Shederikov did not seem to perceive my abnormality, but excitedly reported to me: "Comrade division commander, the commander of the Don Front, General Rokossovsky, and the commander of the 65th Army, General Batov, are here, and at this moment they are in my command post. Wait a minute, Admiral Rokossovsky is going to speak to you. ”

Rokossovsky's familiar voice soon came from the headphones, and he asked kindly, "Dear Leda, hello, I haven't seen you for a long time, how are you doing?" ”

Suddenly I heard Rokossovsky's voice, and I was a little excited and speechless: "Hello, Comrade Commander of the Don Front, I ...... I'm ...... Nice, how are you? ”

"I'm very good, today the large force of our Don Front has advanced to the vicinity of the city of Kongjiao, and I and the commander of the 65th Army, General Batov, know that your troops are stationed in the city, and we have come to see you." After briefly explaining the reasons for his arrival in Kong, Rokossovsky continued: "Lida, you are really remarkable, the independent division fought alone, in order to ensure that the Mamayev Heights, which can be used as a support point for the future counteroffensive, to defend the most important gateway to Stalingrad, until the Red Army launched a full-scale counterattack, your skillful deployment and stubborn defense played a key role in the imminent final victory. ”

"Comrade Commander, you have won the award." I was a little flattered by Rokossovsky's praise, and hurriedly said humbly: "I have actually not done enough, our independent division has not destroyed enough enemies and pinned down German troops in the defensive stage of the campaign. ”

"Alright, Leda. You stop being modest. Rokossovsky interrupted me later. He smiled and said, "If you are free now." I hope you can rush to the air as soon as possible, and I will assign you a defensive mission. At present, although our two armies have completed their division, the German forces in our encirclement are still very strong, and it is unrealistic to want to eat them in one bite. Therefore, you have to adjust your deployment as much as possible, and fortify and hold in areas where the terrain is dangerous. Do you understand? Fortified to prevent the Germans from attempting to launch a counteroffensive. The troops cannot take a step back without a new order from their superiors; Equally. You can't just take a step forward, you know? ”

Hearing Rokossovsky's two "understand" in succession, I realized the severity of the problem and hurriedly agreed: "Understood, Comrade Commander!" After saying this, I paused for a moment and continued: "I will rush to Kongjian in the shortest possible time to accept your orders!" ”

"Very well, then I'll be waiting for you in your regimental command post." After Rokossovsky finished speaking, he cut off contact with me.

After I put down the headphones and the microphone. Turning to Kirillov, who was standing not far away, he said: "General Rokossovsky said that there is an important task to be assigned to us, so I must immediately rush to the city of Kongjiaoyi. Comrade Political Commissar. You and I are together; The deputy division commander and chief of staff stayed behind and waited for the fourth regiment to assemble before rushing to Kongjiao. ”

Hearing me say this, Kirillov, who had always been cautious, without hesitation, agreed with my immediate departure.

The two of us walked out of the headquarters and found the commander of the guard company, Captain Yushchenko, outside. Yushchenko, who was chatting with several fighters, saw us walking towards him, waved at the fighters, sent them away, and then trotted all the way up to meet them. He stood up in front of us and saluted, and asked politely, "Comrade Division Commander, do you have any instructions?" ”

"Comrade Captain, the political commissar and I are going to rush to Kongjiaoyi City immediately, you go to find two cars, and then take a few soldiers with us."

After listening to my instructions, he then asked: "Comrade division commander, will I use a jeep or a truck?" ”

When Gorodishhe was recaptured two days ago, we captured several jeeps that belonged to the Soviet army, which is why Yushchenko asked this question. I thought about it, it is not too far from here to the city of Kongjiaoyi, and the roads are almost all within the control of our army, so there is no need to bring too many soldiers with me, so there is no need to use trucks, so I replied: "Comrade Captain, it is not far from here to Kongjiaoyi, and the trucks are not needed, you can go find two jeeps." ”

"Yes!" Yushchenko said yes and turned to leave.

