Chapter 882

Looking at the back of captain dubrovsky's departure, I turned to bantaileiev and asked, "Captain, how often do the soldiers guarding the prisoners change their posts?"

Bantai leiev quickly stepped forward and truthfully reported to me: "Comrade commander, we change posts every hour during the day. Because of the low temperature at night, we usually change posts every half an hour."

I nodded, then pointed to the German prisoners in the distance, and said to him tactfully: "Colonel bandeleev, these German prisoners will be used for a lot of purposes in the future. Even if they can't be satisfied with food and medicine, I don't want too many prisoners to freeze to death because of the low temperature at night, otherwise we have to arrange people to bury them. Do you understand? "

"I understand!" Bantai leiev agreed and proposed to me thoughtfully, "Comrade commander, it's too cold outside. Let's go inside first." At this point, he specially pointed to the building where dubrovsky and his family had just come out and said to me, "although there were only two floors and a basement left in the German bombardment and bombing, we stationed two companies in it. Even if the German prisoners wanted to riot, they could be defeated in the shortest time."

I followed Bantai leiev to dubrovsky's command post. It was a room on the ground floor with a marching bed beside the wall. In the middle of the room was a broken wooden table and some chairs. On the table stood two candles for lighting.

I went to the table, pulled out a chair and sat down. I asked vetkov and bandeleev to sit down as well. After they were seated, wittkov asked carefully: "Comrade commander, I want to ask, commander, have they disclosed our army's next combat mission?"

"What's next?" After repeating wittkov's words, I tried to think about whether the Soviet army had launched any major campaign after the battle of Stalingrad in my known history? After thinking about it for a long time, apart from having a little impression of the battle of Kursk, I can't remember any famous battles launched by the Soviet army. So I shook my head and said, "I'm sorry, chief of staff. Commander trakov didn't give me any information about this. I think our next task should be to clean up the city ruins and bury the dead. Moreover, burying corpses is the most important task. Otherwise, when the temperature rises and the ice and snow melt, so many corpses will definitely cause a large area of epidemic disease. "

After listening to me, wittkov was silent for a moment, and then asked me anxiously, "Comrade commander, in other words, in a quite long period of time, our army will not have any combat tasks?"

I nodded: "I think the higher authorities should consider this." Witkov and bantaileiev were both disappointed. They immediately comforted them and said, "even if the superior did not arrange us to take care of the prisoners, it is possible to transfer our army to the rear to rest as a reserve of a certain front army."

"Anyway, our division is the main force of the group army, but I didn't expect that as soon as the campaign ended, we were assigned tasks that even the militia could complete. I'm afraid that the commanders and fighters would have emotions." After listening to my words, Bantai leiev said reluctantly, "Comrade commander, can you discuss with commander trakov to transfer our division to other battlefields?"

"Colonel bantailiev," wittkov said with a smile, patting bantailiev on the shoulder, "I know your fighting enthusiasm is high, but our commanders and fighters are not made of iron. After months of cruel fighting, they have become exhausted. We have to give them a good rest for a while before they can get back into the fight. "

After listening, Bantai leiev meditated for a while, nodded and said thoughtfully, "the chief of staff is right. I'm too worried. During this period, our division has added a lot of new recruits from Siberia, so we can take advantage of this free time to train. "

"Captain bantailiev," I suddenly remembered that he and akhromeyev always liked to argue. I don't know how they cooperated after I left, so I asked, "how are you getting along with major akhromeyev?"

Bantaileiev was stunned at first, and then said with a little embarrassment: "Comrade commander, I understand the reason why you asked me this. It turns out that when you were the commander of the division, I did often have conflicts with chief of staff akhromeyev, but it was all for work, not personal enmity. After I became a division commander, I occasionally had disputes with the major over the formulation of the operational plan, but I soon reached a consensus. "

After listening to Bantai leiev's words, I couldn't help saying a few more words: "Colonel, I personally think major Akhromeev is a good commander, otherwise I wouldn't have wanted him from the front army of warhoff. If you have such a deputy who is familiar with the situation of the division, you will spend less energy in future battles. "

Bantai leiev nodded and wrote down what I said to him in a notebook. Looking at the thick notebook in his hand, I couldn't help but wonder what was recorded in it. After a slight cough, I asked tentatively, "Colonel Bantai leyev, when I was still in the independent division, I used to see you keep recording with this notebook. Can you show me what you have written?"

