Seeing this telegram, Rokossovsky couldn't help but wonder, when did he give the order for the 322nd and 323rd Infantry Divisions to go out to the Sushinich area?

Thinking of this, he handed the telegram to Golikov and asked: "General Golikov, your phone here, can you contact my headquarters?" ”

Hearing Rokossovsky's question, Golikov did not immediately answer, he first took the telegram in front of his eyes and looked at it for a while, and then turned his head and shouted to the side: "Comrade Communications Director, please come here." Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info"

With his shout, a young major ran over. Standing in front of Golikov, he asked stiffly: "Comrade commander, what instructions do you have?" ”

"Can we talk to the headquarters of the 16th Army?"

The major hesitated for a moment, then nodded and said, "Yes, Comrade Commander, as long as you give me a little time, I can find a way to establish contact with the headquarters of the 16th Army." ”

Rokossovsky hurriedly walked over and shook the major's hand, and said sincerely: "Comrade Major, please, you must establish contact with my command as soon as possible." ”

"Don't worry, Comrade General." The major glanced at Rokossovsky's collar badge and immediately replied: "I'll give you access in five minutes." With that, he raised his hand and saluted, then turned and ran away.

After looking down at the telegram again, Golikov asked with some confusion: "Comrade Rokossovsky, when did your troops get to Sushnych?" ”

"I don't know." Rokossovsky shrugged his shoulders, spread his hands and said, "Maybe it was an order given by other commanders when I was not at the headquarters." ”

Fortunately, it didn't take long for the phone call to the headquarters to be connected. When Rokossovsky put the headphones to his ear, he turned into the microphone and asked, "Hey, I'm Rokossovsky, who are you?" ”

I don't know if I don't speak, and as soon as I speak, I find that the call effect of the phone is very poor. The current is too loud, and the other party's voice is always intermittent. And the other party didn't seem to be able to hear what he was saying clearly, and kept repeating loudly: "Hey, hey, what are you saying, I can't hear clearly... I can't hear you clearly, please repeat it again. ”

After yelling at each other for a long time, Rokossovsky finally figured out what was going on in the battle at Sushinich. It turned out that Zakharov saw that the weather was improving, there was no wind and no snow continued, and there were not many obstacles to the march, except that the temperature was still low. Considering that the weather was too cold for the German scouts to come out, he decided to let the 322nd and 323rd Infantry Divisions move in the direction of Sushinich. As a result, due to the confusion of the state, he accidentally entered the front of the German defensive position and was discovered by the German sentry, so a battle inevitably happened.

"I see." After figuring out the ins and outs, Rokossovsky said loudly into the microphone: "Chief of staff, during our descent to the troops, you calmly and accurately organized communications and liaison, organized reconnaissance of the enemy's situation and terrain, collected all intelligence, and worked hard to accomplish the current task -- the occupation of Suchinich. Do you understand? ”

"Understood, Comrade Commander." Malinen replied loudly on the other end of the phone.

Putting down the phone, Rokossovsky briefly repeated what he knew to Golikov and Lobachev, and then anxiously said to Golikov: "Comrade General, I will immediately rush to the divisions that have just been received to inspect them, and I will not continue to stay with you." As he spoke, he held out his hand to the other party, "Good luck!" ”

Rokossovsky and Lobachev came out of the headquarters and walked along the frozen dirt road to the edge of the village. The commander of the guard company, who was warming himself in a nearby house, saw the two commanders he had picked up appear at the entrance of the village, and hurriedly ran out of the house, came to the two of them, and asked respectfully: "Comrade General, may I have anything to serve you?" ”

"That's right, Comrade Captain." Rokossovsky, who did not know the name of the other party, addressed him by military rank: "We are going to inspect the divisions we have just received, and after consultation with General Golikov, he asked you to be our guide." How, is there a problem? ”

"No, Comrade General." The captain quickly straightened up and replied with a serious expression, "I am willing to serve you." ”

Soon, several people got into the sleigh and headed in the direction of the jeep where it was parked.

On the way, Rokossovsky asked the guard company commander in a loud voice: "Comrade Captain, from here to which division is the closest?" ”

The commander of the guard company had just learned from Rokossovsky which divisions were assigned to the command of the 16th Army, so when he heard this question, he immediately replied: "Comrade General, the closest to here is the 328th Infantry Division, and the division commander is Colonel Ivan, and their station is only about 20 kilometers from here. ”

"How do we get there?" Rokossovsky continued.

"Cars are passable there," the guard company commander said loudly with a sideways face, "Let's rush to the place where you parked first and get there by car." ”

The commanders and fighters who stayed next to the vehicle and waited, because they were afraid of exposing the target, did not dare to make a fire casually, and they could not stand the cold, so they could only walk back and forth around the car with their guns in their arms, and moved their bodies for a while. I was overjoyed to see Rokossovsky and Lobachev returning in a sleigh.

