Chapter 712

When it was getting dark, I and more than 200 female soldiers from various units of the group army boarded a ferry docked on the wharf in turn. After waiting for people to get on, the ferry turned around and went up the river to the far east bank.

I never thought that there were so many female soldiers in the 62nd army. I thought that there would be a hundred or so soldiers, but when they were assembled, there would be more than 500. Some of the female soldiers in the division or brigade who were later informed would arrive later. The commander of the Volga fleet, like me, did not expect that there would be so many female soldiers, so he only prepared a ferry for us. As a result, the women soldiers who stayed on the dock had to be divided into two groups to cross the river.

I stood alone by the railings, gazing at the city by the Volga River, which was submerged in fireworks. However, when one army after another came across the river without hesitation at the command of the higher authorities, and entered the city, they immediately went into battle. However, because of the command of the higher authorities, we city defenders of the past had to leave the city where we had fought.

"What are you thinking, sir?" Lieutenant razumeyeva, who boarded the ferry with me, did not know what came to me and asked in a low voice, "after we leave, is there any chance to come back?"

For her question, I can only reply with a bitter smile: "Comrade razumeyeva, I don't think I can answer your question either. Don't you see that although I am the commander of the independent division, I have to leave this heroic city like you after receiving the order from the superior? "

Razumeyeva, who had been in the headquarters for more than a month, only got a chance to see the whole picture of Stalingrad in the battle on the ferry. She said bitterly: "God, the whole city is buried by fire and smoke. Here, it's as if the stones are burning. In some places, the fire goes straight to the sky. Do our commanders and soldiers and citizens live and fight in such a sea of fire? What are they breathing in there? What are they defending there? Is it ruins or piles of stones? "

"Comrade Colonel," came the voice of tokaleva behind me. When she saw me turning to look at her, she asked timidly, "may I have a word with you?"

Although I was also very depressed, I was very friendly to the female signalman Lieutenant I had just met. I said kindly, "of course, Lieutenant tokaleva."

"Colonel, there is a serious shortage of troops in the city, but the commander immediately dispatched so many people to leave. You should know that it is not only the signalmen who left, but also the anti-aircraft gunners, snipers, scouts, machine gunners, health workers, and even the tank soldiers. So many signalmen have left their posts. You know, this is a very important position. If we can't find a suitable person to replace us, the communication of the army will be in chaos. "

To tell you the truth, I really don't know how to answer tokaleva's question. I can only comfort her and say, "don't worry, comrade lieutenant. Before we left just now, didn't the commander just say that we were temporarily asked to go to the east bank for rest? Maybe in a few days, when the situation in the city improves, he will call us back again. "

When I said this, tokaleva, who was depressed, got excited. She asked excitedly, "is it true, comrade Colonel? Can we really go back to the city soon and fight side by side with the commander? "

I couldn't bear to disappoint her and said perfunctorily, "well, comrade lieutenant. As you said just now, your position is a key position, and it is difficult for new comers to replace you. Before long, the commander will find that without you, the internal communications of the group army will be in chaos. So I think it will be sooner or later for him to call you back. "

Watching tokaleva happily return to her companions, razumeyeva, standing next to her, asked again with low worry: "Comrade teacher, are you true? Are we really going to be able to repeat our posts in the near future? "

I shook my head and said helplessly, "I think it's very difficult to go back to this city. Maybe it's time for our army to carry out a major counter offensive."

Razumeyeva let out a cry and then said in surprise, "it's going to take so long. What about the communication in the division? We have to know that the male communicators who temporarily take over our work have not been exposed to communication equipment for a long time. I'm afraid they will make mistakes. "

What she is worried about is what I have been thinking about in my heart, but now we are beyond our reach. Even if anything happens, I can only look and sigh. As it is no longer meaningful to discuss the affairs of the division, I timely changed the topic and asked her, "by the way, have you met the people in the division health camp?"

She nodded and seriously replied, "just now on the dock, I met Comrade shmakova of the health camp. By the way, I also saw your former guard monitor Vera, who was with another female soldier. But because they were full when they boarded the boat, they stayed on the dock, ready to wait for the ferry to return before they could cross the river. "

Before the ship arrived, I always worried that the ferry would be shelled by the enemy or bombed by aircraft. But maybe it was dark and the high ground of mamayev post blocked the German artillery observer's vision, so that before our ship landed, what I was worried about did not happen.

I saw that there were hundreds of people standing on the quay, but it was very quiet. Except for the sound of guns coming from across the river, there was no voice at all. Just then, the ship slowly came up to the trestle of the wharf, and the sailors on the ship jumped up and began to tie the ropes. Then I heard a voice shouting: "comrades, please line up, don't panic, get off the ship next to each other." Maybe he was afraid that someone couldn't hear clearly, and the man repeated it twice in a loud voice.

I entered the middle of the female soldiers' team, got off the boat and walked along the trestle. As I walked, I was still thinking: where should I take these female soldiers later? Just thinking about it, I suddenly heard someone shouting my name in front of me: "Captain oshanina, Captain oshanina, where are you?"

"Here I am!" I quickly and loudly agreed.

