When I heard that I could arrange suitable posts for these commanders and fighters who had broken through according to my wishes, I couldn't help but feel a burst of ecstasy. I clearly know that those who can escape from the enemy's encirclement have no problems except loyalty, and through brutal battles, they have accumulated a wealth of combat experience, whether they will be commanders or ordinary soldiers in the future, they can become the backbone of the army.

Thinking of this, I turned my head and asked Kirillov: "Comrade Military Commissar, I don't know where the other comrades are?" ”

"In a nearby barracks." When Kirillov answered me, he also took a special look at Bezikov, who had not spoken a word since I came in, and said gratefully: "It was Comrade Chief of Staff who personally arranged it for us." ”

I glanced at Bezkov with some surprise, and said that he was quite reliable, and before I could give an order, he had already thought of me before me. So I smiled and said to him: "Comrade Chief of Staff, you have done a great job, thank you!" ”

Betzikov smiled and said: "Comrade commander, this is what I should do. Besides, Kirillov had greeted me many times when he was in the Central Committee, and he was an old friend of mine. ”

People are familiar with things and are easy to do, this is the first thought that came to me after listening to Bezikov's words. I did not verify the credibility of these words with Kirillov, but directly ordered Bezkov: "Comrade Colonel, take me to see our commanders and fighters. And Comrade Military Commissar, who also went with Major Akhromeyev. ”

Seeing that we were leaving, Danilov, who was not named by me, was a little anxious, and he hurriedly asked: "Comrade commander, what about me?" ”

"Comrade Deputy Commander, you don't have to go." I thought that the people I would see later were my former subordinates, and if they saw a commander of the same rank as me appear. It is estimated that the scene of meeting will be awkward. It was for this reason that I was reluctant to let Danilov go with me, but I had to do the superficial thing, and I explained to him with a smile: "If we all leave, if anything, we will not even find anyone responsible." You're still in the headquarters. Take care of the day-to-day work, we won't be there for long anyway, and we'll be back in a while. ”

Although Danilov heard my polite refusal, he could not refute it when he heard me say it so high-soundingly, so he could only promise stubbornly: "Well, since this is the case, then I will stay in the headquarters." ”

From the location of the headquarters to the barracks, it is only ten minutes away. So I didn't take the car, but walked there. On the way, I asked Akhromeyev, who was walking beside me: "Major, who are the commanders who broke through with you, are there many commanders of the 79th Infantry Army?" ”

Hearing my question, Akhromeyev's footsteps paused for a moment, but soon followed me again. "Comrade commander, since our part is dominated by the troops of the former independent division. Therefore, the outstanding commanders are all old men of the former independent division. The rest of the commanders and fighters of the 79th Army were either scattered during the breakout, or followed General Romanov to the northwest. ”

Although Akhromeyev spoke tactfully, I understood in my heart that in the days of the defense of Kyiv. Whether it was the 79th Infantry Corps, Rybalko's Tank Army, or those Guards Divisions, the casualties must have been very heavy. The planes sent by the Supreme Command only picked up a few senior commanders, including Rybalko, and whether the rest could escape was left to fate.

But we came to the playground of the barracks. Bezikov called an officer on duty in the barracks, and after explaining a few words to him, he walked up to me and whispered to me: "Lida, you wait here for a while, those commanders and fighters will come out soon to assemble." ”

When I saw that he had arranged it properly, I did not speak, but just nodded, and at the same time my eyes moved to the officer on duty just now, to see how he had called out the commanders and fighters in the barracks.

The officer on duty trotted all the way to the outside of a row of wooden bungalows on the other side of the playground, stopped, and after standing still, took out a whistle and blew it vigorously. As his whistle sounded, the closed wooden doors of the bungalow suddenly opened, and a group of commanders and fighters ran out of it. Most of them still wore old-fashioned military uniforms, and their ranks were still pinned to their collar badges.

When they had formed a neat four-row line, the officer on duty turned and ran back. After standing up and saluting in front of me, he reported loudly: "Comrade commander, the troops have been assembled, please instruct!" ”

I nodded and smiled at the officer on duty, then raised my leg and walked over to the commanders and fighters who had finished the formation. I came to this group of commanders and fighters who had been circling behind enemy lines for more than a month, and finally returned to the ragged commanders and fighters in our military defense area. ”

"Hello Comrade Commander!" Since I was the commander of the Dnieper battle cluster when I left Kyiv, these commanders habitually called me Commander.

"Commanders and fighters, on behalf of all the commanders and fighters of the 6th Guards Army, I welcome you back." After saying this, I stepped forward and shook hands with the commanders and fighters in the queue.

The commanders and fighters were exhausted after a long journey, but they still managed to stand up straight in the queue. When I shook hands with them, although most of the faces I saw were unfamiliar faces, I saw many people I was familiar with: Captain Travkin, deputy commander of the reconnaissance battalion; Members of the partisans are survivors of the 22nd tank brigade of the former Russian Special Military District, company captain Shamrikh, political instructor Shabvarenko, and deputy commander of the tank company, Lieutenant Yakuda.

When I returned to the front of the queue after shaking hands with all the people one by one, I asked Akhromeyev: "Comrade Major, are all the people here?" ”

Akhromeyev glanced at the queue, then turned to me and said: "Comrade commander, we have a total of 139 people who have managed to break through, and here there are only 125 people, including me and the military commissar. As for the remaining 14 people, they were arranged by Colonel Bezikov to stay in other places with the commander of the regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Sederikov, and the commander of the guard battalion, Major Basmanov. ”

I heard that Shederikov also managed to break through. I was even more overjoyed, knowing that among the several regiment commanders of the independent division, he was the one I was most optimistic about. Anyway, there is a shortage of commanders in all divisions of the group army, and I can arrange for him to take up the post of commander in one of the troops.

