The accidental capture of the Italian battalion brought a perfect end to our division's unsatisfactory offensive and defensive battle of settlements. So much so that when I spoke to Ruskin again and heard him mention that he would report the great victories of our division to the commanders of the group armies and the commanders of the fronts, I was at ease and did not have the anxiety and lack of confidence that I had had just a few hours ago.

The biggest takeaway from the phone call with Colonel Raskin was that, at my request, he agreed to transfer Captain Perstin's tank detachment, Lieutenant Morozov's light cannon company to the independent division, but the guards mortar company belonging to the 70th Guards Division, which he had borrowed from Colonel Lyudnikov, had to be rebuilt immediately.

In this battle, the main task of the Guards Mortar Company was to fire smoke grenades into the area where we were going to attack, and use the smoke to cover the advance of the troops. Because they did not carry regular mortar shells except smoke grenades, they did not participate in the battle when it came to blocking German reinforcements. Since now that Raskin has asked them to be rebuilt, let them be rebuilt, anyway, there is already a cannon company in the division now, which can provide us with artillery cover in battle.

When I returned to the settlement, Sedjerikov, Oleg, Morozov, and the commander of the mortar company, who had been informed by the fighters on duty, were already standing at the entrance to the settlement and waiting for me. As soon as he saw me get out of the jeep by pushing the door open, Sederikov greeted me, shook hands with me and asked with concern: "Comrade division commander, you are back." How's it going over there? ”

After shaking hands with him, I called the other commanders to my front and announced to them in a loud voice: "Comrade commanders, I have good news for you. We have just captured a whole battalion of Italian infantry. ”

Sederikov's eyes widened. In disbelief, he asked rhetorically: "Is what Captain Gaidar said true?" The commander of the Italian battalion is really waiting for you to come and surrender. ”

I looked at him with sympathetic eyes. nodded, and then said: "Yes, it seems that you are wrong to blame Captain Gaidar and Captain Persjian, what they said is true." The reason why the enemy did not surrender for a long time was because he was afraid that his face would be damaged, so he had to find a place to go down, so he put forward the condition of surrendering after meeting Captain Gaidar's superiors. No, as soon as I arrived at the Italian battalion headquarters. After only a few words with their battalion commander, First Rank Captain Alfonso, he ordered his men to lay down their arms and surrender to our troops. ”

Oleg looked into the distance and asked curiously: "Comrade division commander, why are you the only one coming back?" And what about the troops and tank detachments of Captain Gaidar? ”

"Captain Gaidar is counting the prisoners in the camp, preparing to escort them directly to the garrison of the 70th Guards Division later. Captain Persjian's tank detachment, which was escorting the convoy transporting the captured weapons and ammunition, was expected to arrive in about half an hour. "The news of the seizure of a large number of weapons and ammunition of the Italian troops was told to me by Captain Perstian on his car radio, and I ordered them to be loaded into the truck. The tank detachment and an infantry company escorted the vehicle back to the settlement for storage.

That's all that is said and done. I specially called the two artillery company commanders to the front and said to them with a smile: "Comrade two artillery company commanders, as the commander of the independent division, I am very grateful for the help you have provided us in the offensive battle. With that, I raised my hand and gave a military salute to the two of them. When the two of them hurriedly saluted me, I continued: "According to the order of the superiors, Lieutenant Morozov's light cannon battery will be officially incorporated into the battle sequence of the independent division from today. ”

"What about me? Comrade Lieutenant Colonel. The mortar company commander asked with a worried face: "Have I and my company also been incorporated into the battle sequence of the independent division?"

"Not really," I couldn't tell from the expression on the face of the company commander what he was feeling depressed about, but I told him the truth: "The chief of staff of the group army said that you were only temporarily loaned to my independent division, and as soon as the battle is over, let your whole company be rebuilt immediately." ”

Hearing me say this, a smile appeared on the face of the mortar company commander, and he said yes loudly, saluted me, and turned away.

I looked at the fighters who were reinforcing the fortifications in the settlements, turned to Shedelikov and asked: "Comrade Captain, how did you deploy your troops?" ”

Pointing to the fighters who were busy outside, Shederikov said to me: "Report to the division commander, I asked the fighters of two companies to continue digging the trenches outside the settlement, and at the same time preparing to build several fire points. And inside the settlement," he turned and pointed again, and following the direction of his finger, I saw a number of soldiers clearing the rubble, cleaning up the corpses of soldiers or enemies, only to hear him continue: "There are three companies of soldiers who are cleaning up, and the rest of the troops, except for some of the guards, rest rest in those intact buildings. After all, they were exhausted after a long battle, and it took enough time to recover. ”

I waved my hand and said nonchalantly, "Just let the fighters rest, after all, after they stayed up all night, they immediately went into battle, and no one could stand it." I'm tired too, help me find a place to rest. ”

When Shedelikov heard me say this, he hurriedly stretched out his hand and made a gesture of invitation, and said: "Comrade division commander, please come with me, the resting place has long been prepared for you." I couldn't help but be a little surprised when I heard this, and I said that this captain was really thoughtful, and in such a short time, he even prepared a place for me to rest.

