Chapter 853

When the German army appeared, commissar Xia Ping left the command post with Morozov and went outside to organize troops to fight back against the German army. Shortly after the end of the battle, he reappeared at the command post. He leaned over, rushed to the door and said loudly, "come in, all of you. Just put your things on the table."

As soon as his words were over, three soldiers walked in from the door. They took turns to put the cloth bags on the table, then stepped back and stood in a neat row beside the wall, waiting for Xia Ping's next instructions.

Seeing that the bags in the soldiers' hands were all on the table, Xia Ping waved to indicate that they could leave. Three soldiers raised their hands to salute us, then turned and walked out of the headquarters.

Gaidar stares at the cloth bag on the table and asks Xia Ping strangely: "I say, comrade political commissar, what is it?"

Shapin went to the table and took out the things in the bag one by one. Seeing the bread, canned meat, coffee and other things he put on the table one by one, I knew what Shapin was bringing, so I took over Gaidar's words and said, "this is the German individual rations." Then I asked Xia Ping, "Comrade political commissar, is this the seized German airdrop material?"

"Yes, sir." After Xia Ping gave me a positive answer, he said with admiration: "I didn't expect that there are so many things in the German soldier's rations, which are much richer than ours."

"Not to mention, the German men's individual rations are quite abundant," Gaidar added. "The last time the first regiment and the third regiment went north with their division commander, they seized a lot of German materials in kongniei city. Later, when you came back, the third commander, Lieutenant Colonel kosga, sent a lot of them to us

"In addition to food and medicine, there are also a lot of weapons and ammunition." Xia Ping said triumphantly: "in this way, our regiment's German equipment doesn't have to worry about the shortage of ammunition."

"Comrade division," Gaidar asked respectfully, "we have seized a lot of materials this time. Do we need to send some of them to the division?"

I waved my hand and declined his kindness: "Comrade commander, your regiment has not been replenished for such a long time. There is a serious shortage of ammunition and materials. Let's leave all the materials seized today. When you seize German supplies another day, it will be no later than to send them to us. "

After leaving the command post of the fourth regiment, under the protection of Yushchenko, I went to the position of the first regiment along the newly excavated traffic trench, intending to see how they had captured shejerikov.

As soon as we entered the position of a regiment, we heard the sharp whistling of the shells cutting through the air, and then two shells landed in front of us one after another and exploded, splashing mud all over us. Seeing this situation, Yushchenko pulled my sleeve and loudly reminded me: "Comrade division, the enemy is shelling here. We need to find a place to hide immediately."

"All right, comrade captain." The battle of Stalingrad is in sight. I don't want to die in the German bombardment at this time, so I yelled at Yushchenko: "go to find a shelter."

Yushchenko straightened up, looked left and right, and then yelled, "follow me!" Then he ran out of the trench and stooped to run far away. Several other soldiers and I also learned from him. In the sound of the guns, we climbed out of the traffic ditch which only reached the waist and ran forward behind him.

Not long after running out, Yushchenko stopped, turned around and waved to me desperately, shouting anxiously: "Comrade division, come here, there is a gun shelter." When I ran into him, he grabbed my arm and pulled me into the gun shelter.

There are five or six soldiers in the bunker. Once we enter, the small bunker will be crowded. We can hardly turn around when we stand in the same place. Yushchenko stood beside me and said apologetically, "I'm sorry, sir. For the sake of safety, I can only aggrieve you to stay here for a while."

"Don't mind, comrade captain." After I responded with a smile, I turned to an elderly soldier next to me and asked, "Hey, comrade soldier, how long does the German artillery usually last?"

The soldier glanced at my badge and replied loudly, "I'm sorry, Comrade General. Please forgive me. It's so crowded here that I can't lift my hand to salute you. "

"Never mind, comrade soldier." In this special environment, I didn't care whether he saluted me or not. Instead, I asked, "you haven't answered my question just now."

The soldier frowned and thought for a moment, and said, "the Germans bombard our positions every day, but the frequency of bombardment is getting less and less every day. I don't think it will be long before the enemy's shelling stops. "

"Comrade General, do you think we will not be killed by German shells?" Before I could express my thanks to the soldier, a trembling voice came from behind. I painstakingly turned to look back and found a young recruit in civilian clothes. Although he was holding a gun in his hand, his body kept shaking, as if he was frightened by the shelling outside.

"What a coward," said the soldier who had just answered my question, staring at the recruit in a discontented tone, "Comrade General, you don't know that this coward has never stopped shivering since the German artillery bombarded our area."

"No, comrade soldier, we won't be killed by German shells." I comforted the recruit“ The Germans have been surrounded by us. The shelling they are carrying out is just a dying struggle. " My words obviously didn't work. The young recruit pushed past me without saying a word and walked out of the gun shelter quickly“ Hey, you coward, where are you going? " The old soldier yelled at the back of the new recruits: "you don't want to run to the Germans, do you?"

Yushchenko heard the soldier's curse and said to me in a low voice: "Comrade division, I'll go out and have a look." Seeing that I nodded in agreement, he went out with another guard soldier.

Not long after they came out, I heard a clear shot outside.

Yushchenko, who had just chased out, came back soon. He came back dejected and had a gun in his hand. It was the gun that the recruit had just held. He told me bitterly: "Comrade division commander, the recruit committed suicide."

