Chapter 2204 Changing generals

Rokossovsky's convoy quickly entered the defense zone of the 50th Army Group. The soldiers on duty at the checkpoint saw that it was the Marshal who was coming. They were frightened and prepared to call to report to their superiors, but they were stopped by Rokossovsky up. He just wanted to use the method of surprise inspection to understand the current preparations of the 50th Army.

  Although there are quite a few tents along the way, none of the lights can be seen, and there is a faint sound of snoring coming from inside, which proves that the commanders and fighters in the tents are sleeping soundly. Seeing this situation, Rokossovsky couldn't help but frowned slightly, wondering why the defenses in the 50th Army's defense area were so lax, the commanders and fighters slept in tents, and there was not even a patrol outside. If there is an attack, I am afraid that there will be huge casualties.

The convoy stopped at the entrance of the headquarters, and the sentry standing at the entrance saw that the people who came were Rokossovsky and Subbotin, and they raised their hands in fright to salute: "Hello, Comrade Marshal! , Comrade Military Commissar!"

   Rokossovsky saw that the sentry was about to enter the door to report, raised his hand to stop him, and walked into the headquarters.

  There are only a few staff officers in the headquarters who are busy in front of the map, and they should be marking the latest map of the enemy's situation. The telephone operator in the corner was leaning against the wall and dozing off because no calls came in. Hearing someone walking in from the outside, the staff officers' attention was immediately attracted. After seeing that it was Rokossovsky, they all stood at attention and raised their hands in salute.

   Rokossovsky walked up to a staff officer and asked sharply, "Where is your commander?"

  The staff officer pointed to the small room next to him and said, "Comrade Commander is sleeping in it."

   "Going to bed so early?" Rokossovsky asked.

   "He had a drink and was a little too tired, so he went to bed first."

   Rokossovsky snorted coldly, and was about to say something when Subbotin asked the staff member pleasantly beside him: "What about your chief of staff, General Ozerov?"

   "He seems to have gone to the telecommunications room. It is said that there is a report from the scouts."

   "How long have you been there?"

  The staff officer raised his hand to check the time, and replied, "It's about a quarter of an hour, and I should be back soon."

   Rokossovsky heard that the chief of staff would be back later, so he walked casually to the door of the small room, raised his hand and pushed the door open. I saw General Bolkin, wearing a white pullover, lying on the bed and sleeping soundly, talking a few words in sleep from time to time.

   "Hey, wake up!" Rokossovsky shook his shoulders and shouted, "Wake up quickly."

Not long after, Borkin opened his eyes, and because he just woke up, he couldn't see who was standing in front of him, so he said angrily: "Didn't I say that when I was sleeping, no one would look at me?" Won't you bother me?"

"You don't execute the combat order I gave you, but you sleep here." Rokossovsky said angrily: "If you miss the fighter plane and let the Germans slip away from your nose, You just wait to go to the military court."

At this moment, Bolkin realized that the person who disturbed his dream was actually Rokossovsky. He was so frightened that he rolled off the bed and said incoherently while getting dressed in a hurry: "Marshal, Comrade Marshal , why did you come to me, did you go to the wrong place?"

  Until Rokossovsky snorted heavily, "You are so brave, you dare to disobey orders. Is our military law just a display?"

   Hearing what Rokossovsky said, Borkin broke out in a cold sweat. He said profusely, "Comrade Marshal, I have faithfully carried out your orders, and there has been no delay in the fighter plane."

   "Really?" Rokossovsky sneered and said, "I heard that the Germans in front of you have retreated an hour or two ago. Why are you still standing still here?"

   "This is impossible, Comrade Marshal." Bolkin tried to defend himself and said: "My troops have been closely monitoring the Germans and have not found any movement from them. You may have received wrong information."

   Rokossovsky didn't want to talk nonsense with him, turned around and went back to the outside room, and asked loudly, "Is the chief of staff back?"

   "Comrade Marshal," hearing Rokossovsky asking himself, Ozerov, who had just entered the door, hurried over and said, "I am here, what instructions do you have?"

   "I heard that you went to the telecommunications room to receive information from the scouts, right?"

