Rokossovsky pointed to the troops in the distance with his hand and instructed Starley: "Comrade lieutenant, go and ask the number of the unit in front and, if possible, call their commander by the way." ”

Seeing Starley trotting all the way towards the troops in the distance, Tarasov asked thoughtfully: "Comrade commander, are you planning to incorporate this unit?" ”

"That's right, that's how I thought about it." In front of his chief of staff, Rokossovsky did not hide his true thoughts, and he replied with a serious expression: "Our combat cluster is still an empty shelf, and although the higher authorities said that we will be equipped with two or three divisions, it is still unknown when the troops will arrive." Therefore, we must do everything possible to build our own forces. Although the formation of this unit in front is messy, we can see at a glance that the structure is still relatively complete, and we can use this unit as a framework to form our combat cluster in the shortest possible time. ”

Tarasov narrowed his eyes and looked at the troops in the distance, then nodded and said: "Comrade commander, you are right. You see, in addition to light and heavy machine guns, there are also fighters carrying mortars, and it seems that they are at least at the regimental level. ”

When the troops marched to a distance of only twenty or thirty meters from Rokossovsky, Lieutenant Starley, who had been sent to make contact, squeezed out of the queue with an elderly commander and walked quickly towards Rokossovsky.

After the two came to Rokossovsky, Starey first saluted Rokossovsky and reported: "Comrade commander, I brought the commander of the troops. ”

Rokossovsky glanced at the old commander's badge, and then asked politely: "Comrade Colonel, may I ask what part of you are and where are you going?" ”

Hearing his question, the colonel standing behind Starley hurriedly stepped forward and said respectfully: "Report to Comrade General, we are from the 19th Infantry Division of the 38th Army, and the troops are being transferred. ”

"Transfer?!" Tarasov, having repeated the word, sneered and said in a mocking tone: "Where are you going to move with your troops, retreat to Moscow?" Or a little further, and when you reach the Arctic Circle, the Germans will not be able to catch up with you! ”

When the colonel heard Tarasov say this, he glared at him viciously, and then asked rhetorically in his tone: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, can I know your identity?" ”

Rokossovsky heard that the tone of the two was full of gunpowder, and he was afraid that if he continued to talk about it, there would be a dispute, so he hurriedly interjected and said: "We are the newly formed 'Rokossovsky Operational Group', and I am Commander Rokossovsky. And he, my chief of staff, Lieutenant Colonel Tarasov. Comrade Colonel, I don't know what to call it? ”

The colonel hurriedly straightened up and replied: "Report Comrade Commander, I am Colonel Kirillov, the commander of the 38th Infantry Division, I am at your command, please instruct!" ”

Rokossovsky glanced at the troops who were slowly passing by, and seeing that the faces of the commanders and fighters showed tired expressions, he ordered Kirillov: "Comrade Colonel, I want to have a good talk with you, you let the troops stop and rest first!" ”

Kirillov agreed, turned around and ran to his ranks, shouting: "The troops stop advancing, rest in place!" ”

As soon as he gave this order, someone shouted again: "Troops stop advancing, rest in place!" In a few moments, the whole force stopped advancing.

When Kirillov came back and without waiting for him to speak, Rokossovsky shook his head at him and said: "Comrade Colonel, come to the car, I want to talk to you." With that, he opened the car door and got into the car first.

Wait for Kirillov to get into the car and close the door. Rokossovsky asked curiously: "Comrade Colonel, as far as I know, the commander of your army group, General Konev, also commanded the troops to engage in fierce battles with the Germans near Smolensk, why did your division withdraw to Yaltsevo?" ”

Kirillov replied with a wry smile: "Comrade commander, do you know that our division also withdrew from its position after receiving the order to retreat. Since I had completely lost contact with the army group headquarters, I could only lead my troops to continue to retreat eastward until my superiors gave us a new task. ”

Rokossovsky understood that these veterans were sometimes just tendons, knowing only to blindly obey orders, but not to improvise. If, as he said, he continued to retreat with his troops before receiving a new order from his superiors, he might have actually retreated to the Arctic Circle. Therefore, as soon as Kirillov finished speaking, he decisively announced: "Colonel Kirillov, I announce to you that from now on, you and your 38th Infantry Division are officially under the command of my operational group. ”

"But, Comrade Commander, our division belongs to the Nineteenth Army." Kirillov said with some embarrassment: "Forgive me for not being able to accept your orders until I receive orders from my superiors. ”

"Comrade Colonel," Tarasov said with some displeasure, seeing that Kirillov had rejected Rokossovsky's invitation, "our commander has received authorization from his superiors to incorporate all the troops he sees along the way into our combat group. Do you understand that the order was given by Marshal Timoshenko himself? ”

Kirillov wanted to defend himself, but when he heard that this order was issued by Timoshenko himself, he hesitated for a moment, then nodded, and said a little helplessly: "Well, since that's the case." Comrade commander, I obey your orders, and from now on my 38th Infantry Division is officially under your command. ”

Rokossovsky did not immediately give him any orders, but asked with concern: "Colonel Kirillov, your troops have fought fiercely with the enemy, do you think our troops can hold back the enemy?" ”

Hearing this, Kirillov looked at Rokossovsky and asked with some hesitation: "Comrade commander, do you want to hear the truth?" ”

"Needless to say, of course it's true." Rokossovsky said in an understanding tone: "Comrade Colonel, let me talk about your personal opinion. ”

"Comrade Commander, I beg your pardon." Kirillov said with some excitement: "During this period of fighting, our commanders and fighters fought stubbornly with the enemy, but one after another troops were either routed or destroyed by the Germans, and cities were occupied by the enemy one after another. ”

When he said this, he was afraid that his later words would be interrupted, so he quickened his speech: "When I say this, I am neither panicking nor spreading defeatist arguments, but expounding the reality of what I have seen. We cannot blame the fighters for the situation that arises, nor can we blame the commanders. Because with our current strength we can't stop the enemy for the time being......"

