After our fighters finished strafing the ground, they re-pulled up their noses and circled in the air a few times to make sure that there was no danger on the ground before turning around and flying north.

Yushchenko came to the crater with two fighters, squatted down and asked us about the situation: "Division commander, political commissar, you are not injured, are you?" ”

I first looked at the backs of the two fighters who ran to the rear car to check, then shook my head and said, "I'm fine, I don't know what happened to the fighters in the car behind?" ”

Yushchenko turned his head to look at the burning jeep, and saw that the two fighters were squatting next to their comrades who had fallen to the ground for inspection, and couldn't help but sigh and said in a regretful tone: "The German artillery fire is too fierce, and it is estimated that they have all died." ”

Not long after he finished speaking, the two fighters ran back quickly, stood in front of Yushchenko, shook their heads with stern expressions, and signaled that all the fighters in the car behind him had been sacrificed.

Hearing that his men had all died, Yushchenko stood up abruptly, turned around and ordered the two fighters standing behind him: "You two go and search the enemy's corpse to see if there is any room alive." ”

After the two fighters left, Yushchenko crouched down again and extended his hand to Kirillov and me, helping both of us to crawl out of the crater.

After getting up from the crater, I felt a dull pain in my chest, and when I looked down, I saw that there were several dents in the left chest of the bullet armor, which were all shrapnel on the breastplate when the bomb was next to the car.

But fortunately, the quality of the body armor was not bad, and it was not pierced, otherwise I might have become a cold corpse like the driver.

It didn't take long for the two fighters who went to check on the corpses of the Germans to carry a terrified German soldier over.

When the fighters pushed the German soldiers in front of me.

I looked left and right for a moment, and then asked, "Who knows German?" ”

I'm going to interrogate the captured German soldier and find out what the ambush was all about.

Yushchenko also looked at the fighters on the left and right, then shook his head and said to me: "Comrade division commander, none of us here understand German. Or. We took the captives to the city of Kongpui, where we were sure to find someone who knew German. ”

As soon as Yushchenko's words were finished, Kirillov, who had been silent, suddenly said: "Let me interrogate him." ”

With that, he took a step forward and questioned the German prisoners in fluent German.

The German soldiers were stunned at first when they heard Kirillov's fluent German.

Then he talked to Kirillov in a whisper.

After the exchange between the two was over, Kirillov said to me with a wry smile: "Comrade Oshanina, you have figured it all out. The Germans' tank broke down on the side of the road, and the Germans came to repair the tank on a motorcycle, only to see us passing by. And so it was what happened next. ”

When I heard Kirillov finish speaking, I couldn't help but smile bitterly, it seems that my luck is really bad, and even this kind of thing will happen.

But after thinking about it, fortunately I only brought three jeeps and a dozen people out, and if I had asked a guard platoon to act with me in a truck, I guess I would have been reimbursed by the German artillery fire a long time ago.

"Comrade Oshanina, how are we going to Kongjianyi City?"

Three still burning jeeps were seen.

Kirillov asked with some anxiety: "There are still about five kilometers from the destination, and if you want to walk there, it will take at least an hour." ”

"Comrade Commissar. We don't have to walk. ”

As soon as Kirillov finished speaking, Yushchenko immediately spoke, and he pointed into the distance, "Look, there are still a few German motorcycles there, and we can take them to Kongjiaoyi." ”

After getting my permission.

Yushchenko and four of his men ran to the place where the Germans had parked their motorcycles, and one of them rode one.

Rode back all the enemy's tukes.

Yushchenko's motorcycle drove the road ahead, and Kirillov and I sat in the sidecar of the second and third motos, respectively.

The captured German soldiers were tied behind their backs and thrown into the sidecar of the fourth motorcycle.

Our motorcycle convoy had not gone far before we came across a patrol sent by Shederikov with two armored vehicles.

The commander who led the team, as I know, was the commander of the first company, Captain Glitsenko.

When he saw us appearing, he immediately ordered the armored car to stop on the side of the road.

As soon as the car stopped, he ran over and reported to me: "Comrade Commander of the Division, since the observation post outside the city found that there was gunpowder smoke in the south, he immediately reported it to the regiment headquarters. The regimental commander was worried about what danger you were in on the road, so let me take a patrol out to see what was really going on. ”

Instead of telling him about the danger we had just encountered, I asked straight to the point: "Comrade Captain, where is Lieutenant Colonel Sederikov?" ”

"In the command post in the city, several generals from friendly forces are also there."

