I know that the Imperial Division is stationed in the west of Kharkov, and the Germans are not fools, and seeing our troops rushing into the city, they will definitely send the most elite troops to attack, and correctly drive our troops out of the city in the shortest possible time, so as to restore the broken line of defense as soon as possible. At the thought of this, my heart couldn't help but beat faster, and I nervously said to Seryukin: "Hey, Division Commander Seryukin, I sent you reinforcements over, so no matter how fierce the enemy's offensive is, you must resist me!" ”

Seryukin shouted at the top of his voice: "Don't worry, Comrade Commander, as long as we have one person left, we will never let the Germans drive us out of the city." ”

Seeing that Xie Liujin was so confident, my heart was a little more steady, and finally I said: "If you need support, call me at any time!" ”

I put down the phone and thought about it, but I felt that my heart was still not steady, so I picked up the phone again and called Povsky: "Hey, comrade artillery commander, please immediately send several artillery observers to the Lyubogin area to guide the artillery in the direction of firing. ”

"To the Lyubokyeong area?" Hearing my somewhat inexplicable order, Povsky asked in confusion: "Comrade commander, isn't it occupied by the Germans?" ”

"Comrade General, your message is outdated." In order to give Povsky attention to this matter, I made a point of emphasizing: "At present, the troops of the 89th Guards Division have occupied Lyubokin. The Germans are not willing to let our positions be broken through by us, and are organizing troops to carry out a counterattack. ”

"I see, Comrade Commander." As soon as I said that Lyubogin was occupied by our troops, he immediately understood what was going on, and hurriedly replied: "I will immediately send the most capable artillery observers to Lyubogin to guide the direction of our artillery." ”

Although I sent a large number of tanks, artillery, and infantry to Lyubokyo, my heart was always like fifteen buckets of water. Seeing my situation, Chistyakov took the initiative to ask me: "Comrade commander, I see that you are still not at ease with the Lyubogin area. In this case, I will personally go there to coordinate the command of several divisions, and strive to quickly expand the results of the battle after gaining a firm foothold. ”

Before I could say yes, the phone on the desk rang. I thought it was some of the division commanders below who called me to complain, and after putting the earpiece to my ear, I asked loudly, "Hey, where are you?" ”

Maybe my tone was too heavy, the other party was stunned for a moment, and then said: "Comrade Oshanina, who made you angry, why are you so angry?" ”

I immediately heard that the person who spoke was the commander of the steppe front, Konev, and quickly apologized to him and said: "I'm sorry, comrade commander of the front, I thought it was ......"

"I thought it was your subordinates, and I had some bad news to tell you, right?" Konev said with a smile.

Seeing that Konev guessed my state of mind, I smiled a little embarrassedly, then glanced at Managarov next to me, and then asked tentatively: "Comrade General, are you calling to find General Managarov?" ”

"No, I'm not looking for him, I'm looking for you." Konev always spoke straightforwardly: "I heard that your troops have rushed into the city from the west of Kharkov, is this true? ”

"That's right, Comrade General." As soon as he finished speaking, I immediately replied: "At the moment we have two divisions that have broken through the outlying positions of the Germans in the southwest direction of Kharkov, stormed into the city and occupied the Lyubotin area. At present, the German army is launching a frantic counterattack in the area, and fierce fighting is being fought between the enemy and us. ”

"I heard Vatutin say that your troops stormed the city, and I thought he was joking with me." Konev said to me in a serious tone: "Comrade Oshanina, I will immediately order the 57th and 69th Armies from the north and the 7th Guards Army to intensify the attack on the enemy from the east, to ensure that the enemy does not remove a single soldier from these two directions and to participate in the counterattack in the area of Lyubotin in order to relieve your pressure." ”

"Thank you, thank you, Comrade General." Konev's words reassured me, as long as the attacks from the north and east were fierce, the Germans would not dare to easily transfer troops from these two directions, "I believe that with your support, we will soon be able to gain a foothold in the city of Kharkiv." ”

