By evening, Kirillov and the remnants of the 115th regiment had withdrawn from Zaporosh in advance and came to meet with me at the command on the island. After listening to my battle plan, he pondered for a moment, and then suggested to me: "Comrade Oshanina, call the commanders above the battalion level to a meeting here, and tell the comrades about the operational arrangements for the occupation of Kafbas, so that they can also know what to do." If we keep them in the dark and lead our troops to move blindly in the enemy's rear, this will affect the morale and combat effectiveness of our commanders and fighters. ”

I nodded my head in agreement to Kirillov's offer without much thought. I chimed in: "Comrade Political Commissar, you have a point. We should tell our commanders at all levels of our strategic purpose and let them know that the reason why we are staying in the enemy's rear is to disrupt the enemy's disposition, contain their forces, and cooperate with the main forces of our army in the frontal battlefield, and not because we are unable to break through the enemy's heavy encirclement. Speaking of this, I shouted outside, "Major Pugachev!" ”

With my shout, Pugachev quickly ran into the command headquarters, stood straight in front of me, and respectfully asked: "Comrade commander, what instructions do you have?" ”

"Call the two division commanders, Pantaiyev and Gurdiev, and inform them to lead all the battalion commanders to the headquarters for a meeting." After giving this order, I suddenly thought that Lao Maozi is a tendon many times, if these two division commanders really brought all the battalion-level cadres under their command, so that only the company and platoon-level commanders were left in the troops, in case something happened, the two troops did not even have a unified command, so I added: "Tell them, don't forget to leave the battalion and regiment-level commanders on duty." ”

"Yes!" Pugachev agreed, turned around and walked out of the headquarters.

Kirillov raised his hand and looked at his watch, and then asked, "Captain Travkin, how long have they been on their way?" ”

Hearing him ask, I also raised my hand and looked at my watch, and replied, "They set out in the morning, and they have been walking for almost seven hours so far." It won't be long before I get their information. ”

"I hope so." After Kirillov said this in an uncertain tone, he became worried about the safety of Vitkov and the other two regiments who remained in the city: "The German offensive is fierce, although our troops have successfully used the tactics of the defense of Stalingrad. But the enemy's advance was fast, and our command had to move to the west of the city. I only hope that the chief of staff will be able to hold out until dark, and then they will be able to get rid of the enemy smoothly and withdraw to the west bank of the river. ”

"Comrade commissar, don't worry." I looked out the window. When he saw that it was getting dark, he comforted him and said, "It will not be long before it will be dark." When night falls, the Germans will stop attacking the city, and then the chief of staff will be able to withdraw without any problems. ”

We were gossiping, when suddenly Pugachev hurriedly ran in from outside, raised a piece of paper in his hand excitedly, and said to us excitedly: "The army commander, the commissar, the reconnaissance detachment led by Captain Travkin has returned with intelligence. ”

I heard that it was Travkin's intelligence that returned. I didn't reach out to pick up the information in Pugachev's hand, but asked bluntly: "What did the captain say in the feedback message?" ”

Pugachev took the piece of paper to his eyes, stared at its contents and began to report to me: "Captain, their reconnaissance detachment arrived at the outskirts of Kafbas at four o'clock in the afternoon, and they hid their motorcycles and went on foot to the edge of the forest near the city to conduct reconnaissance. In the process of reconnaissance, one of the scouts heard what seemed to be movement in the rear, turned around and saw that there seemed to be some people in the distance with the help of trees for cover. Quietly approaching them......"

"For, Comrade Major, keep talking, keep talking." When Pugachev just paused for a moment. Kirilov couldn't wait to urge him, "Who are the people who came, and have they been discovered by the Germans?" ”

"The scout immediately told Captain Travkin about the situation." Pugachev heard Kirillov's urging and continued: "The captain immediately ordered everyone to turn around, choose their own defensive positions, and prepare for a contest with the enemy who came to sneak attack. When they are ready for everything to fight. In a minute or two, when they might exchange fire, the captain suddenly noticed that most of the people who were approaching were actually wearing civilian clothes, and a small number of people were wearing our uniforms, and they were also holding our standard weapons. Seeing that it turned out to be a guerrilla, the captain hurriedly sent someone to make contact, so that the two sides cleared up the misunderstanding. ”

Guerrillas, I haven't heard this word for a long time since I left the Lyuban area. After secretly breathing a sigh of relief, I asked Pugachev: "Did the captain say who commanded this partisan detachment and how many of them?" ”

Pugachev nodded and replied: "The partisans now have more than a hundred people, and the main members are small units of our army that were broken up after the outbreak of the war. Their commander's name is ......" As he said this, he looked down at the piece of paper in his hand again before adding in an affirmative tone, "Romanov, yes, the name of the commander of the partisans is Romanov. ”

I had just sat on a stool, and when I heard the name, I couldn't help but jump out of my seat. The body pounced forward, grabbed Pugachev by the collar, and nervously asked: "Romanov?!" Was it the original commander of the 172nd Infantry Division, General Romanov? ”

Pugachev was taken aback by my move, and he instinctively wanted to take a step back, but because I had caught it so tightly, he had to stand still and nervously replied: "Comrade commander, I don't know very well, because Captain Travkin's report is not clear, he only says that this Romanov turned out to be a division commander of our army, who was wounded and captured in battle. Later, he somehow escaped from the concentration camp with a group of fighters and formed a guerrilla detachment. Probably because the punishment of the captured personnel by their superiors was relatively severe, they did not withdraw to the defense area of our army, but stayed in Ukraine to fight guerrillas. ”

