It is more than thirty kilometers from Ligov to Kurchatov, and if it were not for the muddy roads, we would have arrived in about half an hour. But now, more than an hour has passed, and the jeep in which Chernyakhovsky and I were still bumping along the road.

I held the back of the chair in front of me with both hands, and said to Cherniakhovsky with a wry smile: "Ivan, the road in your defense area is too bad, you have time to organize people to repair it, otherwise if there is a real war, your material transportation will be greatly affected." ”

Chernyakhovsky nodded and replied loudly: "No, our jeeps can't even move at the speed of this stretch of road, let alone the trucks that deliver supplies." In such bad road conditions, the truck couldn't move faster at all. After saying this, he asked the adjutant who was sitting in the co-pilot's seat, "How far is it from Kurchatov?" ”

When the adjutant heard Chernyakhovsky's question, he quickly turned his head and said: "Comrade commander, there are still three or four kilometers at most to reach the station of the tank brigade." ”

Just as the adjutant was answering, I accidentally caught a glimpse of two sparks splashing on the hood of the jeep, and hurriedly asked the driver: "Comrade driver, what's wrong?" ”

The driver glanced out of the window on the left, and then shouted: "Hell, enemy attack, there are enemy cavalry rushing out of the forest over there." With that, he slammed the steering wheel, and the car quickly turned to the right.

Because the incident happened so suddenly, Chernyashovsky, who was talking to the adjutant, had not yet come back to his senses when he saw the driver tilt his head back, and then the whole person threw himself on the steering wheel. Almost at the same time. The jeep came to a jerk to a halt. Several of us lunged forward in unison, then fell back heavily and hit the back of the chair.

Chernyakhovsky slammed open the door on his side, jumped down quickly, then turned around and grabbed one of my arms and dragged me out of the car.

When I jumped out of the car and crouched down with my back against the jeep, I saw that the two covered trucks in front of and behind us also stopped, and the soldiers in the cars lifted the tarpaulins on the rear of the cars and jumped out of the cars one after another. Find a hidden position and shoot back.

I pretended to be brave and looked sideways from the back of the car in the direction where the bullets were coming, and I saw a number of horsemen rushing towards us, they were very far apart from each other, and they were shooting as they went.

Hearing the sound of bullets hitting the car or grazing overhead, I couldn't help but panic. When I went out today, I thought that I was going to inspect Chernyakhovsky's defense area, and in order to save trouble, not only did I not carry the assault rifle that I had always left with me, but I didn't even bring a pistol. Listening to the sound of horses' hooves getting closer and closer, my heart rose to my throat. Because as long as they rushed over, I was either hacked to death or taken prisoner unarmed.

And Chernyakhovsky and his lieutenants were not idle at this time. From time to time, the two stood up and crouched, shooting at the onrushing enemy cavalry from the hood.

Among the fighters who were hiding behind the truck behind them were Yushchenko and several of my other guards. Probably seeing that the situation here was critical, Yushchenko captured one of the fighters, pointed to me and gave him a few words. The warrior nodded, hunched over to me with his assault rifle in hand.

There was a gap of about twenty meters between the two vehicles, and when the soldier was only four or five meters away from me, one of the enemy's cavalrymen broke through the fire network of our troops and rushed past the warrior on horseback. The knight on the horse casually wiped his knife with his hand, and the warrior covered his neck with one hand, spun around a few times, and fell directly to the ground. And the assault rifle in his hand also flew out, and after drawing a beautiful arc in the air, it landed a few steps in front of me.

And the cavalry, who had slashed the warriors, rushed forward for more than ten meters, turned the horse's head, went around in a circle, and rushed towards me again with his saber. When it was too late, I jumped out, grabbed the assault rifle on the ground, lay on the ground and raised the muzzle, and fired directly in the general direction.

"Bang bang bang" A series of gunshots rang out, and I heard the neighing of war horses. When I looked up, the steed man stood up, and the two hooves in front of me kicked wildly, and then fell sideways, slamming heavily on the muddy ground, and splashing a large amount of mud fell on me.

When the knight on horseback was thrown down, the horse struggled to his feet and ran to the side. At this time, Chernyakhovsky came to his senses, and Chernyakhovsky bent down and ran to me, squatted down, and asked loudly: "Leda, what happened?" ”

I put my hand on the corpse of the enemy lying on my back in the mud and said, "One of the cavalrymen broke through the fire and rushed behind us, but I killed him. ”

Chernyakhovsky raised his hand and patted me on the shoulder, and said heartily: "Good job, Leda." With that, he lifted himself slightly, bent down and ran to the enemy's corpse, picked up two things, and then quickly ran back to me.

