On December 16, in a small nameless village on the outskirts of Suvorovo.

In the headquarters set up in the village chapel, the sound of telegraphs, telephones, and the shouts of the signal soldiers came and went.

On a large wooden table lay a map of Suvolovo's defenses, and Vlasov was pointing to the map with his hand, as if to figure out where to open a breach. Mr. Lin sat next to him, but he didn't say a word, just twisted a soybean from a small cloth bag in front of him from time to time, put it in his mouth and chewed it slowly. Shi Zhe, who acted as the translator, straightened up and stood behind Mr. Lin.

I stood at my desk, holding in my hands the two battle reports that I had just received, and was considering whether to report to the two commanders immediately, because the attack on Suvorovo by the Far Eastern Separate Division and the 7th Guards Division had ended in failure again.

A week ago, while we were leaving Kling for Botovo, the commissar of the 7th Guards Division, Bakanidze, was killed in a mine. I immediately reported this bad news to Zhukov. Perhaps Zhukov was aware of the friendship between Bakannidze and Stalin, and after learning the news, he was silent for a long time before he said leisurely: "I know the truth, and I will report this to Comrade Stalin at the right time." ”

At 10 o'clock in the morning of the same day, the battle for the attack on Botovo began, and after an hour of shelling, the commanders and fighters of the 7th Guards Division shouted the slogan of avenging the commissar, followed the tank brigade and cavalry regiment, launched a heroic attack on the German entrenched Botovo, fought fiercely for two hours, and successfully seized this important supply base of the German army, capturing nearly 60 tanks, 120 vehicles, many artillery, ammunition and other military supplies.

After leaving behind the necessary garrisons, I led my army to Suvolovo, and in the afternoon of the same day, I joined forces with the main forces of the army group led by Vlasov and General Lin, and surrounded one German armored division and several infantry divisions with heavy losses in the Suvorovo area.

Although the battles I commanded in the early stages were unusually successful, my good fortune seemed to run out from the moment the troops arrived at the city of Suvolovo. Due to the excessive consumption of ammunition in the early battles, the stock of shells of the various artillery regiments was less than a base, especially the Katyusha artillery regiment, which ran out of shells after only three salvos. Since our artillery fire failed to effectively inflict effective damage on the enemy's vital forces, the attack launched that day was repulsed without any suspense.

The next day, without artillery preparation, Vlasov mobilized three tank brigades, one cavalry division, two ski brigades, two infantry divisions to simultaneously launch a fierce assault on the besieged enemy forces from all sides. As a result, they were repulsed one by one by the counterattacking tank units.

From the third day, at the suggestion of General Lin, the troops stopped the offensive on the besieged enemy forces in the Suvorovo area, adopted the tactics of encircling but not attacking, and at the same time took advantage of the opportunity to wait for the supply of ammunition in the rear to allow the participating troops to rest and recuperate.

Zhukov was furious at the sudden cessation of the offensive of our army group, and gave a death order to Vlasov and General Lin to send them to a military court for trial if Suvorovo could not be taken before the 17th.

Faced with Zhukov's strict orders, Vlasov had no choice but to order the troops with serious drawdowns and insufficient ammunition to re-engage in the offensive. The results of such an offensive can be imagined, except for the increase in many unnecessary casualties, the results of the battle are minimal.

Originally, yesterday Zhukov promised to send us planes to cover the attack of the troops. However, when Major General Dovatore, commander of the 2nd Guards Cavalry Corps, led his troops to attack the enemy troops on the Ruza River, he was unfortunately shot and died honorably in the enemy's counterattack, and the cavalry unit of the army also suffered heavy losses. In order to prevent the offensive sequence of the 16th Army from collapsing, the air force turned to the area and carried out indiscriminate bombardment of German units on the ground, finally containing the enemy's counteroffensive and turning the 16th Army into a safe place.

Today, starting from dawn, the troops launched an attack on the besieged German army regardless of casualties, but with little success. The two telegrams I have just received are reports of the failure of the offensive.

