On the appointed day, Rokossovsky's men rushed to my residence to pick me up. I followed the major outside, and saw a covered truck in addition to the jeep at the door. He stopped and turned his head and asked the commander, "Comrade Major, can you take my subordinates with you?" ”

The major nodded and replied with a smile: "Comrade General, I have received an order to pick you up and your subordinates to join the commander of the front army. ”

After listening to the major's answer, I turned to look at Yushchenko behind me, pointed to the truck in front of me, and said, "Captain, you and your subordinates should get in the car." Yushchenko agreed, and immediately beckoned the rest of the guards to get into the truck.

When we arrived at the rendezvous, I saw Rokossovs standing next to a jeep with a serious expression, quickly asked the driver to stop, got out of the car and ran towards him. I walked up to him, raised my hand and saluted, and greeted him politely: "Hello, Comrade Commander of the Front Army, I came by your order, please instruct!" ”

Seeing my appearance, Rokossovsky's face softened, and he smiled and asked me: "Leda, how are your eyes recovering?" After asking, he looked at me carefully and couldn't help frowning, "What's the matter, why are your eyes big and small?" Your image is not very good-looking. ”

I have long found out about what Rokossovsky said, and even asked Sergei privately, will my eyes be so big and small in the future? Sergei comforted me and said that just after the operation, it would be like this, and it would be back to normal in half a year at most. Hearing Rokossovsky's question at this moment, I hastened to answer: "Comrade commander. This is because I have just had surgery. It will be back to normal in a few months. ”

Rokossovsky waited for me to finish. He raised his hand and looked at his watch, then beckoned me to say, "Alright, it's not too early, let's go." There are still hundreds of kilometers left, and if you don't hurry, you won't be able to catch up with Kursk after dark. ”

When I got into the car, I found that the driver was a lieutenant, and the person sitting in the co-pilot seat was actually a major general. And it still looks familiar. After Rokossovsky sat down, he introduced me to the general sitting in front: "Lida, let me introduce you to this military commissar of the Front Command, Major General Terekin. ”

Terekin waited for Rokossovsky to finish speaking, then he took the initiative to stretch out his hand to me and said politely: "Hello, General Oshanina, it's a pleasure to meet you here!" ”

"Me too, General Terekin." I shook his hand gently, and said politely, "We've met before. But it's been too long, forgive me for not recognizing you in time. ”

Rokossovsky waited for me to shake hands with Terekin. Immediately instructed the driver: "Lieutenant, drive." Try to drive the car as steadily as possible, General Oshanina's eye has just undergone surgery, and if the bump is too strong, it is easy to break open the wound. ”

"Understood, Comrade Commander." The lieutenant said yes and slowly started the car.

But after the situation of the car stabilized, Rokossovsky said to Terekin in front: "Comrade Military Commissar, since Leda is with us to inspect the front, please give her a briefing on the situation of our Central Front." ”

Terekin nodded, leaned sideways and began to introduce me to the troops: "...... On the 11th of this month, our assembled 21st Army was moved south from base camp to defend against a possible attack by Manstein. Although the 3rd, 48th, and 13th armies, which had previously belonged to the Bryansk Front, were placed under our command at the same time, these units were crippled by the Germans in the early battles and completely lost their combat effectiveness.

Over the next half month, the German Ninth Army counterattacked us, almost completely annihilating our cavalry clusters deep behind enemy lines, and then the German Second Panzer Army moved from east to west, the Second Army from west to east, and the Ninth Army attacked us from the front. We did our best to mobilize all the forces we could to meet the enemy, so that we could avoid the threat of being cut off.

