Due to bad weather and the lack of transport planes, the supplies promised by Khrulev did not reach the designated airfield on time, so the launch of Operation Ring had to be postponed by a week, until the early morning of January 10. The offensive was delayed, but the extra seven days of preparation time could not have been better for Rokossovsky and his comrades.

In the command of the Stalingrad Front, the heads of the Front were discussing the upcoming offensive. The new deputy commander of the Front, Trubnikov, said: "When we conduct the 'Battle of the Ring,' it is necessary to set aside one or two army groups to defend against the German Army Group Don so that we do not be attacked from the rear by them when we launch an attack on Paulus." ”

Although the military commissar Terekin was a layman in military affairs, he also heard the seriousness of the problem from Trubnikov's words, and he frowned and said: "If we really leave one or two army groups to monitor the German army group on the Don, then the strength of our forces to encircle and annihilate Paulus will be weakened." ”

"Comrade Commander, I have a bold idea." After Ma Linin and the others expounded their views, they suddenly said to Rokossovsky: "Maybe the situation of fighting on two fronts can be avoided." ”

Rokossovsky knew that Malinin was an excellent staff officer and that the ideas he could come up with would definitely solve big problems, so he urged: "Comrade Chief of Staff, what have you thought, hurry up and listen." ”

Pointing to the bend of the Don, Malinin said to Rokossovsky: "Look, comrade commander, now General Malinovsky's 2nd Guards Army has moved out to Rostov-on-Don. If they were allowed to launch an active offensive in this area, retake Rostov-on-Don and drive the enemy far away from this area, then the distance between the German Army Group Don and Paulus would have increased. Hort's tank army, which had been weakened in the previous battles, was convinced that they would no longer be able to break through our two or three hundred kilometers of defenses to relieve Paulus, so that we could concentrate the main forces and annihilate the enemy besieged in the Stalingrad area. ”

Rokossovsky was deeply impressed by Malinin's suggestion, and just as he was about to say something, he heard Trubnikov say worriedly: "Comrade commander, according to the information we have, the Germans have built strong fortifications in the Rostov region, and even if they suffer heavy losses from our troops, it will be very difficult to seize this area. ”

In fact, even if Trubnikov didn't say it, Rokossovsky also found this problem, and he was considering whether to use saturation bombing to destroy the German fortifications before launching a ground offensive to liberate the city. Since Trubnikov had already raised the problems facing the troops, he took the opportunity to say: "Comrade Deputy Commander is quite reasonable, the German army has built a strong defense in the Rostov region, and if we still use conventional methods, not only will the progress be slow, but at the same time it will cause huge casualties to the troops." ”

Malinin heard from Rokossovsky's words that he had a new consideration, so he asked tentatively: "Comrade commander, do you have any way to deal with the German fortifications?" ”

Rokossovsky nodded and said confidently: "That's right, in order to solve the enemy in the Rostov region as soon as possible and minimize the casualties of our troops, I am thinking about new tactics in the battle to capture Rostov." ”

"New tactics, what new tactics?" Artillery commander Kazakov heard Rokossovsky say this, and his heart became a little uneasy, because his artillery was basically deployed in the direction close to Stalingrad, and if it was transferred to the Don River defense line, it would not only take a long time, but also easily cause unnecessary confusion, so he cautiously asked: "Wouldn't it be for our artillery to concentrate as much artillery fire as possible to bombard the German defensive positions?" ”

"Don't worry, General Kazakov." Rokossovsky guessed the other party's concerns from Kazakov's words, and hurriedly comforted him: "I will not use artillery in the Stalingrad direction, except for the small number of artillery units you have deployed in the Rostov direction. ”

Hearing that Rokossovsky was not going to massively mobilize his troops, Kazakov, while breathing a sigh of relief, asked a new question: "How can we destroy the German defenses without artillery?" ”

"Air Force," Rokossovsky replied with a smile, "we will send Air Force bombers to intensively bomb the German defensive positions in order to destroy their fortifications and kill and wound them in large numbers." ”

"Will this work?" Everyone is full of questions about Rokossovsky's formulation, so such tactics are simply different from the tactics commonly used by the Soviet army.

"Yes," Rokossovsky affirmed, "our bombardment, in addition to destroying their fortifications, will at the same time weaken their will to resist, which will be very beneficial to our next offensive." After he said this, he instructed Malinin, "Chief of Staff, call the two generals, Malinovsky and Rudenko, and let us immediately rush to the headquarters to accept the mission." ”

An hour later, two notified commanders of the army group came to Rokossovsky's command.

After a brief greeting, Rokossovsky took the two men to the map hanging on the wall, pointed to them and said to Malinovsky: "General Malinovsky, the task I have given to your army group is to launch an offensive in the Rostov region on January 5 and liberate the city in the shortest possible time, so as to make the distance between the enemy's Army Group Don and Paulus Group even further and completely cut off the connection between them. ”

Hearing Rokossovsky's order, Malinovsky looked at the map expressionlessly for a while, and then said lightly: "Comrade commander, according to the reconnaissance of our army, the Germans have deployed an infantry division and a motorized brigade in the Rostov region, they have strong fortifications and a perfect defense system, if we attack them, it will take at least half a month to liberate the city." ”

"No, half a month is too long, I'll give you three days at most." Rokossovsky said in an unquestioning tone: "In three days, I will let our flag fly again over Rostov-on-Don." ”

When Malinovsky heard this, a bitter expression appeared on his face, and he opened his mouth to say something, but in the end he didn't spit out a word.

