Chapter 633

I was afraid I would not be able to get back to the highland before dawn, so as soon as I passed the checkpoint, I urged the driver to speed up. As a result, our convoy was stopped by a militia patrol.

After checking the driver's certificate, the militia leader stood up on the wheel, grasped the baffle, took a photo in the car with a flashlight, and asked us seriously, "which army are you from and where are you going?"

Looking at the captain's business like manner, I gently touched Morozov with my arm. He immediately understood and stood up to answer cooperatively: "Comrade captain, we are from the independent division. We need to rush to the headquarters of the group army for urgent matters."

The captain waved the flashlight in his face and put it out. Then he asked drily, "do you have a pass?"

"Pass, what pass?" Morozov said a little impatiently: "Comrade captain, didn't you listen to our teachers say that we are independent division? Our division has been stationed at mamayev post, and no one comes to the city at ordinary times. Where can I find your pass? "

The captain is obviously one of those people who have one muscle. When he heard Morozov say that we don't have a pass, he said more righteously, "I'm sorry, according to the regulations of the city defense headquarters, people without a pass can't walk in the city after dark."

"Comrade captain," Morozov said to him patiently, "I told you just now that our division troops are stationed outside the city and do not have the pass you said. We still have important tasks to carry out, please let us pass! "

"No, you can't pass without a pass." Although the militiamen leader looks young, he looks like an old stubborn man. He stubbornly says, "now, I order you all to get out of the car and accept the inspection!"

"What? What's your identity? How dare you order us to get out of the car and accept your inspection? " Morozov was so angry at his words that he almost rushed over, grabbed his sleeve and carried the militia leader to the carriage.

Seeing the tension between them, I was about to stand up and say a few words. Under the car, a militiamen ran to the captain, looked up and yelled, "Comrade captain, look, it's the inspection Comrade coming!"

I turned to the road and saw the second lieutenant and a soldier passing by in a hurry. Seeing the commander of the checkpoint coming, the captain of the militia quickly let go and jumped to the ground and stood at attention. When the second lieutenant came to him, he raised his hand and saluted: "report to Comrade second lieutenant, most of the people in the convoy that we stopped have no pass. I'm going to order the soldiers to detain them."

"Nonsense, it's nonsense!" The captain of the militia thought that the second lieutenant would praise him, but he was furious with him. "Don't you see that the commander of the independent division, Colonel oshanina, is sitting in the car? She has an urgent task now and needs to get to the headquarters of the group army as soon as possible. But look at you. What have you done? You have stopped her motorcade. If you delay her business, can you bear the responsibility? "

The militiamen leader was so scolded that he had to wave at his subordinates and let them dodge to the side of the road. The second lieutenant then raised his head to salute me and said apologetically, "I'm sorry, sir, for your time. Now you and your men can move on. "

I stood up, saluted the second lieutenant and said gratefully, "thank you, comrade second lieutenant. We'll see you later."

Our team moved on.

Although the road is spacious, the bricks and stones collapsed from the damaged buildings and the wreckage of several damaged German tanks take up at least half of the road. The driver has to carefully bypass these annoying obstacles, so the speed will not be fast.

When I came to the vicinity of the headquarters of the group army, I saw that the three storey building, which used to be strong and beautiful, now had only the lowest floor left, and the upper two floors were destroyed by bombs or shells.

With the help of Morozov, I got down from the carriage and looked left and right. When I saw a building opposite the headquarters with only one wall left, I told Morozov, "Comrade captain, let the soldiers drive the prisoners to the wall."

With a loud promise, Morozov went to carry out my order.

When I saw that they were driving the prisoners to the wall, I arranged my military appearance and prepared to walk towards the headquarters. Suddenly, a loud cry came from behind. I turned around and saw that the man who was yelling was captain Bossel, who had talked with me in the car. At this moment, he was dragged to the wall by two soldiers, one on the left and the other on the right.

Because of his loud cry, the soldiers who were on guard in the headquarters were alarmed. When I saw an officer running out of the door with four or five soldiers, I had no choice but to give a wry smile and then came forward.

