Chapter 1179

After apanashchenko's body was carried onto the bus and the surviving soldiers of the guard platoon got on the bus one after another, I went to the second lieutenant and said to him without expression: "second lieutenant, let the driver follow my car."

Hearing my order, the second lieutenant didn't ask anything, but mechanically agreed: "yes!"

After I got on my jeep, I clenched my teeth and gave the order to the driver: "go to the front command!"

After the car started, busmanov turned around and asked with a guilty heart, "Comrade commander, is it appropriate for us to go to the headquarters of the front army at this time?"

The death of apanashchenko made me feel very passive. Although I didn't know what would happen if I went to the headquarters of the front army, I had to go there with a stiff head. I said to basmanov carefully, "Comrade major, the deputy commander of the front army was bombed and killed by the enemy plane when he was inspecting the front line with us. This matter must be reported immediately to the headquarters of the front army and to general watujing. "

Basmanov wanted to say something else, but he opened his mouth and said nothing. I had to turn around again and look out of the window to hide my nervousness.

When we got there, we waited for the guards to lift apanashchenko's body from the car and headed for the headquarters, while basmanov, the second lieutenant and several soldiers followed with stretchers.

The commanders and fighters on the road flashed to both sides to make way for us. Although the guards had covered apanashchenko's head with his shirt, the epaulets on his uniform revealed his identity. The war has been going on for two years. It is no longer the time when the division commander took the lead in the charge. It is rare to see the casualties of commanders at the general level. Now it is strange to see a general lying on a stretcher with blood dripping all of a sudden, which does not arouse everyone's special attention.

When I came to the gate of the headquarters, the major on duty outside met so many people. I didn't know what was wrong. He quickly met them and asked me politely, "general oshanina, what's wrong? Why are so many people here?" Then he tilted his head and looked back from my body. When he saw the body lying on the stretcher, he was silly.

I turned to basmanov, raised my hand to them and said, "put it down first." Then I turned around and asked the major who was standing in front of us, "major, is the senior general in there?"

"Yes," said the major on duty, without leaving apanashchenko's body, somewhat flustered, "the commander and marshal are in the room. Go in!"

I nodded gratefully to the major and strode into the spacious headquarters. After entering the door, I scanned around with my eyes and found that except for the busy staff at all levels, I didn't see the shadow of watujing. Maybe it was in the room inside, as the duty said.

As soon as I approached the door of the inner room, I heard the loud voice of watujing coming out from inside: "in order to meet the war, we had a thorough pre war training. In view of how to overcome the infantry's fear of tank attack, we have set up a special training ground to "crush" the infantry with T-34 tanks. That is to say, let the infantry squat in the trench and let the T-34 tank drive through the trench. Of course, in addition to infantry training, there are also artillery and tank training. The artillery should be trained to rapidly change firing positions, while the tank training should focus on accurate firing from bunkers and tank encounter. "

When I got to the door, I found that there were a lot of people sitting in the room. In addition to vatukin, vasilevsky and Khrushchev, there were seven or eight men and women in plain clothes. They were lowering their heads and quickly recording what vatukin said in their notebooks. It seemed that they were a group of reporters from Mosco.

When vatukin was talking about his interest, he suddenly found that vasilevsky and Khrushchev were staring at the door. He instinctively looked towards the door, then turned his eyes back to vasilevsky and asked them, "what are you looking at?" Before his words came down, his body trembled suddenly and turned his eyes to me again.

After a moment's absence, he dashed to my door with an arrow. After looking me up and down, I reached out and grabbed my arm and asked excitedly, "Comrade o'shanina, what's the matter with you? Are you hurt?"

I shook my head and said dejectedly, "Comrade General, I'm not hurt. I'm covered with other people's blood."

Watujing seemed to notice something wrong. He looked over my shoulder and looked out. At the same time, he asked anxiously, "your military commissar has reported to me that you and Comrade apanashchenko have gone to the front line for inspection. Now that you are back, where is the deputy commander? "

"Sacrifice I bowed my head and said with difficulty, "on the way to Yakovlev, we were attacked by enemy planes. Unfortunately, comrade deputy commander died!"

"What, sacrifice!" As soon as watujing finished this sentence, he was pulled aside. Then vasilevsky's big body appeared in front of me. He grabbed my arm and asked, "what do you say, general apanashchenko died?"

Holding back the pain from my arm, I bit my back teeth and said, "yes, the deputy commander of the front army was attacked by the German army in the front and died with honor."

Vasilevsky gave me a hard push and asked, "where is his body?"

I stumbled back into the middle of the outer room and cautiously replied, "it's at the door."

"Come in, then." Warsilevsky, who was always mild tempered, yelled at me.

"Major, bring in the stretcher." I saw busmanov standing at the door and yelled at him, "put it in the middle of the room."

Seeing that several soldiers put the stretcher with apanashchenko's body on the ground, watujing immediately jumped on it, squatted on the ground and carefully uncovered the shirt covering his head. When he saw apanashchenko's face, his face muscles began to twitch violently. He took out a snow-white handkerchief and gently wiped the dried up bloodstains. His eyes began to wet, and tears turned in his red eyes. Finally, he could not help falling on apanashchenko's blood soaked uniform: "Comrade apanashchenko! My deputy commander comrades, you... How can you go like this again... I am sorry for you! I didn't send someone to protect you... "

Khrushchev looked up at the ceiling and did not say a word for a long time.

