Burning Moscow

I just put down the phone and was about to talk, Colonel Xiaolov could not wait to ask first: "Comrade commander, what did the commander of the group army say on the phone?"

Faced with such impolite questioning by Xiaolov, I felt a little uncomfortable. I was about to say a few words, but saw that the rest of the regiment leaders and political commissars were all accustomed to it. I immediately realized that Colonel Xiaolov might be. This kind of impatient character did not deliberately cause trouble with me. Thinking about it this way, I dispelled the idea of ​​criticizing him, and simply repeated what General Kolovnikov said on the phone.

After hearing what I said, Sholov immediately became excited. He shook his fist vigorously and said loudly, "It's really great. If the commander of the group army attends the celebration meeting tomorrow, it will definitely encourage me greatly. Morale of the army."

As soon as Sholof’s words fell, Gagarin, the regiment’s political commissar, immediately continued: “Yes, if our soldiers knew that the commanders of the group army would come to give them awards and honors in person, their morale would definitely be boosted.”

The other group leaders and political commissars were not to be outdone, and they all agreed.

Seeing that everyone's reaction was so strong, Boroda smiled and asked me: "Comrade Commander, in tomorrow's celebration meeting, which troops do you plan to participate in?"

As soon as Boroda's words were uttered, the room suddenly became quiet, and everyone's eyes fell on me. Although everyone knows that there will be a celebration meeting tomorrow morning, the decision-making power is in my hands if those troops participate.

It really makes me a little uncomfortable to make me make a decision that no one can offend in full view. I lowered my head for a moment, then raised my head. Said: "Now I announce the list of troops participating in the celebration meeting tomorrow." I turned my eyes to Xiaolov and Gagarin. Then he said: "The celebration meeting will start at 7 o'clock tomorrow morning. The first troops to participate in the meeting are the Caucasus and Boris battalions of Colonel Sholov. In this battle, their outstanding performance is a well-deserved collective of heroes. . Let all the commanders and fighters of these two battalions participate in the celebration ceremony, don’t you have any opinions?” My next sentence is to ask everyone present.

"No opinion!" Colonel Sholov replied before the others could speak. His words immediately caused a burst of kind laughter. Gagarin pulled the corner of his clothes quietly, and reminded him in a low voice: "Comrade Commander, don't be too excited, please stay calm." Xiaolov raised his hand and touched the back of his head, and chuckled embarrassedly. A few times.

I went on and said: "The Peterel regiment drew a company from each of the two battalions that participated in the war to participate in the convention. By the way," I paused and reminded him specifically: "That man captured the German army. Corporal Yefim of the tank, he won the first-class merit from the division. He must not be absent by then!"

Lieutenant Colonel Peterel replied loudly: "Please rest assured, teacher, I promise to complete the task you assigned."

At last. I turned my gaze to Major Yatzenuk and Zoro Tussin, and when I saw me looking at them, both of them bowed their heads in shame. Before the start of the battle, Major Yatzenuk, who had no idea about the situation, hesitated to transfer the troops who served as the reserve team to the division headquarters. Later, under my repeated supervision, he sent it reluctantly. Two battalions come over.

When the counterattack began, the Peterre regiment, also a reserve team, had already rushed from the village to the second line of defense, while their troops were still wrestling in the village. As a result, the Peter Regiment seized a German tank, but they did not even seize a rifle or a bayonet. Now that our army has seen a big victory, they are ready to claim credit, and they want to share the credit again. This can be seen from the number of applications they submitted for credit.

According to my thoughts, when the congress will be held tomorrow morning, they will be excluded from the delegation, and no one is allowed to attend the congress. But seeing the shame and embarrassment of the two men, I couldn’t help but feel softened. So I hesitated and said to them: "Major Yatzenuk, the new political commissar of Zorotu, draw 100 people from your regiment. Come out, and you two will personally lead the team to participate in the conference."

Hearing my order, the two of them froze for a moment, then their eyes lit up, and they stepped up to the ground together, raised their hands to salute me, and said in unison: "Thank you, comrade teacher, we must be there on time."

At this moment, I suddenly found that there was one missing person in the house, and quickly asked Boroda: "Comrade Chief of Staff, why didn't Colonel Donskoy of the Tank Regiment come?"

After hearing my question, Xiaolov looked around and saw that no one took the initiative to answer my question. He hurriedly stepped forward and reported respectfully: "Comrade Commander, I was on the way to the headquarters just now. Colonel Skoy is now. One of his capable men was seriously injured in today's battle. He went to visit him in the infirmary."

"What's the matter?" When I asked this, my eyes didn't look at Sholof, but at Boroda who was standing at the table.

