Beginning in 1926, the famous Russian writer Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov spent 14 years writing "The Silent Don", which depicts the love and hatred of the Cossacks in the 1920s. Twenty years later, the famous Don River meandered to the second bloody contest in 1942.

During the German offensive three months earlier, Army Group "B" grabbed the tail of the Red Army at the meanders of the Don River, wiped out 12 Soviet divisions in one go, drove the Red Army far across the Don River, drove it to the banks of the Volga, and threatened Stalingrad; A month and a half earlier, the advancing German army, without any noticeable signs, had suddenly withdrawn its forces and retreated, and by means of successive covers, it had escaped from the Red Army in front of it and re-crossed the Don River, leaving only the stunned Red Army and military observers of various countries.

At first, the Red Army thought that the Germans were playing a game of capture and indulgence, and no one dared to go forward, for fear that they would become the next target to be beaten, but a month and a half passed, and the expected continued offensive still did not move, but the German army began to build a tight defensive line along the line of the Don River, and as time passed, when the German defense line was basically completed, the war drums of Operation "Uranus" were also in full swing.

The heavy army group of the Don, Southwest, and Stalingrad armies advanced slowly to the Don line, preparing to cross the river that left a deep impression on the Red Army and attacked.

"Comrade Army Commander, the commander of the army group gave an order for us to begin a tentative crossing of the river in the afternoon, in accordance with the request of the head of the front, to verify the strength of the German troops on the opposite side. Army Group will provide us with fire support. Maslov, political commissar of the 27th Army of the Red Army, said.

"Crossing the river?" The army commander Karpov looked depressed, "There is not even a bridge to cross the river in front, such a cold day." Is it possible to swim directly across the Don River, which is 400 meters wide......"

"So what do you say?"

"Wait!"

"What? What is your attitude? ”

"Don't you know that in three weeks the Don River will start to freeze, and if there is a month, the ice will even be so thick that even tanks can drive directly through it."

"But it's impossible......," Maslov sighed, "your opinion is still typical of military correctness, political zero." Do you know that Deputy Commander-in-Chief Zhukov has already fought with Comrade Stalin three times for the delay of this offensive. The last time was that he was guaranteed with his head and party spirit, how can he delay any longer, you want his head to fail? ”

"But I don't think it's the right thing to do. You see. The aviation units allocated to us are not in place, the number of artillery is not enough, and even the ammunition is only 3 bases...... Comrade Maslov, we are on the offensive, on the fascist German army, which claims to be the first army in the world...... Not an armed parade. Can I be careless? ”

"It doesn't matter what you think. The erection of pontoon bridges must begin this afternoon, and the commander of the army group has agreed to lend us the engineer brigade directly under the army group, and has prepared 200 large-caliber artillery pieces to support it, and he hopes to erect at least one pontoon bridge before sunset. ”

"Will the Germans let us erect a pontoon bridge in such a big way?"

"How do you know you can't do it if you don't try it?" Maslov glared at the other party and said angrily, "Comrade commander, this is not a consultation with you, this is an order from a superior." Got it? ”

Surprisingly, the erection of the pontoon bridge actually went smoothly. Except for 3-4 German planes that dropped bombs and strafed in the process, the Germans did not launch a large-scale offensive in this direction, and even large-caliber shells fell very little, and with the help of ground anti-aircraft guns and sappers, the first pontoon bridge was erected by 3 o'clock in the afternoon.

"The pontoon bridge has been erected......," Maslov said cheerfully, pointing to another construction site not far away, "and it is still early, and the sappers are very energetic, and they want to erect the second pontoon bridge before sunset." ”

"But why didn't the Germans attack?"

"Comrade Commander, which side is your position on? You are so expecting the Germans to come and fight us? ”

"Of course not......," Karpov sighed, "I just think it's weird, why would the Germans give up such a good offensive opportunity so easily?" ”

"The comrades of the reconnaissance company are back, let's hear what they think." "It's better than guessing like you and me," Maslov said. ”

"What about the movements of the German troops on the other side?"

"There was no movement, our reconnaissance company advanced 20 kilometers forward, and the ghost of half of the Germans was not seen, and even the long-range artillery fire was half-hearted...... At first, you could still see a few planes in the distance, but then our fighter came, and after a while the two sides were entangled and flew away, never to come again. "The commander of the reconnaissance company is one of the few veterans in the unit, and he has worked in the reconnaissance company during the Soviet-Finnish war, and he took out a simple map that depicts several key hills and highlands, "There are almost no people on the other side of the Don River, and there are Cossacks who also have bad intentions towards us, and we have a Cossack in our company, but he is not a Don Cossack, he is a Kuban Cossack, and for the sake of his face, we found a guide and asked about the situation, saying that the Germans had retreated three days ago, and it was said that they were going northwest......"

