Two hours later, Bandeleyev's troops took over the defense of the Vachuk division, and although it was the early morning of the 25th, I immediately summoned Bandeleyev, Andreuschenko, and Gurdiev, as well as the tank brigade commander Colonel Bere, and the artillery regiment commander, Lieutenant Colonel Kaverin, to the headquarters for the final pre-battle mobilization.

"Comrade commanders, according to the instructions of the superiors, we will launch a final attack on the German troops in the city of Stalingrad today and completely annihilate them." Although I was very excited about the end of the Battle of Stalingrad, I tried to speak in the same tone as usual in the presence of my many men, as if I were just giving them a routine task. "Since Colonel Vachuk's 284th Division was transferred, the 150th Division, which took over their defensive area, would attack in two directions at once. In order to reduce the casualties of our troops and to destroy as much as possible the German fire support points, I intend to divide the artillery regiment of Lieutenant Colonel Kavilin into three parts, each assigned to three infantry divisions. ”

After listening to my arrangement, Vitkov frowned and said: "Comrade commander, if we split the artillery regiment, then it will not be possible to cover the German army's firepower. As soon as the attacking force encounters the strong fortifications of the German army, it will pay a huge price. ”

I waved my hand and directly refuted this point of view: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the kind of artillery coverage you are talking about is used in attacking field fortifications, and it is not appropriate in street fighting. Think about it, during the months of holding the city, we had to endure the shelling and bombardment of the German army every day, but in the end we stubbornly held the city. Now it's our offense and defense. If you don't change your tactics. It is estimated that even if it is a terrible price. The results achieved were also minimal. ”

"Comrade Commander, I don't know how you plan to fight?" Vitkov asked politely.

"Comrade commanders, in order to avoid unnecessary bloodshed, we should first of all persuade the enemy's defenders to surrender before attacking." Instead of answering Vitkov's question directly, I said to all the commanders: "If they don't agree, push the artillery battalion artillery over and shoot directly at the German fortifications." Do you understand? ”

"Understood!" The commanders of the three infantry divisions and the commander of an artillery regiment replied in unison.

Wait until everyone has finished speaking. Colonel Bere, who had never spoken, stood up and raised his voice and asked, "Comrade Commander, allow me to ask questions?" ”

I looked at Colonel Bere, who had taken the initiative to stand up, with some amazement, and thought to myself, what question would he ask at such a time? Although my heart was full of doubts, I said to him in a friendly way: "Colonel Bere, if you have any questions, just ask." ”

"Comrade Commander," Beray repeated the question aloud, "allow me to ask a question. What was the task of the 84th Tank Brigade in this final offensive? ”

"Colonel Bere," after hearing Bere's question. Vitkov said with obvious dissatisfaction: "Didn't you attend the meeting two days ago? If you participated, it should be clear that the task of your tank brigade is to stop at the starting position and support the assault troops with artillery fire. ”

"But, Comrade Chief of Staff." Berey looked at Vitkov and said loudly: "The fighters of our tank brigade can do more time, in addition to providing artillery support to the infantry, they can also take the infantry charge ......"

"Colonel Bere, please don't get excited." To the commander of the tank brigade, who had fought side by side with the independent division, I said very politely: "The reason why I did not let your tank brigade go out is because the streets to be attacked are too narrow for the tanks to be used. In narrow streets, it is difficult for a moving tank to quickly turn around and return fire if it is attacked by an enemy behind or on the side. Coupled with the limited elevation angles of the tank guns, it was not possible to fire at the top of the building. The enemy's anti-tank crews can hide on the rooftops and aim at you. ”

After listening to my explanation, Beret suddenly understood the reason why I did not let them participate directly in the attack, and he couldn't help but blush with shame. Seeing his embarrassment, Vitkov walked up to his side, raised his hands and put them on his shoulders and pressed them down gently, while saying in his mouth: "Comrade Berey, I know that you have seen that other units have specific offensive tasks, and you are only providing some artillery support in the rear, and the effect of this fire support will be greatly weakened by the addition of artillery units. In this case, you are understandably disappointed. ”

After Bere sat down, Vitkov returned to his place, picked up a copy of the document on the table, glanced at the commanders present, and said: "Comrade commanders! I will now read out the letter of the Military Committee of the Group Army to all the commanders and fighters of the 62nd Army. ”

Hearing him say this, several commanders immediately stood up from their seats in unison. Seeing that everyone was standing up, I naturally couldn't continue to sit in my position, so I had to stand up with it.

