"What, what? What did you say? " Kosga's words startled me. In my memory, the meeting of Stalingrad's front army and friendly army was not today, nor with the Don front army, but with the southwest front army. I was afraid that I had heard it wrong, so I asked him to repeat what he had just said, "I didn't understand what you just said. Please say it again!"
Commander kosga thought I really didn't hear it, so he raised his voice and repeated it. Because his voice is very loud, kirilov and bantaileiev standing on one side also heard it.
"Comrade oshanina," kirilov came up and asked aloud, his voice trembling slightly with excitement. "Lieutenant Colonel kosja reported that they had joined the friendly forces?" Is that true? "
"Comrade political commissar, I think it should be true." After that to kirilov, I asked out loud to the transmitter, "commander kosga, please tell me more about it. Where did you join forces with? Who are the commanders and fighters from both sides? "
After listening to what I said, Lieutenant Colonel kosga found that he was a little too happy. He only said that he would join the friendly forces, but he didn't make it clear which unit of the friendly forces would join. He quickly added: "Comrade division, please listen to my explanation. When our regiment was about to seize the highland, there was a fierce gunfire from the north side of the highland. I was quite puzzled at that time. I immediately asked major vatorak, the Deputy Commander: major, did you send your troops back to the back of the German highlands?
Vartorac shook his head and replied very simply, "no, comrade commander. Since the beginning of the battle, I've been with you and never left. "
I then asked, "what's the matter with the gunfire coming from behind the high ground?"
Major vartorac thought for a moment and said tentatively, "is it possible that the German troops defeated by the Don front army have retreated here and misunderstood their own people?"
After thinking for a while, I shook my head and said, "Comrade major, this is impossible. It's day time, and the German troops on the Highlands will never mistake their troops for ours. " At this point, I also made my own guess, "is it possible that the guerrillas we left behind are attacking the Highlands?"
Major vartorac immediately denied my conjecture and explained his view: "guerrillas? This is absolutely impossible. If they really had the ability to attack German solid positions, the last time our division went north, they would not have been absent. "
I'm even more puzzled when he said that. I don't think the troops of the northern highlands of the German army attacked by Lt. Col. sergeant sharkirikov were sent to support our troops, but why didn't he say hello to me in advance? "
Although kosga seemed a little wordy when he told the story of the reunion, I didn't interrupt him in order to find out the whole story. Instead, I listened to him quietly.
"... at that time, major Godunov, the commander of the Third Battalion, came in to report his work. I had an idea and gave him the task. I ordered him to find out which army was attacking on the other side of the German highland. After commander Godunov left, major vatorak and I went out of the command post to observe the battle for the Highlands in the trench.
By this time, the first and second battalions had occupied the two hilltops on the left and right respectively, while the third battalions were making a final attack on the main position on the top of the mountain. At this time, the positions on the top of the mountain were filled with fire and smoke, and it seemed that a fierce battle was going on.
Major vartorac next to me suddenly touched my arm and excitedly said to me, "Comrade commander, do you think it will be the army of the Don front?"
I listened to what he said and quickly raised my telescope to carefully observe the position on the top of the mountain. After looking at it for a while, I saw that our helmets were shaking in the trench, and now the troops of the Third Battalion had not rushed to the top of the mountain. In this way, I immediately concluded that the people on the top of the mountain who are fighting with the enemy are not necessarily the commanders and fighters of the Don front army, but they must be our friends. "
Kirilov, who had been listening to me for a long time, could not help but snatch the transmitter from my hand and yelled at kosga: "Hey, comrade commander, you've been talking about it for a long time, but you haven't talked about our main concern. Now I ask you, which army joined you, and which commanders and fighters of both sides joined you? "
With kirilov's roar, kosja did not dare to talk any more. He quickly replied, "it's the tank advance unit of the 65th group army of the Don front army who joined us, comrade political commissar. The leader's lieutenant colonel is sipiakin. According to him, general Batov, commander of the 65th group army, in order to quickly break through the German defense line, organized several tank assault units with infantry to plunge into the German defense from several areas, in order to achieve the goal of dividing and encircling the German army. "
When kirilov heard this, he suddenly said to the operator, "Comrade operator, give me your pencil and paper." When he got the pencil, he began to record it, and at the same time, he repeated aloud: "we have... Commander of the Third Battalion, major Godunov... Commander of the first battalion, Captain Rosenberg... Sergeant adir, commander of the Don front army, Lieutenant shipiakin... Captain guzhaven. It's all written down. Thank you, comrade commander
Kirilov put down his transmitter, raised the paper in his hand, and said happily, "we've finally come to this day. We've joined the army of the Don front!"
After hearing kirilov's words, bandeleev immediately suggested to me with emotion: "Comrade division commander, I think we should report to the headquarters immediately and report the good news to commander trakov."
When trakov heard the news of the meeting, his reaction was more intense than I expected. His excited roar came from the earphone: "what, comrade oshanina, what do you say? Have you joined up with the friends of the Don front? But is it really the case? Are you sure you're not kidding me? "
In response to this reaction, I replied very calmly, "yes, comrade commander. The troops of the third regiment joined up with the advance troops of the 65th army of the Don front army in the Highlands north of kongnieyi. " Then I picked up the paper kirilov had put on the table and read out the names of the commanders and fighters of the two sides.
