Seeing that the scene was out of control, I hurried forward to maintain order, and I stood behind the female signal soldiers and shouted at them: "Girls, be quiet, be quiet, please be quiet." ”

The girls, who were shouting at Chuikov over the microphone, closed their mouths one after another and turned their heads to look at me. I said to Tokareva with a straight face: "Comrade second lieutenant, please remember that you are soldiers, not ordinary people. General Chuikov called to report to the leadership of the Front, not to discuss these trivial matters with you. ”

Tokareva's face was flushed by what I said, and she lowered her head and apologized to me in embarrassment: "I'm sorry, comrade commander, I didn't discipline me strictly, I will pay attention to it later." As she spoke, she turned to her female soldiers and shouted, "Girls, what are you doing here, go back to your posts immediately." ”

Although the girls were reluctant to receive an affirmative answer from Chuikov, they were angry when they saw that their superior, Tokareva, was angry, so they had to leave and sit down in front of the communication equipment they were in charge of.

I walked over to the walkie-talkie, put on the headphones, and I politely said to the microphone: "Hello, Comrade Commander, it's nice to hear your voice, are you okay?" ”

"Oshanina, I heard that you have regained the rank of major general, and on behalf of Gurov and Krylov, I congratulate you." Chuikov did not answer my questions, but first congratulated me on my reinstatement.

I said, half-jokingly, half-seriously: "Thank you, Comrade Commander. But if I can't go back to Stalingrad and continue fighting, even if I become a marshal, I will hardly be happy. ”

Chuikov's tone suddenly became very stern: "Oshanina." Do you know. If we hadn't made the decision to transfer female soldiers decisively yesterday. During the day today, it is estimated that few of the female soldiers around you will survive. ”

His words startled me, and I said to myself: Could it be that the enemy has accidentally touched the vicinity of the headquarters again? Hurriedly asked: "Commander, what's wrong?" ”

"At noon, the fascist bandits, having probably figured out the location of our headquarters, began to carry out heavy shelling and bombardment of his area where we are." Chuikov said in a mournful tone: "The blasting bomb blew up the entire area and blew up several nearby oil tanks. The burning fiery liquid gushed out in large quantities and flowed through our shelter to the Volga, drowning the headquarters in a sea of fire. The flaming oil flowed to the shore and then pounced on the barges and the logs washed ashore by the river. The fire swept barges and logs down the river. In an instant, it was as if the entire Voga River suddenly burst into flames, and the flames gloated violently in the turbulence. ”

Listening to Chuikov's description, my cold hairs stood on end, and I thought to myself that Chuikov did not force us to transfer yesterday, but waited until today, how many female soldiers could safely reach the east bank of the Volga. Still an unknown.

"Didn't you transfer in time?" Because of my nervousness, I unconsciously held the microphone tightly.

Chuikov laughed twice. "Our lines of communication were burned down, and we had to rely on radio to communicate with our subordinate troops, but the radio signal was unstable and often interrupted at the most critical moments. Seeing that our headquarters was besieged by fire, many commanders and fighters in the headquarters panicked. At this time, the Chief of Staff Nikolai . Ivanovich. Krylov resolutely stood up and gave the order, and he shouted at the commanders and fighters: 'No one is allowed to leave!' Keep working in the undamaged shelter! …… Restore communication with the troops, and keep the radio open! ’

After he had said this, he approached me and asked in a low voice, 'Commander, how is it now, can we hold on?' ’

I looked at him and replied, 'Don't worry, we'll hold on!' Then I expressed my determination in the words he had said: 'We will wipe our pistols clean when necessary.' ’

Seeing that I was so confident, he also said cheerfully: 'Okay, that's it!' Then he went back to his work. ”

Hearing this, I could no longer control my feelings, and I said excitedly to Chuikov: "Comrade commander, since the situation is so dangerous, then you should be transferred. Yes, immediately, without hesitation, transfer. ”

