On January 22, our troops outside the city, after adjusting their deployment and under the cover of the air force, launched a full line attack again on the second German position. On January 23, the day after the route to the east of gumenrac was cut off by our army, the airport of gumenrac was successfully occupied by our army. At this point, all the German retreat roads were completely blocked.
That evening, trekov called me. He said excitedly on the phone, "Comrade oshanina, I have good news for you. The main force of the Don front army has approached the outskirts of Stalingrad, and the task of our group army to contain the German army has been basically completed. Commander rokosovsky ordered us to take a break and prepare to launch a new attack on the German army on the 25th. "
"Great, comrade commander. That's flattering." I was overjoyed to hear the news that we could attack again. Thinking that the current Army's ability to attack was not enough, I asked trikov what I was concerned about: "I don't know when the two shock engineering battalions assigned to our army will arrive?"
On hearing this question, trakov was silent for a moment, and then said, "I asked commander rokosovsky about this. He said that the engineering units assigned to our group army would arrive on the 26th."
"What, the 26th?" When I heard that it would take three days for the engineers to feel it, I was disappointed and said, "it's too late. When they arrive, the war will be almost over."
As soon as I said that, I knew that I had slipped my tongue. The main force of the Don front army had not yet entered Stalingrad. Who could say when the war would be over? Perhaps in rokosovsky's mind, they all thought that the war would not end until March or even April. However, trikov didn't notice my blunder. Instead, he said to himself, "I don't think we can rely too much on the Engineering Battalion even if they come here. After all, they are not familiar with the terrain of the city when they first came here. In the area occupied by the German army, the firepower points were light and dark, including high-rise fortifications and bunkers. The barricade fortifications were like firepower support points. Once fired, they could form cross firepower. Engineers who are not familiar with the terrain rush up, that is, they will die in vain. So I still consider using ublish's anti Communist alliance to launch a political offensive against the German army in the city. If the majority of the enemy can be eliminated without bloodshed, the casualties of our army will be greatly reduced. "
A few days ago, relying on the anti war propaganda of the anti Communist alliance, our department successfully persuaded many defenders to surrender and occupied two streets without a single shot. I was going to continue to do this next time. When I heard that trakov's idea coincided with mine, I quickly followed him and said, "Comrade commander, as far as I know, comrade ublishi is still in our army. I wonder if you can send him to our army's defense area to help us for a few days?"
After hesitating for a moment, trikov resolutely agreed to my request: "OK, I'll send someone to contact Comrade ublishi and ask them to get to your headquarters as soon as possible."
Less than half an hour after the end of the call with trakov, Sergeant songjik, who was on duty outside, came in to report that ublishi and several comrades of the anti Communist alliance had come.
Hearing song Jike's report, I felt that it was a bit impolite to sit in the room waiting for others to come in now that others had already arrived at the door, so I asked chief of staff Vitkov to go out to meet them.
Following ublishi, there were two other anti communist allies, all wearing brand-new Soviet uniforms and helmets. They came to our headquarters with an air of poise and a light footstep after Ulrich.
I quickly stepped forward to meet ublish, took the initiative to shake hands with him, and politely said: "Hello, comrade ublish, I'm glad to meet you again."
Ublishi held my hand tightly and said with a smile, "Hello, general oshanina. I didn't expect that we would meet again so soon. I have come to assist you on the order of general trakov. "
When ublish shook hands with Vitkov, I went to shake hands with the second person. This is a young man of medium build, looking only in his early twenties. When shaking hands with me, ublishi introduced to me: "Comrade General, this is private Heiner. He was captured in the battle of Kharkov and joined our anti Communist alliance after our education. After we came to Stalingrad this time, he successfully persuaded more than 20 officers and men to lay down their arms and surrender to us. "
After listening to ublishi's introduction of Heiner, I said with a smile to the young man in front of me, "Hello, comrade Heiner, welcome to us."
When ublish introduced me to his last companion, he showed hesitation on his face. At last, he simply said to me, "general o'shanina, this is Lieutenant Enrique, who just surrendered to us two days ago."
