Vassili. After waiting for the four of us to pass on the captured sniper rifles, Zaitsev took out a document from his jacket pocket, held it in both hands and handed it to me, and said respectfully: "Comrade division commander, this is from the dead German sniper. ”

I took the sniper ID card in Vasily's hand, opened it and saw that there was a photo pasted inside, on which was a German officer with a stern expression, which should be the sniper who was killed by Vasily, but I didn't know any of the words on the ID, so I handed it to Kirillov casually, and asked at the same time: "Comrade commissar, do you know the words on it?" ”

Kirillov took the document I handed him, looked at it, and then said: "It seems that Captain Grams's guess is right, this German sniper who was killed by Second Lieutenant Vasily is indeed Major Koninggrad, the principal of the German sniper school in Berlin. He closed his papers, handed them to Bandereev, and then asked me tentatively: "Comrade division commander, should we immediately report this matter to the commander?" ”

When he dialed the phone, Chuikov heard my voice and looked impatient, perhaps thinking that I had called him to complain to him and to postpone his deadline even more. I gave him a quick explanation before he hung up. After hearing this, Chuikov excitedly shouted: "What, Comrade Oshanina, what are you talking about? You say Vasily. Comrade Zaitsev took out the enemy snipers? ”

"Yes, Comrade Commander." I replied briefly: "The German sniper who killed many of our snipers and commanders has been killed by Second Lieutenant Vasily. ”

Hearing my answer, Chuikov became cautious. He asked tentatively, "Can you be sure of the sniper who was killed?" Is that the same sniper who has been giving us headaches lately? ”

With what I know about Chuikov. I had long guessed that he would ask such a question, so he immediately replied in the affirmative: "Report to Comrade Commander, according to the documents found by Second Lieutenant Vasily on the bodies of the killed German snipers, he is Major Koninggrad, the principal of the Berlin Sniper School. ”

Hearing my affirmative answer, Chuikov said with relief: "Great, our snipers are amazing." Then he asked, "Who else took part in this mission besides Second Lieutenant Vasily?" ”

"Report to Comrade Commander." In accordance with the order, I reported dryly: "Except for Vasily. Second Lieutenant Zaitsev, and his deputy Anatoly. Chekhov and Victor. Medvedev, as well as two guard squads led by Corporal Mikhailov. ”

Chuikov asked a little puzzled: "Oshanina, to eliminate a German sniper, do you need to send so many commanders and fighters?" ”

I hurriedly explained to him: "Comrade commander, you don't know, the German sniper is very cunning and patient, and he will not open fire lightly until he sees any worthy target. So I transferred two squads from the guard barracks. Led by Corporal Mikhailov, part of the fighters pretended to be commanders. The impersonation was a squad that went to reinforcements to attract the attention of German snipers. ”

"I see, I see." After Chuikov finished speaking, he decisively hung up the phone.

Chuikov hung up the phone so quickly that I didn't have time to ask how to mention the award to Vasily. After putting down the phone, I complimented Vasily a few more times and sent him back to rest.

As soon as he left, I immediately instructed Basmanov to bring in Corporal Mikhailov, who was assisting Vasily in his mission. Mikhailov waited at the door, and as soon as he heard the greeting of his immediate superior, he quickly entered the command headquarters.

Mikhailov, dressed in his second lieutenant uniform, stood in front of me in high spirits, looking at his dusty body, and I could imagine how difficult the task he had been carrying out in the past few days. After looking him up and down, I asked with concern: "Comrade Corporal, have all the fighters who carried out the bait mission returned?" ”

When Mikhailov heard my question, the muscles in his face twitched violently, and then he replied with difficulty: "Report to Comrade Division Commander, we participated in the mission this time, including me, a total of 21 people, and now 14 people have returned. ”

"What about the other seven fighters?" Before I could ask, Kirillov next to me had already preemptively asked.

