The situation on the battlefield that followed seemed to have been moving in the direction that Rokossovsky had envisioned.

Chernyakhovsky's forces liberated Bakhmachi on 9 September, while encircling four German infantry divisions south of the city.

After receiving the news that the German infantry division had been encircled, Rokossovsky immediately called Rudenko and ordered him: "General Rudenko, at present, the troops of the 60th Army are south of Bakhmach and encircle the four German infantry divisions, and I order that bombers be dispatched immediately to carry out non-stop bombardment of the area, so that the German army will not be able to establish an effective defense." ”

When Rudenko heard Rokossovsky say this, he couldn't help but pause for a moment, and asked in an uncertain tone: "Comrade commander, you mean non-stop bombing of the German army?" ”

"That's right, General Rudenko." After Rokossovsky gave the other party an affirmative answer, he guessed what the other party was worried about, so he comforted him and said: "Don't worry about fuel and ammunition, I will let General Antipinkko's logistics department replenish you." ”

Seeing that Rokossovsky guessed what was on his mind, Rudenko smiled a little embarrassedly and hurriedly replied: "Understood, comrade commander, I immediately ordered the bomber formation to attack." Rest assured, I will blow the Germans to the ground. ”

As soon as Rokossovsky put down the phone, he found Kazakov and Orel standing in front of him, so he smiled and said: "You two came just in time, I have something to tell you." Sit down first. ”

After the two of them sat down, he first said to Kazakov: "Comrade Kazakov, you should know that General Chernyakhovsky's troops have surrounded four German infantry divisions south of the city of Bakhmachi, and as long as this enemy is cleared, the resistance on our way to Kiev will be greatly reduced. ”

"I understand what you mean," Kazakov interjected before Rokossovsky could finish speaking: "I will transfer a few self-propelled artillery regiments as soon as possible to strengthen the artillery there and assist the infantry in completing the battle of annihilation of the German army." ”

"Comrade commander," said Kazakov of Orel, as soon as he finished speaking, he immediately stood up and said, "At present I have two tank brigades at my disposal, and I can also send them to Bakhmad as soon as possible to assist General Chernyakhovsky's troops in launching an attack on the German troops encircled in the south of the city." ”

Rokossovsky saw that after two years of getting along with him, he had formed a tacit understanding, and before his words came out, the two had guessed the task they were about to assign, so he nodded with a smile and said: "Since the two comrades of the generals have already guessed my intentions, then go and give combat orders to your troops as soon as possible." ”

After the two left, Rokossovsky stared at the map in front of him in a daze, judging from the situation on the map, no matter what, his own troops are the best candidates to capture Kyiv, but why in real history, the troops that captured Kyiv were Vatutin's Voronezh Front?

While Rokossovsky was sitting at the table and pondering, Terekin walked up to him and sat down, and said with a smile: "Comrade commander, our troops are only eighty kilometers away from Nezhin, and as long as we encircle and destroy the enemy south of Bakhmachi, it will only take two days and nights for our tank units to reach Nezhin. ”

"The military commissar is right," Deputy Commander Trubnikov came over and continued: "As long as our army captures Nezhin, then the Germans will not have any decent defense system on the road to Kyiv." Perhaps it will only take two or three days for our troops to reach the city of Kyiv. ”

Rokossovsky tapped his finger on the map a few times and said: "Kiev straddles both banks of the Dnieper, as long as we occupy the eastern part of the city on the left bank, we can regroup our forces here, and after the deployment is completed, it will not be much difficult to capture the western part of the city." ”

……

With the combined efforts of the air force, artillery, and armored forces, Chernyakhovsky's troops were able to completely annihilate the enemy besieged south of Bakhmad in just two days and continue their advance towards Nezhin.

It was expected that there would be another fierce battle here, but the troops of the 60th Army met only very weak resistance, and the battle lasted for two hours, and the German defenders in the city voluntarily abandoned the city and withdrew in the direction of Kiev.

