"Yes, yes," in order to boost the morale of the troops, the commander must first have the confidence that he will win. Looking at Lobachev's dejected look www.biquge.info Rokossovsky said in an affirmative tone: "Tomorrow evening, I will go to the headquarters of the Front Army to attend an important military meeting. ”

Lobachev was intrigued by what Rokossovsky said, and he tentatively asked: "What is the agenda for an important military meeting, does Comrade Zhukov have any meetings?" Are we really going to fight back against the enemy? ”

Rokossovsky finally understood at this moment why hundreds of thousands of people were captured at every turn after the main forces of the Soviet army were surrounded by the German army. Among these prisoners, of course, there were those who ran out of ammunition and food, but there were also commanders of the troops, who did not see any hope of victory, and ordered the fighters to stop resisting out of desperation.

In order to restore Lobachev to his previous state, he carefully said: "Although Comrade Zhukov did not mention the agenda of the meeting on the phone, I feel that it must be related to the counteroffensive. But before we do that, we have to do what we have to do is to consolidate our existing defensive areas so that the enemy can no longer approach Moscow. ”

"Comrade Commander, you are right." Rokossovsky's words finally regained Lobachev's confidence, and he stood up and said: "I will go to the troops below and have a good talk with the commanders and fighters, so as to increase everyone's confidence in defeating the enemy." ”

Seeing Lobachev leave the command, Malinin walked to Rokossovsky's side and asked worriedly: "Comrade commander, it seems that the state of the military commissar in the past two days is a little wrong?" ”

"Oh, what's wrong?" Although Rokossovsky had long noticed Lobachev's strangeness, he deliberately pretended not to understand when he heard Malinin mention it.

'I think he lost faith in us to win.' Seeing that the staff officers were far away from him and Rokossovsky, Malinin did not have to worry about what they said being heard by others, so he said boldly with confidence: "It may be that he saw the successive defeats of our army, coupled with the successive dangers, which caused his mentality to change." ”

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Rokossovsky understood in his heart that what Malinin said was quite accurate, but in order to maintain Lobachev's image, he still deliberately said with a straight face: "Everyone has times when they are depressed, although Comrade Lobachev is said to be a military commissar, he will also have periods of depression, as long as he survives, he will return to normal." Well, that's the end of it, and don't say anything like that that affects unity in the future. ”

Malinin blushed, nodded and just wanted to leave, but was stopped by Rokossovsky. Only listen to Rokossovsky's instructions: "Chief of staff, give an order to the commanders below to hold the current position at all costs." Tell them that the enemy's strength is running out and that they will soon be able to attack us again. ”

…………

In the evening of the next day, Rokossovsky, escorted by a platoon of guards, came to Zhukov's headquarters. As soon as I walked in the door, I saw that the long conference table in the middle of the table was full of commanders of various armies. He wanted to find a corner to sit down, but Zhukov saw it: "Hey, Comrade Rokossovsky, sit in front." As he spoke, he gestured to an empty seat on his left, "Just sit here." ”

Rokossovsky sat down and looked to the side, and saw that sitting on the left hand side was a bespectacled commander, who looked kind, but in a hurry he couldn't remember who the other party was. He stretched out his hand to the other party and said politely: "I am Rokossovsky, commander of the 16th Army, I don't know what you should call it." ”

"Hello, Rokossovsky." The bespectacled general shook Rokossovsky's hand and said politely: "I am Vlasov, commander of the newly formed 20th Army." ”

Vlasov?! When he heard the name, Rokossovsky couldn't help but be stunned. He suddenly understood why he was so familiar with the other party, it turned out that this was the famous Soviet rebel general and the founder of the Russian Liberation Army. Thinking of this, his smile couldn't help but freeze on his face.

