After the summary of the battle was reported to the headquarters of the front, Vatutin actually called in person, and he asked curiously: "Comrade Oshanina, from your report, I have seen a very strange thing and want to ask you. ”

"Comrade General, if you have any questions, just ask." Although I didn't know what Vatujin would ask me, I said respectfully, "As long as I know, I will give you a satisfactory answer." ”

From the earpiece came the sound of flipping papers, and then I heard Vatutin: "Comrade Oshanina, the exact words are as follows: when the soldiers rushed into the village, they deliberately made the German officers and soldiers who had surrendered themselves shout, so that the German soldiers disguised as our army could hear their authentic German. Many German soldiers, who had already pointed their guns on our troops, laid down their arms one after another and willingly became our prisoners. That's what I want to ask, why would the Germans be willing to take prisoners? ”

Vatutin's question made me laugh and cry, I thought that he had called in person and must have some important task to assign to me, but I didn't expect it to be such a boring question. However, since he asked, I could only say truthfully: "Comrade General, the reason why the Germans will take the initiative to lay down their arms and become prisoners after hearing authentic German is because they regard our commanders and fighters as their own, and they are deeply afraid that they will have any excessive reaction and cause unnecessary misunderstandings. ”

"I see." Vatutin said thoughtfully: "Then let me ask you again, when formulating this mission, did you consider that this operation would fail?" ”

"I've thought about it." I didn't want to hide anything from Vatutin, so I honestly replied, "But you can't stop doing it because you're afraid of failure." Besides, the reason why I want to send Grams, these surrendered officers and soldiers. It's because they turned out to be Germans. It's up to them to take part in the action. It is not easy for the enemy to find the flaw. The formation of the German army was different from ours, and even if our commanders and fighters were well camouflaged, they were still easy to see through in the face of a highly vigilant enemy. ”

"Although your operation was successful this time, you still did a bit of a risk." Vatutin said to me earnestly: "I know that you have a bunch of German officers and soldiers who have defected, but you can't trust them too much. Maybe one day when they saw that our army was at a disadvantage, they turned their guns and attacked us. ”

"No, Comrade General." Hearing that Vatutins actually doubted Grams's loyalty. I hurriedly defended: "They have been under my command since they surrendered, and participated in the defense of Mamayev and the capture of Kyiv. After the fall of Kyiv, they followed Comrade Kirillov to fight thousands of kilometers and returned to us after a lot of hardships. None of them betrayed us in such a bad situation, and would they have run back to the Germans when the tide of war was turning more and more favourable to us? ”

"Comrade Oshanina, you are a little too optimistic." Vatutin heard me defend the German officers and soldiers who had surrendered. There was some unhappiness in his tone and he said: "According to the information we have received, Manstein will be today. Launch a more intense offensive against the defense areas of your army, the 7th Guards Army and the 40th Army. What you have to think about now is how to repel the German attack, not justify a few unreliable men. Hello do it yourself. With that, he hung up abruptly.

Although Vatutin was angry at me, I didn't care at all, because in the current situation, even if he was not satisfied with me, it was impossible for him to remove me from my position and make a temporary change. In that case, the defense line south of Kursk could be completely penetrated by the Germans.

After I put down the phone, Kirillov looked at me with a worried look on his face and said, "Lida, how can you have an argument with Comrade General?" You know, we have a lot of things to ask him for at the moment, and what if he gets angry and dismisses you or doesn't send us a reserve? ”

Regarding Kirillov's concern and concern, I smiled and said: "Comrade Military Commissar, don't worry, under the present situation, Commander Vatutin will not take any substantive action except to fire at me. That is, it is impossible for him to remove me from my post and to stop the operation of sending reinforcements to the defense zone of our army group. ”

"If that's the case, that's fine." Kirillov sighed and said: "This is the critical moment of the war with the German army, and our command system cannot go wrong at all." ”

I raised my hand and looked at my watch, and then asked Bezkov: "Chief of Staff, is there any new battle report on the front?" ”

Bezikov said with a sad face: "Just received a telegram from the 67th Guards Division that the Germans have attacked them. Lieutenant Colonel Shegerikov was directing the troops to alternately cover the retreat to the forest area. ”

"Is there any news from the mechanized 3rd Army?" Although the 67th Guards Division did not hold out in Butovo for three days, it still bought valuable time for the mechanized 3rd Army in their rear, because when I heard that Shederikov had commanded the troops to retreat, I first thought of this unit, which had not yet been put into battle.

