As Chief of Staff of the 20th Army, I felt very incompetent. It has been two days since I took office, and my eyes are still only fixed on the one acre and three points of land of the Eighth Guards Division, and I have ignored the rest, so that until now, I don't know what troops are under the jurisdiction of the Ludao Group Army and where the specific defense area is.

I stared intently at Vlasov, who was speaking, and memorized in my mind the numbers and commanders of the units he mentioned, as well as where they were at the moment.

After Vlasov introduced the basic situation, Mr. Lin began to speak: "In the past few days, the German army has launched an offensive against our army in many areas, and the intensity and density of its attack are unprecedented since the beginning of the Battle of Moscow. According to the analysis of this situation, it should have been the German Field Marshal von Bock who threw all their reserves into battle, trying to break through our defenses in one fell swoop, in order to quickly seize Moscow and achieve the goal of drawing enough troops to go to other fronts. Judging from the current situation, this desperate tactic is still extremely threatening, and they have forced our troops to begin to retreat in many areas. ……”

Mr. Lin explained endlessly, and Shi Zhe, who was standing behind him, translated his words into Russian in time and translated them for us. Vlasov leaned back in his chair, took the cigarette case on the table, took a cigarette from it, struck a match on his mouth and lit it. Smelling the faint smell of sulfur after the burning of matches in the air, Mr. Lin glanced at him, frowned slightly, and continued: "...... The situation of our army group is slightly better than that of other units. Although the enemy launched several large-scale attacks on us from the beginning of our occupation of Volokolamsk, thanks to the heroic resistance of our troops, their plot to seize the city did not succeed, not only did they not take advantage of the slightest advantage, but on the contrary, some of the areas they occupied were recaptured by us. In order to reverse the current unfavorable situation, the front command is ready to take active action against our army group to contain a part of the enemy's forces so that friendly forces can get a respite. ”

"Deputy Commander Lin," I preemptively asked, taking advantage of the gap between his words, "In what direction is the Front Army Command preparing to let us launch an attack?" ”

"Comrade Leda, come and see." Mr. Lin pointed to the map with the red and blue pencil in his hand to explain to me, perhaps to facilitate his own reading of the map, the map is marked with Chinese next to the Russian name, such a map is not a problem for me, a picture blind. "The operational intention of the front command is to let our division, with the 7th Division as the main force and equipped with two tank battalions, launch an attack on Kashino, which is guarded by the 340th Infantry Regiment of the German Army in the north, and strive to seize this small city, and then threaten the German supply bases in the cities of Suvorovo and Botovo, and force the enemy to withdraw troops from the front line for defense, so as to achieve the purpose of reducing the pressure on friendly forces."

I looked at the map, wondering if it would be worth it to launch such an attack. Seeing that I didn't speak, just staring at the picture in a daze, Vlasov couldn't help but ask: "Comrade Leda, what do you think of this attack?" ”

I did not answer him directly to this question, but asked rhetorically: "Comrade two commanders, according to the normal situation, if my group army were to participate in a major counteroffensive, what kind of offensive line would it take?" ”

Vlasov leaned forward, pointed to a point on the map with his finger and said: "According to the initial deployment, after the start of the major counteroffensive, the group army will take the 7th Division as the main force, first capture Chismena to the east, and use this small city as the starting point of the attack to launch a counteroffensive to Klin in the northeast, and at the same time, the 8th Division will move north from Sun Hill City to form a flank attack on Klin." ”

"So what troops does our army currently have in both directions, Chismena and Kashino?"

This time, it was Mr. Lin who answered my question, who pointed to Chismena on the map with a pencil and replied: "The forward position of the 7th Division is on the edge of the forest, three kilometers west of Chismena, and is defended by two infantry battalions and an anti-tank artillery battalion. Then he moved the pen to another position and said: "Five kilometers south of Kashino is the small city of Ivanovskoye, where a regiment of the 354th Infantry Division of our army is stationed. Although it is the same regiment in strength, because the enemy's formation is different from ours, they have an advantage in numbers. ”

"Has there been any recent fighting in these two areas?" I asked a third question that I was interested in.