After putting down the phone this time, I made up my mind and prepared to go to Kharkiv to command the troops in person. It's not that I can't believe Chistyakov, but because I haven't seen my troops repel the German attack with my own eyes, and I can't be sure. So I looked at Chistyakov and said to him: "Comrade Deputy Commander, after consideration, I think it would be more appropriate for you to stay in the command. Liu Bojing is there, or I will go there myself. ”

"What, you're going to Ryubojing?" When the people in the room heard my words, they fell silent. Kirillov, who broke the silence first, rushed in front of me, grabbed my arm, and said with a stern expression: "No, this is resolutely not good, you are our supreme commander here, how can you casually go to the city to take risks?" ”

"That's right, Comrade Military Commissar is right." Chistyakov said: "The front is too dangerous, and you, as the commander of the army group, have no right to risk your life." ”

After the two men finished speaking, Managarov, Bezkov, and the other commanders of the 53rd Army persuaded me that the city was too dangerous for me to leave my post and venture into such a dangerous place.

After everyone had quieted down, I waved my hand at them and said, "Comrade commander, thank you for your concern for me, but I still have to go to Liu Bojing in person." Seeing everyone's blank looks, I added: "At present, in this area, in addition to the 52nd and 89th Guards Divisions, there are a large number of tank and artillery units, as well as the newly reinforced 77th Guards Division and the Motorized Regiment. With so many troops crowded together and without a unified command, it is difficult to give full play to their combat effectiveness. Only after I have gone will I be able to make better use of these troops, hold on to the Lyubokin area, and take the opportunity to expand our occupied area. ”

Kirillov is the one who knows me best, and he knows that once I have made up my mind, no one can change my decision unless I change my mind myself. So, after a sigh, he said to me, "Well, Leda, since you have made up your mind, then I will not hinder you anymore." But you have to bring more guards with you when you go, at least to reassure us a little. ”

I nodded, and then said to Chistyakov and Managarov: "Two generals, when I don't know the command, you are responsible for everything here. As soon as the remaining three-way troops were able to break through the German lines, they immediately threw their reserves into battle and tried to storm the city as soon as possible. ”

"Comrade Commander, don't worry." Chistyakov said to me with a solemn expression: "I will keep an eye on the battlefield at all times, and as soon as the German outlying positions are breached, I will quickly put the reserves into battle, tearing the gap wider so that our troops can quickly rush into the city." ”

Seeing that Chistyakov had understood my intentions for the battle, I nodded with satisfaction and took Basmanov and a company of guards and went to Lyubotin in a truck.

On the way to Lyubotin, when our convoy overtook the marching infantry ranks, Basmanov, who was sitting next to me, turned his head and said excitedly: "Comrade commander, do you see, our large army, at least a few thousand people. It's all going in the same direction as us. ”

"Needless to say, Comrade Major." I looked at the infantry queue outside and couldn't help but sigh with emotion, if it weren't for the fact that our air force had firmly grasped the air supremacy of the battlefield, I really wouldn't have dared to let the troops march on such a large scale in broad daylight, "We are now not only surpassing the enemy in terms of strength, but even outclassing the enemy in weapons and equipment." ”

"Comrade Commander, I have a question." After looking outside a few more times, Basmanov cautiously asked: "Can we take Kharkov this time?" ”

"What's wrong with you, Comrade Major?" I turned my head to Basmanov, who had asked this absurd question, and said with some dissatisfaction: "Don't you see that our troops have already occupied Lyubokin?" Besides, with so many tanks and artillery, and high-spirited infantry divisions, there is no doubt that we will achieve the final victory. ”

By the time the convoy passed through the breached German positions, the smoke had long since cleared, the flames on the bare and charred logs of the fortifications had been extinguished, wisps of green smoke occasionally crackled and exploded, and a strange smell of gunsmoke, scorched earth and blood filled the air. Looking at the corpses everywhere before I had time to collect them, I could imagine in my heart how terrible the battle had been here a few hours earlier.

