The new head of the armored forces of the Front, Major General Orel, took the initiative to propose to Rokossovsky: "Comrade commander, I think it is better to give me the task of finding General Lidyukov, and I will definitely give you a satisfactory answer before dawn tomorrow." Pen ~ Fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info"

As for the search for Lidyukov's whereabouts, Rokossovsky handed over the responsibility to others, and he was really a little unsure, after all, he had already gambled on his future for this matter. Since Orel came out at this moment to recommend himself, he also pushed the boat and said: "Okay, Comrade Orel, then I will hand over this task to you." You take the radio with you, and another platoon of guards, and rush as soon as possible to the area where Lidyukov disappeared for a detailed search. As soon as there is any latest discovery, report it to me as soon as possible, understand? ”

When Orel arrived at the location of the 5th Tank Army, he found that it was under attack by the Germans. Dozens of German tanks spread out in an offensive formation on the wide plain and launched an attack on the positions of the army group, behind the tanks were the German infantry, who, as they ran, occasionally lay down and shot at the Soviet troops hiding in the trenches.

Orel walked into the headquarters and found that it was a mess, and the chief of staff of the army group was scrambling to issue various orders for the troops to organize their defense in place and to withdraw the tanks sent out to find Lidyukov.

Seeing the combat deployment of the tank army, which seemed chaotic and disorganized, Orel couldn't help but frown. After he walked over and identified himself to the chief of staff, he asked in a stern tone: "Comrade Chief of Staff, have you reported to the front command about your attack by the Germans?" ”

"No," the chief of staff shook his head and said, "since Comrade Commander is not at the command and I am busy directing the battle, I have not had time to report to my superiors." ”

"Smack!" Orel raised his hand and slapped him heavily on the table, reprimanding the chief of staff: "Confused, you are simply too confused. At the first moment of the German attack, you didn't report to the command, how long do you plan to wait? Wait until the Germans break through your lines and cut the entire Front to pieces, and then report upwards? ”

After saying this, Orel called the director of the communications corps over and asked: "Can you directly contact the front army headquarters with your phone here?" After receiving an affirmative reply, he immediately instructed the other party, "Connect me to the front headquarters, and I will talk to the commander and tell him about the situation here." ”

After the phone was connected, Rokossovsky's familiar voice came from the receiver: "How is it, Comrade Orel, have you arrived at the command of the 5th Tank Army?" ”

"Yes, Konstantin Konstantinovich," Orel replied cautiously, "just arrived a few minutes ago, but there is an emergency here, and the headquarters of the army group is being attacked by the Germans." ”

"What, where the Germans are attacking the headquarters of the 5th Tank Army?" When Rokossovsky heard this unexpected news, he couldn't help but be taken aback, and hurriedly asked: "Did the chief of staff of the army group take any measures?" ”

Orel glanced at the helpless chief of staff, and then said into the microphone: "Comrade Chief of Staff may not have much combat experience, so in the face of the attack of the German armored forces, he seems to be a little panicked. So far, I have only seen the troops passively defending and retreating under German blows. ”

"Hell, what the hell is going on?" Rokossovsky said with some indignation: "How can our tank units, like the infantry, hide in the trenches and conduct passive defense in the face of the attack of the German armored forces?" Then he decisively ordered, "Comrade Orel, I order you to take immediate control of the troops and organize them to carry out a counterattack against the Germans, and must crush their attack." ”

"And what about the search for General Lidyukov?" Orel said with some embarrassment: "The area where he disappeared is now under the control of the German army. ”

"Let this go in advance, and wait until the German attack is repulsed." Rokossovsky instructed Orel: "At present, your task is to use all the means at your disposal to crush the German attack on you, understand? ”

"Understood." Orel said carefully: "However, the German offensive is fierce, and with the current situation of the troops, it may be possible to hold them back, but it is very difficult to repel them, so I hope you will send me reinforcements." ”

When Rokossovsky heard this, he hurriedly covered the microphone and asked Kazakov next to him: "Chief of Staff, in the vicinity of the 5th Tank Army, are there any troops that can be mobilized?" ”

Kazakov vaguely heard the conversation between Rokossovsky and Orel, and was also aware of the current predicament facing the command of the 5th Tank Army, and after a little thought, replied: "General Rotmistrov's 7th tank corps is stationed near them, and if we make an urgent move, we can rush to the battlefield within an hour." ”

Rokossovsky nodded, let go of the hand covering the microphone, and said to Orel: "Comrade Orel, I immediately sent the 7th Tank Army of General Rotmistrov to support you, they will arrive on the battlefield in about an hour. I command you, in any case, to hold your positions resolutely until reinforcements arrive. ”

After giving assurances to Rokossovsky, Orel put down the phone and said to the chief of staff standing in front of him: "Comrade Chief of Staff, from now on, I will take over the command of the 5th Tank Army. ”

"Got it, Comrade General." The chief of staff respectfully asked: "How do you plan to resist the German attack?" ”

Although Orel served as the commander of the armored corps of the front army for only two days, he knew very well the technical equipment of his subordinate units, and he stared at the map in front of him and said: "The German tanks are advancing at a fast pace, and our first line of defense is estimated to be lost soon, so we must focus our defense on the second line of defense." The Chief of Staff immediately ordered several anti-tank artillery batteries belonging to the army group to enter positions and slow down the enemy's advance with artillery fire, as well as to cover the safe withdrawal of our infantry to the second line of defense.

