I was sleeping soundly, and in the haze, I felt that someone was gently shaking my body, and I kept shouting: "Comrade Division Commander, Comrade Division Commander, wake up." ……”

I opened my eyes in a daze, and caught a glimpse of the person standing in front of the bed calling me was Chistyakov, knowing that he was calling me at this time, there must be something important looking for me, so I sat up slowly, and while continuing to close my eyes and recuperate, I asked weakly: "What time is it?" ”

"It's just past six o'clock!" Chistyakov may have been a little uneasy about waking me up early, afraid that I would be furious with him, so after saying this, he instinctively took two steps back, and at the same time said cautiously: "Comrade division commander, comrade commander has a phone call, let you go and answer it yourself." ”

I sighed, didn't get up immediately to answer the phone, just stepped on the ground and rubbed my face vigorously with both hands, trying to get rid of the drowsiness as soon as possible and get myself back to consciousness as soon as possible. I knew that Rokossovsky's call at this time was related to the battle in Mt. Sun City, so I asked Chistyakov, who was standing far away: "Is there a battle situation in the direction of Mt. Sun City?" ”

"The gunfire in the direction of Cumbre del Sol stopped half an hour ago, and it is estimated that the battle has ended. However, in whose hands is the city, because the scouts we sent have not yet returned, we do not have exact information for the time being. ”

I sighed again, got up and walked quickly to the table, picked up the microphone resting on the table, and greeted Rokossovsky: "Hello, Comrade Commander. Is there any good news for me? ”

"Leda!" Rokossovsky called me by name and told me in a heavy tone: "Probably I have brought you bad news, and I will be very limited in what I can do for you in tonight's offensive operation." After a whole day of bloody fighting, our army still failed to stop the frantic attack of the fascist bandits. The three settlements of Sverchikovo, Selishevo and Martnovo, which had been captured at one time, had already been recaptured by the enemy. At the moment the 2nd Guards Cavalry Corps retreated three kilometers back, taking up new defensive positions and deploying. In today's battle, we inflicted heavy losses on the attacking enemy, who barely managed to break into the settlements almost by stepping on the corpses of their own men. ……”

The last few words of Rokossovsky were directly ignored by me, and the loss of the settlement is the loss, and it is useless to inflict great damage on the enemy. Moreover, in my impression, there is a huge difference in the combat effectiveness of the enemy and us, and even if the Soviet army is on the defensive, its casualties must be far greater than those of the German army. Instead of echoing him, I asked a question that I was most concerned about: "Are the buildings in these three settlements badly damaged?" ”

"The buildings in the settlements survived the bombardment of enemy planes and artillery shelling, and almost a single intact building survived." When he said this, he suddenly asked me curiously, "Leda, what are you asking this for?" ”

Instead of answering his question directly, I asked rhetorically: "Commander, have you noticed that it has cooled down outside today?" ”

My words have reached this point, but Rokossovsky still did not come back to it, and was still asking me: "I know that the temperature has cooled down today, and the drop is quite large." But what does this have to do with asking if the buildings of the settlements are complete? ”

I sighed secretly, thinking that such a clever person as Rokossovsky could not guess the meaning of my question, and could only explain to him: "If all the buildings in the settlements occupied by the enemy are blown up, then they will have to spend the night in the ruins tonight." Can you imagine what it would be like for a thinly dressed German with little winter clothes to spend the night in the open ground in the bitter cold weather here? ”

As a future marshal and a famous military strategist, Rokossovsky was indeed faster than ordinary people, and he immediately understood what I wanted to express, and said excitedly: "I understand, although they temporarily occupy several settlements, there are no houses for them to hide in to keep warm and avoid the cold, so they can only stay in those ruins." In the cold weather here, they would all go to hell in one night. Lida, don't worry, I will immediately go and assign a task to General Pliev, and as soon as the fighting on your side starts, I will immediately order his troops to counterattack the settlements and actively plan your attacks. ”

I put down the phone and instructed Chistyakov, who was standing in front of me with shining eyes: "Comrade Colonel, you go and make arrangements, let Grissa heat up the car, and I will immediately rush to the place where the troops are assembled to have a look." ”

Watching Chistyakov leave, I sat down on the table. Although I was confident in front of others, the closer I got to leave the battle, the less stable I became. You must know that I do not have a complete set of plans at all, and I do not know the deployment of the enemy's troops, and I do not even know the situation of my own troops. The fact that my subordinates were able to prepare according to my orders was not because they were convinced by my command, but because they were just a habit of obedience that they had developed under strict military discipline.

When the mood calmed down, I hurriedly returned to the camp bed, closed the curtains, took off the uniform skirt, and changed into the thick military trousers that Chistyakov had recruited for me. As soon as I had changed, I heard the colonel shouting at the gate of the headquarters: "Comrade division commander, the car is ready, we can leave at any time." ”

"It's coming! Here it comes! "I was running out with my belt on.

As soon as I ran to the door, I was about to open the curtain and go out, when I heard the phone ringing, and I quickly stopped to find out what was going on. The communications staff officer on duty stepped forward and picked up the phone, then handed it to me and said: "Comrade division commander, it's General Katukov who is calling for you in a hurry. ”

When I heard that it was Katukov looking for me, I couldn't help but feel furious, worried that something might have gone wrong with his tank troops, and that his troops were the main force in tonight's attack. I took the microphone and nervously asked, "Hello, Comrade General!" What's the matter? ”

"Report to Comrade Division Commander, after the emergency repair just now, the on-board radio stations of eight tanks have been repaired, so that I can directly command the troops through the radio."

"Great." This was really good news, a difficult problem that had plagued me was solved, and I smiled happily and immediately said loudly into the microphone: "Comrade General, this is really good!" I'll go to you right away and we'll talk about it later. ”