I sat in the car out of the city, and I cursed in my heart that Crochkov from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The other day it was a shame on me, as if I didn't exist. I just came out for a walk today, and I wanted to relax, so I actually sent someone to look for me. The leader of the group was an acquaintance, the same major who had taken me to the hotel last time. As soon as he found me, he took me into a black car parked outside the gate of Vuitton Khan, and after getting into the car, he drove directly to the battlefield in the southwest direction without even returning to the hotel.

On the way out, I secretly asked Aksala how he brought the people from the Ministry of Internal Affairs to Vuitden Khan? Aksala hastened to explain that as soon as you went out on your front foot, they came in on your back foot, saying that there were 100,000 urgent things looking for you, and she brought them to Vuitden Khan.

As I walked towards the gate, I began to think: Vuitden Khan is so big, if I miss them in the park, won't they just run for nothing? When I got to the door, I realized that I had made a mistake, and the major of the Ministry of Internal Affairs had considered the problem more comprehensively than I did, and before he entered the garden, he put four soldiers at the gate and told them how I was dressed. In this way, even if you can't find me in the garden, you can stop me at the door.

The major did not drive today, but sat in the co-pilot's seat. I pointed at the back of his head and asked, "Comrade Major, where are you sending me there?" ”

"There is an order, send you to the headquarters of the 16th Army in Ustnova." He didn't look back, and just said something dryly.

"What about Aksala? It's not that close to the hotel. "I knew where I was going, and I was worried about Aksala who was still at the gates of Vuitden Khan.

"Don't worry about this, our fighters will get her back to the hotel safely." He still answered me in a cold tone. He seemed to hesitate for a moment, and then suddenly a sentence came out: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I just received reliable news from the guerrillas behind enemy lines that the commander of the 16th Army was wounded and captured. ”

"Huh?" I was stunned by the news, Rokossovsky was captured ?! How is this possible? If he is captured, it will be an impossible task to rescue him in the current state of our army. If he had remained in a German prisoner-of-war camp until the end of the war, how could he have become the future marshal of the Soviet Union? Also, if I had stayed with Rokossovsky, would I have been captured by the Germans as well.

It took me a while to recover from the shock and asked the major in a trembling voice: "Comrade Major, what did you just say that the commander of the 16th Army was wounded and captured?" Is it General Rokossovsky? ”

Hearing this, the major turned his head sharply to stare at me, looked at me blankly, and asked puzzledly: "When did I say that General Rokossovsky was captured?" ”

"Didn't you just say that the commander of the 16th Army was wounded and captured by the Germans?" Seeing that the blank expression on his face was not like pretending, I couldn't help but wonder if I had had auditory hallucinations just now.

"Yes, I just said that the commander of the 16th Army was captured. But it was not General Rokossovsky who was talking about it, but the commander of the old 16th Army, General Lukin. I was greatly relieved by his explanation, as long as it wasn't Rokossovsky, other people I didn't know would be captured and locked up for me, so I leaned back with my submachine gun, leaned back in my seat and began to close my eyes.

Ustinovo is not a city at the moment, but a relatively large settlement. The major seemed to have been here before, and from the moment he entered the settlement, he kept directing the driver to turn left and right, and finally came to a large wooden house. After the car came to a halt, the major turned around and said to me, "Here we are, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." ”

I thanked him, pushed the door open, and got ready to get out of the car. "Wait a minute, Comrade Oshanina." The Major said suddenly, and I stopped and looked at him in surprise. The Major held out his hand to me across his seat and said with a smile, "Good luck!" I grabbed his warm palm and shook it vigorously, and said gratefully, "Thank you!" "And me, Comrade Commander." The driver, who had been silent all the way, also extended his hand to me.

A colonel stood at the door of the hut, saw me approaching, looked me up and down, and then asked me: "Is it Comrade Oshanina?" ”

"Yes." I said yes and saluted him, thinking to myself who this man was, I had never seen it before.

"I'm Colonel Malinin, chief of staff of the group army, let's go in quickly, the combat meeting is about to begin, and Comrade Commander is waiting for you."

