When Zhukov heard my answer, he had an angry look on his face, and his eyes staring at me seemed to be bursting with fire. Just as my heart was pounding, he made a move that I didn't expect, he reached out and grabbed the teacup that was on the table, and slammed it to the ground.

The glass in the silver cup tray shattered on the hard ground, and while the hem of my trousers was soaked with tea, a few drops of tea with residual warmth splashed on my face, making me instinctively take a step back.

Zhukov angrily pointed his finger at my nose and scolded: "Oshanina, I really misjudged you. I have handed over to you the 6th Guards Army, with a total strength of nearly 80,000 men, in the hope that you will turn your defensive zone into a floodgate that the Germans cannot cross, like the Mamayev Heights, as you did at Stalingrad. I didn't expect you to tell me that you couldn't hold the line at all. The battle has not yet begun, and you have even considered giving up the first and second lines of defense, in this case, how and how will this battle be fought? He may have been so angry that he changed his usual address to my nickname from "Leda" to a slightly rusty "Oshanina".

Zhukov, who is thunderous at the moment, is like two people who are calm and calm in peacetime. It was so close that my eardrums were almost shattered by his loud voice. Although he said a lot of nasty things, out of respect for him, I didn't care at all what he said, and just silently endured his thunderous rage.

After he had lost his temper and calmed down again, we said to him unhurriedly: "Comrade Marshal, can you listen to my explanation?" ”

He glared at me and said angrily, "Say whatever you want!" With that, he sat down at the table.

Instead of immediately explaining to him, I walked to the place where the teapot was placed next to the wall. I poured a new cup of tea and brought it to him and put it down. And Povsky, who was originally frightened and silent next to him, saw that the atmosphere in the room had eased, so he squatted down and began to clean up the mess underground.

Zhukov, who was so dry-mouthed, took a sip of tea, put the cup on the table, and asked in a much soothing tone, "Let's talk about it." What do you think? ”

"Comrade Marshal," I said, staring at Zhukov, "although the strength of our 6th Guards Army sounds like a lot, it is somewhat weak due to the large frontage of the defense, which is evenly distributed among the three lines of defense. Therefore, in this case, we can only weaken certain areas and carry out key defenses. ”

"That's right, our defensive war, many times, is to weaken one direction. to strengthen the other direction. "Zhukov very much agrees with this statement, because he had done the same thing when he was the commander of the Leningrad Front. He then asked, "But does this have anything to do with your intention to give up the first and second lines of defense?" ”

"Since I have strengthened the main forces to important areas, the defense of individual areas is weak. In this way, once the Germans attack, then there will be a possibility that our defense line will be broken through at multiple points. "I know that if I don't make my true thoughts clear to Zhukov. It is entirely possible that he will make a move of "righteous annihilation" by removing me from my post and sending me to a military court. Therefore, I said: "Our aim is mainly to consume the living forces of the German army, so we don't care about the gains and losses of one city or one place." So even if the Germans broke through our first and second lines of defense, there was nothing to worry about. Not only can we block them in front of the third line of defense, but the defensive points on the first two lines of defense are still in the hands of our troops, so that the Germans do not dare to use all their forces. All for the impact on the Kursk. As long as their strength is almost exhausted, we can launch a full-scale counterattack. ”

"Don't care about the gains and losses of one city and one place?" Zhukov read my sentence several times over and over again, and finally asked in confusion: "This statement is incompatible with the guiding ideology of our army, and I really don't know how you came up with it." You know, we've been educating our commanders and fighters. Even if the bones are exposed in the wilderness, they must be nailed to the position like nails, and they cannot retreat a step. Now if we preach to them not to care about the gains and losses of one city and one place, will this cause confusion in the minds of the commanders and fighters? ”

"Comrade Marshal," I explained to his doubts in a serious manner, "and I think that you can only send political workers to the troops and do a good job of political propaganda work. ”

After listening to this, Zhukov did not answer me, but diverted the topic and asked: "Why are you so optimistic about this tactic, tell me your reasons." ”

