Chapter 391

After the introduction, meletzkov looked back at starikov, raised his chin and said, "general starikov, Colonel sharikov has finished the report. Next, it's your turn. Tell us about the campaign preparations of your army. "

Starikov answered, pointed to the map and began to explain to us: "comrades commander, generals, I'd like to introduce to you the preparations for the campaign of my Eighth Army.

After attending the last battle meeting of the front army, when I returned to the army, I immediately gave orders to the troops under my jurisdiction to prepare for the war. As we all know, for the sake of confidentiality, none of the orders we gave were in the form of written instructions. They were all given orally, and they were given face-to-face by recruiting the military commanders of the units to the headquarters of the group army.

Troops should dig trenches and traffic trenches, build artillery positions, pave roads and open up marching routes, especially pave roads, which is the most important task in our campaign preparation, because a good road determines whether the army can reach the designated position in time and launch quickly, and whether the supply of reserves and offensive troops can move in time in the process of fighting. "

When starikov said this, military commissar zaborozetz raised his hand to interrupt him and asked abruptly, "Comrade starikov, I have a question for you."

Although his report was suddenly interrupted, and there was a trace of displeasure on starikov's face, he still showed due politeness to the questions raised by senior officials of the front army: "senior officials, do you have any questions? Excuse me

Zaborozetz pointed to the map and said, "when I went to the temporary headquarters of the 8th Army the day before yesterday, the car passed a section of log paved road, but I didn't hear the" squeak "sound of log road. What's the matter?"

"Yes, comrade starikov." Zaborozetz's question aroused meletzkov's interest. He also asked curiously, "what ideas did you have on the road? When the car is driving on the log, the road doesn't make any noise at all? "

"It's more than silence!" General starikov replied with a smile, "senior officer, don't you find out? Besides being quiet, the log road is quite strong. Maybe in two days, you will find that he won't shake at all. My engineers have taken a very easy but practical way to prevent rocking

"What can I do?" meletskov asked with great interest

"Sprinkle the top under the backing plate." Starikov continued with a gesture: "if you lay the crossbar on it again, it won't vibrate. Now if you spread a thin layer of sand on it, it won't shake. In this way, the driving speed of the vehicle can be greatly improved. "

Meletzkov hit the table excitedly and asked excitedly, "great! General starikov, whose idea is this? I'll give him credit! "

"Colonel galmanovic, engineer of the group army. Together with his chief of staff, sofronov, he has worked out a plan to build the road network, which is now under full construction. " Instead of being greedy for credit and taking the achievements of his subordinates to himself, starikov truthfully reported to meletskov.

"By the way, I want to ask more." Zaborozzi then asked, "I saw a watchtower more than 30 meters high standing in the forest near your temporary headquarters. Is this also the idea of the Engineer? Can you see far? "

"It's not the engineers' idea, it's the operational staff and artillery's idea. Of course, it was designed and built by the engineers. When the weather is fine, you can always see sinavino from above. We plan to use it to observe the battlefield, correct artillery fire and air assault. It's hard to say whether it will work or not. I'm afraid of forest fire. As you know, once the battle starts, it is possible to cause forest fire. The smoke generated by the fire will greatly limit the vision of observers. "

Fejiuningsky, who had not spoken for a long time, said, "general starikov, I would like to ask you how you plan to command the troops when they gather in the forest and move towards the starting point of the attack?"

Starikov laughed at fejiuningsky and replied, "Comrade General, this is easy to do. My group army chief of staff, Col. gorovchner, has devised a different method of command. He hit all kinds of whistles, and each company commander had a whistle with a different tone from others. When a predetermined signal is used to give an order, the commanders and fighters can recognize it according to the whistle

After listening to starikov's introduction, fejiuningsky nodded with satisfaction, patted him on the shoulder and praised, "well done! General starikov, it seems that your army has done a good job in preparing for the campaign. "

Looking at the map in front of him, meletzkov said to the triumphant commander of the 8th Army, "general starikov, tell us about your attack plan."

Starikov promised again and began to report to you: "yesterday, general jaggyaliov, the artillery commander of the front army, deployed the artillery forces to our group army. After studying with major general bezruk, commander of the group army, I decided to distribute the artillery units equally among the divisions, so that we can give the necessary artillery support to the units that capture the enemy's forward support points in time. "

"What is the gun density in the direction of attack?" Asked meletskov.