"But, Comrade Colonel, you are now spreading defeatist rhetoric!" Tarasov said in a loud voice: "Don't you know that our army is invincible? ”

Seeing Kirillov's embarrassment, Rokossovsky hurriedly came out to play a round for him: "Okay, Comrade Chief of Staff, please let the colonel continue, we should listen to these voices from the front." ”

With Rokossovsky's tacit approval, Kirillov continued: "Commander, chief of staff, I don't want to hide the truth from you, compared to us, the enemy has a lot of combat experience, more tanks, artillery and air supremacy. Each attack was preceded by the enemy's bombardment and artillery bombardment of our positions, and then the charge was launched by the tank covering troops. Our troops often suffered heavy casualties in the shelling and bombardment, often without even seeing the shadow of the enemy, but even so, we fought stubbornly, and those who broke into front of our positions found their graves there. ”

"Well done, Comrade Colonel." Waiting for Kirillov to finish speaking, Rokossovsky immediately said with appreciation: "Your troops have behaved tenaciously, this is good. Now that you are part of our battle group, I hope that you will achieve even greater results in the next battles. ”

"Comrade commander," Kirillov asked Rokossovsky for instructions: "I wonder where my troops will unfold?" ”

"Chief of Staff, map." Rokossovsky took the map from Tarasov's hand, spread it out in the middle of the three, and then pointed to the position of Yaltsevo and said: "Colonel Kirillov, your troops will be deployed here, the front of the defense is ten kilometers, and the depth is five kilometers. ”

"But, Comrade Commander." After looking at the map, Kirillov asked in surprise: "After the continuous battles of our division, the three infantry regiments and one artillery regiment have been reduced by more than half, even if I send all the troops up, it will not be enough to fill these ten kilometers?" Moreover, our flanks also need to be defended by troops, otherwise there is a danger of falling into a circle. ”

Rokossovsky didn't know what Kirillov was worried about, but he couldn't help it, he was also a clever woman who couldn't cook without rice, and now he didn't have any troops in his hands, except for the 38th Infantry Division, which was seriously understaffed, to hold this direction, he couldn't send any troops at all.

Seeing that Kirillov and Tarasov's eyes were focused on him, he hesitated for a moment and then replied: "Colonel, you first command the troops to occupy the defensive zone, and I will replenish the contained detachments to your regiments one after another." As for your two wings, there is even more to worry about, as soon as the two divisions assigned to me by the higher authorities arrive, I will immediately let them cover your flanks. ”

Faced with this big pie painted by Rokossovsky, the elderly Kirillov nodded and said with satisfaction: "Well, comrade commander, since you say so, I will immediately arrange for troops to be stationed in defensive operations and prepare to fight against the German troops that may rush over." ”

Rokossovsky took Kirillov's hand and tried to squeeze a smile on his face: "Comrade Colonel, I will send Lieutenant Starley, the same officer who has just gone to you, to cooperate with you, and he will lead you into the designated defensive positions. ”

When Kirillov led his troops and marched towards the designated defensive position, Tarasov looked at Rokossovsky with bewildered and pleading eyes and asked: "Comrade commander, we now only have this one division that is not satisfied, even if we deploy them all, our defense line is still full of holes, what should we do?" ”

At this moment, Rokossovsky also had a headache because of the lack of troops, he knew that he did not have the ability to scatter beans into soldiers, and what he could do now was to find his superiors to ask for the troops they had promised, and to contain the troops retreating from the front on the road. Judging from the current situation, although there are quite a few troops withdrawn from the front line, it is still a little insufficient to contain and organize all of them. Therefore, requesting reinforcements from superiors has become the first choice at present.

Rokossovsky walked up to the jeep with a radio station and said to the communications staff officer sitting inside: "Comrade staff officer, please send a message to the headquarters of the front army that our division has reached the Yaltsevo region, but since there are no troops to prevent effective defense, I ask my superiors to send us troops in time to ......",

When Tarasov saw that the telegraph operator was sending the report, he approached Rokossovsky and asked in a low voice: "Comrade commander, do you think the front army will send us troops?" ”

Thinking that the 16th Army, which was originally strong and strong, was now divided into pieces, and there were only two divisions left, Rokossovsky's heart was weak for a while. Looking at the group of staff officers standing in front of him, he coughed lightly, and then pretended to be calm and said: "Comrades, although we have fewer troops now, I believe that the troops sent to us by our superiors will arrive in a short time......

Maybe God annotated these words of his, and before he could finish speaking, a motorcycle coming from a distance stopped not far from him. An officer jumped out of the straddle, walked quickly in front of him, and reported to him in a loud voice: "Comrade commander, a tank unit in the rear is coming towards us along the road!" ”

Hearing about the tank troops, Rokossovsky couldn't help but stir up a cold war, and he asked in a bit of a panic: "Is it a German tank?" ”

When the officer heard him say this, he was stunned at first, and then said with a smile: "Comrade commander, not the enemy's tank, but our own." I just went to inquire, and this tank unit was assigned to us by my superiors......"

What the officer said later, Rokossovsky did not hear clearly, but he understood one thing in his heart: the tank unit promised to him by his superiors had finally arrived. As long as this tank unit is available, and some more troops are contained to supplement the 38th Division, then the certainty of holding on to the Yaltsevo area will increase by a few points. (To be continued.) )