Chapter 1481

Katukov took the bread from the old man's hand and handed it to the guard behind him. Then he stretched out his hands, held the old man's hand tightly and said warmly, "thank you, old man!"

After releasing the old man's hand, he leaned slightly, pointed to me and introduced to the old man, "old man, this is general oshanina, deputy commander of our front army."

"Hello, old man!" I think that since the old man in front of me can represent the residents of the city to greet us, he must be a respected elder. Therefore, while shaking hands with him, I politely said, "you have suffered!"

Unexpectedly, the old man showed indifference to me. As soon as he let go of my hand, he turned to katukov and asked, "Comrade General, you will not leave this time when you fight back."

Although I know very well in my heart that maybe the old man couldn't figure out the establishment of the army, so that he took me as katukov's valet, I felt a little embarrassed when I was given such a cold reception in public. Katukov gave me an apologetic smile and then replied to the old man, "don't worry, old man, since we can call back, we will never leave again. We should not only liberate all our territory, but also go to the hometown of the Communist Party of China. "

Hearing what katukov said, the old man's eyes were filled with tears. He nodded his head hard and said, "great, great. That's great. Comrade general, you don't know that the Germans have done us a lot of harm in recent years... "

I like an idle person like standing on one side, listening to two people say some polite and no nutrition, feel extremely boring. As I was looking around, I was trying to figure out a reason to pull katukov away. Suddenly, I heard the old man say to katukov, "Comrade General, since you have reoccupied this ancient city, should you follow the tradition?"

The old man's words immediately aroused my great interest. I wanted to find out what the tradition was, so I stared at the old man, waiting for him to say the following words. And katukov was also attracted by the old man's words. He asked curiously, "old man, I don't know what you mean by tradition."

"Comrade General, don't you know?" Seeing katukov, the old man did not know what he said about the tradition, and his face showed displeasure. However, he patiently explained: "according to the tradition, after occupying a city, a street in the city is usually named after the first army or its commander who rushes into the city."

Name a street in the city after the commander of the first army to rush into the city? When I heard the old man's statement, I was stunned and said in my heart, does Russia have such a tradition? But when I looked at katukov with puzzled eyes, it was just opposite his eyes, and I saw that his eyes were also puzzled.

In public, if the old people say that there is such an ancient tradition, then there must be, if not, there must be. Katukov turned his head, looked at the old man and said with a smile, "old man, we still have something important to do. See you later." Then he reached for the old man's hand and shook it vigorously.

As we drove along with the self-propelled artillery brigade just entering the city and headed for the position of the new headquarters, katukov approached me and said in a low voice, "Rita, the old man just now may not know the rank of the army, so he is so indifferent to you. I hope you don't mind."

"General katukov, this is a small matter. Don't care too much." Although I was left out in the cold when I was standing next to katukov, it was nothing. What I couldn't stand most was the cold weather. At the moment, my bones were freezing and I couldn't wait to find a warm place, so I urged katukov: "we'd better go back to the new headquarters as soon as possible. It's too cold."

When katukov heard me say this, he immediately said with a smile, "Rita, this is my thoughtlessness. I asked you to ride with me in this open car, which made you cold." With that, he patted the driver on the shoulder and said, "Comrade driver, speed up and get to the new headquarters as soon as possible."

Katukov's new headquarters is located in a church more than 300 meters away from the municipal building. When the car passed the municipal building and saw the buildings full of holes, as well as the burned tank wreckage on the street, I immediately understood why katukov did not set up the headquarters here.

When we got out of the car and walked into the church, the hall was in a mess, with soldiers cleaning up the bricks and stones and signalmen laying telephone lines. There are also two stoves in our office area. The fire inside is very hot. As soon as I walk by, I feel a stream of hot air coming.

While I was sitting by the fire, a staff officer came over with a telegram and reported to katukov, "Comrade commander, the call from the headquarters of the front army says that the marshal will arrive in half an hour."

"What, Marshal Zhukov is coming to us?" Katukov, hearing what the staff officer said, snatched the telegram in his hand and scanned it carefully.

When katukov was reading the telegram, I muttered to myself that it was hundreds of kilometers away from the headquarters of the front army. Even if Zhukov started immediately, he would have at least seven or eight hours' drive on the road. How could he arrive in half an hour? Thinking of this, I asked curiously, "general katukov, I don't know when Marshal Zhukov started, but he can arrive at chernofze in half an hour?"

"It's been half an hour since we started." As he handed me the telegram, katukov said, "he came by plane. In half an hour, it's almost time to arrive."

After reading the telegram, I put it on the table, looked up and asked, "general katukov, shall we wait for him here, or shall we meet him at the airport?"

After walking back and forth in front of me, katukov stopped and said, "we'd better stay here and wait for him. He doesn't like other people's airs. If we go to the airport to meet him, maybe we'll have some complaints."

To tell you the truth, I've been freezing outside for so long. I feel frozen and stiff. I'm a little bit hot. I'm still reluctant to go to the airport to meet Zhukov. Since katukov said that he would stay in the headquarters and wait for Zhukov, I would push the boat forward and say, "anyway, the chief of staff and the military commissar have not arrived, and there can not be no person in charge in the headquarters. Let's stay here and wait for the marshal."