"Since all the artillery units are evenly distributed among divisions, the density of artillery units on the front of each kilometer can reach 70 to 100 units."

"How are you going to attack?"

"I plan to launch the day of the campaign, that is, the morning of the 17th, with two hours of saturated shelling on the enemy's positions, and then send out infantry to attack."

"What about the heavy tanks of your group army? What role should they play in the attack? "

"Similarly, I will distribute tanks equally among divisions to provide firepower support for attacking infantry."

Meletzkov nodded with satisfaction and praised, "good plan." With that, he raised his head and asked the people present, "do you have any different opinions?"

The generals on the scene looked at each other and then answered neatly, "no!"

When meletskov saw that there was no objection, he was about to speak. When he heard me frowning, he quickly summoned up the courage and said, "Comrade General, can I have a word?"

As soon as my words came out, the room was silent. All the people looked at me in surprise. They didn't know what kind of shocking words I would say when I jumped out. Deeply afraid that meletskov would not let me speak, I hastened to add, "I have a different view on general starikov's deployment."

"Different views?" Meletzkov looked at me puzzled, then turned to look at starikov, hesitated for a moment, and finally gave me a chance to speak: "Comrade major, I heard Comrade Zhukov say that you are a commander with a very strategic vision, and you can often put forward some unique suggestions on campaign deployment. In that case, let's talk about it. We're all ears. "

I didn't look at anyone. Instead, I stared at the map and expressed my opinion: "I think we should follow the principle of concentrating artillery in the main attack direction, hand over the command of artillery to general jaggyaliov of the front army, and ensure the density of 150-180 artillery in the main attack direction.

At the end of the two-hour artillery preparation, the artillery should quickly transfer their positions and carry out maneuver according to the advancing speed of the 8th group army, so as to continue to provide artillery support for the battle in depth.

If we only launch an attack after the shelling is over, our attacking position is about three kilometers away from the enemy's front. It will take our infantry about half an hour to reach the effective attacking distance. In such a long time, the German army has recovered from the initial panic of being shelled. Our army is bound to be frantically blocked by them, causing heavy casualties. "

"Comrade major," starikov interrupted me with some dissatisfaction and said angrily, "in order to defend our motherland and Leningrad, our commanders and fighters are not afraid of sacrifice."

"General starikov, please be quiet and listen to major oshanina." As soon as meletzkov opened his mouth, starikov closed his mouth honestly. Meletzkov looked at me with a smile and encouraged me to go on and say, "major oshanina, if you were the commander of the Eighth Army, how would you direct this battle?"

Listening to his question, I was stunned for a moment, but I soon regained my mind and went on in accordance with my own way of thinking: "before the attack, we should first carry out two hours of saturated shelling on the German positions. Commander starikov also mentioned this point just now, and I agree with it. But when the shelling goes on for an hour and a half, I will order the heavy tank troops to attack, advance to a place 50 meters away from the German position and stop. "

"Comrade major, I'd like to ask," this time interrupted by general Gagan, commander of the fourth guards“ Let our tanks stop so close to the shelling area, won't they be injured by our artillery fire? "

"No, general Gagan." I replied with great certainty: "our kV heavy tanks can't even break the German 88mm anti tank guns, let alone the shrapnel flying from tens of meters away." Speaking of this, I politely asked meletskov, "Comrade General, may I continue to speak?" Because this is not a formal combat meeting, don't mention me. Anyone may be suddenly interrupted when they speak. That's why I asked.

"Of course, of course we have to go on." Meletzkov clearly understood what I said, and reminded those present: "let major oshanina go on, and no one will interrupt her."

After thanking meletskov, I went on to say: "the reason why I want the tanks to reach 50 meters in front of the German position before the end of the shelling is for two purposes: one is to clear the mines in front of the position for our subsequent infantry troops. The German laid mines that would kill a large number of infantry and would not cause any damage to the tanks. Second, after the artillery bombardment, the tank troops can quickly rush to the enemy's position, tear a hole in the enemy's line of defense, and cover the infantry who immediately follow. This breakthrough can be expanded.

