I walked into the forest with the guard squad and the reconnaissance detachment and walked along the forest path to the command headquarters.

There were two burly sentries at the entrance of the headquarters, and when they saw us approaching with such a large group of people, they quickly took their rifles off their shoulders and walked towards us with them in their hands.

Gaidar angrily said to the sentry: "What do you want to do? Didn't you see the division commander coming? ”

Unexpectedly, a sentry stalked his neck and said unruly: "What division commander, I don't know it, I know my regiment commander." No one was allowed to enter the headquarters without the permission of the regimental commander. ”

The sentinel's words made me laugh angrily, and I simply kept my mouth shut and waited for Gaidar to continue negotiating with him.

Another sentry slung his rifle over his shoulder, touched him with his arm, and whispered, "Hey, I said, you didn't see such a big group of them, maybe they are really division commanders." ”

"Go away! No nonsense. The sentry glared at his companion fiercely, and said reluctantly, "No matter who she is, I won't let anyone in without the order of the regimental commander anyway." ”

The movement outside alarmed Sedelikov, who was in the house, and he looked out, and when he saw that it was me and Gaidar, he hurriedly ran out, grabbed my hand and shook it vigorously, and said in a loud voice: "Comrade division commander, I can look forward to you coming back!" ”

Then he went to shake Gaidar's hand and exchanged a few words with him. He started a fire at the warrior: "How? Didn't you see that Comrade Division Commander came back? Why didn't you report it and stop them all? ”

The warrior was a little embarrassed, threw the gun over his shoulder, and said with some embarrassment, "She." She turned out to be really a teacher! ”

Shederikov patted the sentinel's broad shoulder. He said to me, "I chose these fighters from the regiment. They are in good health and have excellent military qualities, which makes them very suitable for the work of guards at the regimental headquarters. Then he shouted at the sentry, "Damn it, you dare to block the division commander from the door, I must punish you." ”

Actually, I know that the captain said this on purpose, lest I blame the sentry for his faux pas. I remember that when Zhukov went to the Smolny Palace to take over as commander of the Front, he was also stopped by the guards on duty at the gate. However, Zhukov did not criticize the sentry's actions, but praised them. Can't I learn from my idol and put on a high posture? So I waved my hand at Shedelikov and said: "Forget it, Comrade Captain. The Sentinel was also doing his duty, and he was right. With that, I walked briskly into the headquarters.

I was followed by Captain Sederikov, Captain Gaidar, and engineer Mihayev, the rest. Both the fighters of the guard squad and the members of the reconnaissance detachment remained outside.

After I sat down. Seeing that Shederikov and Gaidar were both sitting down, while Mihayev was still standing straight, he hurriedly greeted him: "Engineer Mihayev, what are you still standing for?" Sit down, and when I study the map, I'll need you to explain it to everyone. ”

Seeing Mihayev sitting down next to Gaidar, Sederikov cautiously asked me for instructions: "Comrade division commander, do you want to invite Captain Oleg and Captain Koska, let's have a meeting?" ”

I nodded slightly at Sederikov's suggestion and said slowly: "Comrade Captain, you go and contact Oleg and Kostya and ask them if they have time. If so, ask them to come over. ”

Shedelikov immediately got up and walked to the side of the operator, whispered a few words, and then returned to me and said: "Comrade division commander, I have already asked the operator to contact the two regiment commanders, and I believe that they will come over soon. ”

I nodded again and took the initiative to provoke a new topic: "Comrade Captain, how is the training of the troops going during the time I have been away?" ”

"We organized fifteen assault detachments, and the same number of support detachments, during the day in the forest, conducted targeted training," Shederikov replied. Judging by the effectiveness of the training, the new fighters are not yet proficient in the use of firearms, and training in this area needs to be strengthened. ”

I waved my hand and said, "Don't worry about this, after really rushing into the building, it is the grenades, daggers, shovels, etc. in the hands of the soldiers who decide the victory, and the guns are of no use." Therefore, in the next two days of training, the focus was on the throwing of grenades and the use of daggers and shovels. ”

Hearing my order, Sederikov and Gaidar stood up and answered neatly with a "yes". After the two sat down again, Sederikov's eyes looked at the engineer Mihayev opposite, and asked curiously: "Comrade division commander, this is the missing engineer, right?" ”

"Yes, Comrade Captain, it's me." Mihayev hurriedly stood up and replied.

"Where did you find him?" Shederikov asked.

I saw Gaidar's body move, as if trying to answer the question, and quickly coughed, preemptively answering: "We found him in the forest near the settlement." ”

"In the forest near the settlement, where is he going to do it?" When Shederikov said this, he looked Mihayev up and down with suspicion.

