Chapter 824

When I hurried back to the division headquarters, it was two o'clock in the morning on November 19. Kirilov saw that as soon as I returned to the division headquarters, he hurriedly ordered akhromeyev to call the heads of the regiments and inform them to come to the meeting immediately. He could not help but ask curiously, "Comrade oshanina, what are the latest instructions from the headquarters? Why do you call all the commanders to a meeting as soon as you come back? "

Although I know better than anyone the time of the beginning of the great counterattack and the end of the whole campaign, when this time is really close, I still look very nervous and excited. When I heard kirilov's question, I grabbed his arm, shook it vigorously, and answered him in a tone changed voice: "comrade political commissar, it's a counterattack, a great counterattack, Under Stalingrad, the real all-round counter offensive is about to begin! "

Kirilov and bandeliev looked at me with a kind of neurotic gaze, their eyes staring like brass bells. After a long time, kirilov said tentatively: "Comrade oshanina, I see your face is red. Did you drink when you were just in the headquarters of the group army?"

Kirilov's words stunned me at first, and then I understood the reason why he said it. At present, under the fierce attack of the German army, we are almost beaten to jump the Volga River. Where is there enough strength to counterattack, let alone a comprehensive counterattack? No wonder he thought I was talking drunk.

I didn't talk to them either. I directly pulled them to the table, pointed to the map on the table, and told them about the plan of the upcoming counter offensive. At the end, I specially emphasized: "this counter offensive is different from any previous counterattack. The supplemented southwest front army and the Don River front army will bombard the enemy's defensive positions at 7:20 this morning. After the artillery preparation is completed, hundreds of thousands of our troops will launch a comprehensive counterattack against the German army in both directions. "

When they heard me say this, kirilov no longer suspected that I was drunk. Instead, they asked cautiously, "what about the front army of Stalingrad?"

"Because our 62nd army has been greatly weakened in the fighting in recent months, and it can not get enough supplies in the early stage of the counter offensive, the main forces of Stalingrad's front army's counterattack will be the friendly 64th army, 51st army and 57th army. Our task is to try every means to hold down the enemy so that they can not easily withdraw from the city, so as to achieve the goal of encircling and annihilating it. " After that, I turned around and found that sherbina, the political commissar of the 37th division of Jinwei, was not there. I asked kirilov curiously, "Comrade political commissar, why is sherbina not in the headquarters? Where has he gone?"

Kirilov, listening to my question, raised his head and looked around. Then he asked akhromeyev, who had just finished the phone call: "Comrade chief of staff, have you seen political commissar sherbina?"

Akhromeyev quickly nodded his head and replied, "political commissar sherbina said he would go to see if the commanders and fighters of the 37th division of the guards have been settled, so I asked major basmanov to accompany him."

Knowing that shelbina was going, I specially told akhromeyev: "chief of staff, the meeting later is very important. You must inform him to attend."

After a while, commanders at all levels who received the notice came to the headquarters one after another. I sat in my seat and watched the commander coming in. I silently remembered which regiment's battalion commander he was, and from time to time I raised my hand to my forehead to salute those commanders who saluted me.

As more and more people gathered in the headquarters, there was a buzz in the room. The tank battalion commander, major perersian, approached molozov's ear and said in a low voice, "it seems that something important has brought us here..." when he saw that my eyes were fixed on him, he gave me a shy smile, and then he pulled molozov aside to whisper.

After a while, kirilov came close to my ear and asked in a low voice, "Mr. division, everyone is here. Can we start?" Seeing that I nodded and agreed, he stood up, went to the commanders, and said in a loud voice: "comrades, please keep quiet. Next, comrades of the division have something important to announce to you." The room suddenly quieted down, and all the people turned their eyes on me, quietly waiting for me to announce important things to them.

After a short silence, I stood up, with a smile on my face, walked slowly to the commanders, raised my voice and said, "comrades, I have an important thing to announce to you when I call you here." At this point, I suddenly found that I couldn't go on because of excitement. The joy of seeing the dawn soon disrupted my prepared speech outline. I can only calm my excitement by slowly looking around the commanders at the meeting.

