When this telegram was received, Kirillov and I, as well as Romanov, were travelling in a jeep that was only seven or eight kilometers away from Kafbas. After reading the telegram, I casually handed it to Kirillov beside me, and turned my head to look out the window. We thought that there was no road between the island and Kafbas, and that the jeep might not be long away, so we had to get out of the car and walk. Unexpectedly, because of the cold and freezing weather, the road that was difficult to pass has become very suitable for vehicles.

Looking at several trucks full of fighters in front of the jeep, I turned around with relief, reached out and patted the driver in front of me on the shoulder, and said to him: "Comrade driver, drive the car directly to Kafbas." ”

"Comrade Commander," Romanov, who was sitting in the front row, turned around and kindly reminded me: "Although our troops have occupied Kafbas, the enemy in the city may not have been completely cleared, and if you enter at this time, you may encounter danger." ”

"Don't worry, Comrade Deputy Commander." Although Romanov is still wearing civilian clothes, a few hours ago I sent a telegram to Vatutin, suggesting to him that Romanov, who is experienced in combat, be appointed as my deputy. Originally, I just had the intention of giving it a try, but I didn't expect him to readily agree, and in this way, Romanov became my deputy commander. Seeing that he had scruples about Kafbas at this moment, he comforted him and said: "Don't worry, although Godunov's new third regiment is small in number, it is very strong in combat, and it is easy to deal with two platoons of Germans." ”

"By the way, Comrade Deputy Commander, anyway, it will be some time before we reach Kafbas." Kirillov who just finished reading the telegram. At the time of handing the telegram to the Romanovs. Interested, he said, "Why don't you tell us about your guerrillas?" ”

Romanov took the telegram and looked at it only a few times. He handed it back to me, because there was so little content on it, and I could read it all at once. Hearing Kirillov say this, he nodded and said briskly: "Well, since the army commander and the commissar want to hear my story, then I will take this opportunity to tell it." Then General Romanov told us his story, "The first battle fought by my 172nd Division. It was carried out outside the city of Mogilev in Belarus. At that time, the command of the Western Front, led by Marshal Timoshenko, had to leave troops to block the enemy in order to move to the east bank of the Dnieper, so our division was chosen. When I left the headquarters after accepting the assignment, I saw that a colonel had also come to the headquarters to accept the mission. Guess who he is? ”

"Who is it? Comrade Deputy Commander. "The number of senior commanders I know is limited, and if I had to guess, I probably wouldn't be able to guess until dark, so I asked bluntly, "Should we know him?" ”

"Yes, Comrade Commander." Romanov nodded unexpectedly and replied: "If it's someone else." You may not know him, but the colonel's fame is too great. He was none other than Petrovsky, the commander of the 63rd Infantry Corps. ”

Lieutenant General Petrovsky, I almost jumped out of my seat when I heard the name mentioned by Romanov. At this moment, I realized that I had made a big mistake, I had always thought that General Petrovsky's troops, after crossing the Dnieper, were fighting the Germans in Ukraine, but who knew that it was actually in Belarus now. But I can't blame me, on the map of the Soviet army, Ukraine and Belarus are not marked as clearly as the maps of later generations, and mistakes are inevitable.

"Yes, General Petrovsky is famous." "As a result of his decisive decision to lead his troops to the rear of the enemy, recapturing Rogachev and Zhilobin, effectively pinning down the enemy's main forces," Kirillov said. Comrade Stalin, having learned of his heroic deeds and the results he had achieved, decisively announced his promotion from colonel to lieutenant general. Later, he was even appointed commander of the 21st Army, and if it had not been for his unfortunate death in the midst of the encirclement, he might have achieved more impressive results. ”

Romanov nodded, and continued: "At that time, we had only built simple fortifications outside the city of Mogilev, and the troops defending the city were several militia battalions composed of workers from various factories in addition to our division.

