In the evening, Trubnikov, escorted by a platoon of guards sent by Zhukov, came to Rokossovsky's current headquarters, and completed the handover with Zakharov in an extremely friendly atmosphere. Later, the two accompanied Rokossovsky to the new headquarters, where they continued to command the troops.

Rokossovsky saw that what he was worried about did not happen, and his heart suddenly became much more relieved. Beginning the next day, he took Trubnnikov to inspect several subordinate army groups, so that he could familiarize himself with the troops and the defense area as soon as possible.

Three days later, in the early morning, Rokossovsky took a transport plane from the field airfield of the Front to Moscow. The comfort of the transport plane naturally cannot be compared with Douglas's passenger plane, he has already suffered a back injury, and he has been sitting on the plane for several hours in a row, and by the time he gets off the plane, he has been in pain and can't straighten his back.

One of the colonels who came from the Kremlin to pick him up saw Rokossovsky being helped off the plane, and hurriedly ran over and nervously asked: "Comrade Marshal, what's wrong with you?" ”

Rokossovsky smiled bitterly and said: "It may be that the old wound on the back has been committed again." He glanced at the colonel in front of him and asked, "Comrade colonel, did you take me to the Kremlin?" ”

"Yes, Comrade Marshal!" Seeing Rokossovsky's pale face, the colonel hurriedly asked tentatively: "Do you need me to take you to the hospital first?" ”

"No need to go to the hospital." Rokossovsky thought that Stalin must be waiting in the office at the moment, where would he dare to go to the hospital to waste time, so he shook his head and said: "Let's rush to the Kremlin as soon as possible." ”

After the colonel helped Rokossovsky into the car, he asked a little uneasy: "Can your body support it?" ”

"No problem." Rokossovsky, holding back the pain in his back, replied: "Let's go now, don't keep Comrade Stalin waiting." ”

Half an hour later, Rokossovsky, supported by the colonel, arrived in Stalin's office. Boskoshlebeshev, who was sitting in the outer room, was taken aback when he saw that Rokossovsky was actually helped in, and he hurriedly walked out from behind his desk and asked with concern: "Comrade Marshal, what's wrong with you?" ”

Rokossovsky said to Poskoresshev with a wry smile: "The condition of the transport aircraft is too poor, the flight time is too long, it is possible that an old injury has recurred." ”

"Comrade Marshal, since you are not feeling well, why don't you go to the hospital for treatment." Boskrebeshev said in a reproachful tone: "The injury has recurred, but you can't be careless, if something happens, the consequences will be serious." Saying this, he quickly glanced at the closed door and asked in a low voice: "Shall I go in and speak to Comrade Stalin?" ”

"Thank you, Comrade Boskorebeshev." Rokossovsky waved his hand at Boskoryshev and said: "I think it's not too late to go back after the meeting." ”

Rokossovsky pushed open the door and walked into Stalin's office, where he found Stalin sitting at the front of a long conference table, while on the left sat three generals without military caps. Hearing someone push open the door, Stalin turned his head, saw clearly that it was Rokossovsky, got up with a smile and said: "We are waiting for you, Comrade Rokossovsky, welcome to Moscow!" ”

After Stalin shook hands with Rokossovsky, he pointed to the three generals and said: "Comrade Rokossovsky, let me introduce you to these generals. Fedyuninsky of the 2nd Shock Army, Grischen of the 49th Army, General Volsky of the 5th Guards Tank Army. From now on, their troops will be assigned to the command of your Second Belorussian Front. ”

After Rokossovsky stepped forward and shook hands with the three generals one by one, he turned to Stalin and said: "Comrade Stalin, I have known General Volsky back in 1930, when he commanded a cavalry regiment in the 7th Cavalry Division in Samara; Later we were transferred together to the Transbaikal army cluster, where he served as the commander of a tank brigade. Fedyuninsky is also an old acquaintance and friend, and when he was in the Kiev Special Military District, his troops were stationed very close to Zhytomyr, where I was the commander of the garrison. Only General Glishin, I met for the first time. ”

After Stalin beckoned everyone to sit down, he said to Rokossovsky: "I have summoned you here today to personally explain to you the direction of the attack of the Second Front. You should attack from the existing occupation area to the northwest. …… The East Prussian grouping of the German army, you don't have to worry, I will give the task of crushing this group, the whole of which will be completed by the Third Belorussian Front. Remember, the closest coordinated actions must be maintained between you and Zhukov's 1st Belorussian Front. ”

Speaking of this, Stalin pushed a map on the table in front of Rokossovsky, drew an arrow in red pencil pointing to the enemy's flank, and explained to Rokossovsky: "Comrade Rokossovsky, since the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front, if they are slow to move in the offensive, can attack the flank of the German army and help Zhukov. ”

Rokossovsky stared at the map for a while and asked rhetorically: "Comrade Stalin, if we are going to turn the direction of the offensive to the northwest, then the front of the offensive will become unusually narrow, which is not conducive to the deployment of troops. ”

"Comrade Rokossovsky, you can rest assured of this." Stalin, hearing Rokossovsky's concerns, gave him a further explanation: "The demarcation line of your Second Front will move southward until the Narev River joins the Vistula, and at the same time the troops occupying this section will be transferred to your Front. Among them were the 65th, 48th and 70th armies. ”

Hearing Stalin's words, Rokossovsky began to silently calculate in his heart that the three armies of the original First Front, plus the two combined armies of all arms and one tank army that had just been allocated to me, would add six armies to the Second Front, and the strength would have tripled compared with the original.

He was rejoicing in his heart, when he suddenly heard Stalin say again: "In addition, from the formation of your Front, the 33rd Army of General Tsvetaev will be placed under the command of the Third Front." ”

Anyone can see whether it is a loss or a gain if it is given to six group armies and one group army is withdrawn. Therefore, Rokossovsky hurriedly nodded in agreement.

Stalin then talked about the current domestic and international situation, believing that the German army, which was fighting on two fronts, was almost unable to support it. If the Soviets could continue to maintain a strong offensive, then at most a year, fascist Germany would be completely finished. Hearing Stalin's analysis, Rokossovsky looked at the other party with some surprise, and said in his heart that his judgment was really accurate, and from now on, the Germans would be finished in another half a year.

After Stalin finished speaking, he refilled his pipe with tobacco and asked Rokossovsky with a smile: "Comrade Rokossovsky, do you have any disagreement about my deployment?" ”

Hearing Stalin's question, Rokossovsky hurriedly stood up, but before he could speak, he felt a blackness in front of his eyes, felt a wave of dizziness, and after a while, he fell directly on the conference table.