Burning Moscow

When I knew that I had chosen the wrong troop, my bowels were all blue with regret, and I wished to slap my ears fiercely. As a traverser, I know very well that the entire city of Stalingrad is a huge flesh-and-blood mill. There will be millions of soldiers and civilians who lost their lives during the battle and chose the wrong troops and commanders, let alone It's unknown whether you can make a contribution and whether you can save your life. When I think of this, I feel extremely depressed.

Zhukov was able to speak vigorously and found that there was no response from me, so he stopped, turned his head and looked over, his face suddenly sank, and asked displeasedly, "Lida, What's wrong with you, why do you look listless."

Of course I can’t tell him that I was so frustrated because I realized that I had chosen the wrong army. I could only play a perfunctory smile and said, “Comrade General, I’m sorry. I may have been in the car for more than ten hours. I feel dizzy now. But it doesn’t matter, please keep talking."

Zhukov greeted me to sit down at the table and poured another cup of hot tea in front of me before continuing to introduce me to the situation in Stalingrad: "...On July 16, about a German battalion entered Cher Neshevskaya-Morozovsk area. The next day, the vanguard of the 62nd Army, who had just arrived here, immediately attacked the enemy and successfully repelled them and stopped the Germans. Conspiracy to establish an offensive starting position in this area."

I picked up my teacup, took a sip, looked at the map and asked Zhukov: "Comrade General. I want to know. How many troops does the 62nd Army currently have?"

Zhukov picked up a notebook on the table. I just opened it and looked at it casually, and quickly replied: "Before July 16th, the 62nd Army had 5 infantry divisions, 3 cannon regiments, 7 anti-tank destroyer regiments, and 1 mortar. Regiment, 4 rocket artillery regiments, 1 rocket artillery regiment, 1 antiaircraft artillery regiment. One pontoon bridge battalion, 3 engineer battalions. In order to strengthen the combat effectiveness of this unit, on the 17th, the Supreme Command’s commander The 131st Infantry Division, the 112th Infantry Division of Colonel Sologub, and the 196th Infantry Division of Colonel Avelin were transferred to the combat sequence of the group army."

Hearing that there are eight infantry divisions and so many artillery regiments, if they launch an offensive, their strength may be weak, but a defensive battle is more than enough. Think about it this way. My heart feels a lot more at ease. I put down my tea cup and stood up and asked Zhukov, "Comrade General. Should I go to the 62nd Army now?"

Zhukov waved his hand and said: "Don't worry about it, you just drove to the headquarters all night, you must be tired, go to rest, wait for the afternoon to leave, I will let Captain Alatoli send you to take office. "After finishing speaking, he didn't wait for me to express my opinion, so he went to the door, opened the door, and said to the major on duty outside: "Comrade Major, please take Comrade Oshanina to rest first, and call her when you leave in the afternoon. ."

The major agreed, walked to the door, nodded friendly at me, and said politely: "Major Oshanina, please come with me. The lounge is nearby."

After I walked out the door, I turned around to say goodbye to Zhukov. He took my hand and said, "Lida, you go and rest first. I'll let Captain Alatori call you when the time comes. You'll just set off later. Not to say goodbye to me."

I understand that he is not distracted by such trivial matters because of his busy schedule, so I nodded in understanding, let go of his hand, and bowed again before following the major to the lounge not far away. .

Due to the poor road from Leningrad, Aratoli's car drove so fast that I couldn't rest at all. Now I finally came to a place where I could sleep, and my sleepiness also came up. I went to bed with my clothes, and I went to sleep within a few minutes at most.

Sleeping soundly, I felt someone shaking my body vigorously while still yelling: "Comrade Major, wake up! Comrade Major, wake up!"

I opened my eyes dimly, and saw a chubby female soldier standing in front of me with an anxious expression. When I woke up, my face immediately showed joy. Before I could speak, she said first: "Comrade Major, Captain Alatori is waiting for you outside. I was ordered to call you. He said please hurry up and you will leave soon."

I raised my hand and looked at my watch. It was already one noon, which means that I slept for five hours without knowing it. I quickly sat up and said to the female soldier politely: "Thank you, Comrade Soldier."

The female soldier said, "No thanks, this is what I should do." Then she pointed to a small door next to her and said, "Comrade Commander, I will tell Captain Alatori that you have gotten up. There is a bathroom. , You go wash first." After speaking, she opened the door and walked out.

As soon as the female soldier walked out of the room, I immediately got out of bed, got into the bathroom next to it, and went to wash briefly. Back in the bedroom, I looked around and saw that nothing had been pulled down, so I opened the door safely and walked out.

Aratoli and the jeep he drove stopped at the door. As soon as I got into the co-pilot's seat, the car started.

After learning from yesterday’s lesson, shortly after the car started, I specifically told him: "Comrade Captain, if the road conditions are not good, don’t drive the car too fast. I drove the car for more than ten hours yesterday. Broke me up."

Alatori's face turned red, and he replied: "Comrade Major, you can rest assured that the situation of yesterday will not happen again. Although it is also six to seven hundred kilometers away from Stalingrad, it is rarely encountered by the Germans. Because of the plane bombing, the road as a whole is relatively complete."

