The convoy of seven trucks and more than 50 horse-drawn wagons transporting the wounded was completed in 10 minutes due to the poor condition of the road. Meretskov's face became gloomy as he watched the convoy pass by the jeep. When the jeep got back on the road, he let out a long sigh, leaned back, and leaned back in his chair to close his eyes.

I knew that he must have been thinking about something at this time, and I didn't bother him, but turned my head to the side to look at the troops on the march.

After driving for another half an hour, I couldn't help but ask the driver who was driving softly: "Comrade driver, how long will it take for us to reach our destination?" ”

Without looking back, the driver replied: "Comrade Major, there should be five or six kilometers left." ”

Hearing the conversation between me and the driver, Meretskov opened his eyes and said: "Lida, this is already a battlefield, you listen to the gunfire outside." ”

As I listened, the sound of gunfire, which had been muffled by the sound of car motors, suddenly became clear. The sound of gunfire did not come from one direction, but from all directions, and it was seen that in this area, there was fighting everywhere.

At this moment, the driver suddenly braked suddenly, and under the action of great inertia, Meretskov and I both involuntarily rushed forward, and then fell back and hit the back of the seat hard.

"What's going on, what are you parking?" Meretskov reproached the driver harshly.

The driver pointed out of the car and said aggrievedly: "Comrade commander, you see, there is a plane in the sky, and it is a German plane. ”

Meretskov only glanced out the window of the car, and then shouted: "It's an air strike." Get out of the car. "Finished shouting. He opened the car door and jumped out.

Seeing that he had already gotten out of the car. Without hesitation, I opened the other door and slipped out of it. As soon as I got under the car, I heard Meretskov shouting at the top of his voice: "Air raid siren, all the people go to the forest." ”

I was afraid that his voice was too small for most of the commanders and fighters to hear, so I hurriedly helped him shout: "Air raid siren, air raid siren, everyone go to the forest." Subsequently. The driver who just got out of the car also joined us in shouting.

The commanders and fighters who were close to us quickly jumped off the road and hid in the forest next to us. But there was still a long line ahead, and they continued along the Shuchai Road, and they didn't hear our shouts at all.

Turchinov, who was working as a guard behind him, hurried over with a few fighters, and while he was still far away, he asked loudly: "Comrade commander, what happened?" ”

"Air strike, Comrade Lieutenant." I answered Meretskov ahead of him. And instructed him: "You immediately take a few soldiers to the front and inform those commanders and fighters to defend the air." ”

Turchinov listened. Stood still and didn't move. Seeing this scene, Meretskov said with some displeasure: "Comrade lieutenant, what's wrong with you, didn't you hear the order that Major Oshanina gave you?" Immediately lead the men to the front, and let the commanders and fighters who were marching into the forest to avoid the air raid. ”

Only then did Turchinov agree, and after raising his hand to salute, he quickly ran forward with several of his soldiers, shouting loudly as he ran: "Air raid siren, everyone hide in the forest." ”

The commanders and fighters marching in front quickly noticed the strangeness behind them, but when they turned around and saw a few people shouting "air raid sirens" as they ran, they immediately left the road and ran into the forests on both sides.

Seeing that the commanders and fighters were evacuating, I hurriedly ran with the driver to the forest with Meretskov on one left and one on the right. He is the commander of the first army, and his safety is the most important thing, but he must not be allowed to have any three strengths and two weaknesses in the German air raids, otherwise, the troops will be completely chaotic.

We had barely gone far in the muddy forest when German planes began to bomb and strafe the road. Listening to the explosions outside the forest, and looking at the fire and smoke rising from time to time, I couldn't help but secretly fear that if I had been slower just now, I might have been killed by the German plane.

The German air raid lasted more than ten minutes, and several enemy planes dropped bombs and fired random bullets, and reluctantly circled over the forest again, and turned around and flew westward.

Meretskov looked up at the departure of the enemy plane, and then decisively waved his hand and said: "It seems that the German plane flew away." Let's go, let's go back to the car, and we must hurry to the temporary headquarters of the 8th Army as soon as possible. ”

I followed him and the driver with a deep and shallow foot, and struggled out of the forest. When we got out of the forest, we saw that the jeep we were in was burning, followed by two trucks, one was also burning, and the other truck was overturned on all fours on the side of the road, and Turchinov was carrying the wounded out of the compartment with people.

The driver saw that his car was burning and couldn't help but shout: "My car!" He then ran towards the burning jeep.

