"Hey, Colonel Oshanina, tell me now: what did you think at that time, why did you make the decision not to save us when you saw that our relay station was attacked by the Germans, and killed dozens of soldiers?"

There were three people sitting at the wooden table at the division headquarters, all of whom were commanders who did not belong to the formation of our division. The chubby political worker on the left was Kirillov, the head of the political department of the 62nd Army and the regimental political commissar with whom I had a relationship with me on the Don River, and the commander on the right was a lieutenant colonel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. On the other side of the wooden table sat a lonely bench, on which I sat two heavily armed soldiers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and a second lieutenant of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. On the side of the wall, where the walkie-talkie was originally placed, it was no longer Razumayeva, but another middle-aged man in military civilian clothes.

The bald man sitting in the center wore a pair of round-rimmed glasses and a well-worn beard. When he entered the door just now, he once sat down to introduce himself, saying that he was Pixin, a member of the Stalingrad City Party Committee, and that he was representing Chuyanov, the first secretary of the state party committee, and that he had come to our division to learn about the battle I commanded yesterday.

When they arrived, I was assigning today's tasks to Shedelikov and the others. When I saw a group of strangers walking into my headquarters, especially two middle-aged men in civilian military clothes, I immediately terminated the meeting and greeted them, while politely asking: "Comrades, do you have anything to do?" ”

As soon as I finished speaking, the first person to emerge from the crowd was Kirillov, whom I had once seen. He smiled and said, "Comrade Oshanina. We are from Stalingrad. There's something I want to talk to you about. With that, he turned his head and glanced at the commanders standing at the table.

Obviously, he didn't want too many outsiders to be present, so I hurriedly ordered Sederikov and the others: "Lieutenant Colonel Sederikov, this is the end of today's meeting, you go back to your respective units first, and immediately assign the task I just assigned." Shedelikov and the others agreed, turned around and walked out of the headquarters.

Kirillov's eyes looked at Basmanov and Razumeyeva, who were still in the house, and presumptively ordered them: "Comrade Captain. And this female second lieutenant, we have important matters to discuss with your division commander, you two go out first. "Although I heard Kirillov say this, the two of them did not move, but threw inquiring glances at me. Seeing that I nodded, he saluted and turned to leave.

When I was the only one left in the room, and the group of uninvited guests who had just come in, the bald middle-aged man in military casual clothes and glasses said arrogantly: "Colonel Oshanina, you may not know me. I'm going to introduce myself. My name is Piksin and I am a member of the Stalingrad City Committee. An investigative group formed on the orders of Comrade Chuyanov, the first secretary of the state party committee, has come to you to learn from you about yesterday's battle. At this point, he stopped paying attention to me, and instructed the people around him: "Comrade Verdowen. ”

Another middle-aged man in civilian military clothes hurriedly squeezed to his side, and Pixin pointed to the corner where Razumeeva originally belonged and said, "You sit there and take notes." ”

The middle-aged man didn't speak, just nodded, and squeezed towards the position pointed by the committee member.

Then Pixin said to a lieutenant colonel beside him: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, you are from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, how to let the soldiers be vigilant, you are more familiar than me, and this matter will be arranged by you." ”

The lieutenant colonel nodded, and then issued an order to his subordinates: "Lieutenant, you bring four soldiers to the door to guard, and no one is allowed to come in without my order." ”

After the lieutenant, who had received the order, had left with four soldiers, he instructed the remaining lieutenant: "Second lieutenant, move that stool back a little and beckon this comrade colonel to come and sit down." ”

The second lieutenant agreed, and asked the remaining two fighters to move the stool, and he walked up to me and said coldly: "Comrade Colonel, please come with me." I shrugged my shoulders, smiled wryly at Kirillov, and obediently followed the second lieutenant to the place assigned to me.