I thought Bantai leiev would find an excuse to refuse me, but he gave me his notebook which he never left. I took the notebook and opened it carefully. What I saw was his daily affairs when he was still a new editor. For these things that have nothing to do with me, I have no interest, so I speed up the page turning speed. When I turned to the middle, I suddenly saw a lot of content written in succession. Just before he was transferred to the independent division, he looked at it carefully.

It says: "now, we have lost the advantage of human resources and grain reserves. If you continue to retreat, you will commit suicide, and you will be subjugated.

Every inch of land we lose will strengthen the enemy and greatly weaken our defense and our motherland. Therefore, we must fundamentally eliminate the endless theory of retreat, and eliminate the argument that "our country has a vast territory, abundant resources, a large population, and inexhaustible supply of grain.". These arguments are wrong and harmful. It will weaken our fighting spirit and increase the prestige of the enemy. If we don't stop retreating, we will lose all our food, fuel, steel, raw materials, factories and railways. Thus, it is time to stop retreating.

"Don't step back." this should be our main slogan at present. We should stick to every position and every inch of territory at all costs of blood and sacrifice, and stick to every piece of territory until the last breath. "

See here, I quickly closed the notebook, red face handed back. What can be recorded in bandeleev's book should be said by the leaders at a higher level. These remarks directly refute my view of "exchanging space for time". Bantai leiev has been deputy for such a long time, but he has never raised any objection to the tactics I used. It is also a respect for me.

Just at the same time, Captain dubrovsky, who was out on the mission, came back. After entering the door, he raised his hand to salute me, and then reported to me, "Comrade commander, Captain dubrovsky, I report to you that the task you gave me has been successfully completed."

In order to get rid of my embarrassment, I stood up and said to dubrovsky, "Comrade captain, take me to have a look." Seeing that wittkov and bandeleev were about to stand up, I quickly raised my hand to stop them. "You two don't have to go. Stay here and have a rest. I'll go and have a look and come back."

After leaving the building, Captain dubrovsky and I, under Yushchenko's protection, walked through the thick snow towards the prisoner's place. As I walked, I asked the captain, "how many horses have you got?"

"Four of them were killed by shells. It's not a long time to die, and it's cold, and it hasn't rotted yet. " The captain said hastily, "I'll let some of the captives get the dead horse back, and then I'll order captain Rosenberg to take the rest of the people around, so that they can't find any other food."

"Comrade captain," I nodded with satisfaction at dubrovsky's arrangement, and then said to him, "we may not be able to provide enough food for the Germans in the short term, so if we want to prevent them from starving to death, we have to start them up and search for food everywhere."

"But Comrade commander," dubrovsky said, shaking his head in embarrassment, "the city has been besieged by the German army for several months. It is estimated that the food it can eat has been searched by the residents, our soldiers or the Germans. It is very difficult to find enough food here."

This food problem is not only his dilemma, but also my headache. If the superior doesn't give us food, I can't produce food out of thin air. I deliberately avoided this topic, pointed to the prisoners in the ice and snow, and told dubrovsky what I had just said to bandeleev: "Captain, I hope you can promise me that even if you can't provide enough food and medicine to the prisoners, you can't let too many people freeze to death on a cold night. Can you do that?"

