Vatutin's telegram came soon. In the telegram, he praised the tenacious fighting spirit of our two armies in the battle to liberate Belgorod, and he also informed us that according to the order of the Supreme Command, our two armies were defending. After being handed over to the Grassland Front Army, the troops were immediately deployed in the south of the city, facing the direction of Kharkov, to prevent possible German counterattacks.

After seeing this telegram from Vatutin, Shumilov asked me thoughtfully: "Comrade Oshanina, how did you read this telegram and why did you give Belgorod to the steppe? The front army? You know it was the first to invade the city, but our two armies."

Listening to Shumilov’s grievances, I knew in my heart that he was unconvinced with this order, and at the same time felt worthless for those commanders and fighters who died during the forced crossing of the North Donets River or the siege. . But in this case, if I go along with him and attack the superior’s order, it is likely to be calculated by people with ulterior motives. Therefore, I was thinking for a while and used a reasonable reason to persuade him: "General Comrade, I think the reason why the superiors gave such an order may be to give the grassland front army a place to rest. You must know that they have always been responsible for the task of frontal offensive during the offensive during this period of time. You see, Our two armies paid such a high price just for assisting tasks. We should also be able to judge the extent of the casualties of General Konev's troops."

After listening to my analysis, Shumilov's anger on his face weakened. He asked in an uncertain tone: "Is that the case?"

"General Shumilov, I think Lida's analysis is very reasonable." Kirilov also helped me analyze to Shumilov: "As far as I know, the 53rd and No. The two armies of 69. Both are newly formed units, with a large number of recruits and relatively weak combat effectiveness. Therefore, it is entirely possible to pay a higher price in the battle."

"But the casualties of our two armies are not small." Shumilov said depressed: "Why didn't even give us time to rest, order us to the south of the city to deploy the troops?"

"Comrade General," I organized a vocabulary in my mind, and then said: "Although the Germans were driven out of the city by us, they will definitely be unsuccessful, and maybe they will counterattack Belgorod at some point. Think about it, in the face of the crazy counterattack of the Germans, what do you think can stop them. Is it the 53rd and 69th armies with heavy casualties, or our two armies?"

After I had finished speaking, Shumilov fell into deep thought. After a while, the expression on his face became more relaxed: "It turned out to be like this. It seems that I blamed Commander Vatutin. By the way, Comrade Oshanina, what do you think the superior will order us to be? At that time, attack Kharkov?"

"Why, Comrade General, just liberated Belgorod. You can't wait to liberate Kharkov?" Seeing him stop taking Vatutin's order in his heart, I smiled He teased him: "You know, in the last military meeting. The superiors only mentioned that the most recent priority is to liberate Belgorod. As for the liberation of Kharkov, it may take two more days, superiors. Will make a new decision."

"If this is the case, then I should go and go back and execute the order to mobilize the troops." Shumilov stood up from his seat, reached out to me and Kirilov, and said politely: "Then we There will be a period later, I wish you good health!"

As soon as Shumilov left, I immediately dialed the number of the headquarters. Asked Bezikov who answered the phone: "Chief of Staff, do you know how the fighting is going on in Tomarovka?"

"According to the telegram from the front army headquarters." I heard the sound of turning over the paper in the receiver. It should be Bezikov reading the battle report that was just received: "Our army has taken the initiative in Tomarovka. Three German infantry divisions and one armored division were trapped in our encirclement. At this moment, the encirclement and annihilation battle is underway. It is estimated that the final battle will be resolved by tomorrow morning."

"Then we have four infantry divisions and two tank brigades in Tomarovka." Although I now have three guard divisions in my hand, I still feel that the force is too weak. With such a small amount of force, it is enough to say enough, and it is not enough to say it is not enough. If used to hold the line of defense, the strength is enough; but if you want to launch an attack on Kharkov, it is estimated that such forces will be lost in the three-dimensional defense of the German aircraft, tanks and artillery before they rush into the city. "Does the superior have any latest arrangements for them?"

"No, Comrade Commander." Bezikov replied bluntly, "Although our army has the upper hand, the battle has not finally ended. In order to prevent uncertain factors from affecting the final result of the battle, I guess the superiors will not temporarily Let us mobilize these forces at will."

Hearing Bezikov’s answer, my heart couldn’t help being cold. With this little force in my hand, I could only fight a defensive battle. If I wanted to participate in the attack on Kharkov, it seemed. It's a bit unrealistic.

Since I am about to mobilize the troops in the city, go to the south of the city to deploy defenses, and leave the group army headquarters alone in a place far away from the troops, it is obviously inappropriate. So I told Bezikov: "The chief of staff, the troops in Belgorod, have moved to the south of the city, and the headquarters should also be moved as soon as possible."

"Understood, Comrade Commander." Bezikov agreed very readily: "We are ready to transfer immediately."

"Don't worry, Chief of Staff." Seeing him behave so positively, I quickly stopped him: "We haven't determined the new stationing location yet, so the transfer of the headquarters should wait until tomorrow daylight."

"Okay," Bezikov said on the phone: "I will use this time to see if I can gather some more troops and turn to the south of Belgorod with us."

If he didn't talk about collecting troops, I almost forgot the 13th Division of Rodimtsev's Guards. When he said this, I hurriedly added: "Chief of Staff, when you transfer tomorrow, it is estimated that the battle in Tomarovka will be over. At that time, I will be responsible for cutting off Tomarovka and Belgoro. The 13th Guards Division of German contact should also end their mission. Since they have nothing to do for the time being, when you transfer, bring this unit with you by the way."

Bezikov may have been fighting the idea of ​​this unit a long time ago, but he was my deputy. A lot of things are afraid to make claims. At this moment, when I heard my initiative to raise this matter, I immediately agreed: "Don't worry, Comrade Commander. I will bring you the 13th Guards Division tomorrow."

