Chapter 1432

More than ten kilometers north of moziri and kalinkovych, although the German elite 4th and 9th army troops were stationed, with the coldest January approaching, the enemy was shrinking in their defense area, and there was no sign that they were ready to launch a counter offensive. But I dare not take it lightly and deploy half of my troops to the north of the city.

The biggest advantage of the cold weather is that the roads are frozen. The rivers and swamps that were originally impassable can pass not only the trucks carrying materials, but also the tanks and armored vehicles. At the same time, the railway between the two cities and zhylobin has also been repaired, and a steady stream of materials have entered our defense area through railways and highways.

Seeing more and more materials in the city, kirilov's face showed a smile. He even proposed to me: "Comrade commander, since we have enough materials, we should raise the residents' ration standard a little bit. Anyway, in two days, the rationing system will be implemented for a month. "

"Well," I knew that only a few hundred grams of bread a day could keep people from starving, so I readily agreed to his request. At the same time, I also said to kirilov, "in addition to bread and cheese, I propose to increase the supply of salt, sugar and meat. Salt, in particular, must be distributed to every resident in a timely manner. "

The reason why I will focus on the issue of salt is that Russian salt is widely used in daily life. No matter what you eat, you have the habit of putting a little salt in it. Even the most ceremonious etiquette to welcome guests is round bread with a dish of salt.

"You're absolutely right, Rita." Kirilov immediately agreed with my proposal, and he said, "I have calculated that there are about ten tons in the city, which fully meet the needs of the residents."

After he finished, I said happily, "fortunately we don't have cavalry now, otherwise we have to provide salt for the horses. At the same time, the hay and bean cakes needed by horses also need to be transported from behind

"The ruins of the city have been basically cleared up." Kirilov, when I finished, continued: "the vast majority of the residents have already lived in the simple houses we built for them, or the old houses we cleaned up. A small number of homeless residents also live in the tents we have prepared for them. Now every household can get one kilogram of coal a day for heating. "

When I heard kirilov say that the residents use coal for heating, I quickly told him: "Comrade military commissar, please tell the residents that the remaining cinders can not be thrown around, they should be stacked in a unified place designated by us."

As for my arrangement, kirilov immediately understood and said, "I see, Rita, are you going to lay these cinders on the road when the spring thaws, so as to facilitate the mobilization of our troops?"

"Yes, that's it." Thinking of the bad road conditions in Russia on sunny days and rainy days, I said with a wry smile: "I just intend to use these cinders to pave the road. I can't hope that our armored forces can't cooperate with the infantry when the Spring Festival thaws because of the road conditions."

"I've been running back and forth between the two cities for more than a month," kirilov asked me curiously after pointing out his busy work: "is there any news from the superior?"

"What's going on?" January and February are the coldest months of the year, and the lowest temperature can reach minus 50 degrees. Not to mention that the Germans can't stand it, even our own commanders and fighters can't bear it. Therefore, under such circumstances, both sides are tacitly in a state of armistice. Therefore, when I heard kirilov's question, I couldn't help asking: "in such cold weather, what orders do you think the superior will give us?"

"Comrade military commissar," said chisjakov, who was not long after supervising the troops to repair the railway and returned to the headquarters, "in such cold weather, our troops are unable to launch an attack on the enemy, so the order given to us by the higher authorities is to strengthen the defense work in moziri and kalinkovich areas."

"Oh, so it is." Kirilov finished this sentence, stood up and said to me, "OK, Rita, I'll go to the city immediately, arrange the adjustment of the quota, and organize people to deliver the salt stored in the railway station to the rationing points."

I got up and shook hands with him, politely said: "be careful on the way!"

After kirilov left, I asked bzikov, "chief of staff, did the higher authorities say when we will be replenished? Now, except for the 77th division of Jinwei, nearly half of the other divisions are short of staff.... "

Before I had finished speaking, major bukov, who was on duty outside the door, came in and reported to me, "Comrade commander, there's a general out there who wants to see you."

"General?" When I heard bukov say that, I thought it was one of his teachers, so I asked casually, "I don't know which one?"

"Not the commander of our group army." Bukov replied: "I have accompanied you to the grass-roots units so many times. I know all the generals in the group army, but I have never seen this general."

I heard that a general bukov didn't know was coming. I guessed that rokosovsky might have sent him to convey some orders, so bukov said: "major, please ask that general to come in."

Seeing bukov walking towards the door, chisgakov couldn't help saying to himself, "who will come?"

I looked at the entrance of the church and said, "don't worry, comrade deputy commander. We'll soon know who it is."

As soon as I finished, bukov came to us with a general. The visitor was a tall, thin man with a kind face. It seemed that I had seen him somewhere before.

Before I remembered where I had seen each other, the general came to our table, raised his hand and saluted me, then said to me, "Comrade commander, major general beloborodov, commander of the second army of the guards, report to you!"

"It's you, Comrade General." When I heard about him, I suddenly remembered who he was. We were all members of the 16th army during the Moscow defense war. At that time, beloborodov was a colonel. He was the commander of the 78th infantry division from Siberia. Later, because of the outstanding performance of the troops in the battle, he was reorganized into the 9th close guard division. I went up to hold his hand and said excitedly, "I didn't expect to see you here for two years!"

