Fierce fighting was raging, and the situation in the entire Kalinkovich region had become extremely unfavorable for the Soviet army. The Germans, who had routed the right flank of the 65th Army, had successfully wedged themselves into the rear of the main Soviet attacking force, forming a flanking attack with Kalinkovich's German troops.

In the face of such a critical situation, the radio stations of the Soviet Front, the radio stations of the group armies, and even the radio stations at the corps, division, and regimental levels were constantly calling, and one after another orders were sent from the headquarters to the troops, and one after another battle reports were quickly transmitted back to the headquarters, and the noisy radio waves covered the entire sky over Belarus.

At two o'clock in the morning, Malinin had a heated argument with Zakharkin. Malinin said excitedly: "Comrade commander, the current situation in the Kalinkovich direction is extremely unfavorable for our army, and Batov's 65th Army is in danger of being encircled at any time, and I feel that this matter should be reported to the General Staff immediately." ”

"No, Comrade Chief of Staff." "More than ten hours ago, we also reported to the General Staff that our troops were going well and would soon be able to reach Kalinkovich," Zakharkin stubbornly said. But now they have to report to their superiors that our troops are about to fall into the encirclement of the Germans, what will the superiors think? No, I don't agree to report it now, at least until the situation stabilizes. ”

"It is a crime to hide the real battlefield situation from your superiors." Seeing that Zakharkin insisted on not reporting the situation to his superiors in a timely manner, Malinin immediately expounded his views in a tough manner: "Comrade commander, I am the chief of staff of the Front Army and an old Bolshevik, and I feel obliged to immediately report the real situation here to my superiors. If you still insist on your opinion, then I will report it in my own name, and all the consequences arising from this will be borne by me personally. ”

Military Commissar Terekin, who had been at odds with each other, heard Malinin say these words in such a categorical tone at this moment, and realized the seriousness of the problem, so he resolutely sided with Malinin and expressed his support: "I agree with the chief of staff that it is necessary to immediately report the real situation here to the General Staff. ”

Seeing that Malinin and Terekin had reached an agreement, Zakharkin could not stop it, so he could only say helplessly: "Well, since you all think that the situation here should be reported to the General Staff immediately, then the chief of staff should go and report." ”

It didn't take long for the chief of operations Shtemenko, who was on duty in the General Staff, to receive a call from Malinin. After listening to the report, he was taken aback: "What, has the situation in the Kalinkovich region become so bad, you know that yesterday at noon, I also received a good news from General Batov?" ”

"Yes, yes, Comrade Chief of Operations." Malinin hurriedly said: "The Germans concentrated their superior forces in the afternoon and launched an attack on the right flank of General Batov, and now, after defeating the right flank troops, they have successfully wedged the rear of Batov's attacking troops, creating a situation that can encircle the 65th Army at any time." ”

After recording what Malinin said in his notebook, Shtemenko asked: "What measures have you taken?" ”

"In addition to sending the Front Reserve to reinforce it, I also ordered the 61st Army on the left flank to also send troops to support Batov." Malinin hurriedly reported to Shtemenko: "And when Batov found out that the right flank was in danger, he also took active action, not only ordering the troops to stop continuing to attack the enemy, but also drawing troops from the left flank to plug the gap opened by the Germans. ”

"You must do your best to save the situation in the Kalinkovich direction, and you must not allow the 65th Army to fall into the encirclement of the Germans." After saying this, Shtemenko paused for a moment and added: "I will immediately report to Comrade Stalin on the situation there." ”

He said that he would report to Stalin immediately, but after putting down the phone, Shtemenko walked up and down the house with his hands behind his back, considering whether such bad news should really be reported to Stalin. After thinking about it for a long time, he couldn't figure it out, so he picked up the phone on the table and dialed Antonov's house.

