"Comrade Commander," although there are many things I already know the answers, but at this moment I can't help but want to confirm it again, so I ask: "How many German troops are in our encirclement?" ”

To my question, Chuikov thought for a moment, and then replied cautiously: "The specific strength of the force is not clear, but judging from all aspects, we surrounded Paulus's entire 6th Army, so that there are at least 300,000 Germans in the encirclement. ”

I then asked, "How do you think Paulus would have thought about getting his troops out of the way when he found out that his troops were besieged by us?" ”

Chuikov sneered and said contemptuously: "They want to run, is there such a light thing?" If they were to withdraw, Paulus's troops would have to abandon all their technical equipment, all their heavy weapons, and all their artillery, and we would have to let them get into our net of fire, so that only a very small number of people would be able to crawl out of the ruins of the city. ”

When I finished talking to Chuikov, Kirillov asked me with concern: "Comrade Oshanina, what did the commander and you say?" ”

When they heard me repeat Chuikov's words, they were all excited, and the three of them actually sat around the map and began to study the fate of Paulus's 6th Army.

I stood by staring at the map on the table, listening absentmindedly to their discussion. After listening for a while, a strange thought suddenly popped into ↗ my mind, maybe Hitler ordered Paulus's troops not to retreat, and to hold on to their existing positions, but in fact he was not blindly commanding. On the contrary, it is the best means of preserving the force.

Imagine under heavy snowfall, storms and the blows of our army. What will be the fate of Paulus's 6th Army? I think that Napoleon fled from Moscow to the Berezina River and was completely annihilated. And Paulus even broke through the encirclement of our army. But his troops, who had left all their technical equipment and artillery, broke through to the steppe, and would only fall faster. Hitler, on the other hand, did not make the decision to let his troops break through, but ordered his generals to organize a ring defense on the spot and hold out to the end. In this way, he can use the more than 300,000 troops besieged by Paulus to drag down the five branches of our army to form a group army. Otherwise, these five armies would have been able to significantly intensify the offensive of our troops in the campaign area, enabling our troops to carry out a surprise attack in Rostov-on-Don. Put Army Group "A" in the Caucasus, like the encirclement of the Paulus Army, into a big pocket, and then divide it and destroy it.

Thinking of this, I can't help but secretly sigh that it seems that Hitler is not as stupid as we imagined, at least his seemingly simple order to turn the German army into defense can play a role in containing the main force of our army and avoiding the troops attacking the Caucasus from being attacked on the back of the enemy.

Just then, someone walked in through the door. I looked up and saw that it was Shcherbina, the commissar of the 107.5th Guards Division who remained on the 37th heights. hurriedly greeted him: "Commissar Sherbina, you are here." Was the defense of the 107.5 heights handed over to friendly forces? ”

After shaking hands with me, Shcherbina went to shake hands with Kirillov and at the same time replied to me: "Yes, Comrade Deputy Commander, our department has officially transferred the defense to the 92nd Infantry Brigade. When he was done, he asked Kirillov with a smile, "Comrade commissar, when I entered the door, I saw that you were all full of joy, is there any good news?" ”

"No, there are happy events in the world." Kirillov said with a smile on his face, pretending to be mysterious: "Comrade Shcherbina, you probably don't know yet, right? ”

"Comrade Political Commissar, don't hang my appetite," Shcherbina said with some anxiety, "You also know that I just came from the 107.5 heights, and I can't get in touch with the outside world, so I don't know what's going on." Speaking of this, he stopped and frowned and thought for a while, and then asked tentatively: "Could it be that the city of Kongyi is also occupied by you?" ”

Shelbina's words caused us to burst into laughter, and our laughter made him even more confused. After laughing, Kirillov took him by the arm and came to the table, pointed to the map on the table and said to him: "Comrade Shcherbina, we took the city of Kongyi yesterday. What made us happy was not that our division had captured this small city, but that our Stalingrad Front and the troops of the Southwestern Front had joined forces in the Soviets and Karachi areas, forming a formal encirclement of the German army and encapsulating Paulus's 6th Army. ”

"What, all the 6th Army of Paulus was included?" Shcherbina was so surprised that he almost hit the ground with his jaw, he hurriedly looked down at the map on the table, and at the same time kept asking: "Comrade Political Commissar, where are the troops of the Southwestern Front at present, and where are the troops of the Don Front?" ”

After dark, Chuikov took the initiative to contact me via the intercom, perhaps because our army currently had the upper hand, so he was not worried about leaking secrets, and confidently and boldly told me in the plain phone: "Before the end of the day, the 1st Guards Army of the Southwestern Front and the infantry corps of the 5th Tank Army will go out to the Lekrivaya and Chir River areas, and occupy a solid defense there. At the same time, units of the 51st Army and the 4th Cavalry Army of the Stalingrad Front advanced to the east of Gromoslavka, Aksai, Umantsevo and Sadovoye. As a result of these actions, the battle of the encirclement was reliably guaranteed to the west and south. ”

Just as I was rejoicing at the good news, Chuikov said, "By the way, there was something I almost forgot. The Volga is freezing again, send your engineer company back to Mamayev tonight and let them continue to survey the ice on the river to see if there is any possibility of establishing an ice transport line. ”

"Okay, Comrade Commander, I'll arrange it." I agreed to Chuikov's request without hesitation, because I knew in my heart that if the ice transport line was not established, the 62nd Army's connection with the east bank of the Volga River would be completely cut off, and the troops and supplies that were urgently needed would not be able to be transported.

