The people in the conference room dispersed one after another, leaving only Rokossovsky, Vashukin, Maslov and the two deputy commanders, when a communications staff officer ran in from outside and handed Rokossovsky a roll of telegraphy.

Rokossovsky unfolded the long and narrow telegram and saw that it was simple: open the top-secret operational documents and follow the orders from above to unfold the troops. Behind it was the signature of the deputy chief of the operations department of the command of the Fifth Army.

After reading the telegram, Vashukin immediately asked: "Where are the top-secret operational documents?" ”

"In the safe in my office."

"Let's go over immediately." Vashukin commanded briefly.

When the group arrived at the office, Rokossovsky opened a safe placed on the wall, took out a sealed document bag from it, held it up to his ear and said to Vashukin: "Comrade Military Commissar, these are top-secret operational documents, which we can open only in accordance with the instructions of the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR or the People's Commissars of Defense. ”

"Comrade Military Commissar." Kamenev saw the document bag in Rokossovsky's hand and hurriedly reminded Vashukin: "I think we should still wait for Moscow's notice." ”

"Open the file, Comrade Rokossovsky." As if not hearing what Kamenev said, Vashukin decisively ordered Rokossovsky: "During the war, every minute is precious for us. If the superiors want to investigate it in the future, I will take all the responsibility! ”

Rokossovsky smiled and nodded to Varshukin, who took the initiative, but did not look at the hated Kamenev. At this moment, he finally understood in his heart why in later movies, Kamenev's character only had one line to prevent the opening of top-secret documents, and he was not even given a frontal shot.

Rokossovsky took out the document from the file bag, glanced at it, and handed it to Vashukin, and at the same time said: "Comrade Military Commissar, the order we have just given is completely consistent with the order of the superiors, which is to ask our army to immediately enter combat readiness and advance in the direction of Rivne, Lutsk, and Kovel. ”

"That's right," said Vashukin, who was staring at the papers, nodding, "and since you have prepared well in advance, our troops should be able to reach Cowell at about ten o'clock in the morning, and build strong fortifications there." But before that, we can let our air force take off in batches and take turns attacking the German units that have broken into our borders. ”

"General Putukhin is in the telecommunications room," Maslov carefully reminded Vashukin, "do you need me to go and bring him over?" ”

"No, let's go over." After Vashukin finished speaking, he hurried towards the door. After taking two steps, he stopped, turned around and said: "I'll go to the telecommunications room with Rokossovsky and Maslov, and the two comrades of the deputy commander, you immediately go to the troops and supervise the implementation of the order." ”

When Vnukov heard this order, his reaction was very normal, because the troops were going to take over the defense warehouse, and he, as the deputy commander of technology, had to find out what technical equipment was in the warehouse. Kamenev, on the other hand, was depressed and could only reluctantly accept Vashukin's order.

As soon as Rokossovsky walked into the telecommunications room, he immediately asked the chief of the communications department in the room: "Comrade director, is the communication with the outside world still unimpeded?" The purpose of his question was to urge Fedyuninsky, because they would not necessarily receive the news of the outbreak of war at the first time.

But the chief of the communications department obviously misunderstood what Rokossovsky meant, and he reported with a serious expression: "Comrade commander, except for the communication in the city, which is still unimpeded, all the communication lines with other regions have been cut off, and there is no response from Moscow, Kiev or Lutsk. ”

The situation reported by the chief of communications had been expected for a long time, so both Rokossovsky and Vashukin had calm expressions on their faces after hearing this. Vashukin even asked Putukhin, who was standing behind one of the operators: "Comrade General, how is the situation there for you, have all the planes at the front-line airfields been evacuated?" ”

"Most of them were evacuated." Putukhin said emotionally: "But there are two airports that have never called back, and it is estimated that there is less luck now." ”

Vashukin raised his hand and gently patted Putukhin on the shoulder twice, comforting him: "Comrade Putukhin, this is war, and fortunately, thanks to our efforts, at least most of the planes were saved." ”

"General Putukhin," Rokossovsky asked solemnly, "can you still get in touch with those field airfields?" Perhaps in today's battle, we need to be supported by the Air Force to launch a counterattack against the enemy's forces. ”

"However, we have no idea where the enemy is or what kind of troops he has." Putukhin was emotional and a little hesitant and said: "The contact with the military region has also been cut off, and without the order of the superiors, how can this battle be fought?" ”

"What's wrong with you, General Putukhin? Why did you suddenly become panicked? Vashukin said to him in a stern tone: "Even if we lose contact with the military district and Moscow, we will resolutely fight back against the enemy and drive them out from the place where the enemy has invaded." Comrade Rokossovsky's troops, need your Air Force support. Now, in my capacity as a member of the Military Committee of the Military District, I order you to immediately brace yourself and continue to make contact with the field airfields, and definitely with the air force. ”

Seeing that Putukhin regained his spirits and supervised the telegraph operator to continue to generate electricity for the field airfield, Vashukin couldn't help but smile and nodded. Then he turned his face to look at Rokossovsky, sighed, and said: "Before the troops have left, you can go home and say goodbye to your wife." After we left, we didn't know how many of us would come back alive. ”

Rokossovsky was thinking about how to break up Vashukin so as not to affect his own command. Suddenly hearing Vashukin's humane words, he couldn't help but snort, nodded in a panic, turned around and walked out of the telecommunications room quickly.

