Rokossovsky put down the phone, looked at me and said, "Lida, you are right, this is a time of war, and our thinking needs to be adjusted." He stood up and said to me again: "Go, follow me to Dovator's troops, and see how they broke through the enemy's lines and freed the besieged 50th Cavalry Division." ”

The 53rd Cavalry Division was stationed not far from the headquarters of the army group, just a few minutes' drive away. Not long after the car drove through the forest, I looked out the window and saw a black field in the distance, all of them cavalry warriors riding on tall horses, almost all of them wearing black cloaks. The car stopped about twenty or thirty meters away from the procession, and when we got out of the car, a cavalryman on a white horse and wearing a high black fur hat immediately greeted us. He came to us, reined in his horse and reported to Rokossovsky in a loud voice: "Comrade commander, the commander of the 3rd Cavalry Corps, Dovatore, reports to you that the troops have been assembled and are ready to attack the enemy at any time. ”

"Well done, Dovatore!" Rokossovsky praised him loudly, and then said in a commanding tone: "But you are the commander of an army, and you do not need to personally lead the troops to charge." Let Colonel Melnik lead the troops up, and when this battle is over, I will personally promote him to the commander of the 53rd Division. As for you, come with me to the observation post and command the battle! ”

I very much agree with Rokossovsky's statement, after all, it is more suitable for Colonel Melnik, who has the position of acting division commander, to lead a team than Dovatore, as the commander of a first army, Dovator should stay in his office and command the troops, rather than charge like an ordinary soldier. Dovator hesitated for a moment, and then said to Rokossovsky in a pleading tone: "Comrade commander, allow me to go and explain the task to Colonel Melnik. ”

"Go ahead, I'll wait for you in the observation post." Rokossovsky agreed very cheerfully.

Dovator turned his horse's head and returned to the front of the queue, while I followed Rokossovsky out of the trench and towards the observation post. The trenches were lined with machine-gun emplacements to provide fire support for the charging cavalry, and as we passed through these fortifications, the machine-gun shooters stood up and stood straight on both sides of the trenches and saluted us. Before stepping into the observation post, I looked back at Dovator and saw him holding his saber in his right hand and talking loudly to the warriors. Although it was too far away to hear what he was saying, according to the analysis of the situation in which the fighters shouted "Ula" from time to time, he must have been doing a battle mobilization.

The facilities in the observation post were simple, with a wooden table in the middle of the room, and a combat map spread out on the table, on which were pressed two black telephones. There were two or three communications soldiers in the observation post, and when they saw us coming in, they quickly stood up and saluted.

While Rokossovsky was sitting at his desk looking at the map, I was holding a telescope and standing in front of the observation hole to observe the enemy. The German position was on the edge of the forest four or five hundred meters away, and because the occupation time was not long, it was too late to build strong fortifications, but on the basis of the original trenches, a lot of individual bunkers were dug. The open ground between our and German positions was covered with a thick layer of snow, so that when the cavalry attacked, their movement speed was greatly reduced. The cavalry, having lost its speed, was bound to pay a terrible price if it wanted to seize the German positions.

It was at this time that Dovatol ran in from outside, panting, and reported to Rokossovsky: "Comrade commander, I have already arranged it, can I start?" ”

Rokossovsky nodded approvingly and said: "Let's go!" ”

"Yes!" Dovator agreed, walked to the table, picked up a phone, shook the handle vigorously a few times, then picked up the microphone and gave a loud order inside: "I am Dovatore, I order, the artillery of the military immediately aimed at the German positions and fired!" ”

The shells landed in front of and behind the German trenches and exploded, throwing clouds of mud and snow high into the air and scattering them like flowers. Perhaps because the cavalry corps did not have large-caliber heavy artillery, these less lethal artillery, although they crackled and crackled, but I never saw the spectacular sight of German flesh and blood flying in the telescope.

