As soon as the meeting ended, several division commanders stood up, raised their hands to salute Vitkov and me, and then turned around and walked outside the headquarters. After walking a few steps, he suddenly listened, and he turned to me and said, "Comrade Commander, there is something I almost told you. According to the confessions of the German prisoners captured by the raid squad last night, they all received a strange order. ”

"Strange command?!" My interest was aroused by Pandereev's words, and I hurriedly asked: "Comrade Colonel, tell me quickly, what kind of strange order is it?" ”

"According to the confessions of the captives: the commander ordered them to allow fire only if they were attacked by our troops."

Hearing Bentai Leev say this, a smile appeared on the face of Vitkov, who was standing next to me, and he turned to me excitedly and said: "Comrade commander, so to speak, at the moment the ammunition of the German army is in a state of serious shortage. ”

"Exactly, my Comrade Chief of Staff." I nodded approvingly to Vitkov's judgment, and echoed: "It may be that not only ammunition, but also food for them under our siege is also insufficient. ”

"Comrade Commander, you guessed so accurately." "The captives said that they were eating less and less, each man had only a loaf of bread a day, fifteen soldiers shared a kilogram of potatoes, and there was nothing difficult in drinking water for one ≈, because some of them were covered with snow. When he said his last sentence, he shrugged his shoulders exaggeratedly.

When I was sending Bandeleyev out of the headquarters, I suddenly thought that when he was the deputy division commander, he often clashed with Akhromeyev, and now that he is the division commander, then Akhromeyev, the chief of staff, may be suppressed by him. Therefore, I specially reminded him: "Comrade Colonel. Although there were quite a few contradictions between you and Akhromeyev before. But after all, it's all about work, and you don't have any personal grudges between you, but you must pay attention to unity. ”

In response to my reminder, Pantai Leev nodded and said obediently: "I understand, comrade division commander, I will have a good relationship with Chief of Staff Akhromeyev." ”

Then I suddenly remembered another thing, and said to him, "Comrade Colonel. There's one more thing I almost forgot. The battalion commander of the 3rd Battalion of the 3rd Regiment, Captain Dragan, who turned out to be the company commander of the 1st Battalion of the 1st Battalion of the 13th Guards Division of the 42nd Guards Division, had led the troops to defend the Central Railway Station, and he should be familiar with the terrain there. This attack on the train station can allow him to participate in it as well. ”

"Understood, Comrade Commander." Pantai Leev nodded and told me what was in his heart: "Since this is the case, then I will let the 3rd Regiment take up the main task of attacking the railway station." ”

Three regiments?! I originally thought that he would transfer Captain Dragan from the 3rd Regiment to the regiment with the main attack, but I didn't expect that he would actually plan to directly let the 3rd Regiment take the main attack. Thinking of the unsatisfactory performance of the third regiment commander, Lieutenant Colonel Cosgaard, in the past two months, I almost wanted to veto his plan immediately. Just about to open his mouth. But I suddenly remembered that Bandeleyev was the commander of the 150th Division at the moment, and I, as the corps commander, could not interfere too much in his command. Then he changed the topic in time: "Comrade Colonel, how long will it be before you can launch an attack on the railway station?" ”

"Gather the three regiments, plus the transfer of the tank battalion, it will take at least two hours." After a short thought, Pandereev told me: "That is to say, we will attack the railway station no earlier than one o'clock in the afternoon. ”

"Comrade Colonel, take into account all the unfavorable factors that may arise in the battle." I saw that he was a little disappreciative when he spoke, and I was deeply afraid that he would incur defeat by underestimating the enemy, and specially reminded him: "Finally, one battalion with strong combat effectiveness will be drawn from the first regiment and the fourth regiment as the second echelon, and once the third regiment fails in attacking, they can be immediately thrown into the battlefield." ”

"Yes! I resolutely obey your orders. Bandereev agreed very happily to my reminder, and then he asked carefully: "Can I leave?" ”

I nodded, then extended my hand to him, and at the same time said: "Goodbye, Colonel Pandereev, I wish you good luck!" ”

Although before leaving, Bandereev told us that our troops would begin the offensive at about 1 p.m., it was not until two o'clock that I received a telephone call from Bandereev, who briefly reported to me: "Comrade Commander, the troops have entered the starting positions and are ready to enter the battle. ”

