Having learned about the general situation in Alexandria from Sverin, I asked Vitkov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, what is the situation here, did the Germans attack?" ”

"Report to the corps commander," Vitkov respectfully reported, "the enemy sent only small units and made a tentative attack on the front of our army. As soon as our troops return fire and carry out a counterattack, they will immediately withdraw to the starting point of the attack. ”

"How are the enemy's forces deployed near Kirovgrad?" To his answer, he did not say no, but went on to ask: "Is it equipped with tank cannons?" ”

My question immediately stopped Vitkov, and it took him a long time before he replied: "Comrade Commander, since the 22nd Guards Division has been building fortifications in the city and has not been able to send reconnaissance troops in time, we are not very clear about the situation of the German troops in the vicinity of the city. ”

"General Bandereev's troops can't send scouts, can't our army send them either?" I was not satisfied with Vitkov's answer, and immediately instructed him: "Immediately call Captain Travkin and ask him to immediately arrange for men to carry out reconnaissance, and be sure to find out the enemy's forces and dispositions, so that we can make a targeted plan for the next step of the battle." Do you understand? ”

"Understood." Vitkov agreed in a smooth tone, then he walked to the table, picked up the phone, dialed a number, and said into the microphone: "Hey, reconnaissance battalion?" I'm the Chief of Staff, Colonel Vitkov, and is your deputy battalion commander, Captain Travkin, here? Let him come to the army headquarters immediately, and the army commander has a task to explain to him. ”

When Vitkov put down the phone and came over, I said to him earnestly: "Comrade Chief of Staff. We are now behind enemy lines. It's not just about going on the offensive. There is also a defensive war. When conducting a battle for the defense of cities, we must not simply defend for the sake of defense, but must take a proactive defense and counterattack the enemy at the right time. If we can't figure out the enemy's troop deployment and weapon configuration, then how can this counterattack be fought? ”

"Comrade Commander, I was wrong." After listening to my criticism, Vitkov immediately confessed his mistake to me: "In the future, I will arrange for manpower to carry out reconnaissance as soon as the troops arrive in a new area." Find out the reality of the enemy. ”

"That's right, Comrade Chief of Staff." As soon as I finished praising him and was about to say a few more words, I saw Travkinchen hurriedly walking into the headquarters, so I left Vitkov and walked towards the deputy commander of the reconnaissance battalion: "Captain, you are here. ”

"Comrade Commander," Hearing my voice, Travkin hurriedly straightened up and reported to me, "Captain Travkin has been ordered to come and listen to your orders. Please instruct! ”

"Captain, I'll ask you." I didn't assign him a task directly. Instead, he first asked, "How many people are there in the military reconnaissance battalion?" ”

"Including the commander, there are 195 people."

"195 people, that's a little less." Although Travkin's figures were far lower than I expected, I did not mean to reproach him in the slightest, after all, in the recent battles, the guard battalion and the reconnaissance battalion of the army army have been used as ordinary troops many times, and casualties and attrition are inevitable, but this is nearly 200 people, and it is not difficult to fulfill my order, so I continued: "I want you to immediately send scouts to reconnoiter the German defense areas around the city, and quickly report back the latest situation." ”

Travkin was secretly taken aback by this order, and when I had finished speaking, he asked cautiously: "Comrade Commander, will you send a reconnaissance detachment now?" You must know that as soon as we leave the city, there is a large plain with no shelter, and our every move will fall into the eyes of the Germans. ”

My original intention was to get Travkin and them to set off immediately to reconnoiter the enemy's situation. Hearing him say this, he knew that he was a little too hasty, so he had to sigh and say to him: "Since this is the case, then you should organize the reconnaissance detachment first, and then send it out in batches after dark." ”

"Does the reconnaissance detachment carry communications equipment?" Travkin waited for me to finish the order, and then hurriedly asked.

