After circulating this order to several commanders present, Rokossovsky said with a serious expression: "Comrade commanders, although I don't know why the command of the front army suddenly issued such an order to let the command of our army group leave the existing units and accept new ones at the height of the fighting. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 info But an order is an order, it is not allowed to be discussed, we can only follow the order. ”

Lobachev sighed and said, "In the current situation, this order can only be carried out. When General Yershakov came to receive the troops, we rushed to Vyazma as soon as possible to try to receive the troops waiting there as soon as possible. ”

As soon as he finished speaking, a warrior walked in from outside, walked up to Malinin's side, whispered a few words, and then stood by straightening up and motionless. Malinin hurriedly came over and reported to Rokossovsky: "Comrade commander, General Yershakov of the 20th Army has arrived, and now he is outside. ”

Hearing that Yershakov was coming, Rokossovsky shook his head at Lobachev and said: "Let's go, Comrade Military Commissar, let's go out together to meet him." ”

Several people came to the door, and with the help of the light of the bright moonlight, they saw more than a dozen commanders and fighters standing in the open space outside. Seeing Rokossovsky and them come out, one of them came out of the crowd and said to him with a smile: "Hello, Comrade Rokossovsky, I didn't expect us to meet again." ”

Rokossovsky glanced at the man and recognized it as General Yershakov, who had not been in contact for the past two days, and although he was extremely dissatisfied with him in his heart, he still took the initiative to reach out and politely said: "Hello, General Yershakov, welcome to the 16th Army." ”

"Hello, Comrade Rokossovsky." Yershakov probably did not expect that he would meet with Rokossovsky in this situation, so he said with some embarrassment: "I'm sorry, I've been in the grassroots army these days, so I didn't reply to your call in time, I hope you don't mind." ”

Rokossovsky was not in the mood to deal with the other side now, he just wanted to hand over the command of the troops as soon as possible, and then take his command to Vyazma to receive the new troops. So he just smiled faintly, then made a gesture of invitation sideways, and said: "General Yershakov, please come in!" Time is of the essence, so let's complete the handover of troops as soon as possible. ”

When they returned to the headquarters, the two sides sat down for a brief handover, and when the operational map and command of the troops were handed over to Yelshakov, Rokossovsky became the commander of the bare pole. Seeing that the members of the former 16th Army command were leaving, Yershakov, who felt guilty, took the initiative to ask: "Comrade Rokossovsky, there are still dozens of kilometers from here to Vyazma, and if there is no protection from the troops, I am afraid that you will be in danger." ”

Rokossovsky knew in his heart that the road from here to Vyazma would not necessarily be safe and sound, and he did not refrain from Yershakov's proposal, but nodded and said: "Then let me leave with a company from the guard battalion." ”

In this way, Rokossovsky and his comrades, escorted by a company of fighters, drove to Vyazma, only to receive five infantry divisions promised by their superiors.

On the way, Malinin, who was sitting in the co-pilot's seat, turned his head and asked Rokossovsky with some concern: "Comrade commander, what should we do if we rush to Vyazma and cannot find the troops we are going to receive?" ”

"Chief of Staff, you're overthinking." Without waiting for Rokossovsky to speak, Lobachev rushed to say: "Since the order for us to receive new troops was given by the commander of the Front, I am sure that there will be troops waiting for us in Vyazma." Maybe not as many as we believed, but there will definitely be troops waiting for us to receive them. ”

Compared with Lobachev's confidence, Rokossovsky's heart was particularly unsteady, and according to the memories of later generations, he vaguely remembered that in real history, after the headquarters of the 16th Army rushed to Vyazma, he found that there were no troops to receive here, just an empty city.

Thinking of this, he looked up at Malinin in the front row and said, "Chief of Staff, you go to Vyazma on a motorcycle first, and first go to see if there are any troops in the city." ”

Malinin originally had the same thoughts as Lobachev, thinking that since the front army command said that there were troops in Vyazma, there must be troops there waiting to receive them, at most, the number of troops was not as large as imagined. Hearing Rokossovsky's order at this moment, he couldn't help but pause for a moment, and then said carefully: "Comrade commander, I don't know what you're worried about?" Are you worried that in Vyazma, there are simply no troops prepared for us? ”

"yes, that's what I thought." Since only himself, Lobachev, Malinin and the driver were trustworthy people in the car, Rokossovsky dared to speak his mind: "Don't you think this order is a bit inexplicable? Why should we hand over the existing troops, and then go to receive new ones, and launch a counterattack against the German army, isn't it a bit redundant? ”

Lobachev, who was originally puzzled by Konev's order, couldn't help but nod his head when he heard Rokossovsky say this, and said with deep emotion: "Comrade Commander is right, if the higher authorities want us to counterattack the German army, we only need to send the new troops to us, why let us hand over the original troops to others first, and then go to receive the new troops?" I think this order is very problematic, and we need to have two more eyes in the execution of it. ”

"Okay then." Seeing that Rokossovsky and Lobachev were in agreement, Malinin no longer raised any objections, so he nodded and said: "Then I will first rush to the city by motorcycle to see if there are any troops, and then come back and report to you." After saying that, he said to the driver, "Stop!" ”

After the car stopped, Malinin pushed the door and got out of the car, beckoned a three-wheeled motorcycle, got into the sidecar, gave a few words to the motorcyclist, and then drove quickly in the direction of Vyazma.

