I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to get back to the heights before dawn, so as soon as I got to the Guò checkpoint, I urged the driver to speed up. We didn't get far when our convoy was stopped by a militia patrol.

After checking the driver's documents, he stepped on the wheels and grabbed the baffle, stood up, took a flashlight into the carriage, and asked us sternly: "Which unit are you from and where are you going?" ”

I looked at the captain's businesslike appearance, so I gently touched Morozov with my arm, and he immediately understood, stood up and replied cooperatively: "Comrade captain, we are an independent division, and we have urgent matters to rush to the headquarters of the group army. ”

The captain shook his flashlight in his face, then extinguished it, and then asked dryly, "Do you have a pass?" ”

"Pass, what pass?" Morozov said a little impatiently: "Comrade Captain, didn't you listen to our division commander that we are an independent division?" Our division has been stationed at Mamayev Hill, and no one usually comes to the city, where can I get you a pass? ”

The captain obviously belonged to the kind of people who had a tendon, and when he heard Morozov say that we did not have a pass, he said even more confidently: "I'm sorry, according to the regulations of the city defense command, people who don't have a pass can't walk around the city after dark." ”

"Comrade Captain," Morozov said to him, still patiently, "I have just told you that the troops of our division are stationed outside the city, and there is no pass at all. We still have important tasks to do, so please let us pass! ”

"No, there is no pass. It is not passable. "The militia captain doesn't look very old. But it looks like an old stubborn. He stubbornly said, "Now, I order you all to get out of the car and be checked!" ”

"What? Who are you to order us to get out of the car and be inspected by you? Morozov was so angry with his words that he almost rushed over, grabbed his sleeve and carried the militia captain into the carriage.

Seeing the tension between the two, I was about to stand up and say a few words. A militiaman from under the car ran to the captain's side, raised his head and shouted: "Comrade captain, look, it's the comrade who checked here!" ”

I turned my head to look the way I came, and saw the second lieutenant and a soldier hurrying by. When the militia captain saw the commander of the checkpoint coming, he quickly let go and jumped to the ground and stood upright. When the second lieutenant walked in front of him, he raised his hand and saluted: "Report to Comrade Ensign, most of the people in this convoy that we stopped did not have passes. I was about to order the fighters to detain them all. ”

"Nonsense, it's nonsense!" The militia captain had expected the second lieutenant to compliment him. Unexpectedly, the second lieutenant was angry at him directly, "Didn't you see that the commander of the independent division, Colonel Oshanina, was sitting in the car?" She now has an urgent task and needs to rush to the headquarters of the army group. But look at you, what have you done? You actually stopped her convoy, if you delay her business, can you afford to take this responsibility? ”

The militia captain was so scolded that he waved at his men and let them obediently flash to the side of the road. The second lieutenant then bowed his head to me, and at the same time said apologetically: "I'm sorry, comrade division commander, for delaying your time." Now you and your men can move on. ”

I stood up, returned the salute to the second lieutenant, and said gratefully, "Thank you, comrade second lieutenant, we will meet later!" ”

Our convoy moved on.

Although the road was wide, the masonry and rubble from the bombed-out buildings and the wreckage of several damaged German tanks took up at least half of the road, and the driver had to carefully navigate around these pesky obstacles, and the speed of the car naturally did not get up quickly.

When I came to the vicinity of the headquarters of the army group, I saw that the original sturdy and beautiful three-story building was now reduced to the bottom floor, and the upper two floors were destroyed by bombs or shells.

With the help of Morozov, I got out of the carriage, looked left and right, and saw that there was a building opposite the headquarters with only one wall left, so I ordered Morozov: "Comrade Captain, let the fighters drive the prisoners to the wall." ”

Morozov resoundingly agreed, and went to carry out my orders.

Seeing that Morozov and the others were rushing the prisoners to the wall, I tidied up my military appearance and was about to raise my legs and walk towards the headquarters, when suddenly a loud shout came from behind me. I turned my head to see that the person who was shouting was Captain Bossel, who had spoken to me in the car, and that he was being dragged against the wall by two fighters on his arms, one on the left and one on the right.

Because he shouted so loudly that the soldiers who were on guard in the headquarters were alarmed. When I saw an officer running out of the door with four or five soldiers, I smiled helplessly, and then stepped forward.

