Coming out of Timoshenko's command, Rokossovsky, after questioning the sentry at the door, walked in the direction pointed by the other party towards the cadre.

After walking about 100 meters, Rokossovsky saw the large wooden house on the side of the road. Seeing that there was a sentry at the door, he guessed that this should be the cadre office that Timoshenko had mentioned.

The sentry standing guard at the door, seeing Rokossovsky walking towards him, hurriedly raised his hand to block his way, and asked in a respectful and vigilant tone: "Who are you, Comrade General?" ”

Rokossovsky stopped and politely said to the sentry: "Comrade soldier, please go and report, I am General Rokossovsky, I have just come from the headquarters of the Front, and I want to go to the cadres. ”

The sentry came and turned and walked through the open door. Rokossovsky, who was standing outside, faintly heard him shouting: "Comrade commander, a general has come from the headquarters of the Front. ”

After a few moments, a lieutenant in a steel helmet followed the sentry and stepped out of the door. He came to Rokossovsky, stretched out a hand, and said coldly: "Comrade General, please show your ID." ”

Rokossovsky hurriedly took out his ID and handed it over. Compared with the sentry at the entrance of the command, the lieutenant was much more serious and professional, and after carefully checking his documents, he repeatedly compared the photo with Rokossovsky himself. After confirming that it was correct, he handed back his ID and said politely: "Comrade General, please come with me, and I will take you to the cadres." ”

Upon entering the wooden door, Rokossovsky found himself standing in a long corridor with several rooms on the right side of the corridor. The lieutenant led him to an open room, turned to him, and said, "Comrade General, this is the cadre office, please come in!" ”

Rokossovsky nodded to the lieutenant and strode into the room. The room was small, with a desk facing the door. A lieutenant colonel, who was not wearing a military cap, was sitting behind a desk writing something, and when he heard someone enter the room, he raised his head. When he saw that it was Rokossovsky standing in front of him, he quickly stood up and asked with a smile: "Hello, is it General Rokossovsky?" I just received a call from Marshal Timoshenko, who said that you are coming to receive the members of your command. ”

"That's right, it's me, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel. Need to check my documents? Rokossovsky said, reaching into his jacket pocket, intending to pull out his papers and give them to the lieutenant colonel for examination.

Unexpectedly, the lieutenant colonel waved his hand and stopped him, and at the same time said politely: "No need, Comrade General." Now that you're here, I'm sure my men have checked your documents in detail. ”

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," seeing that the other party's attitude was so friendly, he deliberately asked in a casual tone, "I don't know where the members of the command you have equipped for us are?" ”

The lieutenant colonel came out from behind the desk and said to Rokossovsky in a courteous manner: "They are all next door, Comrade General, please come with me, I will take you to meet them." ”

The two came to the door of the next room, and the lieutenant colonel stretched out his hand to push the door open, and at the same time made a gesture of invitation and said, "Please come in, Comrade General, your subordinates are here." ”

There were originally more than a dozen people in the room, and when they saw the door being pushed open, all eyes were on the door. Seeing that it was the head of the cadre division and another general who did not know who appeared at the door, everyone hurriedly stood up from their seats. After the lieutenant colonel walked into the room with Rokossovsky, he faced the commander in the room and announced loudly: "Commanders, comrades, let me introduce you to your superior, General Rokossovsky, who is now the commander of the 'Rokossovsky Operational Group', and you are members of his command. ”

Then the lieutenant colonel began to introduce the members of the command to Rokossovsky: "Comrade General, there are 17 staff officers here, ten of whom graduated from the Frunze Military Academy. They all happily accepted the appointment when they learned that they were about to become members of your provisional command, and they were willing to use their talents in the troops in the most difficult times, using what they had learned to fight the fascist invaders fiercely. ”

After saying this, the lieutenant colonel pointed to a mustachioed lieutenant colonel and said to Rokossovsky: "Comrade general, this is Lieutenant Colonel Sergei Pavlovich Tarasov, who will be the chief of staff of your provisional command. ”

"Hello, Comrade Commander." Lieutenant Colonel Tarasov walked over and raised his hand to give Rokossovsky a respectful military salute.