Oleg and Morozov stayed where they were, while Shederikov guided me to my accommodation. On the way, I couldn't help but sigh: "It seems that we have not completely destroyed the buildings of this settlement, and we have done the right thing, at least to give the fighters a good resting environment." ”

Sederikov nodded vigorously and said: "Yes, since this battle did not cause much damage to the settlements, many rooms can be moved in directly, so that the soldiers will not have to eat and sleep in the open." And the place you are going to, which turned out to be the company headquarters of the German army, is in a good environment and is perfect for you to rest. "As we spoke, we came to a building with two soldiers standing guard outside the door, before we walked inside. He also raised his hand to salute us.

Command post of the German army. It is a suite. Outside was the commander's office, and on the table in the middle was a map of the German army. In the middle room was where the officers slept, and I looked at the neatly laid beds, nodded with satisfaction, and then instructed Sedelikov: "Comrade Captain, I will rest here, and when the convoy escorted by Captain Perstian arrives, they will call me." ”

Lying in the comfortable bed of the German officer, I quickly fell asleep peacefully. I don't know how long I slept. I suddenly dreamed that Gaidar appeared in front of me and excitedly reported to me: "Comrade division commander, we have taken the prisoners to the garrison of the 70th Guards Division and handed them over to the overseers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. By the way, did the convoy with weapons and ammunition arrive at the settlement? Also, what are our next tasks? ”

As soon as I heard the weapons and ammunition, I suddenly woke up from my dream, raised my hand and looked at my watch, it was already past four o'clock in the afternoon. The heart said that it was so late, why didn't Shedericho come to wake me up yet. Hasn't the convoy reached the settlements yet? Nothing will happen on the road, after all, it is not far from the German station. Come to think of it. I rolled out of bed, put on my boots, walked to the door and opened the door.

As soon as I opened the door and saw the people standing in the room outside, I couldn't help but be stunned, in addition to Sederikov, there were Oleg, Morozov, and even Captain Perstian of the tank corps. Seeing that everyone's eyes were looking at me, I was a little embarrassed, so I had to cough, so as to stabilize my feelings, and said hello to everyone: "I didn't expect everyone to be there, I was sleeping too deeply just now, and I didn't hear you come in." Then I turned my gaze to Sederikov and asked: "Comrade Captain, I just told you that as soon as the convoy arrives at the settlement, you will wake me up. But as it stands, you don't think you're doing that. ”

Sederikov's face turned red at what I said, and he was about to open his mouth to explain, but Persjian had already taken my words and said: "Comrade division commander, this is the case, originally as soon as I came, Captain Sederikov wanted to wake you up, but I said that you have been working too hard lately, and I still let you sleep more, so I didn't let him wake you up. ”

I looked at the two of them in a little surprise, a few hours ago, Shedelikov and Persjian almost started fighting, but I didn't expect that now Persjian would take the initiative to help Shederikov say good things. I only said one word about Pelsjian's sycophant: "Nonsense!" "Having said that, I was still touched by the concern they showed for me.

"The captured Italian equipment is sitting outside, do you want to go out and have a look now?" Shederikov asked me for instructions.

I have seen the equipment of the German, Japanese, and American troops, but I have never seen the equipment of the Italian army, so I just used it today to open my eyes. I waved my hand and said loudly, "Let's go and see it together." ”

The Italian equipment brought by the convoy was now placed on the street outside the building, and near the door were piles of rifles and submachine guns, a little farther away were light machine guns, heavy machine guns, and a little further away were all kinds of artillery.

