Over the next two days, Rokossovsky's troops came under an even heavier German attack. Although the enemy's attacks were repulsed again and again, the casualties of the troops skyrocketed. In order to compensate for the number of casualties in the troops, in addition to the small units and temporary recruits recruited from the refugees, he also reintegrated some of the wounded in the health camp who had weakened slightly into the troops.

Seeing Rokossovsky trying to replenish his troops from all sides, Kamenev asked with some concern: "Comrade army commander, is it appropriate to let many wounded people return to battle because their injuries have not healed at all?" ”

Rokossovsky glanced at Kamenev with a resentful gaze, and then said with a sad face: "My comrade political deputy commander, the current battle is getting more and more fierce, and we have fewer and fewer soldiers in our hands, and there is no way to rearrange the wounded into the battle sequence. ”

"We can make a request to our superiors and let them replenish our troops!" Kamenev said eloquently: "As far as I know, at the moment General Fedyuninsky has at his disposal as many as six infantry divisions. I think we can get a supplement from him in terms of troops. ”

"Comrade Kamenev, according to our reconnaissance, the fighting in Lutsk continues." As soon as Kamenev's words were finished, Maslov next to him continued: "If I am not mistaken, Fedyuninsky and the command of the Fifth Army should still be in the city." Not to mention that we have completely cut off contact with them now, even if the communication is still open, it is impossible to get reinforcements from them. They also had a serious shortage of troops, and they could barely hold the enemy back, but could not completely drive the enemy away from the city. ”

Although Maslov had made his words clear, Kamenev was still a little reluctant to say: "Maybe we should ask the front command for help, hoping to get some help from them." ”

"Comrade Political Deputy Commander," Maslov said with some tears and laughter, "don't you know that during this time, we have not been able to get in touch with the command of the Front Army at all?" ”

"Why, why is this happening?" Kamenev asked, somewhat frantically. "Why has our communications been in an abnormal state since the beginning of the war?"

"It's simple, Comrade Deputy Political Commander." Rokossovsky, who was looking at the map, raised his head and said to Kamenev: "Before the war, the communication between our troops was a wired network. And the enemy, before the attack, destroyed all our lines of communication, so that the superiors and the units lost contact with each other. Although many radio communication methods were adopted in the later period, due to the lack of sufficient professional communication personnel, the communication between us and our superiors would never work normally. ”

After listening to Rokossovsky's explanation, Kamenev asked with a grim face: "Comrade commander, according to my observations, there are fewer and fewer sporadic troops and refugees who have recently retreated from the west, that is, it will be more and more difficult for us to replenish troops in the future. Shouldn't we make a plan to think about abandoning our existing positions and retreating to the fortifications in the rear at the most dangerous moment? ”

"What, Comrade Political Deputy Commander, how can you say such things that shake the morale of the army at such a time?" When Maslov heard Kamenev say this, he couldn't help but get angry: "Even if we have only the last person left, we will definitely not take a step back." ”

"Comrade Chief of Staff, the political deputy commander has a point." Although Rokossovsky had always disliked Kamenev, after hearing his proposal, he unexpectedly expressed his support: "With our current forces, it is very unrealistic to completely block the enemy. All we can do is retreat to a reserve line with strong fortifications, build a new defense there, and continue to fight the enemy. When their vital forces are greatly depleted and the momentum of the offensive wanes, we can take the opportunity to launch a counteroffensive and drive them out of the border. ”

After hearing this, Maslov looked at Rokossovsky with some surprise and asked in surprise: "Comrade commander, do you also think that we will not be able to stop the enemy's attack?" ”

"Yes, my Comrade Chief of Staff." Rokossovsky replied in the affirmative: "The enemy has absolute superiority in both men and equipment, and they also have air supremacy, and it will be very difficult for us to defeat them." ”

After hearing this, Maslov was silent for a long time, and then asked a little dejectedly: "Comrade commander, then we need to start preparing for a retreat now?" ”

"Not yet." Rokossovsky rejected Maslov's proposal without hesitation, and continued: "Although we cannot hold back the enemy's attack, in the present situation, we must find ways to hold on to this place, contain a large number of German forces, and allow our friendly forces to withdraw smoothly to the reserve line." Of course, we must not be passive defensive, but we must actively take some actions to disrupt the rhythm of the German offensive. ”

Hearing Rokossovsky say this, Maslov's eyes lit up, and then he asked: "Comrade commander, do you have any plans?" ”

"According to intelligence, the enemy has taken Rivne and rushed to Zhytomyr." Rokossovsky's expression became serious when he mentioned the city where his troops had been stationed: "At present, there are only Lieutenant Colonel Vajim's motorized regiment and some militia units in the city, and they will not be able to support the fierce attack of the German army for long. ”

"Ah, the enemy has rushed to Zhytomyr?" Hearing that the Germans had rushed to the original garrison of the troops, Maslov couldn't help but say with some panic: "Comrade commander, the families of commanders at all levels in the army are there, and we can't help but see the city fall!" ”

"The enemy's forces are too strong, and we can't help each other." Rokossovsky said regretfully: "I only hope that Lieutenant Colonel Vajim will be clever and move away from the families of the commanders of the army before the enemy attacks the city." ”

"Comrade Commander, has Petrovna transferred?" Maslov asked with concern, and after seeing Rokossovsky nodding in affirmation, he asked curiously: "By the way, Comrade Commander, I'm curious, where did you know that the enemy is approaching Zhytomyr, you know that I haven't seen such a report in the past two days?" ”