Zhukov's car arrived outside the church forty minutes later. Fortunately, the chief of staff and the military commissar came to the headquarters one after another before Zhukov arrived, so as soon as Zhukov's car arrived, katukov took us outside to meet him.

Seeing that the car stopped steadily under the steps of the church, I trotted over and took the initiative to open the rear door. I shook hands with Zhukov who got off the car first: "Hello, marshal, welcome to visit here."

Zhukov gave me a little smile, then shook hands with katukov, who was standing behind me, and asked directly, "Comrade katukov, what's the matter? Have your troops started to build a defense in the south of the city?"

"Yes, comrade marshal." While shaking hands with Zhukov, katukov replied: "at present, general Gutman's 11th army of close guard tanks and 24th infantry division are strengthening their defense by using the original fortifications in the south of the city."

When we returned to the conference table of the headquarters and sat down, katukov asked Zhukov carefully, "Comrade marshal, are the German troops really assembling and preparing to attack us?"

Zhukov nodded to katukov and said, "yes, according to the latest information we have, the German army is assembling troops in Romania, ready to fight back against you. As long as you can stop them for a while, and when the rest of the troops arrive, we can drive the Germans out of our country completely. "

"Don't worry, comrade marshal." Katukov vowed to Zhukov, "we must be able to block the German attack like a gate."

"General katukov, you've done a good job!" After receiving katukov's assurance, Zhukov turned the topic and said with a smile: "because you decisively occupied chernofse, the German tank 1st group army and tank 4th group army's defense lines were completely separated, making them unable to echo each other, creating favorable conditions for us to annihilate these two isolated enemies in the next step."

Perhaps Zhukov used a new name to call the city which was occupied by us soon, which immediately reminded katukov of what the old man said in the street. So he carefully asked Zhukov, "Comrade marshal, may I ask you a question?"

Since katukov was the conqueror of chernofse, Zhukov said with a kind face after hearing what he said: "general katukov, if you have anything, just ask. As long as I know, I will give you a satisfactory answer. "

"Comrade marshal, it is like this." When katukov saw that Zhukov was in a good mood at the moment, he repeated the old man's words to him and finally asked, "can we really name the street after the commander of the army that first rushed into the city?"

"Yes, there is such a tradition." Zhukov nodded his head and said, "it's like if we just put the red flag on the top of the municipal building to declare that the city has been occupied by us." When he said this, he stopped for a moment, and then asked, "I don't know which army first rushed into the city?"

Katukov turned to look at his chief of staff and said, "chief of staff, you are the most clear about this matter. It's up to you to report it to the marshal."

The chief of staff agreed, got up from his seat and said respectfully to Zhukov, "Comrade marshal, the first one who rushed into the city was lieutenant nikitin's tank company."

When I heard the name of nikikin, I couldn't help interrupting and asked, "chief of staff, if I remember correctly, Lieutenant nikikin belongs to the 200th brigade of the tank?"

The chief of staff nodded and replied with a smile, "Comrade deputy commander of the front army, you remember right. Lieutenant nikitin was originally from the 200th tank brigade, but the brigade was almost dead after the German air attack. So the tank company of lieutenant nikitin was temporarily assigned to the command of the 100th tank brigade of Colonel veradelle. "

As soon as Zhukov and other chief of staff finished speaking, they immediately said, "not only which tank brigade he belongs to, he is in the organizational structure of the first group army of your tanks." At this point, he turned to katukov and asked, "general katukov, am I right?"

"That's right, that's right." Katukov shook his head like a rattle and said, "no matter which brigade the tank company originally belonged to, he was in the organizational structure of our group army."

Seeing that katukov agreed with his own opinion, Zhukov made an arbitrary decision: "general katukov, you are going to build a memorial platform at the entrance of the city to place the tank driven by lieutenant nikitin on it. At the same time, you are going to write on the memorial board: on March 27, 1944, when the city was liberated by the German plunderers, The tank of the squadron of guard tank Lieutenant Nicky king was the first to break into the city. At the same time, name a street in the city after nikikin Hearing a series of orders issued by Zhukov, the military commissar quickly stood up, straightened his back and said, "don't worry, marshal, I will immediately arrange for people to build this memorial platform. It will only take three days at most." Zhukov nodded to the military commissar's reply with satisfaction. Then he looked around, looked at the reaction of the people, and continued to say, "I know that you are very envious of the honor that lieutenant nikitin has received. But don't be disappointed, because our war with the Germans can't be finished in a day or two. Maybe you will have a chance to name a street in the city in your own name in the future. " Although I have no interest in naming a street after myself. However, for the Soviet people with a strong sense of honor, it is a great honor to name the streets by their own names. No matter how excited the chief of staff and military commissars are, even katukov, who has always been mature and steady, is a little restless. After a few more words, Zhukov suddenly looked at me and asked, "Rita, what's your next step? Will you stay here, or will you go back to the front command with me? " As soon as I thought of going back to the headquarters of the front army, I would live a life of idleness and no real power. My heart was filled with fear, so I resolutely rejected Zhukov's good intentions: "Comrade marshal, before our troops arrived at the border line, I was willing to stay with general katukov and fight side by side with them."