"Stop!" The driver had barely gone far before he was stopped by Meretskov from behind.

Almost at the same time, the jeep made an earth-shattering bang, and the body was torn apart by the exploding fuel tank. And Turchinov, who was rescuing the wounded fighters, quite a few were hit by flying debris and fell down screaming.

The three of us stood still, staring blankly at the jeep surrounded by fire and smoke. After a long time, Meretskov spoke: "Since there are no cars, then we can only walk to the 8th Army." There are still five or six kilometers left, and you can reach your destination in about two hours. ”

Walking out of the forest, I looked around and was immediately frightened, not to mention that the jeep had been blown up, and even if it was intact, it would not be able to move on. During the air raid just now, the bombs dropped by German planes blew up many sections of Shuchai Road. On both sides of the road, commanders and fighters can be seen lying in pools of blood from time to time. The commanders and fighters who came out of the forest, some of them were busy treating the wounded, while others were desperately beating the burning firewood road with tree branches.

Turchinov ran up to us with a serious expression and said to salute: "Comrade commander, the vehicles have been blown up, and the rest of the road seems to be on foot." ”

Meretskov asked with concern: "Comrade lieutenant. What is the casualty profile of the Secret Service? ”

Turchinov replied with a bitter face: "15 people were sacrificed." Eleven people were wounded. Five of them were seriously injured. ”

Meretskov looked at his watch and instructed him: "Leave two fighters to take care of the wounded, and you take the rest with me." ”

"But Comrade Commander, there are so many wounded, two people may not be able to take care of them."

"Why are you so stupid, when you encounter a retreating convoy of wounded later, just let them take your wounded subordinates with you by the way."

"Understood, Comrade Commander. I'll arrange it. ”

Five minutes later, a group of 10 of us set off again. This time, for safety, Turchinov took us through the forest. Looking at the muddy and difficult road, Meretskov couldn't help but frown and asked: "Comrade lieutenant, how long will we have to walk to reach the command of the 8th Army?" ”

Turchinov, who led the way in front, turned around and said as he walked: "Please rest assured, Comrade Commander, we are now on a small road, and we will reach General Starikov's headquarters in half an hour at most." ”

Led by Turchinov, we came to the temporary command of General Starikov located in the forest. Several sentries on duty at the door. When they saw a group of us approaching, they immediately hid behind the sandbag fortifications. Nervously pulling the bolt of the gun, he shouted at us: "Stop, password!" ”

Turchinov quickened his pace and walked over, and replied loudly at the nervous sentries: "How can our Front Army Command know the password of your 8th Army, it is simply nonsense. ”

"Who are you? Comrade Lieutenant. A sentry poked his head out from behind the fortifications and asked aloud.

"I'm Lieutenant Turchinov, head of the secret service." After identifying himself, he again loudly ordered the sentry: "Hurry up and report to General Starikov that the commander of the front is coming." ”

When the sentry heard him shout, he did not dare to slack off, stood up straight, put the rifle in his hand on his shoulder, and turned and ran towards the earthen hut-style bunker not far away, which seemed to be the temporary headquarters of the 8th Army.

After a short effort, the sentry came out of the bunker, followed by a group of commanders. I saw clearly that there was Starikov in the ranks, and I hurriedly turned back to Meretskov and said: "Comrade commander, it's General Starikov, the commander of the 8th Army, and I've personally brought someone to meet you!" ”

"Let's go, let's go." After Meretskov finished speaking, he walked towards the group of commanders with his hands behind his back.

Starikov and his commanders came to Meretskov and saluted en masse, and Starikov reported on everyone's behalf: "Hello, Comrade Commander of the Front. The commander of the 8th Army, Major General Starikov, with the personnel of the command, came to meet you and wait for your orders. ”

My sharp eyes saw that behind Starikov, there was actually the commander of the 4th Guards Army, General Gagan. I wondered how he could have been here, knowing that at this time, he should have stayed in his headquarters and commanded his troops to cooperate with the 8th Army in attacking German positions.

Meretskov also apparently saw Gagan standing in the ranks, and he did not greet Starikov and them, but simply said: "Go to your headquarters first." With that, he took the lead and walked towards the temporary headquarters.

When he arrived at the headquarters, he went straight to the wooden table and sat down, picked up the map on the table and looked at it. Starikov and Gagan stood honestly behind him, not even daring to come out.