When the news of the liberation of Nezhin reached the headquarters of the Front, everyone could not help but high-five, because in this way, the road to Kyiv became unimpeded. Perhaps at the end of September, the troops of the Central Front will be able to completely liberate Kiev.

Just as Rokossovsky was about to give the order to Cherniakhovsky to march on Kyiv, Malinin came over with a telegram and said to Rokossovsky with a serious expression: "Comrade commander, something is wrong. ”

"What's wrong?" Seeing Malinin's expression, Rokossovsky knew that something was wrong, and while he took the telegram, he nervously asked: "Which of our troops has a problem again?" ”

"It's not our problem, it's the problem of friendly forces." Malinin said expressionlessly: "The armies on the right flank of the Voronezh Front, which is adjacent to our left, are still engaged in fierce battles with the Germans in the area of Romny and Lokhvica, and they are already 100-120 kilometers behind our left flank. Today, a huge gap has formed between the troops of our two fronts. ”

After reading the telegram, Rokossovsky threw it on the table and walked back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back, thinking in his heart that if Chernyakhovsky's troops were to fill the gap, then the assault force of the troops would be weakened, and it would become difficult to quickly capture Kyiv.

After walking back and forth a few times, he stopped and asked Malining: "Chief of Staff, has this matter been reported to the General Staff Headquarters?" ”

"Not yet," said Malinen, shaking his head, "as soon as I receive the telegram, I will report it to you." ”

"You immediately call Chernyakhovsky and ask him to temporarily stop advancing towards Kyiv and immediately allocate part of his forces to ensure the safety of his flank." Rokossovsky said to Malinin: "I immediately contacted the General Staff Headquarters to see if they could replenish us with new forces. ”

Rokossovsky, having made a phone call to Vasilevsky, said straight to the point: "Comrade Chief of the General Staff, the troops of General Chernyakhovsky, have already managed to capture Nezhin today, opening the way to Kiev. But due to the fact that the troops of the right flank of the Voronezh Front on their left flank advanced too slowly and were already 100-200 years behind them, thus creating a huge gap between our two fronts. ”

Hearing that there was a huge gap between the Central Front and the Voronezh Front, Vasilevsky was also surprised, and he hurriedly asked: "Comrade Rokossovsky, have you taken any measures?" ”

"I have ordered General Chernyakhovsky to suspend the advance on Kyiv and to redeploy part of his forces to strengthen his left flank." After introducing the current situation of the troops, Rokossovsky made his request to Vasilevsky: "Comrade Chief of the General Staff, we do not have many mobile forces at our disposal, and we will see if the base camp can send us a new reserve. ”

"Comrade Rokossovsky, on the issue of reserves, I talked to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief himself today." Vasilevsky waited for Rokossovsky to finish his request, and then said slowly: "He has decided to strengthen General Belov's 61st Army to you, and you can place this army at the junction of the 60th and 13th armies." ”

"Great, that's great." Rokossovsky originally only planned to ask for two divisions from Vasilevsky, but he did not expect that the other party would give him a complete army group at once, and he immediately expressed his gratitude to the other party excitedly: "Comrade Chief of the General Staff, thank you!" ”

"Wait a minute, Comrade Rokossovsky, I haven't finished my words yet." Vasilevsky suddenly said in a serious tone: "The Supreme Command has made a decision today to adjust the operational areas of your Front and the Voronezh Front. ”

"What, adjust the combat area?" Although Rokossovsky had long been mentally prepared for this kind of adjustment of the combat area, when he heard Vasilevsky say it, his heart still sank, and his heart said that this was really fate, and the task of liberating Kyiv could only be completed by Vatutin's Voronezh Front? He asked listlessly: "Comrade Chief of the General Staff, I don't know how it will be adjusted?" ”

"Your offensive area is moving to the north," Vasilevsky said in an emotionless voice: "The task of attacking Kyiv is entrusted to the Voronezh Front of Vatutin, and the direction of your offensive is in the direction of Chernihiv in the north." ”

