Chapter 621

After receiving my encouragement, kirilov went on to say, "as we all know, many of our soldiers have studied in Germany or dealt with the Germans before the outbreak of the war. In their minds, they regard Germany as a country of culture, and even admire the unique and novel engineering technology of the latter, We don't realize that our two countries are ideological enemies. Under such circumstances, it is not realistic for our political workers to use ordinary political and ideological work to arouse their inner hatred towards the Germans. "

When kirilov said this, all the people in the headquarters were attracted by him. They were staring at him, waiting for his final answer.

"Our political workers should collect more information about the cruelty of the German army and the heinous crimes committed in our territory, and use their perverse actions to tell the commanders and fighters how the enemy burned, killed and plundered our land, so that the commanders and fighters of the independent division can understand the nature of the German Army and ignite the anger buried in everyone's heart."

"Comrade political commissar, can you elaborate a little more?" Verol, the political commissar of the fifth regiment, who seldom spoke in public, broke the silence in the room for the first time and asked kirilov.

When verol spoke, I glanced at every commander on the scene with some guilty heart. When I saw that their attention was focused on kirilov, I was secretly relieved.

Kirilov nodded and went on: "Comrade verol, please be calm. I'll talk about that later. Shortly after I entered the army from the local area, I heard a colonel say that after his troops recaptured a small city from the hands of the German army, they saw that the residents who did not have time to withdraw were poisoned by the German army. Seeing young women and children hanged on the tree trunks of the park, the impact on them is too big. In the next battle, the officers and men who were ignited by hatred showed extraordinary tenacity, and they did not waver even in the face of enemies several times more than themselves. " At this point, he stopped, took a cup of water from the teapot on the table, and then said excitedly: "the Colonel also said that he was deeply impressed by a German stronghold where they found the body of a captured soldier. The nail and skin of his right hand were stripped or torn off, his eyes were dug out, and the leg bones of his legs were completely broken, We can imagine how cruelly our soldiers were tortured by the Germans before they died. "

When I heard this, I felt a sharp pain as if I had been grabbed by some monster. His words reminded me of the broken body of Zhuoya, which was destroyed by the German. At this moment, I gritted my teeth to think that if I had to choose again, I would not hesitate to order all the Germans of the 332nd regiment to be killed, and all the remaining ones would be killed.

"Animals, they are a group of animals!" When everyone kept silent because of anger, verol said angrily, "these German devils are not human. We will kill them all."

When kirilov saw that his words had achieved the expected goal, he lost no time to add: "political commissar verol, you are right. We must not show mercy to these enemies. All our political workers should constantly tell our soldiers about this kind of perverse behavior of the German invaders, arouse their instinctive hatred, and make each of them extremely eager to kill as many German soldiers as possible. The frenzy of revenge can cover the fear of death of the commanders and fighters, so that even if there is no inspector of the Ministry of interior to add machine guns to our rear, there will be no fleeing soldiers At this point, he turned to look at me and said with admiration, "our teachers have done quite well in this point!"

"I did a good job?" I pointed to my nose and asked, "Comrade political commissar, I don't understand what you mean."

Kirilov laughed and did not answer me immediately. Instead, he glanced at the commander in the room. Seeing that all the people were confused like me, kirilov said calmly: "last month, the 64th group army once carried out a large-scale counterattack against the aggressive German troops, and no one else was in charge of this fight, It's our division commander, Colonel o'shanina As everyone looked at me curiously, he continued, "during the assembly of troops at night, the scouts found hundreds of civilian bodies killed by the Germans. After learning the news, Colonel oshanina immediately sent for Col. lyudnikov of the 138th division and Col. kuropachenko of the 157 division nearby, and asked them to send a group of soldiers to the scene to watch the crimes committed by the German army. After giving an inspiring speech to them, he asked them to bury the common people who died under the invaders' butcher's knife.

