Coordination with friendly forces was not the first time for Rokossovsky. But for Rokossovsky, it was the first time for Rokossovsky to cooperate with two fronts of armies at the same time to encircle a powerful German combat group.

When Tarasov's 70th Army launched an offensive in the Orlov region, Malinin asked Rokossovsky worriedly: "Comrade commander, do you think we will be able to complete the campaign tasks assigned to us by the base camp?" ”

For this period of history, Rokossovsky is a blank in the memory of later generations, he only remembers that after the end of the Battle of Stalingrad, the most striking thing is the Battle of Kursk, not to mention the battlefield battles he is now commanding, and even the Third Battle of Kharkov, which is about to end, is basically not mentioned.

Therefore, after hearing Ma Lining's question, he could only smile bitterly and say a little insincerely: "Chief of Staff, as long as we can continue to maintain the offensive, I believe that there will not be much problem in completing the campaign tasks assigned to us by the base camp." ”

After listening to Rokossovsky's ambiguous answer, the muscles on Malinin's face twitched a few times, because it was the first time he had heard such a vague answer because he had been Rokossovsky's deputy for so long, and he had a bad premonition in his heart about the ongoing battle.

The battle report that came a few hours later confirmed that Malinin's speculation was not unreasonable. The troops of the Bryansk Front, two hours after the start of the battle, managed to break through the first line of defense of the Germans and wedge three kilometers into the depth of the enemy's defenses. As for the 70th Army, the simultaneous attacks in four sectors ended in failure, and they were repulsed by intensive German fire in several hours of fighting, not to mention breaking through the German defenses, and not even approaching a hundred meters of the German trenches.

After learning that the 70th Army had suffered heavy casualties and had not yet achieved any results, Deputy Commander Trubnikov couldn't help but frown and complained: "How did this Tarasov do it, we provided them with an hour of artillery preparation, but at the beginning of the attack, they could not even approach the positions of the Germans. ”

Malinin glanced at Rokossovsky quickly, and when he saw that he was just staring at the map expressionlessly without saying a word, he stood up and played a round: "Comrade Deputy Commander, it may be that the terrain of the offensive section of the 70th Army is too complicated, and our troops are fighting in an unfamiliar area, so they cannot fully exert their due combat effectiveness. ”

"Chief of Staff, you're not right." Rokossovsky flipped through the battle report in his hand and expressed his opinion: "The failure of the 70th Army's offensive is not only related to their complex combat environment, but more importantly, the lack of experience of senior commanders. ”

In order to make everyone understand what he meant, Rokossovsky raised his right hand and spread out his clenched fist: "Their attack on the German army is a tactic of scattered operations and multi-way assaults, which is equivalent to spreading out a clenched fist, and the intensity of such an attack will be greatly weakened." ”

After listening to Rokossovsky's words, the few people around the table nodded thoughtfully. Terekin asked curiously: "That's right, Comrade Commander, you have a point. So what do we do next? ”

After Rokossovsky's gaze swept over Trubnikov and Malinin, he spoke: "I plan to go with the military commissar to the 70th Army and friendly forces, and during my absence, the work here will be taken care of by the two of you. ”

"Don't worry, Comrade Commander." Malinin had long been accustomed to Rokossovsky's style of handing over the work of the headquarters to himself and then inspecting the troops below, so he nodded and said: "I will not let you down." ”

And Trubnikovsey expressed his opinion: "Comrade commander, if you believe me, I am willing to temporarily act as commander of the 70th Army, responsible for directing the troops to continue the offensive in the Orlov area. ”

When Rokossovsky heard Trubnikov say this, he understood that he had misunderstood what he meant, and hurriedly explained: "Comrade Deputy Commander, I went to the headquarters of the 70th Army with the military commissar only to understand the real situation there, not to hold anyone responsible. ”

After a pause, he continued: "We cannot simply blame the defeat in the battle on the personal ability of the head of the army group. You must know that I and the front army command also have unshirkable responsibilities. We were in a hurry to get the army group into the war and assign tasks to it, but we did not check the training of the troops, did not know the situation of their command personnel. As a result, the situation on the battlefield has developed beyond what we had imagined in advance. ”

"But, Comrade Commander." After listening to Rokossovsky's explanation, Trubnikov still said with some reluctance: "In order to destroy the enemy in the Orlov region, I think it is inevitable to have a better commander of the army group......"

Without waiting for Trubnikov to finish speaking, Rokossovsky raised his hand to stop him from saying the following: "Comrade Deputy Commander, I understand what you mean. However, if we want to change the commander of the group army and send officers with rich combat experience to strengthen the 70th Army, we will have to wait until we have personally visited the troops and learned more about the actual situation. ”

After Rokossovsky and Terekin left the headquarters, they realized that it was not easy to reach the garrison of the 70th Army. After driving seven or eight kilometers, they found that the road ahead was covered with snow, but fortunately they met a sled convoy that had just returned from the front line, so Rokossovsky and his team changed to a horse-drawn sleigh and continued to their destination.

After two hours of arduous marching in the snow, Rokossovsky and Terekin, who were almost frozen, finally arrived at the headquarters of the 70th Army.

As soon as the two of them walked into the busy headquarters, it immediately became quiet, and all the staff officers and communications officers stopped their work and saluted them intently.

