"Major, major general?! I was promoted to the rank of Major General??? "I was so nervous that my tongue was knotted and I stammered a little when I spoke. I couldn't help but glance at General Leviagin and Commissar Egorov, who were standing not far away, and saw that they looked at each other in surprise, and then when they looked at me, they both had a tacit smile on their faces, and there was a clear envy in their eyes when they looked at me.

I stabilized my emotions for a moment, and the first thing that came to my mind was that maybe Zhukov was mistaken, so I cautiously checked with him: "Comrade General! You just said that Comrade Stalin personally promoted me to the rank of colonel, right? ”

"I said Leda, why are you so poor at your age?" Zhukov muttered with some dissatisfaction: "I repeat, it is an exception to promote you to the rank of major general." Before you, only Comrade Petrovsky of the 63rd Infantry Corps had received such an honor, and in recognition of the great results of his brave and tenacious leadership of his troops in recapturing Ruzhbin and Lodyachev, Comrade Stalin directly promoted him from colonel to lieutenant general. ……”

Hearing Zhukov's introduction, the image of this army commander immediately appeared in my mind, a tall and thin man with two beards and a face of vicissitudes. Because of his great achievements, he was soon appointed commander of the army. However, in order to organize the troops to break the encirclement of the German army, he resolutely postponed the time of taking office, and led the soldiers to attack the German army, and finally died honorably in the breakthrough battle. However, thinking of this hero's short-lived career as a general, I felt a faint sense of unhappiness in my heart about Zhukov's mention of me being compared to him.

While I was muttering in my heart, Zhukov asked again: "What measures did you take after retaking Cumbre del Sol?" ”

I quickly stopped thinking and replied with concentration: "Report to Comrade Commander, after retaking the city of Mount Tai, I will divide the defensive areas for each regiment, and order them to use the terrain to build a large number of fortifications, and be prepared to rely on the fortifications to defend against a possible attack by the enemy. In addition, although the city is in our hands, the three settlements of Sverchikovo, Selishevo and Maltnovo to the southwest, are still occupied by the remnants of the enemy. Therefore, without affecting the overall defensive strength, I drew troops from various regiments to form a temporary force, commanded by Chistyakov and led by General Katukov's tank brigade, to attack and surprise the enemy in the settlements, and to cooperate with the attacks of friendly forces, and strive to seize the settlements from the enemy's hands in the shortest possible time. ”

"Your plan is good, then go ahead and execute it immediately!" Zhukov very much agreed with my new operational plan, and after a few words of praise, he added: "However, the speed of your division's attack must be fast, if you cannot quickly deal with the remnants of the enemy, once the enemy dispatches planes and tanks, you will become passive, and the entire offensive plan will be in danger of being lost." ”

"Understand that as soon as the offensive begins, I will order General Katukov and Colonel Chistyakov to speed up the attack and try to recapture the settlements from the enemy in the shortest possible time."

"It's better to ...... then," Zhukov listened to me, and then muttered a lot of things, and at the end he specifically told me: "After the settlement is recovered, you hand over the post to your deputy, General Levyakin and political commissar Yegorov, and then you will come to the headquarters of the Front." ”

Hearing Zhukov's order, I guess there was something good waiting for me, so I agreed very simply: "Yes!" ”

Contact was cut off, and both Leviagin and Egorov came over. Yegorov's voice was excited and asked with some excitement: "Comrade division commander! Is it all true? Comrade Stalin personally promoted you to the rank of major general? ”

Although I tried my best to stay calm, the corners of my mouth turned up involuntarily, and I couldn't help but grin. But in front of his subordinates, he always had to maintain a good image, so he forced himself to keep a straight face, smiled indifferently, and replied: "Yes, this is what the commander of the Front Army, General Zhukov, said personally, I believe there will be no mistake!" ”

Having received my affirmative answer, Leviagin and Egorov immediately said in unison: "I congratulate you!" Congratulations on receiving the rank of general. And reach out to me. I shook hands with the two of them one by one and thanked them repeatedly.

After shaking hands with the two of them, the communications soldiers on duty also gathered around me and congratulated me one after another. With a smile on my face, I shook hands with such cadres and soldiers one by one, and thanked them for their heartfelt congratulations.

Two minutes before eleven o'clock, General Katukov and Colonel Chistyakov called at the same time, not only to report to me that the troops were ready, but also to congratulate me on my attainment of the rank of general. After thanking the two of them, I told them that after the battle began, they must act fiercely and quickly, and strive to resolve the battle in the shortest possible time.

The battle started on time, and I stayed in the headquarters and waited for news. Although the three settlements that were about to be captured had been attacked by friendly forces, holding back a large number of German troops, and attacking from the rear of the German army at this time was a bit of a ready-made feeling, but the battle could not end in a short time. I have commanded so many battles, and the tactics used are very simple, which is nothing more than to use tank units to make a surprise attack first, and then send infantry to follow after breaking through the enemy's defense line to widen the breach. Will this tactic, with one tactic after another, work in attacking these three settlements? If the offensive is ineffective, the battle is deadlocked, and the Germans mobilize their forces to attack the city of Cumbre del Sol again, will we be able to hold the city with our limited forces and imperfect defensive positions? The worry in my heart made me nervous. I walked anxiously around the house with my hands behind my back, so much so that Yegorov twice told me to sit down, and I did not hear it.

I walked around the house for a long time, then stopped and asked Yegorov: "Comrade commissar, what time is it?" Is there any news of General Katukov and Colonel Chistyakov? ”

Yegorov looked at me with strange eyes, looked down at his watch, and then looked up and replied to me: "Comrade division commander, the battle has just started for seven minutes, and it is estimated that it will be a while before the battle report arrives. ”

Seven minutes?! I felt like I had been walking back and forth in the house for hours with my hands behind my back, how could it have been so short? I sighed softly and continued to walk around the room with my hands behind my back.

I don't know how long it took to go through the road, but the phone in the house finally rang. As soon as I turned my head to look in the direction of the phone, I found that Leviakin, who had been standing by the telephone, had already grabbed the phone and said loudly: "I am General Leviakin, please speak!" Then, after quietly listening to what the other party had to say, he covered the microphone with his hand and reported to me: "Comrade division commander, a call from Colonel Chistyakov says that the troops have successfully occupied the two settlements of Sverchikovo and Selishevo, and are now advancing towards the most rear-end settlement, Martnovo. ”

Hearing this good news, I couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, and just as I wanted to speak, the political commissar sitting at the table had already spoken first: "Comrade General, are you sure that what Colonel Chistyakov said is true?" It must be known that it has only been more than ten minutes since the battle began, and according to the normal pace of marching, in such a short period of time, our troops have at best just reached these two settlements, not to mention that it is only after fighting that we can seize the settlements from the enemy's hands. ”

This skeptical attitude of the political commissar made Leviagin hesitate a little, he removed the hand covering the microphone, and just when he wanted to check with Chistyakov, I had already walked to his side, grabbed the microphone in his hand, and said softly: "Comrade General, let me ask in person." ”

He let go of his hand, and the microphone was in my hand. Although I was surprised that they were able to seize the settlements so quickly, I did not suspect them of lying about the military as the commissars, and in this particular case, they would not dare to risk court-martials to deceive me. In view of this, I said in a flat tone: "Is it Colonel Chistyakov?" I'm Division Commander Oshanina, please report to me again on the state of your battle. ”

PS: Dear readers and friends, I'm very sorry, because there was a problem with the computer, it wasn't fixed until yesterday, and everything has not been updated, and it can resume normal updates from today.