The commanders of the group armies, who were directing the troops to clear out the remnants of the enemy in the combat area, suddenly received an order from the front headquarters to immediately rush to the meeting. These commanders knew very well in their hearts that Rokossovsky was in a hurry to hold a meeting on his own at such a time, and he must have important combat tasks to be arranged, so he hurriedly explained to his chief of staff and hurried to the headquarters of the Front.

Fedyuninsky, who arrived first, after seeing Rokossovsky, asked straight to the point: "Hey, I said old man, are you in such a hurry to summon us here, do you have any important combat mission?" ”

"That's right, General Fedyuninsky." Rokossovsky nodded and replied: "Recruiting you here, naturally, there is an important combat mission. But until the operational plan of the General Staff is sent to the Command of the Front, forgive me for not being able to say anything for the time being. ”

The second to arrive was Lieutenant General Glishinsky, who saw Fedyuninsky sitting on a bench against the wall, and thinking that the other party had a close relationship with Rokossovsky, he sat down next to him and asked in a low voice: "General Fedyuninsky, do you know that Comrade Marshal urgently summoned us here and has any important combat missions?" ”

Who knew that Fedyuninsky listened to him, spread his hands, shrugged his shoulders and said: "I'm sorry, General Glishin, I don't know either." Not perfunctory to you, I, like you, don't know anything. Maybe we'll find out what's going on later in the meeting. ”

After glancing at Rokossovsky, who was sitting in the distance, Grischen whispered: "Look at the appearance of Comrade Marshal, there should be a big action!" ”

In response to Grischen's speculation, Fedyuninsky nodded and said: "I think it should be like this. After this period of fighting, we had destroyed tens of thousands of German troops, the enemy's forces in East Prussia were becoming weaker and weaker, and it seemed that our final general offensive was about to begin. ”

It happened that Bogolyubov passed in front of the two men with a telegram just sent by the General Staff, and happened to hear their conversation, so he casually said: "Yes, we are indeed going to launch a new offensive, but East Prussia will not be the target of our attack." After saying that, without waiting for the two to ask questions, he went straight to Rokossovsky, put the telegram in front of him, and said respectfully, "Comrade Marshal, the telegram from the General Staff has arrived." ”

"What, the direction of the general offensive is not in East Prussia?" Hearing Bogolyubov say this, both of them muttered in their hearts, you must know that the front army troops initially attacked to the west, and Zhukov's troops marched hand in hand to Berlin, who knew that the strategy of the Third Front went wrong, resulting in the direction of the attack changed from west to north, and fully cooperated with the Third Front Army to eliminate the enemy in East Prussia. However, it was only a long time before the offensive direction had to be adjusted.

By the time Rokossovsky finished reading the telegram, several other army commanders arrived. He stood up, walked to the conference table, and stood still, and beckoned to everyone, saying, "Comrades, sit down at the conference table, we are ready for a meeting." ”

Knowing that Rokossovsky must have something important to announce, several commanders sat around the table with hula and stared intently at Rokossovsky.

"Comrade commanders," Rokossovsky, after sweeping his gaze over several commanders present, said: "By order of the headquarters of the Supreme High Command, our front will no longer participate in the East Prussian campaign, but will transfer the main forces to a new direction. ”

After he finished speaking, although the meeting room was still very quiet, the hearts of several commanders were not calm, and they were all thinking: In what direction will the base camp transfer its troops to fight?

"Comrade commanders, please look at the map." Bogolyubov walked to the wall, pointed to the map on the wall with his stick, and said to the crowd: "Since we and Marshal Zhukov's troops are fighting in two different directions at the same time. So far, a gap of up to 150 kilometers wide has appeared between the 1st Belorussian Front, which is advancing in the direction of Berlin, and us, who are fighting in the area of East Prussia......"

Several army commanders attending the meeting had been busy directing their troops to annihilate the enemy in their own combat areas, and they simply did not have time to pay attention to the progress of friendly forces. Now when Bogolyubov said that there was a gap of 150 kilometers between the two armies, he could not help but be surprised. Everyone is a veteran commander who has experienced a hundred battles and has rich combat experience, so they naturally understand what it means that there is such a big gap between the two troops.

What Bogolyubov said next was, as expected: "The gap between our two fronts has been discovered by the Germans, whose high command is drawing forces from different regions and preparing to strike south from East Pomerania and strike hard at Marshal Zhukov's right flank, thus achieving the goal of cutting off the front." ”

"So," Batov interjected when he heard this, "our task is to take the lead in East Pomerania and completely crush the German attempt to attack Marshal Zhukov's flank?" ”

"That's right," Bogolyubov said, nodding his head, "the order given to us by the High Command is to launch the Battle of Eastern Pomerania tomorrow and crush the German offensive attempts." ”

"Tomorrow?!" Several commanders looked at each other, and after being stunned for a while, it was Batov who said on behalf of everyone: "Comrade Marshal, this time is too short, isn't it?" You must know that the troops of several of our group armies are scattered everywhere to destroy the enemy, and it is very difficult to gather them in a hurry. Look, can you give us a few more days to prepare? ”

Batov's words provoked a response from the other commanders, and Fedyuninsky continued: "The territory where we are about to launch an offensive is full of forests, swamps, and lakes, large and small, and the enemy has a well-developed defensive system, where we are waiting for us at leisure. If we fail to concentrate sufficient forces and technical equipment to launch a hasty attack, I am afraid that the attack will not be effective. ”

"We weren't prepared, and neither was the enemy." As soon as Rokossovsky waited for Fedyuninsky to finish speaking, he spoke: "As long as our offensive starts, we can disrupt the offensive deployment of the German army, and even if they do not give up their plan to attack Zhukov's right flank, they will not dare to attack unscrupulously." ”

"Comrade Marshal," Batov continued, "many of our divisions were already understaffed, and after this period of fighting, the attrition situation is very serious, and I would like to ask, when will the higher authorities be able to replenish us with new soldiers?" ”

"It's impossible to get our superiors to give us additional troops. Not to mention us, even Zhukov and Konev want to be replenished with soldiers, it is very difficult. Rokossovsky stared at Batov and said: "Therefore, you can only find a way to replenish the troops on the spot." ”

"Replenish troops on the spot?!" Hearing Rokossovsky say this, Batov almost jumped up from his seat: "Comrade Marshal, I think you may have forgotten that we are on the land of East Prussia, where the Germans and a part of the Poles live, how can they join our army and go to fight ***?" And even if they were willing to enlist, I was skeptical of their loyalty. ”

"From the day our troops entered East Prussia, I received reports on more than one occasion that captured commanders and fighters of our army were found in the occupied factories and farms engaged in hard labor." Rokossovsky said to the crowd: "I think it is completely possible to integrate these rescued fighters into our troops. Years of captivity have filled them with hatred for the bandits, and as long as they are rearmed and go to pay off the blood debt from the Germans, I believe they will exert amazing combat effectiveness. ”

"But is it appropriate to put so many captives into the army?" Batov asked cautiously.

Rokossovsky asked rhetorically: "Do you have any other way to replenish the shortage of soldiers besides them?" Seeing that Batov shook his head, he added, "Since there is no other way to replenish the troops, then select the healthy ones from these rescued fighters to replenish the troops." If the Supreme Command is held accountable in the future, I, as the commander of the front, will bear all the consequences. ”