From December 25, I temporarily returned to the 8th Guards Division to perform my duties as division commander. Before leaving, the task assigned to me by Mr. Lin was to clear the remnants of the enemy in the rear of our army.

When Grissa drove me to the location of the headquarters of the 8th Guards Division. From afar, I saw several divisional and regimental commanders headed by political commissar Yegorov, all waiting outside the building in the cold wind to welcome my arrival. This surprised me because I didn't give any advance notice when I came, and I didn't expect these people to know in advance that I was coming.

Seeing that several conductors were at the door, I didn't let the car continue to move forward, but asked Grissa to stop the car on the spot. I pushed the door and got out of the car, walked up and shook hands with several familiar commanders one by one, and said with a smile: "Comrade Political Commissar, the weather is so cold, why are you waiting at the door!" Wouldn't I just go in by myself? ”

The commissar shook hands with me and said with a smile: "We just received a call from Commander Vlasov saying that you will return to the division in the near future to command the battle. I calculated the time, estimated that you were almost there, and took everyone out to meet you. Lida, it's cold outside, let's go back to the house and talk. ”

I nodded, and walked inside, surrounded by the crowd.

As I walked inside, Yegorov and Chistyakov were with me on the left and right, and the other commanders were on the outside of them. I glanced at the red diamond-shaped collar badge on Chistyakov's new coat, looked at Yegorov with a smile as I walked inside, and said: "Comrade Political Commissar, from the beginning of the great counteroffensive to the present, the comrades in the division have behaved very well and have been able to successfully complete every task assigned by the army group command. You see, now even Comrade Chistyakov is also a general. ”

Without waiting for the political commissar to speak, Chistyakov preemptively smiled and said: "Comrade division commander, since the beginning of the great counteroffensive of our army, not only me, but every commander present has been promoted to one level. ”

I stopped, turned around and glanced at the commanders who followed behind, and saw that everyone had been promoted, as Major General Chistyakov had said. Not only the chief of staff, Lieutenant Colonel Serebryakov, was promoted to colonel, but even the two regimental commanders, Shedurin and Panishev, were promoted from the original major to lieutenant colonel.

When I got to the headquarters, I sat down in the middle of the table, the commissar sat to my right, and Chistyakov sat to my left, and he beckoned everyone to sit down as he sat down.

After everyone was seated and there was silence for a few minutes, I stood up, smiled on my face, and said with some excitement, "Hmm...... Hello comrades, commanders. It's great that we meet again. "Although it has only been half a month since I left the Eighth Division, when I saw these familiar faces appear in front of me again, I still couldn't control my emotions, so much so that my voice trembled slightly.

"I am very happy that I was able to return to the 8th Guards Division and fight with my comrades. At this ......point I paused, and began to look slowly around the audience, selecting and organizing in my mind the words I was about to use, and after a while, I continued: "At this time, the army group command has sent me back to the 8th Guards Division, and the main task is to clear out the remaining German units that are currently in the rear of our army. ……”

"Comrade Division Commander," the first to speak was Lieutenant Colonel Sedulin, the commander of the 1075th Regiment, who stood up and asked, "May I ask what is the task of our 1075th Regiment?" ”

The abrupt remarks of Shedurin made Chief of Staff Serebryakov a little unhappy, and he said to Shedurin with a gloomy face: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, you sit down first, and wait for the division commander to finish speaking." There will be tasks for you. ”

As soon as Sedulin sat down, Chistyakov asked me: "Comrade division commander, what do you think about the task assigned by the army headquarters to my division?" ”

I had already thought about this mission on the way here, and since he asked, I said bluntly: "After the start of the major counteroffensive, our army group and the troops of the 1st Guards Cavalry Corps commanded by Belov were invincible and invincible, and the strategic points of Kalinin, Kling and Yelitz of the German army were pushed back by 90-100 kilometers to the west. The German troops, who were still stranded in the rear of our house, could not camp in the forest because of the severe cold and snow, and could only hide in those villages where our troops had not yet arrived. ……”

Listening to my analysis, everyone began to talk to each other, and the room suddenly became lively.

"Be quiet, everyone, please be quiet!" The commissar slapped the table, waited for no one to speak, and then looked at me again and said, "Lida, you can go on." ”

I nodded, and continued to analyze to everyone: "According to my estimate, after a series of fierce battles, the remaining number of these Germans hiding in the village will not be large, at most they will be in a row formation. Therefore, I plan to divide the troops into parts, take the battalion as a unit, and carry walkie-talkies, and search for the remnants of the enemy in the north, south, and west directions at the same time. When you find an enemy, you can destroy it directly; If it cannot be destroyed, it will immediately report to the division headquarters, and the division headquarters will mobilize troops to encircle and annihilate the enemy. ”

The first to stand up for me was the deputy division commander Chistyakov, who said loudly: "Okay, Comrade division commander has a point, I agree with her deployment. ”

"I agree!" The commissar then stated: "In this way, it will be possible to detect the enemy hidden in the rear of our army in the shortest possible time and annihilate them." ”

"I agree!" "I agree!" The commanders present here expressed their support for my deployment.

"Good! Since everyone agrees with my deployment, let's assign tasks to everyone by the deputy division commander and chief of staff. ”