, I must call trakov and ask him to promote akhromeyev. Although my heart is full of guilt for akhromeyev, but he does not care about the expression, still on behalf of kirilov and me, issued a variety of combat orders to the troops below. He said in a loud voice to the transmitter: "the division commander orders that your regiment immediately disperse into the North highland and reinforce a regiment. After entering the first regiment position, your regiment is under the command of lieutenant colonel chejerikov. "