I saw that the two officers were just staring at me in a daze, but they didn't speak. Just as Travkin was about to ask Travkin to take them down and lock them up, the older officer suddenly saluted me and said something in a loud voice in German, and I understood nothing but his own name in the words he spoke.

Fortunately, Gretka translated for me in time: "Hello, General Oshanina, I am Lieutenant Gorus, the commander of the 3rd Motor Infantry Company of the Reconnaissance Battalion of the Greater German Division! ”

Seeing that his companion spoke, the officer next to him did not dare to show weakness, and said equally loudly: "I am Second Lieutenant Kuehern, deputy company commander of the 3rd Motorized Infantry Company of the reconnaissance battalion!" ”

I was surprised by the manner in which they were so cooperative, and I politely asked Gorus, "Mr. Lieutenant, do you know me?" ”

Gorus nodded first, then shook his head, and replied, "Your Excellency, although we have never met you, you are an important figure in our troops. ”

"Is that so?" Although I behaved carelessly, I felt a burst of ecstasy in my heart, and it seemed that I was not a small fame in the German army.

"Yes, Your Excellency!" Second Lieutenant Kuehearn echoed and kept saying: "You are quite famous in our division, no, the entire Wehrmacht, no, in the entire German army. Although what he said was something I loved to hear, his flattering tone gave me goosebumps all over my body.

In order to find out how famous I was in the German army, I first instructed Travkin to bring them stools and let them sit down. Only then did he politely continue to ask: "Mr. two officers, can any of you tell me why I am in your army." How about becoming a big man that everyone knows? ”

"That's right, Your Excellency." Gorus explained to me: "At the time of the Battle of Stalingrad, although a number of troops were involved in the attack on the Mamayev Heights, which were held by your army, and although there were some successes, none of them were able to take the hill from your hands, so that we could not cut off the connection between the city and the east bank. Indirectly led to the defeat of our troops in the Stalingrad region. ”

"Then, you took command of another corps of troops and turned the depth of our Army Group South's defenses upside down. And even the capture of Kyiv from the hands of our troops. Not to be outdone, Kuehearn added: "At that time, Field Marshal Manstein gave an order that whoever could capture or kill you alive would be promoted to a higher rank." ”

After listening to Kuehearn, I couldn't help but feel a little lost in my heart. I can't think of my own life. In Manstein's eyes, it was only worth a first-class military rank.

At this moment, I heard Gorus say: "In these few days of fighting, neither our Greater German Division, nor the SS 'Hitler Division', 'Reich Division' or 'Skeleton Division' have been pleased. In this case, Marshal Manstein informed the whole army. Anyone who can capture or kill you alive will receive a huge bonus and a return to the country for a vacation. You can also add a bar directly to the epaulettes. ”

"Add a bar?" When I heard this, I wondered, "What does that mean?" ”

"That's right, Your Excellency." Gorus coughed and explained a little embarrassedly: "For example, I am now a lieutenant with one bar and two stars, and if I capture you alive, my superiors will add a bar to my epaulettes, then I will be a lieutenant colonel." ”

My mind sank, and the image of Manstein's old shame and anger immediately came to my mind. Look at me in his mind, it is a thorn in the flesh in the eye, and it must be removed quickly. Thinking of this, I tentatively asked Gorus, "Mr. Lieutenant, can you tell me now what your mission is this time?" ”

Gorus hesitated for a moment, but finally mustered up the courage to say: "Your Excellency, General, according to our air force reconnaissance report, there should be a corps-level headquarters near this area, so we were ordered to come here to destroy the headquarters. If possible, capture one or two more senior officers of the Russian army alive so that we can grasp the distribution of Russian forces in the south of Kursk. ”

Gorus's words made those present gasp, thinking that this small German army had broken into here by mistake, but they did not expect that they were actually ordered to attack our headquarters. Luckily, I took the opportunity to send a reconnaissance battalion to defeat them, otherwise they might have snuck in one day, and we would have been the ones who were taken prisoner.

Although Travkin, the hero of this operation, was standing behind them, I looked at Gorus and asked, "Mr. Lieutenant, can you tell me about your experience of being captured?" ”

Gorus's face flushed when I asked. I originally thought that he would be furious and refused to answer my question, but after hesitating for a moment, he said: "Your Excellency, General, I have to say that your operation was very successful and can be written into the combat textbook. I never dreamed that in your own defense zone, in order to deal with us, your army would actually put on German uniforms and let a gang of our traitors act as accomplices. So much so that when they rushed in front of us, I thought it was our troops who had come here. As he said this, he glared at Grimes and Grettka beside him with a vicious gaze. Although Gretka was scolded by him as a traitor, he was very calm, and translated Gorus's original words to us with a blank face.

I saw that the muscles on Grams's face were twitching violently, obviously stimulated, and I was afraid that he would do something too much under impulse, so I hurriedly preemptively said: "Mr. Lieutenant, you are wrong, they are not traitors to Germany. On the contrary, they are still heroes in the anti-fascist camp, and in the future, when you rebuild your homeland, they will become the mainstay of the whole country. My words calmed the expression on Grams' face, and Gretka straightened his back.

