After listening to the report, Lieutenant Colonel Harpy said in a stern tone: "Major Oshanina, I will report to the division headquarters immediately about the sacrifice of all the 131st regiments. Stay in your position, await my latest orders, and don't make your own decisions. Do you understand? ”

I heard him address me, and before I knew it, I changed from "you" to "you", and realizing the seriousness of the situation, I quickly and honestly replied: "Understood, Comrade Regiment Commander." I waited. ”

Seeing that I put down the phone, Diomi and Thorin asked with concern: "Comrade Major, what did the regimental commander say?" ”

I replied, "The lieutenant colonel, after knowing about the 131st regiment, didn't say anything, just told me to stay in position and wait for his latest order." After saying that, I looked up at Instructor Thorin and said to him, "Comrade Instructor, you go and deal with the affairs of those four people, give them military uniforms, and then replenish them to the company." ”

"Comrade Major, is this appropriate? They're deserters! Thorin said with some embarrassment.

"Comrade instructor," I said with some helplessness, "we have insufficient troops, and judging from the current situation, it is impossible to get supplements from our superiors. So we can only use everyone, even deserters. In the cruel battle red in the future, one more person will have more strength. ”

"Understood, Comrade Major. I'll go and carry out the order right away. "Thorin saluted me and left the company command post.

Unable to wait for Lieutenant Colonel Harpy's call, I became more and more impatient, kept raising my hand to look at my watch, and picked up the microphone several times, wanting to make another call to the regiment headquarters. Seeing that I was upset, Diomi comforted me and said, "Comrade Major, don't worry, maybe the regiment commander is reporting the situation to his superiors, and he will call after a while." You sit down and have a cup of tea. ”

I sat down across from him, picked up the teacup he had placed in front of me, took a gentle sip of the black tea with the sugar in it, and took a few deep breaths to ease my anxiety. I remembered what Lieutenant Colonel Harpy had just said, "Don't make your own decisions." Didn't he know that I had only about 200 men under my command, and it was impossible to attack even a German position defended by only one platoon, except for holding the position.

The phone on the table rang suddenly, and before the bell rang a second time, I grabbed the microphone and said loudly: "I am Major Oshanina, comrade regimental commander?" ”

"Leda, it's me." A familiar voice came from the microphone, and before I could speak, he had already identified himself: "I'm Vlasov." ”

"Comrade Commander, it's you?!" Hearing that it was the commander of the group army himself who had called, I quickly got up from my seat and asked respectfully: "Hello! Any instructions, please? ”

Instead of answering my question, Vlasov asked rhetorically: "Do you understand the situation of the army group today?" ”

This question really stopped me, since I became the commander of this battalion, I seem to have been marginalized all of a sudden, and whatever the task is, it is the group army that reaches the division, and the division reaches the regiment, and the regiment commander conveys it to me. So there are a lot of things that I can't understand in as much time as I did on the Western Front or the 54th Army. I muttered a reply: "Comrade Commander, I am now just an ordinary battalion commander, and I only understand the instructions conveyed by my superiors, and I really don't know much about the current situation of the group army. ”

Hearing me say this, Vlasov was silent for a long time before he said in a heavy tone: "Leda, the situation is very bad. It is important to know that the 2nd Assault Army was only nominally an assault, but in fact, after a brutal battle, the troops were severely reduced and there was a lack of ammunition, and the soldiers who were replenished by our superiors often suffered heavy casualties when they passed through the passage because they were blocked by the enemy. Now it is difficult for our army group to even carry out defense, let alone crush the strong resistance of the German army. ”

"For the difficult situation of the 2nd Assault Army, didn't Commander Hozin think of a solution?"