After listening to Pantai Leyev's report, I immediately spoke into the microphone and said loudly: "Let's start, Comrade Colonel, immediately order the troops to attack the railway station." ”

When I put down the phone, I turned to Vitkov and said, "Comrade Chief of Staff, the battle for the assault on the railway station is about to start, let's go to the front and have a look." After speaking, without waiting for him to express his position, I said apologetically to Vasilyev, the political commissar who had just returned, "Comrade political commissar, when we are not there, you will be in charge of the affairs of the army for the time being. ”

After arranging for Vasilyev to stay behind, I took Vitkov, Yushchenko, and a platoon of the guard company to watch the battle near the railway station where the battle was about to be engaged.

After leaving the corps headquarters, we passed through the defense zone of Colonel Vachuk's unit, past the fighters who were in the trenches or at the firing points. These trenches and firing points were German a few days ago, and now the corpses of the enemy have been completely cleared.

As he was walking forward, suddenly there was a dense sound of gunfire in front of him. Hearing such movements, I knew that the offensive of the 3rd Regiment had begun, and while speeding up the pace, I urged Vitkov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, move quickly, the front is already fighting." ”

We walked another two or three hundred meters and entered a building with only two floors left. When I got to the second floor, I found that the view here was good, and I could clearly see the train station in the distance and the troops that were attacking forward.

As soon as I was about to raise my binoculars, I heard Vitkov next to me ask: "Comrade commander, is that your infantry fighting together?" ”

I hurriedly followed the direction of his finger, and saw that in the open ground in front of the railway station, the four tanks of the 150th Division were lined up, covering the commanders and fighters behind the cars to charge forward. I nodded and replied to Vitkov: "Yes, Comrade Chief of Staff. This is the infantry and tan coordinated operation of the original independent division. Tanks open the way in front. the elimination of German firing points; And the infantry, who followed behind, were responsible for clearing out the anti-tank men who rushed out from the side of the road. ”

The Germans, who were holding the station, saw that our troops were attacking, and immediately began to block and fire. Under the enemy's intensive fire, among the fighters who followed the tank to the left and right, people were constantly shot and fell to the ground. Seeing the intensity of enemy fire, the moving tank stopped, fired a shot at the enemy's point of fire or machine gun position, and slowly moved forward.

When we saw our tank getting closer and closer to the sculpture of "Six Young Pioneers dancing around crocodiles" in the middle of the square in front of the train station. I was muttering to myself, that this tankman wouldn't be a stunned young man, that there was such a wide road next to him, and that he would just run straight into the sculpture. In the previous months of fighting, thousands of shells and bombs had landed around the sculpture and exploded, but the sculpture was unharmed as if it had been covered in an invulnerable protective suit. If one of my men crashes the sculpture in a tank, I may be criticized by my superiors for it after the battle.

Fortunately, my worries were unfounded, and the tank that rushed to the front suddenly made a big turn. Bypassing the sculpture, he continued to rush forward. Just when I was secretly relieved. Behind the broken wall of the sculptural cistern, a machine gun suddenly began to fire, knocking out half of the fighters who were following the tank. A German soldier jumped out from behind the broken wall, quickly rushed to the moving tank, attached an object he was holding to the tank body, pulled the lead with his hand, turned around and ran back, and flew in before the broken wall. Then there was a loud bang, and the tank's turret flew aside in the light of fire and smoke.

"Hell!" Vitkov, who was beside him, shouted: "The Germans use magnetic mines, which are better against tanks than our anti-tank mines." ”

The commanders and fighters who were charging forward with the other tanks couldn't help but stop when they saw that the tanks that had opened the way were destroyed. The machine gun behind the broken wall turned its muzzle and swept towards the commanders and fighters who were in a daze, knocking down more than a dozen in an instant. Seeing the comrades around them fall one after another, the soldiers panicked, and when they saw someone retreating, they immediately retreated, leaving only a few tanks to rush forward alone.

The Germans at the railway station, seeing that our tanks and infantry were completely disconnected, unscrupulously pushed two anti-tank guns in front of the position, and with one salvo, they reimbursed one of our tanks. Then, the German anti-tank guns fired a second and third salvo, killing the remaining two tanks of our army one by one. Without the cover of the infantry, the tankmen who escaped from the tanks did not escape far before they died under the indiscriminate fire of the Germans.

