Chapter 833

"Comrade commander," although I already know the answer to many things, I can't help but confirm it again. So I asked, "how many German troops are there in our encirclement?"

As for my question, trekov thought about it, and then cautiously replied: "the specific force is still unclear, but judging from the situation in all aspects, we surrounded the whole 6th group army of Paulus. In this way, there are at least 300000 German people in the encirclement."

I then asked, "what do you think Paulus would think about getting his troops out of the way when he found out that his troops were under our siege?"

Trikov sneered and said contemptuously, "they want to run. Is there such a light thing? If we want to withdraw, Paulus' troops will have to discard all the technical equipment, all the heavy weapons and all the artillery. We will let them get into our fire net, so that only a very small number of people can escape from the ruins of the city. "

When I finished my conversation with trakov, kirilov asked me with concern, "Comrade oshanina, what did the commander and you say?"

When they heard me repeat what trakov said, they were all excited. Three people actually sat around the map and began to study the fate of the 6th army of Paulus.

I stood by, staring at the map on the table, listening attentively to their discussion. After listening for a while, I suddenly had a strange idea in my mind. Maybe Hitler ordered Paulus's troops not to retreat and to stick to the existing position. In fact, it was not a blind command, but the best way to preserve the troops.

Imagine the fate of Paulus's 6th army under the attack of heavy snow, storm and our army? When Napoleon escaped from Moscow and came to the Berezina River, he was completely annihilated. Even if Paulus broke through the encirclement of our army, he left all the technical equipment and artillery troops to break through the grassland, which would only destroy faster. Hitler not only did not make the decision to let the troops break through, but ordered his generals to organize ring defense on the spot and hold on to the end. In this way, he will be able to use the more than 300000 troops besieged by Paulus to hold down the five branches of our army to form a group army. Otherwise, these five groups will be able to greatly strengthen our offensive in the campaign area, enable our army to carry out a surprise attack in Rostov on the banks of the Don river, put the "a" group army in the Caucasus into a big pocket, just like the encirclement of the Paulus group army, and then separate and eliminate it.

Thinking of this, I can't help feeling that Hitler is not as stupid as we think. At least his seemingly simple order to turn the German army into defense can restrain our main force and avoid the enemy's attack on the Caucasus.

Just then, someone came in from the door. I looked up and found that it was sherbina, the political commissar of the 37th division of Jinwei, who was staying in Highland 107.5. I quickly welcomed him and said, "sherbina, you are here. 107.5 has the defense of highland been handed over to friendly forces? "

After shaking hands with me, sherbina went to shake hands with kirilov and said, "yes, comrade deputy commander, our department has officially handed over defense to the 92nd infantry brigade." After that, he asked kirilov with a smile, "Comrade political commissar, when I came in, I saw you all looking happy. Is there any good news?"

"No, there are happy events in the world." Kirilov, with a smile on his face, said mysteriously, "Comrade shelbina, you may not know yet?"

"Comrade political commissar, don't worry about me," said shelbina anxiously. "You also know that I just came from 107.5 highland, and I can't get in touch with the outside world. I don't know what happened." At this point, he stopped and frowned for a moment, then tentatively asked: "is kongnieyi also occupied by you?"

Shelbina's words caused us to laugh, and our laughter made him even more confused. After laughing, kirilov took his arm to the table, pointed to the map on the table and said to him, "Comrade shelbina, kongnie was captured by us yesterday. What makes us happy is not that our division captured the small city, but that our Stalingrad front army and the southwest front army joined forces in the Soviet and Karachi regions, formally forming a siege circle for the German army, which included the 6th regiment of Paulus. "

"What, the Sixth Army of Paulus?" Sherbina was so surprised that he almost hit his chin on the ground. He looked down at the map on the table and kept asking, "Comrade political commissar, where are the troops of the southwest front army and where are the troops of the Don river front army?"

After dark, trakov took the initiative to contact me through the telephone, perhaps because our army is currently in the dominant position, so he is not worried about divulging secrets. He confidently told me in the Ming Dialect: "before the end of the day, the infantry regiments of the 1st group of guards of the southwest front army and the 5th group of tanks went out to the lekriwaya River and the cheer river, And occupy solid defenses there. At the same time, the 51st group army of Stalingrad's front army and the 4th cavalry army advanced to the east of grosmoscow, lavka, Aksai, umanzewo and sadovoye. As a result of these actions, the encirclement campaign has been reliably guaranteed in both the West and the south. "

Just as I was happy with the good news, trakov added, "by the way, I almost forgot something. The Volga River is frozen again. Send your engineering company back to mamayev post tonight, and let them continue to survey the ice layer on the river to see if there is any possibility of establishing an ice transportation line. "

"Well, comrade commander, I'll arrange it now." As for trekov's request, I agreed without hesitation, because I knew in my heart that if the ice transportation line was not established, the connection between the 62nd army and the East Bank of the Volga River would be completely interrupted, and the troops and materials that needed to be replenished would not be transported.

When the conversation with trakov was over, I sent for captain mihayev to enter the headquarters. As I haven't arranged any tasks for the engineering company recently, Captain mihayev heard that I was looking for him and immediately trotted all the way to the headquarters excitedly. As soon as I saw my face, a salute came and he said, "report to Mr. division commander, captain of engineering company, Mikhail. He has been ordered to come here and wait for your instructions."