The man heard my voice and ran to me along the line of women soldiers. When the man came running to me, I carefully observed a man. He was wearing a steel helmet, a short cotton uniform, a common military raincoat, and a bobosha submachine gun hanging across his chest.

When he came near and looked around, I said before, "I'm o'shanina. I don't know what you want me to do?"

The man came to attention in front of me, and without saluting, he reported, "Hello, comrade colonel. I'm adir Yakubov, captain of the guard company of the commander of the front army. I came to the wharf to wait for you on the order of general zaharov, chief of staff. At the same time, I have been ordered to take you and your men to the camp that has been arranged for a long time to have a rest. "

As we spoke, the ranks of the women soldiers passed by us, and the troops who had been waiting on the shore also lined up on the trestle, ready to embark. I was deeply afraid that our stay here would affect the boarding troops. I said to Yakubov, "Comrade captain, let's talk in another place. We will stop the soldiers from boarding here."

When I got to a more open place, Yakubov said to me, "Comrade Colonel, general zaharov ordered me to take you to the headquarters immediately, saying that there was something important to discuss with you."

I pointed to the women soldiers lining up beside me and said in embarrassment, "if I leave, what should these women soldiers do?"

Yakubov looked over there and said casually, "don't worry, comrade colonel. I'll send someone to receive them." With that, he yelled at the distance: "Lieutenant liaoenka, come to me!"

With his shouts, a second lieutenant in the same dress ran up to him and asked him, "comrade company commander, what instructions do you have?"

Yakubov pointed to me and said, "I'm going to accompany the colonel to the chief of staff. You stay to receive the women soldiers and send them to the camp prepared for them."

"Yes, I'll do it right away." Lieutenant liaoenka promised to turn around and leave, but I stopped him in time. He stopped, turned his head and looked at me strangely, trying to find out why I stopped him.

I quickly explained to him, "Comrade lieutenant, there are more than 500 female soldiers we have withdrawn, only half of them here. The rest of them are still on the opposite wharf. They can only cross the river after the ferry that sent us back. "

The second lieutenant replied very readily, "I see, comrade colonel. I will take these women soldiers to their resting place first, and then come back here to meet the women soldiers crossing the river. I think it's completely in time for this arrangement. "

"Well, you are very considerate. Thank you, comrade lieutenant. By the way, there are also two officers in the female soldiers: Lieutenant razumeyeva and lieutenant tokaleva. You can ask them to help you with the placement of female soldiers. " I gave lieutenant liaonka a a polite smile and then said to Yakubov, "OK, Captain Yakubov, let's go!"

A few minutes later, in an underground bunker, I met general zaharov, whom I had seen for a long time. As soon as he saw my face, without waiting for me to salute or speak, he quickly came up and gave me a big hug. After the hug, he stepped back, looked me up and down, and even said, "Comrade o'shanina, you've lost weight. I haven't seen you for more than a month. You've lost so much weight." Speaking of this, I suddenly thought that there was a company commander accompanying me and said to him quickly“ Well, comrade captain, since Colonel oshanina has arrived at the headquarters, there is nothing for you here. Go back to the company. "

As soon as Yakubov left, zaharov could not wait to take me along the long corridor to the depth of the bunker. As he walked, he said to me, "Comrade oshanina, the commander and the military commissar want to see you and learn about the situation on the front line."

When I left, it seemed that there was no big battle breaking out. At this time, I saw zaharov's anxious face and thought that something big had happened. So I asked tentatively, "is there anything wrong in the city?"

"We lost contact with them an hour ago." Zaharov growled: "we tried every means to get in touch with him. The commander and the military commissar were in a hurry."

The connection with Stalingrad city was interrupted an hour ago when we were on the ferry. Is there anything unexpected happening during this period of time?

Soon we came to the innermost room. There were two people sitting here, one in military uniform and no hat, the other in casual clothes. I soon recognized general yelomienko, commander of the front army, who I had seen before when he first arrived in Stalingrad. With a smile on his face when he saw me coming, he picked up a walking stick leaning against the wall, stood up, stretched out his hand to me, and said in a loud voice, "welcome to my headquarters, Colonel oshanina."

I immediately stood at attention to salute, and then stretched out my hands, tightly grasped his outstretched hand, respectfully said: "Hello, comrade commander, nice to see you again."

As we shook hands, the bald man in plain clothes next to us also stood up, smiling and holding out his hand to me: "nice to meet you, Colonel o'shanina."

Although no one has introduced to me who the leader in front of me is, I have guessed that he is Khrushchev, the military commissar of the front army. He quickly held his hand with both hands, shook it vigorously, and said in a flattering way: "Hello, comrade military commissar, I have admired you for a long time, but I have never had the chance to see you. Today, I finally got what I wanted."

After a friendly exchange, yelolmenko and Khrushchev both sat down in their respective positions. Next, yelimenko asked me solemnly, "Comrade oshanina, what's the recent situation in mamayev post?"

"Report to the commander and military commissar that the enemy has suffered heavy losses due to repeated setbacks in front of the mamayev post. Recently, they have reduced their shelling and bombing of the Highlands, and even the ground attack has almost stopped." Although I didn't know the purpose of his question, I answered honestly, "although the enemy's attack on our division's defensive area was weakened, they transferred their forces to other directions and strengthened their attack on our defense line in that direction."