Seeing his expression, Vlasov couldn't help but ask curiously: "Comrade Rokossovsky, what's wrong with you, are you uncomfortable?" ”

"No, no," Rokossovsky will definitely not tell the other party, saying that I remember that you are the biggest traitor in the Soviet army, so I am unhappy, but perfunctory: "I remember that my predecessor, General Lukin, also served as the commander of the 20th Army. I really didn't expect the superiors to rebuild this heroic team in such a short period of time. ”

Vlasov never dreamed that Rokossovsky would be stunned, because he thought that he would become a traitor in a few months, and he really thought that the other party was emotionally moved because of the number of the unit this time.

Zhukov, who was sitting at the conference table with his back to the side of the map, saw that the commanders of the various army groups had arrived, so he officially announced the meeting: "Okay, comrades commanders, since everyone has arrived. Then let's have a meeting! ”

He stood up, propped his palms on the table, and said to everyone: "Comrade commanders, after the stubborn defense of our army and many counter-assaults, the last attempt of the German army to break through to Moscow has failed. Although our army was often in a critical state, it finally held out and depleted the Germans. From November 16 to December 5, 1941 alone, the Germans suffered more than 155,000 casualties near Moscow, and lost about 800 tanks, 300 artillery pieces, and nearly 1,500 aircraft. ”

Hearing Zhukov's data, the commanders of the group armies sitting below all showed expressions of surprise on their faces, and everyone only knew that their troops were retreating and the enemy was pressing forward step by step, but they did not expect to achieve such a huge result. I don't know who started first, but soon there was a buzz in the room, and everyone was whispering about this unexpected victory.

When the room was quiet again, Zhukov continued: "After my repeated requests, the Supreme Commander himself has assigned the 10th Army, the 20th Army, and the 1st Shock Army in reserve to our Western Front. At present, our strength is a total of 1.1 million troops, 7,652 artillery pieces, 774 tanks, and more than 1,000 aircraft. The German army had a total of 1.7 million men, 13,500 artillery pieces, 1,170 tanks, and 615 aircraft. Although the Germans outnumbered us, their front was not stable because it was stretched too long and their forces were scattered.

The conditions for our army to switch to a full-scale counteroffensive and crush the German troops under Moscow have been met, and Lieutenant General Vasilevsky, acting chief of the General Staff, appointed by the Supreme Commander himself, has drawn up a plan for the counteroffensive. The aim of our counteroffensive was to crush the most dangerous assault groups of the German Army Group Center that threatened Moscow from the north and south, respectively. The basic task of the counteroffensive has been entrusted to our Western Front, and the Kalinin Front and the Southwestern Front will carry out assaults to the north and south of it to coordinate our counteroffensive operations. ”

"Ulla!" I don't know which commander couldn't control his emotions for a while, and took the lead in cheering, and suddenly the whole room shouted "Ula", and the huge sound almost lifted the roof.

Hearing the generals at the meeting inside shouting in a forgetful manner, the sentries on duty at the door also aroused their curiosity, and they all turned their heads to look at the closed door, as if they wanted to see through this door what was going on inside.

After listening to Zhukov's briefing, Rokossovsky finally understood how Vlasov came out, it turned out that this unit had just been transferred from the reserve front, no wonder he didn't hear anything about it in advance. I thought that this army group had been canceled after it was heavily damaged by the Germans in Vyazma and the commander was captured, but I didn't expect that only two or three months later, it was reorganized.

When calm returned to the room, Zhukov looked at everyone and asked: "Commanders, comrades, do you have any questions?" ”

"Yes, Comrade General." General Lelyushchenko stood up and asked loudly: "I would like to ask, is our great counteroffensive the simultaneous operation of the armies of the three fronts?" ”

Zhukov shook his head and said: "Due to the worse situation north of Moscow, the Kalinin Front under the command of General Konev will attack the enemy a day ahead of us. ”

"Will the Kalinin Front's attack in advance arouse the vigilance of the German army?" Lelyushchenko, who deserved to be Stalin's heavy commander, saw at a glance the possible problems: "If the enemy has convenience, I am afraid that the next counteroffensive will encounter a lot of unexpected difficulties. ”