"All the commanders and fighters of the 62nd Army," Vitkov read aloud, "we have now moved on to the final and decisive offensive, which will determine the future fate of our Motherland, and the Paulus troops, surrounded by us, will be completely destroyed by the blow of the iron fist......

The Military Council is confident that the units of the 62nd Army will be able to perform their duties to the motherland with honor and success......

Go brave and fight, comrades! Remember, the survival and freedom of Stalingrad rests on you!

Glory belongs to the brave and fearless warriors in battle!

Let your glorious and victorious battle banner fly high forever!

Fight, brave warriors, fight to the death with the enemy, and let them tremble unconsciously when they hear our names......" Vitkov finished reading it, and put the book in his hand on the table.

"Ulla!" Several commanders cheered in unison.

"You may be seated, Comrade Commander." After making a gesture to the group, Vitkov sat down on the stool himself, pointing to the text on the table. In a smooth tone, he said: "Our offensive will begin at nine o'clock in the morning. Therefore, it must be read to all the commanders and fighters before the battle. Make this order known to every warrior. After saying that, he turned to me and said, "Comrade Commander, my words are finished. ”

When I saw that Vitkov had finished speaking, I immediately stood up and announced: "Comrade commanders, this is the end of today's meeting, and you can go back to your ranks." ”

At eight o'clock in the morning, the divisions, which had already entered the offensive positions, began their offensive. As I had arranged beforehand. They first arranged for the comrades of the anti-fascist coalition to shout at the German troops opposite. Unexpectedly, they were faced with a group of outlaws, not only did they not surrender, but they actually shelled the positions of the shouting propagandists with mortars, or strafed them with machine guns. Seeing that the persuasion to surrender was ineffective, the division commanders of the divisions immediately ordered the artillery to open fire and destroy the strong German fortifications with artillery fire.

By noon, most of the buildings in the four streets we attacked had fallen into the hands of our troops. Although the progress of the divisions went smoothly, I was never able to concentrate, and I was always thinking about the friendly troops of our division who came from the west. Where should we be at this moment?

Whenever I have free time, I call Krylov. On the surface, he was concerned about the situation of the Vachuk Division, but in fact he wanted to know how the troops gathered in the factory quarters in the western suburbs were progressing.

At first, Krylov patiently briefed me on the situation, but as I called, he became impatient. When I called for the last time in the evening, he finally couldn't help but get angry: "Comrade Oshanina, I remind you that you should not pay attention to how long it will be before the rest of the army group will join forces with friendly forces, but how long it will take your troops to advance outside Paulus's headquarters. After he finished speaking, he heard me say nothing, probably thinking that his tone was a little serious and hurt my self-esteem, so he slowed down his tone and said, "Okay, Oshanina, I tell you the general situation of the current situation, and you don't call all the time." The six divisions that had been sent out to the factories and quarters in the western suburbs this morning, including the Gorishny, Sokolov, Lyudnikov, Guryev and Rodimtsev divisions, had turned to the north to destroy the enemy groups entrenched in the factory districts and the factory quarters; The Vachuk division, on the other hand, turned to the south, focusing on the heavy groups that had fled there. I have good news for you, there is now only one town of Red October between the troops of our army group and the friendly forces, and the distance in a straight line is only the last five hundred meters. ”

When I heard that Carreras had told me all the information I wanted to know, I did not dwell on it, but thanked him repeatedly: "Thank you, thank you, Comrade Chief of Staff!" Rest assured, I won't call you anymore. ”

Although I verbally said not to trouble Krylov, early the next morning, having handed over the work of the army to Vitkov, I hurried to Chuikov's headquarters with Yushchenko and a platoon of guards.

