It took a long time for the commanders, who had been scorched by my whimsical whims, to wake up from their shock. Shedelikov was the first puzzled to ask: "Comrade division commander, I don't understand, won't the Germans be vigilant after being attacked by the Oleg battalion?" At this time, if you let the Velol battalion go to sneak attack, wouldn't it drive sheep into the tiger's mouth? ”

As soon as Sedjerikov's words came out, the rest of the commanders present also nodded in agreement. Velore also stood up and said: "Comrade division commander, in order to defend our great motherland, even if it is bloodshed and sacrificed, I will never frown. But the order you just gave is obviously for everyone to die, is this senseless sacrifice necessary? ”

Actually, I also think that the idea that pops up in my head is a bit unrealistic and whimsical, but I don't know how to do it, I just want to try it. Seeing that everyone had questions about the new mission I had deployed, I patiently explained to them: "Lieutenant Colonel Schedelikov is right, after the German camp is attacked, they will inevitably strengthen their defenses, and in addition to the original defense system, they will also send patrols around to prevent the Oleg battalion from killing each other. ”

"Comrade division commander, since you also know that the enemy will strengthen its defenses, then why do you send troops to take risks?" Gaidar's words were tactful, but I could hear that he was opposed to sending troops to participate in the night raid again.

After listening to Gaidar's words, I smiled and said: "Lieutenant Colonel Gaidar, under normal circumstances, the Germans, after an attack, would strengthen the defense of the camp in order to prevent another attack by our troops. But they were going to see friendly troops. Even come to the rescue of their allies. It would be a different story. ”

My words stunned everyone.

I turned to Kosgaard and asked, "Third Commander." How many German uniforms did your regiment collect last time? ”

"There are probably more than 400 of them," said Kosgaard, "and the reason why these costumes have not been lost is because I want the soldiers to pretend to be German soldiers and steal the camp one day." At this, his eyes suddenly lit up and he screamed excitedly. When he startled the other commanders, he danced and said: "Comrade division commander, I order, I will let the soldiers below prepare these military uniforms." The troops handed over to the commissar of Velol. After saying that, he forgot all about his salute, turned around and walked out of the headquarters quickly, and walked away on his own.

Seeing Kosgaard's abnormal appearance, everyone looked at each other at no avail.

I smiled again and said, "Comrade commanders, do you understand? That's my plan. Let the night raid battalion of Vellol, all dressed in German uniforms, pretend to be reinforcements, and sneak attack those camps that have been attacked by the Oleg battalion, if you are lucky. Maybe a few more senior German commanders will be captured. ”

The bright prospect I painted made everyone stay on the spot. There were expressions of disbelief on their faces. The Germans are not fools, the camp has just been attacked, the defense must be very strict, even if a friendly army comes, it will be repeatedly checked, our fake reinforcements, maybe let the other party ask a few words, it will be exposed.

After a long time, the commander of the night attack unit, Vylore, asked in disbelief: "Comrade division commander, is the method you said really useful?" ”

I nodded, and said confidently: "Of course, after the German army is attacked, even if the camp is strengthened, the morale will be fatally damaged, and I hope that friendly troops will come to reinforce them." If you meet the Germans on the road, say that you are from the 40th Tank Brigade and have been ordered to come for reinforcements. ”

Seeing that I was so sure of what I said, Velore was also reassured, and no longer dwelled on whether the Germans would find out, but continued to ask: "Then when will I lead the night attack camp to set off?" ”

I raised my hand and looked at my watch, and said lightly: "The assembly of troops will take about an hour and a half. Once you have assembled, you put on your German uniforms and travel by truck through the positions of the three regiments and the first regiment to the German camp. ”

"Are there any people in the army who speak German well?" Velore asked anxiously, knowing that it was easy to pretend to be a German soldier in a German uniform, but if there were no German-speaking people, as soon as they came into contact with the Germans, they would be in trouble.

Without waiting for me to speak, Gaidar and Shedelikov laughed and stunned Velol. She looked the two up and down dissatisfiedly, and asked strangely: "Two regiment leaders, what are you laughing at, did I say something wrong?" ”

Gaidar and Sederikov looked at each other, and then said to Vylor with a smile: "Comrade Vylol, it seems that you are not qualified as a political commissar." The commanders and fighters of the independent division may not be as good as the training and combat experience of other divisions, but if they want to speak German, they will catch a large number of them in each regiment. ”

Gaidar's words made Velore blush, and she snorted: "I have only been in the regiment for a day or two, and the company commanders have not yet recognized all of them, so how do you know what kind of talents there are in the regiment." ”

