"What, you captured the German flag?" Zhukov, having seen the telegram I sent him, personally called the headquarters of the division where I was to verify the matter.

"Yes, Comrade Marshal." I looked at the pennant in front of me and affirmed: "The captured military flag is a pennant, which is divided into three colors: black, white, and red from top to bottom. In the middle of the white part, letters and numbers representing the number of the unit are written. ”

After hearing this, Zhukov hummed, and then said: "What you captured is a division command flag, which can be regarded as the military flag of the 19th Armored Division." By the way, did you occupy the whole city of Tomarovka? ”

"Report to Comrade Marshal, at the moment the battle in the eastern direction of the city is still going on." I listened to the sound of gunfire coming from outside, and continued to report to him: "I have just transferred troops from the 51st and 71st Guards Divisions to the east of the city to reinforce the 52nd Guards Division. I think by noon today, the battle should be resolved. ”

"Where do you have the senior commander?" Zhukov then asked again.

I don't know why Zhukov asked, but I told honestly: "The commander of the 22nd Guards Army, Sivakov, and the commander of the 23rd Guards Army, Major General Tavart Kiradze, are both in the city. ”

"Immediately transfer your post to Major General Tavart Kiradze," Zhukov said in an unquestioning tone, "and then you rush to the north-west of Belgorod and join your deputy commander Danilov. ”

I have already informed my superiors about my transfer of troops to Belgorod, so it is not surprising that Zhukov knew about it, but I wonder what he did when he suddenly transferred me in that direction. Because I cautiously asked: "Comrade Marshal." Don't know what important tasks are there to transfer me to? ”

Zhukov waited for me to finish. To put it simply: "First, to cooperate with the Steppe Front and the Seventh Guards Army. an offensive against Belgorod; The second was to cut off the connection between the German troops in Belgorod and Tomarovka. Okay, the assault on Belgorod will begin at eight o'clock in the morning, time is pressing, you immediately hand over the command, rush to join General Danilov, move quickly! After that, he didn't wait for me to say anything. I just hung up the phone.

Although Zhukov was in a hurry, I had a lot of things to arrange. First he asked people to find Povsky, who was not at the headquarters, and then called Tavart Kiradze, who was at the headquarters north of the city.

When Tavart Kiradze heard my voice, he asked with concern: "Comrade commander, when will you return to the headquarters?" ”

"Comrade General, I will now officially inform you." I didn't bother to explain it to him, so I gave a straightforward order: "From now on, you will take over the command of all the troops in the city." Do you understand? ”

Tawart Kiradze was stunned for a moment when he heard my order, and then said in confusion: "Comrade commander. I don't understand, aren't you still in town. Why transfer the command of the troops to me? ”

"Comrade General, I have just received an order from my superiors to rush to the periphery of Belgorod to command the troops, so I will hand over all the troops in the city to you to command." Although it was only a matter of time before the whole city was recovered, I still told him with anxiety: "After I leave, remember to call the commanders of the divisions and inform them of this matter, so as to avoid confusion in command." Do you understand? ”

After listening to my question, Tawalt Kiradze answered quite briskly this time: "Understood, Comrade Commander. I will wipe out all the Germans in the city as soon as possible. ”

As soon as I finished my call with Tavart Kiradze, Povsky hurried back to the headquarters. As soon as he saw me, he asked me with a blank face: "Comrade commander, I am collecting the scattered artillery in the city, is there anything important that you sent people to find me in such a hurry?" ”

"That's right, Comrade Colonel." Since our army group was not the main force in the battle for the attack on Belgorod, there was no opportunity for the artillery group to show its skills, so I decided to leave Povsky in the city. In order not to distract him, I also went out of my way to explain to him: "I was ordered to take command of the troops to participate in the Belgorod offensive, so the command was transferred to General Tavart Kiradze. If possible, you should return to the headquarters in the north of the city as soon as possible, where it is much more convenient to direct the artillery than here. ”

"I understand, Comrade Commander, I will rush back to the Chengbei Headquarters as soon as possible." Povsky reached out and shook my hand and said kindly, "I wish you a safe journey." ”

"Thank you, Comrade Colonel." After I finished speaking, I shouted outside: "Major Basmanov! ”

"Here!" As soon as I finished speaking, Basmanov appeared at the door, standing straight and waiting for my order.