Since after the outbreak of the war, the Germans did not encounter any decent resistance, so the German troops attacking Mogilev behaved with great frenzy. On dozens of tanks in battle formation, the tankers could be seen peeking out of the open hatches. The three-wheeled motorcycles marching in the middle of the tanks, the motorcyclists with their guns on their backs, as if they were not fighting, but out on an outing. Even more arrogant was a radio truck following behind the first row of tanks, playing a march on a loudspeaker.

Seeing this, I prepared the artillery for firing, and when the German tanks were only two hundred meters from our forward positions, I decisively ordered the artillery to open fire. Our artillery was good, and they turned the radio truck into the sky on four wheels with one shot. The tankmen, who had been leaning out, retracted their tortoise shells when they saw the shells explode next to them, and after a moment of panic, they opened fire on us.

Due to the small number of anti-tank guns in our division, the enemy tanks quickly crossed our first line of trenches and rushed towards the positions behind. When I saw that some of the commanders and militiamen were panicking and abandoning their positions and running towards the second line of defense, I again gave the order to the forward commanders to blow up the enemy's tanks with Molotov cocktails. The chaos on the battlefield gradually subsided as one German tank after another crossed the trenches and was ignited with Molotov cocktails by our commanders and fighters.

During the 23 days of fighting outside Mogilev, our division pinned down part of the forces of the German 2nd tank group and inflicted heavy losses on the enemy. Of course, because the enemy was stronger than us, our division also suffered huge losses, and when the order was given to evacuate Mogilev, only more than 900 of the 11,000 men of the division remained, including the militia who had fought with us at the beginning. ”

"The casualties are so heavy." When Kirillov heard this, he said with emotion, and then asked with interest: "Comrade Deputy Commander, how did you get captured later?" ”

"At that time, not to mention our division, even the entire Western Front army fell into the encirclement of the German army." Romanov said helplessly: "Breaking through, it's easy to say, but it's not the same thing to do." There are Germans all around, and where are our superiors and allies, where can we break through?

One day, my troops withdrew to Ofruchi, on the territory of Ukraine, and met a large force of German troops. After a long battle, we were very short in personnel and equipment, and as a result, as soon as we exchanged fire with the Germans, we were separated by enemy tanks. I was also wounded in battle and fell into a coma, and when I came to my senses, I found myself in a prisoner-of-war camp with thousands of captured commanders and fighters.

My injuries were severe, and I had a high fever every day, and if it weren't for a few kind fighters who kept me cool down with wet towels at all times, I would have died long ago. Later, my injuries gradually improved, and I found that the Germans had to transfer a lot of the guards who were guarding us because of the tight fighting on the front. So I took advantage of this opportunity, gathered more than 200 fighters, took advantage of the night to tear down the sturdy barbed wire around the prisoner of war camp, escaped from the prisoner of war camp, and then opened a guerrilla attack in Ukraine. ”

"It's not easy, Comrade Romanov." After listening to his experience, Kirillov praised him from the bottom of his heart: "You have behaved very well, not only did you not compromise with the fascist bandits, but you even led more than 200 fighters to escape from the prisoner of war camp and formed a guerrilla detachment in the rear of the enemy that gave them a headache, effectively pinning down the enemy's forces. ”

To Kirillov's praise, Romanov replied with some embarrassment: "Comrade commissar, don't praise me like that, you must know that after all, I was captured by the Germans, and if I did not stay behind enemy lines to form a partisan army, even if I returned to the rear, I would either be sent to a military court or a correctional camp." ”

"Comrade Deputy Commander, don't worry, I will explain to the above when the time is right." I consider that I have also been captured, although not many people know about it, but after all, paper can't hold the fire, and if it is exposed, I don't know what kind of fate awaits me, so for the matter of Romanov, I will try my best to help him fight for a good result, so that for me, it is not a bad thing. "I believe that the superiors will have a comprehensive consideration of this matter, and the handling of you should not be as serious as you think."

Hearing me say this, Romanov breathed a sigh of relief and said with relief: "Comrade Commander, if it is really what you say, it is very good. (To be continued......)