Chapter 1548

Afuning said with a strong voice: "Comrade General, naturally, on the order of Comrade Khrushchev, I brought the tank battalion commander he recommended to you to see you!"

"Comrade Khrushchev's orders?" Ah Funing's reply surprised me. I asked in surprise, "he is no longer a military commissar of the front army. How can he personally ask about the personnel appointment in the army?"

"Well, Comrade General." Seeing my confused face, afuning quickly explained, "didn't you say that our troops need a lot of experienced commanders some time ago? The person recommended by Khrushchev is very suitable for the post of tank battalion commander of the new division. "

When he finished, I said slightly dissatisfied: "general afuning, you are the commander of the 18th army of the guards. You can be fully responsible for the appointment and removal of officers below the regiment level. You don't need me to tell you what to do with a position like the commander of a tank battalion? " As the soldiers of the new division are adapted from the rescued prisoners of war, they are the most unpopular troops in the whole front army. Therefore, the ranks of commanders at all levels are very low. A tank battalion commander is a captain. It would be a bit of a fuss to ask me, the deputy commander of the front army, to appoint such a post in person.

Seeing my dissatisfaction, a Funing said with a bitter smile, "Comrade deputy commander, this is the situation. According to Comrade Khrushchev, the new tank battalion commander was selected by him for you. Would you like to see her? "

I wanted to turn down afuning's request, but I was surprised to find that he used "she" instead of "he" when he called each other. I asked curiously, "Comrade General, is this new tank battalion commander still a female commander?"

"Yes, it's a female commander who just returned from injury." Ah Funing quickly replied, "it is said that she has dealt with you."

It was said that Khrushchev recommended a female commander to me, who had dealt with me before, which made me interested immediately. I immediately asked, "general afuning, I don't know where this female commander is now?"

"Right outside the door."

"Ask her in quickly!"

Ah Funing agreed, went to the door and said to the corridor outside, "Comrade lieutenant, the deputy commander wants to see you. Please come in." Then he turned aside to let the people outside come in.

A medium-sized female commander came in from the door. She stopped two or three steps away from my desk, stood at attention and raised her hand to salute: "Comrade deputy commander of the front army, Lieutenant Levchenko, commander of the tank battalion of the new division of the 18th army of the guards, I have been ordered to come. I'm waiting for your order, please give me instructions!"

I got up, walked around the table to Levchenko, offered my hand to her, and said friendly, "Hello, Lieutenant Levchenko!"

I looked carefully at the well proportioned, beautiful, well-dressed officer in a decent uniform, trying to remember where I had seen her. But unfortunately, although I think she looks very nice, I can't remember where I met her.

I gave her a smile and asked tentatively, "Lieutenant Levchenko, I just heard general afuning say that we have met before. Is there such a thing?"

"Yes, comrade deputy commander." "We met in Kiev," Levchenko replied

"In Kiev?" I tried to recall whether I had ever met such a female commander when I went to Kiev to meet watugin and rokosovsky. But unfortunately, after thinking about it for a long time, I didn't remember that I had ever met any female officers in Kiev. So I shook my head and said with embarrassment, "Lieutenant Levchenko, please forgive me. I really can't remember where we met. Can you tell me more in detail?"

When Levchenko listened to me, he grinned and reminded me, "Comrade deputy commander, have you forgotten. After we liberated Kiev at the beginning of last year, you came to our tank brigade to inspect in person and ran into general rebalko. "

When she told me when we liberated Kiev and what happened to me and rebalko, a name almost forgotten popped up in my mind and immediately blurted out: "Oh, I remember, you are Levchenko, Irina nikolayevna Levchenko."

"That's right, that's right, comrade deputy commander," said Levchenko, nodding his head and rejoicing as I accurately called his name. "I didn't expect you to remember my order."

Afuning, standing next to me, saw me and Levchenko embracing each other warmly. He couldn't help asking curiously, "Comrade deputy commander, when did you know each other?"

I first asked them to sit down, and then I sat down at my desk again. Then I said, "general afuning, when I was commander of the 79th infantry army at the beginning of last year, I led the army to deal with the German army on the right bank of the Dnieper River. At that time, the main forces of Manstein were fighting with our Voronezh front army and the southwest front army, and the German defense near Kiev was very weak. So I decisively carried out the long-distance attack tactics, and caught the city with general rebalko's forces

Speaking of this, I couldn't help looking at Levchenko sitting next to afuning, and continued: "at that time, the tank brigade that lieutenant Levchenko was in was one of the first troops to join us, and I knew her at that time."

"So it is," said afuning, looking at Levchenko, who was sitting beside him. "I didn't expect that after more than a year, you would meet again here. It's a coincidence."

"Lieutenant Levchenko, how did you get out of Kiev?" I looked at Levchenko and asked curiously, "and were you in the 97th brigade before you were injured?"

When Levchenko heard my question, he immediately stood up from his seat and respectfully reported to me: "the German army came up from all directions and surrounded Kiev. Our brigade received the task to break through the encirclement to the northeast and join the central front army of general rokosovsky.

... although we were constantly blocked by the German army along the way, our brigade broke through the encirclement of the German army and successfully joined the forces of the central front army.

Later, when the troops were reorganized, I was incorporated into the 41st brigade of guard tanks. This brigade belongs to the seventh mechanized army. After the battle in Kursk, we took part in the battle of understanding fangsmolensk. In the battle, my tank was destroyed by the German army, and only me and one ammunition man in the tank group survived. "

Although Levchenko said it lightly, I knew very well in my heart that whether it was Kiev's breakthrough or the liberation of Smolensk, the battle was extremely dangerous. If there was any carelessness, there was a risk of sacrifice. She's lucky to live to this day. I looked at her carefully and asked, "Comrade lieutenant, are you all right?"

