After the end of the call with Chuikov, I sat down and tried to recall the historical Battle of Stalingrad, what happened during this time, and how it affected the encirclement and annihilation of the German army by the three fronts. ∝I racked my brains for a long time and thought about it for a long time, and vaguely remembered that it seemed that Hitler ordered Field Marshal Manstein, who was outside the encirclement, to launch a counterattack codenamed "Winter Storm" in order to rescue Paulus's troops, with Hort's tank 4th Army as the pioneer, launched an assault on the Soviet encirclement, trying to open a way for Paulus's troops to escape in the shortest possible time.

Seeing that I was sitting at the table in a daze, Kirillov came over and asked with concern: "Comrade Oshanina, what happened, why did the German artillery located in the factory area suddenly carry out artillery shelling of our attacking troops, are they not afraid that our army will send aviation to bomb their artillery positions?" ”

I replied to Kirillov with a wry smile: "Comrade commissar, the commander has just informed me that the Germans have launched a surprise attack outside our encirclement in an attempt to open a passage for Paulus's troops, and our troops have to turn around against them. In this way, the pressure on the Germans trapped in the city will be greatly reduced, and they will be free to deal with us. Having said this, I stood up and gave an order to Akhromeyev: "Comrade Chief of Staff, order the three regiments of Sedjerikov, Oleg and Kostya to immediately stop the offensive and seize the time to strengthen the existing fortifications in order to cope with a possible German offensive. ”

When I had finished giving the order to Akhromeyev, Kirillov whispered to me: "Comrade commander, I'll send a telegram to General Rokossovsky. Let's see what's going on over there. "After seeing that I nodded in agreement. He got up and walked over to another walkie-talkie.

Bandereev looked at the map in front of him. He asked me with some concern: "Comrade division commander, if the Germans launch a large-scale counteroffensive, will we be able to hold the Yerman and Dzerzhinsky districts with the current strength of our division?" ”

I shook my head again and said regretfully: "Comrade Deputy Division Commander, although Commander Chuikov sent troops to take over the areas occupied by our division, so that we could concentrate our forces on the offensive against the Germans. However, after all, the German army had five divisions, and they had an advantage in terms of strength and weaponry. Can you hold these two districts? We're just going to have to gamble on our luck. ”

After Akhromeyev gave the order to Shederikov, he returned to my side and heard exactly what I said to Pandelyev. As soon as I finished speaking, he tentatively said to me: "Comrade division commander, in order to cover the successful retreat of the troops of the 1st and 4th regiments to a safe place, can you order the two artillery battalions of the division to open fire on the enemy and suppress their firepower?" ”

"No, no!" Before I could speak, Bandereev had already spoken out: "The Germans are equipped with large-caliber artillery, and our artillery battalion has the exception of a few captured howitzers. The rest are medium-caliber artillery, both in terms of range and power. None of them can be compared with the German artillery. Although our artillery battalion has achieved a lot of results in the early battles. However, weapons and equipment are always the basis for carrying out confrontation, and if the differences in weapons are too large, no matter how clever the tactics and how brave our fighters are, it is meaningless. ”

"The deputy division commander was right," I felt that what Pantai Leev said was very reasonable, so I decisively chose to support him: "The strength of the artillery battalion is too far from the enemy, and if they are thrown into battle, it is tantamount to sending them to death in vain." ”

While we were talking, Kirillov also came over, put a telegram on the table, sighed, and said: "Comrade Oshanina, the situation is all clear. Early this morning, the Germans launched an attack from the outside of our encirclement, and a battle took place in the direction of Kotelnikovo in the defense zone of the Don Front, and the 51st Army under the command of General Truefanov, which was fighting head-on outside the encirclement, was slightly repulsed under the frantic attack of the Germans, although it had stubbornly resisted. ”

Although Kirillov said it lightly, I understood in my heart that the so-called "slightly repulsed" showed that the Germans were wedged into our line of defense for at least several kilometers. If Rokossovsky did not turn around in time to meet the enemy, our troops, who were attacking Paulus, would have found themselves in a situation where they would have been exposed to the enemy.