He showed me what he was holding and said, "It was not the Germans who attacked us, but the Hungarian cavalry, and this gun was the M1939 submachine gun they used." And this necklace-like is the M1936 grenade. Then he pointed to the corpse and said, "One of the cavalry sergeants you killed was wearing a white/light green thick winter coat that could be worn both front and back, but unfortunately your bullets were all in his chest, otherwise we could have brought them to wear ourselves." ”

I looked at the environment on the left and right, and found that it was about a hundred meters from the forest, and there was an open field in the middle, and if we were to abandon the car and retreat to the forest, even if the enemy did not shoot, we would not be able to outrun the four-legged war horse, and before entering the forest, they would be completely annihilated. In this case, the only thing that can be done is to rely on the car to return fire, stop the enemy's charge, and wait for our reinforcements.

When I got back to the jeep, I was about to go out again to see what kind of enemy strength the enemy had, but I was stopped by Chernyakhovsky, who reproached me with a straight face: "Lida, you don't want to die, you are worried about the enemy's stray bullets." ”

I was afraid that he would misunderstand that I was a reckless person, so I quickly explained: "I want to see how many troops the enemy has. ”

"I just did a rough count, and it's over 50. All cavalry. "Chernyakhovsky was afraid that I would go out on another adventure. He explained to me, "We have three of us on our side. There are also twenty-four fighters, relying on cars to fight back, which should be able to support the arrival of reinforcements. ”

As I was talking, I was leaning back to the jeep when I suddenly noticed a lot of people pouring out of the forest in front of me, and I immediately panicked, and couldn't help shouting at Chernyakhovsky: "Ivan, look. The enemy rushed out of the forest on this side again, and we were surrounded by the enemy. ”

Chernyakhovsky, who had just stood up and fired a few bullets and crouched down, after hearing my shouts. When he glanced at the people who had just rushed out of the forest, the expression on his face became relaxed, and he said happily: "Lida, you are mistaken, that is not an enemy, it is your own people. They must have heard that there was a battle here, and they rushed here to reinforce them. ”

Although Chernyakhovsky said that he was his own, I was still skeptical. When I carefully saw that the people who rushed out in the formation of stragglers were really the commanders and fighters of our army, the stone hanging in my heart fell to the ground. The heart said that there were at least hundreds of people who rushed out. There should be no problem against an enemy force of less than fifty men.

At this time, I noticed two men trotting out of the forest carrying something. As soon as they came out of the forest, they threw what they were carrying to the ground. At this moment, a soldier who was carrying a box behind also stopped and crouched next to them. When I saw their actions, I couldn't help but smile on my face, and said that what they had just put on the ground should be mortars or something, which would be enough for these Hungarians to drink.

Soon, there was an explosion behind me. Maybe it was because the explosion point was too close to us, and the mud that was kicked up crackled and fell on the roof of the jeep.

"Hell, you idiots, where are you going?" As the explosion ended, the adjutant, who crouched down to reload the pistol, pointed in the direction of the mortar gunner and shouted: "I don't see the enemy still ahead, shoot at the place where the enemy is gathered, you damn idiots." ”

However, the shell was only a test fire of the mortar crews, and at least five mortars had been placed outside the forest at this moment, and after the shells were discharged in unison, they flew over our heads and flew straight to the position where the enemy was congregating.

At this moment, the commanders and fighters who had come to reinforce us were approaching, and one of the lieutenants rushed to our side with quickened his pace, crouched down and asked Chernyakhovsky: "Comrade commander, what should we do?" ”

"Lieutenant," Chernyakhovsky, glancing at his rank, decisively ordered him: "lead your warriors to rush forward and wipe out all this group of enemy cavalry." Do you understand? ”

"Understood!" The lieutenant replied loudly, stood up and turned his body to the side, raised his pistol high, and shouted at the commanders and fighters behind: "Brothers, follow me!" After shouting, he brandished his pistol and rushed around the jeep.

Seeing more and more commanders and fighters rushing past us with guns in hand, I finally found another opportunity to go out and see what was going on with the enemy. On the other side of the road, there were many horses and soldiers' corpses, some of which were only a step away from our jeep, and I don't know if they were killed by Chernyakhovsky and his adjutants.