At present, the large-scale battle between us and the Germans has finally come to an end, but our troops have been driven back to the place where the attack was carried out by the enemy. The 3rd, 13th, 48th, 65th, 70th Armies, the 2nd Tank Army and the Cavalry Cluster, to which the Front belonged, lost nearly 300,000 men, of which about 90,000 were killed, missing and captured. ”

After listening to Terekin's introduction, I couldn't help but gasp, I only knew that our army was defeated by the Germans, but I didn't expect that the defeat would be so bad, and the number of casualties would be so large. It took a while for me to come to my senses from the shock and tentatively asked Rokossovsky: "Comrade commander, I wonder what led to this defeat?" ”

Rokossovsky smiled bitterly and replied: "The main reason for this defeat is that we are seriously ill-prepared for the offensive, which can be seen from the fact that the armies almost always join the attack from the march. ”

I was slightly surprised when I heard Rokossovsky's answer, in any case, the Supreme Command bears unshirkable responsibility for this failure, and if it were not for the unauthorized transfer of the 21st Army in Rokossovsky's hands, the situation would not have become so difficult to control as it is now. But even in the face of such an endgame, Rokossovsky still did not complain about the high command, and still took the responsibility on himself, which made me look up to his character again.

"Lida, General Terekin rushed back from the front line overnight." After Rokossovsky finished saying this, he asked Terekin in the front row: "Comrade Military Commissar, how is the construction of fortifications on the forward positions going?" ”

When Terekin heard Rokossovsky ask, he couldn't help but sigh and said a little helplessly: "Comrade commander, the construction of defensive positions is not going well. It's the spring snow season, and it's muddy everywhere, and many of the planned fortifications can't be started at all. At this point, he glanced at me quickly, and added, "It was the 'Oshanina Trench' that the High Command ordered us to build, and we finally dug a section, but the next morning I got up and looked at it." That section of the anti-tank trench had been turned into a pool. If it weren't for the fact that it was too cold. It is estimated that the fighters all went down to swim. ”

When Rokossovsky heard him say this, he couldn't help but laugh and said jokingly: "It's good to turn into a pool, at least the tanks of the Germans have not yet learned to swim, and in the face of such anti-tank trenches, they simply cannot pass." ”

Although I knew that Rokossovsky was afraid of embarrassing me and deliberately diverted the topic, I couldn't help but say: "Comrade commander. Probably, in the current season, it is not yet suitable for the construction of such anti-tank trenches. Otherwise, we'll push back the construction time a little bit and wait until May. ”

Unexpectedly, after listening to my proposal, Rokossovsky immediately frowned. With a stern face, he said to me, "Leda, we don't know when the Germans will attack us again, or how long they will give us to improve our fortifications and gather our troops. If we can't take advantage of this precious time of the truce and fix the fortifications, we will wait for the Germans to attack again. What do we use to stop the flood of German armor? ”

When I heard Rokossovsky say this, I almost couldn't help but tell him directly. Say that the Germans will not attack in the short term. The real large-scale battle will not take place until the beginning of July. But when the words came to my lips, I swallowed them back, and if I did say them, I might think they were crazy; When the Battle of Kursk begins, I will be sent to some secret research institute and handed over to the scientists inside to conduct a thorough study and analysis of me. In order not to suffer such a fate, I could only keep my mouth shut and remain silent.

"By the way, Comrade Commander." Terekin, who had been listening to us, suddenly remembered something important and hurriedly said to Rokossovsky: "I almost forgot that the commander of the 60th Army, Cherniakhovsky, was waiting for you in the headquarters, and it seemed that there was something important to discuss with you. ”

Originally, when I watched Terekin and Rokossovsky discuss things, I was a little absent-minded, but as soon as I heard Chernyakhovsky's name, I suddenly came to my senses. I couldn't wait to ask Terekin: "Comrade Military Commissar, I don't know what the full name of this General Chernyakhovsky is?" ”

"Ivan. Danilovich. Chernyakhovsky. After Terekin finished telling the name of the commander of the 60th Army, he asked me curiously: "Do you know him?" ”

Hearing his question, I quickly shook my head like a rattle: "I don't know, I've never dealt with him, how can I know him?" ”

