Although there were no windows in the ward, and there was no wall clock, as soon as six o'clock Borisova woke up from her sleep. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 info She got up from the hospital bed, felt into the bathroom with her eyes half-closed, poured cold water on her face, and suddenly woke up.

When she came out of the bathroom, she saw that Rokossovsky had also woken up, and hurriedly walked to the hospital bed, leaned down and said apologetically: "Koschika, I'm sorry I woke you up." You should rest more and keep sleeping! ”

"Are you leaving?" Rokossovsky looked at him and asked with a smile on his face: "Will you come back at night?" ”

Borisova shook her head and replied: "It's not easy to say, maybe because of yesterday's events, Tronov will call me to give a lecture." Whether he can come or not is not clear. ”

After she said this, seeing the disappointed expression on Rokossovsky's face, she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, and whispered: "Don't be sad, fool, as long as I have the opportunity, I will definitely come." Okay, it's getting late, I'm going to work. ”

As Borisova passed by the reception hall, she met Tatiana again. The female military doctor stopped her and asked curiously: "Comrade Borisova, are you going back?" ”

Seeing that the person who greeted her was Tatiana, Borisova's face couldn't help but blush slightly, because the other party knew that she was staying in Rokossovsky's hospital room last night. She replied in a bit of a panic: "Yes, I still have work during the day, so I need to rush back as soon as possible." ”

"Grab this, and it will be more convenient here later." Tatiana said, handing a small card to Borisova, "This is a special pass to enter and exit the hospital." ”

Borisova took the small card and saw that there was a red cross on it and a set of numbers underneath. She asked, a little surprised, "Tatiana, I want to ask, how do I use this pass?" ”

"That's right," Tatiana patiently explained to Borisova, "and there's a white sentry box across the road, similar to the one that directs traffic at the intersection." If you want to go to the hospital, you just have to go to the booth and give the card to the person inside, and then he will notify the person in charge of guarding that someone is coming in to visit the patient. Do you understand? ”

As soon as Borisova listened to Tatiana's explanation, she realized that the hospital's defenses were loose on the outside and tight on the inside, and even the guard posts outside were camouflaged, so she quickly nodded and said, "I understand." ”

Tatiana raised her hand and looked at her watch, and said, "I'll go to check the room at seven o'clock, there's nothing wrong now, I'll send you out of here first." ”

The two left the hospital through the exit, and Borisova asked curiously: "Tatiana, can I ask, where is your husband now?" ”

"I don't know, maybe I'm dead, maybe I'm still alive." Hearing Borisova's question, Tatiana's expression suddenly darkened, and then she raised her hand and wiped it on her face: "He is a battalion commander of the Southwestern Front, his whereabouts are unknown after the defense of Kiev, and I don't know whether he was killed by the Germans or taken prisoner, in a word, he is missing." ”

"I'm sorry, Tatiana." Borisova hurriedly apologized to the other party and said: "It's me who is not good, I brought up your sad past and made you sad." ”

"It's okay, war, how can you not die." Speaking of this, Tatiana pouted in the direction of the hospital and whispered, "Isn't that general lover of yours also lying in it with serious injuries now?" ”

Like good friends who have known each other for many years, the two walked out of the overgrown area and came to the side of the road. Then Borisova waved goodbye and hurried to the metro station, while Tatiana turned around and went back to the hospital.

Borisova came to the office, the chair was not yet hot, and then she received a call from Tronov. The other party asked angrily: "Comrade Borisova, I ask you to explain to me why you were arrested yesterday to the headquarters of the Ministry of Internal Affairs?" Without waiting for Borisova to give any explanation, he said in a commanding tone, "Come to my office, immediately, immediately!" ”

Half an hour later, Borisova arrived in Tronov's office. After figuring out what happened, Tronov was very angry with him, and in order to prevent Borisova from going to Rokossovsky again, he came up with a good idea, saying that according to the order of his superiors, the city was going to organize a delegation to visit Kuibyshev, and he appointed Borisova as the head of this delegation.