As soon as the five-minute artillery fire ended, the light and heavy machine guns in the trenches rang out, which was to suppress the German positions. At the same time, the shouts of "Ula" rang out in a tsunami, and then the sound of horses' hooves came in from outside the observation post. Dovator had been standing next to me since the beginning of the shelling to observe the enemy, and at this time Rokossovsky could not sit still, he stood up and walked quickly to the observation hole, holding up his binoculars to observe the situation on the battlefield.

The warriors hung their guns diagonally on their horses, brandished sabers in their hands, shouted "Ula", and urged their horses to rush towards the German positions. Although the cavalry was charging, due to the terrain, their speed was only equivalent to the normal running speed of the infantry in the absence of snow. Fifty meters, a hundred meters, the German positions were still quiet, as if there was no one. Seeing this situation, I became more and more worried, I saw the effect of the shelling just now, the Germans did not suffer many casualties at all, why did they not shoot for nothing? In the blink of an eye, the cavalry had advanced to a distance of one hundred and fifty meters, and our machine guns stopped firing in order to prevent accidental damage.

"What's the matter with the Germans, why hasn't there been any movement at all? If this continues, in less than a minute, the cavalry will be able to rush to their positions. Rokossovsky also saw that something was wrong.

Seeing that the cavalry had rushed to a distance of less than two hundred meters from the German position, the German position, which had been silent, opened fire. The bullets fired from light and heavy weapons formed a dense network of fire, and smashed into the charging ranks like a storm. The horses that rushed to the front rows fell to the ground with a scream, throwing out the knights who were carrying them on their backs. Some of the soldiers who were thrown out of the ground had already been shot and killed before they fell to the ground, and the corpses fell to the ground and rolled forward for some distance before they stopped; The soldiers, who were lucky enough not to be injured or killed, had just struggled to get up from the ground, and before they could shoot their guns, they were knocked down by the dense fire of the German army.

The platoons that followed closely behind saw that something was wrong and involuntarily slowed down their horses, but it was too late, they were already within the range of German fire. The horses first stood up, and then fell back en masse, sat on their hips, and fell to the side with their feet facing the sky, throwing the knights off their backs with a heavy blow. The cavalry behind couldn't stop because of inertia, so they stepped directly over them, rushed into the German fire circle, and soon followed in the footsteps of these comrades. In just a few minutes, hundreds of cavalry fighters fell in front of the German positions.

Seeing all this, Rokossovsky and I had not yet reacted, Dovator had already thrown down the binoculars, rushed to the table, grabbed the phone, and shouted the order to the artillerymen: "Aim at the positions of the Germans, fire!" ”

As the shells again exploded on the German positions, the fire of the blocking cavalry became sparse. The offensive battle formation of the cavalry division quickly split to the left and right, and at a distance of more than a hundred meters from the positions of the two flanks of the Germans, it made a large circle, and then circled back.

Seeing the retreat of the cavalry division, I couldn't help but secretly frown, they were not far from the German position, under the cover of artillery fire, they could continue to rush forward in the rain of bullets, maybe only a few tens of seconds, they could rush into the enemy's position. But at this time, he suddenly withdrew, and everything was wasted.

"Comrade commander, this time I will personally lead people to charge! Please approve it! Dovator stood in front of Rokossovsky and pleaded. Although I did not approve of the commander personally charging him, it would be very inappropriate to raise objections in such a situation, so I kept silent and looked at Rokossovsky to see what decision he would make.

"I used to be a cavalryman, and I have a lot of affection for this class." Rokossovsky put down his binoculars and did not reply directly to his request, but said somewhat to himself: "But the cavalry has lost its former role in a world war." With the emergence of a large number of troops equipped with automatic weapons, rapid-fire artillery, tanks and aircraft, and the emergence of frontal, concealed bunkers and protected by barbed wire, the cavalry units that were once glorious are now gone. Speaking of this, he turned his head, looked at Dovator and said: "My comrade commander, if you want to take the positions of the German army, it is not enough to be brave, but also to use your brains. ”

Dovator didn't seem to expect him to say this, and asked curiously: "Is there any good way for the commander?" ”

