When Chuikov was talking to me on the phone, he angrily asked me: "Colonel Oshanina, how did you do it, did you forget the order I repeated again and again?" Why did they use the walkie-talkie to make plain language calls without the permission of their superiors, and were they not afraid of revealing the secrets of our army? ……”

Listening to the series of reproaches coming out of the headphones, although I also held my breath, I could only remain silent at the moment, listening to his criticism silently. When his anger was almost exhausted, I tried to say to him in a calm tone: "Report to Comrade Commander, the Germans have dispatched more than 30 planes and carried out two consecutive rounds of bombardment of Mamayev Heights. At the same time as the bombardment, they also used heavy howitzers and tank guns to carry out concentrated bombardment of the high ground. ”

Although Chuikov's anger had subsided a lot after he had been angry, he still said to me sternly: "What's the use of you telling me this? Didn't you have already given an order, and without the permission of your superiors, you are not allowed to retreat a single step, and you must firmly block the enemy from the city. ”

"That's right, Comrade Commander. I would like to ask you to call for help from our Air Force to send warplanes to support us, repel enemy planes that are bombing the heights, and destroy enemy tank forces. ……”

Without waiting for me to speak, Chuikov couldn't wait to interrupt me and said in a businesslike tone: "Colonel Oshanina, please remember that it is not only your troops that have been bombarded by enemy planes and artillery and tanks. If every unit had to request air support when it was attacked, then we would have to add two more to the air group. Not necessarily enough. ”

When Chuikov spoke. I was amusefully silent. Listen to what he says word for word, and consider what he has to say next, so that you can get support from the Air Force.

Chuikov said a great deal of things, and when he had finished speaking, I mustered up the courage to explain to him: "Comrade commander, but the importance of the Mamayev post is incomparable with that of other defensive positions, and if it is lost. The enemy divided his troops into two routes, all the way across the high ground and to the pier, cutting off the city from the east bank of the Volga; On the other hand, you can rush into the city along the road and join up with friendly forces that have broken into the city from other directions, and wipe out our defenders bit by bit. ”

At this point, I deliberately paused for a moment, waiting for Chuikov's response to decide what to say next. Because I mentioned that the Germans would rush into the city from several directions, it was equivalent to saying that we would not be able to hold the city at all. To put it nicely. It's an absurd idea; To put it more strictly, this is a kind of expression of defeatism.

There was a pause. I didn't hear Chuikov's voice in the headphones, and the German troops who had rushed into the city two days ago must have made him think that my words were not alarmist. Seeing that he didn't say anything to stop him, I continued: "The area of Mamayev Gang is not too big, but it is not small, and the enemy has dropped so many bombs and shells on such a large area, even if our commanders and fighters who are holding their positions hide in the fortifications and are not killed by the enemy's bombs, they will be stunned. If the enemy's infantry had attacked immediately after the shelling, I feared that the troops on the heights would not be able to organize effective resistance in a short time. ”

Hearing me say this, Chuikov couldn't help but sigh softly. From his sigh, I sensed that he was already a little moved, and hurriedly said while the iron was hot: "Comrade commander, have you forgotten how the troops of the 35th Guards Division suffered heavy losses at Mamayev Gang and how their division commander died? ”

If what I just said only made Chuikov waver, then the mention of the commander of the 35th Guards Division who died made him completely change his mind. He spoke heavily, and said helplessly: "I understand what you said, Oshanina, and it is precisely because of this that I put you and your troops at Mamayev Post, because I believe that you are capable of guarding the northern gate of the city. Don't worry, I will immediately contact the headquarters of the Front, General Yeremenko, and try to get him to send the air force to support you. Speaking of this, he suddenly said sharply: "If I send you the Air Force, and the Mamayev Post is still lost, what will be the consequences, even if I don't say it, you can always know in your heart, right?" ”

Hearing his relief, I also breathed a sigh of relief, and hurriedly expressed my attitude to him: "Please rest assured, Comrade Commander, on behalf of the Independent Division, I assure you that as long as there is still one commander and fighter alive on the high ground, we will never leave our position to the enemy." ”

"It's useless to just say it, I want to see your actions." After Chuikov finished saying this, he specially added: "Remember, this time you disobeyed the order and used the radio to make a plain phone call without authorization, and I will not pursue it." If I do it again next time, I will never spare it! With that, he terminated the communication without hesitation.