"Comrade Chief of the General Staff," Rokossovsky, trying to change this decision of the Supreme High Command, said euphemistically: "The troops of our 60th and 13th armies are driving straight in the direction of Chernihiv and Kiev. Perhaps we can carry out a surprise attack on the flank of the enemy grouping fighting with the right flank of the Voronezh Front, in order to force the enemy to withdraw his troops to the other side of the Dnieper. This will not only help the friendly forces on the left to move forward, but perhaps, we can also liberate Kyiv together. ”

"No, Comrade Rokossovsky, no matter what you say, this decision cannot be changed." Vasilevsky continued: "This is a decision made by Comrade Stalin personally. ”

Rokossovsky was immediately deflated when he heard Vasilevsky say this, he knew that Stalin was very stubborn, and once a decision was made on something, it would never be easily changed. Besides, even if the other party is willing to change the original decision after a dispute with Stalin, at the same time it will have a bad impression of itself, and it is very worthwhile to do so. Thinking of this, he said disappointedly: "Comrade Chief of the General Staff, is there really no room for change? You must know that the commanders and fighters of the 60th Army are in an unprecedentedly high mood, in order to participate in the battle to liberate the Ukrainian capital Kiev, they forget their fatigue and can rush forward one by one until they rush to the bottom of Kyiv. ”

After listening to what Rokossovsky said, Vasilevsky sighed softly and said: "Comrade Rokossovsky, let me tell you the truth, the decision to put the Voronezh Front in charge of liberating Kyiv was the result of Zhukov and Khrushchev's repeated persuasion of the Supreme Commander himself, and I could not do anything about it. ”

Vasilevsky hung up the phone for a long time, but Rokossovsky was still holding the microphone in a daze, and he could not hear a series of blind tones coming from the earpiece. Terekin, who was chatting with Malinin, noticed Rokossovsky's strange appearance, walked over and took the microphone from his hand, put it on the base of the telephone, and asked with concern: "Comrade commander, is something wrong?" ”

Rokossovsky looked at Terekin, let out a long sigh, and said helplessly: "The base camp has just made a decision to adjust the area of operations between us and Vatutin's troops. Our offensive zone will turn in the direction of Chernihiv, that is, we miss Kyiv. ”

"What, the base camp canceled our mission to liberate Kyiv?" When Terekin heard this, he couldn't help but cry out loudly: "Why is this? ”

Terekin's voice was so loud that many people in the command heard it. Ordinary staff officers and communications officers just glanced at Rokossovsky and continued to bury their heads in their work; And Malinin, Kazakov, Orel, they gathered around and asked Rokossovsky what was going on. After learning that the task of liberating Kiev was given to the Voronezh Front by their superiors, everyone's faces showed disappointment.

Terekin said with a bitter face: "I was still telling the commanders and fighters of the 60th Army yesterday that the superiors gave them the glorious task of liberating Kiev and encouraged them to make more meritorious contributions in the battle. As a result, just a day later, it was necessary to tell the fighters, comrades, sorry, the task of liberating Kyiv has nothing to do with us, we will turn in other directions. How can you tell me what to say to the commanders? ”

After waiting for Terekin to finish complaining, Malinin asked Rokossovsky worriedly: "Comrade commander, what should we say to General Chernyakhovsky?" If the commanders and fighters of the 60th Army knew this news, it would have had a fatal impact on the morale of the troops. ”

After Malinin's words were finished, Kazakov, Orel and others also echoed them, strongly asking Rokossovsky to call Stalin again, asking his superiors to withdraw the order and continue to let the Central Front be the main force for attacking Kyiv.

Rokossovsky, who was dizzy by the crowd, slammed the table and said loudly: "Enough, don't say any more." He looked at the crowd and said angrily, "Don't you think my heart is sad that I lost the opportunity to liberate Kyiv?" But what can be done about it? As soldiers, our duty is to obey the orders of our superiors. Since this is an order given by the High Command, we can only obey it unconditionally. When he said this, he deliberately paused for a moment, took two deep breaths, and after his emotions calmed down a little, he waved his hand at everyone, "Okay, let's all go back to their respective jobs." ”