Although very limited people know about the existence of a stand-in for Stalin, Zhukov happened to be one of them. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 After listening to Rokossovsky's report, he was silent for a moment, and then instructed the other party: "Comrade Rokossovsky, the news of Comrade Stalin's personal visit to the front line should be told to all the commanders and fighters participating in the counteroffensive, I think this should have a morale-boosting effect, understand?" ”

"Understood," Rokossovsky saw that Zhukov deliberately avoided the question of the stand-in, and did not break it, and immediately replied cheerfully: "I will let Comrade Lobachev take charge of this matter." ”

"Remember, as soon as the time comes, the offensive against the Germans will be launched immediately." After Zhukov said this briefly, without Rokossovsky making any reaction, he hung up the phone.

After putting down the phone, Rokossovsky said to Lobachev: "Comrade Military Commissar, according to the intention of Senior General Zhukov, we should inform the commanders and fighters who are about to take part in the counteroffensive the news that Comrade Stalin has braved the danger to inspect the front, so as to boost the morale of those commanders and fighters who are about to take part in the counteroffensive." ”

"No problem," Lobachev nodded as soon as Rokossovsky finished speaking, and said: "Anyway, there are still a few hours before the start of the counteroffensive, and I will go to the troops now to gather the political workers and let them tell all the commanders and fighters who participated in the battle this encouraging news." ”

After Lobachev left, Rokossovsky looked up at Malinin and asked: "Chief of Staff, how long has Comrade Stalin been gone?" ”

Malinin raised his hand and looked at the watch on his wrist and replied, "It's almost half an hour, and if the journey goes well, they should be in the Chismena area." ”

Rokossovsky glanced at the map and said casually: "Well, after passing Chismena, drive more than thirty kilometers to reach the headquarters of the Front." ”

As soon as he finished speaking, the phone on the desk rang suddenly. Malinin grabbed the phone and listened for a moment, and immediately became panicked, he bowed his head to Rokossovsky and said: "Comrade Stalin, our 44th Cavalry Division, which is stationed in the Chismena area, called and said that we heard dense gunfire and explosions from the west, so we called to ask if we had any troops and the enemy to exchange fire in the area. ”

"West of Chismena?" Rokossovsky, having repeated the name of the place, slammed the table and shouted: "Not good, Chief of Staff, something happened." Seeing Malinen's dazed look, he directly pointed out the crux of the problem, "It was the convoy that left us and encountered the Germans." ”

Although Rokossovsky did not specify which convoy it was in order to prevent panic, Malinin knew it, and he asked puzzledly: "But where did this enemy come from?" ”

Rokossovsky pointed to the map and said to Malinin: "The enemy must have sent troops to bypass Volokolamsk, which was defended by the Panfilov division, and rushed directly to Chismena, which happened to meet the convoy." ”

"What should we do?" Malin, who did not know that the Stalin he had just seen was an impostor, was frightened when he heard that Stalin's convoy had encountered the enemy, and he stammered: "Comrade commander, what should we do?" ”

"Order the commander of the 44th Cavalry Division to immediately send a cavalry regiment to support." After giving this order, Rokossovsky felt that the cavalry was only mobile, but its combat effectiveness was not much stronger than that of the infantry, and that in order to defeat the enemy, it was necessary to send tank troops, so he added: "Call Lieutenant Colonel Lemizov again and ask him to send all the remaining tanks of the 27th Tank Brigade to the Chismena area." ”

After giving orders to the troops mentioned by Rokossovsky, Malinin seemed to have been drained of all his strength, he sat on a stool and looked at Rokossovsky, and asked weakly: "Comrade commander, can our reinforcements arrive in time?" ”

"Don't worry, Comrade Chief of Staff." Rokossovsky said calmly: "I believe that the enemy's forces to bypass Volokolamsk are limited, and it will not be so easy to destroy the convoy in a short time. Cavalry divisions and tank brigades rushed over and they could be easily eliminated. ”

Although Rokossovsky was calm, Malinin asked a little confused: "Comrade commander, what should we do now?" ”

"You stay here and continue to be in charge of the preparations for the counteroffensive," Rokossovsky said, stood up, walked to the door, took off the military hat hanging on the wall, put it on, and continued: "I'll take a company of guards to the scene to see." ”

Rokossovsky was nervous when he took the guard company in a car to the area where the battle took place, because he did not know what kind of German troops the convoy had encountered. If it is found that Stalin's stand-in has met with an accident when he arrives, it will be a fatal blow to the morale of the troops.

