By the time I hurried back to the division headquarters, it was already two o'clock in the morning on November 19. When Kirillov saw that as soon as I returned to the division headquarters, he hurriedly instructed Akhromeyev to call the regimental commanders and inform them to come to the meeting immediately, and he could not help but ask curiously: "Comrade Oshanina, what are the latest instructions from the command?" Why do you have to call a meeting of all the commanders as soon as you come back? ”

Although I knew better than anyone else the time of the beginning of the counteroffensive and the end of the whole campaign, when the moment was really approaching, I still seemed extremely nervous and excited, and when I heard Kirillov's question, I grabbed his arm, shook him vigorously, and replied to him in a changed tone: "Comrade commissar, it is a counteroffensive, a great counteroffensive, a real full-scale counteroffensive under the city of Stalingrad is about to begin!" ”

Hearing me say this, Kirillov and Pandereev's eyes widened like brass bells, and they looked at me with a neurotic look. After a long time, Kirillov asked tentatively: "Comrade Oshanina, I see that your face is flushed, and you just drank when you were at the headquarters of the army group, right?" ”

Kirillov's words made me stunned for a moment, and then I understood why he said this, at present, we are almost beaten to jump the Volga River under the fierce offensive of the German army, where is there enough strength to counterattack, let alone a full-scale counteroffensive, no wonder he thinks I am talking drunk.

I didn't talk nonsense with them, so I pulled the two of them to the table, pointed to the map on the table, and told them about the plan for the upcoming major counteroffensive, and at the end I specially emphasized: "This counteroffensive is different from any previous counterattack, and the Southwestern Front and the Don Front have been replenished. It will be at 7:20 a.m. today. Artillery strikes were carried out on the enemy's defensive positions. Wait until the artillery fire is ready. Hundreds of thousands of troops of our army will launch a full-scale counterattack on the Germans in two directions at the same time. ”

Hearing me say this, Kirillov no longer suspected that I was talking drunk, but cautiously asked: "What about our Stalingrad Front?" ”

"Since our 62nd Army was greatly weakened during these months of fighting, and in the initial period of the counteroffensive it could not be adequately supplied, so the main forces of the Stalingrad Front's counterattack. It will be the 64th, 51st and 57th armies of friendly neighbors. Our task is to find ways to hold the enemy back so that they cannot withdraw from the city lightly, so as to achieve the goal of encircling and annihilating them. After saying this, I turned my head and looked around, and found that the commissar of the 37th Guards Division, Shcherbina, was not there, so I asked Kirillov curiously: "Comrade commissar, why is Commissar Shcherbina not in the command, where has he gone?" ”

When Kirillov heard me ask, he also looked around. Then he asked Akhromeyev, who had just finished the call: "Comrade Chief of Staff, did you see Commissar Shcherbina?" ”

Akhromeyev hurriedly nodded and replied: "Commissar Shcherbina said that he was going to see if the commanders and fighters of the 37th Guards Division had been settled. So I asked Major Basmanov to accompany him. ”

After knowing where Shcherbina was going, I specially instructed Akhromeyev: "Chief of staff, the meeting will be very important later, and you must inform him to attend." ”

Not long after, commanders at all levels who had been notified came to the headquarters one after another. I sat in my seat, staring at the commanders who walked in, silently remembering which regimental commander this was, and from time to time I raised my hand to my forehead to return the salute to those who saluted me.

As more and more people gathered in the headquarters, a buzz of conversation rang out in the room. The commander of the tank battalion, Major Perstin, leaned close to Morozov's ear and whispered, "It seems that there is something important that brought us here......" He smiled at me embarrassedly when he saw my eyes staring at him, and then pulled Morozov aside and whispered.

After a while, seeing that the people were almost coming, Kirillov leaned close to my ear and whispered: "Comrade division commander, everyone is here, can we start?" Seeing that I nodded in agreement, he stood up, walked in front of the commanders, and said loudly in an impassioned tone: "Comrade commanders, please keep quiet, and then Comrade Division Commander has something important to announce to everyone." The room fell silent and everyone looked at me, waiting silently for me to announce something important to them.

After a short silence, I stood up, smiled, slowly walked in front of the commanders, raised my voice and said: "Comrade commanders, I have summoned you here at this time because I have an important matter to announce to you. At this point, I suddenly found myself unable to speak because of my excitement, and the joy of seeing the light of day disrupted the outline of my speech that I had prepared in advance. I could only look around the conductor slowly to calm my excitement.

