General Malinovsky, who originally served as the 66th Army, became the commander of the 2nd Guards Army shortly after being transferred back to the base camp. In order to encircle and annihilate the Paulus group, this unit was transferred to the Stalingrad region and placed under the command of Rokossovsky's Don Front.

While the unit was still on the march, the newly formed Don Army Group under Manstein's command rushed to the Stalingrad area in an attempt to relieve the besieged Paulus forces. Seeing that his own 51st Army was losing ground under the blows of Hort's tank army, the commander of the Stalingrad Front, Yeremenko, complained bitterly.

Hearing that an elite unit was rushing to the Stalingrad area day and night, Yeremenko called Stalin for help, saying that he had limited forces and that if he did not get the support of the 2nd Guards Army, the Germans would be able to open a passage from his defensive zone and rescue the besieged Paulus troops.

When Stalin heard him say this, he immediately became anxious, thinking that he had managed to surround one of the German armies with great difficulty, and he must not let the boiled duck fly. So he called Rokossovsky, ready for him to immediately hand over the 2nd Guards Army, which had just been received, to Yeremenko's command.

However, Stalin considered that he had just handed over this unit to Rokossovsky, and the troops had not yet reached the designated position, so he hastily changed his command, and was deeply afraid that the other party would be emotional, so after the phone was connected, he affectionately called Rokossovsky's real name and patronymic name, and asked tentatively: "Konstantin Konstantinovich, General Malinovsky's 2nd Guards Army will soon arrive in your defense area, how do you plan to use this force?" ”

"Comrade Stalin," Rokossovsky immediately replied without hesitation, hearing this question: "the forces of our front, since they have not been adequately replenished, are far inferior in combat effectiveness. If we want to completely destroy the Paulus forces besieged in the Stalingrad area, we will have to bring the new 2nd Guards Army into battle, and only with their participation will we be more sure that we will destroy the enemy. ”

Stalin was embarrassed to hear Rokossovsky say this. Without covering the microphone with his hand, he asked Vasilevsky next to him bluntly: "Comrade Chief of the General Staff, what do you think?" ”

"Comrade Stalin," Vasilevsky learned from the battle report he had received that although the 51st Army was stubbornly resisting the offensive of Khot's troops, it had to abandon its position and move to the preset position in the rear due to the disparity in strength, after paying great sacrifices. He was deeply afraid that once Hort's troops completely broke through the defenses of the 51st Army, they would join forces with Paulus in the encirclement, so he said decisively: "I think that in the current situation, General Malinovsky's 2nd Guards Army should be transferred to the command of General Yeremenko." ”

After hearing Vasilevsky say this, a smile appeared on Stalin's face. He said into the microphone: "Comrade Rokossovsky, did you hear it all?" Not only did I agree to hand over Malinovsky's troops to Yeremenko, but even our Chief of the General Staff had the same opinion.

Your proposal, I thought about it, and I thought it was still too risky. For the time being, our troops are not able to hold back the onrushing Hult forces, nor can they eliminate Paulus in the encirclement in a short time. Since you can't do both, let's first find a way to deal with Hort's tank army. I now formally inform you of the immediate transfer of command of the 2nd Guards Army to General Yeremenko of the Stalingrad Front. ”

Although Rokossovsky was extremely reluctant, since it was Stalin who spoke, he had to reluctantly agree. He put down the phone, called Malinin over and asked: "Chief of Staff, where has Malinovsky's 2nd Guards Army arrived now?" ”

Malinin pointed to the map with his hand and said: "They are currently in this position, and it will take another day to reach the north of Stalingrad and launch an attack on the German army." ”

After listening to this, Rokossovsky sighed softly and ordered: "Chief of staff, immediately send a telegram to Malinovsky, asking them to immediately change the route of the march and go to the area of the Meshkova River. ”

"What, to the Meshkova region?" After a quick glance at the map, Malinin asked in surprise: "Isn't it the defensive zone of the Stalingrad Front, and what are you sending them there for?" ”

"What else can be done?" Rokossovsky replied with a wry smile: "The Supreme Commander himself has just called, saying that in order to block the tank army of Hort that is rushing over, let us immediately assign the 2nd Guards Army to Yeremenko under the command. ”

"Put the troops under the command of General Yeremenko?" When Malinin heard this, his eyes couldn't help but widen, in his mind, Yeremenko was not a qualified commander of the Front. The other commanders were eager to set their headquarters as close to the front as possible, but he was lucky, and before the Germans stormed Stalingrad, he hastily moved his headquarters to the other side of the Volga. Now that the new troops sent from the base camp are under his command, will he be able to block the enemy's attack? However, Malinin, who has always been good at obeying the orders of his superiors, replied decisively: "I understand, I immediately sent a telegram to General Malinovsky, asking him to turn his troops to the area of the Meshkova River." ”

Fortunately, Paulus did not dare to disobey Hitler's orders, abandoned his position in the Stalingrad area without authorization, and took a breakthrough operation to join the Hort troops who came to the rescue. Eleven divisions of the 1st Guards Infantry Corps, the 13th Guards Infantry Corps and the 2nd Guards Mechanized Corps, which belonged to the 2nd Guards Army, spread out on the south bank of the Meshkova River, holding back the lone Hort tank units and preventing them from continuing their advance.

Unwilling to accept defeat, on December 21, with the cooperation of the 4th Air Force aircraft, Hort concentrated the 39th Tank Regiment, the 40th and 63rd Motorized Rifle Regiments, and under the cover of more than 100 tanks, launched another fierce offensive against the defensive positions of the 166th Regiment of the 98th Infantry Division, which belonged to the 1st Guards Infantry Corps, in an attempt to open a gap from here again.

However, under the stubborn defense of the Guards soldiers, Hoth's attack ended in failure due to heavy casualties.

