Red Moscow

  Chapter 2054

   When the troops launched an attack on Siedlce, the reason why Rokossovsky was not at the headquarters was because he received an order from the Supreme Command to contact the Polish troops.

  After the German army occupied Poland, a large number of guerrillas were active on the territory of Poland, including the Lyudov Guards, Lyudov Army, Krajov Army, and Peasant Battalion. After the outbreak of the Soviet-German War, the mixed guerrillas led by Soviet commanders who were deep behind enemy lines.

  Although these guerrillas belonged to different forces, they chose to unite in order to fight against the German invaders. And launched a three-year guerrilla warfare in the rear of the German army.

  Facing the approaching Soviet army, most of the guerrillas behaved very friendly. In order to drive away the German invaders as soon as possible, as the Polish 1st Army moved forward, not only a large number of Lyudov Guards, Lyudov Army and other resistance forces were reorganized, but even ordinary residents in the liberated cities actively participated in the war. Joining the army made the group army grow rapidly in a short period of time.

   Rokossovsky took several staff officers and met with representatives of the 7th Division of the Krajov Army in the forest west of Lublin. The officers of the Krajov army who came to meet were dressed in sharp Polish uniforms and behaved extremely arrogantly.

   But Rokossovsky didn't care about these details. He politely asked the leading lieutenant colonel: "Comrade lieutenant colonel..."

Unexpectedly, his words were interrupted by the lieutenant colonel of the Krajov Army sitting opposite: "Mr. Marshal, our army never uses the title comrade. I am Lieutenant Colonel Slutsky, deputy commander of the 7th Division. You can call me Mr. Lieutenant Colonel, or Mr. Slutsky."

   "Okay, Mr. Lieutenant Colonel." Rokossovsky said with some helplessness: "First of all, thank you for participating in today's meeting. Next, we will discuss how to cooperate with you after our army enters Poland."

"Mr. Marshal." Slutsky interrupted Rokossovsky rudely again: "Let me declare to you that we are the Krajov Army, not some messy Lyudov Army or Peasants' Battalion. Obey the orders of the Polish government and its plenipotentiaries in London, and the rest of the institutions and personnel have no right to issue any orders to us."

   Rokossowski did not expect the other party to say such a thing. After a sneer, he asked: "We are clearing up the German invaders in Poland. I hope to get your help."

"This is impossible, Mr. Marshal." Slutsky said coldly: "If you take a stake in the European Liudov Army or the Peasant Battalion, you may cooperate with them in fighting, but we will not." Seeing Rokoso Fusky's face turned livid, and he added, "Of course, we will not take up arms against the Soviet army, but we also do not want to have any contact with you. This is what we want to make clear to you."

  Seeing the Krajov army marching away, Rokossovsky slapped the table fiercely angrily, and cursed: "These damned guys have no manners at all."

At this moment, a communications staff officer walked over quickly and handed a recently received telegram to Rokossovsky: "Comrade Marshal, this is the telegram we just received, Siedlce has already Occupied by our army."

Knowing that the troops had occupied Siedlce, Rokossovsky immediately felt much better. When he received the telegram, he said with a smile: "Major General Guttman did a good job, and he was actually relying on a tank Army, took Siedlce."

"Comrade Marshal," the communication staff officer explained quickly after hearing what Rokossovsky said: "The troops attacking Siedlce are not only the 11th Guards Tank Corps of Major General Guttman, but also the troops of the 48th Army. Two Guards Infantry Divisions."

   "Oh, Misha's 48th Army also participated in the battle?" Rokossovsky said with some surprise: "I thought they would stand still and turn to defense on the spot."

  The meeting with the Krajov Army broke up unhappy, and Rokossovsky immediately returned to the Front Army Command, wanting to know more details about the liberation of Siedlce.

Malinin was reading the new battle report. When he saw Rokossovsky walking in, he quickly put the things in his hand on the table, walked up to him, and asked with concern: "Comrade Marshal, you are back! Today's How are the negotiations going?"

"Not very good." Rokossovsky shook his head, recounted the details of his meeting with Krajov's army to Malinin, and finally said: "I really didn't expect that these guys are so rude. If I had known they were like this, I would not have met them."

