Chapter 823

When the information confirmed by Xie jerikov himself was reported to the division headquarters again, kirilov was so excited that he repeatedly urged me: "Comrade division commander, since the information has been confirmed, please report to the group army headquarters immediately. I believe that recently, they are also worried about the interruption of the waterway. They should inform them of the good news immediately. "

When trekov got my call, he was surprised. He asked in an unbelievable voice, "Comrade oshanina, are you sure what you said is true? Is it too dark for your observation post on the top of the mountain to read it wrong? "

"No, comrade commander." As for trekov's suspicion, I replied positively: "when I first heard the report of lieutenant colonel chejerikov, I also felt incredible, so I ordered him to go to the observation station on the top of the mountain to observe and confirm. After about five minutes, I got a call from him again, and he definitely told me that there was a fleet coming to us. " In order to make my words more convincing, I also explained to trekov, "maybe the temperature of these two days picked up and the ice layer on the river became thinner, so the sailors of Volga river fleet took a risk to try."

After listening to my report, trakov was not as ecstatic as I imagined, but fell into silence. After a long time, he said to me in a heavy voice, "Comrade oshanina, I want to inform you of something." When I heard trakov speak in this tone, I got nervous and knew that what he was going to say was not a good thing.

Sure enough, he continued: "major general ruolu Geoff, commander of the 37th division of Jinwei, unfortunately died in the daytime fighting. At present, his deputy, regimental political commissar, comrade sherbina, is succeeding him. I plan to assign the division to you from today on, and I will inform shelbina to report to you later. "

"I see, comrade commander." When I heard that another well-known commander had died, my heart was still sad. For the arrangement made by trakov, I naturally promised, "I will stay in the headquarters and wait for Comrade shelbina to arrive."

Kirilov obviously knew the senior commanders of the divisions. When I mentioned sherbina, he had a puzzled expression on his face. As soon as I put down the phone, he asked curiously, "Comrade oshanina, what did the commander say? Why did Comrade shelbina, the political commissar of the 37th division of Jinwei, come to our division headquarters? "

Looking at kirilov, I sighed and said, "Comrade political commissar, commander of the 37th division of Jinwei, general ruolugeoff, died bravely in the battle with the bandits. The commander said that from now on, the 37th division of Jinwei will be under our command. In a little while, comrade sherbina, the political commissar of the division, will come to us to report. "

After hearing this, Bantai leiev was a little upset. He said thoughtfully, "the enemy's division headquarters are usually located a few kilometers or even farther away from the battlefield. However, our division headquarters are only a few hundred meters away from the position. Once the defense line is broken through, our headquarters will be in danger immediately. "

Before he finished, akhromeyev said, "deputy division commander, I don't know why you said that. Do you want to suggest that division commander move our division headquarters backward at such a time?"

"It's impossible," kirilov said in time before I could speak. "Under no circumstances will our division headquarters move backward. Comrade o'shanina once said, "where the troops fight, our headquarters should be. In this way, it is easy to command, and at the same time, it will make the troops full of confidence to win."

I knew in my heart that bantailiev's sudden remark was because if general ludev's sacrifice stimulated him, he would tactfully put forward the proposal of transferring the division headquarters for the sake of our safety. The big counterattack is around the corner. If the division headquarters is transferred at such a time, my image in their mind will be greatly reduced. As soon as kirilov finished speaking, I went on to say, "Comrade deputy division commander, I know that you proposed to transfer the division headquarters out of good intentions. However, under the current circumstances, the headquarters can not be moved casually. Once it is moved, it will arouse the suspicions of the commanders and fighters below. They will think whether the division leaders have no confidence in the positions they are holding, so they will move the headquarters ahead of time, which will have a bad impact on morale. "

The appearance of political commissar sherbina in time resolved the embarrassing atmosphere in the headquarters. I quickly stood up and walked towards him. A long way away, I took the initiative to extend my hand to him and said in a friendly way, "political commissar sherbina, Hello, welcome to the headquarters of the independent division."

