"Since this is the case," said Bandeleyev, after listening to my words, after a moment of silence, he suddenly said to me: "Comrade division commander, since all the mines have been laid on the river embankment, then the rear of the Germans cannot be spared. Seeing that both Akhromeyev and I were looking at him, he went on to express his thoughts, "According to my observations during this time, several trucks come and go every day to and from the forward positions and rear camps of the German army. I reckon that supplies were transported over the years. We planted a few mines in the path of the German trucks, which must have blown up their convoys on their backs, so that their normal supplies would be affected. ”

I stared at the map and pondered it carefully, and felt that Bandeleyev's idea was very reasonable, and it seemed that he was not a wasted division commander, and he considered the problem more comprehensively than me. I straightened up and said to him approvingly, "Comrade Deputy Division Commander, you have been very thoughtful. Only by planting mines behind the buttocks of the Germans, no matter which direction they move, they will not be able to escape the minefield that we have laid for them, so that their range of movement will be compressed by us in a limited space. At this point, I paused, turned my head and instructed Akhromeyev: "Comrade Chief of Staff, add the location pointed out by the deputy division commander to the map." ”

Akhromeyev readily agreed, picked up the red and blue pencils on the table, and added a few new places for laying mines just behind the German forward positions. As I painted and whispered to myself, I listened with my ears and heard him vaguely say, "...... This is the enemy's patrol route, bury one here. After blowing up the spearheads, the enemies behind will definitely run in this direction, so let's bury two more here. Give him a pot to serve. ……”

It's not just me. Even Bandeleyev heard Akhromeyev. He grinned silently, and then asked me for instructions: "Comrade division commander, do we have anything important to do during the day today?" ”

When he said this, I remembered that the recruits had been added to the regiments for some time, and I didn't know what the results of the training were. A regiment was not replenished with recruits, there was no need to call them; The Second Regiment was right under my nose, and every now and then I could see the soldiers training hard in the trenches; The skirmishes of the 4th Regiment have not stopped recently, as Gaidar has transferred new companies to positions in rotation. has achieved the purpose of training with battle, and you can not call him. The rest is the third regiment, since the new recruits were replenished, I have not asked, today when I am free, I will call and ask.

While thinking, I picked up the phone on the table and dialed the headquarters of the Third Regiment. After hearing Godunov's voice, I shouted at him: "Hey, I'm the division commander Oshanina, is it Major Godunov?" ”

"It's me. Comrade division commander. Godunov's respectful voice came from the earpiece, and he asked cautiously: "May you call at this time?" Is there any important combat mission to be handed over to our regiment? ”

"How's the training of the recruits for your regiment?" I asked straight to the point.

"It's okay," Godunov replied vaguely, "after today's training, almost all fighters have learned to shoot." ”

"Optics can't shoot guns." I was obviously not satisfied with his answer, so I unceremoniously criticized him: "We should find an opportunity to let the soldiers go out to exercise and let them feel the atmosphere of the battlefield, which will be very helpful to improve their combat effectiveness." ”

"But Comrade Division Commander, you put our regiment in its current position." In response to my criticism, Godunov said aggrievedly: "To the north is the Mamayev Gang where the 2nd and 4th regiments and the division headquarters are located, to the south is the defense area of the 1st regiment, to the east is the crossing of the Volga River, and to the west is the friendly defense of the Soviet Street and the flour mills, and we have no chance to participate in the battle at all." ”

"It's a shame that you're still the regiment commander, you don't know how to be flexible at all, and if there is no enemy around you, you don't know how to send troops to a place where there is an enemy to compete with the enemy!" Hearing his complaints, I immediately became angry and yelled at him, "I really doubt that you are still fit to continue in your current position. ”

I was probably angry too loudly, and not only Bandeleyv and Akhromeyev next to me were alarmed, but even Kirillov, who was filling out the form in the corner, and he looked up at me in surprise, as if trying to figure out the reason for my anger.