As soon as Yushchenko left, Basmanov, who had gotten the news from somewhere, ran over. Seeing that Kirillov and I were still standing on the side of the road, he hurriedly came over to us and said, "Division commander and political commissar, I heard that you are about to rush to Kongjiaoyi, do you need me to gather a guard company to escort you?" ”

When Kirillov heard him say this, he waved his hand again and again and said: "Comrade Major, no need. It's not a long way from here to Kongjiaoyi, and with our troops along the way, you don't need too many people to accompany you. ”

"But, Comrade Political Commissar, you once said," seeing that Kirillov did not intend to let him go with us, and the commander of the guard battalion, Major Basmanov, was in a hurry, and he even moved out what Kirillov had said before, "You once said that as long as the division commander leaves the headquarters, wherever he goes, at least one platoon of fighters will follow. But now you are going in two jeeps, are the numbers too small? ”

"Comrade Major, I have said this before," Kirillov did not deny what he had said, "but the situation was different then than it is now. At that time, the enemy could rush to the high ground at any time, so the division commander could encounter danger wherever he went, so I gave you such an order. But now the situation is different, the Germans are encircled by us, and they are in fear all day long, and we do not attack them, they are already hiding in the trenches and stealing fun, how can they send people to attack us? Speaking of this, he stepped forward, patted Basmanov on the shoulder, and said in a friendly manner: "Don't worry, Comrade Major, how effective is the guard company of Captain Yushchenko, I think you know very well that with their protection, we will definitely be safe." ”

As we spoke, I saw three jeeps in the distance coming towards us. Perhaps Yushchenko felt that sending only two cars was a bit too little, so he found an extra jeep.

After the jeep stopped a few steps away from us, Yushchenko jumped out of the passenger seat of the first car and came to us and reported: "Division commander, commissar. The jeep is ready. Take the middle one. ”

Kirillov and I sat down in the back seat of the second jeep. I saw the driver sitting in front of me and another heavily armed fighter. As the car in front started, our driver also started the engine and followed.

I curiously asked the soldier sitting in the passenger seat: "Comrade soldier, how many of you have come?" ”

Hearing my question, the soldier sitting in the front row hurriedly turned his head and replied: "Report to the division commander, political commissar, and there are five people in each of the two jeeps in front and rear, including the driver. ”

After listening to the number of people in the front and rear cars, I silently calculated in my mind. There were five people in each of the two cars, so there were ten commanders and fighters, plus the driver and guards of our car, then Yushchenko and they had a total of twelve people to escort us to Kongjiaoyi.

As the car was moving, I looked out the window and saw that the surroundings were desolate, and everywhere was white, except for the occasional Chinese fighter plane flying in the air, there was not even a single figure on the ground.

Kirillov suddenly asked: "Comrade Oshanina, do you think that the Don Front will launch a final offensive against the Germans in the near future?" ”

"The final attack?!" Hear this word used by Kirillov. I couldn't help but smile bitterly, "Comrade Political Commissar." It's too early to say the final offensive. You must know that the strength of the enemy is still very strong, and although we have surrounded them, it will take a long time to completely destroy them. ”

"I wonder how long this time will be?" Kirillov asked cautiously.

"At least two months or so." I only vaguely gave an approximate time to Kirillov's question, while also explaining to him: "Since the Germans were surrounded by us, their ammunition, food, and supplies of soldiers were cut off, they did not dare to risk a major counterattack, and could only stay in the positions they occupied and wait for their reinforcements to arrive." ”

Hearing me say this, Kirillov sneered and said in a contemptuous tone: "Can Hitler still send reinforcements to Paulus who can save him?" ”

Before I could speak, just a dozen meters away from us, there was a sudden explosion, and the dirt and snow near the explosion point were thrown high into the air, and then sprinkled down, making the roof of our jeep rattle.

The driver slammed on the brakes, and Kirillov and I slammed into the backrest of the front seat with tremendous inertia.

"What's wrong?" Kirillov asked loudly.

"Enemy attack, enemy attack!" The fighters in the front row turned their heads and shouted at us.

"Where's the enemy......" Before Kirillov could finish his words, another earth-shattering explosion sounded around me, and then the car we were sitting in rolled over. My body slammed into Kirillov's body, and before I could react, Kirillov pressed down on top of me again as the vehicle flipped over.

When the car stopped rolling, I found myself facing the sky against Kirillov again. I was struggling to stand up when someone grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the shrapnel-torn roof. After leaving the jeep, another shell exploded not far from us, and I was so frightened that I was about to stand up and fell back on the ground. At the same time, I saw the fighter who had just sat in the front row, crouching next to the overturned jeep, grabbing a man's arm and pulling him out. With sharp eyes, I saw that the person he was pulling was Kirillov, and I hurriedly bent over and ran over, grabbed Kirillov's other hand, and dragged him out with the fighters.