After a while, I waited for my mood to recover, and then I continued: "comrades, in the morning of November 19, that is, this morning, our southwest front army and don front army will attack the German army from two directions at the same time, and our Stalingrad front army will also launch a containment attack on the German army in the existing area, They can't easily get out of the city. The purpose of this great counterattack is different from the previous ones. It is not just to repel the enemy from the vicinity of the city. We need to surround the enemy and bury them thoroughly under the city of Stalingrad. "

After what I said, the headquarters fell into a silence, and no one recovered from what I said. Except for kirilov, the rest of the commanders looked at me stupidly“ Commander comrades, what's the matter with you? " Seeing everyone's reaction, akhromeyev stood up and said in the same tone as usual, "don't you understand the teacher?" When he said this, he couldn't help raising his voice. "Don't you understand that it's time for us to carry out a comprehensive counterattack and collect blood debts from the Germans?" Everyone was stunned for a moment, and did not know who was the first to clap. Then the applause in the room rang out. I waited for the applause to ring for a while, then raised my hands and pressed them down to signal everyone to be quiet. After the applause in the room stopped, I went on to say, "comrades, although the southwest front army and the Don front army are going to launch a counterattack this morning, our Stalingrad counterattack will be a day later." In order to prevent the commanders and fighters from whispering and interrupting me, I purposely sped up and said, "the task of our division is to firmly guard the mamayev post and 107.5 highland, ensure that the strategic depth of the group army will not be compressed, and at the same time, firmly attract the enemy in the front, so that they can not easily get away."“ Comrade division, "as soon as I had finished, major Morozov, commander of the artillery battalion, stood up and asked in a loud voice," will you allow me to ask questions? " Seeing that I nodded in agreement, he asked repeatedly, "Comrade division, please allow me to ask a question. What is the task of our artillery battalion?"“ Your task is still simple, "I said lightly instead of blaming him for his recklessness." it is to provide necessary artillery support for our troops when they attack. " At this point, I turned my eyes to the tank battalion commander, Mr. pelsjian, who was sitting next to him, and called his name out loud: "major pelsjian!"“ Here we are Pelsky jumped out of his seat with a loud promise“ When you go back, you should check whether the tank has enough ammunition and fuel, and be ready for all battles. " After the counterattack started, the air supremacy of the battlefield must be in our hands, so I can confidently and boldly use pelsken's tank battalion, "remember, let the soldiers remove the * * cross mark on the tank as soon as possible, otherwise it will not be worth it if they are blown up by our planes and German tanks at the beginning of the attack." When I finished, bantailiev stood up and said to the commanders who attended the meeting, "comrades, some time ago, the division commander ordered us to seize the time to expand our troops. Now it's time to check whether you have carried out this order well. Starting from the first regiment, each regiment should report your actual strength. " As soon as bandeleev's words were finished, Xie jerikov, who first stood up, loudly reported: "after the expansion of the regiment in recent days, the total strength of the regiment is 3267, of which more than 1000 are unarmed." After xiejerikov sat down, the second commander, Lieutenant Colonel Oleg, stood up. He said with some embarrassment, "Comrade division commander, because of our geographical location, it is difficult to replenish our forces as much as a regiment. So far, there are only 786 soldiers in the regiment, but every soldier has a weapon in his hand."“ The current strength of the third regiment is 1536. "“ The current number of the fourth regiment is 2475. " After listening to the numbers reported by the regiments, I could not help nodding with satisfaction. I did not expect that they carried out the orders thoroughly. In just a few days, the total strength of the whole division was several times higher than that at the last meeting. With so many troops, in tomorrow's counterattack, we will not have to stay in the trenches and wait for the troops of the Don front army to join us. Instead, we can take the initiative to attack the German troops in gorodyser under the cover of tanks. After counting the figures of each regiment, Bantai leiev raised his hand, looked at his watch, and turned to ask for my opinion: "Comrade division commander, it's getting late. Can you let the commanders go back to their respective units for preparation?" I nodded and answered briefly, "well, now that the task is clear, let's break up!"