   "Yes, Comrade Marshal, indeed."

   "What did the scouts report back?" Rokossovsky asked, "Did the enemy retreat, or did they stick to their existing positions?"

   Ozerov did not speak, but cast a glance at Bolkin who was standing at the door of the hut. Rokossovsky noticed that the chief of staff's gaze had shifted, waved his hand in front of him, and said, "Don't worry about General Bolkin, just report to me what you know. "

   Hearing what Rokossovsky said, Ozerov quickly straightened his back and said: "Report to Comrade Marshal, according to the latest information from the scouts, all the enemies in front of our army have retreated, and there is no one on the ground."

"Really?"

   "Yes, Comrade Marshal." Ozerov replied loudly: "Our scouts checked several times and confirmed that no enemy was found on the position before sending back the latest information."

   "Where is the information, show me?" Rokossovsky held out his hand to Ozerov.

   Ozerov didn't dare to neglect, and quickly handed the telegram in his hand to Rokossovsky.

After reading the telegram, Rokossovsky came to Bolkin and said with a sneer: "General Bolkin, you just told me that your troops are closely monitoring the enemy and found that the enemy has no movement. Then look, what is this?" When he said this, he suddenly raised his voice, and slammed the telegram in his hand on Bolkin's face.

  Bolkin hurriedly bent down to pick up the telegram on the ground, and quickly browsed it. After reading the above content, he was shocked into a cold sweat, but even so, he still refused to admit his mistake: "Comrade Marshal, this may be a German conspiracy, they captured our scout , and used their radio to send us this false information."

"General Ozerov," Rokossovsky was completely disappointed in Bolkin at the moment, turned and said to Ozerov: "I declare that from now on, you are the acting commander of the 50th Army, and the troops Under your command."

   "What about our commander?" Ozerov looked at Bolkin, who was trembling aside, and asked tentatively, "How do you plan to deal with him?"

"How to deal with him is my business, but he will definitely not be able to stay in the 50th Army. When I leave later, I will take him away." Rokossovsky said: "He will pay for his mistakes Pay the price accordingly.”

  Ozerov glanced at Borkin with sympathy, and said in his heart that if it weren't for your stubbornness, we should have launched a pursuit of the German army at this moment. If you really do this, I am afraid that Comrade Marshal is not shouting at you at this moment, but trying his best to praise the results you have achieved.

However, there is no regret drug sale in the world. Since this incident has already happened, there is no room for recovery. Ozerov decided to use the power granted to him by Rokossovsky to command this army. He tentatively asked: "Marshal Comrade, what shall we do next?"

"Since the scouts have found out that there is not a single German on the enemy's position in front of you, what are you still doing?" Rokossovsky said with a serious expression: "Of course we should send troops to occupy him. And form a fast column equipped with tanks and armored vehicles to pursue the fleeing German troops. We don't know how long the enemy has been retreating, so we can only destroy as many as we can. Understand?"

   "I fully understand, Comrade Marshal." Ozerov said: "I immediately gave the troops an order to advance towards the enemy's position."

   "Give me an order, Comrade General." Rokossovsky said to Ozerov, "I'll be here watching you command."

With Rokossovsky sitting and watching, Ozerov still had some progress in his heart. He picked up the phone on the table and began to issue orders: "The 19th and 38th Infantry Corps immediately acted to attack the German troops. Advance the defensive position. If you encounter a resisting enemy, resolutely destroy it. The 121st Infantry Army, the 307th Infantry Division and the Tank Brigade are the second echelon, ready to move forward."

Rokossovsky is quite satisfied with Ozerov's deployment. It is too late now, and it is obviously inappropriate to dispatch a tank brigade. Therefore, the best way is for infantry to open the way in front and occupy as many lands as possible. In the German positions, it is not too late to let the tank troops go into battle after dawn.

After assigning tasks to the troops, Ozerov turned to face Rokossovsky and said: "Comrade Marshal, the order has been issued, and the troops will advance to the combat area controlled by the enemy in the shortest possible time, and seize the unguarded territory." position."

