When I entered the tent, I still felt my nose sour.

The hygienist helped me to sit down, unfastened my clothes, opened the bandages and changed my dressing. There was no heating in the tent, and I was wearing only a military coat, and as soon as I took off my clothes, my body was exposed to the cold air, and I couldn't help but shiver slightly.

As the hygienist cleaned the wound, I felt a burning pain, and when I looked down, not only did my left shoulder turn black purple, but it was swollen all the way to my elbow. I gasped at this point, then gritted my teeth and held back the pain.

Because of the large wound area, the hygienist will inevitably take a little longer to change the dressing. In the process of enduring the pain, I also shivered from freezing at the beginning to sweating profusely at the back.

After the hygienist had rewrapped the bandage, I asked her to help me put my left hand out of my sleeve and hang it around my neck. When all this was done, I was about to get up and leave, but she stopped me: "Comrade commander, please wait a moment." With that, she got up and ran out of the tent.

"What did she tell me to wait for?" I slowly stood up and stood in the middle of the tent in a daze.

It wasn't long before the hygienist came running in again, carrying a bunch of things in his hand, and handed them to me. When I looked closely, it turned out to be all my belongings, the belt with the holster, the briefcase, and the medal.

I raised my hand and just wanted to pick it up, but she took the initiative to say, "I'll help you." ”

Seeing that I nodded, she first slipped the briefcase off my head, slung it over my intact right shoulder, then tied a leather belt for me, and then carefully placed the three medals on my chest.

I thanked her and left the tent and walked outside, seeing that it was already getting a little dark. I don't have a watch, so I don't know the exact time, so I can only guess from the sky that it was about 3 o'clock in the afternoon. Looking around, the wounded on the ground were all transferred, and the ground between the trees was purple and black.

I walked slowly along the path from which I had come and walked slowly in the direction of the command post. The gunfire in front of us was still ringing, and it seemed that there was still a fierce battle. From time to time, you can see the wounded being carried or helped by the health workers or soldiers, hurrying to the first aid camp.

When I walked into the command post, I saw people sitting around the table for a meeting. I glanced at it, and in addition to Rokossovsky, Lobachev, Malinin, Zakharov, there were several more unfamiliar faces.

Who are these people? Could it be a reserve sent by the Front? While I was thinking about it, the sharp-eyed commissar Lobachev had already spotted me and hurriedly beckoned me over to sit for a meeting.

Rokossovsky is briefing you on today's battle report: The heroic and tenacious 78th Division today defeated the German 14th Motorized Division and the 252nd Infantry Division, and inflicted heavy losses on the 106th Infantry Division, which had come to reinforce it an hour earlier. At this moment, the German Imperial tank division frantically pounced, and only then did it stop the division from continuing to advance, which had been maintaining the offensive momentum. ……

Hearing such a gratifying achievement, everyone couldn't help but whisper excitedly.

"Please be quiet!" In the face of such a brilliant result, Rokossovsky could not see the slightest joy on his face. From what I know about him, what he's going to say next is the point.

As I expected, when everyone was quiet, he began to speak: "Comrades! Although we have achieved relatively great results in this defensive area, the overall situation is still very grim for us. It was learned from the information transmitted by the Front Command that the fascist German Army Group 'Center' had changed its disposition, brought in new units and supplemented the corps participating in the battle, and on November 16 it was transferred to the offensive under the leadership of Field Marshal Bock. The enemy and the enemy fought on a wide front from the city of Kalinin to Tula. The main assault was carried out in the north on the right flank of the 30th, 16th and 5th armies (Volga reservoirs, Moscow-Mozhaisk railway), and in the south on the defensive zone of the 50th Army (Tula, Novomoskovsk). ”

Listening to these unfamiliar place names and numbers coming out of the commander's mouth, I couldn't help but start to have a headache again. I am not familiar with the names of places, troop numbers, and commanders, and this has always been my weakness, and if I were to be in command of this group army at this time, the command system would certainly fall into confusion.

“…… Senior General Zhukov made a phone call in half an hour, and since communication with the headquarters of the 30th Army had been completely severed, the command of two cavalry divisions and one tank division of the former 30th Army, located in the area west of Klin, was transferred to me. ……”

Hearing this, I couldn't help but glance at the unfamiliar commanders and thought: this is really good, I have replenished my army group with three divisions at once, one of which is still a tank division, so that Rokossovsky will not worry about the lack of reserves in the depth of defense.

Just when I was beaming with pride, the conversation between Rokossovsky and the commander of the tank division made my heart half cold. The commander asked the division commander: "Comrade Colonel! How many tanks do you have in your division? ”

"Not a single one. Comrade Commander! The colonel stood up and replied loudly.

"What?" Everyone who heard his words was stunned, the tank division didn't even have a single tank, could it have been lost in the battle?

"For what?" Rokossovsky asked solemnly.

The colonel looked left and right, and said with some difficulty: "My 58th Tank Division was formed shortly before the outbreak of war. According to the establishment, our division should have 260 tanks. When assigning our division to the 30th Army, the superiors said that they would assign the tanks to us as soon as possible, but the defense warehouse where the tanks were stored was destroyed by enemy air raids, and all the tanks were turned into burning scrap metal. ”

After listening to the colonel's explanation, everyone fell silent.

Chief of Staff Malinin said: "According to reconnaissance, in addition to the heavy concentration of German troops in the direction of Volokolamsk defended by the 316th Infantry Division, their tank corps also made a detour from the north of the units of our army group and began to rapidly advance towards Klin. We must draw forces from the forces we have and go to Kling City for defense. ”

At this time, Major General Zakharov, who had not spoken, stood up and said loudly: "Comrades, the situation is very serious, we must act immediately to stop the German army from continuing to advance towards our capital!" ”

I glanced at him with dissatisfaction and did not speak, after all, he had an unshirkable responsibility for the sacrifice of thousands of cavalry soldiers yesterday.

"I agree with Zakharov," Rokossovsky said with a deep sigh, "I have decided to transfer the following troops to Klin. ......" and then he recited a series of numbers, namely the 126th Infantry Division, which was small in numbers, the 17th Cavalry Division, which was very weak, the 25th Tank Brigade with only 12 tanks, the 107th Division, which had only 300 men left, and the 58th Tank Division, which did not have a single tank.

With so many different numbers of troops and the original Kling garrison, there must be a unified command. Ma Lining then recommended himself and said: "Comrade commander, I'll go!" ”

Rokossovsky shook his head almost without thinking and objected: "No, I need you to stay as my staff officer, and I should send someone else to that position!" His eyes swept over the faces of everyone in the room. When he saw me, I thought to myself: Don't tell me to go, I don't even know where Kling is, let alone command so many troops of different numbers.

The commander's eyes stopped on Zakharov and said: "I decided that Comrade Zakharov should go and command the troops, did everyone oppose it?" ”

"Nope!" Everyone answered in unison.

Then he added: "Volokolamsk, which is defended by the 316th Infantry Division, is also under great pressure, and I need someone to assist General Panfilov. Does anyone want to go? ”

"I'll go!" "I'll go!" Malinin and the commissar rushed to sign up.

Without waiting for Rokossovsky to make a decision, I stood up, coughed and said: "Comrade commander, let me go to the 316th Infantry Division." I was there, but I was familiar with General Panfilov and commanded the battle in the grassroots companies below. I believe that no one is better suited for this task than me. ”

Rokossovsky looked at me for a long time before slowly nodding his head.