When I walked out of the tent, I saw the lieutenant and two fighters standing in a clearing smoking cigarettes. Seeing me come out, the lieutenant hurriedly threw the cigarette butt on the ground, then ran over it twice with his foot, and then ran in front of me, and asked with a smile: "Comrade General, have you finished calling?" ”

I nodded and said politely to him, "Yes, Comrade Lieutenant, after I make the call, you can go in." ”

When Chuikov saw me walking into the tent, he stopped talking to Lelyushchenko, but looked up and asked me: "Comrade Oshanina, I don't know what important things Commander Vatutin called you. ”

"It's not a big deal, it's just to make arrangements for the deployment of troops." Of course, I couldn't tell them what Vatutin said, so I said perfunctorily: "But the replenishment of our army group may not be carried out for some time. ”

When Chuikov heard me say this, he didn't ask any more questions, but just nodded his head to indicate that he understood. After waiting for me to sit down, he pushed the map in front of me and said, "At the moment our roads are in a terrible situation, and with a limited number of transport vehicles, it is very difficult to complete the replenishment of hundreds of thousands of troops in a short period of time. So I give you a suggestion, in order to get supplies from your superiors in the shortest possible time, you should build roads. ”

"Build a road, what kind of road?" Chuikov's words confused me, and I had a headache when I thought of the dirt roads that turned over when it rained: "You're not going to let me send troops to build roads, are you?" ”

"Of course not," Chuikov immediately dismissed my speculation, and continued: "Even if you mobilize the forces of your entire army, it will be an impossible task to build the road from Kursk to Izyum in a few days. ”

"And what road are you going to let us build?" Chuikov's words made me even more confused.

"Oshanina, look here." He pointed to the map and explained to me: "Actually, from Kursk to Belgorod, to Kharkov, and even to Izyum, there are railways. As long as you repair the damaged railroads, then our rail transport will be restored. You know, one train can carry far more than a hundred trucks. As long as your superiors can replenish you by rail, I believe that your troops will soon be able to regain their combat effectiveness. ”

"That's a good idea." As soon as Chuikov finished speaking, Chistyakov continued: "I think we only need to draw out one division of troops, and we can repair the railway from Kharkov to Izyum in about two days." As for the railways in other sections, they can only be left to other troops to repair. ”

"In what direction will your troops be transferred after the reorganization?" Chuikov looked at me curiously and asked, "Is it to join our Southwestern Front in the offensive against Zaporosh, or is it transferred to other directions?" ”

It occurred to me that the next step of the troops should not be a secret in front of a commander of the level of Chuikov. Moreover, even if I didn't say it, he would know from other directions, so I said frankly: "After completing the rest, my troops will move in the direction of Priluki and participate in the next move of the Front!" ”

Chuikov searched the map for a while, found the name of the place I said, and after looking at it for a while, he slapped the table and said excitedly: "Priluki is only a hundred kilometers away from Kiev, and it seems that the task of liberating Kiev is entrusted to you by the Supreme Command. ”

"It's so enviable." Hearing that the task of liberating Kyiv fell on the head of the Voronezh Front, Lelyushchenko also said with envy: "I really hope that my army group can be assigned to the command of General Vatutin, so that we can participate in the battle for the liberation of Kyiv." This is something that will go down in history. ”

"If I'm not mistaken, Comrade Oshanina led the 79th Infantry Army to liberate Kyiv a few months ago." Chuikov looked at me and said with a smile: "If it weren't for the fact that the city was surrounded by the German army and it was difficult to resupply, I think Kyiv would still be in our hands now." ”

"Don't worry, General Chuikov." When I think of Kyiv, which has been regained and lost, my heart feels like someone has been pulled hard, and it is here that my descendants have almost lost all of their troops, so that I now have to start from scratch. I gritted my teeth and said, "If Kyiv is liberated again this time, I will never let the Germans return it more." ”

"If you want to attack Kyiv, it is almost impossible to rush into the city from the bridge across the river." Chuikov pointed to the location of Kyiv and began to explain to me the various situations that might arise in battle: "Although Kyiv is divided into two by the Dnieper, once we destroy the enemy in the city on the east bank, the enemy who remains on the west bank will be able to decisively blow up the bridge over the river so that our mechanized troops cannot rush across the river. ”

"At such a time, if you want to seize the cities in the West Bank, you have to carry out landing operations." When Lelyushka heard this, he also said with a serious expression: "The Dnieper, like the Volga, is flat on the east bank, while the terrain on the west bank is steep. If an attack on the enemy's West Bank is not well planned in advance, it is likely to fail. ”

As soon as Lelyushchenka said this, I found out that this is really the case, the Dnieper and the Volga are flat on the east bank, and the terrain on the west bank is steep, and after the troops have forcibly crossed the Dnieper, they have to carry out a counterattack on the enemy on the bank, and the price paid in this way must not be small.

"General Lelyushenko," I thought about it for a long time, but I didn't come up with any good solution, so I humbly asked Lelyuschenko for advice: "Do you have any good ideas?" ”

Hearing my question, Lelyuschenko and Chuikov looked at each other, and then said jokingly: "I really didn't expect that General Oshanina, who is good at winning by surprise, would ask me for advice on how to force the Dnieper River." After saying these two sentences, he paused for a moment, and then said thoughtfully, "I have two methods, one is a stupid way, which is to let the artillery constantly bombard the positions of the German army on the west bank, and then let the infantry force the crossing regardless of casualties; The second option was to use a frontal feint to attract the attention of the Germans, and then our main forces would cross the river from other sections and detour back to the enemy's rear. ”

I didn't speak after listening, just frowned and tapped my fingers lightly on the table, thinking in my head which of the two combat plans proposed by Lelyushchenko was more applicable.

Seeing that I was slow to speak, Chistyakov was a little anxious, he gently touched me with his arm, and then asked in a low voice: "Comrade commander, I don't know if you think that General Lelyushchenko's plan is more suitable for us." (To be continued.) )