The ground forces of the Germans were not close to Kyiv, so it was their air forces that rushed to retaliate first. Although our air force stationed at the airfield in the northern suburbs made a timely sortie and engaged in a fight with enemy aircraft in the air. Although they managed to shoot down seven and damage two, lose five of their own, and successfully drive away enemy planes, a number of bombs still fell in the city, and more than a dozen of them landed near the headquarters and exploded, and gray smoke covered the wide streets.

Since our fighters were fighting with enemy planes in the air, Rebalko and I did not move to the basement, but remained in the original headquarters, and according to the latest information, the troops who had newly entered the city were transferred to the area that needed to be defended.

By noon, the units of the 12th Tank Army and the 321st Infantry Division had all arrived in Kiev and were assigned to new defensive strips. The 15th Army, on the other hand, had not yet fully resumed its policy of command due to the death of its commander, so for the sake of safety, Rybalko left them on the left bank of the Dnieper, holding on to the cities occupied by our troops, as well as protecting the newly opened lines of communication.

We were having lunch with Vitkov, who had just arrived at the headquarters, when the phone rang on the table. Major Pugachev came over and picked up the microphone, and after listening to it for a while, he covered the microphone and reported to me: "Comrade commander, the officer on duty at the airport reported that a transport plane flying from Moscow landed at the airport, and when it came, there were two fighter escorts. ”

When I heard Pugachev's report, my first reaction was: Could it be that some big man is coming? Hurriedly stood up and asked nervously, "Did the superior send some commander?" ”

Pugachev shook his head and replied: "Not a big man." It was a liaison officer sent by Comrade Marshal. Say there is an important order to be handed over to you. "After the debriefing. He immediately asked, "Do you need me to send someone to the airport to give orders?" ”

If I think about sending someone to the airport, it will take at least an hour to come and go. I guess this order should be very important, otherwise Zhukov would not have sent us a telegram, but would have sent a liaison officer specifically to deliver the letter. With this in mind, I shook my head and ordered Pugachev: "Major. Have someone from the airport send someone to get that liaison officer here. ”

"Yes!!" Pugachev agreed, let go of the hand covering the microphone, and said to the other party: "The commander has an order for you to send someone to escort the liaison officer to the command headquarters." Remember, make sure the liaison officer is safe. ”

Seeing that Pugachev had finished making a call, Kirillov curiously said: "Comrade Marshal did not even send a telegram, but specially sent a liaison officer to deliver the order." What kind of command would this be? ”

After waiting for Kirillov to finish, Rybalko also wondered: "Comrade Marshal just sent us a telegram in the morning, if there is anything important. He should have said it together. Why would we send a liaison officer to give us an order at such a time? ”

I didn't speak. Instead, they turned their gaze to Vitkov to hear what he had to say. Vitkov rested his elbow on the table, pinched his chin with his hand, and said thoughtfully: "Maybe Comrade Marshal saw that we had succeeded in capturing Kyiv and felt that we could continue to expand the results of the battle, so he set new targets for us to attack?" ”

I saw that everyone expressed their opinions, and I couldn't help but say: "We have just taken Kyiv, and the first task at the moment is to consolidate our existing defensive line and prevent a possible counterattack by the German army." It stands to reason that the superiors will not assign us new tasks at such a time. ”

Unexpectedly, after listening to my words, Rybalko waved his hand and said: "This is completely possible, after all, we have just finished the battle of Kyiv, and it is completely necessary to launch a new campaign while the enemy has not come to his senses." ”

In my mind, the concept of a campaign is hundreds of thousands of troops, fighting for a month or two. And we only fought a few battles with the Germans in a small area, is this also a battle? With this question in mind, I asked tentatively, "General Rybalko, is the battle we just ended a battle also a battle?" ”

Rebalko nodded vigorously and said affirmatively: "That's right, although we did not invest many troops this time, and the scale of the battle we fought was not large, but the successful capture of Kyiv was a great victory." Such a battle is not a battle, so what kind of battle can be considered a battle? ”

