Rokossovsky got into the jeep and was about to give the driver an order to drive, when Lobachev, who was sitting next to him, looked in the direction of Vyazma and said with emotion: "Comrade commander, we are getting farther and farther away from Vyazmako. Pen %Fun %Pavilion www.biquge.info"

Lobachev's words stirred up Rokossovsky's heart, and he couldn't help but think of the old soldier who showed him the way, and the old man's words seemed to give him a heavy slap in the face, making his face feel hot and his heart extremely heavy.

Seeing Rokossovsky in a daze, Lobachev couldn't help but ask with concern: "Comrade commander, what are you thinking?" ”

Rokossovsky came to his senses from his contemplation, looked up at Lobachev, sighed, and said leisurely: "Comrade Military Commissar, I was thinking about the old man who showed us the way. His words really made me feel ashamed, as a soldier, in the face of the rushing enemy, not only can not stand up to protect our people, on the contrary, but also have to flee, this is really a shame for a soldier. ”

Lobachev raised his hand and patted Rokossovsky on the shoulder, comforting him: "Comrade commander, you don't have to feel guilty, this time there was an accident, the superiors attached to our troops did not arrive at the appointed position within the specified time, which made it impossible for us to build a new defense in Vyazma. After saying that, he instructed the driver: "Drive!" ”

The convoy had been moving along the road for less than ten minutes, when suddenly the roar of aircraft engines was heard in the air, and when Rokossovsky heard this, he immediately frowned, and he immediately ordered: "Stop!" ”

Without waiting for the car to stop, he pushed the door open and jumped out, holding up his binoculars and looking in the direction from which the sound came. More than a dozen black dots appeared in the sky to the west, moving in the direction of the convoy. Seeing this, Rokossovsky hurriedly rushed to the convoy behind him and shouted loudly: "Air raid siren, all vehicles immediately withdraw into the woods." ”

The driver of a jeep that followed immediately after him heard Rokossovsky's shouts and immediately slammed the steering wheel and drove the car into the woods on the side of the road. Although the car behind was far away, it was difficult to hear what the commander was shouting, but when they saw a car in front of them turn around and drive into the woods, and the roar of an airplane came from the air, everyone understood what was going on, so they turned around and drove into the woods by the roadside.

Seeing that all the vehicles had driven into the woods one after another, Rokossovsky asked the driver to drive the car into the woods, and at this time, even without binoculars, he could clearly see the incoming planes with the naked eye.

The German planes came to the original position of the command and, after circling for a while, began to dive and drop bombs. Rokossovsky and several colleagues were stunned when they saw that the position they had been staying in was being attacked by German planes. After a long while, he turned his head to look at the other commanders and asked in surprise: "Strange, how did the Germans know the location of our headquarters and still be able to bomb with such precision?" ”

Malinin held the binoculars and looked over there for a while, and then said tentatively: "Comrade commander, maybe our command was found by the German monitoring unit when the report was issued, please lock the position. ”

"Well, it's possible." Lobachev agreed with Malinin's analysis, and at the same time said happily: "Fortunately, we moved in time, otherwise we would have suffered huge losses now." ”

Rokossovsky raised his hand and looked at his watch and said: "After the departure of the enemy aircraft, we will continue to move." We must find a way to get in touch with the Front Headquarters and the troops below as soon as possible, otherwise we will be attacked by the Germans until we are finally annihilated. ”

A new command post was established in the forest north-east of the city of Vyazma and north of the main Vyazma-Mozhask road. As soon as the headquarters was established, Rokossovsky asked Malinin to send a reconnaissance team to conduct reconnaissance in four directions, south, east, and west, to understand the enemy's movements and to look for possible small Soviet units.

It was not until the evening of the next day that the reconnaissance teams sent out returned one after another, and according to the summary information, Rokossovsky was surprised to find that the main road east of Vyazma had been cut off by the German armored forces, and they were attacking this direction from the west with dense forces; German motorized infantry had completely occupied the city of Vyazma; The enemy forces are constantly advancing along the road to Sychovka.