As I walked out, I ordered him, "Major, go and gather the guard company, we must get out of here as soon as possible." ”

An hour later, we arrived at the headquarters in a village northwest of Belgorod. As soon as I walked into the headquarters, I found that in addition to Danilov and the commanders of the three Guards Divisions under me, an acquaintance was also inside.

I walked up to this man with a smile on my face, smiled and stretched out my hand to him, and said in a friendly way: "Hello, General Rodimtsev, I didn't expect us to meet again here." ”

Rodimtsev hurriedly raised his hand to his forehead, saluted me, and then shook my hand and said respectfully: "Hello, Commander Oshanina, I didn't expect us to meet here. ”

Looking at this comrade-in-arms at the Battle of Stalingrad, I asked curiously: "Comrade General, how come you have time to come to me?" ”

"That's right, Comrade Commander." Without waiting for Rodimtsev to answer, Danilov preemptively said: "General Rodimtsev's 13th Guards Division is now under the command of General Katukov's 1st Guards Tank Army. They have come here today on order to sever the connection between the German army Belgorod and Tomarovka. ”

When I heard Danilov say this, I couldn't help but feel a little surprised, and I thought to myself, didn't Zhukov give me the order to put me in charge of cutting off the connection between the two places? Why is now even Katukov's 1st Guards Tank Army receiving the same order?

Seeing my surprised expression, Rodimtsev hurriedly replied: "Comrade commander, to be precise. It should be our division and you who have cut off the connection between the two cities. I obey your orders. Please give the order. ”

"Okay. Comrade General, since you have received the same order as us, then I will send troops to assist you in this task. With that, I turned my head to look at Danilov and said, "Comrade Deputy Commander, draw a regiment from the 77th Guards Division and cooperate with General Rodimtsev to complete this task." ”

"Comrade commander, you don't need so many troops." Rodimtsev smiled and said to me: "We only need to send one regiment each with the 77th Guards Division." The task of cutting off contact with the German army can be accomplished. As he spoke, he turned to a major general standing nearby and introduced me, "This is my deputy division commander, Major General Bakranov." At this point, he lowered his voice and said to me, "I will soon be transferred to another unit, and he will take over my position as division commander at that time." ”

After listening to Rodimtsev's introduction, I smiled and stretched out my hand to Bakranov, who was standing aside: "Hello, Comrade Major General, it's a pleasure to meet you. It is believed that the 13th Guards Division is under the command of General Rodimtsev and you. We will definitely be able to create more brilliant results. ”

"Hello, Comrade Commander." Baklanov took my hand. Said respectfully: "We, the 13th Guards Division, will definitely fully cooperate with your troops." ”

After greeting Rodimtsev and his deputy division commander, I walked to the table, looked down at the map placed on it, and asked Danilov: "Comrade Deputy Commander, tell me about your offensive plan!" ”

"Yes, Comrade Commander." Danilov pointed to the map in front of him with a red and blue pencil and said to me: "Our troops have spread out on the outskirts of Belgorod, and when our artillery is ready, the troops of the army group will follow the friendly forces and attack the city at the same time." The order of attack of the troops was the 89th Guards Division, the 77th Guards Division and the 90th Guards Division. ”

After listening to his words, I tried to recall the battle of Belgorod in my memory, and it felt as if it had been mentioned in the history books, proving that the battle was not fierce. Therefore, he did not raise any objection to the order of attack arranged by Danilov, but casually asked: "What are the friendly troops?" ”

