The plane in which Rokossovsky was flying landed at the front-line airfield, and before he got off the plane, he saw a group of Air Force officers standing next to the runway, one of whom was Air Force Commander Rudenko.

When the plane came to a standstill, Rudenko hurriedly trotted over, saluted Rokossovsky, who had just gotten off the plane, and reported: "Comrade commander, the commander of the 16th Army of the Air Force, Rudenko, reports to you that you are welcome here. ”

Rokossovsky shook hands with Rudenko and said with a smile: "General Rudenko, I didn't come to you as a guest, I was just passing by. ”

"Even if we pass by, let us do our best to be a landlord." Rudenko said with a smile on his face: "Even if you go to our headquarters and drink hot tea." ”

Rokossovsky had been blowing cold wind in the air for several hours, and at the moment he was cold and hungry, and when he heard Rudenko say this, he said casually: "Okay, Comrade Rudenko, since you insist on this, then I will go to your headquarters and have a cup of hot tea." ”

When Rokossovsky came to the Air Force command and sat down with Rudenko for tea. The Chief of Staff of the Air Force opened his mouth and asked: "Comrade Commander, does your visit to Moscow this time mean that we are about to launch a new offensive?" ”

"That's right, Comrade Chief of Staff." Rokossovsky looked at the elderly general and said: "Our next task is to cooperate with friendly forces to advance across the Dnieper River and carry out offensive campaigns with the goal of capturing Kiev and other important cities." ”

"Great, that's great." When the chief of staff heard Rokossovsky say this, he couldn't help but get excited, he shook his head from side to side, and said to his colleagues sitting next to him: "Did you all hear that? Our troops will soon launch an offensive on Kyiv. My God, it's been two years, and I've finally waited for the day of the counteroffensive. ”

Seeing that his chief of staff was so emotional, Rudenko hurriedly leaned close to Rokossovsky's ear and whispered: "Comrade commander, please forgive my chief of staff for his gaffe. He is a native of Kyiv, his two sons died in the battle to defend Kyiv, and his wife and daughter were not evacuated and are trapped in the city, and their fate is now uncertain. ”

What happened to the chief of staff is not an isolated case, but a very common phenomenon, and even Rokossovsky is in a state of separation at the moment, so he can only say with emotion: "This is war!" ”

After arguing in the Air Force Command for more than half an hour, Rokossovsky got up to bid farewell to Rudenko because he was in a hurry to return to the headquarters and convey the spirit of the Moscow Conference to his comrades. When he passed by the chief of staff, he raised his hand and patted him on the shoulder, comforting him and saying: "Comrade general, don't be sad, we will ask them for the crimes committed against us by the fascist bandits sooner or later." ”

Rokossovsky returned to his own command and immediately summoned the main chiefs of the front to convey to them the supreme instructions of the base camp. After he saw that all the people who should have come had arrived, he conveyed the contents of the Moscow meeting to everyone in detail.

After finishing speaking, he turned his gaze to the head of logistics of the front army, Andipienko: "General Andipienko, the troops are about to take action, I wonder if you can ensure their needs for food, ammunition, fodder and fuel?" ”

"It's difficult, Comrade Commander." As usual, Andypinkko complained bitterly, and then reported to Rokossovsky about the situation in the logistics department: "In the early battles, the roads were damaged by enemy aircraft, and the vehicles of our transport troops were seriously damaged, and if we were not replenished by our superiors, our transport capacity would have been significantly reduced. ”

"Comrade Andipienko, regarding the transportation of transport vehicles, I advise you to immediately contact the logistics department in Moscow and see how much you can get from them. We should ensure that all our logistics bases and warehouses are placed as close to the troops as possible. After Rokossovsky finished his order, he did not forget to put a high hat on Antipiko: "Comrade commanders, the Minister of Logistics Andypinkko and his department have made every effort to make every interruption of supplies during the offensive in the Battle of Kursk. Precisely, the energetic general never let us down once. So now we are also convinced that the logistics department of the front army is capable of fulfilling its tasks. ”

After Rokossovsky's words were finished, thunderous applause rang out in the conference room. Seeing that Rokossovsky valued himself so much, Andypinkko quickly stood up and said a little shyly: "Since Comrade Commander trusts our logistics department so much, then I will make a public statement, and our logistics will definitely not drag the troops at the front behind." His words caused another round of warm applause.

