Yesterday's German attack on the 107.5 heights put on a posture of inevitability, and although we finally repelled the German attack, the 2nd Regiment paid a heavy price of more than 400 casualties. Therefore, as soon as it was dawn today, I took Major Basmanov to the observation post on the top of the hill and closely followed the movements of the 107.5 heights.

Unexpectedly, until the third pole of the sun, there was still no movement of the German army, neither artillery nor bombardment, let alone the attacking troops. Basmanov, who was on guard duty outside, also noticed this anomaly, he walked into the observation post and carefully reminded me: "Comrade division commander, the Germans are very abnormal today, they have all reached this point, but they have not seen any movement from them, could there be any conspiracy?" ”

I didn't speak, just turned my head to look at him, then turned around and picked up the phone and dialed the division headquarters: "Hey, Comrade Chief of Staff, is there anything you have there?" ”

Akhromeyev hurriedly reported to me: "Comrade division commander, according to the feedback from the command of the army group, today the factory area is as calm as ours here, and almost all the battles are taking place in the defense zone of the 64th Army and the 57th Army. Maybe it really is, as the commander analyzed, that the enemy needs some time to replenish his forces and weapons and ammunition, so for the time being there is not enough strength to attack us. ”

I think Akhromeyev's words are very reasonable, they have come to this point, the Germans have not made the slightest movement, it seems that they will not attack today, and they can use this time to rush to repair the fortifications, so I ordered Akhromeyev: "In that case, Comrade Chief of Staff." We can't waste time either. Immediately contact the commander of the engineer company, Captain Mihayev. Let him lead his troops to the 107.5 heights to repair the fortifications. With a strong and well-established defense system, we can greatly reduce the casualties of our troops in the following battles. ”

Although I said verbally that the purpose of sending sappers to assist in repairing the fortifications was to reduce the casualties of the troops, in fact, I thought in my heart that the Soviet counteroffensive would begin in about twenty days, and if the Mamayev Hill was lost before the counteroffensive began, then I would be met with an extremely tragic fate. So I tried my best to take precautions to avoid such a tragedy.

Since there were now a lot of trucks in the division, the engineer company did not go on foot but all by car when it went to the 107.5 heights. So in less than half an hour, I saw the troops, led by Captain Mihayev, begin to rush on the northern slopes of the heights.

Basmanov stood beside me for a while, and when he saw that I did not speak, he voluntarily withdrew. After looking at Heights 107.5 for a while, I turned my attention to the German forward position to the northeast.

I saw that in the long trenches, from time to time I saw some soldiers with steel helmets walking by. Several firing points that we have destroyed before. It was rebuilt and carefully reinforced. To the south of the trench are two barbed wire fences spaced seventy or eighty meters apart. And the open field in the middle, needless to say, must have been a minefield laid by the Germans.

I silently looked at this forward position, which had been captured by us several times, but could not hold it, and thought with regret in my heart that it was a pity that there were too few cannons in the division, otherwise as long as the cannons were erected on the high ground of the four regiments and bombarded them condescendingly every day, they would have caused a lot of casualties to the enemy.

I was thinking about it when the phone rang suddenly. Before I could turn around and answer the phone, Basmanov had already walked in from outside and was the first to pick up the phone: "Hey, this is the observation post, where are you?" ”

Although I did not look back, I guessed that nine times out of ten the call came from the division headquarters. Sure enough, I soon heard Basmanov calling out to me: "Comrade division commander, it's the chief of staff who called. ”

I hurriedly put down the binoculars, turned around and walked in front of Basmanov, took the phone in his hand, and said: "Comrade Chief of Staff, it's me." ”

"Comrade division commander," Akhromeyev asked in an inquiring tone, "can you return to the division headquarters immediately?" ”

I could hear his anxiety in his voice, and immediately guessed that there must be something in the command that required me to go back immediately, so I hurriedly asked, "Is something wrong?" ”

"Yes, Comrade Division Commander. Just now, Comrade Commander called and asked where you had been, and I said that you were at the observation post. He said that as soon as you returned, he would call him back immediately, saying that he had something important to look for you. ”

It must not be a trivial matter for Chuikov to look for me at such a time, and when I thought of this, I immediately promised: "Okay, I'll go back right away." ”

When Akhromeyev walked into the headquarters, he took the initiative to call the headquarters of the army group, and when he got through, he said respectfully into the microphone: "Hello, please help me find Commander Chuikov, General Oshanina of the independent division has something to report to him." ”

