Although he could contact the headquarters of the group army by telephone, at the level of a guard battalion commander, he was certainly not qualified to talk directly to Batov, and he could only tell the staff on duty at the headquarters the news of the death of Major General Raqimov, commander of the 37th Guards Division, and the political commissar of the division, and ask the other party to relay the news to Batov.

When the duty officer learned that the supreme commander of the 37th Guards Division had died in the bombardment of the enemy's naval guns, he was immediately taken aback and hurriedly said to the guard battalion commander: "Comrade battalion commander, I will immediately report this matter to the comrade commander, and you should not hang up the phone." After saying this, the attendant picked up another telephone and said into the microphone, "Please find me the chief of staff, General Glebov, I have important things to report to him." ”

Glebov, who was assisting Batov in commanding the battle, learned that the attendant had something important to ask for him, so he walked over and picked up the microphone and said: "I'm Glebov, please tell me something!" ”

When the officer on duty heard Glebov's voice, he hurriedly reported to him: "Comrade Chief of Staff, something happened. I have just received a report that the commander of the 37th Guards Division, Major General Raqimov, and his chief of staff, have unfortunately died after being bombarded by German naval guns. ”

"What, what did you say?" Glebov didn't expect the attendant to report such shocking news to him, and hurriedly asked: "Is what you said true?" ”

"It should be true." The attendant replied: "It was the commander of the guard battalion who was on guard duty and called me personally." To give you more details, I didn't let him hang up. ”

To find out what was going on, Glebov spoke into the microphone: "I'll go right over." After saying that, he didn't bother to greet Batov, so he hurriedly left the command headquarters and rushed to the duty room not far away.

As soon as he walked into the duty room, he asked straight to the point: "Where is the phone?" ”

The officer on duty hurriedly picked up the microphone on the table and handed it over, Glebov took it and put it in his ear: "I am Chief of Staff Glebov, Comrade Battalion Commander, you report to me in detail what happened." ”

The commander of the guard battalion did not expect that the chief of staff of the group army would talk to him in person, and he couldn't help but be a little excited, and his speech became slurred, and he didn't explain things clearly for a long time. Glebov listened impatiently, so he said in a stern tone: "Comrade battalion commander, my time is limited, I can't listen to you talk nonsense here all the time, if you feel that you can't speak clearly, you can find someone who can explain clearly and report to me." ”

Hearing that Glebov was angry, the guard battalion commander quickly calmed down, took two deep breaths, and waited for his mood to stabilize before he began to report to Glebov in detail.

After recording the whole process of Major General Raqimov's sacrifice, Glebov said into the microphone: "Comrade battalion commander, I now give you two tasks, one is to immediately go back and lead people to find the body of General Raqimov, and the other is to prepare for the new division commander to take office. Do you understand? ”

"Understood, Comrade Chief of Staff." The guard battalion commander replied in a bit of a panic: "I'll go back and make arrangements." ”

When Glebov returned to the command, Batov, who was talking to Fedyuninsky, saw that there was something wrong with his chief of staff, and hurriedly asked with concern: "Comrade Chief of Staff, your face is not very good, is it not feeling well?" Why don't I get a military doctor to come and check your body? ”

"No, Comrade Commander, my body is fine." Glebov waved his hand, handed the contents of his record to Batov, and said: "Look at it, the enemy's naval guns have caused us a lot of losses." ”

Batov took the notebook, and after reading the contents clearly, he couldn't help but be surprised, and hurriedly asked: "Comrade Chief of Staff, where did you get this news?" ”

"It was the commander of the division headquarters guard battalion who reported to me by phone." After Glebov finished speaking, he sighed softly, and then asked Batov: "At present, the 37th Guards Division is still responsible for the offensive to the south of the city, and if a new division commander is not assigned to them as soon as possible, the troops may fall into chaos because of the loss of unified command." ”

"According to the report of the commander of the guard battalion," said Batov, staring at the notebook in his hand, "the division commander and the commissar were killed by enemy naval shelling, but there was no mention of the deputy division commander, it is estimated that he was in another position at that time." In my opinion, let the deputy division commander take over the command of the troops. ”

Taking advantage of Glebov's time to make a phone call, Batov said to Fedyuninsky: "Your troops are in charge of the offensive south of the city, and I think the enemy's naval artillery must have caused them a lot of trouble." ”

"That's right, my attacking unit was attacked by enemy naval guns, and the casualties were not small." Fedyuninsky frowned and said: "I think this situation should be reported to Comrade Marshal to see if he has any solutions." ”

After the two reached an agreement, it was Batov who came forward to call Rokossovsky. When Rokossovsky heard Batov's voice, he smiled and asked, "General Batov, is there any good news for me?" ”

"I'm sorry, Comrade Marshal." Batov said in a low tone: "I brought you bad news. ”

"Bad news?" Rokossovsky thought to himself that Batov's troops had already stormed the city, what bad news could there be at this time, could it be that they were driven out of the city by the enemy? Then he asked tentatively: "General Batov, what bad news?" ”

"The 37th Guards Division, which was attacking in the direction south of the city, was attacked by German naval guns, which led to heavy losses for the division." "Even the division commander, Major General Raqimov, and his commissar died under enemy naval artillery attack," Batov reported. ”

Towards the end of the war, the Soviet army almost grasped the initiative on the battlefield, not to mention the death of divisional commanders, and even regimental commanders were very rare. Who knew that today outside the city of Danzig, two divisional commanders were killed. Hearing this news, Rokossovsky was silent, he didn't expect that the enemy's ships would actually inflict such big losses on his troops, and he began to reflect in his heart, was he too soft-hearted? Fearing accidental injury to the retreating civilians, the Navy and Air Force were ordered not to lightly shell or bomb the port, leaving the German ships with an opportunity.

"General Batov," Rokossovsky thought for a moment, and then said to Batov: "Don't stop your attack on Danzig, as for the German ships in the harbor, I will find a way to solve it." ”

After putting down the phone, Rokossovsky immediately called Bogolyubov in, first informed him of the death of Rear Admiral Raqimov and his political commissar, and then issued a new order to the other party: "Chief of Staff, record my orders: First, let Tributz's fleet immediately shell the port of Danzig, and sink all the ships in the port, whether military or civilian, not even a single plank is allowed to float on the sea......"

Bogolyubov heard Rokossovsky's order, realized that the other party was really angry, and after recording the first order, cautiously asked: "Comrade Marshal, is there anything else?" ”

"Second, order Vershinin's air force to carry out a general bombardment of the enemy's ports and seaside fortifications." Rokossovsky said: "After clearing the German fortifications on the seashore, we can consider landing from here and completely cutting off the German retreat." ”