After receiving my assurances, Rodimtsev discussed with us for a while the plan for the defense of the northern part of the city, and then left with the commissar Vavilov.

Seeing that there were only a few of us left in the room, Kirillov couldn't help but complain and said: "Comrade Oshanina, why are you so reckless and directly deny the order of General Rodimtsev. If Commissar Vavilov hadn't stopped him just now, maybe he would have dared to pull out his gun and open fire on you. ”

Although I didn't feel anything when I confronted Rodimtsev at the time, I felt a little scared at the moment, especially when I heard Kirillov say this, I was even more shocked into a cold sweat. I didn't say anything, just sat at the table in a daze, thinking about how I could effectively resist the German attack.

"It also seems a bit impractical to rely solely on existing fortifications to hold off the increasingly ferocious German offensive. The daily shelling and bombardment of the Germans inflicted considerable losses on the regiment that held on to the high ground. When the Sederikov regiment took the position, it was a fully loaded regiment of 2,000 people, but now there are only more than 700 people, including the wounded. If the fight continues like this, it will take three to five days at most, and the formation of a regiment will no longer exist. The Second Regiment now has only more than 1,400 people, and if they are asked to take over the defense of the First Regiment, they can only hold out for about a week. The first and second regiments are all gone, and then the third and fourth regiments are transferred up? I shook my head vigorously at the thought of this, trying to get the thought out of my head. At present, it has just entered September, and there are still two months to go before the day of the major counteroffensive. In the absence of any supplements, fighting with the enemy is something that only fools do.

Because I was thinking too much. So much so that Akhromeyev handed over the tea tank. I didn't even notice. Akhromeyev put the teapot on the table. He shook his hand in front of me a few more times, and at the same time shouted loudly: "Division commander, comrade division commander, can you hear me?" ”

I came back from my contemplation, looked at him blankly and asked, "What's the matter, Comrade Chief of Staff?" ”

"Have a cup of tea!" Akhromeyev pointed in front of me.

I let out a sigh and reached for the teapot, only to accidentally touch it. The tea inside was suddenly poured on the table. The map was wet in one fell swoop. Watching Akhromeyev scrambling to clean up the tea on the table, I suddenly had an idea and asked Kirillov, who was standing beside me: "Comrade commissar, are you familiar with the city of Stalingrad?" ”

Hearing my question, Kirillov shrugged his shoulders and said to me with a smile: "Comrade Oshanina, I don't know if when you were studying, did you read a new set of Soviet encyclopedias, one of which is called "On the Map of the Motherland"? ”

I have never heard of what he said. So he shook his head honestly and said a little embarrassedly, "I'm sorry." Comrade commissar, I didn't read it. In order to show that he is not an uneducated person, he also added with a snake, "Maybe the book you are talking about can only be read in college." And I, if you know my resume, should know that after I finished the tenth grade, I married a border guard. ”

Instead of discussing my CV with me, Kirillov said: "I personally reviewed this book, so I have been to many places with the comrades who compiled it, including Stalingrad. At this point, a look of pride appeared on his face, "You said that I am not familiar with this city. ”

Knowing that Kirillov had participated in the compilation of a book made me immediately respect him, knowing that I was the most admired talented and learned cultural person, but I did not expect that the political commissar around me was such a person. After flattering him a few words, I suddenly turned the subject to what I was interested in: "Comrade commissar, this is very good. Let me ask you, if the Volga burst, will the river flood Stalingrad? ”

Kirillov was stunned for a moment when he heard this, then his face changed greatly, and in an instant his body trembled violently like an electric shock, and he pointed his finger at me, and after trembling for a long time, he said angrily: "Comrade Oshanina, how can you make such a ridiculous assumption? Do you think we will flood the city named after the Supreme Commander himself? ”

I was a little embarrassed by what he said, but in order to find out what I was trying to know, I said, "I'm just asking, I want to get an accurate answer from you." ”

Kirillov said to me sternly, with a straight face: "Comrade Oshanina, I tell you that no matter now or in the future, no matter how flooding may be, it will never drown this heroic city behind us. ”

Although he spoke to me in a very unkind tone, I also indirectly got the answer I wanted. So I changed the subject in time: "Comrade Political Commissar, tomorrow after dawn, we will go to the positions of the 1st Regiment and consider how to strengthen the defense of the heights in order to resist the enemy's next frantic attack. ”

Kirillov couldn't keep up with my leapfrog thinking, and when he saw that I was still asking if the Volga embankment would flood Stalingrad, and in the blink of an eye asked him to accompany me to inspect the position tomorrow, he couldn't help but look at me blankly. Still, after a brief pause, he nodded in agreement.