"Comrades," Rokossovsky continued, "in the next battles, we will have to force the crossing of such large rivers as Desna, Sozh and Dnieper, therefore, the head of the engineering troops of the Front, General Proshlyakov, needs to start work on the reserve of equipment for crossing the river. ”

Hearing Rokossovsky call out his name, Proshlyakov hurriedly stood up and said with a serious expression: "Please rest assured, Comrade Commander, that our engineering troops will definitely be able to build enough bridges for friendly troops in battle." ”

"Comrade commander," after Rokossovsky had finished explaining the tasks to the logistics and engineering troops, Malinin asked: "In this offensive campaign, which group armies should we let take up the main offensive tasks?" ”

Rokossovsky stood by the wall, pointing to the map and said: "The main assault will be carried out in the Shevsk direction by units of the 65th Army and the 2nd Tank Army." The advance of these units should be assisted by the flank corps of the 48th and 60th armies adjacent to them.

Our left neighbor, the Voronezh Front, will also attack at the same time as ours. Their mission was to crush the enemy in the Kharkiv region, then advance to Poltava, Kremenshangge and seize the Dnieper crossings. ”

"Comrade Commander, I have a question." As soon as Rokossovsky's words were finished, Orel, the head of the armored corps, interjected: "Our 2nd Tank Army, which has already suffered great losses in the early operation of the Kursk arc, is worried about whether they are capable of participating in such an offensive. ”

"General Orel, you don't have to worry." Malinin comforted Oryol and said: "Yesterday I had a telephone conversation with the new commander of the tank army, General Bogdanov, and he said that although the troops had been greatly weakened in the previous battles, there was no problem in participating in local offensive campaigns. ”

After listening to Malinin's words, Orel shrugged his shoulders and said a little helplessly: "Well, since General Bogdanov said that there is no problem, then I have no opinion." ”

"General Kazakov," having solved the problem of Orel, Rokossovsky said to the commander of the artillery of the Front, Kazakov: "The base camp will send us in the near future to break through the 4th Artillery Army, and you will strengthen this artillery to Batov's 65th Army." I think that with the cooperation of the 4th Breakthrough Artillery Army and the 2nd Tank Army, Batov's troops will definitely be able to fulfill the responsibilities that we have entrusted to him. ”

After the meeting, when communicating with Rokossovsky in private, Malinin specifically mentioned: "Comrade commander, according to the information we have obtained, in front of us is a defensive zone with a well-developed defense system, which is held by the elite German 2nd Army. The front of these positions was on the banks of the Shef and Sheim rivers, and all the villages and settlements became part of the German defenses. ”

Rokossovsky looked at the signs on the map and said thoughtfully: "So the Germans are trying to use the river to block our attack. ”

"Yes, Comrade Commander, I think the same way." Ma Lining said with a serious expression: "If our army implements a frontal forced crossing, it will inevitably pay a huge price. Otherwise, send a force to detour upstream, find a place where the water is calm, and then go down the river to flank the German troops deployed by the river. ”

"Our air force has not yet fully mastered air supremacy on the battlefield, and German reconnaissance planes often appear in the air." Rokossovsky said worriedly: "I am afraid that the troops moving upstream will be discovered by the German air force, and if they call in bombers to bomb again, our troops will suffer heavy losses." ”

"Then we can let the troops move at night," Malinin advised, "and find a few guides who are familiar with the local terrain, and our troops will not get lost even if they march at night." ”

