In order to ensure the success of the offensive launched north of Stalingrad, Stalin personally ordered the transfer of Rokossovsky's capable generals to the Don Front. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 After Malinin became chief of staff, the commander of the artillery Kazakov, the chief of the armored corps Orel, and the chief of the communications corps Maksimenko were also transferred from the idle and boring Bryansk Front to the Don Front soon after.

Rokossovsky was also very happy to see that his old subordinates had gathered, and he stepped forward to give everyone a hug and slapped each other vigorously to express his excitement.

After everyone had taken their seats at the table in the conference room, Kazakov asked: "Comrade commander, tell us about the situation here." ”

"Our task is to assist General Yeremenko's Stalingrad Front in holding the city." Rokossovsky stood up and said to his new men: "The situation in the city is very bad at the moment, General Chuikov's 62nd Army is divided into north and south by the enemy forces that have advanced to the Volga, and is engaged in a tough defensive battle in the city of Stalingrad; General Shumilov's 64th Army, General Tolbukhin's 57th Army held the southern side of the city; General Trufanov's 51st Army, they were on an auxiliary defense on a wide front south of Lake Balmanchak. ……”

After Rokossovsky gave a briefing on the situation of the enemy and the enemy in its entirety, Malinin stood up and briefed everyone on the current situation of the Don Front: "Comrades commanders, please look at the map, the troops of the Front are at the bend of the Don River, holding two important landing sites on the south bank, which is of great significance to us. The enemy has launched an active offensive here more than once in order to squeeze our troops away from the landing ground, so the fighting in this section is fierce.

The defensive positions of the 24th Army and the 66th Army between the two rivers were also the focus of the German offensive because they directly threatened the corridor to the Volga opened by the Germans, and the daily fighting also entered a state of white-hot state. ”

After Malinin finished explaining the situation in the Front, Kazakov asked Rokossovsky tentatively: "Comrade commander, since the situation in the Stalingrad direction is so bad, what measures should we take to help them?" ”

"I think so," Rokossovsky said, standing up to the crowd, "as soon as the situation in Stalingrad deteriorates, our troops will immediately switch from the defensive to the offensive in order to relieve the pressure on the 62nd and 64th armies defending in the city." We are to draw the bulk of the enemy's forces over by active action, forcing the enemy to leave the main army group between the two rivers, so that the enemy cannot devote more forces to the city. ”

After figuring out Rokossovsky's defensive intentions, Orel, the chief of the armored forces, stood up and asked: "Comrade commander, I would like to ask, what is our next step?" ”

"Tomorrow, our troops will attack the 60th and 60th motorized divisions of the German tank 14th army in the area of Reynoch and Akatovka." Rokossovsky was still having a headache and couldn't find a suitable person to be responsible for the coordination of artillery during the offensive, but at this moment, Kazakov came, and his heart also felt a lot more steady, he pointed at Malinin with his hand: "Kazakov, Orel, in tomorrow's offensive, you need the cooperation of artillery and tank units, you will wait with the chief of staff to draw up a plan on how to achieve infantry and artillery coordination and infantry and tank coordination on the battlefield." ”

While Malinin and Kazakov were studying how to use the infantry and tank coordination proposed by Rokossovsky in battle, Military Commissar Zhertov walked in from outside, followed by an officer wearing a large-brimmed hat. He smiled at Rokossovsky and said: "Comrade commander, I met a combat correspondent outside, he wanted to interview you, so I brought him here. ”

Rokossovsky glanced at the officer standing behind Zheltov and thought with some displeasure: "There is a war coming soon, and I am not in the mood to be interviewed by combat journalists." ”

Zheltov, who was good at observing words and feelings, flashed a displeased expression on Rokossovsky's face, and hurriedly continued: "Comrade commander, I forgot to tell you, he is not an ordinary war correspondent. He served as editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Literary Newspaper", on the editorial board of the magazine "New World", on the editorial board of the newspaper "Literary Russia", and as deputy general secretary and secretary of the Secretariat of the USSR Writers' Association. ”

Hearing that the other party's origin was not small, Rokossovsky hurriedly put away his contempt, and after a quick glance at the rank on the other party's collar badge, he said with a smile: "Comrade Major, let me introduce myself, I am Rokossovsky, commander of the Don Front, and you are welcome to come to us for an interview!" ”

"Hello, Comrade Commander!" The war correspondent hurriedly stretched out his hands and shook Rokossovsky's hand, shook it vigorously, and said: "It's nice to meet you, I'm a combat correspondent Simonov, and I hope you will allow me to interview you and your men." ”

"Hello, Comrade Simonov." Rokossovsky smiled and said to Simonov: "You are welcome to our troops to interview ......" Without speaking, he suddenly shook his whole body, feeling that the name he had just heard was particularly familiar, and hurriedly asked carefully, "What did you just say, what is your name?" ”

When Simonov heard Rokossovsky address him, he suddenly changed from a close "you" to a polite and distant "you", and he couldn't help but be surprised, he didn't know what he had done wrong, so that the other party's address to himself had changed in this way. He did not dwell on it, but replied truthfully: "My name is Simonov." ”

"Comrade Commander," Rzeltov said, not noticing that Rokossovsky's face had turned pale, and triumphantly introduced to him, "he is the author of the lyric poem "Wait for Me...... and his poems are full of patriotic passion. ”

After confirming that the other party was Serova's fiancé Simonov, Rokossovsky's heartbeat couldn't help but accelerate, he quickly let go of the other party's hand, and pointed to the vacant seat next to him with some helplessness and said: "Please take a seat, Comrade Simonov." ”

The two rivals in love, who had never met before, sat down face to face at the table. Rokossovsky was weak-hearted and did not dare to speak, and in any case, he had a super-friendly relationship with the other party's fiancée, which was untenable from a moral point of view. And Simonov, who has been away all the year round, did not know anything about Serova's red apricot coming out of the wall, so he was very enthusiastic about Rokossovsky: "Comrade General, can you talk to me?" ”

"Talk?" When Rokossovsky heard Simonov say this, he couldn't help but ask with some humility: "What do we have to talk about?" ”

Simonov turned his head to look at Malinin next to him, and saw that several people were pointing to the map and whispering, as if they were making some battle plan. He mistakenly thought that the reason why Rokossovsky behaved a little cold to himself was because he was afraid that by giving his interview, he would reveal military secrets.