"Major Commander Krivoshein called that a German tank unit was rushing along the road to their defense area." After taking a look at the telegram in his hand, Bezikov replied: "They have laid a large number of anti-tank mines on the roads passed by the German army, and they have also arranged special anti-tank crews, believing that they can block the enemy rushing towards Oboyan." ”

After listening to his answer, I turned my attention to Akhromeyev, who was standing by the wall and had just finished making a phone call: "Comrade Major, how is the situation on your side?" ”

"Report to the Commander." Akhromeyev put the microphone on the telephone, straightened up and reported to me: "The commander of the 375th Division, Govorunenko, reported that in front of the positions of the 1243 regiment in the Prokhorovka area, about one regiment of German troops had been gathered. They had just launched an attack on our positions under the cover of tanks. ”

"Comrade Major, what measures did Comrade Govorinenko take to counter the German offensive?" Danilov, who was next to him, suddenly asked: "Can our troops hold their positions?" ”

Akhromeyev hurriedly turned his body and said to Danilov: "Comrade Deputy Commander, I think the 1243 regiment should be able to hold the position. Because the 5th Guards Tank Army sent the 6th Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment to reinforce it. If they hit hard from the flanks of the Germans. The enemy's offensive will collapse. ”

I hear this. Just as he was about to speak, the phone on the desk rang. I raised my hand and put the microphone to my ear and asked, "Hey, where are you?" ”

"Report to Comrade Commander." Nekrasov's voice came from the earpiece: "Our defense zone is under attack by the Germans, and at the moment fierce battles are taking place on the three main positions. ”

"Didn't the early morning shelling hit the German troops that were accumulating?" For the report of Nekrasov, I feel strange, because, according to the report of the artillerymen. The early hours of the morning shelling yielded great results. As I said this, I couldn't help but glance at Povsky, who was standing next to me.

Povsky, perceiving my gaze, frowned, and walked briskly towards the telephone on the wall, presumably to make a phone call to the artillerymen at the front to verify that the results they had reported after the early morning shelling seemed to be true.

"Comrade commander, there are too many Germans." Nekrasov's voice was a little flustered: "Each of the main positions was attacked by at least one division of German troops in turn, and although the enemy's attack was repulsed, we also paid heavy casualties. ”

"Relying on the tunnel fortifications, carry out a stubborn defense." At times like these. I can only say a few clichés to cheer him up, "Let the 96th tank brigade assault." Use their advanced tanks to crush the German tank forces. As soon as the Germans lost artillery and tank support, their offensive would collapse. ”

"The 96th Brigade has been put into battle," Nekrasov said hurriedly, "and the Germans not only bombarded the tank brigade assembly areas with artillery, but also took advantage of the opportunity to gain air supremacy and dive bombs at our tanks with aircraft." Many tanks were blown up before they could get into attack positions. ”

Hearing that our new tanks were constantly losing in the shelling and bombardment of the Germans, I couldn't help but be anxious, and shouted into the microphone: "Colonel, you immediately contact the commander of the 96th Tank Brigade and let him lead the remaining tanks to rush towards the enemy, only by entangled with the enemy, their aircraft artillery will be useless, and then we will have a chance to turn the situation on the battlefield." ”

After the end of the call with Nekrasov, I continued to call Colonel Bere. As soon as I heard his voice, I asked bluntly: "Comrade Colonel, you tell me, how many tanks are still available to your tank army?" ”

