"What, what? What did you say? "Kosgaard's words startled me, for in my memory, the division of the Stalingrad Front and the friendly forces was not today, nor with the Don Front, but with the troops of the Southwestern Front. I was afraid that I had heard it wrong, so I asked him to repeat what he had just said, "I didn't hear what you just said, please repeat it again!" ”

Lieutenant Colonel Kosgaard thought I really didn't hear clearly, so he raised his voice and repeated what he had just said. Because his voice was so loud that Kirillov and Bandereev, who were standing aside, also heard it.

"Comrade Oshanina," Kirillov asked aloud as he walked over, his voice trembling a little from excitement, "Lieutenant Colonel Kosgaard reports that they have joined forces with friendly forces?" …… Is it true? ”

"Comrade Commissar, I think it should be true." After saying this to Kirillov, I asked loudly into the microphone: "Lieutenant Colonel Kosgaard, please explain the matter in more detail." Where and with which unit did you join the division, and who were the commanders and fighters on both sides? ”

Hearing me say this, Lieutenant Colonel Kosgaard realized that he was a little overjoyed, and actually only said that he would join the friendly army, but did not make it clear which unit of the friendly army would join the division, and hurriedly added: "Comrade 15th Division Commander, please listen to my explanation." When the troops of our regiment were about to seize the high ground, a fierce gunfire suddenly came from the north side of the high ground. I was quite puzzled at the time, and hurriedly asked the deputy commander, Major Wattolak: Major, did you send your troops back to the back of the German heights?

Wattolac shook his head and replied very dryly: 'No. Comrade Regiment Commander. Start with the battle. I'll be there for you all the time. I never left. ’

Then I asked, 'What's going on with the gunfire coming from behind the high ground?' ’

Major Wattolak thought for a moment, and said tentatively: 'Could it be that the German troops, routed by the Don Front, had a misunderstanding with their own men when they retreated here.' ’

I thought about this speculation for a while, shook my head and said, 'Comrade Major, this is impossible. It was daytime, and the Germans on the heights would never mistake their troops for ours. Speaking of which. I also voiced my guess, 'Could it be that our guerrillas left behind are attacking the high ground?' ’

Major Wattolac immediately dismissed my speculation and stated his opinion: 'Partisans? It's absolutely impossible. If they really had the ability to storm the fortified German positions, they would not have been faceless the last time our division went north. ’

When I heard him say this, I wondered even more, thinking that the troops attacking the German troops on the northern heights could not have been sent by Lieutenant Colonel Shederikov to support us, but why didn't he say hello to me beforehand. ……”

Kosgaard was a little wordy when he recounted the meeting. But to get to the bottom of it, I didn't interrupt him. Instead, I listened quietly to what he had to say.

“…… At that time, the commander of the third battalion, Major Godunov, came in to report on his work, and I had the idea to give him this task and ordered him to find out which unit was attacking on the other side of the German heights. After the departure of the battalion commander Godunov, I and the deputy regimental commander, Major Wattolak, walked out of the command post and observed the battle for the high ground in the trenches.

At this time, the troops of the 1st and 2nd Battalions had occupied the two hills on the left and right, respectively, while the troops of the 3rd Battalion were launching a final attack on the main position on the top of the hill. At this moment, clouds of fire and smoke rose from the position on the top of the mountain, and it seemed that a fierce battle was going on.

Major Wattolak, who was next to me, suddenly touched my arm and said excitedly: 'Comrade Commander, do you think it could be a unit of the Don Front?' ’

Hearing him say this, I hurriedly raised my binoculars and carefully observed the position on the top of the mountain. After looking at it for a while, I saw that the steel helmets of our army were really shaking in the trenches, and at this moment the troops of the third battalion had not yet rushed to the top of the mountain. As a result, I immediately concluded that the battle with the enemy was taking place on the summit, not necessarily the commanders and fighters of the Don Front, but certainly our allies. ……”

Kirillov, who had been listening to it in my ear for a long time, finally couldn't help it, snatched the microphone from my hand, and shouted at Kosgaard: "Hey, I said Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, you have been talking about it for a long time, and you have not talked about the point of our concern. I now ask you, which unit is joining you, and which commanders and fighters on both sides are involved in the division? ”

