When I left the Front Headquarters and returned to my headquarters, I found that the tent had somehow been converted into a wooden house. The space inside was very spacious, on the left-hand side of the door, there was a long walkie-talkie, and in the middle was a very large simple wooden table, around which Danilov, Kirillov and Bezzikov were discussing something.

When I walked into the house, the staff officers who were about to go out stopped one after another, stepped aside, and raised their hands to salute me. And Bezikov, who was sitting in front of the door, saw me, and quickly stood up and said with a smile: "Comrade commander, you are back?!" ”

"I'm back." As I spoke, I walked quickly to the table, looked down at the place where it was spreading, and asked, "How is the situation in the defense zone?" ”

Danilov stood up and replied: "Comrade commander, during the time you left, only the fighting in the Oboyan direction was the most intense, and the rest of the place was fought in skirmishes. By all indications, the Germans were running out of power. Could we consider organizing troops to recapture those lost positions? ”

I looked up at Danilov and asked with some surprise: "Comrade Deputy Commander, if I heard me correctly, you are suggesting to me to launch a counterattack against the Germans?" ”

"That's right, Comrade Commander, that's exactly what happened." Danilov replied in the affirmative.

"Counterattack, what force do we use to fight back?" I turned to the optimistic deputy commander and asked, "With a few incomplete tank brigades and a few Guards Infantry Divisions in our hands, we will launch a counterattack against the Germans occupying our positions?" Seeing Danilov nodding in affirmation, I sneered and threw down a sentence, "I'll send Colonel Povsky and Colonel Bere back and let them tell you about the battle in the Oboyan region." How we won the war. ”

I walked up to Lopukhov, who was standing behind one of the operator, and instructed him: "Comrade Major, inform Colonel Povsky, Colonel Bere, as well as the commander of the 90th Guards Division and the commander of the 5th Guards Tank Army, to immediately return to the headquarters of the army group. ”

"Yes!" Lopukhov agreed, and leaned down. I began to convey my intention to the operator and asked him to send a message to several commanders who remained in the Oboyan area, asking them to return immediately to the headquarters of the army group.

I was idle, and looked up at the roof, and saw a lot of thick logs on top of it, one after the other, fixed with huge nails between them. I called Bezkov over and asked with interest: "Chief of Staff, are you still moving quite fast?" I was out of command for only a few hours before you turned the tent into a sturdy wooden hut. ”

Bezzikov grinned. "Comrade commander, there are quite a few soldiers in our unit who have worked as lumberjacks and construction workers, and with their help, it is a matter of hours to build such a house. Speaking of this, he turned his head to look at Danilov, who was sulking beside him, and lowered his voice and asked, "Why don't you ignore the deputy commander?" You see, he looks like he's angry. ”

I snorted softly. Leaning into Bezikov's ear, he said: "Comrade Deputy Commander thinks about counterattacks and counterattacks all day long, without taking into account how much difference our strength is from the Germans. I am the commander of the army group, and I cannot watch my fighters go to their deaths. ”

"Comrade commander, judging from the intensity of the fighting in various defense areas in the past few days, the strength of the German army has indeed been weakened to a great extent." Bezikov said with some hesitation: "I also think that with our current strength, we can consider a counterattack on the German army." ”

"No, I can't. Resolutely no. Hearing that Bezikov said the same, I immediately put on a straight face and said to him in a serious tone: "Comrade Chief of Staff, we are facing the German Army Group South in Manstein, don't forget in the Battle of Kharkov. How he defeated the superior units of our army. Don't look at the fact that the German offensive has weakened in the past two days, but they are accumulating strength and intend to give our troops a thunderous blow in a new position. If you blindly underestimate the enemy, you will suffer a great loss. ”

I talked to Bezzikov for a while, and when I saw Kirillov, who was sitting at the table, I remembered that when I had returned, I had not had time to greet him, so I walked over to him. He smiled and asked, "Comrade Military Commissar, what are you writing?" ”

