When rokosovsky put down the phone, malining, who was full of surprise, asked him, "Comrade commander, what's the matter? Why did you suddenly remove the post of commander of the first front army and transfer you to the second front army?"
"I don't know, I don't know." "I don't know why Comrade Stalin suddenly made such a decision," rokosovsky said painfully, with his hands on the table, his head bowed, his eyes closed and his head swinging
Although rokosovsky is still at a loss about the reason for his transfer, malining and I already know. I learned all this through history books, but malining learned the truth from what I called "analysis".
"What do you think about next?" Malining looked at me with some guilty heart and asked rokosovsky carefully, "do you want to stay here until Marshal Zhukov arrives; Or should we go to the second front army first to get familiar with the environment and leave it to Lida for the time being? "
Rokosovsky opened his eyes, fixed his eyes on me, and began to think about malining's question.
Seeing rokosovsky staring at me all the time made my heart feel flustered. In order to take the initiative, I said, "marshal, you'd better stay. It will take another month for Marshal Zhukov to come here to take over the post of commander. If you stay here, at least the commanders and fighters of the whole front army will have a backbone. "
After listening to what I said, rokosovsky didn't speak. He just used his fingers to tap on the table quickly. He may be having a fierce psychological struggle.
"The operational plan we reported to the headquarters of the general staff has been approved by the headquarters." After a long time, rokosovsky finally said: "from now on, we will start to work out a detailed campaign plan. I will not leave for the time being because I have to absorb commanders of various army groups and members of their headquarters to participate in the formulation process. "
Although my heart very much hopes that rokosovsky can leave as soon as possible, so that I can control the first front army of Belarus alone. But on second thought, since I was the deputy commander of the front army, I spent most of my time making soy sauce or only being responsible for the local command. If I were allowed to control the overall situation, it might lead to chaos in the army. Therefore, I immediately expressed my support for rokosovsky's decision: "marshal, I agree with your decision that the first front army has been under your leadership since its establishment. Before Marshal Zhukov arrived at Lublin, you were the only one in charge, so you made the right decision to stay
When we are ready to call together the commanders of several troops stationed in the south of Warsaw to participate in the formulation of the offensive campaign plan. Malining suggested to rokosovsky that Batov and Popov, two commanders stationed on the West Bank of narev River, should also participate in this work, but I refuted him.
I confidently said to malining, "Comrade chief of staff, from the current situation, it is possible that the troops along the narev river will be assigned to the command of the second front army. Therefore, we only need the commanders of the various army groups along the visva River to participate in the formulation of the operation plan."
Rokosovsky also agreed with me: "Lida's analysis is reasonable. I also think it will be sooner or later for the 65th and 70th army to be put under the command of the second front army. Therefore, it is unnecessary to inform them to participate in the formulation of the combat plan this time."
The group commander who received the notice came to the headquarters of the front army one after another. To my surprise, there was general belinger, commander of the first group army of Poland. Seeing that I was also in the headquarters, he quickly came over to shake hands with me and said warmly, "Hello, comrade deputy commander of the front army. I'm glad to meet you here!"
"Hello, general Bellinger." As I shook hands with him, I said with emotion: "the officers and men of the third division of Poland have been very brave in this river crossing battle. Although the enemy has invested a lot of troops and weapons, they have never been able to capture the landing site of wajinji palace they established. "
Hearing me mention this, belinger said with a sad face: "if it wasn't for the renegade krayov army of the rebel army, which withdrew from the predetermined reception place without authorization, our troops would not have suffered so much loss when crossing the river. It is even possible to expand the landing site and gain local advantages in Warsaw city. "
"It is said that the rebels have laid down their arms and surrendered to the Germans." I then asked, "I don't know if there are any ryudov soldiers breaking out of the siege?"
"Yes," general Bellinger replied, nodding his head, "after the rebel army surrendered to the German army, our troops deployed by the river have received hundreds of soldiers from across the river, and I have added them to the troops."
At this moment, malining's voice suddenly rang out in the room: "well, comrades, everyone is here. Let's have a meeting."
"Wait a minute, chief of staff." It was trekov who asked questions. After looking around, he stood up and asked marinin, "why didn't I see Gusev, Batov and Popov?"
"Their three army groups will not take part in this battle plan," malining said to the commanders who attended the meeting, pointing to the map on the wall with a stick. "The headquarters of the front army decided to launch a far-reaching assault from the landing sites of magnushev and puwai, from the south of Warsaw to the south of POZ, an important industrial town in Poland. The combat plan we are about to formulate will be launched around this theme... "
After malining finished introducing the situation, rokosovsky looked at trakov and asked, "Comrade trakov, I want to ask when you can rebuild the bridge on the visva River and transport the tanks and artillery that the troops need urgently across the river?"
"Comrade marshal, it's very difficult." Trakov said with a bitter face: "our landing site of magnushev is bombarded and bombed by the German army every day. In the past, Polish engineers helped us build a pontoon, but only a few hours later, it was bombed by German planes."
"You haven't tried to build bridges since then?" Asked rokosovsky, a little discontented.
