What Lobachev said, Rokossovsky did not listen to at all, and being able to serve as the commander of the 16th Army made him completely let go of the big stone in his heart. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info he knew very well in his heart that whether it was the former commander of the Ninth Mechanized Army or the commander of the combat cluster, it was all floating clouds, and only the 16th Army that had just taken over was the unit that made him famous, and his life was officially brilliant with the moment he took up this position.

After listening to Lobachev's words absentmindedly, he instructed Malinin: "Chief of Staff, please immediately get in touch with these commanders on the list and ask them to rush here as soon as possible. ”

Just when Malinin tried his best to send people or make phone calls or telegrams to inform the commanders of the 16th Army at and above the division level to go to the headquarters of Vasilika village for a meeting, Timoshenko and them came to the garrison of the 20th Army. After asking the patrol for directions, he led a few men to a wooden house where Kurochkin's headquarters was located, ready to personally help Lukin complete the handover of command.

The sentry, who was standing guard at the door, suddenly saw a few people walking towards his position. Hurriedly picked up the submachine gun in his hand, put his finger on the trigger, and shouted: "Stop!" ”

But he quickly saw clearly the marshal Jin Xing on the Tiemoshenko collar badge who was walking in the front, hurriedly put away the weapon, raised his hand to salute Timoshenko, and said respectfully: "Hello, Comrade Marshal. ”

"I'm Timoshenko, where is General Kurochkin?" After revealing his identity, Timoshengo asked with great majesty.

"Wait a moment, Comrade Marshal," said the sentry, turning and running to the door, pushing open the door, leaning in and whispering something inside.

When the sentry turned to face Timoshenko again, a second lieutenant officer came out of the door, and with some panic fastened his belt around his waist, walked quickly in front of Timoshenko, raised his hand and saluted, and reported: "Comrade Marshal, the officer on duty, Second Lieutenant Melson, reports to you......"

Without waiting for him to finish, Timoshenko interrupted him and asked coldly, "Where is General Kurochkin?" ”

"Comrade Commander is in the house," asked Second Lieutenant Melson cautiously, "do you need me to report?" ”

"No, I'll see him myself." After Temoshenko finished speaking, he pushed away Melson, who was standing in front of him, strode to the hidden door, raised his hand and pushed open the door, and walked into the headquarters.

Five or six commanders in the headquarters were sitting around a wooden table in the middle of the room, staring at the map spread out on it, discussing something. Timoshenko walked behind several people, raised his voice and said: "Comrade commander, what are you doing? ”

Hearing Timoshenko's voice, several commanders all turned their heads in unison, and when they saw clearly that it was the commander of the front army, they immediately all stood up from their seats and stood up straight facing Temoshenko.

Kurochkin, who did not wear a military hat and had a big shaved head, hurriedly walked up to Timoshenko, raised his hand and saluted, and reported to the other party in accordance with the order: "Comrade Marshal of the Soviet Union, Lieutenant General Kurochkin, commander of the 20th Army, reports to you that I and members of the command are studying the next step of operational deployment. I am at your command, please instruct! ”

As is customary, Timoshenko should have replied: "Please continue." Who knew that he just glanced at Kurochkin, then went straight to the table and sat down, then looked up at Kurochkin and said: "Comrade Kurochkin, I now officially inform you: from this moment on, you will no longer hold the post of commander of the 20th Army. ”

Just when the members of the headquarters were at a loss, Timoshenko pointed at Lukin, who was following up, and said: "The research decision of the front army headquarters is that Comrade Lukin will take over your post, and you should go through the transfer procedures as soon as possible." ”

Lukin stepped forward and shook hands with Kurochkin, and then said to the rest of the members of the army group command: "Hello comrades, comrades, from now on I will assume the post of commander of the 20th Army. After speaking, he pointed to Major General Sha Lin, who was standing next to him, and said, "Let me introduce to you, this is Comrade Sha Lin, the new chief of staff of the group army. ”

Seeing that Lukin had already met everyone, Timoshenko stood up and said, "Okay, Comrade Lukin, since you and the members of the headquarters have known each other, let's deploy defense work as soon as possible." After speaking, he said to Kurochikin, who was standing aside with a sad face, "Pavel Alekseevich, what are you still standing here in a daze, follow me back to the headquarters of the Front, and tomorrow morning, you will rush back to Moscow to report to the General Staff." ”

Kurochkin nodded, walked to the door, took off the military hat hanging on the coat rack, put it on his head, turned around and waved at his old subordinates, and said with a forced smile: "Commanders, goodbye, I hope we will meet again one day." With that, he followed behind Timoshenko and walked out of the headquarters.

