According to the battle plan, at 4 p.m., we will carry out an artillery bombardment of German positions in the forest area.

As the minutes ticked by, I sat in the headquarters waiting for the artillery to fire, fidgeting like an ant on a hot pot, constantly watching the time, muttering to myself why time passed so slowly.

Managarov, on the other hand, was much more relaxed, and he and Chistyakov sat across from me and laughed, and from time to time they pulled the map in front of him and whispered about the troops under his command and what kind of victories they had achieved in what places.

Kirillov and the military commissar of the 53rd Army, in another corner of the room, discussed what medals should be awarded to the commanders and fighters who were the first to storm the city if they succeeded in capturing Kharkov.

As for Bezikov, he was not idle either. He, along with the chiefs of staff of the friendly forces and Akhromeyev, gathered in front of a huge map hanging on the wall, carefully studying the next course of action of the troops.

Seeing that there was still more than half an hour before the shelling, I was bored, so I got up and walked to the map. Pretending to ask Bezkov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I see that you have been studying the place, have you made any new discoveries?" ”

"Comrade Commander, allow me to report back to you." Without waiting for Bezkov to answer my question, the chief of staff of the 53rd Army next to him preemptively said: "I have found a loophole in your plan. ”

"Planned loopholes?" After repeating his words, I asked curiously: "Comrade Chief of Staff, can you tell me more about it?" ”

"Comrade Commander, please look." Pointing to the south of Kharkov with his stick, he said: "Here are the railways and roads from Kharkiv to Mereva and Krasnograd. If we don't cut it off, the Germans will be able to pass through here and bring in a steady stream of ammunition and supplies that are needed in the city. And to transport out the vital materials of the city and their wounded and sick. ”

After listening to the words of the chief of staff, Bezkov looked at me and asked: "Comrade commander, what should we do?" ”

I took a closer look at where the railways and roads were, and said, "Judging from the current situation, it is necessary to first repel the defenders in the forest in order to cut off the enemy's communication with the outside world. and crossed the Oud River with troops. ”

"That's right, Comrade Oshanina." As soon as I finished speaking, Managarov, who did not know when he came to me, continued: "I propose to ask the Front to send air forces to carry out air strikes on this line of communication, so as to make it more difficult for the enemy to communicate with the outside world. ”

After listening to Managarov's proposal, I stared at the map for a long time. Although we had reached the west of Kharkov, we did not know much about the German armament in this area, which meant that it was not possible to cut off the lines of communication in the enemy's rear in a day or two. Air strikes on German lines of communication were perhaps the best way to do it at the moment.

Thinking of this, I nodded and said to Managarov: "Comrade General, you are good at this proposal. Later, when the offensive begins, send a telegram to General Konev, asking him to send an air force to attack the enemy's positions. ”

"Okay." Managarov apparently understood why I had asked him to negotiate the dispatch of the Air Force. It's because this is the area under the responsibility of the Steppe Front, if I go directly to Konev on my behalf. Maybe it will lead to contradictions, so he readily agreed: "I'll call Commander Konev later." ”

As he was talking, there was a sudden rumbling of cannon outside. When Bezkov heard this, he said proudly: "Our artillery is beginning to teach the Germans a lesson!" ”

I walked quickly to the telephone and asked the communications man to connect me to Bere. As soon as I heard Bere's voice coming out of my headphones, I immediately asked, "Comrade General." How many tanks are currently in the starting positions? ”

"Comrade Commander, less than a third." General Berey said with some embarrassment: "Since the road leading to here is not easy to walk, the remaining tanks are still marching on the road, and it is not easy to say when they will arrive." ”

"Can you get there before the shelling is ready?" In such a tough battle. Without the help of a sufficient number of tanks, it would be difficult to successfully occupy the German positions, so when I heard that the tank troops could not reach the designated positions on time, I couldn't help but get anxious: "If we don't have a sufficient number of tanks before the offensive begins, then our infantry will pay huge casualties." ”

Beray was a little anxious when he heard me, so he had to say helplessly: "Comrade commander, I'll do my best." I will urge the troops behind me to speed up their march and try to get there before the attack. ”

Seeing that I put down the phone with an unhappy face, Managarov hurriedly comforted me and said: "Comrade Oshanina, don't worry, even without tanks, our fighters can defeat the Germans." ”

When I heard what he said, I couldn't help but smile bitterly, and said in my heart: Without tanks, I can only fill them with people. Maybe two or three thousand people died, and they couldn't take the enemy's position. But these words can be said in my heart, but I can't say them. In order not to spoil him, I forced a smile and said: "You are right, General Managarov, even without tanks, our valiant fighters can defeat the damned Germans." ”

Managarov raised his hand and looked at his watch, and then said to me: "Comrade Oshanina, there is nothing to do now, anyway, then I will first call General Konev and ask him to send an air force to carry out air strikes on the lines of communication of the German army." ”

"Go, go, go!" Although I understood that the air raids at this time would not be of much use in destroying the German troops in the forest, they were better than nothing, so I urged him to hurry up and make a phone call.

