The space in the tent was already very small, and Chuikov and Lelyushchenko became more and more crowded as a result. Lukin, who was relatively low-rank, and Zalizyuk, the chief of staff, immediately stood up with amusement, raised their hands to salute us, and then turned and walked out of the tent.

When everyone sat down around the table again, I began to murmur to myself, if there were German artillery observers nearby, who would guide the artillery and fire two guns at us, it would definitely be a brilliant result: three army group commanders, one deputy commander, one Guards commander, and two Guards division commanders could be killed at once.

While I was thinking nonsense, I heard Chuikov asking Guriev: "Comrade General, what about the casualties of your division in battle?" ”

"Comrade commander," Guriev frowned when he heard Chuikov ask, and he replied with a sad face: "Our troops were frantically shelled by enemy artillery during the battle to expand the breakthrough, and the troops suffered very heavy casualties. After meeting with friendly forces last night, we fought stubbornly with the enemy who tried to fight back. At present, one-third of the commanders of the division have suffered casualties, and more than half of the soldiers have suffered casualties. ”

"Comrade General, your division will definitely be reorganized, but not now, you still have more important tasks to perform." As he spoke, Chuikov suddenly asked, "By the way, did you catch the SS officers during the battle?" ”

"SS officer?" After repeating Chuikov's words, Guriev was about to turn his head to become the chief of staff of his division, but when he found that the other party had already left with Lukin, he said with some embarrassment: "Comrade commander, I can only ask the chief of staff about this matter, he knows the situation better than me." ”

Just as Chuikov was about to ask Guriev to call his chief of staff, Seryugin suddenly said: "General Chuikov, my subordinates have taken a lot of prisoners, and among them there should be SS prisoners. But ......"

Seeing that Seryukin's words were only half said, Chuikov did not continue, and hurriedly asked curiously: "Comrade General, why don't you continue." What do you want to say, 'but'? ”

I understood why Seryukin spoke only half of the way, and as soon as Chuikov finished asking, he quickly answered: "According to my order, the captured SS prisoners are to be separated from other Wehrmacht prisoners, and when the screening is complete, all of them will be shot." By the way, General Chuikov, why did you suddenly remember to ask about the SS prisoners? ”

"I'm also entrusted by a friend." The expression on Chuikov's face turned serious when he heard me ask, "He asked me to help him find an SS officer named Heinmann. ”

I know that before the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War, it was not surprising that everyone knew a few German friends because of the cooperation between the Soviet Union and Germany, but as soon as the war began, almost all of them drew a decisive line. This is the first time I have heard of such an act of asking the top brass of the army to find a German friend of his. So I cautiously asked: "General Chuikov, may I ask, this friend of yours, why did you ask for your help in the search for an SS officer?" ”

Chuikov looked around, and when he saw that all eyes were on him, he smiled, and then said: "It seems that everyone wants to know why my friend asked me to find an SS officer. ”

Seeing that everyone nodded in agreement, he continued: "My friend works in the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs, and he was a staff member of the embassy in Germany before the war. As soon as the war broke out, the Germans sent SS troops to surround the embassy and try to confiscate some of our important documents. I just mentioned Heinmann, who was the head of the embassy guard at the time, and although he was a Nazi, he was very sympathetic to our comrades, and he used his position to help our comrades leave the embassy and help to move some important documents to a safe place. After my friend returned home, he always remembered this friend who had provided them selflessly, and later found out that Heinman had also been transferred to the Eastern Front, so he asked me to help him inquire about Heinman's whereabouts. ”

Although the presentation of Chuikov was brief, everyone understood that this Heinmann, although he was an SS officer, selflessly provided a lot of help to our comrades. As soon as I waited for Chuikov to finish speaking, I asked curiously: "General Chuikov, I don't know how old this Heinman is this year, what he looks like, and what military rank he is at present?" ”

Hearing my series of questions, Chuikov shook his head and said with a wry smile: "I'm sorry, Comrade Oshanina, but the information I can provide you with is very limited. It is only known that Heinman was in his forties, and at the time of the outbreak of the war, he had the rank of captain. I don't know anything about the rest. ”

Chistyakov muttered in a low voice: "This Heinmann was an SS captain in 41 years......"

Before Chistyakov could finish speaking, Lelyushchenko interrupted him, reminding: "The rank of captain in the SS is equivalent to the leader of the 1st SS commando squadron. It's been two years since the outbreak of the war, and this Heinmann has at least the rank of major, that is, the captain of the second SS commando group. ”

"Division Commander Seryukin," I was afraid that if it dragged on for a while, the commanders and fighters outside would shoot all the captured SS prisoners, and as soon as Lelyuschenko finished speaking, he immediately instructed Seryukin: "You immediately go and check if there is a person named Heinmann among the SS prisoners." Anyone with that name, whether a soldier or an officer, immediately brought it here. ”

"Yes!" Seryukin stood up and said yes, then turned and walked out of the tent.

