When Senior Captain Gusev and his officers began to form new combat battalions, I returned to the division headquarters to find out through Boroda whether the troops that had just been moved had been put into their assigned positions.

As soon as I entered the door, I shouted Boroda: "Comrade Chief of Staff, did the two battalions of the Sholov regiment get into the assigned positions?" ”

Boroda, who was originally sitting at the table, quickly stood up and hesitated for a moment before replying: "Comrade report division commander, the commander of two battalions of the Sholov regiment and the tank company of the Donskoy regiment, called one after another five minutes ago to report that the troops had entered the designated positions and were digging fortifications. As for the troops of the other two regiments......"

Before he could finish speaking, I rushed to say, "Are they also in the designated position and waiting for my next order?" ”

He shook his head vigorously and said with an angry face: "I just called the other two regiments, and the people who answered the phone said that the regiment commander and political commissar were not there, and they went to the unit to inspect the defense affairs, and they could not be contacted in a short time, so the troops could not be mobilized for the time being. ”

Hearing that some of my subordinates dared to disobey my orders, I came up in a hurry, pointed to the phone and said to Boroda: "Comrade Chief of Staff, help me pick up the 1132nd Regiment and the 1133rd Regiment immediately, and I will talk to them personally." ”

Boroda didn't dare to slack off, immediately picked up the phone on the table, quickly got through to the 1133rd regiment, and then handed me the microphone. I took the microphone and took a deep breath before holding back my anger and saying into the microphone: "I am the acting division commander, Major Oshanina, who are you?" ”

The other side paused for a moment, and then replied: "Report to Comrade Division Commander." I am Major Saska, the regimental chief of staff. Do you have any instructions? ”

It was the regimental chief of staff who was heard answering the phone. I didn't want to be angry at him, but I said lightly: "Please let the regiment commander, Lieutenant Colonel Peter, or Political Commissar Avakov, answer the phone." ”

"I'm sorry, Comrade Division Commander, Regiment Commander and Political Commissar have something to do with the troops, and they are not in the command at the moment. If you have anything to tell me, I'll get your message back to both of them in a timely manner. "Major Saska replied politely, but I could still feel the contempt hidden in his words. Now. My mind was much clearer, and I realized that my qualifications and prestige were not enough to command the 378th Division, otherwise there would not have been such a situation of disobedience. But at this critical moment, if I can't contain them, I will be even more immobile in the future.

I held the microphone and thought for a while, then said coldly: "Corporal Saska, please ask them to call me back immediately when you see Lieutenant Colonel Peter, I have an important combat mission to assign to them." ”

When the regimental chief of staff on the opposite side heard me say this, he immediately fell silent. After a while, he said timidly: "Report to Comrade Division Commander, you are mistaken. I'm a major, not a corporal. ”

I snorted heavily and said, "Comrade Chief of Staff, I would like to remind you that if I can't wait for a call from Peter or Avakov in five minutes, then congratulations, you will be the first corporal chief of staff of my division. Although I do not have the right to promote you to general, I am capable of turning a major into a corporal. After saying that, without waiting for him to respond, I decisively cut off the phone.

After Boroda saw me hang up the phone, he asked curiously: "Comrade division commander, is it effective for you to talk to the other party like this?" ”

I shook my head and said, "I don't know, but in this situation, we can only gamble." ”

"If Lieutenant Colonel Peter doesn't call you, are you really going to demote the chief of staff of this regiment to corporal?"

I sneered and was just about to speak, when the phone on the desk rang suddenly, startling both Boroda and me. Boroda said to himself, "Oh my God, it can't be Lieutenant Colonel Peter's call, it's too obvious." After speaking, he took the microphone and said loudly: "I am the chief of staff of Boroda, may I ask where you are?" ”

After listening to what the other party said, he immediately handed me the microphone. I took it, and immediately heard the loud voice of Lieutenant Colonel Peterl coming from inside: "Hey, is it Comrade Division Commander?" ”

"Hello, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel!" I deliberately pretended to be serious, and said in a sarcastic tone: "Major Oshanina reports to you, and obeys your orders, please instruct!" ”

"Comrade division commander, please don't make such jokes, you are my superior, how dare I order you!" My words frightened Peter, and he hurriedly explained to me: "Something happened to the troops below just now, and I went with the political commissar to deal with it, so we were not at the headquarters. No, as soon as I entered the door, I heard the chief of staff of Saska say that you had called and said that there was an important combat mission to be deployed. ”

Although I knew that what he said was not the truth, the current situation did not allow me to be more honest with him, so I asked him directly and straight to the point: "Lieutenant Colonel Peter, just now the chief of staff Boroda called you and asked you to transfer one or two battalions to the location of the division commander, has the unit left?" ”

"Let's go, let's go!" Peter hurriedly explained: "As soon as I received the order from the division headquarters, I immediately mobilized the elite soldiers and prepared to set off. As a result, the battalion commander who had just led the team found that many of the soldiers were short of ammunition, so he asked me if he could postpone the departure and wait until the ammunition was replenished. That's why I left the headquarters with the commissar. ”

"Alright, now that the troops have departed, let them move faster. In an hour, I'm going to see them appear near the division headquarters. With that, I hung up the phone.

