Zhukov put down the phone, turned around, leaned back slightly, leaned on the table where the telephone was placed, looked at Voroshilov and Molotov and said: "As the new commander of the Western Front, I would like to talk to the two comrades of the National Defense Committee about my views. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 infoThe troops of the Western Front fought bravely and tenaciously in the recent battles, and more importantly, they did not abandon their positions and fled," he said, standing up straight and walking forward, pointing at Konev and continuing, "I think this is also the merit of the previous leadership of the Western Front. ”

He came to the table, propped his hands on the table, leaned forward slightly, and continued to say righteously: "They saved Moscow with their precious lives, and we should pay tribute to those comrades-in-arms who fought to the end in the cruel defense battle, and those who fought to the death in the encirclement of the German army." It was they who held back the main forces of the German army, and they delayed the German offensive for up to eight days. And we should now make the most of the precious time they have bought to re-establish a new line of defense in front of Moscow. ”

After Zhukov said these impassioned words, he straightened up again, walked towards Rokossovsky, who was standing next to him, and said loudly at the same time: "Comrade Rokossovsky, commander of the 16th Army, please accept a new combat mission." ”

Hearing Zhukov's call, Rokossovsky hurriedly stepped forward, straightened his waist, and waited for Zhukov to issue his first operational order after he became commander of the Front.

Zhukov looked up at Rokossovsky and said in a calm tone: "The task of your army group is to cut off the Volokolamsk road,......"

According to the memories of later generations, Rokossovsky had long known that Zhukov had arranged a defensive zone for himself, which was in the Volokolamsk region, and hurriedly asked: "Comrade commander, don't you know that there are troops there?" ”

Hearing this, Zhukov sighed softly and asked rhetorically: "How many troops do you still have in your hands?" He asked this question in order to decide how many troops he should give Rokossovsky.

"In addition to the commander, there was the 18th division of the militia of Major General Chernyshov." After briefly introducing the composition of his existing troops, Rokossovsky added: "Originally, the division had only about 5,000 men, but in the process of breaking through, we continued to contain those small detachments that were scattered by the enemy, and now the total strength has reached 8,000 men, but there are not enough weapons." ”

"That's a lot of people." After hearing this, Zhukov said something to himself. No one paid attention to Konev, who was standing next to him, and when he heard the news, his eyebrows rose and his face showed a look of surprise.

"There should be," Zhukov continued, "the Minsk highway to your left is cut off by General Lelyuschenk,...... You just need to resolutely hold Volokolamsk. Considering that Rokossovsky had only 8,000 under-equipped men and that it would be difficult to hold the defensive area, he added, "When your headquarters arrives, I will send you new troops, and at the same time I will replenish you with enough weapons." ”

After the task was explained, Zhukov waved his hand at Rokossovsky and Lobachev and ordered: "Okay, now that your task is clear, then go back to the army immediately." After seeing Rokossovsky and Lobachev saluting, he turned around and was about to leave, and hurriedly stopped him, "Rokossovsky, the telegraph room is next to it, but you send a telegram to the commander in charge of the headquarters, asking them to immediately set off for Volokolamsk, and you can rush there directly to join the troops." ”

"Understood, Comrade General." Rokossovsky raised his hand again to salute Zhukov, turned and opened the door and walked out with Lobachev.

In the telecommunications room, it was easy to get in touch with Ma Lining, who was directing the transfer of troops. Malinin, as an excellent staff officer, knew very well that Rokossovsky, who had been called up to the command of the Front, would definitely receive a new combat mission. In order not to delay the fighters, while the troops were marching north, the radio station placed in the armored car was also kept on, so Rokossovsky could contact him at the first time.

After giving Malinin an order by telegram to transfer troops to Volokolamsk, Rokossovsky and Lobachev came out of the telegraph room and met Konev at the door. Although he had a pimple in Konev's heart, the other party was still the deputy commander of the Western Front after all, and the two still raised their hands to salute him.

"Comrade Rokossovsky," after seeing the two saluting, he was about to leave directly, but Konev suddenly stopped Rokossovsky and said in a humble tone: "Can I talk to you?" ”

Hearing Konev say that he wanted to talk to himself, Rokossovsky couldn't help but pout, but in order to find out what kind of medicine was sold in the other party's gourd, he nodded and said, "Yes, Comrade Deputy Commander." Then he turned to Lobachev and said, "Comrade Military Commissar, you should wait for me in the car first, I estimate that Comrade Deputy Commander has something important to discuss with me in private." ”

Although Konev was removed from his post as commander of the Front, the ordinary commanders who walked by the corridor from time to time did not know the news, and when they saw him standing in the corridor with a general, they would stop and salute before continuing to walk. Seeing the people coming and going, Konev had something to say, so he had to smile bitterly at Rokossovsky and say, "Let's go out for a walk." ”

As the two of them slowly came to a grove, Konev suddenly stopped, turned and bowed to Rokossovsky. Rokossovsky was taken aback by his move, and hurriedly stretched out his hand to support his arms, and asked in surprise: "Comrade Deputy Commander, what are you doing here?" ”

"If it weren't for my momentary confusion and asking you to hand over your troops to General Yershakov of the 20th Army, it is estimated that our defense line would not have been broken by the enemy so quickly." Although Konev knew that the breakthrough of the front had something to do with his own cautious eye, even if he apologized to Rokossovsky, he would not mention the real reason, but avoided the important and said lightly: "If you are still commanding the troops in Yaltsevo, I believe that even if the enemy can break through the defense line of our army, he will inevitably pay a heavy price, and he will not be able to attack Moscow again in the short term." ”