Gorus glanced at Grams, then turned to me and said, "Your Excellency, I don't understand what you mean by rebuilding the motherland. Do you think that your army will be able to defeat the troops under the command of Marshal Manstein? You must know that in addition to our 'Großdeutsche Division'. There are also SS 'Hitler divisions', 'Reich divisions', and 'skeleton divisions' that you cannot defeat. ”

Danilov couldn't help but laugh out loud when he saw the confusion on the faces of the two of them. Only then did he stop laughing, and said to the two of them disdainfully: "Mr. two officers, I won't talk about the results of our troops in repelling your 'Great German Division' in Butovo. What I want to tell you is that in the partial counterattack we launched yesterday, the 'Hitler Division' and the 'Reich Division', which you thought were invincible, were crushed by us. Just a few hours ago. The 'skeleton division', which had gathered at the front of our army and attempted to launch an attack, suffered heavy casualties under the heavy artillery fire of our army. Mr. Lieutenant. Is this what you call the invincible army of your German Empire? ”

After hearing this, Gorus had an expression of disbelief on his face, and said again and again: "This, this is impossible. The three main divisions of the SS were invincible. All the troops that fought against them were either annihilated or all captured, and no one ever defeated them. ”

Seeing Gorus's hysterical expression, I waved at Travkin and ordered: "Captain, let people come in and take them away, lock them up first." Wait until we're empty before we dispose of them. ”

Travkin turned and made a gesture to the door, and immediately four fighters with assault rifles walked in. Pulled the two of them out of their seats and escorted them out.

When the captives were escorted out, I waved to Travkin, who was standing by the door, and motioned for him to stand in front of us. When he came over, I said in a gentle tone: "Comrade Captain, we have just heard from the German prisoners about your experience, but it is very detailed, can you tell us about it?" ”

Hearing me say this, Travkin looked a little cramped: "Comrade commander, the course of the battle is simple, there is nothing to say. ”

"Comrade Captain, you can't say that." "According to our original plan, whether it is a sneak attack or a strong attack, our reconnaissance battalion and the villagers will suffer a lot of casualties. As a result, under your command, not only did you easily capture all the German soldiers, but not a single one of us died. This kind of battle example is a classic, you must tell us about it, and when I write a summary of the battle, I will add this paragraph. ”

"Captain Travkin, the chief of staff has a point, your combat experience is very useful to us." Kirillov smiled and said to Travkin: "If your experience is spread in the troops, we will be able to greatly reduce the casualties of the troops in the same operation in the future." ”

I waited for Kirillov to finish speaking, and then struck while the iron was hot: "Okay, Comrade Captain, don't dwell on it, you can tell me what is going on." We still have a lot of work to do. ”

At my urging, Travkin no longer shirked his actions, but told us about today's actions: "...... After daybreak, we quietly entered the village after touching the German sentry posts. Soon after entering the village, they were spotted by the German officers and soldiers who had risen early, and the former German officers and soldiers of Grams immediately shouted and tried to make the other party hear their authentic German.

After hearing their shouts, several German officers and men, who had pointed their guns at us, thought that they were their own people, so they put down their guns one after another and willingly became our prisoners.

In order to prevent any German troops from slipping through the net, before the operation, I told several company commanders to take all the people caught in the village, whether Germans or our villagers, to the drying field, and then screen them. ”

Akhromeyev, who was taking a note, suddenly asked: "Then how did you get caught up by the Germans and have a brief exchange of fire, while also wounding several soldiers and villagers?" ”

"That's right, Comrade Major." Travkin, after glancing at Akhromeyev, replied truthfully: "Since the front operation was too smooth, some of our commanders and fighters were a little lax. One of the teams, on the way to escort the German prisoners to the drying field, accidentally spoke a few words of Russian, and as a result, the enemy saw through it. The captives pounced and snatched an assault rifle and opened fire on our commanders and the surrounding villagers. Fortunately, he was not familiar with our firearms, so he did not cause too many casualties. ”

"Comrade Akhromeyev, you write this down," I was deeply afraid that Akhromeyev would not record this small mistake for the sake of the glorious image of our army, and hurriedly reminded him: "Let our commanders and fighters take this as a warning and avoid making similar mistakes again." ”

"Understood, Comrade Commander." If I hadn't said it, Akhromeyev might have simply omitted this paragraph, and only after hearing my reminder did he pick up his pen again and add to it.

After reporting the entire battle, Travkin respectfully asked: "Comrade commander, can I go back to the battalion?" ”

"Wait a minute, Comrade Captain." Seeing that Travkin wanted to leave, Kirillov quickly stood up and stopped him, and then said with a smile: "Between the heroic and tenacious fighting spirit shown by you and your subordinates in the battle to destroy the small German army, and the great results achieved, the army group command has decided to award you and your subordinates medals and medals. ”

Travkin's operation not only eliminated the German troops who attempted to attack our headquarters, but also succeeded in relieving the villagers who had been used by the Germans. With all these merits, I don't think it's enough to award him a medal. So as soon as Kirillov finished speaking, I added: "And, Comrade Travkin, from today you are no longer a captain. ”

At this point, I deliberately paused to see how he reacted. I saw the corners of Travkin's mouth twitch violently twice, but he still stood straight in place, as if the person I was talking about was not him. I nodded in satisfaction at his reaction, and continued, "I have decided to confer on you the rank of captain." When you get back later, add another star to the epaulettes. ”

"For the service of the Soviet Fatherland!" The newcomer Travkin straightened up and said loudly.

"Comrade Captain, you have served well." Danilov also smiled and said with satisfaction: "Okay, you lurked outside all night last night, you should be very tired, go back and rest first." As for the award, I'll wait until you and your men wake up. Go, go back and rest. ”

After Travkin left, Danilov again walked up to Akhromeyev, bowed his head and asked him: "Comrade Major, have you finished writing?" Seeing that Akhromeyev nodded, he continued: "We will immediately report this special summary of the battle to the headquarters of the Front, so that General Vatutin will also be happy." (To be continued.) )