The enthusiasm of the Soviet servicemen who were eager for honor was fully aroused by this celebration meeting, especially the commanders and fighters of the Peter's Regiment and the Yatsenyuk Regiment who participated in the battle but failed to make meritorious contributions, and their eyes were extremely red when they saw that they were wearing military medals and receiving certificates of merit while they had nothing.

For a time, the troops' desire for war was high, not to mention the commanders who had tasted the sweetness of Sholov and Donskoy, and even during the last battle, Peterl and Yatsenyuk, who were afraid of the enemy and avoided the battle, called me every now and then, asking when the next battle would take place, and repeatedly stressed that this time they must let their troops act as the main force in the battle.

The next few days were incredibly busy. First of all, a group of commanders and fighters of the former 2nd Assault Army who were scattered were assigned to our division. The soldiers said that it was the same everywhere, so as soon as they arrived in the unit, I directly assigned them to the company that was missing. And those commanders really gave me a headache for a few days, because even if they couldn't be reinstated, they couldn't let them go down to the company to be soldiers. After repeated consultations with several regiment commanders and political commissars, they reluctantly agreed to arrange for them to serve as deputies in their own regiments and cooperate with the former military commanders to do a good job in the training of the troops.

In addition, I traveled from unit to unit every day, and in addition to inspecting the training of the troops, I also talked with commanders at all levels, trying to increase my understanding of each other with the commanders in this way, so as to improve my degree of control over the troops.

Time flies, a week flies, and before you know it, it's mid-July.

On this day, I watched the training of the two regiments of Donskoy and Sholov in the coordinated operation of the infantry tanks. Dinner again in the Sholov regiment. Only in the evening did he return to the division headquarters.

I got out of the car outside the church. He said to the driver, "Come here tomorrow morning to pick me up at eight o'clock." With that, he dragged his tired body down the steps to the headquarters.

Just as I was about to enter the door, Boroda suddenly ran out of it in a panic and happened to bump into me. The huge inertia made me take a few steps back, and Boroda was afraid that I would fall down the steps, so he hurriedly grabbed me.

After I gained a foothold, I asked him dissatisfiedly: "Comrade Chief of Staff, what are you doing in such a panic?" Don't you know that you are a divisional commander? Do you want to maintain a steady image in front of the warriors? ”

Boroda looked left and right for a moment and whispered to me, "Lida, it's not good, something happened." The commanders of the division who originally belonged to the 2nd Assault Army were arrested! ”

It took me a great deal of effort to settle these commanders, and it was only a few days later, when I heard Boroda say this, I was suddenly angry, and as I walked towards the headquarters, I asked in a loud voice: "Who is so bold as to dare to run to our 378th Division to arrest my men?" ”

Walk into the headquarters. At a glance, I saw a lieutenant sitting at the table with a big grin, and saw me enter the door. I didn't even make the gesture of standing up and saying hello. Seeing his attitude, I became even more angry and asked him unceremoniously: "Comrade Lieutenant, what part are you?" Don't you know that according to the regulations, when you see a commander with a higher rank than yourself, you should stand up and salute me? ”

"Major Oshanina," said the lieutenant, still sitting there, not moving at all, and said to me unhurriedly, "I'll introduce myself." I am Lieutenant Turchinov of the NKVD, the new chief of the special service section of the Front. ”

When I heard that it was an officer of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, I couldn't help but chuckle in my heart, these people have always been the masters of night owls who come to the house without incident, and today they suddenly appeared at my division headquarters, could it be that they came with some important mission?

Thinking of this, I sat down opposite him, and after beckoning Boroda to sit down, I said without humility or arrogance: "Hello, Comrade Lieutenant." What are you doing in my division? Speaking of this, I suddenly remembered that before entering the door, Boroda said that the original commanders of the 2nd Assault Army had been arrested, could it be that the person in front of me had done it, so I asked again: "Before I entered the door, I heard that many of my commanders were arrested, I wonder if Lu Dao was arrested by your subordinates?" ”

Turchinov smiled calmly and said, "Yes, those former commanders of the 2nd Assault Army were all arrested by me. ”

I was a little surprised by his calmness, so I gritted my back molars and asked, "For what?" Can you tell me why? ”

"What ??? for?" Turchinov sneered and said: "They are all traitors' subordinates, and they are suspected of collaborating with the enemy, and I will arrest them back for interrogation." ”

As soon as he finished speaking, I slammed the table and stood up, and asked him in a loud voice: "Comrade lieutenant, please make it clear that these commanders you have captured are originally from the 2nd Shock Army, and they have only stood out from the encirclement of the Germans after a great deal of hardship. They are heroes, and there will be absolutely no suspicion of collaborating with the enemy. ”

Seeing that I was angry, Turchinov stood up, put his hands on the edge of the table, and said coldly: "I received information that the day before yesterday, on July 12, the original commander of the 2nd Shock Army, General Vlasov, had surrendered to the Germans, betrayed our Motherland, and became a shameful traitor. These commanders I have captured are all traitors, do you think they are not suspected of collaborating with the enemy? ”

When Turchinov said this, not only me, but even Boroda was surprised.

