Chapter 99

In the evening, the headquarters of the group army moved to the church in the village.

I sat alone in the porter's room, took off my camouflage clothes, which were stained with blood and oil, and threw them on the ground. Then through the window, I watched the commanders and soldiers outside busy in and out. The death of the female soldier just now made me feel restless for a long time. If she didn't deliver the meal to me at that time and stood in front of me, then the sniper killed me instead of her, and she inadvertently became my scapegoat. When I think about it, I feel very sad.

All of a sudden, I saw the deputy chief of staff, Col. o'lear, running by the window of the porter. It seemed that he was still in a hurry. Is something wrong? Thinking of this, I couldn't sit still any more. I chased out of the small room in a hurry and asked nervously, "Comrade deputy chief of staff, what's the matter?"

O'lear would not say: "it's no big deal. The commander asked me to bring a commander to the headquarters. There was a problem with the line to his unit, and the phone couldn't get through." Then he got into the sidecar of a motorcycle and asked the soldier to drive away.

What's the matter with the commander calling katukov to the headquarters in such a hurry? However, it should not be. The tank brigade under the command of katukov is particularly outstanding today. In addition to skilmanovo, it also cooperates with infantry and cavalry to recover the other three villages at one stroke.

"Comrade oshanina." When I was pondering, suddenly I heard someone call me behind me. Looking back, it turned out that it was political commissar lobachev. Seeing that I turned around, he said to me in a deliberative tone, "are you busy now? If you're not busy, go to the kitchen and see when dinner will be ready? "

"Yes I said yes, saluted him and turned away. After a few steps, it suddenly occurred to me that I had forgotten to ask where the kitchen was. Looking back, the commissar had entered the church again. In this case, I'm too embarrassed to run back and ask. I have to think of my own way. I stopped and looked around. Most of the buildings around me had collapsed. Only one house in the southeast looked relatively complete, and white smoke came from the chimney on the roof. It seemed that the kitchen for preparing meals for the headquarters was there, so I walked towards the smoking house.

Before I got to the door, I smelled a strong smell of meat. It seems that I chose the right direction. So I quickly walked a few steps, went to the house, pushed the door open and went in.

When I entered the room, I saw a group of people in it busy, choosing vegetables, washing vegetables, cutting vegetables and so on. When they saw me push the door in, they stopped their work, looked up at me, then lowered their heads to get busy. Except for one or two elderly men, the rest of the room were young girls. Where did these people come from? How come I never saw them when I was in the headquarters? When I was wondering, a female soldier with four triangles inlaid on her cravat came up and asked curiously, "what can I do for you? Comrade commander He used a very common tone and didn't report to me in accordance with the regulations.

"Oh," I suddenly saw a room of female soldiers here. I was very surprised. When I heard someone ask me, I was a little flustered: "Comrade political commissar, let me ask, when will dinner be ready?"

"It's almost ready. When the soup starts to boil, it can be sent to the headquarters."

"Yes, I see." I nodded, then introduced myself to her and said, "my name is o'shanina, special commissioner of the front army. How do I address you? "

"I'm the chief of the Department, major ina."

“ старшина？” I couldn't help but be stunned. I repeated the word "staasla" in my mouth. I thought 171 would make Suo vaskov. There are four triangles on the collar, but he is a brigadier. Why is this female soldier a major?

"What are you thinking? Commander o'shanina Maybe seeing me standing in the same place and talking to myself, ina asked curiously.

"Nothing!" I coughed, then changed the subject and asked, "where did you come from? I've never seen you before in the headquarters of the group army. "

"Report to commander, we used to belong to the 7th mechanized army. Not long ago, together with the former chief of staff, Colonel malining, we were assigned to the 16th group army."

"Can you show me how to make red cabbage soup?" Although I have drunk red vegetable soup many times, I still don't know how to make it, so I want to know more about it.

"Yes!" Ina took me to the kitchen table, pointed to a pile of vegetables on the chopping board, and said, "these are the materials for making red vegetable soup, including potatoes, tomatoes, onions, radishes sliced, celery sliced." Then he pointed to the hot aluminum pot with no lid on the fire, and continued to explain to me the method of red vegetable soup: "what is cooked in the pot is beef tendon meat. When the meat is cooked to the degree of spongy, take out the meat for use. Then put the potatoes, onion and celery into the pot and cook for 10 minutes. Then put the cabbage and tomato. When it's all cooked, add ketchup and salt, and you'll be out of the pot. "

It can be seen that ina has been in the kitchen for a long time, and she has a lot of experience in cooking. When it comes to cooking, she talks on and on until the red vegetable soup starts to boil.

From the kitchen back to the headquarters door, Aurel's motorcycle just came back, followed by a tank of our army. I was thinking: who is this? It's arrogant to come to the headquarters to report a work and drive a tank. So I stopped to see.

