The commander of the German army commanding the counterattack was General Mantefil, the commander of the 7th Armored Division. He had a very good grasp of the timing of the counterattack. It happened that our fighter planes returned. The artillery stopped the artillery in order to prevent accidental injury due to infantry charges, which immediately collapsed.

When the German tanks rushed to a place more than 300 meters away from our army, they slowed down and used tank guns and vehicle-mounted machine guns to suppress our officers and fighters. The officers and fighters were suppressed by dense firepower and could not move. When they raised their heads, they would be killed by bullets and flying shrapnel.

The anti-tank hands carrying 40 bazooka had some of the enemy's tanks, but because they were beyond the range, they could only lie on the ground and stare blankly. The commander who was in the second line of defense saw that the troops in front were in danger, quickly ordered the only few anti-tank guns to fire, attempting to destroy the enemy's tanks and cover their troops to retreat. But unfortunately, even if the 45mm anti-tank gun hit the German tank, it could not penetrate its thick front armor.

At this critical moment, the artillery of the group army fired. A large number of shells roared and landed on the open ground between the two armies. The rising smoke and fire blocked the sight of both sides. A regiment commander who was commanding the charge quickly conveyed the order through the correspondent: "Retreat!"

Just as the correspondent was about to convey his order, he was stopped by the regiment political commissar who was lying beside him and had one leg broken by a shell. The regiment political commissar said to the regiment leader anxiously: "Comrade Commander, this is not possible. The existence of a large number of wounded people will cause us to suffer greater casualties when retreating."

"What should I do?" Hearing the political commissar of the regiment, the regiment commander couldn't help but feel a little confused. "These wounded are our comrades-in-arms. Would they be allowed to stay on the battlefield and fend for themselves?"

"Comrade Commander, the enemy's purpose is obvious. They want to destroy our troops that stay on the open ground and then seize our positions. We must not let the German conspiracy succeed." The political commissar of the regiment said with a firm expression: "I and the wounded stay with you, and you should take the rest of the soldiers to retreat to the positions."

"But, Comrade Political Commissar." The leader of the regiment said this and immediately said excitedly: "How can I leave you and the wounded here? Our regiment has never lost the tradition of his comrades."

"Comrade Commander," Seeing that the leader of the regiment was delayed in making a decision, the political commissar of the regiment became anxious: "Time is tight, please take the soldiers to retreat. It will be too late. I beg you to retreat for the sake of victory!" Hearing the political commissar of the regiment say this, the leader could only bite the bullet and issue an order to leave cover to the commanders and soldiers to retreat.

After the regiment commander withdrew with his troops, the German infantry flocked to the scene before the regiment political commissar did any political agitation work. The wounded soldiers, who knew that they had no hope of survival, fully demonstrated the most fierce side of the fighting nation. The lightly wounded shouted loudly and rushed straight with bayonets. Soon they collided with the German soldiers. They fought against the bayonets, and their chests were fighting against each other. The battlefield of thousands of people was like a duel between cold weapons in the medieval period.

The minor wounded fought desperately in the thick smoke, just to pull a cushion before death. After firing all the bullets in the gun, the seriously injured person who could not move, pulled the grenade without hesitation and died with the enemy who rushed up.

After the German army eliminated the wounded men who blocked them, the soldiers who retreated to the position were already on high alert. Seeing that the comrades who were covering their retreat were massacred by the Germans, the commanders and soldiers had already been filled with anger. Seeing the enemy entering the fire range, the regiment commander shouted at the top of their voice: "Avenge for the sacrificed comrades! Shoot!" Then, he raised his hand and shot the enemy in the distance.

"Avenge your sacrificed comrades!" The shouts of the commanders and soldiers rang out on the positions.

The light and heavy machine guns opened fire, the mortars opened fire, and all the light and heavy weapons on the position fired at the same time. The dense firepower woven into a dense fire net in front of the position. The Germans who rushed into the net were like hitting an invisible wall and were knocked down in pieces.

When the war outside the city was in a stalemate, I received a call from Tavalt Kiraze from Zhitomir. After reporting on the battle outside the city, he asked me for instructions: "Comrade Commander, do I need to immediately put the 67th Guard Division into the battle?"

"No need." I denied his proposal without hesitation and said firmly: "The original mission of the 67th Guards Division remains unchanged, and continue to stick to the city. The battle in the western suburbs of the city will be completed by the 90th Guards Division alone."

"Why, Comrade Commander?" Tavalt Kiraze asked in confusion when he heard my order.

"Comrade General, I ask you to find out what you are the commander of the group army, or am the commander of the group army?" I said with a tough attitude: "I don't need to explain to my subordinates every time I make a decision."

When I hung up the phone, Kirillov, who was watching me, shook his head and said, "Lida, since we came to the base, you seem to be a little different from before and have become stronger. Before you make any decisions in the past, you have to discuss with us all, but now you have to do whatever you say. What's going on?"

I smiled at him and explained: "Comrade Military Commissioner, whether we can defend Zhitomir is related to whether our army can gain a foothold on the right bank of the Dnieper River. Only when we have established a vast defensive area in Zhitomir, Kiev, can our army complete the task of regaining all Ukraine on the right bank."

After I finished speaking, seeing that Chisdakov and Bezikov were both talking, I guessed that it must be related to my attitude towards Tavalt Kiraz just now, so I took the initiative to explain to the two: "The reason why I did not allow Tavalt Kiraz to put the 67th Guard Division into battle is mainly because the infantry encountered armored troops on the plains, and they had to be massacred. Although we still had four tank brigades in name, they could not defeat the T-34 of Tiger and Leopard tanks. Instead of losing valuable technical equipment in vain and letting our officers and soldiers die, it is better to let them stick to the outer positions they just seized and consume the enemy's vitality. After the counterattack begins, we will settle accounts with them slowly."