Although I tried my best to deny that I knew this Chernyakhovsky, the evaluation of him by later generations immediately popped up in my mind: "Decisive style, rich experience in organizing and commanding large corps operations, good at concentrating a large number of troops in the main assault direction, good at using tank corps, interspersed with detours, divided and encircled." He is good at using his rich practical experience to train the army, and has an outstanding ability to organize and command large army operations. The major battles he organized and commanded better embodied the principles of military scholarship in the former Soviet Union. ”

Unlike other generals, he cherishes his officers and soldiers very much, and never lets them make unnecessary sacrifices, which is quite similar to me, otherwise I would not have felt sorry for him. Had he not been unlucky enough to die wounded near the city of Melsac, it is entirely possible that he would have been promoted to marshal.

The roads in Moscow are fairly smooth, and once you enter the suburbs, especially those that have been carved out of the forest, they become muddy and difficult to navigate because of the melting snow and being run over by countless vehicles. At first, everyone was able to get out of the car and push it for a while, but the more they walked, the more impassable it became, and Rokossovsky had no choice but to order his men to go into the forest to cut down trees and pave the road with bundles of firewood so that the vehicle could continue to move forward.

While we were standing next to the jeep, waiting for the fighters to go and cut down trees, I asked Rokossovsky curiously: "Comrade commander, I wonder where your headquarters is located?" ”

"Leda, come and see." Rokossovsky spread a map on the hood, pointed to a location and said, "Here it is - Yelets, a railway transport hub." ”

I looked in the direction of his finger and saw that although the place was in a very convenient place, it was at the same time a particularly conspicuous target, and it was not surprising that it did not attract the attention of the Germans. Thinking of this, I hurriedly reminded him: "Comrade commander, I think it is very inappropriate to set up the headquarters in such a position. ”

"Why?" Before Rokossovsky could speak, Terekin hurriedly asked: "Comrade Oshanina, don't you see that the transportation in this place is quite convenient?" Comrade commander, you say yes, right? ”

Rokossovsky did not echo his opinion, but looked at me with a smile and waited for me to say what I thought. Because it was possible that I would stay in Rokossovsky's command for a while, for the sake of my own safety, I immediately expressed my opinion without hesitation: "Commander, Comrade Military Commissar, come and see. Yeletz is an important railway transport hub, which we know not only but also the Germans. Seeing that the two of them nodded in unison, expressing their approval of my opinion, they continued, "Now that the enemy knows that our headquarters is located here, they will definitely send their air force to bombard this area indiscriminately. And our air force is not able to suppress the German air force under the current situation, so for the safety of the front command, it should still be transferred to other areas. ”

After listening to this, Rokossovsky asked me in a tone like a teacher examining a student: "Leda, if you were the commander of the Front, where would you set your headquarters?" ”

I looked down at the map in front of me, and after trying to find the familiar name, I pointed to it and said decisively: "This is it, Comrade Commander." ”

Rokossovsky and Terekin tilted their heads and looked at the position of my fingers. Terekin also pronounced the name of the place: "Svoboda, Comrade Oshanina, do you mean that we should place our headquarters in this inconspicuous settlement north of Kursk?" ”

Because the place I pointed out to them happened to be where one of the headquarters of the Central Front was located, I replied very dryly: "Yes, Comrade Military Commissar." Not only is it safer than Yerets, but it is also closer to the troops, which is conducive to your control over the troops. ”

Rokossovsky looked at the place I proposed for a while and made a decisive decision: "Yes, Leda chose a very good location. Comrade Military Commissar, then as soon as we return, transfer the headquarters to Svoboda. (To be continued......)

PS: Heartfelt thanks to the book friend yxzr children's shoes for their two votes of support! Thank you for your valuable votes from book friends zzyzz, kjs12, zxx479, hypp1014, fei hong feifei, and children's shoes with knives and no money! Thank you for the 588 tip of the book friend Longding children's shoes! Thank you for the tips of hypp1014, LNsenL, and l599xl children's shoes!