At dawn, the enemy's defenses in the Chismena area were broken through, and the attacking forces belonging to the army group were continuing to expand their gains, rapidly advancing to the northeast towards the city of Klin.

At twelve o'clock in the afternoon, Vlasov called me again. At this time, I was explaining the matter of defense to the commander of the 7th Division, Colonel Gryaznov. When I heard the phone ringing, I immediately picked up my headphones. "Leda, is that you?" Vlasov asked: "How is your situation there?" ”

"Very well, Comrade Commander," I replied, "the enemy forces in the Chismena area have been cleared, and I am giving an account of the task to Colonel Gryaznov." In order to prevent the mechanized units of the German army from killing back and threatening the rear of our attack on the Kling troops, I left a regiment of the 7th Guards Division and a tank brigade under the unified command of Colonel Gryaznov. ”

"I agree with your deployment." Without the slightest hesitation, he agreed to my plan, and then said in a low tone: "I have to tell you a bad news, because Rokossovsky's troops are still engaged in a tug-of-war with the enemy in the area of Lialovo and Kryukovo, and they do not have the strength to devote themselves to a counterattack for the time being. The Front Command has just informed us that the 1st Guards Cavalry Corps, commanded by General Belov, which had been decided to be assigned to us, has been temporarily transferred to the 16th Army. ”

I heard that the cavalry army that was originally assigned to us is gone, and I suddenly feel empty in my heart, knowing that without the cavalry army, we will lose a vital assault force, but since it was ordered by the superiors to be transferred, we can only obey. Seeing that I hadn't spoken for a long time, he hurriedly asked, "Lida, why don't you speak?" ”

"I'm fine," I hastened to reply, "Comrade Commander, do you have anything else to do?" If not, I'll lead the troops forward. ”

"No, you go. Deputy Commander Lin and I will go back to Klin tomorrow, hoping that by then you have taken the city back from the hands of the fascist bandits. ”

Putting down the phone, I said to Gryaznov: "Comrade Colonel, I'm going to lead the troops to Klin, and the defense of the Chismena area will be left to you." ”

"Comrade Chief of Staff, please rest assured." Gryaznov said confidently: "As long as there are fighters of our 7th Guards Division, then the Chismena area will definitely be firmly controlled by our army." ”

Having received Gryaznov's promise, I turned to Major Leutov, who was standing beside me, wearing a black cloak, a scimitar, bloomers, a mink fur hat, and riding boots, and said, "Let's go, commander of the cavalry. Take your troops and follow me to Kling to teach the Germans a hard lesson and wash away your shame. ”

"Yes!" The major happily agreed, and followed me out of the headquarters.

I brought a group of staff officers and correspondents, plus the guards, in six jeeps and three trucks. The jeep I was in was at the front of the entire convoy. There was a tank brigade of tanks in front of me, so I let Grissa follow them and follow the road towards Klin.

The road we traveled on was through the line of defense. After occupying the positions of the German troops, the engineering units of our army backfilled the trenches in individual sections and restored road traffic in time.

In a few moments, the jeep I was riding in was approaching the first line of German trenches, and a few hours ago thousands of commanders and fighters had been charging through the snow, but now it was empty.

But when I looked closely, I realized that the snow was full of corpses of soldiers wearing camouflage uniforms or military overcoats, especially near the pillboxes on both sides of the road, where the corpses of soldiers were the most numerous. These warriors, who fell during the charge, were already doomed to never get back up. Although they were lying in the snow, their heads were still stretched forward, in the direction of Klin, where we were about to go. I don't know if it was because of what I said when I was mobilizing to let them establish immortal feats inspired them, and made every warrior have an unquenchable desire to climb there, even if they can't run, they have to climb there, and even the god of death can't suppress this wish.

I quietly wiped the tears from my eyes and said to Yushchenko, who was sitting in the front row, "Grissa, pull over." ”

"Yes!" Grissa had always been obedient, and when he agreed, he slowed down and pulled over. Yushchenko, who was sitting in the passenger seat, turned his head and asked curiously: "Comrade division commander, why are you parking here?" ”

Instead of answering him, I pushed the door open and walked down. Because my car stopped, the cars that followed me also pulled over, and almost every car had people coming out, and I vaguely heard them asking each other curiously, "Why did you stop here?" "You ask me, who do I ask?" I still want to know what the hell is going on? ”

I saw Major Leutov's cavalry regiment coming along the road to us, and I hurried to the middle of the road, raised my right hand, and signaled them to stop.

The cavalry stopped at a distance of more than ten meters from me, and Leutov rode his horse and galloped over, and at a distance of two or three meters from me, he pulled the reins, and the horse neighed under his crotch and stood up, and his front hooves kicked several times before he fell to the ground. The major held the reins in his hand, looked down at me and asked curiously: "Comrade Chief of Staff, is there something wrong?" ”

I glanced at the corpses of the soldiers lying on the battlefield, and then gave him an order: "Comrade Major, you first lead the cavalry regiment to collect the remains of our soldiers and bury them, and when you are done with all this, you can rush to Klin." ”

"Yes!" The major agreed, saluted, turned around and ran back to the front of the group, and gave a loud order: "Cavalry regiment, all of them, dismount!" ”

Our convoy continued along the road towards Kling. Sitting in the car, I couldn't help but feel that if we hadn't deceived the German armored forces in advance, we would have paid an even more painful price to conquer this area today.

An hour later, the convoy reached the outskirts of Klin.

My convoy was stopped by a small, dark-skinned, Central Asian-faced commander. As soon as he saw me get out of the car, he immediately took two steps forward, stood up and saluted, and reported: "Report to the Chief of Staff, Colonel Hapsafoe, commander of the Far Eastern Independent Division, that the troops are attacking the city of Kling in accordance with the order, and are waiting for your instructions. ”

"Comrade Colonel, please take a moment!" I asked with concern, "What is the state of the war?" ”

"Not going well, Comrade Chief of Staff, our first two attacks have already been repulsed, and now a third is underway."