Although Zhukov and Rokossovsky did not say anything serious when they left, it was a great shame for the commander of the 78th Infantry Division, Colonel Beloborodov. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 The fact that the Germans had only occupied a few wooden houses far from the village actually alarmed the Supreme Commander himself, and also worked with a commander of the Front Army and two commanders of the army group to personally direct the offensive battle on a company scale.

As soon as Beloborodov returned to the division headquarters, he instructed the chief of staff: "Chief of staff, call all the cadres of the battalion and regimental level to the division headquarters for a meeting!" ”

After listening to his order, the chief of staff showed an embarrassed expression on his face: "Comrade division commander, this is not appropriate. ”

"What's wrong?!" Beloborodov glared at his chief of staff and said angrily: "If they don't come here, will they still let me, the division commander, go to their regiments and battalions?" ”

"No, it's not like that, Comrade Division." The chief of staff saw that Colonel Belorodov had misunderstood what he meant, and hurriedly defended: "At present, many units in the division are still engaged in fierce battles with the German army, and if all the battalion and regimental commanders are summoned here under such circumstances, there will be no leader on the position and no unified command." ”

"I'm sorry, Comrade Chief of Staff, but I was too excited to figure out what you were trying to say." Beloborodov realized that he had mistaken the chief of staff, and quickly apologized to the other party and ordered again: "Since there are still battles going on in many sections, then postpone the meeting until after dark." ”

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After dark, more than 20 commanders at the battalion and regimental level rushed from several directions toward the location of the division headquarters. When everyone met at the door, they inevitably asked each other: "You are also coming to the meeting, do you know what will be discussed in tonight's meeting?" ”

"I don't know," a lieutenant colonel replied immediately, "when the division chief of staff gives me an order, let me hand over command to the regimental chief of staff, and immediately come to the meeting." ”

"I also received a call from the chief of staff of the division asking me to come to the meeting." Another colonel added: "Since the meeting is held in such a hurry, I guess something big has happened. Let's stop chatting here, let's get inside. ”

When everyone crowded into the headquarters, they saw that there were already many people sitting on the bench against the wall on one side of the room. The commanders who came in later walked up to their acquaintances, and when they sat down, they asked in a low voice: "Hey, do you know what the topic of today's meeting is?" ”

The person who is questioned often spreads his hands out, shrugs his shoulders, and also whispers the reply, "I don't know." Then he turned his mouth to Nunu, where Belorodov was sitting, and added, "You see, the division commander's expression is so serious, I guess something big must have happened." ”

"Big deal, what else can be big?" After hearing the answer of the acquaintance, the questioner was still unwilling to say: "In front of our position, there were only the corpses of the Germans, and not a single enemy was allowed to pass through our position alive. ”

"What about the captives?" Those who heard this retorted: "Are the captives you have captured not Germans?" I remember they swaggered past your position. ”

While the commanders sitting below were talking, the chief of staff of the division walked up to Beloborodov, leaned close to his ear, and whispered: "Comrade division commander, everyone has arrived, can we have a meeting?" ”

Beloborodov swept his eyes over the commanders present, and found that almost all of them who could come came, and those who could not come were either sacrificed or were wounded and could not move. He nodded to the chief of staff of the division, signaling that the meeting could be held.

"Comrade commanders, please be quiet." The chief of staff of the division, who had received Beloborodov's instructions, stood up and said loudly to the battalion commanders who were talking and laughing below: "Now Comrade Division Commander, please speak to us!" ”

When Beloborodov stood up, the whole room suddenly fell silent, and all the commanders looked at their division commander with awe, wanting to hear what he had to say.

"Comrades," Beloborodov said, gritting his back molars, "today in our division, a shameful thing has happened, which not only brings shame on our 78th Infantry Division, but also affects the honor of the entire 16th Army. ”

As soon as Beloborodov's words came out, the commanders below couldn't hold their breath and began to talk to each other, trying to find out what was going on. Seeing the humming noise of the commander below, Beloborodov was so angry that he punched the table hard.

After the loud bang, the entire command headquarters fell silent again. Beloborodov said angrily to his subordinates: "What are you going to do, what are you going to do? Don't you know there's a meeting going on? are all muttering and talking about it below, is there a little bit of organizational discipline? ”

The commanders, who had been criticized by Beloborodov, fell silent again and turned their eyes back to their division commanders, waiting for him to say what they wanted to know.

Beloborodov took a deep breath and said: "This morning, the Germans occupied several houses near the village of Diedovo. This news was somehow portrayed as the capture of the town of Diedovsk by the Germans. The Supreme Commander-in-Chief himself, who heard this, was furious and ordered the commander of the Front, General Zhukov, and the commander of our army group to immediately organize a counterattack and take back the towns occupied by the Germans.

Although later, when questioned by the Chief of Staff of the Front, Colonel Malinin, I explained to him that the Germans did not occupy the town of Diedovsk, but only occupied a few houses near the village of Diedovo. Beloborodov told his men about what had happened today, "when General Zhukov and General Rokossovsky, as well as the commander of the 5th Army, General Govorov, came to my division headquarters. They were deeply afraid that I was lying about the military situation and personally went to the front to understand the situation. ”

"Comrade division commander," Beloborodov said this, and immediately one of the majors stood up and said in a loud voice: "Please send our battalion to destroy this group of enemies." I assure you, in two hours at most, I will be able to take out all of these enemies without a single one left. ”

"Major, please sit down." Hearing the major's statement, the expression on Beloborodov's face softened, he raised his hand and pressed down, motioned for the other party to sit down, and then said: "We only dispatched two tanks and one company of infantry, and in ten minutes, we wiped out all this group of enemies. ”

Hearing that the enemy had been destroyed, the commanders, who had been hanging their hearts in their throats, sighed one after another.

Beloborodov continued: "This incident is a wake-up call for us, and in order to avoid a similar incident from happening again, I want to establish a discipline for everyone." In the future, all villages or settlements in our defense area should be reported to me in a timely manner after they are occupied by the Germans, so that I can grasp first-hand information in the shortest possible time. Do you remember that? ”

"Remember!" The commanders in the audience replied in unison.

Beloborodov then gave a few more words of advice to everyone, and when he saw that the goal of today's meeting had been basically achieved, he waved his hand at everyone and announced loudly: "Well, since everyone has remembered my words, then go back to their respective units at once." Hurry up, build strong fortifications, and never allow the first enemy to pass through our positions. (To be continued.) )