But after agreeing, he looked around, and then lowered his voice and said to me: "Comrade Oshanina, as political commissar, I think it is necessary to remind you that you must not mention anything that allowed the flood to flood Stalingrad, no matter what time and place it is, otherwise it will bring you death." ”

Although his words were very polite, I understood that his reproach was also out of love for me, so I had to blush and nod to indicate that I understood.

In the early hours of the morning, we were awakened by the sound of heavy artillery fire and bombardment coming from outside.

Akhromeyev hurriedly grabbed the phone, called the 2nd Regiment directly, and asked Pugachev loudly: "Commander of the 2nd Regiment, what is happening outside?" ”

Pugachev's panicked voice came from the microphone: "Report to Comrade Chief of Staff, according to the observation post on the top of the hill, about a regiment of German infantry, under the cover of 4 or 50 tanks, launched an attack from the Razgulyaevka area. Judging by the direction of their assault, they wanted to pass through the area of Aviagorodok and break into the city. At the moment the enemy is shelling and bombarding the 107.5 heights. ”

After Akhromeyev listened. Didn't hang up right away. Instead, he covered the microphone with his hand and looked at me, waiting for my instructions.

"Ask Pugachev, what kind of actions did the enemy take on the side of Mamayev Gang?" After I had given Akhromeyev's instructions, I turned my head and tried to ask Kirillov to contact the first group, but I did not expect that he had already understood my intentions, and first walked to Razumeyeva, who was sitting by the wall, and used the intercom to find out what was going on in front of the current group.

After Akhromeyev repeated my words to Pugachev. Pugachev quickly replied: "Report to the Chief of Staff, the positions of our regiment and the first regiment were calm, neither shelling nor bombardment by the enemy, nor the enemy's attacking forces were found in the open field. ”

When Akhromeyev put down the phone, Kirillov also came back from the walkie-talkie and reported to me: "Comrade Oshanina, I asked Comrade Sederikov, and what he reported, as Comrade Pugachev said, was not shelled. Nor did they find the enemy's attacking forces in their field of vision. ”

I couldn't help but feel upset when I heard the same report from both of them. With their eyes firmly fixed on the position of the 107.5 heights, they were worried about the 39th Guards Regiment that was holding on here, and they had only one battalion of troops, could they hold back the enemy's onslaught? Thinking of this, I hurriedly ordered Akhromeyev again: "Chief of Staff, call the commander of the third regiment, Godunov, and ask him to prepare for the attack." As soon as there is a critical situation on the 107.5 heights, reinforcements are immediately rushed. ”

When Akhromeyev called the 3rd Regiment, I said to Kirillov, who was standing nearby: "Let's go, Comrade Political Commissar, let's go to the top of the hill and have a look." With that, he raised his leg and walked out.

Although the 2nd Regiment did not directly participate in the battle, Pugachev took precautions and organized commanders and fighters to repair various fortifications as soon as he had time. Not only have we dug trenches and trenches in all directions, built a large number of air-raid shelters and caves for hiding soldiers, but also built observation posts on the mountainside and on the top of the mountain in a hidden place with a wide field of vision, so that I can check the battle situation on the battlefield at any time.

Kirillov and I, along with a few fighters sent by Basmanov, followed the trench to the observation post at the top of the hill. Seeing our arrival, the two soldiers who were observing the enemy situation inside hurriedly turned around and saluted us, and after I briefly replied, I asked straight to the point: "Comrade soldiers, how is the situation on the high ground of the friendly army?" ”

A sergeant reported to me: "Report to the division commander, the enemy's planes bombarded the 107.5 heights for a while and then flew away, leaving only the artillery to shell our positions incessantly. ”

I walked to the observation port, raised my binoculars and looked up to the heights, only to see the cobweb-like fortifications crisscrossing the northern slope, which were being shelled by enemy troops. Every shell that fell, whether it landed outside the trench or exploded inside the trench, lifted large and small clods of earth into the air and rained them down.

