Chapter 963

I leaned down again and said to him, "well, comrade Colonel, we are going to rebuild the tank 22nd brigade. You are specially invited here today to accept our flag at the reconstruction ceremony and to act as the commander of the tank brigade for the time being. " At this point, I looked at bere, who was supported by two soldiers, and his body was shaking slightly. I added with some regret, "but judging from your current physical condition, you may not be qualified for this task."

"Comrade commander, if I remember correctly, the tank 22nd brigade belongs to the Belarusian special military region. Soon after the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War, the whole army was annihilated and the number of the tank 22nd brigade was cancelled by the supreme command." As a tank captain, berey knew more about the intelligence of mechanized troops than I did. As soon as I gave the serial number of the 22nd brigade, he said what he knew: "how did you think of reorganizing this unit?"

"You are right, Colonel." After affirming what berey said, I explained to him, "this tank brigade is indeed almost exhausted after the outbreak of the war, but they also have a tank company cut off behind the enemy. They not only persisted in guerrilla warfare for two years, but also kept their flag intact."

"Comrade commander, where is the glorious flag?" It's said that there are some units that have been removed from the organizational system, but the complete flag has been preserved. Colonel berey is excited. He grabs my arm and asks nervously, "let me have a look."

I straightened up and told Pugachev, who was standing beside me, "major, go and show the flag to Colonel berey."

Pugachev agreed and walked out of the headquarters. After a while, he came to us with the neatly folded silk flag in his hands. When I saw the flag in Pugachev's hand, I nodded at him and then ordered, "major, spread out the flag and show it to the colonel."

Pugachev seized the two corners of the flag, shook it and launched the flag of the tank brigade.

Colonel berey looked at the flag in front of him, reached for the sickle and hammer in the middle of the flag, and wrote the number of the army. While touching the flag, he said excitedly: "Comrade commander, yes, yes, this is the flag of the 22nd tank brigade. When the tank brigade was established, I accompanied marshal timoshinger to teach the flag. I thought this glorious flag had been lost with the collapse of the tank brigade in the battle. I didn't expect to see it again. By the way, where did you find the flag? "

"Well, comrade colonel." It was kirilov who came out to explain to him. He told Colonel berey about captain shamrih's glorious achievements and how to preserve the flag.

After listening to kirilov's story, berey wiped tears from his face, looked up at kirilov and asked, "Comrade political commissar, where are these glorious tank soldiers? I want to meet them."

"No problem. I'll arrange for you to see them right away." After I said this, I asked Pugachev, "major, Captain shamrih, where are they now?"

"I arranged for them to rest in the next room." When Pugachev heard me ask, he straightened up and said, "do you need to call them over?"

"That's not to say, comrade major." When I heard that several of them were resting in the next room, I immediately ordered Pugachev: "call them all here immediately, and let them all come to meet with the acting commander of the tank brigade, Colonel bere."

After Pugachev left, Colonel bere raised his head and said to me difficultly, "Comrade commander, I want to ask, which troops are you going to transfer from the reconstructed tank brigade?"

As soon as berey's question was finished, I replied, "each of the three infantry divisions has its own tank battalion. Although the tanks of several tank battalions have been completely lost in the continuous fighting, there are still many tank soldiers. I plan to gather all the tank soldiers in the three divisions and rebuild the tank 22nd brigade. "

"Comrade commander, do we still have tanks?" "If there is no tank, the importance of the reconstruction ceremony will be greatly reduced," he asked with regret

"Don't worry, comrade colonel." After listening to his worries, I quickly comforted him and said, "there are six tanks in the tank battalion of the 22nd division of the guards. I have ordered the battalion commander, major pereskine, to drive his troops from the village of drofia immediately to participate in the reconstruction ceremony of the tank brigade."

"How do you plan to set up a tank brigade?" Asked Colonel berey.

I thought for a moment and answered, "for the time being, the whole brigade will be divided into four battalions, the tank battalions of three infantry divisions will be divided into 123 battalions, and captain shamrih's forces will be divided into four battalions. Judging from your physical condition, there is no way to accept the flag in person. Well, at the beginning of the reconstruction ceremony, you and the leaders of our army will watch the ceremony, and the honor of receiving the flag will be given to major perskin. "

"Comrade commander, I have no problem. I will obey your arrangement." Don't listen to me, ray replied without hesitation.

With these words, Pugachev and three tank commanders walked into the headquarters and stood in a row on the stretcher facing bere. Seeing that their eyes were involuntarily turned to bielei, I quickly bypassed the stretcher and walked to them. From left to right, I'd like to introduce to you three tank commanders: Captain shamrih, commander of the tank company; Political instructor saberwalenko, tank company instructor; Lieutenant yakuda, deputy commander of the tank company

After introducing the identities of the three, I turned to face them again, pointed to bere sitting on the stretcher and said, "three commanders, it's my turn to introduce you. This is colonel bere, commander of the 84th brigade of the tank. Now he is acting commander of the 22nd brigade of your tank. You all go and say hello to your commander. "

After listening to me, the three quickly stepped forward, raised their hands and saluted bielei solemnly. They said in one voice: "Hello, comrade brigade commander."

"Hello, comrades." Colonel berey returned the salute to the three men on the stretcher, and said to them with a smile, "please forgive me for my impoliteness, because the injury is so serious that I can only sit and talk to you."

"Comrade brigade commander, if you have injuries, don't be so polite." With that, Captain shamrih went to the stretcher and whispered to berey. Seeing the company commander talking with the brigade commander, the instructor and the deputy company commander standing beside me also went over.