To tell you the truth, later lyudnikov told me privately that he was worried that Comrade oshanina's action would affect the morale of the army. But in the next day's battle, the commanders and fighters, who were full of hatred for the German invaders, gave full play to their super combat effectiveness. They not only annihilated a division of the Romanian army, but also won the glorious title of the 70th division of the guards. "

Because of kirilov's promotion to me, every commander who stares at me has an expression of awe on his face. I stood up and planned to speak to the commanders. Without waiting for me to speak, there was an unexpected rumble of guns outside the cave.

With the sound of the guns, there were shouts from outside: "battle alert, battle alert, enter the position! Battle alert, battle alert... "

"What's going on?" Kirilov and I looked at each other suspiciously, frowned and asked, "what's the matter with the gunfire outside?"

When I didn't know how to answer, basmanov, the commander of the guard battalion, rushed in shouting: "Comrade division commander, battle alert, battle alert!" After seeing kirilov and I, we immediately stood at attention, and we didn't even have time to respect the military salute, so we reported in a panic: "report to the division commander, political commissar, battle alarm, the Germans started shelling a regiment of positions."

"Go out and have a look." After hearing basmanov's report, I pushed the map in front of me and ran out of the headquarters quickly. Kirilov, akhromeyev and several commanders also ran out.

Outside the headquarters stood a large group of soldiers. Some of them were from the guard camp, and some were from the guard class brought by the political commissars who came to the meeting. In order to prevent the target from being too big and attracting German artillery fire, I asked them to stand by and take kirilov, akhromeyev and several commanders to check the situation.

A group of us stood not far from the headquarters, looking through binoculars at a regiment of positions being shelled by the German army. The dense shells fell on the position and exploded. The rising fire and smoke were like a line of giants holding hands. With neat steps, they stepped quickly from the foot of the hillside to the top of the hillside.

I looked at the hill covered by dense artillery, almost frantic. How many artillery regiments did the German army use to create such a spectacular artillery effect. Feeling the shaking ground under my feet, I can't help but worry about a regiment of commanders and fighters on the high ground. After such a heavy shelling, I don't know how many people who stick to the hillside and peak positions can survive. Even if they hide in the artillery hole on the position and are not killed by the artillery bomb, they will be killed by the earthquake.

The air wave of explosion came like a typhoon, which made me feel a little unstable. I leaned slightly over and yelled at my back, "Lieutenant Colonel chejerikov, come to me."

On hearing my call, shijerikov rushed in front of me and cried out in the same loud voice, "what instructions do you have, sir?"

I raised my hand, pressed my ears with my palm, which were hurt by the huge explosion, and yelled at them as loud as I could: "Comrade commander, you and political commissar oberstein go back to the high ground immediately. After the shelling, the Germans will certainly attack our positions. You should try to stop them and never let them attack. Do you understand? "

"I see." After shejerikov agreed, the political commissar of oberstein, who was standing behind, waved and took their guard team to run along the hillside to the position of a regiment.

"Comrades, there is no danger for them to rush back at this time, isn't there?" Looking back at their departure, political commissar kirilov asked with a worried face.

"No, comrade political commissar." I pointed to the highland in front of me and said, "although the whole north slope was covered by the enemy's artillery fire, few shells fell down on the south slope. Commander chejerikov's command post is located on the south slope. There should be no danger. " Just then, a German shell whistled over the top of the highland and landed near them.

With the explosion of the shell, people who saw this scene could not help saying "ah" with one voice, and then nervously staring at the explosion point to see if they were safe.

After the smoke dispersed, the soldiers of xiejerikov, oberstein and their guard team got up one after another. It turned out that they had all fallen down before the shells landed.

Seeing that they were safe and sound, I was also relieved. I waved to everyone and said in a loud voice, "it's not safe here. Let's go back to the headquarters."

As soon as I entered the headquarters, the explosion was much lower, and I didn't have to yell at you at the top of my voice. After glancing at some commanders, I said to them with a straight face: "comrades commanders, judging from the artillery density of the German army, if the German army does not win our Highlands, they will never give up. You'll go back to your respective teams and get ready for all the fighting. "

"Yes Several chief political commissars promised to turn around and go out.