Shelbina was not tall, with a dark face and bright eyes. Perhaps it was because of the sacrifice of his partner, general roluev, who still had a light sadness on his face. After shaking hands with us one by one, he took out a broken piece of paper from his briefcase and handed it to me. He said, "general o'shanina, this is left by our division commander."

I took the piece of paper in his hand, and when I saw that the handwriting on it was still clear, I could not help but read it out: "alive, you know, we are fighting to stay by the dark Volga river because we don't want to leave this land and can't leave. Our death is for your life."

After I finished reading, kirilov took the paper from my hand, saw it with his own eyes, and then handed it to bantailiev. When the paper turned around in the hands of bantailiev and akhromeyev and returned to kirilov's hands, he sighed and said, "this is the last words of general roluev. We must keep them well and send them to the future war memorial after the war, so that our future generations can always remember them." Then he took political commissar sherbina to the table and sat down to chat.

While I was rummaging about what to say to the sherbina commissar, there was a rumble of gunfire outside the cave. Hearing the gunfire, I could not help shivering and said in my heart, did the Germans attack the mamayevgang in the dark?

Just wanted to make a phone call to ask the observation station on the top of the mountain, akhromeyev had taken the lead to pick up the phone on the table and began to dial. After a phone call, he put down the phone and reported to me, "Comrade division commander, the observation office reported that the enemy is shelling our river crossing fleet."

If I had heard such a report half a month ago, or even earlier, I would have directly ignored it, because we lacked long-range artillery to suppress the German artillery positions that bombarded our warships. However, the situation at this time is different from that in the past. This may be the only opportunity for the 62nd group army to obtain external supplies before the start of the great counterattack. I must not let the German long-range artillery destroy this fleet. So I decisively ordered akhromeyev: "chief of staff, call major Morozov immediately and order him to push the heavy guns out of the hiding place and use the artillery fire to suppress the German artillery."

When ahlomeyev heard my order, he did not immediately carry out it as before, but said in embarrassment: "Comrade division commander, we have too few heavy artillery. If we bombard the German artillery, we will not only fail to achieve the desired results, but also lead to the annihilation of the whole army because we have exposed the target."

"Chief of staff, in order to cover the fleet carrying supplies, we must try to attract the attention of the German artillery." Although I pretended to be nothing on the surface, my heart was bleeding. Maybe in this way, all my artillery would be finished“ In order to ensure that the group army can get the urgently needed materials, the necessary sacrifice is worth it. "

As soon as major Morozov's artillery battalion started firing, it really attracted the attention of German artillery. Apart from leaving a few guns to continue to bombard the ferryboat in the Volga River, most of the guns turned their muzzle and blasted in the direction of mamayev post.

At dawn, major Morozov came to the division headquarters and reported to us the shelling at night. When he talked about the destruction of two cannons, all the officers and men of the two artillery teams died.

After listening to his report, kirilov turned to me and asked, "Comrade division, shall we go and have a look?"

As kirilov's questions were so unintelligible, I didn't understand what was going on for a moment, so I asked in a dazed way, "Comrade political commissar, what are we going to see?"

"To the artillery position, we should go and see the artillery officers and men who died." Kirilov replied.

"All the people there were killed, comrade political commissar." Morozov said to us in a low voice: "except for the several artillery crews who were withdrawn, all the others were killed. Don't you believe what I said? "

"In that case, I should go and see for myself," kirilov repeated, "and see for myself." Speaking of this, he asked me again, "Comrade oshanina, will you come with me to have a look?"

Kirilov and I walked out of the headquarters together and went to the temporary artillery position at night. According to Morozov's report, after they successfully attracted the enemy's fire, except for two cannons, the rest of the heavy guns were moved and concealed in time.

When we came to the gun position last night, we were stunned. In front of me was a terrible crater made up of crisscross craters, two cannons were blown askew, and the air was filled with the smell of bloody smoke.