As soon as I put down the headphones and microphones, Kirillov and Akhromeyev, who were gathered around me, couldn't wait to ask: "Comrade division commander, what do you say, comrade commander?" ”

I gently dusted off the dirt that had fallen from the roof of the cave with my hands, and said in a calm tone: "Comrade Commander said that he would immediately contact the headquarters of the Front Army and try to get the air force to be sent to support us by his superiors. At this point, I turned my head and looked around, and felt that although the sound of the explosion outside, because of the two doors, had stopped us from speaking in a normal tone, the light inside had dimmed significantly. Then he turned his head and instructed Akhromeyev: "Comrade Chief of Staff, look, as soon as the engineer company has installed this wooden door, although the explosion sound coming in from outside is much quieter, the two lights originally used for lighting in the headquarters are obviously not enough. Hearing this, Akhromeyev immediately nodded, called Basmanov over, and gave him the task.

As soon as Basmanov left, the telephone on the desk rang, Akhromeyev hurriedly walked to the table, picked up the phone, and after saying a few words, handed it to me, and at the same time said: "Comrade division commander, it was the call from the commander of the fourth regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Gaidar. ”

When I heard Akhromeyev say this, I couldn't help but be stunned for a moment, it was the 123rd Regiment that was currently being shelled and bombed by the Germans. It has nothing to do with the four regiments. What is he calling for at this time? I took the phone. He shouted into the microphone and asked, "Hey, Lieutenant Colonel Gaidar, is there anything you called at this time?" By the way, are all the tanks of the tank battalion well hidden? ”

My barrage of questions silenced Gaidar, and perhaps he was thinking about how to answer the questions I asked. After a while, he replied: "Report to the division commander, the tanks of the tank battalion are hidden in those buildings that have been half blown up. As long as it is not directly hit by the bombs of enemy planes, even if the collapsed bricks and tiles are buried, we can organize people to dig out the tanks when they are needed to put them into battle. As for why I am calling you, it is because I see that the high ground where the division headquarters is located is being bombed by enemy planes and artillery, and I am worried about your safety. ”

"Thank you, thank you, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, thank you for your concern for us." Gaidar's words made me feel warm in my heart. I continued: "The command headquarters that Lieutenant Mihayev has given us is very strong, and I don't think the enemy's shells and bombs will be able to blow up here." ”

"Comrade Division Commander." Gaidar suddenly said sternly: "I have a request for you, I hope you will grant me!" ”

I was still a little unaccustomed to hearing Gaidar speak so seriously, but I still instinctively asked, "What request?" As long as it is within my ability, I will promise you. But I will state in advance that if you now wish to lead your four regiments to the high ground to take part in the battle, I advise you to dispel this idea as soon as possible. If the density of troops on the high ground is too high, it is not conducive to concealment, and a single bomb or artillery shell of the enemy can kill and injure more than a dozen of us. ”

"That's right, after my discussion with Political Commissar Xia Ping, I feel that it is inappropriate to let the division headquarters stay on the high ground. Therefore I strongly insist that you and your division command can withdraw from the high ground and withdraw to residential areas. There is a large anti-aircraft fortification under the cemetery here, and there is plenty of room for the creation of a new division headquarters. ”

To set up my own headquarters under that cemetery, which felt eerie at first glance, Gaidar's mention made me shudder. But in front of Kirillov and Akhromeyev, I couldn't get angry at Gaidar, and besides, others had good intentions. After much deliberation, I pretended to be angry and said: "Lieutenant Colonel Gaidar, do you know what it means to withdraw the division headquarters from the high ground? This is an escape, you are letting a few of our division leaders be deserters, this is absolutely not okay. Speaking of this, I slowed down again and said, "Forget it, Lieutenant Colonel Gaidar, I also know that you have good intentions, and I won't care about it this time." If you mention this next time, I will remove you from your post and demote you to the rank of ordinary soldier, and send you to the forefront of the positions to fight the enemy with bayonets. Do you understand what I said? ”