Soon after our convoy passed through the position, it was stopped by fighters at the front checkpoint. A second lieutenant politely told me, saying: "Comrade commander, the road ahead has been completely destroyed by artillery fire, vehicles are temporarily impassable, and the sappers are nervously rushing to repair it. You can either stay here and continue to wait, or you can walk through here. ”

I looked ahead and saw a group of sappers filling a crater not far away. They first threw nearby masonry rubble into the pit and then filled it with dirt. I calculated in my heart that at the speed of the sappers, it would take at least half an hour or more to fill a hole. And the area in front of you is full of such large craters. By the time the sappers had filled in all the pits, it was estimated that it would already be dark. Thinking of this, I pushed the door and got out of the car, and said to Basmanov, who was sitting in the front passenger seat: "Major, let the fighters of the guard company get out of the car, and we will rush to the headquarters of General Seryukin on foot." ”

Basmanov pointed to the front and said curiously: "Comrade commander, don't you wait for the sappers to fill the pit before leaving?" ”

"Don't wait," I said, gesticulating, "at the current rate of the sappers, it would be a miracle that all the pits could be filled before dark." And we don't have that much time to wait for them to do all this. ”

"Understood, Comrade Commander." Basmanov jumped out of the car as he spoke, and after taking a few steps towards the truck behind him, he opened his voice and shouted: "Guard company, listen to my command, get out of the car!" ”

Although it was only a short distance of four or five hundred meters from the place where the car was parked to the headquarters of Seryukin, the road was not very quiet, and it was not for the German shells that flew over and exploded in the ruins on both sides of the street, lifting the bricks, rubble, and fragments of furniture everywhere, and several fighters of the guard company were injured.

I was guided by the fighters of the Guards Division to the headquarters of Seryukin. As soon as I walked through the door, the three division commanders Seryukin, Nekrasov, and Askarepov, who had been informed, and the commander of the tank corps, Major General Berey, stood in a neat row in front of me, raised their hands to salute me, and said in unison: "Hello, Comrade Commander! ”

I didn't bother to be polite with them, so I walked straight to the conference table with a large map spread out, and asked in unison, "How are you doing here?" ”

Seryukin, as the temporary commander I appointed, immediately took a step forward and reported to me: "Comrade commander, the Germans launched two attacks on us, but both were repulsed by us. ”

Hearing his telegram-like brief report, I frowned slightly, and then said in a slightly dissatisfied tone: "Senior Commander Seryukin, please report in detail. ”

"The Germans, under the cover of more than two dozen tanks, launched an attack on our positions. Since our bazookas had exhausted all their ammunition when they attacked the German outlying positions in front, we had no choice but to let the tank detachments assigned to us rush forward in the face of the onrushing German tanks. However, the enemy's tanks were better than ours, and after losing twenty tanks, we destroyed only ten German tanks, but their attack was repulsed by us. ”

Seryugin paused for a moment when he reported this, and after turning his head to look at Major General Bere behind him, he continued: "After ten minutes, the Germans sent new tanks again to cover their infantry and launched a charge towards the positions we occupied. You must know that our tanks have already lost all their money in the attack of the enemy in front. At this moment, fortunately, General Bere's tank unit arrived in time. After a fierce battle, all the enemy's tanks were destroyed by us, and the infantry following the tanks were also completely wiped out by our troops. ”

After listening to Seryukin's report, I nodded and asked casually: "Comrade division commander, when will our troops continue to attack the enemy?" ”

"What, offense?" Hearing me say this surprised Seryukin. He gave a quick glance at Bere, who was standing behind, and then straightened up and stood still.

Seeing his eyes, Bere hurriedly stepped forward and reported to me: "Comrade commander, there are fifty or sixty tanks on both sides of the enemy and us, which have been destroyed in the square in front of us, and all roads have been blocked tightly, and if these obstacles are not removed, neither we nor the enemy will be able to launch a new attack. (To be continued.) )