When our convoy returned to the station of the Independent Division, although it was late, Captain Kosga, who had remained in the camp, met us outside with a company of troops.

Seeing a flashlight dangling in front of me, I was about to order the driver to pull over, when a truck passed by our jeep and slowed down to a stop on the side of the road.

I was annoyed that my car was overtaken by other cars. I pointed to the truck in front of me and asked Oleg angrily: "Comrade Major, who is on that car?" ”

Oleg tilted his head to look at it, turned around and replied to me: "Comrade division commander, on the truck in front of you is your guard squad. You see, they're getting out of the car. ”

When I heard that it was the truck in which the guard squad was overtaking, I didn't say anything more, just pushed the door and got out of the car, and stood next to the car and looked over, trying to figure out what they were trying to do. I saw that after the soldiers of the guard squad got out of the car, Vera, who had always been unreliable, was actually shouting the password to let the soldiers of the guard squad line up in a neat line next to the truck.

Seeing that I had gotten out of the car, Vera ran over and snapped a salute at me, and reported loudly: "Comrade division commander, the independent division guard squad has been assembled, please instruct!" Vera, the leader of the guard squad, is at your disposal. ”

After returning the salute, he glanced at the neatly lined up with satisfaction, and said in his heart that this Vera had finally opened her mind, and actually knew how to let the guard squad be ready to serve as a guard for me at any time before I got out of the car. I nodded and said to Vera, "Take the guard squad and come with me." ”

Vera replied, "Yes!" He turned and ran to the team and shouted, "All of them: stand upright, turn right." March! ”

I had just walked a short distance with the guard squad. Kosgaard had already arrived with a group of warriors. It's still a few steps away. He stopped, raised his hand to salute me, and said in a loud voice: "Comrade Division, welcome to your triumphant return!" ”

After returning the salute, he stepped forward and shook Captain Kosgaard's hand tightly, shook it and said, "Hello, Captain Kosgaard." Thank you for your hard work during the time I was away from the station. "When he said this. I felt a little guilty about him in my heart, and Sederikov, Oleg, and Gaidar, who went out on a mission with me, were all promoted to major because of their military exploits, and only he was still standing still, and he was particularly aggrieved to hang the rank of captain.

After I shook hands with Kosga, the three of them, Shederikov, Oleg, and Gaidar, came forward and shook hands and hugged Captain Koska, looking particularly affectionate.

After they had all greeted each other and exchanged a brief greeting, I urged them: "Comrades commanders. Do your best to arrange for your troops to return to the camp. Then the four of your regimental commanders, as well as Captain Pugachev, Captain Perstin, and Lieutenant Morozov, came to the headquarters. While we are now more fully staffed, we are going to have a meeting overnight. ”

When I returned to the headquarters, I hurriedly urged Razumeyeva to set up an antenna radio station and turn it on, fearing that Chuikov would have something important to contact me about the more than an hour on the road.

Unexpectedly, I was really unfortunate enough to say it, as soon as the camera was turned on, Razumeyeva received a call from the headquarters of the group army, and she quickly turned around and called me: "Comrade division commander, General Chuikov is on the line, he wants to talk to you." ”

When I heard that Chuikov was looking for me, my heart suddenly chuckled, and I said that there would be no part of the road that would be broken through by the Germans again, right? I put on my headphones, blew into the microphone, and asked tremblingly: "Hello, Comrade Commander, I am Lieutenant Colonel Oshanina, do you have any important instructions?" ”

"Oshanina, first of all, I want to tell you bad news." Chuikov's stern voice came from the earphones, and he said dryly, "The German Paulus's 6th Army attacked southeast from Trekhostrovkaya, northwest of Stalingrad, broke through General Kolpakchi's 62nd Army, crossed the Don River by force in the Velgach and Piskovatka sections, completely annihilated the defenders along the river crossing, and occupied Karachi. Today, the armored forces of the Germans advanced to the area of Yertsovka, on the northern outskirts of Stalingrad, and advanced to the Volga, completely separating the 62nd Army from the main forces of the Stalingrad Front. ”

Hearing what Chuikov said, my heart beat involuntarily, knowing that once the 62nd Army was defeated by the Germans and forced to retreat to Stalingrad, then our 64th Army would be alone and in danger of being surrounded by the German army. Taking a deep breath and trying to keep myself calm, I asked: "Comrade commander, that is, are our troops also going to fight and retreat, step by step, to Stalingrad?" ”

"Exactly." Chuikov said in a heavy tone: "Our original plan to stick to the Reynold-Spardanovka-Orlovka line can only be reluctantly abandoned, otherwise our army group will be in danger of being surrounded by the superior forces of the German army, and we may face the end of total annihilation when we wait for us." ”

"If the troops retreat, then what will happen to our trench fortifications on the 158, 165 heights in Spaldanovka?" The tunnel fortifications are my hard work, and if I give up so lightly and cheapen the Germans in vain, I am really a little unwilling in my heart.