Hearing Kirillov's question, Mikhailov lowered his head to his chest and replied with a bitter face: "The remaining seven fighters died at the guns of enemy snipers." ”

Although Vasily had just reported to me about the process of eliminating the German snipers, he had said so lightly, but I knew in my heart that the real situation that had happened at that time was far more thrilling than he had recounted, otherwise the casualties of Mikhailov's squad would not have been as high as one-third.

In the evening, Chuikov's adjutant, Captain Klimov, and the herald came to the division headquarters. I was quite surprised to see the two of them appear at the division headquarters, and hurriedly asked Klimov: "Comrade Captain, why are you here, is the commander any important orders?" ”

Klimov raised his hand to salute me and replied: "Comrade General, I and the herald Sidorin have come to you on the orders of the commander to bring you medals. After speaking, he took out a copy of Wen Jiàn from Wen Jiàn bag and handed it to me, "This is the list of honors signed by the military commissar of the group army himself. ”

With a puzzled expression, I took the list of honors handed over by Klimov and looked at it carefully. I saw that it read: "In recognition of the commanders and fighters who made great achievements in the defense of Stalingrad, the following comrade medals are hereby awarded:

Awarded to the outstanding sniper Vasily. Second Lieutenant Zaitsev Order of the Order of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree;

Awarded to Anatoly the Sniper. Chekhov, Order of the Patriotic War of the 2nd degree;

Awarded to Victor the Sniper. Medvedev Order of the Patriotic War of the 2nd degree;

awarded Corporal Mikhailov the Order of the Patriotic War of the 2nd degree;

The rest of the combatants were awarded the corresponding military merit medals. ”

After reading the list of honors, I casually handed it to Kirillov, and then asked Klimov: "Comrade Captain, where is the medal?" ”

"Sister Leda, here you are." Sidorin called me sweetly, and pulled out a bunch of medal boxes from the rucksack he was carrying. Neatly laid out on the table.

While Sidorin was looking out of the medal box. I first instructed Basmanov: "Major. Go and call in all the commanders and fighters on the medal list, except for the three of Second Lieutenant Vasily who participated in the sniper mission, and the fighters of the two squads led by Mikhailov. ”

After Basmanov left, I instructed Akhromeyev: "Chief of Staff, the enemy has not moved in the past two days, and you call the commanders of the regiments and say that an impromptu meeting will be held tonight." Let all commanders above the battalion level participate. ”

Akhromeyev nodded, picked up the phone on the table, and then asked me: "Comrade division commander, what is the topic of the meeting?" ”

"Comrade Chief of Staff, do you need to talk about this?" Kirillov said: "What else can I do, of course, to inform them to come to the ceremony of the award of Second Lieutenant Vasily. ”

It would be a bit of a fuss to let a group of battalion commanders attend the ceremony of awarding ordinary soldiers, and after I waited for Kirillov to finish speaking, I said to Akhromeyev with a smile: "Chief of staff, you sue them. Tonight, I will tell you about the current situation of friend or foe, and how to organize and learn how to conduct guerrilla warfare in the city. ”

Second Lieutenant Vasily: Their ceremony of awarding them was simple. After announcing the list of honors of the headquarters, Kirillov personally put on brand-new medals for Vasily and the 17 of them, and said a lot of words of encouragement, which moved many soldiers to tears. As for the seven soldiers who died, the medals they received were temporarily kept by Kirillov, who waited for the end of the Battle of Stalingrad to send them to their homes.

After the soldiers who had received the medal left, the battalion and regimental commanders who had been notified began to come to the command post in groups of three or five. Basmanov, who was in charge of the reception, saw the conductor entering the door and arranged for them to sit on a makeshift bench.

When all the battalion and regimental commanders arrived, I looked at the crowd sitting below, and I couldn't help but be taken aback, I didn't expect that there were so many people, the commanders, deputy commanders, and political commissars of each regiment, and the battalion commanders and deputy battalion commanders of each battalion, there were actually more than 40 people. Most of the people in the room didn't know why I had summoned them here all of a sudden, so they couldn't help but whisper to each other to find out what was going on.