Gaidar's trembling voice came from the headset: "I understand, comrade division commander, I will never mention the matter of letting you transfer the command in the future." ”

I put down the phone with a smile in my breath, only to find Kirillov and Akhromeyev looking at me nervously, as if to ask me what I was talking about on the phone. Without waiting for them to speak, I preemptively said: "Political commissar and chief of staff, the high ground where we are currently located is the focus of the enemy's attack, and I think it is inappropriate for the division leaders to stay here. So I'll make one of the two of you retreat to the defense area of the Fourth Regiment. In this way, even if something happens to the division headquarters, then the remaining commander can continue to command the troops and fight the enemy. ”

After listening to my words, Kirillov and Akhromeyev looked at each other, then he pulled out his matching gun from his holster, held it in the palm of his hand, and said to me in a chat-like relaxed tone: "Comrade Oshanina, I always have my gun with me, and if the situation is urgent, I will fight the enemy like a warrior." I'll save the last bullet to myself. With that, he put the gun back into its holster and sat down as if nothing had happened.

After watching Kirillov's statement, I understood that he intended to stay on the high ground with me, so Akhromeyev could only be sent to the 4th Regiment to establish a new command, so I turned my attention to the young chief of staff and waited for his decision.

Unexpectedly, Akhromeyev stared at me and became angry and excited: "Comrade division commander, how can you say that? I am your chief of staff, and you specially transferred all the way from the Volkhov Front, so I am where you are. If you don't leave the highlands. I will never enter the defense zone of the fourth regiment. ”

Seeing that the attitude of both of them is so resolute. I'm a little embarrassed. It seems that I am living the belly of a gentleman with the heart of a villain. I rolled my eyes and said to the two of them like a child, "Alright, alright." My political commissar and comrade chief of staff, since you all don't want to leave here, let's all stay, okay? ”

Kirillov listened to me, waved his hand, and said dissatisfiedly: "Comrade division commander. If you say such things again in the future, I will have to report directly to the army group headquarters. With that, he twisted his head like a child, making me and Akhromeyev laugh.

Although Kirillov's face was still full of displeasure, I did not persuade him again, because I knew and understood in his heart what I meant by this, but as the commissar of the independent division, how could he retreat to the rear at such a dangerous moment? In order to prevent me from continuing to find excuses to persuade him to retreat from the high ground, I had to choose this way to stop me.

Then. Godunov of the 3rd regiment called to report that the enemy's shelling of the 107.5 heights had stopped. But since the smoke had not yet been blown away, visibility on the heights was low, and it was impossible to observe whether German ground forces were approaching the heights.

Listening to Godunov's report, I simply said: "Continue to observe and prepare for battle." ”

The enemy's shelling of the positions of the three regiments ended, but the shelling and bombardment of Mamayev Hill was still in full swing. Sederikov and Pugachev called me every five minutes to report on the destruction of fortifications in such and such a sector, and which company had suffered heavy casualties under the enemy's double fire, etc.

Hearing one bad news after another, I was so angry that I slammed the table and scolded indignantly: "These damned Germans, are they running out of bombs and shells?" Isn't it enough to throw hundreds or thousands of tons of steel at our positions? ”

Kirillov glanced at me and said disappreciatively: "What's so strange about this, since you led your troops to Mamayev Heights, how many lessons have you taught the Germans, how many times have you repelled their attacks, and how many of their troops have you destroyed?" Not to mention the German commander, even if I were replaced, I would do my best to first defeat the defenders on the high ground with artillery fire before launching a ground attack. Of course, if there were some kind of bombs that could raze Mamayev Hill to the ground, I wouldn't care if I threw a few more. ”

Hearing him say this, I couldn't help but think to myself: If you want to blow up the Mamayev Heights, it will be easy, just throw an atomic bomb and solve all the problems, not only will the high ground be razed to the ground, but even all the defenders of Stalingrad and the city will be wiped out. But these shocking words, I thought about it in my heart, and I didn't dare to say it at all.

