Although Vasilevsky said that he would come to inspect the next day, Rokossovsky waited until noon and did not see any trace of the Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army. He thought that the other party had changed his itinerary temporarily, and he specially called the General Staff to inquire. Unexpectedly, the officer on duty told him that the convoy of Comrade Chief of the General Staff had set off before dawn.

Putting down the phone, Rokossovsky immediately called Maksimenko in front of him and asked with a serious expression: "Comrade Director, did you receive a telegram from the Chief of the General Staff?" ”

"Nope." Shaking his head, Maksimenko said: "Our radio station has been calling non-stop, but we have never been able to get in touch with them. ”

Hearing that Vasilevsky's radio signal was not received, he hurriedly ordered Malinin: "Chief of Staff, call the commander of the Air Force, Rudenko, tomorrow he will send a reconnaissance plane to search along the road through Moscow, and the chief of the General Staff must be found in the shortest possible time." ”

Malinin knew that Rokossovsky was worried about Vasilevsky's safety when he issued such an order, so he turned his head to look at the goose feather snow flying outside the window, and kindly reminded: "Comrade commander, it is snowing heavily outside, and our reconnaissance plane cannot take off. Even if I can take off safely, I think it will be very difficult to find the whereabouts of the Chief of the General Staff in the white snow. ”

As soon as he finished speaking, Terekin chimed in: "That's right, Comrade Commander. If it's a sunny day, we can also send planes to conduct reconnaissance; But in a snowstorm with such visibility, I felt that it was a little inappropriate to send a reconnaissance plane to find the whereabouts of the Chief of the General Staff. ”

Malinin and Terekin's words reminded Rokossovsky that he felt that he was a little too reckless, and that he was concerned and confused, because he was a little out of order when he didn't see Vasilevsky appear. Perhaps the convoy from Moscow was stuck on the road because the snow was too deep at the moment, so it was unable to reach it for a long time. Thinking of this, he waved his hand at Malinin and said, "Chief of Staff, since this is the case, then you don't need to call General Rudenko again." But we can't just sit here and wait, so let's send three automatic sleds and search in the direction of Moscow to see if we can meet them on the road. ”

While Rokossovsky and Malinin were in the headquarters discussing the need to send a small detachment to carry out a search operation along the road to Moscow in automatic sleds, the troops of the 27th Guards Division were braving a snowstorm and making a difficult advance along the designated route.

Due to the heavy snow blocking the roads, tanks, armored vehicles, and trucks could not move, so in the marching troops, whether they were division commanders or ordinary soldiers, they could only use the method of walking, in the knee-high snow, to advance to the designated place with difficulty.

The snowstorm had been raging for most of the day, and there was no sign of abating, and the division chief of staff approached the division commander beside him, panting and shouting loudly: "Comrade division commander, the snow is too big, if the troops continue to advance, the physical strength of the commanders and fighters will not be able to support it, I am worried that there will be a large number of non-combat attrition, it is better to find a place to rest first, and wait for the snow to stop before leaving." ”

The division commander stopped, covered his face with his hands, and half-squinted his eyes, trying to see the road ahead. Regrettably, however, nothing could be seen except the marching procession slowly moving forward and the white wasteland. He sighed softly and said to the division chief of staff: "No, comrade chief of staff, you don't see the unobstructed wasteland all around. If our troops stop here to rest, it won't be long before the commanders and fighters get a lot of frostbite. We had to keep going, find a village or a dense woods and camp again. ”

As soon as the division commander finished speaking, the chief of staff of the division hurriedly called a communications soldier next to him and instructed him: "You go and tell the commander of the vanguard regiment to immediately send scouts to carry out reconnaissance and find a suitable camping site." ”

Before the signal corps had time to leave, the sharp-eyed division commander noticed that someone was running in the direction of the team, and hurriedly called the chief of staff: "Wait a minute, chief of staff, there is still someone coming from the front, let's listen to what he has to say first." ”

When the visitor saw several officers standing here, and there were several soldiers with loaded guns around them, they shouted loudly from afar: "Where is the division commander?" ”

"I'm here." When the division commander heard the shout, he hurriedly stepped forward, looked at the soldiers who were trotting over, and asked loudly: "What part are you from, and what do you have to report?" ”

The soldier ran to the division commander, raised his hand and saluted, and said a little breathlessly: "Report to the division commander, comrade, I am a signal soldier of the vanguard regiment. We have just discovered a village ahead of us, and the commander of the regiment intends to camp there, and has sent me to ask you for advice. ”