The commander came up to me, straightened up and said clearly, "Captain shanikov, tell you, comrade Colonel, what's going on here?"

As a matter of fact, I didn't know the reason why the prisoners yelled, so I had to smile apologetically at shanikov, turn around and yell at Morozov: "Comrade captain, come to me!"

On hearing my call, Morozov trotted up to me, raised his hand and politely asked, "what instructions do you have, sir?"

I pointed to the prisoners who were held by the wall and asked curiously, "where is the tank captain, Bossel, shouting what?"

Morozov replied with a smile: "yes, sir. Didn't you order us to drive the prisoners to the wall? As a result, Captain Bossel misunderstood and thought that we were going to drive them to the wall and shoot them, so he just kept shouting, "please, go around us and don't shoot us."

Morozov's words immediately made us all laugh. Shenikov even spat on the ground and said contemptuously, "I didn't expect these arrogant bandits to be so afraid of death." After that, he asked solemnly, "Comrade Colonel, what can I do for you to come to the headquarters of the group army so late?"

I quickly replied, "Comrade captain, it's like this. I have something important to ask for the commander. Is he in the headquarters?"

"Of course, comrade commander, of course!" Shanikov said politely, "please, comrade Colonel, I'll show you the way."

As we were about to leave, Morozov suddenly asked behind us, "Comrade division commander, what should we do with these prisoners?"

Morozov's words made me remember that I had brought more than 20 German prisoners this time. I can't let them stand opposite the headquarters of the group army all the time. Thinking of this, I quickly grabbed shanikov, pointed to the German prisoners and said, "Comrade captain, do you see those prisoners? These are the ones we captured in tonight's battle, and now I'll officially hand them over to you. "

Shanikov raised his hand to the soldiers beside him and said, "go and show the way to the comrades of the independent division and take these prisoners to the prison camp in the city." Then he made a gesture of invitation to me, "come on, comrade colonel."

I turned and told Morozov: "Captain, you lead the soldiers to send these prisoners to the prison camp, and wait for me here when you come back." Seeing that Morozov nodded and understood, I followed shenikov to the headquarters.

When I entered the headquarters, I saw a busy scene in the room. Beside the wall on the left side of the door sat a group of signalmen who were sending telegrams and making phone calls, while trekov, gurov and Krylov were looking at the map with their backs to the door. I quickly stepped forward, raised my hand to my forehead, and said in a loud voice, "report to the commander, military commissar, chief of staff, commander of the independent division, Colonel oshanina. I'm waiting for your orders."

When they heard my voice, they all turned their heads and looked over. Trikov looked at me and asked with interest, "Hey, I said, comrade oshanina, why did you come to my headquarters in the middle of the night?"

Without waiting for me to speak, a nearby signalman was already shouting at the top of his voice: "Comrade chief of staff, Captain andreushenko, commander of the 115th infantry brigade."

As soon as krailov walked away, another signalman was calling trakov: "Comrade commander, it's general pozaritsky, artillery director of the group army."

Trikov gave me an apologetic smile and then said to military Commissioner gurov, "dear comrade Kuzma akimovich, you will be our female colonel for the time being." With that, he went to the signalman to answer the phone.

When I heard that someone called gurov's real name and father's name in front of me again, I suddenly matched the weak military commissar in front of me with the commander who led the troops to break out from Kharkov in the movie. In the movies, they call him Kuzma, but we usually call him gurov, so I didn't expect that he was alone. He is not only good at political work, but also good at commanding troops to fight. If Stalin had listened to his advice and stopped the attack in time in the battle of Kharkov, he would not have caused so much damage to the troops.

Gurov first asked me to sit down at the table, then poured me a cup of tea, and then asked me with a smile, "Comrade oshanina, what's the matter with you running from mamayev post to the headquarters of the group army so late?"