The commander walked up to me, straightened up, and said clearly: "Captain Xenikov reports to you, Comrade Colonel, what is happening here?" ”

Actually, I didn't know why the captives were yelling, so I smiled apologetically at Xernikov, turned my head and shouted to Morozov: "Comrade Captain, come to me!" ”

Hearing my call, Morozov trotted up to me, raised his hand in a salute, and then politely asked: "Comrade division commander, what instructions do you have?" ”

I pointed to the captives who were being held by the wall with my hand and asked curiously: "Where is that tank captain Bossel, where is he yelling and what?" ”

Morozov replied to me with a smile: "That's right, Comrade Division Commander. Didn't you order us to drive all the captives to the wall? Captain Bossel misunderstood, thinking that we were going to drive them to the wall and shoot them, so he had just been shouting: 'Please, go around us, don't shoot us.' ’”

Morozov's words immediately caused several of us to laugh, and Xenikov even spat twice on the ground and said disdainfully: "I didn't expect these arrogant-looking fascist bandits to be so afraid of death." After finishing speaking, he asked solemnly, "Comrade Colonel." Excuse me, you came to the headquarters of the army group so late. What's the matter? ”

I hurriedly replied: "Comrade Captain." That's it, I have something important to look for the commander, is he in the command? ”

"Of course, Comrade Commander, of course!" Xenikov politely said: "Please, Comrade Colonel, I'll show you the way!" ”

Just as we were about to leave, Morozov suddenly asked behind him: "Comrade division commander." What to do with these captives? ”

Morozov's words reminded me that I came this time, and brought more than two dozen German prisoners, and I can't let them stand opposite the army headquarters all the time, thinking of this, I quickly grabbed Xenikov, pointed to those German prisoners and said: "Comrade captain, do you see those prisoners?" These were captured in tonight's battle, and now I will officially hand them over to you. ”

Xenikov raised his hand at the soldiers next to him and ordered: "Go and lead the way to the comrades of the independent division and take these prisoners to the prisoner of war camp in the city." Then he made another gesture of invitation to me. Let's go, Comrade Colonel. ”

I turned around and ordered Morozov: "Captain." You led the soldiers to send these prisoners to the prisoner-of-war camp, and when they returned, they waited for me here. Seeing Morozov nodding his head to show that he understood, I followed Xenikov to the headquarters.

When I walked into the headquarters, I saw that the room was a busy scene, and on the wall to the left of the door sat a messenger who was sending telegrams and making phone calls, while Chuikov, Gurov, and Krylov were looking at the map with their backs to the door. I hurriedly stepped forward, raised my hand to my forehead, and said loudly: "Report to the commander, military commissar, chief of staff, comrade commander, commander of the independent division, Colonel Oshanina, report to you, listen to your orders!" ”

When the three of them heard my voice, they all turned their heads to look at me. Chuikov looked at me and asked with interest: "Hey, I said, Comrade Oshanina, why did you come to my headquarters in the middle of the night?" ”

Before I could speak, a communications soldier next to me was already shouting at the top of his voice: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the phone number of Colonel Andryuschenko, commander of the 115th Infantry Brigade." ”

As soon as Krylov walked away, another communications soldier shouted to Chuikov: "Comrade commander, it's General Pozarisky, the head of artillery of the army group, who is calling. ”

Chuikov smiled apologetically at me, and then said to Military Commissar Gurov: "Dear Kuzma. Comrade Akimovich, our female colonel will be received by you for the time being. With that, he went to the signal man to answer the phone.

Hearing Gurov's real name and patronymic name called in front of me again, I suddenly matched the weak military commissar in front of me with the commander who led the troops to break through from the direction of Kharkov in the movie. We all call him Kuzma in the movies, but we usually call him Gurov, so I didn't expect it to be a person. He is not only good at political work, but also good at commanding troops to fight. If in the Battle of Kharkov, Stalin had followed his advice and stopped the offensive in time, he would not have inflicted so much damage on his troops.

