After Romanovsky took office, the first thing he did when he came to the headquarters was to ask the chief of staff to take a look at the troop map and the battle plan. After reading it, he couldn't help frowning and asked, "Comrade Chief of Staff, I would like to ask, since we are attacking to the north, why are there so few troops deployed on the front, and most of the troops are concentrated on the two flanks?" ”

"Comrade commander," replied the chief of staff, "you know, if we concentrate the main forces on the front of the offensive, the army group is in danger of being cut off as soon as the enemy launches a counter-assault on us from the flanks." ”

"Comrade Chief of Staff, I remind you to pay attention." As soon as Romanovsky and the other chiefs of staff finished speaking, they immediately said in a stern tone: "Our right flank is General **v's 70th Army, and on the left flank is General Osikovsky's 3rd Guards Cavalry Army. If they will actually protect our flanks, why would we put so many troops on the flanks where there is almost no fighting? Don't you know that such a deployment is meaningless and will even affect our next combat operations? ”

When the chief of staff heard Romanovsky say this, he did not dare to defend himself, but cautiously asked: "Comrade commander, then you say, what should we do?" ”

Romanovsky pointed to the map and instructed the chief of staff: "All three divisions deployed on the left and right flanks should be transferred to the offensive front." As long as we can move forward quickly, then we can disrupt the German defenses, they can't even take care of their own defenses, where will they have the energy to carry out a counter-assault on us. ”

Thanks to the timely reinforcement of the forces of the offensive front, the pace of advance of the entire army group was greatly increased. In the face of the Germans' well-fortified towns, the troops did not adopt the rigid tactics of frontal assault, but with the cooperation of artillery, they carried out a frontal feint with a part of their forces to attract the attention of the defenders, while the main force quickly detoured from both flanks to the enemy's flank or rear to carry out a surprise assault.

The Germans did not know that the Soviets had changed their commanders, and in the face of the Soviet attack, they still used the old way of playing, and when their flanks or rear were attacked, they immediately fell into chaos. The defensive line, which originally seemed impregnable, soon collapsed under the attack of the Soviets from several sides.

With the adjustment of forces and the change of tactics, the speed of the advance of the 19th Army was greatly accelerated, and Rokossovsky was very satisfied with this. But when he had carefully measured the distance on the map, he said to Bogolyubov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, although the 19th Army, under the command of General Romanovsky, has advanced much faster. But we should still see that the distance between them and General Panfilov's tank army is still 40 kilometers, which is a very dangerous distance, which makes it easy for the tank army to be cut off by the enemy. ”

Bogolyubov heard Rokossovsky's voice-over, and hurriedly asked: "Comrade Marshal, tell me, what should we do?" ”

Rokossovsky slapped the map twice with his face, and then said: "In order to prevent the tank army from being cut off by the enemy, immediately send a telegram to Panfilov ordering his troops to fortify themselves in the area of Bublitz and Cechendorf and wait for the arrival of the main forces." At the same time, the 19th Army of General Romanovsky was ordered to speed up the offensive and rush to join forces with the tank corps as soon as possible. ”

Without waiting for Bogolyubov to leave, Su Bojing broke in from the outside, and when he saw that Rokossovsky and Bogolyubov were there, he raised a piece of paper in his hand and said excitedly: "Comrade Marshal, good news, I just received a call from the Supreme High Command saying that a salute will be fired on Red Square tonight to salute the troops that captured Novostadin. At the same time, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief himself ordered that the troops of General Oslikovsky, the tank corps of General Panfilov, and the pilots, artillerymen, sappers and signal corps of General Vershinin who took part in this battle be commended for their exploits in the capture of this large city, an important transport hub and a strong support point for the enemy. ”

Rokossovsky took the telegram from Su Bojing's hand and quickly skimmed through its contents. Although Su Bojing had already told himself everything about the telegram, he always felt that he would feel at ease only if he saw it with his own eyes. After reading the telegram, Rokossovsky sighed, handed the telegram to Bogolyubov again, and said to him: "Comrade Chief of Staff, when you gave the order, by the way, you also conveyed the order of commendation from the Supreme Commander himself to the troops. ”

The commendation order from the Supreme High Command was soon transmitted by telegram to the troops. The troops who had received the commendations were certainly jubilant, but those that had not been rewarded were stimulated, and as soon as it was dark, the troops stopped attacking, but when they heard that the friendly forces had been commended, and even the Supreme Command had fired a salute on Red Square to salute them, they immediately became breathless and asked the commanders of their respective armies to fight, demanding that they attack the enemy day and night.

The commanders of the various army groups are worried about the gradual weakening of the offensive capability of their troops, and they are racking their brains to consider how to mobilize the enthusiasm of their troops. At this moment, seeing that his subordinates were as excited as if they had been beaten with chicken blood, he agreed to their request smoothly.

In the ensuing battle, the armies broke out with amazing combat effectiveness, first the 70th Army broke through the frontal defense of the German army, and in two days, advanced 12 kilometers to the northwest, wedged into the depth of the German defense.

The commanders and fighters of the 49th Army, after a day of fierce fighting, completely annihilated the enemy occupying Ossovo and recaptured the city.

The Germans found that the force most dangerous to them was General Romanovsky's 19th Army, so they concentrated hundreds of tanks and 5,000 soldiers in the Rumylisburg area, trying to use the cover of night to sneak up on the flank of the 19th Army to relieve the pressure on their frontal defenses.

But their attempt was discovered by scouts hiding in the area, who immediately sent this information back to the army group headquarters by telegram. As soon as Romanovsky received the information, he ordered his chief of staff: "Chief of Staff, transfer the 40th Infantry Corps over and give the enemy a head-on attack." ”

"Comrade commander," the chief of staff carefully reminded Romanovsky, "this corps is a lightly armed army, there are no heavy weapons, I am afraid it will be difficult to hold off the enemy's tanks." You see, do you need to send artillery to fight with them? ”

"Artillery, not for the time being. Fighting in an unfamiliar environment at night, there is a high probability that the shells will fall on the heads of their own people. Romanovsky said to the chief of staff: "You tell the commander of the army that he will be given the command of the artillery only after dawn." Therefore, he must do everything he can to stop this enemy. ”