Rokossovsky pointed to the open field in the distance and said to Dovatol: "You see, the Germans have deployed very strong firepower on the front, which can be seen from the casualties of the cavalry just now. But if you look at it again, the structure of the retreating troops is still very complete, which means that the two flanks of the German army are relatively weak, and when you lead the charge, you can use it as the main breakthrough. Also, you have to remember that after approaching the enemy's position, you can no longer charge in cavalry formation, but immediately order the soldiers to dismount and turn into infantry, crawl forward, and get closer to the opponent's position. Do you understand? ”

"Understood! Comrade Commander. After saluting Rokossovsky, Dovator turned and ran out of the observation post.

What Rokossovsky just said immediately benefited me a lot, in the end, he was a person who had fought for more than ten years, had rich combat experience, and saw the problem clearly, and he could find the weak links in the German defense line at once.

A new assault soon began, and this time the warriors did not wave their sabers again, but held the guns that had just hung diagonally on their horses. After all, this is the era of hot weapons, and if you can't rush in front of the enemy, it's almost the same with a saber and your bare hands. As soon as the troops rushed to the position where they had been defeated, the warriors jumped off their horses, lay on the ground, crawled forward on their prostrates, and from time to time stopped, using the corpses of their fallen comrades and horses as cover, and fired at the enemy in front.

This method of attacking from cavalry to infantry only reduced some casualties. Seeing that the machine-gun fire was ineffective, the Germans used mortars to bombard the attacking troops. The shells fell whizzing into the queue, and many of the fighters who crawled forward were pulled up from the ground by the blast of air, thrown high into the air, and fell down again. The soldiers, who were lucky enough not to be hit by the shells, were still desperately crawling forward.

"Comrade Commander," seeing the heavy casualties of the attacking fighters, I could not help but say to Rokossovsky, who was standing next to me: "You can't fight like this anymore, you see that the casualties of the fighters are too great." If there is not enough artillery fire to suppress the Germans, even if this position is captured, our men will be dead. ”

"Even if you are dead, you have to continue fighting." Rokossovsky replied with a blank face: "This line of defense of the German army separates us from the 50th Division, and if we do not occupy this position as soon as possible, the encircled troops will be completely finished." ”

Hearing Rokossovsky say this, I had nothing to say, so I had to obediently shut my mouth and pick up the binoculars to look for Dovatol on the battlefield. But I searched a few times, but I still couldn't see him. This is because the cavalrymen, whether they are soldiers or commanders, wear black cloaks, and it is really not easy to find a person to find out of thousands of people.

Just as I was about to give up looking for Dovatore, I unexpectedly saw a white war horse and a knight in a black cloak lying in the snow seventy or eighty meters away from the observation post. I remember when I came just now, I saw Dovator riding a tall white horse, could it be him? I turned my attention over there.

After only looking at it for a while, I understood what was going on, it must have been the horse that had fallen after being wounded by shrapnel while charging, and had pressed one of the knight's legs on its back under it after falling to the ground. The knight was lying on his back in the snow, trying to pull his legs out from under the horse. The horse twitched a few times on the ground, leaped upward, and fell down again, and the knight took advantage of the short time for the horse to leap and quickly move his leg out. The knight seemed to be wounded, and after pulling out his leg, he lay motionless on the snow.

Of course, my head suddenly became hot, and I put down my binoculars and rushed out of the observation post. Having climbed out of the trench, I bent over and ran quickly towards the knight. When I walked up to the knight, it was Dovatore. When he saw me appear in front of him, a smile appeared on his face and he said, "I was hit by shrapnel in my leg and couldn't move." Without saying a word, I grabbed his clothes with both hands and dragged him backwards towards the observation post.

From time to time, shells exploded near me, and falling mud and snow crackled down on me. Although it was very dangerous, I didn't even make any evasive moves, just dragged Dovator back as hard as I could. After only more than twenty meters of dragging, I was so tired that I was gasping for breath, but fortunately several more fighters rushed out of the trench and took their commander from my hands, while two fighters ran back to the trench with me on my back.