Also, gather all the tanks that could be mobilized, deploy them on the right flank of the defensive line, and wait until reinforcements arrive, and then attack the German offensive formation from the flank. ”

Regarding Orel's arrangement, the chief of staff still put forward his own views euphemistically: "Comrade General, I think we can completely let the tanks attack in formation and attack the German tanks, instead of carrying out passive defense as we are now. ”

The chief of staff's words made Orel feel like he couldn't laugh or cry, he had just criticized the chief of staff not long ago, saying that his defensive deployment was a passive defense, but he didn't expect him to return the same words to himself now. However, he did not get angry, but looked up at the other party and said: "Comrade Chief of Staff, don't you know that except for a few KB and T-34 tanks, the rest are old T-26 and BT-5 tanks. With such equipment against the German tanks, do you think we have a chance of winning? ”

After listening to Orel's words, the chief of staff shook his head, he also felt that it was very difficult to confront the German armored forces consisting of tanks No. 3 and No. 4 head-on with the current tanks of the troops. So he turned around and called the troops below to convey to them the orders given by Orel.

Orel stayed in the observation post, and through the binoculars, he saw that the anti-tank artillery batteries had entered positions one after another and began to shoot at the rushing German tanks. They adopted the tactic of constantly changing the position of the artillery, constantly adjusting the artillery position, so that most of the shells fired by the German tanks fell on the open ground. The infantry withdrawn from the first line of defense, after being covered by their own artillery fire, did not continue to run around, but under the deployment of the commander, they used machine guns and mortars to eliminate the infantry behind the German tanks while retreating.

Seeing this, the chief of staff, who was standing beside Orel, breathed a sigh of relief and said flatteringly: "Comrade General, it seems that we have hope of holding the Germans in front of the second line of defense. ”

"Comrade Chief of Staff, you are too optimistic." Orel pointed to the billowing smoke rising from the distant horizon and said with a solemn expression: "Do you see the smoke and dust there?" It was a column of German tanks and cars, advancing towards us. If they throw into battle the main forces that are about to arrive, then we risk being surrounded by them. ”

But fortunately, before the worst could happen, the 7th Tank Army under the command of Rotmistrov rushed to the battlefield, and in addition to the three tank brigades equipped with a large number of T-34 tanks, there was also a Guards rocket artillery brigade.

When the tanks of the tank brigade formed a battle formation and rushed towards the German tank units, the rocket artillery, tank artillery and anti-tank guns deployed behind the second line of defense simultaneously launched a fierce shelling of the Germans. Smoke billowed from the battlefield, engulfing the German troops who were charging.

The flames of the firing and shell explosions were also dimmed due to the smoke of gunfire, and black plumes of smoke formed by the burning of German tanks and armored vehicles rose in many places. Seeing this, Orel turned to the chief of staff and said: "Chief of staff, it's about the same time, let's attack the tank units hidden on the right flank." At the same time, a counterattack was launched across the board. ”

With the order given, not only the tanks in ambush on the right flank launched an attack from the flank of the German army, but even the infantry holding the second line of defense followed the tanks of the 7th Army and launched a charge against the enemy.

Under the combined attack of Soviet artillery, tanks and infantry, the Germans paid huge casualties, they had to stop the attack, leaving a small number of troops to break the rear, and then the main force retreated in a hurry.

After repelling the German attack, Orel remembered that the purpose of his trip was to find out the whereabouts of General Lidyukov, so after reporting the battle situation to Rokossovsky, he returned the command of the troops to the chief of staff of the army group, and he drove to the place where Lidyukov had always been to search for it. So, a small convoy of jeeps and two trucks headed south through the battlefield where the smoke was still billowing from the gunpowder.

After driving about seven or eight kilometers to the south, the jeep driver slowed down and carefully reminded Orel, who was sitting in the back: "Comrade General, if you drive any further, you may encounter the Germans, do you think we will stop advancing?" ”

Orel looked out the window and said to the driver: "Drive another kilometer, and if we still don't find anything, we'll go back." ”

"Okay, Comrade General." The driver said yes and picked up speed again, he planned to complete the kilometer as soon as possible, so that he could get out of this dangerous area sooner.