Shederikov walked ahead and began to introduce me to the equipment of the Italian army. He picked up the rifle and said: "Comrade division commander, please see, this is an Italian Garno M1891 rifle, with a caliber of 6.5 mm and a 6-round magazine, which is a very useful rifle. ”

Putting down the rifle, he picked up a slightly shorter one and said to me, "This is the Garneau M1891 carbine, which is developed on the basis of the M1891 rifle and has a short body. The most obvious feature of this carbine is its folding bayonet. Previously, only cavalry was equipped, and in the past two years it has also been equipped with infantry. ”

After he put down the carbine, he picked up another submachine gun, gently stroked the body of the gun, and said with some emotion: "This is the Beretta M38A submachine gun, which is a submachine gun with a fairly successful design. ”

Shederikov looked familiar with Italian firearms, and if he picked it up, he could tell exactly what it was. As a layman, I could only watch the excitement, and when he introduced the gun, I nodded pretending to be familiar with this kind of firearm.

He walked to the machine gun, bent down and picked up a light machine gun, and introduced: "At this time, the Breda M30 light machine gun, 6.5 mm caliber, the gun has a unique way of feeding ammunition, using a bullet plate to feed ammunition, and needs frequent lubrication, which is not suitable for use on the battlefield." ”

After saying that, he sighed and put down the light machine gun. Came to a heavy machine gun and crouched. He patted the gun and said to me, "This is one of the most successful heavy machine guns in Italy." 8 mm caliber, reliable to use, can be used in any harsh conditions. In addition, the Italian army also used Fiat-Laverri M1935 and Fiat-Laveri M1914 machine guns, 6.5 mm caliber, all of which were not mass-assembled because of the high failure rate. ”

We ended up in front of the various types of artillery, and I thought that Shederikov would continue to introduce me, but I didn't expect him to make a gesture of invitation to Morozov. He said self-deprecatingly: "Comrade division commander, I am an infantryman, so I am only familiar with all kinds of firearms used by infantry. As for the next artillery, I can only trouble the commander of the artillery company, Lieutenant Morozov, to introduce it to you. ”

Morozov walked up to the artillery, bowed slightly to me, and said inside: "Comrade division commander, it is a great honor to introduce you to these captured artillery. Next, I will give you a brief explanation. With that, he came to a mortar and crouched down, slapped the barrel and said, "This is the main support weapon of the Italian infantry." 81-mm mortar of the 81/14M35 type. ”

Then he got up and walked to another mortar, crouched down again, put his hand on the gun and said, "This is a 45mm Burixa light mortar." It was characterized by a high rate of fire and a tail feed. ”

After speaking, he got up and came to me, straightened up and reported: "Report to Comrade Division Commander, my words are finished." ”

Looking at the large number of weapons in front of me, I felt a headache, although the number of weapons captured was enough to arm most of the unarmed soldiers in the division, but the caliber of bullets used in these weapons was different from what we usually used, and there was no place to replenish the bullets after they were gone. As soon as he thought of this, the joy he had when he saw these weapons and ammunition suddenly disappeared without a trace. What should I do with these weapons? Destroy it directly, that's a waste; Handed over to the superiors, but what about the bare-handed fighters in the division? Leave the armed fighters behind, what should I do when I run out of bullets? It is impossible for our military industrial enterprises to deliberately build a special bullet production line for these hundreds of guns.

"Comrade division commander, what to do with these weapons? Will it be issued to the fighters, or will it be handed over to the army group? "When I was in a hurry, Shederikov came to burn and refuel.

I looked at him and said dissatisfiedly: "Comrade Captain, I would like to leave these weapons to arm our soldiers, but have you ever thought about it, the caliber of the weapons used by the Italian army is different from the caliber we use every day, if the bullets run out, what should we do, where to replenish the ammunition?" You must know that a gun without bullets is not as good as a burning stick. Hearing me say this, Shederikov obediently closed his mouth and did not dare to express any more opinions.

After a short silence, Captain Persjian came out and said cautiously: "Comrade division commander, I have a Jianyì, I don't know if I should say it or not?" ”

"If you have something to say, don't hide it." Seeing that he wanted to speak and stopped, I couldn't get angry, so the tone of my speech couldn't help but be a little heavier.

Fortunately, Persian didn't care about my attitude, and he still said his thoughts seriously: "Comrade division commander, you can report this matter to your superiors and listen to their opinions on the handling of this batch of weapons and ammunition. ”

Although this opinion is not very good, in the current situation, it can only be reluctantly tried. I led them back to the command post, and before entering the door, I also asked the sentry at the door to call the number four operator.