Seeing that Zhukov wanted to get to the bottom of it, I had no choice but to bring out the famous viewpoint: "If people lose land, people and land will survive; If the land is lost, the people and the land are lost. Although from a tactical point of view, we will lose some positions, but we will have preserved the living forces, and sooner or later we will be able to regain the lost positions. ”

I don't remember if the same argument was ever said to Zhukov or anyone else, but when I said this, Kirillov answered: "That's right, Comrade Marshal, I think Lida is right. After the Germans occupied our positions, they were bound to divide their forces. In this way, the power they use for a frontal attack will be invisibly weakened. ”

My words to Kirillov made Zhukov fall into deep thought. After a long time, he asked slowly: "Lida, if you were the commander of the Voronezh Front, what would you do in the current situation?" ”

Hearing Zhukov's question, I immediately understood that he wanted to test my adaptability, and hurriedly threw out my well-thought-out answer: "Comrade Marshal, since we know that the German army is preparing to launch a powerful offensive against our defense zone, then all the units under the front army should be ready for battle, and in addition to the artillery being ready to open fire, the air force group army must also be ready to take to the air at any time to fight.

In order to better command the battle, the commanders of all group armies, infantry corps, and divisions must be stationed at the front-line command posts. At the same time, from now on, the political workers under the political departments and political offices of all group armies, armies, and divisions will immediately go to all grassroots units to help commanders and party cadres at all levels carry out ideological and political work on the front line, and find every commander and fighter to carry out pre-war mobilization. In order to raise the vigilance of the troops, encourage the commanders and fighters to fight for victory and swear to fight the enemy to the end. Commanders and political workers also need to make inspiring mobilization speeches before the battle begins. ”

After listening to me, Zhukov nodded with satisfaction and said, "I can't imagine that your train of thought is exactly the same as Vatutin." By the way, do you still insist on allowing the Germans to break through our lines? ”

"Yes. Comrade Marshal. While answering his question, I re-emphasized my defensive thinking, so as not to leave a thorn in his heart: "I just said that our first and second lines of defense will be broken by the Germans, but it does not mean that we will not defend with all our might. Rather, it means that in some insignificant areas, we will not invest too many troops to defend, and even if the position is lost, we will not organize troops to carry out a counterattack with huge casualties. And those main defensive positions are our top priority, except for sending heavy troops to guard them. It is also necessary to strengthen the firepower of the defenders, even if the Germans break through our lines, they can play a role in the rear of the enemy. ”

Zhukov patiently listened to me elaborate on his point of view, surprisingly without interrupting me, until I finally said: "My words are finished." He said unhurriedly: "Since you have considered it carefully, then I believe that in the next battle, your 6th Guards Army will definitely perform well." ”

When Kirillov saw that Zhukov's attitude had become calm again, he wasted no time in asking: "Comrade Marshal. The commanders of our divisions are here, and they are waiting outside at the moment. Can you meet with them? ”

When Zhukov heard Kirillov's suggestion, he couldn't help frowning, and after thinking for a while, he nodded and said: "Well, since Comrade Kirillov personally proposed this matter, then I'll see you." Anyway, there are many people who are old comrades-in-arms from the past, and they can take this opportunity to catch up on the past. ”

Seeing that Zhukov had agreed to his proposal, Kirillov glanced at Povsky, who was standing nearby, who understood and walked quickly to the door. Rushing outside, he said, "Come in, comrades commanders, come in." Comrade Marshal of the Soviet Union wants to receive everyone. ”

More than a dozen people poured in hula-la-la, making the room suddenly crowded. Several older division commanders, obviously very familiar with Zhukov, they affectionately called Zhukov's real name and patronymic name, saluted, shook hands, and asked each other about the current situation, it seemed very intimate I just heard Zhukov say that many of them were his old comrades-in-arms, thinking that he was talking casually, seeing this situation, I knew that what he said was true.

Due to the limited space in the house, the chief of staff, Bezikov, arranged for a few benches to be brought in, so that all the division leaders could sit down and listen to Zhukov's speech.

