Red Moscow

  Malinin followed Rokossovsky's order and informed Chuikov to come to the headquarters for a meeting.

  Unexpectedly, just when Cuikov was about to leave, the German army launched a new round of attack on the Magnusev landing field. Under such circumstances, it is obviously not shown when going to the front army headquarters according to the order. There was no other way, Cuikov could only call Ma Linin and report to him the problems he encountered in detail.

Fortunately, Malinin's notes were reasonable, and he changed his mind when he learned that the enemy in the direction of the Magnusev landing field was attacking again: "General Chuikov, since the Magnusev landing field is in danger, you should stay in command first. As for when to attend the military meeting, I will call and inform you."

  Malinin had a general understanding of the situation at the Magnusev landing site, and ended the call with Cuikov. After a while, he called Rokossovsky again and reported to Rokossovsky that the Magnusev landing site was attacked by the Germans. Chuikov was unable to reach the front army headquarters.

After hearing this, Rokossovsky couldn't help being a little surprised, and hurriedly asked: "Is the situation at the Magnusev landing site serious?" He was worried that the German army would be fighting on two fronts at the same time, and he would have to mobilize part of the air force. to support.

"Comrade Commander, you don't have to worry about this." Malinin said in a relaxed tone: "I asked General Chuikov, the German army probably dispatched a regiment of troops to attack the landing site. Will be crushed by Chuikov and the others."

  Knowing that there is nothing serious about the Magnusev landing field, Rokossovsky feels at ease, and can concentrate on directing the battle with peace of mind.

After another two days of fierce fighting, the German army who attacked the Pultusk landing field lost their wife and lost troops. Not only did they fail to seize the landing field from the Soviet army, but they also lost a large area of ​​defense, which expanded the area of ​​​​the landing field by one times.

  The German army, which suffered repeated defeats, finally stopped.

   Seeing that the German army was no longer attacking, Rokossovsky could finally call the commanders, chiefs of staff, and military commissars of the various armies to his headquarters for a meeting.

  Sokov also happened to be one of them, but his expression today seemed very abnormal, as if something was on his mind. Seeing this, Ponegerin asked tentatively, "Comrade Commander, what's on your mind? You haven't spoken since you got on the bus."

  Sokov couldn’t tell Ponegerin what he was worried about. He could only say, “I’m thinking, if Comrade Marshal orders us to attack the triangle again, how should we deal with the German artillery fire from all directions?”

Ponegerin thought that Sokov was really thinking about this issue, and said in embarrassment: "Yes, this is a difficult problem. The reason why the last scheduled attack was canceled was that the German artillery was too powerful. The artillery fire can cover our entire offensive route. If we had forced the attack at that time, I am afraid that the casualties of the troops would have been extremely heavy."

   Sidolin, who lived in the co-pilot's seat, turned around and asked Sokov: "Comrade Commander, what should we do if the superior really orders us to attack the triangle?"

"What should we do, what else can we do?" Sokov said angrily, "You must obey the orders of your superiors. If we are really ordered to attack the triangle, then no matter how much we pay, we must bite the bullet and attack. I understand. ?"

  Sidorin showed an embarrassed expression on his face: "Understood, Comrade Commander. But in this way, many of our troops may be disabled."

"That's something that can't be helped." Ponegerin said with a straight face: "You and I have been in the army for a long time, and you should understand that the orders issued by the superiors, whether they are correct or wrong, must be Execute unconditionally."

   Arriving at the headquarters, the three found a seat and sat down.

   As soon as he sat down firmly, Sokov felt someone pat him on the shoulder. He turned his head and saw that it was Chuikov. He quickly stood up and greeted, "General Chuikov, you are here too."

"Yes." Chuikov nodded and said, "Malinin called me two days ago and asked me to come to the headquarters of the Front Army. It just so happened that when I was about to leave, the German army launched an attack on the landing field." .There is no way, I can only stay and command the troops to fight. How is the situation there?"

   "It's still the same." Sokov said: "Our way forward is within the artillery strike range of the Modlin Fortress, and we are temporarily unable to advance deep into the German defense."