When Pantai Leyev and Akhromeyev listened to Kirillov's words, the expressions on their faces became stern. They did not know what the final outcome of the Battle of Stalingrad would be, so when they heard that the Germans had attacked from the periphery of our encirclement, they were troubled by the gains and losses, and they probably feared that our main forces would fall into the German encirclement, as they had done in the later stages of the Battle of Kharkov.

Seeing the expressions of the two of them, I couldn't help but smile and ask, "Hey, I said that the deputy division commander and the chief of staff, you both have sad faces, what's wrong?" Are you worried that Paulus, who is surrounded by us, will retreat in this situation? ”

Hearing me say so confidently, Akhromeyev, who was familiar with me, suddenly lit up, he held the edge of the table with both hands, leaned forward slightly, and asked me excitedly: "Comrade division commander, what do you mean, will the German attack from outside the encirclement be repulsed by our troops soon?" And then our troops can turn around and continue to encircle Paulus's troops in the encirclement? ”

In order to dispel Bandereev's concerns, I nodded vigorously and said affirmatively: "Don't look at the enemy's artillery fire so fiercely, but I believe that a blow of this intensity will not last long, because Paulus's troops are surrounded by our regiments, and the necessary supplies can only rely on their air force airdrops, and their artillery does not dare to consume precious shells with impunity." ”

After about half an hour, Shedelikov first called me to report on the execution of the order: "Comrade division commander, most of the commanders and fighters of our regiment have successfully withdrawn from the starting positions of the morning offensive and are intensively building fortifications to prevent a possible subsequent counterattack by the Germans. ”

"What about the casualties of the troops?" Although I heard that the first regiment had been withdrawn, I was concerned about their casualties, so I continued to ask, "Have all the wounded been withdrawn?" ”

As a result of the recent military meeting, I repeatedly stressed to the regimental commanders that our division might not be able to receive reinforcements from the east bank in the near future. Only the recovering wounded could be relied upon to replenish the troops. So as long as the conditions allow. It is necessary to bring back all the wounded on the battlefield.

Sederikov understood the meaning of my words and hurriedly reported: "Report to Comrade Division Commander, our regiment lost 51 casualties and wounded 73 in the German artillery attack just now. So all the wounded were snatched down, and it was the commander of the first battalion, Captain Nikolai, who personally led people and braved artillery fire to carry them down. ”

I said "um" on the phone, and then said to Sederikov: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel. I would like to ask you to convey to Captain Nikolai my gratitude to him, and I thank him on behalf of the wounded! When I said this, I thought that Nikolai, like Karpov, was a person who needed to be protected, so I instructed Sederikov, "For the safety of Captain Nikolai, in the next battle, try not to arrange his battalion to carry out any dangerous tasks." Do you understand? ”

"Understood, Comrade Division Commander." Shederikov replied loudly on the other end of the phone. After a brief pause. He cautiously asked: "Comrade division commander, I don't know what the next task of our regiment is?" ”

"Your regiment is holding on to its existing defensive positions. It is necessary to constantly send small detachments to harass the German army and deplete their vital forces. "Thinking that Sedjerikov was very good at replenishing the troops, I added: "If possible, try to replenish a regiment." ”

After the report of the 1st Regiment was over, the reports of the 2nd and 4th regiments followed, and the two regiment commanders reported to me on the phone that the troops had suffered heavy casualties during the shelling, and that it might be difficult to organize a large-scale attack on the Germans in the short term. In response to their concerns, I said lightly: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, your next task is to hold on to your existing defensive positions and prevent the Germans from regaining these areas. When the enemy's living forces are almost depleted, we will consider the issue of counterattack. ”

Although Lieutenant Colonel Kosgaard, the commander of the third regiment, did not call, I thought that the Yelman district where he was located might also be attacked by the Germans, so I called him to remind him that in addition to asking him to organize the residents and militia of the district to strengthen the fortifications, he also had to send more patrols to patrol the defense area day and night to avoid being attacked by the Germans.

