Burning Moscow

Section 23 In the days in Moscow (5)

At the first moment Shaposnikov announced my name, I was sitting motionless in my seat. Only when there was a slight commotion in the hall and people began to turn around and look around to find the spokesperson whose name was mentioned, I took a deep breath and stood up abruptly.

I pulled the hem of the military uniform, adjusted the style button, and straightened the front cap, before I walked out of the seat, swinging my hands along the aisle, and walking towards the small ladder that can be on the rostrum without squinting. .

I am not walking fast, so that I can clearly hear all kinds of comments coming from the side.

“Look, it’s a female soldier!”

“Still a lieutenant. At present, the highest rank of female soldiers in our army seems to be a lieutenant, right?”

“It’s so beautiful, you see this figure is bulging and curling, it’s so charming! It’s a pity that it’s a little shorter…”

Amidst everyone’s discussion, I swaggered along the small ladder and onto the rostrum. After going up, I first stood upright, then saluted the members of the presidium, and then strode towards the podium. At this time, Stalin wandered behind the members again with his pipe in his mouth.

I stood in front of the podium, saluted the generals sitting underneath the stage again, and then said with a slightly trembling voice, “comrades commanders at all levels, how are you!”

There were sporadic applause from the audience, and then thunderous applause rang out from the audience. I can hear that this applause is an encouragement and support to me. After all, not everyone can stand on the Kremlin podium, let alone a young woman.

I stood there bewildered, a little at a loss what to do. I didn’t go on until the applause stopped completely. I didn’t write the speech in advance, or even the outline of the speech. I just said aloud the feelings that touched me when I spoke to the military commanders in front.

“…Facing a fierce enemy, courage alone is not enough. We must first understand how to preserve ourselves. Only by preserving ourselves can we finally destroy the enemy…. When the enemy and our strength are very different, we should give up some reasonably. Locally, throwing the burden of defense to the enemy is also beneficial to us…”

“Enough!” When I was talking, suddenly someone in the presidium interrupted me and turned to see that it was Marshal Budjoni sitting in the front row. He slapped the table angrily and stood up: ” Russia’s land is vast, but no inch of land is superfluous. We must not allow the enemy to occupy our land. You coward, shut up! Don’t make such shaking remarks here…”

“All right! Old man,” Marshal Voroshilov sitting near him also said: “Comrade Oshanina is not a coward. Didn’t you see that she had two medals on her chest? That was her. After I personally shot down two German planes and wiped out a dozen German devils armed to the teeth, I personally awarded her the Red Flag Medal and the Medal of Bravery.”

Marshal Voroshilov directly supported me, and he also mentioned my past achievements approvingly. All this worked. I saw curiosity and approval on the faces of other members of the presidium, and even Budjoni’s expression eased, and even an uncontrollable smile flashed in his eyes.

“Allow me to continue speaking?” I looked at the marshal who helped me out, and asked hesitantly.

“Go ahead and tell your true feelings.” A low voice suddenly sounded next to me, which shocked me, and then turned his head to see that Stalin didn’t know when he was standing next to me.

“What should I say?” I looked at him and thought a little flustered, “What can I say to get his favor without touching his inverse scales?”

“Comrade Oshanina,” Stalin said in a calm voice lacking any cadence, “Then please tell me, Comrade Oshanina, what do you think the senior military commander of our army behaved in the early stages of the war? Unsatisfactory?”

“First of all, the loyalty of these military chiefs to the motherland is unquestionable.” I gritted my teeth, put a top hat on the people present, and then recited some summaries from the history books of later generations to them: “But because They have insufficient experience in the war. They generally made three mistakes: adventurism in offensive, conservatism in defense, and escapeism in retreat…”

“Wait a minute.” Stalin took the cigarette **** away from his mouth, pointed at me with his finger, and said with interest: “These points you said are very interesting, please elaborate more.”

“Yes!” I promised, and then continued: “First of all, the Germans attacked very suddenly, which caused chaos in our army’s command system and reconnaissance system. When the enemy and our situation were unknown, individual troops rushed towards The enemy launched a counterattack. You must know that this hastily organized offense will not yield good results without knowing the enemy’s strength and technical equipment configuration.” I carefully translated what I wanted to say with appropriate words. Content, strive to be able to express the meaning in words. “In defense, the commanders of our army have put too much emphasis on positional defense, blindly staying in positions, and defending for defense. They don’t know how to use favorable opportunities to counterattack appropriately and take back some lost positions… ”

When I said this, I looked at Stalin’s expression secretly, and if I found anything wrong, I would shut up immediately. He held the pipe to his mouth again, struck a match and lit the tobacco in the pipe, took a deep breath, and then nodded silently. Seeing that he didn’t have the slightest sense of disgust, I took the courage to continue and said: “As for the escapeism in retreat, it refers to when the encircled circle is highlighted, because many organizational systems have been disrupted, and the forces at all levels will interact with each other. They lost contact with each other. The military chief did not actively restore command to the subordinates and organized effective breakout operations. Instead, they fought on their own, causing the retreat to become a retreat. Just as General Konev said: retreat, yes The most complex form of combat requires high combat quality. During the entire retreat, defensive positions should be established in time, and troops should be organized to resist step by step, alternately covering the retreat, so as to preserve our army’s vitality to the maximum….”

After I said this, the hall of UU Reading www.uukanshu.com was silently silent, and there were no even whispers. It seems that these shocking remarks still calmed everyone.

“Then, what do you think we should do at this stage?” After a pause, Stalin asked again.

“Exchange space for time. While organizing the existing troops to fight steadily, the troops will be transferred from other places to form a strategic reserve team. Once we have accumulated enough strength, we can have a battle with the German devils under the city of Moscow. The final battle.” I replied without hesitation.

“You mean: the Germans will still hit Moscow. Am I correct?” His tone was very polite, he paused, and then asked me: “Do you think we can stop their attack?” ”

“There is no doubt. Comrade Stalin!” I, a later traverser who knows the standard answer, naturally expressed confidence in answering this question: “We will not only be able to stop their crazy attack under the city of Moscow, but will also completely smash it. they.”

“I remember,” he suddenly changed the subject: “You are the anti-aircraft gun lieutenant Oshanina who came to Moscow with Comrade Zhukov?”

“Yes, Comrade Stalin.” Zhukov mentioned me to Stalin. It seems that my future is boundless.

“I heard that you invented the use of anti-aircraft guns to flat-fire tanks and defended the Pulkovo Heights. It’s amazing.” He pointed to me with his right hand holding a pipe: “You should get a higher rank.” After he took the pipe back to his mouth, he turned around calmly and walked towards the back of the presidium.