"I've thought about it, but it's useless." Vlasov said in a mocking tone: "He swore to Comrade Stalin that if the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts were combined and placed under his command, the siege of Leningrad by the fascist bandits would be broken." After the withdrawal of the Volkhov Front, he became the commander as he wished, and personally commanded the battle in the Volkhov cluster. It is a pity that he was ambitious and talented, and in a month and a half, he could not achieve the goal of uniting the troops inside and outside Leningrad, and even under the repeated supervision of the base camp, even the 2nd Shock Army failed to withdraw from the encirclement of the German army. So the other day, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Thunder was furious and removed him from his post and let General Yegorov take his place. At the same time, the Volkhov Front was restored, which, in addition to retaining the original unit structure, was incorporated into the 8th and 54th armies, and General Meretskov returned to the post of commander of the Front. ……”

Hearing this, I couldn't help but interrupt him and asked, "Then why did you want to merge the two front armies in the first place?" I believe that this is inappropriate in terms of operations, politics and in any way. In particular, when the battle has reached a critical moment, changing the battle on the spot will be a taboo for soldiers. With that, I couldn't help but glance at Diomi who was sitting across from me, looking at me.

Although I only glanced at it, the captain immediately understood, got up and saluted me, turned and walked out of the company command post. There were no outsiders present, so I no longer had any scruples in speaking, and asked: "Comrade commander, I would like to ask what is the situation of the 2nd Assault Army, is it surrounded by the Germans?" ”

"It's worse than you say." Vlasov's voice sounded a little haggard, "According to intelligence, the German Army Group North adjusted its disposition, brought in reinforcements from other places, with the 1st SS Police Division from the north, the 58th, 126th German and 250th Spanish Divisions from the south, and coordinated with the 18th Army in the Lyuban area, launched a frantic attack on the 52nd and 59th armies on both sides of our line of communication. ”

"General Yakovlev's 52nd Army and General Korovnikov's 59th Army, will they be able to hold back the German attack?" I asked nervously.

"Unstoppable." Vlasov sighed and said, "During today's daytime battles, two army groups were forced to retreat. The Germans had cut off our retreat and pocketed the 2nd Shock Army. At the same time, it has also seized our logistical supply bases, and the army group is now desperately short of food and ammunition. Speaking of this, he paused for a moment and asked in a low voice: "Lida, you used to be my chief of staff, I want to ask you, what do you think should be done next to save the 2nd Assault Army on the verge of despair?" ”

I held the microphone in my hand and thought about it, and felt that the best way to do it was to break through as soon as possible while the ammunition had not yet been exhausted. After thinking about it, I solemnly said to Vlasov: "Comrade commander, I think the only thing that can be done at the moment is to break through. You need to quickly assemble an elite offensive force and break through to the east. At the same time, a telegram was sent to General Meretskov asking him to send troops, preferably armored ones, to attack from east to west. As long as these two forces can join forces, then the 2nd Army will be able to break out of the encirclement. Move quickly, otherwise when the troops run out of food and ammunition, they will have to sit and wait. ”

After listening to my suggestion, Vlasov hummed, and then said slowly: "Lida, your suggestion is very good. At the meeting of the military council of the army group during the day tomorrow, I will bring it up for everyone's consideration. Also, in two days, I will send troops to you to take over the defense, the 327th Division is the division with the strongest combat effectiveness in the whole group army, and it is also an important force for breaking through the encirclement. Well, that's all for today, I wish you good health! Good night. With that, he hung up the phone.

I put down the phone and walked around the room with my hands behind my back, my mind trying to digest what Vlasov had just told me. It is imperative to break through, but can you stand out? That's the biggest question on my mind. Although I came through time, it is a pity that I don't know anything about the history of this period of the Great Patriotic War, and I just want to open a golden finger to change the unfavorable situation of the 2nd Shock Army, and I don't know how to start. It's like asking Obama to travel back in time to Qin Shi Huang, and if he doesn't know that history, whether he can unify the six countries will be very uncertain.

"If only a historian could come over and give me some pointers." Thinking of this, I couldn't help but smile bitterly, how could there be such a coincidence, if you want a historian, you will immediately appear in front of me, unless one of the four young people just now understands history. Thinking of this, I suddenly became enlightened, slapped back, and said to myself excitedly: "Yes, there are four people who have crossed over in front of me, and some of them can definitely know a little bit about this history." I'll just ask him for advice, and I need to exhaust a bunch of brain cells here? ”