After sending several regiment commanders away, I moved a chair to the wall and sat there dozing off to keep my spirits.
By the time I opened my eyes, it was bright outside.
Seeing that I woke up, busmanov quickly came over and reported, "Comrade division, the cemetery has been dug, and the remains of the martyrs can be buried at any time."
I looked around for a while. I didn't see any sign of Bantai leiev, so I asked basmanov, "Captain, where has Comrade deputy division chief gone?"
"The deputy division commander and some regiment commanders went to the temporary cemetery." After answering my question, busmanov asked carefully, "Comrade division, are you going now?"
I raised my hand and looked at my watch. It was eight o'clock in the morning, so I nodded and said, "it's late. Let's go. We should bury our martyrs as soon as possible before the German plane arrives. "
When I talked about the enemy aircraft, basmanov instinctively looked up and found that he was still in the room. He couldn't help laughing at himself and said, "Sir, we really can't do without air supremacy. You see, when I hear you mention the enemy aircraft, I can't help looking up to see if there is another enemy aircraft hovering in the sky."
I went to the operator who was sitting by the door and asked him, "Comrade operator, do you have a telegram from the political commissar?"
The operator quickly handed me a telegram in front of him and explained with fear: "Sir, comrade, this is a telegram received five minutes ago. I think you are still resting, so I didn't disturb you."
I took the telegram and immediately got it to see what bad news kirilov had sent me. The telegram read: "of the five reconnaissance units sent by our division to the enemy's rear, only four have returned, and the other one is still missing. I am afraid it has been annihilated by the enemy."
After reading the telegram, I thought in my heart that the reconnaissance unit that kirilov said had been annihilated should be the one that corporal Arsene was in. After they joined us, they kept radio silence in order not to reveal the position of the big troops. Kirilov mistakenly thought that it was inevitable that they would be annihilated by the enemy. Although the radio station we are carrying is still in the state of receiving only but not transmitting, the battle of seizing koneyi city has made the enemy find our troops deep into their rear. At this time, it is meaningless to keep radio silence. On the contrary, it will make it impossible for us to get in touch with friendly forces.
Thinking of this, I put the telegram back on the desk and asked the operator, "if I contact the political commissar now, will it be monitored by the enemy?"
After thinking about it, the operator replied, "as long as we talk to the rear, our radio station will be found by the enemy, but if the talk time is not long, the enemy will not be able to lock our position."
"If we are in contact with the division headquarters now, what can we do to avoid the enemy's eavesdropping?"
"It's very simple, sir." As soon as the operator talked about his profession, he began to talk a lot: "we can use code words when talking. For example, tanks are replaced by 29, infantry by 12, and armored vehicles by..."
I was afraid that he would not finish talking. I quickly raised my hand to stop him and told him: "Comrade telegraph operator, you should immediately talk to the division headquarters and tell the commissar that the missing reconnaissance unit is with us at present." After that, I waved my head to basmanov standing beside me and said, "come on, comrade captain, deputy division commander, they should wait."
When we came to the outside of the city, we saw a lot of people standing at the foot of the hillside in the distance. We sped up and walked there. When I came to Bantai leiev's side, I nodded at him and then asked, "Comrade deputy division commander, what's the situation? Are you ready?"
Bantailiev pointed to the front and said, "everything is ready. You can only see it and bury the remains of the martyrs."
I looked in the direction of his fingers and saw a long trench dug on the hillside. Rows of martyrs' bodies were lying outside the trench. At the moment when I saw the remains of many martyrs, I felt vaguely that they had not sacrificed. They just lay there to rest. As long as I ordered them, they could stand up again and attack the German army lively.
I took bantaileiev, shejerikov and kosja up the slope to see the trench dug by the German prisoners in the dark. Compared with the trench we used in battle, the long trench is wide and shallow. Although we do not have coffins to cover the martyrs lying on the ground, the living soldiers have carefully cleaned up the remains of their comrades in arms, wiped the blood stains on the martyrs' faces, and crossed their hands on their chest.
"Comrade deputy division commander, how many martyrs are there?" I can't help but turn back and ask Bantai leiev.
"A total of 237 martyrs." Bandeleev replied briefly.