"That's true, we also had a few planes, but they flew away without any impact." Karpov nodded thoughtfully, "This statement is worthy of the results of the front's aerial reconnaissance." ”

"Strange, what are the Germans running to the northwest?" Maslov looked at the map, "There is no danger in the northwest." ”

"They should be going to attack friendly forces in the direction of Voronezh and Bryansk." Karpov made a comparison on the map, "If we follow the results of this reconnaissance, the depth of the enemy's defense line has been reduced by at least another 20 kilometers, and the distance from Stalingrad is also 20 kilometers. ”

"Surely more than that, otherwise they would not have retreated without seeing the Germans." Maslov asked, "The Germans won't run back to the Donets, will they?" ”

"It doesn't make sense wow, let the Don River not be guarded, the Germans have broken brains?" Karpov asked rhetorically in disbelief.

"Who's to say it isn't? Putting aside the favorable situation of the offensive two months ago, they suddenly fled back, do you know, when the Germans crossed the Great River and threatened the suburbs of Stalingrad, even the top was shaken, thinking that Stalingrad could not be saved, but I did not expect that the stupid enemy actually gave up a great opportunity, stopped and even retreated, giving us a precious respite, and the residents and factories of Stalingrad also seized the opportunity to evacuate part of the rear. ”

While he was talking, the chief of staff came over: "I received the latest telegram from the headquarters of the army group, which says where the Germans are going -- they are attacking the Bryansk and Voronezh fronts, they are concentrating more than 1,000 tanks, and the offensive is said to be fierce, I don't think they would have thought that we would attack from here on the Don River."

"Comrade Maslov, do you believe that it was the main force of the Germans?"

"It's hard to say, but it doesn't look like a fake from the telegram, but we'll have to cross the river anyway." Maslov pointed to the pontoon bridge and said, "You see that even the second road has been erected, and if you don't cross the river, you can't explain to the commander, and our army is the pioneer of the entire group army, how can you know where the main forces of the Germans are if you don't try it?" ”

"Okay." Karpov was convinced, and in fact he also knew that there could be no indefinite delay, "the whole army crossed the river in batches, paying attention to concealment, moving quickly, to prevent a sudden attack by the enemy." ”

Perhaps because of the lack of interference, the sappers moved unexpectedly quickly, and a total of three pontoon bridges were erected one after another a moment before dark, each about two kilometers apart, and from the air, three long winding lines lined up, and thousands of Red Army soldiers began to cross the river, one of which was specially widened and reinforced, because tanks, trucks, and heavy artillery were to pass on it.

After dark, the air raid factor basically did not exist, and the heavy equipment troops began to cross the river, after the first T-34 passed, the horse lantern on the opposite bank shook three times, showing that the various parts of the pontoon bridge were strong enough to support the heavy equipment to cross the river, and then 5 T-34s lined up to cross the river in turn, which was also very smooth, indicating that the pontoon bridge could withstand multiple tanks crossing the river at the same time, but there were only these 5 tanks in the whole army, followed by military artillery crossing the river, they used trucks and horse-drawn carriages to pull howitzers of various calibers, The ammunition truck drove slowly past, and it was not until the first battalion arrived safely on the opposite bank that the two army leaders let go of their hanging hearts.

Karpov, who had successfully crossed the river, was still very cautious, and after crossing the river, he did not rush into the army, but asked his men to occupy a solid bridgehead to prevent a surprise attack by the Germans - he instinctively thought that there was a trap here, and it was just that he could not see it for the time being.

Artillery, infantry, baggage troops, logistics organs, and men and horses from all walks of life began to cross the river in an orderly and orderly manner, and apart from the roar of flowing water, only the political commissars at all levels lowered their voices and mobilized and cheered -- "keep up" and "keep up."

This calm was not broken until the sound of the steamer motor coming from the upstream, Karpov was startled when he caught a glimpse of the steamer coming down from the upstream, and was about to remind the following to be alert, but before he could give the order, all the officers and men had already cheered, the "Ula ......" came to the friendly forces of the fleet of the Volga River region, the Don River was connected with the Volga River behind it through its tributaries, so the river flotilla could be more easily supported, although it was only 2 small gunboats of less than 100 tons, but it still gave the Red Army soldiers a great morale boost, The pace of crossing the river was faster. (To be continued.) )