   "General Sokov," Chuikov sat down beside Sokov, and began to analyze the situation for him: "I think that even if Comrade Marshal wants to launch a new attack, your group army may not participate in the first round of attack."

   "Why?" As soon as Cuikov finished speaking, Sidolin interrupted and asked, "Why didn't we participate in the first round of attack?"

Looking at his former chief of operations, Chuikov smiled: "The reason is very simple, the way you are advancing now is covered by German artillery fire, if you order you to attack at this moment, it is tantamount to sending you to death. Therefore, according to my judgment, the first round of attack should be to eliminate the German artillery fire on your way forward."

"It makes sense, it makes sense." Hearing what Chuikov said, Sidolin nodded vigorously, and echoed: "Comrade Commander, what you said is very reasonable. It is absolutely necessary to eliminate the German artillery fire on our way forward. .”

  Unexpectedly, at this moment, Bornejelin poured cold water on the two of them: "But the defense of Modlin Fortress is strong, and it may not be easy to take it down."

"If you attack from General Batov's Pultusk landing site, you can avoid the powerful German artillery fire and rush directly to the Modlin fortress," Chuikov continued: "If the fortress is captured, the obstacles on your way to attack It's gone."

While talking, Rokossovsky, Malinin and others walked in from the outside. Chuikov stood up quickly and said to Sokov: "General Sokov, don't worry, I believe you will get yours soon." desired answer."

   Before returning to his seat, Chuikov said to Sidolin: "Old man, your son has performed well recently and has become a deputy company commander."

   "Commander, deputy commander, you all heard it." Cuikov's simple sentence brought tears to Sidolin's eyes: "My son has become the deputy company commander."

  Pornegelin had never met Sidolin's son, so naturally he didn't have a strong reaction. During the Battle of Stalingrad, Sokov had dealt with this little guy who acted as Chuikov's messenger many times. Hearing that he had become the deputy company commander, he couldn't help saying to Sidolin with emotion: " Chief of Staff, I really didn’t expect that your son will already be the deputy company commander just after he turned 18. Maybe he will already be the battalion commander when we hit Berlin.”

The meeting began, and Malinin read out the battle plan drawn up by him and approved by the General Staff: "We intend that the 65th Army of General Batov and the 70th Army of General Popov, from Pu The Utusk landing field carried out the main assault and detoured Warsaw from the north; while the 8th Guards Army under the command of General Chuikov and the 69th Army under the command of General Korpakci attacked from the Magnuszew and Pulawi landing fields respectively. To carry out a far-reaching assault in the direction of Poznan from the south, ..."

  After reading out the battle plan, Ma Linin closed the folder, put it on the table, looked at the crowd and asked, "Do you have any questions?"

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Popov stood up as soon as Ma Linin finished speaking, and asked curiously: "In our new battle plan, why didn't we mention Warsaw? Are we planning to abandon this city? "

"You're right, General Popov." Without waiting for Malinin to answer, Terekin rushed to say: "Under the current circumstances, choosing to abandon Warsaw may be the best choice for us. "

Seeing that everyone looked at him with surprised eyes, Terekin continued: "According to the latest information we have, the Germans have already removed all the residents in Warsaw and planted explosives in the buildings in the city." Detonate. Even if we attack the city at this moment, what we will get is nothing but the ruins of a city without any residents."

Teretkin's words shocked everyone. No one thought that the Germans would be so frenzied that they moved all the residents of the city, and even carried out large-scale explosions on the buildings in the city to turn the city into a mess. ruins.

Ma Linin said: "There are no residents in Warsaw today. The whole city is being cracked by the German army and it is turning into ruins little by little. Don't say that we have to pay a huge sacrifice to capture this city. Even if we win the city, a city that has become What is the meaning of the ruined empty city to us?"

Regarding what Ma Linin said, the commanders sitting below began to discuss in a low voice. They felt that if the city had really become a ruined city without people as Ma Li Ning said, then whether to send troops to occupy the city was irrelevant. up.

   "Okay, let's get down to business." After waiting for everyone to discuss for a while, Ma Lining continued: "Does anyone have any questions? You can ask them now."