"The tunnel fortifications in the area of Spardanovka are a secret of our army and must not be discovered by the Germans. So I have ordered Colonel Kolobhutin to blow up all the entrances to the tunnel when the troops withdraw from their positions. "It turned out that Chuikov had already thought carefully about how to deal with the tunnel fortifications, and the stone hanging in my heart also fell to the ground.

Thinking that in the near future the troops of the 64th Army would also withdraw to Stalingrad, so I wanted to find out in advance about the current situation in the city, so I asked tentatively: "Comrade commander, did you lose a lot of money in the city during the great bombardment of Stalingrad by enemy aircraft groups?" ”

"It's a bad situation, Oshanina." "I just spoke to General Vasilevsky, the representative of the base camp, that I was locked up in a place far from the city during the bombing yesterday, and he was in the headquarters of the Front in Stalingrad, where he witnessed the whole process of the heroic city named after the Supreme Commander-in-Chief being in ruins. According to him, during the bombing, many complexes in the city disappeared in an instant. The city's beautiful leafy neighborhoods are gone. The entire downtown area was filled with smoke throughout the day. Huge dust kicked up by heavy bombs. It rolled in the air like a brown mist for a long time, enveloping almost the entire city. At night, the city was plunged into a sea of fire, and the pillars of light emitted by the searchlights of our antiaircraft artillery units, and the thick smoke and flames of explosions that pierced the sky and exploded during the fall of enemy planes after being hit, made every witness tremble.

Although the enemy's bombing brought huge losses to our city, they still refused to give up, and the planes continued to be dispatched. The sound of a loud explosion spread farther into the night. The enemy's incessant bombardment has brought unprecedented damage to the city, paralyzing the city's water, telegraph office, trams, railway junctions and power supply equipment......"

Listening to Chuikov's remarks about this, I immediately understood in my heart why Khrushchev did not ask us for the blame later, because the bombing guided missile completely cut off the communication between the front headquarters and the front-line troops.

What Chuikov said next confirmed my suspicion: "...... General Vasilevsky also said that at the time of the bombing, all his telegraph and telephone contacts with the General Staff, the Supreme High Command, were cut off. In order to restore contact with the outside world, he had to be in the underground headquarters, desperately shouting on the radio. After the resumption of contact with the Supreme High Command. The Supreme Commander himself sent instructions to him and the heads of the other two fronts, ordering them to hold back the enemy's attack at any cost. Defend this heroic city to the death.

At the same time, Stalin instructed them: 'Immediately combine all the aviation forces of the two fronts and strike at the enemy who is making a surprise attack on the city.' Mobilize all the armored vehicles and patrol along the Stalingrad Ring Railway, giving confidence to the inhabitants of the city. Strike at the enemy's mechanized units with the full use of artillery and rocket artillery units...... The most important thing is to keep people's hearts steady, not to panic, not to be afraid of shameless enemies, and every commander and fighter must have the confidence that our army will win! ’”

Hearing that Chuikov told me so much about the current unfavorable situation, I wondered if he wanted to use my independent division in some main operational direction, and now he is talking to me just to talk to me in advance and make me ready as soon as possible. Actually, I'm not afraid of pulling the troops out to fight any bad battles, as long as Chuikov can replenish my division with enough weapons and ammunition, then it won't be a problem.

While I was thinking about it, I heard another sentence from Chuikov, which almost made me jump up with joy: "Oshanina, after I and Commander Shumilov studied and decided, and reported to the Front Command for approval, it was decided to award you the official number of the independent division, and tomorrow morning I will personally go to your division's station and hold a flag-awarding ceremony for you." ”

"Great, Comrade Commander, this is wonderful!" When I heard this news, I was really overjoyed, the independent division has a military flag and an official number, as long as the whole army is not destroyed in the battle or the military flag is captured by the enemy, then our division will not be lightly withdrawn. I was so excited that I was a little incoherent, "Thank you, thank you, thank you so much!" ”

Chuikov then said: "I will now announce to you the composition of the troops. The independent division is a division of the first type, and the whole division has four regiments, each of which has four battalions. The division headquarters directly administers the guard battalion, artillery company, tank company, engineer company, communications company, and health battalion, with a total of 8,700 men, including 480 officers, all of whom were selected from the commanders and fighters of the former independent division. In addition, a special letter of appointment appoints you as the commander of an independent division, and the rank is promoted to colonel. The four regiment commanders were all promoted to lieutenant colonels based on their military exploits. ”

