The German offensive was like a raging wave, violently hitting the defensive positions of the 316th Division, making Rokossovsky, who was watching the battle from behind, look terrified. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info but thankfully, due to the stubborn defense of the commanders and fighters, the Germans did not achieve their offensive goals, and after hitting their heads in front of the defensive line, they retreated in disgrace.

Over the course of the next week, the Germans continued to launch frantic attacks on the 316th Division's defensive areas. In order to hold back the enemy's attack, not only General Panfilov's troops suffered heavy losses, but also the 53rd Cavalry Division, the 126th Infantry Division, the 27th Tank Brigade and many artillery units that went to reinforce them paid a great price. However, the Germans did not succeed, and although they advanced two or three kilometers, they also paid the price of two infantry divisions and one armored division being disabled.

On the last day of October, the smoke of gunfire on the battlefield had not yet cleared, and the embers in the crater were still burning. Rokossovsky, who was at the forward observation post, received a call from Malinin from the command headquarters. The chief of staff of the group army said in a bit of a panic on the phone: "Can you come back to the headquarters immediately?" ”

Hearing Malinin speak in this tone, Rokossovsky's heart swelled with a hint of foreboding, and he nervously asked: "Is something wrong?" ”

But Malinin did not directly answer Rokossovsky's question, but said in a more hurried tone: "Comrade commander, you will know when you come back and see." ”

Rokossovsky threw down the microphone, walked out of the observation post and trotted back to the command. As soon as he walked into the house, he saw Ma Lining talking to a policeman in a cotton police uniform, so he asked loudly: "Chief of staff, what happened?" ”

"Hello, Comrade Commander!" Hearing Rokossovsky's voice, Malinin stopped talking with the police, turned to face Rokossovsky, and before he could speak, the policeman had already stepped forward, raised his hand and saluted, and said loudly: "The commander of the people's police detachment, Captain Igor, reports to you, and I am waiting for your orders." ”

Rokossovsky saw Captain Igor, who had been separated for a while and had a full beard, with a surprised expression on his face, he stretched out his hand and shook the other party, and asked curiously: "Comrade Captain, do you have any important information to report when you come back this time?" ”

Originally, Rokossovsky just asked casually, but he didn't expect Igor to answer with certainty: "Yes, comrade commander, we rushed back in a hurry after intercepting an important piece of information." ”

"What's the important information?" When Rokossovsky heard Igor say this, he couldn't help but be stunned for a moment, and then asked Malinin with a sideways face: "Chief of Staff, is the important information that the captain said there is you?" ”

"The information is with me." Lobachev, who had not spoken since Rokossovsky entered the house, stood up and stuffed a document in his hand into Rokossovsky's hand, and said angrily: "Comrade commander, take a good look at it." ”

Rokossovsky took the document in Lobachev's hand, and after only a few glances, his face could not help but change greatly, only to see that it read: "According to the decision of the National Defense Committee, in view of the panicked behavior of Rokossovsky, the former commander of the 16th Army of the Western Front, and Lobachev, a member of the Military Council, they left their strategic posts without the permission of their superiors and shamefully abandoned the troops who trusted them, resulting in the group army being surrounded by the fascists, disintegrating in the battle, and suffering huge losses. According to the decision of the National Defense Committee, the above two people will be arrested and brought to a military court for trial! "At the end of the document, there are signatures of Stalin and Shaposhnikov.

Rokossovsky raised the document in his hand and asked Malinin angrily: "Chief of Staff, can you tell me how this document came from?" ”

Seeing the furious Rokossovsky, Malinin glanced at Igor, who was standing next to him, and then said: "Comrade commander, this information was brought by Captain Igor, and you can ask him about the detailed situation." ”

Igor saw the look that Malinin gave him, and when he saw Rokossovsky's eyes on him, he hurriedly explained: "Comrade commander, the situation is like this, when we were reconnoitring in Shakhovskaya in Volokolamsk yesterday, we found that there was a German army headquarters in the city, and I thought that I should be able to find the necessary information here, so I led people to lurk nearby. In the evening, I saw a German officer leaving the headquarters alone with a briefcase, and I tried to kidnap him. The document was found in his briefcase. ”

"Where is that German officer?" Rokossovsky asked anxiously.

"Dead." Igor replied, "On the way back, we were discovered by the enemy, who immediately sent men in pursuit of us. On the way to escape, the German officer was shot and killed, and we also lost two civilian officers. When I got to safety, I checked the documents in my bag, and by surprise I found the order, so I found a motorcycle and rushed back overnight. ”

After listening to Igor's account, Rokossovsky raised his hand and patted him on the shoulder, smiled gratefully at him, and then turned to Malinin and said: "Chief of staff, Comrade Captain must have been working hard overnight, you can take him to rest." ”

After Malinin left with Igor, Rokossovsky blocked the strange order in his hand on the table and asked Lobachev: "Comrade Military Commissar, what do you think of this order to arrest both of us?" ”

"I looked at the two signatures on the back of the document several times." Lobachev said with a dejected expression: "It doesn't look like a forgery, could it be that the Supreme Commander himself thinks that our recent performance has not been good, so he will give such an order?" ”

"Comrade Military Commissar, I think there is something wrong with this order." After Rokossovsky waited for Lobachev to finish speaking, he immediately expressed his opinion: "Marshal Shaposhnikov has already led the staff headquarters to Kuibyshev, how can he sign the order jointly with the Supreme Commander himself?" ”

"What do we do now?" Lobachev, who has always been steady, seems to be extremely dispossessed at the moment.

"I'll give General Zhukov a call," Rokossovsky thought for a moment, then decided to make a phone call with Zhukov to find out what was going on with the arrival of this order.