"Comrade captain, now I order you to take the soldiers of the engineering company back to mamayev post immediately." Thinking that the ice transportation line to be opened up is related to the life and death of the 62nd army, I solemnly told Mikhail: "your task is to continue to survey the ice layer on the river and find the suitable location for opening the transportation line."

When I heard that this task was arranged for him, mihayev said somewhat difficultly: "Sir, it's very difficult to do this. The temperature is not low enough, so it's very difficult for the ice layer on the river to reach the ideal thickness."

Before he finished speaking, I raised my hand to stop him, and then said to him sternly, "Comrade captain, I think you know that due to the appearance of ice sheets and the freezing on the river in the early stage, the contact between the 62nd army and the other side of the river has been completely interrupted. If we can't open up the ice transportation line as soon as possible and transport the soldiers, equipment and materials urgently needed by the group army, we will not be able to accumulate enough strength to launch a counter offensive against the German army. "

When I finished, Mikhail yev was still not happy, but he simply answered me, "yes, I promise to finish the task."

"Take a walkie talkie and get in touch with me as soon as you get any news." After I said this, I sent someone to take mihayev to razumeyeva to get the walkie talkie.

Originally, I thought that Mikhail yev's investigation would come back in vain. Unexpectedly, at one o'clock in the morning, razumeyeva, who was on duty in the headquarters, suddenly called me excitedly: "Comrade division commander, it's captain Mikhail yev. He wants to talk to you and say that he has something important to report to you."

I guess it might be related to the ice transportation line, so I quickly came to the walkie talkie, grabbed the earphone and transmitter, and asked aloud, "Hello, is that captain mihayev? I'm o'shanina. What's the situation there? "

"Report to Mr. commander," mikheiev's excited voice came from the earphone: "you may not have thought that when we just got to the Volga River, we saw a huge piece of ice floating from zaitsevsky island. It destroys everything on its way, smashes large and small pieces of ice, and changes their flow direction. Several logs frozen together, like light floating pieces of wood, were smashed to pieces. This scene is really amazing! This huge piece of ice, almost as wide as the Volga River, slowed down when it arrived near the mamayev post.

I was anxiously waiting. If the ice stopped, it meant that we would have a natural bridge to connect with the east coast; If we can't stop and continue to drift downstream, the soldiers and materials on the east bank will still be unable to be transported to the city.

But we seemed to be lucky that the huge ice stopped in front of us. When I was happy, I divided the engineering company into three groups, and gave them a simple order: go along the ice to the other bank, and then come back. "

"Have all the engineers returned smoothly?" As for when the traffic between the 62nd army and the east coast was restored after the counter offensive, I really don't know. So when I heard Mikhail speaking about this, I was particularly nervous.

"All returned smoothly." Mikhail yev confidently said: "next, comrade division commander, as long as we lay two planks on the ice, then our troops can walk through the Volga River along the planks on the ice."

"That's great, that's great!" Hearing such good news, I was also excited. I said loudly to the transmitter, "Captain Mikhail, in recognition of the merit you have established, I will personally ask the headquarters for your credit."

After dawn, when I was informed by mihayev that the planks on the ice had been paved and could pass normally, I took the initiative to report the good news to trakov. Trikov readily agreed to my request for meritorious service for mihayev. At the same time, he said, "Comrade oshanina, I will personally discuss this matter. When the war is more stable, I will go to the independent division to personally honor them."

Before I could thank him, he announced an unexpected news to me: "according to the latest order we just received from the headquarters of the supreme command, the 112th division of yermorkin, the 193th division of smehotvorov, the 37th division of joludev's guards and two infantry brigades, exhausted by continuous fighting, are to withdraw from the army of the group and transfer to the reserve, Go and reorganize. That is to say, you should let political commissar sherbina take the remnant of the 37th division of Jinwei to mamayev post later, and then cross the river to the east bank. Do you understand? "

"I see, comrade commander." I called shelbina in front of me and told him of trakov's notice to get ready to leave as soon as possible. After hearing this, shelbina's mouth twitched violently, as if he wanted to say something, but he couldn't say it. Kirilov stepped forward, took his hand and said in a friendly way, "political commissar sherbina, your division's mission in Stalingrad city has been completed. Go back to the east bank with ease. I will never forget the days when we fought side by side." When I said the last sentence, I saw that kirilov's eyes were full of tears, as if he could not bear to leave political commissar sherbina. After shaking hands with bantailiev and akhromeyev, shelbina came to me again, took the initiative to extend his hand to me and politely said, "Comrade deputy commander, I'm leaving. Take care. I hope I can return to your command one day and take part in the battle under your command." With that, he released his hand, stepped back, raised his hand and saluted us. When we raised our hands in return, he tried to squeeze out a bitter smile on his face, then turned away and walked out without looking back. Only now do I know that it's hard to part emotionally with those comrades who have lived and died together, especially with my comrades in arms. Seeing the back of shelbina's leaving, my nose can't help but feel sour. My mind once again shows the scene of every battle with the 37th division of the guards. I don't know when we will see these officers and men who have fought side by side with us. I feel very sad to think that they are going to leave Stalingrad and go to the East Bank of the Volga River.