Rokossovsky spent half an hour in his corps headquarters, and from Maslov's introduction, he knew that after his departure, Colonel Kalinin's motorized 131st Division had fought two more battles with the Germans, and although two tank divisions were left behind to help, the troops still suffered a third of casualties.

After listening to the introduction, Rokossovsky looked at the map spread out in front of him and asked with a serious expression: "Comrade Chief of Staff, can you tell the Germans about the distribution of troops near Zalutsk?" ”

Maslov first pointed at Cowell and said: "The Germans are here, deploying an armored regiment and an infantry regiment. Comrade commander, fortunately, you did not choose to return to Lutsk from this direction, otherwise if you could not eat this enemy in the shortest possible time, then you would have fallen into a circle, and at the same time, their air force would have bombarded our tank divisions non-stop, causing heavy casualties to our troops. ”

Rokossovsky nodded approvingly at Maslov's analysis, and then said: "That's right, the reason why I didn't choose this route at that time was also for this reason. That's why I chose to move south, waiting for an opportunity to return to Lutsk. At this point, he suddenly thought of the air raid, so he changed the topic and asked: "We were attacked by the Germans on the road, but the strange thing is that they only used four planes to carry out a wave of air strikes, and they never appeared again. Comrade Chief of Staff, do you know what the reason is? ”

After hearing this, Maslov slowly shook his head and said: "Comrade commander, I don't know very well. This question, it is estimated that only the commander of the army group can give you an accurate answer. ”

Kamenev waited for Maslov to finish speaking, and immediately kindly reminded Rokossovsky: "Comrade Army Commander, you have been back for so long, should you go and meet General Potapov to see if he has any latest instructions." ”

Rokossovsky raised his hand and looked at his watch, and found that he had been here for half an hour unknowingly, so he nodded and said: "Okay, then I'll go to the commander first and see if he has any tasks to give us." ”

When he went upstairs to the headquarters of the army group, he found that in addition to Potapov and several other army group commanders, Fedyuninsky was also there. He walked up to Potapov, raised his hand and saluted, and reported: "Comrade commander, the commander of the 9th Mechanized Army, Rokossovsky, reports to you that the main forces of our army managed to get rid of the enemy's entanglement and returned to Lutsk without a hitch. I am at your command, please instruct! ”

After returning a military salute, Potapov walked around from behind his desk, walked up and down in front of Rokossovsky, looked him up and down, and said with satisfaction: "Well done, General Rokossovsky, you are well done!" The series of victories you have won behind enemy lines have not only dealt a severe blow to the arrogance of the enemy, but also greatly boosted the morale of our army......"

After Nikishev, the military commissar of the army group, waited for Potapov's cliché, and then walked up to Rokossovsky and asked with concern: "Comrade General, on your way back, did everything go well?" ”

Rokossovsky shook his head and replied: "On the way back, we were bombarded by the Germans, and the troops suffered certain losses. ”

"On your way back, you were hit by an airstrike?" Chief of Staff Pisarevsky said with some strangeness: "According to the report of the scouts, since our army launched a full-scale counterattack with three mechanized corps in the Dubno area today, and the German air force has flown in that direction, how can you still be attacked by air attacks on your way back?" It's incomprehensible. ”

Rokossovsky listened to what the chief of staff of the army group said, and only then did he understand why the enemy planes appeared only once, and there was no trace of them, it turned out that they did not want to continue bombing, but the main forces of the air force were thrown into the Dubno area, from which it can be deduced what price the Soviet mechanized army without air cover would pay.

"Comrade Chief of Staff, I was also wondering just now, why did the enemy carry out only one round of bombardment on us? It turned out that they threw the main force of the Air Force into the Dubno area. After Rokossovsky said these words to Pisarevsky, he turned to Potapov and asked, "Comrade commander, I once received an order to participate in the counterattack in Dubno, do I still need to carry out this order?" ”

"An order to carry out a counterattack in Dubno?" Hearing Rokossovsky say this, Potapov couldn't help frowning, he turned his eyes to his chief of staff and military commissar, and asked with a little dissatisfaction: "Did you send this order to Comrade Rokossovsky?" ”

Hearing Potapov's question, the two shook their heads neatly. Pisarevsky then spoke: "Comrade commander, the Germans now have five armored and infantry divisions near Lutsk, and we are already inferior in strength compared to them. How could we possibly give an order to plunge troops into such a hopeless counterattack in such a desperate need for reinforcements? ”

After he said this, without waiting for Potapov to speak, he asked Rokossovsky directly: "Comrade General, I don't know who signed the telegram sent to you?" ”

"It was the Front Army Command that sent the combat order directly to me in the form of a telegram." After Rokossovsky finished speaking, he took out the telegram from his coat pocket and handed it to Pisarevsky: "The signature in the back is General Pulkaev, Chief of Staff of the Front. ”

Pisarevsky took the telegram and read it, handed it to Potapov, and then turned his hand behind his back to Rokossovsky: "Comrade General, your Ninth Mechanized Army is now under the command of our Fifth Army, so as long as it is not our order, you can completely ignore it. ”

After Potapov read the telegram, he handed it to Nikishev, who came over, and continued: "That's right, General Rokossovsky, since the communication between us and the Front Command has been cut off, it is not possible to verify the authenticity of this order at the moment, so I, in my capacity as the commander of the Fifth Army, announce to you that this order has been cancelled. ”

Rokossovsky was secretly relieved to hear that he did not need to lead his troops to participate in the counterattack in Dubno, because he clearly remembered that the counterattack ended in failure, and almost all the senior commanders of the Eighth Mechanized Corps, which had many troops and tanks, were killed, and all combat vehicles were lost. If his own Ninth Mechanized Army also participated in the counterattack, he would suffer the same fate.

After reading the telegram, Nikishev glanced at Rokossovsky with a strange gaze, and then asked curiously: "Commander, chief of staff, I have a question." Why is it that the radio of the Ninth Mechanized Army can directly receive orders from the Front Command when our radio station cannot get in touch with the Front Command? ”

"It's not surprising at all." Pisarevsky continued: "Rokossovsky's 9th Mechanized Army, which was previously a direct unit of the Kiev Special Military District, was temporarily assigned to our command later, so it is not at all surprising that they can directly receive orders from the command of the Front. ”

After saying that, he walked up to Rokossovsky's side, raised his hand around his shoulder, and led him to the huge map hanging on the wall, and at the same time said: "Comrade General, let me give you a briefing on the current situation of the enemy near Lutsk. ”