Red Moscow

After confirming that he was appointed as the chief of staff of the 47th Army, Sidolin's heart beat faster. He never dreamed that he was suddenly transferred to the First Belarusian Front Army. . According to his original idea, after he came to the new army with Sokov, he might still go back to be the chief of staff of his division. Unexpectedly, he was promoted to three ranks in a row and became the chief of staff of the group army directly.

But while he was happy, he didn't forget to recommend his own Kirillov. He came to Kirillov, raised his hand to his forehead, and said gratefully: "Thank you, Comrade Colonel!"

"Colonel Sidolin," Kirillov pulled Sidolin's hand from his forehead, grabbed it and shook it a few times, and said with a smile, "I have heard General Ponejielin mention you many times. You are a very good chief of staff. So after rejecting the appointment of your superiors today, I recommended you to General Rokossovsky. To be honest, I was just holding the mentality of giving it a try, but I didn’t expect him to agree Yes, and even sent a plane to pick you up."

"Sidorin," Sokov said, "from now on, you are my chief of staff, and General Pornegerin is the deputy commander. I hope that you will work together to build more meritorious service."

Hearing what Sokov said, Sidolin couldn't help being stunned for a moment, then turned his gaze to Kirillov, and asked with some surprise: "Comrade Commander, what about Colonel Kirillov? What position does he hold?"

"He has no specific position for the time being." Sokov said to Sidolin: "Until the new appointment is made, he will stay in the army headquarters. If you don't understand anything, you can ask him for advice."

"It's impossible to ask for advice." Hearing what Sokov said, Kirillov quickly said modestly: "If there is any problem that cannot be solved, we can discuss it together to find a solution."

At this time, an officer walked in from the outside. Sokov saw that it was Rokossovsky's adjutant who was coming. He hurriedly stepped forward and asked politely, "Comrade adjutant, what's the matter? Is the general looking for?" us?"

"Yes, Comrade Commander wants to see you, please come with me."

Seeing Sokov walking outside with the adjutant, Ponejielin and others instinctively followed, but when the adjutant found out, he stopped the three of them: "I'm sorry, Comrade Commander wants to talk to General Sokov alone. , you should stay here."

Hearing that Rokossovsky wanted to talk to him alone, Sokov couldn't help feeling a little uneasy. But he did not rashly ask the adjutant what Rokossovsky would talk to him about, not to mention whether the adjutant knew the content of the conversation, even if he knew, he probably wouldn't tell him, so he simply didn't ask.

Following the adjutant to Rokossovsky's office, Sokov saw that Rokossovsky was on the phone, while Chief of Staff Malinin stood aside, silently waiting for him to finish the call.

Seeing Sokov coming in, Malinin immediately greeted him and greeted him politely, "You're here!"

"Well, here I come!"

"Comrade adjutant, you have nothing to do here. Go out first." After sending the adjutant away, Malinin said to Sokov in a low voice: "Comrade Sokov, the commander is talking to the commander of the Second Front Army Kuroch Kim on the phone. We'll wait here for a while until he gets off the phone."

"Kurochkin of the Second Front Army?" Sokov murmured in his heart, why did Konev not leave before the person who replaced him came? Curious, he asked tentatively: "Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, is he the commander of the Second Ukrainian Front Kurochkin?"

"How is this possible?" Unexpectedly, Ma Linin shook his head after hearing this and said: "There is a Ukrainian First Front Army between us and the Second Ukrainian Front Army. How could the commander talk to them? The call is now Kurochkin, commander of the Second Belarusian Front."

"Oh oh oh, so that's the case." Sokov said with some embarrassment: "I made a mistake."

"It's okay, I didn't make it clear." Malinin said to Sokov in a low voice: "Rokossovsky and Kurochkin called because Kovel, which was occupied by the other party, was attacked by the German army. The city's troops were forced to withdraw from the battle after a few hours."

"Forced to withdraw from the battle?" Sokov knew very well some of the words used by the troops. Hearing that the troops had withdrawn from the battle, it meant they had lost the battle. Occupied by the Germans?"

