The tank division marched along the road towards Shepetovka, and Rokossovsky sat in his armored car and looked through the lookout hole at the deserted fields and groves that swept by, and could not help but have a lot of thoughts. He originally thought that he, a man from later generations, would achieve a series of dazzling achievements and remarkable achievements in the early days of the Great Patriotic War after integrating the consciousness of the real Rokossovsky. At this moment, he realized that he was taking it for granted.

The Soviets were first caught off guard by the Germans' undeclared war, and then the General Staff did not order the troops to avoid the German attack and turn to the flanks to strike at the weak flanks of the German army, and to use cities, forests, rivers and swamps to deploy deep defensive zones to resist step by step, but ordered the troops to attack decisively and drive the German army from the border. In this way, the Red Army, which was poorly prepared and hastily responded to the battle before the war, faced the well-equipped and well-trained German army, and it is conceivable what kind of outcome it would have.

What is even more troublesome is that the Soviet army's strategic and tactical guiding ideology is quite outdated and backward, and for them, defense in depth is synonymous with panic and defeatism. Although the unit under his command has won many battles, it has also suffered considerable losses, and if it is not replenished, it will not be long before he becomes the commander of the light pole.

When he thought of this, he suddenly realized that so far it was the General Staff that issued orders, and Stalin, as the supreme commander-in-chief, had disappeared from the public eye, and he had not made any public speeches to the military and civilians of the whole country. Could it be that the rumors I saw in the posts on the Internet before were true?

The post said that after the outbreak of the Soviet-German war, Stalin, who had unshirkable leadership responsibility, fell into deep self-blame and stayed in his villa every day to drink to relieve his sorrows. In this emergency situation, Molotov, Voroshilov, Beria and other high-ranking people studied and felt that only Stalin could lead the Soviet military and civilians to defeat fascist Germany. So several people came to the dacha together and asked Stalin to come back out of the mountain. After returning to the Kremlin after a long absence, Stalin released an inspiring radio address on July 3, calling on the Soviet military and people to unite and resolutely defeat the fascist invaders.

After more than two hours of continuous marching, the tank division finally reached the small town southwest of Shepetovka - Izyaslav. As soon as the tank column stopped, an officer, led by Novikov, came outside Rokossovsky's armored car.

The officer, who had already figured out the number of the tank division and the identity of Rokossovsky, raised his hand and saluted, and said politely: "Hello, Comrade Commander! We are from the 109th Infantry Division of the Fifth Mechanized Army, and the division headquarters is in the town, can you go with me to meet the division commander? After speaking, after glancing at the long tank column parked on the side of the road, he added, "We will assist the comrades of the tank division to camouflage these tanks first so that they will not be discovered by German reconnaissance aircraft." ”

"All right, Comrade Captain." Rokossovsky smiled at the officer, and then said: "Please lead the way." ”

Rokossovsky and Novikov, led by the officers, walked along the road into the town, walked more than two hundred meters forward, and came to the door of a bungalow with sentries standing guard. The officer stopped and said to Rokossovsky: "Comrade commander, here it is, please wait a moment." With that, he pushed open the door and walked in.

In less than a minute, the officer walked out behind a burly colonel. The colonel, seeing Rokossovsky standing outside the door, hurriedly raised his hand to salute him and reported: "Hello, Comrade General! The commander of the 109th Infantry Division of the 5th Mechanized Army, Colonel Krasnoretsky, reports to you, I am waiting for your orders, please instruct! ”

Rokossovsky raised his hand and returned the salute, and then said politely: "Hello, Comrade Colonel, this is not the place to talk, let's go to the house and talk." ”

When he entered the room, Rokossovsky found that the furnishings inside were exceptionally simple, with a desk stacked with papers and a chair behind the desk, which was supposed to be the colonel's office. On the left and right sides of the wall, there is a bench that can seat three people.

Rokossovsky walked to the bench on the left and sat down, looked up and asked Krasnoretsky: "Comrade Colonel, how is your situation here?" ”

"It's not good, Comrade General." Krasnoretsky bypassed the table, sat back in his place, and said to Rokossovsky: "According to the order, our division should be on the train to Smolensk at this moment, but because Shepetovka's forces were empty, we were temporarily left behind, and a tank regiment was equipped to hold us back from the west. ”

As soon as he heard that there were still tank regiments here, Novikov couldn't help but interject and ask: "How many tanks are there in your tank regiment?" ”

"We don't have many tanks," Krasnoretsky thought about with a frown, and said, "a regiment is about a hundred, but there are more than three hundred armored vehicles and trucks." ”

Hearing Krasnoretsky's disapproving tone about the tank regiments that cooperated with the operation, Rokossovsky was nothing, after all, he did not have an accurate idea of how many combat vehicles a tank regiment should have; However, Novikov, who was familiar with the situation, felt a mouth full of bitterness, and he secretly muttered in his heart: The mechanized army that is being formed cannot be compared with other people's regular mechanized army, and our tank division is not as many as other people's regiment.

Krasnoretsky continued: "Comrade General, since you are here now, I can hand over the defense of this place to you after consulting the commander. ”

"Commander?" When Rokossovsky heard Krasnoretsky mention the commander, his heart couldn't help but move, and then he asked tentatively: "Is it Lieutenant General Lukin?" ”

"That's right, Comrade General." Krasnoretsky, who had just picked up the phone and was about to dial the number, heard Rokossovsky ask, and couldn't help but ask curiously: "Do you know our commander?" ”

Rokossovsky hurriedly shook his head with a smile and said: "I've heard of it, but I've never seen it." ”

Krasnoretsky let out an "oh" and then asked the operator to connect Lukin's office for himself. When he heard Lukin's voice coming from the earpiece, he quickly got up from his seat and said respectfully: "Hello, Comrade Commander. I called you because the commander of the 9th Mechanized Army, General Rokossovsky, rushed to Izyaslav with a tank division. Please, can I hand over the defense to them? ”

After listening to the report, Lukin did not answer his question immediately, but directly ordered: "Colonel, give the phone to General Rokossovsky, I have something to say to him." ”

Krasnoretsky agreed, handed the microphone to Rokossovsky in both hands, and at the same time said respectfully: "Comrade General, our commander wants to talk to you." ”

Rokossovsky took the microphone, put it to his ear, and said politely into the microphone: "Hello, Comrade Commander of the Army!" ”

"Hello, General Rokossovsky." Lukin said in the same polite tone: "I want to ask you, how many troops do you have in your hands now?" ”

"Comrade Commander of the Army." Rokossovsky smiled bitterly and replied: "Although there is a tank division, there are less than sixty tanks in it, a motorized battalion plus some infantry, and the total strength is about three thousand. ”

"Only more than 3,000 people?" Hearing this data, Lukin was stunned for a moment, and then said with a wry smile: "There are too few people at this point, and they will definitely not be able to stop the Germans who are rushing over." ”

Rokossovsky glanced at Krasnoretsky, who was standing behind his desk, and a bold thought suddenly popped into his head, so he boldly said to Lukin: "Comrade commander, if you can give me command of Colonel Krasnoretsky's troops, then I will be able to block the German attack." ”

Lukin did not think long about Rokossovsky's request, and readily agreed: "Well, Comrade General, in order to ensure that Shepetovka is not occupied by the Germans, I cannot refuse your request. From now on, the 109th Infantry Division and the 116th Tank Regiment will be under your command. ”