"No," Vlasov said, shaking his head, "from late November to the present, the German army has been defeated repeatedly in battles with us, and has been frightened, and now it no longer takes the initiative to attack the area under the jurisdiction of our army, but desperately builds all kinds of fortifications to defend against possible counterattacks by our army." ”

I raised my head, looked at the two commanders, and asked softly: "Comrade commander, do you think we should carry out this combat order of the Front Command?" ”

Almost without thinking, Vlasov replied: "The orders of the higher authorities are not negotiable, and we should immediately carry them out." ”

"I disagree!" After listening to Shi Zhe's translation, Mr. Lin resolutely put forward his own viewpoint: "Our existing forces and the reserves obtained from the base camp are preparing to assemble in the Chismena area, if we are transferred to Ivanovskoye to participate in the offensive, once the attack does not go well, it is very likely to be entangled by the enemy, which will affect our plan for a major counteroffensive." ”

Hearing the two commanders' two completely different views, I understood why they had summoned me to the headquarters of the group army in such a hurry, and it turned out that I had asked them to be the referee. Although I agree with Mr. Lin, if you want to openly show your support for him, you will offend Vlasov and even Zhukov.

My eyes were glued to the map, my mind desperately trying to figure out what to do. For a moment, I was so engrossed that Vlasov tapped me on the shoulder twice in a row to wake me up from my contemplation. Seeing that I noticed him, Vlasov urged: "Lida, what do you think, tell me what you think." ”

I looked at Vlasov and remembered that he had just said that the Germans would no longer dare to attack our army group on their own initiative, and suddenly a flash of inspiration occurred to me, and I suddenly came up with a brilliant plan. So I let out a long breath and said to the two of them lightly: "Two commanders, I have a bold idea, which can not only fulfill the combat order issued by the front army headquarters, but also not affect the major counteroffensive in two days. Hearing that I had thought of a way to get the best of both worlds, the two of them couldn't help but light up and urged me to hurry up.

"General Vlasov said just now that the enemy facing our army has been frightened by us and does not dare to take the initiative to attack, so we can create a false impression of massing a large number of troops to Ivanovskoye, put on a posture of imminent attack on Kashino, and force the German army to increase troops to Kashino."

"What illusion? You say be detailed. Vlasov asked puzzled, but Mr. Lin frowned slightly, trying to think about something.

I continued: "We can send troops to the Ivanovskoye region with great fanfare during the day, and deliberately make the enemy aware of the movements of our troops, and then quietly withdraw these troops in the evening." In this way, troops were sent during the day and withdrawn again at night, creating the illusion that the enemy was massing a large army and was about to launch a major military offensive in the direction of Cassino. In this way, if they want to keep their important supply points, they will redeploy heavy troops back to defend the area. ”

"And what about the Chismena region?" Vlasov asked without moving.

"In the Chismena area, we do the opposite. During the day, with the exception of a few alert troops, the rest of the troops were withdrawn with great swagger, and at night they were sent together with reinforcements. In this way, we will be able to assemble enough troops at the starting point of the offensive before the start of the major counteroffensive. ”

After listening to the translation, Mr. Lin slapped the table and applauded: "Great, what a good plan to 'hide from the sky and cross the sea'!" ”

I was stunned for a moment, and it turned out that the name of this strategy was "Hiding from the Sky and Crossing the Sea", and I thought it should be called something like "increasing troops and reducing stoves" or "reducing troops and increasing stoves".

Vlasov also had a smile on his face and said: "Since this is the best of both worlds, after we report to the command of the Front, let's act according to the plan!" ”

"Wait a minute, Comrade Vlasov." Mr. Lin stopped Vlasov, who wanted to report to Zhukov, in time, "Although this plan is good, there are still many shortcomings, and some details still need to be improved." For example, what if a troop is attacked by an enemy air raid during a move? And what should we do if the enemy does not react to our build-up illusion in the direction of Kashino? ……”

Hearing Mr. Lin's analysis, I admired him more and more, worthy of being a military god, the problem under consideration is comprehensive, with him commanding this army, there is no reason not to win the battle.