Chapter 1572

Just when konev picked up the phone and was ready to dial again, I suddenly thought that most of the officers and men of the 18th army of the guards had a deep blood feud with the Germans. Even if the higher authorities gave orders, they would inevitably disobey each other. I quickly stopped konev: "marshal, please wait a moment."

"What else can I do for you, Rita?" Asked konev, holding the receiver and looking at me.

"Well, comrade marshal." I hastily repeated my worries, and finally specially emphasized: "I think we need to send someone to supervise if we want the troops of the 18th army to escort prisoners of war."

Konev put the microphone back on the base of the telephone and asked with great interest, "who do you think is the right person to send?"

"I think I'm the best person." The reason why I volunteered to take over this task was that I thought that the headquarters of the front army would be moved to Lviv soon, and then I, the deputy commander of the front army, would become an idle person again. I might as well find something to do by myself. Therefore, I said with a strong voice, "I have dealt with most of the officers and men of the 18th army. If I go to see the escorting of prisoners of war, maybe there will be no killing of prisoners of war on the way."

Konev looked at me suspiciously for a moment, and then said to me solemnly, "Rita, it's only a small matter to supervise the prisoner's escort. Just send any one of the staff officers. You don't need to go there yourself. You know, after all, you are the deputy commander of the front army. There are more important things to do when you stay in the headquarters. "

Although konev refused my request, I still said reluctantly: "marshal, the commanders of the various group armies have made clear their combat tasks. It's enough for you and general sokolovsky to stay in the headquarters. I can't play any role at all. It's better to escort the prisoners of war to uman with the 18th army of the guards."

When I said this, konev's face turned pale, and he seemed dissatisfied with what I said. But he soon regained his composure and said, "well, Rita, since you are determined to go to uman, go. After the end of the German POW parade in Kiev next month, it's not too late for you to come back. "

With konev's consent, I left the headquarters with a staff officer and several soldiers and went to the outskirts to find the garrison of the 18th guards.

When our jeep passed a Gothic church, I saw a long line of people outside the church, so I immediately told the driver, "Comrade driver, pull over!"

After I got out of the car, I went to the back of a line and asked an old lady with a headscarf: "old lady, what are you doing in line here?"

The old lady turned her head and gave me a blank look. Then she turned her head to one side and showed that she didn't want to talk to me. Seeing that I couldn't get the answer I wanted from the old lady, I went to an old man in front of me and asked him the same question, but I still met a snag.

The accompanying staff officer approached me and said in a low voice, "Comrade deputy commander, don't be angry. These residents are all from western Ukraine. They have always been resistant to our army. It's normal for them to ignore you. You see, there are many of us at the church gate. Let's ask them. "

After listening to the staff officer, I nodded, walked past the long line, up the steps, and came to the platform at the church gate. There were four small tables, behind which there was an officer sitting on a horse. They were all writing.

A major standing at the door saw me coming to the door and came to salute me. After I raised my hand to return the salute, I asked the busy officers and the long line, "Comrade major, can you tell me what you are doing?"

"Well, Comrade General." The major replied respectfully, "we're doing a census to give them ration cards."

At the same time, it can quickly count the population in the city. Therefore, as soon as the city is liberated, the relevant departments will start to register the ration certificates. "How is your work going, major?" I asked casually

"Comrade General, it's not going well." The major pointed to the long lines in front of the church and said, "we are responsible for the distribution of ration cards in this area. We have sent people to inform each other door to door very early, but few people come. So far, we have only handled more than 2000 rationing certificates.... "

"That's the end of today's work. Come back tomorrow." I was talking to the major when I heard a man shouting, "don't crowd around here any more. Let's break up."

I looked in the direction of the voice and found that it was an officer in charge of registration who stood up from his horse and yelled at the residents in line below.

"Wait a minute," I quickly stopped the officer, then turned to look at the major, and pointed to the next line of nearly a thousand residents, said: "major, don't you see there are so many residents waiting for ration card?"

"But, Comrade General." The reproached major explained to me, "it's half past five. Our commander has been busy for most of the day and should have a rest."

"Major, if these commanders are tired, find someone else to replace them." I looked at the major and said solemnly, "as long as there is a resident standing in line here, your work must continue."

The major looked at the residents who were waiting in line and came here one after another. He said with some embarrassment, "Comrade General, you see, there are nearly a thousand people here. We only have four people working. It is estimated that we can't handle the ration cards for all of them before dark."

"There are still more than three hours to go before dark. If you think the speed of four people working is too slow, then you should transfer more people to help." I said to myself, "be sure to issue all the ration cards today. Do you understand? "

"I see, Comrade General." The major replied helplessly, "I'm going to transfer the manpower to issue the ration card."

When I saw the major saying this, I was a little reluctant. Knowing that he was against my order, I approached him and said in a low voice, "major, I think you should understand that the residents who are applying for ration cards have always been against our motherland because they have not been in the Soviet Union for a long time. If we make any mistakes in the processing of ration cards, They will be more dissatisfied. "

When I said this, the major immediately understood it. He nodded his head vigorously and said, "I understand, Comrade General. I understand everything now. You can rest assured that even if I work overtime, I will try my best to complete the work of issuing ration certificates today. "

When we were on the road again, the staff officer in the co pilot's seat turned to me and asked, "Comrade deputy commander, I heard that when the German army entered the city, the residents of this place lined up to welcome them, and even some girls offered flowers for the German soldiers. But for the liberators here in Lvov, they are extremely indifferent. When we went into the city, the residents we met not only didn't help us, but even hid, as if we were not their liberators, but their aggressors. "

I said in my heart that for the civilians living in western Ukraine, the Soviet army is the aggressor, while the German army is their liberator. Otherwise, when the German army enters the city, the residents not only welcome them with singing and dancing, but also set up tables, white cloth and rich food on the roadside to entertain them.