Boroda coughed and replied: "Comrade commander, this is the case. The wounded commander was the lieutenant commander of the tank company. The troops he commanded were deployed on the second line of defense today, when they were comrades in the first line of defense. When providing fire support, it attracted the attention of the German tanks. During the counter-fire of the tank guns, our tank was hit by a shell. Two of the soldiers died on the spot. The lieutenant was seriously injured and was killed by a survivor. The tanker lifted out of the burning tank. This was also the only tank that our army was destroyed by the enemy during the battle."

Hearing that Donskoy’s old subordinate was injured, I quickly asked with concern: "How is the injury of this lieutenant?"

Boroda did not speak, but looked at Sholof. I turned my gaze to Sholov and repeated the question again: "Col. Sholov, do you know the injuries of this tank soldier?"

Xiaolov shook his head, sighed and said, "Oh! 80% of his body was burned, and he was just sent to the medical clinic. The military doctor who was in charge of treating him gave him a critical illness notice, saying that he only had a few hours to live. The reason why Colonel Donskoy did not show up here, I guess, might be that he wanted to accompany his old men through the last part of the road."

After Sholov had finished speaking, the room fell into silence. Although everyone knows that in the war years, human lives were as cheap as grass. Hundreds of thousands died in a battle. Even tens of thousands of people can't be more ordinary. However, it is still inevitable to feel sad when the death is a close friend of one's own.

It took a long time before I broke the silence, and I asked carefully, "Comrade Boroda, this lieutenant, how much merit did Colonel Donskoy report to him?"

Boroda rummaged through a pile of documents for a while, took out one of them, looked at it, and then looked up and told me: "Comrade commander. Comrade colonel asks him for second-class merit and suggested that he be awarded a military medal."

"Change his second-class merit to first-class merit." After saying this, I asked several delegation leaders and political commissars present: "I have no objections to this decision, right?"

All the people collectively shook their heads neatly, indicating that no one opposed it.

I raised my hand and looked at my watch. The hour hand was already pointing to twelve o’clock. I waved at everyone and said, “It’s getting late, you all go back to rest. Remember to ask the commanders who are participating in the celebration meeting tomorrow to take care of everything. Put on your new military uniform."

Everyone agreed neatly. After saluting Boroda and me, he turned and left the headquarters.

After everyone goes out. Boroda suddenly said to me: "Comrade Teacher, I suddenly have an idea, and I want to ask for your opinion. I don't know what you think?"

I walked back to the table and sat down, picked up the already cold tea on the table, and after a sip, I calmly said, "Comrade Chief of Staff, if you have anything to say between you and me, you don't have to go around in circles."

Boroda sat down opposite me and said, "Lida, although we only wiped out a few hundred Germans in today's battle, we achieved such a result shortly after our army was defeated. It can be regarded as such a result. It was a great victory. Look, whether we should report this news to Commander Meretskov to make him happy too."

When I heard him say this, I immediately became excited. This is a great opportunity to show my face in front of the superiors! But my mouth was very calm: "Well, Comrade Boroda, what you said is very reasonable. The news of this victory should be known to Commander Meretskov. However, this good news should be yours. Call the commander yourself, after all, you used to be his adjutant."

Boroda gave a hum, got up and walked to the high-frequency phone, picked up the handset and started dialing. After a short time, I heard the call connected, and then Boroda started a dialogue with the other party: "Hello, hello! Is this the front army headquarters? Comrade Major, hello! This is Meletskov. Captain Boroda, the former adjutant of the general. I have something to report to Comrade General, do you think he can answer the call? What? Comrade General is not there?! Oh, I see, thank you, Comrade Major. Okay, I understand , Good luck!" After speaking, he hung up the phone with a snap.

Seeing him approaching desperately, before he sat down, I couldn't wait to ask: "Comrade Boroda, what's the matter? Why doesn't Comrade General answer your call?"

Boroda sat down again and shook his head and said, "It's not that Comrade General refuses to answer my call~www.wuxiaspot.com~ but that he is not at the front army headquarters at all."

"No?!" I asked curiously: "Comrade General is not at the front headquarters at this time, where is he? Did he go to inspect it?"

Boroda waved his hand and replied, "Lida, you guessed it wrong. Comrade General is not at the front army headquarters. He did not visit any unit but went back to Moscow with General Vasilevsky, Chief of Staff. ."

"Back to Moscow? When will they come back?" I was curious, and kept asking, forgetting that some things are secret in the army, and not everyone is qualified to know.

Boroda smiled bitterly and shook his head again, and said: "This is a secret, and the new adjutant of Comrade General is not clear."

I feel a little sorry that I didn't get the answer I wanted. I looked at my watch again, stood up, and said to Boroda in a business-like tone: "Comrade Chief of Staff, it's getting late, I'm going to rest. I will trouble you to sort out the list of meritorious services that I will use tomorrow. Out."

Boroda nodded vigorously and said, "Lida, I'll leave this to you. You can rest assured." (To be continued...)