Rokossovsky returned the salute to Lyon and said: "Our refugees and scattered troops from the west, when they come out of the forest, will pass through here into Shepetovka, and from here they will be evacuated by train to the cities further east. The reason why Captain Leskov did not lay mines in front of their positions was that he was afraid of blowing up his own people by mistake. ”

As soon as Rokossovsky's words were finished, Grisa, the deputy commander of the guard battalion, hurriedly walked over, leaned close to his ear, and whispered a few words. When he heard this, he couldn't help but be surprised, grabbed Grissa's arm, and asked nervously, "Is what you said true?" ”

Seeing Grissa nod affirmatively, Rokossovsky couldn't help but let out a long sigh and muttered, "What a pity. ”

Liao En looked at Rokossovsky and Grissa in confusion, and asked curiously: "Comrade commander, why do you have this expression, is there something wrong?" ”

Rokossovsky sighed again and said in a regretful tone: "The deputy commander of my guard battalion just told me that the acting commander of the 109th Division, Major Portoprigora, could not bear the pressure because his troops had suffered heavy casualties in the battle with the enemy, and he shot himself!" ”

"What, Major Pudo Prigora shot himself?" As soon as his words fell, a familiar voice sounded behind him: "What the hell is going on?" ”

Rokossovsky and Lyon turned around at the same time and looked at the person who was speaking, and saw that it was Lukin standing behind them. hurriedly stood upright, and when he was about to raise his hand to salute, he was stopped by Lukin: "Comrade two commanders, don't salute on the battlefield, so as not to become the target of the German sharpshooters." ”

Lukin walked up to Rokossovsky, looked at him and said: "Comrade General, at present the 109th Division is the main force holding Shepetovka, they cannot be left without a leader, now I officially hand over the command of the 109th Division to you, I hope that this unit can continue to fight stubbornly against the enemy under your command." ”

"Don't worry, Comrade Commander. I will direct the troops to continue the fight with the Germans. Although Lukin made himself act as division commander, Rokossovsky was not angry at all, because only by taking this position could he justifiably command the command. After glancing at Captain Reskov, who was standing aside, he asked Lukin: "Major Pudo Prigola, the commander of the 327th regiment, committed suicide, who do you plan to arrange to replace him?" ”

"Comrade General," Lukin said with a smile on his face, looking at Rokossovsky, "you are now the acting commander of the 109th Division, and you have the final say in all personnel appointments in the division. ”

"Since this is the case, then I will let Captain Leskov take over the post of regiment commander." After Rokossovsky finished speaking, he waved at Leskov and shouted: "Comrade Captain, come to me." ”

Leskov walked a few quick steps in front of Rokossovsky, straightened up and asked: "Comrade General, what instructions do you have?" ”

"Comrade Captain, in my name as the acting commander of the 109th Division, I now appoint you as the commander of the 327th Regiment." After announcing his appointment, Rokossovsky pointed his hand to the battlefield where tanks were still burning in the distance, and said loudly: "The task I have given you is to resolutely hold this place and not to retreat a single step, can you do it?" ”

"Please rest assured, Comrade General." Leskov confidently said: "As long as there is still one fighter alive in our regiment, the Germans will definitely not be allowed to pass through us." ”

"Comrade Captain," Rokossovsky waited for him to finish, and then specially told him: "Although the German attack has been repulsed by us, they already know this road in the forest, and they may appear again at any time, so you must be vigilant and conduct reconnaissance at any time to prevent the Germans from taking you by surprise again." ”

Leskov nodded, indicating that he understood. After a while, he asked with some embarrassment: "Comrade General, our regiment has suffered heavy casualties after the battle just now, can you give us some additional troops?" ”

Rokossovsky did not immediately reply to his request, but turned his gaze to Lukin next to him. Seeing Rokossovsky's eyes looking at him, Lukin immediately understood what was going on, and hurriedly said: "I have hundreds of recruits recruited from the local military service bureau in my hands, but they have no combat experience and have not had time to receive military training, if you don't dislike them, I will supplement them to the 327th regiment." ”