I was holding a teacup. Listening to his question, I quickly put the teacup on the table, stood up and replied respectfully, "report to Comrade military commissar, our division fought with the Germans in Highland 107.5 tonight and captured more than 20 prisoners. I sent them to the headquarters specially."

After hearing this, gurov laughed and joked: "Comrade oshanina, maybe you're not only here to send prisoners? You know, the last time you captured a German general, you only sent your own men to send them here. This time you came to deliver the prisoners yourself. Did you catch Paulus

Seeing that he had guessed that I was here for another purpose, I had to laugh awkwardly for two times, and then said haltingly, "Comrade military commissar, in fact, it's no big deal. I just want to ask the commander for help." In order to prevent him from misunderstandings, I specially stressed, "not infantry, but tank soldiers!"

Gurov was not a dictatorial man. He didn't immediately answer me whether to give or not. He just nodded and asked me to sit down again. After that, he drew the map on the table closer and explained the current situation to me.

"Comrade oshanina, look at the current situation faced by our 62nd group army. It is the 6th group army of Paulus and several divisions of the 4th group army of hottank that are attacking our group army. Individual enemy forces have advanced to the Volga River near kuporosnoye, north of punok and south of Stalingrad. The horseshoe shaped German army pressed our army towards the Volga River from the front and wings.

The enemy is made up of nine combat divisions equipped with a large number of heavy weapons, as well as several "Stahl" clusters. They are also supported by the German fourth air force, which has nearly a thousand combat aircraft. The short-term task of this powerful group of the German Communist army is: to occupy Stalingrad and go out to the Volga River, that is to say, to push forward 5-10 kilometers after fighting and drive us down the river. "

When he was introduced here, I couldn't help asking, "what about our troops?"

He sighed and said: "at present, the number of divisions and brigades in the formation of the group army can not correctly and completely reflect the number and combat effectiveness of the group army. For example, on the morning of September 4, there was a tank brigade with only one tank, and there were two tank brigades with no tanks at all. They would be transferred to the East Bank of the Volga River to rebuild at the latest tomorrow evening. On the evening of September 5, the mixed detachment composed of several brigades and divisions only had about 200 infantry, less than a full infantry battalion; His friend is colonel afanasiyev's 244th infantry division, which has no more than 1500 soldiers. At best, the number of infantry in the division is about the same as that of a full battalion; The 42nd infantry brigade has 666 soldiers, including less than 200 infantry; On the left, the 35th division of the guards, under the command of Colonel dubiyanski, has no more than 250 infantry. The situation in other corps and units is very similar. There are 40-50 tanks in each brigade of the 23rd army under the command of general Popov, of which nearly 30% are damaged and can only be used as fixed fire points. Only your independent division, the 10th infantry division of the interior people's Committee under the command of Colonel salayev and the other three independent infantry brigades are basically full. "

"We have no way to put your division in the mamayev post." After the call, trakov went on to say, "as you can see, although there are many numbers in the group, there are very few troops that can be used. So if you come to me to add, I can only say sorry to you, because I don't have any extra troops here. "

I stood up quickly and made my intention clear again: "Comrade commander, I came to the headquarters tonight to supplement the soldiers, but what I want is not infantry, but tank soldiers. Just now, comrades of the military commissar also said that there is only one tank left in the three tank brigades within the organizational structure of the group army. "

After listening to me, trikov asked in a puzzled way, "Comrade oshanina, your division doesn't have tanks. What tank soldiers do you want when you come to me at night?"

"Well, comrade commander, in the battle tonight..." I reported the battle in Highland 107.5 to them in detail, and finally said: "at present, we have captured ten German tanks, but there are only 18 tank soldiers in the division. If only these tanks are put into operation, the number of tank soldiers is enough. If we want to make use of these tanks, reorganize them into tank units of the independent division, and become an iron fist against the enemy, then the number of tank soldiers will be very different. So... "

Before I finished speaking, Krylov, who also returned to the table after the call, took over the conversation: "so you come to the group army headquarters for help, hoping to add some experienced tankers from those troops whose tanks have been exhausted. Am I right, comrade oshanina? "

I nodded my head hard and answered positively, "absolutely right, comrade chief of staff. I came to the headquarters specially to supplement the tank troops."