Although what Rybalko said was still somewhat different from my understanding, I didn't ask any more, but nodded as if I didn't understand, indicating that I understood. Then, in time, I diverted the topic: "General Rybalko, do you see that now the 27th Guards Infantry Division of Major General Glebov is still stationed in Bruvaria, do you need to transfer them over to strengthen the defenses of Kyiv?" ”

After staring at the map for a while, Rebalko shook his head and said, "Comrade Commander, I don't think there's any need for this. If Major General Glebov's troops were in Bruvarian, they could help us resist the German offensive from the east. If they are transferred to Kyiv, then our strategic depth will be gone, and the enemy will be able to rush under the city of Kyiv at once, or even rush into the city to fight with us in street battles, and then we will be passive. ”

In response to this point of view of Rybalko, Vitkov promptly expressed his support. Seeing that the two had the same opinion, I also stared at the map for a while, and felt that once Manstein's troops got rid of the contact of the Voronezh Front, it was entirely possible to attack Kyiv from the east, and Bruvalli, which was held by the 27th Guards Division, would become the eastern barrier of Kyiv. Therefore, I did not hold my own point, but said approvingly: "You are right, Comrade General, that we must leave enough troops at Bruvarius to resist an attack that might come from the east. In that case, let the 22nd Guards Division stay in Bruvaria. ”

Then we studied how to deploy our forces in the occupied area, so much so that the liaison officer who arrived from the airport walked into the headquarters and I didn't notice it in time.

Pugachev walked up to me and reminded in a low voice: "Comrade commander, the liaison officer has arrived." ”

I was looking at the defense zone that Rybalko had divided for the 79th Guards Rifle Division, and when I heard Pugachev's words, I didn't react for a while. Instead, he casually asked, "Liaison officer." What liaison officer? The words just came out. I suddenly remembered the liaison officer sent by Zhukov, and quickly looked up and asked him, "Where is the liaison officer?" ”

Pugachev pouted to the side, and I looked in the direction he had indicated, and saw a major of medium stature, standing quietly at the other end of the conference table.

"Please come here, Comrade Major." I said politely to the major opposite.

The Major walked up to me with neat steps and raised his hand in salute. Report to me: "Hello, General Oshanina. I am a liaison officer sent by Marshal Zhukov and have been ordered to deliver a confidential letter to you. With that, he took out a tightly sealed envelope from the briefcase he was carrying and handed it to me.

I took the envelope, pulled out the letterhead and looked at it. After reading it, I couldn't help but wonder: "What the hell is going on, why did Zhukov ask me to rush back to Moscow immediately?" Doesn't he know that we have just liberated Kyiv and that there is still a lot to do next? How can I leave my troops behind at such a time and go back to Moscow? ”

Kirillov, who was next to him, was silent when he saw that I had read the order. I couldn't help but ask with concern: "Lida, I don't know what kind of order Comrade Marshal gave you?" ”

It occurred to me that there was no need to keep this secret secret from the few of them. Bian casually handed him the letterhead, and at the same time said to Rybalko and Vitkov: "Comrade Marshal orders me to immediately transfer the command of the troops to General Rybalko, and then return to Moscow with the liaison officer who has come to deliver the secret documents." ”

My words surprised everyone. Pugachev was standing not far from the liaison officer, and I heard him ask in a low voice: "Major, do you know why Comrade Commander was summoned back to Moscow?" ”

The liaison officer shrugged his shoulders and said helplessly: "I'm sorry, Comrade Major, I was only ordered to deliver a letter to Comrade General, and I don't know anything about what is written in the letter. ”

After waiting for Kirillov to read the letterhead, Rebalko immediately took it and looked at it carefully. After reading it, he said with a serious expression: "Comrade Oshanina, Marshal Zhukov in this letter only asked you to transfer the command of the troops to me, but did not explain the reason for calling you back to Moscow at all. I suppose that this order was given by the Supreme Commander himself, and that Comrade Marshal merely conveyed the order. ”

I think Rebalco's analysis makes a lot of sense. If Zhukov were to summon me back to Moscow, he would have to send a telegram instead of sending someone personally to deliver a letter. Thinking of this, I turned to the liaison officer and asked, "Comrade Major, am I going back to Moscow alone?" ”

After listening to my question, the liaison officer first looked at the people who were focused on him, and then replied: "You are the only commander who has been recalled to Moscow, but you can go back with a few guards, such as Captain Yushchenko." ”

Hearing the liaison officer mention Yushchenko's name, and even the title of his military rank, which was still the original rank of captain, I knew more in my heart that the person who gave this order might really be someone of higher rank than Zhukov.

