These so-called rebels, who were hit by the double blow of the front and back, did not have a strong will to fight, and many of them stopped in place, threw away their weapons, and raised their hands high in an attempt to save their lives.

The intentions were good, but the reality was cruel, and the German soldiers attacking the camp may have received orders to kill them all, regardless of whether the Azerbaijani soldiers were resisting, throwing away their weapons and surrendering, and still shooting indiscriminately. In this way, the soldiers with their bare hands, under the heavy fire of the Germans, fell in pieces.

The soldiers, who were lucky enough not to be hit by the bullets, found that they could not escape the fate of death regardless of whether they surrendered or not, so they picked up the weapons thrown next to them one after another, lay on the ground and shot back.

There was a lot of fighting in the camp, and the position of the Oleg division was also fierce, and dozens of soldiers rushed to them, trying to open a breach in the encirclement, but they were knocked down a lot by the fire of our troops, and the rest were also hit by dense fire so that they could not raise their heads on the ground. Only we were calm here, and except for the German inspection team that had just run over and was killed by us, not a single person fled to us.

Although Grams called his superiors, the expression on his face was still very unnatural, giving people the feeling of being dead and sad. I glared at him several times, and seeing that he did not notice it, I could only say to him with displeasure: "Captain Grams, please remember that these SS soldiers who we killed were Hitler's loyal lackeys, and they were not only enemies of the Soviet people, but also enemies of the German people. ”

Although I said this a bit of a nondescript. But Gramms apparently listened. After squeezing out a smile on his face that was more ugly than crying. He asked me, "Your Excellency, what should we do next?" ”

I looked at the camp with a telescope and casually said: "We continue to hold this place to prevent the defeated Azerbaijani army from breaking through from our direction when they are cornered." ”

"Will they break through here?" Mihayev asked a little disbelieving.

"Yes, they will." I said with certainty, and in order to convince them, I also gave my reasons specifically. "The remnants of Azerbaijan saw that the retreat from both the east and the west had been cut off, and that if they went south, they would inevitably face more German resistance, and if they fled north, they would encounter much less resistance, so that they would have a great chance of breaking out of the German sphere of influence. Then they can pretend to be the scattered small units of our army and blend into the defense zone of our army. ”

Hearing me say this, the commander of the third company was taken aback, and he hurriedly asked me for instructions: "Comrade division commander, do you need me to transfer the two platoons down the hillside?" ”

I waved my hand. Rejected his proposal: "No, Comrade Company Commander. Let them remain on the hillside as reserves, and wait until this platoon can't stop the enemy's attack. After saying that, I turned my head to the sullen Grams, and said, "Captain Grams, don't call me any more Your Excellency Division Commander in the future, it sounds too awkward, you can call me Division Commander or Comrade Division Commander like other commanders." ”

After listening to Mihayev's translation, Grams nodded again and again and said: "Okay, comrade division commander, I understand." ”

My fears did not come true, and the officers and men of the Azerbaijani battalion, under the double blow of the Germans and the Oleg division, did not hold out for long before they came to the brink of annihilation. The guns on the battlefield became sparse, German tanks lined up in the camp, and soldiers with weapons entered tent after tent in search of survivors. Seeing this scene, I secretly scolded the Germans for being stupid, you don't know how to use tanks to knock down tents, and you have to go in one by one to check them, in case the survivors hidden inside shoot them, don't you have to pay unnecessary sacrifices.

But on second thought, the casualties of the German officers and soldiers are none of my business, the more they die, the better, at least the forces that attack Stalingrad are weakened. I raised my hand and looked at my watch, it was already two o'clock in the morning, and I quickly turned around and ordered the commander of the third company to get in touch with Oleg immediately.