"That's right, that's true." Ma Linin nodded and continued: "The supreme commander himself was very angry when he heard the news, so he called the commander and expressed that he wanted the two front troops The will to unite the operational areas. The commander called Kurochkin to discuss this."

"Isn't it very simple to connect the combat areas of the two front army units?" Sokov said disapprovingly after hearing this: "Just let the two troops move closer to the middle."

"If only things were that simple." Malinin glanced at Rokossovsky and found that the commander's call could not end in a short while, so he asked Sokov to sit down first: "Comrade Sokov, Please sit down, I don’t know how long the commander will talk on the phone, your leg is injured, don’t stand for too long.”

Sokov sat down on the bench by the wall and continued to ask Malinin: "Why not simple?"

"Comrade Sokov, you were in the Ukrainian First Front some time ago, and you should be able to realize that the supply speed given to you by your superiors is very fast." Malinin explained to Sokov: "This is because the Supreme Command sent The focus of the counter-offensive is on Ukraine, so whether it is soldiers, weapons, ammunition, and various materials, they are given priority to the Ukrainian side. As for the direction of Belarus, the soldiers and various materials we get are very limited."

Sokov really doesn't know the situation that Malinin mentioned. After all, according to the information he has in later generations, the situation of the Belarusian First Front Army under the command of Rokossovsky before the launch of the Belarusian Campaign is fundamental. There is no detailed record, and I didn't expect the situation to be so bad.

After Malinin finished speaking, Sokov said cautiously: "Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, the war in Ukraine has now come to an end. I think the Supreme Command will focus its strategy on Belarus next."

"I think so too." Ma Lining nodded and said, "However, how to choose the main direction of attack at present is a headache."

Sokov opened his mouth to ask how Rokossovsky planned to choose the direction of attack, but Malinin stopped him by raising his hand: "Comrade Sokov, I know you are eager to know where the main attack direction is. But unfortunately, At present, this is a top secret, only the commander and I know it, even if you ask, I will not answer you."

"I understand, I understand." Sokov knew very well in his heart that the main direction of attack studied by Rokossovsky and Malinen is just an idea, and has not yet obtained the permission of the Supreme Command: "I still understand the secrecy regulations." , knowing what to ask and what not to ask.”

Hearing what Sokov said, Malinin nodded with a smile, as if he was satisfied with his answer. He didn't continue to entangle in this matter, but changed the subject in time: "I heard that your chief of staff has arrived?"

"Yes." Sokov nodded, and replied: "I met Colonel Sidolin half an hour ago. Now I have all the members of the Army Group Command, and I can go to the 47th Army Command tomorrow. Is it the defense zone of the group army?"

"There should be no problem." Ma Lining said carelessly: "It's a pity that I can't leave the headquarters because of something, otherwise I want to accompany you to take office."

Hearing that Ma Linin would not be able to accompany him to take office tomorrow, Sokov felt somewhat regretful, and he tentatively asked, "Then shall I go there by myself?"

"No, no, you can't go there by yourself." Ma Lining said: "The commander has already greeted me, and tomorrow he will personally accompany you to the 47th Army."

After the two chatted for a while, Rokossovsky finally finished the phone call. He nodded at Sokov and said wearily, "Misha, you are here!"

"Yes, Comrade General." Sokov quickly stood up, raised his hand to salute Rokossovsky, and reported in accordance with the Soviet army's regulations: "Sokov, the new commander of the 47th Army, reports to you. Your order has come, please instruct!"

Rokossovsky raised one hand and pressed down a few times: "Sit down, you are not outsiders."

After Sokov sat down, Malinin asked urgently: "Comrade Commander, I wonder how your talk with Commander Kurochkin is going?"

"It's not ideal." Rokossovsky shook his head and said, "Kurochkin said that his current defense area is too wide, and he can't mobilize troops to recover Kavelin for the time being. The idea of ​​being one piece is a bit unrealistic."

"Then what do you think about it?" Ma Lining asked cautiously.

