An hour later, Rodimtsev and I returned to the headquarters of the army group and reported to them on the whole process of the meeting with them, Chuikov.

Although I had already reported to Chuikov and Gurov what I had seen on the intercom, I had reported it to them and Krylov again at the headquarters, because everyone wanted to hear such good news of historic significance twice. After I finished speaking, Rodimtsev told the details of the division under his command, and he said excitedly: "Captain Ushchenko of the Batov Army, after receiving the flag of the division presented by us, came to report to me: 'Comrade General, the red flag presented to us by your famous soldiers of the Guards has been accepted, and we swear that we will let the red flag fly forever, long live the brave commanders and fighters of the Red Army, Ula!'" ’”

General Krylov, who was enthusiastic when he heard this, couldn't help but interject and asked: "General Rodimtsev, then how did you answer this friendly captain of the Guards?" ”

After glancing at Krylov, General Rodimtsev said with a smile: "I said to Captain Ushchenko: 'Comrade Captain, please tell your commanders that today is our happiest day, because after five months of hard and tenacious fighting, we have finally joined forces!'" ’”

After the briefing, Krylov walked to the newly hung map by the wall, pointed to the red and blue arrows on the map representing both sides of the map with a fine explanation stick, and told us about the current situation in the city: "Commanders, comrades, please see, with our meeting with friendly forces, the German 6th Army, which is currently trapped in the city of Stalingrad, which is running out of ammunition and food, hungry and cold, has been successfully divided into two clusters, north and south. According to the confessions of the prisoners we captured, nine of their divisions, the remnants of which included Paulus's headquarters, were surrounded in the city center, under the command of Major General Roshke; The remnants of the other 12 divisions were encircled in the area of the 'barricade' factory and the tractor factory, under the command of Army General Štlekell.

In accordance with the latest order issued by the Front Command, we will begin the final encirclement and annihilation of the divided German units tomorrow, on the morning of the 27th. Among them, the troops of the 21st, 57th and 64th armies attacked the southern cluster; Attacking the northern cluster were the 65th, 66th and our 62nd Army. ”

"Comrade Chief of Staff," I heard that the direction of the main attack of our army group was assigned to the north, and in this way, I was tantamount to completely losing the opportunity to capture the Paulus headquarters. Therefore, after Krylov finished speaking, I stood up and asked eagerly: "If the order of the Front is followed, my 79th Army will have to turn back from its current position and take part in the attack on the enemy located in the area of the 'barricade' factories and tractor factories. So, I would like to ask, after the withdrawal of my troops, to which unit will the defense of this area be handed over? ”

I felt extremely unconvinced in my heart because I was so disappointed that I saw the world-famous deeds that were about to be reached, so I said this with a sense of anger. Both Chuikov and Gurov heard the resentment in my words, and after looking at each other, they shook their heads helplessly, and finally Gurov persuaded me: "Comrade Oshanina, I know that with the speed of your army's attack, maybe at most five days, or even less, you will be able to occupy Paulus's headquarters. But there was no way, this was an order given by the front. You have not been in the army for a day or two, and as a senior commander, you should understand that the orders of your superiors, no matter how unreasonable, we cannot discuss them, but can only carry them out unconditionally. ”

Since we were going to study the next task of the army group, and Rodimtsev was not of sufficient rank to stay any longer, he saluted a few of us and turned around and left the headquarters.

Chuikov may have seen that my wish to capture Paulus alive was frustrated, and he seemed a little depressed, so he took the initiative to change the subject to something else: "Oshanina, you know what? There are many more enemy troops in the encirclement than we estimated. It is now impossible to find out whose responsibility was for this miscalculation, because at first the Don Front and the Stalingrad Front, two fronts, were engaged in separate campaigns to annihilate the besieged enemy, and there was insufficient communication between them, and we came to the conclusion that the strength of the besieged German army was only 80,000 to 85,000 men. Probably, this figure refers to the strength of enemy forces fighting against the Don Front. Now we know that after many battles, the remaining strength of the enemy army is still 200,000! In order to illustrate the reliability of the situation, it was added that "this is confirmed by reconnaissance by various means and the confessions of enemy prisoners." ”

I have to say that the topic chosen by Chuikov is very important, and it immediately attracted my attention, as for the number of besieged German troops, I have seen from the history books of later generations: the Soviet Army's three front armies, the German 6th Army's 5 armies and 22 divisions, Romania, Italy, and part of Croatia's army totaling 270,000 people were encircled in Stalingrad's 1,500 square kilometers area, and the 6th Army only had about 50,000 troops outside the encirclement.

