Chapter 728

Forty minutes later, I took basmanov and several soldiers from the guard company to the position of the fourth regiment and entered their tunnel works from an entrance on the south slope.

Guarding the tunnel were two young soldiers. Seeing us coming, they straightened up and saluted me. After I saluted them, I politely asked, "Comrade soldier, can you take us to the regiment headquarters?"

An older soldier replied, "no problem, Comrade General. I can take you and your troops to the regiment headquarters." Said the body side, made a please posture.

We walked along the narrow tunnel. Fortunately, the lanterns on both sides of the wall can illuminate the way for us and avoid us stepping on the rest of the soldiers sitting on the wall. In the light of the light, I saw someone wiping weapons, someone leaning back against the earth wall in the eyes. As we passed through a hole hung in a thick curtain, I heard groans coming from it. This should be where the wounded were.

After we made a few turns in the tunnel and walked a long distance, the soldier finally stopped at another curtain hole, turned to me and said, "Comrade General, this is our regiment headquarters."

"Thank you, comrade soldier." I nodded to him, said thanks, then lifted the curtain and went in.

Inside is a small cave of seven or eight square meters. Near the door, there is a table with maps, a lantern and a telephone. A commander without a military cap sits at the table. Hearing the news, he looked up at me. After a moment's hesitation, he stood up decisively, raised his hand to salute me, and loudly reported: "Comrade division commander, Xia Ping, political commissar of the Fourth Infantry Regiment, reports to you. Welcome here."

I raised my hand and asked casually, "commissar Xia Ping, where's your commander, Lieutenant Colonel Gaidar?"

"I'm here, sir." There was a sudden sound beside the wall. I looked in the direction of the sound. Gaidar, who was in ragged clothes, was climbing up from a simple narrow wooden bed. He was busy dressing and reporting to me: "Comrade division, commander of the fourth regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Gaidar, reporting to you. I'm waiting for your instructions!"

I didn't speak. I just looked at him quietly with my hands behind my back. After his army was in order, I solemnly said to him, "Comrade Gaidar, because last night we mistakenly judged that the enemy's artillery observation point was located on the mamayev post without knowing the specific situation, we also asked you to search the oil storage tank area again and again in vain. Now that the situation is basically clear, the enemy has not set up observation points on the high ground at all. On behalf of the political commissar and chief of staff, I would like to apologize to you for the mistakes we have made. Please forgive me! " With that, I drew my legs together and raised my hand to give him a solemn military salute.

"Sir, comrade!" Seeing that I actually apologized to myself, Gaidar quickly raised his hand to salute me after a short period of consternation, and said excitedly: "I didn't expect that you would apologize to me for this small matter. I really didn't expect that."

Deeply afraid that I would be embarrassed, Xia Ping promptly turned the topic aside: "Comrade division commander, you said that the enemy's artillery observation point is not located at mamayev post, so where will it be located?"

"Where else?"?! It's in their nearest forward position, of course. " I put down my hand raised to my forehead and said to Xia Ping with a smile, "I thought the enemy was building fortifications so close to us just to shorten their attack path. Unexpectedly, it was to set up artillery observation points to guide the deep artillery to bombard our transport fleet on the Volga River."

"Sir, I don't know how you think about it?" Gadar asked tentatively, "do you want me to send troops to attack this forward position and wait for the opportunity to destroy their artillery observation point?"

"There's no need for that trouble." I waved my hand and said with disapproval, "I have informed major Morozov to bring some mortars and destroy the civil bunker where the enemy artillery observer is. There is no need to send infantry to take risks. You should know that you have a large number of new recruits, and it's OK to fight and defend. It's hard to say what kind of attack you will get if you attack at will. "

At this time, the curtain was lifted and a commander entered. As soon as he came in, he didn't look around. He took off the big eaves hat on his head and fell heavily on the table. Then he sat down beside the table and said angrily, "commander, political commissar, I can't do this company commander."

