Although the telegram was simple, I knew in my heart that Vatutin was trying to tell us that whatever had happened to us here, he was not to blame. With this telegram from him, I can finally deploy my troops with peace of mind.

While ordering Razumeeva to call the commander of the 171st Division, Anderyushchenko, and ask him to immediately rush to the division headquarters of the 308th Division, I called Romanov to the table. Pointing to the map, he asked: "Comrade Deputy Army Commander, tell me about the deployment of German troops around the city." ”

Romanov leaned down, picked up the red and blue pencils on the table, pointed to Alexandria's position and said: "According to our reconnaissance, the German troops left Alexandria one after another, and one withdrew north along the road to the direction of the Dnieper; The other retreated south along the road to Petkhart. And the enemy between us and Zmian Kaduha has been completely eliminated. ”

"What about the enemy in the other directions?" After listening to Romanov's introduction, I pointed to the south and west and asked: "Won't the enemy in these places also retreat?" ”

"To the south and west of the city, there are only small villages and settlements, and the number of defenders is very limited, and in some villages there are only four or five German soldiers," Romanov said lightly, "I intend to take a part of the partisans who are familiar with the terrain and let them act as guides for the regular army, and take charge of clearing the stragglers scattered around." ”

"We have a limited number of troops," I said, keeping my eyes fixed on the map, and when Romanov had finished speaking, I asked with some concern, "If we send troops to clear out these scattered German troops, then we will not have the ability to fight a large-scale battle with the German forces that may come to attack." ”

"Don't worry. Comrade Army Commander. "The Romanovs reacted quickly. He immediately judged what I was worried about. He quickly explained to me: "As I said earlier, the German forces in this area are not only small, but also scattered. We only need to draw a few platoon-level squads, and it will be enough to wipe them all out. ”

Romanov's proposal to use small units to eliminate the German stragglers immediately reminded me of a certain movie in which a small squad goes to exterminate bandits entrenched in a fortress with dangerous terrain. From this, I judged that his proposal was very appropriate, so I nodded. He said approvingly: "Comrade Deputy Army Commander, your plan is good." With a small number of troops, we will clear out the stragglers scattered in the depth of our army. Although there are not many enemies eliminated each time, all the results add up to a small battle. So decided, you arrange it now. ”

Just as Romanov was calling his subordinates, Andreushchenko, who received the order, came to the command. I called him to the map, and before the official assignment of the task, I first asked: "Comrade Colonel, how many people are there in your division now?" ”

"Report to the Commander." Hearing my question, Andreushchenko quickly straightened up and reported: "Our regiment originally had more than 1,900 people. Upon arrival in Alexandria, more than eight hundred workers and residents were mobilized to join our ranks and equip them with weapons. ”

From Andreushchenko's report, although I know that the total strength of the 171st Division is now about 2,800 people, if a battle really starts, the new soldiers who have just joined will only be able to make up a number of people, and they will not be able to form any combat effectiveness at all. Thinking of this, I continued to ask, "How are you assigned these recruits?" Assemble a separate battalion of recruits, or do you disperse them and replenish them to the regiments? ”

To my simple question, Andreushchenko replied with a smile: "Comrade commander, now that we are fighting, how can we have time to put them in the new barracks for slow training." I have scattered them and supplemented them into the regiments that had been seriously attrition in the early stage, hoping that under the leadership of the backbone of the battle, the recruits will be able to form combat effectiveness as soon as possible. ”

"Very well, Comrade Colonel." For Andreushchenko's arrangement, I gave him a thumbs up and praised his face: "Your arrangement is very suitable, the reasonable combination of veterans and recruits is very conducive to the formation of combat effectiveness in the shortest possible time." ”

"Comrade Commander, what are you talking about?" Romanov, who had just walked back from the phone call, happened to hear the next two sentences of us, so he couldn't help but ask curiously: "What kind of veteran and recruit are a reasonable match?" ”

"That's right, Comrade Deputy Commander." Since Romanov asked about this, I patiently explained to him: "Because the 171st Division has just been replenished with more than 800 new soldiers, in order to improve its combat effectiveness as soon as possible, Colonel Andreushchenko dispersed the recruits into various regiments and adopted the method of veterans leading new recruits to rapidly improve the combat effectiveness of the troops. By the way, how many recruits did your 308th Division replenish? ”