While they were talking, I turned around and asked Pugachev, who was standing beside me, "major, is pelsky's tank battalion here?"

He shook his head and replied, "I've asked the observation post in the south of the city. They haven't seen any tanks yet." Seeing my anxious face, he asked in a low voice, "do you need me to call to urge you?"

"No, major perskin is not a slow commander." As for Pugachev's proposal, I immediately shook my head and denied it. At the same time, I also defended Peres: "he didn't come late. He must have met something on the road, otherwise he would have been in the City long ago. By the way, have you assembled all the tank soldiers in the city? "

"Yes, comrade commander." Pugachev replied respectfully, "the tank battalion of the 22nd division of the guards who stayed in the city have all assembled, while the tank battalion of the 171st and 308 divisions are heading towards us by truck. It is estimated that they will arrive in the evening."

I was talking to Pugachev when I heard the telephone ringing on my desk. I thought Vitkov and his men were right next to the telephone. They didn't have to worry that no one would answer the phone, so I continued to say to Pugachev, "in the newly formed tank brigade, the most powerful one is captain shamrih's Fourth Battalion, but I don't think there are many real tank soldiers in it, So you have to transfer the technical backbone from the other three battalions to exchange with the ordinary soldiers from the fourth battalions to ensure that the whole tank battalion can form a strong combat effectiveness in the shortest time. "

Just then, I heard wittkov calling to me: "Comrade commander, comrade commander!"

I quickly ended the conversation with Pugachev, turned to Vitkov and asked, "chief of staff, what's the matter?"

Wittkov raised his microphone to me and said, "Comrade commander, it's general Romanov, deputy commander. He said that he has important information to report to you."

Important information, when I heard this word, my heart could not help but thump, my heart said, is something wrong with Alexandria? Otherwise, why didn't he report directly to Vitkov, but specifically to me? I went around the stretcher to the other side of the table, took the phone from vetkov's hand, and said to the receiver, "Hello, is that Comrade deputy commander? I'm oshanina

"Comrade commander, I have something important to report to you." Romanov's low voice came from the receiver: "the German army sent a lieutenant commander to my headquarters and said that they would negotiate with us."

"What can I talk about?" When I thought of the commander Berg who tried to persuade me to surrender last time, I immediately lost his reputation and said to the microphone: "we have nothing to talk about with the German guys. Comrade deputy commander, you can just send them away."

"Comrade commander, I think you should come to Alexandria in person." After a moment's hesitation, Romanov said to me decisively, "they come here to exchange with us."

"Exchange?" I was stunned for a moment by what Romanov said, and then I asked, "deputy commander, what's going on? Did the Germans say what kind of exchange they would have with us? "

"The German lieutenant colonel who came to negotiate is Huber. He said he had dealt with you before..."

"Yes, comrade deputy commander, he is right." I said angrily: "last time he tried to persuade us, I scolded him away. I didn't expect that he would come here again

"Lieutenant Commander Huber said he wanted us to return the body of general Ike, division commander of the skull division. In return, "Romanov may be a little excited, speaking very fast:" he will return the body of general haridonov, commander of the Sixth Army Group, as well as the 200 wounded captured. "

I don't think I will pay any attention to the other conditions proposed by the German army, but this time they proposed to exchange the remains of the commander of the sixth group army and 200 captured wounded for the bodies of IKE buried in the soil. We are not at a loss in terms of this deal. After a moment's thinking, I said decisively to Romanov, "Comrade deputy commander, you should stabilize the German negotiators first, and I'll go there immediately."

As soon as I put down the phone, I asked wittkov, "Comrade chief of staff, do you know where Ike's body is?"“ Ike's body? " When witkov heard me say this, he was stunned and then replied, "it seems that he is buried somewhere outside the city. Major Pugachev is responsible for this matter. Only he knows the specific location." After witkov said this, I immediately turned to Pugachev and said, "major, take some people with you immediately, dig Ike's body out of the cemetery, wipe it clean and put it on the truck. Do you understand? " Pugachev didn't ask why he gave me the order. He just agreed and left the headquarters. After Pugachev left, kirilov asked in surprise, "Rita, what do you want Ike's body for?"“ Well, comrade political commissar. " The exchange with the German army is the most important thing, so I have to communicate with kirilov and vetkov: "the German army sent a negotiator to Alexandria and put forward conditions to the deputy commander. They said that as long as we return Ike's body, they will hand over to us the remains of general haridonov, as well as the 200 captured wounded. I asked the deputy commander to stabilize the negotiators first, and then I went to talk to the German representatives myself. "“ Then you won't take part in the flag ceremony of rebuilding the tank brigade? " Kirilov, when I finished, asked cautiously, "who are you going to send to take your place in this ceremony?"“ Who else, of course, is you, my political commissar. " The flag ceremony and the exchange of prisoners are both very important. I can only choose to preside over the exchange ceremony when I can't have both. Thinking that they would not be able to attend the flag ceremony, they would be very disappointed. After a few words to kirilov, I went to berey's stretcher, held his hand, and said apologetically, "Comrade Colonel, although I would like to personally preside over the flag ceremony for the reconstruction of the tank brigade, I have more important things to deal with, So I can only say sorry to you. As for the ceremony, it will be presided over by the political commissar and the chief of staff. "“ Comrade commander, I just heard that. " As for my apologies, Colonel berey said with great understanding: "although I hope you can personally preside over our flag ceremony, there are 200 soldiers waiting for you to rescue in Alexandria. You can go with ease. I believe the commanders and fighters of the whole brigade can understand you."