We traveled in the jeep for about half an hour, passed through seven or eight heavily guarded checkpoints, and finally entered the city of Moscow. I was thrilled to see the familiar buildings on both sides of the street. If it weren't for the unfamiliar liaison officer and unknown driver sitting in the car, I would definitely shout at the top of my voice: "I, Hu Hansan, are back again!" ”

Of course, this is just thinking in my heart, if I really shouted like this, even if the liaison officer and the driver did not think I was crazy, they would ask this and that curiously, until I was speechless.

After several rounds of cross-checking, we finally arrived at Zhukov's headquarters. The vehicle drove in through the sentinel-lined gate and slowly drove to a stop in front of the tall building. The liaison officer turned to me and said, "Comrade General, we have arrived. ”

I looked outside, and before I could see anything, I casually replied, "Oh, here we are." After a pause, I asked again, "Major, did you take me to the marshal's office?" ”

Unexpectedly, the liaison officer shook his head and replied: "I'm sorry, Comrade General, my task is only to take you from Kiev and send you to the command of Comrade Marshal." Now that my mission has been completed, the task of sending you to the marshal will be completed by another commander. ”

The words of the liaison officer made me feel crazy, and I said that you brought me back from Kiev all the way, and finally got to the door of Zhukov's headquarters, but you said that the task was completed, patted your ass and left, and left me here alone, is that the case?

Before I could get angry, the liaison officer said slowly, "When we leave the airport." The airport should have informed Comrade Marshal's subordinates of the news of your arrival. "You see," he said Nunu out of the window, "a captain has come out of the building. I guess I'm here to pick you up. With that, he pushed the door open and got out of the car, and walked over to the captain, who had just come out of the building.

I slammed the door open, got out of the car, and was about to follow the liaison officer when I noticed a small black dot dangling in front of my left eye, which I thought was some kind of scum falling from the sky. I reached out and tried to grab it, but I was empty.

I thought I was dazzled, so I smiled self-deprecatingly. Raise your leg and walk forward. After a few steps, the little black dot reappeared. I quickly closed my right eye and stared ahead with my left eye without moving, and found that the black dot also stopped in front of me. Now. A sense of foreboding welled up in my heart. Could it be that there is something wrong with your own eyes?

Before I could come up with a reason, the liaison officer had come up to me with the captain. The captain raised his hand and saluted me, and then, in a polite tone, asked officially, "Is it General Oshanina?" ”

I nodded and replied in the affirmative, "Yes, I'm Oshanina." ”

"Comrade Marshal asked me to pick you up, he has been waiting for you for a long time." With that, the captain took a step back. I turned to the side and made a gesture of please in the direction of the building.

I didn't immediately walk towards the building. Instead, he turned to the liaison officer, held his hand, and said gratefully: "Thank you, Comrade Major, for taking me to Moscow. We'll see you later. ”

After releasing the liaison officer's hand, I turned back to the captain and said, "Let's go, Comrade Captain, please lead me in front." ”

I followed the captain into the building, and saw that the building was full of commanders walking around. When they saw me, they stopped, leaned against the wall, and raised their hands to salute me, and I returned the salute one by one.

The captain led me quickly to a room and stopped, and said to the lieutenant on duty, who had just risen from the table: "Lieutenant, this is General Oshanina, whom Comrade Marshal is going to summon. ”

The lieutenant glanced at me, did not speak, but went to the door, pushed open one of the two tall wooden doors, glanced inside, and closed the door again. Then he walked up to me and said apologetically: "I'm sorry, Comrade General, the marshal is still talking to the other commanders, please wait a while." As he spoke, he gestured to a row of chairs against the wall not far away, "You can sit down in the chairs and rest for a while." ”

I nodded, walked over to the chair position, and found a random chair to sit down. I wanted to beckon the captain to sit down too, but he walked up to me and said respectfully: "Comrade General, my mission has been completed, please allow me to leave!" ”

"Go ahead, Comrade Captain." I smiled and thanked the captain of the Zhukov command who brought me here: "Thank you! ”

As I sat in my chair and waited for Zhukov to receive me, I tried to close my right eye and look at the ceiling with my left eye alone. When I found that nasty little black dot, moving with my eyeballs, my heart was half cold, it turned out that there was really a problem with my eyes, and I wouldn't be blind, right? If you have time another day, be sure to go to the hospital for a check-up.

