The reporters who were waiting outside the temporary headquarters, after hearing the soldier's reply, immediately blew up their nests: "What, we came to the front at the risk of danger, and Comrade Commander actually did not accept our interviews? ”

"No, we must see the commander. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 info" After a middle-aged reporter with an anxious temperament said this, he took the lead and rushed towards the headquarters.

Seeing that someone was taking the lead, the surrounding reporters also rushed towards the headquarters. There were only four fighters at the entrance of the headquarters, which was already smaller than the reporters, and besides, they were not facing their own enemies, and when they saw the reporters rushing towards them, they were not too resolute in their block, so they quickly let all the reporters rush in.

"Where is Comrade Commander?" Rokossovsky, who was pointing to the map and explaining the task to Malinin, suddenly heard a noisy footsteps behind him, and at the same time someone was shouting, and when he looked back, he happened to see a group of reporters pushing several fighters and breaking into his headquarters.

He frowned slightly, forcibly suppressed the anger in his heart, and tried his best to say in a steady tone in the face of those reporters who were chattering non-stop: "Comrade reporters, please keep quiet and don't affect our work. ”

"Comrade General," the middle-aged journalist, who was the first to break in, squeezed in front of Rokossovsky and asked impatiently, "I heard that your troops have recaptured the entire Istrian region, can you talk about your thoughts on this?" Also, what's your next move? ”

"Comrades journalists," Rokossovsky said with some impatience in his voice, "the reconquest of Istria is the credit of all the commanders and fighters of our 16th Army, and you should go to the troops to interview our fighters and ask them what they think of such a result." ”

The middle-aged reporter hit a soft nail, but he still asked reluctantly: "Comrade General, can you tell us the next direction of the 16th Army's actions?" ”

"The direction of our action is to continue to move forward." Rokossovsky replied without humility or arrogance: "Until all the fascist invaders are driven out of our borders." ”

As Rokossovsky spoke, the reporters around him were desperately writing down in their notebooks with pencils, for fear of missing something important.

A young reporter standing in the back row, recording relatively quickly. After he finished remembering, in order to ask more convenient questions, he desperately squeezed forward, trying to squeeze to the front. Who knew that a fat reporter who was recording in front of him felt that someone was squeezing forward from behind, and he was afraid that he would not be able to keep his position, so he pushed his elbow to the back.

The fat reporter's elbow hit the young reporter's abdomen impartially, causing the latter to snort, take a few steps back, and sit on the ground with his stomach covered. When he sat down, he felt something on the ground, instinctively turned his head to look, and saw a pile of iron lumps on the ground, so he couldn't help but ask curiously, "What is this pile on the ground?" ”

"Comrade journalist," Rokossovsky, who was always focused on the corner of the house, heard the young reporter's voice in time and hurriedly raised his voice and replied: "It was a mine buried by the enemy in the house." ”

Mine?! Hearing Rokossovsky say this, the reporters who were still rushing to ask questions suddenly lost their voices and looked at Rokossovsky blankly, trying to figure out whether what he said was true or joking.

Rokossovsky, who was worried about how to dismiss these reporters, saw the expressions of the reporters, and immediately had an idea, and said to the young reporter who was still sitting on the ground: "Comrade reporter, you have to be careful, there may be mines in it that have not been dismantled. If it explodes, the lives of the people in our house will be lost. ”

As soon as he finished speaking, the reporters who were still desperately rushing towards the front all ran towards the door, and even the young reporters who were sitting on the ground fled hand by hand.

Seeing that the room was empty again, Rokossovsky and Lobachev looked at each other and smiled, and then ordered Malinin: "Chief of Staff, send a platoon of guards to escort these comrades of journalists to the front line, let them go there to interview our fighters." ”

"Okay, I'll arrange this myself." Malinen said and walked out of the headquarters.

When Malinin returned, Rokossovsky and he continued the discussion that had just been interrupted by the visiting journalists. Rokossovsky pointed to the map and said: "Since the reserves handed over by the Supreme Command to the Western Front are now all thrown into the area between our 16th Army and the 30th Army, our offensive front is greatly reduced, so that there are surplus forces to build a second echelon in order to increase the striking force where the Germans are desperately resisting." ”

…………

In the face of the defeated German army, Rokossovsky wanted to take the posture of chasing the poor as soon as possible. Unfortunately, due to the limitations of the terrain, and the fact that the Germans, in order to get rid of the pursuit and flanking attacks of the Soviet army and preserve their vital forces, resorted to retreating while throwing away things that hindered their escape, and the distance between the two armies gradually widened.

In the pursuit of the German army, it is common to see technical equipment including tanks, artillery, and armored vehicles piled up on the roadside. In just two days, Rokossovsky's 16th Army captured hundreds of tanks and self-propelled guns, artillery pieces of various calibers, and thousands of vehicles of various models. However, the Germans planted mines near these discarded items, which caused the pursuing vanguard to suffer a lot of losses.