"Leda," Rokossovsky yelled at me as I sat in the observation post panting, "You have to make it clear that you are a commander, not a hygienist, and it is not your turn to treat the wounded." ”

"Comrade Commander, I'm sorry, I was wrong." I didn't want to defend anything, I was really a little too impulsive just now, and when I saw that Dovator was injured, I rushed out of the city desperately, without thinking about the consequences of doing so. Luckily, I was lucky enough to come back intact. However, people are not so lucky every time, maybe they will lose their lives because of their impulsiveness that day, so they quickly bow their heads and admit their mistakes.

The battle did not go very well, and after the cavalry was converted to infantry, the attack was still repulsed by the Germans. Because it was getting late, and the commander Dovator was wounded, no new attack was organized. Although the offensive was no longer launched, Rokossovsky and I did not return to the headquarters of the army group and remained at the station of the 53rd Cavalry Division.

On the 14th, the battle lasted a day. In the morning, Colonel Melnik had just led his troops to capture the position, and at noon the Germans, under the cover of artillery fire and aviation, had recaptured the position. The two armies engaged in repeated tug-of-war on this position, and I could clearly see from the observation post that the trenches were filled with the bodies of the dead on both sides. Katukov's 1st Guards Tank Brigade, replenished in the afternoon, went into battle, and with the command of such a military genius, the scale of victory inevitably tilted in our favor. By evening, the 50th Cavalry Division, which had been besieged for two days, finally succeeded in breaking out of the encirclement and joined us.

I stayed with Rokossovsky at the cavalry corps that night, because he had so much to deal with. In addition to the relief of the 50th Cavalry Division, several other locations also achieved satisfactory results: first, the Cadet Regiment and the 289th Anti-Tank Regiment broke the German siege and joined the two subsequent Cavalry Divisions victoriously; Then the 79 Infantry Division inflicted heavy losses on two invading German infantry divisions, firmly holding the line.

Rokossovsky and I were in the garrison of the cavalry corps and did not leave until the afternoon of the 15th. This is because Rokossovsky has to go back to the headquarters to arrange tomorrow's big counteroffensive, otherwise, I don't know when Lu Dao will stay before leaving.

Before the car had reached the headquarters, I heard a dog barking outside, so I rolled down the window and looked out to see what was wrong. I saw a strange line in the open space near the church, and everyone in the queue was holding a military dog in their hands.

"This should be the anti-tank military dog company sent by Comrade Zhukov." Rokossovsky looked at the strange team with interest, then turned to me and said, "I hope they will become, as legend has it, the nemesis of the German tanks." ”

The car stopped not far from the procession, because he saw the chief of staff, Malinin, standing in front of the queue, talking to a captain. Because the chief of staff of Zhiludao would bring the captain into the headquarters to meet him, Rokossovsky and I got out of the car and didn't stop for long, but just rushed to the saluting soldiers and saluted back, and walked directly to the headquarters.

As I passed by this unit, I couldn't help but look curiously again, and was surprised to find that the captain standing next to the chief of staff was looking at me intently. The captain was a tall, thin man, who looked young, twenty-five or sixteen years old, and although there was a long scar on the right side of his face, it did not affect his handsome appearance in the slightest. I don't know what Lu Dao is, but when I saw him, I suddenly felt a sense of déjà vu. But I went through the young people I knew in my mind, and I couldn't remember where I had seen the captain.

I stopped unconsciously, and stood there staring at the Captain. When I saw the smile on his face, my heart beat inexplicably faster, and I felt a heat on my face.

"Leda!" Rokossovsky probably saw me stop and urged me impatiently: "Hurry up, we still have a lot of work to do when we go back." ”

I agreed, covered my beating heart with my hands, and followed Rokossovsky on my way to headquarters. I had only taken a few steps when I heard the sound of a rush running from behind, and then someone stopped me from behind and hugged me. Before I could react, a magnetic voice rang in my ears: "Lydachka, dear! Is that you? ”