As for the infantry unit that is in charge of the attack, it should advance to the front of the enemy ten minutes after the tanks attack. "

At this point, I saw that starikov opened his mouth to say something, but when I saw that meletzkov was absorbed in it, he closed his mouth again. I knew what he wanted to ask, so I quickly put forward this question: "maybe some comrades in command will ask, why don't infantry and tanks attack at the same time? You know, tanks are faster than infantry, even if they start at the same time, they will get to the designated position first. I would like to explain here that if infantry and tanks attack at the same time, there will inevitably be a problem of fighting for channels, which will easily lead to unnecessary chaos in the attacking forces.

According to the forward speed of infantry, when they arrive at the enemy's position, our tank troops should have torn open the enemy's line of defense. At this time, with the cooperation of tanks, they can clear away the remnant enemy in the trench, consolidate the position and continue to attack. That's all I have to say. "

After hearing this, meletskov nodded again with satisfaction and said, "major oshanina's play is quite novel. Although our army has never tried before, judging from my experience, the casualties of infantry troops in attacking enemy positions will be greatly reduced. "

"I agree with the commander. Since you also think this kind of fighting method can effectively reduce the casualties of the troops, I think it should be popularized in this campaign." The first one to stand up for me was general fejiuningsky, an old acquaintance.

After that, the chief of staff of the front army, steglimacher, and the senior official zaborozetz also expressed their positions one after another, supporting fejiuningsky's opinion and proposing to promote this kind of tactics in the army.

Seeing that several heavyweights supported me, starikov could not say any more words of opposition, so he had to harden his head and agree.

At this happy moment, a few people came in from the door. Meletzkov looked up, suddenly changed color, angrily asked: "we are holding an important combat meeting, who allowed you to come in without authorization?"

When I looked at the people who came in, I was surprised. One of them was lieutenant turchinov, the chief of the secret service section who almost shot me. But this time, he was standing behind a captain. Obviously, this man's rank in the interior department was higher than him. My heart beat faster. My heart said that it was not feijiuningsky who represented Zhukov. It was settled. How could turchinov come out again? Did he come to me?

The captain walked up to meletskov, first glanced at everyone present, and then said angrily, "comrades, I'm captain yevgenri of the Ministry of interior. As far as we know, major oshanina here is a vlasovian. We are ordered to arrest her."

As soon as I heard about the arrest again, I stepped back unconsciously. I only survived a few hours ago. Would the people of the Ministry of interior not let me go? But I think I'm surrounded by generals, so I should be able to suppress these small shrimps in the interior department. Thinking of this, I turned my eyes to fejiuningsky.

Fejiuninski nodded slightly when he saw my eyes for help. Then he pushed away starikov who was standing in front of him and went out. He went straight to captain yevgenri and said coldly, "Comrade captain, I tell you that major oshanina is an excellent commander in the Red Army. She was brave in fighting and had a good command, And won many awards and promotions. I vouch for her with my rank and honor. She is definitely not a vlasovian. "

"Who are you? Comrade General. " Captain yevgenri asked politely and coldly.

"I'm major fejaninski, commander of the 54th army. What, are you going to arrest me as a Vlasov? Also, comrade captain, I would like to remind you that every commander present has a higher rank than you. According to the regulations, you should salute us. "

In the face of fejiuningsky's accusation, Captain yevgenri had to raise his hand and salute the people present.

During the conversation between fejiuningsky and the interior department captain, I didn't hear meletzkov's voice. I couldn't help looking at him. Unexpectedly, I found that his hands were clenched and his body was shaking slightly. Seeing this scene, I couldn't help wondering in my heart, did meletskov have been arrested by the people of the Ministry of the interior, and only when I saw the people of the Ministry of the interior standing in front of me at the moment would he behave so impolitely.

At this time, fejiuningsky turned around, looked at meletskov and said, "Comrade commander of the front army, this is your headquarters. Can you allow these people from the interior department to arrest our commanders at will?"

Meletzkov was asked by fejiuningsky. Facing the eyes of all the people, he could not keep silent any more. He just walked up to yevgenri and asked nervously, "Comrade captain, are you going to take major oshanina away from me?"

"This is my duty, senior general." Yevgeny replied coldly.