The pace of the troops' advance gradually slowed down, and not only Rokossovsky, but even Zhukov was anxious about this situation. He personally called and asked Rokossovsky: "Hey, how far is your 16th Army from Volokolamsk?" ”

Rokossovsky, who was in the provisional command, glanced at the map in front of him and replied: "There are still 28 kilometers from the city of Volokolamsk." ”

"Too slow, Comrade Rokossovsky." Hearing such an answer, Zhukov said with some dissatisfaction: "It has been three full days since your troops crossed the Istrian River, why are they still on the road now?" ”

"Comrade Zhukov, please listen to my explanation." In order to make Zhukov understand the situation on the battlefield, Rokossovsky deliberately emphasized that the troops did not have special equipment to build military roads on the ground covered with deep snow. Engineer troops and infantry can barely clear the way of existing roads, let alone build new ones, with the help of extremely simple tools. He finally emphasized: "In order to speed up the attack, we have thrown into battle all the ski detachments assigned to us by our superiors, but the strength of these units is obviously too weak to stop the retreating enemy before the main forces of our army arrive." ”

"Since they can't stop the enemy, let them withdraw first." Through Rokossovsky's report, Zhukov learned that bad weather also had a detrimental effect on the speed of the advance of the troops, so he said reasonably: "You just need to reach Volokolamsk as soon as possible and destroy the enemy who remains in the city." ”

"Understood, Comrade Zhukov." To Zhukov's order, Rokossovsky replied very dryly: "I will order to speed up the speed, rush to Volokolamsk as soon as possible, and destroy the enemy entrenched in the city." ”

As soon as Rokossovsky put down the phone, he first called Malinin over and asked in a stern tone: "Chief of Staff, where is our artillery commander, General Kazakov?" ”

"Half an hour ago, he spoke to me and said that he had just crossed the Istrian River and that he was expected to be able to reach us tomorrow morning," Malinen said, pointing to the map. Seeing Rokossovsky's frowns, he couldn't help but ask with concern, "Comrade commander, do you have any important tasks to give him?" ”

"Zhukov ordered us to destroy the enemy entrenched in the city of Volokolamsk." Rokossovsky pointed to the map and said to Malinin with a serious expression: "We once held this city for a long time under the attack of the superior forces of the German army. Now that we are on the enemy defense, we are attacking, and if there is not enough artillery support, it will be very difficult to capture the city. ”

After saying this, he happened to see Orel, who was in charge of armored forces, standing next to him, and Rokossovsky grabbed him again and asked: "Colonel Orel, how many tanks can we use at the moment?" ”

"Comrade commander, the situation is not ideal." Pointing to the map, Orel said to Rokossovsky: "At the moment, the two tank brigades of Katukov and Lemizov have no more than thirty tanks that can be put into battle. ”

"Why do we have so few tanks?" When Rokossovsky heard this, an expression of displeasure appeared on his face: "As far as I know, from the counteroffensive to the present, the losses suffered by the two tank brigades are not large?" ”

"That's right, Comrade Commander." Orel nodded in agreement with Rokossovsky's statement, but added: "Due to bad weather and heavy snow blocking the roads, supplies from the rear could not be brought in time. Most of today's tanks are lying on their stomachs because they don't have fuel and ammunition. ”

"And what about the captured German tanks?" Hearing Orel say this, Malinin asked with a hint of luck: "We have captured at least a hundred German tanks, and we can put these tanks into battle." ”

"Too slow, Comrade Rokossovsky." Hearing such an answer, Zhukov said with some dissatisfaction: "It has been three full days since your troops crossed the Istrian River, why are they still on the road now?" ”

"Comrade Zhukov, please listen to my explanation." In order to make Zhukov understand the situation on the battlefield, Rokossovsky deliberately emphasized that the troops did not have special equipment to build military roads on the ground covered with deep snow. Engineer troops and infantry can barely clear the way of existing roads, let alone build new ones, with the help of extremely simple tools. He finally emphasized: "In order to speed up the attack, we have thrown into battle all the ski detachments assigned to us by our superiors, but the strength of these units is obviously too weak to stop the retreating enemy before the main forces of our army arrive." ”

"Since they can't stop the enemy, let them withdraw first." Through Rokossovsky's report, Zhukov learned that bad weather also had a detrimental effect on the speed of the advance of the troops, so he said reasonably: "You just need to reach Volokolamsk as soon as possible and destroy the enemy who remains in the city." ”

"Understood, Comrade Zhukov." To Zhukov's order, Rokossovsky replied very dryly: "I will order to speed up the speed, rush to Volokolamsk as soon as possible, and destroy the enemy entrenched in the city." ”

As soon as Rokossovsky put down the phone, he first called Malinin over and asked in a stern tone: "Chief of Staff, where is our artillery commander, General Kazakov?" ”

"Half an hour ago, he spoke to me and said that he had just crossed the Istrian River and that he was expected to be able to reach us tomorrow morning," Malinen said, pointing to the map. Seeing Rokossovsky's frowns, he couldn't help but ask with concern, "Comrade commander, do you have any important tasks to give him?" ”

"Zhukov ordered us to destroy the enemy entrenched in the city of Volokolamsk." Rokossovsky pointed to the map and said to Malinin with a serious expression: "We once held this city for a long time under the attack of the superior forces of the German army. Now that we are on the enemy defense, we are attacking, and if there is not enough artillery support, it will be very difficult to capture the city. ”

After saying this, he happened to see Orel, who was in charge of armored forces, standing next to him, and Rokossovsky grabbed him again and asked: "Colonel Orel, how many tanks can we use at the moment?" ”

"Comrade commander, the situation is not ideal." Pointing to the map, Orel said to Rokossovsky: "At the moment, the two tank brigades of Katukov and Lemizov have no more than thirty tanks that can be put into battle. ”

"Why do we have so few tanks?" When Rokossovsky heard this, an expression of displeasure appeared on his face: "As far as I know, from the counteroffensive to the present, the losses suffered by the two tank brigades are not large?" ”

"That's right, Comrade Commander." Orel nodded in agreement with Rokossovsky's statement, but added: "Due to bad weather and heavy snow blocking the roads, supplies from the rear could not be brought in time. Most of today's tanks are lying on their stomachs because they don't have fuel and ammunition. ”

"And what about the captured German tanks?" Hearing Orel say this, Malinin asked with a hint of luck: "We have captured at least a hundred German tanks, and we can put these tanks into battle." ”

"Chief of Staff, you don't know anything." Orel continued: "Although we have captured a large number of German tanks, there is no special lubricant. ”