After assigning the task, I secretly said in my heart: Anyway, within my ability, I have already done everything I can do, and as for how long I can hold on to this high ground, I can only resign myself to fate.

I was idle, wandering around with the rifle I had picked up.

In the trenches, the soldiers were reinforcing the fortifications, and when they saw me walking over, they quickly stopped what they were doing and saluted me.

At the foot of the hill, Lieutenant Akhromeyev was directing his men to carry the bodies of the fallen soldiers to the side of the road one by one, and asked Captain Witolganov's tank to make a cameo bulldozer to push the burned wagons off the road and make way for the follow-up troops.

Looking at the troops that were passing one after another, there was no scrambling, no crowding, everything was going on in an orderly manner, I couldn't help but nod secretly, feeling that this Akhromeyev was really a talent, and if he did not die in battle, he would definitely get ahead in the future.

At this moment, I suddenly heard Sergeant Gerasimenko, the head of the guard squad, calling me, and turned my head to see that he was walking towards me with several commanders wearing large-brimmed hats. Although I don't know who is here, I still take the initiative to greet him.

I quickly saw that the commander who was a little older after the sergeant, a colonel, and the rest of the officers were also colonel-level officers, hurriedly ran two steps before them, stood upright, raised his hand and saluted, and reported: "Hello, Comrade Colonel! The battalion commander of the 1127th Regiment, Major Oshanina, reports to you and is at your disposal. ”

After the colonel saluted me, he smiled and said, "Hello, Major Oshanina. I am the commander of the 58th Infantry Brigade, Colonel Zhicholiv. Then he held out his hand to me and said, "I have heard your name on many occasions, but I didn't expect to see you here today." ”

I was a little surprised to hear him say this, so I shook hands with him and asked curiously, "Comrade Colonel, have you heard of me?" This is unlikely, you must know that I only had three months to reach the Volkhov Front. ”

Colonel Zhicholiv increased the strength of his hand, smiled and said: "Major Oshanina, I am an old comrade-in-arms with the commander of the 54th Army, Fedyuninsky, and the commander of the 52nd Army, Yakovlev, and at the same time, General Zhukov is still my old superior. ”

Without waiting for me to speak, he continued, "Oshanina, what are you doing here?" ”

Pointing to the soldiers who were busy up and down the hillside, I replied with a wry smile: "Fortifications are being strengthened on the hillside, and troops of the army group are being directed through this narrow corridor under the hillside. And I'm looking at how these things are going. ”

Zhicholiv raised his binoculars and looked around for a while, then pointed to the area where German troops were deployed, frowned, and said: "Major Oshanina, why are there German positions there?" Knowing that their position was so close to ours, it was very likely that an attack would cut off the narrow corridor behind us, and in that case the follow-up troops of the group would be encircled. ”

I smiled wryly and said, "Comrade Colonel, I agree with you. also specially reminded the superiors of this problem, but it was ignored. What I can do at the moment is to deploy the troops I can command here and hold the high ground for as long as possible to ensure that more commanders can break out of the encirclement. ”

Hearing me say this, Richo Lifu suddenly became angry and asked angrily, "Who is it?" Who is your superior commander? You must know that this kind of behavior of theirs is a crime and they have disregarded the lives of more than 100,000 commanders and fighters of our group army. Tell me, who is your superior commander? I'm going to General Meretskov to accuse him. ”

I whispered: "I am under the command of Colonel Anchufeev of the 327th Division, but it is General Privalov of the army group command who does not allow more troops to stay to defend the heights. ”

"Privalov?!" Hearing this name, Zhicho Lifu's anger weakened slightly, no matter what, someone else's rank was higher than his, and he couldn't help but have some scruples when he spoke. He walked back and forth in front of me with his hands behind his back a few times, stopped, and said: "General Privalov once worked with me, and it is undeniable that he is a brave soldier. But he also has many shortcomings, the most important of which is that the concept of war is somewhat outdated, and the war situation is chaotic and often indecisive when it is unfavorable. At this point, he stopped, bowed his head and frowned as if thinking about something.