Kirilov and I went into the pit and searched hard, hoping to find the survivors of the two artillery teams. We came here for this purpose. But what we saw was shocking. The pit was full of bloodstains. The dead were so bloody that they could not be identified according to their uniforms and faces. The fragments of the empty shell box, the rags of the army coat and the shell cases were mixed up. Kirilov plucked and searched among the fragments and shells, as if trying to find a few survivors.

I stood still and gazed at everything here for a long time. I knew in my heart that these sacrificial artillery commanders and fighters did not panic in the face of the fierce artillery fire of the enemy, but fought tenaciously to the last moment of their lives.

"Sir, your phone number." Major basmanov's voice came from the top of the crater. I looked up and saw him squatting by the crater. I noticed him and quickly added, "it's from the headquarters of the group army."

After listening to basmanov's words, I knew it was time to leave, so I called kirilov who was busy: "Comrade political commissar, it's time for us to leave. It's a call from the headquarters of the group army."

I went back to the headquarters with a heavy heart, took the microphone from akhromeyev's hand, politely said to the microphone: "Hello, comrade commander, I'm oshanina, what's your instruction?"

From the receiver came trakov's voice: "Comrade oshanina, I heard that in order to cover the transport fleet's smooth passage through the Volga River, you decisively ordered the artillery to fire on the enemy and contained most of the artillery fire of the enemy. How about the artillery casualties of your division? "

"Two cannons were destroyed by the enemy's fire, and all the soldiers of the two artillery squads died bravely."

After listening to my report, trikov was silent for a long time before he continued: "Comrade oshanina, the sacrifice of these soldiers is valuable. Last night, the Volga fleet sent the 11th, 12th, 13th, 61st and 63rd armored ships to open a passable route for ships carrying soldiers and materials. Thanks to the cover you provided in time, apart from one ship which was hit and sank by gunfire, the other ships, Pugachev, Spartak and Panfilov, have all arrived at the wharf by the way. In addition to the large amount of materials urgently needed by the group army, there were two battalions on board. "

"Did the ship go back?" I asked instinctively as he finished.

"For the time being, because of the barrier of the Volga ice, these ships could not return to the east coast in the daytime, otherwise they would become the targets of German aviation and artillery. So the boats stayed on the dock for a while, and we used parachutes, white sheets and pockets to camouflage them in the color of ice and snow. " After that, trakov told me, "o'shanina, come to headquarters in the evening. You are now the deputy commander of the group army. You have to attend some important meetings. "

Fortunately, the German army did not launch an attack on the mamayev post today, so I arranged for basmanov to send people to help Morozov, and they restrained the bodies of those killed artillery commanders and fighters.

In the evening, I took Yushchenko and a platoon guard soldier into the ruins of the city, carefully bypassed the German guarded area, and quickly rushed to the headquarters.

When I entered the headquarters, I saw a lot of people in the room. In addition to trakov, gurov, and Krylov, there were also artillery commander General hogarsky, political director Vasiliev, and armored deputy director Lieutenant Colonel Wei inlub. They were sitting around the table listening to trakov talk about today's war situation.

After I saluted you, I also found a vacant seat to sit down and listen to trakov's introduction of the situation in the city quietly: "the supplemented Colonel wachuk division and the 92nd infantry brigade are constantly fighting back against the German army between the main force of the group army and the lyudnikov division. At the same time, other troops in our city are gradually taking back buildings and shelters from the enemy's hands in other areas of the front of the group army, to be exact, the whole front. The northern group was attacked by the enemy to the tractor factory; The Sokolov and guriyev divisions attacked the Red October factory; The rojmzeff division occupied the German occupied buildings in their area. Judging from today's attack, the result is not bad. Every unit has captured booty and captured prisoners. "

After trakov finished, we talked about the possibility of further positive action. As a new person, I did not express my opinions rashly, but listened to you carefully. At that moment, the telephone rang by the wall, and the nearest krailov got up and went to pick up the phone. After listening for a while, he put down the phone, went back to the table, and reported to trikov, "Comrade commander, it's the call from the headquarters of the front army, informing us that there will be important orders to be issued soon. Let's wait by the telegraph."

