After the telegraph operator received the message and translated it as quickly as possible, Guchakov took the telegram from the operator's hand. After seeing the content clearly, he was stunned for a moment, and then fell into ecstasy.
"What's wrong with you, comrade lieutenant?" Samoilov, who was standing aside and chatting with Platonov and the others, saw that Guchakov behaved a little rudely after reading the telegram, so he quickly asked: "The telegram from the division headquarters What did you say?"
"I congratulate you, Lieutenant Samoilov." Guchakov suppressed the ecstasy in his heart and stretched out his hand to Samoilov. "The contents of the telegram from the division headquarters are the instructions from our superiors to us this time. As a reward for your actions, you not only received the Order of the Red Banner like everyone else, but you were also promoted to military rank."
Samoilov was certainly happy when he learned that he had received a medal and been promoted to military rank, but he still took the message from Guchakov and read its contents carefully. After reading it, he looked at Guchakov and said: "Comrade Captain, please allow me to congratulate you on your achievement of a higher military rank."
The dialogue between Guchakov and Samoilov confused several guerrillas standing not far away. Platonov looked at the two men and asked in confusion: "Comrade commanders, What are you talking about, I don’t understand at all.”
"Comrade Captain, let me explain it to you." Samoilov was in a particularly good mood when he learned that he had been awarded the medal and promoted to military rank. When he heard Platonov's question, he took the initiative and said: " In recognition of our victory in destroying the enemy's airfield, our superiors awarded each member of the squad the Order of the Red Banner, and Lieutenant Guchakov and I were also promoted to first-class military ranks."
"This is really great." Platonov was stunned by Samoilov's words. After a while, he came back to his senses, stretched out his hand to Samoilov, and said enthusiastically: "Samoilov Lieutenant Moylov, please accept my congratulations!"
After Platonov shook hands with Samoilov, he went to shake hands with Guchakov and expressed his congratulations to him. Ruzsky also quickly extended his hand to Samoilov and said with a smile: "And I, Comrade Lieutenant, please accept my heartfelt congratulations to you."
The soldiers in the barn also cheered when they heard that they would also receive the Order of the Red Flag from their superiors for the attack on the airport.
"Quiet, comrades, please be quiet!" Guchakov was startled when he heard the soldiers cheering. He quickly stopped everyone and said: "Don't forget, there are enemies stationed not far away."
After the barn became quiet again, Guchakov said to everyone with a serious expression: "Comrades, you have all heard that the division commander has been paying attention to our actions. They just destroyed an enemy field airport today and gave them With such a great honor for us, we must never let down the division commander's trust in us, and we must continue our efforts to achieve greater results in the next battle."
"Captain Guchakov," Samoilov called Guchakov with his new military title, asked: "Where should our next action be?"
Guchakov was not familiar with the terrain in this area and could only ask Platonov for help: "Comrade Captain, you are very familiar with the terrain in this area. Please tell me where else we can target. "
…………
While Guchakov and Platonov were studying where to attack the German-controlled areas next, Paulus was in his headquarters, furious at his intelligence chief: "What, one of our field airfields?" It was destroyed by the Russians, but you didn’t even see the shadow of the Russians who attacked the airport, what do your intelligence troops do?”
The silent director of the intelligence department waited for Paulus to lose his temper and then said cautiously: "Your Excellency, Commander, according to the results of our sent people to conduct a nearby survey, track marks of an armored vehicle were found about two kilometers away from the airport. And there are traces of setting up rocket launchers..."
"Your Excellency, Commander," after Chief of Staff Schmid and other intelligence chiefs finished speaking, he leaned close to Paulus and whispered in Paulus's ear: "Judging from the information obtained by the Intelligence Division, the attack on the airport should be related to the defense of Mama Ma. Related to Sokov of Yevgan.”
Paulus was no stranger to Sokov. After all, this name could be seen in many reports that had caused huge losses to his troops in the past few months. After he sneered, he asked: "Chief of Staff, since you already know that the attack on the airport is related to the Russian guy Sokov, have you taken any measures?"