Seeing what Gaidar wanted to say, I was afraid that Vylore would be embarrassed, so I hurriedly raised my hand to interrupt what he wanted to say, and preemptively said to Vylore: "Second Lieutenant Mihayev, the company commander of the engineer company, speaks German almost as well as his native language, I will let him go with you, he can pretend to be General Stumé's adjutant Heinz. Captain Martin. ”

As soon as I finished speaking, Razumeyeva, who was sitting in the corner, called out to me: "Comrade division commander, General Chuikov, deputy commander of the army group, is on the line." ”

Hearing that Chuikov was looking for me, I hurriedly seized the time to order the commanders present: "Everyone immediately return to their respective units, and transfer the strongest company to Velol, move quickly!" Meeting. ”

After putting on the headphones, I politely said into the microphone: "Hello, Comrade Commander, I'm Oshanina. ”

"I just heard what you were doing to your men, didn't I?"

"Yes, I asked each regiment to draw troops and form a special battalion to attack the German camp."

"Won't one battalion be too little?" Chuikov muttered in his headset, "With such a small number of troops, no matter how hard you fight, it will not hurt the vitality of the Germans, and it will not be able to interrupt their deployment." ”

"Comrade Commander," I did not hide from Chuikov. Honestly reported to him: "Actually, there is more than one battalion. There was a battalion that had already set out. Just as it was preparing to leave was the second battalion. Their mission was to raid the German camp. ”

Chuikov had long been accustomed to my ingenuity, and he asked unhurriedly: "Oh, two battalions were sent. Tell me, why did you let the two battalions operate separately? You know, in this way, the forces are dispersed, and they do not pose much of a threat to the enemy army. ”

"Comrade commander, the first battalion was led by the original commander of the second regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Oleg, and I gave him the task. It is necessary to focus on sneak attacks, avoid strong attacks, and achieve the purpose of disrupting the enemy. The second battalion, led by the Vilol instructor from the Vinnitsa Infantry School, disguised as German soldiers to attack camps that had already been attacked, adding to the already demoralized German army. If you're lucky, you'll be able to capture one or two German commanders alive. ”

"Well, now that you've got it arranged, let's follow your plan. Anyway, Comrade Zhukov also said hello. How to fight, it's up to you. ”

After listening to Chuikov's words. I can't help but breathe a sigh of relief, as a front-line commander, what I am most afraid of are those commanders who sit in the back command headquarters and command the battle according to the map.

When he heard me thank him repeatedly, he suddenly changed the subject: "Today, the German army has launched a comprehensive fortification against our army, and individual positions of the 62nd and 57th armies have been captured by the German army. The defense line of your division was not attacked by the Germans, right? ”

Chuikov's words stunned me, and I secretly said in my heart: I even sent the captured prisoners to the headquarters of the army group, if there was no German attack, where did these prisoners come from? As soon as I wanted to speak, it suddenly occurred to me that Chuikov hurriedly said goodbye to Zhukov because the defense line on the Meshkova River was tight, and ran to the front line to command the battle, maybe he was not in the headquarters of the group army at the moment, and it was normal to not know the results of our division.

Thinking of this, I asked tentatively: "Comrade commander, you are not at the headquarters of the group army, are you?" ”

When Chuikov heard me ask, he was stunned for a moment, and then replied: "Yes, I and Colonel Borkirovsky, the chief of the engineering corps of the group army, went to the banks of the Chervlennaya River to survey the terrain, and General Alexandrov, the head of the logistics department of the group army, who had just arrived in the village of Peschanka, spent the night in the village tonight and will not return to the headquarters of the group army for the time being. By the way, Oshanina, what do you ask for? ”

I secretly said in my heart that you were not at the headquarters of the group army, so it's no wonder. Hearing what he asked me, I quickly replied: "Comrade commander, that's right. Units of the 40th tank brigade of the Germans, in the evening, launched an attack on the positions of the 2nd Regiment of our division. After a fierce battle, we whitewashed the German attack and took 57 prisoners, one of whom was the brigade commander, Major General Stumer's adjutant, Heinz Brown. Captain Martin. ”

After hearing this, Chuikov pondered for a moment, and then said to me: "Comrade Oshanina, I have an idea, since you have a battalion that wants to pretend to be the Germans to attack, then you can find a soldier with a German stick and pretend to be this Heinz who was captured by you. Captain Martin, in this case, it is easier to get by. I don't know what you think? ”

After listening to Chuikov's proposal, I couldn't suppress the excitement in my heart, and replied with a smile: "Comrade commander, my thoughts coincide with yours, and I just arranged it like this, with Mihayev, the commander of an engineer company with a high command of German, pretending to be Heinz. Captain Martin. ”

"Paulus's 6th Army is attacking us very fiercely, and the defenders to the north and west of the city are retreating step by step towards Stalingrad, and if your night attack can interrupt the deployment of the 4th Gothic Tank Army and slow down the attack, it will not only relieve the pressure on our troops, but also buy a few precious days for the defense of the city."

