Before the official start of the Battle of the Ring, according to the orders of the base camp, the Stalingrad Front commanded by Rokossovsky was renamed the Don Front again, but fortunately, it was still the original command team and the troops to which it belonged, so it did not have much impact on the preparations before the offensive.

The day before the start of the offensive, Rokossovsky and Military Commissar Terekin went to inspect the 65th Army, which was the main attacker, to learn about the readiness of the troops. The commander of the army group, Batov, braved the bitter cold and waited at the door of the headquarters with several guards, and when he saw that the jeep in which Rokossovsky was riding stopped, he hurriedly stepped forward to help open the door.

When Rokossovsky shook hands with Batov, he saw that all the ordinary guards soldiers were standing behind him, so he asked curiously: "Comrade Batov, where are the other comrades of the command?" ”

Batov first shook hands with Terekin, who got out of the car, and then said to the command headquarters not far away: "The attack will be tomorrow, we still have a lot of preparations to do, and everyone is busy inside, so I will come out on their behalf to greet you and the military commissar." ”

When Rokossovsky and Bartov walked into the headquarters, everyone stopped what they were doing and stood up straight to salute Rokossovsky. The Chief of Staff of the Army Group, General Glebov, hurriedly stepped forward and reported: "Hello, Comrade Commander of the Front, we are making pre-war preparations, please instruct!" ”

"Keep working!" Rokossovsky waved his hand and said to Glebov and to everyone: "Let's go ahead and finish what we are doing." ”

When Rokossovsky came to the conference table on the side of the room and sat down, he looked up and asked Glebov, who was standing in front of him: "Comrade Chief of Staff, how are your preparations?" ”

“…… Two infantry divisions drawn from the 24th Army and one infantry division drawn from the 21st Army have already reached their designated positions. Glebov reported to Rokossovsky: "Tomorrow the divisions that will take up the main attack have all entered the starting position, and the commanders of the divisions are carrying out the specific combat tasks of the regiments and battalions." ”

After listening to Glebov's report, Rokossovsky nodded with satisfaction, and then asked Batov: "Comrade Batov, tomorrow the offensive will be launched, do you have any questions?" ”

"Comrade commander," said Batov, after waiting for Rokossovsky to finish, "there is a salient of the German army in the Marinovsky area, which divides us and General Chistyakov's 21st Army in two. In order to alleviate the eyes in the ensuing battle, it is our first task to flatten the salient occupied by the Germans after the offensive begins tomorrow.

The Germans have two infantry divisions and one motorized division here in the salient, and because of the limited offensive front, the progress made would be very limited if we were to act only by one army group. Therefore, I suggest that after the battle has begun, the troops of the 21st Army should also concentrate their forces and flank the enemy with us. ”

"That's right," Rokossovsky agreed with Batov's statement: "As long as the German salient is leveled as soon as possible, the troops of your two armies will be able to quickly advance into the depth of the German defense." Later, I will personally go to the garrison of the 21st Army and consult with Chistyakov. ”

After Terekin waited for the two of them to finish speaking, he interjected and asked: "General Batov, according to the map, most of your offensive starting points are several kilometers away from the German positions, how do you plan to let your infantry pass through this section quickly?" ”

Batov did not expect Terekin to suddenly ask this question, and after being silent for a long time, he hesitated to say: "I intend to send the infantry on tanks or armored vehicles to attack the enemy's positions." ”

"The snow is too deep for tanks and armored vehicles to pick up speed." Terekin waved his hand and said: "The enemy's artillery can easily take out our infantry along with tanks and armored vehicles. ”

"So what to do?" Seeing that Terekin denied his idea, Batov asked with some doubts: "We can't let the cavalry charge, right?" ”

"Not so bad with cavalry." Terekin shook his head and continued: "The snow on the open ground is so deep that as soon as our horses step on it, their hooves will sink into the snow, and they will not be able to run at all. The cavalry's target was already larger than the infantry, and if their speed could not be increased, they would only become a target for the German infantry. This was taught a lot of bloody lessons during the defense of Moscow. ”

"Comrade Military Commissar, Batov does not yet know the experience of the offensive of Malinovsky's troops." Seeing the confused expression on Batov's face, Rokossovsky hurriedly relieved him: "The base camp has equipped us with hundreds of automatic sleds, and your army group is equipped with 60. ”

"That's right, Comrade Commander." As soon as Rokossovsky's words were finished, Chief of Staff Glebov interjected: "We turned these automatic sleds into several groups for patrolling near the garrison and destroying possible small German units. ”

Hearing that the automatic sled was used for patrolling, Rokossovsky's face became a little ugly, he ignored Glebov, but looked at Batov and asked: "Comrade Batov, who gave the order to use the precious automatic sled for patrol tasks?" ”

"It's me, Comrade Commander." Although Batov did not understand why Rokossovsky had changed his face, he still replied truthfully: "Since small groups of German troops often appear in the defense zone of the army group, in order to effectively destroy these enemies, I ordered the automatic sleds to be assigned to the divisions to carry out the task of clearing out small German troops." ”

"Nonsense, it's nonsense." Rokossovsky stood up after a hard slap on the table, pointed his finger at Batov, and said in a stern tone: "Comrade Batov, immediately give an order to the troops below to turn in the automatic sleds. ”

"Have the troops turn in the automatic sled?" After hearing this order from Rokossovsky, the muscles in Batov's face twitched violently a few times, and then he stubbornly asked: "Comrade commander, can I ask the reason?" ”