Tarasov saw Rokossovsky walk into his command, hurriedly stepped forward to salute them, and loudly reported on the current situation of the troops. After waiting for the other party's report, Rokossovsky turned to the staff officers and communication soldiers who were still in a daze and said, "Let's continue to work." ”

As soon as his words fell, the originally quiet headquarters suddenly became noisy again. Rokossovsky stood in the middle of the room, looked left and right, and saw a room with a curtain next to it, which was supposed to be Tarasov's resting place, so he pouted over there: "Comrade General, let's go inside and talk." ”

The three of them walked into a separate small room, Rokossovsky found a place to sit down by the bed, looked up at Tarasov and said: "Okay, General Tarasov, there are only three of us here, can you explain to us what is the reason for the failure of your attack?" ”

On Rokossovsky's way here, Tarasov organized another attack, but regrettably, the attack launched by his troops ended in failure. Therefore, after hearing Rokossovsky's unceremonious questioning, his face immediately turned red with shame, and he did not know what to say in a hurry.

"Why don't you speak, Comrade Tarasov?" Seeing that Tarasov was slow to speak, Terekin's face showed a look of displeasure: "You explain to us, why have you launched so many attacks, all of which ended in failure?" ”

"The resistance of the enemy was very stubborn." Hearing Terekin speak in such an unceremonious tone, Tarasov replied with some panic: "Far beyond the imagination of our army. ”

While Terekin and Tarasov were talking, Rokossovsky thought to himself: "Maybe we will make a mistake by launching an offensive in the Orlov region." After all, if we rush to attack the enemy without being fully prepared, we will not be able to achieve the desired results, and on the contrary, we will weaken the living forces of our army in vain. ”

"Comrade Commander," Terekin and Tarasov, after exchanging words for a while, saw that Rokossovsky was sitting next to him and did not speak, so he raised his voice and asked: "Don't you say something?" ”

Rokossovsky did not immediately criticize Tarasov's mistakes in command, but rushed to learn from him about the situation with the friendly forces on the right flank: "General Tarasov, I don't know how the Bryansk Front is currently progressing? ”

"Comrade commander, the situation is bad." Shaking his head, Tarasov said: "The Bryansk Front, having broken through the German lines, on the way to continue its advance onwards, encountered strong resistance from the enemy, and at the moment their troops are blocked in the areas of Novosily, Arkhangelskoye, Rozhdestvenskoye. ”

"Can you get in touch with the Bryansk Front here?" After listening to this, Rokossovsky immediately asked: "I need to immediately talk to General Leitel to find out what is going on there." ”

"It should be possible, Comrade Commander. Please wait a moment, and I'll immediately ask the chief of the communications corps to connect to the friendly forces. When Tarasov had finished speaking, he turned and left the hut to find his chief of communications.

Seeing that only himself and Rokossovsky were left in the room, Terekin opened his mouth and asked in a low voice: "Comrade commander, judging from my conversation with General Tarasov, he does not have the ability to command troops in battle alone, and I think it is better to replace the commander of the army group as soon as possible if it is possible." ”

In response to Terekin's proposal, Rokossovsky nodded, "That's right, Comrade Military Commissar, you are quite right. General Tarasov may be a good deputy, but he is not a single army commander. However, there is no suitable candidate for the time being, and if a commander who does not know the situation of the unit is replaced at this time to take his place, I am worried that it will affect the next combat operation of the unit. ”

Terekin saw that he and Rokossovsky had reached an agreement on the replacement of the commander of the army group, but in the current situation, there was no suitable candidate to replace Tarasov, so he did not dwell on this topic anymore, but continued to ask: "Shall we go to the Bryansk Front later?" ”

"Yes," Rokossovsky nodded vigorously after hearing this, "our main forces have been pinned down by the Germans, and now the only one that can be put into battle in the Orlov area is Tarasov's 70th Army, and without the cooperation of friendly forces, they will not be able to advance further into the German defensive depth." ”

While the two were talking, the curtain was lifted from the outside, and Tarasov and a communications soldier walked in. After putting the telephone and microphone in his hand on the table, the messenger turned and left. Tarasov, on the other hand, picked up the microphone and handed it to Rokossovsky, and at the same time said respectfully: "Comrade commander, the phone with the Bryansk Front has been connected." ”

Rokossovsky put the earpiece close to his ear, and immediately heard Leitel's voice coming from inside: "Hey, is it Comrade Rokossovsky?" ”

"Yes, it's me, General Leitel." Rokossovsky said with a smile on his face: "I would like to ask, how is the situation on your side?" ”

"Very bad, Comrade Rokossovsky." Leutel sighed and said: "After our troops broke through the German defenses, they thought that they would be able to advance quickly to Orlov, but at noon, the German resistance suddenly became stubborn and successfully prevented our troops from continuing to advance. ”

Rokossovsky's eyebrows rose slightly, and then he asked a little nervously: "The enemy's resistance has suddenly strengthened, so has there been any change in their forces in this area?" ”

"Comrade Rokossovsky, you guessed right." "According to the reports of our scouts, the Germans have transferred a large number of troops from elsewhere, and the enemy has greatly strengthened the Orlov group, which may launch a counter-assault at any time," said Leutel in an affirmative tone. I fear that if the situation continues like this, we will have to stop the offensive and go on the defensive. ”

Knowing the current situation, Rokossovsky frowned and pondered what to do next. Hearing that there was no voice from Rokossovsky's side, Leitel raised his voice again and said: "Comrade Rokossovsky, if your 70th Army does not intensify its offensive, it will only take a day or two at most for the German army to launch a counter-assault on our army in the existing area, and then the situation may get out of control." ”

"I know, General Leitel." Rokossovsky said with some confidence: "I will readjust my troops as soon as possible and relaunch the offensive against the German troops in front of me in a short period of time in order to save the current unfavorable situation." ”

"Good." Hearing Rokossovsky's reply, Leitel breathed a sigh of relief: "Then I'll wait for your good news." ”