Thinking of this, he had to switch to an alternate topic for the interview, and he said to Rokossovsky: "Comrade commander, before I left Moscow, I was received by Comrade Stalin. When I asked the question of why General Kozlov was removed from the post of commander of the Crimean Front, he was about to receive an important phone call. He only said one word before letting me go. ”

Since Simonov mentioned Stalin, as soon as he finished speaking, Rokossovsky immediately asked with concern: "What did Comrade Stalin say?" ”

"Wait for the Don Front to go to General Rokossovsky, and he will tell you why." Simonov looked at Rokossovsky and said: "Based on this sentence of Comrade Stalin, I guessed that you probably know the truth, so I would like to know from you. ”

"Oh, that's it." Rokossovsky heard Simonov say this, and figured out that what he was going to say was not about Serova, and his mood suddenly calmed down. Thinking that since Stalin asked Simonov to come to him to understand the reasons for Kozlov's dismissal, it must have been nothing remarkable to tell what he saw at that time.

So he told Simonov in detail about the dismissal of Kozlov's troops from their posts at Kerch and the conversation he had heard between Stalin and Kozlov.

Simonov asked Rokossovsky for some details while taking notes, and seeing that he asked so carefully, Rokossovsky was worried that he would publish everything he had just said in the newspaper, so he hurriedly reminded him: "Comrade Simonov, you can know what I just said, and you must not see it in the newspapers!" ”

"Don't worry, Comrade Commander." Simonov smiled and said: "I know all this just to gather the necessary material for the novel I am going to write." ”

Rokossovsky suddenly remembered that one of Simonov's works was indeed about the heroic deeds of the Soviet Red Army in the defense of Stalingrad, and the title of the book was "Days and Nights".

Simonov's words aroused great interest in Zheltov, who curiously asked: "Comrade Simonov, are you planning to write a novel about how the commanders and fighters of our army defended Stalingrad?" After receiving an affirmative answer, he continued to ask, "I wonder when we will have the honor to read your masterpiece?" ”

"Maybe it's going to take a while." Simonov said in an uncertain tone: "I will also enter Stalingrad, interview the commanders and fighters who are fighting there, and collect more material before writing." ”

"It's not easy to get into Stalingrad!" Zheltov glanced at Rokossovsky, who was sitting silently next to him, and said: "The roads leading to the city from us have been blocked by the Germans. You can only cross to the east bank of the Volga first, go south along the river, and take a boat into the city there. And the road is not very safe, from time to time it will be shelled and bombed by the Germans, you should think carefully! ”

Simonov nodded gratefully at Zheltov's concern, and then said: "Don't worry, Comrade Military Commissar, as a combat journalist, where danger will appear, how can you easily retreat for fear of German bombing and shelling?" ”

Although he and Simonov have known each other for a short time, and the relationship between the two is so awkward, Rokossovsky is still moved by his fearless spirit. He stood up and said to Simonov: "Comrade Simonov, please stay in our unit for two more days, see and walk more, and talk to our commanders and fighters." We will soon launch an offensive against the enemy, and with your help, our high-spirited commanders and fighters will surely be able to crush the German defenses. ”

"You're going to attack the enemy tomorrow?" When Simonov heard the news, he was particularly excited, and he said to Rokossovsky with a sincere attitude: "Comrade commander, are you planning to defeat the enemy attacking Stalingrad and join the defenders of the city?" If that's the case, please let me witness this great moment. ”

"Comrade Simonov, you are mistaken." Rokossovsky pointed to the map spread out on the table and said to Simonov: "You see that the enemy has built a corridor leading directly to the Volga River, and our attack is only to cut off this corridor that the enemy has built. As for joining forces with the defenders of the city, I'm sorry, Comrade Simonov, but I can only tell you with great regret that with the current strength of our army, we can't do it for the time being. ”

"That's a shame." Simonov listened to Rokossovsky's words, his face was full of regret, and he turned his head to look at Zheltov: "Comrade Military Commissar, can you accompany me to the troops below now?" I would like to talk to the commanders and fighters at the grassroots level to find out what they really think about this campaign. ”

After sending Simonov away, Malinin leaned over and asked Rokossovsky in a low voice: "Comrade commander, isn't this Simonov the fiancé of that?" ”

"Yes, it's him." Rokossovsky replied a little embarrassed: "It's good that he didn't know about it, otherwise I wouldn't have known how to face him just now." ”

After saying this, Rokossovsky immediately turned to the topic of tomorrow's battle: "How about it, have you worked out the plans for infantry and artillery coordination and infantry and tank coordination?" ”

"Don't worry, Comrade Commander." "Before tomorrow's attack, we will cover the German positions with dense artillery fire, and when the artillery fire extends, we will immediately charge with infantry and tanks," Malinen said confidently. We are sure that in tomorrow's battle, we will break through the German defensive positions. ”