Shaposhnikov returned to the General Staff office with Rokossovsky, and by the way called Lobachev in. After everyone was seated www.biquge.info he couldn't help but complain: "Comrade Rokossovsky, how can you propose that Comrade Stalin stay in Moscow?" Doesn't that put him in danger? ”

Lobachev didn't know what was going on, but in front of Shaposhnikov, he couldn't ask, and could only look at Rokossovsky blankly, trying to figure out what was going on.

"Comrade Marshal," Rokossovsky replied, rising from his seat and neither humble nor arrogant, "you and Comrade Stalin are old comrades-in-arms, and you should know his character very well, even if I don't mention it today, after the mass evacuation begins, in order to stabilize the people's hearts and boost morale, he will take the initiative to risk his life to stay." ”

"However, he has no right to risk his life." Shaposhnikov said dejectedly: "It seems that I can only communicate with the rest of the comrades of the Supreme Command and ask them to help persuade Comrade Stalin to get him out of this dangerous city. ”

After Shaposhnikov finished speaking, he leaned back, put his hands on the armrests on both sides naturally, looked at Rokossovsky and said: "Comrade Rokossovsky, my General Staff will be moved to the east the day after tomorrow at the latest. If you have any requests, please feel free to do so, and I'll get it done to you before I leave. ”

"Comrade Marshal, the General Staff is going to move to the rear?" Hearing that the General Staff was going to be moved to the rear, Lobachev couldn't help but ask in surprise: "Then the government offices in Moscow are all going to be moved?" ”

"Now that the front is getting closer and closer to Moscow, the Supreme High Command has made a decision to move all Soviet government offices to Kuibyshev, and our General Staff will be in the first list of moves." Seeing the disappointed expression on Lobachev's face, he hurriedly added: "But we will leave a staff group under the command of Vasilevsky." After saying this, he deliberately glanced at Rokossovsky, and saw that the other party's expression was still the same, as if he was not at all surprised by the imminent great migration in the city, and he couldn't help but be secretly surprised in his heart.

Rokossovsky was not as calm as Shaposhnikov thought, he only had the memory of later generations, and knew that the Germans could not storm Moscow at all, and he did not think that the Supreme High Command had moved government offices at all levels to Kuibyshev as a precautionary measure.

After waiting for Shaposhnikov to finish, he began to make his own request: "Comrade Marshal, you have just replenished us with four cavalry divisions and two tank brigades. I also hope that you will provide us with a horseshoe for the winter. ”

"Horseshoe?!" Shaposhnikov originally thought that Rokossovsky would ask him for some reserves or something like that, but who knew that he only asked for a horseshoe, and he couldn't help but wonder: "Comrade Rokossovsky, what do you want a horseshoe for?" ”

"That's right, Comrade Marshal." Hearing Shaposhnikov's question, Rokossovsky hurriedly explained: "As the temperature drops, many places are frozen. I had just met cavalry from Central Asia on the road, and because I did not use my horseshoes for the winter, I had to slip frequently during the march. If the horseshoe is not replaced as soon as possible, the troops may suffer heavy losses if they encounter such a situation in battle. ”

"You have a point, I'll greet the logistics department later, and ask them to deliver the horseshoe you need as soon as possible." Shaposhnikov said this, raised his hand and looked at his watch, and then looked at the two of them, "It's not early, you guys should rush back to the troops as soon as possible." ”

Leaving the General Staff office, when the two of them walked towards the Kremlin gate, Lobachev looked left and right, and seeing that there was no one nearby, he asked the words that had been holding back in his heart in one breath: "Comrade commander, the marshal said that you advised Comrade Stalin to stay, what is the matter?" Also, didn't we only give four cavalry divisions, how did two more tank brigades pop up? Tell me, what the hell is going on? ”

Hearing Lobachev's series of questions, Rokossovsky smiled and, seeing that there were no idlers left and right, lowered his voice and said to him: "Comrade Military Commissar, I just went to see Comrade Stalin, and he asked me if Moscow could be held?" I replied that as long as he stayed, it would play a role in stabilizing the people's morale and boosting morale, and Moscow would definitely be able to hold it. ”

"Oh, I see." Lobachev nodded, and then asked: "What about those two tank brigades?" ”

Rokossovsky put his hand on Lobachev's shoulder, took him forward, and said in a low voice: "When Comrade Stalin asked me what difficulties I had, I made a point of mentioning that the defensive front of the defense zone was too wide and that there was a lack of sufficient troops. Then he rowed two tank brigades for us. ”

"Great, that's great." When Lobachev heard the news, he said excitedly: "If we are really replenished with two tank brigades, then we can launch a counterattack against the Germans in certain sections according to the change of the situation of the battle." ”

In order not to dampen Lobachev's enthusiasm, Rokossovsky did not tell the truth, because, according to his memory, the 16th Army barely conducted any decent tank offensive before the start of the major counteroffensive under Moscow. The reason why a good tank commander like Katukov is useless is definitely that the number of tanks that can be used is too small.

After retrieving their pistols in the duty room at the door, the two men walked out of the entrance and walked along the Vasily slope towards the Moscow River. After walking for a while, Rokossovsky opened his mouth and said to Lobachev: "Comrade Military Commissar, since the higher authorities have supplemented us with four cavalry divisions, then we can adjust the deployment of troops and transfer the 18th militia division of General Chernyshov to the rear of Panfilov's division, after all, it is the focus of the German offensive. ”

"I agree!" Lobachev agreed without hesitation about Rokossovsky's proposal, and he continued: "Now that we have several mobile cavalry divisions, can we send them out to attack the German transport lines, so that the enemy in front of our army will not be able to get the necessary supplies, and this will also relieve some pressure on our defenses?" ”

The driver, who was waiting at the bottom of the slope, saw that Rokossovsky and the two of them were walking down slowly, and hurriedly started the jeep to meet them. Seeing the jeep parked in front of him, Rokossovsky preemptively opened the door on the left side and asked Lobachev to get in the car first. Before closing the door, he said to Lobachev: "The first task at the moment is to replace the winter horseshoes of these cavalry horses from Central Asia. With that, he slammed the door shut, went around the rear to the right, and got into the car through the open door.