"Comrade Commander," Bezikov asked me for advice after I finished speaking, "When the 52nd Guards and the 375th Infantry Division arrived, I don't know where to deploy them? Zhitomir or Korostviv?"

"Deploy them all in the city of Zedomir." I explained to Bezikov and others: "In the coming days, the battles there will be more inspiring. It is not a bad thing to transfer more troops to them. As for Korostviv, we can transfer the 89th Division of the Guards directly under our command if necessary."

After talking for a long time, I felt a little dry and said, so I picked up the empty tea cup on the table and went to the samovar to pick up a cup of hot tea. When I returned to my seat with the tea cup, I saw Kirillov sitting at the table in a daze, and couldn't help but ask curiously: "Military Commissioner, what are you thinking?"

Kirillov looked up at me and said with a smile: "Lida, I suddenly thought that I should find someone to write a military song. The military song of our Sixth Army of Guards will write all the brilliant achievements we have made, and let the commanders and soldiers sing military songs to fight bravely, and write a brilliant page in the history of defending the motherland for national liberation."

Bezikov, who was standing next to him, was immediately excited when he heard Kirillov say he wanted to write a military song. He echoed: "I think the military committee member is right. From the Battle of Kursk to the Battle of Kharkov, to the liberation of Kiev to the defense of Shitomir, our troops have established a series of achievements." At this point, he hesitated for a moment, and then continued, "It may be a bit difficult to write all these contents into the military song, but it will be much easier to write a poem."

When Kirillov heard Bezikov say this, he asked quickly: "Comrade Deputy Commander, can you write poetry?"

Bezikov shook his head and said embarrassedly: "I can't write."

Hearing Bezikov's reply, Kirillov's face showed a disappointed expression. He was silent for a while before speaking: "It seems that we must find two people in the army who can write poems and songs as soon as possible to create poems praising our Sixth Army of the Guards and our military songs."

"It doesn't have to be so troublesome," I heard the two of them chatting, and suddenly the songs I heard in a certain film and television work in my mind. After silently reading them twice in my mind, I said, "If you want to write a military song, I can write one immediately."

"What? Comrade Commander, you can write songs?" Bezikov was stunned by my words. He said in an incredible tone: "As soon as we talked about writing military songs, you said you could write them. How could this be possible?"

"Whether it's OK, just try it." I said confidently.

I heard that I was going to write a song. Not only did Chisdakov, who was standing by the wall, came over, but even Akhromeyev and several staff officers also came over. A dozen people gathered at the table and watched me write quickly. After I finished writing the lyrics that I remembered silently, I handed them to Kirillov and said, "It's been written. Military Commissioner, how do you think I'm writing?"

Kirillov smiled awkwardly and took the lyrics I handed him. I knew that the reason he had this reaction was probably because he thought I could not write any good lyrics in such a short time.

But after he looked at two lines, the expression on his face suddenly became solemn. After he saw the complete lyrics, he couldn't help but slap: "Great, Lida, this is really great. I really didn't expect that you still have the talent to write songs. Just write a song, it's so great!"

"Comrade Military Commissioner," Akhromeev whispered to him: "I don't know what Comrade Commander is writing, please read it to everyone."

Kirillov nodded and said, "Okay, since everyone wants to know, I'll just read it for everyone." He coughed softly, cleared his throat, and began to recite loudly: "

Red Army, Red Army

Red military flag

The Red Army's expedition is invincible

Be fearless

Let us hold up the bright red flag

Red Army, Red Army

Red military flag

The red military flag guides you

We're always united

Let’s see who can compete with our Red Army!”

After he finished reading it, he didn't forget to say, "It's great, this is simply amazing. I never thought that Lida, who commands a war, even has a way of writing songs. Hahahaha!"

After saying that, he carefully folded the paper full of lyrics, put it in his pocket, stood up and said, "I'll find someone to write a song for this song, and try to sing it within the group army as soon as possible."

Looking at Kirillov's departure back, I couldn't help asking Bezikov curiously: "Chief of Staff, there are people who know how to compose music in our army?"

Regarding my question, Bezikov said uncertainly: "Maybe, after all, our commanders and soldiers come from all walks of life, so it's not surprising that there are a few who can write songs and compose music."

After the German army attacking the outer positions of the west city were repelled by the tenacious commanders and fighters, the enemy used artillery fire to bombard our positions. After the artillery fire, they quickly transferred the artillery to the position, causing us to go to the air striker to rush the air force.

When I called Rokosovsky to report the situation, I specifically mentioned that the enemy would transfer the artillery positions in time after completing the artillery bombardment. After hearing this, Rokosovsky said thoughtfully: "The enemy is very cunning, so even if we are in the upper hand, we should not take it lightly, otherwise it will be easy to suffer a big loss."

I reported a few more things to Rokosovsky. Before hanging up the phone, I suddenly asked on a whim: "Comrade General, do you know if you will return to the Belarusian Front?"

"This is hard to say." Rokosovsky said hesitantly: "I am still in charge of the Belarusian Front, and the commander of the Ukrainian First Front is only an agent. Perhaps when the battle situation stabilizes and Comrade Vatutin's physical condition allows, he will come back to continue to take charge of the front work in full."

From Rokosovsky's words, I understand that his position as commander of the Front was just a temporary position. When the situation stabilized and even began to launch a large-scale counterattack, Vatutin might come back to pick peaches. Although I think Rokosovsky is a bit of a joke as a wedding dress, there is no way. The orders from the superiors are orders, and we can only execute them unconditionally.

Finally, Rokosovsky reminded me: "Lida, our counterattack will take some time to prepare, so you must restrain the main force of the German army in Zhitomir, so that we can calmly mobilize the troops." (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!