The reconnaissance team led by Travkin has reconnoisseurship intelligence feedback every day. According to their intelligence, the Germans are massing a large number of troops in the Belgorod-Kharkiv area, including the 19th Tank Division and the 332nd Infantry Division, which have just been stationed in Belgorod.

Information that German units were mobilizing for battle was received at about ten o'clock in the evening of June 30. After reading the information, I instructed the chief of intelligence, Rasmikhin, to report this information to the front headquarters by telegram.

I don't know why, after the intelligence was reported to the front army headquarters, it was like a mud cow entering the sea, and there was no more movement. In the middle of the night, when I saw that both Danilov and Kirillov were yawning, I offered to ask: "Comrade Deputy Commander, Military Commissar, Artillery Commander, you are all tired, go and rest first." ”

When the drowsy Danilov heard me say this, he hurriedly waved his hand: "Comrade commander, after the reply from the army command returns, let's go and rest." ”

I raised my hand and looked at my watch, and saw that it was already one o'clock in the morning on July 1, and since I had not received a reply from my superiors at this time, there would definitely be no reply to us before dawn. Therefore, I solemnly said to the two of them again: "Deputy commander, military commissar, you two go and rest first." I'll stay on duty here, and I'll send someone to inform you as soon as the reply from my superiors comes. ”

Kirillov and understood my character, and when he heard me say this, he didn't insist, stood up and nodded, and pulled Danilov, who wanted to say something more, out of the command. Powski saluted me and walked out after the two of them.

Bezikov watched Kirillov and Danilov leave, and said to me with concern: "Lida, I guess before dawn." The superiors won't give us any answer, so you might as well go and rest, and I'll just stay. ”

"No, no," I waved my hand to reject his kindness, and my heart had been unsteady since I received the information from Travkin. Because there were less than 100 hours left before the outbreak of the Battle of Kursk, in order not to be caught off guard by the Germans, after receiving the information, I immediately reported it to the Front Command, hoping that they could formulate contingency measures based on the information on the build-up of the German troops. "I'll just stay here and wait for news. If I'm tired, I'll lie down on the table and sleep for a while. ”

I sat down at my desk, looking at the map in front of me, carefully considering the possible holes in my zone. After looking at it for a long time, I found that the place where the mines should be planted was laid out in a minefield; The key defense area has built a complete defense system including tunnels on the hillside; And the plain between the first and second lines of defense, which was convenient for the assault of the German tank units. In addition to minefields, anti-tank fire points, a large number of "Oshanina trenches" named after me were dug.

Although the fortifications in the defense area are densely packed. The important defensive areas were heavily guarded, but in the face of the thunderous blows of the Germans, I still had no confidence at all. For a moment, I was even thinking about how I would concentrate all my forces and stand by in the third line of defense if the first and second lines of defense were lost.

I stared at the map until six o'clock in the morning. The sleepiness came up unconsciously, and he was lying on the table and preparing to sleep for a while. At that moment, the phone on the desk rang suddenly. I felt a stir in my heart: "Could it be that Vatutin is calling?" ”

As soon as I looked up, Bezzikov quickly rushed to the desk and grabbed the phone. After listening for a while. He put down the phone and reported to me: "Lida, the division commander of the 89th Guards Division reports that Marshal Zhukov's convoy is coming towards our headquarters and will reach us in about ten minutes. ”

I nodded, turned around and instructed Akhromeyev in the room: "Major, immediately inform the deputy commander, military commissar, artillery commander to go with me to meet Comrade Marshal." In addition, he called the commanders of the divisions again and ordered them to rush to the headquarters immediately and wait for the meeting of Marshal Zhukov. ”

Taking advantage of Akhromeyev's phone call, I simply cleaned up the table, put aside all kinds of information on the table, straightened my military hat, and then shook my head at Bezikov and said: "Let's go, Comrade Chief of Staff, come with me to meet Comrade Marshal." ”

Walking out of the building where the headquarters was located, the head of the guard regiment Yushchenko and the deputy commander Bukov were already waiting there. Seeing me and Bezikov coming out, Yushchenko ran up to me, saluted, and asked me if I would pick it up by car or on foot.

I waved my hand and said, "The streets in the city are narrow, and it's not easy for cars to turn, so let's go on foot." But since it's in the city, you don't need to go with so many people, so you two take a class with me. ”

Before the guards could finish their formation, Danilov, Kirillov, and Povsky had already hurried out of the building. Danilov came to my side, and while fastening the belt around his waist, he said with some nervousness: "Why did Marshal Zhukov come as soon as he said it, and did not say hello to us beforehand, so that we were not prepared at all." ”

Seeing that all the people who should have come had already arrived, I didn't talk nonsense, and left the headquarters with everyone, walking along the street towards the outside of the city with neat steps. Several patrols we met along the way saw our arrival, stepped aside, and raised their hands to salute our group.

We came to the entrance to the north of the city, and after waiting a little while, we saw a convoy of two jeeps and three armored vehicles coming towards us. I hurriedly shouted at the commanders and fighters behind me: "Everyone, pay attention, Comrade Marshal's convoy is coming, immediately line up. ”

With that, I stood sideways on the side of the road, then Danilov, Kirillov, Povsky, Bezikov and others stood on my left side, and Yushchenko, Bukov and the fighters of the guard squad stood behind us.

When the first jeep passed us, it only slowed down, but it didn't stop. Just as I was wondering if Zhukov was in the armored car behind, the second jeep stopped in front of me, and a lieutenant colonel sitting in the passenger seat went around the front door to the rear door on the left, opened the door and stood straight.

