Chapter 1169

I went back to the headquarters. Before I had time to drink water, the telephone on the desk rang. Bizikov was the closest to the phone, so he grabbed it. After listening for a moment, he got up from his seat and said respectfully with a smile: "Hello, Hello! Do you have any instructions Yes, yes, I understand... OK, I'll convey your order to the commander. "

As soon as he put down the phone, he reported to me, "Comrade commander, I have just received a call from the headquarters of the front army, ordering you, the military commissar and the deputy commander to rush to the temporary headquarters of the front army immediately."

After listening, Danilov looked at me blankly and asked, "it seems that the headquarters of the front army has never summoned the three of us at the same time. Is there something serious?"

"Yes, comrade deputy commander, something must have happened." Kirilov said with a smile, "if it's not a big deal, how can we call all three of us?"

"What's the big deal?" Danilov frowned and thought hard. A moment later, he suddenly opened his eyes wide and said in surprise: "is it that vatukin thinks that we are not doing well in the recent battle and that if we want to call the three of us to get rid of the bad smell, we may be demoted? Comrade military commissar, have you heard anything? "

"Come on, comrades of the military commissar, don't tease comrades of the deputy commander any more." I think Danilov began to think wildly, quickly stopped kirilov's joking behavior, and took the initiative to explain to the other party: "I think commander watujing's call for the three of us to go to the headquarters must be a military meeting. As for the content, there is no need to guess. It must have something to do with the counter offensive. "

"The great counterattack?" Danilov's eyes lit up when I said that. After getting my confirmation, he immediately stood up, put the notebook and pencil in his briefcase, and began to urge us: "commander, military commissar, if there is nothing wrong, let's go."

The three of us crowded into the same jeep, escorted by two other jeeps, and headed for the headquarters of the front army. Kirilov and Danilov, who haven't been outside for a long time, can't help pointing out the window and talking as they look at the vehicles, commanders and fighters, and various Fortifications on the road.

Sitting in the co pilot's seat, I heard Danilov saying: "Comrade military commissar, look at the position on the hillside. The terrain is dangerous, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and the front view has been cleared. Even if the German army pays a heavy price, it will not be able to seize it."

Kirilov said modestly, "Comrade deputy commander, I am a layman in the military. However, as early as in the war of Stalingrad's defense, Rita commanded a division to stick to the mamayev post. For several months, the German army was unable to move forward. "

When I heard kirilov's praise, I couldn't help blushing. I quickly turned to him and said, "Comrade military commissar, don't praise me. It's not my credit at all. If the soldiers had not fought bravely and tenaciously, we would not have been able to hold on for several months, let alone block the enemy like a gate, so that they could not move forward. "

Kirilov turned to Danilov and said with a smile, "Comrade deputy commander, you see, Rita is just too modest. At that time, not far from mamayev post, there was a high ground, which was also the focus of contention between the enemy and us. Almost every day, a company, a battalion or even a regiment will be wiped out, and they will change hands several times. But after the end of the campaign, the highland will still be in our hands. "

"Yes, comrades of the military commissar," Danilov echoed kirilov: "I always thought war was a man's business, and women could not participate in it at all. To tell you the truth, I have some opinions in my mind when Comrade o'xianingna came to take the post of commander of the group army. But as an old Bolshevik, although I have a lot of dissatisfaction in my heart, I still resolutely obey the orders of my superiors. After the outbreak of this campaign, I was not satisfied with the commander's many arrangements before the war. I felt that according to her deployment, the enemy's attack could not be stopped at all. " At this point, he was a little embarrassed to smile, "but after the battle started, I saw that the enemy was tied up in front of these defensive deployment, and the progress was slow, which reversed my view of her."

I feel a little embarrassed by their praise, so I have to turn my eyes out of the window to get rid of my embarrassing situation. At this time, I suddenly heard Danilov say: "I don't know if I can see general apanashenko in today's meeting?"

I quickly turned around and asked Danilov, "what happened to the deputy commander of the front army?"

Danilov's eyes widened when I asked, and he said in surprise, "why, don't you know?"

"What should I know?" I asked

"I've heard commander watujing say that he's been running around the defense areas of various army groups recently. The commander was worried about his safety and made a special call to let me pay attention. If you meet him, don't let him go to dangerous places. " At this point, he looked at kirilov and said in surprise, "didn't you tell oshanina about the last time the general went to the headquarters of the group army?"

"No," kirilov said, shaking his head, "I thought commander vatukin would tell her about it, so I didn't tell her about it."

"Comrade deputy commander, do you know where the senior general is recently?" I know that in the real history, apanashchenko was killed by the German air raid these days, so he paid special attention to his safety, so he couldn't wait to ask Danilov, "how many guards do he have now?"

"How many?" Danilov shrugged and said, "I have a driver and a guard with me. Just the three of them, even if they meet a small group of German troops, they will be in danger. "

Although I don't know where apanashchenko is, I still told Danilov: "Comrade deputy commander, when you arrive at the headquarters of the front army, if you don't see Comrade General, you will call biezikov and ask him to inform the division commanders to find out the whereabouts of general Tongzhi and ensure his safety. If an accident happens to a senior general in a division's defense area, the division commander will be removed from his post. "

When we arrived at the headquarters of the front army, a special duty officer led the three of us to the reception room. At the moment, the room was full. There were at least twenty or thirty people. Some of them were standing, others were sitting on benches against the wall chatting. As soon as I entered the room, I heard someone saying hello to me. Looking at it, it turned out that it was general shumilov, commander of the seventh group army of the guards.

