Forty minutes later, I came to the position of the 4th Regiment with Basmanov and several fighters of the Guards Company, and from one of the entrances on the southern slope, entered their pit fortifications.

The two young warriors guarding the pit saw us coming, and they quickly straightened up and saluted me. After returning the salute to the two of them, I politely asked, "Comrade soldier, can you take us to the regimental headquarters?" ”

A slightly older fighter replied: "No problem, Comrade General, I can take you and your men to the regimental headquarters." As he spoke, he leaned to the side and made a gesture of please.

We walked along the narrow tunnel inside, but fortunately the lanterns hung on the walls on both sides could illuminate the way forward for us, so that we would not step on the commanders and fighters who were resting by the walls. In the light of the light, I saw someone wiping their weapons, someone leaning against the dirt wall and closing their eyes. As we passed through a hole hung in a thick curtain, I heard moaning from inside, which was supposed to be where the wounded were staying.

After a few turns in the tunnel, and after walking a long distance, the soldier finally stopped at another hole hanging in a curtain, turned to me, and said, "Comrade General, this is our regimental headquarters." ”

"Thank you, comrade warrior." I nodded at him, thanked him, and then lifted the curtain and walked in.

Inside was a small cave of seven or eight square meters, and near the entrance was a table with maps spread out on the table, a lantern and a telephone, and a commander without a military cap sat at the table. Hearing the movement, he looked up at me, after a moment of hesitation. He stood up decisively. Raise your hand and salute me. And loudly reported: "Comrade division commander, Xia Ping, political commissar of the 4th Infantry Regiment, reports to you that you are welcome here. ”

I raised my hand and returned the salute, and asked casually: "Political Commissar Xia Ping, where is your regiment commander, Lieutenant Colonel Gaidar?" ”

"I'm here, Comrade Divisional Commander." Suddenly, a voice sounded from the wall, and I looked in the direction from which it came to see a disheveled Gaidar getting up from a simple and narrow wooden bed. While hurriedly getting dressed, he reported to me: "Comrade division commander, the commander of the 4th regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Gaidar, reports to you, I am waiting for your instructions!" ”

I didn't speak, just looked at him quietly with my hands behind my back. After he had his troops in order, I solemnly said to him: "Comrade Gaidar, since last night we mistakenly judged that the enemy's artillery observation point was located on the Mamayev post without ascertaining the specific situation, and we asked you to conduct a futile search in the oil tank farm over and over again. Now that the situation is basically clear, the enemy has not set up observation points on the high ground at all. on this. On behalf of the commissar and the chief of staff, I apologize to you for the mistakes we have made. I beg your pardon! With that, I put my legs together and raised my hand to salute him with a solemn military salute.

"Comrade Division Commander!" Seeing that I actually apologized to myself, Gaidar quickly raised his hand to salute me after a short period of shock, and said in an excited tone: "I didn't expect you to apologize to me for this little thing, I really didn't expect it." ”

Xia Ping was afraid that I would be embarrassed, so he changed the topic in time: "Comrade division commander, you said that the enemy's artillery observation point is not located at Mamayev Gang, so where will it be located?" ”

"Where else?! In their closest forward position, of course. I put down the hand raised to my forehead and said to Xia Ping with a smile: "I thought that the enemy was building fortifications so close to us just to shorten the path of their attack, but I didn't expect it to set up artillery observation points and guide the artillery in depth to bombard our convoy on the Volga." ”

"Comrade division commander, I don't know what you think?" Gaidar asked tentatively: "Do you need me to send troops to attack this forward position, waiting for an opportunity to destroy their artillery observation points?" ”

"It doesn't have to be that troublesome." I waved my hand and said disapprehantly: "I have informed Major Morozov to bring a few mortars and destroy the civil bunker where the enemy's artillery observers are located with artillery fire, so there is no need to send infantry to take risks." You must know that you have a large number of recruits now, and it is okay to fight and defend, but if you launch an attack at will, it is really difficult to say what it will look like in the end. ”

At that moment, the curtain was lifted, and a commander broke in. As soon as he entered the door, he didn't look around, took off the big-brimmed hat on his head and slammed it on the table, then sat down on the edge of the table, and said angrily: "Regiment commander, political commissar, I can't do this company commander." ”

