Goebbels' self-righteous speech was a disservice to the German generals who wanted to put up a grue, and the resistance of Pandereev's 150th Division in the assault on the tractor factory quarters was far weaker than I had imagined. Before the attack began, I looked at the hundreds of buildings in front of me and said in my heart that in so many houses, the Germans had at least several thousand defenders, and even if our attack went smoothly, it would take at least two days to occupy them all. You must know that when the Germans seized this dormitory area from the 37th Guards Division, it took more than a month.

Unexpectedly, as soon as our troops attacked, most of the defenders who were stuck in the half-collapsed buildings symbolically put a few shots, and spontaneously raised the white flags. Of course, there are also those who stubbornly resist, and the crossfire network composed of firepower inside and outside the building suppressed the commanders and fighters lying in the snow so that they could not raise their heads. At such times, the two artillery battalions of the 150th Division and the artillery battalion of the 266th Artillery Regiment attached to the division would not hesitate to open fire, smashing a dense barrage of shells on the buildings where the enemy was located. When the buildings collapsed under heavy artillery fire, white flags fluttered in many of the scorched and smoked places, and as soon as our commanders and fighters rushed up, hordes of prisoners would come out of the rubble with their hands raised.

At noon, Bantai Laiev, who was supervising the battle at the front, called me to report: "Report to Comrade Army Commander, after a morning of fierce fighting, our division has basically occupied the dormitory area of the tractor factory, and only a few buildings still have the remnants of the enemy who have not been cleared up and are stubbornly resisting. ”

"Which regiment is the main attack in the morning?" Although I now have four infantry divisions, a tank brigade and an artillery regiment at my disposal. But I've always paid the most attention to the unit where I started: "I played relatively well. Actually in half a day. It basically occupied the dormitory area where thousands of German troops were entrenched. ”

"Report to the commander of the corps, it is the regiment of Lieutenant Colonel Sederikov," Bandeleyev truthfully reported to me: "It is the Sherebryan battalion that serves in the first echelon. ”

At the beginning of the counteroffensive, Chuikov promised the commanders and fighters of the independent division that whoever rushed first to Gorodishe would be named after it. At that time, the 1st battalion of Captain Nikolai and the 2nd battalion of Major Sherebryanny rushed into the city at the same time. Later, when I reported to the army group headquarters, Zeng Jianyi named both battalions after the battalion commanders. The result was vetoed by Chuikov. He said that Nikolai's first battalion was almost all officers and soldiers anyway, and if such a high honor was given to them, it would make the commanders and fighters of other units dissatisfied, so in the end only the second battalion of the Sherebryanny was named "Sherebryanne's battalion."

Although it only took half a day to capture the dormitory area, I didn't dare to take it lightly when I thought of the upcoming battle to seize the factory area, so I asked nervously: "Colonel Bandereev, since you have captured the dormitory area, you should attack the factory area next, which regiment do you plan to send?" ”

"I intend to let Lieutenant Colonel Oleg's 2nd Regiment complete this task." Bandereev didn't wait for me to ask. He took the initiative to explain: "Because the second regiment lost a lot of troops in the battle to hold the 107.5 heights in the early stage, after the start of the major counteroffensive. They hardly took part in any decent battles. Yesterday, Lieutenant Colonel Oleg came to my headquarters and pampered me to assign him combat missions, saying that all the commanders and fighters of the Second Regiment were full of fighting passion, and if they were not allowed to undertake important combat missions, everyone would be suffocated. ”

I did not express any opinion on the arrangement of the division, after all, I am not the commander of an independent division at this time, and as long as there are no major mistakes in the command of Pandereev, I will not casually cross him to command the troops below. I thought about it for a while, and asked the other party two more questions in a row: "Colonel, what time will the attack start?" How are you going to attack the strong fortifications of the German army outside the factory gates? ”

"The attack of the 2nd Regiment will officially begin in half an hour, that is, at one o'clock in the afternoon." As for my question, Bandereev should have already made a draft. As soon as my words fell, he replied clearly: "We plan to adopt the tactics of coordinated infantry and artillery in this attack, and strive to overcome the enemy's defensive position outside the factory gate in the shortest possible time, and quickly break into the factory area. ”

"Very well, let's do it according to your arrangement." After listening to Pantai Leyev's arrangement, I nodded with satisfaction, and after agreeing to his plan, I put down the phone.