Rokossovsky never figured out why Konev made a stumbling block for himself, but seeing that the other party had already dodged and apologized to him, he no longer cared about it, but said magnanimously: "Comrade Deputy Commander, the past has passed, and there is no need to mention it again." Although we were not able to hold off the Germans in Yatsevo and Vyazma, I am sure that in Volokolamsk we will be able to hold them back. ”

Seeing Rokossovsky's appearance of not blaming the past, the stone hanging in Konev's heart fell to the ground. In order to mend the rift between the two, he asked in a friendly tone, "Is there anything I need help with?" ”

Rokossovsky, out of consideration for the overall situation, will ignore Konev's calculation of himself, but in fact, there is still a thorn in his heart. At this moment, I heard Konev take the initiative to ask if there was anything he needed help with, and then asked tentatively: "Comrade Deputy Commander, on the way to break through, I took in some scattered commanders and fighters, many of whom have no weapons. Although Comrade Zhukov promised to provide us with weapons, it is still unknown when these weapons will reach us. I don't know if you can help us add some first, and solve the urgent need. ”

In response to Rokossovsky's request, Konev frowned and thought for a moment, then nodded and said: "No problem, a transport convoy came today, and all the weapons and ammunition were transported." As you know, I'm only the deputy commander now, so I'll only be able to give you a portion of these weapons and ammunition. A thousand rifles, a hundred submachine guns, fifty pistols, and matching ammunition, what do you think? ”

Originally, Rokossovsky just said it casually, thinking that it would be enough to ask for a hundred rifles and a few hundred rounds of ammunition, but he didn't expect Konev to be so generous and give himself so many weapons at once. He hurriedly shook Konev's hand, shook it vigorously and said: "Thank you, thank you, Comrade Deputy Commander, with this batch of weapons, we will be able to immediately arm the fighters." On behalf of all the commanders and fighters of the 16th Army, I would like to express my gratitude to you. ”

In this way, ten minutes later, behind the jeep in which Rokossovsky and Lobachev were riding, three trucks loaded with weapons and ammunition followed them towards Volokolamsk.

Lobachev turned his head to look at the three trucks following behind him, as well as several soldiers who were escorting the cars in the carriages, and said with some surprise: "Comrade commander, this is simply incredible, General Konev actually sent us so many weapons at once, if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I couldn't believe it was true." Tell me, what did you just talk about in private, and how did you convince him? ”

"Didn't say anything." Rokossovsky was reluctant to talk more about this matter, although he was calculated by Konev this time, but it was also a blessing in disguise, and he escaped from the German encirclement. If Konev had transferred to Vyazma to receive troops instead of himself but Lukin, then the commander-in-chief of the victory parade on Red Square in the future would probably have been Marshal Lukin instead of himself, and whether he would have survived to victory in the prisoner of war camp was a question. "He realized that he had made some mistakes in command, so he wanted to reach an understanding in this way."

After Rokossovsky said this, he couldn't help but think to himself: Russians are so funny, even if they are mortal enemies, it is possible to reconcile the two because of a few understatements, which may be what others say: people suddenly become close in the face of common interests and goals.

Lobachev said with emotion: "It is really a wise decision for the Supreme High Command to appoint General Zhukov as commander of the Western Front. If Comrade Zhukov had been appointed commander of the Western Front at the beginning of the war, perhaps the fighting would still be going on in the border areas. ”

After several months of observation, he found the gap between the Soviet army and the German army, and thus soberly realized that in the early days of the war, no matter who was the commander of the front, he could not change the order of the defeat of the Soviet army, even if Zhukov was an invincible and peerless commander.

Thinking of this, Rokossovsky glanced at the driver who was concentrating on driving, and then lowered his voice and said to Lobachev: "Comrade Military Commissar, before the war, we had two major military operations, the Battle of the Harakha River and the Soviet-Finnish War. The divisional and brigade-level commanders who performed prominently in these two campaigns were promoted and reused to varying degrees. For example, the former commander of the Leningrad Military District, Meretskov, became the chief of the General Staff and the deputy People's Commissar of Defense; Zhukov became the commander of the Kiev Special Military District, and later took over the post of Chief of the General Staff; In the Spanish Civil War, Pavlov, who had a good performance, soon became the director of the automobile tank armored corps and the commander of the Western Special Military District after returning home; There was also the former division commander, General Kirponos, who was promoted to general shortly after returning from the Finnish battlefield and succeeded Zhukov as commander of the Kiev Special Military District. ……”

"That's right, that's right." After hearing Rokossovsky's remarks, Lobachev nodded incessantly and said: "Almost all senior commanders in important posts were promoted by their superiors after these two major battles or the Spanish Civil War. ”

"These promotions may seem like a good thing, but they don't come without a price." Rokossovsky continued his analysis with bitterness: "Almost none of the divisional or even corps-level commanders who have been promoted have any experience in commanding large corps operations. Since the Germans did not give us commanders the time and opportunity to learn and hone their skills, they hurriedly started the war, and as a result, the situation on our side became extremely bad. From the war reports we have seen, we can know that after the outbreak of the war, the commanders of all front-line armies did not perform very well. The Western Front was the worst, the air force was completely lost on the first day of the war, the main force was encircled in a few days, and a week later Minsk was lost, and the original units of the Western Front were almost completely annihilated. The situation of the Southwestern Front and the Northwestern Front was slightly better, but they were also losing and retreating. The Southwestern Front was later inflicted heavy losses in the Battle of Uman and then in the Battle of Kiev. The North-Western Front retreated all the way to Leningrad. (To be continued.) )