Rokossovsky said to himself: Can I tell you that I have read all these things from the history books of later generations? Even if I told you, you wouldn't believe me, but instead think I'd be a madman. But it is not difficult to tell the source of this information, and it happened that I went to Lukin's headquarters this morning, and I blamed him on the matter. Thinking of this, he coughed and said, "Comrade Chief of Staff, I went to Commander Lukin this morning to report on my work, and I learned all this information from him. ”

Hearing that the information came from Lukin, Maslov's suspicions suddenly disappeared. After nodding his head, he asked: "Comrade commander, we must do something, we can't watch the enemy swaggering towards Zhytomyr." ”

"Comrade Chief of Staff, I will definitely not let the enemy rush to Zhytomyr so easily." Rokossovsky stared at the map and said: "Although we cannot use a large number of troops to deal with the enemy, then use small forces to harass the German transport lines and their camps, so that they have to divide a large number of forces to protect their own lines of communication, which can also indirectly reduce the pressure on the defenders." ”

Several people gathered around the map, discussing the next plan of action, and no one noticed a commander who walked in from the outside. The visitor stood at the door for a few minutes, and when he saw that everyone had never noticed him, he greeted them loudly: "Hello, comrades commanders! ”

Hearing this, Rokossovsky took his eyes off the map and shifted his gaze to the direction from which the voice came. I saw a ragged commander standing at the door, his face blackened by gunsmoke, and the military hat on his head had long since disappeared, revealing a full head of white hair.

Everyone looked at this uninvited guest for a long time, and then Maslov exclaimed: "My God, isn't this General Ryabishev?" You're alive, thank goodness! ”

Hearing Maslov say this, Rokossovsky also recognized the commander standing at the door, Lieutenant General Ryabesev, commander of the 8th Mechanized Corps, who was rumored to have died when his two tank divisions were crushed some time ago. I didn't expect him to appear in front of everyone at this moment.

"General Ryabishev," Rokossovsky took two steps towards him, stretched out his arms, and asked somewhat exaggeratedly, "did I see your ghost, or did you personally?" ”

Ryabishev stepped forward and gave Rokossovsky a hug, and then replied with a resolute expression: "Of course it's me, the Germans tried to kill me, but they didn't succeed." ”

"What the hell is going on?" Rokossovsky asked with some surprise: "The two tank divisions under your command were defeated, and the division commanders were all sacrificed, I thought you were also sacrificed, but I didn't expect you to be alive." ”

"Comrade Rokossovsky, the situation was indeed dangerous, my army headquarters in Dubno was attacked by German tanks, and it was the soldiers of the army guard battalion who covered me and retreated into the woods, where I fought the Germans for a while." After a brief account of his experience, Ryabishev looked at Rokossovsky and asked, "Can you get me something to eat?" I didn't eat for two days, and I was hungry. ”

"Grissa, Grissa." Rokossovsky heard Ryabesev say this, and hurriedly shouted twice at the door. When he saw the deputy commander of his guard battalion coming in, he immediately ordered him: "Go and prepare some food and drink for General Ryabshev at once, and send it here." Also, the commanders and fighters who came with the general outside also got them something to eat, and I think they were also hungry. ”

Ryabishev sat at the table and said to Rokossovsky while eating: "General Rokossovsky, the rest of our troops have been surrounded by the Germans in Dubno for four or five days, and not only are there no food to eat, but even ammunition is exhausted. In the end, I had no choice but to lead my troops to jump out of the gap between the enemy. When choosing the direction of action, it occurred to me that there were supply depots of our army in Shepetovka, so I went here with my troops. ”

"How many of you are left?" Rokossovsky was now short of troops, so he was eager to incorporate every soldier he saw into the regiment.

Ryabishev thought for a moment, then replied: "I have seven hundred more men under my command, all infantry, among whom there are more than a hundred wounded. However, as soon as they are replenished with weapons, ammunition and food, they will be able to return to the fight. ”

"Great, that's great, General Ryabesev." Hearing Ryabishev say this, Rokossovsky was really overjoyed, the fighters who were able to successfully withdraw from the Dubno area can basically be regarded as the backbone of the battle, as long as they are supplemented into the regiments, they will have the strength to deal with the German army. "I will immediately arrange for manpower to prepare weapons, ammunition and necessary food for your fighters."

Maslov looked at Ryabishev, who was gobbling up food, and couldn't help asking: "Comrade General, do you have any news about the headquarters of the Front?" ”

Ryabishev shook his head and replied: "I don't know very well, our army received an order from the Chief of the General Staff, General Zhukov, and rushed directly to Dubno to participate in the battle, and I have never met a commander from the command of the Front. ”

Rokossovsky couldn't help frowning when he heard Ryabesev say this, he clearly remembered that in the movie, when he ordered the Eighth Mechanized Army to attack the enemy regardless of the actual situation, it was the military commissar of the Front, Vashukin, but Lyabesev said that it was Zhukov himself who gave them the order, what the hell was going on. Thinking of this, he couldn't help but whisper to himself: "Could it be that the content in the movie is wrong?" ”

"What, Comrade Rokossovsky, what movie are you talking about?" Ryabishev's ears were tipped, and when he heard Rokossovsky's self-talk, he stopped and asked.

"Nothing, General Ryabishev," Rokossovsky hurriedly waved his hand and said: "I'm saying that I have watched movies before, saying that after the enemy provoked us, the plot of being beaten by us and throwing away his armor is somewhat unreal. ”

"I've seen the movie you mentioned." Ryabishev said with emotion, "The enemy in the movie is vulnerable. But as for the real enemy, their strength is far beyond our imagination, otherwise our several mechanized armies would not have been completely defeated by them in one day. (To be continued.) )