From time to time, the rumbling of cannon fire came from a distance, rattling the windows of the conference room. Rokossovsky stood at the table and asked a large group of commanders attending the meeting: "The German artillery is carrying out a heavy shelling of our positions, you say, what should we do next?" ”

"A counterattack should be struck," replied one of the colonels, standing up and loudly, "order our artillery to open fire and wipe out all enemy artillery." ”

"We all want to destroy the enemy," Chief of Staff Malinin stood up, "but where is the enemy's artillery, and where should our artillery fire?" ”

Hearing the chief of staff say this, the colonel suddenly fell silent and sat down without saying a word.

"Leda," Rokossovsky asked, calling my name, "tell me, what are we going to do?" ”

I couldn't think of anything to do about this sudden attack by the Germans, so I kept silent about Rokossovsky's questions. However, he had already asked me to answer the question by name, and it seemed that he could not hide if he wanted to, so he could only stand up and reply stubbornly: "Comrade commander, I think we should withdraw our troops from the area under shelling as soon as possible. ”

"Withdraw?" After hearing this, Rokossovsky didn't say anything, and a lieutenant colonel next to him jumped out and asked me: "We have sacrificed so many soldiers to capture the place, is it so easy to lose to the enemy?" "Yes, yes! We cannot simply abandon positions that we have to pay a great price to regain. His words immediately drew a chorus of support.

Rokossovsky made a gesture, interrupted the men, looked at me and said, "Tell me why you advocate the withdrawal of the troops." ”

"Judging from the information received so far, the German army is only shelling the areas occupied by our troops, and does not send ground troops. According to my estimates, "I know Rokossovsky's character, so I didn't beat around the bush and directly stated my point of view: "This shows that the Germans do not have enough troops to counterattack, and the reason why they use artillery bombardment is to achieve the purpose of killing and injuring a large number of our troops, and when their follow-up troops arrive at dawn, they will launch a full-scale attack." In order not to allow our soldiers to die in vain under artillery fire, I suggest that the troops should be withdrawn immediately, and all but a few of the troops should be left on guard to build new fortifications in safe areas. ”

"What about the existing positions?" This time it was Deputy Chief of Staff Orel who asked the question. "Do you just give up?"

"It's not a renunciation, it's just a temporary retreat." Although the person who asked this was the deputy chief of staff, I clearly knew that almost everyone here had the same idea, so I would like to explain it to them: "The German artillery reserves are not unlimited, it is 11 o'clock in the evening, maybe in another hour or two, they will stop firing." When it is safe, let our troops re-enter the position; As for the newly built positions, they can be used as reserve positions, which must be unfavorable in battle, and when our troops retreat, they can quickly form new defenses in these places. ……”

"Leda, you're right. But have you ever thought about how the commander should move his troops in the dark of night, especially in an area under heavy German artillery fire? It is said to be a retreat, but under such specific conditions, it can easily evolve into a rout and escape without a plan and organization, and the army will be defeated like a mountain, and then our army may collapse on the entire front! Hearing Rokossovsky say this, I was immediately speechless, and I fell into my seat weakly. Ginger is still old and spicy, Rokossovsky and they all have a lot of combat experience for ten or twenty years, and I have only read a few history books and visited military forums for a few years, and how funny it is to want to reach the same military level as them.

My mind began to wander unconsciously, so much so that I did not hear clearly what tasks Rokossovsky had assigned to the commanders present. It wasn't until the sound of an argument between Rokossovsky and a colonel pulled me back from my state of being too empty.

“…… The new fighters were particularly uncomfortable with the air raids, and most of them were exposed to air raids for the first time in their lives. The planes just dropped bombs half a verst away, and voila! The fighters' skirmishes were disorganized, and some turned around and ran backwards. There were even a few people with fragile nerves who ran as soon as they heard the low hum of the engine, and the rest of the people saw so many people running back, and they followed suit,......"

Rokossovsky interrupted the colonel with a gesture, then pointed to his bright red diamond-shaped collar badge and said: "I have always objected to the issuance of protective epaulettes and identification marks to commanders and military commanders, because commanders should be different in battle formation, and soldiers should be on par with commanders." The commander himself should feel that the soldiers are watching his actions and follow his example. Most of today's units are new recruits, and if the commander does not rush ahead of them, they will not dare to rush forward in the face of enemy shells and bullets. ……”

"But in this way, the battle is not over, and the commanders are all dead." The colonel, wearing the green collar badge, stubbornly retorted, I recognized him as the commander of the 126th Infantry Division, but I don't remember what his name was. I looked down at my collar badge and saw that I was still wearing Ina's summer uniform with a skirt and four triangles on the red collar badge.