I said into the microphone: "Lieutenant Colonel Oleg, your mission has been accomplished. Except for the platoon with a good command of German, the rest of the commanders and fighters withdrew to the station with their booty. ”

When Oleg heard my order, he couldn't help but be stunned for a moment, and then muttered: "Comrade division commander, can I ask, is this why?" ”

"Don't you understand, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel?" When I heard him questioning my orders, my tone couldn't help but become stern, "The Germans know that the defenders of the station only have one company, but if they come and find that there are more than 200 of you, wouldn't that be a gang?" ”

Oleg suddenly came to his senses, and hurriedly replied: "Comrade division commander, I understand, I will lead the large army to leave here with the spoils of war." ”

After putting down the headset and microphone, I said to Grams, who was next to me: "Captain Grams, let's take this platoon later, go and join the platoon left by Lieutenant Colonel Oleg, and wait for the German commander to come over at the place where the train capsizes." ”

After listening to this, Grahms also agreed very happily: "Okay, comrade division commander, I will follow your instructions!" ”

After a few minutes, Oleg and his troops came along the railway. Seeing that almost every soldier was carrying several guns, and there were even many people carrying wooden boxes on their shoulders, it seemed that their results were not small.

When Oleg passed by me, he took the initiative to stop and report to me: "Report to the division commander, the first and second companies have successfully destroyed the German troop transport train, and all the German devils on the train have been killed by us, and none of them have escaped the net. ”

"Well done!" I nodded in satisfaction, and then asked, "What about our troop casualties?" ”

"When the train was hit, more than a dozen soldiers were burned by the fire, but none of them were seriously injured. As for the battle against the Azerbaijani battalion, it could not be called a battle at all, but a one-sided massacre, in which at least two hundred enemies were killed, and we did not suffer any casualties. ”

Hearing that there were no casualties among the troops, I couldn't help but feel a little complacent while secretly breathing a sigh of relief. Thousands of enemies were annihilated. Only a dozen people were wounded. Such a result of the battle, let alone me, even the commander of the group army will feel that his face is bright. However, the first task at the moment was not to repay the merits, but to find a way to send the Germans out of the camp, so I instructed Oleg: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, there is nothing for you to do here, you should hurry up and rest when you return with the soldiers, maybe there will be a new combat mission for you after dawn." ”

Oleg resoundingly agreed. Follow his troops along the railway to the station.

When Oleg's troops were over, I said to the commander of the third company, who had been on standby: "Okay, comrade commander of the third company, you can also bring the two platoons on the hillside back to the station." ”

The commander of the third company didn't expect me to give such an order to him, and he couldn't help but be stunned and didn't react in the distance. I thought he hadn't heard clearly, so I repeated my order again, and then he said with some reluctance: "Comrade division commander, let me go to the front with you, the troops can let the platoon commanders take them back." ”

Originally, I wanted to reject him directly, but I saw his sincere gaze. After a brief hesitation, he agreed to his request: "Okay. Comrade company commander, since this is the case, you go and give orders to the other two platoon commanders and ask them to lead the team back to the station. After hearing this, the commander of the third company was about to run up the hill with excitement on his face, and I stopped him again.

He stopped and looked at me in surprise, probably thinking that I had changed my main thing again. I guessed that he might have misunderstood, so I hurriedly instructed him: "Comrade company commander, after you give the order to the two platoon commanders, remember to carry the bodies of these six Germans to the vicinity of the train." ”

The commander of the third company was confused by my inexplicable order, and he scratched the back of his head and asked puzzledly: "Comrade division commander, why is this?" ”

"The Germans in these monitoring groups were killed by the mutinous Azerbaijanis when they went to check near the overturned military train, and the bodies were naturally placed near the train."

"However, these Germans were obviously ...... by us" Before the third company commander finished speaking, I glared at him fiercely, and he immediately understood, and quickly straightened up and agreed: "I understand, comrade division commander, these Germans were killed by the Azerbaijani rebels when they were checking by the train." ”

Seeing that he understood what I meant, I nodded with satisfaction, waved at him, and said, "Hurry up and give orders to your platoon commanders, we will try to get the bodies over before the Germans get to the train to check them out." ”

As soon as Mihayev and Grahms and I walked to the burning train car, and when we joined the platoon left behind by Oleg, he also ran over with a dozen soldiers panting, threw the six German corpses on the side of the railway, and then dragged a dozen of them out of the corpses of Azerbaijani soldiers, placed them next to the German corpses, and arranged a fake scene where the inspection team was plotted.