"Comrade commander," he said politely, holding my hand, "I didn't expect that after two years, we would be under general rokosovsky again."

After I let go of beloborodov's hand, I explained to chisjakov and bezikov who were standing beside me, "let me introduce to you that general beloborodov led the 78th infantry division from Siberia to defend Moscow. He was awarded the title of the ninth division for his outstanding military achievements. "

After introducing chisgakov, I introduced him and bzikov to beloborodov. Finally, I said, "it's a pity that you're a little late, or you'll see Comrade kirilov, military commissar of the group army."

When beloborodov heard what I said, he just laughed, and then said, "it doesn't matter. Anyway, our army has been put under the command of the sixth group army. We will see it sooner or later."

"General beloborodov, you just said that your troops are under our command. What's the matter?" As soon as beloborodov's words were finished, bzikov looked at me and chisjakov and asked curiously, "why didn't the superior inform us?"

"Chief of staff, you are in such a hurry." I saw that bzikov was in a hurry to break the casserole and ask to the end, and quickly stopped him. "Don't you see that general beloborodov is still standing? What's the matter? Let's wait until he sits down

"That's right. Comrade commander is right. I'd better sit down and say it." With that, bezikov made a gesture of invitation to beloborodov with a smile: "general beloborodov, please sit down."

When beloborodov sat down, I first asked, "general beloborodov, how many divisions are there in your army?"

"Comrade commander, there are three divisions in my division, namely the 9th, 46th and 166 divisions of the guards." Beloborodov reported to me: "each division consists of three infantry regiments and two artillery regiments, each of which has 8000 people. With the troops directly under the army, the whole army has 26000 people."

"Twenty six thousand." Hearing this number, bzikov immediately said to me with bright eyes, "Comrade commander, there are so many troops. In this way, the strength of our group army will be greatly improved."

I nodded, thinking that I had not received any notice from the superior and that no one had reported that a large army was approaching us in the past two days, I then asked, "where is your army?"

"Still in zhlobin." "I came here by train with some guards to report to you," beloborodov said with a smile

Although I heard that the troops were still hundreds of kilometers away in zhylobin, I was not worried at all. Instead, I asked another question of my own concern: "general beloborodov, why didn't the headquarters of the front army inform us of your coming?"

For my question, beloborodov said with a smile: "Comrade commander, you don't know that our army is subordinate to the highest base camp. It was Marshal Zhukov who directly ordered us to enrich your army. Maybe general rokosovsky, commander of the front army, didn't know about this."

After listening to his explanation, I couldn't help laughing bitterly to myself. I didn't expect that Zhukov would send us a full-fledged guard without communicating with rokosovsky. Although the troops are still hundreds of miles away in zhiluobin, I need to report this to rokosovsky immediately.

Thinking of this, I turned to beloborodov and said, "general beloborodov, I intend to report to commander rokosovsky about your army joining our group army. Do you have any objection?"

When I asked for my opinion, beloborodov laughed awkwardly, and then said, "you are the commander. It's perfectly right to report this to the higher authorities."

I picked up the high frequency phone on my desk and dialed rokosovsky's headquarters. General malining, who answered the phone, recognized my voice and asked with a smile, "Rita, are you looking for the commander?"

"Yes, chief of staff," although malining and I have a good relationship, I still used honorific words to him: "I have something important to report to the general immediately. Please let him answer the phone."“ Well, just a moment Malining put down the phone and yelled at the distance, "Comrade commander, Rita has something important to see you." A moment later, rokosovsky's serious voice came out of the receiver, "Rita, this is rokosovsky. Do you have anything important to report to me?"“ Yes, comrade commander. " I looked at beloborodov next to me and reported, "here comes major general beloborodov, the commander of the second army of the guards. He said that he led the troops to strengthen our group army on the order of Marshal Zhukov. I think this matter is of great importance and I need to report it to you immediately. "“ What, Marshal Zhukov sent you a guard? " I report the situation, let rokosovsky surprised, he asked: "when did the troops arrive?"“ The troops are still in zhylobin. At present, only major general beloborodov, the commander of the army, is with us. "“ Beloborodov? " After repeating the name, rokosovsky immediately remembered who he was and asked me: "is it Colonel beloborodov, the division commander of the 78th Infantry Division under my command during the Moscow defense war?"“ Yes, Comrade General. " I first gave rokosovsky a positive answer, and then corrected the mistake in his address, "but now he is no longer a colonel, but a major general." Rokosovsky didn't care about my attitude. When I finished, he said, "Rita, I received a phone call from marshal vasilevsky two days ago. He said that according to the advice of the Supreme Commander himself, he planned to add new troops to you in the near future. I was going to wait for the higher authorities to set a specific date and then inform you. I didn't expect that they would come so soon. " What he said reminds me of the grapevine that kirilov told me some time ago, saying that our superiors would supply us with a lot of new troops, and at the same time, they would transfer some old troops away. With this question in mind, I asked rokosovsky cautiously: "senior general, I heard that when our superiors supplement our troops, they will also transfer some old troops away. I don't know whether this statement is reliable?"