"In order to avoid unnecessary losses, we gave up this futile effort." "We've got a flat ferry that can carry four tanks or armored vehicles across the river at a time," he said
"Are you content to transport four tanks at a time?" Without waiting for trakov to finish, rokosovsky impolitely interrupted him and asked, "how many times a day can you transport four tanks at a time? How long does it take to transport a tank brigade? How long will it take to transport all your tank brigades and artillery regiments to the other side? "
"This, this!" Trakov replied in a somewhat flustered way: "although the technical equipment and personnel transported each time are limited, they are enough to offset the losses in the West Bank."
"General trakov," rokosovsky said sternly, looking at trakov, "our goal is to destroy the Germans, not to use oil tactics and fight a war of attrition with them. Tell me, how long will it take to build a floating bridge over the visva river? "
Trikov turned his head and looked at the chief of staff who was sitting on one side. His chief of staff quickly put his head close to him, and they whispered. After a while, trakov said with a little lack of confidence: "marshal, please give me another month. I will build a bridge for tanks and artillery on the visva river."
"No, one month is too long." Rokosovsky immediately denied it.
"Ten days, ten days." Trakov began to bargain with rokosovsky.
"No, ten days is still too long." Rokosovsky shook his head and denied the time proposed by trakov again. Then he held out three fingers and said decisively, "three days, three days later, I will see you set up a floating bridge on the visva River, or I will not be the commander of the front army."
Trikov leaned down again to talk with his chief of staff. When he stood up straight behind him, he clenched his teeth and stamped his feet, and said decisively, "well, marshal, I promise you, only three days. In three days, we will certainly set up a floating bridge on the visva river for tanks and artillery to pass through. "
"That's right, comrade trekov." Rokosovsky nodded his head and said approvingly, "it seems that your troops still have potential to tap."
Trikov also laughed, looked around, and then said, "marshal, you threaten us by not being the commander of the front army. Even if we can't do it, we have to do everything we can to finish your task."
Rokosovsky, after waiting for trakov to smile, sighed a long time and said quietly, "in a while, I will not be the commander of the first front army of Belarus any more."
As soon as his words came out, except for a few people who knew the inside story, such as malining and I, the rest of the commanders who attended the meeting opened their mouths wide and looked at rokosovsky in surprise. They didn't know what happened. After a while, kolpakchi stood up and asked gravely, "what happened when you arrived, comrade Marshal? How can you be good? You will no longer be the commander?"
Kolpakchi asked this question for a reason. He has been inseparable from rokosovsky these days. Just after a few hours apart, I suddenly heard rokosovsky say that he would no longer serve as commander of the front army. It was not surprising that there was a ghost.
Rokosovsky stood up, glanced over every commander who attended the meeting, and said slowly, "comrades commander, I now formally inform you that the supreme command has appointed me as commander of the second front army. At the same time, Marshal Zhukov will take over my post. I hope you can cooperate with him well."
"Why, why is that?" As soon as his voice fell, someone asked aloud, "you've done a good job. Why did you move from the main direction to the secondary direction?"
"In fact, the direction of the second front army is not a secondary direction." Rokosovsky explained to the commander who asked questions: "our next troops to attack Berlin will be composed of the first front army of Ukraine, the first and second front army of Belarus. Only with the cooperation of the three forces can we defeat the Germans and completely destroy the stronghold of the Communist aggressors..."
Although rokosovsky's defense seemed so weak, all the commanders were surprisingly silent, because everyone knew that this was Stalin's final decision, and no one could change it.
"Well, comrades, it's time for us to discuss how to attack the enemy's defensive zone from the landing sites of magnushev and puwai." Malining and other rokosovsky finished, timely took over the topic: "please express your views."
When we heard that we were going to start to make an attack plan, we forgot for a moment that rokosovsky was about to be transferred and focused on the plan again“ The main reason why our landing site is unable to take the initiative to attack the enemy is the lack of technical equipment such as tanks and artillery, which leads to the lack of offensive ability of the troops. " Korpakchi pointed to the map and said solemnly: "the marshal stayed with us for a few days, walked back and forth along the river visva, and selected the best places for us to build bridges As long as the pontoon is set up, our tanks and artillery will continue to reach the West Bank. After we have accumulated enough strength, we will be able to attack the enemy. "“ I totally agree with general korpakchi, "and then came trekov." the reason why our landing site was constantly bombed and shelled by the enemy was also due to the lack of sufficient technical equipment. If we can put a few antiaircraft artillery divisions in the landing site, the enemy's air raids will be greatly reduced, even if they can't disappear... "While trikov was speaking incessantly, rokosovsky approached me and said in a low voice," Rita, you must remember the speeches of each commander. When Marshal Zhukov arrives, And then give him a detailed report so that he can have a perceptual understanding of the current situation of our front army as soon as possible. "“ All right, comrade marshal. " Hearing what rokosovsky said, I quickly nodded my head and replied, "I will resolutely carry out your order."“ This may be the last time I will preside over the meeting in the first front army. You should take care of yourself. " With that, he sighed softly and turned to listen to trekov again.