I thought that Rokossovsky would be furious, and at least he would pull out his pistol and shoot a few shots into the sky to vent his anger, after all, seeing so many subordinates who get along with each other day and night lying in front of him in a blur, no one can stand it.

Unexpectedly, he quickly calmed down, as a senior commander, it is very necessary to know how to control his emotions on the battlefield. He took a deep breath and then began to give orders: "Comrade Orel! ”

"Here!" The deputy chief of staff, who was standing beside him, hurriedly agreed.

"Can you still get in touch with the troops below?" Rokossovsky asked with a frown.

"Yes, Comrade Commander." Orel replied in the affirmative: "There are two radios that have been transferred, and orders can be conveyed to the troops below them at any time. ”

"Well, you will immediately arrange for the headquarters to be moved to Novopetrovsky, on the main Volokolamsk-Moscow road. At the same time,...... "His voice was lowered, presumably to assign some important task to the deputy chief of staff, I took two steps to the side with great interest, and continued to watch indifferently as the soldiers carried the mutilated corpses of the sacrificed commanders and fighters out of the rubble.

"Zakharov!" Rokossovsky suddenly screamed again, startling me.

"Here!" Another grizzled commander came running from not far away. When I took a closer look, it turned out to be the major general who was dismissive of General Lin's strategy and tactics at the morning meeting, and he looked even more embarrassed than the commander at the moment.

"Come with me to the junction of the Group Army and the 30th Army, I don't think the situation there will be too optimistic."

"Yes!" Although the Major General Zakharov agreed very simply, I inadvertently noticed that the corners of his eyes twitched a few times, and his expression was a little ugly, as if he was a little dissatisfied with Rokossovsky's arrangement.

"Let's go!" With that, Rokossovsky turned and walked towards his battered car. After walking a few steps, I stopped and turned around to greet me who was standing stupidly, and said, "Leda, you go with me." ”

"Yes!" I said yes and quickly trotted after him.

I opened the rear door, and I wanted to ask Rokossovsky to sit in first, but when I looked inside, I couldn't help but gasp, all the cushions were smashed, and a long wooden board was placed on the seat, so that I could barely sit down. However, Rokossovsky didn't care at all, and went straight into the car and sat in the back. I was just about to pull the front door and sit in the co-pilot's seat, but he beckoned me and said, "Let General Zakharov sit in the front, and you will sit next to me in the back." ”

Although I haven't been with Rokossovsky for too long, I know that he must have had his intentions in arranging the seats this way, and maybe something else will tell me later. So I gave up on driving the front, got into the back door, and sat next to him.

After General Zakharov also got into the car, the driver started the car. I looked up at the roof of the car, which was riddled with bullet holes, large and small, and I could imagine what kind of air raid I had just encountered. The windshield in front of me was shattered, so as soon as the car started, the biting cold wind poured in, and I couldn't help but shiver.

"Do you know the truth?" Rokossovsky suddenly said: "Your former partner, Instructor Crochkov has died!" ”

When I used to partner with Crochkov in the 316th Division, although there were often some disputes, when I suddenly heard the news of his sacrifice, my tears still couldn't stop flowing, and my voice was a little choked and asked: "How did he die?" ”

"In the morning, I, together with Commissar Lobachev and members of the General Staff, arrived at the command post of the division commander of Panfilov, just in time for the German army to launch a fierce attack." Rokossovsky recounted to me in a mournful tone: "The anti-tank destroyer group of the 4th Company of the 1075th Infantry Regiment led by Instructor Krochkov defended the German tanks near the Dubosekovo Concession Station. The assault began with the support of powerful artillery fire and bomber air strikes, and after a while, German tanks in groups of 15~30 rushed to the positions accompanied by dense lines of automatic gunners. We saw in the command post that Crochkov and his 28 fighters were fighting tenaciously, they bombarded the German tanks with anti-tank guns, and soon nearly 10 tanks were burning or began to smoke, we can clearly see that some Hitler bandits climbed out of the tanks and immediately fell to the ground, and at the same time, the infantry who followed the tank impact were also pressed to the ground by our firepower. In the face of Krochkov's stubborn defense, the German tanks split into two parts, one stopped and suppressed them with artillery fire; The other part continued to rush forward desperately...... It didn't take long for a fierce battle to begin in front of the trenches. When they ran out of anti-tank shells, they smashed German tanks with incendiary gasoline bottles or bombed them with cluster grenades. Some fighters hid in craters with cluster grenades, waiting for German tanks to pass by, pulling grenades and dying along with enemy tanks. The battle was very brutal. In the end, they were outnumbered and all of them died heroically. ……”

Listening to Rokossovsky's narration, I was reminded of the scene in "The Battle of Moscow": a young soldier in a short fur coat and a cotton military cap, facing the approaching German tanks, shrank in horror into the corner of the trench, grabbed a white smoke anti-tank grenade in each hand, raised his arms flat, and stretched out to the approaching behemoth. There were two loud bangs, and the bottom of the tank rose with fire and smoke, and the body jumped up and jumped, and then stood motionless on the trench.

"Our commanders in the command post heard Crochkov's words shouted before the sacrifice on the phone: 'Russia is big, but there is no way back - behind it is Moscow'......" Speaking of this, Rokossovsky stopped, I turned my head to find that the muscles on his face twitched violently, he sniffed, wiped a handkerchief on his face, and quickly put it in his pocket, before he continued: "Comrade Lobachev proposed that all this should be reported to his superiors, Awarded Comrade Krochkov the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. ”

"I think not only Comrade Krochkov, but also 28 other comrades deserve the honor they deserve." Hearing this, I couldn't help but interject.

