December 24, 1943, Christmas Eve.

The German officers and soldiers who were celebrating the holiday never dreamed that the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front would choose to attack at this moment and began the offensive campaign known as Zhytomyr-Berdichev.

The dense artillery fire blew up the Germans who were drinking and eating meat, and the soldiers, under the hoarse shouts of the officers, threw away the wine bottles or food in their hands, bent down along the trenches, and fled back to their shelters in embarrassment.

A German recruit who had just arrived at the front line, amid the deafening sound of artillery, shouted at the other soldiers in the shelter: "Hell, how could the Russians attack at such a time?" You know, today is Christmas Eve, Christmas Eve! Aren't the Russians themselves Christmas? ”

A veteran soldier next to him heard what he was shouting clearly, and said coldly: "The Russians are definitely going to celebrate Christmas, but their Christmas is not December 25, but January 7, so it is completely understandable that they will attack at this time." ”

After the artillery preparation of the Soviet troops, the tank brigade, which had long approached the enemy's position, decisively launched an assault. They smashed through the barbed wire in front of the German positions and detonated mines in the minefields, opening up passages for the infantry to follow.

The attack launched by Vatutin was the battle plan drawn up by Rokossovsky and Bogolyubov, who divided the troops into three parts and launched an attack from three directions at the same time, so that the Germans could not take care of each other.

By daybreak, the 1st Ukrainian Front had already made great progress in the Zhytomyr, Volynsky Nova and Bezelkovy directions, wedged into the depth of the German defense five to seven kilometers.

Rokossovsky, far away in Belarus, in his command outside Gomel, walked back and forth, anxiously waiting for intelligence from the General Staff. I waited left and right until eleven o'clock in the morning before the first battle report came.

Seeing the progress of the troops, as he had originally envisioned, Rokossovsky's heart was extremely excited. After reading the telegram handed to him by Rokossovsky, Malinin also said excitedly: "Comrade commander, it seems that the 1st Ukrainian Front is doing well, they have successfully broken through the two lines of defense of the German army and are developing in depth. ”

However, Rokossovsky did not have a smile on his face, he smiled bitterly and said: "Comrade Chief of Staff, if the First Ukrainian Front can successfully achieve the originally formulated strategic objectives, then the base camp will shift its center of gravity to Ukraine and to the southern flank of the Soviet-German front. The corps to which the base camp reserve belongs, for example, the combined army of all arms, the tank army, the tank corps, the artillery corps, the tanks, artillery, and the aircraft, will be sent to those places. And we don't get anything to add for a long time. ”

"No, Comrade Commander." In response to Rokossovsky's statement, Malinin said with some surprise: "So far, we have not received an order from our superiors to stop the offensive. I think that as long as we are still on the offensive against the Germans, we can get some addition. ”

"Comrade Chief of Staff, we must prepare for the worst." Rokossovsky waved his hand at Malinin and instructed him: "Find a way to get in touch with the partisans, let them carry out active activities in the Kalinkovichi area, reconnoiter the distribution of the enemy's forces, destroy bridges, roads and enemy communication lines, isolate the enemy in the Kalinkovich area." ”

"Let the partisans carry out active activities in the Kalinkovich region?" When Malinin heard Rokossovsky say this, he was stunned for a moment, and then a look of surprise appeared on his face: "Comrade commander, if I am not mistaken, you are planning to strike at the enemy again in the direction of Kalinkovich. Am I right? ”

"Not exactly." Rokossovsky tapped his finger twice on the map and said with a solemn expression: "At the same time, we must also find a way to take Mozyr, so that we can establish a solid offensive starting point in the south of Belarus." ”

After saying this, Rokossovsky turned his attention to Terekin again, and he asked: "Comrade Military Commissar, I wonder if there are a few wounded soldiers who have recently recovered from their injuries and been discharged from the hospital?" ”

Terekin opened the small notebook in front of him, glanced at its contents, raised his head and said to Rokossovsky: "Comrade commander, I talked with the head of the Medical Administration, General Balabanov, and he said that by the end of January, a total of 12,000 wounded will be able to return to the battlefield. At present, only about 4,000 troops can be replenished. ”

"Four thousand, that's too little." Rokossovsky's face was a little ugly and said: "After the defeat of Batovich's individual division in the first battle of Kalinkovich, there are now only more than 2,000 people left, and these 4,000 people will not solve any problems at all. ”

"Comrade commander, you should understand that when the wounded will heal is not something we can control." Terekin said with some embarrassment: "I am considering that it is better to recruit local residents from the liberated areas into the army. Or directly integrate the guerrillas in those liberated areas into our combat units. ”

Regarding Terekin's proposal, Rokossovsky nodded and said helplessly: "It seems that it can only be like this." ”

Rokossovsky walked to the telephone, picked up the phone and dialed the headquarters of the 65th Army, he said into the microphone: "I'm Rokossovsky, let Bartov answer the phone." ”

A moment later, Batov's voice came from the earpiece: "Hello, Comrade Commander, do you have any instructions?" ”

"General Batov," Rokossovsky asked bluntly, not in circles, "if I now order you to attack Kalinkovich, what are your chances of winning?" ”

"What, attack Kalinkovic?" Batov only heard the imminent attack on Kalinkovich, but did not notice Rokossovsky's last words, "As soon as the men, weapons and ammunition you replenish us arrive, we will be able to attack Kalinkovich again in two to three days." ”

"General Batov, I can't replenish your troops, and I can't replenish your ammunition." Rokossovsky said helplessly: "You can only rely on the existing troops and technical equipment to launch an offensive against Kalinkovich. Do you understand? ”

Hearing Rokossovsky say this, Batov was silent for a long time before he said slowly: "Understood, comrade commander, we can only rely on our existing forces to re-attack Kalinkovich." I don't know what day the attack is? I will get the troops ready for battle as soon as possible. ”