Chapter 1930: boundary marker

  Chapter 1930 Boundary Monument

   "What?" When the tank brigade commander heard it, his jaw almost hit the ground: "You said that the 98th Guards Division only dispatched two regiments to occupy most of the city?"

   "That's right, Comrade Brigadier." The scout replied, "Most of the defenders in the city are Romanian troops, and they have no combat effectiveness at all. That's why the friendly army can occupy most of the city in a very short period of time."

   Knowing that the city was about to be occupied by the 98th Guards Division, the tank brigade commander couldn't help but panicked for a while, and immediately summoned several battalion commanders under him to assign combat tasks to everyone.

When the mission was completed, the commander of the first battalion proposed: "Brigade Commander, although the friendly forces occupy most of the city, I think there should be many enemy anti-tank fighters in the city. Operations within the city will be very difficult."

The words of the first battalion commander reminded everyone that the field of vision in the tank is narrow. Without the cooperation of the infantry, the tank is easily destroyed by anti-tank fighters hidden on the roadside. support.

   "The 195th Infantry Division is near us," the third battalion commander interrupted, "Brigade Commander, see if you can ask them for help."

  The tank brigade commander was kind and helpful, and immediately got in touch with the other party through the radio.

  The commander of the 195th Division is like an ant on a hot pot at the moment, running around in a hurry. Therefore, the scouts sent out have not returned for a long time, and he has no idea what happened in the city of Shelica.

   Just then, the radio operator came to report: "Comrade Commander, the number of the tank brigade commander."

  The commander of the 195th Division hurried to the radio station, put on the earphones, and raised the microphone: "Hello, I am the commander of the 195th Division."

"Hello, Comrade Division Commander." The tank brigade commander said politely on the phone: "Our brigade is preparing to attack Novy Selitsa, but without the cooperation of the infantry, I am afraid that we will not be able to break through the area guarded by anti-tank fighters. So I hope , can you please send me some infantry to help us attack the city."

   "Comrade Brigadier," the infantry division commander did not immediately reply to the tank brigade commander, but asked tentatively, "Do you know the situation in Novi Selica?"

"My scout just came back and said that two regiments of the 98th Guards Division are now fighting in the city and occupying more than half of the city." The tank brigade commander said truthfully: "The defenders in the city are almost uniform. The Romanian army has no combat effectiveness, so I want to put the tank brigade into battle, but I lack the cooperation of infantry, I hope you can send me some infantry."

   Knowing that there are only Romanian troops in the city of Novi Selica, the infantry division commander is unavoidably eager to try, and he tentatively asks: "Comrade Brigadier, how many troops do you want?"

   "A regiment."

   "A regiment?"

  The commander of the tank brigade said with some lack of confidence: "Comrade commander, if you feel that the strength of a regiment is too much, you can send us a battalion."

The infantry division commander laughed, and then explained: "Comrade Brigadier, you are mistaken. I don't think you want too many people, but the opposite. Well, I will send two regiments to go with you. Try to assist the 98th Guards Division as soon as possible to take Novy Selitsa."

The tank brigade commander originally planned to only want one infantry regiment, but he didn't expect the infantry division commander to be so generous. He gave himself two regiments at once, and quickly thanked each other: "Thank you, comrade commander, I am really grateful. With so many infantry troops With cooperation, I believe it will not take long before we can completely liberate this city."

   Half an hour later, under the guidance of the tank brigade, the two infantry regiments of the 195th Division launched an offensive from the north of Novy Selitsa. In order to resist the attack of the 98th Guards Division, the enemies in the city evacuated all the troops outside the city and concentrated them in the north of the city for tenacious resistance.

  Facing the Soviet troops that suddenly appeared in the north, the remaining Romanian troops could not resist. Seeing the Soviet tanks coming rumblingly, the shooting stopped in many areas, and then countless white flags stretched out of the trenches, surrendering to the approaching Soviet tanks.

  The commander of the tank brigade knew that with the cooperation of the infantry of the two regiments, his attack on Novy Selitsa would go very smoothly. But what is happening in front of him now makes him feel like he is dreaming. Often, as soon as the tank drives past, many enemies in the trench wave the white flag and surrender without even firing their guns.