But when he heard the gunshots and explosions coming from ahead, he couldn't help but raise his throat, and he patted the back of the seat in front of him hard, urging the driver: "Drive faster, drive faster." ”

After a few minutes, he saw four or five burning trucks on the road ahead, surrounded by the corpses of Soviet soldiers. When he recognized from the uniforms of the soldiers that these were the internal affairs troops who had accompanied Stalin's stand-in, his heart sank sharply, and he secretly cried out that what he feared most had happened.

He hurriedly asked the driver to stop, then pushed the door open and jumped out of the car to look around. On the left side of the road ahead, there was a destroyed German tank and several overturned motorcycles, and a little further on, several Soviet tanks were parked, and the turrets were tilted to the side, shelling into the distance.

Seeing the appearance of Rokossovsky, an officer bent over from the tank and quickly ran. Standing in front of Rokossovsky, he reported: "Comrade General, there was a small German force attacking our convoy, and after a fierce battle, most of the enemy was destroyed. A small number of the enemy were trapped in the forest on the left side of the road, and our cavalry and infantry were encircling the remnants of the enemy. ”

After listening to the officer's report, Rokossovsky looked in the direction the officer was pointing and saw a large group of commanders and fighters on the edge of the forest, about two hundred meters away from the roadside, bending over and shooting as they rushed forward.

Rokossovsky turned his head and asked the officer: "Comrade officer, do you know what is going on?" ”

The officer nodded, and replied: "The convoy of our troops, which has been coming from the west, has been ambushed here by a fast detachment of the German army. Two trucks of our army were destroyed by German tank fire, and almost all the fighters on the vehicles were killed. Fortunately, the fighters in the other vehicle destroyed a German tank with an anti-tank gun, covering the front vehicle to escape from the German ambush circle. "Whoa," said the officer, pointing to the right side of the road, "the destroyed tank is there." ”

Rokossovsky turned his head to see two German tanks that had been burned black and were still burning in the open field outside the forest. In the vicinity of the wreckage of the tank, there were many corpses of German soldiers, and they couldn't help but ask curiously: "Were these two tanks destroyed by the fighters with anti-tank guns?" ”

"Only one was destroyed by anti-tank guns." The officer replied: "After jumping out of the car, the fighters seized the favorable terrain on the side of the road and returned fire, killing a large number of the enemy, attracting the attention of the enemy, and allowing the vehicle in front of the convoy to escape smoothly." ”

"Comrade officer, do you mean that the vehicles in front of you are out of danger?" From the words of the officer, Rokossovsky could tell that only trucks full of guards and fighters had suffered losses, and none of the cars in front had suffered losses. In order to verify the accuracy of this information, he solemnly asked, "Are you sure?" ”

"Yes, Comrade General." The officer replied affirmatively: "I am the officer on duty at the front checkpoint, and I only brought people here to reinforce after the vehicles passed through our checkpoint." It didn't take long for our cavalry to arrive; Although they suffered a lot of casualties under the strafing fire of German tank guns and machine guns, they crushed the German infantry. Then our tanks reappeared, and a few shots took out the enemy's two remaining tanks. And drove the remaining enemy into the forest in front, and now the final encirclement is underway. ”

As he spoke, the battle on the edge of the forest was over, and seven or eight German soldiers walked out of the forest with their hands raised and escorted by the soldiers. Seeing that the battle was over, Rokossovsky went up with a company of guards.

As soon as he was halfway there, Rokossovsky saw several commanders and fighters running towards him, and he fixed his eyes on the members of the engineer platoon he had sent to escort Stalin's stand-in, so he quickly stopped and waited for the other party to come and report to him.

