Red Moscow

With the liberation of the city of Zhizdra, units of the 16th Army opened the passage in the direction of Bryansk. Rokossovsky summoned all the division commanders who participated in the battle to his headquarters, and after praising Sokov, he ordered Malinin to assign new combat tasks to everyone.

Pointing to the map hanging on the wall, Ma Linin introduced the situation to the division commanders present: "... With the liberation of Zizdra, the passage in the direction of Bryansk was opened. Our next The task is to advance to the southwest, liberate the cities of Korenevo, Berezino, Fokino and other cities on the way to Bryansk, and eliminate all enemies in this area..."

General Orlov waited for Malinin to finish the introduction, and asked first: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I would like to ask which unit the headquarters plans to order to be the vanguard of the entire army."

"It goes without saying, Comrade General." Malinin looked at Sokov and said with a smile: "Given the outstanding performance of the 31st Guards Division in the battle to liberate Zhizdra, they will be responsible for this offensive. The main task."

Orlov originally wanted to win this lord mission for his infantry corps, but when he heard that the headquarters had arranged for the 31st Guards Division to perform this mission, he shut his mouth wisely. If it was another army, he could still fight for it, but the record achieved by Sokov's army was beyond his reach, even if he wanted to.

However, Rokossovsky considered that the infantry army had just been formed, and if there were no results, it would be difficult to explain to the base camp, so he stood up and said to Orlov: "General Orlov, Major Sokov's The 31st Guards Division, as the vanguard of the entire army, is responsible for the main offensive task; while your army, as the second echelon, is ready to meet them at any time."

Orlov knew very well that the tasks of the second echelon usually enter the battlefield through the gap opened by the first echelon, in order to achieve the goal of expanding the results of the battle. Although the 31st Guards Division is the main offensive task here, as the second echelon, its own infantry army can get a lot of credit. Therefore, as soon as he heard Rokossovsky's words, he promptly expressed his position and said: "Comrade commander, please rest assured that my infantry corps will be ready to fight at any time, and when necessary, give the 31st Guards Division sufficient supplies." support."

After he finished speaking, he did not sit down immediately, but continued to stand where he was. Judging from the expression on his face, it seemed that he still had something to say to Rokossovsky. Noticing his hesitation, Rokossovsky asked, "General Orlov, do you have anything else to do?"

"That's right, Comrade Commander." Orlov glanced at Sokov first, and said with some guilt: "I heard that when our army attacked Zhizdra, General Zhukov, the commander of the front army, once said, Colonel Mamendorf is at the level of a battalion commander, and once the battle is over, he will be sent to the 31st Guards Division as a battalion commander. Don’t you know about this?”

When the commanders present heard what Orlov said, they immediately became confused: demoting a division commander to a battalion commander is a very serious punishment. Is it true? It was the first time for Sokov to hear about this matter. Like everyone else, he was at a loss as to whether it was true or just general gossip.

"Yes, there is such a thing." Before speaking, Rokossovsky glanced at Sokov, and then turned to Orlov and said: "How is Colonel Mamendorf's command level in battle?" , I think not only you, but even the other commanders of the infantry army have seen it. Because he used wrong tactics in the offensive battle, our commanders and fighters have suffered huge casualties. If it is not close The 31st Division of Wei tried to turn the tide, and maybe our operation to liberate Zizdra will end in failure again. Such a commander, let alone let him be a battalion commander, even if he is a company commander, I think Nothing too much."

Just when Rokossovsky was furious, Maximenko, the director of the Army's Communication Corps, came over, handed a telegram to Rokossovsky, and said in a low voice: "Comrade commander, we just I have received a strange plain-coded telegram, please have a look."

Rokossovsky took the telegram, and after seeing the content clearly, he couldn't help frowning and asked, "Major General Maximenko, do you think the content of this telegram is reliable?"

"I don't know." Maximenko shook his head and said, "If the information is true, it will never be sent in the form of a plain-text telegram. So in this way, not only can we understand the content of the telegram, but even the enemy can understand the content of the telegram." See the telegram."

"What's going on, is something wrong?" Seeing Rokossovsky and Maximenko whispering, Malinin hurried over and asked in a low voice.

"Comrade Chief of Staff." Rokossovsky handed the telegram to Malinin and ordered him to say, "Read the contents of the telegram to the commanders present."

Ma Lining took the telegram, and after seeing the content clearly, he also showed a surprised expression on his face. However, he followed Rokossovsky's order and read a telegram to the commanders present: "According to reliable information, the enemy has ambushed an armored division in the Kolenevo forest. They have a large number of tanks and artillery. ...once our troops enter their ambush circle, they will attack."

After the commanders listened to the telegram, they started talking again. Someone said: "It's really inexplicable. How could such an important telegram be sent in plain code? I think this must be a conspiracy by the Germans."

His statement immediately resonated with the surrounding commanders: "Yes, it must be that the Germans saw us liberating Zizdra and opened a gap in their defense line. In order to delay the advance of our army, To come up with such a leaky telegram."

While everyone was discussing, Sokov was thinking to himself: What is going on? With the character of the Germans, they would never play such a low-level scam, because they would be seen through at a glance. But if it was a telegram sent by our army's spy personnel, why not use a password, but use such a dangerous clear-code telegram?

Rokossovsky waited for the room to be quiet again, took the telegram from Malinin, tore it to pieces, and then said: "Commanders, this must be a German conspiracy, we don't need to pay attention to it." Next, Chief of Staff Ma Linin will assign you the next combat mission."