While we were waiting for the arrival of Guryev's deputy, regimental commissar Cherneshov, Razumeyeva got up from the walkie-talkie where she was sitting, strode up to me, handed me a telegram, and at the same time said: "Report to the division commander, a telegram just sent by the headquarters of the army group." ”

I took the telegram and, without looking at it, handed it to Akhromeyev and instructed him: "Comrade Chief of Staff, you should read the telegram to everyone. ”

Akhromeyev took the telegram and looked at it, nodded, and then said to us: "Division commander, political commissar, this is Order No. 171 just issued by the headquarters of the army group. The order indicates the areas where the troops must hold on, and also states:

'The commanders of the units should carry out engineering work as quickly as possible in order to strengthen their positions; It is necessary to construct anti-tank and anti-infantry obstacles at the front and in depth, and renovate some buildings to make them suitable for street fighting; Use all the equipment around you to build obstacles and obstacles, and even tear down some houses and tram tracks; It is necessary to organize the residents together through the local government.

The main work should be done by one's own troops. Work around the clock. It should be explained to all the servicemen that the army group is now fighting on the last frontier. We have no way back. The duty of every soldier and commander is to stick to his bunker, to be in his own position, and not to retreat a single step! Destroy the enemy no matter what! ’”

Guryev, who listened to this order with us, asked thoughtfully: "Comrade Kirillov, as far as I know, on the 107.5 heights on the west side of Mamayev Gang. At present, it has become a place of repeated contention between the enemy and us. Both sides have invested heavily in the area. I want to ask. Why was it that our troops, who were transferred up, sometimes did not last even a day before they were routed by the enemy? ”

Kirillov thought for a moment, and then said earnestly: "Comrade Guryev, the main reason is that our army is on the top of the slope of the heights and on the mountainside of the northern slope, and our army has never built a strong position. Under the heavy artillery fire of the enemy and the indiscriminate bombardment of aircraft, the commanders and fighters who held their positions often suffered heavy casualties, waiting for the Germans to launch an assault on the high ground. Most of our troops have lost their combat capability. ”

"I see, now I understand." After hearing this, Guriev said confidently: "Now that we know the reason why the friendly troops cannot hold the position, then after our division has seized the position, we will concentrate on building fortifications on the high ground." In this way, the strong fortifications can provide our commanders and fighters with a certain amount of shelter and reduce the casualties of the living forces in the enemy's artillery fire and aircraft support. ”

As soon as he heard Guriev talk about repairing fortifications, Akhromeyev couldn't help but interject: "Comrade General, the engineer company of our division is very experienced in building fortifications, do you think it is necessary to send them to assist you?" ”

With a smile on his face, Guriev looked at me and Kirillov respectively. Then he said lightly: "If your division commander and political commissar do not object, I have no opinion. ”

"I agree to temporarily transfer the divisional engineer company to the 39th Guards Division. Help them to build fortifications on the high ground. Kirillov first stood up in support, then turned to look at me and asked in an inquiring tone: "Comrade Oshanina, I wonder what you think?" ”

Instead of answering his question, I turned to Kirillov and said: "Comrade Chief of Staff, call the commander of the engineer company, Lieutenant Mihayev, and the commander of the artillery battalion, Major Morozov, and ask them to immediately come to the division headquarters to receive combat orders!" ”

Akhromeyev immediately understood my command and immediately called the two commanders I had named. And Guriev, who was confused, secretly asked Kirillov: "Comrade Kirillov, did Comrade Division Commander agree or refuse to mention you just now?" ”

Kirillov smiled and said: "Guriev, haven't you heard it yet? Comrade division commander asked the chief of staff to call the commander of the artillery battalion and the commander of the engineer company, and she already made her attitude clear. ”

After listening to Kirillov's explanation, Guriev suddenly realized: "Oh, I see. Got it, I got it. He offered to extend his hand to me to express his gratitude.

In the counterattack of the 39th Guards Division on the 107.5 heights, the commanders and fighters sent by Morozov sang the leading role, they carried flying thunder cannons, and the positions on the top of the hill were blown up with fire and smoke, and the German soldiers who held the positions either took the "earth planes" or were shaken to death by the huge blast wave, and the entire counterattack lasted only half an hour, and the 107.5 heights once occupied by the Germans returned to the hands of the 39th Guards Division.

Early the next morning, the Germans, unwilling to be driven away from the high ground, attacked. They first used heavy artillery and carried out a heavy artillery bombardment of the 107.5 heights.

Kirillov and I, as well as Mihayev, returning from the heights, were in bunkers on the top of the hillside, observing the positions of friendly troops with binoculars. The bombardment of German tanks and long-range heavy artillery almost turned the entire high ground over, and our positions were caught in the smoke of gunpowder.

