Zhukov, as the commander of the Front, quickly learned about the failure of the counteroffensive, and just after noon, he called the command headquarters to ask for the guilt.

"Comrade Rokossovsky," as soon as the call was connected, Zhukov began to lash out: "Why did you move from offensive to defensive? I've heard that the units assigned to you by the 5th and 30th armies were either routed or encircled by the Germans, what is going on? ”

"Comrade commander, please listen to my explanation," Rokossovsky replied in a loud voice: "The 30th Army was assigned to our 126th Infantry Division, because it had lost too many troops in the early battles, and it was replenished with recruits who had no combat experience, and the overall combat effectiveness of the troops was very poor. Only an hour into the battle took place, and the division commander, Colonel Maximov, withdrew from the battle with serious wounds, and the troops that had lost command were routed by the Germans. ……”

Zhukov interrupted: "I am not concerned about the 126th Infantry Division, but the cadet regiment named after the Supreme Soviet that the Fifth Army is attached to you. ”

"I sent the cadet regiment and the 58th Tank Brigade to the Spas-Lyukhovsky area to reinforce the 289th Anti-Tank Regiment, which was holding off the German armored forces there," Rokossovsky said. Originally, it was thought that the cadet regiment could cooperate with the 17th and 20th cavalry divisions to destroy the frontal enemy with the support of the tanks of the 58th Brigade. Unexpectedly, there were only five tanks in the 58th Tank Brigade, which simply could not provide sufficient fire support for the troops of our army. The soldiers of the cadet regiment behaved very bravely, and they cooperated with the cavalry units to repel the frontal attacks of the German army several times, without allowing the enemy to move forward. However, judging from the information just received, an armored unit of the German army went around the rear of our defense line, cutting off the connection between the army group and the Spas-Lyukhovsky area. ……”

Zhukov rudely interrupted Rokossovsky's later words: "I don't want to listen to your explanation, I just want to know, when will your troops be able to revert to the offensive against the Germans?" ”

"Comrade Commander," Rokossovsky replied, holding the microphone in his hand and standing up straight, "I need a week for redeployment......"

"No, a week is too long. Three days, I can only give you three days, and after three days, on November 16, your troops must launch a full-scale counteroffensive against the Germans! ”

Listening to Zhukov's words, I muttered in my heart again: What's wrong with Zhukov? Based on his military common sense, it should be clear that in the current situation of the huge disparity in the strength of the enemy and our own, the first thing we should consider is how to defend rather than how to attack the enemy.

While I was thinking about it, I heard Rokossovsky calling me, and I looked up at him blankly, and saw that he was handing me the microphone and saying, "Lida, Comrade Commander, I want to talk to you." ”

Zhukov had just scolded Rokossovsky, and at this time he suddenly wanted to talk to me again, did he want to reprimand me together? Thinking of this, I couldn't help but feel my heart beating faster, and I took the microphone from Rokossovsky's hand with trepidation, put it to my ear, and steadied myself before I spoke: "Comrade General, I am Oshanina, and I am waiting for your instructions. ”

"Leda!" Zhukov said to me in a softer tone: "You are the commissioner I sent to the 16th Army, and I hope to hear a little truth from you." ”

"Please, Comrade General." When I heard this, I realized that he wanted to learn from me, not to reprimand me, and the big stone in my heart fell to the ground.

"Do you find it difficult to get back on the counter-attack?"

I hesitated for a moment in response to Zhukov's question, looked at Rokossovsky, hoping to get some inspiration from him, but at the moment he stood on the other side of the table, moved another telephone in front of him, shook the handle a few times, picked up the microphone and said inside: "Pick me up General Dovatol, commander of the 3rd Cavalry Army." Seeing that Luo Shuai couldn't take care of me at the moment, I could only honestly say my opinion: "Comrade General, if we want to turn to a counteroffensive, we will face many difficulties. First of all, there was no air supremacy, and under the heavy bombardment of German aircraft, our army suffered too many casualties during the attack, and often after capturing the German positions, it could no longer continue to develop in depth. ”

"Well, I made a note of that, what else?"

