Since it was the war, Timoshenko and Bulganin had a lot to do, and after completing the simple award ceremony, they had to rush back to the front headquarters. After the two of them www.biquge.info stepped forward to shake hands with Leda who was lying in the hospital bed, they turned around and walked out of the tent.

After Rokossovsky and the others left Timoshenko and Bulganin, they also took the initiative to shake hands with Lida and say a few words of concern. As he held the other's boneless little hand and looked at her snow-white skin peeking out of the open hospital gown, his heart beat suddenly.

Fortunately, Lobachev relieved her in time, he held Lida's hand and said amiably: "Comrade Leda, you can recuperate from your injuries with peace of mind, and return to the ......army when your injuries are healed."

Rokossovsky left the tent a little weakly and caught up with Timoshenko, who was walking ahead.

Timoshenko turned his face sideways to Rokossovsky and said: "Comrade Rokossovsky, we intercepted a telegram from the Germans last night with information about their losses at the railway station. ”

Hearing that the command of the Front had intercepted the telegram from the Germans, Rokossovsky immediately and cautiously asked: "Are the enemy's losses serious?" Although he knew in his heart how powerful the rocket artillery was, he was still worried that yesterday's air force report was inaccurate, so he was eager to get the latest information from Timoshenko.

"The results are not bad." Timoshenko said with some pride: "The enemy has more than 200 wagons and more than a dozen locomotives that have been blown up, a large amount of munitions and materials have been burned, and 3,000 people have been killed or wounded. Such a victory is no less than a frontal counteroffensive launched by us. ”

Speaking of rocket artillery, Rokossovsky could not help but complain to Timoshenko: "Comrade Marshal, the power of rocket artillery, we all know now. However, you ordered yesterday that if you want to use it, you must ask for your consent in advance. But I'm worried that there will be a situation where we need to use rocket artillery and you're not in command, in which case it's easy to delay the fighters. ”

"That's right, I gave such an order." Timoshenko heard what Rokossovsky said, so he asked bluntly: "Rocket artillery is the secret weapon of our army, and before mass-equipping our army, we must do a good job of secrecy, so that the Germans cannot know that we have this weapon." ”

"Do you think that's going to work?" Rokossovsky knew that it was a little unrealistic to get Timoshenko to cancel the order he gave yesterday, so he retreated: "Regarding the permission to use rocket artillery, you authorized me to use it in times of crisis. In this way, when we use rocket artillery, even if you are not in the command headquarters, there will be no delay in the fighter. ”

After listening to Rokossovsky's words, Timoshenko remained silent and walked forward mechanically. Bulganin, who was walking a few steps ahead, heard what Rokossovsky said to Timoshenko clearly, and couldn't help but slow down, turned his head to look at Timoshenko behind him, and said good things for Rokossovsky: "Comrade Marshal, I think this request of Comrade Rokossovsky is good, you should think about it. ”

After hearing this, Timoshenko looked up at Bulganin, frowned more and more, and said: "If I gave Comrade Rokossovsky this authorization, then when Lukin and Konev asked me for this authorization in the future, will I give them it?" You also know that this is the secret weapon that has just been equipped with the troops, and the more people who know, the more likely it is that it will be leaked, and we cannot afford to take that risk. ”

After he said this to Bulganin, he turned to Rokossovsky again: "I'm sorry, Comrade Rokossovsky, I can't give you this authorization. If you want to use rocket artillery again, you should apply to the Front Command in accordance with the regulations. But here, I would like to make a slight change, and if I had not been in the command, Comrade Bulganin could have made the decision on my behalf whether or not to let you use rocket artillery. ”

Rokossovsky was disappointed that he could not get the authorization he wanted from Timoshenko. However, he did not continue to ask Timoshenge, he knew very well in his heart that Lao Maozi was sometimes just a tendon, and he did not touch the south wall and did not look back. Fortunately, the current reviewer has changed from the original Timoshenko to two people, which can be regarded as a small gain.

