Seeing that Kirillov showed a calm attitude, I hurriedly called Velore over and instructed her in public: "Commissar Velol, due to the negligence of these soldiers, the enemy's small detachment mixed up with the position, causing great casualties to our army. Now I announce the disposition of them: the platoon commander is confined for five days, and the fighters are confined for three days each. Let's do it! ”

After hearing my decision, Velore froze in place. Seeing that she didn't react for a long time, I couldn't help but ask strangely, "Commissar Velol, what are you doing standing here instead of carrying out my orders?" ”

Velol's face showed an expression of disbelief: "Comrade division commander, I heard you right, just a few days of confinement?" ”

"Of course, you heard it right, what I announced was five days of confinement for the platoon commander and three days for the fighters." I repeated what I had just said, and seeing that Velore had not yet woken up from the shock, and guessed what she was thinking, I teased her: "Why, Commissar Velol, if you think that the punishment of confinement is too light, you can enforce battlefield discipline on them. ”

Although my words were only joking, they still startled Velol, and the last time several fighters defected, Kirillov also shouted that the commander of the company platoon where the fighters belonged should be dealt with strictly, and as a result, they were all shot by his order. Therefore, before Verol captured her men, the expression on her face was very abnormal when she heard Kirillov talk about dealing with her strictly. Hearing my joke at this moment, the expression on my whole face froze.

I suddenly realized that in my own capacity, it was indeed not suitable for jokes in public, because my words and deeds might be executed by my subordinates. So I put my face on the board. Yan said solemnly: "Commissar Velol." What are you doing here, didn't you hear me? Hurry up and take all your men away and find a place to lock them all up. ”

Velore was so happy that I reprimanded her, and she excitedly agreed, turning around and beckoning the soldiers to untie a few militiamen. I returned to Kirillov's side and reminded him: "Comrade commissar, it's time for us to go back to the command. ”

Kirillov looked at me. Nothing was said. He first raised his hand to look at his watch, then looked up at the sky, and snorted heavily, before turning around and walking into the headquarters.

When I entered the headquarters, I found that not only Akhromeyev was there, but also Mihayev and Morozov, and even Lieutenant Colonel Gaidar, who rarely came to my headquarters. I saw so many people in the cave, and I couldn't help but ask curiously, "Yo Ho, why did you all come to me today?" Then I pointed at Gaidar and said: "What are you doing when you don't stay on the high ground and command the soldiers to clean up the battlefield?" ”

Gaidar smirked a few times and replied: "Something in the regiment." With Political Commissar Xia Ping in charge, I'm here. There is something I want to discuss with you. ”

"What's the matter?" I asked curiously as I walked towards the table.

"Comrade Division Commander, are you okay?" Akhromeyev walked around the table to me and asked with concern, looking at me closely.

I knew that my current image of being disgraced looked particularly wolf in their eyes, but I still said disapprovingly: "Comrade Chief of Staff, look, am I not good?" I met the Germans, but they were unscathed. At this point, I suddenly thought of my pistol, which jammed at the critical moment and was thrown out by me as a hidden weapon, and added: "But what makes me most angry is that my pistol jammed after only three bullets, otherwise I would have been able to kill a few more German devils." ”

"What, Comrade Division Commander, what happened to you with the Germans? When and where? "Mihayev, Morozov, Gaidar, and the others heard that I was in danger, and they didn't care to say anything else, so they all gathered around and asked questions with concern. Even Razumayeva and Nadya, who were sitting next to the walkie-talkie, gathered around me to ask how I had escaped from danger.

At this moment, only a loud "pop" was heard, and the entire command headquarters suddenly fell silent. We followed the prestige, and saw Commissar Kirillov standing at the table, his face flushed, one palm spread flat on the table, and seeing his expression, I immediately guessed that the movement just now was the effect of him slapping the table. Seeing that all of us were focused on him, he immediately said to me angrily: "Comrade Oshanina, if your pistol had not jammed, you would have continued to fight the enemy in the same place?" ”

As soon as I nodded, and before I could speak, Kirillov slapped the table again and scolded angrily: "If your pistol had not jammed, at this moment, what we would see would not be you alive, but a cold corpse lying here." For your behavior of not taking your own safety seriously, I will immediately report it to my superiors. With that, he reached for the phone on the table.