As for the inexplicable notice from the superior, all of you are at a loss. Finally, general hogarsky said, "Hey, what important orders will the superior give us at this time?"

When we were still pondering over the question raised by hogarsky, my heart beat faster. After several months of waiting, the great counterattack was finally coming.

Guloff, who was sitting opposite me, may have been inspired by the joy on my face. He patted himself on the forehead and said excitedly, "I see. This order must be about a big counterattack!"

After listening to gurov's words, trakov got up and walked out without saying a word, and we followed him quickly. We followed trakov to the nearby communication room, where a group of people crowded together, waiting impatiently for the operator to crackle out the long-awaited order on the Bodo telegraph.

This wait lasted for more than two hours, until around midnight, we finally looked forward to the important orders from our superiors!

Standing behind the telegraph operator, my heart was beating wildly, and I saw letters skipping, forming lines of words on the long and thin telegraph strip, one by one orders: the southwest front army and the Don front army turned to the direction of Karachi from kretskaya and ilovlinskaya in the early morning of November 19; Later on November 20, Stalingrad's front army will start from rygorod region and lake sarpa, Lake Chacha and lake balmanchak, and turn to the direction of Soviet town and then to Karachi for counterattack. The task is: to break through the enemy's front, encircle and annihilate it.

The telegram just received was snatched by trakov before it could be pasted on the special paper. After he had read it, the telegram passed on among all of us. Although everyone knows every letter in the telegram, the combination of them makes us confused. We can't immediately understand the meaning of the upcoming event. We went back to the headquarters and continued to study this important telegram. Even so, it took a long time for the leaders of the group army to really understand that this counterattack is different from any previous one. The order of the front army depicts the outline of the whole intention of the supreme command of the Soviet Union. It talks about counter attack, encircling and annihilating all the enemies under the city of stargrad. This campaign is no longer a local one, because there are three front forces attacking. It can be seen that the supreme command has mobilized and assembled heavy troops to carry out this assault, and its purpose is to completely eliminate the German troops in Stalingrad. After making clear the intention of the superior, trakov said: "comrades, we are sticking to the struggle of Stalingrad, and our army's tenacious resistance to the attacking enemy is coming to an end. As long as the enemy is deeply trapped in the street battle, as long as the German forces are held in Stalingrad, its two wings will be fatally threatened. "“ The commander is right, "Krylov continued." our army is limited. It is unrealistic to launch a large-scale attack on the German army. So what we can do now is to act like a magnet to firmly attract the German army in the city, so that they can not easily escape from the city. " After Krylov finished, trakov and others said, "the two primary tasks of the group army are: one is to destroy the enemy who came out to Volga River and join the liudnikov division; Second, we should continue to hold fast to the mamayev post and the 107.5 high ground, so as to maintain the defense depth at the present 4.5 km, and eliminate the enemy observation post that monitors the battle formation of our group army and the approach of Volga River. " Gulov looked at his watch and said, "it's early morning of the 19th, that is to say, the attack of the Don front army and the southwest front army will officially start in a few hours. We should convey this news to all divisions as soon as possible, so that all the teachers can have a clear idea of it. Only in this way can we realize the strategic intention of attracting the enemy in the city and making it impossible to retreat. " Trikov nodded, agreed with gurov's proposal, and then told Krylov: "Comrade chief of staff, you should convey the order of counterattack to all divisions as soon as possible, so that everyone can prepare for all battles." After that, he turned his head and looked at me and said, "besides, comrade oshanina, he immediately rushed back to mamayev post overnight and let the troops make all preparations for the battle. But we must not lose mamayev post and 107.5 highland before the start of the great counter offensive."“ Please rest assured, commander! " I quickly stood up and assured him: "as long as there is a soldier in the position, we will never give the mamayev post to the German."