"Clint is lost!" In the bumpy jeep, Rokossovsky, who had been silent, suddenly came out of nowhere with such a sentence.

Colin! When I heard the name of the place, I immediately thought of the military meeting that changed my fate. At the meeting, Rokossovsky arranged two separate things, one was to send people to Kling to take command of the defensive battle of the city, and the other was to send people to the then 316 Infantry Division to assist the division commander General Panfilov in commanding. At that time, I took the initiative to take over the task of assisting in the command of the 316th Division, and by chance, I became the first division commander after the division was promoted to the Guards Division. I remember that it was a general who went to Kling, but I couldn't remember what it was called.

As I was racking my brains to think about the general's name, Rokossovsky mistook me for listening intently, and he continued to talk to me.

When I heard the commander say that the defenders of Kling, under the fierce offensive of the German army, which had superior strength and armament, had fought stubbornly and inflicted heavy casualties on the enemy, the remnants of the troops with heavy casualties had withdrawn from the city in an orderly manner and withdrew to the Istrian region, I suddenly remembered the name of the general, and asked with concern: "Comrade commander, Major General Zakharov, who commanded the defense of Kling, how is it now?" ”

Rokossovsky shook his head and replied: "I don't know either, under the fierce offensive of the Germans, the troops were all scattered, and the command has lost contact with him. ”

The troops were scattered? What I heard you say just now was an orderly retreat, how could it be that it only took a moment to turn into a rout? But these words should only be thought of in your heart, and they must not be spoken. Seeing Rokossovsky's sad look, I hurriedly comforted him: "Comrade commander, you don't have to worry. Major General Zakharov has his own talents, and it may be that he is gathering the scattered troops somewhere and establishing new defensive positions. ”

Rokossovsky sighed and said a little helplessly: "I hope so!" After saying that, he stopped talking, closed his eyes, leaned back on the back of his chair, and closed his eyes to recuperate.

After driving some distance further, the speed of the car began to slow down. Ramis, who was sitting in the front row, turned around and whispered to me: "Comrade division commander, we have entered our division's defense area. There were more craters on the road, so I slowed down. ”

"Well, I got it. Drive carefully! The first sentence is a reply to Ramis, and the second is a reminder to Grissa.

Less than two minutes later, the car stopped. Grisa had just turned around to tell me that he was there, when Ramis had pushed the car door open and jumped out into the snow.

I gently pushed Rokossovsky next to me and called him softly: "Comrade commander, we are in place, get off!" ”

Rokossovsky snapped his eyes open, bent down to look out the window, and muttered, "It's here so soon." ”

"I'll help you get out of the car!" As I spoke, I reached over and tried to help him get out of the car. Who knew that he waved his hand and said again and again: "No, no, I'll go by myself, after so long, the sprained place doesn't seem to hurt so much." ”

Since he didn't need to be helped, I didn't need to sit still all the time, so I quickly got up and got out of the car. Although Rokossovsky said he could walk on his own, after getting out of the car, I stood by the door to see if there was anything I could do to help him. When I beckoned Ramis to come and help, I saw that he was unhappy and seemed to think that I was doing something too much.

Thankfully, what happened afterwards proved that my worries were not unfounded, and Rokossovsky had just stepped on the snow, probably because his injured foot was not strong, and his body suddenly tilted and fell directly into the snow. Fortunately, Ramis was quick to hold him up, and he was able to avoid the fate of the commander wrestling in front of everyone.

Ramis and I held Rokossovsky left and right to prevent him from falling again. He put his hands on our shoulders, turned his head to look behind him, and said, "The chief of staff has also arrived, let's go to the division headquarters." I said yes and helped him to walk cautiously.

The division headquarters was in a large wooden house in the forest, and from the outside, it was an old building, and judging from the light shining through the cracks in the wood, there were quite a few people busy inside.

We got off the bus, only about ten meters from the building, and although we were holding Rokossovsky, who was walking slowly, it only took a minute or two. The two soldiers on duty at the door, who must have been Ramis's men, saw us passing, neither stopped nor asked anything, but stood up and saluted, and then one of the soldiers took the initiative to lift the curtain at the door and invite us in.

Walking into the newly established division headquarters, a noisy sound came to the face, the sound of telegrams, telephones, and shouts came one after another, and the staff officers and signal soldiers were all nervously busy. In the middle of the room was a large wooden table, with a map spread out, around which Leviakin, the commissar and two other regimental commanders and several commanders were watching.