It was precisely because I knew very well the exact number of the besieged German army that I wishfully thought that Rokossovsky and the other leaders of the front, and even the commander of the army group like Chuikov, knew the specific strength of the besieged German army. Hearing him say this today, it really scared me, I didn't expect such a big error. Fortunately, the Soviet army used three front armies in the counteroffensive, and if the base camp only used one front army to counterattack, let alone encircling and annihilating the German army, it would not even be able to encircle the German army, and it might even end up being encircled and annihilated by the German army.

Then we discussed a series of offensive plans, presumably to appease my feelings, and the direction of the offensive assigned to me by Chuikov was the tractor plant, while the defense and offensive battles in the existing areas were transferred to the 27th Guards Infantry Division of Major General Glebov of the 21st Army.

When I returned to my army headquarters and told Vitkov about the latest orders of the front army headquarters, he was so angry that he shouted: "Comrade commander, what is this?!" You must know that in today's offensive, the progress of the three divisions was very smooth, and when the offensive was stopped in the evening, four more blocks fell into our hands, and nearly a thousand German officers and men without the slightest fighting spirit were captured. If we fight like this for another two days, I can guarantee that our vanguard will be able to appear outside Paulus's headquarters. ”

Although I knew in my heart that Vitkov was telling the truth, I could only helplessly say to him at this moment: "Okay, Comrade Chief of Staff, stop complaining. This is an order from above, and we can only carry it out unconditionally. Then I instructed him, "Chief of Staff, call the commanders of the divisions, tank brigades, and artillery regiments, and ask them to come over for a meeting immediately." ”

The commanders under my command were silent when they heard that we were going to hand over the present defense to the 27th Guards Division, and then turn north to attack the enemy entrenched in the tractor factory and dormitory area. Although no one expressed an opinion, I saw a deep loss in their faces.

Military orders are like mountains, even if we have opinions on the orders of our superiors in our hearts, we cannot complain, we can only obediently carry them out. After handing over the defense area to the 27th Guards Division, I took a group of people from the corps headquarters and rushed to the new headquarters not far from the tractor factory before dawn.

Shortly after I arrived at the new headquarters, I received a call from Chuikov. He told me that, according to the plan drawn up by the Front Command and the Political Headquarters, the higher authorities had sent us a group of German comrades from the Anti-Fascist League to strengthen their propaganda forces in Ulbricht, including the German writer Ereich. Vanette and William. Bledri.

When I heard the names of these two German writers, I tried to think about them for a long time, and realized that I knew nothing about these two people, and that the only German writers I knew were Goethe and Schiller.

After about half an hour, two German writers, accompanied by Chuikov's adjutant, Captain Klimov, arrived at my headquarters. After a brief exchange of pleasantries, I asked Sergeant Songkik to send them to Ulbricht to report.

Since the troops had just entered the new combat area and were unfamiliar with the surrounding environment, I ordered the divisions to suspend the offensive, strengthen their positions in place, and seize the time to rest and recuperate. At the same time, I made a request to Ulbricht to have his anti-fascist allies use written and verbal propaganda to the German units on the other side of the defense zone, calling on the German officers and men to stop their senseless resistance and lay down their arms and surrender to us.

Perhaps it was Ulbricht's propaganda that had an effect, and when Bandereev called me in the afternoon, he said excitedly: "Comrade Commander, this morning Lieutenant Colonel Sederikov's regiment advanced at least a kilometer deep into the enemy's depth, occupied more than twenty buildings, and captured thousands of German soldiers. ”

"Comrade Colonel, didn't I let you rest on the spot, why are you still acting without permission?" I was not satisfied with the fact that Bandereev had attacked without asking for instructions, but in order not to discourage him, I asked in as calm a tone as possible: "What are the casualties of the first regiment?" ”

"Report to Comrade Commander," said the loud voice of Bantai Reev from the earpiece: "Since the enemy came out of the buildings and fortifications with his hands raised and surrendered to our troops, Lieutenant Colonel Sederikov sent troops forward to receive the prisoners and positions. Although a small group of the enemy was still resisting, more and more officers and men surrendered to us, and often a few soldiers captured hundreds of German soldiers. ”

Due to the low morale of the German army, our troops resumed the offensive the next day. Because I knew that the destruction of the German army was imminent, if the attack was too strong, it would push the desperate enemy into a hurry, and inflict greater casualties on our attacking troops. Therefore, the three divisions were ordered to advance in unison, steadily, and steadily, and gradually advance into the depth of the German defense.

