I ate another three or four dumplings, both mashed potatoes and mutton. Because I was very hungry, I ate very fast, but I was fast, and trekov's hand was not slow. In less than two minutes, there were only two dumplings left in the lunch box. When I hesitated to eat another one, I suddenly heard someone shouting: "Comrade commander."
Trekov and I turned our heads and looked in the direction of the sound. There was a commander, wet and covered with mud, wearing a cornice hat and a general's coat, stumbling down the steps and coming towards us. I can't recognize him at all, because the man's face is covered with dirt just like the one when he was dug out.
The comer came to trakov's side, reached out his hands, grasped his arm, shook it vigorously, and said in a loud voice: "commander, it's painful. My 37th division of guards is in the battle. As long as there is one person left, we will never retreat!" Then he covered his cheek and sat down at the table.
Although I still haven't seen his face clearly so far, from what he said, I have judged that he is major general ruolu Geoff, the commander of the 37th division of the guards. Trekov obviously recognized the man. He took a look at ruolu Geoff, who was sitting at the table. Then he handed me his lunch box and asked, "would you like some more?"
In the process of trakov handing over the lunch box, I had already seen the dumplings covered with dust. Nine times out of ten, ruolugeoff shook the dust in when he just caught trakov shaking. Although my stomach is still groaning at the moment, it's really hard for me to swallow the dusty dumplings. So I had to pretend that I was already full, and said politely to trikov with a smile, "thank you, comrade commander. I'm full."
Trikov saw that I didn't want to eat any more, so he grabbed the dumplings left in the lunch box, put them into his mouth, and swallowed them a few times. When he finished eating, he put the lunch box on the table, lowered his head and asked ruolu Geoff with concern: "Comrade ruolu Geoff, have all the people in the division been rescued?"
Ruolugeoff shook his head and said bitterly, "my chief of staff died and the commissar was seriously injured. Three of the operational and intelligence staff officers in the headquarters died and seven injured. "
At this time, there may be a shell landed near us and exploded, and the soil on the ceiling crashed down. Trikov just looked up and said, "Comrade ruolugeoff, the situation here is not much better. Half an hour ago, I was buried in the ground with the commander of the independent division, comrade oshanina. Right now, there are two hidden departments outside that have been blown down by enemy bombs. The headquarters is organizing people to rescue them. "
Krailov suddenly ran over from the telephone. He didn't care to say hello to roluev, so he said to trikov in a hurry: "Comrade commander, no, our telephone communication with all the troops has been interrupted. Only the radio station is working, but the signal is unstable, intermittent and sometimes not. I suggest that communication personnel should be sent immediately to all units to make contact, so as to ensure smooth command. "
After a moment's deliberation, trikov said helplessly, "well, chief of staff, it seems that we can only do this. You immediately send the headquarters' signalmen or staff officers to convey the headquarters' orders to all units as soon as possible. The order is simple: hold fast and never step back. "
"I understand!" After a brief reply, Krylov rushed out of the headquarters.
With the passage of time, the German attack not only did not weaken, but also showed signs of strengthening. By three o'clock in the afternoon, the enemy's tanks had deeply wedged into our defensive positions and advanced to the tractor factory and "barricade" factory areas. Although the troops holding fast to the area were not complete, they still fought bravely in the encirclement and restrained the enemy's actions. We learned from the telegrams we received that they used firepower to cut off the contact between the enemy infantry and tanks, so that the enemy tanks could not move forward without the cooperation of the infantry and became the living targets of our artillery and anti tank gunners. However, even so, the enemy tanks still broke into the front of the group army command post, only 300 meters away from us.
After hearing the bad news, trakov told gradshev, who had just returned with gurov: "Comrade major, I order you to immediately lead the guard battalion of the headquarters into battle. If the enemy gets closer, we will fight with the German tanks. Now there is no other way. We can't retreat any more. Otherwise, we will lose some of our last communication and command equipment. "
After receiving his order, gladeshev only agreed, but stood still. Trikov looked at him strangely and asked, "Comrade major, what are you doing here if you don't carry out the order?"
When he heard the commander's question, he turned his eyes to me and said hesitantly, "when general oshanina came, he also brought a guard platoon. I don't know if they also took part in the battle."
