Burning Moscow

After arranging the work for everyone in the ensign training team, I did not ask them to leave immediately. Instead, I turned around and called Vera to the front and whispered to her: "Vera, you go to Ensign Razumeyeva immediately, let She notified all the regiment leaders to report to me. Remember, tell them to move fast, otherwise I will assign those excellent commanders to other regiments."

At my command, Vera smiled knowingly, turned around and ran up the hillside. Just now because of the reform of the division headquarters, when I took Basmanov and the others out for a patrol, Razumeyeva also took the walkie-talkie and moved to a hidden unit of the guard camp. The reason why I asked Vera to send the order was Because she is familiar with the road.

After Vera left, I once again faced the phalanx of the ensign training team and continued to speak to them: "Comrades commanders, as everyone knows, your ensign training team and junior commander’s training company are in Volkhov’s front army. The unit with the strongest combat effectiveness. Now you are assigned to the various regiments of the military division to serve as company platoon leader. I believe that you will turn the company you lead into an elite division with the same combat effectiveness as yours now. No confidence?"

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" The commanders in the phalanx responded confidently to me.

In response to everyone’s answers, I nodded in satisfaction, and then turned to ask Kirilov in a low voice: "Comrade Political Commissar, do you have something to say?" Seeing him nodded slightly, I smiled at the ensign training team again. The commanders and fighters said, "Next, I want to introduce Comrade Kirilov, the new political commissar of the military division. He was a staff member of the Central Committee before the outbreak of the Battle of Stalingrad. He has a high level of political theory. Everyone welcomes him to say a few words to us." Finished. I took the lead and clapped.

Under my lead, all the people applauded, applauding for this unfamiliar political commissar. I knew in my heart that the thunderous applause was due to politeness and Kirilov's special status. After all, he had worked by the Supreme Commander himself.

Seeing Kirilov took two steps forward, I quickly gave way to the side. Make sure he stands in the most prominent position in front of the queue. With a smile on his face, he glanced across the phalanx, raised his hand and pressed it down, and the applause stopped abruptly. He waited until it was quiet, and then said loudly: "Dear comrades, welcome you, welcome to the ** Division! The ** Division is a newly formed unit, although there are a lot of people, but we Most of the fighters have not received any military training, nor have any combat experience. Before coming to this unit, I was very nervous, because I don’t know if I can help Master Oshanina lead this unit. Because of the unit. The most lacking is the commander. Whether it is a military commander or a political worker, it is very lacking. Just relying on me, the division commander, and a few regiment leaders, it is impossible to improve the combat effectiveness of this unit within the pick-up." When he got here, he glanced at the phalanx again, he took a long sigh of relief, and then said with satisfaction, "But it's all right now, because you are here. Just like Master Oshanina said just now, you all He is the best commander in the Red Army. As long as you serve as the commander of the company, we will definitely be able to turn our military division into an elite division with strong combat effectiveness." His words just fell, and the square array sounded again. There was thunderous applause.

After the applause subsided, Kirilov said: "Next, I will introduce to you a few political workers I brought from the Political Department of the Group Army, because many of you will be They work together." After speaking, he turned and greeted the twelve political workers to come to his side.

After twelve political workers lined up in a neat row behind him, Kirilov began to introduce to the commanders of the ensign training team. Whenever he said a person's name, the political worker took a step forward, raised his hand to salute everyone, simply greeted him, and retreated to the political worker's queue.

Before Kirilov could finish introducing all the political workers, Sederikov and Pugachev, who had been informed by Razumeyeva, had run down the hill out of breath. When they came to me, they were angry. You have to salute me before you breathe evenly. I raised my hand to stop them, and then whispered to the two of them: "You stand by the side first, I have something to say to you later."

The two nodded neatly and stood behind me obediently.

Seeing that Kirilov had introduced all the political workers, I turned my head and shook my head at Sederikov and Pugachev. At the same time, I said, "Come with me." After that, I went to Kirilov's side.