After hitting a wall in one place, Hoth mobilized heavy forces and tried to open a breakthrough from the defense zone of the 13th Guards Infantry Corps. But under the stubborn defense of the Soviet army, Hort's attempt was in vain.

Hort's 4th Tank Army, under the stubborn resistance of the 2nd Guards Army, could not get a single step closer to Stalingrad. Paulus, who was in the encirclement, missed the only chance to break through in his indecision. In this case, the 6th Army could only be destroyed step by step.

With the troops of the Southwestern Front under the command of Vatutin, attacking the Italian forces in the rear of Manstein's forces, the rapid rout of the Italian army put the 4th Tank Army, which was relieving Paulus, in danger of being encircled. Under these circumstances, Manstein, who found that he no longer had the strength to relieve Paulus, decisively gave orders to his troops, and after halting the offensive, they withdrew from the starting point of the attack before the campaign was launched.

Hearing that Manstein's troops had retreated, Rokossovsky couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, if Paulus really broke through, the next battle would not be easy to fight.

Seeing that Manstein's troops began to retreat, Stalin began to think about how to annihilate the 6th Army encircled in the Stalingrad area, and at this moment he remembered what Rokossovsky had said that without the 2nd Guards Army, it would not be possible to destroy Paulus's army at all.

After careful consideration, he decided not only to hand over the 2nd Guards Army to Rokossovsky's command, but also to unite the troops in the Stalingrad region, so he decided to merge the Don Front and the Stalingrad Front, and the post of commander of the newly merged Front would be Rokossovsky.

Thinking of this, he called Vasilevsky over and ordered bluntly: "Comrade Chief of the General Staff, please prepare an order at once, from now on, to merge the Don Front and the Stalingrad Front, with Rokossovsky as commander." ”

Vasilevsky was not at all surprised by Stalin's order, and after Stalin finished speaking, he asked with a flat expression: "Comrade Stalin, Comrade Kirichenko, the military commissar of the Don Front, was transferred to the Southwestern Front a few days ago to strengthen the leadership there. Now that the two fronts are going to be merged, who will be the military commissar? Was it Comrade Khrushchev, the military commissar of the original Stalingrad Front, or someone else? ”

Stalin pondered for a moment, and then announced: "Immediately appoint Comrade Terekin as military commissar of the newly merged Stalingrad Front, and immediately take office." ”

When Rokossovsky learned that he had assumed the post of commander of the newly merged Stalingrad Front, although he was in ecstasy, he was very calm on the surface. He called Malinin over and instructed: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the base camp will merge our Don Front with the Stalingrad Front to form a new Stalingrad Front, and return to the new military commissar Comrade Terekin, who has been sent to us." ”

From Rokossovsky's words, Malinin could tell where he probably wanted to move around again, so he asked carefully: "Comrade commander, I don't know where you are going?" ”

"I have just been appointed commander of the new front, and I plan to go around the troops below and meet with the commanders of the various army groups." Rokossovsky told Malinin: "During my absence, you will be responsible for everything here, and don't forget to send someone to pick up the new military commissar." ”

After Rokossovsky finished speaking, he walked towards the door. But when he reached the door, he stopped and ordered Malinin: "Chief of Staff, you immediately call Comrade Malinovsky and order him to concentrate on attacking the German 57th Tank Corps stationed on the banks of the Meshkova River, and if possible, it is better to completely annihilate this force." ”

"What, the 57th Tank Army, which completely annihilated the Germans?" Malinin was taken aback by Rokossovsky's order, and hurriedly reminded: "General Malinovsky's troops are almost all infantry, so it's too dangerous for them to destroy the German tank army, right?" ”

"Chief of Staff, you don't know anything." Rokossovsky told the history he knew in his own analytical tone: "According to my observations, since Manstein transferred the 6th Tank Division to relieve the siege of the Italian army, which was beaten by our army, this once invincible German unit, let alone the 6th Army, has fought very hard in defense, even in the face of our army's fierce offensive. ”

Malinin knew that Rokossovsky's analysis of problems had always been very accurate, so he hurriedly nodded and said: "Understood, comrade commander, I will immediately send a telegram to Malinovsky, so that he can immediately concentrate his forces on launching a fierce attack on the German 57th Tank Army and strive to inflict heavy losses." ”

From what Malinin said, Rokossovsky heard that he still thought that it was an impossible task to completely annihilate the German 57th Tank Army, so in his speech, he cleverly replaced the word "total annihilation" with "heavy damage." Rokossovsky did not care about these trifles and continued: "If the two Guards Infantry Corps cannot solve this enemy force, then the 2nd Guards Mechanized Army will also be thrown into battle to destroy as much as possible the living forces of the German army." ”

The merger of the two fronts is a matter of joy and sorrow for a few families. Rokossovsky took the post of commander of the Front, and naturally smiled. But Yeremenko and Khrushchev were really sad, because there were no places for them in the election of the leaders of the new Front, which meant that they had to return to their base camp and wait for Stalin to reassign them work.

Khrushchev could not help but complain a few words about such an arrangement: "We have held out in the Stalingrad region for so long, and we are about to achieve a final victory. Who knew that the base camp would merge our two front armies with a single word. If we can continue to stay in the army after the merger, even if I am asked to serve as a military commissar in a group army or even a division, I have no complaints, but I have not mentioned a word about our arrangements. ”

"All right, Comrade Khrushchev." Although Yeremenko was also full of complaints, he knew in his heart that his position in Stalin's mind was not as solid as Khrushchev's. Khrushchev whined a few words, and Stalin knew about it, but he just laughed it off; And if his whining words reached Stalin's ears, he would not be able to eat and go away. Thinking of this, he persuaded him: "We are all party members, and we must resolutely obey the arrangements of our superiors." ”