At noon on January 31, I received definite news that the 38th Motorized Rifle Brigade of the 64th Army had successfully captured Paulus's headquarters in the basement of the Central Department Store and captured the newly promoted German Field Marshal Paulus and a group of his generals.

Soon after I learned of Paulus's capture, I received a phone call from Rokossovsky. When he heard my voice, he said simply, "Leda, come to my headquarters immediately." ”

I didn't know what urgency Rokossovsky had summoned me at this time, so I hurriedly explained the affairs of the army to the chief of staff Vitkov, and then took Yushchenko and a platoon of guards and hurried to the headquarters of the Front on the western outskirts of the city.

I was guided by a staff officer to Rokossovsky's command. I called the report and went in to take a look, and found that in this room with electric lights, in addition to Rokossovsky and a tall and handsome middle-aged general, the chief of staff of the 64th Army, who I was familiar with, was also in the room, but the rank of his collar badge was no longer colonel but major general.

After raising my hand to salute Rokossovsky, I took the initiative to extend my hand to Raskin next to me and amicably expressed my sincere congratulations to him: "Chief of Staff Raskin, I would like to express my sincere congratulations to you. Congratulations to you and your troops on the successful capture of German Field Marshal Paulus. "Although I said this with a smile on my face, my heart was bleeding constantly: the capture of Paulus, this is a great achievement of the world, but I did not expect it to be snatched away by this acquaintance in front of me.

After waiting for me to shake hands with Raskin, Rokossovsky took the initiative to introduce me to the general standing next to me: "Lida, let me introduce you, this is General Voronov, Deputy People's Commissar of Defense and Director of Artillery. ”

Deputy People's Commissar of Defense, isn't that the Deputy Minister of Defense? That's a big deal. I hurriedly smiled all over my face, leaned forward slightly, stretched out my hand to Voronov, and said respectfully: "Hello, Comrade Deputy People's Commissar of Defense, I am the commander of the 79th Infantry Corps, Major General Oshanina, and it is a pleasure to meet you here. ”

"Hello, Comrade Oshanina." Voronov held my hand tightly and said kindly: "I have heard of your name for a long time, but I didn't expect you to be so young. ”

After greeting everyone, Rokossovsky beckoned me to sit down, then walked to the door and said to someone outside, "Go and bring him here." ”

After I sat down at the table, I asked Rokossovsky curiously: "Comrade commander, did you give me any important tasks when you asked me to come to the headquarters?" "After asking this sentence, I knew that I shouldn't ask that, Rokossovsky has always been a person who does not like to overstep commands, and if there is really any combat mission, he will first hand it over to Chuikov, and then Chuikov will assign it to me, instead of calling me directly to his headquarters.

"I asked you here to meet someone." Rokossovsky did not answer my question head-on, but said mysteriously: "A person you know." ”

"Someone I know?!" I was racking my brain to figure out which acquaintance Rokossovsky wanted me to meet, when a few people came in from outside, and when I looked up, my doubts suddenly cleared up, and I saw Paulus, who was tall and thin, but with a well-proportioned physique, and beside him, two soldiers and a second lieutenant.

Rokossovsky waved at the two fighters, sent them away, and then politely said to Paulus: "Please do it, Marshal Paulus." The second lieutenant standing next to him immediately translated this sentence to Paulus, and I learned that the second lieutenant, who was still in the house, turned out to be a German translator.

"Marshal Paulus, although I have been looking forward to meeting you," Rokossovsky said bluntly without introducing Paulus to the people present, "but I did not expect to meet you in this situation." ”、

Paulus saw me sitting next to Rokossovsky, smiled and nodded politely at me, then stood up and said to Rokossovsky: "Mr. General, although I am your prisoner, please do not force me to answer the question of violating the military oath, because then I will say to you: 'No comment!' ’”

When Rokossovsky heard this, he was not angry at all, but pushed the plate of cigarettes and cigars on the table towards Paulus. Politely said, "Marshal Paulus, please smoke." After saying that, he himself picked up a cigarette and put it in his mouth, and I quickly picked up the match on the table and lit it for Rokossovsky.

Seeing that Rokossovsky lit a cigarette, Paulus also picked up a cigarette and sat down. And Voronov, who did not smoke, picked up the teapot, walked up to Paulus, smiled and asked: "Mr. Marshal, do you need a cup of hot tea?" ”

To Voronov's enthusiasm, he readily agreed, and pushed the empty teacup in front of him forward. R1152