Several people came to a stop in front of Rokossovsky, and one of the second lieutenants came forward to salute and reported: "Comrade commander, the commander of the engineer platoon, Second Lieutenant Ferstov, reports to you, we ......"

"Wait a minute, Comrade Ensign." Rokossovsky didn't wait for Feltov to finish speaking, then interrupted his later words and asked anxiously: "Tell me whether the convoy you covered got out of danger safely?" ”

"I think so, Comrade Commander." "When we were attacked by the Germans, the last few trucks were hit by German artillery fire, and almost all the fighters on the vehicles were killed at that time," Feelstov said in an affirmative tone. We returned fire with anti-tank guns in a timely manner, successfully destroying one of the enemy's tanks, and then got out of the car and occupied favorable terrain on the side of the road, engaged in a battle with the enemy, attracted their attention, and covered the safe transfer of vehicles in front. ”

"I see." After listening to what the other party said, Rokossovsky stepped forward and patted Ferstov on the shoulder and said appreciatively: "Well done, comrade second lieutenant, your task has been done very well, and I will give you credit." ”

In order to find out the whereabouts of Stalin's stunt caravans, Rokossovsky got back into the jeep and drove along the road with the guard company. When they arrived at Chismena and questioned the commander of the 44th Cavalry Division, they learned that the convoy of armoured vehicles and two trucks had recently passed through the city and headed east.

Rokossovsky walked to the table, looked at the map spread out on the table, and carefully studied where the rest of the cars would go. After thinking about it again, I felt that the convoy should have gone to the headquarters of the front army.

He moved the phone on the table to his face, and then asked the division commander standing opposite: "Comrade Colonel, can your phone reach the headquarters of the Front?" ”

"Yes, Comrade Commander." The division commander replied respectfully: "This telephone can be used to make a direct call to the headquarters of the front army. ”

Knowing that this phone could talk to the front command, Rokossovsky immediately dialed Zhukov's phone. When he heard Zhukov's voice coming from the earpiece, he held the microphone and said to the division commander opposite: "Comrade division commander, please and your subordinates to stay away. ”

After the division commander left with his subordinates, Rokossovsky let go of the hand covering the microphone, and when he was about to speak, he heard Zhukov's impatient voice coming from inside: "Hey, hey, hey, who is it?" Why don't you speak? ”

"It's me, Comrade Zhukov." After revealing his identity, Rokossovsky did not go around in circles and said straight to the point: "Comrade Stalin's convoy was ambushed by the Germans on the way back. The accompanying company of guards suffered heavy casualties. The enemy was completely annihilated by our troops, who arrived later, but the whereabouts of Comrade Stalin are unknown. ”

"Don't worry, Comrade Rokossovsky." Zhukov said in a relaxed tone: "Comrade Stalin is currently in our command, he is fine, not injured. Speaking of this, Zhukov stopped, covered the microphone with his hand, whispered a few words to Stalin's stand-in sitting next to him, and then let go of his hand and continued, "Comrade Stalin asked me to convey to you his gratitude, thank you for the heroic commanders and fighters under your command, so that he can successfully escape." ”

"Comrade General, this is what we should do." After a moment of modesty, Rokossovsky asked Zhukov tentatively: "I wonder where the Supreme Commander-in-Chief himself plans to go next?" ”

"You don't have to worry about that." Zhukov said angrily: "Later, he will fly back to Moscow directly from me." ”

After the whereabouts of Stalin's stand-in were confirmed, Rokossovsky called Malinin, who remained at the headquarters of the army group. As soon as the phone called, he said lightly: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the battle is over. The small German units that carried out the sneak attack were completely annihilated by our troops, and Comrade Stalin successfully returned to the headquarters of the Front. ”

"Great, Comrade Commander, it's wonderful." After Malinin, who had been worried, heard the news of Rokossovsky, the heart that had been hanging in his throat finally fell back into his stomach, and he said with relief: "In this way, my heart will be steady." (To be continued.) )