When Borisova heard this unexpected appointment, she could not help frowning, because she knew that the distance from Moscow to Kuibyshev was thousands of kilometers, and the return would take two days at the earliest, plus the time spent in the local area, it would take at least a week to return. Thinking of Rokossovsky, who was still lying in the hospital, she said to Tronov with some embarrassment: "Comrade Tlonov, see if you can arrange for other comrades to go, I have something to do recently, and I really can't leave!" ”

"The appointment of you as the head of the delegation this time is so that you don't see that general again." Tronov said with some hatred: "Aren't you worried about affecting your future?" ”

Seeing that Borisova became a little hesitant because of his words, Tronov hurriedly struck while the iron was hot: "Comrade Borisova, you have a very strong work ability and are also highly valued by your superiors, you can't ruin your great future because you fall in love with someone you shouldn't love." ”

After finishing speaking, he did not wait for Borisova to have a chance to digest, so he ordered bluntly: "Okay, don't hesitate any longer, you call back, explain the work to your secretary, and then leave in the afternoon." ”

Rokossovsky was lying on the hospital bed, but he did not know that Borisova was sent to Kuibyshev by his superiors, and at the moment he was receiving his subordinates from the front, this time not Lobachev, but Malinin and Kazakov.

After the two of them sat down on the edge of their bed, Rokossovsky couldn't wait to ask Malinin: "Chief of Staff, how is the situation at the front, has the town of Maklaki been taken?" ”

"Yes, Comrade Commander." "We have once again liberated the town of Maklaki and are concentrating our forces in preparation for a new offensive in the Zhizdra area to drive the enemy away from this area," Malinin replied with a smile. ”

Hearing that a new battle was about to begin in the troops, Rokossovsky sighed and said regretfully: "Alas, if I had been careful, I would not have been wounded. If I don't suffer any wounds, I will be able to personally direct the battle to destroy the enemy in the Zhizdra region. ”

"Comrade Commander, you should recuperate from your injuries in peace." Ma Linin comforted him and said: "With us on the front line, even if you are not there, all the commanders and fighters of our 16th Army can defeat the enemy." ”

Rokossovsky was very concerned about whether the superiors had replenished themselves enough soldiers when the troops were about to launch a new offensive: "Comrade Chief of Staff, how is the situation in the troops, have the superiors given us additional troops?" ”

"Yes, before we attacked the town of Maklaki, the superiors replenished us with five thousand men. We added most of these fighters to the 324th and 238th Infantry Divisions. ”

"Replenished to the 328th Infantry Division?" When Rokossovsky heard this, he couldn't help but think of the past when this unit was almost wiped out by the Germans outside Sushnych, so he frowned and asked: "Who proposed to replenish this division?" ”

"Comrade commander," Malinin heard from Rokossovsky's angry tone that he was dissatisfied with the 328th Infantry Division, and quickly explained: "At present, the division commander is Colonel Yelemin, who is a commander with a very fighting spirit, and the recovery of the town of Maklaki is the main attack of the troops under his command, and the soldiers are very tenacious in the battle. ”

Seeing that Rokossovsky still had prejudices against this unit, Kazakov also spoke: "Koschika, you can't look at people with old eyes, today's 328th Infantry Division is the main force of the group army, and they have fought a lot of tough battles recently, and the reason why the soldiers are so brave and tenacious is completely to wash away the shame outside Sushnych." ”

"Did they really do that well?" Seeing that the two subordinates who came to visit him said this, Rokossovsky's impression of the 328th Infantry Division changed slightly, and he asked tentatively: "Are they already the main forces of the army group outside the city?" ”

"That's right," Ma Linin nodded and replied, "It is precisely because of their series of excellent performances that after discussion by the Military Committee of the Group Army, everyone unanimously approved to help this unit apply for the title of Guards." ”