When I entered the room, I found that it had been a conference room, and that the long table in the room was already full, and Commander Rokossovsky was sitting under a large military map. When he saw me enter, he stood up, waved to me, and said in a loud voice, "Comrade Leda, come to me." So I blushed and walked down the corner of the wall under the gaze of the crowd, and sat down in the place to his left that had been reserved for me.

"Everyone is here, we have a meeting now. The commanders of today's meeting come from different places and do not know each other, so in order to cooperate with each other in the upcoming battle, I would like to give you an introduction. He first pointed to himself and said: "My name is Rokossovsky, and I am the commander of the army group. He paused, then said in a mocking tone, "Is there anyone else who doesn't know me?" If you don't know you, please raise your hand. ”

His words immediately caused a loud laugh, and the atmosphere in the room suddenly became relaxed.

He pointed to the burly political worker sitting in the seat to his right and said: "This is Comrade Lobachev, Political Commissar of the Army. Lobachev nodded at the commanders present and said: "Hello comrades! ”

"Comrade Romanov, head of the political department of the army group." A tall, lanky officer to Lobachev's right stood up.

"The artillery commander of the army group, Major General Kazakov." Rokossovsky turned his gaze to me again, and the fat general to my right got up from his chair to say hello.

"Chief of Staff of the Army Group Colonel Malinin and Deputy Chief of Staff Comrade Orel."

Then he looked at me and solemnly introduced to the commanders present: "This is Comrade Oshanina, the only female lieutenant colonel of our army and commissioner of the Western Front. As soon as he finished speaking, the audience burst into applause, and I stood up and saluted everyone before sitting down again.

Rokossovsky then began to introduce the commanders who had come to the meeting: "General Dovatol, commander of the 3rd Cavalry Corps, and his subordinates, Major General Ilyev, commander of the 50th Cavalry Division, and Colonel Melnik, who commanded the 53rd Cavalry Division," the young and handsome cavalry major general I knew, and the other two cavalry commanders stood up at the same time.

"Colonel Chernenov of the 18th Infantry Division."

"The front has just been equipped with our separate tank brigade commander Colonel Katukov."

"A mixed cadet corps formed on the basis of the Military Academy named after the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation, the head of the regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Mlagintsev, and the political commissar Comrade Slavkin."

……

"The last person to be introduced is Comrade Romanchenko, the head of the Moscow People's Police, who brought us a well-trained and well-equipped civilian police detachment." This time, it was the farthest seat, and an officer in a police uniform stood up and saluted everyone.

"Okay, now that all the commanders have been introduced, let's invite Comrade Malinin, chief of staff, to explain to you the upcoming 'Battle of Skirmaonovo'." When the commander said this, I scanned the whole field again, but I still did not see the commander of the division Panfilov and the political commissar Yegorov, and it seems that the 316th Division was not arranged for this counterattack.

Malinin walked to the front of the large map, pointed with a baton, and explained: "At the end of October and the beginning of November, the Dko captured several settlements on the right flank of our army, including Skirmaovo. The Hitlerites threatened the main Volokolamsk-Istrian road from the south, and they could not only shell it, but at any time cut it off and in this direction into the rear of the main grouping of our army. In order to eliminate the threat of being surrounded by the Germans, the Front Command ordered us to launch a campaign against the Germans at once. ”

Malinen paused for a moment, as if to make everyone think about his words. Then he continued: "The attacking forces were divided into two echelons, the first was the 50th Cavalry Division of Ilyev, the 18th Infantry Division of Chernenov, and the Tank Brigade of Katukov. The second echelon was the 17th, 20th, 24th, and 44th Cavalry Divisions from Central Asia, the 58th Tank Brigade, and the 78th Infantry Division of Colonel Beloborodov from Siberia. Before the offensive, several artillery units and guards mortar battalions will be prepared for artillery fire. In addition to our army, the 5th and 20th armies will also cooperate with our offensive. In this campaign, the total strength of our army was 11 divisions. ”

After listening to Ma Linin's words, the commanders present couldn't help but let out a sigh of admiration, eleven divisions, almost all of them are fresh forces, and against the exhausted German army, wouldn't they have taken advantage of the victory?

