After taking out the sniper who was helping the abuse, the convoy is back on the road.

With this experience, Vaskov, who was in charge of the guards, increased his vigilance, and in addition to ordering machine guns on the roof racks of two trucks, he himself sat in our jeep. Holding a submachine gun, he sat in the co-pilot's seat and looked out the window vigilantly.

As soon as the car started, General Afanasyev suddenly said without a head: "Major Oshanina, good job." ”

I was stunned for a moment when I realized that he might be referring to me in dealing with the sniper, and I didn't say anything about his overtures, but just smiled politely at him.

I only heard him continue: "You said that there might be enemies in the forest, and when you sent someone to search, I was still blaming you in my heart, thinking that you were making a fuss and being nervous. I wanted to wait for you to get back to the car and criticize you a few words, but at this moment, the enemy sniper fired. If you hadn't been so adamant in stopping me from getting out of the car, I might have been targeted by enemy snipers. By the way, how did you find out that there are enemies in the forest? ”

I smiled and replied, "I'm guessing too." ”

"Guess?!" My answer was so much surprise to General Affanasyev that he was visibly stunned for a moment, and then he laughed and said, "It seems that you are quite accurate in your guess." You did the right thing about the disposition of that captive. Such captives and renegades by the Germans must be resolutely exterminated, even if they are forced to do so. ”

Hearing the general's words, I couldn't help but chuckle in my heart, and said that if the fact that I was captured was known to you. I don't know what a tragic fate awaits me. Come to think of it. I glanced weakly at Vaskov, who was sitting in the front row. I am afraid that he will come to kill his relatives at this time, and mention my capture to the general. But my worries seemed unnecessary, and Vaskov's face was turned out of the window, and he never looked back, wondering if he had heard my conversation with the general.

The road to the headquarters of the front was very long, and the car drove for five or six hours before stopping at a checkpoint. Vaskov went down to check it out and came back and reported to me: "Comrade division commander. This was the station of the headquarters of the Front, and the soldiers standing guard in front told us to stop the car in place, and the commanders who were attending the meeting entered on foot. ”

When General Afanasyev heard Vaskov say this, he said to me: "It seems that the guards of this command are doing a good job, let's get out of the car and walk over." After saying that, he opened the car door and walked down.

Under the guidance of the sentry, we walked along the dirt road in the direction of the headquarters.

After walking for five or six minutes, I saw the location of the headquarters of the front army. The shelter of the headquarters was a semi-underground structure, covered with several layers of logs, which appeared to have been built by the sappers in strict accordance with the requirements of military engineering techniques.

Outside the door stood a dozen fighters. There was also a second lieutenant wearing red armbands next to me, and he saw me and the general walking by. Hurriedly greeted him. He walked up to the general, raised his hand and saluted, and said, "Hello, Comrade General. Are you here at the headquarters? ”

Seeing that the general nodded affirmatively, he hurriedly turned his body to the side, made a gesture of invitation, and said politely: "Please, Comrade General." Please follow me into the headquarters. ”

The general lifted his leg and walked away, and I followed. Unexpectedly, the second lieutenant stretched out his hand to stop me and said politely, "I'm sorry, Comrade Major." Because this is an important military meeting, it can only be attended by the military chief of the unit. As the general's adjutant, you'd better wait outside. ”

The general originally frowned a little unhappily when he saw that I was stopped, but when he heard the second lieutenant's explanation, he couldn't help but be happy, and he smiled and said, "Major Oshanina, it seems that it is really not a good thing to have a lower rank." You see, Comrade Second Lieutenant has taken you for my adjutant. ”

I smiled awkwardly, and was about to identify myself, when the general preemptively explained to the second lieutenant: "Comrade second lieutenant, you are mistaken. This Major Oshanina was not my adjutant, she was the acting commander of the 378th Division, appointed by General Meretskov himself. ”

The second lieutenant's face flushed, he saluted me and said apologetically: "I'm sorry, comrade division commander, I don't know your identity, please forgive me!" ”

General Afanasyev said softly: "Forget it, Comrade Second Lieutenant, don't be nervous, hurry up and take us to the headquarters, I still have urgent business to meet Commander Meretskov." ”

We followed the second lieutenant and walked down the dirt staircase into the passage of the shelter. It's a heavily guarded place, with a warrior with a carbine standing every few meters on either side of the passage.

When I came to a fork in the road, the second lieutenant stopped, pointed to the left side, and said, "Comrade division commander, go along this passage, and you will see a big room, which is the conference room, where the meeting will be held later. Then he turned to General Afanasyev and said: "Comrade General, please come with me, and I will take you to the commander of the Front." ”

The conference room was easy to find, and I didn't walk far before I saw it. At this moment, there were already a lot of commanders gathered in the room, judging from their ranks, they were either generals or colonels, and the youngest was also a lieutenant colonel. The generals sat on benches around the conference table, while the officers sat on benches against the wall.

