Chapter 682

Vasiliev and I, the new director of the Political Department of the group army, walked through the bodies of our soldiers and German soldiers who had not been cleaned up. We looked at the soldiers who were cleaning the battlefield and the wounded who were lying on the stretcher with serious injuries and were moaning in pain. Our hearts were very sad. I suddenly felt a strong hatred for the Germans in my heart.

Vasiliev saw that I gradually fell behind, slowed down his pace, and stopped waiting for me. After seeing the reason for my backwardness, he sighed softly and said to me with a bitter smile, "if these commanders and fighters had not spared no effort to block the German attack, perhaps the headquarters of the group army would have been destroyed by the enemy."

As soon as we entered the familiar command room, gurov, the military commissar who had been sitting at the table, stood up, went to my hand, took my hand and said, "Comrade oshanina, you are so timely. If it were not for your support, the headquarters would either be destroyed by the enemy or have been transferred. In either case, the command system of the whole group army will be in chaos in a short time. "

In response to gurov's enthusiasm, I took time to look at trakov, who was still standing at the table. I saw him frowning, holding a stack of thick newspaper, kept looking. The chief of staff, Krylov, was on the wall with a bunch of telephones, earphones and transmitters. It seemed that he was talking to the army below.

I was led to the table by gurov. Trekov put down the telegram, nodded at me, and then said, "Comrade oshanina, you've come just in time. You'll take back the medal awarded to your division by your superiors later, so that I don't have to send someone to go again."

As soon as trikov finished, gurov pushed me a pile of boxes on the table. I was just about to ask if there was my medal in these boxes when krailov, who was next to the telephone, threw the earphone and transmitter on the table, ran over quickly, and said solemnly, "report commander, guard, as soon as my voice dropped, there was a neat applause in the room. Pugachev looked down at the medal on his chest and gently stroked it with his hand. He was so excited that he forgot to speak. At this time, I heard the voice of Vasiliev, director of the political department: "Comrade major, don't you know what to say after you get the medal?"

Vasiliev's words reminded the excited Pugachev. He quickly straightened his waist and said aloud, "serve the Soviet motherland!"

"Well said, comrade major!" Vasiliev continued: "take your soldiers with you now and serve your motherland. I sincerely hope that you can make new contributions to our motherland in the next battle

The emotional Pugachev didn't say anything, just raised his hand to salute us, turned and walked away.

When several of us gathered around the table again, trakov began to talk about the situation in front of us: "after such a long time of fighting, I found that it is far from enough to rely on the determination of the commander to fight to the end and the courage of the soldiers. We have no room to maneuver in the passive positional defense. Due to the limitation of the terrain, the troops suffered heavy losses in the enemy's artillery and bombing. However, Stalingrad, a city named after the Supreme Commander himself, is of irreplaceable importance not only in military but also in politics. Therefore, we must firmly defend it. No matter what kind of sacrifice we pay, we can not let the aggressors occupy the city. At present, the problem before us is how to make use of the existing forces and weapons and equipment to reduce the losses of our army while consuming the enemy to the maximum extent. "

When trakov finished, krailov turned his attention to me and asked, "I'd like to hear your opinion on this, Colonel oshanina?"

I felt that I was not suitable to speak on such an occasion, so I quickly declined and said, "Comrade chief of staff, this is a problem considered by the leaders of your group army. As a small division commander, I don't have the right to speak in this regard."

Trekov saw me say that, and quickly showed his dissatisfaction. Gurov found the displeasure on trakov's face and quickly made it over for me: "commander, chief of staff, I think Comrade oshanina may not have considered it well, so I didn't rashly say that he was immature. Let's give her some time to think about it and maybe she can give us some useful advice. "

At this time, a communications officer came up to krailov, handed a telegram to him, and then turned to leave. Krailov finished reading the telegram quickly, then handed it to trikov and said, "Comrade commander, have a look at the telegram sent directly to us by the supreme command!"

It was said that it was a telegram from the supreme command. Originally, gurov stood up in a hurry and asked crailov nervously, "Comrade chief of staff, what did the Supreme Command say in the telegram?"

Krailov glanced at trakov, who was reading the telegram, and replied, "the supreme command has informed us that from today, September 28, 1942, the Stalingrad front army will be renamed the Don river front army, and its commander will be lieutenant general rokosovsky; The southeast front army was renamed Stalingrad front army, and its commander was general yelimenko; The first group army of Jinwei was expanded into the southwest front army, with the commander as Lieutenant General vadudin. "

When I heard the name of rokosovsky, I couldn't help but feel happy. I didn't expect that in less than a year, I would have the chance to fight side by side with this future Soviet marshal. Gurov, after krailov finished, continued to ask, "did you say when we will have a new reserve team?" Krailov shook his head in silence and said regretfully, "no, the telegram only informed us of the adjustment of the troop composition, and did not mention the dispatch of reserve troops to Stalingrad." Trekov sighed and handed the telegram to gurov. Just as he was about to speak, another communications officer ran up to him and reported to Krylov in a loud voice, "report to chief of staff, Colonel lyudnikov." When we heard that it was lyudnikov who called, when Krylov answered the phone, we could not help but gather around and listen to their conversation. Krailov asked with concern, "Comrade Colonel, what's the situation over there? Has the enemy's attack been repulsed by the artillery fire? " From the receiver came lyudnikov's hoarse voice: "report to the chief of staff, the enemy has been beaten back. Just five minutes after the rocket fire, the German troops who launched the attack led by tanks suffered heavy losses. They obediently left seven or eight destroyed tanks and more than 200 corpses and retreated in confusion. Now in front of our position, there are many wounded German soldiers who are still on the ground and groaning“ How are the casualties of your troops? " Krylov asked with concern. Lyudnikov chuckled a few times and said bitterly, "the casualties are not small. After counting the number, there are still more than 700 people left in the division, half of them wounded."“ What, "said krailov, startled," is there only 700 people left? Can you hold the present defensive position with your strength? "“ Chief of staff, I beg you, "lyudnikov sincerely asked in the microphone," send me some reinforcements, even a company or even a platoon. Although we have defeated the enemy's attack today, if they want to make another two such attacks, we are in danger of losing the whole army. "“ Comrade Colonel, first order your men to consolidate the present position, "said Krylov hesitantly." reinforcements, we will send them to you later. " After Krylov finished his call with lyudnikov, trakov went to the high-frequency phone beside the wall, picked up the phone, hesitated for a moment, and then decisively dialed the headquarters of the front army: "Hello, comrade commander yelomienko, this is trakov!"