After waiting for Rokossovsky to finish speaking, Malinin then asked: "Comrade commander, in addition to these three units deployed on the front line, there are also the 18th Division of the militia, where should we place them?" ”

"Keep them in reserve for the time being," Rokossovsky had already thought carefully about the use of the Chernyshov militia division, "and if there is danger in any defensive position, transfer them to support." Pen ~ Fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info"

"Okay, I see." As soon as Malinin waited for Rokossovsky to finish speaking, he took a pen and wrote down everything he said in a small notebook.

"By the way, where did our artillery chief go?" Rokossovsky felt as if he hadn't seen Kazakov's shadow for a day, no wonder he always felt that something was missing.

"General Kazakov went with the artillery staff officers to our newly received artillery unit." Hearing Rokossovsky ask about Kazakov, Malinin quickly explained: "Together with those artillery commanders, they studied how to use all kinds of artillery, including anti-aircraft guns and 'Katyusha' to fight tanks, no matter where the tanks came from. ”

Saying that Cao Cao Cao arrived, Rokossovsky just thought of Kazakov, and Kazakov came back from outside. He sat down in the vacant seat next to Rokossovsky with a tired face, and said weakly: "Commander, military commissar, I'm back!" ”

Seeing Kazakov's exhausted appearance, Malinin hurriedly went to the side and poured a cup of tea and put it in front of Kazakov. Kazakov gave him a grateful look, then took his teacup and drank it down. After putting down the teacup, he recovered a little, then turned his head to look at Rokossovsky and said: "Comrade commander, the number of artillery we have now is not large, even if it is used intensively, it will not have much effect, I see if it can be assigned to the infantry or cavalry below, so that they can be used to destroy the German tanks in battle?" ”

Rokossovsky frowned at Kazakov's suggestion and thought about it, then nodded in agreement, but he stressed to Kazakov: "Comrade Artillery Chief, we should make special provisions that every artillery company and every artillery piece given to infantry or cavalry to fight tanks must be accompanied by corresponding infantry groups to cover them from the German infantry, and these infantry groups are under the command of the commander or commander of the artillery company they cover." Tested their own formulations and proved to be correct by actual combat. ”

"Comrade commander," after listening to this provision mentioned by Rokossovsky, Kazakov nodded and said: "I very much agree with the regulation you have proposed. I believe that it will not be long before your regulations will be proved to be completely correct in actual combat. ”

After agreeing with Kazakov on the issue of artillery, Rokossovsky specifically asked Malinin: "Chief of Staff, do you have any latest instructions from the Front Command?" ”

"No," Ma Linin shook his head and said with a wry smile, "Since the beginning of the afternoon, I have not been able to contact the front army headquarters. Not only did the telephone not work, but even the telegrams we sent were like a stone in the sea, and there was no response. ”

"It's broken, something must have happened to the front army headquarters." Hearing Malinin say this, Rokossovsky immediately had an ominous feeling and hurriedly began to give orders: "Chief of Staff, immediately call Dovaator and order him to send a cavalry regiment and immediately rush here." ”

"Chief of Staff, wait a minute, don't continue to call." Seeing that Malinin turned around and walked towards the telephone, Lobachev, who was sitting at the table, hurriedly stopped him, and then asked Rokossovsky with some surprise: "Comrade commander, we can't contact the front command for the time being, maybe they are in the process of transferring, and the radio is not on for the time being." If the state is not clarified, a cavalry regiment is rashly sent to Mozhaisk, which is very easy to cause misunderstanding in the case of blind fire in the dark light. ”

"Well, Comrade Military Commissar, since you say so." When Rokossovsky said this, he looked up at Malinin, who was standing next to him waiting for his order, and ordered: "Chief of staff, my order just now is withdrawn. You can now contact the Front Command and see if you can restore communication with them. ”

After a few minutes, Malinin, who was on the phone, suddenly turned his head and shouted at Rokossovsky: "Comrade commander, I have contacted the command of the Front, and the chief of staff, General Sokolovsky, wants to talk to you." ”