When Vitkov saw that I had ended the call with Bandereev, he immediately asked: "Comrade commander, we are not in this position where we can observe the troops attacking the factory area, do we need to move the observation post immediately?" ”

When I heard Vitkov say this, I knew that he should have chosen a location for the observation post a long time ago, so without going around in circles, I asked bluntly: "Comrade Chief of Staff, do you have a suitable place to set up a new observation post?" ”

Vitkov nodded and said affirmatively: "Yes, Comrade Commander." We can set up the new observation post in the stadium stands of the tractor plant, where the view is open and it is possible to clearly see our troops attacking the gates of the tractor plant. And even under German shelling, we have enough places to move. ”

"Since that's the case, let's move immediately."

As soon as our new command post was arranged, the 150th Division's assault on the tractor factory site began.

I stood in the gap in the wall and watched the sparse procession slowly move forward in the snow. Behind them, on the starting position, there was a group of artillery aimed directly, and next to the artillery, in addition to the artillery, there were many infantry who were helping to carry ammunition. In the vast wilderness, there were more than a dozen tanks moving forward, and from the appearance of the tanks, I could tell that this was Major Perstian's tank battalion, and they were not using Soviet T-34s, but all captured German tanks. The white cross on the tank has been removed, and a small red flag is placed on each turret as an identification mark. Behind these tanks moved small groups of infantry, sometimes lying down and sometimes leaping in the face of German machine-gun and mortar fire. Walk slowly.

The closer to the German defensive positions. The more corpses will lie in the snow. In addition to the Germans, there were also our commanders and fighters, who lay there alone or in groups, and the snowfall in December and January covered them with a thick shroud.

"Comrade Commander," Vitkov, who was standing next to me, suddenly said, "I do not deny that by putting infantry on tanks, you can speed up the delivery of troops. But if you look at it, there are seven or eight commanders and fighters standing on a tank. As soon as even one shell lands next to the tank and explodes, the commanders and fighters above will suffer heavy casualties. ”

As soon as he finished speaking, several shells fell near a tank, and the moving body was immediately enveloped in smoke. I knew that as long as the mortar shell didn't hit the tank directly, or fell through the open roof of the turret, the damage to the tank would be almost negligible, but the thought of so many commanders and fighters standing on the body made my heart clench.

When the smoke cleared, I saw that there were not many commanders and fighters left on the body of the tank, except for two people still lying on the rear body. The rest of the commanders and fighters fell into the snow. I moved my binoculars to the two commanders and fighters lying on the tank to see if they were still alive.

One of the commanders and fighters carried a walkie-talkie on his back. It should be a telegraph operator, and at the moment he is lying motionless on the tank, not knowing whether he was stunned or sacrificed. And the man lying next to him was not dying, and his arm was still moving. I saw him reach out and grab the handle on the turret, trying to stand up.

Just as he stood up with both hands on the handle, the gray cylindrical cotton hat on his head somehow fell off, revealing his long blond hair. Seeing this scene, Vitkov exclaimed: "Hell, it's actually a woman? ”

In fact, even if Vitkov didn't shout, I could see that the commander who was alive on the tank was a woman. When I saw the female commander's face clearly, blood suddenly gushed on my head, and I put down my binoculars and walked quickly to the walkie-talkie, and shouted to the operator: "Immediately pick up the headquarters of the 150th Division for me." ”

When I heard Bantai Leyev's voice coming out of the earphones, I immediately shouted at him angrily: "Colonel Bantai Leev, let me ask you, are the male commanders of the 2nd Regiment all dead, why did Comrade Vylol, the political commissar of the regiment, personally lead the charge to the charge?" ”

"What, Comrade Vellol, the political commissar of the 2nd Regiment, personally led the team to charge?!" Bandereev was also stunned by this unexpected news, and after a moment of silence, he replied solemnly: "Comrade division commander, before the attack, I once greeted the commanders of all regiments, telling them to stay in their command positions and not to charge like ordinary soldiers. As for the fact that Commissar Velore took the lead in the charge, if you don't say it, I really don't know. Please wait a moment, I will contact Lieutenant Colonel Oleg and ask him to send someone to pull Commissar Velol down. ”

"No need, even if you send someone up at this time, it is estimated that you will not be able to pull Velore down." I have gradually calmed down at this moment, and I know in my heart that it was only when I saw that Velore was injured that my feelings would get out of control, and if I was still in the independent division at the moment, maybe I would have led someone to charge myself. "The infantry advanced too slowly after the tanks, so that they were easy targets for the Germans in the snow. I propose that you immediately put the armored vehicles of the Perstian tank battalion into battle, carrying the infantry to quickly forward the assault. ”

I raised my binoculars again and saw Vellore, who was not wearing a hat, standing on top of the tank, grabbing the armrest, holding the pistol in his hand high, waving it and turning his head to shout something behind him.