"It's a pity, Your Excellency Commander." Hearing Paulus's question, Schmid replied with shame: "We spent more than two months to attack Mamayev held by Sokov's troops. He launched attacks again and again, but was never able to seize the commanding heights of Stalingrad."
"Chief of Staff, this damn Russian has caused us so much damage, we must not let him go unpunished." Paulus said categorically to Schmid: "Immediately order the Fourth Air Force to dispatch planes to attack Mama and Ma. Conduct an intensive bombing campaign on Yevgant to destroy any Russians entrenched above it."
After Paulus's order was passed on by Schmid, the commander of the Fourth Air Force, who was furious, immediately sent a group of bombers to bomb the Mamayev Hills indiscriminately. For a moment, the entire Mamayev Hills seemed to have turned into an erupting volcano, with fire and smoke everywhere, and huge explosions followed one after another without any pause. ,
Chuikov, who was a few kilometers away, learned that Mamayev Heights had been bombed by enemy planes. He also walked out of his headquarters, found a relatively high position on the shore, and raised his telescope toward the hill. Look. But the entire hill was shrouded in thick smoke, and he couldn't see clearly what was going on on the hill.
He returned to the headquarters in disappointment and said to Krylov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the Germans dispatched a large number of planes to bomb Mamayev Heights indiscriminately, certainly in retaliation for the attack on their airport. "
Krylov asked with some surprise: "Comrade Commander, how did the Germans know that Sokov's troops attacked the airport?"
"Isn't it easy to know that Sokov's troops did this?" Chuikov smiled bitterly and said: "Ever since the enemy approached the city, they have never been in favor of Sokov. Sokov He had a lot of clever ideas in fighting, and he often made the enemy miserable. Paulus was not a fool. He only had to think about it carefully and he could guess who killed his field airfield. Call Mamayev Heights immediately Call them and ask them how the situation is there?”
Sokov never dreamed that the enemy would launch such a violent bombardment of Mamayev Heights without warning. As soon as the bombing began, he immediately ordered all troops to withdraw into the tunnels, leaving not even an observation post. He stood beside the wooden table in the headquarters, with dust constantly falling from his head, and the ground under his feet was constantly shaking. He was even worried that even if the tunnel was more than ten meters away from the ground, it would be blown up by enemy bombs. possible.
When Krylov's call came, Sokov was standing not far away. He grabbed the phone and said, "I'm Sokov. Where are you from?"
"This is Krylov." When he heard that the person who answered the phone was Sokov, Krylov breathed a sigh of relief unexpectedly. He asked loudly into the phone: "Comrade Colonel, according to our analysis, the enemy Maybe they guessed that your troops attacked the field airport behind them, so they dispatched so many planes for bombing. Can your fortifications withstand such a fierce bombing by enemy planes?"
"Don't worry, Comrade Chief of Staff." Sokov replied loudly: "Our fortifications are more than ten meters deep underground, and the enemy's bombs cannot hurt us..."
Before Sokov finished speaking, he suddenly heard a loud noise nearby, and then a gas lamp hanging at the door was knocked off, falling to the ground and shattering. The clouds of dust that poured in from outside the door made Sokov cough violently. He quickly moved the microphone away from his ear, raised his hand and left hand to cover his mouth and nose with his sleeve, and asked vaguely: " What happened outside?"
Regardless of whether Sokov was coughing, everyone in the room was choked and coughed. But after hearing Sokov's words, another staff officer bravely rushed into the smoke to see what happened.
Less than a minute later, the staff officer stumbled out of the smoke. He came to Sokov and said in panic: "Comrade division commander, it's bad, a bomb fell in the corridor."
"What, a bomb fell in the corridor?" In order to find out what happened, Sokov shouted to the panicked staff officers and communications soldiers: "Don't panic, everyone, stay where you are. ." After shouting this sentence, he put the microphone in his hand on the table and told the staff, "Take me to have a look."
