Seeing that the sentry was subdued by his own policemen, the lieutenant walked over to him and said apologetically: "I'm sorry, comrade sentry, we were ordered to report to Commander Rokossovsky before dawn. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info I'm sorry for the tight schedule. After saying that, he turned around and waved his hand at the troops standing not far away, "Forward!" ”

With his order, the policemen who stopped in place and stood by continued to move forward with neat steps.

Rokossovsky, who was washing his face outside the tent, heard something in the distance, and quickly stood up straight, pricked up his ears and listened carefully. When he heard that the sound was the sound of neat steps, a smile appeared on his face, although he didn't know which unit was coming, but he knew in his heart that this was a supplementary unit from his superiors.

The orderly standing next to him hurriedly handed over a towel and asked the commander to dry the water droplets on his face. Then he took out his military coat from the tent, and after Rokossovsky had finished wiping his face with a towel, he draped it over his body. Before Rokossovsky finished buttoning his coat, the people's police detachment began to line up in front of him, and at the same time the command "stand upright, take a break" was heard.

When more than 100 policemen lined up in five neat rows, the captain took a few steps forward and came to Rokossovsky, raised his hand and saluted, and reported dryly: "Comrade General, Captain Igor, Chief of the Criminal Investigation Section of the 51st Branch of the Moscow People's Police Main Headquarters, reports to you that 108 policemen of the People's Police Detachment are here to accept your command, please instruct!" ”

"Hello, Comrade Captain!" After waiting for Igor to finish his report, Rokossovsky stepped forward to shake his hand and said warmly: "On behalf of all the commanders and fighters of the 16th Army, I welcome your arrival. Let's go to my tent and have a good talk. After saying that, he took Igor's hand and walked to the tent, and at the same time ordered the orderlys, "You go and call the military commissar and the chief of staff." ”

When the orderlies heard Rokossovsky's order, they did not leave immediately, but nodded at the policemen who were still standing in the glade and asked: "Commander, what about these policemen comrades?" Let them stay here, or arrange for them to take a break? ”

Hearing the reminder of the orderly, Rokossovsky raised his hand and patted his forehead, and said to Igor with apologies: "I'm sorry, Comrade Captain, I am so happy to see your arrival, forgetting that you came overnight, everyone must be very tired." Orderlys, you first take the comrades of the people's police to rest, and then call the military commissar and the chief of staff. ”

The two entered the tent, and after Rokossovsky beckoned each other to sit down, he personally poured a cup of hot tea and put it in front of Igor, and then asked with concern: "Comrade Captain, what did you set out for?" ”

Igor, who had just wanted to take a sip of his teacup, heard Rokossovsky's question, quickly put down the teacup and stood up, and replied respectfully: "Report to Comrade General, we set off at eleven o'clock last night, and the chief of the General Directorate of Romanchenko sent us to the north of Volokolamsk, and we walked the rest of the way. ”

"Comrade Captain, don't be so restrained. Please sit, please sit down and talk. Rokossovsky waited for Igor to sit down again, and then asked: "I heard Comrade Romanchenko say that you are well-equipped and have strong combat effectiveness, is this true?" ”

Hearing this, Igor tried to stand up again and answer, but was stopped by Rokossovsky with a raised hand, so he continued to sit in his seat and replied: "Yes, Comrade General. There are no ordinary household registration policemen in our detachment, they are all criminal policemen with combat experience. Before sending us, the Chief of the General had specially equipped each civilian officer with a submachine gun, as well as five light machine guns and two mortars. With such equipment, even in a positional war, we are sure to crush the German offensive. ”

"You don't need to fight positional warfare." Although Rokossovsky knew that the soldiers who came were all criminal police officers with combat experience, he was deeply skeptical about their ability to fight positional warfare, so he decided to assign them other tasks. "Since we are building a new defensive line, we cannot draw qualified candidates for the time being to go to the rear of the enemy to conduct reconnaissance, so we do not know anything about the disposition of the German army and its future movements. Since you used to be criminal policemen, gathering intelligence is your specialty, so I plan to send you to the enemy's rear to conduct reconnaissance and report the reconnaissance information to us at any time, so that the group army headquarters can make operational arrangements according to the enemy's situation. ”

"Comrade Commander, here we are." Before Igor could reply, Lobachev's voice suddenly came from the door of the tent.

