Chapter 1026

Although Zhukov asked me, he looked at chernyahovsky and seemed to want to get the answer he wanted from him. Seeing this, I shut my mouth wisely and turned my eyes to chernyahovsky, waiting for him to tell Zhukov about our adventures on the way.

As soon as chernyahovsky and Zhukov finished talking, he immediately replied, "report to marshal, on the way to the tank brigade, Rita and I met an enemy cavalry attack of more than 50 people. With the support of the reinforcements, we have wiped out all the cavalry. "

"Enemy cavalry?" After listening to chernyahovsky's brief introduction, Zhukov turned to look at rokosovsky and asked in surprise, "Comrade rokosovsky, do the Germans have cavalry?"

Rokosovsky shook his head and said with a blank face: "since the German army has such a powerful armored force, cavalry is an indispensable branch for them. In the information I got, except for a few cavalry used for communication and reconnaissance, the Germans have never heard of any formed cavalry units."

"Well, comrade marshal." Chernyahovsky found that Zhukov and rokosovsky had misunderstandings and quickly explained: "what we encountered was not German cavalry, but Hungarian cavalry. They should have bypassed our defense line and crossed through the forest. They happened to meet our motorcade, so the battle took place. "

After listening to chernyahovsky's narration, Zhukov walked around the table to me and asked with concern, "Rita, are you not hurt?"

"No, comrade marshal." I was deeply afraid of Zhukov, so I quickly replied, "the enemy has been killed before they get close to me."

"Is it really all right?" Without waiting for Zhukov to speak, rokosovsky came around the back of the table, came up to me, looked up and down, and asked nervously, "are you sure you're not hurt?"

"Comrade rokosovsky, don't worry about Rita. She's very lucky. She'll be fine. " After confirming that I was not injured, Zhukov's face became relaxed, so that he jokingly said to rokosovsky: "during the Moscow defense war, I took her to the front line for inspection, and I had encountered with German tanks, but in the end it was safe."

Then the two men and chernyahovsky shook hands with him after giving some guidance on the deployment of the 60th army.

When I was thinking about whether I should stay or return to the headquarters of the front army with rokosovsky, Zhukov, who passed by me, stopped, looked at me and asked, "Rita, what are you still doing here?" Before I could speak, he added, "come back to Moscow with me." With that, he and rokosovsky walked out side by side.

"Yes I said yes aloud, then turned my eyes to chernyahovsky and saw the reaction. Chernyahovsky and I looked at each other, opened their mouths and said something silently. Although there was no sound, I still analyzed it from his mouth shape. What he said was: "don't forget to mention to the marshal about replenishing our equipment."

I nodded at him, saying that I would take his business to heart. Then I turned around and followed Zhukov and walked out of the headquarters of the tank brigade.

A few of us didn't go far out of the headquarters. Zhukov stopped and asked rokosovsky, "where are you going next?"

Rokosovsky quickly replied: "I plan to go to the defense area of the 38th and 40th army. They are next to the incomplete Voronezh front army. Once the German army moves northward from bergorod, their position will be the focus of the enemy's attack."

"In that case," Zhukov said thoughtfully, "then you and Comrade jerekin should get there as soon as possible." Seeing rokosovsky's promise, he turned around and was about to leave. He quickly stopped him and told him, "Lida had just been attacked by the enemy on her way here. To ensure safety, when you go later, bring more people with you. "

"Yes, comrade marshal. I'll go with a company of guards. " After these words, rokosovsky also said to Zhukov with concern, "marshal, although from here to Moscow, it is our defense area, but for the sake of safety, I will send you more troops."

"No," Zhukov simply refused rokosovsky's proposal and said, "your troops are limited. How can you send these valuable troops back with me? I don't need you to worry about my safety. The soldiers who came with me from two trucks are all experienced in many battles. They are able to cope with all emergencies. "

After he finished, he saw that rokosovsky wanted to persuade him again, so he raised his hand to stop him and said stubbornly: "besides, the return route is all within the defense line of our army. Even if we encounter the enemy's sneak attack again, as long as we can persist for half an hour, the nearby reinforcements will arrive."

When rokosovsky saw Zhukov's obstinacy coming up, he didn't pester with him. Instead, he turned his attention to me: "Rita, please worry about the safety of marshal all the way."

"Come on, comrade rokosovsky, why do you talk so much nonsense? I've never been to the battlefield. When I'm in danger, don't I know that I need to protect myself and ask others for help? " With that, he quickly walked to the jeep, opened the front passenger's side door, and yelled at me: "Rita, what are you doing there? Don't get on the bus quickly!" With that, he stooped into the car and slammed the door shut.

I raised my hand and saluted rokosovsky, and said to him with a smile: "Comrade commander, you can rest assured that as long as I am here, there will be no accident for marshal. Goodbye, see you later! "

"See you later!" He said, reaching out to me and giving me a firm grip.

As soon as I sat down in the back row, Zhukov ordered the driver, "drive!"

When our car was driving on the muddy road, Zhukov didn't look back and said, "this rokosovsky is too cautious. The areas we passed are all in the depth of our defense line. At most, there are sporadic German scouts mixing in. They can't pose any threat to us."

When I heard Zhukov say this, I couldn't help looking back at the two trucks behind me. My heart said, "even if I encounter the kind of sneak attack I experienced today, the strength of Zhukov's guard is more than enough." I looked back and wanted to hear what Zhukov had to say, but he leaned back in his chair, lowered his head and began to shut his eyes.

