In the next few days, accompanied by apanashchenko, I successively inspected the defense areas of the 6th, 7th and 40th group army of the guards, inspected all kinds of fortifications they built, and put forward some suggestions for rectification.
Apanashchenko showed great cooperation in the whole process of accompanying him. As long as you see that the commanders of the group army, as well as their subordinate division commanders, brigades and commanders, show their resistance to my rectification suggestions, you will not hesitate to stand on my side and teach those subordinates a lesson: "general oshanina says you can do what you say. Don't think that she is deliberately making trouble for you, she is helping you. As long as the fortifications are improved according to her suggestions, in the following defensive operations, not only the casualties of your troops can be greatly reduced, but also the probability of winning the defensive battle can be greatly increased. "
Seeing that apanashchenko helped me so much, the commanders did not dare to complain, so they had to follow my orders honestly and command their subordinates to complete the reconstruction of the fortifications.
It was the evening of April 29 when I finished the inspection of Voronezh's front army defense area and returned to Kursk. When I arrived at the headquarters of the front army, I found that rokosovsky and military commissar jerekin were not in the headquarters. Only the chief of staff, lieutenant general malining, was in charge of the daily work.
Seeing me appear, marinin immediately stood up from his seat, shook hands with me and said apologetically, "Rita, I'm so sorry. The commander and the military commissar received an urgent call from Marshal Zhukov a few hours ago and have rushed back to Moscow. As for the inspection of fortifications, I can't go with you any more. I'll arrange for you to have a night's rest in the guest house, and I'll arrange for someone to accompany you to the inspection tomorrow. "
After running around prohorovka for several days, I was really tired. Hearing what malining said, I nodded and said with approval, "well, chief of staff, please arrange a residence for me and my subordinates. I've been out for such a long time, and my men are exhausted. "
When I finished, malining picked up the phone on the desk and asked his men to arrange accommodation for us in the guest house. After he put down the phone, he said to me with a smile, "Rita, your place has been arranged. It's only 200 meters away from the headquarters. I'll send someone to look for you if there's anything."
After hearing this, I held out my hands to him with a smile and said gratefully, "thank you, thank you, chief of staff."
After he let go of my hand, he yelled to the outside, "somebody, please." With his shouts, a lieutenant trotted in and stood upright in front of us, waiting for malining's orders. Malining pointed to me and said, "Lieutenant, send general o'shanina to the guest house immediately."
The lieutenant agreed, then made a gesture to me and said politely, "Comrade General, please!"
Yushchenko's room and the guard's room are on the first floor. There are four people in one room, and the four rooms are just full. My room, on the second floor, is a single room with a bathroom.
After eating the dinner brought by the staff of the guest house, I simply washed, and then I lay on the bed. During this period of inspection in Voronezh's front army defense area, I was exhausted. I couldn't eat well and sleep well every day. I finally came back to Kursk. I had to make up for my sleepiness.
As a result, I didn't sleep long before I was awakened by a sudden knock on the door. I raised my hand and looked at my watch. At one o'clock in the morning, I was about to get angry at the knock, but I heard Yushchenko's anxious voice: "Comrade General, comrade general, please open the door. There's something important."
I turned over and got out of bed, went to the door, took off the military coat hanging on the coat rack, buttoned it, opened the door and rushed to Yushchenko, who was standing outside. He asked angrily, "what's the matter, comrade captain?"
"Report to general, there's an emergency call from Moscow. I want you to answer it immediately." Before Yushchenko spoke, the lieutenant who had just guided us emerged from behind him.
"Do you know anything?" Although I knew that there was nothing valuable to be asked from the lieutenant, I asked casually.
What happened next, as I expected, the lieutenant shook his head and replied, "sorry, comrade general, I don't know. I just came to inform you to answer the phone at the order of the chief of staff of the front army. "
I turned to take off my cap from the coat rack and put it on my head. Then I waved my head to the lieutenant and said, "come on, comrade lieutenant."
"Comrade General," I was just about to leave, and Yushchenko asked, "do you need to call up all the soldiers in the guard class?"
"No," I thought. I just went to answer a phone call. I didn't need to stir up the crowd, so I waved back Yushchenko's kindness. "I'll be back soon. You and the other soldiers should sleep first. Don't wait for me."
In order to be in a hurry, the lieutenant stopped a tricycle at the gate of the guest house. As soon as I got into the sidecar, he hit the accelerator and rushed down the wide street towards the headquarters.
A few minutes later, I came to malinin's headquarters again. He pointed to a microphone on the table and said, "come on, it's an emergency call from Moscow. I want you to answer it as soon as possible."
I picked up the receiver, put it in my ear and said in a loud voice, "Hello, I'm lieutenant general o'shanina."
Before I asked who was calling, a strange voice came from the receiver: "general oshanina, I'm sokolovsky. Come back to Moscow immediately. Move fast!" Then he cut off the phone.
Holding the silent microphone in a daze, I thought to myself, who is general sokolovsky? I don't seem familiar with him. Seeing that I was absent-minded, marinin couldn't help asking, "Rita, who's calling just now?"
"It's a general called sokolovsky," I said to malining as I tried to recall in my mind who the commander by that name was. "He told me to go back to Moscow immediately."