When Kurochkin returned to the front headquarters with Timoshenko, he was always nervous, knowing that when the 20th Army was put under his command by his superiors, it was organized into two mechanized corps with 1,500 tanks, including the latest T-34 and KV heavy tanks. But after more than a month of fighting, not only did the tanks lose everything, but the troops were also reduced by more than half. In his heart, he even thought in despair that he would soon follow in the footsteps of General Pavlov and become a scapegoat for the defeat in the battle, and be sent to a military court to be sentenced to death. But unexpectedly, Stalin remembered his exploits in the Soviet-Finnish war, and for his almost failed breakthrough of the troops, he only reprimanded him harshly, and transferred him to the North-Western Front as commander of the 43rd Army.

Although not long after Timoshenko's departure, Rokossovsky began to convene a meeting of several of his division commanders. However, due to the fact that the troops were too scattered and two more divisions could not be contacted by telephone or telegram, several division commanders did not arrive until dawn.

When Lidyukov saw Rokossovsky, he couldn't help but ask curiously: "Comrade commander, I want to ask, am I not commanding a mixed detachment, why did I suddenly become the commander of the 1st Moscow Motorized Infantry Division?" ”

"Comrade Colonel, the appointment of you to the post of division commander is the trust of the superior leadership in you." Rokossovsky said to him in an official tone: "At present, this division is still an empty shelf, and you must replenish the troops in the shortest possible time." ”

Hearing Rokossovsky say this, Lidyukov said with tears and laughter: "Comrade commander, even if I integrate all the commanders and fighters of the mixed detachment into the motorized infantry division, there will be only more than 1,000 people. According to our normal establishment, there are 8,000 people in one division, where can I find another 6,000 or 7,000 people in a short time? ”

"Listening to what the marshal meant, it seems that he is preparing to supplement this division with militia." Rokossovsky said in an uncertain tone: "Maybe there will be some cadets among them, in short, you have to rely on your existing combat backbone to strengthen the training of new fighters, so that in the shortest possible time, the troops can become combat effectiveness." ”

After listening to this, Lidyukov frowned and said to Rokossovsky: "Comrade commander, do you know? My troops were replenished last time with a lot of militia and collective farm workers, and although they were brave in battle, they did not know anything about tactics, but only knew how to charge and fight, and as a result, they paid a great price in vain. ”

"As long as they can face the enemy without being timid or running away, it is very difficult." In order to convince Lidyukov, Rokossovsky patiently said: "Your fighting backbone is not born, it has been tempered by many battles. As long as these recruits participate in a few more battles, they will soon become the backbone of the troops......

Just as the two were chatting, suddenly a woman's crisp voice came from outside: "Excuse me, is this the headquarters of the 16th Army?" ”

"Who are you?" The sentry outside the door asked warily.

Rokossovsky listened to this voice familiarly, and could not help but stop talking to Lidyukov, but listened sideways to the movement outside. "I am Borisova, a member of the Soviet of the Western District of Vyazma, and this is Comrade Jivanya, the first secretary of our city, and we have come to your commander on a special trip."

Hearing that it was Borisova, who was familiar to him, Rokossovsky immediately got up from his seat, walked quickly to the door, raised his hand to stop the sentry who was about to come in to report, and then smiled and said to Borisova and a middle-aged man wearing round-rimmed glasses and a Lenin hat: "It turned out to be Comrade Borisova, we are old acquaintances, don't stand at the door, please come in quickly." ”

Borisova glanced at Rokossovsky in a little surprise, walked quickly to his side, and asked curiously: "It turned out to be General Rokossovsky, why are you here." ”

Rokossovsky smiled slightly, and then replied: "Comrade Borisova, I have just been appointed commander of the 16th Army by my superiors. ”

"I see." Borisova exclaimed, then took the initiative to shake Rokossovsky's hand, shook it twice, and said politely: "Comrade General, I congratulate you on your new position!" After speaking, he turned to the side and introduced the middle-aged man who came with her to Rokossovsky, "Let me introduce you to you, this is Vyazma's first book, and he and I have come to visit you. (To be continued.) )