Seeing these bad news, Rokossovsky's heart was extremely heavy, he felt that he had almost reached the point of exhaustion, not to mention that there were only more than 100 people in his hands now, even if it was ten times more, it would be useless in the face of the German troops that occupied an absolute advantage.

Just as Rokossovsky was sitting in the rudimentary command center smoking a cigarette with his head down, Malinin suddenly ran over in a hurry and said with some emotion: "Comrade commander, our scouts have brought back a commander of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. ”

"The Ministry of Internal Affairs?" When he heard Malinin say this, Rokossovsky's heart twitched violently, and he said that it would not be the superiors who sent someone to arrest me? However, seeing the joy on Ma Linin's face, he felt that he had guessed wrong, so he extinguished his cigarette butt and asked curiously: "Chief of Staff, did he say which part he is?" ”

Before Malinin could answer, an officer of medium stature appeared in front of Rokossovsky. He stood up on the spot, then straightened his back and reported: "Comrade General, the commander of the cavalry company of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Guo Sha, reports to you that my troops and I are following your orders, please instruct!" ”

When Rokossovsky heard that the other party was a cavalryman, his heart was much more relieved, after all, the Ministry of Internal Affairs arrested people, and it seemed that there was no precedent for sending cavalry. Especially when I heard the other party say that I was willing to obey my command, I finally fell to the ground with the big stone hanging in my heart. He got up and shook Captain Gosha's hand, and said politely: "Comrade Captain, I don't know where your troops are stationed?" ”

"Tumanov." Gosha replied with some restraint: "The rest of the troops have moved to the front or retreated, leaving only our cavalry company to be responsible for the defense of the city. You also know that a city like Tumanov, with just a hundred of my cavalry, is far from enough. So I met your scouts today, and when I heard that your headquarters was located here, I immediately rushed over, hoping to put your troops under your command. ”

"Great, Comrade Captain, it's wonderful." Although even with the addition of more than 100 people, the overall strength of the army is still very weak, but at least it has the capital to deal with the German army, so Rokossovsky said with a smile: "With your joining, the strength of our army can be greatly strengthened." ”

Seeing that Rokossovsky agreed to command his troops, Gosha also seemed happy. He suddenly remembered something important, and hurriedly reported: "Comrade General, there is another piece of information that I need to report to you immediately. ”

"Comrade Captain, what important information is there?" Rokossovsky knew that the Ministry of Internal Affairs had its own special channels for intelligence collection, and hurriedly asked: "Is it related to the German army?" ”

Gosha nodded, and then said: "That's right, according to the information we have, the German army has established a defensive zone in the area west of Vyazma, completely cutting off all the retreats of our troops. ”

"Did you report it to your superiors?"

"No," Gosha replied, shaking her head, "Our contact with our superiors has been cut off, so we can't report the information we have detected to our superiors at all. ”

"Comrade Captain," Lobachev, who had been sitting next to him without speaking, suddenly asked, "Is it still safe in the city of Tumanov?" ”

When Rokossovsky heard Lobachev ask this, he couldn't help but turn his head and look at him strangely, then turned his head again and looked at Gosha, waiting for his reply. Gosha said: "The people in the city of Tumanov are now panicking, and everyone is rushing to flee outside the city, if you plan to set up your headquarters in the city, I advise you not to do so, because the enemy tanks will rush into the city without knowing when." ”

"That's right, the captain is right." Rokossovsky was terrified by the sight of being chased by German tanks and armored vehicles before leaving Vyazma, so he said decisively: "In the current situation, it is not suitable for us to locate the new headquarters in the city of Tumanov, so as not to encounter the German armored forces again." ”

"Comrade Commander, I don't understand." Hearing that Rokossovsky was going to transfer the command again, Lobachev asked with some surprise: "We have only been here for a day, why do we have to retreat in a hurry?" ”

"I'm moving command for two reasons." When explaining the reason to Lobachev, Rokossovsky raised two fingers, "First, the German army is advancing very fast, and we will soon fall into the encirclement of the German army here; Second, the command has been sending telephone calls to the outside all the time today, and such dense radio waves will definitely attract the attention of the German troops, and maybe their planes will fly here again and bomb us indiscriminately. ”

Rokossovsky thought it would take some more lip service to convince Lobachev. But unexpectedly, as soon as he finished saying the two reasons, Lobachev instructed Malinin: "Chief of Staff, inform the members of the command and the guard company to prepare for the transfer." We have to get out of here in half an hour. ”

Leaving the location of the second command, the convoy, guided by Captain Gosha, came to the forest of Tumannovo. In the middle of the forest, there is an abandoned earthen kiln, which is the best place to set up a headquarters.