I found myself in public gaffe, and I couldn't help blushing a little, I pretended to cough twice, cleared my throat, and was thinking about whether I should apologize to Godunov for what I was angry about, and accidentally thought that Mihayev's engineer company was responsible for raising and laying mines, because the amount of work was too large, and they had to be supplemented with a suitable number of men. As for the commanders and fighters of the three regiments, in addition to the newly replenished troops, almost all the remaining commanders and fighters are from the Gulag concentration camp, and there must be a lot of useful talents, besides, they still have rich combat experience, and it is only appropriate to send people to assist Mihayev and them. Thinking of this, I picked up the microphone again and asked Godunov with a pleasant face: "Comrade Major, I would like to ask you, is there anyone in your regiment who has been a sapper?" ”

Although Godunov did not understand the meaning of my question, he still answered honestly: "Report to the division commander, there are about thirty or so people in the regiment who have experience in this area, and if there is a need for more manpower, there is nothing I can do." ”

"Enough is enough, thirty people are enough." When I heard that he could really send people to assist Mihayev, I felt much more at ease, and then instructed him: "In the evening, you send all these people over and ask them to report directly to the commander of the engineer company, Captain Mihayev." ”

"Understood, I'll gather these people right away." Godunov replied briefly.

For the rest of the day, there was silence in front of the positions of the 4th Regiment, and the Germans, who had suffered a great loss in the night attack, remained in their positions honestly and did not dare to attack us.

Since most of the work is shared with me, I have a whole day of idleness. From time to time, I ran out of the headquarters, stood outside the cave and looked at the sky, muttering to myself why it didn't get dark this day. As soon as it gets dark, Mihayev's sapper company can set off.

After anxious waiting, it was finally nightfall. When I saw Mihayev walking into the command in high spirits, I felt an inexplicable sense of relief in my heart. Kirillov asked Mihayev with a smile on his face: "Comrade Captain, are you all ready?" ”

"Yes, Comrade Commissar." Mihayev replied in a loud voice: "The sapper company is fully loaded and ready to go into battle." ”

"Very well, Captain Mihayev." I was relieved to say, "I'm glad to see that you can keep your fighting spirit so strong. At this point, I changed the subject and asked, "Have you seen the soldiers sent to you by the Third Regiment?" ”

Mihayev was stunned for a moment, and then nodded desperately and said: "See, the three regiments have sent us a total of 35 soldiers, all of whom have rich combat experience, and many of them have participated in engineer training, with their help, I am more confident in completing the task." ”

"Comrade Captain, come to me." Akhromeyev, who was standing at the table, shouted at him: "By the way, take the map of the minefield that I made." ”

"Minefield map?" Mihayev looked at me in surprise and then hesitantly walked over to Akhromeyev. After taking the map, he immediately buried his head in the eyes and looked at it carefully.

"Comrade Lieutenant," Bandeleyev walked over and, after stopping beside him, asked with interest: "What do you think of this map of minefields?" ”

"What can I say, Comrade Deputy Division Commander." Mihayev shook the mine distribution map in his hand and said excitedly to Bantaileyev: "The location of the mines on this map is really wonderful. As soon as we planted the mines, the Germans would not only leave their camp from any direction, but would also be blown up by the mines that had moved to a bloody pulp. ”

"Comrade Captain, have you figured out how to carry out this task?" Bandeleyev continued to ask, and at the same time kindly reminded the other party: "The key to accomplishing this task is that you must not be discovered by the enemy, whether you are raising mines or re-laying mines, otherwise your previous efforts will be wasted." ”

"I understand, Comrade Deputy Division Commander." Mihayev took the map to the middle of the two men, pointed to it and began to explain: "I plan to divide the troops into two parts, one led by my deputy company commander, down the river from under the embankment, and raise all the mines encountered along the way. Then they carried the mines on their backs and quietly walked behind the enemy's position, planting them all where their vehicles had to go.

And I, who will lead the rest of the troops, will also go down the river along the embankment, about fifty or eighty meters from the minefield of the enemy's position, and crawl the barbed wire that approaches them. After cutting the gap in the barbed wire, I will send ten fighters to climb into the minefield and lift the mines inside. These mines will be laid one by one at the exit of the enemy camp and in front of the positions of our troops. As for the mines on the embankments, in order to prevent accidental injuries, they had to wait until the deputy company commander had withdrawn with his troops. ”

"Comrade Captain, you have thought it through." At this point, Bandeleyev turned to us and asked, "Do you have anything else to ask us?" Seeing that we were all shaking our heads, he gave a straightforward order to Mihayev: "Since this is the case, you can take your troops and set off." Break a leg! With that, he held out his hand to Mihayev. (To be continued......)

PS: Bow and thank the book friend wzzhnag68 for voting two votes in support! Thank you for the valuable monthly pass voted by the book friend *Little Crab**Little Crab*, and the Apostle of the Crazy Spirit!