"Comrade commander, although my tank corps has two tank brigades, there are no more than a hundred tanks that can be used at present." Colonel Berey had been dealing with me for not a day or two, and knowing that I was asking this for a reason, he immediately nervously asked: "In which direction are you going to throw the tank?" ”

"The situation is like this, Comrade Colonel. The defense area of the 52nd Guards Division was suddenly attacked by three German divisions equipped with a large number of tanks, and the current situation is very bad, can you send tank units to support them? After I said this, I secretly regretted it in my heart, because the current position of the tank army was not close to the area where the fierce battle was taking place. If they were attacked by the German air force in the course of a long-distance attack, not only would they not be able to provide support, but they would suffer unnecessary losses. Thinking of this, I said with some hesitation, "Is there any difficulty?" ”

Colonel Bere hesitated for a moment, and finally replied with difficulty: "There is no difficulty, I will immediately send the 82nd Tank Brigade to support, and after repelling the German attack, let the troops continue to be stationed there." ”

Seeing that Bere had promised to send tank units to reinforce the defense area of the 52nd Guards Division, I was secretly relieved. Putting down the phone, he asked Povsky, who came over: "Colonel, how is the situation there, have you figured it out?" ”

Povsky straightened up and reported to me: "Comrade commander, I have just called the artillery at the front, and they assured me that the results reported to us are completely accurate. ”

"Comrade Colonel, if the information reported by the artillery is accurate, where did so many enemies come from?" After listening to Povsky's report, Danilov still asked in a skeptical tone: "Our artillery can't all shoot out fake targets set by the Germans, right?" ”

As soon as Danilov's words came out, the command headquarters suddenly fell silent, and I have to say that there is still some truth in his words, and this possibility is completely existent. I saw that Povsky's face was flushed with shame, and I turned around and wanted to go to the wall to make a call, and quickly stopped him: "Colonel, don't call again to verify." Even if you fight again, it is estimated that the artillerymen will still tell you that the results they reported are accurate. ”

"But, Comrade Commander." Danilov asked with an unhappy expression: "Can you explain where so many German units came from?" ”

"It's simple, Comrade Deputy Commander." I said lightly: "Although the troops assembled in front of the positions of the 52nd Guards Division were knocked out by us, the Germans must have placed a large number of troops on the second front. Seeing the loss of the troops in front, Manstein immediately transferred the troops on the second line and launched a new offensive against our positions. ”

Glued to the map, Kirillov said to himself: "There were battles between the 51st and 67th Guards Divisions, as well as the 375th Infantry Division. But why didn't any intelligence come from the 51st Guards Division, and what did the Germans really want to do? ”

Kirillov's words reminded me, and I hurriedly asked the chief of intelligence, Rasmikhin, who had just walked in: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, do you have the latest intelligence on the Yakovlevo region there?" ”

"No, Comrade Commander." Rasmikhin hurriedly replied: "I have ordered the operator to report to me as soon as there is a telegram from the 51st Guards Division." ”

As soon as he had said a few words, the chief of communications, Lopukhov, hurried in, walked up to me, handed me a telegram, and said: "Comrade commander, we have just received a telegram saying that a large number of German troops are advancing towards the Prokhorovka area. ”

"What kind of troops are they, and how many troops are there?" I took the phone, didn't bother to look at it, and asked hurriedly.

Lopukhov shook his head and replied: "Comrade commander, the intelligence was sent back by a reconnaissance group, and their telegram was abruptly terminated halfway through. I guess they were discovered by the Germans and all died. So we could not know from their incomplete telegrams the size of this German unit that rushed to the Prokhorovka area. ”

"Comrade Commander, what should we do?" Hearing this, Danilov couldn't help but ask anxiously.

I thought for a moment, and then said decisively: "Call Commander Vatutin and ask him to have the Air Force send reconnaissance planes to conduct reconnaissance and find out the size of this German unit rushing to the Prokhorovka area." (To be continued.) )