"Comrade major, it's natural." The enemy is approaching the headquarters, and trekov's guard camp is going to work hard. Can my guard platoon still stay in the trench and stand by? So I couldn't talk to trekov, so I took the initiative to say, "put them in your guard camp, too. These soldiers are veterans who have participated in many battles. With their participation, they will be more confident of blocking the enemy's attack. "
But when the guard battalion of the headquarters went to meet the incoming German troops, the radio communication with the outside world began to gradually recover. First of all, there was good news. The commander of the 84th tank brigade, Colonel berey, reported to trikov, "Comrade commander, there are 10 tanks of our brigade hidden in the park of sculipturne. The task I assigned them was not to counter attack, but to ambush in case the German army broke through. Just a moment ago, German tanks flooded into sculiptur Park, where they were ambushed. Our tankers hit the German tanks hard with all their bullets. After paying the price of destroying ten and injuring seven, the enemy has retreated in confusion. "
Although Colonel berey has brought us good news, the fighting outside the headquarters is not optimistic. Gladyshev sent people to report that although the enemy had been hit by our powerful firepower, they were still pushing forward regardless of heavy casualties. At the moment, they were less than 200 meters away from the headquarters.
When I heard the bad news, I quietly removed the bullet clip of the submachine gun and checked the bullets in it. If the Germans rush in later, this submachine gun will be much better than a pistol. The last encounter with the German army at mamayev post, there were also gun holes in the trenches where they could hide. Here, unless they jumped into the Volga River to escape, they would only be captured or killed.
When I was ready for all the fighting, I suddenly heard a radio operator shouting: "Comrade commander, there is a wireless phone from the 117 th regiment of the guards."
As soon as I heard this number, I immediately remembered that I had just sent a battalion of a regiment to rescue them. Now that they have called, it is estimated that they have successfully extricated themselves. If krailov is there, he must be on the line. But he wasn't there at the moment, so we all looked at trakov and waited for him to answer the phone.
I didn't expect that trikov raised his chin at me and said in a flat tone: "Comrade o'shanina, you can answer this call. Maybe it's from your subordinates."
I nodded, went to the operator's side, put on the earphone, and said loudly to the transmitter, "Hello, I'm major general o'xia Nina, the independent division commander. Who are you?"
After a moment's silence, a familiar voice came from the earphone: "it's me, sir. I'm Elijah
"It's commander Elia." the one who talked to me was commander Elia, the deputy head of the regiment. Since he talked to me, it seems that the encirclement of the 117th regiment of the guards has been solved“ What's the situation? Have you rescued the officers and men of the 117th regiment of the guards? "
"Don't worry, sir." Elia said confidently: "the guards have not been destroyed by the enemy. When we arrived, there were at least hundreds of dead German pirates lying near the regiment headquarters, while our guards continued to fight the enemy tenaciously. After our battalion arrived, we attacked the friendly troops at the command post of the regiment and wiped out all the attacking enemies. "
"Well done!" After praising him, I asked, "how are the casualties in your battalion?"
"A battalion commander and another company commander died, 71 people died and 153 people were injured. However, the organizational structure of the unit is relatively complete and can continue to fight."
After listening to the report of lieutenant commander Elia, I couldn't help laughing bitterly. I didn't expect that the first battalion had just been fighting for more than an hour, but it had to be reduced by two companies. I quickly told him, "Comrade lieutenant commander, I order you to take over the command of the 117th regiment of the guards immediately and lead the troops to continue to stick to it. Remember, as long as there is still one person in the field, the position can never be lost... "
Before I said anything, suddenly a hand reached out from the side and grabbed my hand holding the transmitter. Then a low male voice sounded in my ear: "Comrade o'shanina, please let me say a few words to the commander of the 117 th regiment of the guards."
When I looked around, I found that the speaker was ruolu Geoff, the division commander of the 37th division of Jinwei. I immediately remembered that I was staying in the headquarters, not the division headquarters of the independent division. I arbitrarily appointed my subordinates as the commander of the friendly forces, but I had committed a big military taboo.