After my words silenced Chuikov for a moment, he continued: "Frankly, when I first caught fire, I jumped out of the shelter, and I felt that the fire was dazzling, and my eyes were glazed, and I was indeed a little panicked, but General Krylov shouted orders to everyone, including to me, as if I were shouting 'Ula' during the attack, and became a force to encourage us to fight. In this way, we stuck to our posts surrounded by fire, and never stopped commanding the troops. At this point, I heard him smile wryly, "Although we are surrounded by fire, we cannot be transferred because we have no prepared headquarters. Since all troops, including the engineer units, have been put into battle, it is not possible to construct a new command for us. ”

"Comrade Commander, the commander of the engineer company of the independent division, Mihayev, was previously a construction engineer of a very high level, and I think he is fully capable of constructing a complete and safe command headquarters for you in a short time, please allow me to continue to maintain command of the independent division, so that I can give orders directly to Captain Mihayev."

"There's no need for this," Chuikov politely rejected my proposal, and he continued to say in a flat tone: "Last night Commander Yeremenko gave me a special order that I must report to him once a day, and now is the time to report, please call Chief of Staff Zakharov, I will report to him on today's battle situation." ”

"Please wait, Comrade Commander." When I finished speaking, I put the headphones and microphone on the table, walked over to a telephone, shook the handle on the dock a few times, and picked up the phone. The sweet voice of the female operator came from the earpiece: "Comrade commander, where do you want?" ”

I was stunned for a moment, and then instinctively replied: "Please give me the Chief of Staff of the Front, General Zakharov." ”

"Wait a minute!"

Soon Zakharov's voice came from the earpiece: "Hey. I'm Zakharov. Where are you? ”

"Hello. Comrade Chief of Staff, I'm Oshanina. "After identifying myself, I briefly reported to him that Chuikov was waiting to report to him on the day's battles.

"Okay, I'll be right over." After he finished speaking, he hung up the phone directly.

In less than a minute, there was a rush of footsteps outside the door, and Zakharov appeared in the doorway. He nodded at me. Straight to the point, he asked: "On which line is Chuikov on?" ”

I hurriedly led him to the walkie-talkie that Tokareva was in charge of, picked up the headphones and microphone on the table, handed them to him, and said with a smile: "General Chuikov is waiting to talk to you. ”

After Zakharov thanked him, he put on his headphones, held the microphone in one hand, and took out a notebook and pencil from his coat pocket with the other, and began to record the situation reported by Chuikov. Because I wasn't far away, I leaned a little bit and I could see what was written in the notebook.

I saw that it was written: "The enemy is at dawn." A new offensive began on the defense areas of our army. The Gurtiev division held back the enemy attack by 18 hours. However, at the end of the day. The Germans surrounded it from both flanks, and the division had to retreat south of Nizhnewudinsky Street to the other side of the railway. Put the left wing on Winnitsky Street. One of the division's commanders, Major Marklov, was seriously wounded in battle.

The Smehotvorov division spent the whole day fighting with the enemy for public baths and cookware factories. During the all-day battle, the public bathhouse, although it changed hands several times, is still in our hands. The division suffered heavy casualties, and only 200~250 commanders and fighters remained in each regiment.

The Guriev division repelled all the attacks of the Germans on the "Red October" plant. The Gorishny, Vachuk and Rodimtsev divisions held their positions against several enemy attacks on the left flank of the army group.

Judging by these course of battles, the enemy's attempt was to rush to the Voga at any cost, and after capturing the main factories, from there to develop an offensive along the Volga to the south. ”

Zakharov wrote almost everything in his notebook and asked Chuikov: "Comrade Chuikov, is there anything else to report?" ”

"We found out," I could clearly hear Chuikov's voice because Zakharov took off the headphones and held them in his hands: "From the Moklamaychetka River to the 107.5 heights, on a frontage of about 5 kilometers, the enemy has concentrated 5 divisions (including 3 infantry divisions and 2 tank divisions), in addition to many reinforced units. In addition, the Germans transferred about 40 engineer battalions from other parts of the Soviet-German battlefield and from the German mainland. The German battles in the Orlov area were not only aimed at solving that bulge, but also trying to divert our attention from the main assault on the factories. Faced with this situation, we decided to send the Roludev division to hold the tractor plant.