  The defenders in the city who were fighting hard with the 98th Guards Division never dreamed that there would be a huge Soviet army behind them. Facing the two-sided attack of the Soviet army, the Romanian defenders lost their will to resist and surrendered one after another.

  When the Shamrich regiment joined forces with the oncoming tank brigade and the commanders and fighters of the 195th Division, they immediately sent a telegram to Sokov to report his victory.

After receiving the telegram, Sokov smiled and said to Sameko, Trofimenko and Smirnov: "Commanders, I really didn't expect that the combat effectiveness of the Romanian army is so poor. After a few hours, they dropped their weapons and surrendered to our army."

   "Yes, yes," Sameko said, nodding his head, "I really didn't expect that the defenders' fighting will was so weak that they surrendered to our army without any decent resistance."

"That's fine," Trofimenko said. "The sooner the enemy surrenders, the fewer casualties our troops will suffer. I think that in a couple of days at most, our vanguard will be able to enter Romanian territory and push the battle to a halt." to the enemy's territory."

"That's right." Smirnov nodded and said, "When we fight on our land, the destroyed towns, villages, farmland, and casualties are ours. But if we enter Romania, we are fighting on the enemy's territory." Now that we have fought on our own land, we don’t have so many scruples when we fight.”

   "Then how many days will it take for our troops to enter Romania?" Gorokhov asked.

   "Comrade Military Commissioner," Sameko said to him with a smile: "From the current situation, our troops will be able to enter Romania in two days' time."

"Comrade Chief of Staff, you are too conservative." Unexpectedly, as soon as Sameko finished speaking, Sokov's voice was heard: "The first troops to rush into Novy Selica were Shamrikh's close troops. The 296th Guards Regiment, as far as I know him, after the liberation of Novy Selitsa, he will definitely lead a force and continue to rush into the depths of the enemy's defense.

  Two days? ! I don't think he can wait that long, maybe tomorrow, he can give us a surprise. "

Sokov's conjecture was correct. When Novyshelica was fully controlled by the Soviet army, Shamrikh immediately contacted Chuvashov: "Comrade commander, with the cooperation of our friendly forces, we have successfully liberated Novyshelica. Lisa."

"Friendly army?!" The Soviet army was fighting, and there was always a lack of cooperation between the various troops, let alone two troops that were not affiliated with each other. Therefore, after hearing Shamrih's report, Chuvashov asked in surprise: " Where did the friendly army come from?"

   Hearing what Chuvashov said, Shamrikh was also surprised, and wondered if the commander of the friendly army hadn't contacted his division commander? But at this time, he was thinking about another important thing, so he skipped the topic directly: "Comrade Commander, now that the city has been liberated, I think our regiment is still capable of continuing to fight. See if you can give me another Shall we assign new missions?"

   When Chuvashov commanded the troops to liberate Novy Selitsa, he only put two regiments into battle, and left one regiment as a reserve team. He planned to wait for the liberation of the city before proceeding to the next step of the battle plan. At this moment, when I heard Shamrih's question, I didn't reply immediately, but asked instead: "Can your regiment still have the ability to continue fighting?"

"Yes, Comrade Commander." Shamrih replied in an affirmative tone: "After the battle, our regiment has more than 1,200 people left, with less than 800 casualties, and is fully capable of continuing to fight. .”

"Okay, Lieutenant Colonel Shamrih." Seeing that Shamrih had such fighting spirit, Chuvashov didn't want to pour cold water on him, so he directly gave him an order: "Now I will issue a new order to your regiment. Combat order: Immediately advance to Chernivtsi, and be sure to arrive at the designated location before dawn tomorrow."

  After giving the order, he tentatively asked: "Comrade Shamrih, can it be done?"

Shamrih nodded and replied: "Comrade commander, don't worry. Our regiment has seized a lot of buses in the city, and we can use these vehicles to transport troops. , to the outskirts of Chernivtsi."

   After obtaining Chuvashov's permission, Shamrikh ordered the assembled troops, boarded the captured bus, and drove in the direction of Chernivtsi.

  After driving for more than two hours, the convoy came to the left bank of the Prut River. At this time, the car in front stopped suddenly, and the cars behind also stopped one after another in order to prevent a collision.