After Sederikov and Pugachev also came over, I announced loudly to the commanders and political workers of the ensign training team: "Comrades, I will introduce you to this tall man by my side. The lieutenant colonel is the head of the regiment, Comrade Sergeikov. Please be assigned to the regiment’s commander and political personnel!"

Following my command, the commanders in the first row of the ensign training team took a step forward, and Starirov, Kruglov, and Kogan from the political work team behind me also moved forward. Take a step. Seeing that the commander and political staff assigned to the regiment were all complete, I said to Sederikov: "Okay, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, take all your subordinates back." At this point, I suddenly saw him. Oberstein, the political instructor standing next to Akhromeyev, quickly pointed his finger and added, "The political instructor, Comrade Oberstein, will temporarily serve as a political commissar in your regiment."

After listening to my introduction, Sergeikov was slightly taken aback, but he quickly recovered his composure, walked in front of Oberstein, proactively extended his hand to the other side, and said friendlyly: "Hello, Political Commissar Oberstein , You are welcome to come to the group."

Oberstein also held his hand amicably, and said politely: "Hello, Lieutenant Colonel Sergeikov, we will be partners in the future, and I hope we can cooperate happily!"

"Happy cooperation," Sergeikov heard him say, shrugging his shoulders, and said in a relaxed tone, "Of course, we will be able to cooperate happily in the days to come."

When Sederikov was leaving with the 34 new commanders assigned to him. I also deliberately shook hands with each commander next to each other. At the same time, I sincerely wish them good luck.

After allocating a group. I then assigned the second regiment. Since everyone has the experience just now, after hearing the introduction of the position of Captain Pugachev’s acting second regiment commander, without my order, the 30 commanders and Xiao Ming, Zuyev, and Sa were assigned to him. Three political workers including Fuchenko stood up one after another.

Seeing this scene, Kirilov and I met and laughed, and then I said: "Since the comrades in command know what to do, then you should follow Captain Pugachev back to the battlefield."

As soon as the commander assigned to the first regiment and the second regiment left, a jeep rushed from the direction of the settlement. I know it appeared at this time. It wasn't Gaidar, it was Oleg and Vellore, so I didn't care. The car rushed to a place only five or six meters away from me before it stopped. As soon as the door opened, Gaidar jumped out of the car, and at the same time ran towards me yelling: "Reporter, comrade commander, four groups Lieutenant Colonel Gaidar reports to you and awaits your orders."

Kirilov had greeted Gydar just now, and everyone knew him. At this moment, seeing his yelling gaffe, he can't help but frown and frown. The tone was severely criticized Gaidar: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, please remember your identity. What style is this now?"

Heydar, who was criticized by Kirilov, stopped quickly, stood still and smiled embarrassedly, and then introduced timidly: "I'm sorry, Comrade Political Commissar. Because the teacher just asked Lieutenant Razumeeva to inform us. , I specifically emphasized, let us be faster, otherwise we will assign those excellent commanders to other regiments."

"You're just afraid that you will be late, and the commanders that should have been assigned to you will be taken away by other regiments. Is that true, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel?" Although Kirilov's tone was still very harsh, after speaking, The corners of his mouth are still slightly upturned.

"No, that's it, my dear comrade political comrade." Gaidar replied with embarrassment. His words immediately caused a kind of laughter from the officers and soldiers in the queue.

At this time, Oleg and Vellore, who had just gotten out of the jeep, also walked over. They walked in front of us, stood at attention and saluted, and then respectfully said: "Reporter, comrade political commissar, The head of the Fifth Regiment, Oleg, and the political commissar, Vellore, are here on your orders and await your orders!

Regarding the performance of the two, Kirilov nodded in satisfaction, and asked with a smile: "Commander Oleg, political commissar of Vellore, why don't you run over like Gaidar? Are you afraid of coming late, excellent commander? Have all the members been picked by the first group and the second group?"

Oleg did not speak, but turned to look at Vellore next to him, motioning for her to answer the words of political commissar Kirillov. Under his instruction, Vellore took a step forward and replied loudly: "Report to Comrade Political Commissar. We believe that the division leadership will make overall arrangements in this regard. All we have to do is to obey, so whether we come early or late All we accept are commanders that have been arranged by division leaders."