I didn't expect Vlasov to really surrender and become a traitor, the matter was already clear, but I felt calm, so I sat down slowly, looked at Turchinov, who was eyeing me, and said with a smile: "Comrade lieutenant, I want you to make one thing clear, General Vlasov's defection to the enemy is his personal behavior, and he has no connection with the vast number of commanders and fighters of the 2nd Assault Army. I believe that these commanders who have been arrested by you are innocent, and I can prove this for them. ”

Turchinov glanced at me and said contemptuously: "You prove it for them, who will prove it for you?" ”

Hearing him say this, my blood immediately welled up in my head, I took out the pistol at my waist, opened the safe, slapped it on the table with a bang, and said loudly: "Comrade lieutenant, let me remind you that this is in the territory of my 378th Division, not in the special service section of your Ministry of Internal Affairs. If you don't release the commanders of our division today, don't even think about leaving here. ”

Boroda saw that I had put the gun on the table, perhaps because he was afraid that I would kill the chief of the secret service section in a fit of anger, so he hurriedly stood up and acted as a peacemaker: "Comrade division commander, Lieutenant Turchinov, everyone is cold, if you have anything to say, they are all your own people, don't use knives and guns." ”

To my surprise, Turchinov was not intimidated by my menacing presence, he appeared unusually calm, sat down again, and said unhurriedly: "Major Oshanina, put away your scary little tricks. Don't think that if you are the teacher, I will be afraid of you. I also told you, I won't let go of any of those commanders. At the same time, I'm going to take you to the Secret Service to be vetted by us, because you were once a member of the 2nd Shock Army. ”

I sneered and said, "Comrade Lieutenant, just by you, you want to take me and so many commanders away from here." You're too whimsical, aren't you? With that, I slapped the table hard, turned my head and shouted at the door, "Someone! ”

Normally, if I shouted like this, at least one officer on duty would come in, but after shouting today, there was no movement at the door, let alone anyone coming in. What the hell is going on?

I walked to the door and looked outside, and saw seven or eight sentries standing outside the headquarters, all of whom were faces I had never seen before. As soon as I turned my head, I saw that Boroda was also following me to the door, so I asked him in a loud voice: "Comrade Chief of Staff, what is the matter?" Where are all the fighters of our guard company? ”

Boroda bowed his head and replied: "These fighters were brought by Lieutenant Turchinov, and they are all from the Special Service Section. ”

I understood in an instant that Turchinov had come to the division headquarters today to arrest me. I secretly greeted his female relative, and then rushed towards the table with an arrow to pick up the pistol I had placed on the table. Unfortunately, it was still a step too late, but when I just touched the pistol, the gun in Lieutenant Turchinov's hand was already on my forehead.

The hero does not suffer the loss in front of him, and I know that if he acts rashly, this lieutenant of the Ministry of Internal Affairs will definitely dare to shoot, so he can only grasp the gun in his hand and gently put it on the table, and slowly stand up straight.

Seeing that I was obedient, Turchinov sneered twice and shouted loudly at the door: "Someone! With his shout, four soldiers with big shoulders and round waists immediately rushed in from outside the headquarters.

Turchinov pointed his hand at me and ordered the fighters: "Tie her up for me." A couple of fighters agreed, went up and grabbed my arm, twisted it behind me, and tied it tightly with a rope.

I didn't struggle, because I knew that at this time, it was useless to resist. I stared at Turchinov with a vicious gaze and asked aloud: "Lieutenant Turchinov, do you know what Commander Meretskov knows about doing this?" "I say this just to find out whether he, the head of the secret service, came to arrest people on Meretskov's orders or whether he did it on his own. At the same time, he also reminded Boroda: I am in trouble now, you hurry up and find Meretskov to save me.

Turchinov picked up the pistol I had placed on the table, closed the safety and thrust into his belt jacket, smirked and said, "Do you still want to wait for General Meretskov to come and save you?" I tell you, don't dream, Comrade Commander and Chief of the General Staff went back to Moscow and have not returned yet. As for when he will be back, it's uncertain. After speaking, he shook his head at those soldiers and ordered: "Take it away!" (To be continued......)