"Don't worry about that." Zhukov waved his hand at Lelyushchenko and comforted him: "Since the size of the troops that Konev put into the counterattack will not be too large, the Germans will think that we are only carrying out a small-scale counterattack, after all, such counterattacks are commonplace for them." Another point, and the most crucial point, is that, based on the German intelligence we have intercepted, the enemy has come to the conclusion of our troops that our troops are not capable of launching a large-scale counterattack. ”

"Comrade General, I have a question." Vlasov, who was sitting on Rokossovsky's left-hand side, stood up and said with a serious expression: "Among the troops participating in the counteroffensive this time, there are three new army groups. I would like to ask, how is it that the newly arrived counterattack troops, fighting at night in unfamiliar areas, without losing their way? ”

Vlasov's words immediately plunged into silence throughout the conference room.

When the room was quiet again, Zhukov continued: "After my repeated requests, the Supreme Commander himself has assigned the 10th Army, the 20th Army, and the 1st Shock Army in reserve to our Western Front. At present, our strength is a total of 1.1 million troops, 7,652 artillery pieces, 774 tanks, and more than 1,000 aircraft. The German army had a total of 1.7 million men, 13,500 artillery pieces, 1,170 tanks, and 615 aircraft. Although the Germans outnumbered us, their front was not stable because it was stretched too long and their forces were scattered.

The conditions for our army to switch to a full-scale counteroffensive and crush the German troops under Moscow have been met, and Lieutenant General Vasilevsky, acting chief of the General Staff, appointed by the Supreme Commander himself, has drawn up a plan for the counteroffensive. The aim of our counteroffensive was to crush the most dangerous assault groups of the German Army Group Center that threatened Moscow from the north and south, respectively. The basic task of the counteroffensive has been entrusted to our Western Front, and the Kalinin Front and the Southwestern Front will carry out assaults to the north and south of it to coordinate our counteroffensive operations. ”

"Ulla!" I don't know which commander couldn't control his emotions for a while, and took the lead in cheering, and suddenly the whole room shouted "Ula", and the huge sound almost lifted the roof.

Hearing the generals at the meeting inside shouting in a forgetful manner, the sentries on duty at the door also aroused their curiosity, and they all turned their heads to look at the closed door, as if they wanted to see through this door what was going on inside.

After listening to Zhukov's briefing, Rokossovsky finally understood how Vlasov came out, it turned out that this unit had just been transferred from the reserve front, no wonder he didn't hear anything about it in advance. I thought that this army group had been canceled after it was heavily damaged by the Germans in Vyazma and the commander was captured, but I didn't expect that only two or three months later, it was reorganized.

When calm returned to the room, Zhukov looked at everyone and asked: "Commanders, comrades, do you have any questions?" ”

"Yes, Comrade General." General Lelyushchenko stood up and asked loudly: "I would like to ask, is our great counteroffensive the simultaneous operation of the armies of the three fronts?" ”

Zhukov shook his head and said: "Due to the worse situation north of Moscow, the Kalinin Front under the command of General Konev will attack the enemy a day ahead of us. ”

"Will the Kalinin Front's attack in advance arouse the vigilance of the German army?" Lelyushchenko, who deserved to be Stalin's heavy commander, saw at a glance the possible problems: "If the enemy has convenience, I am afraid that the next counteroffensive will encounter a lot of unexpected difficulties. ”

"Don't worry about that." Zhukov waved his hand at Lelyushchenko and comforted him: "Since the size of the troops that Konev put into the counterattack will not be too large, the Germans will think that we are only carrying out a small-scale counterattack, after all, such counterattacks are commonplace for them." Another point, and the most crucial point, is that, based on the German intelligence we have intercepted, the enemy has come to the conclusion of our troops that our troops are not capable of launching a large-scale counterattack. ”

"Comrade General, I have a question." Vlasov, who was sitting on Rokossovsky's left-hand side, stood up and said with a serious expression: "Among the troops participating in the counteroffensive this time, there are three new army groups. I would like to ask, how is it that the newly arrived counterattack troops, fighting at night in unfamiliar areas, without losing their way? ”

Vlasov's words immediately plunged into silence throughout the conference room.