Burning Moscow

58 The Troubled Rokosowski

Along the way, I was thinking: the person I saw just now was Stalin in all likelihood, but why did he run to Yugaza Batnaya in the southwest of Moscow at this time? And he didn’t have enough guards around him, so he brought a driver. Isn’t he afraid of being in danger?

Because I was so engrossed and engaged, that Nina called me several times by the side, but I didn’t hear it. She grabbed my shoulder and shook it a few times before I came back to my senses. I looked at her and asked blankly, “Nina, what’s the matter?”

“Here we are.”

I looked out of the car window, but no, the front headquarters building is 100 meters away. “Agefu’s car drove really fast enough. I returned to the headquarters so soon.” I just said with emotion, but unexpectedly found that the car was parked in place, so I asked Age strangely. Husband: “Why didn’t you drive forward?”

Agifu did not speak, but Nina was a little bit twisted. She blushed and stammered to me: “Um…that, Lida, for the rest of the journey, can you…can you go back by yourself? Me and Agifu still has something to do.”

I looked at the two people who were embarrassed, and immediately understood, “No problem, I can walk back for the rest of the journey. I won’t bother you. Good things.” After saying that, Nina blinked and took it. He picked up the paper bag on the bridge, pushed the door open, jumped onto the snow, waved to the two of them, and then closed the door abruptly.

I walked a few steps forward and heard the truck behind start again. I couldn’t help but look back and saw that the truck had turned its head and was swaying into the forest.

walked to the gate of the headquarters, the sentry on guard greeted him and said, “Lieutenant Colonel Oshanina, you can count back, Comrade General is looking for you everywhere.”

“Got it. Thank you!” After that, I hurriedly stepped into the building.

The second lieutenant on duty in the corridor saw me from a distance, so he got up from the table and greeted me. He whispered to me: “Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, Comrade General has just sent people everywhere to look for you.”

“Do you know what it is?” I asked the ensign as he walked to the door side by side.

He shook his head and said, “I don’t know this very well. Anyway, I heard him furious at some generals who were reporting work outside the door. When the generals were gone, he asked me to send someone to find you and said yes. I want to see you right away.”

“How long ago did this happen?” I asked with some worry, after all, there was too much time wasted when I went to Yogazabatnaya to buy things.

“About twenty minutes ago.” I was relieved by the second lieutenant’s answer. Fortunately, it was only twenty minutes, which shouldn’t delay Zhukov’s major event.

came to the door, I gave the paper bag in my hand to the ensign, sorted out the military uniform, and then slammed the door open and walked in. The ensign behind me helped me gently close the door.

Zhukov walked around the room with his hands behind his back, angrily. I approached him and reported loudly: “Comrade General, Oshanina is ordered to come and wait for your instructions!”

Hearing my voice, he stopped, walked a few steps towards me, and asked with a sullen expression: “Where did you go, only now?”

“I’m sorry, Comrade General!” Seeing his uncomfortable expression, I quickly explained: “I didn’t know you would find me, so I just used the half-day vacation you gave me to go shopping in Yugaza Batnaya.”

“From the current situation, your vacation has to end early.” He picked up a piece of paper from the table and handed it to me. “You immediately send this order to the headquarters of the Sixteenth Army. They and The connection between the front armies is completely interrupted. They are ordered to defend their existing positions resolutely at all costs and not to retreat even one step.”

“Yes.” I took the order in his hand and answered loudly.

I got in the car arranged for me by Zhukov and asked the driver: “Do you know how to get to the command of the 16th Army?”

“Is it the headquarters of General Rokosowski?”

“Yes, can you drive faster?”

“Understood, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel.” The driver agreed, and when he stepped on the accelerator, the black car rushed out along the bumpy dirt road.

Half an hour after the car drove out, gunfire came from the front. I touched the pistol pinned to my waist, and without the submachine gun I was used to, I felt a little unreliable when I heard the gunshots. Can’t help but ask the driver with some worry: “How long will it take to get to the headquarters?”

“If all goes well, I will be at the command of the 16th Army in another ten minutes.” The driver replied nonchalantly.

The farther you go, the more intense the sound of gunfire. The wounded retreating began to appear one after another on the side of the road. Some of them were sitting on sledges and some on foot. I asked the driver to park the car to the side of the road, opened the door and asked the wounded loudly, “Comrades, which part of you are you?”

“The Sixteenth Army.” A soldier with a bandage on his head and a cane replied.

“Do you know where the group army headquarters is?” I walked up to him and asked.

“I don’t know, our position was occupied by the enemy, the troops were also broken up, and the contact with the superior was also broken.”

“Where is your commander?”

“We are all sacrificed. We are the wounded in the whole camp.” He said, pointing to the wounded standing next to him. I counted, there were only eleven people, and all of them were injured in more than one place. It seems that they were pulled out after a fierce battle. I didn’t speak, just patted the wounded on the shoulder lightly, then turned and walked back to the car.

