Early the next morning, Rokossovsky asked the dean for an ambulance and drove him to the door of the staff headquarters. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

The sentry on duty at the gate saw an ambulance parked at the door, hurriedly walked over, and said to the driver: "Hey, comrade driver, no one has called an ambulance here?" ”

The driver yelled at Rokossovskyunu, who had just gotten out of the car, "Man, I'm sending this commander here." ”

The sentry looked Rokossovsky up and down, and saw that the man in a black tweed coat and a peaked cap had a military temperament, so he politely asked: "Comrade, do you have anything to ask about?" ”

Rokossovsky nodded at the sentry and said with a smile: "I am Lieutenant General Rokossovsky, commander of the 16th Army, I have something to see the acting chief of the General Staff, Comrade Sentinel, can you let me in?" ”

"Comrade General," the sentry could not help but be in awe when he heard that there was a general standing in front of him, and he said respectfully, "Please wait a moment, I will go and ask for instructions first." ”

While the sentry was on the phone, Rokossovsky waved at the ambulance driver and said to him: "Comrade driver, there is nothing to do with you here, you can go back first." ”

"But, Comrade General." The driver asked with some concern, "How are you going to go back later?" ”

"You don't have to worry about that," Rokossovsky said, turning his head to look at the compound, and then said, "There will be a special car here to take me back to the hospital." ”

When the ambulance drove away, the sentry came running over, nodded and said to Rokossovsky: "Comrade General, you can go in, the acting chief of the General Staff is waiting for you in his office." ”

Rokossovsky had been here many times, so he could find Vasilevsky's office with no one to show him the way.

Seeing Rokossovsky walk into his office, Vasilevsky stopped talking with several deputies and raised his hand to greet Rokossovsky: "Hello, Comrade Rokossovsky, how can you have time to come to the staff headquarters today?" ”

"That's right, Comrade Acting Chief of the General Staff," Rokossovsky himself would not tell the other party that he had an emotional problem, which could only be solved by work, but said in a high-sounding voice: "Every day lying on the hospital bed, people are about to rust, so I will come to you to see if there is anything that can help." ”

Vasilevsky looked at Rokossovsky's decent dress and said enviously: "You look good in this dress, where did you buy it?" ”

Rokossovsky naturally wouldn't tell the other party, saying that Serova went to the tailor to help her customize them in order to have a set of suitable clothes to wear out of the house, and quickly changed the topic and asked: "Comrade Acting Chief of the General Staff, can you tell me what you are discussing?" ”

"Come here, I'll give you a briefing." Vasilevsky waited for Rokossovsky to stand in front of the map and began to brief him: "In order to crush the German Army Group North and lift their blockade of Leningrad, we launched an offensive in the Lyuban area with the Volkhov Front, in an attempt to isolate and destroy the German troops advancing to Lake Ladoga, and to launch an offensive in the direction of Leningrad in cooperation with the 54th Army. The campaign was launched on January 7 and has been going on for more than three months now, and the 2nd Shock Army, which we are the main attacker, has become exhausted and unable to move forward. ”

Hearing the name of the "2nd Assault Army", Rokossovsky could not help but be shocked, because he clearly remembered that the commander of this unit was Vlasov, who later became a traitor. After a moment of distraction, he asked, "What has been done about the current situation?" ”

"Because the supply line of the 2nd Shock Army was cut off by the Germans," Vasilevsky said, pointing to the map to Rokossovsky, "in order to prevent a similar situation from happening again, we have placed an army group on each side of the supply line." ”

"Comrade Acting Chief of the General Staff, please forgive me for speaking out." As soon as Vasilevsky finished speaking, Rokossovsky immediately spoke: "Our current deployment is a situation of being passively beaten. Ignoring the stunned expressions on the faces of the rest, he continued to himself, "Since the 2nd Shock Army has lost the ability to continue advancing, it is time to withdraw them for rest, not to remain where they are." As for the two army groups protecting the lines of communication, they were supposed to be used to launch an offensive against the enemy in order to contain the enemy's living forces, but now they have become garrisons, lying on the transport lines like two paralyzed snakes, passively defending against the enemy's attack......"

After listening to Rokossovsky's analysis, Vasilevsky asked with a solemn expression: "Comrade Rokossovsky, tell me, what should we do?" ”

"It's no longer possible to go on the offensive." Although Rokossovsky knew the fate of the 2nd Shock Army, he could not tell everyone at this time, because he could only euphemistically say about Vasilevsky's question: "We should withdraw our troops for a while and rest, and wait until the right time to attack." If the troops of the 2nd Shock Army are left here, I fear that it will not be long before they fall into the encirclement of the Germans. ”

"Comrade Rokossovsky, I feel that your worries are unnecessary." Speaking was Shtemenko, deputy chief of the Direction Division of the Operations Department of the General Staff Headquarters, who retorted: "Although the enemy can block our attack and cause some trouble on the flanks of the attacking troops, they absolutely do not have the ability to encircle our three army groups at the same time. ”

Rokossovsky glanced at the other people, and did not find the future deputy chief of the General Staff Antonov, so he did not argue with Shtemenko, but looked at Vasilevsky and said: "Comrade Acting Chief of the General Staff, I am just talking about some of my views on the war situation, as for how to decide, this is a matter for your staff headquarters. ”

Vasilevsky nodded after hearing this, and then said: "From the current point of view, the winter campaign and the Lyuban offensive that we tried to carry out in order to relieve the siege of Leningrad have ended in failure. In order for the Volkhov Front and the Leningrad Front to establish contact and restore Leningrad's contact with the outside world, it was necessary to develop a new offensive plan. ”

As soon as Vasilevsky's words were finished, Shtemenko spoke again: "Comrade Acting Chief of the General Staff, the troops in the city of Leningrad have become weak after a seven-month siege. So I suggest that in this new offensive campaign, they should not participate in the main attack, but only build a bridgehead on the Neva River that can meet the divisions of the Volkhov Front. The offensive was carried out independently by the Volkhov Front. ”

Vasilevsky agreed with Shtemenko's proposal: "Comrade Shtemenko's proposal is very good, and I see that when drawing up battle plans, you should follow his line of thought. ”

Seeing that everyone selectively ignored the 2nd Assault Army, which was on the verge of danger, Rokossovsky could only mourn in his heart for this unit, hoping that a miracle would happen at that time, so that more commanders and fighters could stand out from the enemy's encirclement.