Rokossovsky put down the phone and said apologetically to several of his subordinates: "Comrade commanders, I'm sorry that General Voronov and I will not be able to attend the rally in Stalingrad to celebrate the crushing of the enemy army, and according to the order of the Supreme Commander himself, the two of us will return to Moscow early tomorrow morning. ”

"Comrade Commander, you don't have to worry about this." Terekin glanced at Deputy Commander Trubnikov and said: "Trubnikov and I will be solely responsible for the celebratory rally held in Stalingrad, so you can return to Moscow with General Voronov with peace of mind." ”

"Comrade commanders, since General Voronov and I returned to Moscow this time, we don't know when we will be able to return, so I want to explain to you the next tasks of the front army in advance." As soon as Terekin finished speaking, Rokossovsky continued: "Our next task is to send the seven armies liberated from the fighting, their headquarters and logistics to the new designated places as soon as possible.

Everyone knows that in Stalingrad and the surrounding areas, the fiercest battles were fought, and almost every small plateau, including the roadbed, earthen embankments were turned into support points and fortifications. In particular, the railway embankment was badly damaged and destroyed beyond recognition during the war, so our main task was to repair the Stalingrad railway junction and the main railway line as soon as possible, and to restore normal railway transport.

With the vast majority of the city's buildings destroyed in the fighting and tens of thousands of residents left homeless, we need to build new settlements as soon as possible and make proper arrangements for those who have lost their homes so that they do not starve and freeze on this cold day. ”

After recording a series of orders from Rokossovsky, Malinin looked up and asked: "What about those prisoners of war?" Let them clean up the ruins and corpses in the city, and then send them to the prisoner of war camps? ”

To Malinin's question, Rokossovsky pondered for a moment, and then replied: "Although we all know that the fascists are inhumane to the captured personnel of our army. But our attitude towards the captured German troops at Stalingrad must be truly humanitarian and noble.

After they had cleaned up the corpses in the city, they formed a column of these prisoners of war, led by German officers, and escorted to the prisoner of war camp by our commanders and fighters. The officers responsible should be provided with maps showing the route of the march, the points of retention, and the camping grounds. At each stop, there should be enough heating, hot food and boiling water......"

Hearing Rokossovsky's orders, Deputy Commander Trubnikov muttered: "Comrade commander, are we treating German prisoners too favorably?" ”

When Rokossovsky heard Trubnikov's complaints, he did not immediately refute him, but asked with a smile: "Comrade Deputy Commander, do you think that the conditions mentioned in the ultimatum we gave to the German army before the Battle of the Ring were launched were a little too favorable?" ”

"Do you need to talk about that?" When Trubnikov heard this, he said with a little dissatisfaction: "The conditions we have offered to the Germans are really too favorable, and in my opinion, we should completely wipe them out." ”

"General Trubnikov, you don't know anything." As soon as Voronov waited for Trubnikov to finish speaking, he immediately added: "After we drew up this letter of persuasion, we copied it to the Supreme Command. After reading this, Comrade Stalin personally called Rokossovsky and said that the conditions for persuading Paulus to surrender should be more favorable. ”

Seeing that Trubnikov was speechless, Voronov continued: "We have captured a total of 120,000 German troops this time, if they do not take the initiative to lay down their arms and surrender, but continue to resist stubbornly, we will have to pay at least 100,000 or 200,000 casualties if we want to completely eliminate them." However, since we effectively adopted a correct political offensive and greatly reduced the casualties of our troops, this proves that the preferential treatment policy we adopted against the German troops was very effective. ”

While Trubnikov was silent, Malinin asked another question: "Comrade commander, do we need to supply these Germans with the necessary utensils?" If they are only offered bread or dried sausages, it doesn't matter if they have utensils, but if they are drinking water, soup or hot food, they can't do without utensils. ”

"Chief of Staff, you don't have to worry about the utensils." As soon as Terekin and Malinin finished speaking, he immediately added: "As far as I know, the German prisoners were very far-sighted, and most of them carried lunch boxes, water cups and small spoons, probably because they were worried that our army would not be able to provide them with cutlery. ”

Although the Battle of Stalingrad was over, there were many things to deal with after the war. Rokossovsky was afraid that he would not return for a long time after leaving here, so he and his colleagues in the front command kept discussing the next work until dawn the next day.

On the flight to Moscow, Rokossovsky, who closed his eyes and recuperated, thought to himself: "The Battle of Stalingrad ended on January 27, six days earlier than in history, and the number of captured German soldiers was more than 30,000. His own appearance has made such a big change in history, I don't know if the next historical trajectory will be as I know. ”

Voronov saw that Rokossovsky closed his eyes as soon as he got on the plane, guessed that he might be thinking about something important, so he did not disturb him, and also dozed against the bulkhead as he did.

It was only when the plane landed steadily at the military airfield in Moscow that Voronov got up, walked up to Rokossovsky, patted him on the shoulder and said to him: "Comrade Rokossovsky, we have arrived!" ”

"Are we there?" Rokossovsky hurriedly opened his eyes and looked out the window, only to see that on the side of the runway, there were middle and senior officers wearing mink fur hats, otter fur hats, and dog fur hats, so he couldn't help but say curiously: "General Voronov, you see so many officers standing outside the runway, they can't be here to greet us, right?" ”

Voronov bent down and looked out through the porthole, then nodded and said: "I think it should be, after all, you are the hero of the liberation of Stalingrad, and Comrade Stalin sent them to welcome you, and it is perfectly deserved." ”

"General Voronov," although he knew that what Voronov said was the truth, but in order to make a good impression in front of Stalin, Rokossovsky still said modestly: "We can win the victory in the defense of Stalingrad by thousands of brave and fearless commanders and soldiers, without their selfless sacrifice, it would be impossible to achieve such a great victory." ”

When Voronov heard Rokossovsky say such a serious thing, he was stunned for a moment, and then he understood his intentions, the other party wanted to tell Stalin through himself that even with such a great victory, he still maintained a modest and cautious attitude.

