Burning Moscow

The meeting I arranged was held at nine in the morning. A few minutes before Akhromeyev came to my room, he reported to me: "Comrade Commander, almost all the commanders for the meeting are here. You can go to the headquarters."

I can tell from his words that not everyone has arrived, at least so far, there are still absents. So I frowned and asked, "Major, who hasn't arrived yet?"

"General Sivakov." Akhromeyev reported respectfully: "Except for him, all the commanders who have been notified have arrived."

I heard that only Sivakov was absent, and my heart felt more at ease. I stood up and waved at Akhromeyev, and said, "Let’s go, Major, let’s go to the headquarters." After that, I walked quickly. I walked out of the room, and Akhromeyev, who was following me, closed the door.

The room I live in is on the third floor, and the headquarters is on the second floor. As soon as I descended the stairs to the second floor, I saw three soldiers walking slowly in front of the corridor. The three people lined up just blocked the way.

I walked behind the three of them and coughed heavily, intending to scold them severely when they turned around. When the three of them turned around, I saw a familiar face. The person standing in the middle was Sivakov whom Akhromeyev had just mentioned to me. His face looked extremely pale under the bright lights of the corridor. When he saw me standing in front of him, he immediately squeezed a smile on his bloodless face: "Hello, Comrade Commander, I didn't expect to see you here."

"How is your injury?" I asked with concern.

"It's okay," Sivakov said pretendingly and relaxedly: "In the car accident, seven ribs were broken, but they are all grown now. The military doctor said that as long as you lie in bed and rest for a week, you will be completely Rehabilitation."

"Major, come and help me." I greeted Akhromeyev, and replaced the two commanders who had supported Sivakov. We both supported Sivakov from left to right. Headquarters go.

A few steps away from the headquarters, I heard Tawart Kiraze’s loud voice from the room: "...This music is really exciting. I tell you, I remember the first time I heard the commanders of the song and dance troupe. When we sang "Holy War", we felt blood boiled. If there were a hundred Germans standing in front of me at that time, I dared to rush forward and fight them hard...

Sivakov heard Tavart Kiradze's voice and what he said, and he glanced at me in surprise. I heard the sound of music faintly coming from the headquarters, and I knew that in the streets outside, tweeters had been installed to play songs in accordance with the arrangement of Kirilov and I, in order to inspire the soldiers and civilians who participated in voluntary labor on the ruins. Our labor enthusiasm.

Seeing Sivakov with a questioning gaze, I said in a relaxed tone: "Comrade General, you must have heard the tweeters on the street outside on your way here, and various songs are playing, right? We want to pass In this way, the work enthusiasm of the soldiers and civilians participating in voluntary labor is mobilized."

"It turned out to be like this." After listening to my explanation, Sivakov nodded slightly, and said in agreement: "Comrade Commander, I think this works well. I heard songs played on the speakers on the road. At that time, there was also a feeling of enthusiasm. Just like General Tawart Kiraze said, as long as there are Germans in front of us, not only what kind of troops they have, we will rush forward without hesitation."

Seeing Akhromeye and I assist Sivakov into the headquarters, the messy room suddenly became quiet. Major General Baksov and Colonel Babahin quickly got up from their seats, took the commander of their army from Akhromeyev and I, and carefully helped him to sit in their seats.

After I sat down in my seat, I looked around and saw Kistyakov sitting across from me. Kirilov, Major General Bere, and the commanders of the 22nd Guards Infantry Corps were sitting there. On the right side of the table; on the left are the commanders of Bezikov, Povsky, and the Guards Infantry Corps at all levels.

Seeing that everyone was in place, I announced in public: "Since everyone is here, then we will have a formal meeting." Then I turned to look at Bezikov and said, "First of all, by the Chief of Staff. Colonel Cove, here to announce to everyone the content of this temporary meeting held today."

Bezikov nodded, then stood up, and after looking around, he said: "Comrades commanders, there is an important thing to gather everyone here today. I want to announce to everyone: because our troops are in the early stage. The attrition was more serious in the battles, so the superiors plan to replenish our troops and weapons and ammunition. The specific supplements are as follows: the soldiers are from 45,000 to 50,000, half of which are soldiers who have been discharged from the original army groups;...new assaults 30,000 rifles... 6,000 light machine guns... 1,000 heavy machine guns... all kinds of mortars..."

When Bezikov first started speaking, I noticed that some of the commanders were still absent-minded, but when Bezikov announced the soldiers and weapons and equipment that their superiors were about to provide to our army, they all sat upright. , Put his hands on the table, tilted his head and stared at Bezikov and the document in his hand.

Due to the absence of the two heads of the flight regiment, all Bezikov deliberately missed the fact that the superior had equipped us with two flight regiments when reading the documents aloud.

I waited for Bezikov to finish reading, put my elbows on the table, crossed my hands at the position of my chin, and asked everyone, "What do you think about the superior supply plan? You can talk about it."

"Comrade Commander, may I speak?" Major General Berei, the acting commander of the Fifth Guards Tank Army, who stood up first, looked at me sideways and asked respectfully: "Can I talk about the tank army? The future?"

"Please speak up, Comrade General." Bie Lei stood up and prepared to speak. I wouldn't want to discourage his enthusiasm at this time, so I nodded at him and said politely: "I just want to hear your opinion. It."

"Our tank army currently has five tank brigades and one motorized infantry regiment. Two of them are friendly tank brigades. However, after repeated battles, the organization is incomplete." Bie Lei looked at me and said cautiously: "Since the superior has added one hundred and eighty tanks for us, I plan to restore the original 82nd and 101st tank brigades on the basis of the friendly tank brigade. The restored tank brigade will be the same as the current guard tanks. 20. Like the 21st and 22nd brigade, each brigade has 90 tanks, 30 armored vehicles, and various combat vehicles... I wonder what you think?"