Seeing that the troops of our troops on the march were intercepted by enemy artillery and machine-gun fire, the artillery that stayed on the starting positions opened fire decisively, and the enemy's fire points were soon covered by the dense artillery fire of our troops. At this moment, our fighters appeared in the air, and the flying formation carried out a surprise attack on the base point of the enemy's resistance, and they dived down from a high altitude and accurately dropped the bombs they carried on the point of fire that was still spraying death.

Under the three-dimensional fire of the artillery and air forces, the fire of the fortifications outside the gate of the tractor factory became sparse, and the attacking troops gradually increased the pace of their advance. Since when I was in the Independent Division, I often instilled in the commanders below the theory of charging on the explosive point, from this moment on, it seems that they have executed this tactic very well. As soon as the shelling and bombardment were over, the attacking forces approached the front of the bombed factory. The infantry bravely rushed inside over the piles of rubble outside the door, while the tanks stopped in front of the masonry and rubble, providing the necessary fire cover for the infantry in front with artillery fire.

Seeing that the 2nd Regiment had broken through the German defenses outside the factory gate, Bandereev promptly committed the 3rd and 4th Regiments to expand the breakthrough and continue to make the troops develop in depth.

Vitkov put down his binoculars, turned his head to us, and said: "Comrade Army Commander, the outer defense line of the German army in the tractor factory area has been broken through by our army, and in order to expand the results of the battle, the 171st and 308th Divisions, which we will build as reserves, will also be put into battle. ”

"I agree!" When I agreed with him, I added: "Let Colonel Andreushchenko and Colonel Gurtiev each need to draw one regiment and follow them into the breach, and the rest of the troops will outflank the Germans from both flanks and not let them escape." Also, the terrain here is very suitable for armored assaults, and the 84th Tank Brigade of Colonel Bere was also sent there. ”

Before dark, units of three infantry divisions and a tank brigade of our army occupied almost the entire area of the tractor plant. The German officers and men, who could not resist the attack of our troops, waved white flags one after another, came out of the fortifications and bunkers where they were hiding, and surrendered to our troops in formation.

I went with Vitkov to the factory gate, stood on a high ruin, and watched as thousands of prisoners were escorted by the commanders and fighters as they walked past us. All the soldiers and sergeants looked extremely weak, they were all in rags, and although it was now a low temperature of minus 20 degrees, I found that many of the soldiers had no boots on their feet, only a piece of cloth, and some were even barefoot. In stark contrast to them were the officers, all dressed in warm overcoats and pockets full of sausages and other food, and it seemed that in the face of scarcity they enjoyed far more abundant rations than their own soldiers.

I pointed to the fat officers in the crowd and said to Vitkov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, look at the German officers, their soldiers are starving to death, and they are still as fat as pigs. ”

Vitkov smiled after hearing this, and just wanted to speak, when he suddenly heard the operator next to me shouting to me: "Comrade Army Commander, Comrade Commander of the Group Army wants to talk to you." ”

I walked up to the operator, took the headset from his hand and put it on, and then politely said into the microphone: "Hello, Comrade Commander, I am Oshanina, what instructions do you have?" ”

"Oshanina, I heard that your troops managed to occupy most of the tractor factory and captured more than 20,000 German prisoners." Chuikov's voice changed tone due to excitement, but I can understand his gaffe, after all, it is not common for the Soviet army to capture more than 20,000 prisoners in a single battle. "I congratulate you on your great success."

"Comrade Commander," although he only congratulated me and did not mention the commendation, I reported to him in a calm manner: "In one more day at most, I will be able to wipe out all the enemies in the tractor factory." ”

"Comrade Gurov and I will go to the office building of the 'Red October' factory tomorrow morning, and in the observation post there, we will witness how our troops are encircling and annihilating the enemy trapped in the 'barricade' factory.

I was considering whether to turn down Chuikov's invitation, because in my known history, the German troops besieged at Stalingrad were completely destroyed on February 2, and it was enough for me to witness the destruction of the remaining German troops at the tractor factory, without having to run to the "Red October" factory. Unexpectedly, what Chuikov said afterwards made me change my mind: "By the way, Oshanina, there is one more thing I forgot to tell you." The commander of the Front has agreed to let General Seydlitz help us persuade the remaining enemy to surrender, and he will go with him tomorrow. ”

"Understood, Comrade Commander." I replied very cheerfully, "I will be there on time tomorrow morning for the 'Red October' factory office building." (To be continued......)