After Rokossovsky returned the salute, Tarasov shook his hand, then turned to the cadre chief and said, "Comrade Director, can you let me and my subordinates take it for a while?" ”

The Chief of the Cadre Division nodded, turned and walked out of the room, and closed the door with his hand. When only Rokossovsky and his subordinates were left in the room, Rokossovsky said with a serious expression: "Comrades commanders, our headquarters will officially start its work from now on. ”

"Comrade Commander," Tarasov asked in a blunt tone, "I would like to ask, how many troops do we have in this combat group?" ”

Hearing this, Rokossovsky smiled bitterly and replied with a bitter face: "Comrade Chief of Staff, there are very few of them. Before coming here, I had a three-man team of commanders, a communications squad with a radio, a guard platoon, and two truck-drawn quadruple anti-aircraft guns. Now with you, we are the entire strength of our 'Rokossovsky Operational Group'. ”

Rokossovsky's answer surprised all the people in the room, none of them expected that an operational cluster that was about to take on an important combat mission would actually be an empty shelf with only commanders and no fighters. After being silent for a while, Tarasov asked tentatively: "Comrade commander, I don't know where we will replenish our troops?" ”

"Marshal Timoshenko has mentioned to me that we need to replenish two or three infantry divisions. In order to resist the German offensive in Yaltsevo, he authorized me to integrate all the troops I saw into our combat group. Rokossovsky said this, raising his voice to everyone: "Please remember, in order to replenish our troops as soon as possible. I command you to contain all the troops, whether they are infantry, artillerymen, communications troops, machine gunners, mortar men, engineers, or medical personnel, and to integrate them into our troops whenever you see anyone who can take up arms. Do you understand? ”

"Got it!" All the staff officers in the room replied neatly.

After the room was quiet again, Rokossovsky said to Tarasov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, in order to facilitate our command of the troops, I think it is necessary to set up an operations department to be responsible for gathering intelligence and directing operations. This combat office is under your direct jurisdiction, and you have the final say on who joins this combat department. ”

Seeing that Rokossovsky trusted him so much, Tarasov couldn't help but get a little excited, and he hurriedly said: "Comrade commander, don't worry, I will definitely be your assistant." With that, he began to perform his duties as chief of staff, and he called one of the staff officers to his front and whispered a few words. As soon as the staff officer received the order, he left the room without hesitation.

Rokossovsky looked at the back of the departing staff officer and asked Tarasov curiously: "Comrade Chief of Staff, what did you tell him?" Why did he leave in a hurry? ”

"That's right, Comrade Commander." "I asked him to count what kind of technical equipment we have, so I can know what kind of equipment we have," Tarasov explained. ”

Twenty minutes later, the staff officer returned to the house. As soon as he entered the house, he walked up to Tarasov's side and approached him to his ear to say something. But Tarasov stopped him and said loudly: "Okay, Comrade Staff, say out loud what you want, so that the commander can also know it." ”

Hearing Tarasov say this, the staff officer hurriedly straightened up, faced Rokossovsky and said: "Report to Comrade Commander, I just went out and counted, we now have eight jeeps, a radio station and two trucks towing four anti-aircraft guns, and four trucks transporting soldiers. Although the number of vehicles sounds like a lot, it is not enough to transport so many of us away, so I went to the logistics department to find an acquaintance and asked for another truck. ”

After the staff officer's report, Tarasov nodded with satisfaction and said appreciatively: "Good job, Comrade Lieutenant, you are worthy of being a high-achieving student from the Frunze Military Academy." Then he introduced Rokossovsky: "Commander, this is Lieutenant Starley, who has just come out of school. ”

