Krylov also continued to announce the establishment of troops and the arrangement of personnel: "...... The commander of the 150th Red Banner Infantry Division was Colonel Bandereev, Political Commissar Kirillov, Chief of Staff Major Akhromeyev.

The 115th Infantry Brigade, the 124th Infantry Brigade, and the 149th Infantry Brigade were combined into the 171st Infantry Division, with Andreuschenko as the commander and Colonel Gorokhov as the deputy commander. ……”

As Krylov read out the order, I thought to myself: Didn't the 150th Infantry Division be formed in September 1943 by combining the 127th, 144th, and 151st Infantry Brigades? How did it come to this point, is it because my arrival changed history?

After Krylov read out the order, Chuikov turned to me and asked: "Comrade Oshanina, since you are now the commander of the infantry corps, should you say a few words to your subordinates?" ”

"Comrade Commander," I was so excited just now that I didn't hear clearly who the chief of staff of the army was assigned to me by my superiors, so I hurriedly took this opportunity to quickly ask: "I don't know who is the chief of staff of our army?" ”

When Chuikov heard me ask, an expression of surprise appeared on his face, and he pointed with his hand to the deputy chief of staff of the army group, who was sitting next to Kirillov: "That's not it?" The higher authorities decided to let the deputy chief of staff of the army group, Colonel Vitkov, be the chief of staff of the 79th Infantry Corps, and I hope you can work well together. ”

I heard that Colonel Vitkov was my chief of staff, and I felt a lot more at ease, and I had dealt with Vitkov many times, and I knew that he was not only capable but also very easy to get along with, and since he was appointed chief of staff, he would become my right-hand man in the future. So I smiled and nodded at him.

I got up from my seat. opened his mouth. Just as he was about to speak, he suddenly became nervous inexplicably. I don't remember how long I was silent—ten, twenty, or a minute. I struggled to organize the words in my head, but I didn't know where to start when I saw the blackened mass of officers sitting in front of me.

Seeing that I had not spoken for a long time, the commanders sitting below all looked at me in surprise, with puzzled expressions in their eyes. Suddenly, I seemed to hear my own voice from the side: "Comrades, today is a special day. For all the commanders and fighters of our newly established 79th Infantry Corps, it is a day of great significance! ”

After saying a few words, my mood gradually became more relaxed, and my thinking became clearer: "The independent division under my command was a newly formed unit after the start of the Battle of Stalingrad, and for three months, the commanders and fighters of the independent division stubbornly held on to the Mamayev post on the north side of Stalingrad, like a floodgate to block the German troops rushing in like a flood. Although we paid a huge price, we never allowed the Germans to occupy the high ground, and we also left thousands of German corpses lying on the high ground of Mamayev Heights. ”

I involuntarily took two steps forward. In order to get closer to his subordinates: "Our division has destroyed quite a few enemies, but compared to the number of German troops that our friendly forces have destroyed in the whole of Stalingrad. It's just a drop in the ocean. It was not just one of our divisions that defended Stalingrad, but dozens of divisions from all over the Motherland and thousands of ordinary soldiers, and it was precisely because of their tenacious fighting that they were able to preserve this heroic city named after the Supreme Commander himself.

Although our 79th Infantry Army has just been established, every unit in the army is a unit that has made great achievements in the defense of Stalingrad. I am convinced that in the next battle, our newly formed unit will make even more achievements. Finally, I would like to say to you: today, we are proud to be part of the heroic 62nd Army; Tomorrow, the 62nd Army will be proud of us. I'm done talking! ”

With that, I sat down straight to my point, and everyone came back to their senses from my succinct speech, and the room burst into thunderous applause. In particular, the applause from Kirillov and Bantai Leev was particularly loud.

My new partner, Commissar Vasilyev, applauded and smiled at me: "Commander Oshanina, what you said! Look at the commanders sitting below, how passionate they are. ”

Gurov stood up with a smile on his face, raised his hands and pressed down, and when the applause stopped, he continued: "Comrade commander, you have just heard the speech of your commander. I think it's a good point, today, you are proud to be a member of the glorious 62nd Army; Tomorrow, our 62nd Army will be proud of such a meritorious unit as you. Therefore, I sincerely wish all commanders to make new contributions to the motherland in the next battles! ”

After Gurov finished speaking, Chuikov also stood up and said a few words, and then announced the adjournment of the meeting. Watching my subordinates walk towards the outside of the headquarters one after another, I stayed with Political Commissar Vasilyev and Chief of Staff Colonel Vitkov to wait for Chuikov to assign us new tasks.

When the commanders were almost gone, Chuikov said to me with a stern expression: "Comrade Oshanina, our final attack on the German troops in Stalingrad is about to begin, and although we have a great advantage over the enemy, we should not take it lightly. The enemy will become even more frantic on the eve of destruction. In the morning I received information from Commander Yeremenko that the chief of staff of the South-Western Front, Major General Stepimakh, had died honorably while commanding the battle at the front when he was under enemy shelling. ”

Major General Stepimach?! When I heard this name, I couldn't help frowning, and I said in my heart that I knew the commander with this name, but he was the chief of staff of the Volkhov Front. Chuikov seemed to see through my thoughts, and then said: "Comrade Oshanina, you guessed correctly, this Major General Stelimakh turned out to be the chief of staff of General Meretskov, and you should have dealt with you before, right?" ”

Hearing Chuikov ask this, I could only nod and say vaguely: "Yes, Comrade Commander, General Stepimakh is a commander with a fighting spirit, and I am very impressed. "In order not to let Chuikov continue to dwell on this topic. I cleverly diverted the subject: "Comrade Commander. I wonder which area you intend to put our army in charge of clearing the Germans? ”