And the rest of the Hungarian cavalry has long since seen the people still on horseback. The surviving soldiers, hiding behind the crouched horses, shot desperately. Our fighters trotted forward as they fired, and although from time to time someone was shot and fell, they were getting closer and closer to the position where the enemy was stubbornly resisting.

Chernyakhovsky, who also saw this scene, sighed and said to me easily: "Leda, it's okay. It's only a matter of time before these remaining enemies are eliminated, and we'll move on when we're done counting the results. ”

Although I knew that the enemy would soon be destroyed, my heart was still heavy, because I remembered once again that Chernyakhovsky and Vatutin, the commander of the Voronezh Front, had been attacked on the way from one place to another and had died heroically.

Thinking of this, I solemnly reminded Chernyakhovsky: "Ivan, you are now the commander of the army group, commanding tens of thousands of troops, and if there is nothing else, then the entire army will lose its unified command and fall into a state of leaderlessness." ”

Before I could finish my sentence, Chernyakhovsky raised his hand to stop me from continuing, he nodded and said affirmatively: "Lida, thank you for your concern." I also know that if I run outside a lot, I will encounter dangers of one kind or another. But as a commander, I can't stay in the headquarters all day because there is danger outside. In this way, my commanders and soldiers will see me as a coward who is greedy for life and afraid of death. When he said this, he saw that the expression on my face was particularly ugly, so in order to save face for me, he slowed down and said, "But what you said is also very reasonable, when I go out in the future, I will bring more guards to ensure the safety of my own life." That's all right, right? ”

I nodded, although I didn't speak, but I was saying in my heart, I have already reminded you of the things I can remind. There is only so much that can help you, and whether you can escape the catastrophe in two years depends on your personal creation.

When the lieutenant who commanded the battle returned to us, I noticed that his left hand was wrapped in a bandage and hung on his chest, and I quickly asked with concern: "Lieutenant, are you wounded, are you seriously injured?" ”

The lieutenant shook his head, and a smile appeared on his bloodless face: "Comrade General, I was grazed by a bullet, and I didn't hurt my bones, and I can return to normal in half a month at most." ”

After answering my question, the lieutenant turned to Chernyakhovsky and reported: "Comrade commander, in total, we killed 41 of the enemy and captured 14 alive; 35 horses killed and 20 captured; Fifteen submachine guns, 40 rifles, six pistols and matching ammunition were seized. ”

"Well done." After praising this sentence, Chernyakhovsky asked a question that I often ask: "What about the casualties of the troops?" ”

"We lost 29 people and 44 were wounded." After saying this, the lieutenant glanced at Captain Yushchenko, who was standing beside us, and then at the two trucks in front of and behind the jeep, and replied: "Your guard unit has lost 6 people and 11 wounded. ”

After Cherniakhovsky and the other lieutenants finished answering, they turned their heads to look at the remains of the driver who were carried out of the cab by the adjutant and Yushchenko, and then stepped forward, put his hands on the lieutenant's shoulders, and said with a serious expression: "Comrade lieutenant, I would like to ask you for one thing. Later, you can organize the men and bury my driver and the sacrificial guards. ”

Hearing this order, the lieutenant nodded and said: "Comrade commander, please rest assured that I will definitely complete this task you have assigned me." ”

I saw Chernyakhovsky, after letting go of the lieutenant's shoulder, looking down at the body of the driver on the ground, and his eyes were red, perhaps because of sadness. Seeing this, I quickly coughed, leaned close to his ear and whispered, "Ivan, can we go?" ”

"Let's go?!" Chernyakhovsky was stunned for a moment, then understood the purpose of what I said, and quickly replied: "Yes, we must immediately rush to the station of the tank brigade, Marshal Zhukov is still waiting for us." Adjutant," he turned his head to the adjutant and instructed him, "you go find a driver." ”

"No need, Ivan. My guard battalion commander, Lieutenant Yushchenko, will drive, and he will drive the rest of the way. Seeing that Chernyakhovsky nodded in agreement, I immediately instructed Yushchenko: "Comrade Captain, get in the car, you will drive the rest of the way." ”

Although the driver's position had been scrubbed by Yushchenko, when I sat back in the car, I still smelled a strong smell of blood. I thought that Chernyakhovsky would see the injury, but when I turned my head to look at him, his expression had returned to normal. As soon as he closed the door, he immediately ordered Yushchenko, who was sitting in the driver's seat: "It's time to drive, Comrade Captain!" (To be continued......)