"In the face of the powerful armored forces of the German army, our army lacked sufficient anti-tank weapons......"

"Wait a minute," Zhukov suddenly interrupted me, "I understand what you mean, but I don't have any artillery or tank reserves anymore, and the last few mortar battalions and Katyusha battalions were already equipped for the 16th Army a few days ago." ”

"Comrade General, I have an idea that you can easily deal with German tanks without replenishing artillery for the 16th Army." A thought popped into my mind, but I was afraid that he would refuse to say it, so I couldn't help but hesitate a little, and just when I was struggling, Zhukov impatiently urged me: "If you have anything to say, just say it, don't keep talking." ”

"We can think about using trained animals to bomb German tanks."

"Trained animals?!" Zhukov listened to my proposal and asked with great interest: "What animal?" ”

"Military dogs!" I hesitated to say this word, if in China, it is proposed to use military dogs to bomb tanks, I can say it lightly, but in Russia, a country where everyone loves dogs, it takes enough courage to say this, I was afraid that Zhukov would interrupt me, so I continued in one breath: "Military dog handlers can be sent to carry trained military dogs and hide them in the trenches." When the German tank approached, the trainer quickly fixed the explosive on the dog's back, lit the ignition of the explosive, and released the dog, allowing the dog to rush over and die with the enemy tank. After listening to my proposal, Zhukov fell into deep thought, and there was no sound in the microphone for a long time, so much so that I thought he had put the phone down, and quickly shouted into the microphone: "Comrade General, are you still there?" ”

"In!" The other side replied dryly, and then there was no sound again. Rokossovsky, who was standing across from me, had also finished his call and was looking at me with strange eyes. At this time, Zhukov spoke again: "Lida, I will immediately report to the Supreme High Command on this suggestion you have and see what kind of opinion Comrade Stalin has." After speaking, he hung up the phone directly.

Rokossovsky, who was on the other side, waited for me to put down the microphone and immediately asked me, his tone full of reproach: "Lida, why would you make such a suggestion to Comrade General?" You must know that the dogs are our human friends, how can they be allowed to carry out such a dangerous mission? ”

I did not refute Rokossovsky's reproach, his attitude was completely expected by me, Russia is a country that loves dogs, and to say that dogs are friends of humans is not just talk, but a deep-rooted tradition. I remember when I first came to Russia in the winter of '02, a set of data would be published in the newspapers every day, reporting how many people froze to death on the streets last night; But one day, all of a sudden, all the newspapers and magazines used a banner headline to report the news that two stray dogs were hunted by people on the edge of the forest, and the words of condemnation of the dog killers were repeated repeatedly, which showed that the Russians love dogs. In order to ensure the interests of dogs, the Russian government has even introduced a law, declaring that anyone who owns a dog must go out to walk his dog every day, otherwise it is an illegal act and will be punished with heavy fines.

The political commissar came out to play a round for me and said: "Comrade commander, don't worry, Lida must have her reasons for saying this, you might as well listen to her reasons." ”

"Say, I'd like to hear what's going on?" Rokossovsky sat down opposite in a huff.

"Comrade Rokossovsky," I replied to the commander of the army group in a serious manner, "in the previous stage of the battle, our artillery suffered great losses, and in the face of the fierce German tanks, if we wanted to stop them, we had to let the fighters blow them up with their flesh and blood." ……”

As soon as he said this, the telephone on the table rang very appropriately, avoiding a possible dispute between me and the commander of the army group. Rokossovsky picked up the phone, and Zhukov's voice came from the microphone: "Comrade Rokossovsky, I just spoke with Comrade Stalin on the phone, and he has already agreed to Leda's proposal. What I did not expect was that Comrade Stalin had the same idea a long time ago, he had already formed four anti-tank army dog companies as early as August, and tomorrow the high command would send one of them to your army group. ”

Hearing Zhukov's words, I couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, it seems that my proposal is very timely, as long as it is affirmed by the supreme commander, others will no longer accuse me.