"What about the German bodies?" Looking at the two long trenches in front of me, I muttered in my heart that bantaileiev didn't want to bury our martyrs and the bodies of the enemy in the same long trench, so I specially asked, "where are the bodies of the enemy?"
Bantailiev pointed to the northeast and said with disdain, "I let the prisoners dig two big pits over there and bury all the German bodies. They don't deserve to be buried with our soldiers. "
Seeing that everything was ready, I ordered the soldiers to put the remains of the martyrs into the trench, ready for the burial ceremony.
With my order, the soldiers of the two companies, who had long been assembled at the foot of the mountain, dispersed in groups, lifted up the remains of their comrades and began to be buried.
Bantai leiev saw the soldiers put a corpse into the trench. He suddenly pulled me aside and looked left and right. Then he asked me mysteriously, "Comrade division commander, Captain Nikolay and his battalion just came here. Is it appropriate to bury his corpse with the remains of our soldiers?"
"There is nothing inappropriate, comrade deputy division commander." I glanced at captain Nikolay not far away and said solemnly, "no matter what they have done before, as long as they join us, they are members of our team. The officers and soldiers of the first battalion, like the soldiers of other battalions, have given their precious lives to defend their motherland. Can't they be allowed to live in peace?"
After listening to me, bantaileiev stopped talking. He looked around at captain Nikolay, shrugged his shoulders, and stood aside to watch the soldiers.
When all the remains of the martyrs were put into the trench, all the soldiers who took part in the work could form three rows on the hillside. The soldiers with the shovel stood in the first row. They stood there quietly, waiting for my next order. I walked slowly to the trench with all the battalion and company commanders who had been present, bantailiev, shejerikov and kosja.
I bent down and picked up a handful of soil from the ground. At last, I took a look at the martyr lying in the long ditch and spilled the soil with one hand. Bantai leiev, standing on one side, immediately ordered loudly, "let the martyrs live in peace and fill the earth." With his orders, soldiers with engineering shovels stepped forward quickly and shoveled the soil outside the trench into the trench.
Looking at the busy soldiers, I turned my head and said to basmanov, "Captain, remember to mark here later. When the war is over, we will set up a monument for these martyrs, so that our future generations will always remember them. "
When the burying work is over and the soldiers return to the original line, Bantai leiev orders all the soldiers to raise their guns and shoot in mourning!
After the ceremony, I made a speech facing the hillside where 237 martyrs were buried: "in front of you is the enemy, and behind you is the motherland. It is because of your fall that the land of the motherland has not been trampled by the Communist aggressors. You have protected the land behind us with your lives. Rest in peace, comrades. Your task is done. The military songs will be loud and clear because of you, and the battle flag will be bright because of you. Please accept our highest salute. All the heroes who have given their precious lives for the motherland are immortal With that, I raised my hand and gave a solemn military salute to the martyr's cemetery.
After my words, there was silence behind me, and then there was a tsunami like cry: "Wula! Wula!! Wula
I turned to look, behind many of the commanders while shaking their arms and shouting, while raising their hands to wipe away the tears inadvertently left from the corner of their eyes. Captain Nikolay was so excited that he burst into tears when he saw that I gave his men such a high evaluation. Even bantaileiev, shejerikov and kosja, who have always been steady, have red eyes.
After all the funeral ceremonies, all the battalion and regiment commanders and I went back to the temporary headquarters to discuss the next direction of our troops.
As we have captured the enemy's map and information, we are not as black as if we had just arrived here. Instead, we clearly know that in the northwest of kongyi, there is an enemy's highland, which is just blocking our army's way to the north. If we want to move on, we must pull out this "nail".
As soon as I put forward my own operational plan, Captain Nikolay got up first and said carelessly, "Comrade division, you can see the combat effectiveness of our battalion in the early morning. I hope you can give the main task to our battalion, and we promise we will live up to your expectations. "
As soon as his voice fell, the next shereblenny could not hear it. He quickly stood up and retorted, "Captain Nikolay, you can't say that. In the battle in the early morning, I admit that your subordinates are very tough and brave, but my subordinates are not bad, are they? At present, your troops are seriously reduced, and our battalion has little loss in the battle. I think it is more appropriate for our battalion to complete this main task. "
Seeing that the commanders of the first and second battalions were arguing about the main task, major jerenkov, the third battalion commander, leaned forward, as if to stand up and fight for the task with his two colleagues. Before he got up, someone else got up first. When terenkov saw this man, he sat down again.