Hearing my question, Romanov and Andreushchenko looked at each other, and then they both burst out laughing. Without waiting for me to ask them what they were laughing at, Andreushchenko took the initiative to explain to me: "Comrade commander, you may not know, but the first thing Comrade Deputy Commander did after taking over as division commander to drive away the German troops attacking the city was not to replenish a large number of recruits. As far as I know, he recruited more than 400 workers who had participated in military training from the Red Star Machinery Factory, plus workers in several other factories, as well as residents who supported our army, and the 308th Division was replenished with nearly 2,000 men. ”

"What, two thousand?" To be honest, this data really scared me, you must know that what we are going to fight next is a bad battle, and replenishing so many new recruits at once, it looks like the number of people is too much, but the combat effectiveness of the troops has been diluted. I grabbed Romanov's arm and nervously asked, "Comrade Deputy Army Commander, how did you arrange this batch of recruits?" ”

"Comrade Commander, what's wrong with you?" Romanov looked at me a little strangely and said, "After the recruits are added to the troops, they will naturally be directly dispersed and integrated into the regiments like the 171st Division. I told the three regimental commanders below that the ratio of recruits to veterans in each company platoon should be kept at two to one, that is, one veteran for every two recruits who was responsible for managing them. This combination of the old and the new is conducive to the rapid integration of the new soldiers into our big collective, increasing the cohesion of the troops, and at the same time quickly improving their technical and tactical level. ”

"Good. Both of you have done a good job with this. "After I finished praising them. So he got down to business: "Okay." Write it down, and we will discuss the next operational direction of our army. I pointed to the map and said to the two men, "According to the report just made by the deputy commander, the enemy forces that had attacked the city have withdrawn to the Dnieper River and Patkhart. For the Germans in these two directions, we don't need to pay attention to it for the time being, we just need to send troops to monitor them. Then you concentrate the main forces and use Znmian Kaduha as a base. Move in a northwesterly direction. As soon as we found a city where the defenders were weak, we rushed up and taught them a hard lesson. As long as we eliminate the small German forces entrenched in these cities, then we can be replenished with men and weapons, which will be of great help to us in the rest of the battle. ”

Romanov's finger slid slowly across the map, as if considering the feasibility of my proposal. Suddenly, his fingers stopped moving, and his brow furrowed. Seeing his expression, I wondered if he had thought of something, so I hurriedly asked, "Comrade Deputy Commander, do you have any ideas?" ”

"Comrade Commander, I suddenly had a bold idea. Check it out! Romanov pointed his finger at Alexandria, where we were, and then moved northwest along the road. Then he said: "The distance from Zmian Kadukha to Kyiv is less than three hundred kilometers, and there are only two or three cities that are not too big in between, and I believe that the German army will not have too many troops in the cities, because the troops on the other side of the Dnieper River are tight, and the troops in these cities may be exhausted." And we can seize this gap and decisively advance towards Kyiv to see if it is possible to take the city back from the hands of the Germans. ”

After listening to his thoughts, I stared at the map noncommittally, and said in my heart: "I think that at the beginning, Zhukov saw that Kiev's troops were in danger of being surrounded by the German army, and suggested to Stalin that he abandon Kiev and withdraw his troops across the Dnieper River, but Stalin sent him to the reserve front. It can be seen from this how much Stalin valued Kiev, and if I could really lead the troops to retake Kiev from the hands of the German army, even if it only lasted a few days, it would be a miracle, and maybe Stalin would have promoted me to lieutenant general as soon as he was happy. Thinking about it, I couldn't help but be thrilled by Romanov's plan, and I began to calculate how many chances I had.