After the defensive work of the regiments was deployed, since there was nothing to do for the time being, a few of us sat down and chatted and commented on the appearance of the three major front armies after the start of the great counteroffensive. I took my notebook and pencil out of my briefcase, ready to jot down when I heard something valuable.

However, after listening to them for a while, they talked about how heroic our commanders and fighters were, and how vulnerable the German army was, without touching on some of the problems that our army had in the counteroffensive battle. The more I listened, the more wrong it became, but it was Kirillov who was talking, and I couldn't interrupt him casually, so as not to hurt his self-esteem, so I could only put down the pen in my hand, lean back, and continue to listen hard.

Kirillov was talking energetically, when he suddenly saw me like this, guessed that I might have something to say, quickly stopped, and said with a smile: "My words will be here for the time being, and now I will ask Comrade Oshanina to say a few words to you." ”

I was not polite, and after sitting up straight, I expressed my opinion on some of the problems I had discovered: "...... When our division and the Don Front were in session, I found that all the members of their military council, all the senior commanders and political staffs were directly incorporated into the battle sequence. During the battle, many commanders, in order to boost morale, even took the lead in personally participating in the assault. But I think that such an approach is courageous and unscrupulous, and it is not worth advocating. This is because this will lead to unnecessary sacrifices, and once a senior commander is killed, the command system of the troops will fall into chaos. In this case, not to mention the destruction of the enemy, even the question of whether you can save yourself is a question.

This half-month of intense fighting has shown that it is impossible to annihilate the besieged enemy with only one or two assaults. Aspirations alone are not enough. It is necessary to carefully prepare for a new campaign and to study in detail the coordinated actions of the various armies. ……”

Since it was just a private chatter, I was thinking of what to say, and the whole content seemed a bit messy and unorganized. After I had spoken a little higher, Pantai Laiev cautiously asked: "Comrade division commander, what do you think can be done to improve the command efficiency of the troops and achieve the goal of annihilating the enemy as much as possible?" ”

I turned my head and glanced at Bandereev, and was silent for a long time before I said cautiously: "A better solution is to hand over the command of the campaign to one person, so that the command of the troops can be more handy." ”

After hearing my earth-shattering words, everyone fell silent, because this issue was a matter for the Supreme Commander himself, not to mention me, a small division commander, and even the commanders of the Front like Yeremenko and Rokossovsky had no right to speak.

After a long silence, Kirillov asked carefully: "Comrade Oshanina, if what you said becomes a reality, to whom do you think the final command of the troops will be handed over?" Is it one of the three existing commanders of the Front, or General Zhukov or the Chief of the General Staff, General Vasilevsky? ”

"Comrade Political Commissar, according to the analysis of the current situation, it is possible that only the Don Front and the Stalingrad Front will be merged, and General Vatutin's Southwestern Front may remain unmoved." Although I was well aware of the situation after the merger of the two fronts, in front of my subordinates, I still pretended to be meditating, and after a long time I continued: "As for the commander of the merged front, it will definitely not be made of General Chuikov or Vasilevsky Chief of the General Staff, and it can only be selected from the existing two commanders. ”

"The new commander will be elected from the current commander?!" Kirillov, after listening to my so-called analysis, could not help but fall into deep thought: "Then who could it be?" ”

"Does that need to be said?" Akhromeyev said without hesitation: "Since we are fighting under the city of Stalingrad, then the commander of the newly formed front must be General Yeremenko." Don't forget that his military commissar, Comrade Khrushchev, is a member of the Central Committee. He doesn't be a commander, who can be a commander?! ”

"Comrade Chief of Staff, I don't think so." Bandereev sang the opposite tune with him: "I do not deny that General Yeremenko is more senior than General Rokossovsky, and his military commissar is still Comrade Khrushchev. But don't forget about it, if the two fronts really merged, as the division commander said, they were merged. In the selection of commanders, the Supreme Commander considers who is more capable of serving as the commander, and does not simply consider his qualifications and who his deputies are. So I think it's more likely that General Rokossovsky will be the commander. (To be continued.)