After discussing the transfer of the 18th Guards Army, Konev changed the topic and said, "Lida, when I first entered the city, I saw that everything was beaten to pieces. Especially the church on Mount St. George was even more razed."

The words Konev said with a blank expression made me feel sad, thinking that he would blame me for killing Lviv to pieces? After a brief silence, I explained my behavior to him: "Comrade Marshal, you also know that Lviv is an ancient city built in the 13th century. The buildings in the city are mainly stone buildings. The enemy used these buildings to build a solid and complete defense system, which made our army pay a huge price in street fighting. The Church of Mount St. George on Mount St. George is the location of the German artillery position. From there, they can use artillery fire to bombard the 60th Army that launched an attack from the east of the city..."

"Okay, Lida, you need not say anything." Before I finished speaking, Konev raised his hand to stop me and continued to say: "The reason I mentioned this is not to blame you. If I were in your position, the same order would be issued. Ancient buildings can be rebuilt after they are destroyed. If the time for the regaining of Lviv is delayed, we will not be able to explain in front of Comrade Stalin."

"Comrade Marshal," after we finished speaking, we asked casually: "Where will our army be in the new main attack direction after liberating the entire Ukraine?"

"Rokosovsky's troops have already occupied Lublin in front of Katukov on the 24th." Konev said in regret: "In view of the performance of the First Front of Belarus, I estimate that the Supreme Command will hand over all the tasks of fighting in Poland, and our main attack direction will turn south to capture Romania, Yugoslavia, Hungary and Czechoslovakia, forcing them to withdraw from the Axis powers."

I looked at the map in front of me and felt that what Konev said might be very big. When I looked up, I saw that Konev was sitting on a chair smoking, and neither wanted to go out for inspection nor at all intention to leave, so I asked him curiously: "Comrade Marshal, will you return Rovno later?"

"No, I won't go back." Konev waved his hand at me and said, "Before I came here, I had already explained to Sokolovsky to transfer the Front Command to Lviv as soon as possible so that we can command the next battle."

"Great, that's great." I was overjoyed when I heard Konev say this. I set up the Front Command in Lviv. No matter which direction our troops will be used in the future, it will be much more convenient to command than in Rovno.

"By the way, Lida, there is one more thing I forgot to ask you." Konev continued: "How many German prisoners of war have we captured in the battle to liberate Lviv?"

I thought about it and then replied: "So far, the specific results have not been counted. However, according to my estimate, the number of captured German soldiers should be more than 7,000."

After hearing this, Konev shook his head and said with regret: "There are only seven thousand people, too few, too few." I knew that Konev must have some intention to say this, so he kept silent tactfully and waited patiently for him to finish the following words. "Do you still remember the prisoners of war we saw in Moscow parade? I also want to come in Lviv the same time."

I agree with Konev's idea. Seeing that he was so embarrassed because of the small number of prisoners of war, he gave him advice: "Comrade Marshal, Lviv is a newly recovered city, and the residents in the city are in panic. Even if we parade the prisoners of war, there will be very few people watching, and that will not have the effect as expected. I suggest that the location where the prisoners of war parade is better in Kiev."

"Kiev?!" Konev glanced at me and said with a wry smile: "But the enemy we captured are less than 10,000. If we take it to Kiev to parade, the scale will be too small."

"If we only use the enemies captured by our Front Army to parade in Kiev, the number of people is indeed a little less." Regarding Konev's concern, I smiled and said, "Kiev is now located in the middle of several fronts. We can make suggestions to Comrade Khrushchev and ask him to contact the commanders of other fronts. Seeing that the captured German officers and soldiers are temporarily imprisoned there, and when the number of people is almost the same, we will parade in prisoners of war."

"This is a good idea. I want to contact Comrade Khrushchev immediately." After Konev finished speaking, he turned around and rushed to Leliushenko who was chatting with the staff officer and shouted: "Hey, General Leliushenko, can you directly call Kiev on your phone?"

Hearing Konev's call, Lelyushenko hurriedly came over, nodded and said, "Comrade Marshal, the high-frequency phone you put in front of you can talk to Kiev directly."

Konev stared at the phone in front of him for a while, then picked up the headphones of a telephone and put them in his ear, dialed a number, and said to the microphone: "Hey, I'm Konev, pick me up Kiev and find Comrade Khrushchev."

When Konev was talking to Khrushchev, I sat next to him, listening to the conversation between the two. Konev exchanged a few simple greetings and asked: "Comrade Khrushchev, a time ago, a German prisoner of war parade in Moscow to show the great victory our army achieved in the battle with the German invaders and the matter of inspiring all the people. Do you know this?"

"Master Konev," Khrushchev replied with a smile after he finished speaking, "Of course I know that if I am still a military member of the First Front Army of Ukraine, I would like to do such parades again in Kiev."

"Comrade Khrushchev, your thoughts coincide with me." Konev said excitedly: "I called you just to talk about this."

Khrushchev asked nervously: "Master Konev, how many prisoners of war are there in your hands now?"

"Not too many." Konev hesitated for a moment and replied: "So far, our army has captured less than 10,000 German prisoners of war in battle."

"Are there only 10,000 German prisoners of war?" After hearing the data reported by Konev, Khrushchev must say regretfully: "There are too few people, and even parading in Kiev will not have much effect."

"Comrade Khrushchev, don't worry." Konev looked at me sideways and continued to say: "Although we don't have many prisoners of war now, we can still capture a large number of enemies in the next battle. And Lida also gave me a suggestion, saying that if the number of prisoners of war is too small, we can also gather the captives of several other fronts to create a huge parade of prisoners of war."