"It turned out to be general sokolovsky. He used to be the chief of staff of Marshal Zhukov." Malining obviously knew the leader who called me. After he gave me a brief introduction, he said to himself, "isn't he transferred to the Western army as commander? Why is it in Moscow at this time? "
I heard that sokolovsky used to be Zhukov's chief of staff, and I knew that Zhukov must have asked me to call him back to Moscow. It seems that something big is going to happen in Moscow. I have to go back overnight, or I will miss it.
Thinking of this, I made a request to malining: "Comrade chief of staff, the superior ordered me to go back to Moscow as soon as possible. I think there must be something important. There is something wrong with the truck of my guard team. It always breaks down on the road. Can you change a new car for us? "
"No problem." Malining readily agreed to this matter, and then told the lieutenant who had just accompanied me, "Lieutenant, please go again and call up general o'shanina's men, so that they are ready to start."
After the lieutenant left, malining said to me thoughtfully, "Rita, I think something important is going to happen. Otherwise, the commander and the military commissar will not be called back to Moscow today, and now you are urgently called back. This must be something important."
I quite agree with malining's analysis. I nodded and added: "it was sokolovsky who called me just now. As you said, he is now the commander of the Western army. There is nothing important. He will never leave the army and go back to Moscow." After saying this, I thought that malining was higher than me and asked tentatively, "Comrade chief of staff, don't you even know what it is?"
Malining shook his head and said with a bitter smile, "Rita, you are a senior commander. You should know the secrecy discipline in the army. We shouldn't ask. We can't ask. Besides, it's something that can let me know. The commander must have told me a long time ago. But when he and the military commissar left, they only said that they had something urgent to go to Moscow and asked me to take charge of the daily affairs management of the front army. They didn't say anything else. "
We chatted for a while, and the lieutenant came in armed with Yushchenko. Seeing Yushchenko here, I knew that the outside was ready, so I stood up and shook hands with marinin.
As there was only one truck, Yushchenko and I got into the cab, and I sat between them. When the car started, I specially told Yushchenko: "Captain, wake me up when you get to Moscow." With that, he closed his eyes and began to close his eyes.
I don't know how long I slept. I was shaken up by Yushchenko beside me. I could still hear his voice before my eyes: "general, general, we are in Moscow. Where should we go next? "
"Where else?" I thought that I could not enter the Kremlin in my present status. The only place I could go was Zhukov's headquarters, so I told the driver, "go to Marshal Zhukov's headquarters."
The driver was originally drawn from Zhukov headquarters. He naturally knew how to take the route. After listening to my instructions, he promised to continue driving.
While driving, I suddenly heard Yushchenko exclaim in surprise: "general, look, there are many tanks on the side of the road." "It's really strange that these tanks and the tanks we usually see are not necessary," he said
Listening to what he said, I also looked out of the window curiously. There was a tank column that could not see the end at a glance. Although each tank was covered with camouflage net, I recognized that it was not a common T-34 tank, but a new t-5455 tank that transcended the time and space.
Seeing that there were armed infantry guarding each tank, I couldn't help but arouse my curiosity and ordered the driver: "driver, pull over, I want to see these tanks."
As soon as our car stopped, before Yushchenko opened the door, we left immediately. Two soldiers with submachine guns came to stop Yushchenko who wanted to get off. At the same time, we politely said, "Comrade commander, no parking is allowed here. Please leave immediately."
Yushchenko saw that only two ordinary soldiers stopped him from getting off the bus. He didn't pay attention to their words. He pushed the door open and jumped down. As soon as he stood upright, the muzzles of the two submachine guns were aimed at his head. At the same time, the two soldiers said loudly, "go back to the car immediately, or we will shoot!"
Seeing this situation, I quickly pulled out the pistol. At the same time, the soldiers in the carriage also saw this situation. They also lifted the tarpaulin, raised their guns one after another, and took aim at the two brave soldiers condescensively. The soldiers on duty nearby found the abnormality here and rushed over one after another. Dozens of hundreds of people surrounded our trucks and pointed their weapons at us. It's not good to see that there are still commanders and fighters coming from afar. We are surrounded by several times of people now. If any commander or fighter's gun goes off because of nervousness, it will lead to a fight. In order to calm down the situation as soon as possible, I stood on the pedal outside the car door and yelled at all the people, "I'm lieutenant general oshanina. I order you to put down your weapons." After shouting again, I saw that no one obeyed my orders, and the weapon in his hand still pointed to the other side. I turned to the soldiers of the guard class in the car and yelled, "guard class, all of you. Follow my orders and put down your guns." Although the soldiers in the carriage were dissatisfied, they lowered their guns honestly at my command. I turned to the officers and men who surrounded the truck and cried out, "comrades, our weapons are used to fight the enemy, not to target our own people. Now I order you to put down your weapons At my command, the soldiers who aimed their weapons at us looked at each other, but no one gave up their guns. Seeing this situation, my heart became more and more anxious. Just when I wanted to give orders to these commanders and fighters again, I heard a loud voice: "everyone, listen to my command, put down the gun!" With this command, the muzzle in the hands of all the soldiers turned to the ground. Then several people squeezed out from among the commanders and fighters and came to me. The major who took the lead raised his hand to salute me and said politely, "Hello, general oshanina. I'm sorry that my subordinates have disturbed you. On behalf of them, I apologize to you." I looked down at the major in front of me. I felt familiar, but I couldn't remember where I met him. So I tentatively asked, "major, I think you look familiar. Have we met before?"