Sokov followed the staff into the rising dust. As he walked forward, he waved his arms desperately, trying to disperse the nasty dust. When he walked out of the door and tried to see clearly what was in front of him, he was stunned. A huge bomb was hanging in the corridor, and it seemed that it would fall at any time.
Seeing the bomb, Sokov's heartbeat suddenly doubled. He stared at the bomb for a while before walking over tremblingly. He looked up and saw that the bomb had smashed through the cement roof of the corridor and passed directly in. However, the tail was still stuck in the cement crack. The head of the bomb was still about one meter away from the ground, and it might fall at any time.
Sokov knew very well that when a bomb explodes in a confined space, its power will more than double. In other words, as soon as this bomb explodes, not to mention everyone in the division headquarters will be wiped out, and some nearby rooms People inside will also be affected.
"Comrade Commander, what happened?" While Sokov was staring at the bomb in a daze, Sidorin and Ivanov walked out of the room. After seeing the bomb hanging in front of them clearly, they also Was stunned.
"Chief of Staff, call the engineers immediately and ask them to defuse the bomb." Sokov didn't know when the bomb in front of him would fall and explode, but he didn't want to sit still and wait for death, so he began to ask Sidorin and Ivano The husband gave the order: "As for you, Comrade Deputy Division Commander, immediately transfer everyone in the headquarters. Tell everyone, don't panic, leave one by one, don't panic."
"Comrade Commander, it's too dangerous here." Before leaving, Sidorin and Ivanov were worried about Sokov's safety and tried their best to persuade him: "You'd better move to a safe place first."
"No, I can't leave." Although Sokov's legs were frightened at the moment, under the current situation, if he took the lead to leave, it would definitely cause everyone to panic, so he could only bite the bullet and say, "I I will wait until everyone in the command post has been transferred before I leave. Chief of Staff, Deputy Division Commander, you two, stop dawdling and go on your mission as soon as possible."
The staff officers and communications soldiers in the headquarters were frightened when they learned that there was a bomb hanging in the corridor that could explode at any time. But they knew that the division commander was standing next to the bomb at the door, waiting for everyone to evacuate before leaving, and their hearts were filled with courage. They walked out of the headquarters one by one in an orderly manner and walked cautiously along the corridor. However, when passing by Sokov, they all cast admiring glances.
It only took less than two minutes for all personnel in the headquarters to evacuate safely. Sidorin came to Sokov's side and said in a low voice and anxiously: "Comrade division commander, everyone in the headquarters has evacuated. You should evacuate quickly."
"Chief of Staff, you should withdraw first." Sokov originally planned to withdraw himself after everyone in the command post had withdrawn. But after everyone had evacuated, his legs still had no strength and could not move at all. Naturally, he would not tell Sidorin and Ivanov such an embarrassing thing, so he could only pretend to be calm and say: "I want to Stay here and watch with your own eyes as the engineer comrades dismantle the bomb."
Seeing that Sokov was unwilling to leave, Sidorin knew that it was useless to persuade him, so he could only bite the bullet and said to him: "Okay, comrade division commander, since you are unwilling to leave, then I will stay with you." After saying this, he turned around and saw that Ivanov was still standing nearby, and urged him, "Comrade Deputy Division Commander, please move first. If this bomb explodes, the division commander of the 41st Guards Division will be All reimbursed.”
"Yes, Comrade Deputy Division Commander, please move quickly." Sokov turned to look at Ivanov, tried hard to put a smile on his face, and said calmly: "We will be fine, you go first Move to a safe place."
Seeing that both Sokov and Sidorin asked him to move, Ivanov did not show any pretense. He nodded and said to the two of them: "Division commander and chief of staff, you two be more careful. I'm leaving first. "
"Comrade Commander," looking at Ivanov's retreating back, Sidorin asked Sokov in a low voice: "Do you think we can survive?"