As soon as Kirillov roared like this, Kosgaard did not dare to be verbose anymore, and quickly replied: "Report to Comrade Political Commissar, it is the tank advance detachment of the 65th Army of the Don Front that will join us, and the lieutenant colonel who leads the team is called Sipiakin. According to him, the commander of the 65th Army, General Batov, in order to quickly break through the German defenses, organized several tank assault detachments carrying infantry to penetrate the German defenses from several sections in order to achieve the goal of dividing and encircling the German troops. ”

When Kirillov heard this, he suddenly said to the operator: "Comrade operator, give me your pencil and paper." When he had taken the pencil, he began to take notes, repeating aloud: "I have ...... The commander of the third battalion, Major Godunov...... Captain Rosenberg, the commander of the 1st Battalion Company...... Sergeant Adir, the Don Front had Lieutenant Colonel Sipiakin...... Captain Gu Zavin. It's all written down. Thank you, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel. ”

Kirillov put down the microphone in his hand, raised the piece of paper in his hand, and said happily: "We have finally waited for this day, we will join forces with the troops of the Don Front!" ”

After listening to Kirillov's words, Bantai Leev immediately said to me excitedly: "Comrade division commander, I think it is necessary to report to the command immediately and report the good news to Commander Chuikov. ”

When Chuikov heard the news of the meeting, his reaction was stronger than I expected, and his excited roar came from the headphones: "What, Comrade Oshanina, what did you say? Have you joined forces with the friendly forces of the Don Front? Is this true? Are you sure you're not kidding me? ”

To such a reaction of Chuikov, I replied very calmly: "Yes, Comrade Commander. The troops of the 3rd Regiment were on the high ground north of Kongjiaoyi. and the advance force of the 65th Army of the Don Front. Then I picked up the paper that Kirillov had placed on the table. The list of commanders and fighters of both sides who participated in the meeting was read.

I read the list. Chuikov suddenly said: "Oshanina, please wait a minute, Comrade Military Commissar wants to talk to you." Soon, Gurov's voice came from the headphones: "Hello, Comrade Oshanina. I congratulate you on the success of your troops in taking the lead and the friendly ones! At this point, his tone changed suddenly, "According to your report. We are only a small army of friendly forces, and you cannot complete the counter-encirclement of the German army with your strength, so in the next time, you may have to face a frantic counterattack launched by the German army that is unwilling to lose. You need to be aware of this. ”

I have been muttering in my heart: Is the meeting of the 3rd Regiment with the advance unit of the 65th Army today that I have inadvertently changed history? When I heard Gurov say this, I realized that I had rejoiced a little too soon, and that the troops of Lieutenant Colonel Sipiakin, who had been in our division, were nothing more than a small force that had luckily passed through the gaps in the German defenses. They had the effect of pinning down the German army, but their effect on the overall situation of the war was very limited. After the meeting. All we could do was to hold on to the area we were now occupying and ensure that the Germans would not be taken again before the large forces of friendly forces arrived.

As soon as I ended the call with the headquarters, I immediately set about arranging the defenses of the regiments. In the past two days, the area we have occupied has expanded considerably, but we have lost a quarter of our existing forces in the battle, and if we do not make careful arrangements, we may suffer a great loss in the next battle.

At present there were the 2nd and 4th regiments in the city of Gorodishe, and there were no more formed German troops left to the east and south of the city, so I was confident and bold to divide the 2nd regiment, which had limited strength, into two parts, for the defense of the east and south directions. The fourth regiment, which was strong and strong, defended the city with one battalion, and the second and third battalions were deployed in the north and west of the city respectively.

Because most of the buildings in the city were destroyed by the German bombardment, and there were not many troops stationed in the city, I asked Shedelikov to leave only one battalion in the city, and two battalions remained, one in the hidden camp in the south of the city, and the other in the west of the city, to form a temporary defensive line as the first barrier to defend the city. The three regiments of Lieutenant Colonel Koska, except for one battalion to hold the heights, the remaining two battalions and Lieutenant Colonel Sipiakin's troops were deployed in the rear of the heights.

However, the situation was better than I expected, and the Germans only sent a few small forces that afternoon and launched a counterattack on the city. But as soon as they launched their attack, they were bombarded indiscriminately by our air force, and their attack finally collapsed in the bombing.

