Chapter 673

Shortly after the end of the call with shijerikov, Gaidar, who was holding fast to the North highland, called and asked cautiously: "Sir, during the day, the firepower points we set up in the area where the remains of tanks were piled up destroyed a large number of enemies. Should I continue to send troops to build firepower points?"

After listening to his proposal, I immediately denied it: "no, Colonel gedar, absolutely not. During the day, our firepower points can cause great damage to the enemy, because the enemy did not expect us to set up firepower points in the wreckage of the tank, so we were caught off guard. The Germans are not idiots. They have suffered so much. Before they launch an attack tomorrow, they are bound to concentrate their artillery fire on the area where the remains of tanks are piled up at the foot of the mountain. I don't want our soldiers to die in vain. "

"Comrade division," although he heard that his proposal had been rejected, Gaidar was still unwilling to give up and tried to persuade me: "I think we should try. After all, our soldiers are hiding in the turret of the tank. As long as they are not directly hit by the shells, the shrapnel flying around will not hurt them."

"No way!" I knew that if we were to go on writing with Gaidar like this, we would not be able to say it for another hour, so I directly suppressed him with my own identity: "don't you know that the commander's orders are not allowed to be discussed? Don't talk nonsense any more. Without my orders, no one will be allowed to enter the tank wreckage area to build fire points. " With that, I couldn't help hanging up.

When I put down the phone, I saw akhromeyev coming from the phone with a piece of paper in his hand. He also said to kirilov and me from a long distance: "the division commander and political commissar have just received a report from the fifth regiment that one of our troops landed at the dock and moved into the city in batches after the formation."

"Chief of staff, do you know the number of the new army?" Kirilov asked, turning his head.

Akhromeyev nodded and replied, "it's major general smehotwolov's 193rd infantry division. The general's deputy is regimental political commissar niechayev. As their task is to take over the defense of the 161st infantry regiment in the outer buildings of the Red October workers' residential area, I asked lieutenant commander Oleg to send a part of the militia of the Red October factory to guide them. "

Hearing that the troops to be replaced were a strange name, I couldn't help but arouse my curiosity. As soon as akhromeyev stopped, I couldn't wait to ask, "which division does the 161st regiment belong to? Why haven't I heard of it before?"

"Sir, let me give you a detailed explanation. Last week, the 95th infantry division, under the command of division commander Colonel gorishner and battalion political commissar frashenko, crossed the river and entered the city to take charge of the defense of the factory area to the north of the city. After entering the city, the division fought tenaciously with the enemy who rushed to the factory area. After a week's fighting, the division was seriously reduced. Under the arrangement of the headquarters of the group army, the remaining fighters of the division were organized into the 161st regiment and remained in the city to fight. All the staff officers, quartermaster logistics and other non fighters of the division and its other two regiments were ordered to withdraw to the East Bank of the Volga River for rest. "

"How is the Red October factory?" After listening to his introduction, I asked faintly.

Akhromeyev shook his head vigorously and said, "according to the information we have, the situation of Red October factory is very bad. After launching several strong attacks, the enemy severely damaged the 161st regiment and more than a dozen militiamen organized combat battalions, which held fast to the factory, and occupied most of the factory. " At this point, seeing that the expressions on kirilov's face and mine became serious, he hastened to add: "however, in those parts of the factory controlled by our army, the workers continued to work overtime to produce all kinds of military materials under the enemy's fire and gunfire."

After hearing all this, kirilov silently lit a cigarette, looked up at me and said, "Comrade oshanina, I have a bold idea now. I want to discuss it with you."

"Come on, comrade political commissar," I said with encouragement as soon as I saw his expression of desire to talk and stop. "Just say what you think. Let's three of us study whether it is feasible."

When I finished speaking, akhromeyev also helped me to say: "the teacher is right. Comrade political commissar, if you have any ideas, just let us hear them. Maybe your idea will be helpful to the future. "

After two puffs, kirilov put out his cigarette, raised his head and said decisively, "chief of division and chief of staff, I think this way: Although our division lost a lot of staff in September, most of the fighting was carried out around the northern highlands of mamayev post, but there were few battles in other areas where our division was stationed. I would like to dispatch troops from the second regiment, just like the fifth regiment, to carry out guerrilla or sniper warfare in the cities, so as to strike hard at the enemy, cooperate with the defense of friendly forces, and reduce their defense pressure. What's your opinion? "

After listening to kirilov's proposal, akhromeyev thought a little and then nodded his head in agreement: "I agree with the political commissar. If we only pay attention to our own defense areas and ignore the friendly forces and allow them to be defeated or destroyed by the enemy, then we will soon fall into the encirclement of the enemy. At that time, our independent division will not be able to escape the tragic fate of total annihilation. "

From the bottom of my heart, I very much agree with kirilov's proposal. If you want to develop in the military, you must first have a backhand. If you don't have a big mountain behind you, you can still get rid of the dust and even lose your life. In addition to the appreciation of the superiors, there must be a group of colleagues who can help themselves at a critical moment. This is like building skyscrapers, we must first lay a solid foundation. At present, I have Zhukov and trakov as my backers, but there are few colleagues who are equal to me and willing to help me. If I send troops to help them at their most critical moment, it is bound to increase their favor for me and get twice the result with half the effort. However, when I think that there are only more than 3000 people in the whole division, if I disperse the troops rashly, I will not know whether I can stick to the mamayev post.