Kirillov stopped writing, looked up at me, and replied with a smile: "What else can I write?" Of course, it's a meritorious service application form for soldiers. Recently, there have been quite a few commanders and fighters who have made meritorious contributions, so my work seems to be a bit busy. ”

Seeing Kirillov, whose face was full of tiredness, I said with concern: "Comrade Military Commissar, don't be too tired. There are some things that you should leave to the political workers below, and they are all familiar with these tasks anyway. ”

Unexpectedly, Kirillov waved his hand and said, "No, I'm not at ease, even if they are done, when they are handed over to me, I still have to take the time to check them one by one." At this point, he suddenly changed the subject and asked, "Lida, I heard that after the battle of Oboyan, Commander Vatutin called you to his headquarters, is there anything important?" ”

I turned my head to look at Danilov next to me, and when I saw that he was still looking down at the map sullenly, I deliberately raised my voice and said: "Comrade General called me over to study how to launch a counteroffensive against the German army. After saying that, I deliberately glanced at Danilov out of the corner of my eye.

Hearing the talk of the counteroffensive, Danilov immediately became energetic, and he didn't care about getting angry with me, so he hurriedly asked: "Comrade commander, what did Commander Vatutin say, when did our army launch a counteroffensive against the German army." ”

I looked at the anxious Danilov, smiled and said: "Comrade Deputy Commander, General Vatutin's mood is the same as yours, and he can't wait to launch a full-scale counterattack on the German army tomorrow." But no, although the enemy has been weakened by our army, their strength still has a great advantage compared with us. ”

When Danilov heard me say this, his mood suddenly fell again, and he muttered: "Then when will we wait until we can launch a counterattack against the Germans?" ”

"Don't be in a hurry, Comrade Deputy Commander." I comforted him: "Wait another week at most, and I think we will be able to launch a counteroffensive against the Germans." But before that, we have to find a way to continue to deplete the living forces of the German army. ”

"What's the method of consumption?" Danilov asked curiously.

"In today's battles, whether it is Povsky's artillery, or the tank units of Colonel Bere, General Kravchenko. Or Colonel Chernov's Guards Division, all doing very well. I continued, "I have ordered Major Lopukhov to inform them to come back and ask them to sum up the experience of today's battle, so that we can spread the good experience they have summed up throughout the army." ”

"When will they be back?" Danilov waited for me to finish. Immediately asked eagerly.

Without waiting for me to speak, Bezikov next to him laughed first: "Comrade Deputy Commander, you are too anxious. It had not been long since the telegram was sent, and how could they have come back so quickly. It will take at least another hour for them to return to headquarters. ”

I waited for Bezikov to finish, waved at him, and said, "Okay, Comrade Chief of Staff, I'll talk about this later." We now look at where to build tank repair stations. In order to repair in a timely manner those tanks of our army that were destroyed in battle. ”

"Comrade commander," Hearing me say this, Bezikov asked solemnly, "I wonder how many tank repair stations the higher authorities intend to build in our defense zone?" ”

"According to the meaning of Comrade General, he intends to create thirty tank repair stations, mainly in the Prokhorovka region." I pointed to our line of defense and continued, "Eight of them will be built within the defense zone of our army group. ”

Danilov asked with some confusion: "Why did Commander Vatutin suddenly want to build so many repair stations?" ”

"Comrade Deputy Commander. Don't you understand? Bezkov spread his palm and patted Prokhorovka where he was, and said: "Judging by the current situation. We will soon be engaged in a fierce battle with the German armored forces in this area. If there are a sufficient number of tank repair stations, then our workers will be able to repair the damaged tanks in time and put them back on the battlefield. ”

Kirillov, who had been writing the report, heard this, raised his head again and said, "That's right. Not to mention that our tanks are superior in quality to German tanks, even worse than them. As long as our maintenance workers can quickly repair the broken tanks and put them back on the battlefield, then the German armored forces, no matter how strong, will be gradually exhausted by us. ”

After listening to Kirillov's explanation, Danilov couldn't help but nod his head again and again. A smug smile appeared on his face. And I stood by crying and laughing and couldn't speak, when the infantry was fighting, the Soviet army's favorite set of tactics was the crowd tactic. Unexpectedly, now it has been replaced by a tank decisive battle, and it is still a tank sea tactic. However, this kind of play regardless of losses, even if the Germans have the ability, they will not be able to bear it.