"Comrade Military Commissar, you are here." Seeing Lobachev and Malinin standing at the door, Rokossovsky hurriedly made a gesture of inviting them in, and then pointed to Igor, who was standing up, and introduced the two of them: "Let me introduce to you, this is the captain of the people's police detachment sent by Comrade Romanchenko, and the chief of the criminal investigation section of the 51st sub-bureau, Captain Igor. ”

After introducing Lobachev to them, Rokossovsky turned his head to Igor again and said to him: "Comrade Captain, let me introduce you, this is my military commissar Comrade Lobachev. This is my Chief of Staff, Colonel Malinin. With his introduction, Igor saluted Lobachev and Malinin in turn.

After everyone sat down again, Ma Lining first asked: "Comrade commander, I don't know how you plan to use this kind of people's police detachment?" ”

Rokossovsky did not answer immediately, but asked his chief of staff rhetorically: "I would like to hear your opinion first." ”

Malinin first glanced at Igor, and then said to Rokossovsky: "Comrade commander, the civilian police detachment has no battlefield experience, and if they are allowed to fight positional warfare, I am afraid that they will suffer unnecessary losses." Therefore, I suggest that we should let them give full play to their strengths, go to the enemy's rear to carry out reconnaissance missions, and give back the reconnaissance information in a timely manner, so that we can make a correct judgment on the enemy's movements based on this information. ”

After listening to what Malinin said, Rokossovsky nodded with a smile and said with satisfaction: "That's right, Comrade Chief of Staff, before you came, this is how I assigned Captain Igor the task like this. ”

Ma Lining thought for a moment, and then said: "Comrade commander, there are more than 100 people in the people's police detachment, and if all of them are sent behind enemy lines to carry out reconnaissance missions, I absolutely have no need for this. I think it would be enough to send four or five teams, and the rest of the civilian police can do other tasks. ”

"Other tasks?" When Rokossovsky heard Malinin say this, he was slightly stunned, and then asked rhetorically: "Chief of Staff, what other tasks are you performing?" ”

"If the Germans were going to launch a full-scale offensive on our defensive areas, they would certainly use a lot of tanks and motorized units." Malinin, who had already thought about it, spoke: "So we should immediately form a detachment of rapid sappers with mines and explosives with them, and let them move in cars and wagons." They were given the task of covering the direction of the threat of enemy tanks and laying mines on the path of the tanks' advance to the depth of our defenses. Speaking of this, his eyes fell on Igor, who was sitting next to him and did not speak, "I think the task of covering the sappers can be entrusted to the comrades of the civilian police detachment." ”

"Comrade Igor," Rokossovsky waited for Malinin to finish, then turned his head to look at Igor, who was sitting next to him, and asked with a smile: "Do you have any opinion on this arrangement of the chief of staff?" ”

Hearing this, Igor instinctively stood up, straightened his waist and replied: "Comrade General, I have no opinion, I resolutely obey your orders. ”

"Okay, since you don't object, let's do it like this." Rokossovsky turned his head to Malinin again: "Chief of Staff, you will be responsible for assigning combat tasks to the civilian police detachment later." ”

Igor, who was standing on the side, waited for Rokossovsky to finish speaking, and then he couldn't wait to ask: "Comrade General, are you allowed to return to the army?" I would like to assign combat missions to my comrades. ”

"Don't be in a hurry, Comrade Captain." Lobachev said with a smile: "You have worked the march overnight, anyway, judging from the current situation, this battle will not be fought for a while and a half, you can use this time to rest well, and wait until it gets dark before acting." ”

"Comrade Captain," Rokossovsky suddenly remembered a key question, and hurriedly asked: "Are there any people in your unit who are familiar with the terrain here?" ”

"No, Comrade General." To this question, Igor replied a little embarrassed: "The police officers I brought are all Muscovites and are not very familiar with the terrain in this area. ”

"It's a bit of a problem." Rokossovsky frowned and said: "If you are not familiar with the terrain, then how can you detect useful intelligence for us in an unfamiliar area?" ”

As soon as Rokossovsky's words came out, the entire tent suddenly fell silent.

