As soon as I put down the phone and was about to speak, Colonel Sholov could not wait to preemptively ask: "Comrade division commander, what is the commander of the group army talking about on the phone?" ”

In the face of Sholov's impolite questioning, I felt a little uncomfortable, and I was about to say a few words to him, but when I saw that the rest of the regimental commanders and political commissars were all accustomed to it, I immediately realized that Colonel Sholov might be this kind of acute sub-character, and he did not deliberately make trouble with me.

After listening to my account, Sholov immediately became excited, and he waved his fist vigorously and said loudly: "This is really wonderful, if the commander of the group army personally attends tomorrow's celebration meeting, it will certainly greatly boost the morale of our army." ”

As soon as Sholov's words fell, Gagarin, the regimental political commissar, immediately continued: "Yes, if our soldiers, Comrade Zhilu Dao Army Commander, would come and personally present them with awards and awards, their morale would definitely be greatly boosted." ”

Not to be outdone, the rest of the regiment commanders and political commissars echoed one after another.

Seeing that everyone's reaction was so strong, Boroda asked me with a smile: "Comrade division commander, what are you going to let those troops participate in tomorrow's celebration meeting?" ”

As soon as Boroda's words came out, the room fell silent, and all eyes were on me. Although everyone knows that Lu Dao will hold a celebration meeting tomorrow morning, the decision on the participation of those troops is in my hands.

It was a little uncomfortable for me to make a decision that no one could offend in front of everyone. I looked down for a moment, then looked up. He said: "Now I announce the list of troops who will participate in the celebration tomorrow. "I turned my gaze to Sholov and Gagarin. He continued: "The celebration will begin tomorrow morning at seven o'clock, and the first troops to take part in the congress are the Caucasian and Boris battalions of Colonel Sholov. Let all the commanders and fighters of these two battalions participate in the celebration meeting, everyone has no opinion, right? The next sentence I said was to everyone present.

"No comments!" Colonel Sholov preemptively replied before the others could speak. His words immediately elicited a good-natured laugh. Gagarin quietly tugged at the corner of his coat and reminded him in a low voice: "Comrade regiment commander, don't get too excited, please stay calm." Sholov raised his hand and touched the back of his head, and laughed embarrassedly.

I continued: "Peter's regiment drew one company from each of the two battalions that participated in the battle. By the way," I paused at this point and reminded him that "the corporal Yefim who captured the German tank was awarded a first-class merit by the division headquarters. Don't miss that time! ”

Lieutenant Colonel Peter replied loudly: "Please rest assured, commander, I promise to complete the task you have assigned. ”

The most rear. I set my eyes on Major Yatsenyuk and Zorotusin, and when I looked at them, both bowed their heads in shame. Before the battle began, Major Yatsenyuk, who had a clear understanding of the situation, was reluctant to transfer the troops serving as reserves to the headquarters of the division, and later, under my repeated urging, he reluctantly sent two battalions over.

At the beginning of the counterattack, Peter's regiment, which was also in reserve, had already rushed from the village to the second line of defense, while their troops were still grinding in the village. As a result, Peter's regiment captured a German tank, while they did not capture a single rifle or bayonet. Now that they have seen the great victory of our army and are ready to ask for merit, they want to share the credit, which can be seen from the number of applications they have submitted.

According to my idea, at the meeting tomorrow morning, they will be directly excluded from the meeting, and no one will be allowed to attend the meeting. But seeing the embarrassed appearance of the two of them, I couldn't help but soften my heart a little, so I hesitated for a moment and said to the two: "Major Yatsenyuk and the new political commissar of Zorotu, a hundred people will be drawn out of your regiment, and the two of you will personally lead the team to the meeting. ”

Hearing my order, the two of them were stunned for a moment, then their eyes lit up, they took a step forward in unison, raised their hands to salute me, and said in unison: "Comrade Xie Lu, Division Commander Xie, we must be here on time." ”

At this time, I suddenly noticed that there was one person missing from the room, and hurriedly asked Boroda: "Comrade Chief of Staff, why didn't Colonel Donskoy of the tank regiment come?" ”

After listening to my question, Sholov looked left and right, and seeing that no one took the initiative to answer my question, he hurriedly stepped forward and respectfully reported: "Comrade division commander, just now on the way to the headquarters, I met Colonel Donskoy, one of his right-hand men was seriously wounded in today's battle, and he went to visit him in the medical center. ”

"What's going on?" When I asked this, my eyes did not look at Sholov, but at Boroda, who was standing at the table.

