The news that the German army was surrounded by Soviet troops on the Wopi River reached the headquarters of the 19th Army and the 16th Army. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 Rokossovsky's reaction to hearing this was very different from that of the other jubilant commanders in the command, who just stared at the map and frowned.

Lobachev put Rokossovsky sullen and asked with concern: "Comrade commander, are you not at all happy to hear such news?" We must know that such a counterattack is of very important political significance under the current situation. ”

After Rokossovsky waited for Lobachev to finish speaking, he asked with a wry smile: "Comrade Military Commissar, although we have surrounded one of the motorized divisions of the German army, are we capable of eating them?" ”

Lobachev thought for a while, and then said cautiously: "The 19th Army has four divisions, and we have two divisions, although Colonel Lidyukov's 1st Mobu Division suffered heavy casualties, but the other five divisions are one division of the opposing German army, and they are incomplete divisions, I think there should be no problem in destroying them." ”

"Comrade Military Commissar, I feel the need to remind everyone." Rokossovsky saw that Malinin and Kazakov were also around, and after looking around the room for a week, he continued: "Although the enemy does not have any strong fortifications, they have air supremacy, and there are quite a few tanks and artillery. And what do our troops have? tanks, among the assault troops who crossed the river, only Lidyukov's division had a tank detachment of a dozen tanks; The situation with the friendly forces is not very clear, and it is estimated that there will not be too many of them. Our troops, armed only with light weapons, would have suffered terrible casualties when attacking the enemy's armored units, armed to the teeth, and if they were bombed by enemy planes, our attacking forces, no matter how numerous they were, would have been crushed by the enemy. ”

As soon as he finished speaking, the entire command headquarters was silent, and no one could be heard. Everyone was carefully savoring what he said, and it seemed that in the current situation, it was not a good thing to surround a motorized division of the German army.

After a while, Kazakov couldn't help but ask: "Would it have been better if we had supported the troops with artillery fire when the troops were attacking?" ”

"Comrade Chief of Artillery." Rokossovsky looked at Kazakov and said expressionlessly: "As soon as your artillery fires, in less than ten minutes, enemy planes will fly over you and carry out indiscriminate bombardment, destroying the artillery positions." ”

"Comrade Commander, what should we do?" Malinen asked.

"Chief of Staff, can you speak directly to the headquarters of the 19th Army now?" Rokossovsky looked at Malinin and said, "I need to consult with General Konev immediately. ”

Hearing Rokossovsky's question, Malinin turned his head and looked behind him, where a group of staff officers stood in the command headquarters, among whom was the communications staff officer. Seeing that Malinin's eyes fell on him, the communications staff officer immediately replied loudly: "Report, there is a fault in the telephone line through the 19th Army, perhaps the line has been damaged by the German army, and I have sent a communications corps to check the line." ”

Rokossovsky pushed aside the few people who were blocking him, came to the front of the communications staff officer, and asked with a serious expression: "Comrade staff officer, how long will it take to resume the communication with the 19th Army?" ”

Hearing Rokossovsky's question, the communications staff officer replied with some panic: "Comrade commander, this is not easy to say. It may take a few minutes, maybe a few hours, depending on what went wrong with the phone line. ”

Rokossovsky held up a finger and said in a stern tone: "Comrade staff officer, I will give you ten minutes, and if after ten minutes, my command is not able to communicate with the 19th Army, then you are ready to go to the company to be a soldier." ”

The communications staff officer was frightened by Rokossovsky's words, and after raising his hand to salute, he turned around and hurried out of the command headquarters to personally take someone to check the line.