"Oh, the title of Guard?" When Rokossovsky heard that his troops were about to give birth to another Guards, his eyes lit up, and he hurriedly asked: "How was it in the end, did it pass?" ”

"Not yet." Ma Lining shook his head and said, "It has been reported to the Front Army Command, and it is estimated that it will take half a month to approve it at the earliest." It is said that in the past two months, because there are too many troops applying for the title of Guards, the superiors may have to go through repeated screening before they can finally decide. ”

"If we had declared it earlier, it would have been a safe bet." Kazakov interjected: "At this time, a large number of troops are fighting for such honors, and who will win will depend on their luck." ”

"Even if we report it in advance, it won't work." Rokossovsky said angrily: "The performance of the 328th Infantry Division some time ago, you haven't seen it, it simply lost all the people of our 16th Army. Their performance in liberating the town of Maklaki this time was really a bit unexpected to me. ”

"Although the division has replenished 2,000 soldiers, the backbone of the battle is still the same people, just because of the change of division commander, the spirit of the troops is completely different." Malinin said to Rokossovsky with some excitement: "Comrade commander, you didn't see the scene of the battle at that time, the two machine guns placed by the enemy at the entrance of the town formed a network of crossfire, blocking our way forward. At that time, I saw that the commanders and fighters were so suppressed by the enemy's fire that they could not raise their heads, and I thought that this attack would fail again, but at this moment, Colonel Ye Lieming, armed with a submachine gun, took the lead in rushing forward, and shouted as he ran: 'Brothers, follow me and drive the enemy out of the town!' In this way, the warriors, who were lying on the ground, got up again, rushed forward after their division commander, and drove the enemy back step by step, until at last they succeeded in capturing the town of Maklaki. ”

When Rokossovsky heard this, a common saying suddenly came to his mind: One soldier will be a nest, and it seems that it is not that the soldiers are not good, but that the commanders are too poor. A flock of sheep led by a lion can defeat a flock of lions led by a sheep, and since the change of division commander, the combat effectiveness of this unit has suddenly been significantly improved, and it seems that if such a unit is encountered in the future, it can be considered to replace a commander with stronger ability.

After a moment of silence, Rokossovsky then asked: "Is there such a thing as a change of military commanders in other troops?" ”

"Yes," Kazakov said, nodding, "the 324th Infantry Division has also changed its division commander, and the superiors said that the former division commander, General Kiryukhin, had another appointment, so General Kravchenko was transferred to replace him. This division commander is also an excellent commander with rich combat experience, and he was once awarded the title of 'Hero of the Soviet Union'. ”

Hearing this, the muscles on Rokossovsky's face couldn't help twitching violently twice, and he secretly muttered in his heart: "Hero of the Soviet Union", this is the highest honor, don't look at me as the commander of the army group, but I have never received such an honor until now.

"Comrade Artillery Commander, what about your situation there?" Rokossovsky did not continue to dwell on this issue, but turned his head and asked Kazakov: "Did the superiors give you a new addition?" ”

"Give a cannon regiment, plus two rocket artillery battalions." Although the superiors replenished the artillery units of the 16th Army, there was no expression of joy on the face of Kazakov, the commander of the artillery.

"What's the matter, my artillery commander?" Seeing his expression, Rokossovsky couldn't help but ask curiously: "You have already received a supplement from your superiors, why are you still so unhappy?" ”

"The artillery is there," said Kazakov with a sigh, "but the shells we need, the replenishment is very small and slow." I even fear that if this continues, when our artillery is needed to fight, my troops simply will not have enough shells to provide the necessary artillery support for the infantry. ”

"Kazakov," Rokossovsky said, calling the other man's name, "as far as I know, many manufacturers of munitions have already moved to the East, and it may take some time for them to re-enter production, which will inevitably lead to a serious shortage of weapons and ammunition on the front line." Therefore, we can't simply wait for supplies from the rear, but still have to rely on our own strength to solve the problem. ”