Chapter 437

Korpakchi pushed shamikov to the side, turned around, put his hands on the table, gasped and scolded angrily: "what the hell is this trakov trying to do? Didn't he know that with the withdrawal of his troops, the left wing of our group army would be exposed to the Germans? "

After being pushed by kolpakchi, shamikov stepped back and hit the log wall heavily. Hearing the loud bang, I could not help shivering in my heart. My heart said that the crash was not light. But shamikov just frowned and didn't even snort. Then he straightened up and stood against the wall.

Moskalenko was so angry that he slapped the table hard and said angrily, "Damn it, this trakov is so hateful. I also asked him yesterday if he could hold his position and protect our flanks. At that time, he also vowed that the troops in the area had been strengthened, even if it was not solid, but it could at least make the Germans unable to move forward. But what is the reality? Our troops are carrying out counter attack against the enemy in front of us. Just when it goes well, trakov quietly orders his troops to retreat, exposing our flanks to the Germans. In this way, all the achievements we have made today may come to nothing. " Then he called out to the microphone, "Colonel Rogin, move on, move on! Quickly rushed to the German tank line, the enemy's aircraft will take us, there is no way

Even gurov, who has always been a good-natured man, was not willing to be outdone and said, "what trikov did is to make a hole in us. Today, it's a small matter that the victory has come to nothing. What I'm worried about is that the troops will be surrounded by the Germans. " At this point, he stopped for a moment. Seeing that everyone's attention was focused on him, he continued: "we should report this matter to the commander of the front army and the chief of the general staff immediately, and ask them to give an order to trekov, so that the 64th army would immediately stop withdrawing and stay in the original position to fight against the German attack, To ensure the safety of our army's flanks. "

Colpakchi pondered for a moment in a low voice, turned to Moskalenko and asked, "Comrade Moskalenko, what's your opinion?"

Moskalenko said solemnly: "Comrade commander, I agree with the suggestion of comrades of the military commissar that we should report to the higher authorities the cowardly behavior of trakov, who ignored friendly forces and fled in the face of battle. We should not only report to the commander of the front army, general gordov, and the chief of the general staff, vasilevsky, but also to the deputy commander, general Zhukov, and the Supreme Commander himself. We are going to take all those cowards who are afraid of death to the military court. "

When the three men denounced trakov, I murmured in my heart that trakov would not be so unbearable. You know, the battle of Stalingrad was his battle of fame. If he had made the low-level mistake of seeing the enemy too strong and ignoring the withdrawal of friendly forces at the beginning of the battle, there would have been nothing wrong with him at the end of the battle. It is estimated that he would have been sent to the military court for execution, There is no chance to be a future marshal. As gurov picked up the phone and was ready to call gordov and vasilevsky, I stepped forward and called timidly, "Comrade military Commissar."

Gulov held the receiver, frowned and asked, "what do you want to say, commander oshanina?"

I firmly believe that trakov can't make a sudden escape. If gulov and kolpakchi are allowed to report to their superiors at this time, plus Moskalenko's proof, no matter how good the relationship between trakov and his superiors is, it is estimated that trakov will not escape the fate of being dismissed and investigated. If the war is stable, whether trakov is dismissed or not has little influence on us. But at this time, our left-wing friendly forces are in chaos, and the defense line is in danger of being broken through. At this time, we must have a commander like trakov to stabilize the morale of the army and ensure that the front line is not broken through.

I looked at gurov and said what I really thought: "Comrade military commissar, although I haven't been in touch with general trakov for a long time, I don't think he is the kind of person who leaves friendly forces behind and leads the troops to retreat without authorization in case of danger. I think there may be some misunderstanding. Do you think it's time to call general trakov and find out what happened? "

When I said this, gurov hesitated and turned his eyes to kolpakchi. Kolpakchi and he looked at each other, turned to Moskalenko and asked, "do you think we should call and ask trakov? Kiril semunovic. "

Moskalenko was still holding a microphone in his hand, but there was no sound coming out again. I don't know whether it was a communication failure or the tank of Colonel Rogin who was talking to him was destroyed. When he heard kolpakchi's question, he said angrily, "Comrade commander, this is a matter between you and the 64th army. You can handle it by yourself. You don't need to ask my advice."

Kolpakchi hesitated for a moment, and finally made up his mind and said, "well, I'll call trakov first and ask him what's the matter. Why didn't I say hello and order the troops to retreat without authorization?" He picked up the phone, shook the handle a few times, and said in a loud voice, "connect me to the forward observation post of the 64th army and speak to trekov."

When korpakchi was on the phone, Moskalenko, who lost contact with the 168th tank brigade, threw the words to the adjutant with a black face. He went back to the observation hole and raised his telescope. From his position, he could clearly see the fighting between the two tanks.

When trakov got through, a husky voice came out of the phone: "Hello, is that general korpakchi? What can I do for you? "

"General trakov, I want to ask you to explain why you ordered the 64th army to withdraw without even saying hello to us? Do you know that your withdrawal will expose the left wing of our group army to the Germans? "

"General korpakchi," trekov replied in a smooth tone, "the enemy concentrated their superior forces today and, under the cover of aircraft and artillery, rushed down to kirskaya in an attempt to seize the Don river ferry and kirskaya river ferry at the same time. I ordered the 66th marine brigade to stay where they were and stop the enemy. Under the strong fighting of the sailors, their attack was repulsed. At that moment, our troops on the right bank of the Don River and the kier River were ordered to retreat, so they gave up their positions and rushed to the ferry. When I learned the news, I immediately sent artillery director general Browder, combat director lieutenant colonel sidolin and group army engineering service director Colonel brillouv to all the ferries to stop the people and vehicles rushing to the ferries and let them return to their positions. "

Putting down the phone, kolpakchi breathed a sigh of relief and explained to trikov: "Comrade trikov and I are old comrades in arms for more than ten years. He is a brave and experienced commander. I believe that he will not give orders to withdraw troops from the position without authorization." Speaking of this, he paused for a moment. Seeing that Moskalenko was still observing the battlefield, he said to gulov, "Comrade military commissar, I will give you and general Moskalenko command here. I will go to trakov immediately."