After a long time, Lobachev opened his mouth to break the silence in the tent: "Comrade commander, I think it is better to have a local guide for each reconnaissance group. It's a small thing to get lost, but if you miss the fighter, it's a big deal. ”

"Comrade Military Commissar, this is not appropriate." In response to Lobachev's proposal, Malinin first expressed his opposition: "Although the local villagers are familiar with the terrain, they are not official military personnel after all. When carrying out such a dangerous reconnaissance mission, if all goes well, there is nothing to do; If, while lurking in the vicinity of the German garrison, they were nervous and exposed their targets, the reconnaissance group would be in danger. ”

"But if you don't use a guide, the reconnaissance team goes deep behind enemy lines, what if you get lost?" Lobachev retorted unconvinced: "They went around in the middle of the enemy, and in the end the intelligence was not detected, and they were destroyed by the enemy." ”

Seeing that the two had an argument, Rokossovsky hurriedly raised his hand to stop the two. He saw that Igor next to him seemed to have something to say, so he asked curiously: "Comrade Captain, I see that you seem to have something to say." Tell me, did you think of a good idea? ”

"Comrade General," Igor said to Rokossovsky with a smile, "I think that in your troops there will always be some new fighters from the local area." If they let us lead our reconnaissance team, wouldn't the problems that the chief of staff was worried about be easily solved? ”

"yes, why didn't I think of that?" After listening to what Igor said, Malinin said with some embarrassment: "I actually forgot that in our troops, there are quite a few recruits recruited from the local area. Although they have not been in the army for a long time, they are definitely better than ordinary people. It was fitting that they should act as guides for the reconnaissance team. ”

Rokossovsky raised his hand and looked at his watch, and then said to Malinin: "Okay, Comrade Chief of Staff, it's not too early, so take Captain Igor to select a fighter who can act as a guide." ”

After Malinin and Igor left, Lobachev asked Rokossovsky: "Comrade commander, will the higher authorities send us new troops today?" ”

"I don't know." Rokossovsky shook his head and said with a somewhat sad face: "If there are troops arriving, the front command will notify us." But so far, no notice has been received, and I do not expect new troops to arrive for the time being. ”

As soon as he finished speaking, the phone on the desk rang. Hearing the telephone ringing, Lobachev's eyes couldn't help but light up, and he pointed to the phone and said excitedly: "Comrade commander, answer the phone quickly, maybe it was the higher authorities who informed us that a new unit had arrived." ”

When the phone rang, Rokossovsky also had the same idea as Lobachev, he quickly grabbed the microphone, put it to his ear, and asked loudly: "Hey, is it Comrade Sokolovsky?" ”

There was silence in the microphone, and after a while, a voice said timidly: "I am the forward observation post, I have important information to report to you!" ”

Thinking that there were so many observation posts on the front line, Rokossovsky, in order to find out where the intelligence came from, asked bluntly: "Forward observation post, which forward observation post are you?" ”

"I'm an observation post for the mixed cadet corps."

From the other party's answer, Rokossovsky knew that this was an observation post located on the north side of the entire defensive line, and then asked: "Is there anything important that you want to report to me?" ”

"Comrade commander, we have found that a unit is moving in our direction......"

Without waiting for the observation post to finish, Rokossovsky nervously asked: "Is it the Germans or our own troops?" ”

"It's our own troops." The observation post replied: "According to observation, these commanders and fighters appear to be a little embarrassed, and must have just rushed out of the German encirclement." I roughly looked at it, and there were probably more than a thousand people. ”

Hearing that more than 1,000 commanders and fighters who had jumped out of the German encirclement were about to enter his defensive area, Rokossovsky was a little excited, and he hurriedly urged the observation post: "Hurry up and send someone to contact them and quickly find out the number of this unit." Do you understand? (To be continued.) )