I walked briskly over to his side and took the microphone and put it to my ear. After a while, the majestic voice of Chuikov came from the earpiece: "I am Chuikov!" ”

"Hello, Comrade Commander." I heard Chuikov's voice, quickly confessed my identity, and then asked him: "I don't know if you called me, is there anything wrong?" ”

"That's right, Comrade Oshanina." Chuikov said to me in a calm tone: "Since we talked in your headquarters, I have proposed the idea of launching a sniper campaign in various units, and the Military Committee of the Army Group headed by Comrade Gurov is also very supportive of this initiative. The newspaper of the group army, "Defend the Fatherland", published every day the number of fascist bandits killed by our snipers and published photographs of outstanding snipers.

Various political departments and caucus organizations are involved in leading the sniper movement, discussing this aspect at party and caucus meetings, and formulating various measures in detail to improve the skills of sharpshooters. And each sniper takes on the task of training several shooters and training them to become independent snipers. Since we started this campaign, the fascists who have been beaten by us have suffered so much that at least a thousand German officers and soldiers have fallen under the guns of our snipers. ”

I didn't understand that Chuikov suddenly mentioned this, so I could only echo and say: "Yes, Comrade Commander, I also know about this matter from all sides, although we have not invested many troops, but the results we have achieved are not small, and even far exceed the results of one or two divisions. ”

"Although our snipers have achieved good results, ......," Chuikov's tone suddenly became stern, "but today, our snipers have become the target of others. ”

Chuikov's words surprised me, and I said in my heart, could it be that the snipers of other units also encountered the sniper sniper of the principal of the sniper school? In order to find out what was going on, I asked bluntly: "Comrade commander, what is going on?" ”

"Half an hour ago, I received reports from Colonel Gorishny, commander of the 95th Infantry Division, and Major General Joludev, commander of the 37th Guards Division, that the snipers they sent to the Yerman and Dzerzhinsky districts had been accidental, and that a total of 11 snipers had been killed by German snipers. ”

Hearing that eleven more snipers had been killed by the mysterious snipers, I couldn't help but worry about Vasily and the three of them, and I was afraid that something would happen to them. Maybe I was distracted by worry, so much so that I didn't hear what Chuikov said later.

It wasn't until Chuikov raised his voice and shouted at me several times that I came to my senses and hurriedly replied: "Comrade commander, I'm here, what other instructions do you have?" ”

"I'm talking to you, have you listened again?" Chuikov asked dissatisfiedly, "I've been talking to you for a long time, and you haven't even reacted at all." ”

Hearing that Chuikov was angry, I quickly explained: "Comrade commander, this is the case. Our division also encountered such a situation yesterday, seven snipers who went out on a mission were killed by the sniping of mysterious German snipers. ”

"What, your division has also encountered this situation, so why don't you report it to me in time?"

In response to Chuikov's reproach, I explained to him with a bitter face: "Comrade commander, in order to find out who this German sniper is, I have sent three of the best snipers of the whole division this morning, led by Second Lieutenant Vasily, to find out the mysterious snipers of the German army. ”

"How long have they been out?" Chuikov asked.

"I left before dawn."

My answer pleased Chuikov, and instead of dwelling on me for not reporting the matter in time, he said to me in a slow tone: "Comrade Oshanina, as soon as Ensign Vasily and they return, you must report to me in time, no matter what the situation is. Do you understand? ”

I was about to answer when there was a sudden sound of hurried footsteps at the door, and someone shouting outside. I covered the microphone and was about to ask Basmanov to go out to see what was going on, when I saw that in the crowd of people, at the head of the crowd was Ensign Vasily, who looked so wolf that he didn't even have a steel helmet on his head. In the crowd behind, there were two stretchers, and as soon as they entered the headquarters, the room suddenly became crowded.

"Hey, Comrade Oshanina," came Chuikov's roar through the earpiece, "why don't you speak?" ”

"Report to Comrade Commander," I let go of my hand covering the microphone and reported to him, "it's Second Lieutenant Vasily, it's Second Lieutenant Vasily and his companions who have returned." ”

"Oh, Second Lieutenant Vasily is back?" Chuikov's surprised voice came from the earpiece, "Let them report immediately, how did the task they went to perform have been completed?" (To be continued......)