I sat down at the table first, and then Mr. Lin sat across from me, with translator Zhe standing behind him. Colonel Gryaznov stood to my right with his hands on the table, glanced at the map spread out on the table, then looked at me and said: "Comrade Oshanina, please tell us about the situation in Volokramsk. ”

I looked at the map in front of me, it was Volosramsk, one of the few that I could understand, and I pointed to the eastern part of the city and said, "The division headquarters of our 8th Guards Division is here." And drew a dotted line with his finger between my headquarters and the city, "I placed the 1073 regiment of Lieutenant Colonel Serebryavko here, set up a new line of defense to block the German troops coming out of the city of Volokramsk; The 1075 regiment, led by Colonel Chistyakov, served as a reserve for the division, resting near the division headquarters. At this point, I paused for a moment to see that several people were listening to me intently, and then continued: "I and the 1077th Regiment led by General Leviagin stayed in the city to deal with the German army, trying to delay the German army's march to Moscow. In yesterday's daytime battle, we used the tactics of surprise and encirclement to destroy a small German force in the city and capture their commander. ”

When it comes to the word "encirclement and reinforcement", I deliberately paid attention to Mr. Lin's reaction, and I must know that this tactic is his invention and creation! Sure enough, Mr. Lin, who was originally looking down at the map, listened to Shi Zhe's translation, his eyebrows jumped, and he looked up at me suddenly, his eyes full of questions.

I can guess what he was thinking, "encirclement and reinforcement" was obviously his first initiative, and this tactic had not yet been fully formed at this time, how could foreigners know the way and know how to use it?

"Where is the 1077th Regiment now?" I was wondering how to deal with his question, when Colonel Gryaznov's question cleared me.

I shook my head and replied embarrassedly, "I don't know what to do." Last night I received an order to retreat from the commander of the army group, General Rokossovsky, and was deploying the retreat of the troops, when the Germans suddenly launched a heavy artillery bombardment of the area where our 1077th regiment was stationed. Due to the urgency of the situation, General Leviakin asked me to retreat first in the dark, and he volunteered to stay and command the troops, intending to break through the German encirclement from the east and join the troops outside the city. ”

"What happened?" It was Mr. Lin who asked this, and although I understood the meaning of his words as soon as he said this, I still waited for Shi Zhe to translate Mr. Lin's original words into Russian before replying: "I took dozens of soldiers to run around in the dark night, and I found that I had come to the vicinity of the station when it was close to dawn." I could have jumped out of the void of the enemy's defense, but seeing them hanging the bodies of our fallen comrades on the flagpole, I couldn't control my emotions for a while, so I ordered to knock out several German soldiers guarding the flagpole, and as a result, the target was exposed, and the detected Germans chased all the way into the forest. Speaking of this, I gratefully glanced at Mr. Lin again, and then said softly: "Fortunately, we met your armored troops, otherwise we would not have escaped the end of the total annihilation." ”

"Hehehe," the colonel said with a smile, "you have to thank Deputy Commander Lin for this." As soon as the Supreme Command transferred our army group from the reserves to the Western Front last night, General Zhukov immediately gave us an operational order, saying that the defensive line was retreating under the strong pressure of the German troops, and ordered us to enter the designated position as soon as possible at all costs to block the fierce German offensive. Having received the order, the entire army group immediately went into action. Deputy Commander Lin went directly from the headquarters of the group army to our division and directly commanded the operation. He said that we were going to take the enemy by surprise, so he drew all the tanks and motorcycles in the division and formed a vanguard battalion to open the way in front, and the infantry followed closely behind, boldly interspersing into the rear of the German army. In order to avoid detection by German reconnaissance aircraft, we were constantly marching in the forest. As he spoke, he looked at General Lin, "If it weren't for Deputy Commander Lin's ingenious command, according to the normal procedures in the past, our army should still be in the process of being transferred, not to mention relieving the siege for you, it is a question of whether you can reach your current position." ”

After listening to the colonel's such straightforward flattery, Mr. Lin just said coldly: "The situation on the battlefield is changing rapidly, and the fighters are fleeting, so the mobilization and mobilization of troops must be fast, coupled with long-distance infiltration and running, in order to have the effect of attacking them unprepared." Then he asked me: "I heard that your commander Rokossovsky once proposed to Zhukov that his troops be withdrawn, do you know where he intends to withdraw his troops?" ”

"Zhilu Dao." Almost without hesitation, I replied: "The commander intends to withdraw the troops near the Istrian River and organize a new line of defense there." ”

As soon as I finished speaking, the colonel quickly moved his finger to the location of the Istrian River and whispered, "Here." ”

Mr. Lin stared at that position for a long time before he said slowly: "The location of the new armament is well chosen. General Rokossovsky was right in his decision, there were no troops behind the 16th Army, and if the defending forces were destroyed, the road to Moscow would be opened, which the enemy could only dream of. In my opinion, the reservoir itself, the Istrian River and its adjacent areas are the best areas for defense, and after the occupation of this area it is possible to organize a strong defense with only a small number of troops. In this way, it is possible to put some troops in the second echelon and establish a defense in depth, while most of the troops are thrown in other directions. ”

"Yes," I said, "I think so too." ”

Mr. Lin looked at the map with his eyes and said without raising his head: "But with what I know about General Zhukov, he will definitely stop Rokossovsky." He was tasked with defending Moscow, and even if there was even a glimmer of hope of holding the position, he would order his troops to hold on and never allow them to retreat without permission. ”

I secretly praised in my heart that Mr. Lin was really like a god, and although they may not be aware of Zhukov's harshly worded telegram now, this is indeed the case. Even the retreat plan, which had been tacitly approved by the Supreme Commander, was ruthlessly rejected by Zhukov.