Coming out of the office, Fedyuninsky politely asked the officer on duty sitting at the door: "Comrade Captain, please help me find the two officers who came with me, I have a task to explain to them." ”

The officer on duty smiled slightly and replied, "Comrade General, your two subordinates are resting in the next room, please wait a while, and I will help you call them." So he got up and walked to a nearby door, pushed it open, and entered.

When he reappeared at the door, he was followed by two high-ranking officers, one of whom was a colonel and the other a major general. Fedyuninsky pointed to the two people who came out and said: "This general, you saw it during the last exercise, is the commander of the 45th Infantry Division, Scherstyuk, and the young colonel next to him is the commander of the 62nd Infantry Division, Tymoshenko. ”

After shaking hands with the two division commanders, Rokossovsky said to Fedyuninsky: "Let's go, Ivan Ivanovich, let's go downstairs to the headquarters." ”

Walking into the headquarters on the first floor, I saw several subordinates who were reading maps around the table, which made Rokossovsky, who had just come down from the battlefield of life and death, feel very cordial. Even Kamenev, the political deputy commander who usually disagrees with him, doesn't seem so annoying. He walked towards the crowd with an even and heavy step, and at the same time greeted with a loud voice: "Hello, comrades commanders. ”

Hearing that it was Rokossovsky's voice, the commanders hurriedly took their attention away from the map in front of them, stood up straight, and saluted Rokossovsky and his party who were walking by.

Rokossovsky walked to the table and stopped, and without bothering to introduce Fedyuninsky's subordinates to everyone, he asked straight to the point: "What are you discussing?" ”

"That's right, Comrade Commander." Chief of Staff Maslov respectfully replied: "We are discussing how to attack Vladimir Volynsky's enemy." ”

"Did the discussion come to an end?" Rokossovsky asked briefly.

Maslov shrugged his shoulders and said helplessly: "Comrade Army Commander, if we want to launch an offensive, it is far from enough to rely on the limited two motorized battalions in the tank division, and we must have the cooperation of the infantry. However, now General Novikov's 131st Division is responsible for encircling the northern part of Lutsk, and it is unable to draw troops to cooperate with our attack. ”

"Comrade Chief of Staff, you don't have to worry about the infantry." Rokossovsky gestured to the position where Fedyuninsky and the three of them were, and continued: "The command of the army group has just told me that this attack will be carried out jointly by our army and General Fedyuninsky's 15th Infantry Corps. ”

"Great, that's great." Hearing that this attack could be coordinated by the 15th Army, Maslov was immediately overjoyed, he faced Fedyuninsky, and said excitedly: "In the last exercise, our two units cooperated together, and I believe that in the next offensive, we will maintain the tacit understanding formed in this kind of battle." ”

Fedyuninsky nodded and asked: "Where is the operational map?" ”

Maslov hurriedly turned to the side, pointed to the map spread out on the table, and said, "Comrade General, here." ”

Fedyuninsky walked over, leaned over and looked at the battle map on the table, carefully studying the map of the situation between friend and foe marked on it in red and blue pencil. After a while, he raised his head, straightened his waist, turned his head and asked Rokossovsky, who was standing next to him: "Tell me, how will this battle be fought?" ”

Maslov didn't notice that Fedyuninsky was asking Rokossovsky what he was asking, and thought he was asking himself, so he quickly interjected: "Comrade General, the artillery of the army group is all arranged on the shooting range on the border, and after the Germans launched an attack, these shooting ranges fell into their hands, so we cannot get any artillery support for this attack. Our battle plan was to open the way with tank divisions in front and the infantry to follow the charge. He then pointed to the starting point of the attack on the map and gave a brief introduction to the nearby terrain.