Akhromeyev hurriedly hugged him, while constantly glaring at me. I knew in my heart that if Kirillov was really allowed to sue for this, maybe Chuikov would remove me from the post of commander of an independent division out of concern for my personal safety, and transfer me to the headquarters of the army group to be an inconspicuous combat staff officer or something, so I could only admit my mistake to Kirillov with a red face: "Comrade commissar, I'm sorry for making you worry about me." I assure you that from now on, there will never be such an adventure as today. ”

Akhromeyev, who was hugging Kirillov, waited for me to finish speaking, and hurriedly helped me: "Comrade political commissar, since the division commander has realized her own mistakes, I believe that she will not take risks like today in the future, you should forgive him!" ”

"Yes, Comrade Political Commissar," Gaidar and the three of them echoed Akhromeyev: "The chief of staff is right, the division commander will learn this lesson, you can forgive her." ”

Under the persuasion of everyone, Kirillov's anger calmed down slightly, but he still said to me unrelentingly: "Comrade Oshanina, you have to promise me that from today onwards, wherever you go, you will take the guards with you. ”

"Good, good, good, my comrade commissar." I agreed to his request without hesitation, "I don't care where I go in the future." will bring a few guards. That's all right, right? ”

"At least one class!"

"Okay! One class is one class. I promise you! ”

Seeing that I agreed unconditionally to all his requests. The anger on Kirillov's face disappeared completely, and he turned around and yelled at the two Razumeyeva, who were watching the excitement: "What are you doing here, and you don't go back to your work?" Shouted at him like this, Razumeyeva and the others did not dare to stay, and quickly turned around and ran towards the walkie-talkie.

Originally, we should have listened to Savchenko's briefing. But there are too many people in the command at the moment, and what we have to listen to involves confidentiality. Can't let too many people know, so I'll deal with Gaidar first. I whispered about Akhromeyev and learned that the reason why Morozov and Mihayev appeared here at the same time was because they were called by Gaidar. I asked Gaidar curiously: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, is there anything important that you called Mihayev and Morozov to me?" ”

"That's right, Comrade Division Commander." As he spoke, Gaidar stood up and solemnly offered me: "I beg you to send the remaining anti-tank artillery company to our position to assist the infantry in holding the high ground. ”

"No, I can't. No way. As soon as Gaidar's request was made, it was rejected without thinking: "Now there is only one anti-tank artillery company left in the whole division." In the next battle, there are still many places where they will be used, and if they are placed on your positions and consumed in vain by enemy fire, there will be no more anti-tank forces in the division. ”

"The division commander is right." Although Kirillov had just lost his temper at me, he did not hesitate to stand on the same front with me when it came to common interests, "I think the commanders present here know in their hearts how powerful the enemy's artillery is. Maybe after a round of enemy shelling, all the anti-tank guns you have placed on the high ground will be reimbursed. In these difficult times, we can't afford to be such losers. ”

It was only after Kirillov and I spoke one after another that Gaidar defended himself: "Division commander, political commissar, you have misunderstood. We will not put anti-tank guns in positions and let the German artillery be targeted. Speaking of this, he turned his head to look at Mihayev and said in a friendly manner: "Comrade lieutenant, you are the commander of the engineer company, and it is up to you to report this matter to the division commander and political commissar." ”

Mihayev nodded, stood up and explained to us: "Comrade division commander and political commissar, we have recently strengthened the fortifications on the high ground with the rails and sleepers prepared some time ago. We cleverly constructed the positions of the new artillery, all in caves halfway up the mountain. In this way, it is difficult for the enemy's long-range artillery fire to hit, and when their tanks are firing at close range at the foot of the mountain, our artillery hidden in the cave can quickly push the artillery into the trench and suppress the fire from a high position. ”

After listening to Mihayev's introduction, I felt that such an arrangement was still very reasonable, but I did not immediately express my opinion, but turned my head and asked Kirillov: "Comrade commissar, what is your opinion?" ”

Kirillov frowned and thought about it, then quickly stretched his brows and nodded slowly, and said slowly: "Comrade Oshanina, I think that this new artillery position built by the engineer company has a very reasonable layout, which can not only condescendingly strike at the enemy's tanks, but at the same time is not easy to be destroyed by the enemy's long-range artillery fire. I agreed to send an anti-tank artillery battery into the northern heights, so that the infantry holding their positions would be supported by anti-tank fire at any time. ”