   "Comrade Marshal, we have just obtained a piece of information, and it is not yet possible to determine whether it is true or not."

   "What information?" Rokossovsky asked.

Ma Linin picked up the piece of paper that had just been placed on the table, and said to Rokossovsky: "According to reports from our intelligence agents in Warsaw, the citizens of Warsaw may take military action against the German army in the near future to counter our Army captured Warsaw City."

  If Rokossovsky saw this information before meeting with the Krajov Army, he would definitely be overjoyed, so that he could plan how to cooperate with the insurgents in Warsaw to annihilate the German army in the city. But now he frowned and asked Ma Lining: "Comrade Chief of Staff, how reliable is this situation?"

Ma Lining thought for a while and replied: "The intelligence was sent by our army's intelligence personnel lurking in the city. I think the accuracy is very high. Now our army has occupied Siedlce, which is only 90 kilometers away from Warsaw. It takes a day or two to reach outside of Warsaw."

"Comrade Chief of Staff, if this information is completely true, I would like to ask." Rokossovsky asked with a serious expression: "The people who led the uprising were the Liudov Army and the Liudov Guards. Army and Peasant Battalion, or Krajov Army?"

"Comrade Marshal, I don't know." Ma Linin said with some embarrassment: "And this information only said that the citizens of Warsaw will take military action against the German army in the near future, but when will the action be taken and how large-scale the military action will be. It doesn't mention it at all, so I don't know whether the underground organization leading this uprising is close to our army or loyal to the Polish government-in-exile in London."

"Forget it, let's discuss these when there is movement in Warsaw." Rokossovsky put the information on the table, looked at Ma Linin and asked, "During my absence, what is special?" Did something happen?"

   "Yes, Comrade Marshal." Malinin replied: "I just received a call from Poland. They have just established the Polish National Liberation Committee in Lublin, which is responsible for handling all Polish affairs."

   Rokossowski smiled wryly after hearing this, "There is a Polish government in exile in London, and now a new government has been established in Lublin. I don't know who will decide the future of Poland."

Ma Linin was really stumped by this question. He thought for a long time before he said: "Comrade Marshal, I think that after we have completely defeated the German invaders, the people who count on the Polish soil should be those who just established in Lublin today." the new government of Poland, because it was they who led the Polish people to drive the German invaders from their land."

   "By the way, Comrade Marshal, there is one more thing I forgot to report to you."

"whats the matter?"

"Before you came back, I received a notice from the Supreme Command. From now on, Lieutenant General Gorbatov's 3rd Army and General Luchinsky's 28th Army will be assigned to the reserve team of the headquarters. That is to say , our forces on the right flank were left with General Batov's 65th Army and General Sokov's 48th Army."

   "In this way, our right wing troops have been greatly weakened."

"That's right, Comrade Marshal." Malinin said with a serious expression: "When Operation Bagration began, the four right-wing armies first attacked. After more than a month of fighting, they were all affected to varying degrees. Weakened. Now that two of the armies are taken away, our right wing will face a serious shortage of troops."

"Whether it is the 48th Army or the 65th Army, when they marched westward and swept away all obstacles along the way, they overfulfilled the tasks we assigned them, but they also paid a huge sacrifice." Rokossovsky stared Looking at the map, he said: "That is to say, if you want them to continue to participate in the battle, you must give them a period of time to rest, and wait until the soldiers and weapons and ammunition are replenished before launching a new attack."

"Okay, Comrade Marshal." As Rokossovsky's old partner, Ma Linin naturally understood the opponent's intentions, nodded and said, "I will immediately call the two army commanders and ask them to temporarily stop their offensive operations. Turn to defense on the spot, and seize the time to rest."

   As soon as Sokov saw off Bulganin and Khrushchev, he received a call from Malinin: "Is this Comrade Sokov? I am Malinin."

   "Hello, Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army." Although Sokov had already guessed that the other party might be telling him to stop the attack, he still asked specifically: "I wonder if you have any instructions?"

"According to the order of Comrade Marshal." Ma Linin said: "From now on, you and General Batov's 65th Army will stop attacking the German army, turn to defense on the spot, and take the time to rest and reorganize the troops. Wait for the soldiers given to you by your superiors After the replenishment of weapons and ammunition arrives, we will launch a new attack on the enemy."