Rokossovsky frowned and thought for a while, and then replied: "We will soon launch a full-scale offensive against the German army. At this time, we will deploy troops to start a tug-of-war with the Germans in the Kovel area. I don't think it's necessary."

"However, Comrade Commander, if Kovel is not recovered as soon as possible, the enemy will drive a wedge in the direction of the Second Front Army." Malinin said anxiously: "If they increase their forces in the area, there will be It may split the Second Front's line of defense."

"I don't think Kurochkin will allow the Germans to tear apart his line of defense." Rokossovsky said with confidence: "At best, after the Germans occupied Kovel, they only formed a defensive line in the Second Front's defense zone." A small protrusion, it is difficult to separate the front."

"Comrade Commander," Ma Linin saw that Rokossovsky was not worried about the defense zone of the Second Front Army, and felt that the other side must be sure of this, so he did not persuade him anymore, but asked tentatively: "Look, we Is it necessary to report this matter to the Supreme Command immediately?"

"Yes." Rokossovsky nodded and said, "This matter needs to be reported to the Supreme Command immediately, so that the Supreme Commander himself knows what to do."

Seeing that Rokossovsky picked up the high-frequency phone on the table and was about to call the Kremlin in Moscow, Sokov stood up and said, "Comrade General, you are about to make a call. Please allow me to leave for a while." He said this purely out of fear that he was not high enough to listen to the conversation between Rokossovsky and Stalin.

But Rokossovsky waved his hand and said generously: "There is no need, Misha, there is nothing you can't listen to, just stay here." After speaking, he connected to the switchboard of the Kremlin, Ask the person on duty to transfer him to Stalin's office.

When the call was connected, Rokossovsky explained to Stalin why he did not need to recapture Kavelin for the time being. But after a while, Sokov saw his face turn livid, and the hand holding the microphone was trembling slightly, so he guessed that he must be being reprimanded by Stalin.

After finally waiting for the other party to finish speaking, Rokossovsky said again: "Comrade Stalin, if we send troops to capture Kovel immediately, the enemy will think that this city is very important to us, We will definitely send heavy troops to attack us. In order to defend the city, we have to mobilize more troops and deploy them in this direction to prevent the German army from breaking through here, so as to prevent the second front army's defense line from being cut apart.

We are about to launch a large-scale offensive battle against the German army in the Belarus region. If a considerable amount of troops are invested in the direction of Kovel, it will definitely affect our upcoming battles. "

When Rokossovsky ended the call, he still held the microphone for a long time, and waited for Ma Linin to call him, then hurriedly put the microphone in his hand on the phone. Then he said to Malinin: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the Supreme Commander himself has agreed to our request and will not attack Kovel for the time being."

Speaking of this, he pulled the ground on his table in front of him, and at the same time greeted Ma Linin: "Comrade Chief of Staff, but the Supreme Commander himself handed over the entire area surrounding the Polesiye Marsh from the south, together with the troops on this area. Give it to my front. In this way, the total breadth of our First Belarusian Front reaches nearly 900 kilometers."

Hearing the data Rokossovsky said, Ma Linin couldn't help taking a breath: "My God, Comrade Commander, if the above-mentioned area is really handed over to us, it means that we are in the whole great During the Great Patriotic War, it had the widest offensive front.”

Not only Malinin was surprised, but even Sokov, who was sitting in a daze, was taken aback by Rokossovsky's data. The nine hundred kilometers wide offensive front means that Rokossovs When Ji commanded the troops to attack, he could not leave a reserve team at all. Instead, all the troops belonging to the front army had to be deployed on the front line to ensure the intensity of the attack.

After sitting down, Rokossovsky took out a cigarette from the cigarette case on the table, lit it, took two puffs, and then asked Sokov who was sitting on the sofa: "Misha, what about the Supreme Commander himself?" arrangement, what do you think?"

Hearing Rokossovsky ask himself, Sokov quickly stood up from the sofa, but he did not express his opinion immediately, but asked cautiously: "Comrade general, do you want to hear the truth or lies? "