"Coward, what a coward." Seeing the rifle in Yushchenko's hand, the old soldier scolded angrily and reported to me, "Comrade General, this new recruit just joined the army yesterday and has no combat experience. Maybe he was frightened by the enemy's artillery fire."

I nodded, then turned back and told Yushchenko: "Comrade captain, I will leave two soldiers and find a place to bury the body of the recruit."

After the shelling, I took Yushchenko to the command post of the first regiment. Here, I met not only lieutenant colonel chejerikov and political commissar oberstein, but also Bantai leiev, who was supervising the war here. When I told them about the suicide of the new soldiers, oberstein took over the topic and said, "Comrade division, because we have a lot of soldiers to supplement and we have no time to train, many new soldiers will panic in the face of the enemy's shelling."

"I don't get it, commander sergeant kirikov." After listening to oberstein's explanation, I turned to look at shejerikov and asked, "why is it that the fourth regiment is not bombarded by the enemy, but you are bombarded by the enemy every day?"

Xiejerikov replied with a wry smile: "Comrade division, is that still necessary? Of course, it was related to the second artillery battalion of the division. Because of their accurate fire, the German army was terrified, so they concentrated the only fire and shelled our regiment's defense area every day in an attempt to wipe out captain kurishenko's artillery battalion. "

"But don't worry, sir," oberstein told me confidently. "Judging from the scale and time of German artillery bombardment in these two days, their shells are seriously insufficient. If we hadn't captured their airdrop fields and most of their airdrop materials today, I don't think they would have shelled us. "

I felt that oberstein's words had something to say, so I specially asked, "political commissar oberstein, if I am not immediately wrong, do you mean that the enemy's shells are almost exhausted?"

Oberstein nodded and replied with a smile, "absolutely right, sir. As long as we continue to capture the German airdrops as we do now, their ammunition will soon be exhausted. We are in the next attack, the resistance will be reduced a lot

"I agree with commissar oberstein." Bantai leiev echoed: "from what I have observed today, if we had not taken the initiative to seize the enemy's airdrop field and a large number of airdrop materials, I believe the enemy would not have jumped out of the wall and shelled a regiment's defense area."

If he doesn't make a mistake in his analysis, the enemy's ammunition and materials will be exhausted. As long as we firmly control the enemy's airdrop field, they will soon be unable to eat. As long as we trap them for a week, it will be estimated that the absolute majority of the German troops will not have the strength to carry weapons, and our troops will be able to rush directly to capture the prisoners.

Thinking of this, I said to Bantai leiev: "Comrade deputy division commander, during this period of time, you will continue to stay in the forefront and be responsible for commanding the 1st and 4th regiments to seize airdropped materials. You must try every means to cut off the enemy's air supplies."

After returning to the division headquarters, I took the initiative to call trakov and reported to him that the fourth regiment of the first regiment had captured two German airdrop supply points.

After hearing this, trakov was very happy. He cheered repeatedly on the phone, and then said: "Comrade oshanina, although according to our reconnaissance, there are no less than ten enemy airdrop points in Stalingrad city within the scope of our group army alone, you have successfully captured two airdrop points, which has seriously affected the enemy's supplies. It's really amazing. I will report this to the whole group army, so that all the troops can learn from you. We must seize the remaining airdrop sites as much as possible, so that the Germans have no bullets in their guns, no food in their stomachs, and the wounded have no medicine. Let's see how they can persist. "

I didn't say anything about trekov's praise. I just giggled. After all, it's a rare thing to get the praise from the commander. When I heard that trakov was still talking, I didn't know how long it would take to finish. I stood for most of the day, and my legs were too tired, so I sat down in my own position.

But as soon as he sat down, trakov suddenly said, "by the way, comrade oshanina, there's another thing I forgot to tell you. I relayed your suggestion to general shumilov in the early morning. After listening to it, he repeatedly said, "yes, so his troops adopted the new tactics you proposed in today's battle."“ Really? " Hearing what trakov said, I was so excited that I almost jumped out of my seat“ It's true that from 9 a.m., the officers and men of the 64th group army have been attacking the German troops in the Voroshilov district. Although they paid a great price, they succeeded in seizing two blocks. " Trikov didn't seem to notice my abnormality, and he went on saying to himself: "general shumilov said that if you didn't fight according to the tactics you proposed, you would have suffered heavy casualties and got nothing today." When I heard that shumilov's 64th army had captured two blocks after paying huge casualties, I felt a little more secure. If they still got nothing in the case of heavy casualties, it is estimated that my ability will be questioned by my superiors, which will have a negative impact on my future. I took a deep breath, stabilized my mood for a moment, and then asked, "Comrade commander, I don't know what effect the counterattack of the 57th group army against the 4th armored group army of Hote has achieved?"“ Oh, even if you don't ask about it, I'm going to tell you. " Today, trikov was a bit like a chatty old lady, and his words became nagging. "Our 57th group army, with the cooperation of the 21st group army, the 5th group army of tanks and the 2nd group army of air force of the southwest front army, launched a counter attack on the German army outside the encirclement. After a day of fighting, Hote's armored group has been repulsed by them for 30 kilometers. " As soon as trakov finished, I couldn't wait to ask, "Comrade commander, if the German reinforcements are repulsed, when will our counterattack begin?" Trekov was silent for a moment and replied, "we will launch a final attack on Paulus' forces on the night of December 25."