When Tavart Kiradze and Povsky returned to the jeep, they told me the news that the deputy commander of the Front, General Apanashchenko, had left the headquarters of the 309th Regiment and had taken his limited men to inspect other defensive areas.

Although I thought of Apanashchenko's side, there was only one driver and one guard, and I was very worried about his safety. But after thinking about it, since he didn't say goodbye, obviously he didn't want more people to go with him, so I didn't want to be bored, and planned to go back to my headquarters as soon as possible, maybe there was a lot of work waiting for me to deal with.

When the three of us returned to the headquarters of the 51st Guards Division, I said to Tavartkiradze, who was sitting next to me: "Comrade General, although our defensive front is too wide, it is impossible to have enough troops in all places. However, in the areas where we focus on defense, especially in front of several large positions, we must lay minefields and pull up barbed wire. Even if such a facility would be completely lost after the enemy's shelling and bombardment, it would still prevent the German infantry from approaching our positions as unscrupulously as before. Do you understand? ”

"I see," said General Tawart Kiradze, with embarrassment, "Comrade Commander, but we are now in dire need of a large number of mines and barbed wire. As he said this, his eyes glanced at Povsky in the front row, "As far as I know, the cars of the transport regiment have been busy transporting shells all this time. ”

Povsky, who was sitting in the front row, was still looking out the window, and when he heard Tavart Kiradze say this, he immediately turned around and said with extreme dissatisfaction: "Comrade division commander. I think I need to remind you. As soon as the Germans attacked us. Then the artillery deployed in your rear will be able to provide you with sufficient artillery support. If there were no shells, the artillery in the hands of the artillerymen would be a pile of scrap metal. ”

"However, if there were no minefields and barbed wire in front of the positions, the German infantry would have easily rushed to our positions." Unconvinced, Tavartkiradze retorted: "If the Germans rush into the trenches and engage in hand-to-hand combat with our commanders and fighters, then artillery fire will be useless. ”

I don't know if the two had any deep hatred in their previous lives, anyway, these two times were pinched as soon as they met. The noise upset me. In order to prevent them from arguing any more, I said loudly, "All right, be quiet, stop arguing." ”

After the two of them were quiet, I first asked Povsky, who was sitting in the front row, after all, his position was relatively high: "Comrade Colonel, when will the artillery positions deployed in the first line of defense be able to stock up on enough ammunition?" ”

Hearing my question, Povsky hesitated for a moment, then replied: "Comrade commander. According to the transportation plan, by this evening at the latest. The number of shells stored in the forward line will be able to meet the standards we have specified. ”

Since the number of shells stored at the front can reach the required number in the evening, even if the shells are suspended for two days and the mines and barbed wire are replaced, it will not have any effect on the whole situation, so I said to the two men: "In that case, when the convoy has delivered the shells to the artillery positions and informs them to come back on the next trip, priority will be given to transporting mines and barbed wire for General Tawartkiradze's troops." ”

When our car was still nearly a kilometer away from the division headquarters, Povsky, who was sitting in the front row, suddenly pointed out the window and said loudly: "Look, why are there so many trucks parked there, is there something wrong?" ”

I looked in the direction of his finger and saw nearly twenty trucks neatly parked on the right side of the road in front of me. Since the truck didn't have a tarp, I could clearly see that the compartment was empty.

"Strange, it seems to be a convoy carrying shells." Povsky, who was sitting in the front seat, said to himself again: "Why is the convoy parked here, is something wrong?" Then he instructed the driver, "Drive up and see what's going on?" ”

The jeep we were in drove past the convoy of transports parked on the side of the road, and I noticed that almost all the drivers were sleeping in the cab. Seeing this situation, I immediately felt angry, the front line urgently needs all kinds of supplies, but you car soldiers are good, stop on the side of the road to sleep in the daytime. I yelled at the driver in front of me, "Stop!" ”

Following my command, the driver applied the brakes in time. I pushed the door open and got out of the car, walked around the back of the car, walked to the side of a truck, grabbed the doorknob and pulled hard. The door opened. But the driver sitting in the cab did not wake up and was still asleep.

Seeing this, Major Bukov, who had come out of the car in front of him, came over, stood by the door, grabbed the sleeping driver's shoulders and shook him vigorously. Rao is like this, the driver was also shaken for a long time, only to open his eyes in a daze, muttering: "I just fell asleep, I was woken up by you, is there anything wrong?" ”

When he saw clearly that there were two generals and two colonels standing outside the car door, the sleepy worm was suddenly frightened away, he hurriedly jumped down from the cab, hurriedly saluted us, and said with a panicked expression: "Hello, comrades commanders! Don't know what's going on with you? ”

"What part of you are from?" Tavart Kiradze asked coldly.

"Report to Comrade General." The driver replied nervously: "We are a car transport team under the mobile mechanized brigade of logistics of the Front. ”

When I heard this, I turned my head and whispered to Povsky: "Have you heard of this unit?" ”

Equally confused, Bovsky shook his head and replied honestly: "I'm sorry, comrade commander, I never heard of this unit. ”

"Where is your commander?" Tawart Kiradze then asked.

After listening to the questioning, the driver looked in the direction of the lead car of the convoy, and then replied: "Report to Comrade General, if I am not mistaken, I should have slept in the compartment of the lead car." ”

After hearing this, Tawart Kiradze snorted heavily, and said angrily: "I will now go to your commander and ask him why he parked the convoy on the side of the road to sleep collectively, are you a transport team or a recuperation company?" ”

Our group walked towards the lead car aggressively, and along the way we saw that all the drivers were sleeping in different sleeping positions. The anger in my heart was even greater. I even thought that the commander of the convoy was my subordinate. Maybe I pulled out my pistol and shot him.