When Rokossovsky heard Lukin say this, a satisfied smile immediately appeared on his face, and he turned to Leskov, who was standing there like a telephone pole: "Comrade Captain, you have no problem with adding a few hundred recruits, right?" ”

When Leskov heard this, he immediately shook his head like a rattle: "Comrade General, I have no opinion. Although these recruits have no military training and no combat experience, I only need to group them together with the combat backbone, and it won't be long before they become seasoned veterans. ”

After solving the problem of Leskov's soldiers, Lukin left with Rokossovsky. On the way, Lukin asked with some concern: "Comrade General, the Germans are attacking us more and more fiercely, do you think we can stop them?" ”

Rokossovsky turned his head to look at Lukin and asked: "Comrade commander, do you want to hear the truth or lie?" ”

When Lukin heard Rokossovsky say this, he couldn't help but smile bitterly and said: "Comrade General, you can say whatever comes to your mind, and you don't have any scruples. ”

"We simply can't stop the enemy's attack." After Rokossovsky said this, he saw Lukin frowning, and his face showed faint anger, and he quickly explained: "It's not that our commanders and fighters are not brave, but because the Germans are better prepared for war than us, and they have an advantage in troops and equipment. To keep such an enemy at bay, we can only rely on cities, forests, swamps, and rivers to build defenses in depth and resist and deplete the enemy's living forces at every turn. When their strength is almost exhausted, we will strike back. ”

Lukin stopped and said to Rokossovsky in a serious manner: "However, I have heard that if our follow-up troops arrive, we will be able to crush the enemy and drive them back to the other side of the border. ”

After hearing this, Rokossovsky snorted softly, and then said with some disdain: "Comrade commander, the judgment you have heard is obviously too optimistic. The person who said this probably had never been to the border in person, let alone knew the strength of the German army, so he made such a judgment. ”

Lukin looked left and right for a moment, then lowered his voice and said: "Comrade Rokossovsky, be quiet, what I just said was originally said by Marshal Timoshenko. He believed that the enemy was only temporarily strong, and that as soon as our follow-up troops arrived, the enemy would be crushed by us. ”

"But this is obviously not the case," Rokossovsky shrugged his shoulders and said helplessly: "With our existing strength, it is already very good to be able to block the enemy, how can we drive the enemy out of the border." ”

"Comrade Rokossovsky," Lukin asked cautiously, "you are an excellent commander with a lot of combat experience, I would like to hear your real opinion, where do you think the enemy will rush?" Zhytomyr or Kiev? ”

"Zhytomyr and Kiev will definitely fall into the clutches of the Germans," Rokossovsky said cautiously: "If the current trend continues, I think the Germans will even rush to Moscow." ”

"What, the enemy will rush under the city of Moscow?" When Lukin heard this, he couldn't help but scold in a low voice: "Are you crazy? Don't you know that Moscow is the heart of our Motherland, how can our army, our people, allow the enemy to rush there? It's okay for you and me to talk about this in private, but don't tell anyone else, otherwise you will definitely be regarded by others as panicked elements who spread defeatist arguments. ”

Rokossovsky wanted to refute Lukin and told him aloud that he was not talking about defeatism, but about the history that really happened. But he opened his mouth, but in the end he didn't say it, because he knew in his heart that even if he told the truth, no one would believe it, and even treat him as a psychopath. After much deliberation, he straightened up and asked Lukin: "Comrade commander, are you allowed to go back to the troops?" ”

"Go," Lukin said, waving his hand at Rokossovsky, "tell the warriors that it is better to leave the bones exposed in the wilderness than to take half a step back." ”

"Got it!" Rokossovsky replied loudly.