When he saw my sudden appearance at the headquarters of the group army, Chuikov, who first noticed me, turned his face and asked sternly: "Comrade Oshanina, why did you come here?" ”

"Comrade Commander," I hurriedly saluted him with a smile and said with a playful smile: "I heard that the troops of our group army are about to join forces with friendly forces, and as the deputy commander of the group army, I naturally have the right to know the good news as soon as possible." ”

"Oshanina," Gurov, who had just found me, also came over and said to me with a smile, "I can guess that you want to go to Red October Town to have a look, don't you?" I knew that I would be eager to get there myself if I could. At this point, he glanced at Chuikov next to him, and then said to me, "I, the commander and the chief of staff will stay and wait for contact with the head of the front." In this way, on behalf of the leaders of the group army, you can witness this historical moment of great significance. ”

"Thank you, thank you, Comrade Military Commissar, thank you, Comrade Commander!" I was secretly relieved to see that Krylov was not in the headquarters, and I thanked Chuikov and Gurov repeatedly, then raised my hand to salute the two, turned around and walked out of the headquarters quickly.

When our vehicle approached a north side of Shanggang near Red October, we were stopped by a newly renovated checkpoint. A little soldier came to my car, raised his hand to salute me, and said politely: "Comrade General! Corporal Girshanov, squad leader of the 13th Guards Infantry Division, reports to you that our squad is carrying out inspection and inventory tasks. ”

"Take a break!" I pushed the door open and got out of the car, and asked kindly, "Corporal." Do you know where your division commander, General Rodimtsev, is? ”

"Yes. Comrade General. Girshanov respectfully replied: "Allow me to be your guide?" ”

"Comrade Corporal. It's great. "I was worried about where to go to find those division commanders after getting off the bus, but now that someone is willing to take the initiative to act as a guide, I can't ask for it, so I said to the corporal in a friendly manner: "Please lead the way for us, I have an urgent matter to see your division commander." ”

As we walked up the hill in the snow, we saw countless craters on both sides of the road, large and small, and around the craters there were many corpses that had not yet been collected. Both Germans and our own, you can see how fierce the fighting was fought here.

When we approached a building on the hillside where three walls had been blown down, I saw a group of commanders in white camouflage uniforms and gray cylindrical leather military hats talking around the doorway, and from their backs, I quickly recognized Rodimtsev standing in the middle. I hurriedly thanked the corporal who led the way, and walked briskly towards them.

Still far away, I called them out loudly: "Hey, comrades commanders, hello! ”

Hear me shouting. The commanders looked back at me with a look of surprise on their faces. Hurried over to me. Rodimtsev, who was at the forefront, also asked in surprise: "Comrade Oshanina, why are you here?" ”

I shook hands with him and replied, "I'm coming to see the meeting of our army group and friendly forces." Seeing that he opened his mouth to speak, he hurriedly added: "It was the commander and the military commissar who agreed." ”

Seeing that everyone's eyes were focused on me, I quickly took the initiative to ask, "Are you all ready?" ”

Hearing my question, Rodimtsev hurriedly replied: "Report to Comrade Deputy Commander, we have prepared the flag of the division. However, the commanders of each battalion wanted to personally lead the charge, and in this case, there was no way to stop them. ”

If I am not a army commander now, but a division commander, I would also like to lead the team to charge, after all, this kind of division scene that can go down in history, some people may not be able to encounter it once in their lives, so I promptly diverted the topic: "Where is the flag of the division?" ”

Rodimtsev turned his head and shouted behind him: "Hey, Captain Gusin, bring us the flag we have prepared." ”

As he shouted, a Guards captain wearing a gray cylindrical cotton military cap and a white camouflage uniform approached. He walked up to me and stood still, raised his hand in salute, and then unfurled the red flag he was holding, only to see the words "January 26, 1943 Commemoration of the Meeting" written on it.

After reading the words on the red flag, I nodded, and then said to Rodimtsev: "Comrade General, the time is almost up, let's act." ”

Hearing my order, Rodimtsev shouted to his men: "Comrades, return to your positions." With that, he nodded at me and led the way to the other side of the hill.

Looking at the backs of the departing commanders, I was about to find a place to watch the grand occasion of the meeting of the two armies, when I heard a familiar voice behind me: "Comrade General, hello! ”

I turned my head to look behind me, and a familiar face caught my eye. When I was about to speak, I noticed that the other person was wrapped in a thick bandage around his neck, so I immediately asked with concern: "Sergeant Pavlov, what is the matter, you are wounded?" ”

Sergeant Pavlov, who was standing opposite, touched the bandage on his neck with his hand, smiled embarrassedly and said: "Comrade General, I accidentally let a bullet bite my neck, it's no big deal, the only regret is that I can't turn back." But since it's a charge, there's no need to turn back. At this, his eyes glanced to the side, and then he cautiously asked me: "My troops seem to be about to start charging, allow me to return to my own troops?" ”

"Go, Sergeant Pavlov, stay safe."