  The bus is equipped with a radio, so Shamrih can use the radio to talk to the first battalion commander Yakuda who is opening the road ahead without getting off the bus: "First battalion commander, what happened ahead, why stop?"

   "Comrade leader," Yakuda on the other end of the phone said excitedly, "I found something interesting, and it must be what you want to see."

   "Interesting stuff, I want to see it too?" Shamrih asked puzzled, "What is it?"

But Yakuda did not tell Shamrih the answer immediately, but said with a smile: "Comrade commander, I think you will be very happy if you see it. I still suggest you come and see for yourself. The car is waiting for you here, and I will take you to see it with your own eyes.”

Hearing Yakuda's mysterious words, Shamrih couldn't help being interested. He explained to the chief of staff, then called Shapovalenko and went to the head car together, wanting to see how Yakuda proposed so mysteriously. what is it.

   Soon, Shamrih came to the place where the lead car was, and asked Yakuda who was standing beside the car: "Comrade major, what are you doing to make it so mysterious?"

   "Comrade leader, please don't worry, I'll just take you to have a look." After finishing speaking, he turned around and walked towards the river.

   Seeing his actions, Shamrih knew that the good things the other party said should be placed by the river, so he quickly followed.

  After walking for a while, Yakuda stopped, turned around and said to Shamrih: "Comrade commander, right here!"

   "It's here?" Shamrihe saw a broken stone tablet in front of him, and asked a little unhappy: "Major, you called me here just to let me see this?"

   "That's right, Comrade Leader." Yakuda said excitedly, "Of course I called you here to show you this thing."

   "What is this?" Shamrih knew his subordinates well, knowing that the other party would not ask him to watch something boring for no reason, so he looked carefully. After he saw the words on the stone tablet clearly, he couldn't help saying in surprise: "This, is this the boundary monument of our country?"

"That's right, Comrade Leader, it is indeed our boundary marker." Yakuda pointed to the damaged stele and said, "Look, the two letters on the top of the stele are the abbreviation of the word 'Boundary Monument', and the bottom is 'CCCP' , below is the serial number of the boundary marker, but unfortunately it has been damaged and the number cannot be seen clearly.”

  Shapovalenko took a closer look, and immediately came to a conclusion: "Since there is a boundary marker here, it means that we have now reached the pre-war border. As long as we cross this stone marker, we will enter Romania's territory."

"That's right, that's exactly what it is." Shamrich nodded and said, "The missing part of the number obviously has traces of explosive blasting, which means that after the Germans occupied this place, they tried to destroy this stele. But sadly, they didn't succeed."

  Shapovalenko took out his handkerchief, wiped the damaged stele carefully, and said tearfully: "After three years, we have finally returned to our own border."

   "Comrade commander, should you report such an important matter to the division commander immediately?"

  Yakuda's words reminded Shamrih, he nodded and said, "I'll contact the division commander and report to him about the discovery of the boundary marker."

  The radio operator was standing not far away. When he saw Shamrih waving at him, he trotted over immediately, waiting for Shamrih to assign him the task of sending a report.

"Comrade radio operator," Shamrich said to him, "immediately send a report to the division headquarters, saying that we have reached the Prut River and found the boundary marker on the old border. Destruction, we can't see the specific number of the boundary marker."

   After dictating the telegram, he waved to the operator and said, "Hurry up and send the telegram."

The telegram was soon placed in front of Chuvashov, and when he saw the contents clearly, he stood up abruptly from his seat, directed at the communication staff officer who sent the telegram to himself, and asked in a suspicious tone: "Is there any information in the telegram?" Is the translation wrong?"

   "No, Comrade Commander." The communications staff replied in an affirmative tone: "I have already verified it, and there is absolutely no error in the telegram."

"Great, this is really great." Although the first unit to discover the boundary marker was Lieutenant Colonel Shamrih's 296th Guards Regiment, anyway, they belonged to the 98th Guards Division Well, as the teacher, Chuvashov is naturally honored. He put down the telegram and asked the communications staff officer: "Can we talk directly to the Army Group Command here?"

"Yes, Comrade Division Commander." The communications staff officer nodded and said, "After we occupied Novy Selitsa, we have established contact with the Army Group Command through the existing lines in the city, and you can contact the headquarters by phone at any time. "

  (end of this chapter)