Seeing Kirillov's statement, I didn't ask Akhromeyev for his opinion again, and bluntly agreed to Gaidar's request: "Well, Lieutenant Colonel Gaidar, from now on, the anti-tank artillery company of the artillery battalion will be assigned to the command of your regiment. I have only one request, that the defensive forces on the mountainside position must be strengthened, and I do not want the artillery of this artillery company to be snatched by the Germans. ”

"Please rest assured, I will definitely increase my forces to strengthen the defense of the artillery company, and will definitely not let the enemy approach our artillery." Seeing that I had agreed to my offer, Gaidar immediately excitedly expressed his determination to me.

When he finished, I waved at him and said impatiently, "Okay, it's none of your business here." All three of you should return to your respective units, and arrange for the anti-tank guns to be transported to the positions of the four regiments by hand. ”

Looking at the back of Gaidar and the three of them leaving, I stood up and said to Kirillov and Akhromeyev: "Political commissar and chief of staff, since Second Lieutenant Grettka was unfortunately wounded in the battle to destroy the German detachment, he was unable to come to our meeting, so the reconnaissance results of their reconnaissance detachment will be reported to us by Instructor Savchenko. After saying that, I nodded at Savchenko and said in a friendly voice: "Comrade Savchenko, you can speak." ”

Savchenko stood up, raised his hand and saluted the three of us, then pointed to the map and began to explain to us what they knew. Since they had not been reconnoitring for a long time, they were able to get a rough picture of the disposition of a few German divisions north of Stalingrad.

After listening to Savchenko's account of what they had reconnoitred, Akhromeyev said excitedly: "This is really good, as long as we figure out the enemy's deployment situation, we can make targeted plans and arrangements, and we will no longer be blinded like now." ”

Kirillov also nodded and said approvingly: "Yes, although the army group command has also sent scouts many times to go deep behind enemy lines and understand the enemy's deployment situation, the effect is not very good. It is impossible to know such issues as how many German companies there were, what weapons and equipment they had, how long their ammunition and fuel would last, and so on, apart from knowing the numbers and approximate locations of the German units. ”

"Yes," I couldn't help but pick up the subject, "in fact, the army group command received information from the scouts sent out in far less detail than the interrogation of German prisoners. This time, the command asked us to send the German troops who surrendered to Cheng to take up a reconnaissance mission, and it seems that this move is the right move. Since the scouts we sent were real Germans, they didn't need to do anything deliberately, and their usual words and deeds were no different from those Germans who were fighting with us, and the Germans never dreamed that their comrades-in-arms wearing the same military uniform and speaking the same language would be the scouts we sent. In this way, our scouts inadvertently detect a lot of things that they couldn't detect before. ”

"Comrade division commander," Savchenko added, waiting for my words to come to an end, "there are still two camps between the 44th, 71st and 113th divisions of the German army. In each of these two camps, a battalion of troops was stationed, but neither was German. ”

"It's not the German army, which country's army is that?" Akhromeyev asked curiously.

Savchenko pointed to the area close to the position of the 44th Division and said: "After our reconnaissance, there is a battalion of Italian troops here, and judging by the materials piled up in the camp, this should be a place where the Germans hoarded weapons, ammunition and fuel. The camp is surrounded by two barbed wires, with minefields in the middle. Because we didn't have a special demining tool, we just watched from a distance for a while before retreating. ”

"And what about a battalion?" I couldn't help but get excited to hear that there was an Italian camp in the middle of the German camp, and it seemed that we had another chance to loot the German army's military supplies, so while he was talking, I couldn't wait to interject and ask, "Is it also Italian?" ”

Savchenko looked up at me, slowly shook his head, and replied: "No, not Italian." It was the Russians, to be precise, the prisoners of our army who were captured in previous battles, and who were forcibly reorganized into the Vostok Battalion. ”

Hearing the name "Vostok Battalion", Akhromeyev couldn't help but grit his back molars and scolded viciously: "Traitors to the Motherland, they will not be able to escape justice in the future." ”

"Comrade Savchenko, you go on," Kirillov asked Savchenko with an expressionless face, "and what are they in the camp, are they also all kinds of military supplies?" ”

"No, Comrade Commissar." Savchenko, shaking his head again, replied briefly: "It's an artillery position." (To be continued......)