Seeing that I didn't speak for a long time, akhromeyev was a little worried. He couldn't help urging me and said, "Sir, what do you think of the political commissar's proposal? Agree or disagree? You have a word to say

Akhromeyev's urging made me make up my mind: anyway, in the history I know, the battle of Stalingrad ended with the victory of the Soviet army and the defeat of the German army. It is only good for me to make good use of these division and brigade commanders in the future. It seems that this risk is worth taking. Thinking of this, I gritted my teeth and said decisively, "political commissar, I agree with your proposal." Then I turned to akhromeyev and said, "chief of staff, call major Pugachev immediately, and ask him to dispatch elite soldiers to form a commando overnight. As for the commander of the commando team, Captain horushov, a battalion commander, and his instructor, safchenko, will be the commander. "

After determining the troops to be transferred and the commanders of the troops, in the next few hours, the three of us stared at a picture of Stalingrad's city defense in front of us and repeatedly studied the matter of where the commandos should launch the guerrilla war. Even the night Raiders under oberstein's command were forgotten.

I don't know how long later, razumeyeva suddenly called out to me in a loud voice: "Sir, commander, Lieutenant Colonel xijerikov is online. He has important information to report to you."

Hearing that razumeyeva mentioned the name of xiejerikov, I didn't recover for a moment. I raised my hand and looked at it. The pointer had already pointed to one o'clock in the morning. I couldn't help but say to myself, "what can I do for a group leader at this late hour?" As soon as I finished speaking, I suddenly thought of the night attack team that had sneaked into the enemy's rear. I stood up and rushed over, grabbed the earphone and transmitter in razumeyeva's hand, and said aloud, "Hello, Hello, is that lieutenant colonel xiejerikov? I'm captain o'shanina. Do you have any news from the night Raiders to report to me? "

"Yes, sir." From the earphone came shijerikov's excited voice: "the political commissar of oberstein, who was commanding at the front line, just reported to me that his night attack team had sneaked into the enemy's camp after landing. Because of the heavy losses during the day's attack and the shortage of troops for front guard, the German army transferred the company that used to guard by the river to the front, leaving only one class of soldiers.

After annihilating the soldiers guarding the river, political commissar oberstein and the night attack team touched the enemy's artillery position. After a short battle, they occupied the enemy's artillery position. Six heavy howitzers were used to bombard a nearby village randomly.

At the third round of the shelling, when the nearby garrison found the artillery position, they swarmed in, trying to get more positions back from their hands. Seeing that the enemy was powerful, comrade oberstein ordered the artillery to carry out two more rounds of shelling. After that, he destroyed the artillery with hand grenades and retreated to the Volga River

Hearing that oberstein's night attack team successfully occupied the enemy's artillery position and used the enemy's artillery to bombard the enemy's camp, I couldn't help cheering secretly. But since I didn't hear the news of oberstein's successful evacuation, I couldn't help worrying and asked, "did the night attack team get out of danger?"

Shejerikov was silent for a moment and reported in a heavy tone: "the commissar lost contact after reporting that they had started to move. My radio station can't get in touch with them at the moment."

"Keep calling. Call me as soon as you get in touch."

I went back to the table and told kirilov and akhromeyev what she had just reported. As akhromeyev was about to speak, the telephone on the desk rang. He quickly grabbed the phone and said in a loud voice, "Hello, I'm akhromeyev, chief of staff of the division. Where are you?"

After listening to the other party say a few words, he said a light: "continue to observe, there is a new situation to report to me."

Put down the phone, he said to me: "report to division commander, the phone call is from lieutenant colonel gedar of the fourth regiment. He said that the observation on the hillside found that in the direction of the German camp in the north, there was a lot of fire, even the night sky in the distance was red."

I just nodded after listening, because I understood that what the fourth regiment observed was the result of the night attack team. I turned to kirilov and said anxiously, "Comrade political commissar, do you think the night attack team can get out of danger successfully?"

Kirilov said with a bitter smile, "Comrade oshanina, if you want me to tell you the truth, I can only tell you with regret that unless there is a miracle, their chances of getting out of danger are almost zero."

"Why do you say that, comrade political commissar?" Ahlomeyev asked in a puzzled way.