"No problem. We may not be able to take out the tanks, but there are plenty of tank soldiers." When trakov heard that I wanted to reorganize a new tank unit, his face became rich. He turned to Krylov and said, "Comrade chief of staff, all the tanks of the 42nd independent tank brigade were lost in the battle of the previous two days. According to the plan, the brigade will retreat to the east bank of the Volga River tomorrow evening to reorganize. Well, you immediately call brigadier batrakov and political commissar Xia Ping, and ask them to send 100 tankers over and give them to captain o'shanina. " After commanding krailov, he specially asked me: "Comrade oshanina, is that enough? If it's not enough, I'll send you another 50 tankers from the 169 th brigade. "

I was frightened to hear that trikov was so generous. I waved my hand and said, "enough, enough, comrade commander. There are only ten tanks in our division now. If we don't have so many people, you can give me 30 tankers. "

My words attracted a good laugh from the three of them. Gurov pointed at me and said with a smile: "you, you, comrade oshanina, you are so mean. Since you can capture 10 tanks today, you can capture 20, 30 or even 50 tanks tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. It will not be so easy to want tankers then. "

I listened to gurov's words and muttered to myself: do you think German tanks are shells on the beach, waiting for you to pick them up? However, in front of the superior leaders, I still kept a forced smile.

Seeing that krailov was still standing there, he urged him: "chief of staff, what are you doing here? Call Colonel batrakov immediately and ask him to dispatch 100 experienced tankers, led by political commissar Xia Ping, to report to the headquarters of the group army." Krailov promised and turned around to make a phone call. I quickly opened my mouth and stopped him: "chief of staff, please wait a moment!" The purpose of calling him is to get two more political workers from the tank brigade to enrich the tank unit of Peregrine. If I didn't explain in advance, it was the political commissar of the tank brigade who led the team. No matter how cheeky I was, it was impossible for a regiment level political commissar to take the post of instructor in a division of my division. Krailov stopped and asked me curiously, "Comrade oshanina, what else can I do for you?" I looked at trakov and gurov, summoned up courage and said to krailov, "chief of staff, when you call Colonel batrakov, can you ask him to send me two special political workers?" Krailov listened, nodded without thinking, and went straight to make a phone call. On the contrary, trekov asked curiously, "I said, comrade oshanina, in my impression, you hate political workers the most. That's why I never give you a teacher to accompany the political commissar. When did you change your mind and ask us for political workers? " Before I knew how to answer this question, I changed the topic in time: "by the way, comrade commander, there is another thing I want to ask you about."“ What's the matter? "“ Why is it stipulated in your new order that divisions should not communicate with the headquarters of the group army in plain language, but only send telegrams or make telephone calls? " Although kirilov has given me an analysis of the reason why the superior gave this order, I still want to ask the truth in this case“ So that's it. " After listening to this, trakov answered lightly, "this order was given to the headquarters of the front army by the supreme command, and then to me. As for the reason, I think the higher authorities may have made a decision to prevent the German army from intercepting our communication signals and leaking the military code. " While we were talking, Krylov also came over and reported to trakov, "report commander, I have already called Colonel batrakov. He said that the troops will arrive in 20 minutes." Trekov nodded and then asked me, "Comrade oshanina, tell us more about your thunder gun. Is it really that powerful?" It seems that he has been thinking about what I said. In order to satisfy his curiosity, I once again reported to the three leaders the power of the thunder guns displayed in the battle, and finally concluded: "this kind of weapon is very effective for tackling difficulties. Even if the enemy takes a month to build solid fortifications, we only need to fire hundreds or thousands of explosive packs with thunderguns, and then we can raze their positions to the ground. " Just as the three were filled with emotion, a loud voice sounded in the room: "report, Xia Ping, political commissar of the 42nd brigade of independent tank, has been ordered to come and wait for your orders!"