Zhukov can shut his eyes, but I have to be alert after the attack. I clenched the assault rifle in my hand and looked warily to both sides of the road, fearing that a group of people would emerge from the forest.

I didn't expect that the more I worried about something, the more I worried about it. After our car was driven for about ten minutes, I suddenly saw a group of people pouring out of the forest on the east side of the road from a distance, and immediately cried out nervously: "there's an enemy, driver, stop, stop quickly, there's an enemy in front." With that, I will pick up the assault rifle, ready to shoot.

"Enemy, where is the enemy?" The jeep's sudden brake and my panic call awakened Zhukov, who had closed his eyes. He asked warily, "where is the enemy?"

"At the right front of the road, comrade marshal." I replied with a flustered look: "just out of the forest, there are at least ten or twenty people."

Zhukov looked in the direction I said. After a while, he turned to me and said, "it's not the enemy. It's our own people. Don't you see that they are all wearing our military uniform? Driver, drive over. "

When I saw the driver follow Zhukov's order and drive towards the group of people, my heart went up to my throat. My fingers kept on the trigger. I was ready to shoot as soon as I found something wrong.

As we got closer and closer to that group of people, I finally saw that they were wearing our army uniforms. Except for a few people who had weapons in their hands, most of them were unarmed. Seeing this, I breathed a sigh of relief, saying that since their weapons were seriously insufficient, even if they were disguised by the German army, there was nothing to be afraid of. Thinking of this, I took my finger off the trigger.

The group of people obviously heard the movement, and they all stopped and stood in place, waiting for our car to drive by. When the car stopped in front of them, Zhukov pushed the door open and yelled at them, "which one of you is the commander, come here."

With his shouts, a second lieutenant in a helmet came out of the crowd. He had a beard, his uniform was covered with dry mud, and a bobosha submachine gun was hanging on his chest. He came to the car, raised his hand to salute Zhukov, politely said: "Hello, comrade marshal of the Soviet Union, what instructions do you have?"

Zhukov looked at the second lieutenant in front of him and asked seriously, "second lieutenant, where are you from?"

"From around Belgorod." The second lieutenant answered in a hoarse voice, straightening up.

"Belgorod," Zhukov said with a sneer after hearing the name. Then he looked at the second lieutenant and asked impolitely, "the German captured Belgorod a week ago. Where did you escape from?"

"No, comrade marshal." The second lieutenant replied humbly, "we belong to the Voronezh front army. After Kharkov was broken up by the German army, our battalion withdrew to Belgorod, where we fought another battle with the German army and retreated into the forest. We've been walking in the forest for a week, and we're here today. "

"Where is your battalion commander?" Zhukov continued.

"I'm the battalion commander." The second lieutenant replied.

After looking at him up and down, Zhukov asked with great interest, "I don't know what you've done. How can you be promoted so fast?"

"At first I was just a platoon commander. When the company commander was killed, I became the company commander." The second lieutenant continued to reply in the original tone: "after the sacrifice of the battalion commander, I was the highest ranking of the rest, and naturally became the battalion commander. There are twenty-one people left in the battalion, all of them here. "

"Where are you going?" When the second lieutenant said that, Zhukov's tone became friendly.

"I don't know," said the second lieutenant, shaking his head. "When we retreated into the forest, we were separated from the big army, so we had to retreat in the direction of Moscow, hoping to meet the main force and join them."“ Comrade lieutenant, you are now farther and farther away from the Voronezh front army and have entered the defensive area of the central front army. " Zhukov took out his notebook, wrote a few strokes on it with his pencil, then tore off the page and handed it to the second lieutenant, saying, "Comrade second lieutenant, you and your people don't have to withdraw to the North any more. Find a nearby army to join them. You give this piece of paper to the commander of that army, and they will arrange you properly. " The second lieutenant took the paper from Zhukov's hand. Just as he wanted to speak, a commander on the back of the car rushed over to salute Zhukov and asked, "marshal, what can I do for you?" Zhukov looked sideways at his subordinates and at the embarrassed soldiers in front of him. Then he told the officer, "take something to eat from the car and give it to the second lieutenant. After they have been in the forest for so long, there will be no more food." Seeing the officer running behind to get food, the second lieutenant standing beside him raised his hand to salute Zhukov and said excitedly, "thank you, thank you, comrade marshal. We will always remember your kindness to us. " Zhukov closed the door noncommittally and told the driver again, "drive!" I turned my head and looked out the window at the ragged but upright soldiers. I said to Zhukov with emotion, "marshal, these commanders and fighters are good. As long as we let them have a good meal, have a good sleep, and then equip them with weapons, they will be another excellent teacher." When I mentioned the issue of replenishing weapons, Zhukov was silent. After a long time, he said, "Rita, some time ago we planned to install the new assault rifles in your hands for the troops, but judging from the current situation, the installation time may be greatly delayed."“ Time has to go back. Why, comrade Marshal? " Zhukov's words surprised me. In a hurry, I forgot the difference between the top and the bottom, and asked straightforwardly, "is there anything wrong with our production line?"“ There's nothing wrong with the production line, "Zhukov said to me, looking back." there's something wrong with the raw materials. The materials needed for the new assault rifles have to be stopped because of the delayed arrival of American aid materials. "