Although Rokossovsky had just learned the name of the lieutenant, it did not affect the favorability he had for the lieutenant in his heart. He raised his hand and patted Starley on the shoulder, and complimented, "Well done, Comrade Lieutenant." Keep up the good work, and maybe one day you will be able to take up the position of company commander or even battalion commander in the grassroots troops. ”

After speaking, Rokossovsky raised his hand and looked at his watch, and then said to Tarasov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the time is not early, we should go." ”

Tarasov turned to the staff officers who were standing in full shape and said: "Everyone is ready to go!" ”

As soon as the staff officers finished speaking, they immediately shouted in unison: "Yes! ”

On the way to Yaltsevo, Tarasov, who was sitting next to Rokossovsky, turned his head and asked: "Comrade commander, as far as I know, the troops holding Smolensk at the moment are only two divisions of Lieutenant General Lukin, and in the face of the fierce offensive of the German army, do you think they can hold back?" ”

Tarasov's casual question embarrassed Rokossovsky. Although the other party is his chief of staff, because he has not known each other for a long time, he really can't say some things casually, so as not to cause unnecessary trouble to himself in the future. After much deliberation, he said vaguely: "It is said that Marshal Timoshenko was convinced that General Lukin would hold Smolensk. Although the 16th Army had only two infantry divisions left, this was the best of the best Zabaikal divisions. With their formidable fighting power, it was very difficult for the Germans to defeat them. ”

Tarasov did not hear the perfunctory element in Rokossovsky's tone, but said cheerfully: "If so, then it would be great." As long as General Lukin can hold the enemy back in Smolensk, then we will be able to strike hard at them from the flank of the enemy after we have completed the build-up of our forces. ”

After driving four or five kilometers, there were more and more people on the road. In addition to the fleeing civilians, there were also hordes of commanders and fighters, who walked along the road in despair, weakly heading east, apparently intending to return directly to Moscow. Seeing this situation, Rokossovsky felt very sad, knowing that these were the elite units of the Soviet army, but they were scattered in the German artillery bombardment and bombardment, and after losing contact with their superiors, they had no choice but to withdraw from their defensive positions.

He really wanted to let the driver stop and get out of the car himself to contain the rout, but after thinking about it, he still forgot it. After all, he is not alone now, and his superiors have just equipped themselves with such subordinates, and they are fully capable of containing the rout. Not long after, he saw in the rearview mirror that several jeeps following him had stopped, and those newly assigned staff officers had all got out of the cars and stood on the side of the road to contain the defeated soldiers.

The situation of the staff officers to contain the troops, Tarasov also saw it. When he saw Rokossovsky looking out of the window expressionlessly, he took the initiative to say: "Comrade commander, don't look at all these commanders and fighters on the road who look downcast, but if they are reorganized, it will be a force that no enemy can underestimate." ”

Rokossovsky nodded, and said with a little regret: "Chief of staff, you are right, these commanders and fighters have fought with the Germans and have relatively rich combat experience, as long as they reorganize new units, they can be incorporated into the unit as a combat backbone." With a little training, you can become an elite division. It's a pity that their numbers are too small. Don't look like the road is full of stragglers, but if you contain them, it's only four or five hundred, and we're still too far apart from the Germans. ”

Just when Rokossovsky was disappointed, Tarasov suddenly pointed to the front and said excitedly: "Comrade commander, look at it quickly, it seems that a unit has retreated from the front, judging from their ranks and numbers, it should be a formed army." If we can contain them, then we can build a force framework. ”

Rokossovsky looked in the direction of his finger and saw a troop coming towards him, although the marching column was a little messy, but at a glance he knew that it was a formed unit. So he hurriedly ordered to stop, and as soon as the car stopped, he pulled the door and jumped out of the car, waving at a car that followed him.

In the second car sat Lieutenant Starley, who, seeing Rokossovsky standing on the side of the road, waved and hurriedly ordered the driver to stop. Without waiting for the car to stop, he pulled the car door and jumped out directly, trotted in front of Rokossovsky, straightened up and asked: "Comrade General, what instructions do you have?" (To be continued.) )