After another five or six minutes, the phone on the desk rang. Akhromeyev grabbed the phone and started talking. Without saying a few words, he put down the phone and said to me with a happy face: "Comrade division commander, it was Captain Pugachev, the commander of the second regiment, who called, and he said that four fighters of our army had already flown over the high ground and were engaged in an air battle with enemy planes. ”

Hearing this news, I immediately had a feeling of raising my eyebrows, and I couldn't help but slap the table and applaud: "Great, as soon as our planes come, the enemy's planes will stop bombing our positions as recklessly as they did just now." Let's go, Comrade Commissar, let's go out and have a look. "Originally, I wanted to ask Akhromeyev to go with me, but I thought that it was impossible for not a single divisional commander to be there in the division headquarters, so I only called Kirillov.

As Kirillov and I were about to go out, Razumeyeva stopped me again and handed me a telegram. After looking down at the contents of the telegram, my mood became better and better, and I casually handed the telegram to Kirillov and said excitedly: "Comrade Political Commissar, you see, this is a telegram from General Krylov, saying that after Commander Chuikov's expression, the superiors have sent us two fighter squadrons, and the pilots of these eight planes are all excellent pilots with rich combat experience. I believe that with their arrival, we will be able to firmly grasp the air supremacy on the battlefield, and in that case, we will be able to put anti-tank artillery batteries and heavy howitzer detachments into battle, and destroy all the tanks of the Germans, and give a good breath of evil. ”

When we came to the cave, the bombing by enemy planes had stopped. Although their artillery was still shelling the high ground all the time, the shells almost all fell on the northern slope, and the southern slope where we were was relatively safe. Walking into an open area, I jumped into a waist-deep crater and raised my binoculars to look into the air.

I saw that the planes in the air were fighting fiercely, and although the number of enemy planes was several times greater than that of our army, their ammunition and fuel were almost exhausted. When four or five enemy planes braved the flames and planted themselves on the high ground or landed in the boiling Volga River, the remaining enemy planes did not dare to fight, so they turned around and flew north. Our planes were not willing to let the enemy planes escape in such a light way, so they followed and chased after them.

Kirillov looked at it for a while and said with emotion: "If our plane had come half an hour earlier, our troops would not have paid such a large number of casualties." ”

Seeing that our fighters had the upper hand, I turned my attention to the ground, and when I saw the tanks parked in two rows in front of the high ground, still shelling the positions of a regiment without stopping, I was in a nameless rage, and was about to go back to the headquarters in person to give an order to Morozov, but when I turned my head, I was surprised to find Basmanov standing beside me, and I gave him a loud order: "Comrade Captain, you immediately go and call Morozov and ask him to send an anti-tank battery into the position, Shoot at the tank units that are bombarding a regiment of positions, and in the shortest possible time, all these steel monsters of the enemy will be reduced to scrap metal. ”

After listening to my order, Kirillov reminded me in a low voice: "Comrade Oshanina, have you forgotten about that heavy howitzer detachment?" If they also go into battle, they can quickly wipe out all the enemy tanks. ”

I shook my head and explained to Kirillov: "Comrade commissar, the howitzer detachment is not available for the time being, let's wait for the enemy's infantry to attack." Speaking of this, I waved at Basmanov, who was still standing there: "What are you still standing here, why don't you go and deliver my orders!" ”

Basmanov's movements were swift, and within two or three minutes he reappeared beside us, and at the same time handed me a new telegram, and at the same time reported: "Report to the division commander, political commissar, this is a telegram that I have just received, and Comrade Chief of Staff asked me to send it to you." ”

When I heard that there was a new telegram from the headquarters of the group army, I quickly took it and quickly looked at it. (To be continued......)

PS: Heartfelt thanks to the book friends for the valuable monthly tickets voted for the bad OnLine and the children's shoes that turn time and space upside down!