After calling Travkin, Shamrikh, and Shabvalenko out of the queue, I ordered the rest of the commanders and fighters to go back to their dormitories to continue their rest.

As soon as I returned to the command, I asked Bezikov to call Bere. Let him come over at once and say that I will arrange a few assistants for him. On the way back, Bezikov had heard me say about the origin of the Shamlikh men, so when he heard my order, he immediately called him unequivocally.

Taking advantage of Bezikov's phone call, I announced to everyone in front of Danilov: "Comrades, I have known you for a long time, and I know you to some extent. So I intend to assign you work according to your abilities. You have no objections, do you? ”

I know that my last sentence is a bit of a ghost, in such a hierarchical team of the Soviet army, what the superiors say, the subordinates only have the share of obedience, how can they have the right to bargain. The reason why I say this is nothing more than to get their attention.

"Nope." Several of the people standing in front of us replied in unison.

"Okay, since everyone has no objections. Then I'll start assigning work. After saying this, I began to call names: "Major Akhromeyev." ”

"Here!" Akhromeyev replied loudly. A step forward.

"At present, there is a great shortage of commanders at all levels in the group army, and in order to facilitate the command of operations, I have appointed you as the chief of operations of the group army, responsible for assisting the chief of staff, Colonel Bezikov, in his work." The appointment of Akhromeyev as the chief of operations will be very helpful for me to command the troops in the future.

Then. Captain Travkin was appointed by me as the commander of the reconnaissance battalion of the army group. The order I gave him was simple, as soon as he got acquainted with the troops, he immediately launched reconnaissance activities against the German troops.

After I gave the appointment of Akhromeyev and Travkin, I stopped and did not continue to arrange for Shamlikh and others. They looked at each other strangely. All eyes were on me.

Since I intended to send them to the 33rd Tank Corps, I did not announce their appointment to them until Colonel Bere's arrival. I pretended not to see the gaze of the three, but turned my head and asked Kirillov: "Comrade Military Commissar, I don't know how many regimental commanders of the independent division, besides Sederikov, who else stood out with you?" ”

Kirillov thought for a while, looked up and asked Akhromeyev, who was standing next to him: "Major, in addition to Shederikov, did you see several other regiment commanders break through?" ”

Akhromeyev shook his head and replied: "Comrade Military Commissar, have you forgotten. We were holding the east side of Kiev with the 1st and 4th regiments and a part of General Vachuk. When the Germans occupied the bridge over the Dnieper, we were cut off from the main forces. During the breakout, Lieutenant Colonel Gaidar took the initiative to lead his four regiments to stay behind and block the pursuers at the back door for us. ”

"What about the second and third regiments?" As soon as I waited for Akhromeyev to finish speaking, I immediately asked impatiently: "Their two regiments, at least five or six thousand people, will not be wiped out by the Germans so easily, there will always be a few people rushing out, right?" ”

When I asked this, I felt a little lucky. But Akhromeyev's answer shattered my illusions: "Comrade commander, I understand what you mean. Although the strength of the Second and Third Regiments was quite large, it was a pity that most of their commanders and fighters were added to the troops when our army was wandering behind enemy lines, and their combat effectiveness was limited. In the face of the ferocious attack of the Germans, their defensive areas were the first to be captured by the Germans. ”

Akhromeyev's words were not true, but I knew that what he said was true. At that time, I led the 79th Infantry Corps behind enemy lines, and in order to make up for the battle damage, I replenished a large number of troops in several larger cities. Because these cities fell one after another soon after the start of the war, except for a few recruits who had experience as militiamen, the rest of the recruits did not have any military attempts, and it was okay to fight a good battle, but if you want to fight a brutal positional war, it is a little powerless.

I sighed regretfully and turned my gaze back to the people who had been left out in the cold. I looked at them and said, "You used to be tank soldiers, although you have been a guerrilla for a few years, I think if you have the opportunity, you may still want to go back to your old business and go back to continue to be tank soldiers, right?" ”

Shamlih and the others listened to my words, and after looking at each other a few times, their faces showed joyful expressions. Shamrih took a step forward and said loudly to me: "Comrade commander, you are so right that several of us dreamed of going back to the tank unit. As long as you can make us tank crews again, even if it is an ordinary soldier, we are willing. ”

"Yes, Comrade Commander." After hearing Shamrichh's statement, Shabvarenko and Yakuda also echoed in unison: "We are willing to start as fighters." ”

I was very satisfied with the attitude of the three of them, and I replied with a smile: "Comrade commanders, if you just want to be a soldier in the tank unit, I will not agree. Speaking of this, I deliberately paused until I saw that the expressions on the faces of the three people had dimmed, and then I continued, "With your ability and rich combat experience, even if you become a tank battalion commander, it is not a problem, why do you have to start as a soldier?" ”

When they heard me say this, they all laughed embarrassedly. After laughing, Shamlih scratched the back of his head and said to me: "Comrade commander, you may not know our feelings for the tank troops, although we have been working as guerrillas for the past two years, there is not a day when we do not want to return to the tank units. You say, "Is that so?" His last words were addressed to Shabvalenko and them.

"That's right, the company commander is right." Shabvalenko, as Shamrich's partner and deputy, immediately shouted out without hesitation when they heard this question.

"Since all three of you are willing to go back to the tank unit." As I spoke, I stood up and announced to them, "It just so happens that Colonel Bere's newly formed 33rd Tank Corps is short of commanders, so go to his unit." ”

"Colonel Bere?!" When I said this name, Shamlih frowned and thought for a moment, then suddenly exclaimed in surprise: "I really didn't expect that we would be his subordinates again." It's great. (To be continued.) )