"It's a political worker, and the level of speaking is high." After complimenting Vellore, Kirilov spoke to Gydar irritably: "See? Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, or Vellore's political commissar. If you can understand the intentions of your superiors, you have the opportunity to learn more from her in the future, do you understand?"

"I understand, Comrade Political Commissar." Gaidar replied reluctantly.

"I think you just made it clear, but in fact, I still don't understand it." Kirilov pointed out his true thoughts sharply.

Hearing Kirilov's words, Gydar laughed embarrassedly.

Kirilov ignored him, but instead issued an order to the ensign training team directly: "The commanders assigned to the fifth regiment, please come to me."

Following his order, the commanders who were originally standing in the last row passed over the colleagues in the first two rows and came to us in a neat line. Then Kirilov turned around and shouted at the queue of political workers at the back: "Rogulev, Gurkin, you two come here."

After everyone assigned to the five regiments was concentrated, Kirilov pointed to Oleg and Vellore and said, "Comrades commanders, let me introduce you to the five regiments that you are about to report. Head and political commissar."

As soon as he finished speaking, the 32 commanders collectively raised their hands to salute Oleg and Vellore, and at the same time shouted: "Chairman, political commissar, hello!"

Oleg and Vellore returned the salute. Said to these commanders happily: "Hello, comrades commanders. Welcome to the Fifth Regiment! From today. We will fight side by side together, and the fascist bandits who will commit crimes in the future will be buried under Stalingrad."

"Willing to serve the Soviet motherland!" the commanders replied neatly.

Seeing Oleg and Vellore, with the 32 commanders assigned to them, walked neatly toward the settlement, Gaidar, who was standing next to them, was a little anxious. He walked to my side and asked in a low voice and anxiously: "Comrade commander, what about the commander assigned to our regiment?"

I knew from Kirilov’s performance just now that he was going to tease Gydar. So he raised his chin in the direction of Kirilov, and said in an official tone: "Well, you can ask the political comrades. I assign these commanders to him."

Hearing what I said, Gaidar had to walk to Kirilov's side with a bitter face, and said in a low voice: "Comrade Political Commissar, I was wrong just now. I confess my mistake to you. Please, your lord has a lot, don't be surprised. That's good." Seeing that the expression on Kirilov's face was not so serious, he asked cautiously: "I don't know which commanders are assigned to our regiment?"

Kirilov turned his head and glanced at him. He didn't speak, just coughed hard. Then he looked up at the sky, as if there was something nice on it that attracted his attention.

I heard Kirilov’s cough and understood that it was the secret signal he gave me, so I stepped forward without losing the opportunity, pretending to help Gaidar with a good word: "Comrade Political Commissar, you see, Comrade Gaidar is also aware of his Wrong, there will be no such reckless behavior in the future, please forgive him this time."

After I finished speaking, Kirilov deliberately pretended to be embarrassed, as if he wanted to continue making things difficult for Gaidar. Upon seeing this, I added another sentence promptly: "Okay, Comrade Political Commissar, hurry up and hand over the commander assigned to the Fourth Regiment, so that he can take the commander back to the company as soon as possible."

Until this time, Kirilov felt that he had almost taught Gaidar, and he nodded reluctantly, and said, "Well, Lieutenant Colonel Gaidar, since it’s Comrade Commander Gaidar to give you Intercede, I will forgive you this time." Then he stepped forward and walked to the remaining two platoons of the ensign training team, and said loudly to them: "Comrades, come and meet you, this is Lieutenant Colonel Gaidar, the commander of the Fourth Regiment. From today, you will be assigned to the third and fourth regiments under his command. I hope that when you arrive at your new positions, you can continue to carry forward the fine traditions of the past and serve the motherland. Make new contributions."

"Wish to serve the Soviet motherland!"

Seeing the commanders of the remaining sixty ensign training teams and four political workers, all divided into the third and fourth regiments, Gaidar's original bitter melon face showed a happy expression, he directed at Kirilov He saluted me again and again, saying incoherently: "Thank you, thank you, thank you teacher, thank you political commissar!"