As soon as Kirillov left the jeep, the fighters urged us: "Division commander, commissar, get out of the jeep quickly, maybe it will explode soon." ”

"But the driver is still inside." Although Kirillov had just been pulled out, he soon found that there were only three of us around him, and he was not willing to leave like this, "He must be rescued too." ”

"He has already died," said the warrior with a crying voice, "go quickly, it will be too late if you don't go." ”

I looked around and saw that the two jeeps in front and behind me had also stopped, and the soldiers were using the vehicles as cover to shoot at the enemy in the distance. Seeing this, I no longer hesitated, and roared in a low voice: "Commissar, let's get out of here." Then he instructed the warriors, "Lead the way ahead." ”

Without saying a word, the soldier led the two of us to bend down and run towards the crater more than twenty meters away. After hiding in the crater, I was able to carefully observe that the enemy who attacked us was from a legal source, which turned out to be seventy or eighty meters away on the south side of the road. Stopped at a German tank. and five or six three-wheeled motorcycles. Needless to say, it must have been this tank that shelled us.

A dozen German soldiers rushed towards us in a straggler formation, but Yushchenko and his resistance forced them to lie down in the snow and shoot at us. At such a time, Yushchenko and the AK47 in their hands have a chance to show their might. As soon as the Germans stood up and could not take two steps forward, they would fall under the accurate fire of the guards.

Although our small arms were superior, the German tanks were not vegetarians. Seeing that our fire was fierce, it slowly turned the turret and fired another shot at us. The shell landed near the rear car and exploded, and immediately two fighters were swept over by the air wave, and their firepower immediately weakened.

The German tank fired again and hit the jeep directly, and the fighters, hiding behind the jeep, flew out screaming at the explosion. Seeing that the fire behind Yushchenko's jeep continued, I quickly patted the fighter who was hiding beside me and commanded him in a loud voice: "Comrade soldier, go and sue Captain Yushchenko." Stop hiding behind jeeps, which are easy targets for the Germans. Let them find a place to hide. ”

The warrior nodded, jumped out of the crater, bent over and ran briskly towards Yushchenko. Just as he was only a few steps away from Yushchenko and them, a shell landed next to him and exploded. The fighters were instantly blown to pieces, and their stumps and broken arms were scattered everywhere, and some fell directly on Yushchenko's side.

Yushchenko, perhaps sensing something falling behind him, instinctively glanced back. Seeing Yushchenko turn around, I hurriedly ventured out of the crater and leaned out of the crater, gesturing desperately to him and signaling him to take people to a safe place.

Yushchenko and his men had just evacuated the jeep when they were hit by a shell and began to burn. Seeing this scene, I secretly called luck in my heart, if Yushchenko didn't look back just now, it is estimated that they would be as fierce and unlucky as the soldiers in the back car at this moment.

Seeing that our side had stopped firing, the Germans got up from the snow and rushed towards us with their weapons in hand. Seeing the enemy getting closer and closer, I was immediately anxious, and there were only a few of us left, not to mention that there were fewer people than the Germans, and there were no heavy weapons, so there was no way to take the tank that posed the greatest threat.

However, I didn't want to sit back like this, so I hurriedly put the AK47 on the edge of the crater, aimed it in the direction of the German rush, and pulled the trigger. For the Germans a few dozen meters away, this assault rifle was much better than a submachine gun, and I only fired four or five rounds to hit a German soldier. After being shot, the German soldier who was rushing forward threw away the weapon in his hand, covered his chest and spun around in two circles, and then fell headlong into the snow.

"Well played!" Kirillov's voice came from beside me, and I turned my head to see that he was lying on the edge of the crater, pulled out his pistol, and pulled the trigger again and again at the German soldiers in the distance. I don't know if it's because of the range or because Kirillov's marksmanship is too bad, but anyway, I saw that he used all eight bullets in the chamber of the gun in one go, and I didn't see a single German soldier fall.

Yushchenko, after they found a place of concealment, resumed firing at the Germans. After the Germans fell three men in succession, they fell to the ground again and fired at us. And that nasty tank, still firing at us, shells landed near us or Yushchenko's hiding point and exploded.

Just as I was glaring at the German tank viciously, imagining how to kill it if I had an anti-tank rifle in my hand, suddenly there was a violent explosion next to the tank, and the turret that had just flaunted its might was blown apart from the body in the explosion, flying more than ten meters away, and then smashed heavily on the snow.

I was amazed to see the snowflakes that were smashed by the turret, and I was just thinking about how to hit it with an anti-tank gun, but it exploded. At this moment, Kirillov, who was beside him, was suddenly heard excitedly shouting: "Comrade Oshanina, look, plane, our plane." ”

I looked into the sky in the direction of Kirillov's finger, and sure enough, I saw a plane of our army circling in the air, which turned out to be the one who dropped bombs and destroyed the German tank. After making a circle in the air, the plane dived down again, and at the same time fired at the German soldiers lying on the snow with their on-board machine guns. (To be continued......)

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