The new person standing up was the third commander, Lieutenant Colonel kosga. He said excitedly: "in the early morning battle, the performance of our three regiments was not satisfactory, so I hope that the division commander can give this arduous and glorious task to our regiment, so that we can have a chance to be shamed." At this point, he also glanced at Nikolay and shereblenny, as if warning them not to argue with themselves.
"Commander kosga," when he saw kosga coming to grab the task, xiejerikov couldn't sit still. He also stood up and said recklessly, "our regiment now has three battalions, but you only have one battalion with one third reduction. I think we should let the division commander give this task to our regiment."
"You..." when he saw xiejerikov stand up, kosja was not willing to show his weakness. He argued with the other side loudly about who was the main attacker. Bantai leiev was dumbfounded when he saw that they were quarreling with each other. Then he came close to my ear and said in a low voice, "Comrade division, I have been in the army for more than 20 years, but I have never seen anyone argue red in the face in order to grab a main task. It seems that the independent division is different from other units. It's really different. " When I heard him say that, I couldn't help but have a deep-rooted idea of obedience in the minds of other army commanders. They only know how to wait for the orders from the superiors, and they don't have the consciousness of asking for war. They have been under my command for a long time, and their ideas have changed imperceptibly. This is probably the difference between the independent division and other units. I stood up and clapped my hands on the table twice in a row to stop the argument between chejerikov and kosja. After both of them sat down, I said slowly, "let's see which army will take charge of the main attack. Now let's talk about how to play the next battle. " Bantaileiev, when I finished speaking, stood up quickly, picked up a piece of information in front of him and read to you: "in our northwest direction, there is a hillside with an altitude of more than 100 meters. It stretches out a mountain leg from east to west, forming a mountain body with three mountain tops. According to the Scout's report, as the enemy's defense is focused on the north, there are few Fortifications on the south slope facing us. However, our battle to capture kongnieyi city has obviously alarmed the enemies on the hillside. They are rushing to repair the fortifications on the south slope. " After Bantai leiev finished reading the information, kosga first asked, "Comrade deputy division commander, what are the characteristics of these three mountains?" Bantaileiev stared at him and replied, "the mountain in the west is closest to us, and it's easy to climb; On the east side, the mountain is steep. First of all, we have to choose a breakthrough between the two mountains, and then we will rush up the mountain to the high ground in the middle, so as to reduce the loss of troops. " After listening to Bantai leiev's introduction, kosja immediately said confidently, "what's the difficulty? We'll concentrate our forces to attack the Western Hills, and then push forward to the middle highland after we get a firm foothold."“ I can't, commander kosga. " As soon as his words were finished, xiejerikov immediately refuted him, saying: "if you fight like this, the enemy can completely draw troops from the high ground in the middle to reinforce the Western Hills. At the same time, they can also use artillery to intercept our attacking troops with artillery fire. In this way, we will pay a heavy price." Kosja was obviously not satisfied with this, so he flatly denied his opinion, and immediately asked, "commander xiejerikov, if you want your regiment to attack, how are you going to fight?"“ It's very simple, "said shejerikov confidently." I'll send a battalion to feint at the East Mountain, but the main attack direction is still in the West. If we fight like this, the enemy will not know which side our main attack direction is, and their troops on the high ground in the middle will not dare to use them casually. " Bantaileiev nodded his head with satisfaction after listening to sergeant chejerikov's plan, then said with a smile, "I think the plan put forward by sergeant chejerikov is operational. According to the report of the scouts, there are only two companies of the enemy's garrison on the high ground. Facing the simultaneous attacks from both sides of us, they absolutely dare not act rashly. Our success in capturing the high ground in a short time has been greatly improved. " Then he turned to look at me and asked for my opinion: "Comrade division commander, let's adopt the operational plan of lieutenant colonel chejerikov?" After thinking about it, I shook my head slowly and said, "I don't agree with lieutenant colonel chejerikov's plan."