Gulov may have been used to korpakchi's commanding style for a long time, but he didn't stop it. He just nodded and said, "Comrade commander, the war is very fierce there. You should pay more attention to safety! How many people are you going to take? "

Korpakchi spoke to me and shamikov and said, "there are too many people and too many targets. It's easy to be found by enemy planes. Let lieutenant oshanina, Captain shamikov and I go and take some more guards."

Eight of us, in two jeeps, braved the enemy's air attack and arrived at trakov's observation post in lower kirskaya an hour later.

In addition to trakov and a few signalmen, there was not even a sentry at the gate of the observation post. If the small German troops sneaked in at this time, they would definitely block trakov in the observation post and capture him alive.

He shook hands with kolpakchi and said in a hoarse voice, "Comrade kolpakchi, how are you here?"

Korpakchi also ignored the greetings and asked frankly, "Comrade trakov, what's the situation here?"

Trakov replied with a bitter face: "it's very bad. I just received intelligence that because of the fierce bombing of the ferry by enemy planes, general Browder, Lieutenant Colonel sidolin, Colonel brillouv and other officers of the group command who I sent to the ferry to command the troops have all died. The tanks of the enemy's vanguard troops are only four kilometers away from the ferry. Once they reach the river, those troops crossing the river are in danger of being destroyed. "

"What measures have you taken?"

"I've transferred two battalions and one artillery battalion from the 66th marine brigade," he said, pulling kolpakchi to the observation hole and pointing out, "they're deployed in the northwest line of the observation post. That's all the troops I can mobilize at the moment. "

Kolpakchi raised his telescope and looked at it. With a worried face, he asked, "Comrade trakov, it's an open area. There is not even a trench. Can the artillery battalion be deployed there to resist the enemy's attack?"

Trikov replied with a wry smile: "there is no way. The guns of the artillery battalion are towed by mules and horses. After a long journey, the horses are very tired. It took the artillery soldiers nine oxen and two tigers to deploy the guns in place."

"Trikov, what's the combat effectiveness of this naval artillery battalion? If they can't stop the enemy's attack and let the tanks rush to the river, your 64th army's troops at the ferry will be completely destroyed. "

At this time, a staff officer came over and reported to trikov, "Comrade commander, Lieutenant datliyev of the artillery battalion called and said that the artillery battalion has been deployed and can be put into battle at any time. The lieutenant also said that as long as there is one person in the artillery battalion, the German will never break through their defense line. "

Then there was a violent explosion outside, and trakov said lightly, "this must be the beginning of the German attack."

I followed them to the observation hole, raised my telescope and looked at the smoke. There were only about 20 German tanks in formation one or two kilometers away, stopping at the same place and firing at our artillery positions.

Although the shells fell on the artillery positions and exploded, and puffed up smoke columns, our artillery kept silent and did not rashly return fire. When the German tanks saw that our army did not fight back, they increased their horsepower and rushed up.

When the local people's tanks were four or five hundred meters away from the artillery position, the artillery, who had been silent, began to shoot decisively. After the first round of firing, two tanks with broken tracks whirled around in the same place in thick smoke, and the rest continued to rush forward.

From time to time, the advancing tank was hit by our artillery shells, moving forward for a certain distance with smoke and fire, and then stopped. But the enemy's tank shells fell on the bare artillery positions, and the flying shrapnel knocked down the artillery soldiers. When the German tanks approached the position, there were only two or three guns left that could be fired. The rest were either damaged or the Gunners were killed. When the enemy's tanks rushed to our army, the surviving artillery soldiers rushed up with anti tank grenades and flasks and died with the enemy's tanks. The battle lasted nearly an hour. The artillery of the marine brigade held the position tenaciously. The German army left 12 destroyed tanks and retreated in ashes. When the enemy tanks disappeared from our sight, trakov called the artillery battalion commander in front of us. As soon as the phone rang, he said with a smile, "well done, Lieutenant datliyev. I saw with my own eyes that you fought back the enemy's attack tenaciously to ensure the safety of the troops crossing the river."“ Serve the Soviet motherland“ good job! Comrade lieutenant, you and the officers and men in your camp are good. I'm going to give you credit and honor. How about the casualties in the army? " Lieutenant datliyev replied in a heavy voice: "report, comrade commander, the casualties in the army are very high. Two thirds of my company's casualties left three guns; Lieutenant rozhkov, commander of the second company, was injured and half of the officers and men died; Three successive deaths of lieutenant tatliyev... "Wait a minute, comrade lieutenant." When trakov heard this, he interrupted him and asked, "aren't you lieutenant datliyev? What the hell is going on? You're confusing me. "“ Comrade commander, company commander and I are brothers. My brother died in the battle just now. " Trekov was silent. After a while, he said, "I understand, comrade lieutenant. Immediately organize people to repair fortifications to cope with the possible attack of the German army tomorrow. If you want to avenge your brother, you need to destroy more Germans. Do you understand what I said? "“ Yes Lieutenant datliyev promised loudly: "I will immediately organize people to build the fortifications. As long as the Germans come back, I will make them pay the price."