Boroda coughed and replied: "Comrade division commander, it's like this. The wounded commander was the lieutenant company commander of the tank company, and the troops under his command were deployed today in the second line of defense, and when they provided fire support to their comrades in the first line of defense, they attracted the attention of German tanks. During the fire from the tank guns, this tank of our army was unfortunately hit by shells, two of the fighters were killed on the spot, and the lieutenant was seriously wounded and carried out of the burning tank by one of the surviving tankmen. This was also the only tank that our troops were destroyed by the enemy during the battle. ”

Hearing that Donskoy's old subordinate was wounded, I hurriedly asked with concern: "How is this lieutenant's injury?" ”

Boroda did not speak, but looked at Sholov. I turned my gaze to Sholov and repeated the question: "Colonel Sholov, do you know about the tankman's injuries?" ”

Sholov shook his head, sighed and said: "Alas! He had suffered burns on 80 percent of his body, and as soon as he was brought to the medical center, the military doctor in charge of treating him issued a critical illness notice, saying that he had only a few hours to live. The reason why Colonel Donskoy did not appear here is, I suspect, that he may have wanted to accompany his old men on the last part of the road. ”

After Sholov's words, the room fell silent. Although everyone knows that in the war years, human life is as cheap as a mustard. Hundreds or thousands die in a battle. Even tens of thousands of people are commonplace. However, when the death is a close old friend, I still can't help but feel sad.

After a long time, I opened my mouth to break the silence, and I asked carefully: "Comrade Boroda, what kind of merit did this lieutenant, Colonel Donskoy give him?" ”

Boroda rummaged through a pile of documents for a while, took one out of it and looked at it, then looked up and told me: "Comrade Division Commander. Comrade Colonel asked him for second-class merit and suggested that he be awarded a medal of military merit. ”

"Change his second-class merit to first-class merit." After saying this, I asked several regiment commanders and political commissars present: "You have no objection to my decision, right?" ”

All of them collectively shook their heads neatly, indicating that no one objected.

I raised my hand and looked at my watch, and the hour hand was already pointing to twelve o'clock, so I waved at everyone and said, "It's not early, you all go back and rest." Remember to ask the commanders and fighters attending the celebration meeting tomorrow to put on their new military uniforms. ”

Everyone said yes neatly. Then, after saluting me and Boroda, he turned and left the command.

Wait until everyone is gone. Boroda suddenly said to me again: "Comrade division commander, I suddenly have an idea and want to ask for your opinion. I don't know what you think? ”

I walked back to the table and sat down, picked up the already cold tea on the table, and after taking a sip, I said unhurriedly: "Comrade Chief of Staff, if there is anything between you and me that can be said directly, there is no need to go around in circles." ”

Boroda sat down across from me and said, "Lida, although we have only eliminated a few hundred Germans in our battle today, we have achieved such a result not long after the new defeat of our army, which can be regarded as a great victory. You see, should we report this news to Commander Meretskov and make him happy too. ”

When I heard him say this, my heart immediately became excited, this is a great opportunity to show my face in front of my superiors! However, I was very calm: "Well, Comrade Boroda, what you said is quite reasonable, and the news of this victory should also be known to Commander Meretskov. However, you should personally call the commander to tell the commander the good news, after all, you have served as his adjutant. ”

Boroda hummed, got up and walked over to the high-frequency phone, picked up the microphone and began dialing. After a short while, I heard the phone call answered, and Boroda began a conversation with the other party: "Hey, hello! Is it the Front Command, please? Hello, Comrade Major! I'm Senior General Meretskov's former aide-de-camp, Captain Boroda. I have something I want to report to Comrade General, do you think you can get him to answer the phone? What the? Comrade General is not there?! Oh, I see, thank you, Comrade Major. Good luck, understand! With that, he snapped and hung up.

Seeing him coming over dejectedly, and without waiting for him to sit down, I couldn't wait to ask: "Comrade Boroda, what's wrong?" Why don't you answer your call, Comrade General? ”

Boroda sat down again, shook his head, and said: "It's not that Comrade General refuses to answer my call, it's that he is not at the front headquarters at all. ”

"Not there?!" I asked curiously: "Comrade General is not at the headquarters of the Front Army at this time, so where is he?" Did you go to which unit to inspect? ”

Boroda waved his hand and replied: "Lida, you guessed wrong, Comrade General was not at the headquarters of the Front, he did not go to inspect any unit, but went back to Moscow with the Chief of the General Staff, General Vasilevsky. ”

"Back in Moscow? When will they be able to return? "I was very curious, and I kept asking questions, forgetting that some things are classified in the army, and not everyone is qualified to know the truth.

Boroda shook his head again with a wry smile and said, "This is a secret, and the new adjutant of Comrade General is not clear. ”

I feel a little sorry that I didn't get the answers I wanted. I looked at my watch again, stood up, and said to Boroda in a businesslike tone: "Comrade Chief of Staff, it's getting late, I'm going to rest." The list of meritorious services to be used tomorrow will be sorted out overnight. ”

Boroda nodded vigorously and said, "Leda, leave this matter to me, you can rest assured." (To be continued......)