Vlasov, who was looking at the map, suddenly looked up and saw me standing beside me stiffly, and couldn't help frowning slightly, and asked: "Our attack failed again?" ”

"Yes, Comrade Commander." I stepped forward and handed over the telegram in my hand, and at the same time said in a deep tone: "The attack of the Independence Division and the 7th Guards Division was repulsed by German tanks. During the battle, the division commander, Colonel Hapsafoe, was wounded and had already withdrawn from the battle. At present, the deputy division commander has taken over the command, and is blocking the counterattacking German troops. ”

"Comrade Commander," Mr. Lin suddenly said in his deep voice, "I can't fight like this anymore." The troops should be stopped immediately. ”

After listening to Shi Zhe's translation, Vlasov said with some surprise: "But the deadline given to us by Comrade Zhukov is tomorrow, and if we can't take Suvorovo, the consequences will ......." Although he only said half of what he said, we all understood that he was afraid that he would not be able to complete the task and would therefore go to a military court.

"Deputy Commander Lin, do you have any good ideas?" I knew that Mr. Lin must have had some new ideas, so I asked first.

Mr. Lin put a soybean in his mouth, and then said unhurriedly: "Circumference three is missing one." ”

"Circumference three is missing one." After listening to the translation, Vlasov asked with a blank face: "What does it mean, I don't quite understand." ”

"Withdraw troops from one direction, and then launch a simultaneous onslaught on the enemy from three other directions."

"What?" Vlasov had just sat down, and when he heard Mr. Lin say this, he immediately jumped up again and shouted: "No, if you withdraw the troops from one side, won't the enemy all run away?" ”

"Comrade commander, don't be in a hurry, listen to my detailed explanation." Mr. Lin also stood up, pointed to the map in front of him and said to Vlasov: "You see, Suvorovo has a complete defense system on all sides, including the fortifications built by our army, as well as many firepower points reinforced by the German army after occupying the city. In our deceptive operation, the enemy's armored units, which had been transferred from the Chismena area because they had been deceived, were currently in the city. Summing up the lessons of the failed offensive in the past few days, we can see that this armored force is a mortal threat to our offensive. And in the absence of sufficient artillery firepower and air force support, if we want to forcibly seize the city, not only will we have to pay a huge price, but it will also take a long time. At this point, he paused and waited for Shi Zhe to translate his words to Vlasov in full before he continued: "All the retreats of the German army have been cut off by us, and in order not to be annihilated by us, they are bound to put up desperate resistance." But if we open the net, then the Germans will think that they have a chance to get out safely, and only think about how to get out of the passage we have opened up quickly, and then their resistance will be much weaker in the face of our three-sided offensive. With the tactic of encircling three and missing one, I don't care how much the Germans will escape, I just hope that our army can take Suvorovo as soon as possible. The capture of Suvorovo, for us, is victory. As for the fleeing Germans, they could send mobile troops to follow them and inflict heavy losses. ”

After listening to Mr. Lin's explanation, Vlasov suddenly realized, he nodded thoughtfully, and said, "Deputy Commander Lin, you are right. I will now adjust my operational arrangements and launch a general offensive on all fronts at nine o'clock tomorrow morning to ensure that Suvorovo can be taken before dark. ”

Mr. Lin also nodded and said, "Yes." ”

Vlasov looked at me again and asked, "Leda, what do you think?" ”

I looked at the map in front of me and said confidently: "I propose to hit all the artillery fire before the general attack tomorrow and carry out a heavy artillery bombardment of the defensive positions south of Suvolovo." At the same time, a telegram was sent to the Front Command to send planes to bomb military targets inside and outside the city in turn, so as to hasten the determination of the German troops to flee. and deployed mobile units to pursue the German troops fleeing westward. ”

Vlasov slapped the table and said excitedly: "Okay, that's it." I immediately reported this plan to the Front Command. ”