While I was thinking about it, I heard a knock on the door and quickly turned my head to look. I saw two generals with serious expressions walking out of the house. Seeing them appear, the lieutenant on duty, who was originally sitting at the table, quickly stood up and straightened his body. And when I saw that the two generals were of higher rank than me, I quickly stood up and raised my hand to salute the two.

The two generals were talking in a whisper, and when they saw someone next to them saluting them, they glanced at each other, returned the salute casually, and walked along the corridor without stopping.

I looked at the backs of the two generals, and said in my heart that they looked very raw, and I don't know if they are one of the famous generals in history. At this time, I heard the lieutenant's voice coming from behind: "Comrade General, you can go in now." ”

I turned around and saw that the lieutenant had opened the door and stood straight in the doorway, waiting for me to enter.

I walked briskly towards the door, thanked the lieutenant, and walked into Zhukov's headquarters.

As soon as I entered the room, I saw that in this large and spacious room, there was a long conference table in the middle, and around the table were beautifully crafted wooden chairs. Zhukov was on the other side of the table, leaning over to look at the map in front of him. Hearing someone come in, he asked without looking up, "Is there anything else?" ”

I hurriedly took a few steps forward. He raised his hand to his forehead and said loudly: "Report to Comrade Marshal, Major General Oshanina came from Kiev on order." Listen to your orders, please instruct! ”

Hearing that it was me, Zhukov raised his head and glanced at me, with a smile on his originally expressionless face, and walked quickly towards me, while saying loudly: "It turned out that Leda is here!" ”

When he shook hands with me. He asked with concern, "Did you get off the plane and come here directly?" ”

"Yes, Comrade Marshal." Due to the fact that Zhukov shook hands too hard. It hurt so much that I gritted my back molars and replied: "I think you recruited me back from Kyiv, there must be something important, so as soon as I got off the plane, I immediately rushed over." ”

Zhukov beckoned me to the location where the map was placed. Pointing at a chair. In a commanding tone, he said, "Sit down, I want to have a good talk with you." With that, he pulled out a chair and sat down first. After sitting down, he pushed the map towards my position and said, "Let's take a look at the situation in Ukraine." ”

I sat down in his assigned chair and looked down at the map on my desk. I saw that it was marked with dense arrows and various lines of defense. Because I didn't see a name for a while, I just stared at the picture. Didn't dare to talk casually.

Zhukov didn't notice these details, he grabbed a pencil on the table, pointed to the map and said to me: "Leda, come and see." Manstein's troops managed to capture Donetsk two days ago, forcing the Southwestern Front under the command of General Vatutin to retreat to Lugansk. Under the onslaught of the enemy, General Vatutin was ready to direct the troops to withdraw from Luhansk one after another. But with your success in capturing Kyiv, the predicament of the Southwestern Front has changed. The Germans stopped their attack on Luhansk at 10 a.m., and except for a small number of troops left to continue contact with our troops, the rest of the main forces had withdrawn westward one after another. ”

Wei Wei rescued Zhao, when I heard Zhukov's words, this idiom suddenly popped up in my mind. If it weren't for my whim, the idea of attacking Kyiv, it is estimated that Vatutin's troops would have been crushed under the onslaught of Manstein's troops.

