After waiting for Adil to finish, Bandeleyev coughed lightly, and then said to me respectfully: "Comrade commander, I have two plans, do you want to hear them?" ”

"Please, Comrade Bandeleyev." I didn't expect that Bandeleyev would take the initiative to give me advice, and after being slightly stunned, he quickly returned to normal, and encouraged him in a friendly tone: "You must know that the task of attacking the airfield, I will definitely hand it over to your division." Now that you have a complete offensive plan, let's take a look at it and see if there's anything we need to improve. ”

Bandelleev pointed to the map and said to me: "Comrade Army Commander, the first plan, which you just mentioned, is to concentrate our division and the Gurdiev division and launch a fierce attack on the German anti-aircraft artillery positions on the west side of the Kuban, and once the breakthrough is completed, the troops will take advantage of the situation to pounce on Zaporosh and seize the city in one go; The second is to send an elite detachment to bypass the enemy's position and penetrate the German airfield when our two divisions take turns attacking the German position. As long as we seize the German airfield, then it is equivalent to cutting off Hitler's retreat, and when we launch a final attack on Zaporosh, Hitler and Manstein have only two choices: one is to lead their troops to retreat to the opposite side of the Dnieper; The other is to stay in the city as our captives. ”

I nodded noncommittally at the two proposals proposed by Bandeleyev, secretly comparing the advantages and disadvantages of the two proposals. After thinking about it for a while, I found that the two solutions have their own shortcomings. The first option, although sound, was just too much of a waste of time, and who knows how long it would take for our troops to capture the German artillery positions. And how long will it take to get to Zaporosh? Wait until we take the city. The daylilies are cold. Perhaps Hitler would have disappeared without a trace. The second option is a bit risky, there are too many troops to sneak attack the airport, and it is easy to expose our intentions in advance; There were fewer people going, and we could not quickly eliminate the defenders of the airfield, and as soon as the German troops in the city came out to meet them, our small detachment was in danger of being completely annihilated.

Without waiting for me to give Bantai Laiev a definite answer, Oberstein, who had gone to the telegraph room next door to send a message, returned. He didn't come back alone, he was followed by Lieutenant Lazumeyeva, the commander of the divisional communications company with whom I was familiar. I saw both of them in command at the same time. There was another ominous premonition in my heart. When the two of them came to a stop in front of me, I asked sternly, "Lieutenant Colonel Oberstein, what's wrong?" Why did Lieutenant Razumeyeva be called over as well? ”

The corners of Oberstein's mouth twitched, and then he handed me a telegram and said in a helpless tone: "Comrade commander, this is a call back from the headquarters of the front. They also did not believe that Hitler would appear in Zaporos at this time, and ordered our troops to temporarily suspend a military operation and stay where they were to cover the left flank of friendly troops, in case the German armored forces deployed in the Tokmak area would storm the flank of our troops. ”

When I heard that my report was being questioned, my blood welled up in my head. I was so angry that I slapped the table hard. I wanted to scold these arrogant superiors, but I saw that I was surrounded by my own subordinates. He swallowed the words back again, and could only sit in his place and sulk.

"Comrade Oshanina," after a while, I heard Kirillov's voice ringing in my ears and quickly turned my head to look at him. When Kirillov saw that I had noticed him, he continued: "What are you going to do next?" Did you follow the instructions of your superiors and simply secure the flanks of friendly forces, or did you have another plan? ”

I did not answer Kirillov's words, but looked up at Oberstein, who was standing in front of me. It stands to reason that Oberstein was only ordered to send a telegram to the communication room next door, and no matter how his superiors replied, he would just come back alone, and he would not be able to bring the commander of the communications company with him. He must have had something in mind when he did this, and I had to figure out what was going on. So I asked: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I would like to ask you, why did you think of calling Lieutenant Razumeyeva over as well?" ”

"Comrade Commander, I beg your pardon." Oberstein smiled and said to me: "As far as I know about you, in the face of such a good fighter, no matter what your superiors say, you will definitely not give up lightly." Seeing that I nodded in agreement with his statement, he continued, "Since neither the army group nor the front army command believes your report, then we can report to the higher-level chiefs." ”

Oberstein's words struck me, yes, Khalidonov and Vatutin, who did not believe my report, because they both did not know me. If I could report this information to a senior commander I am familiar with, it would be a different story. Thinking of this, I stood up, walked up to Razumeyeva, reached out and grabbed her arms, and asked softly: "Lieutenant, can you still get in touch with Marshal Zhukov's radio?" ”

"Yes, Comrade Commander." Razumeyeva replied respectfully: "I still have a communication channel with the Marshal of the Soviet Union, which allows me to send the latest information to the Marshal command. ”

"In that case, Comrade Lieutenant," I said with two gentle strokes of my hands on her arm, urging her to "go back to the telegraph room at once, and send Marshal Zhukov another copy of the information we have obtained." ”

"Please rest assured, Comrade Commander, I promise to complete the task." Razumeyeva raised her hand and saluted me, then turned to leave. And the chief of staff of the division, Ilya, in order to grasp the situation in time, also followed Razumeyeva out of the command.

After the two of us left, the rest of us sat at the table, no one spoke, all silently thinking about our own thoughts. At this moment, I felt a small worm flying around in front of my left eye, and I raised my hand to chase it away while whispering a curse.

Hearing my scolding, Kirillov hurriedly asked with concern: "Comrade Oshanina, what's wrong?" ”

"Nothing, Comrade Commissar." As I continued to wave my hand to chase away the mosquitoes flying in front of my left eye, I replied, "There's a pesky mosquito that keeps flying around in front of me." ”

"Mosquitoes?!" Hearing me say this, Kirillov's face was surprised. Surprised, he asked, "Oh my God." This mosquito is so tenacious. The temperature of minus 20 degrees Celsius did not freeze it to death. ”

Oberstan, who saw me waving, leaned his head over and tried to help me get rid of the pesky mosquitoes. But after looking at it for a while, he asked me in surprise: "Comrade commander, I didn't see any mosquitoes?" ”

"It's been flying around in front of my eyes, don't you see?" I was just about to point them out where the damn mosquitoes were, the mosquitoes that kept flying around in front of my eyes. There was no trace of him.