   "Comrade Chief of Staff," Popov stood up again and asked, "I wonder if we can get the air cover provided by the Air Force when we attack?"

"It's hard to say, General Popov." Ma Linin looked at Popov and said, "For example, in this battle at the Pultusk landing site, due to the bad weather for two consecutive days, the Air Force was unable to provide our air force at all. So that our infantry can only attack the enemy under the guidance of tanks. But I assure you, as long as the weather conditions permit, our air force is always ready to provide air support to the ground forces."

   Commanders kept asking various questions, all of which were answered by Ma Linin.

   Rokossovsky, who was sitting in the main seat, was surprised to find that Sokov had been silent since the meeting, and he couldn't help wondering: What happened to Misha, why didn't he say a word? You know, in the past at such military conferences, he was always able to express a lot of different opinions of his own.

  Seeing that Rokossovsky had been staring at this side, Ponedelin touched Sokov with his arm and said in a low voice: "Comrade Commander, look, Comrade Marshal seems to be looking at you all the time."

  Sokov nodded slightly, and said lightly: "I know."

  His reaction surprised Ponegerin: what happened to Comrade Commander today? In the car that came, he looked distracted, and now he is absent-minded in the meeting. It seems that he must have something on his mind, which he doesn't know.

   Until Malinin announced the adjournment of the meeting, Sokov still did not say a word. Hearing that the meeting was over, he immediately stood up and was about to go outside, but Rokossovsky stopped him just two steps away, "Misha, please stay here."

  Pornegelin and Sidolin whispered to Sokov when they passed by Sokov: "Commander, we are waiting for you in the car. After Comrade Marshal finishes talking with you, come and find us."

After all the commanders who came to the meeting left, Rokossovsky waved to Sokov and said, "Misha, come to me, I want to ask, what happened to you today, why are you here?" No word at the meeting?"

   Facing Rokossovsky's inquiry, Sokov didn't know how to answer. Although the combat plan at today's meeting is quite complete, how it will be implemented next has nothing to do with Rokossovsky, because he will soon be transferred to the Belarusian Second Front by Stalin, and his vacated post Succeeded by Zhukov.

   Because of knowing this period of history, Sokov has been in a depressed state since he left his headquarters. But he can't tell anyone about this kind of thing, otherwise he will definitely be regarded as crazy by others.

  Seeing that Rokossovsky asked so directly, Sokov knew that it would not work to just prevaricate blindly. He had to find other excuses to get away with it. After quickly rearranging the vocabulary in his mind, he said, "Comrade Marshal, I've been having a weird dream these two days."

   "What did you dream about?"

   "I dreamed that you were transferred away." Sokov said, "You were transferred to other fronts to command troops to fight."

Hearing what Sokov said, Rokossovsky couldn't help laughing. He turned to Malinin and said, "Chief of Staff, I really didn't realize that Misha is also a superstitious person, and he actually believed that he saw something in his dream." things."

"Yes, yes," Ma Linin nodded and echoed: "It is a great event to replace a commander of the front army. Even if the matter is hidden, we can hear a little bit of wind in advance. But I didn't get any relevant news. General Sokov, I think you are too nervous."

   Seeing that Ma Linin and Rokossovsky didn't believe him, Sokov wasn't upset. After all, what he saw in his dream was too unreal. It was reasonable for the two of them not to believe what they said.

  Unexpectedly, as soon as he finished speaking, the phone on the table rang. Malinin only glanced at it, and said to Rokossovsky: "Comrade Commander, it's a high-frequency phone, it may be an outside line." After speaking, he picked up the microphone and stuck it to his ear, "I'm Malinin!"

   After a while, a shocked expression appeared on his face, and then he handed the microphone to Rokossovsky, and said in a low voice: "Comrade Commander, it is the call from the Supreme Commander himself."

Hearing that it was Stalin calling, Rokossovsky showed a surprised expression on his face. After he glanced at Sokov, he took the phone: "Hello, Comrade Stalin, this is Rokossovsky. Fowski."