"Yes!" Pavlov agreed, saluted me again, turned and ran briskly towards his ranks.

I looked around, and saw that the half-collapsed house in front of me was still suitable for observation, so I walked in with Yushchenko and them. Find a spot facing Red October and raise your binoculars to look down.

"Boys," Rodimtsev's voice suddenly came from not far away, and I quickly turned the lens of the telescope in the direction where the sound came from, only to see him waving a pistol in his hand and yelling loudly from side to side: "Forward!" ”

With his shouting, thousands of people appeared on the originally silent hillside, forty or fifty of them in a row, holding weapons and marching down the hillside. The red flag fluttering on the far right of the first row of the queue was the special flag for the division that I had just seen, and the flag bearer holding high the flag of the 13th Guards Division was advancing side by side with Rodimtsev.

Although the enemy in the town was encircled, they saw the attack of our army and acted quickly. A minute or two later, a few mortar shells landed in the middle of the attacking team and exploded, and the air wave and shrapnel overturned a dozen fighters, but the gap that appeared in the queue was quickly filled by the fighters who were hurrying up from behind.

As the procession in white camouflage suits approached the foot of the hill, several more columns of sailors in black sailor uniforms and black cotton caps appeared in my field of vision, and they followed with their guns held high. Suddenly I heard a whistle, and then the sailors took off their cotton caps from their heads, took out the sailors' beanie hats from their bosoms, and put them on their heads. I saw that one of them was a little familiar with the back, and when he turned his head sideways to call out to the commander and fighter beside him, I immediately recognized him as Sergeant Holol, a sailor of the former 92nd Infantry Brigade.

"Commander, look, tanks, our tanks." Yushchenko, who was next to him, suddenly shouted excitedly, "Just south of the town, our tanks are coming. ”

The roar of tank motors was heard amid the sporadic sound of gunfire, and in the distance units in our uniforms appeared. In addition to these, I saw heavy tanks peculiar to our army, with the words "Chelyabinsk collective farm farmer", "Ural metalworker" written on the turret.

The troops who were going downhill immediately boosted their morale and walked faster and faster when they saw the friendly troops rushing from the opposite side, and finally they simply ran towards the town that had long been in ruins.

The German soldiers, who were hiding behind the ruins, saw our troops rushing up like a tidal wave, and after firing a few shots in a panic, they turned around and ran towards the middle of the town. A German officer in a large-brimmed hat looked tenacious, and although deserters ran past him from time to time, he stood still and shot at our soldiers with a pistol in his hand. Seeing that our soldiers were getting closer and closer to him, he grabbed a grenade from the side, pulled the string and threw it. The grenade fell in the ranks of our troops and exploded, knocking out four or five fighters. But before he could pick up the second grenade, the swarming warriors had already shot him into a hornet's nest.

As more and more commanders poured into the town, the desperate German officers and soldiers, knowing that it would be fruitless to resist any longer, threw down their weapons one after another, and stood on the side of the road with their hands raised high. But our commanders and fighters didn't bother to pay attention to them, and rushed straight towards the oncoming friendly commanders and fighters.

A few minutes later, thousands of commanders and fighters of the two armies embraced each other, and their cheers could be heard clearly even from a few hundred meters away. The heavy tanks passed by the side of the town, and the tankmen leaned out of the hatches and waved to cheer at the infantry comrades, who did not stop, and the powerful tank column continued to move in the direction of the city.

"Comrade Commander," Yushchenko said loudly next to him, his tongue a little less flexible from excitement, "I ...... Not dreaming, right? …… Did our 62nd Army really join forces with friendly forces? ”

"Of course you know, didn't you see that the soldiers of our group army and the commanders and fighters of friendly units are all hugging each other in Red October Town? Looks like you have a problem with your eyes. Although I spoke lightly, I was also infected by the historical scene in front of me, and I quietly wiped the tears of joy from my cheeks while Yushchenko was not looking. (To be continued......) R1292