When Zhukov heard Rokossovsky's voice, he thought that he was going to report to him about the battle situation on the front line again, so he preemptively asked with a smile: "Comrade Rokossovsky, you called me at this time, is it the German offensive that has been crushed by you again?" ”

"Comrade General, the commanders and fighters of the 316th Infantry Division have shown themselves to be quite tenacious and have just crushed another German offensive not long ago." Rokossovsky, after his routine debriefing, changed the subject: "I called you because there is an important matter that needs to be reported to you immediately. ”

Hearing Rokossovsky speak to himself in such a serious tone, Zhukov knew that something must have happened, he restrained the smile on his face and asked cautiously: "Something is wrong." ”

"That's right, Comrade General." Rokossovsky hurriedly reported to Zhukov the contents of the intelligence brought back by Captain Igor, who was sent out to reconnoitre.

"What, the order to arrest you and Lobachev? That's impossible! After listening to what Rokossovsky said, Zhukov could not believe his ears, and he tentatively asked: "Could this be a German forgery?" ”

Hearing Zhukov's question, Rokossovsky turned his head to look at Lobachev, who was sitting next to him, who immediately shook his head, indicating that his judgment would never be wrong. So Rokossovsky said decisively: "Comrade General, there will be no mistake, Comrade Lobachev has repeatedly checked the signatures on the back, and it is indeed the autograph of the Supreme Commander himself and Marshal Shaposhnikov, not in disguise." ”

"But how could he have signed such an order jointly with Comrade Stalin, but the Chief of the General Staff has already gone to Kuibyshev?" Zhukov saw that Rokossovsky said so resolutely, and he also raised the same questions as Rokossovsky. "And your army group has behaved very well in the recent battles, how could Comrade Stalin suddenly give such an inexplicable order?" He held the phone and pondered for a moment, then said into the microphone, "Comrade Rokossovsky, I will immediately ask the Supreme Commander himself about this matter, you and Comrade Lobachev should not have any psychological burden, continue to command your troops with peace of mind, and be sure to block the advance of the Germans in the Volokolamsk area." ”

"Yes!" Hearing that Zhukov was willing to help him ask Stalin, Rokossovsky's heart felt a little more steady, and after he agreed, he put down the phone.

Seeing Rokossovsky put down the phone, Lobachev nervously asked: "Comrade commander, what did Senior General Zhukov say, is he willing to help us?" ”

Rokossovsky nodded and said, "Comrade General said to help us ask the Supreme Commander himself to find out what is going on. With that, he looked down at the order again, and pondered it carefully.

After carefully reading it twice, Rokossovsky frowned and asked Lobachev: "Comrade Military Commissar, do you think this order was issued by the Supreme Commander himself when we went to Vyazma to receive troops?" ”

"No, it won't." Hearing Rokossovsky say this, Lobachev said in an uncertain tone: "If this order was really issued at that time, how could it have been almost a month before it appeared?" And, what struck me most curiously, how could the order have fallen into the hands of the Germans? ”

"I think this situation is very easy to explain," Rokossovsky had a new idea after reading the order to arrest himself several times, and said to Lobachev at this moment: "It may be that the personnel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs sent by the higher authorities to arrest were all killed after being attacked by the Germans on the way, and then this arrest warrant fell into the hands of the Germans." As for why it took such a long time to appear, I guess the Germans didn't think it was an important document, so they kept it on the shelf. ”

At this moment, Malinin came in from outside, reported to Rokossovsky that Igor had been placed, and then asked: "Comrade commander, what do you think of this order?" ”

After listening to Rokossovsky's analysis, he nodded and agreed: "That's right, Comrade Commander, I very much agree with your judgment. It is not surprising that our command lost contact with its superiors for several days after arriving in Vyazma, so it is not surprising that the State Defense Committee issued such an order. And the personnel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs who carried this order, probably because they could not find our whereabouts, wandered around the front line blindly, and as a result, they fell into the encirclement of the German army, and in the end they were either captured or sacrificed, and this order fell into the hands of the Germans. ”

"That's right," as soon as Malinin's words were finished, Lobachev slapped the table and applauded: "I think the chief of staff has analyzed very reasonably, the personnel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs who carried the order must have fallen into the encirclement of the German army, and after several failed attempts to break out of the encirclement of the German army, they were either captured or sacrificed, and this order may have fallen into the hands of the Germans in the past two days." ”

After thinking about Malinin's analysis for a long time, Rokossovsky felt that it was still very reliable, and after wandering around the enemy's encirclement for a long time, the personnel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs were wiped out or captured by the Germans, and this important document in their hands was naturally captured. This would explain why this command would pop up at such a time.

Zhukov did not make Rokossovsky and them wait, and after about ten minutes, his phone call came to the command headquarters. Hearing Rokossovsky's voice, he spoke: "Comrade Rokossovsky, I just asked Comrade Stalin, and he said that in the first place, because you threw away your troops without asking for instructions, you issued such an arrest warrant in a fit of rage. When they learned the truth and tried to withdraw this order, they found that the group of the Ministry of Internal Affairs sent by Comrade Beria had completely lost contact. I suspect that they may have broken into the German encirclement, but after several efforts, they failed to break through, and then they were wiped out by the Germans, and the orders they carried fell into the hands of the Germans. He finally added, "Comrade Stalin has already said that this order is null and void, and you should not have any psychological burden, and command the troops with peace of mind." ”

Zhukov's words finally reassured Rokossovsky and Lobachev, and after ending the phone call with Zhukov, Rokossovsky instructed Malinin: "Chief of Staff, bring me the battle report of the rest of the defensive areas, and we must study carefully how to block the next crazy attack of the German army." (To be continued.) )