"Prisons of war from the other fronts?" Khrushchev might not have understood what Konev wanted to express for a while, and said in surprise: "Master Konev, I don't understand what you mean. I don't know which fronts can provide us with prisoners of war for hosting huge prisoners of war parades?"

"Did you forget where Kiev is?" Seeing that Khrushchev did not understand what he meant, Konev did not worry, but explained to him patiently: "Whether it is my First Ukrainian Front Army, the Second Ukrainian Front Army, and the First and Second Belarusian Front Army, if you want to transport the prisoners to the rear, you have to pass through Kiev. We can gather all the prisoners of war from these four fronts and hold a huge parade of prisoners of war one day next month. Do you understand?"

"I understand, if you say that, I understand." Khrushchev continued, "I don't know what day we should hold such a parade?"

Konev covered the microphone with his hands and asked me, "Lida, which day do you think we should book the best time for parade?"

"The prisoners of war parade in Moscow was July 17th. I saw that we would book the parade in Kiev on August 15th." The reason why I chose this date was somewhat of a bad thing, because I clearly remember that on this day a year later, the Japanese Emperor issued an edict announcing that the Japanese surrendered unconditionally to the allies. "I think that at that time, there will definitely be enough German prisoners of war near Kiev to participate in this parade."

After hearing this, Konev nodded slightly, then let go of his palm covering the microphone and said to the microphone: "Comrade Khrushchev, I think we will set the date of the prisoners of war parade on August 15th."

"Okay, I remember it." Khrushchev said happily: "I will report this to Comrade Stalin, and then contact the commanders of the various fronts to imprison them in the prisoners of war camp outside Kiev before escorting the prisoners of war to Siberia."

Not only did I hear the call between Konev and Khrushchev, but also Lelyushenko, who was standing not far away, heard part of it. After Konev put down the phone, he immediately took a step forward and said loudly: "Comrade Marshal, I want to ask if I can also go to the scene to see it when the prisoners of war parade in Kiev."

Konev turned his head and stared at him for a while, and finally said, "General Leliushenko, if there was no combat mission that day, I will approve you to visit Kiev."

"Great, this is great." Lelyushenko continued to ask after being happy: "What should the prisoners of war in the city do now? Will they take them to Kiev first?"

"No, Comrade Leliushenko, our transportation capacity is very tight now. In addition to transporting weapons, ammunition, materials and supplementary soldiers from the rear, they also have to transport the wounded and seized materials from the front line back. Where can there be extra carriages to transport these prisoners of war?" After Konev finished this, he thought for a long time and finally said: "Send a force to escort them to Rovno, and there are several prisoners of war they built there, so let's lock them up there first."

"Comrade Marshal, I have an idea." When I heard that I was going to transfer the prisoners of war to Rovno, I quickly stood up and said to Konev, "I don't know if it's said or not."

"Speak if you have any ideas."

"That's right, Comrade Marshal, General Afungin's 18th Guards Army, will not be assigned to the command of the Second Front Army of Ukraine in a few days?" I looked at Konev and said, "If I see it, I ask them to send these prisoners of war to the Uman pit, so that those Germans can also feel the torture that our captured commanders and fighters suffered back then."

"Let the 18th Guards Army escort prisoners of war to Uman pit?" Konev was startled by my proposal. He stared at me for a while before saying, "Lida, don't you know that most of the commanders and fighters in this army have a deep hatred towards the Germans? If they were asked to escort prisoners, I was worried that at least half of the prisoners would not be able to leave their destination."

"Marson," Lelyushenko asked Konev in confusion when he heard this: "There are very few wounded among the captured German officers and soldiers, and it is summer now. Whether it is climate or road conditions, it is very suitable for hiking marches, and it should not cause large-scale disappointment of prisoners of war."

"Comrade Leliushenko, you're wrong. Half of the prisoners I said could not reach their destination, not that the road conditions were poor or there were many wounded people." Konev's face showed a helpless expression: "It's because he was worried that the commanders and fighters of the 18th Army of the Guards would shoot and kill those unruly prisoners of war halfway through hatred for the German army."

"Anyway, they are all enemies, just kill them." Hearing Konev say this, Leliushenko said disapprovingly: "I remember someone said: A dead enemy is a good enemy."

Konev looked at Leliushenko and said with a serious expression: "General Leliushenko, I remind you that this group of prisoners of war is used to participate in Kiev parades. It doesn't matter how many people die. If a few thousand people die, it is absolutely not allowed."

I have heard from Konev's words that he firmly opposed the escort of prisoners of war by the 18th Army of the Guards. However, the war is tense at present, and it is very unrealistic to draw personnel from other armies to escort prisoners of war to Uman. Therefore, I still said to Konev in a tactful manner: "Comrade Marshal, we can call the main leaders of the 18th Army of the Guards, explain to them the importance of these prisoners of war, and strictly prohibit the abuse of prisoners of war in the army."

Konev didn't say anything, crossed his hands in front of his chest, frowned and pondered what I just said.

When I saw his reaction, I knew that he was moved by my proposal. I quickly struck while it was hot, "Comrade Marshal, don't worry. Although the commanders and fighters in the 18th Army of the Guards who had been prisoners of war hated the Germans to the core, if we issued specific orders, I think they would still obey unconditionally."

"Comrade Marshal, I think Lida is right." After I finished speaking, Lelyushenko said, "Our soldiers are the most obedient to the order. If you issue an order to prohibit the murder of prisoners of war, I think no matter how much hatred they have towards the Germans, they will send these prisoners of war to Uman pit."

Seeing that Lelyushenko and I were in agreement, Konev no longer had his own opinions. He nodded and said, "Okay, Lida, call Afuning and Bonegelin and let them both come here to accept the combat order."
Chapter completed!