"No problem." I readily agreed to Biele's proposal. Then he asked: "Who else wants to speak?"

"Let me just say a few words." Just after Bere sat down, Tavart Kiradze stood up, and he said with a grin: "Comrade Commander, you also know that our guards of the First Guard are defending the daycare. Mir’s battle suffered serious losses. Almost every division was reduced by more than half. Among them, the 51st Guards Division of Colonel Sederikov had a staggering two-thirds reduction. I strongly recommend this. The second soldier added that priority should be given to our Guards Infantry Corps."

"Your army's divisions have been downsizing seriously, isn't our downsizing?" As soon as Tavart Kiradze's words fell, Sivakov retorted. I saw him trying to stand up, but just as he leaned forward, he grinned in pain and sweated profusely. There was no way, he could only sit in his position and argue with Tavart Kiradze: "Except for the 71st Guards Division’s casualties, our army only suffered one-third of the casualties, and the 67th, 77th, and 90th Guards Divisions also accounted for more than half. If we can’t be supplemented as soon as possible. , I am worried that it will be difficult for our troops to form combat effectiveness before the next battle."

"General Sivakov," Tawart Kiradze interrupted him: "You tell me, in the entire army group, is your army high in combat effectiveness, or is my army high in combat effectiveness?"

Although Tavart Kiradze put forward the hypothesis in a calm tone, he still angered Sivakov. He raised his voice and said, "Does this still need to be said? Of course, our army’s combat effectiveness is higher. You must know that we are four guards divisions, and only two of your three divisions are guards divisions. If the group army wants In the new battle, the main force must be our army..."

Tavart Kiradze panted heavily and stared at Sivakov with discordant eyes. Seeing the two men at war, when I was hesitating whether to come out and interrupt them, a sharp siren suddenly sounded outside. As soon as the sirens sounded for a few seconds, Kistyakov, who was sitting across from me, stood up abruptly and said loudly: "Air raid sirens, all commanders go to the basement immediately."

As he shouted, almost all the commanders got up from their seats, turned and prepared to run outside. While sitting firmly in my seat, I slapped the table abruptly, and then resisted the pain from the palm of my hand, and said to everyone, "What is it? Don’t forget your identity, everyone. I sit down and continue the meeting."

"But, Comrade Commander." The instigator Kistyakov said to me with a flustered expression: "If this place is bombed by enemy planes, the command system of our troops may be paralyzed. So I suggest that we still immediately Go to the basement."

"Comrade Deputy Commander, please stay calm." To Kistyakov's panic, I said with a bit of dissatisfaction: "The enemy's current strength can't be compared to the previous one. Even if they want to bomb our city, the fighters they have deployed It's also in a small formation. The air defense forces in our city are enough to clean them up." At this point, I turned my head and looked at Akhromeyev standing aside, and told him, "Major, you go to the air defense headquarters. A phone call and ask what is going on?"

"Yes!" Akhromeyev promised and followed my order to call the air defense command.

The air raid siren went off for less than a minute before it came to an abrupt end. The commanders sitting in the room all showed surprised expressions. I heard them asking each other in low voices: "What's the matter? Why did the air raid alert stop? Could it be that the enemy plane just passed by us and flew towards? Other directions?"

"What's going on?" Kirilov asked me quietly, "Lida, do you know why the alarm stopped suddenly?"

I shook my head and said softly: "Comrade Military Commissioner, I don't know what happened. But it doesn't matter, we will know the truth when Major Akhromeyev returns from the phone."

After Akhromeyev finished the phone call, he came to my side, and when he leaned down to report to me in a low voice, I raised his hand to stop it. I looked up at him and said, "Major, if you have anything, just report it out loud so that all commanders can hear it."

After hearing my order, Akhromeyev stepped back, straightened his body, and reported to me clearly: "Comrade Commander, I just called and asked the people in the air defense command. They said they were wrong. Now, we regard our fighter planes as enemy planes. Moreover, the tower has also received a notification from Colonel Bovyshenko and Lieutenant Colonel Bliss, saying that the formation of fighter planes led by them will use a low-altitude approach to pass through Smolen. Over the skies, please pay attention to the identification of the air defense forces, and do not say that your own aircraft has hit.

"Comrade Commander," Tavart Kiradze asked as soon as Akhromeyev finished speaking, "What the **** is going on? What kind of plane is flying at low altitude? It confused me. ."

As soon as his voice fell, a group of people echoed: "Yes, Comrade Commander, what is going on? We are all confused by you."

"That's it. In order to strengthen the strength of our group army~www.wuxiaspot.com~ I saw that everyone was eager to know the truth, so I announced to them: "We have sent two flying regiments specifically, and they just In the offensive transition to enter the airport north of the city. "

"Comrades, come and see." With the roar of aircraft engines in the air, Tavart Kiradze got up and left his seat, came to the window, and leaned his whole body over the open mouth. Looking up at the sky, he proclaimed triumphantly: "Our plane is here."

At this time, the engine sound from the sky became clearer and clearer. At this moment, there is no other sound like this roar that usually sounds like noise, which excites the commanders who are meeting here. , They got up from their seats one after another and rushed to the open window.

I sat in my seat and saw our army fighter planes appear in the air. The flight regiment is composed of four aircraft, with three groups each as a team, flying over Smolensk at an ultra-low altitude. The people who were busy on the ruins suddenly appeared in the sky with our fighter plane formation, flying through the field from above the city at a very low altitude, and couldn't help but cheer.

"Comrades," Bezikov pretended to sternly shouted to everyone after seeing the plane disappear from the sky over Smolensk: "Let's continue the meeting and continue to discuss how to distribute soldiers, weapons and ammunition." (To be continued.)