"About when will you reach your destination?"

Alatoli raised his hand to look at his watch while driving, and said, “It’s one o’clock in the afternoon. It’s estimated that we will be in Tambov by five o’clock. We will rest there for a while, eat something, refuel the car, and then Continue to Stalingrad. If nothing happens, you can reach the headquarters of the 62nd Army in Kamesh Village at about two o'clock in the morning."

The road to the south is indeed better than the one from Leningrad to Moscow. Maybe as the captain said. Airstrikes by German aircraft are rarely encountered here. Therefore, the integrity of the road and the smooth flow of traffic can be maintained.

At about ten o'clock in the evening, we passed a small city. You can't feel the atmosphere of war here, and you can even see people shopping and children playing on the street.

Alatori stopped the car at the door of a food store and said to me: "Comrade Major, you will wait for me for a while. I will go in and buy something to eat, lest I get hungry on the road later. I can't find food. Order something."

When Alatori went in to buy something, an old lady passing by stopped by the car. She looked at me sitting in the car and asked curiously: "Comrade soldier, where are you going?"

In response to the old lady's question, I got out of the car and politely replied: "Go to Stalingrad."

"Stalingrad, less than two hundred kilometers away, can be reached within a few hours by car."

I looked around and looked at the leisurely pedestrians on the street. I couldn't help but curiously asked the old lady: "Why are people so leisurely and haven't built fortifications in the city? Aren't they afraid of the Germans coming over?"

"Did the German hit here?" The old lady listened to me. His expression suddenly became serious: "Comrade military, do you have such an idea? To put it better, this is a ridiculous idea, and to put it badly, it is a manifestation of defeatism. You know we have so many. Even if the Germans are fierce, they will be blocked by our army. They never want to reach this city.” After speaking, the old lady actually walked away, leaving me stunned in a daze.

Fortunately, at this time Alatoli came back from shopping and asked me to get in the car, and I was liberated from the embarrassing situation.

After the car started, I mocked myself and repeated the conversation with the old lady to Alatoli. Unexpectedly, Aratoli said disapprovingly: "Comrade Major, this is not surprising. Even the Supreme Command has only recently determined that the Germans will attack Stalingrad. It is not surprising that ordinary people do not understand the situation."

"But, comrade captain, look, there is no defensive measure in this city. Once the Germans come over, they can occupy the city almost without blood."

"Comrade Major." Aratoli's face turned gloomy, and he said in a more serious tone: "Although I don't know why there are no military facilities in this city, even ordinary citizens will not watch Germany. If they occupy their own cities, they will spontaneously arm themselves and fight these invaders armed to the teeth to the last minute."

I originally wanted to argue with him a few words, but when I think about it, he doesn't understand the future historical development, and there is no point in arguing with him, so I shut my mouth obediently and looked at the scenery outside the window.

Alatoli told me that if everything goes well, he can reach Kamesh Village at two o'clock in the morning. Unexpectedly, our car entered Kamesh Village before that point.

There was a fortified checkpoint at the entrance of the village, and we saw our car driving past. A soldier carrying a submachine gun and two signal flags in his hand walked out of the bunker, waved the flag in his hand desperately, and ordered us to stop with a semaphore. Alatoli drove forward for a while, parked the car on the side of the road, turned off the fire, took out a cigarette and lit it, quietly waiting for the on-duty soldier to come and check.

The semaphore fighter brought the other two fighters to Alatori's side, took a look inside the car, and asked vigilantly: "Comrade Captain, where do you come from?"

"I'm from the Western Front Army Headquarters. This is my ID." As he said, he took out the ID from his jacket pocket and handed it over. I paid special attention to the soldier's rank, and found out that it was a sergeant. The sergeant took Alatori's ID and took a look, then gave it back to him, and continued to ask, "What are you doing here?"

Alatori pointed to me and said, "I was ordered to send this Major Oshanina to the headquarters of the 62nd Army. Where is your headquarters? I need to see Major General Kolpakchi immediately."

"You two~www.NovelMTL.com~ go and move the roadblock away." After giving the order, the sergeant grabbed the door and stood on the pedal, and said to Alatoli: "Comrade Captain, drive, I will take You go to the group army headquarters."

Under the guidance of the sergeant, our car quickly saw a stone building and stopped. The sergeant jumped off the pedals of the car, walked to the guard on duty at the door and said a few words, then turned and shouted at us. Said: "Comrade commander, this is the headquarters of the group army, you can go in."

After I got off the car, when I walked inside with Alatoli, I was still whispering that the guards of this headquarters were really bad. The sentry at the door didn’t even ask us a question, so they let us in. . If we were a special forces squad sent by the Germans, it is estimated that this headquarters would have been easily taken down by us.

Alatori had obviously been to this place before, and he came to the door of an open house with a familiarity, raised his voice and called out a report. When someone inside called us in, Aratoli turned around and said to me: "Let’s go, Comrade Major, let’s go in. Major General Kolpakchi and his military commissioners are inside." (To be continued... )

ps: Thanks to the book friends:, oil paper umbrella & secular,, Wubinlong, Marine Guards, sfghj for valuable monthly tickets