"What's wrong, Captain Coricheng?" Xia Ping lowered his head and asked tentatively, "Is it that one of your soldiers has made you angry again?" ”

"It's not just those new fighters from Kazakhstan who have been in the tunnels for a long time, and they are complaining one by one. Just now, there was also a soldier who actually said something that disturbed the morale of the army. ”

"Who said that?" When Xia Ping heard this, his eyebrows suddenly rose, and he asked sternly, "What did he say?" ”

"It's the big man from the collective farm," said Corricheng, "that if we had been able to beat the Germans, we would have launched a counterattack a long time ago, and we would not have been like this and spent all day in the tunnels as rats, not even seeing the sun." If the Germans attacked one day, none of us would be able to escape, and we would either be killed or taken prisoner. ”

"What's his name?" Xia Ping asked angrily.

Ke Licheng shook his head, shrugged his shoulders and said, "His name is pronounced strangely, I can't tell you clearly." ”

"Were there any warriors around when he said this?"

Ke Licheng nodded and replied, "There are seven or eight." Hearing him say this, I felt that these fighters were a little shaken. ”

Xia Ping turned around and took off his military hat from the wall and put it on his head, and said to Ke Licheng: "Let's go, let's go and talk to him." As he said that he was leaving, he suddenly found that I was still standing next to me without saying a word, and hurriedly squeezed out a trace of an apologetic smile at me, patted Ke Licheng with his hand, and said to him: "Comrade Captain, I forgot to introduce you, this is our division commander - General Oshanina. ”

Ke Licheng, who was originally with his head down, heard Xia Ping say this, turned his head and saw me, and exclaimed. Jump up from your seat. Two steps back. With his back against the earthen wall, he raised his hand to salute me, and at the same time stammered: "Report, report, division, division commander, comrade, comrade......"

Didn't wait for him to finish. I walked up to him, pulled his hand down from his forehead, and said kindly: "Comrade Captain, don't be nervous, I heard what you just said. Let's go, let's talk to that warrior together. ”

Ke Licheng led our group to a corner of the tunnel. There were a lot of warriors gathered here, and no one spoke, all silently wiping the guns in their hands. Or it's pressing a bullet into the magazine. When they saw our group coming over, they just looked up. And continue to do his own work.

After walking forward for a while, Ke Licheng pointed with his hand and pointed to a tall warrior wearing a boat-shaped hat sitting on the ground and said, "That's him." ”

I just wanted to step forward, but Xia Ping raised his hand to stop me, and he whispered to me: "Comrade division commander, let me come." After saying that, he walked in front of the tall man and stopped, and said in a stern tone: "Comrade warrior." ”

The tall man quickly stood up from the ground and stood straight in front of Xia Ping.

"What did you just say in front of your company commander and the rest of the soldiers?"

"What did I say?" The tall man asked rhetorically in broken Russian with a pretended surprise.

Xia Ping sneered and said bluntly: "You just said that we can't beat the Germans, and if we continue to stay in the tunnel, we will become prisoners of the Germans sooner or later." Say, why are you walking the argument of defeatism here? ”

Unexpectedly, he flatly denied it: "No, I definitely didn't say this, it must be that Comrade Company Commander heard it wrong." Maybe he took what he heard from somewhere else as if I said it. ”

Xia Ping turned around and asked a soldier sitting nearby, "Did he say this?" ”

The warrior actually shook his head and said, "I fell asleep and didn't hear it." With that, he buried his head deeply.

Xia Ping then asked a few fighters, who either said that they had fallen asleep and did not hear, or that they did not understand Russian and did not know what the tall man had said.

When I saw this scene, my heart was half cold, I didn't expect that these new fighters from Kazakhstan would actually shield a fellow who spread defeatist arguments, it seems that it is necessary for me to talk to Oberstan about strengthening the political and ideological work of the recruits. Thinking of this, I turned to the other fighters sitting next to me and asked in a loud voice, "Who of you just heard what this warrior said?" ”

At this question, several soldiers wearing steel helmets immediately walked behind us, and at a glance we knew that they were the original commanders and fighters who belonged to the Fourth Regiment. One of the elderly soldiers, pointing at the tall man, said angrily: "That's right, Comrade General, he just spread defeatist rhetoric. ”

"He also said that if the enemy attacked, we would either be killed or taken prisoner." Seeing that someone bravely stood up to expose the tall man, another soldier also confirmed that the tall man had said these things.