Rokossovsky walked over and took the microphone and put it to his ear, and then said with a smile: "Hello, Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, we have not been able to get in touch with you since the afternoon, but I am so worried that I think something has happened to you, and I am about to send a cavalry regiment to rescue you." ”

"Comrade Rokossovsky, you guessed it." Unexpectedly, as soon as Rokossovsky's words were finished, the other party told him in a serious tone: "In the afternoon, the enemy dropped a large number of paratroopers in the Mozhaisk area, and quite a few of the enemy rushed to the vicinity of the headquarters of the Front. ”

"What, the German paratroopers rushed near the headquarters of the Front?" Hearing Sokolovsky say this, Rokossovsky's heart couldn't help but hang in his throat, and he nervously asked: "The enemy was repulsed?" Is General Zhukov safe? ”

"Don't worry, Comrade Rokossovsky." Sokolovsky said lightly: "After discovering the enemy's paratroopers, the guards of the command immediately went into battle, and after a fierce battle, except for a dozen paratroopers who took prisoners, the rest of the enemy was killed by us. ”

Seeing that Sokolovsky did not mention Zhukov, Rokossovsky repeated the question just now with unease: "Is General Zhukov safe?" ”

"You can rest assured that he's unscathed." Sokolovsky said this in a tone of admiration: "When the enemy's paratroopers rushed to the headquarters and exchanged fire with our alert troops, I personally went to persuade him to leave the headquarters temporarily and move to a safe place. However, he did not panic in the slightest, and he ordered me to send him a submachine gun, saying that when the enemy stormed the headquarters, he would personally take up arms and fight the enemy.

When I sent for the loaded submachine gun to be handed into his hand, he simply put it on the table and went on with his work, as if he had not heard the fierce gunfire coming from outside.

After the battle, I went to report to him that we had captured several prisoners in the battle, and when I asked him if he needed to be interrogated, he said without looking up: there is no time.

I then asked, do you need to report to the base camp about the attack on the headquarters by German paratroopers? He looked up at me and asked in some surprise, 'Why?' Is it necessary for us to bother Comrade Stalin with such a trifle? ’…”

After listening to Sokolovsky's account, Rokossovsky said with emotion: "General Zhukov is really not afraid of danger, and with his command, I believe that our battle to defend Moscow will definitely win the final victory." ”

Sokolovsky didn't seem to have much interest in Rokossovsky's slapping of Zhukov's ass, but asked bluntly: "Comrade Rokossovsky, do you have something to do?" ”

"That's right, Comrade Chief of Staff." Seeing that the other party asked so directly, Rokossovsky did not go around in circles, and asked straight to the point: "The number of our group army is very small at present, and I don't know what the higher authorities can do to send us new troops?" ”

"Wait a minute, I'll check first." After Sokolovsky said this, he still began to look through his notepad, check the schedule of the distribution of troops and materials on it, and then said to Rokossovsky: "I just checked, your army group will get dozens of battalions of fighters composed of Moscow volunteers in the near future, and these troops will be continuously sent to your army group after the formation is completed, and those units that have been reduced in battle will be strengthened.

In addition, you will receive two anti-tank artillery regiments, two cannon artillery regiments, two artillery battalions of the Moscow Artillery School, two Katyusha rocket artillery regiments and three rocket artillery battalions. ……”

After recording these data from Sokolov, Rokossovsky asked with great interest: "Comrade Chief of Staff, is there anything else?" ”

"And?!" Sokolovsky said with some tears and laughter: "Comrade Rokossovsky, you can't be so greedy, you must know that our Western Front is not only your group army, and the soldiers and materials replenished by the superiors must be evenly distributed among the various units. If they are all given to you, then the other armies that have been weakened in the battle will not be replenished. ”

After making the call, Rokossovsky walked back to the table and sat down, and said with trepidation: "Ladies and gentlemen, I have just spoken with the Chief of Staff of the Front, General Sokolovsky, and he told me that the reason why we have been unable to get in touch with them for a long time is that the Front Command was attacked by German paratroopers at that time, and communication with the outside world was cut off. ”

Although several of the commanders sitting at the table had heard a few words when Rokossovsky was on the phone, they did not know much about the specific situation, so they listened very attentively.

