Chapter 720

Shejerikov, who received my phone call, came quickly and arrived at the headquarters in less than 20 minutes. When I introduced him to Elijah, he immediately reached out to shake hands with Elijah and began to talk.

Kirilov came up to me and said in a low voice, "Comrade oshanina, you see, they are very friendly, just like old friends for many years. I think you are quite right to send Lieutenant Colonel Elia to the regiment

After listening to kirilov's words, I couldn't help looking at them. I saw that commander Elia's locked brow had stretched out at some time, and said with ease, "I also think Comrade Elia can help Xie jielikov to do a good job in the regiment." At this point, I couldn't help looking up at my watch, and then I said to myself, "it's so late, and I don't know if Colonel bantaileiev's troops have crossed the river?"

"I'll call the headquarters to see if the other two regiments of the new division have arrived?" Kirilov saw that I was worried about Bantai leyev and said that he was going to make a phone call.

I quickly stopped him and asked with concern, "Comrade political commissar, there is something I want to ask you. Do you know what's going on in the headquarters? Have they moved? "

Kirilov had already picked up the microphone. When he heard my question, he put it back, sighed and said, "no, commander, they are still in the original headquarters."

"What?" I'm puzzled by trakov's decision. The enemy's shells can hit the gate of the headquarters without fear. He doesn't organize the transfer, but what is he doing in the same place“ Don't you know that his headquarters has been discovered by the enemy? If you stay there, people will die every minute. "

"Since the commander insists on not transferring the headquarters, he may have a deeper consideration." Kirilov said to me solemnly: "the communication room of the headquarters has been temporarily moved to several intact shelters and shooting holes outside. According to our scouts, those radio operators were sitting in the crater. In order to maintain radio communication, many people were hit by German stray bullets, holding transmitters and sacrificing themselves in their posts. "

I wanted to say a few words, but suddenly it occurred to me that general Golikov, the deputy commander of the front army, had also arrived in the city. If he thought that the current position of the group army headquarters was unsafe, he would take the initiative to ask trakov to move. I didn't need to meddle in any business at all. Thinking of this, I didn't ask any more.

Kirilov went to the two of them, who were chatting enthusiastically, and said to them, "Hey, I say sergeant kirilov, it's so late. Should you take your deputy chief comrade back to your headquarters and let him get familiar with the environment of your regiment?"

When kirilov said this, he woke up and knew that this was not the place he had taken for a long time. He quickly nodded like a chicken pecking rice. "I understand, comrade political commissar. I'll take the deputy head back to the regiment."

After they left, kirilov and I returned to the table and sat down. Ahlomeyev asked anxiously, "Comrade division commander, is it appropriate to have another deputy division commander in the division?"

"Yes, comrade oshanina." On this issue, kirilov and akhromeyev are also consistent. "Although I know Colonel bantailiev for a long time, I can't guarantee that he will always be consistent with you in military command in the future."

"Political commissar and chief of staff, you two need not worry so much." I knew that they were concerned about me, so they explained patiently: "I don't want to talk about the situation in the division. You know very well that each regiment lacks commanders with combat experience, so the combat effectiveness of our division has reached a bottleneck. If we want to change this phenomenon, we must constantly add fresh blood, We should send as many experienced commanders as possible to the grass-roots companies, so as to improve the combat effectiveness of the troops. If more than 200 commanders of Colonel bantaileiev join us, at least the problem of insufficient commanders will be solved. "

"But our division's strength is not enough. Is it necessary to add so many commanders?" Akhromeyev once again raised his doubts: "maybe some companies will have more than a dozen commanders commanding two or three soldiers."

When I understood what ahlomeyev was worried about, the explanation would be more targeted: "don't worry, chief of staff. There are fewer people in the division now, but it won't be long before the superior will supplement them for us. Today, why don't we draw a regiment from the new division to give priority to us? When I was in the headquarters of the front army, I once heard the commander and the military commissar say that as long as it is the supplement of soldiers, weapons and ammunition, the priority is still the 62nd group army. "

"If that's true, that's great." Although kirilov said so, he asked anxiously, "Comrade oshanina, do you really think we can stop the German attack? Judging from yesterday's situation, the situation is really dangerous. The headquarters of the group army was almost killed by the enemy's planes and artillery. "

"Political commissar, you don't have to worry about such things." I confidently said to him: "although the enemy has the upper hand in the city, their attack is not going well due to the tenacious resistance of our commanders and fighters. Moreover, their forces have been used to the extreme, and their attack strength will gradually weaken as time goes on. "

Kirilov's face flashed a look of suspicion after listening to my words, and then tentatively asked me, "Comrade oshanina, are you telling me the truth? The enemy's forces have been used to the extreme, and their attack strength will gradually weaken with the passage of time. "

"Of course it is." Now that I have said such shocking words, it is necessary to explain to them clearly: "the two German army groups under the command of Paulus and Holt consume an astronomical amount of weapons, ammunition and various materials every day, and nothing will happen in the short term. Once the campaign goes on for a long time, Then they will have a shortage of ammunition and a shortage of fuel. Their logistics supply lines are more than 1000 kilometers long, and the rear materials can only be transported through three channels: railway, highway and sea transportation. First of all, let me talk about maritime transport. The size of the German naval fleet is limited. Such a time-consuming and laborious mode of transport should not be considered. Secondly, there are roads. I believe we all know what the kilometer of our country looks like. Many sections are nominally so and so roads, but as long as it rains, it will be a bad quagmire. The driving of vehicles will be greatly affected, so the traffic volume of roads will not be too large. The rest is only railway transportation. Although there is a direct railway from Germany to Stalingrad, the German army has transferred a large number of wagons in the past two years to transport the Jews deprived of their property and freedom to the concentration camp, so that the troops and materials they should have been sent to the front line have to stay at remote stations, Waiting for the railway department to transfer new wagons, they can board the train. "

As in other countries, they will not question what I have said, let alone ask my sources. They will only specify the next battle plan based on the information I have provided.