Sure enough, I succeeded in diverting Chuikov's attention. He looked down at the map, then pointed to it and said, "Oshanina, your army only needs to be responsible for clearing the enemy entrenched in the city center, and as for the enemy in other areas, I will leave it to Lyudnikov and them to deal with." ”

"The commander is right," Krylov waited for Chuikov to finish, and then said to me: "Since the German defensive positions outside the city were compressed by friendly forces, Paulus had to withdraw more and more troops into the city. And the enemy of this part of the city center. At present, there are more than four divisions, and the severely weakened troops of the group army cannot gnaw at these enemy lines at all, so after our repeated study, it has been decided to entrust this arduous and glorious task to your army to complete. Have faith? ”

"Please rest assured, Comrade Chief of Staff, that I promise to complete the tasks assigned to us by my superiors." Thinking that Paulus would be a prisoner in just over a month, I made my attitude clear to Krylov without hesitation: "I will definitely find a way to eliminate these enemies entrenched in the center of the city." ”

"Listen, Comrade Oshanina!" Chuikov stood up again and said to me sternly: "Although you are nominally an army, due to the long fighting, the divisions and brigades have been reduced very strictly. The total strength of the army added up to less than five thousand people. It was very difficult to eat four German divisions with this amount of strength. So I demanded. I command you to contain this enemy no matter what, and wait for the friendly forces rushing from other directions to destroy them! That's it. ”

"Understood, Comrade Commander."

"Okay, it's okay. Go back and hurry up and set up your military headquarters. ”

On New Year's Day 1943, my headquarters was officially set up in a brick building outside the "Red October" factory area, and due to the shelling and bombardment by the German army some time ago, only the ground floor and basement of the entire building remained. But the house was located on a hillside, and the terrain around it was flat, which was not only conducive to the arming of the guard company, but also to observation.

After the establishment of the corps headquarters, Vasilyev went to the logistics department to collect supplies, and the chief of staff, Colonel Vitkov, instructed the newly assigned staff officers to set up the headquarters, while I sat at the table and stared at the map in a daze. In my memory, the 79th Infantry Corps had a mediocre record throughout the Great Patriotic War, and if it were not for the fighters of the 150th Infantry Division of the army, who planted a red flag on the roof of the Reichstag in Berlin, it is estimated that not many people would know about this unit. Even so, the 150th Infantry Division was disbanded in December 1946. It was not until May 7, 2007 that Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree promulgating the Law on the Victory Flag. According to the decree, in order to immortalize the exploits of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War of 1941~1945, to commemorate the exploits of the Soviet Armed Forces for the Motherland, and to express gratitude to the ancestors who defeated the fascist aggressors, the assault flag of the 150th Infantry Division of the 1st Belorussian Front Assault 3rd Army, which was awarded the Order of Kutuzov 2nd degree, was raised on May 1, 1945 at the Reichstag in Berlin, Germany.

Now that I am the commander of the 79th Infantry Corps, I have to find a way to change the unfortunate fate of this army by achieving a good result in the final battle of the Battle of Stalingrad.

After a while, Vitkov came to the table and sat down and asked with concern: "Comrade commander, what are you thinking?" I glanced up at him and involuntarily blurted out, "Is the commissar back?" ”

Vitkov shook his head and reported to me: "Not yet, it is said that he has received a lot of supplies this time, and he may not be able to return in the afternoon at the earliest......"

"Well," I interrupted him, and asked thoughtfully, "Comrade Chief of Staff, if we were to attack the enemy in the city center, where do you think we should choose as a breakthrough?" ”

"I think we should use the train station as our main attack." Without thinking, Vitkov said in one breath: "Once the railway station is captured, we will be able to unite our scattered positions into a whole. ”

"The train station?! ...... "I couldn't help frowning when I heard the name of this place, you must know that this area is a lot that has been repeatedly contested by both the enemy and us, but I did not expect that the major counteroffensive has been going on for more than a month, and our army has not recaptured this vital area from the hands of the Germans.

"Yes, Comrade Commander." Colonel Vitkov, apparently misunderstood the reason for my frown, and he continued, his voice hoarse from excitement, "According to our interrogation of the prisoners, the headquarters of the 6th Army of the German General Paulus is currently located in the basement of the Central Department Store, only a dozen blocks from the train station. ”

Paulus's army group headquarters, when I heard Vitkov say that it was in the basement of the central department store, which was only a dozen blocks from the train station, my eyes lit up, and I was really thinking about how to make the 79th Infantry Corps make a great contribution, and Vitkov proposed such a good building.

I stared at the location of the Central Department Store on the map, and after looking at it for a long time, I looked up at Vitkov and asked: "Comrade Chief of Staff, if we take the railway station and attack the location of the 6th Army, do you think we will succeed?" ”

Hearing my question, the corners of Vitkov's mouth twitched violently, and after a long time, he said helplessly: "Comrade commander, I don't think this is possible. ”

"Why?" I was thinking in my mind that now that we knew where the German headquarters were, we could concentrate our forces, cut through the German lines, and boldly penetrate the headquarters of Paulus. As long as Paulus and his group of generals were captured, the German troops who had lost their command had no choice but to obediently lay down their arms and surrender.

Vitkov pointed to the map and said, "Comrade commander, you don't know, although there is only a dozen blocks from the railway station to the central department store, this area is also the most heavily defended place in the German army, and they have at least one and a half divisions here. And our troops are inferior in terms of weapons and strength, and they simply cannot break through such a strong defensive line. ”

Vitkov's words were like a basin of ice water poured over my head, and my heart was half cold. I knew in my heart that what he said was the truth, and although I was now nominally commanding an army, the strength of the independent division accounted for half of the total strength of the whole army, and there was really no certainty of victory in attacking the German army with such a force. (To be continued......)

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