Upon hearing of the recapture of the Red Polyana, Rokossovsky immediately reported the good news to Zhukov and Stalin. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

When Zhukov heard the news, he first paused for a moment, and then said a little excitedly: "Great, Comrade Rokossovsky, this is really good, I congratulate you!" ”

And Stalin, after hearing this, although there was a burst of ecstasy in his heart, he tried his best to say in a calm tone: "Well done, Comrade Rokossovsky, your troops have shown tenacity, and our line of defense has been strengthened. In a few days, it will be the day of the great counteroffensive, and I will send you reinforcements as soon as possible. ”

In order to find out whether the Red Polyana could see the Kremlin, Rokossovsky, after reporting the results to the two heavyweights, handed over the command of the army group to Malinin, and then drove to the Red Polyana with Lobachev.

Mironov, who was cleaning the battlefield in Red Polyana, saw that Rokossovsky had suddenly come to the city and hurried over to greet them. While shaking hands with him, Rokossovsky asked with concern: "Comrade Mironov, are there many casualties among the troops?" ”

Mironov shook his head and said with a bitter face: "The casualties are not small, and several troops have been disabled in the attack. ”

"Don't worry, Colonel Mironov." Rokossovsky raised his hand and patted him on the shoulder, comforting him: "Your troops will be replenished in these two days." With that, he then asked, "Where is the church?" ”

"In the heart of the city." Mironov said respectfully: "Comrade Commander, Comrade Military Commissar, please come with me. ”

On the way to the church, Rokossovsky casually asked: "Comrade Colonel, do you have any seizures?" ”

"Two heavy guns were captured." Mironov replied: "According to the confessions of the German artillerymen, they were preparing to bombard Moscow with heavy artillery. ”

"Their plot will not succeed." When Lobachev heard this, he couldn't help but interject: "No matter how many of them come, we will destroy them all." ”

The group arrived on the bell tower of the church, where Rokossovsky stood a few hours earlier, where von Bock had stood, holding up his binoculars and looking into the distance. At this moment, the sky is clear and his vision is wide, and in his telescope, he can clearly see the north of Moscow. He carefully searched for the location of the Kremlin, but after searching for a long time, he did not see it.

"Comrade Commander, what are you looking at?" Mironov couldn't help but ask curiously when he saw Rokossovsky holding a telescope and looking at it.

"Comrade Colonel," Rokossovsky put down his binoculars, turned his head to Mironov, who was standing behind him, and said, "I want to see if I can see the Kremlin here." ”

Lobachev, who was relatively familiar with Moscow, after watching for a while, said: "Comrade commander, from here you can see the north side of the city of Moscow, but you can't see the Kremlin. ”

Hearing Lobachev say this, Rokossovsky was a little surprised and said: "But I have heard others say that standing on this bell tower, you can see the spire of the Kremlin." ”

Lobachev, after hearing what Rokossovsky had to say, immediately laughed, and then explained: "Comrade commander, the person who said this may have mistaken the church spire in another location as the spire of the Kremlin. You see, there's a church over there, and if you look closely, it's really easy to get it wrong. ”

Lobachev's remarks immediately made Rokossovsky understand that one of the issues that was debated endlessly in later generations turned out to be that people who looked at Moscow with binoculars regarded other churches as nothing more than the Kremlin's troubles.

After the inspection of the Red Polyana, Rokossovsky returned to the headquarters of the army group with Lobachev and continued to assign defensive tasks to the troops.

…………

It's time for a counteroffensive!

The first to attack was Konev's 30th Army. In the darkness of the night, they launched a strong attack on the flank of the German armored group, and the Germans were blinded by the sudden blow. After a night of fierce fighting, they were forced to retreat in the direction of Klin. After joining up with Klin's defenders, a new defense was established here.