"Now let's take our seats," Pixin said to the two remaining commanders beside him, and then walked over to my place and sat down. After he sat down, he said straight to the point: "Colonel Oshanina, we have been ordered to investigate the battle that took place yesterday at the Basarji Concession Station. Speaking of this, he turned his head to Kirillov, who was sitting beside him, and said: "Comrade political commissar at the regimental level, you have dealt with Colonel Oshanina, and you will be responsible for these inquiries." ”

Kirillov did not object, just nodded, then stood up, supported the edge of the table with his hands, leaned forward slightly, and slowly asked the opening words.

After listening to his culture, I sighed silently in my heart: At the moment of the great enemy, you did not consider how to take defensive measures to resist the attack of the Germans, but sent a group of people to my headquarters and interrogated me like a prisoner, what is this called? Although I was dissatisfied with this so-called investigation team, I still had to maintain the superficial respect, so I wanted to stand up and answer his questions.

Unexpectedly, as soon as I raised my hand, I felt gravity on my shoulder, and as soon as my butt left the stool, I had to sit down again. I looked to the left and right, and it turned out that the warriors standing on either side held me down on the shoulders and prevented me from standing up. I was just about to get angry, but the second lieutenant had already shouted in a low voice: "Be honest, sit down and obediently answer the questions of the regimental political commissar." ”

Seeing that I could not stand up, I could only sit on a stool and report to Kirillov about yesterday's situation in a proper manner: "...... As a result of our sudden attack from the enemy's rear, which repelled the enemy who was besieging the heights, the friendly units covering the heights managed to break through. Since the friendly forces were retreating, I did not receive reports that there was also a communication relay station of our army behind the heights. After the rescued friendly troops returned to the temporary defensive positions of our division, and after I gave the order to withdraw to this place in general, the political instructor of the communications company suddenly said that behind the high ground, there was also a communication relay station, in which there were two squads of scouts and one women's communication squad. ……”

Didn't wait for me to finish. Pixin interrupted me. Impatiently asked, "Don't say so much useless." We just want to understand why you didn't immediately send troops to rescue them, but watch them be wiped out by the Germans? ”

After he finished speaking, I introduced to him with a wry smile: "Comrade member of the municipal party committee, after I got the news, I also want to immediately send troops to rescue these besieged soldiers. But it was then that I discovered that the Germans had launched another attack on the heights. They dispatched a battalion of troops, plus a dozen tanks. What about our troops? Far less than them, with only two companies, a platoon and a squad of the guard battalion, and the company was filled with recruits who lacked training and combat experience. As for heavy weapons, there were even less, only two tanks with insufficient fuel and ammunition, and five mortars. In such a disparity in strength, if I rashly send troops to attack, not only will I not be able to save the besieged commanders and fighters, but I will even put all my troops into it. ”

"Enough!" Didn't wait for Kirillov to speak. Pixin slapped the table again and stood up, pointing his finger at me and yelling, "You coward who only knows how to keep your strength up. It was because he was afraid that his troops would suffer casualties, so he made the decision to stand still without authorization, and watched the soldiers who held on to the station die in vain. We will not tolerate your behavior, and you will pay the price for the sacrifice of these warriors. I'm going to take you to court-martial, and let the court judge you for your life-hungry cowardice. ……”

"Comrade Pixin, please calm down." The regimental political commissar Kirillov saw that he was angry, and hurriedly persuaded: "What is the situation, we will find out." Sit down and I'll take care of the rest. ”

When Pixin sat down in a huff, Kirillov's attention was not on me, but on the officer of the Ministry of Internal Affairs who was sitting opposite him: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I would like to ask you, what decision would you have made if you had been in the position of Colonel Oshanina yesterday?" ”

The lieutenant colonel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs gave me a contemptuous look at me, and replied angrily: "What else can be done, it is better to put all the troops into battle at once, even if they are all sacrificed, than to sit back and watch their comrades being wiped out by the enemy." ”

After listening to the lieutenant colonel's words, I felt very uncomfortable, do you think I don't want to rescue the troops in the relay station? The key is to have this strength, otherwise the besieged troops will not be rescued, and their own troops will be exhausted, which is really a big loss because of a small one. I also know that I have to abandon or give up on my comrades-in-arms, but when I am a mud bodhisattva crossing the river and it is difficult to protect myself, I can't give the kind of stupid order that the lieutenant colonel said.