After everyone was seated, Zhukov, who was sitting at the table, said with a smile: "Hello, comrades commanders. I have come here today to inspect the troops' preparations for war, and second, to come and see you. Speaking of this, he suddenly asked in an aggravated tone, "Are you all ready for battle?" ”

After a moment's pause, the division commanders present replied in unison, "Ready." ”

When Zhukov heard everyone's answers, his face did not show any joy, but said with a straight face: "Comrades commanders, we may be about to fight a big battle, so in normal times, you should go deep into the grassroots companies to understand the real situation of preparing for war, see what problems still exist, and solve them immediately." Otherwise, as soon as there is a big battle and a bad battle, the shortcomings will be exposed again, and it will be too late. ”

Danilov, waiting for Zhukov to finish speaking, also added: "Comrades, although most of the divisions of our army group are Guards divisions, their combat effectiveness is stronger than that of ordinary troops. But everyone should understand in their hearts that the reason why they can be stronger than others is because of the high proportion of veterans in the Guards Division, the large number of combat backbones, good weapons and equipment, and rich combat experience. However, in the early stage, in order to make up for the battle losses of the Guards Division, we also added a lot of new recruits to you, and for these recruits who have no experience, you must seize the time to train, improve their combat effectiveness as soon as possible, and don't let them pee their pants when they hear the sound of gunshots, such a unit is unreliable. ”

After Danilov's words were finished, there was a burst of laughter from the commanders present. After the laughter, Colonel Nekrasov, commander of the 52nd Guards Division, stood up and echoed: "Comrade Deputy Commander is right, the position we lost some time ago was because there were too many recruits in the defenders. Hearing the gunshots, many people panicked, did not know how to occupy the favorable terrain to resist, either ran around the position, or followed those panicked cowards to run backwards. ”

"Colonel Nekrasov," I heard this, raised my hand to interrupt his words, and asked, "Have the recruits of your division been fired with live ammunition?" ”

Nekrasov didn't know why I was asking, but he answered honestly: "Report to Comrade Commander, most of the recruits of our division have not conducted live firing. But I believe they ...... in battle"

"Recruits who have never even experienced live ammunition, can you expect them to exert extraordinary combat effectiveness in battle?" Seeing that Nekrasov was a little unimpressed, I unceremoniously pointed out to him: "What's more, your division and the 51st Guards Division are holding the first line of defense of our army, if the fighting qualities of the troops are not strong, how long can you hold out when you are deep behind enemy lines?" ”

Nekrasov, who was rebuked, blushed and defended himself with some unconvincing: "Even if you let the recruits shoot live ammunition, you still can't make them reach the level of veterans of the Guards." ”

"It doesn't matter if you don't reach the level of a veteran soldier for the time being, but the training in live ammunition must be carried out immediately." "I give you two days to make sure that each recruit fires at least one round of live ammunition so that they don't panic when they hear the enemy's gunfire," I said in a commanding tone. ”

"Two days is too short, isn't it?" Colonel Nekrasov blushed and said, "I don't think it's possible to achieve the desired effect with this kind of training. ”

At this time, I suddenly thought of the past when the devil instructor of the Wa Kingdom helped me train new soldiers in the Liuban area, so I said with a serious face: "Extraordinary things must be trained in extraordinary ways." Have your recruits all crouch in the trenches and have people shoot at the trenches to give them a real taste of what it feels like to have bullets whizzing overhead. Also, have each recruit throw at least five grenades so that they don't get scared when they hear the explosion. ”

This way of training of mine stunned Nekrasov, and after a long time he muttered: "Comrade commander, is this appropriate?" ”

"Yes, in the current situation, it couldn't be more suitable." After I said these words to Nekrasov, I said to all the division commanders: "This training method should be immediately popularized throughout the entire group army. However, you must remember to be safe, because the life of each of our warriors is precious. Our training is to reduce unnecessary casualties caused by panic during the battle. Do you understand? ”

"Got it!" All the division commanders shouted in unison. (To be continued.) )