When I got to the position of the first car, I stood on tiptoe and looked into the carriage, and saw a young officer, lying on his back in the carriage, covered with a military jacket, and holding a half-bitten pickled tomato in his hand. Seeing this, I suddenly felt that I might be wrong to blame him, and I was obviously tired from looking at him. I even ate only half of what I ate, and then fell asleep.

When Bukov had woken the commander from his sleep, I stopped Tavart Kiradze, who was about to attack him, and, after seeing the rank of lieutenant on his shoulder, asked amicably: "Comrade lieutenant, can you tell me your name?" ”

The lieutenant, who had just jumped out of the carriage, stood straight in front of me and reported in a loud voice: "Comrade General, Lieutenant Morozov, the captain of the 39th transport team under the Logistics Mobile Mechanized Brigade of the Front Army, reports to you that we are on a transport mission. Please instruct! ”

I waited for him to finish his report and snorted softly. He asked coldly: "Comrade Lieutenant, are you sleeping on the side of the road on your transportation mission?" ”

"I beg your pardon, Comrade General." Lieutenant Morozov glanced at my epaulettes and respectfully reported: "Can you listen to my explanation?" ”

If it were another commander, a commander like Lieutenant Morozov would certainly not listen to any explanation from the other side, but would have scolded the other party without saying anything, and threatened to send him to a court-martialed for dereliction of duty, and so on. But in order to find out what was going on, I patiently said, "Yes, Comrade Lieutenant." But I want to hear the real answers, not the lies you made up to cover up your mistakes. ”

"Comrade General, I will explain the real reason to you." Morozov's expression became extremely serious: "We have been continuously transporting military supplies for fifteen days and nights. It was fifteen days and nights in a row, without stopping for maintenance, without stopping to sleep. As soon as the trucks are full, we will pull military supplies out of the quartermaster depot in Kursk and deliver them to the places where they are needed at the front......"

"Alright, needless to say, Comrade Lieutenant." I didn't wait for him to finish before I raised my hand to stop him, because he didn't need to say what he said next, and I knew I was wrong about them. People are not machines, and after fifteen days of continuous rotation, it is estimated that even the trucks transporting supplies can't stand it, let alone these living people. "I get it all. I apologize to you for the misunderstanding I just made to you. After speaking, I took a step back, raised my hand to salute him with a solemn military salute, and said loudly: "Comrades commanders and fighters of the transport team, you have worked hard!" ”

"Comrade General," Morozov's voice was a little hoarse with excitement, "these are the things we should do. But, Comrade General, I beg you, can you let my fighters sleep a little longer? Even if it's ten minutes, after all, they haven't rested in fifteen days. ”

I raised my hand and looked at my watch, and then announced to him: "Comrade lieutenant, I can give you an hour." After all, it is difficult for you to recover from such a long period of fatigue and not resting for a while. With that, I turned to Tavart Kiradze and said, "Comrade General, I think they may have been drinking cold water and nibbling dry bread on the road during this time, so you should go back to the division headquarters as soon as possible and arrange for someone to bring them some hot tea." ”

"Yes, Comrade Commander." Tavart Kiradze glanced at Morozov, who was standing in front of us, and nodded, turning to the nearest jeep, ready to get back to the division headquarters as soon as possible.

When Bukov learned that the motorists were sleeping on the side of the road, not because they were lazy but because they were too tired, he arranged for men to stand guard around the convoy so that no one would disturb them.

Lieutenant Morozoff and I stayed where we were and chatted. I looked at the young lieutenant in front of me and asked with a smile, "Comrade lieutenant, what year did you enlist?" ”

Morozov replied: "Report to Comrade General, I joined the army in September 1941. ”

I glanced at the rank of lieutenant on his epaulette, as well as the medal on his chest. But he accidentally found that the medal on his chest was actually the medal for the "Defense of Stalingrad", and he couldn't help but ask in surprise: "Why, Comrade Lieutenant, have you also participated in the Battle of Stalingrad?" ”

He smiled and nodded, and continued: "Yes, during the Battle of Stalingrad, when we were ordered to deliver shells to the anti-tank artillery hidden in the depression to block the German tank attack, the truck in which the captain of the transport team was riding was hit by German artillery fire and died honorably on the spot. And I took his place and led the convoy to brave the enemy's artillery fire, down the mountain gorge, and smoothly delivered the shells to the positions of the anti-tank artillery. By this time, the artillerymen had almost run out of shells.

It was because of this transport mission that as soon as I returned to the brigade, I was appointed full captain of the transport team and received the rank of lieutenant. Since the brothers in the convoy had lived and died together, they all obeyed my command. It didn't take long for our transport team to become the best transport team in the whole brigade. He is often praised by his superiors......"

As if he were telling someone else's story, Morozov told me about his combat experience in a flat tone, which made me look at him with admiration. I even had the bold idea of going to the logistics department to dig a corner and get this lieutenant to my 6th Guards Army, and make him a company commander or battalion commander or something, and the troops under his command would surely be able to perform many battles.

Time passes imperceptibly in our small talk. By the time General Tawalt Kiradze sent for tea and beetroot soup, an hour had passed. Standing at the side of the convoy, Morozov shouted to the front and rear: "Listen to me, get out of the car!" ”

The first time, there was no response from the team. When he shouted a second time, most of the doors were open, and the drivers who had been sleeping inside jumped out of the car. As for the drivers who were still sleeping, they were also woken up by the drivers of the front and rear cars, and they all came under the car and waited for Morozov to give orders.

When he saw that all the men were in place, Morozov shouted again: "Hurry up, everyone, and after drinking the hot tea and beetroot soup brought by the infantry brothers, you will immediately set out." ”

"Yes!" Dozens of drivers, who were standing neatly outside their cabs, said in a neat manner. (To be continued.) )