Since I asked Zhukov about the fact that the commander of the German 4th Tank Army was Hort, and then I heard Chuikov talk about Gothic, I felt particularly awkward, but this is not the time to worry about this, so I can only reassure Chuikov first: "Please rest assured, Comrade Commander, that our division will guarantee the completion of this glorious and arduous task." ”

"Oshanina," Chuikov said earnestly: "Zhukov only assigned you a counterattack mission, I guess the main reason is because you know how to fight skillfully, if you fight hard with the Germans, not to mention that you are an independent division with poor equipment and poor training, even if you put the 64th Army there." It doesn't necessarily stop the well-equipped. There was also a tank 4th Army supported by the Air Force. I won't say anything else. Good luck to you and your independent division in tonight's battle. ”

When I ended the call and handed the headset and microphone back to Razumeyeva, she asked with trepidation: "Comrade division commander, I would like to ask, do you think our night attack will be successful?" You must know that the Germans had several divisions, and we had only two battalions. ”

I smiled at her and said, "Don't worry." Second Lieutenant Razumeyeva, you don't have to worry about these problems. Both Oleg and Vylor have a lot of combat experience, and I am sure they will succeed. ”

Although I said it with confidence, it was all to encourage the morale of my subordinates, but in fact, I didn't know what kind of results I could achieve in tonight's night attack. However, I have already assigned the task that should be assigned, and the troops in charge of the night raid have also set off, and even if they want to change the order, the troops who are attacking cannot be withdrawn if they want to. So the only thing I could do while in command was wait. After waiting for the battle to start, Oleg and Vylor sent me a battle report.

As I sat in my seat and looked at the map, Sedrikov, Pugachev, Kosga, and Gaidar walked into the headquarters one after another, sat down in their usual positions, and smoked leisurely.

I choked on the smoke and couldn't help coughing loudly. When the coughing stopped, I raised my hand to fan the smoke in front of me, and asked strangely: "Hey, I said comrade commander, the big war is coming, you still have the leisure to run to my headquarters to smoke, you don't seem to be worried at all that Oleg and Vylor will not be able to complete the task, don't you know that the number of German troops is dozens of times more than our night attack troops?" ”

When the four of them heard this, they were all stunned.

Sederikov took off his military hat and put it on the table, scratched the back of his head, and said a little embarrassedly: "Yes, comrade division commander, if you don't say it, I haven't thought of this yet." Even if you remind me now, I don't think this mission will fail, you must know that since we became your subordinates, it seems that we have not lost any battles, and almost every battle is sure to be won. ”

The other three regiment leaders listened to his words and nodded in unison, indicating that they all felt the same way.

I didn't criticize Sederikov's obvious sycophants, but just smiled slightly, knowing that now our army is at a disadvantage on the battlefield, so let them keep a little more hope in their hearts, and it will also help to improve the morale of the troops. Anyway, I also know that the final winner of the Battle of Stalingrad belongs to the Soviet army.

Thinking about it like this, I didn't care about the few of them, looked at the map in front of me with my own care, and thought in my heart how the independent division would defend after the Mamayev post was moved.

Time passed minute by minute as we waited. Just when several regiment commanders were losing patience, Razumeeva screamed excitedly, then turned to me and said: "Division commander, Lieutenant Colonel Oleg is on the line, he wants to talk to you." ”

Although I have been trying to keep my composure, when I heard that Oleg was going to report to me on the battle situation, I couldn't help but jump up from my seat, rushed to the walkie-talkie in three steps and two steps, grabbed the headphones and didn't have time to put them on, just put them to my ear, and asked loudly at the microphone: "Hey, hey, Lieutenant Colonel Oleg, can you hear me?" I'm Colonel Oshanina. ”

After a few moments, Oleg's clear voice came from the headphones, and at the same time the sound of gunfire and grenade explosions could be heard: "Report to the division commander, we are conducting an attack on the enemy's camp. ”

"Tell me more about it." Although I tried to keep my composure, my voice was still a little out of tone due to nervousness.