I walked in, and I saw Fedyuninsky sitting at the table from afar, and before I could greet him, he had already stood up and walked over to me, and at the same time stretched out his hand to me, and said kindly: "It is you, Major Oshanina, I did not expect to see you here." ”

I saluted him before holding his outstretched hand with both hands and said excitedly: "Hello, Comrade Commander, it is a pleasure to see you again. ”

Fedyuninsky also said with emotion: "I heard that the 2nd Shock Army was surrounded by the Germans, I was quite worried about you, I was afraid that you would have some three strengths and two weaknesses, and it would be difficult to explain to my old superior Zhukov at that time, but I didn't expect that your luck was not bad, and you actually managed to escape from the encirclement." ”

"Isn't this Major Oshanina?! It's been a long time, are you okay? I was just about to answer Fedyuninsky, when suddenly a familiar voice sounded next to me, and I turned my head to look. It turned out to be two generals standing beside me. It was one of them who spoke. It was also General Yakovlev, the commander of the 52nd Army, whom I knew, and I exclaimed in surprise: "Hello, Comrade General, it's a pleasure to see you again!" With that, I raised my hand and saluted him.

Seeing me greeting General Yakovlev, another general who was snubbed by me said with some displeasure: "Major Oshanina, this is not right for you. Why do you only greet Fedyuninsky and Yakovlev, and not me? ”

I looked at the general in front of me, and although I felt that his voice was somewhat familiar, as if I had heard it somewhere, I really couldn't remember who he was, so I had to reply awkwardly: "I'm sorry, Comrade General, I don't know what to call you?" ”

The general snorted and said coldly: "You, the acting commander of the 378th Division, are quite familiar with the commanders of other group armies. But he didn't even know his immediate boss. ”

Immediate superior?! My immediate boss?! I am now the commander of the 378th Division, and my immediate boss is not the commander of the 59th Army. Is this person in front of me. Is it the commander of the army group, the general? So I asked tentatively: "Are you Commander Kolovnikov?" ”

He snorted heavily this time, turned his head to Fedyuninsky and Yakovlev and smiled and said, "Haluha, you see, my own subordinates don't even know their superiors. ”

Yakovlev smiled and said to me: "Major Oshanina, let me introduce you, this is the commander of the 59th Army, General Kolovnikov, your immediate boss. ”

I hurriedly stood up and saluted Kolovnikov and said apologetically: "I'm sorry, Comrade General, I didn't know that it was you, and I ask for your forgiveness." The tone of his voice was very similar to that of the second lieutenant just now.

Kolovnikov returned the salute and said to Fedyuninsky and the two of them: "The meeting is about to begin, let's go back to our seats first." ”

As soon as the three generals left, another commander came up to me, held out his hand to me, and said in a friendly voice: "Hello, Major Oshanina, long time no see." ”

I looked up and couldn't help grinning, there were so many acquaintances I met today, and the person standing in front of me to greet me was actually Colonel Koshevoy, commander of the 65th Infantry Division. I hurriedly shook his hand and said excitedly, "Hello, Comrade Colonel, I didn't expect to meet you here today. ”

Colonel Koshevoy did not let go of my hand and asked, "Major Oshanina, are you interested in becoming the commander of my division now, that position will always be reserved for you." ”

I replied with a smile: "Comrade Colonel, I have always wanted to go to your 65th Division, but not now, I have already been transferred to the 378th Division. ”

"378th Division?!" Koshevoy repeated the number, glanced left and right, bent down close to my ear and whispered: "Comrade Oshanina, let me remind you that you should be more wary of your division commander, Colonel Dorofeev, that boy is a well-known womanizer. ”

I shook his hand vigorously and said, "Comrade Colonel, thank you for your concern. But the person you're talking about doesn't pose any threat to me anymore? ”

"For what?" The colonel asked with a blank look on his face.

I replied quietly: "Because he has been removed from his post by General Meretskov, and I am now the acting commander of the 378th Infantry Division." ”

"I didn't expect you to be a teacher, you are really amazing!" The Colonel slapped me twice on the shoulder as he spoke, and I almost screamed in pain.

At this moment, a colonel walked to the door and said to the people in the room: "Comrade commander, please take a seat quickly, Commander Meretskov will be there soon." ”

Koshevoy looked left and right and said, "There's a vacancy over there, come with me." With that, he pulled me and walked to the other side.

As soon as we sat down, someone next to me tapped me on the shoulder and said, "Hello, Major Oshanina, remember me?" ”

Turning my head to look at it, my eyes suddenly lit up, isn't this Colonel Zhicholiv? He hurriedly reached out and shook his hand, saying, "Hello, Colonel Zhicholiv, it's a pleasure to meet you. ”

Just as he was about to talk a few words about the old days, the voice of the colonel just now came from the door: "The commander of the Front, General Meretskov, has arrived. With his voice, the commanders present stood up in unison and waited for the commander to enter.

After a while, four generals appeared at the door. At the front was the diminutive General Meretskov, to his right was a tall, round-faced general with broad shoulders, and the rank on his collar badge indicated that he was a general; On the left was General Afanasyev, who was in the same car, and behind them was General Plivalov, who made me angry at the first sight.

After the four of them came to the conference table and took their seats, the standing commanders sat down again.

Meretskov stood up and glanced at the whole room before he said unhurriedly: "Before the meeting, I would like to introduce you to the representative of the base camp, the Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army, Colonel-General Vasilevsky. ”

In the applause of everyone, Vasilevsky, who was sitting on his right hand, also stood up, nodded with a smile, and said: "Comrade commander, hello everyone! (To be continued......)

PS: Thank you book friends: read it without saying, t00030003, read the book my favorite monthly pass, book friend Plunyakov's reward