I don't want too many people to know about Mihayev's capture by the Germans, so as not to invite unnecessary trouble. After organizing the vocabulary in my head, I said unhurriedly: "Comrade Mihayev, having escaped from the hands of the Inspectorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, panicked at night and accidentally crossed the line of defense of our army and ran to the territory of the German army. He got lost in the forest not far from the settlement, and planned to stay there until dawn, and then find a way to return to the station of our division after seeing the direction. Unexpectedly, by mistake, he happened to meet the reconnaissance detachment in which Gaidar and I participated, and in this way, he joined us. Is this how it happened? Comrade Mihayev. ”

When Mihayev heard me say this, he was stunned for a moment, then nodded desperately, and said: "Yes, yes, it is what Comrade Division Commander said." I got lost in the forest, and I wanted to wait until dawn to find a way to return to the troops, but I didn't expect to meet the commander of the division and the head of Gaidar. ”

After he said this, a relieved expression appeared on his face, and Gaidar sat next to him. There was a look of surprise on his face. He may not have figured it out in a hurry. I'm going to cover up the truth for Mihayev. Fortunately, however, Shederikov only asked casually and had no intention of delving into it, but he was still surprised when he heard that I had joined the reconnaissance detachment and personally went to the front line to reconnoiter the enemy's situation, and he asked nervously: "What, comrade division commander, you also went to the front line to reconnoiter the enemy's situation in person?" How can this be. You must know that you are not an ordinary soldier, but the commander of a division, and your safety is related to the life and death of our independent division. ”

As soon as his words fell, Gaidar echoed him and said: "Yes, at that time, the deputy commander of the group army, General Chuikov, as well as the commander of the Guards Division, Lyudnikov, and the political commissar of Titov were also persuading the division commander, but she was stubborn and had to go to the front line to reconnoitre. In the end, General Chuikov said that she was not. I had to let her go. ……”

I am grateful for the care they have given me. But this is obviously not the time to say these words, I quickly interrupted Gaidar's words, looked outside the door and said to Sederikov: "Captain Sederikov, you go outside to see, why haven't Captain Oleg and Captain Kostya come yet, are they stopped by your sentry at the door again?" ”

When Shedelikov heard me mention this, he smiled embarrassedly, then stood up and said, "Okay, comrade division commander, I'll go outside and have a look at it right away." However, the sentries outside the door knew Captain Kosgaard, so they probably wouldn't stop them again. With that, he walked towards the door.

As soon as he reached the door, he turned around and said to me with a smile: "Comrade division commander, Kostya and Oleg have arrived. ”

As soon as the words fell, two regiment commanders appeared at the door, raised their hands to salute me, and walked quickly into the headquarters. Oleg sat down directly in his place when he entered the room, but Kostya walked around the table, came to me, stretched out his hand to shake my hand, and said enthusiastically: "Comrade division commander, you can come back." When you were away, I was always unsteady in my heart, and I felt that I was missing a backbone, and when you came back, my heart was completely steady. ”

Kosgaard's flattery immediately caused everyone to laugh, especially Gaidar pointed at Kosgaard and said: "Hey, I said, Captain Kosgaard, you are really not simple, you haven't seen you for more than a day, and you have learned to pat on the back." ”

After Sederikov laughed, he patted Kosgaard on the back with a straight face, and said, "Captain Kosga, hurry back to your place, we have a meeting." ”

After Captain Kosgaard took his seat, I stood up, took out the map, slapped it on the table with a bang, and said to everyone: "This map is a topographic map of the settlement drawn by Captain Gaidar and Engineer Mihayev, let's take a look." ”

Seeing the reconnaissance map spread out on the table, Sedrikov, Oleg, and Kostya stood up one after another, poked their heads over, and carefully studied the map.

After a while, I thought they were almost done, so I asked, "What do you think of this map, might as well tell me about it?" ”

Sederikov's eyes did not leave the map, and he said thoughtfully every day: "Comrade division commander, I saw that near the settlement, there is a dense forest. I thought that we could take advantage of the darkness to move the attacking troops into the forest, and when it was daybreak, we could surprise the enemy by surprise. ”

"The opinion of Senior Captain Sederikov is correct, I completely agree with it." Taking over the topic was Captain Kosgaard, who said with some excitement: "In the original plan, our troops were to attack the enemy's entrenched settlements from friendly lines five kilometers away from the target. At such a long impact distance, our attacking troops will be ruthlessly killed by enemy fire, and by the time they approach the target, they will pay at least half of the casualties. Now with this forest, one qiē is much simpler. At this point, he paused, as if thinking about something, and after a moment he said to himself: "If there is any way that will allow our troops to get closer to the populated areas without casualties, our attack will go very smoothly." ”

"Comrade Captain, you don't have to worry about this." I said lightly: "Before the attack, I will let the friendly forces fire smoke grenades at the settlements." While the enemy's view was obscured by the smoke emitted, our troops quietly approached the settlement. When the smoke is about to clear, the assault team will attack the settlement. ”

"That's a good idea. If our commandos can get within a hundred meters of the settlement. It only takes one dash to rush into a settlement. Throw the grenade into the building occupied by the enemy first. Then rush in and engage them in melee combat with submachine guns, grenades, daggers, and shovels. Just occupy one or two buildings. Our troops will then have a solid foothold and can continue to divide their forces and develop in depth. "When the second regiment commander, Captain Oleg, said these words, he looked confident.