Originally, I thought that such a shoddy scam could not be concealed from the shrewd Germans, but I did not expect that when a small German army came to the railway to check on the railway under the cover of two armored vehicles, Gramms just stepped forward and said a few words, and the commander of the other party waved him away.

Seeing Grams running over, I hurriedly whispered, "Captain Grams, what's going on?" ”

Grams also whispered: "The commander of the other side said that they will now take over the scene, let us go back to the station immediately to prevent attacks by the guerrillas and rebels." After speaking, he shouted in German to the rest of the commanders and fighters: "All assemble and rush back to the station immediately." ”

When we returned to the station, I hurriedly contacted Sederikov, who was acting for me, and as soon as the phone rang, I hurriedly asked: "Lieutenant Colonel Sederikov, how is the situation on your side?" ”

"Comrade division commander," Shederikov replied excitedly, "after our sneak attack detachment shelled the German and Georgian battalions respectively, the enemy was really fooled and rushed out of the camp one after another to pursue our detachment. Fortunately, there were mines planted in advance that delayed the enemy's time, otherwise, our team would not have been able to retreat in one piece. ”

"What about the casualties of the detachment, and what kind of results have been achieved?"

"The team all escaped safely and there were no casualties. Although the enemy discovered that it was their own people who had misunderstood soon after the exchange of fire, the casualties on both sides were at least 300 or more. ”

"Well done." Speaking of this, I habitually raised my hand to look at my watch, and when I saw that it was already three o'clock in the morning, I said to him with concern: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, it's not early, you should hurry up and rest." ”

ended the call with Sederikov. I called Oleg, Vylol, and my guard battalion commander Basmanov to the front. Ask them: "Has the squad we sent back?" ”

As soon as my words came out. Several people involuntarily lowered their heads, and after a while, Velore replied in a low voice: "Report to the division commander, the team has not heard any news so far, I guess it is more than lucky." ”

After listening to her words, I sighed and whispered, "You're right, they haven't heard anything yet. I don't think they'll be able to come back. Commissar Vellore, when dawn comes, you send several squads to search for their whereabouts, and even if you can't find anyone, find their bodies. ”

Velore nodded and replied, "Yes, as soon as dawn comes, I will immediately send someone to search for their whereabouts." ”

I waved at a few people and said, "It's not too early, so you should go back and take a break." I'll talk about it when it's dawn. ”

After they were all gone, I sat down at the table. Looking at the map of the German army in front of him in a daze, I thought to myself, even if eighteen soldiers are sacrificed, our operation tonight can be regarded as a victory, after all, we have destroyed thousands of enemies.

I was thinking about it, but I suddenly heard the sound of hurried footsteps outside, and the sentry standing outside the door had begun to ask loudly, but it was Velore who had just left, and then the door of the headquarters was slammed open, and Velore ran in with a surprised face.

She stood in front of me, out of breath, and only ran a few steps, but she was so excited that she finally adjusted, and then she said in a rough manner: "Report to the division commander, eighteen soldiers have all returned, and not even one of them has been slightly injured." ”

My eyes widened at first, and my face was full of incredulity, and then I expressed the same ecstasy as Velol. Asked aloud, "Where are they?" Take me there. ”

Velore answered my questions as he walked: "According to the soldiers, after completing their mission, they found that the retreat had been cut off by the Germans, so they retreated to the south, making a circle around the boss before returning to the station. ”

When I saw the eighteen warriors standing in line in the square in front of the station again, I excitedly went up and punched everyone in the chest. After the thrashing, I walked back and forth in front of them with my hands behind my back a few times, then stopped and said to them excitedly: "Our heroes, welcome you back in triumph!" Then I turned my head and called to the commander next to me: "Lieutenant Colonel Oleg, Commissar Vylol." ”

When they heard me call them, they hurriedly stepped forward and replied loudly, "Here!" ”

I was so excited that I said incoherently: "Report the names of all the eighteen soldiers, I will ask them to take credit, and I will ask the comrade commander to personally award them medals!" ”

Hearing me say this, Oleg and Vylor replied: "Yes! I follow your instructions. ”

And the eighteen fighters replied loudly and loudly in unison: "Willing to serve the Soviet Fatherland!" ”

The safe return of the eighteen soldiers made me let go of the big stone in my heart, and as soon as I returned to the headquarters, I could not wait to order Shura to contact the army group headquarters and report the results of tonight's battle quickly.