Seeing such a fierce shelling by the enemy, not only did I feel worried, but even Kirillov, who was full of confidence in his old comrade-in-arms Guryev, muttered: "Can the soldiers of the Guards Division withstand such a fierce artillery fire from the enemy?" ”

Seeing that the two of us were worried, Mihayev, who was standing next to him, hurriedly explained to us: "Division commander, political commissar, don't worry, I think the enemy will not be able to capture the 107.5 heights. ”

Hearing him say this, Kirilov and I both put down our binoculars, turned our heads to look at him, and asked curiously: "Comrade lieutenant, why do you have so much confidence in General Guryev?" ”

A relaxed smile appeared on Mihayev's face, and he continued: "As far as I can see, General Guriev's troops have a very good way of building fortifications, and the trenches they dig are not only deep enough but also half-moon-shaped, so that the purpose of this repair is to prevent the explosion of enemy shells and kill and injure a large number of our commanders and fighters. According to the order of the engineers, one medium-caliber shell of the enemy could not kill or injure more than 10 of our fighters in a squad. means the length of each section of trenches. Generally no more than 20 meters. The radius of the air wave generated by the explosion of such a shell. It can only be confined to the confines of the trenches at this end.

Of course, in their trenches, there are also shelters and anti-artillery holes, and the soldiers can go in and hide when the enemy is preparing for artillery fire before the attack, so as to reduce the casualties of our living forces in the enemy's artillery and aircraft bombardment. Wait until the enemy's infantry is starting to charge, and then come out and prepare for defensive firing. ”

After listening to Mihayev's explanation, Kirillov also had a relaxed expression on his face, and he suddenly asked me: "Comrade Oshanina. Do you know why vodka is so popular? ”

When I heard Kirillov say this, I couldn't help frowning slightly, and said that the fight was in full swing outside, and you still had the heart to ask me if I knew why vodka was popular. But Kirillov is his partner after all, and I can't turn my face with him for such a trivial matter, so I can only say vaguely: "I don't know!" ”

Kirillov didn't care about my attitude, but said to himself: "Legend has it that vodka was first brewed by monks in the Kremlin monasteries in the late 15th century from rye, wheat, and mountain spring water, which was originally used to make disinfectant, but I don't know which delicious monk secretly drank the first sip of 'disinfectant water', and it was 500 years after that. Vodka became the number one 'drink' of the Russians out of control. ”

This is the first time I have heard of this allusion to Kirillov. I just wanted to ask if this legend was true or false, but he had already preemptively said the answer I wanted to know: "This story is still told by General Guriev that the monk who secretly drank the 'disinfectant water' is one of his ancestors, so this story should be true." Also, what you may not know is that Guriev used to be a heavy machine gun shooter, and when he was fighting, as long as he drank alcohol, he would run into the trench and seize a heavy machine gun to fight there. When he said this, he paused, sighed, and said with some concern: "I hope General Guriev will not forget his identity, he is no longer an ordinary heavy machine gun shooter, but a divisional commander commanding thousands of soldiers, if anything happens to him, the command system of the 39th Guards Division will be in chaos." ”

At this moment, as German tanks and infantry approached the foot of the mountain, the already heavy artillery bombardment subsided. I saw through my binoculars that the two positions on the northern slope of the high ground had been blown to pieces, and the long field of fire was blazing, and the smoke and mud rose to obscure the sky. The German infantry, having reached the foot of the hill, were driven by their own commanders, quickened their pace and rushed up the hillside.

When the enemy was less than 100 meters away from the mountainside position, countless dense bullets suddenly erupted from the broken position, staggering the German soldiers who rushed to the front, and then fell down in pieces. The soldiers in the back hurriedly lay down on the spot and hid in the crater, and returned fire at the position.

After firing for a while, the troops on the position found that it was difficult to inflict any casualties on the German troops hiding in the crater, so they stopped firing, and then countless grenades flew out of the trenches and fell into the crater in front of the position, blowing up the German soldiers hiding in it to cry wolf.

When the enemy retreated to the foot of the hill, the tanks parked below began to shell, covering the infantry to retreat to the rear of the tank line and assemble in a group for a new attack.