   After Sokov put down the phone and conveyed the content of Malinin's notification to the members of the headquarters, there was a burst of cheers. After all, during the more than 40 days of fighting, everyone's nerves were highly tense, and no one had a full night's sleep. Now that the troops stopped attacking and turned to defense on the spot, although there is still a lot of work to be done every day, at least You can rest in shifts.

Sure enough, Sokov went on to announce: "During the rest period, the members of the headquarters adopt a shift system. Everyone is divided into four groups, and each group's working time is eight hours. When the time comes, a new group will come. Take over from them. That way everyone gets enough rest."

  As soon as Sokov finished making arrangements, there was another burst of cheers as expected.

  Ponedelin said to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, didn't Colonel Malyshev go to take over the troops? I wonder when he will come back?"

  If Ponedelin didn't remind, Sokov almost forgot about it, and quickly turned to Sidolin: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I wonder if Colonel Malyshev called back?"

   "Not yet, Comrade Commander." Sidolin said to Sokov: "I have been waiting for his call, but unfortunately, he has not called back yet."

   "A total of 50,000 soldiers," Pornegelin said: "We now have six infantry divisions and three infantry brigades. I don't know how you plan to distribute them?"

  Sokov began to silently calculate in his mind how to distribute the 50,000 soldiers gifted to him by Khrushchev. After he calculated the result, he said to Pornejerin and Sidolin: "Deputy commander, chief of staff, I plan to distribute as follows: three infantry brigades, each with 2,000 people; six infantry divisions, each The division allocated 6,000 people. What do you think?"

Sidolin calculated with his fingers for a while, then raised his head and said to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, that's not right. Each infantry brigade is allocated 2,000 men, here is 6,000 men; each of the six infantry divisions is allocated 6,000 men. , This is 36,000 people. The total adds up to 42,000 people, and there are 8,000 people?"

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Sokov explained to Sidolin: "Although Comrade Khrushchev said there were 50,000 people, it is still unknown how many people there were when Colonel Malyshev received the troops, so We must reserve some mobile numbers. Even if there are 50,000 people in full, and 8,000 more people, we can add them to the direct troops of the group army."

"I agree with Comrade Commander's distribution method." Pornejelin said: "Although each division has suffered a serious reduction in personnel during the more than 40 days of fighting, the remaining troops are still close to half. If each division Add another 6,000 people, and the number of infantry divisions will reach tens of thousands after the supply is completed."

   "After supplementing the troops, the number of each division is tens of thousands." Sidolin said: "But I wonder if the logistics force can provide a sufficient number of weapons and equipment?"

"I guess it's a bit too much." Sokov said: "If only 10,000 to 20,000 people are added, the weapons and ammunition in stock can just be allocated to them. But now that the newly added troops are 50,000 people, where can we find so many weapons? Equipment. Therefore, in a short period of time, there may be a situation where a considerable number of commanders and fighters do not have weapons to use."

   "Comrade Commander, do we need to contact the Front Army Command immediately." Ponegerin asked tentatively, "Ask them to provide us with sufficient weapons and ammunition?"

   "Not for the time being, Comrade Deputy Commander." Sokov thought for a while, unexpectedly, Khrushchev secretly handed over 50,000 recruits to himself. Under the current circumstances, the less people know, the better. In order to prevent other friendly troops from coming over to compete for soldiers, they may have to send out a considerable part of their troops when the time comes.

"I have another question." After Sukov finished speaking, Sidolin raised his concerns: "Now the 1st and 6th Guards Divisions have gone to the Siedlce area. If you give them additional The recruits have no weapons, and they have to march tens of kilometers to reach their destination from Brest, what should they do if they are attacked by German troops on the way?"

"That's right, that's right." Sidolin's words also reminded Ponegerin. He nodded and said, "Twelve thousand recruits with no weapons and no combat experience, if they are attacked by the German army during the march , will definitely fall into chaos, and may even be defeated by the enemy, and at that time we may lose this part of the newly replenished soldiers."

  (end of this chapter)