Zhukov was seen getting out of the car. I immediately stepped forward, raised my hand and saluted, and said politely: "Hello, Comrade Marshal, welcome to the 6th Guards Army to inspect the work. Commander Oshanina is at your command, please instruct! ”

A smile appeared on Zhukov's face. He took the initiative to reach out and hold my hand, and said with a smile, "Lida, we meet again!" Then he shook hands with Danilov, Kirillov, Povsky, Bezikov and others. Finally, he waved his big hand and said, "Okay, let's go to your headquarters." ”

We walked back to the headquarters and came to my headquarters. Zhukov looked left and right after entering the door, and the lieutenant colonel who followed him immediately nodded, leaned close to Bezkov's ear and said something.

After hearing this, Bezikov immediately waved to Akhromeyev, Rasmikhin and others who were still in the house. Led them out of the room. When Zhukov saw that only me, Danilov, Kirillov, and Povsky were left in the room, he spoke slowly: "Lida, last night I received a call from General Vatutin, saying that your scouts have discovered in Belgorod that the German army is gathering and there are signs of an attack on our army. When I heard the news, I rushed over overnight to find out what was going on. ”

As soon as Zhukov said this, I understood why he appeared in my defense zone early in the morning. It turned out that after receiving the information I reported, I felt unsure. Rather, it is specific to verify the situation. I hastened to reply: "Comrade Marshal, judging from the information we have so far, there is a possibility that the Germans are massing their forces in large numbers and preparing to launch an attack on the defensive areas of our army group. With that, I took two steps forward and picked up the stack of information on the table. I pulled out a few that I thought were important and handed them to him.

Zhukov took the situation I handed him, looked down and carefully scanned it. After looking at it for a while, he looked up and asked me, "Leda, by your judgment." When and from what direction will the Germans attack us? ”

Although I know more about this period of history, I can't give the answer directly, so I can only put on a tone of analysis based on intelligence: "Comrade Marshal, I think that the German army will attack us in a pincer offensive from the north and south, so as to achieve the campaign goal of encircling and annihilating our troops in the Kursk salient. As for the timing of the attack, I think it will probably be between July 2nd and 8th. ”

After listening to my analysis, Zhukov put the information in his hand on the table, stood up, and paced back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back. I stood still, but my eyes moved with his movements, and I knew in my heart that he was thinking about what I had said, so I kept my mouth shut so as not to interfere with his train of thought.

After walking back and forth in the house for more than a dozen times, he suddenly stopped, turned around and walked quickly in front of me, stopped, looked at me and asked a little puzzled: "Lida, according to the information we have recently gathered from various sides, it is indeed possible that the German attack on Kursk will be launched from July 2nd to 8th. But how do you know the date of this German offensive? ”

"Comrade Marshal, allow me to answer this question for you." Danilov, who was standing next to him, also took two steps forward, walked up to my side and stood up with me, and said respectfully to Zhukov. After seeing that the other party nodded his head in approval, he continued, "Every day after receiving information from the reconnaissance detachment, Comrade Commander will repeatedly deduce on the map to speculate on the possible offensive route of the German army and the number of troops used. Therefore, I think it is entirely possible that she can analyze the approximate date of the German offensive. ”

Hearing Danilov say this, Zhukov turned around with a frown, clenched one hand into a fist, and constantly pounded the palm of the other, as if he was lost in thought again.

After a while, Zhukov stopped what he was doing, walked quickly to the table, looked down at the map that was spread out on it, and after looking at it for a while, he waved at us and said, "Come here, all of you." ”

When he saw that we were all gathered around the table, he pointed to the map and said, "Know that our troops have not recovered from the defeat in the Battle of Kharkiv. If the Germans really took the initiative to attack us, it would be precisely what we could not ask for. You see, after these months of hard work, for the first time, the number of artillery regiments has exceeded that of infantry, and by as much as one and a half times. And the place where the most heavy artillery was deployed was where the high command analyzed the directions in which the Germans were most likely to attack.

In the case of Rokossovsky's 13th Army, which was responsible for covering the most threatened sections of the Oryol-Kursk railway line, it was supported by about 140 artillery pieces and mortars per kilometer of front, much more than the Germans could concentrate on the offensive.

At the same time, the Central Front and the Voronezh Front were replenished with more than nine thousand artillery pieces and mortars, and in total, ninety-two artillery regiments were reinforced from the reserves of the Supreme High Command. More than 6,000 anti-tank guns were deployed along the more important directions, and nearly 400,000 mines and explosives were laid.

In order to strengthen the leadership of the front, the Supreme Commander himself issued an order yesterday that my command should be stationed in Kursk to coordinate the coordinated operations of the Central Front, the Bryansk Front and the Western Front, while Vasilevsky was responsible for directing the Voronezh Front......"

A lot of what Zhukov said was, for me, top secret. I immediately understood why he had just asked his subordinates to kick out of this room all the commanders who were not of sufficient rank, just to prevent the possibility of leaking secrets.

After Zhukov said all this, he looked up and asked me: "Lida, now that our army is ready for battle, we can only wait for the Germans to attack, and we can attack them head-on." Do you understand all of this? ”

Although I don't know why Zhukov asked this, I answered honestly: "I understand, Comrade Marshal." ”

"Your 6th Guards Army is the closest to the German line of the Voronezh Front, once it is attacked by the Germans." When Zhukov asked this, he paused slightly, and then asked tentatively: "Can your troops hold them back?" ”

Zhukov's words reminded me of the exercise that had been carried out on the map a few hours earlier, and he shook his head and replied truthfully: "Comrade Marshal, although I would like to answer you categorically that we can hold back the German attack. However, based on the current situation of friend and foe, I can only regret to answer you: I'm sorry, I can't stop it. At least before the start of our army's counteroffensive, there is a possibility that the first and second lines of defense will be breached. (To be continued.) )