"Comrade Major, immediately make contact with Captain Travkin." After listening to our conversation, Kirillov also got up from his seat, walked up to Pugachev, and instructed him: "Let him find out the identity of this Romanov as soon as possible and send someone to our headquarters." ”

"Comrade commissar," Pugachev was clearly speaking to Kirillov, but his gaze was not at the commissar, but at me: "Let the partisan leader leave his command post." Is this appropriate? ”

"Nothing out of place, Comrade Major." Since Pugachev's eyes were on me, I didn't wait for Kirillov to make a statement, and said to myself: "We are going to attack Kafbas soon." It is necessary to understand the reality of the German army in the city. Comrade Romanov led his troops to fight guerrillas nearby, then he would certainly be more familiar with the situation in the city than we are. We asked him to come and give us a brief introduction to the city, what was inappropriate? Okay, you hurry up and reply to Captain Travkin and ask him to send someone to send Comrade Romanov to the command as soon as possible. ”

After Pugachev left again. Kirillov asked curiously: "Comrade Oshanina, have you heard of this Romanov general before?" ”

"Yes, Comrade Commissar." Although my knowledge of this general is limited to the limited scenes in the movie, he still has some leadership ability in terms of the fact that the troops under his command can stubbornly block the German attack when the Soviet army is defeated and uncontrollable. At present, there is a shortage of commanders like him in the army, and if his guerrilla unit is recruited, then I will have one more right-hand man. In the face of Kirillov's question. I replied vaguely: "When I used to work in the Western Front, I had heard of his name and the series of achievements he had achieved. After I had said this with some weakness, I stared nervously at Kirillov, afraid that he would break the casserole and ask me what the Romanov general had achieved.

It was unwarranted to worry about me, Kirillov hadn't noticed my anomaly at all, and his mind had already jumped to something else. He walked up to the map, spread his palms, and patted Kafbas's position. He said to me: "Comrade Oshanina, it is at least a hundred kilometers from us to Kafbas, right? ”

"Yes, about one hundred and thirty kilometers." I don't know the purpose of Kirillov's sudden question. He replied honestly: "There is no road connecting us to Kafbas, and if we want to go around it in any other direction, we will have to walk at least a hundred kilometers more." ”

"Comrade Oshanina, I am now worried about one thing. After the operational order was delivered, our troops were able to do so in a day and night. Rushed to Kafbas? Speaking of the next battle, Kirillov's face was even more worried: "Even if our commanders and fighters are all scuds and can march hundreds of kilometers in one night, when they reach Kafbas, will they still have the strength to fight?" ”

What Kirillov said was also something that worried me. However, I remembered that there were still hundreds of cars on the island that had been transferred from the city, so I pretended to be relaxed and said: "Comrade Commissar, although there is no road connecting this place to Kafbas, there are still many areas where vehicles can pass. We still have a lot of trucks in our hands, which we can use to transport our commanders and fighters to a certain area, and then let them walk, which can greatly shorten their marching distance. ”

"I see that's good." Kirillov nodded and said with relief: "Although the temperature has risen recently, the ice and snow on the plains have not yet begun to melt, I think that on the line to Kafbas, most of the sections can be passed by vehicles, so that our troops can be quickly put near the city, effectively shorten their marching distance, so that our commanders and fighters can conserve their strength, and after arriving at the designated position, they can quickly enter the battle." ”

After dark, the commanders who had come to the meeting arrived, and because the temporary headquarters was too small to accommodate so many people, Pugachev beckoned them to a nearby barracks. Before the barracks were requisitioned by the Germans, it was a warehouse for storing crops, and although there was a lot of space inside, dozens of people still crammed the barracks to the brim as soon as they walked in.

As soon as Kirillov and I entered the barracks, we heard someone shouting: "Stand upright, salute!" Then dozens of commanders standing neatly in the room raised their hands and saluted us at the same time.

I walked to the front of the ranks, raised my hand and saluted everyone, found a bench, stood up with the help of Kirillov, and said loudly: "Comrade commanders, we occupied Zaporosh, crossed the Dnieper again, came to the back of the Germans, do you know what we are here for?" ”

After I asked what I said, the commanders were silent, and even Bandereev and Gurdiev, who knew my next battle plan, remained silent, and they seemed to be waiting for me to reveal the final answer for them.

Seeing that the commanders did not speak, I said to myself: "Comrade commanders, according to the latest intelligence, the Germans do not have many troops on the west bank of the Dnieper except for the four divisions near Zaporosh. ”

"Comrade Army Commander, where have the main forces of the enemy gone?" Someone in the crowd boldly asked.

"The main forces of the enemy, at the moment crossing the Dnieper from Dnepropetrovsk, are preparing to attack the troops of our Voronezh Front, which occupies Kharkov." Anyway, I had to explain the combat mission to all the commanders, so I didn't intend to hide the latest enemy situation from them: "And around us, only a small number of German troops remained. We came to the rear of the enemy, and in addition to clearing the small forces they had left behind, we also wanted to take the opportunity to seize the war materials that the Germans had hoarded to replenish us. According to the information we have, a large amount of German supplies are being stockpiled in Kafbas, one hundred and thirty kilometers northwest of us. Commanders, what do you say, what should we do next? ”

When I said this, the commanders were all excited, and everyone was so excited that they raised their chins high, as if there were countless honors waiting for them in front of them. I don't know who shouted again: "Destroy the German devils, capture Kafbas!" His words immediately resonated with the surroundings, and more and more people shouted with him: "Destroy the German devils, seize Kafbas!" ”

I deliberately turned my head to look at Kirillov's expression, saw that he was smiling, looking at the enthusiastic commanders, and nodded with satisfaction. (To be continued.) )