Burning Moscow

40 Cruel Battle (1)

After 　　 sent away the guerrillas, I went back to rest in the room Panfilov arranged for me.

As soon as she took off her clothes and lay down, there was a knock on the door outside. I was very dissatisfied with this untimely person who came to disturb my sleep, so I hurriedly asked outside the door: “Who? What’s the matter?”

“Comrade Oshaninna, your call! It’s from the Front Command! Emergency call!” Bahadur’s voice answered me. It seems that there is something urgent, or he won’t bother me so late. .

I quickly got up from the bed, put on my clothes, and opened the door. Bahadur stood outside the door and saw me opening the door. He immediately took a step back and raised his hand to the boat-shaped cap that was fastened to his forehead. He reported: “The division has your emergency number. Call from the front army headquarters. Yes, the teacher asked me to ask you to go to the headquarters to answer the phone immediately.” I nodded, and without talking to him, I almost ran into the division.

The microphone taken from the telephone was placed on the table, and when he saw me entering the door, Panfilov grabbed the microphone and handed it over.

I took the microphone, cleared my throat, and said loudly, “Hello, I am Oshanina! Who are you?”

Right away I heard the familiar voice of General Zhukov, commander of the Front Army: “Major! I’m sorry to interrupt your rest. The Front Command has new arrangements for your work, so I will call you up at this time.”

“I follow your arrangement! Georgi Konstantinovich.” Hearing that there was another appointment, I felt a little uneasy, not knowing where I would be dispatched this time.

“You must rush to the Fifth Army as soon as possible and report to General Lelyushenka.” Zhukov’s calm voice continued from the microphone, “He will arrange the specific work for you personally.”

“Understood,” I replied briefly, “I am ready to go.”

“Also, I heard that you once gave a wonderful speech full of fighting passion to the guerrillas. It is a pity that you were not able to listen to it in person.” Before I could speak, he went on to say: “Report to the new combat post early, and good luck!” Then he hung up the phone.

As soon as I put the phone down, Panfilov, who was sitting next to me, asked with particular concern: “Comrade Zhukov called you so late. Is there anything urgent?”

“Comrade General asked me to report to the Fifth Army immediately.” To be honest, I didn’t know anything about this number of troops, so I curiously asked the current division commander: “Do you know the situation of this unit?”

“The Fifth Army was temporarily formed two days ago. The commander, Major General Lelyushenka, is the commander of the First Guards Infantry Corps. The Command Department also allocated troops from the Sixteenth Army. Speaking of which, you are still there. People you know.”

“Someone I know?!” I couldn’t help but asked in surprise, “Who is it?”

“Colonel Polo Susi.” He said a little surprised: “You stay with Zhukov every day. Don’t you know that the 32nd Far East Red Flag Infantry Division has now been incorporated into the Fifth Army?”

I thought about it, and I did not hear Zhukov mention the issue of the ownership of the Polo Suhi division. Perhaps this arrangement happened during the time when I was performing a special mission. Zhukov would not specifically mention this kind of transfer to a small character like me, so it is normal not to know.

A few hours later, I appeared in the Fifth Army of General Lelyushinka. The headquarters is located in a forward observation post on the line of defense.

Lelyushinka, wearing a black leather jacket, stood there, bending over to the long table with the map. When he saw me coming in, he straightened up and nodded sullenly to answer my greetings to him. At the same time, he said with a bit of displeasure: “I hope that Comrade General will send me a commander with rich combat experience. Unexpectedly, he sent me a young and beautiful girl. You must know that we are fighting, not to go. Prom.”

His attitude makes me a little irritated. “Comrade General,” I reported in an official tone, “Before I arrived at your command post, I had not only fought in Leningrad, but even in the outskirts of Moscow, I had fought with German devils. I miss Zhukov. Since the general will send me here, it is because he thinks I can do the job here….”

“Okay,” Lelyushenka interrupted me. “My group army was just formed. It has insufficient strength and lack of commanders, especially commanders with combat experience. Sit down and listen to me. Speak slowly.”

Hearing what he said, I sat down obediently on the chair beside the long table.

“What position did you hold before?” he asked.

“After the war broke out, I used to serve as squad leader, platoon leader, and company commander in the antiaircraft artillery unit.” I simply reported to him the position I had held: “I also commanded a garrison battalion in Pulkovo Heights.”

“How did you get promoted so fast?” He asked questioningly: “The war has only broken out for a few months, but you are already a major.”

“When the war first broke out, I was a corporal. I was able to be promoted so quickly, thanks to the help of the Germans.” At this point, I saw him staring at me in surprise, and quickly added: “I Luckily, I was able to win every battle and wipe out many German devils. It is because of this that I have a chance to win medals and get a chance to improve quickly.”

“I don’t see it, you are really not easy.” His attitude towards me began to ease.

“Can you come in? Comrade General!” I heard a familiar voice from the door of the command post. I turned to look. It was Colonel Polo Suxi, who I knew, followed by a colonel in a black tank uniform.

“Come in, just waiting for you.” Lelyushenka said, pointed at me with her finger, and introduced to the two of them: “This is Major Oshanina. She is a special commissioner sent by the Front Army Headquarters. Help us fight.”

My military rank is lower than that of the previous two, so I quickly stand up and salute them. And took the initiative to greet Polo Suxi: “Hello, comrade teacher, we meet again.”

Polo Suxi froze for a moment, but immediately recognized me, grabbed my hand and shook it vigorously, and said: “Welcome to our troops We can fight together in the future. Up.”

The tank colonel next to 　　 said lightly: “I am Colonel Ornenko, commander of the 20th Tank Brigade. Welcome.” Then he reached out and shook my hand politely.

“Sit down, let’s discuss how to fight after dawn.” Lelyushenka greeted everyone after sitting down, and then began tactical deployment. “In the past two days, the German army has advanced three to six kilometers in Pologno. It is very difficult for our army’s equipment to completely block them, so what we can do now is to delay their advance to Moscow as much as possible. Time allows the command department to have enough time to accumulate strength to fight back.”

“How did you arrange it? Comrade General.” Colonel Polo Suxi asked.

“You still use your division’s infantry to defend your position. After the enemy’s offensive weakens, Ornenko’s tank brigade will counterattack again.”

“I don’t have many tanks,” Ornenko said bluntly, at least in my opinion, his attitude towards the general is very unfriendly. But after a while, he added: “After a series of battles, there are only 20 tanks left in the brigade, but it will be enough for a while.”

The meeting was over soon. While Ornenko and Lelyushinka continued to talk, I faced Colonel Porosuhi next to me and asked curiously: “Colonel, what happened to the groom Gassan that day? ”

“Already sacrificed. He died in battle on the second day of the wedding. Not only him, but the soldiers in Azerbaijan died. They behaved tenaciously in the battle until the last person in the battle.” Porosuhi answered my question in a low mood.