I quickly took off the earphone and handed it to ruolu Geoff. At the same time, I gave a guilty look at trekov not far away. But trekov looked as usual, as if he didn't approve of my good ideas. I'll take another look at ruolu Geoff. He took the earphone I handed him, put it on his head as if nothing had happened, and said to the transmitter, "Hello, comrade commander, I'm major general ruolu Geoff, the division commander of the close guard division. Please let the commander of the regiment answer the phone. I have something to tell them."
When I heard that, I was speculating in my heart what he would say, so I listened carefully. After a while, there seemed to be a sound coming from the earphone, because the gunfire outside was too loud. Even if I was so close, I couldn't hear what was said inside. If you are the chief of staff of the 117 regiment, that would be great. I'm the division commander, general roluev. Now I'd like to announce an appointment to you. From this moment on, lieutenant commander Ilya from the independent division will officially assume the post of head of your regiment. Do you understand? "
If ludev would agree with my arrangement, it was really beyond my expectation. As soon as he put down the earphone and the transmitter, I quickly reached out and took his hand, shaking it vigorously and saying gratefully, "thank you, thank you, Comrade General."
The other side shook hands with me and said with a smile: "Comrade o'shanina, I should thank you. In today's battle, not only the soldiers of the 117th regiment suffered heavy casualties, but also the commanders at all levels were reduced by half. Thank you for adding such an excellent commander to our division. " When I came back to the table, trekov and gurov gave me a look of approval. It seemed that they also agreed with my temporary appointment. When I politely responded to them with a smile, I was also complaining in my heart. It seems that my camp will be destroyed soon. The German troops who rushed to the headquarters did not succeed in the end. After they were tenaciously obstructed by the guard camp of the headquarters, they had to drop pieces of corpses and retreat in ashes. When I heard this news, I breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, the Germans didn't know that this was the headquarters of the group army. Otherwise, they would have to concentrate their heavy troops to attack here. At that time, we would be faced with an end of burning jade and stone. In the evening, krailov returned to the headquarters, and at the same time, the contact with the various units of the group army almost returned to normal. At this time, we got a relatively complete battle report. Krailov read aloud to us with a stack of war reports he had received: "in the defense of the tractor factory and the" barricade "factory, many workers' detachments and units fought together until they ran out of ammunition and food, and finally all died in their own positions. In these detachment of Stalingrad workers, there were participants in the defense war of tsarizin during the civil war, most of them were Communists. This afternoon, the workers' detachment defending the tractor factory and the "barricade" factory launched a fierce battle against the approaching enemy advance detachment. The 112th division of yermorkin and the 37th division of general roluev annihilated the enemy in the square in front of the factory and in the street leading to the factory. Together with the armed factory workers, gorishner, gurdyev and the 95th and 308th divisions, relying on the "barricade" factory workshop, severely attacked the enemy on the street leading to the factory. In the battle, they were supported by the 84th brigade of Colonel berey's tank and successfully repelled the enemy's attack. Now thousands of corpses lie in the square and streets, and dozens of burning and destroyed tanks block the streets and passages. However, there are still some scattered enemy units breaking into the Volga river bank, especially the river bank between factories. General hogarsky and the artillery he commanded did not leave the enemy a chance to take a foothold there. With the cooperation of the artillery fire on the East Bank of our army, the infantry of our army made a joint attack from both wings, and the enemy's corpses were all over the ground and fled. " After listening to the telegram, gurov said excitedly, "great, it seems that we can beat back the enemy's attack before dark, and completely eliminate the enemy wedged into our defensive position." Trekov's mouth tilted upward. As he was about to speak, he was interrupted by krailov. He said solemnly: "Comrade military commissar, the situation is far from as simple as you think. Relying on the strong air assault force and the superiority of tanks and infantry, the enemy broke through our defense in some areas and consolidated their positions, resulting in our army being cut off. About 1.5 km between the tractor factory and the "barricade" factory was firmly controlled by the enemy. Enemy fire strafed all the gullies leading to genezhnaya vorozka, and our liaison officers were unable to cross the gullies to the tractor factory. Although we can clearly see the tuomen aircraft factory from our command post, we can't see the fighting in the workshop. Fortunately, artillery has always been in our hands. At present, the only support we can provide to our soldiers is artillery fire. "