"Comrade Oshanina, I don't understand." After waiting for Seryukin to come out of the tent, Lelyushchenko asked me with a puzzled expression: "Why did you order your subordinates, whether they were soldiers or officers, to bring anyone named Heinmann with that?" Didn't you just hear Comrade Chuikov say that he was a captain two years ago? ”

In response to Lelyushenko's questioning, I replied with a smile: "Comrade General, I estimate that this Heinmann has a lot of pro-Soviet behavior in peacetime, even during the siege of our embassy, he used his authority to let the staff out and help transfer important documents, without being noticed by others, but he must have been blacklisted by the Gestapo a long time ago, so he was sent to the Eastern Front to die." ”

"General Guryev," Chuikov said to Guryev as soon as I had finished speaking, "as for the Germans captured by your division, please take a look at them, and don't let your men kill our friends." ”

"All right, Comrade Commander," Guriev replied, standing up, "I'll go and inquire about it." ”

When there were only a few of us commanders left in the room, Chuikov finally turned the subject to me: "Oshanina, in last night's battle, your troops fought well, and the commanders and fighters behaved bravely. Without your cooperation, I estimate that it would take at least two or three days to capture Izyum. ”

"That's right, I think so, too." As soon as his words fell, Lelyushchenko, who was next to him, added: "After more than a month of fighting, the 6th and 12th armies suffered heavy losses in their troops and were unable to launch a new offensive against the enemy's defensive depth, so the front command transferred my 3rd Guards Army as a reserve for Chuikov. ”

Although I know that for the next half a month or even longer, my army group will be in a state of almost idleness, I am still very interested in the actions of the Southwestern Front: "General Chuikov, where do you think our next battle will begin?" ”

Chuikov looked down at the map in front of him, then pushed it in front of me, pointed to it and said: "According to the order we received before the offensive battle began, after occupying Izyum, the troops will continue to advance in the southwest direction, attack the Bavenkovo area, and destroy all the enemy on the east bank of the Dnieper River. In this way, we will be able to complete the recovery of Donbass and return the entire important coal mine and metallurgical region to our hands. ”

I stared at the map, secretly thinking in my head, judging from the position of our deployment, we were getting farther and farther away from the main force of the Voronezh Front, and if we continued like this, would the higher authorities assign us to the Steppe Front or the Southwestern Front? If this is really the case, then we will not have a chance to participate in the battle for the liberation of Kyiv.

Perhaps seeing that I had not spoken for a long time, Lelyushchenko misunderstood what I meant, and explained to me on the side: "Oshanina, don't worry. Now that the enemy in the Izyum region has been wiped out by us, the enemy's defenses on the entire eastern bank of the Dnieper have become empty, and the Germans simply cannot draw forces to fill these gaps. In this way, after we have completed the task of clearing the German army, we can continue to develop southward, down the Dnieper, to liberate Zaporosh, to liberate Nikopol, and even to liberate Odessa on the Black Sea from the hands of the Germans. ”

While Lelyushchenko imagined how his troops would overcome obstacles and retake one city after another from the Germans, my eyes were also fixed on Zaporosh's position. Half a year ago, I led the 79th Infantry Corps to rush across the Dnieper River from here and attack all the way to the northwest, turning the empty rear of the German army upside down. Even by way of night raids, luckily from the Germans, Kyiv, which had empty defenses, was taken over. If it weren't for Moscow's transfer of me, I might have been able to hold out in Kyiv for a while longer.

Chuikov then briefly explained to me the location of several group armies to which the Southwestern Front belonged, as well as the direction of their next combat operations.

At this moment, a voice suddenly shouted a report outside the door. Chuikov thought that the division commander had returned from the mission, so he shouted without looking back: "Come in." ”

As the curtain of the door was lifted, a lieutenant walked in from the outside, and he couldn't help but feel a little at a loss when he saw the room full of generals. Chuikov glanced up at him, and then asked: "Comrade lieutenant, what is the matter?" ”

"Report to Comrade Commander," the lieutenant, apparently a subordinate of Guriev, heard Chuikov's question, and quickly straightened up and replied: "Someone called General Oshanina." ”

When I heard that there was a call for me, I quickly stood up and asked kindly, "Comrade Lieutenant, do you know where the call came from?" ”

"I'm not sure, it's a senior chief, he said his name is Vatutin......"

When I heard that the call was from Vatutin, I knew that something important must be something, and hurriedly urged the lieutenant, "Lieutenant, take me to answer the phone." With that, he walked briskly out of the tent. (To be continued.) )