Kochetov agreed, and together with the warrior, stepped forward to frame Felip, ready to take him away. Seeing that the captain was about to be taken away by the two, Lieutenant Colonel Liao En, who had been beside him without speaking, suddenly shouted: "Please wait a minute." ”

Then he turned to Rokossovsky and said: "Comrade General, according to my judgment, this captain should not be some coward who is greedy for life and afraid of death. Because I have seen the detachment he led, half of them were wounded, and they must have fought fiercely with the Germans. ”

Hearing Lyon's words of intercession for Felip, Rokossovsky also felt that his handling was a bit too hasty, so he nodded, waved his hand at Kochetov, signaled him to let go of Felip for the time being, and then asked with a serious expression: "Captain, tell me, what task your division commander assigned to you." ”

Felip sorted out his military appearance, and then replied with his head held high without squinting: "Report to Comrade Commander, the task of our company is to continue to hold Lublin after the main forces of the division have retreated. And through stubborn resistance, to contain the enemy's forces, to ensure that the main force can retreat safely. ”

"What?" When Rokossovsky heard what Ferip had said, he was taken aback, because he remembered that Chernyaev had reported this to him, so he asked tentatively: "After Colonel Chernyaev led the troops to retreat, was it you who led a company of troops to hold Lublin?" ”

"That's right, Comrade Commander." Captain Perip replied affirmatively, "It is the company I lead." ”

Although the captain answered in the affirmative, Rokossovsky was still a little skeptical, and had the heart to ask Chernyaev, who was now unable to communicate with the 20th Tank Division. In this case, should you choose to believe or not believe everything the captain said?

Just when Rokossovsky was in a dilemma, he suddenly heard someone call him. Following the voice, I saw Kochetov, who was standing behind Felip, scratching the back of his head and saying with some hesitation: "Comrade commander, I seem to have heard the soldiers of the 20th Tank Division say that the commander who left behind to command the troops to block the German army seems to be called that." ”

When Rokossovsky heard Kochetov say this, the stone hanging in his heart finally fell to the ground. You must know that this second lieutenant, who was promoted by himself, is from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and collecting intelligence is their forte. Although he was not sure enough, it undoubtedly indirectly proved that what Captain Fripp said was true.

Rokossovsky took a few steps forward, took the initiative to shake Felip's hand, shook it vigorously, and said apologetically: "I'm sorry, Comrade Captain, but I was too reckless to ...... without knowing the state"

Captain Felip was taken aback by what Rokossovsky said, you must know that the Soviet army is highly hierarchical, and even if the superiors do something wrong, they will not take the initiative to apologize to their subordinates. And now the dignified commander of the First Army actually held his hand and apologized to himself, making him feel as if he was in a dream, so he hurriedly said: "Comrade commander, I can't blame you, it's because I didn't report clearly, that's why you have such a misunderstanding." ”

Seeing the ice between Rokossovsky and Felip, a relieved smile appeared on Rion's face. When Rokossovsky's attention shifted back to himself, he hurriedly asked: "Comrade General, I have other things to do, do you allow me to go back to the army?" ”

Hearing Lyon's request, Rokossovsky shook his head, then pointed to the position next to the table with his hand and said: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, you can't leave yet. Please be seated! Then he said to Fripp, "Comrade Captain, please sit down too!" ”

After the two of them sat down, he put his hands on the edge of the table, leaned forward slightly, and said to Liao En first: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, the tank division under my command has suffered serious losses in the recent battle, and now there are not many tanks left. And this tank battalion you deployed to the west of the city also suffered a lot of casualties. In order to be able to hold off the fiercer German attack, I would like you to strengthen our defenses by removing thirty to fifty tanks from the two tank battalions deployed in the other directions. ”

As soon as Rokossovsky finished speaking, a look of embarrassment appeared on Lyon's face, and he said with a sad face: "Comrade General, although there are still a large number of tanks in the other two tank battalions, they have to cooperate with the garrison to hold the warehouse, and no one can move these tanks at will without the consent of the commander. ”

Hearing that the other two tank battalions could not be mobilized, Rokossovsky was slightly disappointed. He knew in his heart that since Lukin had explained this to Liao En, even if he called to make a request, he probably wouldn't come to the tank. If you want to hold on to the existing defensive zone for a longer period of time, you will need to find another way.

As he frowned and pondered, he accidentally saw Perip sitting in a precarious position, and he couldn't help but ask, "Comrade Captain, tell me, how did you get out of danger?" ”

Fripp stood up suddenly, straightened his body and looked ahead, and said: "Report to Comrade Commander, after the main force of the division retreated, I took all the captured German officers and soldiers into the trenches, except for a small number of soldiers left to guard them, the rest were hidden in the second line of trenches.

When the attacking enemy saw so many people in the trenches, he naturally thought it was our troops, so he shelled and bombed, and fought happily. When they felt that they had almost wiped out the men in the trenches, they launched an attack on our positions under the guidance of tanks. ”

Speaking of this, Felip turned his gaze to Rokossovsky: "Commander, you have asked us to set our fire in those captured French tanks, and when we saw the enemy charge, our fighters came out of their hideouts, got into the tanks, and strafed the enemy's dense charging formation with machine guns. ”

Rokossovsky couldn't help but say when he thought of the scene when the German infantry crashed into a fire net composed of dozens of machine guns at the same time: "I think the scene must have been spectacular." ”

"The Germans never dreamed that we would set our fire on those captured tanks, so in just a few minutes, we were defeated." Flip said with some pride: "In this way, we held out on the outskirts of Lublin for a whole day. The enemy left at least six hundred corpses in front of the position, and we suffered no more than twenty or thirty casualties. ”

When Rokossovsky heard Felip say this, he couldn't help but ask curiously: "Comrade Captain, I wonder how many people are left in your company?" ”

"And 27 people." As soon as Felip finished speaking, he saw Rokossovsky frowning, and hurriedly added: "Comrade commander, although when we held Lublin, the casualties of the troops were not large. But after several failed attacks, the enemy changed their strategy and, taking advantage of the characteristics of our manpower, attacked from several directions at once. As soon as it was dark, the enemy rushed into the city from three directions, so I could only lead my troops to break through. By the time the troops rushed to Lyubom, less than 80 of the company's 249 men remained. We fought and walked, and by the time we retreated to the vicinity of Shepetovka, we had only 27 men left in our company. ”

"How effective are the troops?" Rokossovsky was disappointed to hear that there were only so many men left in the army, and he asked this in order to arrange a suitable place for them according to the situation.

"Comrade commander, although there are fewer people left, all of them are battle-hardened soldiers." Ferip said with great interest: "As long as you can replenish my troops, at most half a month, the troops will be able to form combat effectiveness." ”

Felip originally said something unintentionally, but hearing Rokossovsky's ears made him have a flash of inspiration, and he thought to himself: "Yes, why didn't I think of this, although there are not many soldiers left under Captain Flip, they are all the backbone of the battle for the rest of their lives." A unit with a fighting backbone has the characteristics of strong cohesion, strong combat effectiveness, and cannot be defeated without delay; as long as it is supplemented with sufficient soldiers, it will soon be able to form combat effectiveness and become an elite unit. ”

He was about to speak, when he suddenly heard Felip say again: "Comrade Commander, there is important information that I need to report to you. ”

"Captain, what's this important piece of information?"

"Before we retreated into the forest, we found the German artillery positions!" (To be continued.) )