"It's great." The division chief of staff turned his head to look at the division commander and said emotionally: "Comrade division commander, since there is a village, let's camp there." ”

The division commander raised his hand to interrupt the words of the chief of staff, and continued to ask the soldiers: "How far is the village from here, and how many people can it accommodate?" ”

In response to the division commander's question, the communications soldier hesitated for a moment, and then replied: "It is not a small village, and according to the villagers, there is no problem in stationing four or five thousand people in it." ”

When the division chief of staff heard this, he couldn't help but interject: "What, you still found the local villagers? ”

The communications officer nodded and replied affirmatively: "Yes, Comrade Chief of Staff." In the villages where we were stationed, there were quite a few emancipated collective farm workers. Seeing that our commanders and fighters were tired, they used the carts in their carts to meet the soldiers and their weapons to the village. ”

After listening to the report of the signal corps, the chief of staff of the division could not help but light up, and hurriedly said to the division commander: "Comrade division commander, it seems that the situation is not as bad as we imagined, and I suddenly have a good idea now. ”

"What a good idea, let's hear it." The division commander said.

"We can borrow carts from the collective farm workers to transport our troops." The chief of staff of the division said confidently: "In this way, we will be able to greatly increase the speed of our march." ”

The division commander shook his head and said regretfully: "Chief of staff, there are only a dozen or twenty carts in a village at most, which is a drop in the bucket for our troops of several thousand people, and it will not play a big role at all. Seeing that the division commander had rejected his proposal, the chief of staff couldn't help but show a look of disappointment on his face.

The division command followed the troops forward for more than half an hour, and finally came to a village covered with snow. The chief of staff of the division unexpectedly found quite a few people standing at the entrance of the village, in addition to the soldiers in white camouflage uniforms, there were also many people in civilian clothes. "What the hell is going on, what are those people doing standing there?" He muttered.

The answer was soon revealed, and seeing the arrival of the division headquarters, the group of people immediately greeted them. The chief of staff of the division quickly recognized the commander who was at the forefront, the commander of the vanguard regiment, and behind him was a group of ordinary people, who were supposed to live in the village.

After the regiment commander stepped forward to report the situation in the village to the division commander, he continued: "Comrade division commander, this snowstorm will not stop for a while and a half, and our commanders and fighters are already tired. ”

"Comrade Colonel." Looking at the subordinates standing in front of him, the division commander nodded with satisfaction, "You are right, our commanders and fighters must have been very tired after walking for most of the day, so let them rest in this village for the time being." ”

Seeing that the division commander agreed to his request, a smile appeared on the regiment commander's face. He turned sideways and called a common man standing behind him and introduced him to the division commander: "Comrade division commander, this is the village Soviet member of the village, and he has just led people to transport our soldiers and their weapons and equipment into the village in a cart. ”

The division commander shook hands with the bearded committee member, and asked anxiously: "Comrade committee member, I don't know how far we have to go from here to the next village?" ”

The commissioner looked at the division commander and said with the usual expression: "There are still twelve versts, but in such weather, you can't continue to advance, so let's go to the village to rest." ”

…………

In the evening, Vasilevsky, who had lost contact, finally appeared at Rokossovsky's headquarters. Rokossovsky hurriedly stepped forward to shake hands with him and said with concern: "Comrade Chief of the General Staff, you have finally arrived. It's been so long that we haven't had your whereabouts, and we're in a hurry. ”

After shaking hands, Vasilevsky patted the snow on his body and said with a smile: "Comrade Rokossovsky, I'm really sorry to worry you." I also didn't expect this snowstorm to be so big, it stuck my convoy on the road and couldn't move forward, and in the end there was no choice but to abandon the car and walk. Luckily, I met the automatic sled you sent, and I'm still on the road. ”

With that, he walked towards the conference table, wanting to pour a cup of hot tea to warm up. Just as he picked up the teapot and teacup, he unexpectedly saw the Browning pistol that Rokossovsky had placed on the table, so he took it up curiously, and said: "Good gun, good gun, really a good gun." ”

After playing with it for a while, he pulled out the magazine and looked at it, and couldn't help frowning and asking: "Comrade Rokossovsky, why do you have only one bullet in your gun?" ”

When Rokossovsky heard Vasilevsky's question, he naturally did not tell him that he was going to commit suicide when he was arrested by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Instead, he said euphemistically: "Comrade Chief of the General Staff, this is a war affair now, and accidents may happen at any time, and in order to avoid becoming a prisoner of the Germans, this is the last bullet left for myself!" ”