After a while, I waited until my mood had almost calmed down before I continued: "Comrades, in the early morning of November 19, that is, this morning, our Southwestern Front and the Don Front will attack the Germans from two directions at the same time, and our Stalingrad Front will also launch a diversionary offensive against the Germans in the existing area, so that they cannot easily withdraw from the city. The purpose of this counteroffensive is not to be the same as previous counteroffensives, not just to push the enemy back from the vicinity of the city, but to surround and bury the enemy under the city of Stalingrad. ”

After I finished speaking, there was a silence in the headquarters, and everyone had not yet recovered from what I had said, except for Kirillov and a few of them, the rest of the commanders looked at me blankly.

"Comrade commander, what's wrong with you?" Seeing everyone's reaction, Akhromeyev quickly stood up and said in the same tone as usual: "Didn't you understand the words of the division commander?" When he said this, he couldn't help but raise his voice, "Don't you still understand that the time has come for us to carry out a full-scale counteroffensive and repay the blood debt from the Germans?" ”

Everyone was stunned for a moment, not knowing who was the first to applaud, and then the applause in the room rang out.

I waited for the applause to sound for a while, then raised my hands and pressed down, signaling everyone to be quiet. After the applause in the room had stopped, I continued: "Comrade commanders, although the Southwestern Front and the Don Front will launch a counteroffensive this morning, our counteroffensive at Stalingrad will be one day late. In order to prevent the commanders and fighters from interrupting my words one after another, I deliberately quickened the speed of my speech and said, "The task of our division is to firmly hold the Mamayev Posts and the 107.5 heights, ensure that the strategic depth of the group army will not be compressed, and at the same time firmly attract the enemy in front of them, so that they cannot get out lightly. ”

"Comrade division commander," as soon as I finished speaking, the commander of the artillery battalion, Major Morozov, stood up and asked in a loud voice: "Is I allowed to ask questions?" Seeing that I nodded in agreement, he asked repeatedly, "Comrade division commander, may I ask a question, what is the mission of our artillery battalion?" ”

"Your task is simple," I said, not rebuking him for his recklessness, but to put it mildly, "is to provide our troops with the necessary artillery support when they attack." At this point, I turned my eyes to the tank battalion commander Perstin, who was sitting next to him, and called out his name: "Major Persten!" ”

"Here!" Pelsjian jumped up from his seat in a loud promise.

"When you go back, check whether the tank's ammunition and fuel are sufficient, and be ready for battle." After the counterattack begins, the air supremacy of the battlefield will inevitably be in our hands, so I can safely and boldly use Persjian's tank battalion, "Remember, let the soldiers remove the swastika from the tanks as much as possible, otherwise it will not be worth it to be blown up by our planes when attacking the original German tanks." ”

After I finished speaking, Pantai Laiev stood up and said to the commanders attending the meeting: "Comrade commanders, some time ago the division commander ordered everyone to seize the time to expand their troops, and now it is time to test whether you have carried out this order well. Starting with one regiment, each regiment reports on your current actual strength. ”

As soon as Bandelyev's words were finished, Sederikov, who stood up first, reported loudly: "After the expansion of the regiment in the past few days, the total strength of the regiment is now 3,267 people, of which more than 1,000 people do not have weapons. ”

After Sedjerikov sat down, the commander of the second regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Oleg, stood up and said with some embarrassment: "Comrade division commander, due to our geographical location, it is difficult to replenish our troops in large quantities like a regiment, so so far there are only 786 people in the whole regiment, but every soldier has a weapon in his hand. ”

"The three regiments have 1,536 troops."

"The current number of the fourth regiment is 2,475 people."

After listening to the numbers reported by the regiments, I could not help nodding with satisfaction, unexpectedly that they had carried out their orders thoroughly, and in just a few days, the total strength of the division had increased several times compared to the last meeting. With such a large number of troops, in tomorrow's counteroffensive we will not have to stay in the trenches and wait for the troops of the Don Front to come and join us, but we can take the initiative and attack the German troops holding on to the city of Gorodishe under the cover of tanks.

After counting the numbers of the regiments, Bantai Leev raised his hand and looked at his watch, turned around and asked for my opinion: "Comrade division commander, it's not too early, can the commanders go back to their respective units to make preparations?" ”

I nodded and replied briefly, "Well, since the mission is clear, let's break up!" (To be continued......)