After contacting the command of the army group, it was not Chuikov who answered the phone, but the chief of staff, Colonel Raskin. Perhaps because every time I reported good news in the dead of night, Ruskin was disturbed by me in time, but he did not have a seizure, but patiently asked: "Dear Oshanina, did you bring me any good news by calling me so late?" ”

"Yes, Comrade Chief of Staff." Since it was the annunciation, I did not hide it, but said straight to the point: "Tonight, the troops of our division made a decisive attack and attacked the camps of the German army and the troops of the Eastern Battalion in the north and south directions of the Abuganerovo station, and achieved brilliant results, so I specially reported the victory to the headquarters. ”

"Oshanina, please wait a moment, I'll find a pen and paper to record it." It didn't take long for Ruskin's voice to disappear from the headphones, and then it sounded again, "Okay, I'm ready, you name it!" ”

"Tonight we sabotaged the railroad and tracked a German military train full of soldiers. After the train capsized, the troops in ambush nearby made a decisive attack and wiped out all the surviving German troops on the train. Although the final results of the battle are not counted, it is certain that neither of the two battalions of German soldiers in the column was spared. ”

"What are the casualties of your troops?" Ruskin asked habitually.

Hearing his question, I said proudly: "Report to Comrade Chief of Staff, only a dozen of our fighters were slightly wounded. ”

"What. Only a dozen fighters were slightly wounded? Ruskin asked, surprised.

"Yes. Comrade Chief of Staff. I then said triumphantly: "Actually, there is more to it than that, I have also used a plan to destroy the newly stationed Azerbaijani battalion south of the Abuganerovo station. ”

Raskin was stunned by my words, and he said in a somewhat flustered voice: "What, what? You say you also exterminated the Azerbaijani battalion? What about the casualties of the troops, you won't tell sù that there are only a dozen people slightly injured, right? ”

"Of course not, we didn't have a single casualty!"

This news of mine drove Raskin crazy, and he stammered: "Comrade Oshanina. You couldn't call me in the middle of the night to entertain me, did you? You must know that with so many enemies destroyed, how can there be only such small casualties? You know, it will be very difficult for our troops to win if they do not have superiority in numbers and weapons. And your casualties are almost negligible, which is simply unbelievable. ”

"Comrade Chief of Staff," I said clearly, "you have known me for not a short time, do you think I am the kind of boring person?" ”

"No...... No. Raskin said with some hesitation: "Please wait a moment, I will go and ask the commander and General Chuikov to come and let them hear for themselves the results of your battle." ”

Ruskin inadvertently used honorifics in his address to me. It seems that he is still skeptical about the results of our division, which is why he asked Shumilov and Chuikov to come and confirm it.

Soon came Chuikov's voice through the headphones: "Hey. Hey, is it Oshanina? I'm Chuikov, can you hear me now? ”

I hurriedly replied: "Hear me very clearly, Comrade Commander. ”

"Just now Colonel Raskin told me about the results you reported, not only him, but even General Shumilov and I think it is simply incredible, not to mention that your poorly trained and poorly equipped troops, even if the most elite troops of the whole army are transferred to fight the Germans, there will definitely not be only a small number of negligible casualties. Tell me well, what the hell is going on? ”

I answered all of Chuikov's questions, so I told him the plan I had made and the process of the battle, and finally emphasized: "...... Comrade commander, to tell you the truth, when I drew up this battle plan, I had no bottom in my heart, so I personally rushed to the front line before the battle began, because I was worried that if the plan was not implemented in an unfavorable way, I would be able to adjust the deployment according to the actual situation. Unexpectedly, even the heavens helped us, and they actually carried out according to our plan, the German army was destroyed by us, and those traitors to the motherland were also eliminated by us by the hands of the Germans. Such a result, let alone you, even I, if I hadn't been on the front line to witness it myself, I wouldn't have believed it. ”