Gurov beckoned me to sit down at the table, then poured me another cup of tea before he smiled and asked me: "Comrade Oshanina, is there anything you did when you came from the Mamayev post to the headquarters of the army group so late?" ”

I was holding the teacup in my hand, but when I heard him ask, I hurriedly put the teacup on the table, stood up and replied respectfully: "Report to Comrade Military Commissar, our division fought a battle with the Germans on the 107.5 heights tonight and captured more than 20 prisoners. ”

After hearing this, Gurov laughed and teased: "Comrade Oshanina, you may not have come this time just to send prisoners, right?" You must know that the last time you captured a German general, you only sent your own subordinates to send the prisoners over. This time you came to deliver the captives yourself, did you capture Paulus? ”

Seeing that he had guessed that I had come for another purpose, I had to laugh awkwardly twice, and then said in a rambling voice: "Comrade Military Commissar, in fact, it is not a big deal, I just want to ask the commander for manpower. In order to prevent him from misunderstanding, I also specifically emphasized, "Not infantry, but tank crews!" ”

Gurov was not an arbitrary person, he did not immediately answer whether I gave or not, just nodded, beckoned me to sit down again, pulled the map on the table closer, and explained the current shape for me.

"Comrade Oshanina, take a look at the shape that our 62nd Army is currently facing: the troops of Paulus's 6th Army and several divisions of the 4th Hort Tank Army are attacking the troops of our Army. Individual units of the enemy had advanced to the Volga near Kuporosnoye, north of Pnok and south of Stalingrad. The German troops, arranged in the shape of a horseshoe, pressed our army group towards the Volga from the front and on both flanks.

The enemy force consisted of 9 combat divisions armed with heavy weapons, in addition to several 'Starhel' clusters. They were also supported by the German 4th Air Force, which had almost a thousand combat aircraft of all kinds. The immediate task of this powerful group of German fascist troops was: to occupy Stalingrad and advance to the Volga, that is. After the battle, it advanced 5-10 kilometers. Drive us down the river. ”

When listening to his introduction here. I couldn't help but ask, "What about our troops?" ”

He sighed and said: "At present, the number of divisions and brigades within the group army cannot accurately and completely reflect the number and combat effectiveness of the group army's troops. For example, on the morning of September 4, there was a tank brigade with only one tank and two tank brigades with no tanks at all, and by tomorrow evening at the latest, they would be transferred to the east bank of the Volga to be reorganized. On the evening of September 5th. The mixed detachment of several brigades and divisions had a total of about 200 infantrymen, which was less than a full infantry battalion; Its friendly neighbor was Colonel Afanasyev's 244th Infantry Division, which numbered no more than 1,500 men, and the infantry in the division was about the same as a full battalion at best; The 42nd Infantry Brigade had 666 people, of which less than 200 were infantry; The infantry of the 35th Guards Division, commanded by Colonel Dubyansky, located on the left flank, did not exceed 250 people. The situation is similar in the rest of the corps and units. The brigades of the 23rd Tank Army under the command of General Popov had a total of 40~50 tanks, of which nearly 30% were damaged and could only be used as fixed firing points. Only your separate division and the 10th Infantry Division of the NKVD under the command of Colonel Saraev, as well as 3 other separate infantry brigades, are basically full. ”

"We put your division in the Mamayev Gang, and there is no way to do it." Chuikov, who came back after the call, continued: "The current situation, you must have also seen it, although there are many numbers in the group army. But very few troops can be used. So if you're coming to me to add, I can only say sorry to you. Because I don't have any extra troops here. ”

I quickly stood up and once again expressed my intention: "Comrade commander, I came to the headquarters tonight to replenish the troops, but I don't want infantry, but tank troops. As Comrade Military Commissar said just now, there is only one tank left of the three tank brigades in the group army. ”

After listening to my words, Chuikov asked in confusion: "Comrade Oshanina, your division does not have tanks, what kind of tank soldiers did you come to me at night?" ”

"That's right, Comrade Commander, in the battle tonight...... "I reported in detail to the two men about the battle that took place on the 107.5 heights, and finally said: "At the moment we have captured ten German tanks, and there are only eighteen tank men in the division. If you just start these tanks, the existing tank crew is enough. If we were to make use of these tanks and reorganize them into tank detachments of independent divisions and become an iron fist against the enemy, then the number of tank crews would be much worse. So ......"