I looked at him with a strange gaze and asked puzzledly, "Comrade Captain, this is obvious. Didn't you always carry communications equipment with you every time you went out on a reconnaissance mission in the past? In this way, if any important enemy situation is discovered, we can immediately report it to us through the radio to avoid the situation of delaying the fighters. ”

"We lost a lot of communication equipment in the early stage, and now there are only three walkie-talkies left in the whole battalion." Travkin said with some embarrassment: "And to carry out reconnaissance of the German troops in several directions in the shortest possible time, I will send at least six reconnaissance detachments." In other words, half of the detachments will not have communication equipment, and in that case, they will have to send someone back to report the situation they have detected......"

"Alright, Comrade Captain." Without waiting for Travkin to finish speaking, I raised my hand to interrupt his next words, and made a special explanation of his concern: "We have a batch of communication equipment among the captured materials in Kafbas, you can go directly to Major Pugachev later, and say that I have given you all the necessary materials." ”

"Yes!" Travkin said yes and left happily.

I walked back to the table and said to Kirillov and Vitkov: "Comrade commanders, although we have to fight a defensive battle in Kirovgrad and Alexandria, it does not in any way prevent us from fighting another offensive battle at the right time. ”

As soon as my words fell, Kirillov immediately asked excitedly: "Leda, do you have any good ideas again?" ”

"It's not a good idea, it's just my own thoughts, and I don't want the enemy to surround us so easily. "Judging from the current situation, we must have attacked the enemy on the other side of the Dnieper, and the enemy will be overwhelmed by the fierce offensive of our two fronts on the other side of the Dnieper, so that they will hastily transfer the troops that are ready to attack us to the opposite bank to reinforce them." In this way, our army can take advantage of this rare opportunity to continue to harass the enemy's rear, and even point its troops at Kyiv. ”

"What. Kyiv? "Vitkov listened to me say this. I couldn't help but be surprised. He kindly reminded me: "Comrade Commander, long before we were much stronger than we are now, I suggested to you that after the troops occupied Kirovgrad and Alexandria, we would advance to Kyiv, but this proposal was rejected by you, why did you take the initiative to propose this plan today?" ”

"Comrade Chief of Staff, the situation on the battlefield has changed. As commanders, we must also adjust our original troop deployment in light of changes in the situation. In order to convince him, I went out of my way to further explain: "From Lieutenant Colonel Svering's report, we can find out the fact that the enemy's main force has crossed the Dnieper River to the north, but it has reinforced friendly forces on the opposite bank, leaving only a small number of troops to monitor us. That is, with the northward transfer of troops, many large cities originally occupied by the German army will face a shortage of troops. So we'll be able to attack the fortifications. It won't be too difficult either. ”

"Comrade Commander, I think this matter should be cautious." Vitkov also became cautious at the moment. He reminded me again: "Since we have not reconnoitred the enemy's position, we are not yet clear about the enemy's real situation, so I suggest that, for the sake of safety, we should continue to stand still, and seize the time to rest and recuperate, and then launch a tentative attack on the enemy's major cities after March." ”

"Time waits for no one, Comrade Chief of Staff." The thought of the German troops transferred from Romania gave me a headache, the troops there had not been a lot of fighting, and the equipment and morale must have been excellent, and it would be a sure victory against a tired division like ours. Formally based on this consideration, I ordered Travkin to seize the time to conduct reconnaissance and find out the enemy's troop deployment and equipment, so that we can make corresponding troop adjustments in time. "The enemy's troops in Romania will not know when they will come to the city, and we will not be able to compete with such a new force, so we must leave the existing defensive area and move on to a new target before they arrive."

"Comrade Commander." Suddenly Pugachev's voice came from behind me.

Hearing the shout, I quickly straightened up, turned around, looked at Pugachev who was standing at the door, and asked: "Comrade Major, is it Captain Travkin who came to you to collect supplies?" Give them all, and give them whatever they want, this is my own command. ”

Unexpectedly, Pugachev shook his head like a rattle and replied: "No, Comrade Commander." Captain Travkin's supplies for them, I have sent someone to accompany them to the warehouse to pick them up. ”、

"What's that going on?" Since it wasn't about Travkin's receipt of supplies, and Pugachev didn't have any telegrams or newspapers in his hand, I really couldn't understand his purpose for a while.