"From which regiments were the commandos and support detachments drawn?" I then asked, trying to get an idea of how effective these troops were.

"Comrade division commander, please allow me to report this problem to you." The answer to the question was given to the commander of the 3rd regiment, Captain Kosgaard, who I was appointed as the interim commander before I left the station last night, and I am sure he will give me a satisfactory answer. So I nodded at him and said, "Since that's the case, then it's up to you to come back to my question." ”

"Yes!" After answering loudly, Kosgaard began to introduce me to the composition of the assault team, only to hear him say: "We have drawn troops from each regiment and organized a total of fifteen commando teams and an equal number of support detachments. Among these commandos, because of the large number of veterans of the Second Regiment, they accounted for the highest proportion, and eight units were from the Second Regiment; Of the remaining seven troops, there were three in one regiment. The third regiment and the fourth regiment each have two branches.

In terms of personnel composition, we have adopted a combination of old and new. Each commando is 20 people. Among them, there are 8 veterans with rich combat experience, armed with submachine guns, grenades, daggers, and shovels; The support detachment consisted of 80 people, including 10 veterans, and in addition to the same equipment as the assault team, it was equipped with two light machine guns so that when consolidating the position, it would be possible to increase the defensive fire of our troops......"

Cosgaard gushed on and on, and I didn't interrupt him, but listened quietly to everything he said. I couldn't help but secretly sigh in my heart, if I had one or several capable subordinates like Kosga and Sederikov, I could really save a lot of worry. So as soon as Cosgaard finished speaking, I immediately said without hesitation: "Good! Then he glanced at the faces of several people and said, "I think Captain Kosgaard said it well, do you have anything else to add?" ”

Hearing this, Oleg, Kostya, and Gaidar glanced at each other, and then replied neatly: "Report to Comrade Division Commander, there is no more." ”

The three regiment commanders all spoke, but I didn't hear Sedjerikov's voice, I turned my head to look, and saw that he was still staring intently at the map on the table, so I asked him deliberately: "Captain Sederikov, do you have any other different opinions?" ”

Sederikov raised his head and looked at me, first shook his head, then nodded vigorously, and asked cautiously: "Comrade division commander, I would like to ask, who will command this battle?" His words asked what everyone was thinking, and as soon as the words fell, the eyes of the other three regiment leaders fell on me.

I smiled at a few people and said, "What are you all watching me do?" I know that you all want to command this battle, and it turns out that I also intend to hand over the command of this battle to Captain Sederikov or Captain Kosga. But now it seems that no, you can't hand over the command of this battle to any of you. Because this was the first battle of our independent division, which was related to the future fate of our division, and it could only be won and not defeated, I decided to personally command this battle. ”

When I said this, everyone's faces showed a collective look of disappointment. I hurriedly reassured them and said in a mocking tone: "But you don't want to be lazy, there are so many commandos and support detachments, there is no unified command, and when you start a battle, you won't mess around." So I decided, "I'm going to pause here and see how everyone reacts." Hearing me say this, the four clever regimental commanders guessed that there might be a command position left for them, and they all stood up straight, waiting for me to continue.

I saw that everyone's appetite was aroused, and then I continued: "I have decided that fifteen assault teams, under the command of Captain Oleg, will be responsible for attacking those buildings in the settlements that are occupied by the enemy. ”

Captain Oleg did not expect such an important task to fall on him, and replied excitedly and loudly: "Please rest assured, Comrade Division Commander, I will definitely command the assault team to take back the buildings in the residential areas from the hands of the enemy."

I looked at the other three regimental commanders who were eager to fight, and said unhurriedly: "As for the support detachment, I think it is most appropriate to leave it to Captain Sederikov to command." Speaking of this, I looked at the captain and deliberately asked, "What do you think?" Comrade Captain. ”

Sederikov's originally tense face suddenly burst into laughter, and he said in a loud voice: "Please rest assured, division commander, I will definitely command the support detachment to build strong fortifications in those buildings captured by the assault team, so as to ensure that these buildings will not be taken by the enemy again." ”

I nodded with satisfaction at his answer, looked at Gaidar again, and said: "Captain Gaidar, you and the engineer Mihayev are familiar with the settlements, and then you and I will go to the forest and command the battle there." ”

The third regiment commander, Captain Kosgaard, saw that the other three regiment commanders had been assigned tasks, and I seemed to have forgotten him, so he hurriedly reminded me: "Comrade division commander, what about me? You assigned tasks to all three of their regiment commanders, so what is my task? ”

I glanced at him and said lightly: "Comrade Captain, your task is to stay in the camp. You must know that in this battle, in addition to the fifteen commando teams, I only need to take five more companies away, and there are still sixty companies left in the camp, and someone needs to command them, and I will leave this important task to you. With that, without waiting for him to speak, I stood up and announced, "This is the end of tonight's meeting, and the meeting is adjourned." ”

Kosgaard looked at me helplessly, seeing that the matter was irreparable, so he had to reply unwillingly: "Yes, Comrade Division Commander, I obey your orders. (To be continued......)

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