After Captain Glitsenko had finished reporting to me, he said to me respectfully: "Comrade division commander, allow me to show you the way. ”

Our motorbike convoy followed Captain Glitsenko's armored car into the ruined city of Kongjiaoyi.

When I got to the middle of the city, I saw a few buildings with half of them left, and the surrounding masonry and tiles were very clean, and it seemed that the Germans had cleaned up the vicinity of their headquarters after recovering the city.

That way, we don't have to struggle to clean up piles of rubble.

The armored car stopped in front of a building with sentries standing guard, and our motorcycle fleet stopped in turn.

As soon as Kirillov and I came out of the sidecar, we saw a crowd of people pouring out of the building, and Sederikov, who I knew best, walked in the middle of the whole team.

The commander who walked to the front, dressed in a gray military coat and a gray lambskin hat, recognized at a glance from the four gold stars on his diamond-shaped collar badge that he was none other than my former superior, General Rokossovsky.

I walked quickly in front of him and stood still, raised my hand to salute him with a standard military salute, and at the same time said: "Comrade Commander of the Front Army, Major General Oshanina, Deputy Commander of the 62nd Group Army and Commander of the Red Banner Independent Division, reports to you that I have rushed to Kongjiaoyi City on your orders, please instruct!" ”

Rokossovsky raised his hand and returned a military salute, then stretched out his hands to shake my hand, and said excitedly: "Leda, I thought you would have to arrive after dark." I didn't expect it to arrive so soon. ”

After he let go of my hand, I leaned slightly to the side, let Kirillov out next to me, and then introduced Rokossovsky: "Comrade commander, let me introduce you. This is Comrade Kirillov, the political commissar of our independent division, who came from the Moscow Central Committee. ”

"Hello, Comrade Kirillov."

With a faint smile on his face, Rokossovsky reached out and shook Kirillov gently, then let go of his hand, and then his body turned slightly to the side.

Introduce me to the commander who was following him.

He pointed to a general of medium stature, with a resolute face and a wrinkled face, and said to me: "Lida, let me introduce you, this is Major General Batov, commander of the 65th Army. ”

"Hello, General Batov!"

Although I and Batov are both with the rank of major general.

But someone else was the commander of the group army, and I was just a deputy commander in name only, so I raised my hand and saluted him first.

After returning the salute, Batov took the initiative to extend his hand to me, and at the same time said: "Hello, Comrade Oshanina. I have long heard from Comrade Commander about your deeds, but I did not expect to have the opportunity to see you with my own eyes today. ”

When I shook hands with Batov, a chubby general behind Rokossovsky walked up to me.

He smiled and said to me, "Leda, remember me?" ”

I took a closer look and found that it was Ma Lining, the former chief of staff of the 16th Army.

During the Battle of Moscow, he had the rank of colonel, and now he also wears the badge of a major general.

Seeing my acquaintance appear in front of me, I immediately exclaimed excitedly: "It turned out to be you, Chief of Staff Malinin." ”

I let go of Bartov's hand and grabbed Malinin's hand.

Shake it vigorously.

Rokossovsky explained to me next to him: "Comrade Malinin is now the chief of staff of our Don Front, and he also misses the days when he worked with you. ”

After the greetings are over.

We walked into the regimental command post of Sederikov.

Because the house is not big, there are too many people.

So with the exception of several senior commanders of the Don Front, me, Kirillov and Sederikov, the rest were blocked from the outside of the command post.

I pulled the sleeve of Rashedjerikov's coat, and when he looked back at me, I asked in a low voice: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, do you have a quieter place here?" I want to take off my body armor. ”

"Yes, Comrade Division Commander."

Sederikov hurriedly led me to a door, pushed it open and said to me: "This is my lounge, you can go inside and change your clothes." ”

I entered the room and closed the door.

In addition to a bed, there was a small wooden table and a hoop chair.

I took off the AK47 from my shoulder and put it on the table, then sat down in my chair and took off my body armor.

I laboriously took off my body armor and put it at my feet.

I took off my military coat and lifted the pullover inside, and found several large bruises on my chest, which were obviously caused by shrapnel from Fang Cai.

Seeing such a scar, I couldn't help but feel scared again, if it wasn't for the bulletproof vest that helped me block the shrapnel, I would have been really lucky.

