After the 113th Guards Regiment occupied the Crudo Gully, except for a battalion of troops that followed the enemy's fleeing troops, the rest were cleaning the battlefield in the Gully, treating our wounded, cleaning up the corpses of both sides on the battlefield, and removing the remnants of the German troops still hiding behind the slag.

Looking at the busy commanders and fighters in the distance, I finally asked the sentence that I was holding back in my heart: "Comrade General, I would like to ask, why is your unit not equipped with communication equipment?" ”

After listening to my question, Guriev replied with a wry smile after a long sigh: "Colonel Oshanina, how can we have such a large team without communication equipment?" But because I arranged for the communication company to cross the river with the artillery regiment, and at the moment they are still on the east bank of the Volga, and they do not know what they can cross. ”

As we were talking, a small group of commanders and fighters in the distance was running in our direction, and since I saw that they were not from the direction of the Krudo Gully, I immediately thought that perhaps the commanders and fighters of the 114th Regiment had come to report to Guriev. Thinking of this, I touched Guriev with my elbow, pointed to the commanders and fighters who were running towards us, and said: "Comrade General, look, there is a group of commanders and fighters over there. However, they are not from the direction of the Crudo Gully, it is your men who should have reported to you the tension of the battle. ”

Guriev actually looked at the group of commanders and fighters with a telescope for a while, called a soldier from the guard battalion next to him, and ordered: "Go and see, who is here?" If he had come from the 114th Regiment to report the news, he would have been brought here. If it's not from the 114th Regiment, ask him what is the matter. And report back to me. ”

After the warrior was ordered to leave. Soon one of the commanders and fighters was taken with him. Returning to us, he reported to Guriev: "Comrade division commander, the messenger of the 114th regiment came, and he said that there is important information to report to you. ”

The second lieutenant, who had returned with the fighters, took two steps forward, walked in front of us, and reported loudly to Guriev: "Division commander, I am the liaison officer of the 114th regiment, on the orders of the regimental commander. Inform you about the battle of the troops in the Dolji Chonggou. ”

"Say, Comrade Ensign, I will listen carefully to the reports from the front." After saying this, Guriev looked at the second lieutenant with an expectant expression, as if hoping to hear from him the news that another army had also won a great victory. However, he was soon disappointed, and the second lieutenant said with a sad face: "Comrade division commander, the attack launched by our regiment on the Dorji Chonggou is not going well. As the ditch was perennially filled with ore ash and slag, the enemy had placed fire points on several commanding heights, and as soon as our troops attacked, they condescendingly fired at every stone, every bunker that might hide people, and every inch of potatoes in the ditch. We launched five attacks in quick succession. All of them failed because of the enemy's crossfire placed on the commanding heights, and the three battalions that were responsible for the main attack were almost exhausted. ”

After listening to the complaints of his subordinates. Guriev, who was quite a commanding general, did not reproach the other party, but nodded and turned his head to look at me. In a consultative tone, he asked, "Colonel Oshanina, do you see if you can let your artillery soldiers make another trip to the Dorji Gully to provide the artillery support necessary for the 114th Regiment in the attack?" ”

"No problem, I'll arrange it right away!" I did not hesitate to agree to the request made by Guriev and Yan Yuese, and immediately called Basmanov, who was standing nearby, and asked him to convey my orders to Morozov.

Seeing that Basmanov was leaving, Guriev hurriedly ordered the second lieutenant: "Second lieutenant, follow this captain to the artillery units of friendly troops and take them to the Dorji ditch." Remember, go back and tell your regimental commander that when attacking, you must send men to seize the high ground and destroy the enemy's firepower. ”

After Basmanov and the ensign had left together, Guriev said to me gratefully: "Thank you, Colonel Oshanina. I believe that with the support of the artillery, we will be able to fulfill the tasks assigned by the headquarters smoothly. ”

When we came to the Crudo ditch, we happened to meet the commander of the 113th regiment. The medium-sized colonel approached us, stood still in front of us, and without saluting, reported to Guriev the results of the battle: "Comrade division commander, in the battle just now, we lost 426 people, wounded 127 people, destroyed 214 enemy people, and captured 39 people. ”

After listening to the colonel's report, Guriev was briefly stunned, and then shouted at the other side: "Comrade colonel, what the hell is going on, why are there German prisoners?" ”

As soon as these words came out, not to mention the commander of the 113th Guards Regiment, even I was stunned when I was standing next to me, and said in my heart that it was normal to catch a few German prisoners in battle, and I was so excited to be emotional? I wanted to persuade Guriev and tell him that although our casualties were a little greater, we were able to destroy more than 200 enemies and take dozens of prisoners, which was already a good result.

Before I could speak, Guriev said something that surprised me: "Comrade Colonel, although your 113th regiment fought well, I have to criticize you on the issue of prisoners. Do you think we currently have the capacity to contain prisoners? At this point, he paused deliberately, wanting to give the colonel a chance to explain. Unexpectedly, the colonel lowered his head and was honestly accepting his criticism, so he continued, "It seems that you also understand that we simply do not have the ability to contain prisoners, and even if these prisoners are handed over to the army group headquarters, I think they will have a headache." Since we don't have the capacity to contain captives, what else do we need these captives for? ”

"Comrade Division Commander, what do you mean?" The regimental commander standing in front of Guryev, after his division commander finished speaking, showed a shocked expression on his face, and then asked cautiously: "What about those prisoners......"