And vasilevsky raised his hand to wipe his eyes and took off his cap. His action seemed to be a command. All the soldiers in the room took off their caps and bowed their heads to apanashchenko for a moment of silence.

When vatukin's mood was a little more stable, vasilevsky pulled him up from the ground and said to him solemnly, "Comrade vatukin, this matter needs to be reported to Moscow immediately. Let's go and call the Supreme Commander himself

After the two men entered the inner room, Khrushchev sent for Bai Bu to cover apanashchenko's body. Then he called the reporters to his side and announced to them, "comrades, apanashchenko was bombed when he was found by the enemy's bombers when he was commanding the battle at the very front command post of the position. After the general was hit by the fragments of the bomb, he died because he was seriously injured and failed to rescue. Do you all remember? "

"Remember!" Several reporters answered in unison.

After listening to their answers, Khrushchev nodded with satisfaction. Then he called in the major on duty outside the door and asked him to take the body of apanashchenko out first, find a place to put it, and take the reporters to have a rest.

After the reporters and the soldiers carrying apanashchenko's body left, Khrushchev waved his head at me, motioned me to go inside with him, and said that he would learn some details from me.

I followed Khrushchev and walked into the inner room when I heard vasilevsky say his last words to the microphone: "yes, comrade Stalin, we will return the remains of Comrade apanashchenko to Moscow as soon as possible. what? Let oshanina escort the body? " When he said this, he looked at me and then said in embarrassment: "the sixth group army of the close guard is now fighting back against the German army. If the commander is changed at this time, the command system of the army will be in chaos. I suggest other commanders escort the general's coffin back..."

After putting down the phone, vasilevsky said to me with a straight face: "Rita, after Comrade Stalin learned about the news of the sacrifice of general apanashchenko, he was very angry. If we ask you to escort apanashchenko's coffin back to Moscow, you will have to endure his thunder. For the sake of your future, I've convinced him to escort the coffin back

"Thank you, thank you, marshal!" Although I have no responsibility in this matter, after all, apanashchenko has to go to the frontier to inspect. I have no choice but to obey his orders. However, I would like to express my sincere thanks to vasilevsky for solving a crisis for me.

Watujing looked at me and said, "Comrade oshanina, deputy commander apanashchenko died in your defense area. In order to avenge him, do you have any new counterattack plans recently?"

I can't help but frown when I hear these words from watujing, saying that all my reserve forces have been used in today's counterattack. If I want to fight back again, where should I mobilize my forces? Thinking of this, I shook my head and said with regret, "I'm sorry, comrade commander. At present, the strength of our group army is limited. Apart from consolidating Yakovlev area, we can't launch a new counter offensive in other areas for the time being."

Hearing what I said, watujing sat down in silence, tapping gently on the table with his fingers. After a while, he said, "Comrade oshanina, if you want to completely restore your first line of defense, how many troops do you need?"

When I saw a map on the table, I raised my finger and said cautiously, "may I have a look at that map?"

"Look Said watujing, pushing the map toward where I was.

I quickly walked over and bent down to look at the map used by watujing. The above situation is much more comprehensive than the map in my command department. In addition to the location of our group army, there are all the lines of defense of the first group army, the seventh group army, the 69th group army and the fifth group army of the close guard tank. This gives me a more intuitive understanding of the whole situation of the enemy and ourselves in the south of Kursk.

After reading for a while, I pointed to the map and said to vatukin and vasilevsky, "if general rotmistrov ' After hearing this, vasilevsky raised his head and said to me, "Rita, the counterattack we launched today in the north of Kursk has achieved great results. The attack of the ninth German group army on our front has been completely restrained. Without the support of the central army group, the attack of Manstein would not last long. If Hitler sent troops from him to drive Italy, the German army in the south of Kursk would not pose a great threat to us. " When vasilevsky spoke, vatukin did not speak. As soon as he finished, he immediately added: "yes, according to what we know, with the Allied victory in Sicily, the German forces will become weaker and weaker. Therefore, we should not only restore our defensive positions before July 5, but also start to consider the recovery of Belgorod and Kharkov. " At this point, he pointed to me, "don't forget the promise you made to the supreme commander that the liberation of these two cities will be the main task of your group army in the next stage."“ Comrade commander of the front army, "I waited for watujing to finish, and then immediately said," after a week's fighting, the casualties of individual divisions have exceeded half, so it is urgent to replenish the troops. I don't know when we can replenish these divisions? " In response to my request, watujing thought about it and replied, "at the earliest, wait three days. That is to say, on the 15th, the members of your group army will be able to arrive in succession." Khrushchev, who had not spoken for a long time, broke in and said, "Rita, almost all the new recruits are added to you this time, so we should also pay close attention to their training to ensure that the troops can form combat effectiveness as soon as possible."“ Don't worry, comrade military Commissar. " As for Khrushchev's reminder, I gratefully said, "I will convey your instructions to the commanders of all divisions." Vasilevsky raised his hand and looked at his watch. He looked up at me and said, "Rita, it's getting late. You'd better go back to the army as soon as possible. As for the matter of general apanashchenko, although everyone felt very sad, no one meant to blame you. You should never bear any psychological burden because of this matter and affect your command and combat. Do you understand? "“ I see! " After hearing what vasilevsky said, the stone hanging in my heart finally fell to the ground, saluted the three, turned and walked out of the room.