When I walked out of the house, I saw everyone sitting around a wooden table, and Rokossovsky was telling Kirillov something, so I hurriedly walked over and sat down next to Kirillov, and only then did I hear what Rokossovsky was saying: "...... For this big counteroffensive, we were preparing for a month or two ago. In the process of transferring troops to the Stalingrad region, we overcame many difficulties. These difficulties were caused by the weak capacity of railway transport in the area north of Stalingrad and on the east bank of the Volga, muddy roads in the autumn, coupled with the constant attacks of German aviation and artillery on the crossings of the Volga. The German aviation also carried out a surprise attack on the railway line of communication to Stalingrad, and the troops and baggage of the Southwestern Front and the Don Front were to be transferred to the Guò Balasov-Povolino-Saratov-Ilovlia line; The troops and baggage transferred to the Stalingrad Front were to be routed along the Guò Urbach-Basakonchak-Akhtuba (east bank of the Volga). The volume of military materiel transported in the Stalingrad region was 22,292 wagons in September, 22,126 wagons in October, and so far in November the number of wagons used has far exceeded that of October. Even so, wagons were in short supply, so some units and corps had to travel on foot from Astrakhan and Kamyshin to the assembly area, a distance of three to four hundred kilometers. ……”

"Comrade Commander of the Front,"

Kirillov waited for Rokossovsky's words to come to an end, and asked curiously: "What kind of strength did our three armies have before the counteroffensive?" ”

Rokossovsky picked up the teacup on the table and took a sip of water, then continued: "We have a total of three fronts of armies participating in this great counteroffensive. General Vatutin's Southwestern Front, which included the 21st Army, the 1st Guards Army, the 5th Tank Army, and the 2nd and 17th Aviation Armies, spread out on a 250-kilometer strip from Pavlovsk to Kretskaya on the east bank of the Don River. The front consists of 18 infantry divisions, 3 tank corps, 2 cavalry corps, 1 tank brigade, 1 motorized infantry brigade, 3 tank regiments, 1 motorized regiment, 1 artillery division (8 regiments in total), 1 destroyer brigade, 59 artillery regiments and mortar regiments. They were to deal with the 8th Italian Army and the 3rd Romanian 21st Army and 21 brigades. Although the enemy had some superiority in numbers, they had fewer tanks, artillery and mortars. The Don Front, which included the 65th, 24th, and 66th armies and the 16th Aviation Army, fought on a 150-kilometer strip from Kretskaya to Yertsovka. The Front consists of 24 infantry divisions, 1 tank corps, 6 tank brigades, 2 fortified areas, 40 artillery regiments and mortar regiments. To deal with the 6th division of the German 10th Army. The enemy is inferior to our army both in numbers, in the number of artillery and mortars. The Stalingrad Front, which included the 62nd, 64th, 57th, 51st, 28th armies and the 8th Aviation Army, spread out on a 450-kilometer stretch from the northern outskirts of Stalingrad to Astrakhan. The 62nd and 64th armies continued to hold the city of Stalingrad, while the 57th, 51st and 28th armies covered the lower reaches of the Volga from Stalingrad to Astrakhan from the west. The Front consists of 24 infantry divisions, 17 infantry, destroyer and motorized infantry brigades, 1 mechanized corps, 1 tank corps, 1 cavalry corps, 7 fortified areas, 63 artillery regiments and mortar regiments. It was necessary to deal with part of the forces of the German 6th Army and the entire tank 4th Army, as well as the Romanian 4th Army, a total of 19 divisions. ……”

When Rokossovsky reported a string of numbers, Kirillov hurriedly took out a pen and paper from his briefcase to take notes.

I looked up at Rokossovsky, and seeing that he had no intention of stopping Kirillov's record, I knew that these military numbers were not a top secret at the moment, so I listened patiently to Rokossovsky's story.

After explaining the strength of the various armies, Rokossovsky turned his head to Malinin, who was sitting next to him, and said: "Comrade Chief of Staff, you tell Lida and them how our troops broke through the German defenses. ”

Malinin nodded, stood up and told us how the 65th Army and the 24th Army, the main forces of the Don Front, broke through the German defensive positions on the first day of the counteroffensive.

“…… On November 22-23, General Batov's 65th Army, together with the 3rd Guards Cavalry Corps of the 21st Army of the Southwestern Front, occupied the settlements of Tsimlovsky, Platonov, Orekhov, Logovsky, Verkhnovka, Golubaka, and Wentsa with its own right flank corps. The German 15th and 376th Infantry Divisions and the 14th Tank Division, routed by them, had retreated towards Stalingrad to join up with their main forces. ”

After Malinin introduced the current situation of friend and foe, Rokossovsky took over the topic and said: "The current enemy situation is clear, Leda, tell me about your next consideration!" ”

(To be continued)