It was so unexpected to hear that I was quietly promoted to colonel, and I thought that I would not be promoted until the end of the Battle of Stalingrad at the earliest, but I didn't expect to be promoted again so soon. I just wanted to say something grateful to Chuikov, but I didn't expect him to speak first, maybe guessing what I was thinking, he lowered his voice and said: "Comrade Oshanina, let me give you a thorough explanation, this promotion of your military rank was an order personally issued by General Zhukov. And he may be coming to Stalingrad in the near future, if you have anything to thank, you can tell him personally when you meet him. After saying that, Chuikov smiled, and then cut off contact.

I put down my headphones and microphone, smiled at Razumeyeva, who was sitting next to me, and said that if a communications company was formed, this sergeant would be the best candidate at the moment. When I turned around, I saw that the commanders I had asked for the meeting were all seated.

Seeing me walking towards them with a smile on my face, Shedelikov couldn't help but ask curiously: "Comrade division commander." Look at how happy you look. Isn't there a happy event? ”

Before I could answer. Captain Koska, who was next to him, interjected with some dissatisfaction: "Major Sederikov, you wait a minute, I have something to say to Comrade Division Commander." ”

Kosgaard wanted to say something, I could guess in my heart, and after I sat down in my place, I raised my chin to him and said, "Major Sederikov, your question. I'll answer you later, but let's hear what Captain Kosgaard has to say. ”

Kosgaard stood up and said aggrievedly: "Comrade division commander, if there are any more combat missions in the future, you must send me and my regiment there, and you can't always leave opportunities to other regiments." You see, a few days ago, they were all on the same level as me, but after these battles, they all became majors. Even Captain Oleg, who was one level below me before. Now I'm also Major Oleg, and I'm the only one left who is still Captain Kosga. ”

His words immediately caused everyone to laugh. Gaidar shouted with a fear that the world would not be chaotic: "Captain Kosgaard, don't worry, next time there is a combat mission, none of us will fight with you, just let you take your regiment, do you think it will work?" ”

Gaidar's words are literally no problem, but the combat mission to be carried out is not something that can be carried out if you want to, and even if the next mission is carried out by Captain Kosgaard and his regiment, it is difficult to say whether such a result can be achieved this time.

Seeing Captain Kosgaard's annoyed look, I quickly stood up, reached out and pressed down, motioning for him to sit down. After he sat down, I said unhurriedly: "Comrade Kosgaard, I didn't let you go with me on this expedition because the garrison needs to leave someone in charge, I thought about it again, only your ability can be qualified for this left-behind task, so I left you behind." But you don't have to worry about the military rank, I will officially announce to you now: Comrade Kosgaard, from now on, you are no longer a captain, but a lieutenant colonel, a lieutenant colonel Kosgaard! ”

"What? Lieutenant Colonel! Hearing my announced decision, Kosgaard jumped up directly from the stool, his eyes widened like brass bells, and asked in an incredulous tone: "Comrade division commander, what did you just say?" You say I'm a lieutenant colonel, Lieutenant Colonel Kosgaard, this ...... It's true...... Are you sure? ”

I nodded, did not speak, but turned my head to look at Sederikov on the other side, and said to him in a steady tone: "Comrade Sederikov, didn't you just ask me what happy things happened?" I'll sue you now. General Chuikov has just officially informed us that the Independent Division has been included in the official establishment, and he will come to the headquarters of the Independent Division tomorrow morning to hold a flag-awarding ceremony for our Division! ”

At this point in my words, I saw that everyone present showed signs of wanting to cheer, so I hurriedly stopped them, and said quickly: "Don't get excited, I haven't finished speaking." The independent division is a type A division, with four regiments, each regiment under the jurisdiction of four battalions, and the division headquarters directly administers the guard battalion, artillery company, tank company, engineer company, communications company, and health battalion, with a total of 8,700 people, including 480 officers, all of whom are selected from the commanders and fighters of the former independent division. At this point, I deliberately paused for a moment, coughed, and then continued: "Comrade Commander also said that the commanders of the four regiments were all promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel according to their combat merits. ”

As soon as the words fell, the commanders, who were already on the verge of excitement, could no longer hold back their feelings, and first Sederikov looked up at the sky, raised his arms and shouted: "Ula! Then several commanders who were infected by his love also shouted: "Ula! Ulla!! Ulla!!! ”

Seeing them shouting and screaming and jumping and hugging each other from time to time, I couldn't help but smile knowingly on my face.

