Zhukov, out of concern for my safety, added several fighters to Yushchenko and formed an elite guard squad. Yushchenko, the former commander of the guard battalion, could only follow me and be aggrieved as a guard squad leader who could only command a dozen fighters.

Although my guard squad consisted of only a dozen people, when we left the Zhukov command, it was crowded with a covered truck. Seeing this, Vatutin couldn't help but laugh and tease me: "General Oshanina, it seems that you are not moving a lot when you are traveling. Wherever Apanashchenko and I went, we took four or five guards with us, and you brought more guards than the two of us combined. ”

I couldn't get angry at Vatutin's ridicule, so I could only say with a smiling face: "Comrade General, because I have been in distress too many times on the way here, Marshal Zhukov specially assigned me this guard squad out of consideration for my safety. ”

"Comrade Oshanina, don't be careful, I'm just joking you." Seeing that I was a little nervous, Vatujing specially explained to me, and after saying that, he opened the back door, made a gesture of invitation to me, and said with a big grin: "Get in the car, we still have to drive hundreds of kilometers." But don't worry, the situation and line are all in our army's defense zone, and there will be no danger. ”

After a bumpy night on the road, at dawn we finally came to the headquarters of the Voronezh Front, which was based in the city of Oboyan.

Our car stopped outside the building where the headquarters was located, and as soon as I got out of the car, I saw two familiar figures from the crowd standing at the door ready to greet us. One was Apanashchenko, who had a relationship, and the other was Khrushchev, who had served as military commissar of the Stalingrad Front, but now he is no longer simply a political worker, but not long ago he was also awarded the rank of lieutenant general.

I followed behind Vatutin. Shake hands with the commanders who came to greet them. When I shook hands with Khrushchev, I behaved relatively respectfully to the future leader. I bent down slightly, stretched out my hands, and said politely: "Hello, Comrade Military Commissar. Nice to see you here! ”

"Hello, Leda!" When Khrushchev saw me, a former comrade-in-arms of the Stalingrad Front, he looked quite affectionate, he shook my hands vigorously, and said enthusiastically: "Welcome, welcome to our Voronezh Front to supervise and guide the work." ”

In front of the future boss, I showed the humility I deserved, and I said with a smiling face: "Comrade Military Commissar, you are laughing. In front of all the leaders, where can I guide what work? I was ordered by my superiors to go to the Voronezh Front to assist Commander Vatutin. Also, I am young and have little experience, so if there is something wrong with me, please point it out to me. ”

"All right, Comrade Military Commissar." Vatutin interrupted the reminiscence between us and said with a smile, "Let's go to the headquarters." Convey the intentions of superiors to commanders at all levels as soon as possible. ”

They went into the conference room and sat down, and Vatujin sat across from me. In his left hand sat Deputy Commander Apanashchenko, in his right hand sat Khrushchev, while the Chief of Staff, Major General Korzhonevich, sat on my left hand side, and on his right hand was the commander of the 69th Army, Major General Kazakov.

After the meeting began, Vatutin glanced at the audience and said slowly: "Comrade commanders. I brought the latest order from the base camp from Moscow. The task of our Voronezh Front is no longer simply to alert the German troops in Belgorod and encircle the flanks of the Central Front, but to intensify the construction of fortifications in the defense area to prevent a possible fierce attack by the German army. This General Oshanina. It is a special commissioner sent by the base camp to supervise the construction of various fortifications in our defense area. ”

Hearing Vatutin introduce me to everyone, I quickly got up from my seat, raised my hand and saluted everyone present before sitting down again.

Vatutin continued: "Since General Oshanina has a special mission, no matter which army group she enters, you must actively cooperate, understand? ”

"Understood." Several army group commanders sitting at the table replied neatly.

After the room was quiet again, Apanashchenko voiced his doubts in public: "Comrade commander, I don't understand why the base camp has adjusted our place to the main defensive direction. Everyone knows that the Orel area is home to the elite German Army Group Center, which could attack General Rokossovsky's Central Front at any moment. And Belgorod in front of us is a weakened remnant of the army commanded by Manstein. ”

After hearing this question, Vatutin did not answer it immediately, but looked at me and said: "Comrade Oshanina, I think it is more appropriate for you to answer this question of Comrade Deputy Commander. ”

Seeing that Vatutin had pushed this difficult problem on me, I could not refuse, so I could only stand up and say to Apanashchenko: "Comrade Deputy Commander, you are quite right in what you said, Manstein's troops were indeed weakened in battle. But have you ever wondered what kind of strength they were before they were weakened, and what kind of strength they were after they were weakened? ”

"This, this ......" Faced with my question, Apanashchenko seemed a little flustered, and he was stuck in the middle of speaking. But he was not a simple person after all, and after a while, he came back to his senses and asked unceremoniously: "I really don't know the specific strength of Manstein's troops. However, a unit that has suffered a joint blow from our Southwestern Front and the Voronezh Front, even if its combat effectiveness is strong in the past, its current strength will be greatly reduced. ”

Although Apanashchenko was old, and even Vatutin, as a commander, was inferior to him, I did not have the slightest reverence for him, so I did not speak in circles, and said bluntly: "Comrade Deputy Commander, I once witnessed with my own eyes that a German division, in just a few hours, inflicted heavy losses on one of our Guards Infantry Corps and easily broke through their strong defensive lines. And the tank brigade that I sent reinforcements at that time, after attacking from their flanks, after a fierce battle, was also wiped out. You must know that these troops annihilated by the German army are all elite troops who have just experienced the defense of Stalingrad, but in front of the German army that is inferior in strength. There is still no power to parry, and how strong their combat effectiveness is can be seen. ”