Antonov was woken up from his sleep by the ringing of the telephone, he picked up the microphone close to his ear, and asked weakly: "I am Antonov, where are you?" ”

"Alexei Innokentievich!" Calling Antonov's real name and patronymic, Shtemenko said anxiously: "I'm sorry to disturb your rest at such a time, but I can't help it." Something big is wrong! ”

Shtemenko's words made Antonov's whole body sober, and he quickly rolled over and got out of bed, and while getting dressed, he nervously asked: "Sergei Matveevich, what's wrong." After listening to Shtemenko's story, he immediately said in a serious tone, "I know, I'll rush over immediately." ”

Antonov hurried to the General Staff, and after reading the contents of the Shtemenko record, he did not say anything, but directly dialed the phone of the command of the Belarusian Front, and when he heard that the person who answered the phone was Malinin, he asked straight to the point: "General Malinin, I would like to ask, how is the situation there with you?" ”

Hearing that it was Antonov calling, Malinin immediately replied: "The battle is still raging, but the front has stabilized, and the danger of being encircled has been temporarily eliminated." ”

"Do you have any plans?" Antonov then asked.

"I plan to wait for daybreak to send the air force to bomb the attacking German troops, completely crush their attempts to encircle, and rescue Batov's troops from danger." Speaking of this, Malinin said with some embarrassment: "But in this case, we may have to give up some of the areas we have occupied. ”

Antonov suddenly remembered what he had heard Rokossovsky say, and said with understanding: "General Malinin, your commander once said: If you lose land, you will lose both land and people; If people lose land, people and land will survive. As long as the troops can be preserved, a proper retreat is also necessary. ”

Rokossovsky's words, which Malinin had also heard, and when he heard Antonov say it at this moment, he immediately understood in his heart that the deputy chief of the General Staff was allowing them to abandon some of the occupied areas and retreat to the rear on their own initiative in the event of an unfavorable situation.

Seeing that Antonov had ended the call with Malinin, Shtemenko hurriedly asked: "Comrade Deputy Chief of the General Staff, what should we do now, immediately report this to Comrade Stalin?" ”

Antonov thought for a moment, picked up the phone on the table and dialed the head of the Kremlin guard. When he heard a voice coming from the earpiece, he immediately declared himself and carefully asked: "Is Comrade Stalin resting?" ”

The Captain of the Guard raised his hand and looked at his watch, and then replied: "Comrade Stalin just fell asleep two hours ago, Comrade Deputy Chief of the General Staff, is there anything wrong with you?" ”

"Something urgent has happened and it needs to be reported to Comrade Stalin immediately." Antonov asked the captain of the guard in a consultative tone: "Can you help me wake him up?" ”

"What's wrong?" While the captain of the guard was hesitating, a familiar voice suddenly came from behind him. He hurriedly jumped up from the sofa, turned to face the visitor, straightened up and replied: "Comrade Stalin, it is the call from the deputy chief of the General Staff, and he said that there is something important that needs to be reported to you immediately. ”

"Antonov's call," Stalin said slowly, as he walked slowly to the captain of the guard, "and he would not have called at such a time if it were not for something urgent." ”

He took the microphone, put it to his ear, and asked: "Comrade Antonov, is there something wrong?" ”

Hearing Stalin's voice, Antonov hurriedly said respectfully: "I'm sorry, Comrade Stalin, I woke you up, but something urgent happened." As Batov's 65th Army approached Kalinkovich, his right flank was suddenly met with a German counterattack, and the enemy quickly routed Batov's right flank and detoured to the rear of the main attacking force. ”

When he heard that something had happened to the 65th Army, Stalin couldn't help but chuckle in his heart, saying how long had Rokossovsky been gone, and why did he make such a mistake? After a moment of silence, he asked, "What's going on now?" ”

"Chief of Staff Malinin has transferred reinforcements from several places, and although the fighting is still ongoing, the 65th Army has temporarily escaped the danger of being encircled." In order to prevent Stalin from allowing Batov to properly retreat, Antonov also cautiously said: "Our General Staff, after study, feels that in order for the 65th Army to completely get rid of the danger of being encircled by the Germans, it is necessary to abandon some of the occupied areas and move closer to the troops in the rear. ”

Stalin did not say anything about Antonov's statement, but said to himself: "So it was Batov's troops who did not conduct enough reconnaissance and rashly advanced into the depth of the German defense, and as a result, our troops paid a high price." As a senior military commander, didn't he know that wounded beasts bite people more ferociously? He should understand that the slightest negligence in organizing a battle or underestimating the enemy can cost him a lot......"