Before I could finish speaking, Krylov, who had also returned to the table after making the call, took over: "So you go to the headquarters of the army group for help, hoping to replenish some tankmen with combat experience from those units that have lost all tanks." Am I right, Comrade Oshanina? ”

I nodded vigorously and replied in the affirmative: "Exactly, Comrade Chief of Staff, I came to the headquarters on purpose to replenish the tank corps. ”

"No problem, maybe we can't get the tanks, but the tankmen do." When Chuikov heard that I wanted to reorganize a new tank detachment, the expression on his face became rich, and he turned to Krylov and said: "Comrade Chief of Staff, all the tanks of the 42nd Separate Tank Brigade were lost in the previous two days of fighting, and according to the plan, this brigade will retreat to the east bank of the Volga River tomorrow evening to be reorganized. So let's do it, you immediately call the brigade commander Batrakov and the commissar Shaping and ask them to send 100 tankmen over and put them under the command of Colonel Oshanina. After instructing Krylov, he also asked me a special question: "Comrade Oshanina, is it enough?" If that's not enough, I'll send you another 169 tankers from the 50th Tank Brigade. ”

Hearing that Chuikov was so generous frightened me, I waved my hand again and again and said, "Enough is enough, Comrade Commander." Our division now has only ten tanks, or not so many, you can give me 30 tankmen enough. ”

My words drew a good-natured laugh from the three of them, and Gurov pointed his finger at me and scolded me with a smile: "You, you, Comrade Oshanina, you are so petty. If you can capture 10 tanks today, then tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, you will be able to capture 20, 30, or even 50 tanks, and then it will not be as easy as it is now to have tankers. ”

I listened to Gurov's words and muttered to myself: Do you think that the tanks of the Germans are all shells on the beach, waiting for you to pick them up casually? However, in front of my superiors, I still maintained a forced smile.

Seeing that Krylov was still standing still, Chuikov urged him: "Comrade Chief of Staff, what are you still doing standing here, immediately go and call Colonel Batrakov and ask him to immediately transfer 100 tankmen with rich combat experience, led by Political Commissar Comrade Xia Ping, to report to the headquarters of the group army!" ”

Krylov agreed, turned around and was about to make a call, but I quickly opened my mouth to stop him: "Comrade Chief of Staff, please wait a minute!" "The purpose of my call is to get two more political workers from the tank brigade to enrich Pelstian's tank detachment. If I hadn't explained it in advance, it was the political commissar of the tank brigade who led the team, and no matter how thick-skinned I was, it would have been impossible for a regimental-level political commissar to take up the post of instructor in a detachment of my division.

Krylov stopped and asked me curiously: "Comrade Oshanina, do you have anything else?" ”

I looked at Chuikov and Gurov and plucked up the courage to say to Krylov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, when you call Colonel Batrakov, can you ask him to send me two special political workers?" ”

After hearing this, Krylov nodded without hesitation and went straight to the call. On the contrary, Chuikov asked curiously: "I said, Comrade Oshanina, in my impression, you hate political workers the most, which is why I have never given you a teacher to accompany the political commissar." When did you change your personality and take the initiative to ask us to be a political worker? ”

I didn't know how to answer Chuikov's question, so I changed the subject in time: "By the way, Comrade Commander, there is one more thing I want to ask you about. ”

"What's the matter?"

"Why does your new order stipulate that when the divisions communicate with the headquarters of the group army, they cannot use plain language calls, but can only send telegrams or make phone calls?" Although Kirillov had already analyzed for me the reasons for this order from his superiors, in this case, I still wanted to ask what was going on.

"That's what happened." After hearing this, Chuikov replied lightly: "This order was issued by the Supreme Command to the Command of the Front, and then to me. As for the reason, I guess the decision was made by the superiors to prevent the Germans from intercepting our communications and from leaking military codes. ”

As we spoke, Krylov also came over after the phone call and reported to Chuikov: "Report to Comrade Commander, I have already called Colonel Batrakov, and he said that the troops will arrive in twenty minutes. ”

Chuikov nodded, and then asked me: "Comrade Oshanina, tell us about your flying thunder cannon, is it really that powerful?" "It seems that he still has a lot of thoughts about what I said.

In order to satisfy his curiosity, I once again reported the power of the flying thunder cannon in the battle to the three leaders, and finally concluded: "This weapon is very effective in attacking fortifications. Even if the enemy spends a month building strong fortifications, we only need to fire hundreds or thousands of explosives packs with flying thunder cannons to raze their positions to the ground. ”

Just as the three of them were sighing with emotion, a loud voice sounded in the room: "Report, Xia Ping, the regimental political commissar of the 42nd Brigade of the Independent Tank, has been ordered to come and wait for your orders!" (To be continued......)

PS: Bow and thank the book friends for the precious monthly tickets voted by the bent foot pole, *little crab*, and book friends 120730221046650 children's shoes!