When I finished reading the list, trakov suddenly said, "o'shanina, please wait a moment. Comrade military commissar wants to talk to you." Soon, gulov's voice came out of the earphone: "Hello, comrade oshanina. I would like to extend my congratulations to you on the successful reunion of your troops with those of the friendly forces. " Speaking of this, his tone suddenly changed, "according to your report, only a small friendly army joined us, and you can't complete the anti encirclement of the German army with your strength, so in the next time, you may have to face the crazy counter attack launched by the German army who is not willing to lose. You need to be sober about this. "
I had been wondering in my heart: did I inadvertently change history when the third regiment joined up with the advance troops of the 65th Army today. When I heard gurov's words, I realized that I was too early to be happy. The troops of lieutenant colonel sipiakin, who joined us, were just a small force passing through the gap of the German defense. They could contain the German army, but they played a very limited role in the whole war. After the meeting, all we can do is to stick to the area we are occupying and make sure that the German army will not take it again before the friendly troops arrive.
After the call with the headquarters, I immediately began to arrange the defense of each regiment. In the past two days, the area we have occupied has expanded a lot, but our current forces have lost a quarter of them in the fighting. If we do not deploy them carefully, we may suffer a great loss in the next fighting.
At present, there are two regiments and four regiments in gorodyser city. There are no German formed units in the East and south of the city. Therefore, I am confident that I will boldly divide the two regiments into two parts and use them for defense in the East and the south. The four regiments, with strong troops, had one battalion guarding the city, two and three battalions in the north and west of the city respectively.
Because most of the buildings in the newly captured konnyi city were destroyed by the German bombing, there were not many troops in the city, so I asked shejerikov to leave only one battalion in the city, and the remaining two battalions. One was deployed in the hidden camp in the south of the city, and the other was deployed in the west of the city to build a temporary defense line, As the first barrier to protect the city. In the third regiment of Colonel kosga, except for one battalion, the remaining two battalions and commander sipiakin's troops were deployed at the rear of the highland.
However, the situation was better than I expected. In the afternoon of that day, the German army only sent out a few small troops to fight back against konaiyi. But as soon as they launched an attack, they were bombarded by our air force, and their attack finally disintegrated in the bombing.
The next day, that is, November 22, until noon, there was no German attack on our division. Bantaileiev was very surprised by the abnormal performance of the enemy. He looked at the map for a long time, and finally said: "Comrade division, why don't the enemy attack us? Don't they want to take back the two lost cities?"
I chuckled and said, "my deputy teacher, don't you think the Germans care about these two cities? Seeing that we had captured the cities and seized their stock of goods, the German commander was probably bleeding in his heart and dreamed of taking back the two cities. But now they are powerless. Even if they want to launch a counter offensive against us, they can't deploy enough troops. "
"Comrade o'shanina is right." Kirilov said: "as our three front forces launched counter attacks against the German forces from different directions at the same time, the German defense zones are all too busy at the moment. How can we draw up forces to capture these two meaningless cities?"
"Is that so?" Bandeliev asked in a somewhat uncertain way.
"Of course it is." Kirilov continued: "from the information we have, the counterattack went well. We beat the German troops in a mess. The command system was even in chaos. Under such circumstances, how can their troops fight and how can they fight? "
"The commissar is right." When kirilov finished speaking, I also agreed with him in time, saying: "Comrade deputy division commander, our main task now is to hold fast to the existing defense area, wait for the main force of the Don front army to go south to join us, completely surround Paulus's troops, and wait for time to encircle and annihilate them."
On the morning of November 23, the German troops around our defense area still showed no sign of attacking. At noon, Lieutenant travkin, who led the team out for reconnaissance, came back to report to us that the German army was shrinking its forces and building defensive positions. It seemed that they were going to fight a protracted war with our army. As for the report brought back by travkin, bantailiev first expressed his opinion: "the division commander and political commissar, according to the intelligence from the reconnaissance and the return, have proved that our army's counter offensive in several directions is progressing very smoothly. Otherwise, the Germans who have always been good at attacking will never be able to build fortifications in one area honestly. This situation is very important and needs to be reported to the higher authorities immediately. " Today, akhromeyev, who has just returned, habitually goes against him: "Comrade deputy division commander, I think we should check this situation again. Before we have a clear idea of the German army's intention, we should report the enemy's information rashly. If there is any deviation, it will affect the normal decision-making of the headquarters."“ Chief of staff, "bantailiev said to akhromeyev impolitely," I believe lieutenant travkin is a scout with rich experience. I think what he reported must be true... "Although most of the disputes between the two people revolve around their work, they always make me feel upset. At this moment, I see that they are going to pick up again, He quickly stood up and said, "OK, OK, for the sake of safety, I think we should send scouts in several directions at the same time to confirm that the enemy is shrinking and building fortifications." Seeing that I stood up to speak, both of them stopped arguing and nodded to agree with me. In this way, Lieutenant travkin, who had just returned to the headquarters, took a group of scouts and went to various regions to carry out reconnaissance missions. At 5 p.m., Lieutenant travkin and his men returned one after another, and the result reported to me was still that the German forces were shrinking and building fortifications nervously, as if they were going to fight a protracted war with our army. After the intelligence that lieutenant travkin brought back was confirmed, I called trakov again to report the results of the reconnaissance. After listening, trekov, eh, said faintly, "I know the situation." Just when I thought he would not say anything more, he suddenly said, "by the way, comrade o'shanina, I almost forgot to tell you something. At 16 p.m. today, the 4th tank army of the southwest front army under the command of major general Kravchenko and the 4th mechanized army of the Stalingrad front army under the command of major general walski joined forces in the Soviet and Karachi regions, forming a formal encirclement of the German army. "