Sending off Timoshenko and Bulganin, Rokossovsky and Lobachev returned to the command. After the two sat down, Lobachev took the initiative to talk about the wounded: "Comrade commander, in this river-crossing operation, our army suffered more than 13,000 casualties, and in addition to the wounded evacuated, there were more than 2,000 wounded in the field hospital. We have limited medical facilities, how can we accommodate them? ”

Rokossovsky pondered for a long time on this question before he replied: "Comrade Military Commissar, judging by the current situation, it is only a matter of time before the enemy again rushes across the Wopi River, and if we leave so many wounded at the front, we will have to throw them to the Germans as soon as the line of defense is broken by the enemy." In this way, the seriously wounded will be evacuated, and the lightly wounded will remain in the field hospital, and when the wounds have recovered, they will immediately return to their original units to participate in the battle. ”

"Is it appropriate to let the wounded go into battle?" Lobachev expressed doubts about Rokossovsky's arrangement: "I think it would be better to send the lightly wounded back to the rear as long as the conditions allow." ”

"Comrade Military Commissar, have you ever wondered if our rear is capable of receiving so many wounded?" Rokossovsky said to Lobachev earnestly: "If all the wounded are evacuated, our army group will have more than 3,000 people, plus the wounded of the 19th Army and the 20th Army, almost 10,000 people. If you add the wounded of friendly troops, then there are not more than 20,000 or 30,000 people? Do you think the military hospitals in Moscow can accept so many wounded? ”

After listening to Rokossovsky's words, Lobachev thought for a while, then shook his head and said: "I don't think they can receive so many wounded. However, our field hospital is short of medical treatment, and the wounded stay here and cannot get good treatment, so I can't watch these commanders and fighters die on hospital beds instead of dying on the battlefield. ”

"You are right to be worried, Comrade Military Commissar." Rokossovsky felt a great headache on the question of how to place thousands of wounded, and when he looked up and saw Malinin and Kazakov standing in front of him, he hurriedly asked for their opinions: "What do you think about the problem of the wounded? ”

"I think they should all be evacuated." Kazakov replied without thinking.

But Ma Linin hesitated and didn't speak. Rokossovsky remembers reading in a book that during the Battle of Stalingrad, Chuikov's field hospital had to transfer the wounded, but when he reached the banks of the Volga River, because of an air raid, the stretcher bearer threw hundreds of seriously wounded into the open field, and then fled, leaving the wounded to fend for themselves. He would not allow such a tragedy to happen in his own troops. Since the current transport capacity cannot transport all the wounded back, and the hospitals in the rear do not have the capacity to receive the wounded at the same time, they can only send away the seriously wounded and leave the lightly wounded so that they can return to the unit in the shortest possible time after recovery.

Seeing that Malinin was slow to speak, Rokossovsky couldn't help but urge: "Comrade Chief of Staff, what do you think, tell everyone what you think." ”

Malinin heard Rokossovsky urging him and knew that it would definitely not work if he did not express his opinion, so he cautiously said: "I completely agree with the commander's opinion to evacuate the seriously wounded, and let those who are lightly wounded continue to be treated in the field hospital." In this way, as soon as their injuries are healed, they can return to their original units in the shortest possible time. ”

Seeing that Malinin had the same opinion as himself, Rokossovsky immediately ordered: "Chief of Staff, since you also agree with me, then you are solely responsible for the transfer of the wounded." Anyway, it doesn't look like there will be any fighting in the next two days, so you can concentrate on this matter. ”

Seeing that Malinin agreed and was about to go outside, Rokossovsky hurriedly stopped him and added: "By the way, Chief of Staff, I forgot to tell you, the injured Lida is the female soldier who was awarded the medal by the marshal today, and you have to arrange for her to leave as soon as possible." None of us has the right to leave such a wounded heroine in such a dangerous place. ”

"Comrade Commander is right." Lobachev also had a very good impression of Leda, so when he heard Rokossovsky say this, he immediately echoed: "Send Lida away as soon as possible." However, her body is still very weak, let her rest for an extra day, and talk about it tomorrow morning or afternoon. ”

"I see." Malinin replied: "I will arrange for the transportation of the wounded back to the rear. ”

Without waiting for Malinin to leave, Lobachev suddenly looked at Rokossovsky and asked: "Comrade commander, I just saw you and the marshal whispering, and they seem to be quite happy. I don't know if there's anything good, just say it and let us hear it. ”

Malinin had already walked to the door, and when he heard Lobachev say this, he immediately retreated, wanting to hear what the good news was.

Seeing that several commanders surrounded themselves, Rokossovsky laughed and told them about the results of the rocket artillery battalion that Timoshenko had said.