It was not until the early hours of the morning that Colonel bantaileiev appeared in the headquarters with a tired face. Seeing his appearance, kirilov and I went up to greet him one after another. I asked with concern, "Comrade Colonel, how did you arrive at this time and how was your road going?"

Bantaileiev took off his military cap and gently put it on the table. Then he shook his head and said, "when I led another regiment across the river, the river turned red with hot pot, and God seemed to be trying to embarrass us. The moon appeared from the clouds. Then suddenly, there was a bright light on our heads, so bright that we could read newspapers. In this case, we were found by the enemy. They used long-range artillery fire to fire at us. The bombs fell on the river and exploded, triggering one after another jets of water into the sky. I was thinking: Alas! It's over. Once hit, our ship will sink. We are in the middle of the Volga River

"Didn't you land successfully?" Kirilov jokingly said: "I think you are not hurt at all except your uniform is a little wet."

Bantaileiev said bitterly: "a ferry on our right side was hit by the enemy's shell, and more than 20 officers and men near the explosion point were either blown to pieces or fell into the river. Another one, while evading the enemy's artillery fire, accidentally hit a mine in the river. After the earth shaking explosion, the ship quickly sank. More than 300 officers and men on board, rescued by nearby ships, only saved more than 100 people. "

When I heard Bantai leyev say that, my expression was very calm, but kirilov's mouth was twitching violently. He asked nervously, "so you lost two companies before you entered the city."

"It can be said that," bantaileiev said bitterly, "although the second regiment lost more than 200 people when crossing the river, compared with the third regiment, their loss was still small. When the third regiment crossed the river, two ferries were hit by German artillery fire. Although the sailors carried forward their indomitable fighting spirit and insisted on driving the boat to the shore, more than 500 people on these two boats survived only 70 or 80 people in the end, which was equivalent to the end of a battalion. "

After kirilov called Bantai leiev to sit down, he asked akhromeyev to pour him a cup of hot tea. Addressing the other party's real name and father's name, kirilov asked with concern: "dear Aleksey Ivanovich, have you gone to the headquarters of the group army? Do you know the new position assigned to you by the head of the front army? "

Bantailiev held the cup, nodded and said, "I have been to general trakov's headquarters and formally handed over the troops to the chief of staff, general Krylov. The appointment of deputy division commander of the independent division was announced to me by trekov himself. Because there is still a lot of follow-up work to deal with, I asked those commanders to stay for the time being to assist krailov in managing the army. After dawn, they will come here one after another to report. "

"Old man, according to our research, we will send your subordinates to various regiments. The two commanders will serve as deputy commanders in the first and fourth regiments respectively. The battalion commanders under them will serve as battalion commanders or deputy battalion commanders in the battalions. The remaining commanders can also serve as company commanders or deputy company commanders in the company. " After a brief introduction of our arrangement, kirilov specially asked for the other party's opinions: "I don't know if you are satisfied with this arrangement?"

"It's a good arrangement, I agree." After Bantai leiev finished his presentation, he looked up at me and asked, "Comrade teacher, how many independent divisions are there at present?"

I turned my eyes to akhromeyev, who was standing beside me, and said with a smile, "Comrade deputy division chief, I think it is most appropriate for major akhromeyev, chief of staff, to report this problem to you."“ Comrade deputy division commander of the report, "as he is not familiar with bantailiev, akhromeyev reported to him in accordance with the regulations that" the total number of the independent division is now 5500, with the original 3500 plus the full-fledged vanguard regiment added tonight. "“ There are more than five thousand people, but there are a lot of them. " After hearing this, bantailiev immediately suggested to me, "Comrade oshanina, since we have so many troops, I think we are fully capable of carrying out counter attacks against the German army." If I had not been standing with my hands on the table, I would have fallen to the ground at the suggestion of Bantai leiev. Fortunately, kirilov was very considerate. He quickly helped me out and took the initiative to say to Bantai leiev, "Deputy teacher, you just came here and you don't know much about the situation on the ground. Let me introduce you." After hearing kirilov's introduction of the current situation of mamayev post and my analysis of the war situation, I added in time: "Comrade deputy division commander, as the war situation is very unfavorable to our army, we will not consider launching a counterattack for the time being. At present, our main task is to stabilize the front. We should pay close attention to the enemy's movements, watch out for the enemy's tricks, strengthen the defense and vigilance of our division's positions, and do not leave any loopholes for the enemy. I'm going to organize a special team, deploy the subordinates of gramus and Beckman, and our troops, put on German clothes, use German standard weapons, harass German transportation and supply lines, and weaken the combat effectiveness of the German troops in front of our army. "