Seeing that all the people were coming, Kirillov tilted his head to my side and asked in a low voice: "Comrade division commander, the commanders of the meeting have all arrived, can we hold a meeting?" Seeing that I nodded in agreement, he slowly stood up, took two steps forward, and coughed softly. With the sound of his coughing, the headquarters that was still noisy suddenly fell silent, and all the commanders looked up at him, waiting for what he had to say next.

"Comrades commanders," Kirillov was still a little excited to see so many subordinates sitting in front of him, "there are several purposes for summoning everyone here today. First, due to the fierce fighting, many command posts in the division have been replaced with new commanders, and everyone has taken this opportunity to get to know each other, which can well strengthen the cooperation of various units in future battles. Second, Comrade Chief of Staff will give you a briefing on the current situation of the enemy's situation at the Mamayev Gang and the 107.5 Heights; third, the division commander himself will personally explain to you how our troops should carry out guerrilla warfare in the cities. ……”

Kirillov did not say much, and after he had finished speaking, he gave way to Chief of Staff Akhromeyev, who briefed everyone on the current situation of the enemy at the Mamayev Heights and the 107.5 Heights.

After talking about the current situation for about five minutes, Akhromeyev stopped, turned to me and whispered: "Comrade division commander, I'm done, please!" ”

I nodded, stood up, and like Kirillov, took two steps forward, took a stand in front of the commanders, and began to instill in them what I knew about urban warfare: "...... Battles in the city are a special kind of battles. This kind of battle depends not only on strength, but also on intelligence, skill, improvisation, and surprise. The buildings in the city were like breakwaters, cutting off the attacking enemy's battle formation, so that the enemy could only advance along the streets. Because, we are firmly in some particularly strong buildings, and in these buildings we organize small detachments of small numbers. These squads were able to organize a circular defense even when they were encircled. In particular, we use the sturdy building as a fire support point, and the small detachment that sticks to it can use these support points to exert the power of machine guns and submachine guns. Kill countless invaders. Make it difficult for the enemy to move an inch. This. The 42nd Regiment of the 13th Guards Division did a good job, and a small detachment led by Sergeant Pavlov of the regiment occupied a building next to the square of '9 January', where it inflicted great casualties on the enemy attacking the city. At present, the 1st and 3rd regiments have built new fortifications, and I hope that if these strongholds are attacked by the Germans, they will also inflict heavy damage on the enemy, like the Pavlov building.

When we carry out a counter-assault, due to the limitations of the terrain, I do not advocate using large forces or many detachments to attack. The first battle after the formation of our division. It was to seize a settlement occupied by the Germans. At that time, we organized several strong strike teams, although they were not many in number, but they were very strong in attack, brave and nimble as snakes. Targets occupied by the fascists were immediately attacked by squads, and the fascists were seldom able to withstand the onslaught of artillery fire, explosives, and then grenades, bayonets, and sapper shovels. The two sides fiercely fought over each building. In the building, every basement, every house, every corridor is contested. The streets were empty, and the squares were empty.

Our fighters and commanders should learn to get as close as possible to enemy positions while preparing for fire and artillery fire of the enemy's aviation, thereby saving themselves from casualties. The German pilots and gunners were afraid of hurting their own men and were reluctant to risk attacking our battle formation. As a result, we often use melee tactics. At least get into the range where the grenade is thrown.

Fascist invaders did not like close combat, to be precise, they were not familiar with it. Their nerves can't stand it. They did not have the courage to look face-to-face at servicemen in the uniforms of Red Army soldiers. We can see the soldiers of the enemy's forward posts from a long distance, especially at night, because they always fire a few bursts from their submachine guns every 5-10 minutes to embolden themselves. Our troops involved in the night raid can easily spot them, then crawl up to them and kill them with a single bullet or a bayonet. ”

Although many of the things I said were clichés, I have to say that because there were too many changes in commanders at all levels in the division, and many of them were drawn from other units, and they were not familiar with or adapted to some tactics and fighting methods unique to independent divisions, I could only take advantage of this opportunity to forcibly instill in them my own ideas.