When he was about to leave with these commanders, I stopped him and asked with a serious expression: "Lieutenant Colonel Gaidar, after Lieutenant Colonel Kosca, the third regiment commander, was injured, the third regiment was entrusted to you. When there is no war, there is no problem. Once the fight starts, it will inevitably lead to poor command, so you should find a suitable person within the scope of the third regiment as soon as possible to replace the position of Lieutenant Colonel Corsgar. "

Gaidar glanced at the dozens of commanders standing not far away, and asked in a low voice: "Comrade commander, can you select personnel from among them?"

I shook my head without thinking, and directly rejected his proposal, and gave my reasons: "Although they are all experienced commanders, they just arrived here and are not familiar with our troops. They just let them command the company. Or battalion-level combat units, the problem is not too big. If they directly command regimental-level units, I am afraid that their different styles will make the soldiers in the company feel confused. So before October, I will not let any of them. Someone served as a regiment-level commander. Do you understand?"

"Understood, comrade commander." After Gaidar finished speaking, he saluted me and turned to leave, leading the commanders to the residential area in neat steps.

After the new ensign training team and political workers were taken away by the leaders of the five regiments, I, Kirilov, and Akhromeyev did not stop and walked directly towards the division headquarters.

On the way, I asked Akhromeyev: "Comrade Captain, how is Comrade General?" Although I did not say the name of the general, Akhromeev understood that I was talking about May from the Volkhov Front. General Letskov. He hurriedly replied: "Report to Comrade Commander. He is fine. Since you were transferred to the Stalingrad Front, he has often talked about you."

Hearing Akhromeyev's words like this, no matter whether it was the polite words or the truth, I felt warm in my heart. After leaving a place for a long time, if there are still people thinking about you from time to time, it proves that being a human being is not a failure.

I nodded and said as I walked: "When I have an opportunity in the future, I will contact Comrade General and express my gratitude to him in person."

"Comrade Commander," Akhromeyev said politely: "You don't have to wait, you can contact him today."

Although I really want to contact Meletkov, I don't know the calling code of the other station, so I just said it casually. Hearing Akhromeyev's words, I asked curiously: "Comrade Captain, what is the contact method? You know, my level is too low, but there is no way to know his radio calling code."

Akhromeyev showed a smile on his face and said mysteriously: "Comrade Commander, if you want to contact Comrade General. I have the call code he personally gave me here, so you can contact me directly. "

"Where is the code. Hurry up and show it to me." I heard that Captain Akhromeyev carried the call code of Volkhov Front Radio on his body, and I couldn't wait to urge him.

He took out a square-folded piece of paper from his jacket pocket, handed it to my hand, and solemnly said: "Comrade Commander, this is the call code of Comrade General. Please destroy it immediately after you read it. , Lest it fall into the hands of the enemy and cause unpredictable consequences."

I snatched the piece of paper in his hand without opening it at all, and asked Vera to take me to the shelter where Razumeeva was.

As soon as I entered the shelter, I blasted out all the guards and soldiers in the room except Razumeyeva, then handed her the piece of paper, and hurriedly said: "Comrade Lieutenant, get in touch with this radio station immediately. Be fast, be fast, understand?"

Razumeyeva didn't know why I was so anxious, but still took the paper, opened it and looked at it, and started calling the radio station far away in Leningrad with the code.

After about five or six minutes, I contacted Volkhov’s front radio station. Unfortunately, although the effective communication distance of this kind of walkie-talkie is thousands of kilometers, the distance between me and Meletskov obviously exceeds this limited distance. I can only regret to pass the walkie-talkie to Meletskov. Initiated a telegram to report to him that the ensign training team had arrived safely, and thanked him at the same time.

When I left, I picked up the piece of paper that was in front of Razumeyeva, the candle on the table, and lit the piece of paper. After watching the whole piece of paper almost turned to ashes, I turned around disappointed. Left here.

Kirilov and Akhromeyev were both standing not far from the hidden department. Seeing me coming out of the house, the captain immediately asked with concern: "Comrade Commander, are you in contact with Comrade General?"