Kirillov assumed a posture of conciliation, and then asked me: "Colonel Oshanina, I have met you once on the Don River, and from what I know of you, you are a brave and very combative commander. I believe that you have your own reasons for making this decision, and we all know that the enemy is strong and we are weak. But when you see the enemy troops rushing towards the high ground, you should at least do something to support the commanders and fighters at the relay station. ”

I stayed up all night last night, repeatedly asking myself, if I had been ruthless at that time, and sent a company to launch a fierce attack on the flank of the German army under the cover of tanks, would it be possible to repel their attack, and the cover would allow the troops in the station to withdraw part of it safely? The final answer was no, if I had really ordered the troops to rush forward regardless of the fact that I had done so, it would have been to hit the stone with an egg, and not only would Godunov's company have been killed, but even we in the temporary defensive position would have been more than lucky.

Thinking of this, I defended myself by saying: "Comrade political commissar at the regimental level, I repeat, under the circumstances at that time, we were simply unable to provide any help to the commanders and fighters who remained in the Huirang station. Our makeshift position, about two kilometers from the high ground, had insufficient range from mortars, and the tanks carried almost all armor-piercing shells, which could not effectively kill the swarming German infantry. ”

Hearing my answer, Pixin became impatient, and he said sharply: "Okay, my comrade regimental commissar, stop talking nonsense with her." No matter what kind of lies she weaves to cover up her mistakes, it can't change the fact that she is a coward who is greedy for life and afraid of death. Speaking of this, he turned his head and instructed the lieutenant colonel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs: "Comrade lieutenant colonel, what are you still doing in a daze, immediately arrest her, take her back to Stalingrad, and send her to a military court for trial." ……”

"Comrade Pixin," Kirillov interrupted, defending me, "although in yesterday's battle, Colonel Oshanina did not take decisive action to rescue the troops besieged at Huirang, but this does not mean that she is a coward?" Besides, we came today just to find out the real situation of yesterday's battle, and we did not receive an order to arrest Oshanina! ”

"Comrade political commissar at the regimental level," Pixin said unceremoniously, "I am a member of the municipal party committee and one of the heads of the defense headquarters, and I have the right to arrest this kind of coward who is greedy for life and afraid of death, without going through the discussion of the leading group." In order to prevent Kirillov from saying good things about me again, he also deliberately emphasized, "Comrade Kirillov, although you know this colonel, you can't say good things for her, you must know that you are a warm-hearted expression, which is very dangerous." Picksin's words immediately left Kirillov speechless, he looked at me, smiled apologetically, and sat down silently.

Seeing Kirillov honestly sit down, the lieutenant colonel stood up, waved his hand in my direction, and decisively ordered his subordinates: "Comrade Ensign, cuff her." ”

The second lieutenant agreed, took out the handcuffs from his body and was about to start, when there was a commotion outside the house. Hearing this unexpected sound, Pixin was stunned, he looked at the door, and asked loudly, "What's going on outside, why is it so noisy?" ”

The lieutenant, who was on guard outside the headquarters, ran in, raised his hand and saluted, and then reported loudly: "Report to the comrades of the city party committee, more than a hundred soldiers have come outside and surrounded us here. ”

"It's just nonsense, fence this place, what do they want to do, do they want to rebel?" I have to say that Pixin's courage is still quite big, although he heard that there were many people outside, he still shook his head at the lieutenant colonel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and said without fear: "Let's go, comrade lieutenant colonel, let's go out and see what happened?" (To be continued......)