The regiments of the 37th Division, having occupied the defensive line, immediately entered the battle early this morning, holding back the enemy infantry and tanks that had broken through the battle formations of the Gurtiev and Yermolgin divisions.

The army group needed to have a respite, even for a day, to reorganize its ranks, assemble artillery, supply ammunition, replenish its personnel, and in order to drive the aggressors out of the residential area of the tractor factory and the town of Barikad in the next step with a local counter-attack. The commander of the Front asked us to start a counteroffensive early this morning. But the army group simply could not do this. Because we are running out of ammunition here, and it has become more and more difficult to transport ammunition through the Volga and because of the incessant shelling and bombardment by the Germans. ”

After listening to Chuikov's report, Zakharov said with some impatience: "Comrade Chuikov, the front army has tried its best to meet all the demands put forward by your group army. Didn't the 84th Brigade of the Tank of Colonel Bere, which reinforced you last night, already cross the river to the city? ”

To his doubts, Chuikov defended: "Comrade Chief of Staff, due to the lack of transport vessels, at the moment only light tanks can cross the river. Immediately after reaching the right bank, these light tanks were incorporated into the battle formations of the Zorodev and Gurtiev divisions. They can only be used as a point of fire, because I personally think it is irrational to use them for a counter-shock against the German tanks. In addition, during the day today, the enemy flew nearly 2,000 sorties over the factory area of the city. From dawn, all actions of the troops stopped. Due to the heavy bombardment of the enemy, the wounded fighters could not even leave the bomb shelters and bunkers before dark, and could only be taken to the health camp by the hygienists when darkness came. ”

I think everything that Chuikov said is true and credible, but at the moment I can only be an honest observer, and I can't just talk to Zakharov about my opinion. But fortunately, Zakharov was not an unreasonable person, he nodded and said: "Comrade Chuikov, I have been notified that the deputy commander of the Front, Philip Lee, who has just returned from Moscow. Ivanovich. General Golikov, who will cross the Volga tonight, will go to your command headquarters to supervise the implementation of the counterattack plan. ”

Hearing that the deputy commander was going to inspect the city, Chuikov said with some embarrassment: "Comrade Chief of Staff, can you ask Comrade Deputy Commander to cancel this trip?" ”

"Why?" Zakharov's words surprised Zakharov, and he asked puzzledly: "Comrade Deputy Commander's itinerary has been arranged a long time ago, why should it be canceled?" ”

At such times, Chuikov did not hide his bad situation from the chief of staff: "The situation of communication in our command is getting worse and worse, and due to the bombing and shelling of the enemy, it has never been able to improve. Apparently, the fascist artillerymen and mortars, already knowing the exact location of our command post, kept firing at our command with direct aim, and from time to time mortar shells fell on the entrance to my shelter and exploded. The number of casualties among the personnel of the command post is increasing by the hour, and it is obvious that it is no longer safe to allow the deputy commander comrade to come here and take risks. ”

Zakharov was stunned after hearing this, he pondered for a moment, and then asked solemnly: "Deputy commander, I am responsible for speaking." Now my concern is that since you can no longer be used as a command there, I advise you to move immediately. Do you have a suitable place to serve as a new command? ”

There was no sound in the headphones, presumably Chuikov was thinking about it. After two or three minutes, Chuikov's voice came from the headset again: "Comrade Chief of Staff, after my study with Krylov, it has been decided to transfer the headquarters of the army group to the headquarters of the Saraev Division, which has now been withdrawn to the east bank for reorganization, and we can just use the headquarters they left behind." But in this case, we need to move about 500 meters along the banks of the Volga River towards the defense line of the tractor plant. ”

"Then do your best to transfer, Comrade Chuikov." Zakharov said amicably into the microphone: "As for the matter of the deputy commander, leave it to me." (To be continued......)

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