"The 53rd and 69th armies of the Steppe Front will attack Belgorod from the north." Danilov did not look at any information, opened his mouth and said what I wanted to know: "And General Shumilov's Seventh Guards Army attacked from the south; The newly arrived Fifth Mechanized Corps made a detour to Belgorod from the southwest to cut off the German retreat. ”

I looked up at my watch, and said, "It's a quarter of an hour before the battle begins." The commanders of each division first returned to their respective units. As soon as the battle began, the road connecting Belgorod to Tomarovka was cut off, and the attack on the city was carried out simultaneously. Speaking of this, I suddenly remembered that there was a time when the troops of the Sixth Guards Army were going to be the first to storm Belgorod in front of Vatutin, so I stopped Seryukin again and emphasized to him: "Comrade Colonel, I hope that the red flag of your division will be the first to fly in the sky over Belgorod. Are you sure? ”

Hearing my command, Seryukin's face turned red with excitement. After hesitating for a moment, he replied decisively: "Rest assured, Comrade Commander, I assure you that the flag of our division will be the first to fly over Belgorod. If not, you will remove me from my post. ”

"Alright, Comrade Colonel." I waved my hand at Xie Liujin and said, "Do your best, even if you don't make it the first to plant the red flag in the city, I won't blame you." Hurry back to the troops. ”

When only Danilov and I were left in the command, he asked me worriedly: "Comrade commander, will it be a bit difficult for you to give the order to Colonel Seryukin?" ”

"Why do you say that, Comrade Deputy Commander?" I asked curiously.

"To know the assists that our troops serve." Danilov said with some regret: "And the Germans are facing us in this direction, and the defense is also very strong. So if our troops want to storm the city, they will definitely pay a high price. ”

"Comrade Deputy Commander, you are too pessimistic." After hearing Danilov's concerns, I smiled and said to me: "Our attack on Tomarovka was also difficult, but we managed to storm the city. Not only did they annihilate most of the defenders in the city, but they also almost completely annihilated the German 19th Panzer Division and captured their flags. ”

"The flag was captured?!" Danilov was not at the headquarters of the army group, so he obviously did not know about this matter, so as soon as he heard my news, his mouth immediately opened in surprise. It took a long time before he stammered: "Comrade commander, you're not joking with me, are you?" ”

"Comrade Deputy Commander, how could I be joking with you about such a thing?" As I spoke, I took out the captured command flag from my satchel, spread it out in front of him, pointed it with my hand, and said, "Look, the flag is here." ”

When Danilov saw this flag, the muscles on his face twitched twice, and then he said: "Although it is not the flag of the German armored division, it is even more significant to be able to capture this command flag." ”

I waited for him to finish reading, put away the flag, and then said: "As long as our troops attack Belgorod first today, then there will be a chance to capture the real flag of the German army." Now let's check whether the communication with the divisions is normal, lest we lose contact in the event of a fight, and it is easy to make mistakes. ”

Danilov listened to me, nodded, and then shouted outside: "Hey, the communications staff officer is not here, come in." ”

As he shouted, a young second lieutenant ran in, stood up straight in front of us, and respectfully asked, "Comrade Commander, what instructions do you have?" ”

Danilov pointed his hand at him and asked loudly: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, are the lines of communication with the divisions now open?" ”

"Yes, Comrade Deputy Commander." The second lieutenant also replied in a loud voice: "At present, the telephone lines and wireless lines between the temporary command headquarters and the divisions, divisions, and regimental headquarters are kept unblocked and ready to be put into use at any time. ”

"Good, keep it up." After Danilov said this, he waved his hand at the second lieutenant and said, "It's none of your business here, you can go down first." ”

After the second lieutenant left, Danilov asked me again with a smile: "Comrade commander, what should we do next?" ”

"The next thing we want is- wait!" I also replied with a smile: "Wait for the divisions to report to us on the progress of the battle." (To be continued.) )