After dark, Rokossovsky summoned the people of the command to a meeting, and after explaining the current situation to everyone, he asked: "Comrade commanders, we are in a very dangerous situation now, what should we do next, please express your opinions and share your opinions." ”

The first to speak was Kazakov, who stood up and swept his gaze over everyone before he spoke: "Commanders, I think that in the current situation we can no longer wait, and it is unrealistic to hope that troops will come to our aid from the east. In other words, not only do we now have nothing to do to help the besieged troops, but we ourselves are caught between the inner and outer encirclements of the Dekor. Judging by all indications, the German army is working to strengthen the outer encirclement in order to prevent our troops from breaking through the encirclement. ”

"Comrade Chief of Artillery," Orel couldn't help but interrupt him when he heard this, and asked, "What do you mean, do you mean that we should decisively take the means of breaking through the encirclement and jumping out of the enemy's encirclement?" ”

"That's right, Comrade Colonel." Kazakov looked at Orel and nodded, and said affirmatively: "What I mean is to immediately break through and jump out of the slightly less tight encirclement of the German army." As for the direction from which to break through," he said, turning his gaze to Rokossovsky, "it is still up to the comrade commander to decide." ”

Rokossovsky saw that all the people, after listening to Kazakov's words, focused their eyes on themselves, stood up and said decisively: "Since everyone has no objections, then we are ready to break through." As for the direction of the breakthrough, I decided to choose the northeast direction, because the enemy forces there may not be dense, and it is more likely that we will encounter our troops who have broken through. Next, we began to assign the formation of the breakout. ”

Speaking of this, Rokossovsky paused for a moment, organized the vocabulary in his head, and continued: "All the personnel were organized into several detachments and advanced in 3 columns. The first column was led by General Kazakov, the second in the middle was led by me, the third was led by Colonel Orel, and all the cars followed in the third echelon. The tasks of marching vigilance and reconnaissance were carried out by the cavalry companies of the NKVD. ”

After announcing his decision, Rokossovsky looked at his subordinates in front of him again and asked loudly: "Do you have any different opinions?" ”

"Nope." All replied in unison.

"Since there is no disagreement among everyone, let's get ready immediately." Rokossovsky raised his hand and looked at his watch, and said: "In order to ensure the success of the breakout operation, tomorrow, that is, during the day on October 8, we will have a day off. In the evening, we began to march northeast to break through the German encirclement. ”

After the commanders who received the order dispersed one after another, Lobachev, who remained behind, said to Rokossovsky: "Comrade commander, the situation is not optimistic. It looks like it will rain soon, and when it does, the roads get muddy. You know, we have hundreds of cars today, and it's very difficult to march on a road in such a bad state. ”

"Comrade Commander." Ma Lining, who had just walked out, suddenly ran in again and said urgently: "Good news, good news! ”

Hearing the good news, Rokossovsky's eyes couldn't help but light up, and he hurriedly grabbed his arm and asked excitedly: "Chief of staff, what good news, is it that you have been in contact with the front command?" ”

"No, it's not with the Front Command." Malinin gently wrenched his arm from Rokossovsky's grasp, and then reported: "One of our tank battalions was found nearby, they have nine tanks left." The commander sent someone to ask if we could get them to join us. ”

"Okay, no problem, let them join us." When Rokossovsky heard that another unit had joined, he couldn't help but say with some excitement: "In order to break through the encirclement of the German army, of course, the more troops we have, the better." (To be continued.) )