After watching for a long time, I didn't see a single figure on the battlefield except for the dirt, fire, and smoke that was set off. I think it's quite strange, where are the commanders and fighters of the 39th Regiment hiding, didn't they go to the position at all? Thinking of this, I put down my binoculars, turned my head and asked the sergeant standing straight behind me: "Comrade sergeant, where are the friendly troops on the high ground?" ”

When the sergeant heard me ask, he hurriedly walked up to my side and pointed to the front to explain to me: "Comrade division commander, please look at the section of the southern slope near the top of the slope, where there are many newly built caves where friendly troops are hiding. ”

I looked in the direction of his finger for a long time, but I still didn't see where the cave he said was. Discouraged, he said to Kirillov: "Comrade commissar, let's take a look, I searched for a long time, and I didn't see where the hiding holes of the friendly troops were. ”

Kirillov hurriedly raised his telescope and looked at the position that the sergeant said, and looked at it for a long time before he nodded thoughtfully, and said with a smile on his face: "This Colonel Yelin is not simple!" ”

"Isn't it easy?" I asked in confusion.

Kirillov pointed to the high ground and said to me: "Comrade Oshanina, if you look carefully, Colonel Yelin and their Tibetan cave are all hung with cloth curtains, probably during the bombing just now, the cloth curtains are all splashed with mud, and from a distance they are completely integrated with the color of the hillside, if you don't look carefully, you really can't see it." ”

After listening to Kirillov, the sergeant next to him interjected with a smile: "Or Comrade Political Commissar observed carefully, if we hadn't memorized the location of the Hidden Soldier Cave before the bombing." Otherwise. We couldn't find it either. ”

The enemy's shelling continued for another ten minutes or so. And it stopped.

As soon as the shelling stopped, the Yelin regiment on the high ground began to move. The infantry came out of the caves on the southern slope and climbed up the trenches leading to the top of the hill with rifles and submachine guns. Then out of the hole came several Maxim heavy machine guns, and finally, even a couple of anti-tank guns, and a dozen mortars.

Seeing the large number of heavy weapons of the 39th Regiment, I suddenly had a feeling of being deceived, and Colonel Ye Lin was still complaining to me last night. He said that 200 of his men were unarmed, but now his troops not only have heavy machine guns, but even anti-tank guns and mortars.

When Kirillov saw this scene, he was also furious, and he turned his head and asked the sergeant: "Comrade sergeant, do you know when the heavy weapons on the opposite high ground were pulled up?" ”

The sergeant was frightened by Kirillov's expression and said nervously and incoherently: "Report, report to the commissar, same." Comrade, I don't. Not really, too clearly, I, I'm late, at night, no, not on duty! ”

"Who's on duty then?" Kirillov asked angrily.

The sergeant said to another soldier, Nunu, "It's him." ”

Kirillov no longer paid attention to the sergeant, but directly asked the fighter: "Tell me, comrade fighter, what is going on?" When did the heavy weapons of friendly forces pull up to the high ground? ”

When the soldier heard Kirillov's question, he was quite calm, and he quickly straightened up and replied: "Report to the commissar, the heavy weapons on the friendly heights arrived at about three o'clock in the morning. With that, presumably, two more battalions of troops. When the heavy weapons were brought to the high ground and concealed, the two new battalions were evacuated to the residential areas behind. ”

Hearing the soldier's explanation, I felt a little better in my heart, it turned out that Colonel Ye Lin did not lie to us, these heavy weapons were brought by the troops who later crossed the river with the artillery regiment of the 13th Guards Division.

After figuring out what was going on, I waved at the sergeant and the fighters and told them to leave the observation post. After the two left, I said self-deprecatingly: "Comrade Political Commissar, just now I was still complaining about Colonel Ye Lin in my heart, obviously there are so many heavy weapons in the regiment, and he is still complaining to us one after another, but I didn't expect these weapons to be delivered later, it seems that I misunderstood him." ”

Due to the limited field of vision, we can only see half of the south slope and a small half of the north slope from the observation post. Before the smoke cleared, the commanders and fighters of the 39th Regiment entered the position along the trenches, some of them put their guns in place, and some of them hurried to repair the trenches damaged by artillery fire.

The German attacking force, led by more than 40 tanks and followed by hundreds of armored transports, formed an offensive formation and rushed towards the friendly high ground.