Antonov, patiently listening to Stalin's words, continued: "Yes, Comrade Stalin, you are quite right. I think that after this lesson, General Batov should have learned his lesson. ”

"In view of the rashness of Batov, as a result of which the troops suffered huge losses, as well as the loss of a large part of the country." Stalin was also very hesitant about how to deal with Batov, after all, Batov was his trusted commander, and not long ago he had asked him to act as the commander of the Belarusian Front. After careful consideration, he said slowly: "The Supreme Command should give a serious warning......

Listening to Stalin's disposition of Batov, Antonov secretly breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, he originally thought that if such a big thing happened, Stalin would order someone to send Batov to a military court, in that case, his future would be completely ruined. As for the punishment of serious warning given to him, it is just a formality, and when he has made new achievements, this punishment will be canceled.

…………

The fighting in the Kalinkovich direction has not stopped, and the Soviet and German sides have launched repeated tug-of-war in order to compete for a certain commanding height. As soon as it was dawn, Soviet bombers appeared in the combat area, and they bombed the area where German tanks and infantry were concentrated, relieving the pressure on Batov's troops.

After reading all the battle reports, Malinin felt that it was unrealistic to continue the attack on Kalinkovich or stay in the existing area, so after careful consideration, he decisively gave Batov the order to retreat.

Although the attacking Germans were heavily bombarded by the Soviet Air Force, their combat effectiveness was still strong, and Batov and the reinforced Front reserves were somewhat overwhelmed. Having received the order to retreat from Malinin, Batov breathed a sigh of relief, and then gave the troops the order to retreat through Chief of Staff Glebov.

The troops of the 65th Army and the reserves of the Front, using alternate cover, retreated step by step towards Lechtsa to the east. Upon abandoning his command, Batov reluctantly glanced at the place where he had worked, gritted his back molars and said, "I will come back again." ”

"Yes, Comrade Commander, we will come back again." Hearing the gunfire getting closer and closer, Glebov was afraid that the vanguard of the German army would rush over, so he hurriedly urged Batov: "The enemy's heavy troops are rushing towards us, and the blocking troops are fighting very hard, they may not be able to stop the enemy, so let's move quickly." ”

Throughout the Great Patriotic War, there were quite a few high-ranking commanders who, when faced with danger, usually did not move in time, but had to stay and wait for all the commanders and fighters to be transferred. But the commander who did so was either sacrificed or captured. Fortunately, Batov was not such a person, and when he heard Glebov say that the situation was critical, he quickly jumped into the jeep parked in the middle of the road and ordered the driver: "Go!" ”

However, when the Soviet troops were retreating in an orderly manner towards Lechtsa, Rokossovsky learned the news of Batov's defeat through his own channels, and he hurriedly called Malinin and specially emphasized to him: "Comrade Malinin, please remind the commanders of the armies to pay attention to the fact that they must not relax their vigilance against the cunning fascist bandits for a moment. As far as I know, the enemy, who has been hit hard by us, will adjust his tactics in time, pretending to retreat in order to lure our troops into attacking us from the flanks while our troops pursue. Therefore, our commanders at all levels must be extremely cautious and ready to crush any conspiracy of the enemy. Do you understand? ”

"Understood, Comrade Commander." Although Rokossovsky is not now the commander of the Belorussian Front, after listening to his words, Malinin replied in a loud voice: "I will keep in mind your teachings and never fall into the trap of the Germans again." ”