After hearing my words, Apanashchenko said unconvinced: "Even if there is such a German division, does he dare to risk being surrounded and go deep into the defense zone of our front army alone?" ”

"Comrade Deputy Commander." Thinking that he would die in a few months, and that there was no possibility of becoming my immediate superior, I was not afraid of the possibility of offending him, and said truthfully: "There are three divisions like this in the German army under Manstein, and we are overwhelmed by one of them, and if we meet three at the same time, then our troops will still fall into a fierce battle even if they are superior in numbers." And after the loss of such elite troops. Dekou will certainly give priority to replenishing them, so that they can recover their original combat strength as soon as possible and pose a greater threat to our army. ”

"Leda," Khrushchev asked slowly, after my impassioned speech, "are you sure that the German Army Group Center will not first attack the defensive strips of the Central Front?" ”

"No, Comrade Military Commissar." To Khrushchev's question, I respectfully replied: "The Germans gathered Army Group Center in the Orel area. It was to attract our seventy infantry divisions deployed near Moscow, as well as Rokossovsky's Central Front. By concentrating all our attention on the west, they can secretly send troops to strengthen Manstein's forces in the future. ”

"Then where do you think the main direction of the German attack will be?" Khrushchev then asked.

"Prokhorovka!" Since I have already mentioned this place in Zhukov's command, there is no need to hide it here, so I said it quite simply: "Commander Vatutin once explained that since the terrain of Prokhorovka is an open hilly area. Divided in two by an important railway is not conducive to our construction of a complete defense system, and once the Germans choose this place as the breakthrough point, it will be difficult to block the German attack with the existing combat strength of our troops. So we're going to survey the area as soon as possible. Build fortifications in suitable places. ”

"That's right, General Oshanina is right, the main task of our front in the next step is to choose a suitable location in the Prokhorovka region and build a complete defense system." After Vatutin said these words, his eyes looked at Major General Kazakov, who was sitting on my right, and he said, "General Kazakov! ”

Hearing Vatutin's name, Major General Kazakov hurriedly got up from his seat, straightened his waist, and waited for Vatutin's next order.

"Prokhorovka is the defense area of your 69th Army," Vatutin looked at him with eyes and began to explain the task to him: "You are going to personally accompany General Oshanina to complete the survey of the terrain, understand?" ”

"Understood." Kazakov replied loudly, and then sat down.

"Next, let's ......," Vatutin's words were halfway through when he was interrupted by a staff officer who had hurried in. I saw the staff officer lean close to Vatutin's ear and whisper a few words, and Vatutin's face suddenly changed drastically. After waiting for the staff officer to stand up straight, I hurriedly asked Vatutin nervously: "Comrade commander, what happened?" ”

"That's right, Comrade Oshanina." Vatutin got up from his seat and said to me with a serious expression: "The troops stationed in Prokhorovka called and reported that traces of Germans had been found near the area. ”

Without waiting for me to speak, Apanashchenko got up from his seat and said in a loud voice: "Comrade commander, since traces of the enemy have been found in the Prokhorovka region, what are we still sitting here?" After saying this, he paused for a moment, and seeing that Vatutin did not mean to stop him, he continued, "I propose to stop the meeting immediately, and the commanders of the command all rush to Prokhorovka to see what is happening." ”

Apanashchenko's words made me frown, because I thought of Zhukov in my heart and thought about what kind of actions Zhukov would have taken if he heard the news. From what I knew about him, he would have ordered the person who reported his intelligence to find out where the enemy was and what kind of troops and equipment he had, instead of rushing to end an important military meeting and leading a large group of commanders to the place where the Germans appeared. If there is an enemy ambush on the road, and something happens to so many senior commanders, the troops will fall into a leaderless situation.

Thinking of this, I stared nervously at Vatujing to see what kind of decision he would make. In addition to me, Khrushchev, who was sitting next to him, and a group of commanders of various army groups stared intently at him, waiting for him to make a final decision.

Vatutin was silent for a long time, looked down at Khrushchev and asked: "Comrade Military Commissar, what do you think?" ”

Khrushchev did not expect Vatutin to push this difficult problem to him, he raised his hand and scratched the back of his head, and finally said: "Comrade commander, I think it is a bit hasty for us to rush to end the military meeting and rush to Prokhorovka. It's better to do this, anyway, Leda is going to Prokhorovka to survey the terrain, so she simply asks the deputy commander and General Kazakov to accompany her. It is possible not only to understand the situation of the German troops that appeared in the Prokhorovka area, but also to survey the local places by the way, killing two birds with one stone. What do you think? ”

After listening to Khrushchev's opinions, Vatutin nodded and said approvingly: "Comrade Military Commissar is right, we are holding an important military conference, and we cannot interrupt the meeting for the sake of this matter. Comrade Deputy Commander, you will rush to Prokhorovka with General Oshanina and General Kazakov to see what is happening, okay? ”

"Okay, I'll go." After Apanashchenko said this, he called to me and Kazakov: "Let's go, let's rush to the Prokhorovka region at once to find out what the Germans want to do." ”

I sighed in my heart for Apanashchenko's reckless behavior, but I could not object, so I had to say goodbye to Vatutin and Khrushchev and follow him and Kazakov to Prokhorovka.

On the bus to Prokhorovka, I was so impressed by Stalin's arrangement of Apanashchenko that if he had been transferred from the post of commander of the Far Eastern Front and put him in charge of an important direction, the Soviet army would have suffered unnecessary heavy losses because of his outdated command thinking. (To be continued.) )