While waiting for the pilot to open the hatch, Voronov casually asked: "Comrade Rokossovsky, how long do you think you will be able to rest after the end of this battle?" ”

Rokossovsky thought for a moment, then replied: "Although we have eliminated Paulus's 6th Army and eliminated all the enemy in the Stalingrad area, there are still German Army Group A in the Caucasus and Army Group Don in Manstein, and we will attack them while the iron is hot, if not completely destroy them, and drive them far away from the area we now occupy." ”

As soon as the hatch opened, the officers standing by the runway rushed to the plane to welcome Rokossovsky and Voronov back. Rokossovsky, who was standing at the door of the cabin, couldn't help but ask Voronov in surprise when he saw clearly that the generals under the plane were not wearing the red diamond-shaped collar badges with gold stars that he was familiar with, but shining golden epaulettes: "Comrade general, I don't think we have come to the wrong place, why are the officers who came to greet us below wearing completely different ranks from us?" ”

Hearing Rokossovsky say this, Voronov also looked down and said with the same amazement: "Hell, what's going on?" When did the rank of our army change from collar badges to epaulettes? ”

After the two got off the plane, the first person to greet them was Deputy Chief of Staff Antonov, who, after shaking hands with Rokossovsky and Voronov one by one, said warmly: "General Voronov, General Rokossovsky, welcome back to Moscow." On behalf of the base camp and the People's Commissariat of National Defense, I have come to meet you at the airport. ”

After Rokossovsky and the two of them shook hands with the general-level commanders who came to greet them, Antonov made a gesture of invitation sideways and said politely: "Two generals, please get in the car, Comrade Stalin is still waiting for your arrival in the Kremlin." ”

After the three of them walked into Stalin's office, before they could finish their report in accordance with the order, Stalin greeted him with a smile on his face, grabbed Rokossovsky's hand first, and said enthusiastically: "Hello, Konstantin Konstantinovich, welcome back to Moscow." On behalf of the Supreme High Command and the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, I would like to express my heartfelt congratulations on your great victory in the Stalingrad region. ”

Rokossovsky understood in his heart that the reason why Stalin was so enthusiastic could not be because he was satisfied with the results achieved, but he could not be pampered, otherwise he would arouse Stalin's dissatisfaction, so he modestly said: "Comrade Stalin, we were able to achieve a great victory in the defense of Stalingrad because of your wise instructions and the fearless sacrifice of all the commanders and fighters. ”

Although Stalin knew that what Rokossovsky said was a cliché, he still rejoiced in his ears when he heard it. He nodded, reached out and shook hands with Voronov and Antonov, beckoning the three of them to sit down at the conference table in his office.

After everyone was seated, Stalin also sat down in his old position, looked at Rokossovsky and said with a smile: "Comrade Rokossovsky, in recognition of the great role you played in this campaign, the Supreme High Command has officially promoted you to the rank of general. With that, he turned his head to look at the closed door, raised his hand and slapped it twice.

The door soon opened, and a respectful Poskerebyshev appeared at the door, patiently awaiting Stalin's next order. Stalin looked at him and said: "What is prepared for Comrade Rokossovsky, is it ready?" ”

"Yes, Comrade Stalin." Pos Krebeshev respectfully replied: "It has long been ready." ”

Stalin nodded with satisfaction, waved at his secretary, and when he disappeared from the door, he smiled and said to Rokossovsky: "Poskorebeshev has prepared a new uniform for you, and when you leave, he will personally hand it over to you." ”

After Rokossovsky expressed his gratitude to him, Stalin smiled and said: "According to the decision of the Supreme Command, from now on, the Don Front will be reorganized into the Central Front, and you will be the commander of the Front." The 21st and 65th armies of the former Don Front and the 16th Army of the Air Force, as well as the 70th Army and the 2nd Tank Army, as well as all other units and corps, are under your command. ”

Rokossovsky hurriedly stood up and carefully asked Stalin: "Comrade Stalin, I wonder what the next tasks of our front are?" ”

"You should move to the Yeltsa region as soon as possible," said Stalin, seeing that Rokossovsky had gladly accepted his new appointment, and began to introduce the general plan of the Central Front: "At the moment the Bryansk Front and the Voronezh Front are launching an offensive against the Germans in the Kursk and Kharkov directions. The task of the Central Front was to carry out a far-reaching outflanking assault on the flanks and rear of the enemy's Orlov group in the general direction of Gomel and Smolensk in coordination with the Bryansk Front. ”

Stalin lit his pipe and, after taking a puff, continued: "According to the battle plan, this cleverly conceived offensive campaign will officially begin on February 15. ”

After listening to Stalin's deployment, Voronov's face showed an expression of surprise, and he couldn't help but turn his head to look at Antonov, who was sitting beside him, trying to find out from him whether what Stalin said about the campaign plan was true. Seeing that Voronov threw an inquiring glance at him, Antonov hurriedly closed his eyes slightly and nodded.

Rokossovsky was no less surprised, because for such a campaign it was necessary to first gather troops, and at a time the newly integrated units of the Central Front and their logistics were still hundreds of kilometers away in the Stalingrad region.

He stood up against the edge of the table, looked at Stalin respectfully and said: "Comrade Stalin, can I talk about what I think in my heart?" ”