When Managarov went to call, I pulled Chistyakov to the map, pointed to the line of communication that was about to be attacked by air strikes, and said to him: "Comrade Deputy Commander, look at this line of communication, it is difficult to completely cut it off with air strikes alone, and it may be necessary to send ground troops in the end." ”

After looking at the map for a while, Chistyakov turned to me and asked: "Comrade commander, I wonder which unit you plan to send to accomplish this important task?" ”

Although I wanted to send troops to cut off the enemy's lines of communication, I was really stumped by which troops to send. Just when I was in a dilemma, the chief of staff of the 53rd Army said: "Comrade commander, I have a proposal for the task of cutting off the lines of communication. It can be given to the 84th, 116th and 299th Infantry Divisions. ”

Since the issue of cutting off the lines of communication was discovered by this chief of staff, he must have thought it through before proposing it to me. So after I waited for him to finish, I simply asked: "How many troops do these three divisions have at present?" ”

My question silenced the chief of staff. I saw him with his head down. His lips opened and closed quickly and silently, and he estimated that the existing strength of these troops was being calculated. After two or three minutes, he finally stopped, looked up at me and said, "Report to Comrade Commander, although the three divisions have been seriously reduced in the early battle, the total strength of the three divisions is still nearly 10,000 people. ”

"Nearly 10,000 people?!" I couldn't help but be stunned for a moment when I heard what he said. I only know that when the 53rd Army stormed Kharkov from the north, the troops suffered heavy casualties, but I didn't expect it. The casualties were close to two-thirds.

While I was hesitating, Managarov, who had finished the call, came back and said to me happily: "Comrade commander, General Konev agreed, and he said that from tomorrow the air force would be sent to bomb the German lines of communication. ”

When I heard that the Air Force would be dispatched tomorrow, I immediately felt relieved: "That's great." As a result, the Germans would soon run out of ammunition and materials. and had to withdraw from the city. ”

"By the way, what were you talking about?" Managarov saw a bunch of us all gathered around the map. It seemed that something was being discussed, and I couldn't help but ask curiously.

"That's right, General Managarov." Chistyakov explained to him: "We are discussing which unit will be responsible for cutting off the German lines of communication after the German forest line has been breached." ”

When Managarov heard him say this, he quickly turned his gaze to me. Nervously said: "Comrade Oshanina, give this task to our group army." Although my troops suffered heavy casualties in the early stages, they will certainly be able to complete your mission well. ”

As soon as he finished speaking, the commanders around him let out a burst of laughter, which made him laugh confused. He looked at me confused. Blankly, he asked, "What are you laughing at?" ”

I coughed lightly and tried to speak to him in a calm tone: "That's right, General Managarov, your chief of staff has just proposed to let the three infantry divisions of your army, the 84th, 116th and 299th, complete this task. ”

When Managarov heard me say this, he immediately said excitedly: "That's right, the combat effectiveness of these three divisions is relatively strong in our group army, and with them on horseback, there should be no problem in cutting off the enemy's lines of communication." ”

"Well, since you say so, then the task of cutting off the enemy's lines of communication will be entrusted to these three divisions." Seeing that Managarov was anxious to get his troops to behave in front of me, he did not hesitate to do this, "As soon as we have broken through the German forest defenses, we will immediately send these three divisions out and quickly insert them to the south of Kharkov to cut off the enemy's lines of communication." ”

As soon as I finished speaking, I heard the head of the communications department, Lopukhov, call me: "Comrade commander, there is your phone number, it is from the commander of the front. ”

When I heard Lopukhov's words, I instinctively looked at Managarov next to me, and thought to myself, maybe I was looking for him. Who knew that Lopukhov shouted again: "Commander, it's a call from General Vatutin." ”

When Lopukhov said this, I realized that the caller was not Konev but Vatutin, and hurriedly walked over and took the headset from his hand. Then he said respectfully: "Hello, Comrade General! ”

When Vatutin heard my voice, he immediately smiled and asked: "Comrade Oshanina, after recovering Dergach, do you have any new actions, I seem to hear the rumbling of cannons?"

"Yes, Comrade General." I truthfully reported to him the ongoing offensive operations, and finally added: "My plan is to break through the German forest defenses and divide the troops into two routes: one is to force the Ud-Ud-River directly to Kharkov with the Sixth Guards Army as the main body; On the other hand, General Managarov's three infantry divisions were the main ones, heading south to cut off the German lines of communication. ”

"Well, that's a good battle plan." After listening to what I said, Vatutin said with admiration: "As long as the Germans are cut off from the rear, then they will not be able to hold out for long in Kharkov." If they don't retreat, they won't be able to escape being wiped out by us. ”

After saying this, he paused for a moment and then said: "By the way, General Konev just called me and said that General Managarov had made a request to him to send an air force to bomb the German lines of communication. Oshanina, do you think this has an effect? ”

I thought about Vatutin's question, and then replied: "Comrade General, bombing the German lines of communication will not be of much use if there are too few planes dispatched. But if our air force can bomb the German lines of communication in large formations in multiple batches, I think we can paralyze their transportation in a short time. ”

"Large formations, multiple batches?" After repeating my words, Vatutin asked with some confusion: "Oshanina, can you be more detailed?" I'm all confused by you. ”

"Comrade General, the so-called large formation refers to the dispatch of hundreds of bombers at a time; In multiple batches, the first batch of planes flew away after being bombed, and the second batch of planes flew in to continue bombing. "I instilled in Vatutin, who knew nothing about military theory, that the German lines of communication would definitely be paralyzed under such intensive saturation bombardment." As a result, the German troops in Kharkov were not replenished with men, ammunition and provisions. It won't be long before the isolated Germans, like Paulus, obediently lay down their arms and surrender to us. ”

The beautiful picture I described made Vatutin's heart flutter. After a moment of silence, he said to me: "Oshanina, this method of bombing you said is good, I will discuss it with Marshal Zhukov later." If he agreed, the air forces of our front, in conjunction with Konev's air forces, would carry out saturation bombing of the German lines of communication. ”

As soon as I put down the phone, Bezkov came over and reported to me: "Comrade commander, the troops have launched an offensive to the forest area. Unfortunately, we have a limited number of tanks, which means that the infantry divisions that are attacking may suffer heavy casualties. (To be continued.) )