After Rokossovsky finished telling the whole story, several people all breathed a sigh of relief. Lobachev said with emotion: "Comrade commander, it seems that you are right. You just listened to the chief of staff say a few words, and you guessed that there must be something wrong with the front army headquarters, and you are ready to send troops to the rescue. Here, I would like to state once again that in the future, all military affairs in the group army will be up to you, and I will absolutely not express any objections. ”

Rokossovsky knew very well that at this stage, political workers still had a lot of power in the Soviet army, and even military directors had to listen to the blind commands of these laymen during the battle, which led to the tragedy. Since Lobachev was able to express his position in front of so many people, it proved that he completely trusted himself and was willing to hand over the command of the troops to himself. Thinking of this, he got up and stretched out his hand to Lobachev and said gratefully: "Comrade Military Commissar, thank you, thank you for your trust in me. ”

Just as the two of them clasped their hands, the phone rang in the house. Malinin grabbed ahead of everyone, walked over and picked up the phone, and after listening for a while, he extended the microphone to Rokossovsky and said respectfully: "Comrade commander, your phone. ”

"My phone?" Hearing Malinin say this, Rokossovsky felt a little weak for some reason, he was afraid that it was Sokolovsky who called him to inform him that the troops he had just promised needed to be assigned to other group armies, so after he took the microphone, he spoke with a slight trill: "Hey, hello, I'm Rokossovsky, who am I talking to with honor?" ”

Hearing Rokossovsky speak in this tone, the person on the other end of the phone burst out laughing, and he continued: "Comrade Rokossovsky, we are all old friends, you don't need to play such an official tone when you talk to me." ”

Rokossovsky listened to the other party's voice very familiarly, but in a hurry he couldn't remember the other party, so he had to apologize: "I'm sorry, I can't remember who you are." ”

"I'm Romanchenko, the head of the Main Directorate of the Moscow People's Police." Seeing that Rokossovsky didn't hear who he was, the other party hurriedly identified himself, and continued: "I'm going to send you a detachment of people's police, what do you think?" ”

"It turned out to be Comrade Romanchenko." Rokossovsky remembered that the other party was indeed a former friend, especially when he heard that a detachment of civilian police was going to be sent to him, and he was overjoyed and said: "I will be very happy with your arrangement." ”

"Well, Comrade Rokossovsky, since you agreed, then I will send troops overnight." "If all goes well, a well-equipped and combat-ready civilian detachment of volunteers from the capital's civilian police will arrive in the Volokolamsk region after dawn," Romanchenko continued. ”

…………

When the sky began to glow a faint white, and the morning mist filled, the forest where the headquarters of the 16th Army was located was as quiet as a Russian rural landscape painting. A team in gray uniforms loomed in the fog, marching through the forest with neat steps.

When the unit was still a few hundred meters away from Rokossovsky's headquarters, a soldier with a rifle suddenly flashed from behind a tree on the side of the road, pointed his gun at the team of hundreds of people, and shouted: "Stop, password!" ”

The captain who was walking in the front hurriedly stopped, turned around and raised his hands high, shouting: "Troops, stop!" ”

At his command, all the warriors stopped and stood in place waiting for the order.

The lieutenant walked up to the sentry, spread his hands and said: "I say, comrade sentry, we are a civilian police detachment from Moscow, and we have just arrived in the Volokolamsk region, how can we know your password?" ”

"Without a password, you can't pass!" Although the sentry recognized the people in front of him, wearing the uniforms of the policemen, and guessed that he had come to report to the headquarters of the group army, he still stood in front and put on a posture that he could not pass without a password.

Seeing that the sentry was so stubborn, the captain coughed lightly and gestured to the policeman behind him. The two policemen who saw his gesture immediately leaned in quietly, unloaded the sentry's gun with lightning speed, and cut his hands behind his back. (To be continued.) )