Chapter 97

At 6:00 a.m. on the 11th, with rokosovsky's order, the roar of artillery broke the silence of the winter morning, and the overwhelming shells smashed at skilmanovo shrouded in thick fog. The battle of skilmanovo, which was hastily deployed by the Western command, officially began.

I stayed in the front observation post of the group army and stood at the lookout hole with rokosovsky. The thick fog made us unable to see the battlefield clearly. It was useless to use telescopes or observation glasses. The Milky fog curtain was only red by the flashing fire of the shells... The rumbling of the guns did not stop for a moment.

The explosion of the shell moved into the distance. This means that the artillery began to extend fire. At this time, I clearly heard the cry of "Wula" and the creaking sound of tank tracks. The attack begins! I couldn't help looking at rokosovsky beside me. He looked at the front without expression and didn't say a word. Maybe he was thinking about the same question as me - can we break through the enemy's fortifications?

I focused on listening to the news from the battlefield. The German artillery began to fight back, but the sound of the artillery was sparse, and the artillery seemed to be scattered. It seems that in the artillery preparation just now, the German artillery position suffered a lot of losses. All of a sudden, I heard the sound of German machine guns all over the line. It seems that our artillery preparation has not yet destroyed all the German machine gun positions. In the thick fog came the sound of scattered guns. I surmised to myself that perhaps our artillery was pushing forward in order to suppress the German firepower.

"Do you have any cigarettes?" I was staring at the thick fog outside in a daze when I suddenly felt someone touched my arm. I turned my head and saw that it was rokosovsky. Maybe he is worried now. He wants to have a cigarette to relax his nervous mood, so he casually asks the people next to him for a cigarette. Unexpectedly, he found me by mistake.

"Sorry, comrade commander, I don't smoke."

"Oh, it's you. I didn't notice." He turned his head and called out from behind, "chief of staff, do you have any cigarettes there? Give me one. "

"Yes, comrade commander." Malining agreed to run over, took out a cigarette from his pocket and handed it to rokosovsky. The commander took one out of the cigarette box and put it in his mouth. The chief of staff nearby lit the fire for him in a hurry. He took two puffs, then puffed out a few rings, and then asked, "where's director romanchenko?"

"I went back to Moscow after the meeting yesterday." The chief of staff replied.

"What about the police detachment? How did you arrange it?"

"There are 150 people in the police detachment from Moscow, and I divided them into three groups with local militia. At one o'clock in the morning, I have sent them to sneak into the areas we are about to attack to carry out reconnaissance and sabotage work

"Well, do they have any news now?"

"Not for the time being, comrade commander."

Rokosovsky threw the cigarette end on the ground, crushed it with his feet, then picked up his telescope and looked into the thick fog. It was late in winter. In addition to the rare fog weather, he could not understand the situation on the battlefield in time. No wonder he was so upset.

"Comrade commander." The voice of Romanov, director of the political department, came from the gate of the observation post. Without waiting for rokosovsky to answer him, he continued to say to himself, "here comes Vladimir stavsky, a reporter from Moscow for Pravda. He wants to interview you. Is that ok? "

"No!" Rokosovsky simply rejected the request and said impatiently, "we are fighting now. We will wait until the fighting is over."

"Yes Romanov answered and turned to walk out.

"Wait a minute, comrade Romanov." General kazakov, the artillery commander who had been sitting at the table looking at the map, stopped the director of the political department and said to him in a low voice, "don't you see that the commander is upset? First find a place to settle Comrade Vladimir stavsky, and then talk about the interview after the battle. "

Romanov complained endlessly: "I've just arranged a rest place, but Comrade Vladimir stavsky didn't want to. He said he came to the front line to interview and wanted to go deep into the front line to stay with the soldiers. For the sake of his safety, I arranged for him to interview Comrade commander. But what do you think of this

General kazakov walked back and forth a few times, then stopped and said to Romanov, "Comrade director of the political department, please arrange for him to go to major yevlemenko's 259th anti tank artillery regiment first. That regiment belongs to the reserve of the group army and will not fight for the time being. Staying there can guarantee his safety. "

"Yes Romanov saluted general kazakov, turned and left happily.

As time went by, the day began to light, but the thick fog refused to disperse. The gunfire outside has become sparse, but there is still no news. Waiting is painful, especially not knowing what the end of waiting is. I hope that news will come from the front line as soon as possible so that I can know whether the battle will be won or lost. However, I don't know whether the person who comes to deliver the message will bring good news or bad news. Because this counterattack is not in my limited memory of the Moscow defense. So I'm not only looking forward to the news, but also afraid of it. This kind of emotional entanglement makes me a little anxious.

Just then, the telephone rang on the desk. The chief of staff picked up the phone and asked, "this is the observation post of the group army. Where are you?" As soon as the other side spoke, he excitedly called to rokosovsky: "Comrade commander, it's Colonel chernenov of the 18th infantry division. He wants to report to you..." without waiting for him to speak, rokosovsky had grabbed the microphone and said loudly to him: "I'm general rokosovsky. Tell me about it. What's the situation over there?" The observation station is not big, and the sound from the microphone is enough for all the people in the room to hear“ Report to commander, our 18th infantry division, under the cover of the katukov tank brigade, has captured skilmanovo, and most of the German troops have been destroyed by us. At present, with the cooperation of the 50th cavalry division, the army is cleaning up the remaining enemy in the occupied area. " Colonel chernenov's words were a relief to all the people in the observation center. Rokosovsky was even more excited, he said in a loud voice: "well done! I congratulate you, comrade colonel. In skilmanuovo, a small group of troops will be left to clear up the remnant enemy. The rest of the troops will continue to attack the enemy's line of defense, and their movements will be fierce! Do you understand? Although our tanks and artillery are superior to the German army, we have no air supremacy. As soon as the fog is dispersed, the German Air Force planes will be dispatched to bombard the attacking forces, which is bound to cause heavy casualties to our army. Therefore, you should seize the time to expand your achievements and strive to recapture a few more residential areas before the enemy planes destroy you. Do you understand? "“ I fully understand, comrade commander. " At the other end of the line, Col. chernenov appeared confident. Rokosovsky put down the phone, looked at his watch, then grabbed another phone on the table, shook the handle a few times, picked up the phone and said, "get me Comrade Zhukov, commander of the front army." After the phone was connected, rokosovsky reported to Zhukov that skilmanovo had been recaptured. Zhukov on the other end of the phone quietly listened to the report without interrupting him. After a long time, he said, "except for the reserve team, I suggest you put the second echelon into the battle immediately. Move quickly!" Then he hung up. Rokosovsky ordered malining standing on one side: "get me all the commanders of the second echelon right away." Malining picked up the phone and started calling the units of the second echelon in turn. Rokosovsky came up to me and asked with a smile, "Rita, what do you think our counterattack will achieve?"“ It can effectively slow down the German army's advance to Moscow and gain precious time for those troops who are assembling to the capital and preparing to take part in the great counter offensive. " After listening to my words, rokosovsky's face showed obvious disappointment. He might want to hear my praise for the campaign, but I said such disappointing words. When he was about to say something, the chief of staff was already calling him: "Comrade commander, the second echelon's phone has been connected. Please give us your order!" Rokosovsky took the phone, took a deep breath, then yelled at the phone, "comrades! Brothers! It's time for a counterattack, for the motherland! For Moscow! Go ahead The speed of the horse's hooves, mixed with the voice of the soldiers shouting "Wula", spread to the observation center from far and near“ Comrade commander, listen, it's the cavalry of the second echelon. They're coming up. " Hearing the news from outside, marinin flushed with excitement.