Kirilov and I took a jeep to transfer our division to the south of the city. When he saw that there were only us and the driver in the car, he asked with some worry: "Leda. Without asking for instructions, he put the 13th Guards Division into the organization of our group army without authorization. Is this really appropriate? ?"

"There should be no problem." I said with some guilty conscience: "Since Commander Vatutin has handed over General Rodimtsev's troops to me, I guess there are plans for them to join our group army."

Hearing what I said, Kirilov stopped struggling with me on this issue, but asked what he was concerned about: "When do you think the superiors will let us attack Kharkov? "

Regarding Kirilov’s question, I feel really difficult to answer. Because in my memory. It was after the victory of the liberation of Belgorod that Vatutin and Konev reported their specific campaign plans to Stalin, and they were approved on August 6th and 8th. When I think of these two dates, I actually think of the two atomic bombs that the Americans dropped on the country in the two days two years later. The two atomic bombs and the subsequent declaration of war by the Soviet army against the Japanese nation greatly accelerated the speed of the Japanese pirates' surrender.

I was thinking of the spectacular scene in the documentary where tens of thousands of Japanese pirates disarmed the Soviet army, when the jeep suddenly stopped. I recovered from my meditation, and asked the driver dissatisfiedly: "Why stop?"

The driver turned his head to look at me, and said a little aggrieved: "Comrade Commander, there is a car in front of us blocking our way."

"Do you know who it is?" Kirilov asked.

The driver shook his head. He said: "I don't know, it doesn't look like a member of our group army anyway." Suddenly he pointed his hand to the front and said loudly: "A commander came out of the car. He is walking towards us, maybe someone What's the matter."

I saw that officer walked to our car to speak, bent down and looked into the car, and asked, "May I ask General Oshanina of the Sixth Guards Army, is he in the car?"

I pushed the car door, leaned out, glanced at his rank, and asked, "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, which part are you from?"

The lieutenant colonel quickly stood at attention. He raised his hand to salute me and reported: "Hello. Comrade General. I am the deputy of Lieutenant General Managarov, commander of the 53rd Army. Our commander has a few words to say to you."

I heard that the commander of the 53rd Army was blocking our way. Kirilov and I got out of the car. Walking to the front, Basmanov, who was in the car behind, got out of the car and followed with a few guards.

Before I walked to the jeep, another general in a brand new uniform came down from the car. He smiled and greeted me: "Hello, General Oshanina. This is Managarov. ."

"Hello, Comrade General." Seeing that the other party did not salute me, I reached out to him and said politely: "It's nice to see you here."

After Managarov shook hands with me and Kirilov one by one, without going in circles, he said straightforwardly: "General Oshanina, we are ordered to take over for your defense. I have a special request. I hope you Can promise me."

Special request, his words made me frown. The heart said, does he still want me to leave him the captured German prisoners and the weapons and ammunition captured? When I think about it this way, the tone of my speech naturally becomes cold: "Comrade General, if you have any request, just ask it. As long as I can do it, it will definitely satisfy your wish."

"That's it, General Oshanina." Managarov may have noticed the change in my attitude, and said embarrassedly: "I heard that the city radio station was captured by the 272th regiment of your guards. ,Right?"

"Yes, it is." I replied briefly.

"Since it is the radio station building they occupy, then I want them to keep this honor." Managarov said unexpectedly: "I don't know if you will keep this regiment and continue to stick to the radio station building, I don't know. What do you think?"

"This..." Managarov's proposal left me at a loss. I had to turn my eyes to the narrator Kirilov: "Comrade Military Commissioner, what do you mean?"

Kirilov thought for a while, then smiled and nodded and said: "Since it was General Managarov's kindness, then I will be in charge. The 272nd Guards Regiment will stay in the city temporarily and continue to be responsible. The security work of the radio station building."

When we broke up with Managarov and continued to move forward, Kirilov, who was sitting next to me, said with deep feeling: "This General Managarov is not easy. Knowing that our superiors asked us to take Belgoro Germany’s defense is handed over to them, and there will be some emotions. Now he has his own opinion, let us leave the 272nd Guards Regiment and stick to the radio station building, and easily resolve the contradiction between our two armies. Not simple, this People are really not easy."

Our temporary headquarters is located in a fortification two kilometers southwest of Belgorod. This is a reinforced concrete underground fortification that can withstand the bombardment of heavy artillery. As for whether the German army was built by our army, there is no way to verify it in a hurry.

In the new defensive zone~lightnovelpub.net~ the division commanders were busy deploying troops, and it was getting late, so I didn't call a few division commanders over for a meeting. I think it’s not too late to convene a meeting after the other members of the headquarters arrive.

As soon as we arrived at the new headquarters, we sent a telegram to Bezikov to inform them of our location. Bezikov is also an impatient. Although the headquarters will not be transferred for the time being, he has sent many personnel and equipment from the communications office first.

By one o'clock in the morning, the communication equipment in the new headquarters was installed and ready to be put into use again. Just as I was considering whether to contact the troops remaining in Tomarovka, the Director of Communications Lopukhov suddenly came over with a telegram and said to me with joy on his face: "Commander Comrade Member, this is a telegram that has just been received. This is a news telegram. It said that one hour ago, at 0:00 on August 6, on the Red Square in Moscow, 120 salutes were fired in twelve times. To celebrate the recovery of Orel and the victory of Belgorod on the same day. This is the first time since the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War that the Soviet people celebrated victory by firing a salute."

Kirilov took the telegram in Lopukhov's hand with his hands trembling from his excitement. After a quick review, he said excitedly to me: "Lida, this message should be communicated to the divisions immediately, so that all commanders and fighters will know such inspiring good news." (To be continued.)