"What's the matter, Captain kiricheng?" Xia Ping lowered his head and asked tentatively, "which of your soldiers has made you angry again?"

"It's just the new fighters from Kazakhstan who have been in the tunnel for a long time, and they are all complaining. Just now there was another soldier who said something disturbing to the morale of the army. "

"Who said that?" When Xia Ping heard this, his eyebrows suddenly stood up. He asked seriously, "what did he say?"

"It's the big man from the collective farm," said kiricheng. "He said that if we could beat the Germans, we would have launched a counterattack long ago, and we wouldn't be like now. We would be rats in the tunnel all day, and we wouldn't even see the sun. If we wait until the day when the Germans attack, none of us will be able to run, either killed or captured. "

"What's his name?" Xia Ping asked angrily.

Kiricheng shook his head, shrugged his shoulders and said, "his name sounds strange. I can't make it clear."

"When he said this, were there soldiers around?"

Currichen nodded and replied, "there are seven or eight. Listening to what he said, I feel that these soldiers have been shaken. "

Xia Ping turned to take off his cap from the wall and put it on his head. He said to kericheng, "let's go and have a good talk with him." He said that he was going to leave. Suddenly he found that I was still standing by without saying a word. He quickly gave me a smile with apology. He patted kericheng with his hand and said to him, "Comrade captain, I forgot to introduce you. This is our division commander, general oshanina."

After hearing what Xia Ping said, he turned to see me and screamed. He jumped up from his seat, stepped back two steps, leaned back against the earth wall, raised his hand to salute me, and stammered: "newspaper, report, teacher, teacher, comrade..."

Before he finished, I went up to him, pulled his hand off his forehead and said kindly, "Comrade captain, don't be nervous. I heard what you just said. Let's go and talk to the soldier. "

Kiricheng took us to a corner of the tunnel. Here gathered a lot of soldiers, who did not speak, are quietly wiping their guns, or pressing bullets into the clips. When they saw us coming, they just looked up and went on with their work.

After walking forward for a while, kiricheng pointed to a tall soldier with a boat hat sitting on the ground and said, "that's him."

I just wanted to go forward, but Xia Ping raised his hand and stopped me. He said to me in a low voice: "Comrade teacher, I'd better come." With that, he went to the tall man, stopped and said in a stern tone, "Comrade soldier."

The tall man quickly stood up from the ground and stood straight in front of Xia Ping.

"What did you say just now in front of your company commander and the rest of the soldiers?"

"What did I say?" The tall man asked in surprise, pretending to be in poor Russian.

Xia Ping sneered and said directly, "you just said that we can't beat the Germans. If we stay in the tunnel, we will become the captives of the Germans sooner or later. Come on, why are you walking here in a defeatist tone? "

Unexpectedly, he denied: "no, I never said that. The company commander must have heard it wrong. Maybe he took what he heard from other places as mine

Xia Ping turned and asked a soldier sitting nearby, "did he say that?"

The soldier shook his head and said, "I fell asleep, I didn't hear you." Then he buried his head deeply.

Xia Ping then asked several soldiers, who either said that they were asleep and didn't hear them, or that they didn't understand Russian and didn't know what the tall man said.

When I saw this scene, my heart was cold. I didn't expect that these new soldiers from Kazakhstan would cover up a fellow countryman who spread the theory of defeatism. It seems that I need to talk to oberstein about how to strengthen the political and ideological work of new soldiers. Thinking of this, I turned to the other soldiers sitting next to me and asked aloud, "which of you just heard what the soldier said?"

As soon as we asked this question, several soldiers in helmets came from behind us. We knew that they belonged to the original commanders and fighters of the fourth regiment. One of them, an elderly soldier, pointed to the tall man and said angrily, "yes, comrade general, he just spread the theory of defeatism."

"He also said that once the enemy attacked, we would be killed or captured." See someone bravely come forward to expose tall, another soldier also confirmed tall said these words.