……

After several hours of turbulence, the two finally returned to the headquarters in the village of Ustinovo.

As soon as he walked into the command headquarters, Malinin greeted him and greeted Rokossovsky with a smile: "Commander, military commissar, you are back!" ”

"It's back!" Rokossovsky nodded, and then asked: "How is the situation at the front?" ”

"The Germans attacked our defense zone from several directions, but we were all repulsed." After a brief introduction to the situation, Ma Lining leaned slightly to the side and said with some excitement: "Comrade commander, your old subordinates have come to see you." ”

"My old subordinates?" Hearing Malinin say this, Rokossovsky couldn't help but be stunned, and he said to himself: "I don't know which old subordinate it is?" ”

"Comrade Commander," said a tall commander who rose from behind Malinin, raised his hand to salute Rokossovsky, and reported loudly: "The commander of the 4th Tank Brigade, Colonel Katukov, reports to you that I have been ordered to lead the troops to your command. ”

Rokossovsky saw clearly the commander standing in front of him, and immediately opened his arms and gave the other party a warm hug. While patting Katukov on the back with his right hand, he said excitedly: "Comrade Colonel, I really didn't expect us to meet again, how is it, are you all well?" ”

"It's all right, it's all right." Katukov also said emotionally: "Comrade commander, I really didn't expect that I would be able to become your subordinate again one day, I am so happy. ”

After the two finished hugging, Rokossovsky pulled Katukov in front of Lobachev and introduced: "Comrade Military Commissar, let me introduce you, this commander of the 4th tank brigade, Colonel Katukov. When I was the commander of the 9th Mechanized Corps, he was the commander of the 20th Tank Division in my army. Unfortunately, when the war broke out, he had just undergone surgery and was unable to participate in the series of battles that were fought at that time. ”

"Colonel Katukov, let me introduce you." Rokossovsky turned his head and introduced Lobachev to Katukov: "This is Comrade Lobachev, the military commissar of the army group. ”

"So you're Katukov." When Lobachev heard that the tall commander standing in front of him was the famous tank commander Katukov, he couldn't help but get excited, he grabbed the other party's hand, shook it vigorously, and said: "I have heard of your deeds, you fought well in the defense of Mtsensk and taught the German armored forces a hard lesson." The superiors also commented on you, saying that you are a capable battle organizer with an active offensive spirit, and that you are good at organizing tank battles with superior German armored units......"

Hearing the series of words of praise that came out of Lobachev's mouth, Katukov's face actually showed an embarrassed expression, and after Lobachev finished speaking, he said modestly: "Comrade Military Commissar, you have won the award. In fact, there are many better commanders than me, but they don't have the opportunity to show their talents like me. If they were in my position, maybe they would have had a better result. ”

"Alright, Colonel, stop being modest, let's get down to business now." Rokossovsky interrupted Katukov and asked to himself: "How many tanks does your brigade have now?" ”

"And 42 more," the expression on Katukov's face turned serious when he heard Rokossovsky ask how many tanks there were in the tank brigade: "And most of them are old tanks, only five of the latest T-34s. ”

Hearing Katukov's answer, Rokossovsky turned his head to look at Lobachev, and seeing the look of disappointment in his eyes, he turned his head back to look at Katukov and said: "Comrade Colonel, you have too few tanks. ”

"Yes, Comrade Commander." Katukov was also embarrassed: "If we are equipped with new tanks, then we can also cooperate with the infantry to carry out counterattacks against the enemy." But nowadays there are almost all old-fashioned tanks, let alone fighting, even in the process, there will be a large number of breakdowns. ”

"In what area did your brigade fight before?" Lobachev frowned and asked: "Have you ever encountered a situation where a tank broke down on the battlefield?" ”

"Our brigade was originally under the command of the Fifth Army." Hearing Lobachev's question, Katukov quickly turned to face him and replied respectfully: "We usually resort to the tactic of attacking from the flank of the German attacking forces to strike hard at the enemy. After the battle, only a few of the tanks we lost were destroyed, and most of them broke down due to breakdowns during driving. ”

After listening to Katukov's account, Lobachev turned to Rokossovsky and said: "Comrade commander, this will not work, if a large number of old tanks break down on the battlefield when we counterattack the Germans, our counteroffensive will be in vain." ”

"That's right, Comrade Military Commissar, you are quite right." Rokossovsky knew that if the tank brigade was not replenished with enough new tanks, even if Guderian was put in command of the army, he would not necessarily win the battle. After pondering for a while, he spoke: "I will discuss with General Zhukov to see if we can ask him to replenish some tanks for us." ”

Lobachev shook his head and said with a wry smile: "Comrade commander, I don't think I'll make this call." At present, Comrade Zhukov does not talk about tanks, it is estimated that there are no reserves, and even if you consult with him, you will not get what you want. ”

"Even if you can't get it, you have to touch the tone." After Rokossovsky finished speaking, he walked to the telephone, picked it up and prepared to call Zhukov.

At this time, Malinin suddenly rushed over, he waved a telegram in his hand, and said excitedly to Rokossovsky: "Comrade commander, good news, another unit has rushed out of the encirclement of the German army and entered the position of the mixed cadet corps. Lieutenant Colonel Mlagintsev reported in a telegram that this unit turned out to belong to our 16th Army. (To be continued.) )