The officer in charge of the guards, as soon as the sleigh stopped, walked quickly in front of Rokossovsky and asked: "Comrade commander, where are we going next?" Is it back to the headquarters? ”

"No," Rokossovsky shook his head and replied, "we're going to go to the headquarters of the 328th Infantry Division." After saying that, he looked at the guards and soldiers who were choking on the cold, and then ordered: "Let the soldiers get on the car, and we will set off immediately." ”

A convoy of two jeeps and a truck, under the guidance of the commander of the guard company, drove along the barely usual improvised road towards the position of the 328th Infantry Division.

The car had not gone far when suddenly the driver shouted: "Air raid siren!" He then slammed the steering wheel and turned the jeep towards the side of the snow-covered road. Because the road was too slippery, the driver turned too hard, causing the jeep to turn around twice and then plunged headlong into the snowdrift on the side of the road, shaking Rokossovsky who was sitting in the car.

Rokossovsky pushed the door open and jumped into the snow, helping Lobachev to get out of it, only to look up at the sky and see a German fighter hovering in the sky. Seeing that it was not a dive bomber, his heart suddenly became much more steady. He poked his head into the car and said to the driver who hadn't had time to get out: "It's okay, it's not a bomber, let's keep walking." ”

The fighters in the truck behind saw that the Rokossovsky jeep was stuck in the snow, and hurriedly ran over and lifted the car out with all their hands. After waiting for the enemy plane to fly away, Rokossovsky sat back in the car and asked the driver with concern: "Are you okay?" ”

The driver turned his head to look at Rokossovsky, shook his head and said: "Comrade commander, I'm fine." ”

"Then drive, pay attention to driving." Rokossovsky commanded softly: "We must rush to the headquarters of the 328th Infantry Division as soon as possible." ”

Who knows how far the car had gone, and the enemy planes that had flown away flew back and strafed the convoy moving on the road. Fortunately, the bullets hit the side of the road and did not cause any damage to the convoy.

Seeing the enemy planes coming and going, Rokossovsky hurriedly ordered the driver: "Stop!" ”

The driver, although he did not know why Rokossovsky gave such an order, hit the brakes in time. As soon as the car came to a stop, Rokossovsky jumped out of the car, looked up at the enemy plane still hovering in the sky, and decisively ordered the fighters who ran from behind: "Go to the woods." ”

No sooner had all the men run into the nearby woods than the enemy planes swooped down again and began firing wildly. Rokossovsky, who was hiding in the woods, clearly saw that next to the jeep he was riding, puffs of earth and snow powder were rising like fountains.

"Bring me a submachine gun." Rokossovsky looked at the enemy plane, which was pulling up again, and shouted at the fighters next to him.

In a few moments, a Bobosha submachine gun with a capacity of 71 rounds was handed to Rokossovsky, but no one asked the commander what he wanted the submachine gun to do.

But they soon discovered that when the enemy plane dived again, their commander raised the submachine gun in his hand and fired at the enemy plane. Although everyone knows that submachine guns have no effect on airplanes, since the commanders are doing this, everyone can't stand aside and watch the excitement. So, a dozen submachine guns and rifles, at the same time, continued to shoot at enemy aircraft in the air.

Seeing that dense fire suddenly appeared below, the German pilot hurriedly made an evasive maneuver and pulled the plane up.

"Comrade Commander!" Lobachev was stunned by Rokossovsky's move, and he shouted: "What are you doing here?" ”

Rokossovsky turned his head to look at him, grinned and said loudly: "I am not in the habit of bowing to the enemy. ”

"You're taking such a risk to do that." Lobachev said in a reproachful tone: "You are the commander of the army group, if something happens, what will happen to the troops?" ”

The enemy plane, after being hit by light fire from the ground, although it did not suffer any damage, frightened the pilot, and he piloted the plane, and after circling a few times over Rokossovsky's hidden woods, he turned around and flew away.

When the convoy was on the road again, Lobachev, who was sitting next to Rokossovsky, said with trepidation: "Comrade commander, do you know how risky what you have just done, if the enemy persistently strafs our hiding place, or attracts more planes, then we will suffer huge casualties. ”

Rokossovsky only smiled faintly at Lobachev's reproach, he knew that the other party was for his own good, so he did not justify, just nodded and said lightly: "Okay, Comrade Military Commissar, I will never do such a risky thing in the future." ”

Coming to the outside of the headquarters of the 328th Infantry Division, after getting out of the car, Rokossovsky did not immediately walk into the command headquarters, but said with concern to the officers who came from the truck behind: "The soldiers are all frozen, you first take the soldiers to find a warm place to warm up." Seeing the hesitant expression on the officer's face, Rokossovsky knew what the other party was worried about, so he comforted him and said, "Don't worry, we will stay in the division headquarters, we will not go anywhere, there will be no danger." ”

Hearing Rokossovsky say this, the officer said yes and turned to assemble the team. Rokossovsky still stood still until he saw the soldiers who came with him, led by a commander of the 328th Division, walking towards a large wooden house not far away, that he shook his head at Lobachev, who was standing aside, and said: "Let's go, Comrade Military Commissar, it's getting late, we should also go in and meet Colonel Ivan." ”