I nodded and said in frustration: "The contact was made, but unfortunately the distance is too far, and the effective communication distance has been exceeded, and I cannot talk to the general. I only sent him a telegram to report to him that you are safe. The news of the arrival, and thanked him for his selfless support."

Having said that, I turned my head and asked Kirilov, who was standing next to the captain, "Comrade Political Commissar, is our new headquarters finished?"

Kirilov shook his head and replied: "I just asked Lieutenant Mikhayev, and he said that it will take an hour to complete the work at the earliest. We will either stand here and wait or just take this opportunity to walk around. Colonel Oshanina, I don’t know how you think about it?"

I thought for a while, and then replied: "Forget it, it's getting dark, let's stay here. If anyone comes to us for anything, it will be troublesome if we can't find it."

The three of us followed the newly dug trenches of the Second Regiment and stopped at a place where there were no people around, and each found a place to sit down and chat. Captain Akhromeyev first asked: "The division commander and political commissar, when we were crossing the river by boat, we heard from others that General Zhukov had organized the forces of three army groups. Since yesterday, it has been in the northwest of the city. The counter-assault on the German army, I don’t know what is going on now?"

Kirilov obviously didn’t understand the situation of this counterattack. Hearing Akhromeyev’s question, he said helplessly: "Dear Comrade Chief of Staff, we are just a division-level unit, military secrets like this. Is not something people of our level can know."

Seeing Akhromeyev cast his eyes on me again, I waved my hand, pretending to say deeply: "Captain Akhromeyev, although I did not get any information about this counterattack, according to me According to his judgment, this hastily launched counterattack will not work."

My words surprised both Kirilov and Akhromeyev. Kirilov asked in surprise: "Comrade Oshanina, why do you say that? You know we have three armies, and On the front of the counterattack, there is only the 6th Army of the German Paulus. Even if we can’t eliminate them, it shouldn’t be a big problem to drive them away from the occupied positions, right?”

"Comrade Political Commissar, your idea is good. But the actual situation is that the counterattack was launched too hastily. Our military preparations were not sufficient, there were not enough artillery and tanks, and even the air supremacy on the battlefield was imprisoned by the Germans. Hold it firmly. You can think about it. Under the three-dimensional defense of the German army with aircrafts and tanks and cannons, the offensive launched by our army does not pose any threat to the German army except for unnecessary casualties."

"Comrade Oshanina, your analysis is too pessimistic, right?" Although Kirilov also vaguely felt that something was inevitable, he still retorted me with a strong attitude: "If the three armies commanded by General Zhukov did not attack If it works, then why didn’t the enemy attack our Mamayev Hill, and why did the enemy aircraft that attacked the pier almost disappeared?"

"The enemy did not attack the Mamayev Gang because most of their troops were diverted to the northwest to participate in the battle. As for the reduction of enemy aircraft in the air raid on the pier, UU reading www.uukanshu.com may still use our anti-aircraft machine guns. It's even related to the results of defeating their six enemy planes. The Germans are not fools. They will never disperse their forces at such a moment and let us defeat them individually."

"But..." When Kirillov heard me finish talking and wanted to refute me, suddenly a shout came from a distance: "Comrade teacher, comrade political comrade, where are you? Comrade teacher, comrade political comrade,..."

I heard the abrupt shouts, my heart tightened, and I said to myself: What will happen again, right? Before I could react, Captain Akhromeyev stood up and shouted in the direction of the voice: "Hey, the commander and the political commissar are here. Let's talk about anything."

It didn't take much effort. Five or six people walked along the trenches. At the front was a political worker assigned to the Second Regiment. I remember his name was Savchenko, who was in charge of the work of the group corps. Behind him were four soldiers, the hands of a disheveled warrior who was not wearing a cap and was twisted behind him by two heavily armed warriors, escorting them towards us.

Seeing this scene, my heart suddenly became unfamiliar. What did this Savchenko do? On the first day in the company, he actually figured out the big purge. This soldier might just murmur a few words. As a result, He was arrested by someone, and he was taken over as a prisoner. (To be continued...)