In the evening of the same day, Rokossovsky, who was in the headquarters of the army group, received a call from Zhukov. Zhukov asked in a serious tone: "Comrade Rokossovsky, are you ready?" ”

"Yes, Comrade Zhukov." Rokossovsky, who had just been replenished by three infantry brigades, excitedly replied: "I have already assigned the newly arrived reinforcements to the 8th Guards Division, the 17th Infantry Brigade, which participated in the first round of the attack, and also reinforced the 44th Cavalry Division......"

Zhukov patiently listened to Rokossovsky's report, and then said: "Comrade Rokossovsky, before the attack, you will not receive artillery support, and at the same time, you will not be able to get air support from the Air Force until after dawn, are you sure of breaking through the German defensive positions?" ”

Rokossovsky hesitated for a moment in response to Zhukov's question, and then said decisively: "Don't worry, Comrade General, we have conducted several reconnaissance of the German defensive positions in front of us, and have figured out the enemy's disposition of troops and equipment, and we are fully capable of quickly breaking through the German defense line after the battle begins." ”

After ending the phone call with Zhukov, Rokossovsky called the commanders of the three armies participating in the first round of the offensive to the front and vaccinated the three of them: "Comrade commander, I regret to inform you once again that in the first round of attack tonight, you will not receive any artillery support, are you confident that you will break through the German defenses? ”

"Don't worry, Comrade Commander." As soon as Rokossovsky's words were finished, Major General Leviakin, commander of the 8th Guards Division, replied without hesitation: "Our commanders and fighters have been looking forward to this day for a long time, and everyone is holding back their strength, and at the first order, they will rush forward without hesitation and drive the enemy out of the fortifications they are now occupying." ”

The brigade commander of the 17th Infantry Brigade behaved very calmly, and after waiting for Levyakin to finish speaking, he looked at Rokossovsky and said: "Comrade commander, I feel that the temperature has dropped down very much today, and if we let our commanders and fighters enter the attack position too early, will it cause unnecessary non-combat attrition." ”

Rokossovsky thought about the concerns of the infantry brigade commander and felt that he had a point, the cold in Russia would really freeze people to death. So he nodded and said, "Comrade Colonel, then you let the troops enter the attack position an hour before the battle begins." ”

After saying to the infantry brigade commander, he turned his gaze to the commander of the 44th Cavalry Division and said: "Comrade division commander, once our infantry breaks through the German defense line, your cavalry will immediately carry out a surprise attack and expand the breakthrough, understand? ”

"Understood, Comrade Commander." The commander of the cavalry division also said confidently: "We, the cavalry commanders and fighters, will definitely not fail to live up to your trust. ”

Leviakin, who was staying with his commanders and fighters in Lyalovo, ordered the fighters to light the fire that had been piled up in front of the position, when the time was still one minute to three o'clock. After seeing more than a dozen sets of fires lit, he decisively commanded into the microphone: "Go!" ”

The commanders, who received the order, raised their pistols and led the fighters with high morale, strode towards the German defensive positions with their heads held high.

Rokossovsky, who was staying at the headquarters of the army group, saw that the hour hand was pointing to three o'clock, heard no movement outside, and his mood became irritable. He began to walk back and forth in the headquarters with his hands behind his back, anxiously awaiting the battle report from the front.

But after waiting for almost ten minutes, it was quiet outside, and no gunshots were heard, no grenade explosions were heard, and no battle reports were received from the front. Rokossovsky stopped and said angrily to Malinin: "How did Leviakin do it, after such a long time, why is there no movement at all?" ”

"Comrade Commander," said Malinin, although he could not hear the movement outside and was anxious, but he still pretended to be calm and said to Rokossovsky: "The starting point of our offensive is more than a kilometer away from the German defensive positions in Lyalovo, and it will definitely take a lot of time for the soldiers to march in the snow. ”

As soon as he finished speaking, the phone on the desk suddenly rang. The eyes of everyone in the command headquarters were all looking at the telephone that was ringing non-stop. Communications Director Maksimenko hurriedly rushed over, grabbed the microphone, put it to his ear, and said loudly: "Hey, I'm here at the headquarters of the group army, where are you?" ”