Looking at the back of the communications staff officer leaving, Malinin asked curiously: "Comrade commander, I don't know if you have any urgent matters to discuss with General Konev?" ”

"If you want to eat the enemy in our encirclement, it is obviously not possible to attack during the day." Rokossovsky turned back to the table, turned to Malinin and said, "The only way is to attack at night." After dark, the enemy's planes will not be able to sort, and the accuracy of their artillery will be greatly reduced, so that the casualties suffered by our troops after the attack will be greatly reduced. ”

"I think sending a telegram to General Konev is also a good option." Lobachev suggested to Rokossovsky: "Until the telephone line is restored, this is the most convenient means of communication." ”

"No," Rokossovsky immediately rejected Lobachev's proposal, "there are some things that are not clear on the telegram, and General Konev is not necessarily willing to fight at night, and I must personally convince him." ”

Rokossovsky gave the communications staff officer ten minutes, and at the eighth minute, the staff officer ran back out of breath and reported breathlessly: "Comrade commander, the telephone has been restored and it is ready to talk to the command of the 19th Army." ”

Rokossovsky nodded, picked up the phone on the table, and called Konev, who knew that the line over there had been busy. After waiting for a long time, I heard the person who answered the phone ask in a tired voice, "Hey, where are you?" ”

"I am Lieutenant General Rokossovsky, commander of the 16th Army." Rokossovsky was afraid that the other party would hang up his phone, so he hurriedly identified himself as quickly as possible, "I have something important to look for General Konev." ”

"I'm sorry, General Rokossovsky." The other party said in a regretful tone: "Comrade Commander is not in the headquarters, he went below to inspect the troops, and it is not clear when he will come back." ”

"What, General Konev is not there?" Rokossovsky's face turned white at once, and he hurriedly asked: "Then there are always people with the military commissar and chief of staff, right?" It's the same with them. ”

"They're not there either." The other party said helplessly: "All the commanders in the headquarters have followed the commander to inspect the troops, and I estimate that they will not come back until the evening at the earliest." ”

Seeing Rokossovsky put down the phone, Lobachev immediately nervously asked: "How is it, comrade commander, what did General Konev say?" ”

Rokossovsky was silent for a moment, and then said weakly: "The duty officer said that General Konev took a group of people from the command headquarters to inspect the troops below, and he didn't know when he would be able to return." With that, he sat down in his seat in a dejected manner, his breath heavy from disappointment and anger, and his chest heaving rapidly. None of the people in the command spoke or knew what to say. Because it seems to have long been a tradition for senior commanders to take a group of people to inspect the troops at every turn, and several marshals such as Timoshenko and Voroshilov liked to do this, and their generals naturally followed suit.

The entire command fell into a long silence, giving the feeling of living like a year.

In the end, it was Rokossovsky who broke the silence first, he stood up and said to everyone: "The 19th Army, we can leave it alone for the time being." But the forces with Lidyukov and Gliaznov are still too weak, and we need to immediately replenish them. ”

At this point, his expression returned to normal and returned to his usual state of full confidence, and he instructed Malinin: "Chief of Staff, at present the 152nd Division is closest to the lower reaches of the Vopi River, you immediately contact Colonel Cherneshov and ask him to lead his troops across the river as soon as possible and join the assault forces on the west bank of the river. ”

"After they've crossed the river, what's next?" After recording Rokossovsky's order, Malinin went on to ask.

Rokossovsky looked at Malinin and said: "After the 152nd Infantry Division has crossed the river, let Colonel Chernyshov wait for my next order. ”

Without waiting for Malinin to send a telegram, Lidyukov and Gryazhnov sent a joint telegram, explaining to Rokossovsky that the casualties of the troops were relatively serious at present, and that the troops were barely enough for a simple defense; But if you want to attack the enemy, then there is a serious shortage of troops.