But fortunately, Oleg did not notice these details, and he continued to report to me: "When we approached the enemy camp, we found that the enemy's defense was very loose, and except for two small patrols and a dozen sentries outside the camp, the rest of the men were sleeping. I sent a platoon of soldiers to take out the patrol with daggers, and then cut a few passable gaps in the barbed wire around the camp and sneaked in to kill the sentry guards. Seeing that the enemy sentries had been cleared, I ordered the troops to enter the camp and go into the tents in groups of five to clean up the sleeping German soldiers inside. It was going quite smoothly, but unexpectedly, a sentry who had changed the guard came out of the tent, spotted our soldiers, and fired a warning shot, waking up the German soldiers in other parts of the camp. As soon as the gun went off, we were discovered by the Germans, and the original plan to solve the battle with cold weapons was ruined. The Germans, at the moment, under the cover of armored vehicles, launched a counterattack on us. ”

"Lieutenant Colonel Oleg." Heard that there were armored vehicles in the German counterattack units. I'm afraid that the sneak attack on the troops will be at a loss. Hurriedly ordered Oleg: "I order you to fight and retreat, and quickly get out of the battle, otherwise once you are entangled by the enemy, your army may be completely annihilated." ”

Oleg, perhaps because he had learned the lesson of his last disobedience and was demoted, hurriedly agreed, and then I heard him shouting loudly to his subordinates in the earphones: "Come on, give the order to go down, alternately cover the withdrawal from the battle!" Alternately cover the withdrawal from the battle! ”

When I put down the headphones and the microphone. The four regiment commanders gathered around me and asked with concern: "Comrade division commander, has the Oleg battalion started?" ”

Seeing that I nodded in affirmation, he continued to ask, "How is the battle?" ”

After killing the enemy patrols and sentries, they infiltrated the German camp by the way, and Oleg divided the soldiers into groups of five and went into the tents and used daggers to destroy the Germans sleeping inside. It was going smoothly, but unexpectedly, a German soldier who got up to change the guard found out and fired a warning shot, which woke up the enemy in other places. When the Germans discovered our sneak attack troops, they immediately used armored vehicles. Covering the infantry to carry out a counterattack against us. In order to prevent this battle, the sneak attack turned into a strong attack. So I have already ordered Oleg to lead troops alternately covering the withdrawal from the battle. ”

"Alas, what a pity!" Gaidar said regretfully: "If only Lieutenant Colonel Oleg had sent someone to capture the Germans' armored vehicles and tanks first." ”

"What's the use of being captured?" Kosgaard said a little weirdly: "Among the troops participating in the night attack, can you find commanders and fighters who can drive tanks and armored vehicles?" In the end, it was not only possible to blow up, so as not to cheapen the Germans. ”

"Blow it up, blow it up!" Gaidar, probably dissatisfied with the tone in which Kosgaard spoke to him, glared at him and retorted loudly: "Blown up, at least it can weaken the armored forces of the German army." ”

"In a hurry, even if you barely blow up a few German tanks, what's the use, if you know that there are thousands of German tanks!" Kosgaard was still talking.

"You ......" Gaidar was so stimulated by his words that he was on the verge of going berserk, and seeing that the two were about to argue, I hurriedly yelled: "What are you two arguing about here?" ”

The two people who were about to fight like cockfights were yelled at by me, and they suddenly became honest and obediently returned to their respective seats with their heads down.

Seeing the two leaving, Shederikov leaned close to my ear and whispered: "Division commander, don't blame them, because they both want to command the night attack troops, but I didn't expect you to finally hand over the task to Oleg and Vylol, and the two of them felt uncomfortable and quarreled a few words to vent their dissatisfaction. ”

When I said this, it dawned on me that these two people, who are usually as good as one person, suddenly became enemies tonight, because I didn't send them on a mission.

About twenty minutes later, I waited for Oleg's second report. As soon as I heard his voice, I asked with concern: "Comrade Oleg, have the troops withdrawn?" ”

"Withdraw," Oleg reported breathlessly, "because it was dark, the Germans were afraid that we had an ambush, although after we withdrew from the camp, the battle was over." ”

"What about the casualties of the troops?"

"Thirty-one people were killed and 55 wounded. The results of the battle have not yet had time to be counted in detail, but at least nearly 200 German soldiers were killed, and 30 submachine guns and more than 100 rifles were captured. Oleg's breathing gradually calmed down, and after he finished his report, he asked me: "Commander, what is our next task?" ”

"The troops continued southward to attack the German camp farther away."

"Yes!!" Oleg readily agreed.

Fearing that he would be hot-headed and suffer the losses of the Germans, I specially told him: "Remember what I said to you before leaving, sneak attacks are the main thing, and you must not fight hard with the Germans unless you are forced to do so." ”

"Understood!"

Although he promised very quickly, I was still unsure, and told him again: "Also, I just sent Commissar Vellore to carry out a mission, and they are all wearing German uniforms, so if you find a German army on the road, you must first reconnoiter it and don't shoot casually, otherwise it will be a joke if you fight with your own people." (To be continued......)

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