The rocket artillery on the east bank fired only one round, and then it was replaced by howitzers and cannons and continued to bombard the factory area of the "Red October" plant. The sound of a loud explosion pierced the silent winter night, and with the scream of countless shells piercing the air, the German army was completely covered in artillery fire, and the shells rained down on the factory on the north side of the factory.

Looking out of the binoculars, I saw that after each shell landed, a deep crater within 10 meters was formed in the center of the bombing point, and if it happened that the German troops in this center were blown to pieces, many German officers and soldiers who were lucky enough to stay away from the bombing point did not escape the shrapnel flying everywhere, and were cut to the ground in pieces. The whole camp had been reduced to a living hell, and the German soldiers, who had never been subjected to such heavy artillery fire, did not even know what to do, but could only scurry around like headless flies, and tanks and cars were constantly destroyed by the roaring shells, overturned by the air waves, and even the ammunition piled up around them was detonated by shells, causing a chain of explosions, causing more casualties to the German officers and soldiers running around.

When the shelling was at its most intense, I suddenly felt someone patting me on the shoulder behind me, and quickly put down the binoculars and looked back, only to see Shedelikov standing behind me, he saw me turn around, and hurriedly shouted at the top of his voice, but I was a little deaf by the sound of the cannonery, but I felt that his voice seemed to come from a very distant place in the ≥, and quickly turned my ear sideways, only to know that he was saying: "Comrade division commander, the commander of a friendly army is coming outside, and he is waiting for you in the opposite room." ”

Commanders of friendly forces? What are they doing in my zone? With this question in mind, I followed Sederikov to an empty room opposite. There were three conductors in large-brimmed hats standing near the windows. See me enter the door. They hurried over to me.

Shedelikov closed the door behind me. The explosion outside was suddenly much quieter. With the help of the moonlight shining through the window, I could see clearly the few people standing in front of me, and I couldn't help but ask in surprise: "Aren't you the commander of the 45th Division, Colonel Sokolov?" I don't know what you are doing in my division's defense area so late? ”

Hearing my name called, Sokolov hurriedly stepped forward, raised his hand to salute me, and at the same time said: "Comrade General, Colonel Sokolov, commander of the 45th Infantry Division, reports to you that I have been ordered to lead troops to cooperate with the actions of the Independent Division. At your command! ”

"Oh, oh." I looked at the commanders in front of me in a daze, not knowing how to answer Sokolov's report in the language of a soldier. I felt that they had come too suddenly, for no one had ever told me that there would be friendly forces other than artillery to cooperate with our actions.

Sokolov did not care about my indifferent attitude, but introduced me to the political workers standing beside him: "Comrade General, this is Comrade Gramazda, deputy commander of my political division and political commissar at the regimental level. ”

Glamazda heard Sokolov introducing him to me, and hurriedly stepped forward, raised his hand to salute me, and said with a smile: "Hello. Comrade General! ”

I hurriedly raised my hand to return the salute to him, and said in a panic, "Hello." Comrade political commissar at the regimental level. ”

"Comrade division commander, this commander is Captain Belifer, the commander of the 178th company of the 178th regiment of artillery 6-mm howitzers." Sokolov pointed to the commander, who was still standing still, and told me: "His artillery battery is specially designed to provide artillery cover for our offensive. ”

After Sokolov's introduction, I asked in confusion: "Comrade Colonel, may I ask, on whose orders did you come here?" ”

When Sokolov heard me say this, a surprised expression appeared on his face: "Comrade General, didn't you receive a notice?" ”

"What notice?" I asked, puzzled.

"Commander Chuikov intends to completely destroy the enemy entrenched in the area of the 'Red October' factory in today's offensive." Sokolov hurriedly repeated the order of his superiors to me: "He is afraid that your troops will not be enough, so he has temporarily decided to transfer my division to cooperate with your attack on the factory area of the 'Red October'. ”

Since the artillery preparations on the east bank could cease at any time, I did not bother to find out why I had not been notified, so I asked Sokolov bluntly: "Comrade Colonel, what are you going to fight when you attack later?" ”

Sokolov turned to his commissar and smiled and said, "Comrade commissar, please show me the map." Gramazda nodded, pulled a rolled map from the pouch he slung over his shoulder, and handed it to him. Sokolov took the map and looked left and right, then spread it flat on the ground.