As soon as the No. 4 operator entered the door, I instructed him: "Comrade operator, immediately contact Colonel Raskin, chief of staff of the group army, and say that I have important matters to contact him." ”

When Colonel Raskin contacted me on the phone, he had already preemptively said: "Lieutenant Colonel Oshanina, I have already seen the prisoners you have escorted, and at the same time I have reported the results of your division to the commanders of the army group and the front. The answer to the phone was Comrade Khrushchev, the military commissar of the Front, who, after listening to my report, said in a loud voice: Lieutenant Colonel Oshanina is really not simple, not only recovering the settlements occupied by the enemy, but also capturing an almost complete Italian battalion. ”

When I heard him mention Khrushchev, my heart chuckled, and I waved Shedelikov and several of his commanders, including the operator, to leave. When I was the only one left in the room, I lowered my voice and asked, "Comrade Chief of Staff, do you have any news of General Chuikov?" ”

Ruskin was silent for a long time before he replied, "Not yet." But don't worry, judging from the current situation, maybe Comrade Chuikov was only temporarily detained, because I didn't get any news that he was sent to a military court. ”

I was reluctantly relieved to hear that Chuikov was okay for the time being, and then asked: "By the way, Comrade Chief of Staff, have you interrogated the Italian prisoners?" Where did they come from, and why are they in that camp? ”

"You're asking the right person about this, even if you don't interrogate the Italian prisoners, I know what's going on." Ruskin said triumphantly.

"Comrade Chief of Staff, don't sell the guanzi, hurry up and tell me the answer, so as not to affect my next combat deployment."

Hearing me speak so harshly, Ruskin no longer hid anything from me, but told me all the information he knew: "Lieutenant Colonel Oshanina, this is the case. Hungary and Romania, although both allies of Germany, had a mutual hatred of their soldiers, and it was necessary to keep them apart from each other to avoid infighting, so the Italian corps was inserted in their middle ground. The Germans gave these units the task of defense, but given the limited combat effectiveness of the Italian army, the Germans understood that in order for them to accomplish this task, they needed to deploy German units in the camp to strengthen them. ”

Hearing Raskin say this, it dawned on me that it was no wonder that there were two German companies in the camp, and if we had not been completely annihilated by us during the attack on the settlements, we did not know what the price would have to be paid to capture this Italian infantry battalion.

Although Raskin couldn't see it, I nodded vigorously, and then said the problem I was facing: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I have a headache right now, and I would like to ask you to give me advice. ”

"Let's hear it, as long as it's within my ability, I'll definitely help you find a way." Perhaps it was because our division had won the battle today, so Ruskin was in a particularly good mood, so he agreed very happily.

I hesitated for a moment, but still told the truth in a hurry: "Our division captured a batch of weapons and ammunition in the camp of the Italian army, and originally wanted to use them to arm those bare-handed soldiers, but because the caliber of these weapons is different from the standard weapons of our army. I'm worried that I'll run out of ammunition and have no place to replenish it, so I'm not able to make up my mind. ”

After hearing this, Ruskin actually laughed out loud, made me laugh stunned, and secretly said What's so funny about this, I can't replenish ammunition, I can't let the soldiers fight the enemy with rifles and submachine guns without bullets, right? After laughing for a while, Raskin stopped and said to me in a steady tone: "Lieutenant Colonel Oshanina, what shall I say about you?" You are really smart and confused for a while, you don't know that you should first issue weapons to the soldiers, so that they can first familiarize themselves with the use of firearms, and then change their outfits after the weapons issued to you by the group army. ”

A word woke up the dreamer, and Ruskin's words suddenly made my mouth open. yes, such a simple truth, why didn't I think of it? Let the soldiers who have not touched the weapons first, use the Italian equipment for a while, and when they use familiar things, maybe the weapons and equipment to replenish our division are also in place, and then they can be redressed.

After the call ended, I called in several commanders and told Oleg bluntly: "Comrade Captain, you immediately organize manpower, reload the weapons and ammunition outside the truck, and immediately transport them to the station of our division." Let Captain Kosgaard be in charge of distributing to those fighters who have no weapons. ”

Without waiting for Captain Oleg to reply, Shedelikov had already preemptively asked: "But you just said that the caliber of these weapons is different from the caliber of our army's weapons, and once the ammunition is used up, there is no place to replenish it?" ”

I watched as everyone stared at me, waiting for me to give me the final answer. I deliberately pointed my finger at Sedelikov and said in a tone of hatred that iron is not made of steel: "I said Comrade Captain, you were smart in the past and now you are confused, haven't you thought that when the fighters who got these weapons are familiar with the use of weapons, the weapons and ammunition distributed by the group army to my division will also be in place?" ”

When I said this, everyone's faces showed a sudden realization at the same time. Oleg saluted me, turned around and ran briskly out of the command post and went out on my mission. (To be continued......)

PS: I wish you all book friends a happy Mid-Autumn Festival!