After looking at the map for a while, Meretskov pushed it to the side, looked at Starikov, and said, "General Starikov, can you tell me about the current battle situation?" I wonder when your troops will be able to capture the heights of Sinavino? ”

In response to Meretskov's question, Starikov looked a little nervous, raised his hand to wipe the sweat that did not exist on his forehead, and said in embarrassment: "Comrade General, I think that under the existing circumstances, conquering the heights is a difficult task to complete. ”

Meretskov raised his eyebrows, and surprisingly did not get angry, but calmly asked: "Comrade General, tell me your reasons." ”

"Report Comrade Commander, since our army group lost the support of the artillery of the Front, it fought very hard in the battle to attack the heights. Although the Leningrad Front and the Baltic Fleet provided us with artillery support, their artillery bombardment did not destroy the enemy's defenses due to the distance and inaccuracy, and when we attacked, the Germans hid behind these intact fortifications and fired at us frantically. The casualties of the infantry who carried out the assault were very large, and the troops completely lost their ability to assault in a very short time. ”

Meretskov looked at Gagan who was standing next to him again, and asked in a stern tone: "General Gagan, what are you doing when you don't stay in your army headquarters to command the troops, and run to the headquarters of the 8th Army?" ”

General Gagan was dumbfounded by the question, and turned his head to look at Starikov beside him, hoping that he would come out and say a few kind words for himself. Starikov immediately understood and immediately defended Gagan: "Comrade commander, General Gagan personally rushed to the front in order to better command the troops. Because his headquarters has not yet settled in, he has to stay in my headquarters for the time being. ”

"I see." Meretskov looked suddenly enlightened, and then asked Gagan: "Let me ask you, where have your troops arrived?" When will the offensive against the Germans be launched? ”

Gagan said hesitantly: "Comrade commander, do you know that the troops received the order too late, and the assembly was delayed. When they finally finished assembling and were about to rush to the front line, they found that there were not enough transport vehicles, and they could only rely on the commanders and fighters on foot for more than 10 kilometers. The roads were not easy to follow, and they were subjected to air strikes by the Germans, so the troops had not yet reached their designated positions. ”

Meretskov slapped the table in anger, stood up and shouted loudly: "What? How long have you been receiving orders? All the troops have not yet entered the designated positions. I tell you, if your slow movement affects the course of the subsequent campaign, you should wait to be court-martialed. ”

As soon as Meretskov's words came out, the atmosphere in the command headquarters suddenly became depressed. At that moment, I saw a sergeant walk in with a tray carrying a cup of hot tea, and after seeing the situation in the headquarters, his steps became hesitant, and he did not know whether to withdraw from the town or to continue to deliver the tea to Meretskov.

In a flash of inspiration, I went up and picked up the teacup from the tray and waved at the warrior to signal him to leave. Then he walked up to Meretskov with tea, carefully placed it in front of him, and said in a low voice: "Comrade commander, you have walked such a long way, you must be tired now, drink a cup of tea first, rest and rest!" ”

Seeing that I came out at this time to ease the atmosphere, Starikov hurriedly went down by the steps, he bent down and said to Meretskov with a smile: "Yes, Comrade Commander, you must be tired after walking such a long way, first drink a cup of tea, rest, and talk about the attack on the high ground later." Do you think it's okay? ”

Although Meretskov was angry just now, after I stirred up the situation like this, and Starikov said good things with a smiling face, he snorted heavily and sat down, took a sip of his teaglass. When he adjusted his mood, he continued to ask Starikov: "Comrade General, when are you going to attack again?" ”

Starikov hesitated for a moment and replied: "Comrade General, in today's battle, the 19th Guards Division has been crippled, and at present there are only more than 700 people left in the division, and it is necessary to replenish the forces before launching another attack. ”

Meretskov glared at Gagan and said indignantly: "The troops of the 4th Guards Army are not yet in place, what will I give you to replenish." Then he asked Gagan: "You came to the 8th Army, who is in command in the army headquarters?" ”

"Report to Comrade Commander," Gagan straightened up and replied respectfully, "Major General Rogensky, it was the deputy commander Major General Rogensky who commanded the troops. ”

Meretskov looked down at his watch, raised his head, and resolutely said: "Major General Starikov, I'll give you another hour." In an hour, I would like to see the 8th Army relaunch its offensive on the heights. And you, Major General Gagan, if your troops have not reached their assigned position by the time Starikov's troops attack, then you will lose your post of commander and be court-martialed. (To be continued......)

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