Soon, he handed the microphone to Rokossovsky, and at the same time said cautiously: "Comrade commander, your phone call is from General Levyakin. ”

Rokossovsky rushed over with a brisk stride, snatched the microphone from Maksimenko's hand, put it to his ear and asked loudly: "Hey, General Leviakin?" How did you do it, it's been almost twenty minutes since the attack, why haven't you attacked yet? Let me remind you that if you miss the fighter, you will lose your head. ”

Leviakin, who was on the other end of the phone, waited for Rokossovsky to finish speaking, and said unexpectedly: "Comrade commander, I have good news for you, the assault unit of our 8th Guards Division has successfully occupied the first line of defense of the German army in Lyalovo. ”

The brigade commander of the 17th Infantry Brigade behaved very calmly, and after waiting for Levyakin to finish speaking, he looked at Rokossovsky and said: "Comrade commander, I feel that the temperature has dropped down very much today, and if we let our commanders and fighters enter the attack position too early, will it cause unnecessary non-combat attrition." ”

Rokossovsky thought about the concerns of the infantry brigade commander and felt that he had a point, the cold in Russia would really freeze people to death. So he nodded and said, "Comrade Colonel, then you let the troops enter the attack position an hour before the battle begins." ”

After saying to the infantry brigade commander, he turned his gaze to the commander of the 44th Cavalry Division and said: "Comrade division commander, once our infantry breaks through the German defense line, your cavalry will immediately carry out a surprise attack and expand the breakthrough, understand? ”

"Understood, Comrade Commander." The commander of the cavalry division also said confidently: "We, the cavalry commanders and fighters, will definitely not fail to live up to your trust. ”

Leviakin, who was staying with his commanders and fighters in Lyalovo, ordered the fighters to light the fire that had been piled up in front of the position, when the time was still one minute to three o'clock. After seeing more than a dozen sets of fires lit, he decisively commanded into the microphone: "Go!" ”

The commanders, who received the order, raised their pistols and led the fighters with high morale, strode towards the German defensive positions with their heads held high.

Rokossovsky, who was staying at the headquarters of the army group, saw that the hour hand was pointing to three o'clock, heard no movement outside, and his mood became irritable. He began to walk back and forth in the headquarters with his hands behind his back, anxiously awaiting the battle report from the front.

But after waiting for almost ten minutes, it was quiet outside, and no gunshots were heard, no grenade explosions were heard, and no battle reports were received from the front. Rokossovsky stopped and said angrily to Malinin: "How did Leviakin do it, after such a long time, why is there no movement at all?" ”

"Comrade Commander," said Malinin, although he could not hear the movement outside and was anxious, but he still pretended to be calm and said to Rokossovsky: "The starting point of our offensive is more than a kilometer away from the German defensive positions in Lyalovo, and it will definitely take a lot of time for the soldiers to march in the snow. ”

As soon as he finished speaking, the phone on the desk suddenly rang. The eyes of everyone in the command headquarters were all looking at the telephone that was ringing non-stop. Communications Director Maksimenko hurriedly rushed over, grabbed the microphone, put it to his ear, and said loudly: "Hey, I'm here at the headquarters of the group army, where are you?" ”

Soon, he handed the microphone to Rokossovsky, and at the same time said cautiously: "Comrade commander, your phone call is from General Levyakin. ”

Rokossovsky rushed over with a brisk stride, snatched the microphone from Maksimenko's hand, put it to his ear and asked loudly: "Hey, General Leviakin?" How did you do it, it's been almost twenty minutes since the attack, why haven't you attacked yet? Let me remind you that if you miss the fighter, you will lose your head. ”

Leviakin, who was on the other end of the phone, waited for Rokossovsky to finish speaking, and said unexpectedly: "Comrade commander, I have good news for you, the assault unit of our 8th Guards Division has successfully occupied the first line of defense of the German army in Lyalovo. ”

"What? What do you say, repeat again. ”