"Major, when can we go?" I asked at the major.

The liaison officer replied with a blank face: "Comrade General, I have been instructed to escort you back to Moscow by plane after you have completed the formalities for the transfer of command. ”

After listening to the liaison officer's words, I turned my head and said to Rebalco, who was standing next to me, "Pavel. Semenovich, we don't have time to pay too much attention to the situation, since several commanders of the campaign cluster are here, then let's carry out the ceremony of handing over the command of the troops. ”

As I spoke, I picked up a red and blue pencil on the table and wrote on the corner of the map: "Hand over the command of the Dnieper Battle Cluster." I then wrote the date on the back, signed my name, and pushed the map in front of Rebalco.

Without saying a word, Rebalko took the pencil in my hand and, in the other corner of the map, skillfully wrote "Pavel. Semenovich. Rebalko took command of the Dnieper campaign cluster. ”

Seeing that Rybalko had finished signing, I looked at my watch, and then said to Kirillov and Vitkov: "Commissar, chief of staff, from now on, you will be under the command of General Rybalko. ”

As soon as I finished speaking, Kirillov stepped forward and grabbed my hand, shook it vigorously, and said with concern: "Lida, I wish you a safe journey, and I hope we can see each other again soon." ”

"Comrade commander, there will be a period later." As soon as Vitkov and Kirillov let go of my hand, he immediately extended his hand to me as well.

"And me, Comrade Commander." Not to be outdone, Pugachev said. "Please take care of your health, we hope that you will come back as soon as possible and continue to direct us to teach the Germans a hard lesson."

After shaking hands with several commanders, I went to shake hands with the staff officers and communications officers sitting next to me. When I was done with all this, I shook my head at the liaison officer and said, "Let's go, Comrade Major." ”

The jeep in which Yushchenko and I were traveling drove all the way to the door of the transport plane parked in the middle of the airport. But when I got out of the car, the driver turned his head and said, "Comrade commander, I wish you a smooth journey, and I hope to see you return to the army as soon as possible." ”

I smiled and nodded at the driver, turned around and walked to the plane, and followed the gangway to the plane.

After flying in the air for more than an hour, the plane landed at a military airfield on the south side of Moscow. Before the plane landed, I looked out the porthole at the vast forest as far as the eye could see, turned to the liaison officer and asked loudly, "Major, the location of this airport seems to be very remote." ”

"Yes, Comrade General." Because the noise in the cabin was too loud, the liaison officer had to shout at the top of his voice: "In order to avoid the bombing of our airfield by enemy aircraft, we have built a lot of such temporary airfields in the forest. ”

"Will someone pick us up when the plane lands later?" Feeling that the landing gear of the plane was lowered, I asked again aloud.

The liaison officer shook his head and replied: "No one answers, Comrade General." I received an order to take you out of Kiev and send you directly to Marshal Zhukov's command. ”

With little effort, our plane landed safely at the airstrip. The liaison officer led me to a car parked near the runway, opened the door, and invited me to get in. I glanced back at Yushchenko, who was following behind, and at several guards, and asked the liaison officer, "What about them?" ”

The liaison officer glanced back and replied, "Please rest assured, Comrade General, there will be a car to take them to the city later." Please get in the car, it is estimated that Comrade Marshal is in a hurry. ”

Hearing what the liaison officer said, I stopped checking, nodded, and sat in the back of the car. After closing the door, the liaison officer went around from the rear to the other end, opened the door and sat in the co-pilot's seat, and instructed the driver: "Drive!" (To be continued......)