"An hour ago, we suddenly lost contact with trekov's headquarters. After using all means of contact, we were unable to get in touch with them." Yelomienko tried not to show his anxiety and asked me, "do you think something happened?"

In my mind, I tried hard to recall the situation of defense deployment near the headquarters of the group army. Although the number of troops defending the headquarters was not large, it was more than enough to block the German attack. But why will suddenly lose contact, in the end what happened?

"Nothing special happened before you came back?" Khrushchev then asked, and specially reminded me, "for example, in the vicinity of the headquarters, have you found any small German troops that may endanger their safety?"

"No," I answered with great certainty, "when I left, although there were battles all over the city, the enemy was still far away from their headquarters. It was impossible for them to break through the layers of defense of our army and rush to the headquarters."

"Why are you so sure that trekov won't have an accident?" Yelomienko asked.

"Yes, comrade commander." I answered positively, "when I summoned the women soldiers to rush to the wharf, the area from mamayev post to the headquarters was calm and there was no sign of the German." Speaking of this, it suddenly occurred to me that the leading female signalmen in the headquarters had followed me to the east coast. The reason why yelimenko lost contact with trakov is related to the new signalmen who temporarily replaced them. Thinking of this, I quickly reported to them, "by the way, I remember that all the female signalmen in the group army headquarters have retreated to the east bank. Maybe it is because the male signalmen who temporarily took over their work are not familiar with the communication equipment that the communication is interrupted."

"Is that so?" After yelimenko asked me this, he turned to zaharov next to me and said, "what do you think, chief of staff?"

"I think..." zaharov was hesitating to think about how to answer yelimenko's question when a communications staff member came in in a hurry. He held a telegraph in his hand, called "report" and then began to report to yelimenko, saying: "Comrade commander, I have contacted the headquarters of the 62nd army. According to general Krylov's report, because the new messenger was not familiar with the communication equipment, he could not recover after the failure of the telephone Because of the excitement, his voice became dumb.

Yelimenko reached for the phone, looked at it, handed it to Khrushchev, then said to me with a smile, "Comrade oshanina, it seems that your judgment is right." After a moment's pause, he hesitated to say to me, "and general rokosovsky, commander of the Don front army, sent me telegrams and telephone calls to transfer you to his front army. I want to ask you, how do you think about it? "

"Comrade commander, the answer is very clear." I replied with standard emphasis: "although I used to be a subordinate of general rokosovsky during the Moscow defense war and had good personal relations with him, I am now a member of Stalingrad's front army. No matter what the situation is, I will choose to stay here until the end of this campaign."

"Comrade oshanina," after listening to my answer, yelimenko and Khrushchev looked at each other with a knowing smile on their faces. Then Khrushchev nodded to me and said with satisfaction, "what I want to say is that you are good, comrade colonel. No, it should be major general."

"Major general?" Khrushchev's sudden remark confused me, and I asked in surprise, "Comrade military commissar, what's the matter? I'm confused. " Khrushchev stood up with a smile and said to yelimenko, "this ellenburg. The last time he went to Stalingrad for an interview, I asked him to give her a hint about the restoration of Comrade oshanina's military rank. I didn't expect that Comrade ellenburg didn't do it at all." Then he turned and looked at me. After staring at me for a while, he restrained his smile and solemnly announced to me: "Comrade oshanina, because of your bravery and heroism in the battle of defending mamayev post, and your great achievements. After the proposal of the Supreme Commander himself and the discussion of the supreme commander, it is decided that your rank of major general will be restored from now on. " At the moment when I heard Khrushchev's announcement, I couldn't believe my ears. My heart said that I didn't hear it wrong. How could I restore my rank of major general without any news in advance. My mind was blank, but I saw yelomienko bend down, lift a small suitcase from the ground and put it on the table. Khrushchev stretched out his hand to open the box, took out a suit of military uniform from it and handed it to me. Although I can see clearly that this is a uniform belonging to the general, I am at a loss and silent. I don't know what I should say when I take over this uniform“ Why don't you talk? " "You've been in the army for two days. Don't you know what you should say after you get the rank?" Yeliao Menko asked harshly Yeliaomenko's words woke me up, and I quickly and loudly said: "serve the motherland of the Soviet Union!"“ That's right. " Yeliaomenko looked at me from head to foot, and with a kind smile, he said with satisfaction, "what do you think about the restoration of your rank of major general?" To regain the rank of major general made me feel very happy, and let me see the bright future of myself again. When I heard yelomienko's question, I quickly replied, "I'm very happy."“ Just happy, no other idea? " Khrushchev also asked kindly“ I want to go back to my own troops. "Since Khrushchev asked me to express my views, I certainly would not waste such an opportunity. I hastened to put forward my own ideas and sincerely assured them," in the next cruel battle, I will never betray your trust in me. "“ Let's talk about it later. " Yelaimenko said vaguely. When I heard this, I couldn't help but clapping in my heart. My heart said no, do you really plan to leave me in the logistics department?