"No! "I don't agree," meletzkov said in a raised voice, angered by the captain's arrogant expression. "Yesterday, major oshanina was arrested by the secret service. At that time, I was still in Moscow. When I got the news, I specially reported it to deputy commander General Zhukov and Stalin. They all said that major oshanina would not be a vlasovian, And let general fejiuningsky come forward and save her. "

"Is that so? Comrade lieutenant. " Listening to what meletskov said, yevgenri quickly turned back and asked turchinov standing behind him.

Faced with fejiuningsky's angry eyes, turchinov lowered his head and whispered, "yes, comrade captain. In the morning, when we were executing the vlasovians, general fejiuningsky suddenly appeared and stopped us, saying that he had been ordered by the deputy commander to stop the execution and let all the suspects go

Yevgenri was a bit embarrassed when he heard turchinov say that. Maybe it's easy for him to arrest an officer of my level, but he didn't dare to offend a commander in an important position like fejiuningsky. What's more, he didn't dare to act rashly when there was a general like meletskov here.

After hesitating for many times, he finally made a difficult decision. He raised his hand to salute meletskov and asked in a deliberative tone: "Comrade General, we are here to ask major oshanina a few questions, and then we will leave. Do you think that's ok?"

Instead of answering his question immediately, meletzkov turned to me and looked at me for advice. Seeing this, I nodded my head and agreed. So he said, "well, comrade captain, you can ask here."

After getting permission, Yevgeny came up to me and asked coldly, "major oshanina, have you ever been a subordinate of Vlasov?"

"Yes," I answered truthfully, "he was the commander of the 20th group army in the great counterattack under Moscow City, and I was the chief of staff of the group army."

"I hear you're close?"

"Close?" Hearing this, I shrugged my shoulders and asked, "Comrade captain, I don't know how to be intimate according to your understanding?"

"I heard that when he used to call you, he always called you by your nickname, Rita, instead of oshanina's surname."

I can't laugh or cry at what he said. A slightly more intimate name has become the basis for me to be a vlasovian. I said bitterly, "there are more people calling me by my nickname, and it's not just Vlasov."

"There are people who call you by your nickname. Let's hear it." Yevgenri said here, back to a soldier behind him: "you make a good record." The soldier agreed and took out a pen and paper from his bag, ready to record.

"I took part in the siege of Moscow, and there were some people who called me by my nickname," I thought for a moment, and decided to start from the lower rank: "commander kritchov of the 315 Infantry Division..."

"The one who said: Russia is big, but we have no way back, because behind us are the heroes of Moscow, right?" Starikov asked, his eyes glowing as I finished my first name.

"Write it down!" Yevgenri told the soldier, "go on, major."

"General Panfilov, division commander of the 315th infantry division."“ Write it down

"General lelushenk, commander of the first guard infantry."“ Write it down

"General katukov, commander of the first guard tank brigade."“ Write it down

Every time I said a name, yevgenri asked the soldier to write it down, but his face became more and more ugly.

"General rokosovsky, commander of the 16th army."“ Write it down

"General Zhukov, commander of the Western Front Army!"“ Write it down When he said this, yevgenri was obviously weak. He raised his hand to wipe the sweat on his forehead, bit his teeth and said, "go on, who else?"

"Rita." Fejaninski also intimately called my nickname: "anyone else, tell him." Then he asked yevgenri in a sarcastic tone, "Comrade captain, I also call major oshanina by his nickname. Do you want to write down my name, too?"

"There is a more important person who never calls me by my surname or rank. He always calls me by my nickname when he meets or calls."

"Who is he? Say it. " Yevgenri grabbed the pen and paper from the soldiers, waiting to write down the name of the last person.

"Joseph visariovich Stalin." When I said the name word by word, Yevgeny threw the pen and paper on the ground and yelled: "you lie. How can Comrade Stalin know such a small person as you and use such a friendly name for you?"

"Comrade captain," said meletzkov in a positive tone this time, "I can testify to that. When I talked with Comrade Stalin about major oshanina, he used the name of Rita. If you don't believe it, I can call Comrade Stalin immediately and ask him to explain it to you personally. " With that, he lifted his legs and went to the high-frequency phone, posing as if he was going to make a phone call.

Yevgenri was flustered. He waved his hand desperately and said, "no, comrade general, I believe what you said is true." Then he glared at me and said, "let's go!" With that, he took a few of his men out of the headquarters.