"Captain Morozov, you stay." Seeing that the new artillery battalion commander was going to follow everyone out, I quickly stopped him because I had something else to tell him.

Morozov quickly stopped, turned to look at me, and asked nervously, "Comrade teacher, do you have any orders?"

"When you go back, take the time to draw a map of mamayev post, and mark the detailed shooting data on the map. It's in triplicate. After the drawing is finished, I'll keep one copy here, you'll keep one, and I'll give the rest to the artillery commander of the group army. "

"Why give it to the artillery commander of the group army?" Perhaps confused by what I said, Morozov asked me without thinking.

I can see that several leaders and political commissars who should have left the headquarters have slowed down and are moving out little by little. Obviously, they want to find out the purpose of the map just like Morozov.

"Comrade captain, we must prepare for the worst. If our commanders and fighters can't stop the enemy and are driven away from here, the artillery can use this accurate map to carry out accurate artillery attack on the enemy on the high ground. " Speaking of this, I saw that the political commissars of those regiments were still moving slowly. They could not help but roar at them, "are you all suffering from arthritis? I haven't walked out of my headquarters for so long. "

The political commissars, who wanted to find out the grapevine, saw that I was angry, dispersed in a hurry and walked out of the headquarters quickly.

After listening to my explanation, Morozov raised his hand to salute me and said solemnly, "please rest assured, sir. I will finish the map drawing as soon as possible." Then he turned and walked away.

When there were only me, kirilov and akhromeyev left in the room, akhromeyev said with emotion: "teacher, political commissar, I think we have a tough opponent."

I looked at akhromeyev curiously and just wanted to ask him why he said that. Kirilov had already preempted and asked, "Comrade chief of staff, why do you say that?"

Although akhromeyev is now the chief of staff of the division, he still shows due respect to kirilov, the political commissar. He first made a gesture to ask the political commissar to sit down, and then he said to us, "last night, after we eliminated the German small troops that sneaked into our army, we judged that the German army would attack our position, so it was not dawn, Our troops at the front are in combat readiness. The German commander was very cunning. He might have guessed that we were ready. If we attacked at dawn, we would have to pay a huge price. So all the morning, they have been waiting patiently for our troops to relax their vigilance and give us another thunderbolt. "

"The chief of staff is right in his analysis." Although kirilov is deficient in military command, his advantage is that he does not command blindly. After listening to akhromeyev's analysis, he turned to me and said, "Comrade division commander, your judgment is correct. The German attack last night is the prelude to today's attack. But what we didn't expect was that the German commander was so cunning and calm that he could wait until we relaxed our vigilance before launching an attack. In this way, they can reduce unnecessary casualties in the battle to capture the highlands. "

When kirilov spoke, I thought to myself: the German army suddenly launched a fierce artillery attack on our division's defense area, and it was a large-scale artillery attack. This can only show one point, that is, the counterattack of the three army groups under Zhukov's command ended in failure, so that the German army can deploy troops and heavy weapons to attack our highlands.

Thinking of this, I didn't care kirilov, who was still talking, but yelled at the outside: "Captain basmanov, Captain basmanov."

Hearing my call, basmanov trotted in, looked at me with puzzled eyes, and politely asked, "Sir, what instructions do you have?"

I told him in a nutshell, "go and tell lieutenant razumeyeva to bring some soldiers and bring me a telephone and some telephones."

A few minutes later, the telephone was placed in our headquarters, and even on the table where the map was placed. When the messenger was still on the telephone line, I couldn't wait to ask razumeyeva, "Comrade lieutenant, can you contact the headquarters of the group army?"

After hearing this, razumeyeva nodded and replied, "yes, sir."

Hearing that I was going to talk to the group army command, kirilov asked curiously in a low voice, "Comrade oshanina, what are you doing to contact the group army command at this time?"