Seeing this scene, I immediately had blood gushing up on my head. I put down my binoculars, walked quickly to the operator, and commanded him loudly: "Pick up the headquarters of the 150th Division for me immediately." ”

As soon as the phone rang, I yelled at the microphone in a rage: "Hey, Colonel Bandereev, what the hell is going on? It's not the first time you've used the tactics of infantry and tans in the city, why were you beaten so badly by the Germans, there was no one of the four tanks left, and all of them were killed by the Germans. ”

And the news of the failure of the offensive had obviously not yet been fed back to the division headquarters, so Bandereev was confused about my reproach, and he waited for me to finish before he carefully asked: "Comrade commander, what the hell is going on?" It's all confusing me. ”

I took a deep breath, waited for my feelings to stabilize a little, and then repeated what had just happened to him, and specifically pointed out: "The coordinated combat ability between the troops and tanks of the three regiments is not good at all, and they fight separately in the operation, and they can't even think of effectively cooperating with the armored troops, so that the armored units without infantry cover are exposed in vain in front of the enemy's anti-tank guns." Tell me, when did our troops become so heartwarming? Could it be that a few more recruits would make an independent division with a glorious history so unbearable? I order you to immediately withdraw the third regiment, transfer the second echelon consisting of the first and fourth regiments, and be sure to take down the railway station in the shortest possible time. ”

At the end of my call with Bandereev, Vitkov cautiously asked me: "Comrade commander, will it cause confusion if a new unit is sent to participate in the attack at such a time?" ”

"There's no way, we don't have a choice." I said with a gloomy face: "In any case, the commanders and fighters of the first and fourth regiments have much stronger combat experience than the third regiment, and I feel ...... feel at ease in my heart when they take up the main attack task." Speaking of this, I turned outside, looked at the third regiment that was regrouping, and then said decisively: "Our troops are limited, and we can't fight a war of attrition with the Germans here at the railway station, otherwise even if we capture the station, we will be a crushing victory." ”

Without waiting for the second echelon composed of four regiments to be in place, Chuikov's phone chased after him. He hurriedly asked in the earpiece: "Hey, Comrade Oshanina, are your troops attacking the railway station?" ”

"Yes, Comrade Commander." I did not hide the slightest hint from Chuikov's inquiry, but answered honestly: "The 3rd Regiment of the 150th Division has just launched a charge, which was repulsed by the Germans. As soon as I finished speaking, I heard a "hmm" from Chuikov, and I knew that he was expressing his dissatisfaction, so I quickly added: "But I have already transferred the second echelon and are ready to charge again." These commanders and fighters have a lot of combat experience, and I am sure that they will soon be able to take the railway station out of the hands of the enemy. ”

"Since that's the case." Seeing that I said it so clearly, Chuikov couldn't say anything more, so he had to say vaguely: "Okay, I'll wait for your news in the headquarters." ”

I knew in my heart that if I relied solely on tanks to cover the infantry charge, the battle would take a long time, and only by bringing in artillery could we speed up the course of the battle. So after ending the call with Chuikov, I instructed the operator: "Give me the successor to Colonel Taileyev." ”

As soon as I heard the voice of Bandereev coming out of the earpiece, I immediately ordered him: "Comrade Colonel, immediately transfer Major Morozov's artillery battalion and let them shell the German positions with heavy howitzers and rocket artillery. If not all of them were killed, at least they had to be removed from their positions outside the train station. ”

When I walked back to the window, Vitkov asked worriedly: "Comrade commander, I heard that you are going to use heavy howitzers to bombard the positions of the German army, are you not afraid of accidentally injuring your own people at such a close distance?" ”

"Comrade Chief of Staff, don't worry." Seeing Vitkov's worried face, I hurriedly comforted him and said: "The divisional artillery battalion has used heavy artillery in street battles many times, and there will be no problems, so you can rest assured." (To be continued......)

PS: I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to the book friends Mengyun Regret Stone, National Mourning Qingji, Wubin Long, Johnwinter, the Dead Hedgehog, Zhaojingchao, and the Iron and Blood Army Boys' Shoes for their two votes! Thanks to the book friend Luoxia's lonely bird, heathy, bywfw, and Lao Duan for a valuable vote cast by Loli control children's shoes! Thank you for the reward of the book friend Luo-Xia children's shoes!