After hearing the good news, several people had mixed reactions. Kazakov, the head of artillery, smiled and nodded his head constantly, as if such a result was taken for granted; Lobachev, on the other hand, was dumbfounded, and he still said in disbelief: "Comrade commander, I can't believe it's true. You must know that our three divisions crossed the river and suffered more than 10,000 casualties, but they only killed and killed more than 2,000 Germans, which is not comparable to the results achieved by a single salvo fired by the rocket artillery battalion. ”

"It was also our luck this time, just in time for the newly arrived German troops to get off at the station, so we were able to achieve such a huge result." After Kazakov waited for Lobachev to finish, he continued: "If the Germans are hiding in bunkers, the power of rocket artillery will be greatly reduced, and if they want to kill and injure targets, they must directly hit bunkers, and Katyusha mainly uses a large number of distributed shells to cover a large area of firepower......

When Kazakov was popularizing science about Lobachev, Rokossovsky looked at Malinin, who was still standing next to him and listened with relish, and asked: "Chief of Staff, why are you still here, and you haven't done what I told you." ”

Malinin, who had just heard the good news, said yes and left the headquarters happily to arrange for the transportation of the wounded back to the rear.

……

At noon the next day, Rokossovsky and his colleagues in the command were having lunch when suddenly the telephone on the table rang. Malinin picked it up and listened to it for a while, then covered the microphone and asked Rokossovsky a little embarrassed: "Comrade commander, that wounded female soldier wants to see you!" ”

"What, the wounded female soldier wants to see me?" When Rokossovsky heard Malinin say this, he couldn't help but be stunned, and said in his heart that I had only met her once, and she had just said two clichés, and she had no friendship, so why did she see me?

Seeing that Rokossovsky did not say anything, Lobachev coughed lightly, and then said in a low voice: "Comrade commander, I think you should still go and meet her, no matter what, she is the hero of our army group, our pride, and Comrade Marshal personally awarded her a medal." ”

"Okay, okay." Seeing that Lobachev had lifted Timoshenko out, Rokossovsky knew that it would definitely not work if he didn't go, so he nodded helplessly and said stubbornly: "Okay, I'll go see her." Comrade Military Commissar, you go with me. ”

The two left the headquarters and walked for a few minutes before arriving at the medical station. From a long distance, Rokossovsky saw more than a dozen stretchers with wounded lying on the ground, all of which seemed to be seriously wounded ready to be evacuated.

He was wondering if Leda was among them when he saw Bazel standing next to the stretcher waving at him, and at the same time shouted instructively: "Your Excellency, General, here, here!" ”

Rokossovsky stepped forward and shook Bazel's hand, and then politely asked: "Mr. Major Medic, where are our female soldiers?" ”

"Here." Bazel said as he dodged to the side, letting go of a stretcher that lay behind him.

Rokossovsky looked down and saw that it was Lida, who had been awarded the medal yesterday, lying on it, her complexion was obviously much better than yesterday, and her originally pale face was also a little flushed. Seeing Rokossovsky appear, she tried to sit up.

"Comrade Lida, you have injuries on your body, don't sit up." Seeing this, Rokossovsky hurriedly squatted down, stopped Leda's move to get up, held her hand, and said politely: "Comrade Leda, due to the limited conditions in the front-line field hospital, it is impossible to provide you with better treatment, so I want to send you to the rear. You can recuperate from your wounds in peace, and when your injuries are healed, you can go back to your troops. ”

Seeing that Rokossovsky cared about her now, Lida couldn't help but have mixed feelings, and for a while she didn't know what to say, and even forgot why she called him, and just shed tears.

Rokossovsky couldn't help but feel a little anxious when he saw that Leda didn't speak for a long time, but he couldn't get angry in this situation, so he could only ask euphemistically: "Leda, I heard that you are going to see me, don't you know what is important?" ”

Lida wiped the tears from her face, looked at Rokossovsky and said: "Comrade commander, I have a request, I don't know if you can grant me?" ”

"If you have any request, just say it. As long as I can do it, I will definitely achieve your wishes. ”

"My mother and children live in a small town five kilometers north of Huirang Station," Lida said carefully, "I am afraid that it will soon be occupied by the Germans, so I would like to ask you to move them out." ”

"Don't worry, Comrade Leda." When Rokossovsky heard that it turned out to be such a simple request, he immediately replied with ease: "I promise you that your mother and child will be transferred to the rear." (To be continued.) )