I also answered him in a low voice: "Comrade political commissar, I think there is only one possibility that the German army suddenly launched such a fierce artillery attack on our Highlands, that is, the troops under the command of general Zhukov were defeated by the Germans."

"No way!" Kirilov said in disbelief: "you know, Comrade General is commanding three army groups with more than 100000 people. How can we say that we are defeated if we are defeated?"

"Lieutenant razumeyeva, contact the group command immediately and say I want to contact commander trakov or chief of staff krailov." After giving orders to the second lieutenant, I leaned down again, approached kirilov and said in a low voice, "Comrade commissar, nothing is impossible. If our counterattack forces had not been defeated, how could the German army have concentrated such powerful artillery to bombard our positions. "

While kirilov was still trying to digest what I said, razumeyeva had already contacted the headquarters of the group army. Today, I was lucky. It was trakov himself who spoke to me.

Hearing my voice, trakov asked sternly, "what's the situation there, o'shanina? I heard the gunfire coming from the direction of mamayev post. It seems that the scale of the enemy's attack will not be small. You should be prepared for a hard fight. "

"Report to the commander that our division is well prepared and ready to attack the enemy head-on." Although I know that the next is a fierce battle, but in front of the superior commander, I still want to maintain full confidence.

"Very well, Colonel o'shanina, I'm relieved to hear that. Anything else? If not, I'll hang up. "

"Just a moment, comrade commander." I was afraid that he would hang up immediately, so I quickly sped up and asked, "I want to ask you what happened to the three army groups fighting back in the northwest of the city? Have they repulsed the enemy in front of them? " Although I know that Zhukov's counterattack has failed, I am still taking a chance before getting confirmation from the superior commander.

Trekov was silent for a moment, sighed and said, "Captain oshanina, it's not good. The three army groups under the command of general Zhukov have now fallen into the encirclement of the German army. At present, they are making a breakthrough in the direction of the city. To make matters worse, a German army broke through our group army's defensive zone from the southwest, rushed into the city, and was attacking in the direction of the central railway station. Now Comrade gurov, the military commissar, has gone to the front and is commanding the 35th and 70th divisions of the guards to fight back against the German forces in the city. "

Hearing that Zhukov's troops were surrounded, my heart sank and my breathing became rapid. If this counterattack unit is completely annihilated by the German army, it will cause a major blow to the taxi air of the garrison in the city. After a while, I bit my lip and asked, "Comrade commander, do you think general Zhukov's troops can return to the city?"

"It's hard to say." Because he had a good personal relationship with me, trikov didn't intend to hide this from me. He said frankly, "it's up to you now. If your division plays well and holds back a large number of German troops, then those besieged troops will have the possibility to stand out."

"Listen to the commander and rest assured that as long as there is a soldier in the independent division, we will never let the Germans pass through the mamayev post. We will use our own flesh and blood to make a gate that the Germans can't cross. "

After I put down the earphone and the transmitter, kirilov and akhromeyev came together and asked with concern, "what do you say, comrade division commander?"

I took a deep breath, tried to squeeze a smile on my face, and said to them, "political commissar and chief of staff, the situation is very serious. After the defeat of the counterattack, the three army groups under the command of general Zhukov were surrounded by the German army. At present, the enemy is continuing to attack Stalingrad with superior forces, but the enemy's goal of encircling and destroying our army has not been achieved, and our troops are retreating along the offensive line. "

I was afraid that the breakout would affect their mood, so I euphemistically said to retreat along the jingnajuan route. Unexpectedly, kirilov complained: "what attack route did they follow? They are running away. They have handed over our land and people. Do the commanders still think that this is a high degree of fighting art? "

I didn't answer kirilov's complaint. After all, his identity is different from mine. I can't say what he can say easily. I quickly cut off the topic and asked razumeyeva, who was directing the busy work of his staff: "Comrade lieutenant, can you contact Comrade xiejerikov?"