After reading Malinovsky's expression, Rokossovsky turned to look at Rudenko and asked: "Comrade Air Force Commander, how long can you use the ammunition and fuel that your superiors have recently supplied you?" ”

Rudenko immediately replied without hesitation: "If we dispatch two aviation divisions a day, the ammunition and fuel replenished by our superiors can last about half a month." ”

"It can only last for half a month?" Rokossovsky didn't expect that the ammunition and fuel hoarded by the Air Force could only be used for such a short time, and he couldn't help but be slightly disappointed, "That's really too little." ”

"Not a lot, Comrade Commander." Rudenko hurriedly explained to Rokossovsky: "The German troops besieged by our army, let alone bombing for half a month, even if it is a week, are enough for them, and they have no anti-aircraft weapons at all." ”

"Air Force Commander, you're mistaken, I'm not asking you to bomb Paulus now." Rokossovsky raised his hand and patted it on the map and said decisively: "I intend for your air force to go and bomb the German positions in the Rostov region, destroy their defenses and create favorable conditions for the offensive of General Malinovsky." ”

Hearing that Rokossovsky planned to send an air force to assist him in attacking Rostov-on-Don, Malinovsky's eyes lit up, and he said that if he hadn't had air cover last time, the German 57th Panzer Army would not have escaped so easily. With the support of the Air Force this time, it is just right to take revenge.

Rudenko frowned and said: "Comrade commander, I don't know what scale of bombardment you plan for us to carry out on the Rostov region?" ”

"You have just heard that I ordered General Malinovsky to attack on January 5 and liberate Rostov from the Germans within three days." Rokossovsky began to explain the task to the two army commanders: "Your task is to dispatch at least three bomber divisions a day from January 2 to bomb the German defensive positions in this area 24 hours a day. ”

"Three bomber divisions for 24-hour non-stop bombing?!" After listening to Rokossovsky's order, Rudenko's face was even more embarrassed, "In that case, our ammunition and fuel are estimated to not last even a week." There are also 24 hours of non-stop, and we don't have so many night bombers. ”

"Problems with ammunition and fuel, you don't have to worry. I have already agreed with the Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force, General Novikov, and he will replenish it for us as soon as possible. Rokossovsky comforted Rudenko and said: "As for the night bombing, it can be handed over to the 588th Women's Night Bomber Aviation Regiment, which has not carried out several night bombing missions since they were equipped with British mosquito bombers." ”

As soon as Rudenko returned to the headquarters after receiving the bombing mission from Rokossovsky, he held a meeting with all commanders of the regimental level and above.

When everyone arrived, he conveyed Rokossovsky's orders to the regimental commanders attending the meeting, and began to assign tasks to the aviation divisions. Since the 588th Women's Night Bomber Regiment was specifically named by Rokossovsky, they were assigned night bombing missions.

Roskova sat in the crowd and listened to Rudenko's assignment, without mentioning her own flying regiment. Just when she thought that Rudenko might have missed something, and that she would announce the task for herself later, she heard Rudenko asking: "The combat mission has been assigned, and if you have any questions, you commanders can ask me!" ”

Roslava gently touched the chief of staff Katherinanova, who was sitting next to her, with her elbow, and asked in a low voice: "Chief of staff, did you just hear the task assigned by the commander to our regiment?" ”

Catherinova shook her head and said: "I didn't hear it, I guess let's continue to patrol the air and bomb the German supply lines!" ”

Hearing her chief of staff say this, Roskova couldn't help but snort softly, and she said in her heart that Paulus's troops were surrounded by us, and there would be any supply lines anywhere. Thinking of this, she stood up abruptly and asked loudly at Rudenko, who was standing in front: "Comrade commander, I would like to ask, what is the mission of our 587th dive bomber regiment?" ”

"Your regiment's mission is to continue to be responsible for daily air patrols." Rudenko glanced at him and said absentmindedly: "Do everything possible to cut off the supply lines of the German army." After saying that, he continued to explain the task to the commander of a bomber division, "...... The Germans have laid minefields and barbed wire in front of their defensive positions, and when you bomb them, you should focus on bombing them to clear the way for our infantry......"

Catherineva turned Roslava's face blue and trembled, knowing that she was angry because she did not receive a combat mission, she quickly gently pulled the hem of her clothes a few times, and whispered: "Major, you sit down first." ”

"Comrade Commander," seeing that Rudenko said a few perfunctory words to herself, she began to talk to others, Roskova suddenly felt blood gushing up on her head, she did not notice that her chief of staff was pulling the hem of her clothes, so she raised her voice and said: "Comrade Commander, I want to ask you, where is the supply line of the German army?" Where should our women's dive bomber regiment patrol? ”

Hearing the sudden sound, Rudenko paused for a moment, but quickly came back to his senses and knew that Roslava was angry because he had not assigned her a task, so he said softly: "Major Roslava, I understand your feelings, but the number of flying regiments bombing German positions is enough, and it cannot be increased. There is also the German defense in the Rostov region, which has a lot of anti-aircraft fire, and I can't let our future mother risk this. ”

Hearing that Rudenko used this as a shield, she couldn't help but be a little annoyed, and she said in a gloomy tone: "Comrade commander, this war we are waging has erased the gender of people, and neither I nor my subordinates want others to see us as women. Please let our regiment participate in the bombing of the Rostov region! ”

"No," Rudenko said resolutely, "the man is not dead yet, how can you female pilots be allowed to go?" Are you going to let someone point at me and scold me? ”

"If the female pilot can't get on, then why do you want the 588th Regiment to go on again?" Roslava was clearly dissatisfied with Rudenko's perfunctory attitude, "Aren't they women?" ”