Eleven divisions? Hearing this number, I immediately thought of the battle that Mr. Lin mentioned that day, and it seems that everything he said is true. I know from the records of later generations that although the German offensive at this moment has weakened, its combat effectiveness has definitely not decreased to the extent that it cannot stop the Soviet counterattack. Moreover, these counterattack troops were all put together temporarily, and their cooperation and combat effectiveness were not satisfactory, and launching a hasty counterattack at this moment would simply outweigh the losses except for slowing down the pace of the German army's march to Moscow and paying unnecessary casualties.

The chief of staff showed everyone the direction of the main attack, "We will carry out the assault here," he drew a circle with his baton, which included Skirmaovo, "The offensive will begin on November 11, that is, tomorrow." After the artillery fire of our troops was prepared, the 50th Cavalry Division of Ilyev attacked first; Chernenov's 18th Infantry Division followed. When the infantry and cavalry had torn a hole in the German defenses, Katukov's tank brigade made another assault to widen the breach. ……”

After listening to the chief of staff's briefing, Rokossovsky stood up and asked the commanders present: "Do you have any questions?" ”

Major General Ilyev, commander of the cavalry division who participated in the main attack, stood up and said in a loud voice: "Comrade commander, can I express my personal opinion?" ”

"Say it! Comrade General. Rokossovsky nodded at him.

"Comrade commander, as far as I know, the cavalry from Central Asia has not yet changed their horses for winter, and near Moscow the land has been frozen, and ice ballast has appeared in many swampy areas, which makes the movement of the horses difficult. The commanders and fighters of these cavalry lacked the experience of operating in ravines and forest swamps. ……”

"Understood, I will arrange for the relevant departments to replace the horseshoe for their horses as soon as possible, as for the lack of experience, this can only be slowly explored in the battle, and we have no time at the moment." After Rokossovsky said these words, he glanced around the room again, and then asked: "Are there any other questions?" ”

I hesitated, but I mustered up the courage to stand up and said to him: "Comrade commander, I would like to say a few words. ”

"Okay, let's hear what new views Comrade Oshanina has." With that, he sat back in his chair.

I took a deep breath and said in a loud voice, "I think we'd have to pay a great sacrifice if we let the cavalry and infantry take the lead." As soon as the words fell, the audience was in an uproar, and some people even said loudly: "In order to defend the great motherland, we are not afraid of sacrifice." ”

"Quiet! Be quiet! Listen to Comrade Lieutenant Colonel finish speaking. Rokossovsky stood up in time to relieve me, then turned his face to me: "Tell everyone your reasons." ”

"It is known that there was a freeze between the positions of our army and the Germans, which created difficulties for the movement of the horses, as a result of which the cavalry could not move quickly, at best, infantry on horseback. On the open plains, the infantry and cavalry were huddled together, and they were good targets for the Germans to shoot, and they would wipe us all out like hunting. Tanks without infantry cover, even if they rush to the position, will be killed one by one by the enemy's anti-tank crews. ……”

"So what to do?" The chief of staff of this questioning.

"Before the end of the artillery fire of our troops, the attack was launched with tank brigades as guides. The tank slows down and maintains a triangular attack formation. At the same time, the infantry attacking with the vehicle was ordered not to leave the 60-degree acute angle of the chariot, so as to avoid casualties. When tanks and infantry break through enemy positions, cavalry strikes again to expand the breach. ……”

After I finished speaking, I looked nervously at the commanders present to see how they reacted. The commanders listened to me and began to talk to each other. I vaguely heard someone say, "...... Before the artillery preparation is over, the attack begins, is this okay? It won't cause unnecessary casualties, right? ”“…… The infantry attacked with the vehicle, this idea is quite novel, but I don't know if the road works? ”

"Quiet! Comrades, be quiet! Rokossovsky stood up again and spoke for me: "I think Comrade Oshanina's proposal is very good, so I will do what she says. Do you have any objections? ”

The commanders all spoke, and who dared to say no, so the people below replied in unison: "No!" ”

"Okay, since there are no different opinions, let's adjourn."