The pencil in Zhukov's hand pointed at Kharkov again: "And here, the Voronezh Front under the command of General Golikov is a little weak because the Third Tank Army has been transferred to you." The Supreme High Command has sent the Central Front under the command of General Rokossovsky to reinforce it, but because of the muddy roads, it is difficult for us to deploy a large number of troops in the designated position in the shortest possible time, because General Golikov can only maneuver in Kharkov with the counterattacking German forces in Kharkov on his own. Speaking of this, he threw the pencil in his hand on the table and said in a relaxed tone, "But this unfavorable situation, with the liberation of Kiev, has completely improved." According to the reconnaissance of our air force, the main forces of the enemy also turned westward and moved in the direction of Poltava, presumably in preparation to concentrate forces to counterattack Kyiv, lest their rear roads be cut off by us. ”

I couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when I heard that the two fronts had turned a corner, and at the same time worried about the fate of the Dnieper battle cluster currently deployed near Kyiv. Originally, our forces were limited, and if the hundreds of thousands of German troops abandoned the Voronezh Front and the Southwestern Front, which were in direct confrontation with them, and rushed to Kyiv regardless of it, then General Rybalko would be able to hold back the fierce German offensive? And those two front armies that are out of trouble, when they see the danger of friendly forces, will they reach out and pull them?

While I was being bothered by these questions, I heard Zhukov ask: "Lida, what do you think of the current situation, I would like to hear your opinion." ”

Seeing that the troops deployed near Kyiv were in danger of being surrounded by the Germans, I couldn't help but get anxious: "Comrade Marshal, I want to ask a question?" ”

"Ask!" Zhukov readily agreed.

Pointing to where Kyiv was located, I said to Zhukov: "Comrade Marshal, General Rybalko and I, the troops of the already battle cluster are deployed around Kyiv. But our forces are limited, and if the German heavy group is encircled, I wonder if we can get the support of friendly forces. ”

Zhukov was silent for a moment on my question, and then replied: "This may be difficult. Although our strength was superior to that of the Germans, the commanders and fighters were fatigued due to logistical supply difficulties and long battles. Once the Germans start the siege of Kyiv, I think it may be difficult to provide adequate support to the defenders in the city in a short period of time. ”

After listening to Zhukov's words, my cold sweat fell, if this is really the case, then the fate of the commanders and fighters of the battle cluster currently waiting for Kiev will either be completely annihilated or taken prisoner. I looked up at Zhukov to hear what he would say next, whether he would send me back to Kyiv at the worst of the situation.

After waiting for a while, seeing that Zhukov didn't speak, I couldn't help but ask first: "Comrade Marshal, I want to ask, is there something that suddenly summoned me back to Moscow this time?" ”

"Calling you back to Moscow is the will of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief himself." As soon as Zhukov opened his mouth, he directly explained who ordered me to be recalled, and he said unhurriedly: "He said that you have participated in the battle long enough, and you should be allowed to come back to rest for a while, and by the way, go to the military academy to further your studies and improve your military theoretical level, so that you can play a greater role in a more important position in the future." ”

"But, but Kyiv, what about Kyiv?" When I heard Zhukov's revelations, I felt a wave of ecstasy, but then I became worried about my comrades-in-arms who were still in Kyiv: "Are we just watching them surrounded by a large German army and do nothing?" ”

Zhukov glanced at me, with a displeased expression on his face, and said, "Lida, we don't care about them. Rather, at the moment our line of defense is being shattered by German counterattacks, so we need a force to attract the enemy, so that we have plenty of time to repair the line, strengthen our troops, and accumulate strength to launch a new offensive. ”

Speaking of this, he saw my dejected appearance, suddenly changed the subject, and said, "Lida, there is one more thing I want to remind you. You are now a general, and you can't do the same thing you used to do when you were a company commander and battalion commander, and if you have to ask about everything, you will make a mess of things. You have to learn to grasp the big and let go of the small, and only do the most important things, and leave them to your subordinates to do. You're only responsible for observing whether they're doing it right, recording how they're doing during the execution, and finally figuring out who is right for what. Only in this way will you be able to work more efficiently and become a qualified senior commander. (To be continued......)