Taking advantage of the fact that Malinin had not yet sent a report, Rokossovsky hurriedly added: "Chief of Staff, when you contact Colonel Cherneshov later, by the way, send a telegram to Lidyukov and them, inform them of the news that I am going to send reinforcements, and let someone answer them by the river, so as to avoid misunderstandings in the dark night." ”

Konev, who went to inspect the troops, called Rokossovsky after dark. He smiled and said: "Comrade Rokossovsky, I heard from the duty officer of the command that you once called me, don't you know what is going on?" ”

Although Rokossovsky was dissatisfied with Konev's unauthorized departure from the command post, in this case, he could only pinch his nose and acquiesce in such a wrong behavior. He tried to speak in a calm tone: "General Konev, I am calling you to talk to you about how to deal with this group of Germans surrounded by us. ”

"That's what happened." Konev said disapprovingly: "If it weren't for the fact that the troops were too tired from the daytime battles, maybe I would have let them continue the offensive at night." However, this motorized division of the enemy has already fallen into our encirclement, and they are unable to escape, so let our commanders and fighters rest for one night, and then attack the enemy after dawn tomorrow, and strive to completely destroy them in the shortest possible time. ”

"General Konev, the attack on the Germans must not be stopped." When Rokossovsky heard Konev's indifferent tone, he couldn't help but say anxiously: "Napoleon back then, if he hadn't been worried that the soldiers would be too tired and let them stop to rest, the result would have given the anti-French coalition forces a chance to breathe, and in the end there would not have been a defeat at Waterloo." ”

Konev felt very uncomfortable when he heard that Rokossovsky actually compared himself with Napoleon, and he said in a blunt tone: "Comrade General, how can you compare our Red Army with Napoleon's army? Our commanders and fighters are already very tired after a day of continuous fighting, and if they are not allowed to rest, their combat effectiveness will be affected in tomorrow's battle. ”

"General Konev, please listen to me." Rokossovsky was afraid that Konev would be angry and hung up the phone, and hurriedly sped up his speech and said: "Considering our infantry, it is very bad for us to deal with the German tanks during the day." The enemy's tanks will easily crush our troops participating in the attack. But if we were fighting at night, the situation would be different, and it would be difficult for the enemy to determine the direction of our attack and the situation of our forces in the dark.

It is important that in night battles, the Germans will lose their superiority in air force and tanks, and our infantry, in the form of a surprise attack, will rush to the enemy's fortified areas, and get close to the enemy to force them to fight with us in close combat, fighting with machine guns, submachine guns, rifles, grenades, and even white-knuckle combat with bayonets, sapper shovels. In a word: the night is an alliance of the brave. ”

After listening to Rokossovsky's tirade, Konev was silent for a while, and then he said resolutely: "Comrade Rokossovsky, I think you are a little too alarmist, although the German army is stronger than us in terms of technology and equipment, and at the same time their air force still has air supremacy on the battlefield, but I think our fighters are able to overcome this difficulty." ”

Konev's reply made Rokossovsky speechless, and for a moment, he did not know how to persuade Konev to change his mind. At this moment, he suddenly understood why, in the early days of the Great Patriotic War, the Soviet army was losing and retreating, and what the troops lacked was not bravery, but excellent commanders. A good commander like Konev inevitably makes many mistakes in command, let alone those who are not well known.

Seeing that Rokossovsky was slow to speak, Konev only said politely: "Good luck!" Then he hung up the phone without saying a word.

Rokossovsky held the microphone with a blind voice, froze for a moment, and then rested the microphone on the phone base. He said to Lobachev: "General Konev thinks that the commanders and fighters are too tired, and should rest for the night and wait until after dawn to attack the enemy." ”

"What should we do?" Malinin anxiously asked: "Do you also want the troops to rest for the night, and wait for the dawn to launch an attack on the German army with friendly forces?" ”

"No, we can't let the troops rest tonight." Rokossovsky said resolutely: "If we really launch an offensive during the day, then the fate that awaits us is to be defeated by German tanks or air forces, and we cannot fight such a battle." The Chief of Staff immediately informed Lieutenant Colonel Lemizov that he would cross the 27th Tank Brigade across the river as quickly as possible and cooperate with Colonel Lidyukov in their night attack. (To be continued.) )