The next day, November 22, until noon, there was no German attack on our division's defense area. Bandereev was very strange at this abnormal appearance of the enemy, he stared at the map for a long time, and finally held back a sentence: "Comrade division commander, why didn't the enemy attack us, didn't they want to recapture these two lost cities?" ”

I chuckled and said lightly: "My comrade deputy division commander, do you think that the Germans do not feel sorry for these two cities?" Seeing that we had captured the cities and captured their stockpiles, the German commanders were probably bleeding from their hearts and dreaming of returning these two cities more. But they are now powerless, and even if they want to launch a counterattack against us, they will not be able to draw enough troops. ”

"Comrade Oshanina is right." Kirillov said: "Since our three fronts launched counter-offens against the Germans from different directions at the same time, the Germans are now overwhelmed with their own defenses, and where can they draw troops to capture these two cities that are of little significance." ”

"Is that so?" Bandereev asked rhetorically, somewhat uncertain.

"Of course it is." Kirillov continued: "From the information we have, this counteroffensive is going very well, the Germans have been beaten to the ground by us, and the chain of command has even fallen into disarray. In this case, how else can their troops fight and how can they fight? ”

"The commissar is right." When Kirillov finished speaking, I also echoed him in time: "Comrade Deputy Division Commander, our main task now is to hold the existing defense area, wait for the main force of the Don Front to move south and our division, completely surround Paulus's troops, and wait for time to encircle and annihilate them. ”

On the morning of 23 November, there was still no sign of an offensive by the German units around our zone. At noon, Lieutenant Travkin, who had led the reconnaissance out, came back and reported to us that the Germans were shrinking their forces and building defensive positions, and seemed to intend to fight a protracted battle with our troops.

Regarding the report brought back by Travkin, Bandereev first expressed his opinion: "The division commander and political commissar, according to the intelligence brought back by the reconnaissance company, it is proved that the counteroffensive of our army is progressing smoothly in several directions, otherwise the Germans, who have always been good at offensive warfare, will never honestly retreat to build fortifications in one area." This situation is important and needs to be reported to the higher authorities immediately. ”

And Akhromeyev, who had just returned today, habitually sang the opposite tune with him: "Comrade Deputy Division Commander, I think we should verify this situation again, and before we find out the intentions of the German army, we should rashly report the enemy situation that we have detected, and if there is any deviation, it will affect the normal decision-making of the headquarters." ”

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Bandereev also unceremoniously said to Akhromeyev: "I believe Lieutenant Travkin, he is a scout with a lot of experience, and I think what he reported must be true......"

The dispute between the two, although most of them revolved around work, always made me feel upset, and at this moment, seeing that the two were about to pinch up again, he hurriedly stood up and played a round: "Okay, okay, for the sake of safety, I think it is better to send scouts in several directions at the same time to confirm that the enemy is shrinking his forces to build fortifications." ”

Seeing that I stood up to speak, both of them stopped arguing, and both nodded their heads in agreement with me. In this way, Lieutenant Travkin, who had just returned to the command headquarters not long ago, took a group of scouts and scattered to various areas to carry out reconnaissance missions.

By five o'clock in the afternoon, Lieutenant Travkin and his men were returning, and the result was still that the Germans everywhere were shrinking their forces and intensively building fortifications, as if they were going to fight a protracted war with our troops.

After the intelligence brought back by Lieutenant Travkin was confirmed, I called Chuikov again and reported to him the results of the reconnaissance. After hearing this, Chuikov hummed twice and said lightly: "I know this situation." Just when I thought he wouldn't say anything more, he suddenly said, "By the way, Comrade Oshanina, there is something I almost forgot to tell you." At 16 o'clock this afternoon, the 4th Tank Army of the Southwestern Front under the command of Major General Kravchenko and the 4th Mechanized Army of the Stalingrad Front under the command of Major General Volsky met in the Soviet and Karachi areas, formally forming an encirclement of the German army. (To be continued......)

PS: Sincerely thank the book friend *Little Crab*, and Heathy children's shoes for their two votes! Thank you for the precious monthly ticket voted by the book friend Cangzhi Meteor EX and the dead piggy children's shoes!