Looking at the distant motorcycle, Lobachev said to Rokossovsky: "Comrade commander, according to intelligence, there is still an army group stationed on the Dnieper River east of Yaltsevo, do you want to visit the commander there and let our new troops establish contact with them?" ”

"There's no need to rush when it comes to establishing contact." Rokossovsky was not very interested in Lobachev's proposal, and if he was a bare-bones commander, what was the use of establishing contact with friendly troops, "Let's wait until we have received the troops and established a new defense." ”

According to the plan, the convoy was supposed to arrive in Vyazma before dawn. However, when there were still more than a dozen kilometers from the city, several cars broke down one after another, and if it was in normal times, maybe Rokossovsky would have left the drivers of these cars to repair the cars and continue on their own way. But now, he ordered all the cars to stop and wait for the broken down car to be repaired before continuing on the road.

It was such a delay, and it was already dawn. At this moment, Lobachev reminded Rokossovsky of the old matter: "Comrade commander, this place is only three kilometers from the Dnieper, why don't we take someone to see it, maybe we can meet the commander of the friendly army." ”

Seeing that Lobachev was so persistent, Rokossovsky did not want to spoil him, so he asked the convoy to stop on the side of the road again, and he and another truck full of fighters drove towards the bank of the Dnieper.

Lobachev was a little excited at the thought of meeting with the commanders of friendly forces soon. While looking out the window, he said excitedly: "Comrade commander, a group army of our army has been deployed by the river, at least tens of thousands of people. With such a friendly force on our side, the safety of our flanks should be guaranteed......"

At this point, his words came to an abrupt end, and the whole person stared out of the window in a daze. Rokossovsky noticed his strangeness and hurriedly asked: "What's the matter, Comrade Military Commissar, what did you see?" ”

Lobachev pointed out the window of the car, and his voice trembled a little because of excitement: "Look, outside is the defensive position of our army, but why didn't I see anyone?" ”

"What, there is no one on the defensive position?" Rokossovsky was also taken aback when he heard Lobachev say this, and he quickly looked out the window as well, and saw that there was not a single figure in the criss-crossing trenches and communication trenches. He hurriedly raised his hand and patted the driver's shoulder, and ordered sternly: "Stop!" ”

After the car stopped, he and Lobachev got out of the car from both sides of the car and walked quickly into the defensive positions on the side of the road. And the truck that was following behind, seeing that the commander's car stopped, the commander and the military commissar got out of the car, and they didn't know what was going on, so they quickly parked the car behind the jeep. The fighters in the car jumped out of the car one after another, and chased after it with their weapons.

Rokossovsky and Lobachev walked along the trenches, and if they didn't come across a shelter or a concrete bunker, they would go in and have a look. But regrettably, after holding on to more than thirty shelters and bunkers, they still didn't find a single one.

Lobachev, who was unwilling, wanted to continue walking, but was stopped by Rokossovsky: "Okay, Comrade Military Commissar, don't go any further, I guess there is still no one in front." ”

"It can't be." Lobachev shouted: "According to our intelligence, a group of armies of the reserve front was deployed along the Dnieper, but why not one?" What the hell is going on here, and where has this army group gone? ”

"You'll figure it out, Comrade Military Commissar." Seeing that there was no one in the fortifications here, Rokossovsky had a hint of foreboding in his heart, and he thought that maybe Malinin would go to Vyazma and he would also be in the air. However, the exact situation will not be known until they arrive in Vyazma, so he pulled Lobachev back and said: "But the first thing we need to do now is to go to Vyazma to receive our troops." ”

"Yes, to Vyazma." Lobachev, who was originally a little out of control, finally regained a trace of clarity when he heard Rokossovsky say this: "In Vyazma, there are five divisions prepared for us by our superiors, and with these troops, even without the cooperation of friendly forces, I believe that we can still hold Vyazma." ”

"Our task is not to hold Vyazma, but to carry out a counterattack against the Germans." Rokossovsky said silently in his heart, "As for whether there are any troops promised by the higher authorities in Vyazma, only God knows." ”

After rejoining the convoy, Rokossovsky asked Kazakov, who was waiting on the side of the road: "Comrade Chief of Artillery, have you seen the Chief of Staff?" ”

"Nope." Kazakov shook his head and replied: "We don't see anyone here. Comrade commander, I would like to know, what task did you send the chief of staff to perform? ”

"I asked him to go to Vyazma to explore the road and see if there were five infantry divisions prepared for us by his superiors." Rokossovsky said in a mocking tone: "If there were no troops there, we would have become the headquarters of the light pole." ”

"It can't be so serious, Comrade Commander." Kazakov thought that Rokossovsky was joking, and replied with a smile: "How can there be no troops, you must know that the order for us to receive troops, but the commander of the front and the military commissar personally issued it, I believe that in Vyazma there must be troops that we urgently need." ”

Rokossovsky, anxious to know what was going on in the city, waved at Kazakov and said: "Okay, comrade artillery chief, hurry back to the car, we have to get to Vyazma as soon as possible." As for whether there are troops or not, everything will be clear when we arrive. ”

However, the convoy had not gone far before it found that the road ahead was blocked by vehicles coming from the side fork, and it was impossible to pass quickly.

Seeing this, Rokossovsky couldn't help frowning. He was about to ask what was going on, when Orel, who was following behind, got out of the car, walked to Rokossovsky's window, and asked him for instructions: "Comrade commander, the road ahead is blocked, I'll go and ask what is going on." ”

"Go, Comrade Orel." Rokossovsky instructed him: "Find out what part they are from and where they come from?" ”

"Yes!" Orel agreed, and then took the two warriors and walked briskly towards the traffic jam in front of him.

Lobachev looked out of the windshield in front of him, and after some careful observation, he couldn't help but gasp, and then said to Rokossovsky: "Comrade commander, you see, it is not only military vehicles blocking the road in front, but also many carts pulled by ordinary people, which are filled with packages and all kinds of furniture. (To be continued.) )