When they had yelled and jumped enough, and returned to their respective positions and sat down, they found that there were many curious soldiers standing at the door, probing their brains inside, and it seemed that they were trying to figure out what had happened that would make these usually high-ranking commanders so out of shape.

Sederikov walked to the door, blasted away the fighters who were watching the excitement, returned to the table and sat down, and continued the topic I had just said: "Comrade division commander, in addition to the four of us who continue to retain the post of regiment commander, we will appoint sixteen battalion commanders, do you have suitable candidates?" ”

"This is a matter for you to be the head of the regiment, so I won't ask." Having said that, there are indeed too few commanders and fighters with combat experience in the division, so I specially reminded him: "If there are not enough candidates for battalion commanders, several of you regiment commanders can also temporarily serve as battalion commanders, and when you find a suitable candidate, you will be relieved of this part-time job." ”

Seeing that several regiment commanders nodded in agreement, I announced the choice of commander of the troops directly under the division: "Now I announce that the commander of the divisional guard battalion will be Captain Pugachev, and the commander of the artillery company will be Captain Morozov......"

As soon as I said this, I was interrupted by Morozov, who reminded me a little embarrassedly: "Comrade division commander, I am a lieutenant, not a captain. ”

I waved my hand and said unequivocally: "Comrade Morozov, don't argue with me about such a trivial matter, I said that you are a captain, you are a captain, and later add a square to the collar badge yourself." ”

After Morozov, whose face was flushed with excitement, sat down, I went on to announce: "Commander of the tank company, Captain Perstian; When I said this, I paid special attention to the face of the tank captain, and saw a look of disappointment on his face. Although I also want to promote him, but unfortunately the strength of the tank detachment is too small, there are only four tanks, and it seems a bit unreasonable to promote him to the rank of captain.

"The commander of the engineer company, Comrade Mihayev held the post." When talking about this construction engineer, I thought that he had no military rank before, and if he was directly promoted to captain, I guess many people would not be convinced. I hesitated for a moment before announcing, "At the same time, he will be promoted to the rank of second lieutenant." ”

"The commander of the communications company," I turned to look at Razumeeva, who was sitting next to the walkie-talkie, and announced, "Comrade Lazumeeva will be in the position, and at the same time promoted to the rank of second lieutenant." ”

When Razumeyeva heard my appointment to her, she quickly got up from her seat, put her hands together, lowered her head, and said a little shyly: "Comrade division commander, I may not be able to be this company commander. ”

"Second Lieutenant Lazumeeva," Sederikov called her new rank without hesitation: "Don't worry about this, the division commander says you can do it, you will do it." I believe that the teacher's vision, what she sees correctly, will definitely not be wrong. ”

"That's it, that's it, what the division commander said can't be wrong." As soon as he finished speaking, Kosgaard chimed in.

Then Oleg and Gaidar persuaded Lazumeeva while patting me on the back: "Second Lieutenant Lazumeyeva, don't shirk it." The division commander is right, and since she has appointed you to this position, you will definitely be able to do the job. ”

Seeing that there was no way out, and did not refuse my appointment again, Razumayeva had to nod her head with a red face and sit back in her place.

"Things are a bit of a hassle with the health camp. Our division did not have a special health officer, and the wounded from these battles were handed over to friendly health battalions. At present, the health camp is just an empty shelf, so I will not arrange it for the time being in terms of personnel. ”

Next, I expressed my views on the several battles experienced by my division during this expedition, and put forward suggestions for improving some of the problems that existed in them.

As one of the participants, Sederikov bluntly pointed out that the firepower of our division was insufficient for the attack, there was a lack of sufficient artillery and tanks, and during the offensive, the supporting fire could not destroy the enemy's defensive fire in a short time, as a result of which the heavy casualties of the troops were lost. In the end, he also proposed that we should apply to the group army headquarters for weapons and equipment, and it is best to wait for the higher authorities to replenish us with enough tanks and artillery, so that the combat effectiveness of our division can be greatly improved.

I politely rejected the plan put forward by Sederikov, and I said to them in a serious tone: "Comrades, the equipment of our division is very poor, but at the same time we must see that the equipment of other units of the army group is not much better. Some didn't even have anti-tank weapons, and in the face of the swarming mechanized troops, the fighters had to carry cluster grenades to blow up the enemy's tanks. We had no weapons to take from the enemy, and when we captured the Italian and Hungarian battalions this time, we seized a lot of guns and ammunition. At this point, I suddenly remembered that all these weapons had been brought back to the camp, so I turned to Kosgaard and asked: "Comrade Kosgaard, have the weapons brought back been distributed to the soldiers?" (To be continued......)