Before he could finish speaking, Guriev raised his hand to interrupt his words and said: "Since you already know how to do it, what are you still standing here doing, why don't you hurry back and carry it out?" ”

The colonel snapped, and after a loud answer, he turned and ran into the ditch. Within two minutes, a series of muffled gunfire and screams could be heard from the depths of the ravine, followed by sporadic pistol shots. My guess is that the commander is reloading the guns of the German soldiers who are not yet dead.

Guriev saw that I had been staring intently at the ditch. Maybe I'm afraid I'm thinking something. He hurriedly explained to me: "Colonel Oshanina, you may think that I am cruel in doing this, but the current situation is special, and I have to ......."

"I understand, Comrade General." Before he could finish speaking, I had already taken over the conversation and said in an understanding tone: "Extraordinary measures will be taken in extraordinary times, if I change my position in your place." Trust me to make the same decision as you. ”

After listening to my statement, Guriev took the initiative to extend his hand to me and said in a friendly manner: "Thank you, Colonel Oshanina, for your understanding of me. I believe that our two divisions will definitely be able to establish a deep combat friendship in the next battle. ”

While the two of us were shaking hands, a soldier of the Guards wearing a steel helmet hurried over, and after a few interrogations, the soldier who was acting as a guard stopped him and interrogated him, and then let him go.

The warrior came to us and raised his hand in a ring salute. After taking care of both Guriev and me, he said anxiously: "Report to Comrade Division Commander." My reconnaissance detachment and I, while on reconnaissance missions, noticed the presence of a large number of German units in the rear of our division, which were approaching here. ”

"Does the enemy have tanks and armored vehicles?" Guriev asked nervously after hearing this.

The fighter slowly shook his head: "We only found about a battalion of German troops advancing here, and no mechanized units were found behind them. ”

"Chief of Staff, Chief of Staff." Guriev turned his head and shouted: "Come to me at once." ”

The chief of staff of the division, although he left Guryev's side from time to time, remained in our line of sight, and when he heard Guryev call him, he immediately quickly came to our side and asked Guryev: "Comrade division commander, what instructions do you have?" ”

"According to the report of the scouts, the enemy, with about a battalion of infantry, was pressing from our rear, and immediately ordered the commander of the 113th Regiment to set up a defense at the entrance to the gully, ready to block this sudden German force."

After the chief of staff conveyed the order, the commander of the 113th Regiment transferred the relatively complete second battalion to the mouth of the ditch and built improvised fortifications on top of the slag heap.

While I was staying with Guryev in an improvised bunker near the mouth of the ditch, trying to persuade Guryev to withdraw his headquarters to the ditch, another scout came running to report to Guryev: "Comrade division commander, there is a new situation. As soon as the German battalion came out of Tsekhovsky Street and Bibreysky Street, it suddenly stopped advancing, as if waiting for something in the same place? ”

Guriev's chief of staff hurriedly unfolded the map and spread it out in front of us. Guriev frowned and looked at the city defense map of Stalingrad in front of him, and said with a blank face: "From these two avenues to us, there is only a distance of less than two kilometers, and the Germans can come in ten or twenty minutes at most." But they stopped here inexplicably, what did they want to do, what conspiracy did they have? ”

The scout added: "By the way, Comrade Division Commander, there is one thing I almost forgot. On the left flank of the German army, a detachment of ours was also approaching us. The commander was apparently cautious, and although the route of their march was only a street away from the enemy's position, they were not discovered by the enemy. ”

Hearing that a friendly army was approaching here, Guriev's eyes suddenly lit up, and he quickly raised his head and asked the scout: "Comrade soldier, have you heard clearly, what kind of troops are coming?" ”

The scout nodded vigorously and replied, "We sent someone over to inquire, and they said that they were from an independent division. ”

"A regiment of independent divisions?!" Guriev instinctively turned his head to look at me and asked confusedly: "Colonel Oshanina, I would like to ask, when did you send this team?" ”

Hearing the number from the scout's mouth also made me wonder how it was possible to send troops to support friendly forces without my permission, the formation of a regiment had long been crippled. Thinking of this, I asked the scout: "Comrade warrior, how many of our troops are coming?" ”

The scout thought for a moment and replied affirmatively: "According to the comrades who went to inquire about the news, they came back and reported that there were more than six hundred people, and the leader of the team was a major, it seems to be called Sedelikov, and he said that he was the commander of a regiment and had come to reinforce us on the orders of the division commander. ”

"Colonel Oshanina, what the hell is going on?" Guriev was completely confused by what the scout said, and he asked tentatively: "You didn't want to surprise us, so you sent a force to follow us." ”

I sorted out my thoughts a little, and I already knew what was going on. I coughed lightly and whispered to Guriev: "General Guryev, if I tell you that almost all of my regiments have been wiped out, and the commander of the regiment is not a major, but a lieutenant colonel, can you understand what is going on?" ”

Guriev frowned at first, and after thinking for a moment, a frightened expression suddenly appeared on his face, and he said in surprise: "God, Colonel Oshanina, if it is really according to what you say, then this so-called friendly army ......"

"That's right, Comrade General." I took his words and said in an affirmative tone: "This unit does not belong to my independent division at all, but is disguised by the enemy. (To be continued......)

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