I returned to the table, took a few sips of water from the teapot on the table, and then continued: "Night is our world, and night battles are the specialty of my independent division. The fascist invaders were not good at night fighting, but we learned to act at night in the spirit of a tooth for a tooth against the enemy. During the day, the fascist planes flaunted their might over our battle formation, so that we could not raise our heads. But at night, we are not afraid of them. During the day, we were more on the defensive, trying to repel every enemy attack.

And the enemy, without the cover of aircraft and tanks, rarely attacks us, and at such times, it is our turn to destroy them by all means. We know, for example, that not all of the fascists are watching us in windows and shooting holes, and most of them are resting in the shelters. In order to call them from the shelter to the windows and firing holes, we should organize small detachments, shouting "Ula" near the German defense zone at night, and occasionally blowing up a few grenades as if we were attacking. At this point, the enemy will run in terror to the window or the firing hole of the pillbox to prepare for a counterattack. As soon as they open fire and reveal their position, our snipers hidden in the vicinity can open fire decisively and clear these enemy fire points, so that they suffer great losses. ”

When I was speaking above, the commanders sitting below took out their notebooks and pens, carefully recorded what I had said, and prepared to digest it after the meeting was returned.

When I finished the common sense of urban warfare that I had mastered in one breath, I raised my hand and looked at my watch, and found that it was already eleven o'clock. So I said to the commanders present: "Comrade commanders, this is the end of tonight's meeting. Let's all go back to our respective units. When I saw that everyone got up from their seats and wanted to leave, I emphatically said: "I hope that you will not only write down what you have learned today, but also remember it in your heart, and at the same time try to put it into practice, so that we can maintain our advantage in the next battle." ”

When the command was quiet again, and I was discussing with Pandereev how to better use snipers in the night harassment operations, Major Basmanov, who had just left, trotted in all the way in and reported to me in a panic: "Comrade division commander, a unit has just come from the east bank, and according to the commander who led the team, they have been ordered to join our division. ”

I was halfway through my sentence when I was interrupted by Basmanov, so I waved my hand a little impatiently and said to him disappreciatively: "Comrade Major, the 2nd Regiment is currently greatly reduced, you replenish the new troops to Lieutenant Colonel Oleg, and don't bother me with such trivial matters in the future." ”

Unexpectedly, Basmanov still stood still and did not move, and muttered: "Comrade division commander, this unit is a special guard company sent to you by your superiors, and it cannot be supplemented to other regiments." ”

"Special Guard Company?!" Some time ago, Khrushchev once sent a message to Guò Basmanov, saying that he would equip me with a capable guard company, but I didn't take it seriously, but I didn't expect it to come now. I hurriedly ordered Basmanov: "Major, you immediately go and invite the company commander of the guard company in!" ”

Basmanov agreed, turned and walked out. After a while, he walked in with a commander with a steel helmet, walked quickly in front of me and reported: "Comrade division commander, the company commander of the guard company has arrived. ”

I looked up at the commander of the Special Guard Company, and I didn't wait for me to see what the person was looking like. He had already bypassed Basmanov and walked in front of me, stood upright, and said in a trembling tone: "Report to Comrade General, Captain Yushchenko of the Ministry of Internal Affairs reports to you, I was ordered to lead a company of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to report to you, please give your instructions!" ”

"Yushchenko?!" The name sounded familiar, and I had heard it somewhere before. I took a step forward and walked up to the captain and looked at him carefully. Under the light of the gas lamp, the man also looked kind, but unfortunately he couldn't remember where he had seen it in a hurry.

Seeing that I didn't speak, I just looked at myself vigorously. The captain couldn't hold his breath, hurriedly took off his steel helmet, and said loudly: "Comrade division commander, don't you really know me?" I'm Yushchenko, Captain Yushchenko. It was the commander of the guard company when you were the commander of the 8th Guards Division! ”

As soon as Yushchenko said this, my memory suddenly flashed back to lightning, it turned out to be him, my former guard company commander, when I was captured by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, he also tried to bring someone to protect me, I didn't expect that my superiors would send him to Mamayev Post at such a time to continue to serve as my guard company commander. (To be continued......)