"The reason is simple, if these automatic sleds are equipped with the main attack mission, they can help them pass through the open ground between the enemy and our positions in a short time." Rokossovsky patiently explained to Bartov: "Look here, the forward position of the 233rd Infantry Division is five kilometers from the enemy's position, and if they are all advancing on foot, how much time do you think they will need to rush to the front of the enemy's position?" ”

"At least an hour." After answering this question, Batov asked puzzledly: "But the size of the automatic sled is too small, and it can only carry two people, the driver and the machine gunner?" ”

"Where's the skid next to the automatic sled?" Rokossovsky looked at Batov and asked: "Two fighters can stand on each pryboard, and four pry boards are eight fighters." Your army group has 60 vehicles, which means that you can throw 480 fighters in front of the German positions at a time. ”

"There are so many people standing on the sled," Batov thought about the automatic sled he had seen, and then asked with a frown, "Will the speed of the sled be affected?" ”

"Even with eight infantrymen on board, the automatic sled can reach speeds of up to 30 kilometers per hour." Rokossovsky was afraid that Batov would not believe him, and specially gave him an example: "In the battle for the liberation of Rostov-on-Don, Malinovsky used this automatic sled to quickly drop the infantry in front of the German positions. As a result, it took less than an hour to break through the German defensive positions outside the city. ”

After listening to Rokossovsky's explanation, Batov raised his hand and slapped himself on the forehead, saying in annoyance: "Hell, I never thought that an automatic sled could be used like this." After saying that, he turned around and instructed Glebov: "Chief of staff, immediately call several division commanders equipped with automatic sleds, and ask them to immediately gather the sleds and send them all to the 233rd Infantry Division." ”

After spending more than an hour in Batov's headquarters, Rokossovsky went with Terekin to Chistyakov's 21st Army.

When Rokossovsky walked into the headquarters of the 21st Army, he saw a busy scene: staff officers were hurrying in and out, telephones ringing, radio announcements, typewriters typing.

Since he did not see the figure of the commander of the army group, Chistyakov, Rokossovsky hurriedly grabbed a staff officer who passed by, leaned close to his ear and asked loudly: "Where is your commander?" ”

The staff officer did not recognize Rokossovsky, and thought it was the commander of another army group, so he did not salute, but looked left and right, then pointed to a place by the wall that was covered by a cloth curtain, and replied in a loud voice: "Comrade general, the commander is in that small room." ”

Rokossovsky, after thanking the staff officer, took Terekin to the wall, lifted the curtain and walked in. As soon as I entered the door, I saw two people sitting on either side of a small square table, one of whom was Chistyakov.

Chistyakov was listening to his chief of staff, Piankovsky, report on the completion of the troops' preparations, when he heard someone open the curtain and asked, without looking back: "Is there something wrong?" ”

"How's your offensive preparations going?" Rokossovsky asked briefly.

Hearing an unfamiliar voice in the room, Chistyakov turned his head to look at the door. After seeing the comer clearly, he immediately stood up from the table, straightened up and said to Rokossovsky: "Hello, Comrade Commander, my chief of staff is reporting to me on the readiness of the troops. ”

Rokossovsky nodded, walked to the table and sat down, beckoned the two of them to sit down, and asked: "How is it, are the preparations for tomorrow's attack completed?" ”

"Yes, Comrade Commander." The chief of staff of the army group, Piankovsky, hurriedly stood up and respectfully reported to Rokossovsky: "We are ready for all attacks. In order to introduce it in more detail, he also pushed the map on the table in front of Rokossovsky, pointed to it and continued, "After the artillery preparations before the attack are over, we will concentrate the forces of the two divisions and launch an attack on the German-occupied Marinovsky salient, and cooperate with the troops of the 65th Army attacking from the other side to quickly flatten the salient, so that the offensive areas of our two armies can be quickly connected." ”

Rokossovsky came to the 21st Army, the main purpose was to coordinate the coordination of the offensive of the two armies against the Marinovsky salient. I have just been with Batov, and I have heard him mention this salient of the German army, which divides your two armies into two separate pieces.

Since you have made leveling this salient your first priority once the offensive begins, you should immediately establish contact to coordinate the coordination of the units of the two armies in battle. ”

"Understood, Comrade Commander." Chistyakov hurriedly agreed, "I will immediately arrange manpower to establish contact with General Batov's 65th Education Bureau in order to achieve effective cooperation in battle." ”

After the chief of staff had left, Rokossovsky asked Chistyakov how he was going to quickly allow the assault troops to pass through the open area between the enemy and our positions. Unexpectedly, he said confidently: "Comrade commander, I have an idea. Didn't the superiors equip us with 40 automatic sleds? I intend to have the infantry ride on automatic sleds, and after the attack begins, take advantage of the high speed of the sleds to transport the infantry to the enemy's position as quickly as possible. ”

Seeing that Chistyakov actually thought of his front, although Rokossovsky was very surprised in his heart, he still asked Chistyakov with an expressionless face about the details of the transport troops.

Chistyakov thought that Rokossovsky did not know that automatic sleds could transport troops, and he specially explained to him in detail. However, to be on the safe side, he recommends that only four fighters be carried on each sled to ensure that it does not affect the speed of the sled.

As soon as the two men finished talking about how to use automatic sleds on the battlefield, Chief of Staff Piankovsky trotted in, still holding a telephone in his hand. As soon as he saw Rokossovsky, he handed over the microphone in his hand and said a little breathlessly: "Comrade commander, it's a call from the headquarters of the Front, and I am looking for you in an emergency." ”

Rokossovsky took the microphone and put it to his ear, and from it he heard Malinin's voice: "Comrade commander, General Voronov has just spoken to the base camp. The base camp suggested that consideration should be given to another attempt to send negotiators from the south of the encirclement, i.e., from where Army Group Tolbukhin was located. ”