Ten minutes later, Rokossovsky returned to his observation post. As soon as he entered the door, he asked a staff officer who was busy: "Is there any news from the team?" ”

The staff officer shook his head and said helplessly: "No, Comrade General, there is no news. Perhaps feeling that he was not clear enough, he added, "They didn't have any communication equipment with them, so they couldn't contact us in time." ”

Hearing what the staff officer said, Rokossovsky immediately remembered that because the number of communication equipment here was too small, the detachment was not equipped with radio and other communication equipment. He thought for a moment and instructed his staff officer: "Immediately call the forward observation post and ask them to keep an eye on the observation, and report to me as soon as they discover the whereabouts of the detachment." ”

And at this moment, the small detachments occupying the German artillery positions had an unpleasant dispute. Seeing that the enemy was slow to launch a new attack, Kochetov urged Captain Felip to blow up the captured artillery directly and immediately retreat. But Fripp looked at the mountains of shells on the ground, but he was unwilling, and he repeatedly insisted on using these shells to teach the Germans who rushed to the Soviet positions before exploding the artillery and retreating.

While the two were arguing, one of the scouts ran back. Panting, he reported to Fripp: "Comrade Captain, there is a German unit marching along the road towards us. ”

Hearing this unexpected news, Perip was taken aback, and he hurriedly asked, "How many troops does the enemy have?" ”

The wheezing scout replied, "About two hundred of them, like an elite unit of the German army." ”

"Comrade Captain, it's time to make up your mind." Hearing that a German unit was coming here, Kochetov couldn't help but get anxious, and he didn't care about the identity of his superiors and subordinates, and urged Felip vigorously: "If we don't retreat, when we are entangled in this enemy, we won't be able to withdraw if we want to." ”

"That's right, Comrade Captain, withdraw." As soon as Kochetov's words fell, a soldier next to him immediately chimed in: "Before the Germans arrived, we blew up the artillery and retreated." ”

"Our task was supposed to be to destroy the enemy's artillery positions." Seeing that Felip looked unmoved, Kochetov became more and more anxious, and he persuaded bitterly: "Now that the mission has been completed, it is time for us to retreat." ”

"But Comrade Ensign," said Fripp, pointing to the mountain of shells on the ground, "you see, there are still so many shells that have not been fired, and we have retreated, isn't it for nothing that the Germans are cheap?" ”

Seeing that Felip was still stubborn, Kochetov was so anxious that he stamped his feet, pointed to the shells on the ground and said: "Comrade Captain, if the Germans do not attack for an hour, we will hold here for an hour; If we don't attack for a day, will we wait for a day? In that case, it won't be long before we are completely annihilated under the siege of the Germans. ”

As soon as he finished speaking, another scout hurried over, shouting loudly from afar: "Comrade Captain, Comrade Captain......

"Shut up, what are you yelling about?!" After Kochetov stopped the other party's continued shouting, he asked angrily: "Is something happening again?" ”

"Germans, Germans!" The scout pointed in the direction he had just run in and said loudly: "The Germans are less than two kilometers from us, and if you walk a few hundred meters and turn the bend in front, you will be able to see us here." ”

"Comrade Captain, make up your mind!" Kochetov rushed in front of Fripp, looked at each other with his eyes, and said anxiously: "If we don't withdraw, we really can't withdraw." ”

"Withdraw, Comrade Captain!" The surrounding warriors said in unison.

Seeing that everyone was talking about retreating, Fripp hesitated. He had planned to wait for the Germans to attack the Soviet positions and shoot all the shells into the German attack queue, but now it seems that this plan is about to fail. But now a German unit is coming towards itself, and if it does not retreat quickly, and there is an exchange of fire with the Germans, there will be only a handful of people who can not safely withdraw to the defense area.

Just as he was about to give the order to retreat, an artillery observer standing in the middle of the artillery suddenly shouted: "Captain, captain, the enemy has attacked our positions again!" (To be continued.) )