Razumeyeva quickly stood up straight and replied to me: "report to the teacher, the telephone line has not been laid. It is estimated that it will take five to ten minutes to get through."

"Comrade lieutenant, hurry up." Although razumeyeva is a subordinate I admire very much, I still said to her in a very stern tone at the moment: "if you can't get in touch with lieutenant colonel xiejerikov in five minutes, you don't even have to work as a company commander."

Kirilov first saw me being so strict with razumeyeva, and kindly reminded me: "Comrade oshanina, does the regiment still have a telephone? Even if there is no telephone line, we can still contact them. "

"Report to the political commissar," said razumeyeva, hearing kirilov saying good things for herself, and explaining to him in a hurry, "the outdoor antenna of a group of telephone sets was broken by the bomb in yesterday's bombing, so we can't get in touch for the time being."

Kirilov listened to what razumeyeva said, but only sighed helplessly, sat down obediently, and waited patiently for the signalmen to lay the telephone line with me.

My threat to razumeyeva had a certain effect. The signalmen successfully completed the laying of telephone lines within the prescribed time and connected to the regiment command post of the first regiment.

As soon as I heard sjerikov's voice coming from the earphone, I asked straightforwardly, "Comrade commander, tell me quickly, what's the situation over there?"

"Comrade teacher." "It's bad," he yelled at the other end of the phone. When I returned to the headquarters, I couldn't get in touch with the front line, so I sent messengers to enter the position along the trench, and found that one of our companies deployed in the hillside position had all died under the enemy's artillery fire. Even the one on the top of the mountain suffered more than half of the casualties. After the shelling started, the survivors decisively jumped out of the trench and rolled down the south slope to recover their lives. "

"What, one company on the hillside has all died, and the one on the top of the mountain has more than half?" Hearing the bad news, I couldn't help yelling at shejerikov: "what's the matter? Are they all dead? When the German artillery began to fire, didn't they know to hide in the blast hole or along the trench to the back of the hillside? "

When I was angry with cherikov, akhromeyev whispered to kirilov: "political commissar, we haven't seen any German. Just a round of shelling, our company is gone." Kirilov also said angrily, "what happened to this regiment? Their fortifications are very good. Why did they kill so many people under the German artillery fire?" I heard the dialogue between them, and then I asked sergeant shijerikov, "Comrade commander, I want to explain why the soldiers of these two companies were not prepared at all before the German artillery bombardment? What's going on? " Shijerikov murmured, "Comrade teacher, it is like this. After the successful annihilation of the German troops who launched a night attack on our position last night, they were worried that there would be a sneak attack from the enemy, so they had no sleep all night. This morning, they had been waiting for the enemy to attack them head-on. Unexpectedly, after waiting for several hours, they didn't see any sign of the German army, so they gradually relaxed their vigilance. The soldiers who had been tired all night fell asleep in the trenches. Who would have thought that the German artillery attack would come so suddenly that these soldiers would not even have time to respond, so they all died. " At the end of the speech, sjerikov's voice choked. I sighed, just want to comfort him, then suddenly I feel outside become quiet. Then he grasped the topic, looked out of the house and said to himself, "strange, why can't you hear the gunfire? Did the German artillery stop?" Not only kirilov and akhromeyev heard what I said, but also shejerikov heard it. He said in a loud voice, "Comrade division, you are right. The German artillery has stopped." As soon as he finished his sentence, I vaguely heard someone nearby reporting to him: "Comrade commander, the frontier observation office reported that the German ground troops have been dispatched." After listening to the report from his subordinates, he whispered a few words to the other side, and then reported to me, "Comrade division, although the German artillery has stopped, their tanks are covering the infantry and coming towards our high ground." Because the shelling had stopped, I didn't have to yell at the microphone as loud as I did just now. Instead, I resumed my normal tone and asked him, "what measures have you taken?"“ I sent two new companies out of the cave to quickly enter the hillside and hilltop positions and prepare to destroy the German infantry. " Shejerikov, who had just been flustered, returned to normal and answered me with confidence.