In order to make sure that we could see the map on the ground, everyone avoided the side of the window so that they could see the map by the moonlight. But Rao is like this, I still feel a little difficult to read the words on the map. Sokolov seemed to have noticed this problem, and hurriedly ordered the artillery captain next to him: "Comrade Captain, borrow your flashlight and use it." ”

Hearing Sokolov's command, Belifel hurriedly took off his backpack, took out a flashlight from it, turned it on and lit it up for us. Seeing that the words on the map became clear in the light, Sokolov squatted on the ground and explained to me the offensive line of the 45th Division: "Comrade General, we plan to break through the outer defense line of the German army, rush into the factory area, and divide the troops into three routes, respectively to the model workshop, the sorting workshop and the mechanic workshop occupied by the German army, and after clearing the enemy inside, we will enter the western area of the factory, so as to complete the encirclement of the enemy. ”

My original idea was that after breaking through the German perimeter defense line, I would send a regiment to attack the area guarded by the 39th Guards Division, and after meeting with them, I would turn around and destroy the German forces in the factory area. However, now with the cooperation of the 45th Division, we have a greater certainty of encircling and annihilating the German troops in the Red October Factory area.

In order to better coordinate Sokolov's troops with the actions of our division, I pointed to the map and explained to him my operational intentions: "Comrade Colonel, I intend to send a battalion of troops to break through to the factory area after the artillery fire is ready, and quickly rush over to join the troops of the 39th Guards Division, which are holding positions in the factory area. Then turn around and divide the German troops in the factory into small pieces, and wait until dawn, under the cover of aircraft artillery. Eat them little by little. But with your cooperation. We can do both. While going to join the division, he divided his troops to attack several workshops occupied by the Germans. Remember, we had to find a way to squeeze the Germans to the east of the factory, where there were no strong fortifications, and we could crush the enemy very easily. ”

But after listening to my thoughts, Sokolov had a worried expression on his face: "Comrade General, although our artillery fire has crushed the enemy, after all, they have an advantage in strength, and you will only send one battalion to join the 39th Guards Division. Isn't the force too thin? ”

I understand why Sokolov was worried about our lack of troops, after a series of battles, many divisional units had only a few hundred men, and according to his idea, it would be good to have a hundred men in one of my battalions. So I smiled disapprovingly and said lightly: "Don't worry, Comrade Colonel. The battalion that was responsible for joining up with friendly forces was now fully manned, with a total strength of 800 men, and it would not be much of a problem to break through the German positions. ”

"Eight hundred?" After I said the number. It really surprised Sokolov, who turned to his commissar and said, "Comrade commissar." There are a lot of people, almost equivalent to half of our division. ”

Hearing the sound of artillery outside, I raised my hand to look at my watch, and then asked Sokolov: "Comrade Colonel, where are your troops?" ”

"Comrade General, please come to me." Sokolov led me to the window, pointed outward, and said: "Look, my troops are hidden in the fortifications there, and at the first order, they can attack immediately." ”

With the help of the bright moonlight and the fire of the explosion of shells in the distance, I saw the criss-crossing trenches, full of shaking steel helmets, and nodded with satisfaction: "Very well, as soon as the shelling stops, immediately order your troops to rush forward." ”

At this moment, I vaguely heard a commotion outside the door, turned my head and asked Sederikov, who was standing at the door: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, what is going on outside?" ”

Sedelikov shook his head blankly, and then said: "Comrade division commander, I'll go out and have a look right away." With that, he turned and opened the door and walked out.

Not long after, he walked in from outside with a soldier, closed the door and reported to me: "Comrade division commander, this soldier is from the division headquarters and says that there is an order from his superiors to be forwarded to you. ”

"Bring it to me." I commanded briefly.