But after watching it for a while, my sanity finally prevailed over impulse. I shook my head and said to Romanov: "Comrade Deputy Army Commander, your proposal is very good, but our army is not only short of troops, but also lacks heavy equipment such as tanks and artillery, and has no air supremacy, and it is simply an impossible task to seize Kiev, which is heavily defended by the enemy." ”

Hearing me say this, a regretful expression appeared on Romanov's face, but he still said unwillingly: "Comrade commander, I think this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, we should try." ”

I glanced up at him, and then glanced at Andreushchenko, who was standing next to me, and seeing that he also had a disappointed expression, I explained to the two of them: "Comrade commanders, you can't just see the weak German troops around us, and whimsically think that the German guards in all the cities are weak and can let us play at will. I tell you, if you think like that, you will suffer greatly. If you look at the terrain near Kyiv, as long as we can't take Kyiv within twelve hours, then the German troops from Belarus will come up from behind us, join forces with the defenders of the city, and eat us all. ”

As soon as I said this, both of them fell silent, just looking at the map and thinking about what I had just said. After a while, Romanov raised his head and said to me: "Comrade commander, I admit that what you said is very reasonable, but it would be a pity to give up without giving up such a great opportunity in front of us......

"Alright, Comrade Deputy Commander, you don't need to say any more." Without waiting for him to speak, I decisively interrupted his later words, but in order not to hurt his self-esteem, I still proposed a compromise: "In this way, you send a reconnaissance detachment as soon as possible to finish Kiev to reconnoiter the distribution of the enemy's forces." ”

"Yes, I'll arrange it." Hearing my words, the gloom on Romanov's face was swept away, and as soon as he finished speaking, he could not wait to run to the telephone set placed next to him, intending to immediately issue a reconnaissance order to the divisional reconnaissance company by telephone.

When I saw Romanov, who was happily giving orders with a telephone, I suddenly remembered that yesterday I had ordered Vitkov to send troops to reconnoiter near Kirovgrad, and I did not know what the final result of the reconnaissance would be, and I had to ask immediately. Thinking of this, I walked up behind Razumeyeva and patted her on the shoulder. As soon as she turned her head, I immediately asked: "Lieutenant, can you immediately contact the military command in Kirovgrad?" I have something to talk to the Chief of Staff. ”

"Yes, Comrade Commander." As she spoke, Razumeyeva pushed a telephone in front of me and reported to me: "This phone can be connected directly to the military headquarters, do you need me to connect it for you?" Seeing that I nodded in agreement, she immediately dialed the number.

Since these wired telephones are much more secure in secrecy than wireless calls, I didn't go around in circles after hearing Vitkov's voice coming out of the earpiece, and asked bluntly: "Hey, Comrade Chief of Staff, are the reconnaissance results of the reconnaissance battalion out?"

From the earpiece came Vitkov's excited voice: "Hello, Comrade Commander. I was about to take the time to report to you from several of Captain Travkin's reconnaissance detachments, but I didn't expect you to call me first. ”

From Vitkov's voice, I judged that the reconnaissance battalion's reconnaissance effect last night must have been good, so I hurriedly asked: "Tell me, Comrade Chief of Staff, what is going on." ”

"Comrade Commander, you may not have dreamed of it." "According to Captain Travkin's report, when he personally led a reconnaissance detachment into the German positions, he found that except for two or three sentries, there was no trace of the enemy. And the German soldiers in the trenches that we observed with binoculars during the day were nothing more than a group of dummies in military uniforms and steel helmets. ”

"What, Chief of Staff, what did you say?" When I heard that except for a few soldiers in the enemy's position, the rest were dummies, I suddenly felt a sense of humiliation that I had been deceived, and I asked aloud: "Since the trenches are full of dummies, where did the main forces of the German army go?" ”

"According to our interrogation of the captives, the main forces of the enemy have quietly bypassed our defense zone and moved in the direction of the Dnieper." Hearing that I was angry, Vitkov quickly reported to me truthfully: "According to our analysis, they should be preparing to cross the river to reinforce Manstein." ”

Putting down the phone, I turned around and said to Romanov and Andreushchenko, who were standing behind me: "Comrade commanders, the Germans are very cunning, except for a small number of troops left to monitor us, the rest are headed for the Dnieper. Now I agree with Comrade Deputy Army Commander that as soon as the reconnaissance of Kyiv is completed, the 171st and 308th divisions will immediately pull out to Kyiv. At this point, I paused for a moment, gritted my back molars, and said viciously, "Since the Germans are going to play conspiracy, then we must teach them a lesson that they will never forget." (To be continued......)