After listening to my instructions, dubrovsky said, "Comrade commander, I can only do my best. In addition to sending captain Rosenberg to take people to look for food, I also sent a platoon of soldiers with a group of prisoners to collect all things that can be burned in the nearby ruins. I'm going to make some bonfires to keep the prisoners warm on a cold night. "

As we spoke, we came to the place where the prisoners were. In a dilapidated building without a roof, the ground was full of German soldiers wrapped up tightly. On the ground in the middle of them, there was a dead horse whose skeleton was exposed. A soldier was cutting the meat with a dagger. Every time a piece was cut off, he handed it to the soldiers who had been waiting for a long time, and then continued to cut it. The soldiers who got the horse meat immediately put the meat on the iron wire and wooden sticks, surrounded by a newly lit bonfire, holding the meat on the bonfire for barbecue, and the whole air was filled with the smell of barbecue.

I can see that these soldiers have been starving for a long time. They haven't eaten for several days. Without waiting to cook the frozen horse meat on the campfire, they put the half cooked frozen meat into their mouth one by one, and gobbled it up, as if they were eating delicacies. And I can't help feeling sick when I see them putting bloody horse meat in their mouths. At the same time, I also feel sad for these soldiers. They thought they would get enough food after surrendering, but now it seems that they will be disappointed.

I don't want to look any more and turn away without saying a word. After a short walk, I heard the rapid footsteps coming from behind. I knew that dubrovsky had caught up with him. I stopped and turned to him and said, "Captain, let these prisoners go to work at dawn. First of all, we should bury all the bodies that can be found nearby. After all this, we can let them clean up the ruins of the buildings and build shelter for themselves. "“ Yes, comrade commander. " "I'm determined to finish the task," dubrovsky replied calmly As soon as Vitkov and I got back to the army headquarters, the telephone on the desk rang before we could have a cup of tea. Wittkov stepped forward, picked up the phone and listened. Then he handed it to me and said, "Comrade commander, it's commander trakov's phone."“ O'shanina, where are you going? Why are you answering the phone now? " As soon as I was put on the receiver, I heard trakov's impatient voice: "there is something important to inform you, and no one can be found." When I heard him say something important, the first thing I thought of was: should our army be transferred to other battlefields? Although he thought so in his heart, he still said respectfully: "Comrade commander, I just went to see the prisoners with chief of staff Vitkov, so..." "OK, let the prisoners go to hell!" Before I could finish, trikov interrupted me, a little elated, and said, "I have good news for you. Commander rokosovsky has just called from Moscow, saying that after the discussion in the base camp, we have decided to change our 62nd group army into the 8th group army of guards. All divisions and regiments that have participated in the battle to defend Stalingrad will be awarded the title of guards. "“ Should all troops be awarded the title of "close guard" Listening to what trakov said clearly, I can't help but be overjoyed. If the troops are promoted to guard forces, the ranks of division commanders will be promoted accordingly. So I asked excitedly, "do you know the new numbers of the four infantry divisions, one tank brigade and one artillery regiment of the 79th infantry army?"“ The serial numbers of various units must be changed after they are awarded the title of the guards. But don't worry. These things will be done after commander rokosovsky comes back from Moscow. " Trikov said without hesitation: "although you don't know your name for the moment, your four colonels, bantaileiev, gurtyev, wachuk and andrushenko, will definitely be promoted to generals. As for you, because you have just been promoted to general, you will not be promoted this time. " Although this promotion is not my share, I don't worry at all. After all, my foundation is too shallow and it's not a good thing to promote too fast. Besides, all the four infantry divisions under my command have become close guard divisions, and the 79th infantry army may also be changed into a close guard army, so I will be promoted as a commander sooner or later. Trikov ignored my feelings and said to himself, "commander rokosovsky also said that we would leave Stalingrad in two days and go to the villages along the ahtuba river. Then the whole army group will rest and replenish there and get new weapons. " When I heard that the troops would soon leave, I could not help worrying about the fate of the more than 20000 prisoners. So I asked trekov, "Comrade commander, if we want to leave Stalingrad, what should we do with the more than 20000 prisoners in our military area?" After listening, trakov was silent for a moment, and then said, "when your department is transferring, hand over these prisoners to general shumilov's 64th army. You don't have to worry about the rest." Now that trakov has said this, I can't help the fate of the more than 20000 prisoners. I can only pray in my heart that as many prisoners as possible will survive after the 64th army takes over.