Seeing the old soldiers of the fourth regiment expose themselves, the tall man seemed a little flustered. He tried to defend himself: "comrades commander, what I just mean is that we can't stay in the tunnel, we still have to go out and fight with the enemy. It's the best, but we should consider withdrawing to the East Bank of Volga as soon as possible

"Do you still say you don't have a failure doctrine?" After a heavy snort, Xia Ping said coldly, "I can tell you that the order we have received is to stick to the mamayev post. Even if there is only one person left on the high ground, we should nail the position like nails and never step back. It's better to expose the bones on the high ground than to let the enemy move forward. "

He was about to announce what to do with the tall man when a cry came from behind us: "Hello, sir, where are you?"

I recognized Morozov's voice, knew he was coming with a mortar, and agreed, "major, I'm here. I'll be right there." After shouting, I pointed to the tall man and told him, "Comrade captain, send someone to take care of him first and deal with him after we have finished the war. At such a time, it is absolutely unacceptable to make a defeatist argument that disturbs the morale of the army. "

When Xia Ping and I walked forward side by side, I thought that the fourth regiment had been in the tunnel ever since they went to mamayev post, and they were very happy to fight with the attacking enemy. In this case, not to mention the new soldiers who have just been added, even Xia Ping, the political commissar of the Communist Youth League around me, may have some ideas in his mind. Therefore, I feel it necessary to explain to him.

So as I walked, I said to him, "Comrade Xia Ping, you have to tell the soldiers that because our army is limited in strength and lacks the heavy weapons needed to attack the fortified positions, we can only take defensive measures for the time being. We should rely on tunnels to hold fast to the high ground and constantly eliminate the enemy's living forces. Only when the enemy is consumed and exhausted can conditions be created for counterattack. At that time, the counterattack we have carried out will succeed at one stroke and completely defeat the enemy who attacked Stalingrad. " The three mortars that Morozov brought had been lined up in the trench. Seeing us coming out of the tunnel, he quickly closed his legs and reported to me, "Comrade division, I have prepared the mortars. Please direct the attack target." I raised my telescope and looked at the German position in the distance. Close to the river, there was an independent civil bunker. From the outside, there were two soldiers walking back and forth to analyze. Even if it was not the German artillery observation point, it was also a relatively important target. Seeing this, I called molozov over, handed him the telescope, pointed to the position in the distance and said, "major, do you see the civil bunker near the river? It seems to be a more important site for the German army. Can we knock it down? " After taking the telescope in my hand and looking at it for a while, Morozov confidently replied, "no problem. You give me two minutes, and I'll be able to knock it out." Then he put the telescope in my hand and ran to his men. With a series of commands issued by Morozov, the Gunners skillfully adjusted the position and muzzle direction of the mortar. With the "Tong Tong" three light sounds, the shells roared toward the enemy's position. The artillery hit accurately, three shells all fell around the bunker and exploded, one of which blew the two moving soldiers out. Then the artillery fired two rounds in succession. In the black smoke of the shell explosion, the cover of the civil bunker was lifted, from which three German soldiers rushed out, bent down and ran to other places along the trench. However, they did not run far away, two shells fell in the middle of them and exploded, their bodies turned into bloody rain in the explosion and evenly sprinkled in the surrounding soil“ Good fight, major Morozov. It's a beautiful fight. " Seeing the accuracy of the mortar attack, I cried out excitedly“ I didn't expect you to take out the enemy's bunker so soon. " When he heard my praise, he didn't say anything but grinned. Until a gunner came up to him and asked if he would continue to fire. He just like the beginning of a dream to wake up, immediately asked me: "Sir comrade, still fight?" I shook my head and said, "no, since the enemy's artillery observation point has been destroyed, your task will be completed. Take your men and move quickly. Maybe the enemy's retaliatory shelling will arrive soon. " Morozov agreed and immediately asked his men to pack up and prepare to withdraw to the tunnel.