After a long time, he raised his head, looked at me and asked, "Comrade Major, please answer me seriously." If I give you additional forces and artillery cover, will you be able to take the German positions over there? ”

I looked at the German positions in the distance, nodded vigorously, and said sincerely: "Comrade Colonel, if you can replenish me with three hundred men, it is entirely possible for me to capture the enemy's position." ”

"I'll give you a regiment." Zhicholiv said unusually boldly, and then turned around and ordered a lieutenant colonel behind him: "Lieutenant Colonel Cheremnov, how many people are still in your regiment?" ”

The tall and burly lieutenant colonel immediately stepped forward and replied loudly: "Report to Comrade Brigade Commander, the 174th Regiment currently has 1,500 men, and the whole regiment is fully equipped and ready to go into battle at any time. ”

Zhicholiv nodded with satisfaction and said to me: "Major Oshanina, I will hand over this regiment to you. Then he said to Lieutenant Colonel Cheremnov: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, from now on you will be under the command of Major Oshanina. You will listen to what she says to fight, or carry out her orders to the letter. Do you understand? ”

"Yes!" After the lieutenant colonel agreed, he came to me, raised his hand to salute me, and said: "Major Oshanina, the commander of the 58th Regiment of the 174th Infantry Brigade Lieutenant Colonel Cheremnov reports to you and is at your command. ”

I was moved to tears by Colonel Zhicholifu's trust, held his hand tightly, and said thank you in a loud voice.

The colonel let go of my hand and said, "Comrade Oshanina, time is pressing, so hurry up and give the order." ”

I said yes, crouched down, used the dirt dug out of the trenches, simply piled up a battlefield sand table, and then found a broken branch, and pointed to explain to them my battle plan.

I lit the high mound and said, "This is the hillside where we are now, and the artillery battalion under the brigade will be deployed here in a moment." I looked up at my watch, it was 6:20 p.m., and I continued: "At 6:50 the artillery began shelling the German positions. After ten minutes of shelling, our tanks sorted, followed by infantry. ”

After listening to my introduction, Richo Lifu nodded and said, "Just do as you say." After speaking, he stretched, "The troops are deployed in place as soon as possible, ready to enter the battle at any time." I've been walking all day today, and I'm tired, so I'll find a place to rest for a while. ”

"Wait, Comrade Colonel." I saw that he was leaving, so I quickly stopped him and added, "I haven't finished talking yet." Seeing that he stopped, I continued, but this time I was telling Lieutenant Colonel Cheremnov: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, when the infantry attacks, the offensive formation must be kept loose to ensure that the probability of overlapping soldiers in the front and rear rows is not high. ……”

"But, Comrade Major." Hearing me say this, Cheremnov interrupted me without waiting for me to finish, and asked: "If the formation is loose, when attacking, it is impossible to guarantee a dense firepower output." ”

I waved my hand and continued what I had just said: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, do you know that if you really use that kind of dense formation in the traditional sense, the effect of the impact is often very bad. An excessively dense formation will make it impossible for the weapons of the personnel behind our troops to use them, greatly increase the hit rate of the opponent's weapons, and increase the unnecessary casualties of our troops in vain. ”

"Major Oshanina is right, Lieutenant Colonel Cheremnov, you just follow her deployment." Seeing that Zhicholiv firmly supported my statement, Cheremnov had no choice but to reluctantly agree, and turned to deploy his troops.

Zhcholiv said to a major again: "Major Avakov, don't be idle, go and transfer your artillery battalion, and prepare to teach the Germans a good lesson later." The major agreed, and turned to leave. Zycholiv stretched again and yawned exaggeratedly. Seeing this, I immediately instructed Sergeant Grasimenko: "Sergeant, the colonel is tired, you can take him to the command post to rest." ”

Gerasimenko agreed, then made a gesture to Zhicholiv and said respectfully: "Comrade Colonel, please come with me, and I will take you to the command post." ”