I thought about it for a long time, but I didn't come up with a clue. Finally, Danilov was heard whispering beside him: "Comrade commander, if you don't do this, wait for the results of General Tavartkiradze's counterattack to come out, and then decide whether to withdraw or defend." ”

As soon as I heard that he was very reasonable, I quickly nodded and said: "That's right, Comrade Deputy Commander, you are right, no matter what kind of decision we make before the results of the counterattack come out, it will be hasty and irresponsible. ”

I suddenly remembered something again, and hurriedly asked Bezikov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, there is something I don't quite understand, and I would like to ask you about it." ”

When Bezikov heard me say this, his face was blank, and he instinctively said: "Comrade commander, if you have anything, just ask." ”

"Chief of Staff, you should know that our tank brigades are equipped with the most advanced tanks, but why have they not achieved more brilliant results until now?" I've been struggling with this matter for two or three days, and if I don't ask to understand, I'm still not sure.

"Comrade Commander," said Bezikov, frowning, "I think there may be two reasons: first, we have never put tank brigades into large-scale battles, but only in some small-scale battles; Secondly, good tankmen were constantly consumed in the war, and soon after the new tank left the factory, it was handed over to new tankers who were untrained and did not have enough time to grind in. ”

"Leda, I think the chief of staff has a point." Kirillov interjected: "Although the troops are equipped with the latest tanks, neither the personnel nor the tanks lack the test of the real battlefield. Therefore. It is not possible to achieve large results. That's normal. ”

Bezkov waited for Kirillov to finish. He went on to say: "We can imagine that in the vast Kursk Plain, our army's new tanks, driven by poorly trained tankmen and in the absence of terrain cover, engaged the enemy from thousands to hundreds of meters on the battlefield, although the German tanks could not help us, as long as they had artillery and air force, there would be a one-sided slaughter. ”

I heard Bezikov say that. The heart was half cold, I thought that with a new tank that surpassed this era, it could be invincible in the contest with the German armored forces, who knew that the ideal was plump, and the reality was skinny, and our army was equipped with new tanks, but for various reasons, it was never able to form an absolute advantage over the German army.

I thought for a moment and said, "Comrade commanders. To be honest, according to my judgment. Maybe in another two or three days, or even longer, a tank battle with the Germans will definitely break out in our defense zone. I hope you know what to do with that. ”

After I finished speaking, Akhromeyev suddenly asked: "Comrade commander, if it is true that a large-scale tank battle will break out, as you say, then we must make some preparations in advance. ”

"Preparation, what preparation?" Bezikov asked, somewhat unexpectedly: "Is it in our defense zone that enough warehouses and oil depots are built to prepare the necessary ammunition and fuel for tank units?" ”

"Comrade Chief of Staff." Akhromeyev said to Bezkov with a respectful attitude: "In addition to the warehouses and oil depots you are talking about, it is necessary to build enough repair stations. Our repair station is able to repair damaged tanks in a timely manner, so that they can get back on the battlefield as quickly as possible. ”

"yes, that's a good idea." After listening to Akhromeyev's proposal, Danilov's eyes could not help but light up, and he said excitedly: "As long as there are tank repair stations, then we don't have to worry about the loss of tanks on the battlefield at all." If it is broken, it will be pulled back for repair; When it is repaired, go to the front line and beat the Germans severely. At this point, he turned his head to look at me and said, "Comrade Commander, should we immediately make a request to Commander Vatutin to open several more tank repair stations in our defense area?" ”

I immediately nodded in agreement with Danilov's proposal. But for the sake of solemnity, I instructed Bezkov: "Chief of staff, you immediately write a detailed report and send someone to the headquarters of the Front." ”

"It's enough to call Commander Vatutin, why bother to write a report and send someone to make a trip?" Bezikov asked puzzled about my arrangement.

"This matter is the most important, and it is not something that Commander Vatutin can decide alone." Seeing his confused expression, I specially explained to him: "Therefore, we must submit a written application to the higher authorities in accordance with the regulations, and then report to the higher authorities after obtaining permission, so that the higher authorities will build a tank maintenance station in our defense area, and other troops will not gossip." ”

As soon as I said this, it dawned on Bezikov that I asked him to write the report not entirely for the purpose of complying with the rules and regulations, but to prevent other army groups from having a psychological imbalance when they saw that their superiors had built so many tank repair stations in our defense area.

While Bezikov was going to write the report, I asked Akhromeyev to call the 51st Guards Division and ask how the counterattack was going.

As soon as Akhromeyev contacted General Tavart Kiradze, he followed my orders and asked him about the attack on the "Viking Division". I only heard him ask: "Comrade General, the commander asked me to ask you, have you recovered the lost positions?" After that, he didn't speak again, just listened to the other party's constant report.

When he put down the phone, he shook his head at first, and then said with some disappointment: "Comrade commander, General Tawalt Kiradze reports that the first attack on the heights was launched, and failed. ”

"What, failed?" I knew very well that the northern slope of that high ground was gentle, and it should be very conducive to the attack, so how could it fail. So I asked, "What did Commander Tawart Kiradze say?" ”

"Comrade General said that he guided the infantry to attack the heights with three tanks." Akhromeyev faithfully relayed Tavart Kiradze's exact words: "At the beginning of the attack was relatively smooth, but when we were approaching the mountainside, several German soldiers suddenly emerged from the grass, stuffed anti-tank grenades into the tracks of the tanks, and blew off all the tracks of all three tanks. At the same time, the German machine guns hidden in foxholes in the grass followed suit, knocking down a lot of the infantry following the tanks. And just like that, their first attack failed. However, the general was in the process of reorganizing his troops and preparing for a second charge. (To be continued.) )