Seeing the veterans of the Fourth Regiment exposing themselves, the tall man looked a little flustered, and he tried his best to defend himself, saying: "Comrade commanders, what I just meant is that we can't stay in the tunnel, we still have to go out and fight the enemy. If we have fought best, but if we can't, we should consider retreating to the east bank of the Volga as much as possible. ”

"You still say you didn't walk the defeatist rhetoric?!" After Xia Ping snorted heavily, he said coldly: "I can tell you that the order we received is to hold the Mamayev post, even if there is only one person left on the high ground, we must nail it to the position like a nail, and never take a step back." It is better to leave the bones exposed on the ground than to let the enemy take a step forward. ”

He was about to announce what to do with the tall man when a shout suddenly came from behind us: "Hey, comrade division commander, where are you?" ”

I heard Morozov's voice, and knowing that it was him with a mortar, I agreed: "Major, I'm here, I'll go right over." After shouting, I pointed to the tall man and instructed Ke Licheng, who was standing beside me, "Comrade Captain, send someone to take care of him first, and then dispose of him after we finish the battle." At such a time, it is absolutely not permissible to express defeatist arguments that disturb the morale of the military. ”

When Xia Ping and I walked forward side by side, I thought that the 4th Regiment had been hiding in the tunnel since the beginning of the Mamayev Height, and had a lot of fun fighting with the attacking enemy. In this case, not to mention the new fighters who have just been added, even Xia Ping, the political commissar of the regiment next to me, probably has some thoughts in his heart, so I feel the need to explain to him.

So I said to him as I walked: "Comrade Xia Ping, you have to tell the soldiers that because our army has a limited number of troops and lacks the heavy weapons needed to attack the fortifications, we can only take the defense for the time being. We must rely on the tunnels to hold the high ground and constantly destroy the enemy's living forces. Only by consuming the enemy and dragging them to exhaustion can the conditions for a counterattack be created. When the time comes, our counterattack will be successful in one fell swoop and the enemy attacking Stalingrad will be completely routed. ”

The three mortars brought by Morozov were already lined up in the trenches, and when he saw us coming out of the tunnel, he hurriedly put his legs together and reported to me: "Comrade division commander, I have prepared the mortars, please indicate the target of the attack." ”

I raised my binoculars and looked at the German positions in the distance, and at the position near the river, sure enough, there was an independent earth-wood bunker, and from the outside there were two soldiers walking back and forth to analyze, which was a relatively important target, if not a German artillery observation point.

Seeing this, I beckoned Morozov over, handed him the binoculars, pointed to the position in the distance and said: "Major, do you see that civil bunker near the river?" It seems to be a relatively important location for the German army, can it be knocked out? ”

Morozov took the telescope in my hand and looked at it for a while, then replied confidently: "No problem, give me two minutes, and I will definitely be able to knock it out." With that, he shoved the binoculars into my hand and ran to his men.

With a barrage of commands from Morozov, the gunners skillfully adjusted the position of the mortar and the direction of the muzzle. With three soft sounds, the shells whistled towards the enemy's position.

The artillery was so accurate that all three shells landed around the bunker and exploded, one of which blew the two moving soldiers flying. Then the artillerymen fired two more rounds in quick succession.

The cover of the bunker was lifted in the black smoke of the shell explosion, and three German soldiers rushed out of it in a panic, bent down and ran down the trench to other places. However, they didn't get far before two shells landed in the middle of them and exploded, and their bodies turned into a rain of blood in the explosion, which scattered evenly in the surrounding dirt.

"Well played, Major Morozov, what a beautiful fight." Seeing that the mortars were hitting so accurately, I shouted excitedly. "I didn't expect you to knock out the enemy's bunker so quickly."

Morozov heard my praise and did not speak, but just grinned vigorously. Until one of the gunners came up to him and asked if he wanted to continue firing. He just woke up from a dream and hurriedly asked me: "Comrade division commander, are you still fighting?" ”

I shook my head and said, "No, since the enemy's artillery observation point has been knocked out, your mission is completed." Hurry up and move with your men, maybe the enemy's retaliatory shelling will soon arrive. Morozov agreed, and hurriedly beckoned his men to pack up their things and prepare to withdraw into the tunnel. (To be continued......)