"Yes, comrade deputy commander." Levchenko nodded his head and replied: "in the battle, I got a shrapnel in my back, and I also got different degrees of burns. But fortunately, my life is big, shrapnel did not hit the key, I lived in the hospital a few months later, recovered and discharged

"How do you know Comrade Khrushchev?" I waited for her to finish, and immediately asked the biggest question in my heart.

"When I was treated in the military hospital in Kiev, comrade Khrushchev once visited the hospital, where he knew me who was recovering." Levchenko truthfully reported to me: "through the conversation with me, he knew that I had dealt with you, so he offered to arrange my work after I recovered.

I stayed in the hospital until the end of May, and then the hospital informed me that I could be discharged. After leaving the military hospital, I heard that my original troops were broadcasting to the Romanian border, so I took the initiative to go to Comrade Khrushchev, hoping that he could help me return to the army. Who knows, he said that he has arranged a position for me, that is, to report to the 18th group army of the guards. "

As soon as she finished, the phone in front of me rang. I picked up the phone and gave a hello. Then I heard a strange voice coming from the receiver: "Hello, is that Comrade deputy commander?"

"Yes, it's me." Although the voice was heard for the first time, I still guessed that the speaker was a signalman, so I politely asked, "what's the matter, please?"

"Well, there is a call from Kiev. Do you need to answer it?"

"Turn in!" I said casually.

"A moment later, Khrushchev's familiar voice came from the receiver:" Hello, Rita, have you seen the tank battalion commander I sent you? "

"Yes, comrade Khrushchev, I have." I looked at Levchenko and afuning with a smile, and continued to say to the microphone, "she and general afuning, commander of the 18th army of the guards, are with me at the moment."

"According to my observation, though young, this comrade Levchenko is brave and intelligent." Khrushchev kindly reminded me on the phone: "as long as we have a good training, maybe he will be a great female general like you in the future."

When I heard Khrushchev praise me euphemistically on the phone, my heart was filled with joy. Just as he was about to thank him, he suddenly asked, "Rita, is it true to hear that the allies have opened up a second battlefield on the French coast?"

Although the landing of the allies in Normandy has not been reported in the newspapers, I know in my heart that Stalin was willing to let his subordinates know about this period which was enough to change the course of the war through other channels. Therefore, I had no scruple to introduce the landing of Normandy to Khrushchev.

"Great, that's great." After listening to me, Khrushchev couldn't help but say, "in this way, the Germans will have to fight on both fronts at the same time. I believe they won't be able to support it in a short time."

After a few more conversations with Khrushchev, I put down the phone and asked afuning, who was sitting beside me, "Comrade General, are you going to go back to shepetovka today?"

Afuning shook his head and replied, "all the units of the 18th army of the guards were deployed to the western suburb of Rovno yesterday." After a pause, he asked tentatively, "Comrade deputy commander, are you going to inspect?"

As I am not a representative of the base camp, I can't walk around until I get konev's consent, so I can only say politely: "Comrade General, I will go to your army to inspect at the right time. But not now. I've just come back from Moscow. I need to get familiar with the work here as soon as possible. "

Hearing my reply, afuning's face showed a trace of disappointment. He said with regret, "Comrade deputy commander, after more than ten days of recovery training, the combat effectiveness of the new division has been greatly improved. I'm here just to let you check their training results. "“ Don't worry, Comrade General. There will be opportunities in the future. " After I finished these two sentences, I asked Levchenko, "Lieutenant Levchenko, how many tanks are there in your battalion?"“ 28, "Levchenko stood up from his seat again and replied clearly," 21 of them are T-34 and 7 are the latest models. "“ What is the combat effectiveness of the troops? "“ The tank soldiers in the battalion, except for a few selected from the rescued prisoners of war, have rich combat experience. " Levchenko confidently replied: "according to my observation, whether it is to guide the infantry to attack or to fight against the enemy's tanks, this unit has a great chance of winning." Afuning waited for me to fall behind in the dialogue with Levchenko. He asked cautiously, "Comrade deputy commander, I just heard you tell Comrade Khrushchev that the Allied forces have carried out landing operations in Normandy. So the second battlefield they promised was finally opened up? "“ Yes, "I nodded my head and gave a positive answer to afuning's question:" the Allied landing in Normandy means the opening of a second battlefield. " After hearing my answer, afuning asked excitedly, "the Germans will have to fight on two lines next. Will our pressure be greatly reduced?"“ Comrade general, there is no doubt that when the Allied forces open up the second battlefield, they will certainly contain a considerable number of German troops. " In order to prevent afuning from belittling the enemy, I specially reminded him: "however, the German forces deployed in our country are far higher than those faced by the allies, so we have to rely on ourselves to drive the enemy out of our territory. Do you understand? "“ I understand. It's completely ordered After ah Funing said this, he realized that he had been in my office a little too long, so he asked, "Comrade deputy commander, can I go back to the army?" I nodded in agreement and then went forward to shake hands with him and Levchenko respectively. When they came to the door, I stopped afuning and said to him, "general afuning, comrade Levchenko, as the commander of the tank battalion, is the rank of lieutenant a little too low? If possible, I'd better promote her to captain." After listening to my command, a Funing was stunned at first, then nodded his head abruptly and echoed: "Comrade deputy commander, you are absolutely right. I also think Comrade Levchenko's rank is a little too low. When I get back, I'll promote her to captain