As Floning said, the main forces of our army, with the cooperation of the 1st Shock Army and the 16th Army, surrounded three panzer divisions, one motorized division and two infantry divisions of the German 9th Army and the 4th Panzer Army in the Viazima area.

When the commander of the 7th Guards Division, Colonel Gryaznov, joined forces with the airdropped 4,000 paratroopers and cut off the retreat of the besieged Germans. Immediately reported this to Commander Vlasov by telephone in an agitated and incoherent, but very clear voice. As soon as the colonel's words fell, everyone in the command blurted out "Ula!" ”

I was responsible for reporting this to Zhukov. When Zhukov heard the news, he was also extremely happy, and said in a deep voice: "It's good to surround it, Leda, please tell Comrade Vlasov and ask him to organize troops to immediately attack the encircled enemy, don't give them any respite, I will send planes to cooperate with you in the battle." ”

Putting down the phone, I spoke Zhukov's original words to Vlasov, he nodded, and then directly verbally issued a new combat order. Immediately, the telegraph and telephone in the command headquarters rang one after another, and the staff officers and signal corps began to send telegrams or telephone calls to the units in charge of their respective units according to the division of labor, and conveyed Vlasov's orders to the commanders of the subordinate units.

When the orders reached the troops, the command gradually quieted down, and seeing that Vlasov was in a good mood, I mustered up the courage to say to him: "Comrade commander, I have a request, I wonder if you can agree to it?" ”

Vlasov was looking down at the map, and when he heard me say this, he said without raising his head: "Lida, what do you think, just say that as long as I can do it, I will definitely agree." ”

"I plan to lead the 8th Guards Division to carry out a clearance mission in the areas that have just been recovered, and eliminate the scattered enemies hidden in those villages or settlements."

Vlasov did not answer me directly, but looked at Mr. Lin next to him and asked, "Comrade Deputy Commander Lin, what do you think of Comrade Lida's proposal?" ”

After listening to Shi Zhe's translation, Mr. Lin nodded and said: "I think Lida's idea is good, although there are not many enemies left in the liberated area at present, if we don't completely clear them, let these stragglers bravely attack our logistics supply line, it will be enough to give us a headache." ”

"Not bad at all." Vlasov spoke with a satisfied tone in his voice, and then added: "These remnants of the defeated army will not be reconciled to their defeat, and when they cannot win in the face of our army, they will certainly poison our unarmed collective farm members or residents, so it is necessary to destroy them." Then he said to me in a decisive tone: "Leda, the task of clearing out the remnants of the enemy is entrusted to you." ”

"Yes!" I breathed a sigh of relief in my heart, not only did I justifiably keep my distance from Vlasov, but I was also able to lead my troops to escape the fate of total annihilation in the name of clearing out the remnants of the enemy.

After saluting Vlasov and Mr. Lin, I turned around and prepared to leave. As soon as he walked to the door, he was stopped by Vlasov, who smiled and said: "In two days, I will let Comrade Ehrenburg come to your division for an interview, and you must receive him well." ”

I had just relaxed my mood, but when I heard the news that the reporter I hated was about to come to my division for an interview, it became bad. However, on the surface, I still had to squeeze out a smile and say to Vlasov: "Comrade Commander Xie Luxie, when Ehrenburg comes to my division for an interview, I will receive him well." ”

Returning to the 8th Guards Division, I had Yegorov, Chistyakov, and Serebryakov each lead a unit to clear the remnants of the enemy in the north, south, and east directions, while I myself took Major Resdayev's battalion and Yushchenko's guard company to the west.

The clean-up mission began on January 12, and in just three days, we liberated 89 villages and 11 settlements from the hands of fascist bandits, eliminated more than 400 remnants of the enemy entrenched here, and captured nearly 200 people. Due to the experience of clearing out the remnants of the enemy in the early stage, the casualties of the troops in the destruction of the enemy in these areas were not large.

At noon on the 15th, Major Resdayev's troops captured the village of Petryshevo and, after destroying more than 100 recalcitrant German troops, forced the remaining 84 men to obediently lay down their arms and surrender to our troops.

Half an hour after the seizure of the village, I got out of the car at the entrance of the village under the protection of Yushchenko and the guard company and entered the village on foot. The liberated villagers stood outside the wooden houses on both sides of the road, silently watching our troops marching.

The villagers stood on the side of the road with numb expressions, and no one showed a welcome look to our own team. As I walked, I thought to myself, what's wrong with these villagers, why are they so indifferent? Don't they know that we have come to liberate them?

Just as I was thinking about it, a middle-aged woman with a headscarf suddenly rushed out of the roadside. Captain Yushchenko reacted quickly, and while standing in front of me, he had already drawn his pistol and aimed it at the woman who rushed out.

The woman took two steps back in a panic and asked me loudly: "Comrade female soldier, are you the commander of this unit?" ”

I pushed aside Yushchenko, who was standing in front of me, raised my hand to press down the pistol he was holding, and said kindly to the middle-aged woman: "Yes, comrade woman. I am the supreme commander of this force, is there anything you can do? ”

Seeing that the muzzle of the gun pointed at her was removed, the woman slapped her hand on her chest and took another deep breath before answering me: "My name is Polina, and I am the wife of the villager Vasily Kulik. A month and a half ago, the Germans, who occupied the village, hanged a girl they had captured in the village square. ”

I was taken aback by the news, and hurriedly stepped forward and grabbed her shirt and asked, "You said they hanged a girl, do you know who she is?" Where are the corpses now? ”

My series of questions overwhelmed Polina, and after a while she said, "I don't know, I just heard that the Germans were an arsonist and were hanged in the square." The body hung on the gallows for more than a month, and we were not allowed to collect it, until two days before several German soldiers dismantled the gallows and dug a pit to bury the body. ”

"Take me to see it." I was inexplicably irritable, and urged Polina to lead the way for us to find the body of the murdered girl.

Polina led us to the square, where the captured German officers and soldiers were crouching in the middle of the square, surrounded by soldiers under Major Rysdayev.

Yushchenko and I followed Polina to the corner of the square, and Polina stopped, pointed to a place on the ground, and said to us: "Comrade commander, the body is buried here." ”

I turned around and instructed Yushchenko: "Comrade Captain, find someone to dig this place up immediately." ”

"Yes!" Yushchenko agreed, and then gave an order to the soldiers of the guard company not far behind him: "Come on, hurry up and find tools to dig up this place." ”