Half an hour later, the German infantry again attacked the positions of the Guards Division. Seeing the German soldiers swarming up on the hillside, I couldn't help but say with emotion: "Comrade Political Commissar, I feel that in the current situation without air supremacy and sufficient artillery support, our army will only be counterproductive if it wants to fight a fortified and positional war, and it will become a war of attrition that does not outweigh the losses. Only by waging guerrilla warfare in the cities in which the enemy is entangled can we make full use of our army's strong points and avoid our weaknesses. ”

Kirillov very much agreed with me, he put down his binoculars and nodded, and echoed me affirmatively: "It seems that we should build a war with the headquarters at the right time to minimize such a positional war of blind attrition." ”

The second German attack was quickly repulsed by the dense fire of the Guards Division. But this time, they did not retreat far and took up concealment in the crater area about 100 meters from the position. Since they were far away from our positions, our troops did not repeat their old tricks, and used grenades to teach them a hard lesson, and could only watch the tanks at the foot of the hill, firing their guns non-stop, accurately destroying the exposed fire points on the mountainside position.

When the firing points of the mountainside positions were almost destroyed, the German officers and men, who had been repulsed twice by the dense fire, jumped up one after another at the orders of the commanders at all levels and once again charged the defending positions that had been blown up beyond recognition.

The battle has taken two hours so far, and both the offensive and defensive sides have paid a huge price. Although the 39th Guards Division, which held its position, was far inferior to the Germans in terms of strength and armament, with the help of favorable terrain and trenches dug in advance, they were able to withstand the attack of the enemy covered by artillery fire, despite the hard fighting, and kept the enemy's attacking troops a hundred meters in front of the position.

Seeing that the battle between us and the enemy had entered a white heat, Kirillov became a little impatient, he was so angry that he scolded loudly, and could not help but ask me: "Comrade Oshanina, do you think you will take the risk of pulling out our heavy howitzers and supporting our friendly troops with artillery fire?" ”

I looked at the high ground where the battle was raging, shook my head slowly, and repudiated Kirillov's suggestion: "No, Comrade Political Commissar, resolutely not. It's not that I'm not going to die, it's that the brutal battle has just begun, and if we consume our heavy weapons too soon, what will we do in the next battle? Seeing his lonely expression, I hurriedly comforted him and said, "Commissar, don't worry, don't you see that the soldiers of the Guards Division fought very well, for two hours, the enemy did not break through their positions on the mountainside. ”

Hearing me say this, Kirillov's eyes lit up, and then he said excitedly: "Comrade Oshanina, you are right, you are so right! I know Guryev, he is not a simple person, and I believe that with the combat effectiveness of his troops, holding this high ground is not a problem. Moreover, the main forces of the Guards Division, which were still deployed on Soviet Avenue behind the heights, were not engaged in battle at all. ”

Just as Kirillov was talking excitedly, the phone on the table rang. After Mihayev went over and picked up the microphone and said a few words, he hurriedly handed it to me, and at the same time said respectfully: "Comrade division commander, it's the call from the chief of staff. ”

"Hey, Chief of Staff?" After I took the phone, I asked loudly into the microphone, "You are calling at this time, is there anything wrong?" ”

"That's right, Comrade Division Commander." Akhromeyev replied in a loud voice: "We have just received a telegram from the command of the army group. ”

"The telegram from the command of the army group, what did it say?"

Akhromeyev said respectfully on the phone: "The telegram is for the 39th Guards Division, not for us. Since the command had not been able to contact the 39th Guards Division, it sent a telegram to our division, ordering us to immediately forward the telegram to the commander of the Guards Division, General Guryev. ”

"What did the telegram say?" Although it was a telegram that we had to forward, I was still very interested in the contents of the telegram, so I didn't recognize it and asked more.

"The command said that the enemy's troops broke through the defenses of our troops from the gully and were rushing towards the city. The 39th Guards Division was ordered to immediately dispatch elite troops to intercept and destroy this group of enemies. ”

"Gully, what gully?" I asked inexplicably.

"Ditch rushing, I know." Kirillov came up to me and explained: "Between the 'Red October' factory and the 'barricade' factory, there is a ditch that runs west from the Volga, and the ditch has been filled with furnace ash for many years. Because of the difficult terrain, we don't have many troops here. If the enemy rushes through here, they will soon be able to join up with their troops in the city, and achieve the goal of dividing, encircling, or even destroying our army. ……”

I didn't wait for Kirillov to finish speaking, and I anxiously said to Akhromeyev into the microphone: "Comrade Chief of Staff, since it is an urgent order, you immediately send someone to send a telegram to General Guryev. In order to hurry, you let the fighters who sent the order go on motorcycles. Be fast, be fast, or it will be too late. ”

Fearing that there might be a new order from the army group headquarters, I hurried back to the headquarters with Kirillov and Mihayev. Unexpectedly, my judgment was really correct, and the headquarters of the army group then sent us a series of telegrams, all of which we had to forward to the 39th Guards Division. (To be continued......)