"Comrade Army Commander," Bandeleyev asked me again on his own initiative, seeing that I had stopped repelling mosquitoes, "if Comrade Marshal of the Soviet Union agrees to our request, then which option should we use against the German airfield?" ”

"Comrade Bandeleyev, your two proposals are very well conceived, but they are still very imperfect." I politely said to Pandeleyev: "The first plan has taken too long, and it is not always possible to achieve the desired results; The second option was too risky, if the team that attacked the airfield could not capture the airfield in the shortest possible time, they would risk being besieged by superior German troops who had arrived from the city to reinforce them. ”

Bandeleyev waited for me to finish. He cautiously asked, "Then Comrade Commander, do you have any good plans?" ”

"I have a plan. Let's talk about it. "Personally, I prefer to outwit rather than storm the enemy's airfield, so the plan I came up with is to focus on a sneak attack: "I plan to send a unit disguised as a German unit to attack the enemy's airfield." Anyway, in the past few days of fighting, we have captured a lot of supplies from the German army, among which they should have a lot of military uniforms, which can be used just in handy. ”

"Comrade Commander, is this necessary?" As for my plan, Bandeleyev first expressed his opposition, "The number of German troops at the airfield is limited, as long as we send a battalion or so of troops, coupled with a tank company, we can easily seize the airfield, so why bother to disguise ourselves and make a sneak attack?" ”

To Bandeleyev's doubts, I patiently explained to him: "Comrade division commander, although the number of defenders of the airfield is not large, their combat effectiveness should not be underestimated. You know, our scouts are not weak in combat, but after an encounter with the defenders of the airport, in the last twenty or so commanders, only Sergeant Adil and another soldier escaped. If we were to carry out a strong attack, if we could not take the airfield in the shortest possible time, our troops would be in an awkward position when German reinforcements swarmed from the city. It is unknown how many people will come back alive. ”

Hearing my concern that the troops attacking the airfield might be surrounded by superior German forces because they would not be able to capture it in a short time, Bandeleyev fell silent.

Seeing that Bandeleyev did not speak, Oberstein hurriedly came out of the round: "Comrade commander, which unit do you plan to let carry out the sneak attack?" You must know that Godunov's troops, which were still dragged by the Germans near Tokmak, could not be drawn out in a short time. ”

"Comrade Political Commissar, what is your opinion?" Before answering Oberstein's question, I habitually turned my head and asked Kirillov: "Which unit do you think is suitable for this task?" ”

When Kirillov saw that I had given him the difficult question, he smiled slightly, and then replied: "Comrade commander, at present, the combat effectiveness of the army guard battalion is good, and I will draw two companies from it, and another company from the reconnaissance battalion to form a mixed battalion to carry out this sneak attack mission." ”

When I heard Kirillov say this, I nodded with satisfaction, and then added: "The strength of the guard battalion and the reconnaissance battalion alone may be a little weaker, and I will build two more companies from the Gurtiev division." Add to this the tank company that cooperates with the operation, and the capture of the enemy's airfield is not much of a problem. ”

"I agree." As soon as I finished speaking, Kirillov promptly expressed his support: "I believe that with such a force, there will be no problem in seizing an airfield guarded by only two companies of Germans. Even if we can't take the airfield, just blow up the runway and destroy all the planes in the airfield, then Hitler will not be able to fly. He had no third way but to obediently flee to the other side of the Dnieper, or to stay in the city as our captives. ”

After that, Kirillov took action, picked up the phone on the table, dialed the corps command, and conveyed my order to the chief of staff of Vitkov, telling him to immediately come to the Kuban by truck after the troops were withdrawn.

As soon as Kirillov's call was over, Ilya hurried in and reported to me with an excited face: "Comrade Army Commander, the call back from Comrade Marshal of the Soviet Union has arrived. With that, he handed me a telegram.

I took the telegram and took a quick look at it. Zhukov really trusted me, and not only did he believe what I reported to him, but he also offered that if the headquarters of the army group and the front army did not agree to my attack, I could act cheaply, and if something went wrong, he would do everything in his power.

When I saw Zhukov's telegram, my heart was completely steady. I stood up and loudly announced to the commanders present: "Comrades, Marshal Zhukov's telegram said that we can designate the necessary battle plan according to the enemy's situation on the battlefield, so I now officially announce that I will personally command the operation of the surprise attack on the German airfield. ”

"What?" My words startled everyone, and Kirillov was the first to speak: "Comrade Oshanina, this operation is too dangerous, and you, as the commander of the first army, cannot put yourself in danger!" Otherwise, leave this mission to the commander of the regiment you trust in the Bandeleyev Division, such as Lieutenant Colonel Sederikov, Lieutenant Colonel Oleg or Gaidar, anyway, as a corps commander, you can't take risks lightly. ”

"Yes, Commissar Kirillov is right." Hearing Kirillov say this, the others also said: "This sneak attack on the airport, you can send other people, you can't take risks." ”

"Alright, stop fighting!" I was afraid that they would continue to make such a fuss and not know when it would end, so I decisively interrupted them and used my authority to suppress their dissenting opinions: "You are all old soldiers, don't you know that the orders of your superiors can only be carried out and are not allowed to be discussed?" ”

Seeing me say this, several people had to reluctantly say: "Okay, since that's the case, let's obey the order!" (To be continued......)