The car bumped forward for half an hour, and finally came to the headquarters of the 16th Army. The driver parked the car to the door, poked his head and asked the sentry standing guard at the door: “Hey! Man, is this the headquarters of General Rokosovsky?”

“Yes, what’s the matter with you?” the sentry asked alertly, and walked over with a bayonet-mounted rifle.

“Don’t be nervous, don’t be nervous, man! I’m not a German devil.” The driver said jokingly, “I sent a special officer of the front army to the headquarters to find General Rokosovsky. You can’t shoot casually!”

“The general is inside, comrade commissioner.” The sentry put the gun back on his back, saluted me who had just got out of the car, and then made a gesture of asking: “Please come in.”

The light in the group army headquarters was very dim, but I still saw the Rokosovsky I was looking for at a glance. He was sitting at the table looking at the map with a sad face. Several people who looked like the staff of the headquarters were busy nervously.

I walked up to Rokosovsky, stood at attention and saluted him, and said loudly, “Comrade Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Oshanina is reporting to you. I am waiting for your instructions.”

“Hello! Lieutenant Colonel Oshanina.” Rokosovs got up and hugged me, and said excitedly: “I was so worried that I saw you lying unconscious on a stretcher that day. Yes. I am so happy to see you standing in front of me alive! Since the outbreak of the war, I have lost many comrades who have worked together for many years.”

After he let go of me, I hurriedly explained my intentions to him: “I brought you the latest order from the front army headquarters. Comrade General ordered you to stick to your current position and you can’t retreat even one step.”

“Difficulty, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel.” Rokosovsky cried out to me. “The fighting is going around day and night, and our troops have suffered huge losses. The troops added to the divisions are no longer from The reserve team at the rear is a makeshift unit. Those fighters belonged to different units before. They all rushed out of the siege, lost contact with the original units, and became a group of one or several people alone. We put all of these together. People temporarily formed a unified fighting group and enriched it to the front with a shortage of manpower. Due to lack of time, these fighters and commanders did not even know each other, so they hurried into battle. How much combat power can you expect from such a unit? ?”

“How is the situation with the 16th Army? Comrade Commander.” I asked with concern.

“We have retreated from many places.” He said very sadly.

“Huh?” I asked in surprise, “How is the 316th Infantry Division?”

“Retreated too.” He told me what happened. “After you were injured, the guard battalion suffered heavy casualties. There were less than fifty people left in the battalion. I withdrew the guard battalion and sent a new battalion to defend that area. In the first few days of the battle, The enemy only shelled the positions there every day, and did not launch even one ground attack. In order to better direct the battle, I set up the observation post of the group army command on the edge of the forest, next to the antiaircraft artillery.”

“and after?”

“One day, when the enemy’s shelling was sparse, I decided to look at the situation of the position, and walked towards them with the chief of staff. I didn’t expect to see with my own eyes that a dense group of German soldiers appeared from behind the ridge 2 kilometers away from the position. The skirmish line, coming towards us, there are about 10 tanks behind them. Facing the enemy’s attack, the soldiers in the defensive position undauntedly fired with machine guns, and the antiaircraft artillery company deployed on the edge of the forest also began to direct. Aiming and shooting, everything seemed good at first. The German infantry lay down and the tank stopped advancing.”

“What happened next?” I asked anxiously.

“But soon an enemy plane appeared on the horizon… dived into our skirmishes, the enemy’s artillery and mortars strengthened the firepower, UU reading www.uukanshu.com tanks advanced again, and the planes bombed our positions in turn. The enemy’s indiscriminate bombardment made our infantry a little unbearable and began to shake. At first, a single person jumped out of the trench and ran towards the forest, and then ran into the forest in groups. I felt very uncomfortable seeing all this.”

“Did our defense line be lost because of the soldiers’ retreat?” I asked cautiously.

“That’s not true. The soldier was running, and suddenly a soldier in the crowd shouted: “Stop! Where are you going? Go back! I didn’t see the general standing there… Go back!” Yes, I and the staff officer The long stood upright, standing in front of all the soldiers, because we realized that the only way to save the situation. The cry of that soldier and our performance had a huge effect. The soldiers who were running towards the forest were originally Lie down on the spot and fired at the enemy together, so that the enemy infantry who climbed up and attacked fell again. Our artillery company also aimed directly at the enemy’s tanks. But the enemy was too strong, although several tanks were hit It was on fire, but their infantry, under the cover of the rest of the tanks, aircraft and artillery fire, occupied our army’s position. In the face of the dominant enemy, we could only be forced to retreat.”

“Do you have the confidence to defend the current position?” I asked the general who was worrying in front of me with concern.

“I don’t know,” Rokosovsky spread out his hands and said helplessly: “Because of the continuous retreat, the organization of the group army has been completely disrupted. Because of the complete interruption of communication, I can now command. In the army, there are only two or three infantry divisions with serious losses and incomplete formation. If we cannot get the reserve team to supplement, we will have to continue to retreat.”