"It's easy!" I said: "oberstein, when they withdraw from the position, they have been bitten by the enemy's large forces. Even if they cover the retreat alternately, most of the officers and men will die."

The worry about the night attack team diluted the joy brought by the results of the night attack. Especially after knowing that the probability of the night attack team is not big, everyone's heart is more heavy. In order to get to know the situation of the night attack team at the first time, akhromeyev contacted shijerikov almost every ten minutes.

But shejerikov's answer was the same every time: "sorry, chief of staff, I haven't contacted the night attack team yet."

We spent more than two hours waiting. Just as we were on the verge of despair, the phone on the desk rang. Akhromeyev grabbed the microphone and said, "Hello, I'm akhromeyev, chief of staff of the division. Where are you? Do you have anything to report?"

There was silence in the receiver, and then came the excited voice of lieutenant colonel Gaidar: "report to chief of staff, it's the night attack team. It's the night attack team that has successfully returned to our regiment's defense area."

"What, the night attack team?" I heard Gaidar say that the night Raiders are back. As soon as they snatched the microphone from akhromeyev, they raised their voice and asked, "Hello, commander Gaidar, is that true? Is the night attack team led by Comrade oberstein really back? "

"Hello, comrade teacher." Suddenly, a familiar voice came from the receiver. After a moment's hesitation, I decided that the person I was talking with was oberstein, whom we had been thinking about all along.

I quickly asked, "Comrade oberstein, it's hard work! How about the casualties of the night attack team and how many people have returned? " When I asked this, my heart beat faster. I was afraid that he would only come back when he told me.

Unexpectedly, oberstein replied in a calm tone: "report to division commander, there are 100 people in the night attack team. There are 16 casualties in the battle tonight, of which 5 are killed and 11 are injured. Except for the remains of the martyrs, the remaining 95 people returned safely. "

His report surprised me. I asked in surprise, "Comrade oberstein, don't you mean you are surrounded by the enemy's heavy troops? How can we successfully highlight the enemy's encirclement and return to our position at such a small price? "

"Yes, sir." Oberstein continued to report to me: "when we were preparing to break through the encirclement after blowing up the enemy's artillery, suddenly there were shells all over the place, all hitting the enemy's lines that besieged us, blowing them up. Seeing that the enemy was in chaos, I quickly led the troops to rush out of the gap opened by the shells. "

"Shelling?" Hearing his report, I was more and more surprised: "where did the shells come from? Is it our friendly forces on the East Bank of the Volga River that found you attacking the enemy's camp and deliberately supported you with artillery fire? "

"It's not like that, comrade teacher." Oberstein analyzed to me: "I think these shells are coming from other enemy artillery positions. When they found out that the artillery position on the west side of the village was occupied by us, they tried to annihilate us with artillery fire. Unexpectedly, the shells hit their own heads by mistake, which gave us a chance to successfully break through the encirclement of the enemy. However, because the walkie talkie was damaged by flying shrapnel during the operation, we lost contact with the regiment. "

"Well done, comrade oberstein." After making clear what happened tonight, I praised him and said to him with concern, "it's getting late. Let's go back and have a rest early. We'll talk about the rest after daybreak."

As I put down the phone, I breathed a sigh of relief and repeated to them what oberstein said on the phone.

After hearing the escape process of oberstein's night attack team, akhromeyev took a fluke and said: "if it were not for the enemy's infantry, comrade oberstein would have ordered the bombing, maybe the shells that fell from the sky would have fallen on their heads. In that case, it's really an unknown number that the night attack team can come back

After listening to the results of the night attack team, kirilov showed a long lost smile on his face. He raised his hand, looked at his watch, and then said to me, "division chief, chief of staff, while there are still a few hours left in the morning, you should seize the time to have a rest."

Although kirilov let us have a rest, it was destined to be an eventful night. Just then, the telephone on the desk rang again. I thought that it was Sergey reekov who got the news and specially reported the safe return of the night attack team to me, so he said lazily, "it's Sergeant Sergeant chejerikov. I know all you have to say..."

Unexpectedly, there was a voice from the receiver: "oshanina, you're wrong. It's me, Tchaikov!"

It was trekov who heard the call. I immediately stood at attention and politely said to the microphone, "Hello, comrade commander. Do you have any tasks to assign when you call so late? "

Trikov was not polite either. He asked frankly, "o'shanina, did you take any action against the enemy's camp tonight?"

I have to report the results of the night attack team anyway. Since he asked, I quickly replied, "yes, comrade commander. Tonight, I sent a night attack team to attack the camp of the 44th German division in front of our division, and achieved a little success. " Hearing what I said, trikov burst out laughing on the phone: "a small result is obviously a big one, and it's still a very big one. You know, the night Raiders almost killed two German generals