The corridor was full of soldiers coming and going, and when they saw their commander appear, they all stepped aside to lean against the wall and raised their hands to salute him. Rokossovsky didn't notice that they didn't return the salute, and just walked slowly down the corridor, thinking about how to face Petrovna, who had been running away, because he was an imposter husband.

As soon as he opened the door with the key and appeared at the door, Petrovna, who had been waiting for a long time, rushed to him, hugged him tightly, and asked nervously: "Koschika, has war really broken out?" ”

Although the war had just broken out and not many people knew about it, it was no secret to Petrovna, who lived in the officers' quarters. As the wife of a soldier, the troops being assembled downstairs allowed her to guess the truth.

Rokossovsky gently patted her on the back and called her nickname to comfort: "Yunia, war has broken out. It's going to be unsafe quickly, so when the city's evacuation order comes down, you'll evacuate to the rear with Ada. ”

"What, the enemy will break into here?" Petrovna broke free from Rokossovsky's arms and asked in a surprised tone: "Isn't our army, not the most powerful in the world?" How did you let the enemy break into here? ”

For a moment, Rokossovsky did not know how to answer Petrovna's question, and could only say vaguely: "The enemy is strong, and our army cannot hold them back for the time being." So you have to understand that it is not a matter of affection for you to evacuate to the rear, but a need in wartime. ”

"No, I'm not going anywhere until you come back." Petrovna shouted excitedly: "I'm not going anywhere, my home is here!" Do you understand what I mean? I'm not going anywhere! ”

At this time, the door of one bedroom opened, and Ada, who was wearing a white nightdress, stood at the door, looked at the two people standing in the living room with strange eyes, and asked curiously, "Dad, Mom, what are you arguing about?" ”

"Dear daughter, I'm sorry to wake you up!" After a brief remark, Rokossovsky walked over and gave Ada a gentle hug, then grabbed her shoulders and said lovingly: "War has broken out, I will take the soldiers to fight back against the enemy and drive them out of our borders." For your safety, you should move to the rear with your mother. Promise me to take good care of your mother. ”

Ada was stunned for a moment after hearing this, then pounced, wrapped his hands tightly around Rokossovsky's waist, and began to cry bitterly. Petrovna also walked behind Rokossovsky, hugged her husband and daughter with open arms, tears fell like beads of broken threads, and soon the back of Rokossovsky's military uniform was wet.

Rokossovsky's nose was sour, and he remembered that he had heard someone say that when he wanted to cry, he just looked up at the sky, and the tears would not fall. So he looked up at the ceiling, trying to keep the tears from flowing from his eyes. But he soon found that this statement was wrong, and even with his head tilted, tears continued to flow from the corners of his eyes.

I don't know how long it took, but a knock at the door interrupted the parting mood of the family of three. Petrovna let go of her hand, wiped her tears, walked to the door and opened it.

There was an officer standing outside the door, and when he saw Petrovna open the door, he immediately asked politely: "Comrade commander, may I ask you, are you there?" ”

Rokossovsky, who was firmly held by Ada, couldn't turn around, he coughed lightly and asked in a calm tone as much as possible: "What's the matter?" ”

The officer walked quickly behind Rokossovsky, stood up and saluted, and reported: "Comrade Commander, Comrade Military Commissar asked me to inform you that the troops are ready to go, and as soon as you arrive, they can go." ”

"I see." Rokossovsky said without looking back: "I'll go right away." ”

When the officer left, Petrovna came over, gently pulled Ada's hand holding Rokossovsky's waist, and whispered to her: "Ada, your father is going to do something more important, let him go!" The sensible Ada raised his hand to wipe the tears from his face and said to Rokossovsky with sobs: "Promise me that you will come back alive!" ”

"Yes, Ada, I'll come back alive." After Rokossovsky finished speaking, he raised his hand and gently stroked Ada's head a few times, then turned and walked towards the door. As soon as he reached the door, he stopped again, turned to Petrovna, who was following him, and said, "For Ada's sake, I think you should leave, and staying here any longer is pointless, but it will make me worry." I'm gone, take care! With that, he hugged Petrovna again, kissed her on the cheek, and resolutely turned away, ignoring Petrovna's suppressed cries from behind him.