In the early morning of November 4, a high-frequency telephone rang in the headquarters of the Don Front. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 info Malinin got up to answer the phone, and heard Zhukov's voice coming from the receiver: "Comrade Malinin, before two o'clock this afternoon, you and Comrade Rokossovsky, as well as the commanders of the armies, must rush to the headquarters of the 21st Army to attend an urgent military meeting. ”

After Malinin put down the phone, he asked Rokossovsky a little strangely: "Comrade commander, how could General Zhukov suddenly remember to let us go to the meeting of the 21st Army?" Is there some big action? ”

"That's right, Comrade Chief of Staff, you guessed it." Rokossovsky, who knew that a major counteroffensive was coming, smiled and said to Malinin: "As we entered November, Paulus's 6th Army began to become exhausted, and they rarely used large-scale offensives against Chuikov's troops holding Stalingrad, but turned into a company-sized offensive.

Judging from the actions of the German army in Stalingrad, the base camp judged that the German army had basically lost its offensive capability, so it put the counteroffensive on the agenda. Zhukov, as one of the formulators of the counteroffensive plan, now that he has reached the headquarters of the 21st Army, it proves that our big counteroffensive is about to begin. ”

When Rokossovsky and Malinin arrived at the headquarters of the 21st Army with a group of subordinates, they saw that there were already quite a few people standing outside the conference room, and Malinin could see at a glance that these were the commanders of the Southwestern Front. Seeing Rokossovsky appear, the commanders quickly stopped talking and stood upright in place and saluted him.

"Comrade Rokossovsky, you are here!" Just as Rokossovsky wanted to find someone to inquire where Zhukov could be found, he suddenly saw the door of the conference room open, and the chubby Vatutin stood at the door and beckoned to him: "General Zhukov is waiting for you, come in quickly!" ”

As soon as Rokossovsky walked into the conference room, Vatutin casually closed the door and made a gesture of invitation: "Please, Comrade Rokossovsky, General Zhukov is waiting for you." ”

Zhukov was sitting at the other end of the long conference table at the moment, and when he saw Rokossovsky enter the door, he also got up from his seat, but did not come forward to greet him, but stood there and waited.

Rokossovsky stepped forward and shook Zhukov's hand, and asked with a smile: "Comrade General, there is a saying in the army that as long as Zhukov appears, he will attack. Since you are here today and have called a meeting of the commanders of the various army groups, I guess the counteroffensive is about to begin, right? ”

Hearing Rokossovsky say this, Zhukov immediately smiled, then turned his head to Vatutin and said: "Well, I'm not wrong, even if I don't speak, Rokossovsky can guess the purpose of summoning him here." Have a seat! The next sentence he said was directed at Rokossovsky.

After they were all seated, Zhukov began to formally brief the two of them: "Comrades commanders of the two Fronts, according to the instructions of the base camp, we will launch a major counteroffensive against the German troops attacking Stalingrad in five days, that is, on November 9.

The Southwestern Front carried out the main assault on the Romanian 3rd Army from the landing ground southwest of the city of Selafimovich. On the third day of the campaign, the offensive was developed in the general direction of Karachi, and on the third day of the campaign it joined up with the troops of the Stalingrad Front, which were carrying out the opposite assault, and part of the forces advanced in the southwestern direction to the area of the Krivaya River and the Cher River, so as to form an active encirclement and external front.

The Stalingrad Front attacked from the area of Lake Sarpin, routed the Romanian corps and the corps of the German 4th Tank Army in front of it, advanced in the direction of the North-Western Soviets while fighting, joined up with the troops of the Southwestern Front, and then annihilated the encircled enemy in coordination with the troops of the Don Front. In order to ensure the movement of the assault group, the Stalingrad Front launched an offensive with part of its forces in the direction of Abuganerovo and Kotelnikovo in order to form an encircled external front.

The Don Front launched an offensive from the Kretskaya landing ground and the Kacharinskaya area. After defeating the German forces in front of him, he advanced towards Vergach and, in coordination with the Southwestern Front, encircled and annihilated the Germans at the small bend of the Don River. After that, together with the Stalingrad Front, they annihilated the main enemy groups encircled in the Stalingrad region.

Comrade Rokossovsky, in addition to the fact that I would like to formally comrade you, from now on, the 21st Army will be returned from the South-Western Front to the formation of your Front. ”

Rokossovsky, who was still worried about the lack of troops, was overjoyed when he heard that the base camp planned to put the 21st Army back under his command, and he hurriedly said: "Great, this is really good." After the 21st Army was rebuilt, I had more reserves at my disposal when launching a full-scale counteroffensive. ”

After waiting for Rokossovsky to finish, Zhukov looked at the two people sitting on his left and right, and asked: "The Southwestern Front and the Don Front switched to the offensive on November 9, and the Stalingrad Front switched to the offensive on November 10." Do you have any different views on this battle plan? ”

"No, no," said Vatutin, as soon as Zhukov's words fell, "our front army resolutely obeys the instructions of the Supreme Command, and in accordance with the order, within the specified time, launches a full-scale counteroffensive against the enemy. ”

"What about you?" Zhukov was very satisfied with Vatutin's statement, and he turned his gaze to Rokossovsky and asked: "What is your opinion, Comrade Rokossovsky?" ”

"Comrade General, I beg your pardon." Rokossovsky felt that the order to attack came too abruptly, and the troops had not been well replenished in the loss of soldiers and ammunition consumed in the battle, and even if the 21st Army was rebuilt, the gap in troops was still very large, and if the attack was launched rashly, the offensive would soon fall into a stalemate because of the shortage of troops and ammunition, which Rokossovsky did not want to see. Therefore, he said to Zhukov with a sincere attitude: "It will take time for our current troops and technical equipment to be assembled, and I think that a short period of four or five days is far from enough. If we want to completely crush the German forces under Stalingrad, we need more time to prepare. ”

Hearing Rokossovsky say this, Zhukov's face immediately changed. He stared at Rokossovsky for a long time before gritting his back molars and asking: "Then Comrade Rokossovsky, I want to ask you, what time do you think it is most appropriate for our offensive to be postponed?" ”

"The South-Western Front and the Don Front were postponed to November 19, and the Stalingrad Front was postponed to November 20." Rokossovsky replied without humility or arrogance: "I think this is the most appropriate time. ”