"There are so many enemies, can Colonel Ye Lin stop them?" Looking at the enemy's posture, I couldn't help but try to guess with worry, "Did he think that with just a few hundred men on the ground and a few anti-tank guns, he could repel the enemy?" ”

When the tank that rushed to the front was still about 200 meters away from our army's position, an explosion suddenly sounded, and the flying sand and rocks raised by the explosion covered the tank that rushed to the front, and then the tank stopped in the distance and burned.

What's going on, was it the anti-tank guns on the positions that opened fire? I hurriedly turned my binoculars to the high ground, only to see that the gunners operating the anti-tank guns were arranging artillery positions, which could not have been fired by them.

A tank, slightly two bodies behind, carefully slowed down, bypassed the burning tank, and then drove over the edge of a crater.

At this moment, a huge explosion sounded, and the smoke and dust that rose up engulfed the daring tank again. Seeing this scene, I immediately understood what was going on, it turned out that it was not the artillery on the high ground that fired, but the anti-tank mines planted in front of the positions that blew up two tanks one after another.

Watching the Germans reimburse two tanks one after another, I suddenly felt my heart flutter, and at the same time I was still excitedly silently chanting: two more reimbursements, two more reimbursements.

Watching as the two tanks were blown up by running over a mine, the remaining tanks stopped their advance and opened fire with tank guns at the defenders on the high ground. At the beginning, the enemy's tanks were aimless, blind fire, covering those infantry who jumped from armored transports to occupy advantageous combat positions.

After a while, as the German infantry offensive line unfolded, the tanks did not continue to fire blindly, they stopped in place and did not move, firing with tank guns and vehicle-mounted machine guns, covering the infantry charge. The shells landed directly in the fortifications of the defenders and exploded, blowing the commanders and fighters inside to pieces.

The German soldiers, bent over, with submachine guns and rifles in flat hands, used the craters on the hillside as cover, and gradually approached our positions with short leaps.

"This is not good, the enemy has so many tanks to provide artillery cover, Colonel Ye Lin's troops will not be able to hold the high ground." Looking at the real German troops approaching our army, my heart beat faster, and I shouted at Kirillov: "No, I will call Godunov and order him to immediately lead three regiments over for reinforcements, if it is a little later, it will be too late." ”

As soon as my hand picked up the phone, Kirillov suddenly stopped me: "Comrade Oshanina, wait a minute, the 39th regiment seems to have begun to return fire!" ”

Hearing him say this, I hurriedly threw the microphone on the table, ran back to the observation port, and raised my binoculars to see how the battle of the 39th Regiment was going.

I heard a dense burst of gunfire from the direction of the high ground, and even the heavy machine guns placed on it opened fire, and it seemed that the troops on the high ground were firing.

The German soldiers who rushed to the front were taken by surprise and were immediately knocked down, some of them directly planted in the nearby craters, and some of them rolled down the hill with bones.

The German tanks hurriedly turned their guns and opened fire on the machine gun positions with the most firepower, in an attempt to eliminate the heavy firepower of our troops and cover their infantry to continue to charge upward. But the mantis caught the cicada and the yellow finch was behind, and the gunners of the Guards had already aimed the muzzles of the anti-tank guns at the German tanks at the foot of the mountain, and at this moment they took advantage of the opportunity of the tanks to shoot down the slope, turning the German tanks into piles of twisted and burning scrap metal like targets.

After being beaten, the tanks did not care about continuing to suppress the infantry fire of our troops with artillery fire, but raised their guns and bombarded the anti-tank gun positions on the top of the hillside. However, the god of luck seemed to be on the side of the gunners of the Guards Division, and when the tank shells flew over, they either missed or flew over their heads, landing on the southern slope and exploding.

The German infantry, deprived of the cover of tank artillery fire, could not continue to charge forward under the suppression of our fire, and could only withdraw back under alternate cover. At this time, the mortars hidden in the trenches opened fire again decisively, and the shells of the gunners hit hard and accurately, beating the retreating infantry to the point of howling.

Seeing that the defeat of the German army was revealed, Kirillov gently patted me on the shoulder and said lightly: "Comrade Oshanina, it seems that there is no need to send three more regiments up, Colonel Yelin's troops have already repelled this wave of enemy attacks. (To be continued......)

PS: Thank you for the book friend q1979072 children's shoes for two votes! Thank you for voting for ZZYZZ children's shoes!

PS: The book "On the Map of the Motherland" is one of a series of Soviet materials published by the Commonwealth Publishing House in 1951, which should have been compiled around 1946. It appears in this article only for the needs of later plot development.