Fedyuninsky didn't seem to care at all about the fact that the troops were attacking without artillery cover, and after listening to Maslov's plan, he actually nodded, and then pointed to Scherstyuk and said: "Comrade Maslov, this time the 45th Infantry Division of General Scherstyuk will cooperate with you in the attack. Speaking of this, he looked at his subordinates and said with a smile, "He is an excellent commander with rich combat experience and knows how to think calmly, and I am very relieved that his troops will participate in this attack." ”

Rokossovsky was not as optimistic as the two of them, and after waiting for Fedyuninsky to finish speaking, he asked Maslov with a frown: "Comrade Chief of Staff, where is General Putukhin?" ”

Maslov hesitated for a moment, then said truthfully: "General Putukhin is still in the telecommunications room of the army group, and is trying to restore communication with the field airfields. ”

"After all this time, hasn't he been able to reconnect with any of the field airfields?" Hearing that Putukhin was still in contact with the field airfield, Rokossovsky's heart suddenly cooled in half. He had seen the power of German artillery fire today, and thousands of commanders and fighters who were alive and well were wiped out in an instant under the enemy's powerful artillery fire.

"Konstantin Konstantinovich, what's wrong with you?" Seeing Rokossovsky's worried look, Fedyuninsky asked strangely: "Even without the cooperation of the Air Force, with the cover of many tanks in the tank division, we can easily destroy the enemy." ”

"Comrade Fedyuninsky, the situation is much worse than you think." Rokossovsky interrupted him in a stern tone, saying to himself: "A few hours ago, the 124th Infantry Division, under the cover of armored trains, launched a fierce attack on the enemy. However, under the enemy's intensive artillery fire, not only did the division suffer thousands of casualties, but the armored train was also destroyed by enemy artillery fire, and the political deputy division commander who commanded the operation in the car was also blown to pieces. ”

Rokossovsky's words plunged the room into silence.

After a long time, it was Maslov who broke the silence, and he cautiously asked: "Comrade commander, what should we do then?" ”

"In order to ensure victory in the battle, our battle plan needs to be adjusted." Rokossovsky pointed to the map and said: "The frontal attack is still under the responsibility of Major General Novikov's tank division, and General Schertyuk's infantry division." At the same time, Colonel Katukov's 20th tank division ...... "As soon as he said this, he suddenly remembered that before the troops left, Katukov was still lying in the hospital in Zhytomyr, and it was the deputy division commander of the division who took over his command, and quickly changed his words, "Commanded by the deputy division commander, Colonel Chernyaev, from the enemy's right flank, to attack the enemy's artillery positions and cover the frontal attack of the main forces." Are the tasks clear? ”

"Clear, Comrade General." The three division commanders who were called by name replied almost simultaneously.

Rokossovsky raised his hand and looked at his watch, and then announced: "Now that the tasks are clear, the 20th and 35th tank divisions will immediately move to the designated area." And the infantry division of General Schertyuk immediately rushed to the railway station and rushed by train to the place of attack. Let's go! ”

After the three division commanders left, Fedyuninsky stared at the map for a long time, as if he was a little hesitant, and finally mustered up the courage to ask: "Rokossovsky, do you think our attack will be successful?" …… Or should we put it another way, after we have made great sacrifices, can we repel the enemy? ”

Rokossovsky frowned and did not say a word. To be honest, he did not know anything about what happened in the days after the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War, so he did not know how to answer this question at all.

After being cold for a while, he finally remembered that the fierce battle for the defense of Kiev seemed to have started in early July, which means that the Soviet army should still have a victory during this time, otherwise it would not have been possible to delay the German army for so long. Then he carefully said: "Comrade Fedyuninsky, I believe that our commanders and fighters, no matter how great their sacrifices, will be able to break through the enemy's defenses and drive the enemy away from the invaded area. ”

Just then, the door was pushed open from the outside, and a man hurried in. As soon as he saw Rokossovsky, he excitedly shouted: "Comrade General, good news, good news!" ”

When Rokossovsky heard this shout, he couldn't help frowning again, saying in his heart that the Soviet army was now beaten by the Germans, where would there be any good news? When he saw the person clearly, he couldn't help but be overjoyed, and asked excitedly: "General Putukhin, have you made contact with the field airfield?" ”