"Well, that's a good idea, I agree." Rokossovsky did not refute my opinion and nodded in agreement.

The unit we inspected was the 107th Motorized Rifle Division, whose command post was located at the junction of our Army and the 30th Army. The command post was huge, with several operational maps scrawled on a large wooden table, and a tall officer with the rank of lieutenant colonel was looking at the map. Quite a few commanders who looked like operational staff officers were busily coming in and out, and they were very busy.

Seeing a few of us walking into the command post, they quickly stopped, stood in place and straightened up to salute us. The sudden silence in the room made the lieutenant colonel look up curiously, and when he saw us, he was stunned at first, and then recognized who the person who walked in, quickly stood up straight, pulled the hem of his military uniform, and trotted two steps in front of Rokossovsky. A military salute was given, and the report read: "Comrade Commander, Lieutenant Colonel XX, Chief of Staff of the 107th Motorized Rifle Division, reports to you that the troops are fighting stubbornly with the Germans. "Because he said it so quickly, I didn't hear his name clearly.

Rokossovsky glanced at him and asked coldly: "Comrade Chief of Staff, where has the division commander gone?" ”

The lieutenant colonel lowered his head and said in a heavy tone: "The Germans launched a fierce attack on the defense area of our division in the morning, the command post was directly hit by shells, and the division commander was sacrificed. Since I am now the supreme commander of the division, I have taken over the command of the division. ”

"Let's talk about the situation in front of us!" Hearing that another subordinate had died, the corners of Rokossovsky's mouth twitched, but he still maintained a calm expression, walked to the observation hole, and used the observation glass to check the battle outside.

"Today, the Germans, with about two battalions of troops, under the cover of 15 tanks, launched an attack on the defensive positions of the 30th Army. After two hours of fierce fighting, the Germans routed the defenders and took positions. ”

"What steps did you take?" Rokossovsky asked coldly.

"I ordered the positions occupied by the Germans of the three regiments to carry out a counter-assault, and the lost positions of the 30th Army have been recaptured." The deputy division commander pointed to the outside defense line and explained to the commander: "I have gathered some of the retreating fighters and redeployed them to the original positions, so that they can defend together with the soldiers of my division. ”

"Well done! Well done. Rokossovsky took his attention away from the sight glass, patted the deputy division commander approvingly, and then asked with concern: "Are there any difficulties?" ”

"Our division has lost a lot of personnel in the battle, and it needs to be replenished by reserves."

Hearing the chief of staff of the division say this, Rokossovsky pondered for a moment, and then said: "I have ordered the 17th Cavalry Division, the 1st Guards Tank Brigade, the 289th Anti-Tank Brigade, and the 18th and 126th Infantry Divisions to quickly assemble here, and in another two hours, maybe not more than two hours, the defense here will be strengthened." ”

The chief of staff of the division couldn't help but be overjoyed when he heard this, but I secretly frowned, thinking: This is a big deal, Rokossovsky has gathered so many troops of the army group in this direction, then it will inevitably weaken the defense of other directions.

"Hitler's bandits are attacking again!" I don't know who shouted at the command post, and it immediately attracted everyone's attention. In addition to Rokossovsky, the chief of staff of the division, Zakharov, I also squeezed in front of the observation hole, raised the telescope and looked out.

About 300 meters away, there is a long trench that runs from east to west, and this should be the first line of defense of the 107th Motorized Rifle Division. In the distance, you can clearly see the attacking German army, leading with tanks and armored vehicles, and the infantry following closely behind, rushing towards our defense line with great vigour.

Just as the tank was only a few dozen meters away from the trench, I suddenly saw several fighters jumping out of the trench. My first instinct was that they would rush at the German tanks with explosives packs or anti-tank grenades or Molotov cocktails. However, I was stunned by what had happened, and the warriors were actually carrying their weapons and running in our direction.

"What the hell!" Rokossovsky couldn't help but curse, and then angrily asked the chief of staff of the division: "Comrade Chief of Staff!" What's the deal with these cowards? ”

The chief of staff of the division looked at it again with a telescope, and then replied: "Comrade commander, this is not the soldiers of our division, they are all from the 30th Army." You know, the 30th Army is newly formed, and they have more recruits......"

"Enough!" Rokossovsky interrupted him with a loud yell, and then said in an irrefutable tone: "I order you to immediately stop this desertion and let them all go back to the trenches." If you don't listen to the dissuasion, you can immediately enforce battlefield discipline. Do you understand? ”

"Understood!" The lieutenant colonel saluted helplessly, drew his pistol and walked out.

Although Rokossovsky's attitude was rough, no one objected, including me. Because we all know that although there are not many soldiers who panick, it makes the hearts of those who are still holding their positions panic, and if this continues, the defense line will soon collapse. The commanders who stayed at the command post had all fought battles, and everyone knew what the consequences would be if the defense line was lost.

Although as soon as he saw a fighter fleeing, Rokossovsky immediately asked the division chief of staff to stop it, but it was still a step too late. In the face of the overwhelming offensive of the German army, and the escape of a few soldiers who were greedy for life and feared death, the morale of the troops was greatly damaged. I didn't hear any gunshots, only more and more soldiers jumping out of the trenches, dragging their guns and running towards us.

"It's over!" I had only one thought in my mind: "The line of our army has collapsed!" ”