I organized some words in my mind, and then said to the staff: "you don't know, comrade staff, the Western Ukrainian states only joined the Soviet family at the end of 39 years. As a result, they were occupied by the Germans in less than two years. They have joined for a short time, and they have not yet fully integrated with the people of all ethnic groups in our motherland. It is inevitable that there will be some resistance to us now. "

The staff officer nodded his head and was about to ask something when the driver reminded me: "Comrade deputy commander, the garrison of the 18th army is here."

The jeep stopped at the gate of the 18th army headquarters. When I got out of the car, a star officer standing at the gate called out, "attention!" With his command, eight soldiers standing on both sides of the gate came to attention and saluted me with guns.

I raised my hand to my forehead and saluted them. Then I walked into the headquarters building.

Seeing me walking into the headquarters, afuning, who was speaking with his chief of staff, quickly stood up from his seat and raised his hand to salute: "Hello, comrade deputy commander of the front army, welcome to our work."

"General afuning, I'm not here to inspect the work." I waved to afuning and continued, "I've come here with two important things to inform you."

Ah Funing listened to me and said respectfully: "do you need to call all the teachers together?"

"Yes," I nodded and said with certainty, "what I said is very important. You should immediately inform the teachers to come to the meeting, and I will convey the important instructions from the higher authorities to them."

While waiting for the arrival of the division commanders, I asked a Funing, "Comrade General, your army has performed well recently. The commander of the front army is very satisfied with you."

Ah Funing, listening to me, didn't speak, just grinned.

Ten minutes later, the division leaders, political commissars, deputy division leaders and chief of staff of each division arrived at the army headquarters one after another.

Seeing that all his subordinates had been ordered to come, afuning stood up and said with a smile, "comrades in command, we are called here for a meeting today because the deputy commander of the front army has important instructions to convey to you. Next, let's invite Comrade deputy commander to speak! "

In the army, there was no habit of clapping at meetings. Therefore, after afuning finished speaking, there was no clapping in the room. Instead, everyone's eyes turned to me, quietly waiting for me to convey the latest instructions from the superior to them.

I stood up, coughed gently, cleared my throat, and then said aloud, "comrades, I'm here today. I have three pieces of news to tell you. First, because of your outstanding achievements in the liberation of trumarch and Stanislav, the supreme command has decided to confer the honorary title of "Stanislav army" on your army

When I said that, I stopped to listen to their reaction. After a moment's silence, among the commanders sitting below, someone suddenly called out: "Wula!" As soon as his voice fell, someone called again, "Wula!" At first, only a few scattered people were shouting, but soon, more than 20 division commanders in the room were all shouting "Wula!" When I saw that everyone was so happy, I didn't interrupt them. Instead, I patiently waited for the calm to return to the room, and then said, "second news, according to the order of the higher authorities, you will be officially put under the command of the Fourth Front Army of Ukraine from August 5, and then fight in the formation of the 18th regiment army."“ Comrade deputy commander, why? Why should we be transferred from the first front army? " I don't know who yelled, so the rest of the commanders kept asking. Even afuning, who was sitting on one side, had a look of surprise on his face. He probably never dreamed that his troops would be suddenly assigned to the command of the Fourth Front Army of Ukraine“ Be quiet, comrades, please be quiet I raised my hand and pressed it down hard. When everyone did not speak, I continued to say, "I will assign you to the command of the Fourth Front Army of Ukraine. This is also the arrangement of the supreme command. I know that we are reluctant to accept the first front army, but orders are orders. Whether they are correct or not, they can only be carried out, not discussed. It's our duty as soldiers to obey orders from our superiors. " When the commanders here heard what I said, they were silent and no one spoke again“ The third news is that you are going to take the 8000 German prisoners of war who were captured in the battle of liberating Lvov to umman and let them stay in umman pit for a while. "“ Comrade deputy commander. " As soon as I finished, the chief of staff of the new division, bonejerin, stood up and said angrily, "I don't think it's necessary for us to do anything to send the enemy to wuman pit, but shoot them all. Tens of thousands of our commanders and fighters, after being captured, were so afraid that they would be called a burden to them that they did not hesitate to shoot them all. Now, the opportunity for revenge has come. We must not bypass these Communist aggressors. "“ Yes, comrade deputy commander. " As soon as he finished, another commander, whom I didn't know, stood up beside him. He also said aloud, "we don't have any extra food to feed these bandits. I ask the superior to let the fourth division of our close guard airborne soldiers carry out the shooting task. "“ Who else thinks the same? " Instead of answering them immediately, I looked at the commanders who were still sitting and asked, "if you have any, please raise your hand!" As soon as my voice fell, the commanders sitting below raised their hands together. Even general afuning, who was sitting beside me, raised his right hand after hesitating for a moment.