"Comrade General, look." The platoon commander of the guard platoon, who was sitting in the co-pilot's seat, suddenly pointed out the window and shouted loudly to Orel: "On the left side of the road, there are several destroyed tanks. ”

Orel looked in the direction of the platoon commander's finger and saw that on the side of the road ahead, there were several destroyed tanks and armored vehicles. He carefully counted five tanks and two armored vehicles, two of which belonged to the Soviet army.

He thought of the missing Lidyukov, who went out on patrol with two tanks, and suddenly disappeared, could it be that the destroyed tank was Lidyukov's car? Thinking of this, he immediately instructed the driver: "Comrade driver, hurry up and drive the car over." ”

The vehicle stopped in the open space between the destroyed tank and the armored car, and Orel pushed the door and got out of the car and walked towards the two destroyed Soviet tanks. The T-26, with its turret thrown off, obviously could not have been Lidyukov's car, so he chose the KB tank.

Next to the tank, there were two charred corpses of tank crews. One was lying face down on the ground, while the other was standing with its back to the destroyed tank, holding a pistol in his hand. Although the corpse had been burned beyond recognition, Orel recognized at a glance that this was Lidyukov by the pistol in the corpse's hand, because the pistol was a gift from himself.

He carefully examined the body and found that Lidyukov had been hit by at least a dozen bullets in the chest, and it seemed that after the tank was destroyed, Lidyukov who took out of the tank did not want to be a prisoner of the Germans, so he stood here and fought the last battle with the Germans, and then died a heroic death with a dozen bullets.

Orel called the communications officer over and put him in touch with the Front command. Hearing Rokossovsky's voice coming from the headphones, Orel said in a low tone: "Comrade commander, I have found General Lidyukov. ”

"Found Lidyukov?" Hearing Orel say this, Rokossovsky said in a relaxed tone: "That's great, you immediately accompany him to the headquarters of the Front, I want to have a good talk with him." ”

"Comrade Commander," the muscles in Orel's face twitched violently, "I can bring him to your headquarters, but I may not be able to talk to him." Because, because he has died honorably ......"

"What, Lidyukov sacrificed?" Oryol's words startled Rokossovsky, and he hurriedly asked: "Comrade Orel, what the hell is going on?" How did General Lidyukov die? ”

"At the place where General Lidyukov disappeared, we found five destroyed tanks and two armored vehicles, two of which belonged to our army." Orel reported to Rokossovsky: "I found two charred bodies next to the destroyed KB tank, one of which was General Lidyukov. He was hit by a dozen bullets in the chest, and he was supposed to have died in battle with the Germans after escaping from the tank. ”

Rokossovsky was deeply saddened by Lidyukov's death, and when he heard Orel say this, a glimmer of hope ignited in his heart: "Comrade Orel, since it is a charred corpse, then how can you be sure that it was General Lidyukov who died?" Maybe he was still alive, and he was hiding in the nearby forest to escape the Germans. ”

"Comrade Commander, I can confirm it completely." Orel's words directly extinguished the faint hope in Rokossovsky's heart: "The pistol in the corpse's hand was a gift from me when I defended Yaltsevo, he liked it so much that he never left it. ”

"Well, Comrade Orel," Rokossovsky said with grief, "you immediately bring his body back to the headquarters of the Front, and we will hold a solemn funeral for him." ”

After the end of the call with Orel, Rokossovsky personally called Stalin and asked him to report on the death of Lidyukov. After listening to this, Stalin only said lightly: "I know." Then, without waiting for Rokossovsky to say anything, he hung up the phone.

The members of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who remained in the headquarters of the Front to await Lidyukov's arrest, after seeing Lidyukov's body and repeatedly identifying the two burnt and deformed Lenin medals on his chest and a medal "for the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army", called Beria and officially reported to him that Lidyukov had died on the battlefield.

The next day, Soviet intelligence published an obituary: the commander of the 5th tank army, General Lidyukov, died in battle. He advanced in the battle formation of one of his own corps, and in order to boost the morale of the tank crews, the general rode forward in a KB tank and rushed into the enemy's position, where he died a heroic death.

At the same time, Rokossovsky received an order from the base camp: the command organs and headquarters of the 5th Tank Army will be included in the reserve of the Supreme Command from now on, and the tank corps under which they belong will be assigned to the direct jurisdiction of the Front Command.

Rokossovsky expressed his understanding of this order from the base camp, and he said to his subordinates: "Comrade commanders, this decision of the base camp is completely correct, in the current situation, neither the environment nor our capabilities allow the existence of such a large tank group, and the formation of the tank army is enough to cope with the current combat situation. ”