After the call with Chuikov was over, I sent someone to call Captain Mihayev into the command. Since I had not recently assigned any assignment to the engineer company, Captain Mihayev heard at this moment that I was looking for him. Immediately excitedly trotted all the way to the headquarters. As soon as they saw my face. Then came a salute. At the same time, he said: "Report to Comrade Division Commander, Captain Mihayev of the Engineer Company was ordered to come and wait for your instructions!" ”

"Comrade Captain, now I order you to immediately return to Mamayev with the fighters of the engineer company." Thinking that the ice transport line that was about to be opened was a matter of life and death for the 62nd Army, I solemnly instructed Mihayev: "Your task is to continue to survey the ice on the river and find suitable sites for the opening of the transport line. ”

Hearing that I had assigned him this task, Mihayev said with some difficulty: "Comrade division commander. It's a difficult thing to do, because the temperature is not low enough, so it is difficult for the ice on the river to reach the desired thickness. ……”

I didn't wait for him to finish speaking, then I raised my hand to stop him, and then said to him in a stern tone: "Comrade Captain, I think you also know that due to the appearance of the ice platoon in the early stage and the freezing on the river, the 62nd Army's contact with the other side of the river has been completely severed. If we can't open up ice transportation lines as much as possible to transport the troops, equipment, and materials that the group army urgently needs. We simply could not accumulate enough strength to launch a counteroffensive against the Germans in front of us. ”

Mihayev waited for me to finish, although his face was still full of displeasure. But he replied to me very simply, "Yes, I promise to complete the task." ”

"Bring a walkie-talkie and get in touch with me as soon as there's any news." After I said this, I sent someone to take Mihayev to find Razumeyeva to get the walkie-talkie.

I originally thought that Mihayev's survey would be in vain, but I didn't expect that at one o'clock in the morning, Razumeyeva, who was on duty in the command headquarters, suddenly called me excitedly: "Comrade division commander, it's Captain Mihayev, he wants to talk to you on the phone, saying that he has something important to report to you." ”

I guessed that it might have something to do with the ice transport line, so I hurriedly walked to the walkie-talkie, grabbed the headphones and microphones, and asked loudly, "Hey, is it Captain Mihayev?" I'm Oshanina, how are you doing there? ”

"Report to Comrade Division Commander," Mihayev's excited voice came from the headphones: "You may not have imagined that when we arrived at the Volga River, we saw a huge block of ice drifting from Zaitsevsky Island. It destroys a single piece of ice in its path, shattering large and small pieces of ice and changing their direction. A few logs frozen together, like fluttering pieces of wood, were smashed to pieces, and this scene was amazing! This huge block of ice, almost as wide as the Volga River, slowed down when it reached the vicinity of Mamayev Heights.

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

Our luck seemed to be good, though, as the huge ice came to a halt in front of us. I was delighted, divided the engineer company into three groups, and gave them a simple order: follow the ice to the opposite bank, and then return. ……”

"Have the sappers all returned in a hinge?" I really don't know when the 62nd Army's communications with the eastern bank will resume after the counteroffensive begins, so I was particularly nervous when I heard Mihayev say this.

"All returned smoothly." Mihayev confidently said: "Comrade division commander, next, we only need to lay two planks on the ice, then our troops can walk along the planks on the ice to the Guò Volga. ”

"Great, that's great!" Hearing such good news, I was also excited, and I shouted into the microphone: "Captain Mihayev, in recognition of this meritorious service you have established, I will personally ask the headquarters for your credit. ”

After dawn, when I received another report from Mihayev that the planks on the ice had been laid and could pass normally, I took the initiative to report the good news to Chuikov. As for my request for credit for Mihayev, Chuikov very readily agreed, and at the same time said: "Comrade Oshanina, I will personally inquire into this matter, and when the war is stable, I will go to the independent division to personally award them medals." ”

Before I could thank him, he made another unexpected announcement to me: "According to the latest order we have just received from the headquarters of the Supreme High Command, Yermolgin's 112th Division, Smehotvorov's 193rd Division, Joludev's 37th Guards Division, and 2 infantry brigades, exhausted by continuous fighting, are to be withdrawn from our army group, transferred to reserves, and reorganized. That is to say, you will have Commissar Shcherbina take the remnants of the 37th Guards Division to the Mamayev Heights, and from there cross the river back to the east bank. Do you understand? ”

"Understood, Comrade Commander."

I called Serbina to him, informed him of Chuikov's notice, and told him to prepare to go as far as he could.

After hearing this, the corners of Shelbina's mouth twitched violently, as if he wanted to say something but couldn't. Kirillov stepped forward, shook his hand, and said in a friendly voice: "Commissar Shcherbina, the mission of your division in Stalingrad has been completed, go back to the east bank with confidence, I will never forget the days when we fought side by side." "When I said the last sentence, I saw that Kirillov's eyes were already full of tears, as if he was also reluctant to let Commissar Shcherbina go.

After shaking hands with Bandeleev and Akhromeyev, Shcherbina came to me again, took the initiative to stretch out his hand to me, and said politely: "Comrade Deputy Commander, I am leaving, you should take care, I hope that one day I will return to your command and participate in the battle under your command." With that, he let go of his hand, took a step back, and raised his hand to salute the few of us. When he saw us all raise his hands in return, he squeezed a wry smile out of his face, then turned away and walked out without looking back.

At this moment, I realized that it was really emotionally difficult to say goodbye to comrades who had lived and died together, especially with comrades-in-arms. Seeing the back of Shcherbina's departure, my nose couldn't help but sour, and my mind once again showed the scene of every battle with the 37th Guards Division. The thought of these commanders and fighters who had fought side by side with us was now leaving Stalingrad and heading to the east bank of the Volga River, and I wonder when they would see them again. (To be continued......)

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