Even though I had already said this, Chuikov still muttered, "It's incredible, if I didn't know you, I would have thought you were lying." But now that I hear you say that, I believe it, because you are a commander who is good at creating miracles. At this point, he paused, as if talking to someone next to him in a low voice, and then his voice came from the earphones again, "I have consulted with General Shumilov, you immediately report the names of the eighteen soldiers, we will give them credit, and Commander Shumilov will personally award them with honors." ”

"Yes, Comrade Commander. As soon as dawn comes, I'll report the names of these heroes to you! ”

Before I could finish the call with Chuikov, Velore hurriedly pushed the door open and walked in, she saw that I was on the phone, she quickly raised a piece of paper in her hand, opened her mouth and said a few words silently, I judged from the shape of her mouth, she was saying: "Comrade division commander, I sent you the list of eighteen soldiers." ”

After I put down the phone, Vylore, who had been standing beside me, hurriedly reported loudly: "Comrade division commander, I have sent you the list of eighteen fighters!" ”

I looked down at the long and awkward names on the list, nodded and said, "I know, as soon as dawn comes, I will report their names to the army group headquarters." Then I said to him mysteriously: "Comrade Vellol, I have quietly told you good news that the commander of the army group already knows about these eighteen soldiers, and he has asked me to report the list as much as possible, and he said that he will come to honor these soldiers personally. ”

"Really?" When Velore heard the news, she almost jumped up with excitement, and she asked excitedly, "Leda, is this all true?" ”

"Of course it's true." I replied with this in my mouth, but I said with some dissatisfaction in my heart, isn't it because you have made meritorious contributions, do you need to be so excited?

I said a few more words to her, and just as I was about to send her away, the newspaper operator Shura suddenly called out to me excitedly: "Comrade division commander, General Zhukov is on the line, he wants to talk to you." ”

Zhukov is going to talk to me so late?! Needless to say, it must have been Chuikov who reported my results to the front army command, which alarmed Zhukov, the great god. I hurriedly put on my headphones and said loudly into the microphone: "Hey, hey, hello, Comrade General, I'm Oshanina." ”

"Leda, I congratulate you." Zhukov said straight to the point: "I listened to Comrade Chuikov's report that your troops have achieved great results in tonight's operation, eliminating the Germans and their lackey troops in front of them, while the casualties of your own troops are negligible, which is really remarkable. ”

"You've won the prize, Comrade General!" Although I was a little flattered, I still had to pretend to be humble and replied, "It's just a small victory, it's nothing." ”

"What? A small victory, nothing? Zhukov said in a somewhat exaggerated tone, "If other troops could have won a few more small victories like you, it is estimated that the Germans near Stalingrad would have been almost wiped out by us." ”

I didn't know what Zhukov would say to me next, so I didn't speak, just silently listened to him continue.

He continued: "Yesterday I gave the order for you to hold the station at Abuganerovo, my heart was very heavy, and I was deeply afraid that this order of my own would put you and your troops in a situation from which you could never recover. However, judging by the results of tonight's battle, my concern is unfounded. Just like what Comrade Chuikov said, you are a commander who is good at creating miracles, and although you lack a sense of the overall situation, you are often ingenious in your use of troops, and you can take those murderous enemies by surprise. It seems that Comrade Chuikov's vision and courage are good, and he should give you an independent unit to conduct independent operations in a separate direction, and if it were me, I would not necessarily be able to do better than him. ”

"Comrade General, I am also very grateful to you, if it were not for you, I would not be where I am today." This is true, if it weren't for Zhukov's help, I might still be guarding Lenin's mausoleum in Tyumen right now.

"Lida, don't say words of gratitude, keep up the good work, I'm waiting to hear more good news from you." (To be continued......)