Half an hour later, the commander of the 19th Infantry Corps called and reported to Ozerov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the two infantry divisions under our army have successfully occupied two positions of the German army without being attacked. resistance of any kind."

"Very good, Comrade General." Ozerov nodded and said, "Leave the troops to consolidate the occupied positions and continue to advance in depth towards the German defense. In a word, you can advance as far as you can." Far."

"Yes, Comrade Chief of Staff, we will try our best to move forward." After the army commander finished speaking, he said with some hesitation: "But is it appropriate for you to give us orders over the commander? What if you wait for Comrade Commander?" The wine is sober, aren't we going to be scolded again?"

"Don't worry, General Bolkin is no longer the commander of the 50th Army, and Chief of Staff Ozerov is the latest commander of the Army." Rokossovsky got up and said into the microphone: "What he ordered Orders, you just have to carry them out boldly."

  The army commander heard a strange voice, and asked a little annoyed: "Who, who is talking?"

   "It's me, Rokossovsky." Rokossovsky continued into the microphone: "I think what I said should be regarded as an order?"

Knowing that the person talking to him was actually Marshal Rokossovsky, the army commander was startled and said quickly: "That's right, Comrade Marshal, what you said is an order. I will follow Ozer's orders now." Commander Love ordered the troops to continue to advance deep into the German defenses."

   "Very good, Comrade General." Rokossovsky was still very satisfied with the commander's performance of knowing the times, and he continued: "I am waiting for your good news."

As soon as the phone was put down here, the commander of the 38th Infantry Corps also called. He reported to Ozerov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, what is going on? Why is there no one on the German position? When did you leave?"

"I don't know when they withdrew." Ozerov said helplessly: "You just need to know that there are no defenders on the German positions. The mission of your army is to face the Germans. The defense advances rapidly in depth, and the area can be occupied as much as possible.”

"Comrade Chief of Staff," the commander of the 38th Army asked the same question as his colleagues: "Have you consulted the commander for this order you issued? If he is not satisfied, blame it, and then we will be in trouble .”

"Don't worry, Comrade Commander." Ozerov glanced at Rokossovsky who was sitting next to him, and said confidently: "Comrade Marshal, he is right by my side. He just appointed me as the 50th Acting commander of the group army, so every order I give, you just go ahead and execute it."

   Knowing that Rokossovsky is at the headquarters at this moment, the commander of the 38th Army was also very surprised: "Chief of Staff, no, Comrade Commander, why is the Marshal here with you?"

Ozerov knew that he couldn't explain it in a few words, so he said into the microphone: "I will tell you about this later, what you can do now is to let your soldiers spread their feet and rush forward, how many can you occupy?" You can occupy as many positions as you want. Let me remind you that the 19th Army is much faster than you, so don't fall behind."

Seeing Ozerov put down the microphone, Rokossovsky said with a smile: "General Ozerov, I really didn't expect that you can mobilize the enthusiasm of the troops with just a few words. It's all my fault for the You didn’t pay enough attention, if you noticed you earlier, you could be assigned to a suitable position.” Having said that, he glanced at Bolkin next to him, and said coldly, “Avoid today’s situation of delaying the fighter Appear."

After saying this, Rokossovsky stood up, stretched out his hand to Ozerov, and said in a friendly tone: "General Ozerov, I will hand over the 50th Army to you. What are the latest results? Remember to report to the Front Army Command in time."

   "Understood, Comrade Marshal." Ozerov raised his chin slightly, and said confidently, "I will never betray your trust."

   Rokossovsky nodded with a smile, then called two soldiers, asked them to take Bolkin, turned and left the headquarters.

Seeing that Bolkin was taken away by Rokossovsky, several staff officers in the headquarters leaned over to Ozerov's side and asked tentatively: "Chief of staff, you said that the commander was taken away by Comrade Marshal, What kind of punishment will I receive?"

Ozerov, who had just become the acting commander, naturally would not comment on Rokossovsky's decision with a few staff officers. Instead, he slammed his face and said, "Aren't you busy with work? You are all gathered here to gossip , and return to their respective jobs soon.”

  (end of this chapter)