I took the order from Sederikov, and Captain Belifer next to me hurriedly lit me with a flashlight to make sure I could read the words on the paper. The order was issued by Chuikov, who officially informed me that after the preparation of the night's artillery fire, the 45th Infantry Division of Colonel Sokolov would cooperate with our attack.

After reading this order, I looked up and asked the soldier who delivered the letter: "Comrade soldier, when did the commissar ask you to send me this order?" ”

Hearing my question, the warrior lowered his head and said in shame, "About an hour ago. ”

"What, more than an hour ago?" When I heard this, my blood immediately welled up in my head. Fortunately, Chuikov only informed me that there were friendly troops to fight with us, and if it was some other order, would it be a mistake soon? So I spoke to this soldier in a particularly stern tone: "It takes you more than ten minutes to get here from the division headquarters to here, but it took you more than an hour, aren't you afraid that the fighter plane will be delayed because the order is not delivered in time?" ”

"Comrade division commander, please listen to my explanation." The soldier was so frightened that he hurriedly explained to me: "When I received the mission, I was afraid that I would delay the matter, so I trotted all the way to this side. However, because the road was unfamiliar, I ran in the wrong direction. By the time I found out about this error, I was far from here......"

"Alright, no more talk." At such times, I did not have time to listen to his explanations, so I ordered Sedelikov: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, lock him up first, and then dispose of him after the battle is over." Sederikov agreed, grabbed the warrior by the arm, and dragged him out, ignoring his pleadings.

After about half an hour, Pandereev came to report to me that the artillery fire on the east bank had weakened and had moved in other directions. After listening to Bandereev's report, I ordered Sokolov: "Comrade Colonel, order your troops to attack." ”

Sokolov agreed loudly, then turned to Gramazda and said: "Begin, my comrade commissar. ”

Glamazda nodded when he heard his command, then walked briskly to the window, opened the holster, drew the gun, and fired a shot into the air. As his gun rang out, a red flare rose into the air.

Seeing the attack signal from the building, an earth-shattering shout suddenly came from outside the window: "Forward!" Ulla!!! At the same time, the sound of countless pairs of boots on the snow could be heard. Hearing the movement outside, I knew that it was the soldiers of the 45th Division who had started to attack.

Sokolov, hearing the movement outside, raised his hand to salute me, and politely asked: "Comrade General, allow me to command my troops?" ”

"Go, Comrade Colonel." I raised my hand and saluted him.

After Sokolov and the two of them left, the artillery company commander walked up to me and said euphemistically: "Comrade General, I have a request, my company's artillery is not towed by a vehicle, and you need to send someone to help pull it." ”

"No problem, I'll send a company of infantry to assist you later." I readily agreed to the captain's request.

As soon as the artillery captain left, Grams and a few of them came over again and asked me for instructions: "Comrade division commander, the offensive of the troops has begun, should we also follow up and cooperate with their military offensive to launch the political offensive?" ”

"Yes, come with me." With that, I left the building with Yushchenko and Grahms, and followed the route of the troops' attack towards the factory area.

Walking in front of the trench in front of the wall, where there was still a zài not long ago, the thick smoke of gunpowder was mixed with the pungent smell of blood, and you could see the stumps and flesh all over the ground, and the blood flowed like a river, and in the distant distance, in the rumbling explosion of rows of artillery fire, the cries of the wounded soldiers who had not yet been lost rang out, and it seemed that this place had become a hell on earth.

Seeing his compatriots struggling on the verge of life and death, Gramms couldn't bear it, walked up to my side, and said to me: "Comrade division commander, you see so many wounded soldiers, we can't watch them die. I would like to ask you to send medical personnel to treat them, as much as they can save? ”

I turned my head to look at Grams, then nodded, and said, "Well, Comrade Captain, I'll leave this matter to you and Second Lieutenant Gretka." Then I said to Beckman, who was standing nearby, "Captain, follow me to the factory area." Maybe there are still a lot of your compatriots there, waiting for you to save their lives. (To be continued......)