After listening to ublishi's introduction, I immediately understood why there was hesitation on his face. It turned out that this member of the anti Communist alliance was a newly joined defector. Seeing the embarrassed expression on Lieutenant Enrique's face, I quickly went forward and grasped his hand, shook hands with him warmly, and said, "Hello, lieutenant, welcome to our house."
After they got into the headquarters, I immediately ordered songjik to pour tea for them. In order to dispel the doubts of Heiner and Enrique, I intentionally talked with ublishi for a while. When they were less wary, I talked about them.
Because of ublishi's translation, they gradually let go and told their feelings and experiences one after another, which made them very relaxed and happy. In particular, young Heiner, once put down his scruples, is just a chatterbox“ Comrade general, there is one thing I think I should tell you. " Heinel said to me with ease: "I entered the enemy line last week in disguise, just in time for a colonel in his car to come to the front line. When he saw that all the officers and soldiers in the front line were listless and demoralized, he said to them in a loud voice: "brothers, what's the situation now? We all know very well. I won't say more. But I want to make one point clear: Although we are besieged by the Russians in Stalingrad, as long as we resist for one more day, the Russians will not be able to draw out their forces to besiege the friendly forces in the north Caucasus, and our comrades in arms will be more secure. I hope we can exchange our efforts and sacrifice for the final complete victory! Remember, we are all members of the Bundeswehr. After our sacrifice, our bodies will become the cornerstone of our motherland! " After listening to the Colonel's encouragement, the frustrated officers and soldiers all cried out "long live Germany!" When heinel finished, I could not help frowning and thinking. It was thought that the morale of the besieged German army would drop to the bottom when they ran out of food, and they would be vulnerable to our attack. Unexpectedly, they just heard their officers say a few words, the desire for victory to overcome hunger. It seems that in the next battle, we should not take it lightly, otherwise we will suffer a great loss“ Comrade general, I just defected two days ago. " Enrique interrupted: "as our defense line was compressed by the Soviet army, we even got less and less supplies. Later, the superior slaughtered all the horses of the Romanian cavalry division and gave them to us as food. We were hungry for several days. When we tasted the delicious food, the atmosphere in the company became a little more active. Just as we were enjoying our meal, I don't know who muttered: "how many days can we eat this horse meat?" Hearing this, everyone was depressed again. When I reprimanded my subordinate, I found that I could not find a proper reason to reprimand him, because what he said was true. The horse meat was soon eaten up, and even the mice, cats and dogs that could occasionally be seen in the rubble were gone. The soldiers who lacked nutrition were becoming weaker and weaker, and even had no strength to build fortifications. Injury means death. Because of the severe cold and the lack of medicine, suicides of the patients emerge one after another. At this time, the superior issued a ridiculous order, saying that suicide is a disgrace to soldiers and should be resolutely stopped. Just on the day the order was given, one of my soldiers was dying because of the deterioration of his injury. Although it was very cold, his forehead was very hot. As he lay in the snow, his lips kept opening and closing. I leaned over to hear him saying, "I'm hungry... Hungry... Give me something to eat..." my nose was sour. I took out the only crumbs from my pocket and put them into his mouth. He was a little better after eating the crumbs. Just as he was able to survive after me, but at night, he began to moan bitterly and loudly: "kill me... Please... I can't stand it..." the soldiers around looked at me, waiting for me to make a decision. After half a day's hesitation, I took out my pistol and looked around. I saw that everyone nodded, and a few people didn't have the heart to look. After nodding, they turned their heads to one side. The wounded soldier looked at me with grateful eyes. I stood up and saluted him. Holding the pistol with shaking hands, I aimed at the wounded soldier's heart. He said, "I'm sorry!" Then he pulled the trigger. After a wisp of smoke came out of the muzzle of the gun, the head of the wounded soldier tilted to one side, and I also sat down on the ground powerlessly. " When Enrique said this, his eyes were red, and the tears in his eyes might fall down at any time. I quickly pushed the teapot gently in front of him, and asked politely, "Lieutenant, what happened after killing the wounded soldier? How did you come to us?"