Povsky and his party returned to the command headquarters an hour later. After a brief greeting, I looked at Colonel Berey and said, "Comrade Colonel, in the battle of Oboyan, we were able to achieve the final victory mainly because you succeeded in taking out the German artillery units, so that our tank corps could give full play to its advantages on the battlefield. Tell me how you managed to knock out the German artillery positions. ”

Hearing my compliment, Colonel Bere's face burst into laughter. He said excitedly: "Comrade commander, I think that if we compete with the German armored forces in the future, we must first kill their artillery, so that they can only use tanks to fight us head-to-head. As you know, the Germans, even the most advanced Tiger tanks, are no match for our new tanks. Suffice it to say that as long as the German artillery is killed, the battlefield will turn into a one-sided slaughter, and our tankmen can take out the German tanks one by one, just like a target. ”

I was afraid that he would take the topic away, so I quickly interrupted him: "Okay, Comrade Colonel, let's tell us first, how did you take out the German artillery positions?" ”

Colonel Bere nodded, and then began to talk about their combat experience: "...... The German artillery probably felt that their position was too far from our position, so there was not even infantry on the position to cover it. But after discovering the enemy's artillery position, I ordered all the tanks to form a battle formation and rush directly towards the enemy. In order to prevent possible anti-tank fighters, on top of each tank, several infantrymen sat down.

It was only when we were more than 300 meters from the artillery position that the enemy discovered us. By the time they tried to turn the cannon around, it was too late. Our tanks fired as they went, scattering the enemy artillery in all directions. Occasionally, a few artillerymen, who were not afraid of death, rushed over with cluster grenades and tried to blow up our tanks, but they were all beaten into a sieve by the indiscriminate guns of the infantry on the tanks. After rushing into the artillery position, we did not open fire again, but crushed the artillery one by one with tracks. ……”

When I heard Colonel Bere say this, I couldn't help but put my hands on my forehead, and secretly cursed in my heart that he was a loser, because there were so many heavy guns on the enemy's artillery positions, and if they were captured, they could equip our own troops. But you have crushed these cannons into scrap metal. It's a terrible thing.

This move of mine was seen by Bezkov, who asked with concern: "Comrade commander, what's wrong with you, have you had a headache?" When he heard me explain what happened, he was so angry that he stomped his feet. Colonel Bere, the initiator, was so embarrassed that his face was flushed with shame, and he was embarrassed to continue.

Seeing this situation, I couldn't blame him anymore, so I could only say tactfully: "Forget it, Comrade Colonel, don't feel guilty." We still have more time to fight with the Germans, and we can't capture their artillery this time, so we will capture it next time. ”

After I finished saying this, I turned my head to look at Kravchenko, commander of the Fifth Guards Tank Army, and said with a smile: "Comrade General, in the next battle, the combat tasks of your army will be very heavy. ”

"General Oshanina," Kravchenko said to me with a smile, "our army has been fighting with you, and my tank army and I are under your command." As long as it is needed on the battlefield, we will fight wherever you point. ”

I reached out and took his hand, shook it vigorously, and said, "This is wonderful, Comrade General. Now I have a new battle plan that can inflict heavy damage on the German armored forces. But at present, the tank army of our group army has suffered serious losses, and if we want to fight alone, our strength is too different, so we need your full cooperation. (To be continued.) )