I quickly raised my hand to salute him and said in a friendly way: "Hello, comrade commander, nice to meet you here!"

Shumilov raised his hand and, as he reached for my hand, whispered, "Rita, you're playing very well. The eleven most elite German divisions were held back so that they could not transfer their troops to other directions. Otherwise, colocha might have been lost long ago. "

"Comrade commander," I replied with a smile, "you flatter me! The seventh group army of the guards under your command also contained a large number of German divisions. If you had not covered our left wing, we would have been surrounded by the German army. "

At this time, the door next to the reception room opened. A lieutenant commander stood at the door and said in a loud voice, "Comrade commander, please come in. Comrade commander is waiting for you inside."

Hearing his words, all the people stopped talking and rushed to the door.

Before I went into the conference room, I thought that I would see vatukin, Khrushchev, chief of staff lieutenant general Ivanov, and even the representative of the headquarters, vasilevsky. I didn't expect that when I went in, the first person I saw was actually general konev, commander of the grassland front army, and his chief of staff, lieutenant general zaharov. Although I didn't know the lieutenant general next to them, I guessed that it might be his military commissar, lieutenant general susekov.

Vasilevsky sat in the middle of the table facing the door, vatukin on his left and konev on his right.

After seeing that all the people were seated, vasilevsky stood up with a smile on his face and said in a loud voice, "Hello, commanders!"

I saw that the first person who stood up to speak was vasilevsky. I guess what he would announce next must be the news about the counterattack in the south of Kursk. His heart beat faster.

"Comrades commander, you may wonder why general konev is here since it is the meeting of Voronezh's front army." Before we had time to respond, he continued: "as you all know, general konev is the commander of the grassland front army. They are the base camp reserve of the supreme command. The reason why he is here today is that we have received orders from the supreme command to turn to a full-scale attack on the enemy in the south of Kursk in the near future and drive Manstein and his running dogs away from here. "

Vasilevsky was suddenly silent and began to glance slowly at everyone present. I think he must have thought about the defeat in the battle of Kharkov a few months ago, so he disrupted his prepared speech.

After a while, he finally spoke again: "comrades commander, almost all of you here have dealt with Manstein's troops, so it should be clearly remembered that we fought with them in Kharkov a few months ago. Although our two front armies at that time had an advantage in military strength, it was a pity that we finally failed in front of the cunning old fox, Mannstein. "

When he said that, a sigh came to mind in the room. It was obviously from the defeated generals under Manstein. Vasilevsky's words resonated with everyone.

"Well, let's let commander watujing give us the task." With these words, vasilevsky returned to his position.

I searched the room quickly with my eyes, and found no trace of apanashchenko. I quickly approached Danilov and whispered to him, "deputy commander, I don't see general apanashchenko. I think he is still in the front line. After the meeting, you can call bezikov and convey my meaning to him."

Danilov nodded and whispered, "Comrade commander, I see. I'll call as soon as the meeting is over. " At this time, vatujing began to explain the mission to you. He pointed to the map on the wall with his stick and said to all of us, "comrades, according to the order of the supreme command, we Voronezh front army and grassland front army will turn to the counter offensive in the near future, and completely repel the forces of the southern group army group that attacked Kursk from the South and Manstein." Then he explained in detail the areas responsible for each group army and the route of the counter offensive. When Danilov was listening to vatukin's explanation, he came close to my ear and asked in a low voice, "Comrade commander, what about Prokhorovka? You know, it was also within the defense scope of our group army at the beginning? " I replied in a low voice, "Comrade deputy commander, don't you see general konev sitting on it? This means that the defense and counterattack in Prokhorovka are all in the charge of the fifth group army of close guard tanks under his command, which has nothing to do with us. " When Danilov heard me say this, he gave a gentle hum, sat down again, and continued to listen to watugen's explanation. From watujing's explanation, I can see that the counterattack routes of the sixth group army of the guards are almost all along the Belgorod Kursk highway. As I listened, I was planning how to adjust the current deployment of troops so as to better launch a comprehensive counterattack against the German army. When watujing finished speaking, he put down his explanation stick and asked, "comrades, you can put forward any opinions you have."“ Comrade commander, "shumilov immediately raised his hand to speak. He stood up and asked," I want to ask, judging from the degree of German attack in the past two days, their strength has not been completely weakened. Is it too early to launch a counter offensive at such a time? "“ No, comrade shumilov. " Watujing said to everyone with a smile: "maybe you are very surprised, why do we launch such a comprehensive counterattack at the most violent time of the German attack? Isn't this a war of attrition against the enemy? " Seeing everyone nodding, he continued, "I have another piece of good news for you. The Allied forces landed in Sicily, and the German forces had to send troops back from Kursk. In this way, our opportunity will come. "