As I watched, the tank stopped next to the church. Oriole got off the motorcycle and went to the tank, waiting patiently for the passengers inside. The hatch was opened with a bang, and a tall tank soldier climbed out of the cockpit. The black tank coat was tightly tied with a belt, and a pistol was pinned on the belt. It turned out to be an officer. I looked at the officer and thought he looked familiar. I saw him at the meeting yesterday, but I couldn't remember his name for a moment.

"What are you looking at? Comrade oshanina I was startled when someone spoke around me. Looking back, it turned out that it was chief of staff malining.

I quickly explained to him, "chief of staff, look, a tank has stopped at the door. I want to see who is driving it, so I stop to have a look."

"Isn't that Colonel katukov, the commander of the 4th tank brigade? Didn't the commander introduce you at the meeting yesterday? Don't you know him? "

Just then, oler and katukov came to us. Katukov saluted malining and said in a loud voice, "Hello, chief of staff!" Marinin saluted back and reached out to shake his hand. While they were shaking hands, I quickly saluted the new captain.

"Hello, comrade commander." Katukov gave me a bear hug instead of a return. His strength is so strong that I can hardly breathe. But I'm not easy to get angry. After all, hugging is a Russian custom, and the strength of hugging represents the degree of friendliness. But I murmured to myself: I met him at the meeting yesterday, and we didn't know each other so well that we didn't need to hold each other so tightly.

"Well, comrade katukov, don't cling to our commander. The commander is still waiting for you." Malining called to the tank captain and helped me out in time.

I followed the three and walked into rokosovsky's headquarters. Seeing us go in, rokosovsky stood up from his seat, met katukov, extended his hand, and said, "welcome, major general katukov."

As soon as this remark came out, not only katukov, but also I was stunned, thinking: isn't he a Colonel? When did he become a general? Isn't it the commander who has been tired and confused recently?

Indeed, katukov also corrected the commander's statement: "Comrade commander, I am a colonel, not a general."

"I can't be wrong, comrade katukov. I can't be wrong about that." Then he turned to the commissar and said, "Comrade lobachev, make an announcement."

The political commissar who originally stood behind rokosovsky stepped forward, took a piece of paper and read aloud: "in recognition of the heroism and tenacity of Comrade Mikhail yefmovitch katukov and the fourth tank brigade he led in the battle to defend our great capital Moscow, and the brilliant results he has achieved, The commander was awarded the rank of major general and the title of "No.1 tank brigade of close guard" at the same time. 11 November 1941. "

When the order was announced, rokosovsky took katukov's hand with a smile and said, "Congratulations, you have won the rank of general, and your army is also the first armored force in our army to win the title of guards. In the next battle, I hope your troops can achieve more brilliant results. "

People in the headquarters came forward one after another to shake hands with katukov, and I was no exception. When I shook his hand, I said, "Comrade General, congratulations on your getting a higher rank."

"Thank you. While thanking you for your congratulations, I also want to express my gratitude to you." As soon as katukov said this, the room became quiet, and everyone's eyes looked at me. I was puzzled and asked: "Comrade General, why do you want to thank me?"

"Remember the tactics you put forward at the meeting yesterday?" Seeing that everyone was watching me, katukov quickly explained to everyone, "today's fighting is so smooth, it's all related to the tactics put forward by Comrade oshanina."

"Tell me, what's going on?" Rokosovsky asked curiously, then waved to the table and said to everyone, "don't stand in the room, sit down and speak slowly. The food will be delivered soon. We can talk while eating."

I sat down next to rokosovsky, and katukov sat opposite me. Then I continued: "in the past, our attacks were all cavalry or infantry. When the artillery was ready, they charged first, and when they were close to the enemy's trenches, the tanks attacked again. According to this method of attack, if the enemy's firepower is too strong to keep the attacking troops on the ground, the attack channel of the tanks will be blocked. Once our tanks have to stop on the battlefield, they will become the targets of the enemy, and their artillery or air force can easily destroy us. This time, tanks attack first, and infantry and cavalry cooperate behind. In the course of the attack, the enemy's firepower points were easily knocked down by our tanks, and the anti tank fighters who emerged were also eliminated in time by the following infantry. To tell you the truth, I didn't expect that this kind of cooperation between arms would be so easy to win and the casualties would be far lower than I expected. That's why I said that I would like to thank Comrade o'shanina specially for putting forward such good tactical suggestions for us. "

So it is. After listening to his explanation, I can understand why he used so much force when he hugged me just now. The commanders on the scene listened to him and began to talk to each other“ May I come in? Comrade commander Ina's voice came from the door. I turned around and saw her and several female soldiers standing at the door with trays full of dishes“ Come on in, "rokosovsky stood up and said politely to her. Then he said to everyone," the meal is coming. Let's have a meal first. After that, let's continue to discuss the tactics proposed by Comrade oshanina. "