Kazakov came over and, seeing that Rokossovsky and Malinin were discussing the issue of operational deployment, he stood quietly and did not speak. Rokossovsky accidentally caught a glimpse of him, and hurriedly asked: "General Kazakov, do you have something to look for me?" ”

"Yes, Comrade Commander, I want to have a good talk with you." Kazakov looked embarrassed and said: "It's about the artillery side." ”

Malinin felt that he was here, and maybe Kazakov had something inconvenient to say, so he stood up and said to Rokossovsky: "Comrade commander, you talk, I still have things, so I am not worthy of you." ”

After Malinin walked away, Rokossovsky picked up the cigarette case on the table, took out a cigarette and handed it to Kazakov, and said: "General Kazakov, if there is anything, just tell me." ”

"Comrade commander, I feel that our artillery should be replenished with more shells." Kazakov took the cigarette and played with it in his hand, "In this way, we will be able to provide the infantry commanders and fighters with artillery fire preparation for a longer period of time." ”

Rokossovsky lit a cigarette and, after taking two puffs, said to Kazakov: "Comrade Kazakov, I don't know if you have found a pattern, not only how long our army has been shelling the German positions, but when our troops launch a charge, the German soldiers will come out of the ground and shoot at us. ”

"Maybe it's because the enemy's shelter is more solid and can withstand our heavy artillery bombardment." After Kazakov said this, seeing that the expression on Rokossovsky's face had not changed at all, he hurriedly added: "Maybe we should mobilize more heavy artillery to participate in the preparation of artillery fire before this offensive." ”

"General Kazakov, you are wrong, very wrong." Rokossovsky extinguished the half-smoked cigarette in the ashtray and said: "When we were preparing for artillery fire, there were only a handful of the enemy hiding in the first line of defense, and most of them went along the communication trenches, hiding in the second line of defense a few kilometers away. It was not until the beginning of our offensive that the Germans returned to their positions along the communication trenches and were ready for battle. ”

"Comrade commander, I remember that you seem to have mentioned it twice before, saying that in order to avoid our shelling, the Germans left only a few observation posts, and the rest hid in the second line of defense." Kazakov asked half-convinced: "Is this really the case?" ”

Seeing that Kazakov still doubted what he said, Rokossovsky was really a little crying and laughing. He patiently said: "Yes, General Kazakov, this is the reality on the battlefield. The artillery preparations we carried out before the attack were in fact bombarded an open field with no people, wasting a large number of valuable shells in vain, but not giving the enemy effective damage. ”

"So what do we do?" Kazakov humbly asked Rokossovsky for advice: "How can we destroy more enemies at the stage of artillery preparation." ”

"There are many ways," Rokossovsky was idle, and then he popularized some of the military knowledge he had mastered in later generations to Kazakov: "For example, after the shelling has been carried out for a period of time, the artillery fire will be extended, so that the Germans will think that our army's offensive is about to begin." When they returned to the front-line positions, our artillery fire immediately turned around and bombarded their front-line positions again, inflicting heavy casualties on them.

The second method was to use a small amount of artillery fire to clear the minefields and barbed wire fences in front of the German positions, and open a passage for the attacking troops. The main artillery fire was used to bombard the second-line positions of the German army, inflicting heavy casualties on the German troops hiding there.

The third method is to use the barrage to advance slowly to cover the infantry to assault forward......"

Kazakov probably realized the importance of the upcoming offensive campaign, so he listened very carefully to what Rokossovsky said and wrote it down in detail in his notebook.

The conversation between the two continued until Terekin came over and interrupted them. Terekin smiled and said to the two: "Comrade commanders, it's not early, it's time for lunch." If you have any important matters, you can wait until after dinner. Anyway, the superiors gave us ten days to prepare, which is enough for you to finish talking about everything. ”

Rokossovsky raised his hand and looked at his watch, and when he saw that it was already half past twelve, he nodded and said, "Okay, let's eat first, and we'll talk about the rest after eating." ”