"It's okay to die!" Rokossovsky slapped the table and roared: "Now the fighters need not commanders, but courage." If the fighters can't rush forward, it's useless to have a group of generals standing behind them. ”

I looked at the two of them blankly, weren't they assigning tasks, why did they suddenly have an argument? I want to persuade a few words, I just went to patronize and wandered, and I don't know what happened to Lu Dao, and I can't persuade him; Don't persuade me, I happened to be sandwiched between the two of them, and I felt uncomfortable listening to them arguing non-stop.

When it was not possible to persuade or not, the political commissar stood up and played a round: "Okay, comrade commander, don't fight, it's time for the commanders to go back to the troops." Then he turned to the commander of the 126th Division and said: "Comrade Maksimov, you should also go back, you must carry out mobilization work in the ranks, and immediately enter the position of the 50th Cavalry Division at dawn to assist in their defense." ”

"Yes!" Colonel Maximov saluted the commissar and commander, and then left the conference room with the other commanders.

"Leda!" Rokossovsky called my name and said with concern: "There is no heating in this room, and you are wearing so little, be careful not to catch a cold, go and change your clothes." ”

"Yes!" I saluted him in agreement, and hurried out of the house to change clothes in the dormitory of the female soldiers of the cooking class.

The night passed, and the morning came. The rumble of the battle never stopped.

I learned from the operations that the German infantry, under the cover of tanks, artillery and aircraft, simultaneously attacked our troops from several directions. As a result of the artillery shelling at night, the counterattack units of our army suffered considerable losses and had to be forced to switch to a full-fledged defense in the face of the enemy's ferocious onslaught.

The bad news came one after another, first of all, the German infantry, under the cover of tanks, crushed Colonel Maksimov's 126th Infantry Division in one fell swoop, and surrounded General Ilyev's cavalry division, which had penetrated deep into the defensive line, in a forest with a radius of less than two square kilometers. The positions of the 18th Infantry Division were captured by the Germans for a time, and with the cooperation of General Katukov's 1st Guards Tank Brigade, the counterattacking troops finally recaptured their positions after three hours of fierce fighting. At the same time, the Germans concentrated four divisions in the Istrian region and launched a fierce offensive against Colonel Beloborodov's 78th Infantry Division. ……

I took a stack of battle reports that I had just received and went to Rokossovsky's office. As soon as the door was opened, the commander was alone in the room, and he was on the phone. I stood at the door and listened a few words, and immediately I heard that it was General Kazakov, who was now in command of the 289th Anti-Tank Regiment in the Spas-Lyukhovsky area.

Rokossovsky shouted into the microphone in a loud voice: "Comrade Kazakov, hurry up and report, how is the situation on your side?" What was Comrade Stavsky, who went to the 289th regiment for an interview, doing? ”

"Report to Comrade Commander!" General Kazakov on the opposite side was also not small, "The Germans concentrated a large number of tanks and, under the cover of aircraft, bombarded our positions indiscriminately. The 289th Regiment lost nearly half of its artillery in the morning battle, and the rest were still fighting stubbornly with German tanks. As for Comrade Stavsky," said the other man, who paused for a moment, and then continued: "He is counting the 'Junkers' planes that are now bombing our positions...... By this time he had counted to the 27th. ”

"Can you hold on?" Rokossovsky asked anxiously.

"Please rest assured, Comrade Commander, that in the morning battle, we have destroyed more than twenty German tanks, and now the ammunition for the remaining artillery is still sufficient, and there should be no problem holding out for another day."

"You must resist, General Kazakov, I will send the 58th Tank Brigade to support you immediately."

Putting down the phone, Rokossovsky sat down in his chair silently, his face was grim and silent, he took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, smoked one and lit it.

I hesitated, slowly walked up to his side, and shouted: "Comrade commander! ”

He looked up at me and asked me in a slightly hoarse voice, "What's the matter?" ”

"This is the battle report I just received, please take a look." As I spoke, I handed over the stack of war reports in my hand.

"Put it on the table." He didn't reach out to take it, but asked me to put it on the table next to me. After I put the battle report on the table, he sighed and continued: "Actually, I don't need to read it, I also know what the content of the Dao is, it is all bad news. The Battle of Skirmaonovo that we launched this time was a great surprise to the German army, and they absolutely did not expect that we would dare to launch a counteroffensive under such circumstances, so they were taken by surprise. However, they had an absolute advantage in terms of troops and equipment, and in just one or two days, they had gathered enough troops to counterattack. ”

"What's next?" I couldn't help but ask.

"What else can I do?" Rokossovsky smiled bitterly, and then said: "The battle of Skirmaonovo is over, and although the Germans have suffered heavy losses, the casualties of our troops are not small. From today onwards, our army's counteroffensive has come to an end, and it has returned to its former defensive state. ”