Seeing that I was stunned and did not speak, Pugachev hurriedly took two steps forward and whispered to me in a low and mysterious voice: "Comrade Commander, Colonel Beray is here. ”

"Oh, the Colonel is here?!" When I heard that Beray had come to my headquarters, I was overjoyed and hurriedly asked, "Where is he?" ”

Pugachev, after glancing in the direction of the door, replied: "Right at the door." ”

Kirillov listened to Pugachev's answer and immediately excitedly ordered him: "Hurry, hurry!" Major, hurry up and bring Colonel Berey in. ”

Pugachev agreed, walked quickly to the door, and shouted outside: "Hey, comrade soldiers, hurry up and bring your colonel in." ”

As soon as he finished speaking, I saw two male hygienists carrying stretchers appear at the door. The man lying on the stretcher, carrying a long military overcoat, although he had his back to us, I easily recognized him from his figure as the commander of the tank brigade, Colonel Bere.

When the stretcher rested on the two benches, I took the lead and took the initiative to greet the colonel lying on the stretcher: "Colonel Bere, Colonel Bere!" ”

At my shout, Colonel Bere slowly rolled over and slowly opened his eyes. But when he saw that there were a few of us standing in front of him, he hurriedly put his elbows on the stretcher and tried to sit up. The soldier next to him hurriedly stepped forward to help him and helped him to sit up.

Beray raised his hand and saluted us, and said in a weak voice: "Hello, Comrade Commander! Hello, Comrade Political Commissar! I don't know if you have any instructions for me to come here? ”

I hurriedly stepped forward, leaned down, took Colonel Bere's cold hand, and asked with concern, "Comrade Colonel, how are your injuries, are you better?" ”

Beray looked up at me and said slowly: "Don't worry, Comrade Commander, you can't die for the time being." I'm waiting for you to replenish my tank brigade and go to a new battle. ”

Seeing that Bere's injuries were not only not abating, but worsening, I looked up at the two hygienists standing on the left and right of Bere, and asked angrily, "What's going on, why is the colonel's injury not improving, but showing signs of getting worse?" Say, why don't you speak, can anyone explain to me what is going on? ”

When the two hygienists bowed their heads in shame, Bere slapped my hand twice on the back of my hand, and when he saw that my attention was returning to his, he tried to squeeze a smile on his face and said to me: "Comrade Commander, you are wrong about them. During this time as a hygienist, they took good care of me, but due to limited medical conditions, several pieces of shrapnel on my body could not be removed, causing the wound to suppurate, which aggravated the injury. ”

When Berey said this, it suddenly reminded me of the inexplicable death of General Ike. Then he turned to Kirillov and said: "Comrade commissar, there is one more thing that I have not understood, and I want to ask what is going on. ”

"Excuse me, Leda!" Kirillov said politely with a smile on his face.

"Theodore. How exactly did Ike die? I asked, looking at Kirillov.

"That's right, Comrade Commander." Before Kirillov could speak, Vitkov was the first to say: "Ike came to the city in a truck with our wounded. Because when unloading the car, the two hygienists who were responsible for carrying Ike had not had time to carry him out of the car, they received other orders and went somewhere else. By the time they remembered that Ike was still in the car, it had been a full day and night, and when they arrived, they found Ike parked in the covered truck frozen to death. That's the case, and I've ordered the two fighters to be locked up. If Comrade Commander thinks that my punishment is too light, then I can prolong their confinement. ”

"No need, Comrade Chief of Staff. Ike is dead, he can't deal with our warriors, and I'll release those two later. After I had finished speaking to Vitkov, I leaned down and said to Bere: "Colonel, I'm sorry, I didn't know that your injuries were so serious, and I had you carried here from the sanitary camp. ”

"Comrade Commander, I understand. If you don't have anything important, you won't bother me to recuperate. With that, with the help of two hygienists, he sat up straight and said to me with a resolute expression: "As long as I can do it, I will definitely live up to your trust." (To be continued......)