Boroda said with some hesitation: "Comrade division commander, did you say that we were wrong to blame them just now, maybe they really went to the army to solve the problem of ammunition." ……”

I waved my hand, interrupted his later words, and said my analysis: "It's not such a coincidence, if it's just a problem with ammunition, send a quartermaster to come out, and use the regiment commander and the commissar to go out together?" By the way, the troops of the 1132 regiment were also not in place. Reach out to them again. ”

Boroda agreed, picked up the phone and contacted the 1132nd regiment. After the phone was connected, the person who answered the phone was actually the chief of staff of the regiment again, and his reason was that the regiment commander and political commissar were not there, and he had gone to the unit in an emergency. Boroda had just seen how I had dealt with it, and he had also scared the regimental chief of staff in the same way, threatening him that if the regimental commander and political commissar did not call the division headquarters within the specified time, he would lose his current rank. The effect of this scare was immediate, and the regimental commander, Major Yatsenyuk, soon called and apologized to Boroda, who answered the phone, saying that because the troops who were going to participate in the battle just now were short of ammunition, he and the political commissar went to solve the ammunition problem for the troops, and repeatedly apologized to Boroda for not being able to call back in time.

Boroda put down the phone, gave me a thumbs up, and said: "Comrade division commander, your judgment is still accurate, the two regiment commanders have the same rhetoric, saying that they went to solve the ammunition problem for the troops, and they are not in the headquarters, and they don't know about our call to find them, so they didn't send troops in time." At this point, he paused and asked me curiously, "Why are they doing this?" ”

"What else can I do for it?" I said lightly: "First, our prestige is not convincing to the public, and second, we have suddenly replaced their old superiors, and they are not convinced. ”

"There are several battalion-level units participating in this battle, who do you plan to command?" Boroda asked again, seeing that I had a tendency to recommend myself, and immediately dissuaded him: "Comrade division commander, I know that you want to go to the front line to command, but I want to remind you that you are a division commander and not a company commander, and your post is not at the front line but here, you don't need to charge into battle, as long as you stay here and strategize and control the overall situation." ”

"Comrade Chief of Staff, do you intend to personally assume the post of this command?"

"Yes, Comrade Division Commander." Boroda replied in the affirmative, "Please approve my request." ”

"No, you're the Chief of Staff. When the battle starts, I need someone by my side to advise me. ”

"And who do you think is suitable?"

I thought about the people I knew, and then replied: "Let the chief of staff, Major Antonov, be the commander of the former enemy." After interacting with him in the past few days, I believe that he is a commander with a fighting spirit, and I am very relieved to put these patchwork units under his command. ”

"I agree." Boroda readily agreed to my proposal, and he walked briskly out of the headquarters to Antonov.

As soon as Boroda left, Captain Gusev came in and reported to me that the new combat battalion had been formed and was ready for battle. Seeing that he had completed the task I had set so quickly, I was very satisfied, and complimented: "Well done, Comrade Captain." At the end of this battle, you and many of your subordinates will receive medals from your superiors. ”

When the lieutenant heard me say this, he hurriedly stood up and said loudly: "Serve the Soviet Fatherland!" ”

I called him to the table, pointed to the map and said to him: "Look, Comrade Captain, to the north of the village, two battalions of Colonel Sholov are currently building fortifications. You immediately rush to the area with the newly formed combat battalion and the first and second companies of the guard battalion, and build a second line of defense five hundred meters behind their defensive line. Do you understand? ”

Gusev did not answer me immediately, but looked at the map and thought for a while, and then said to me: "Comrade division commander, I have an opinion, the second line of defense and the forward positions of the Sholov regiment are only 500 meters, which is too close to each other, and once the battle starts, both positions will be within the effective range of German artillery fire. In this way, by the time the German artillery fire ceases and the infantry attack, our troops in both positions will have suffered heavy casualties and will not be able to withstand the enemy's attack. (To be continued......)

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