Chapter 2231

   Rokossovsky knew very well that ordering the troops to stop attacking at this moment was against the wishes of the Supreme Command. If he did not say hello to the Supreme Commander himself, he might cause unnecessary trouble for himself. He called the director of the communications corps and told the other party: "Please help me get through the switchboard of the Kremlin. I want to talk to Comrade Stalin."

   Soon, the female operator's voice came from the receiver: "Hello, this is the Kremlin switchboard. Where do you want to connect?"

   "Hello!" Rokossovsky said politely: "I am Marshal Rokossovsky, please help me to get the office of the Supreme Commander himself."

After a few beeps, Rokossovsky heard Poskrebyshev's voice: "Hello, Comrade Marshal, I'm Poskrebyshev, may I help you ?"

   "Hello, Comrade Poskrebyshev." Rokossovsky said politely: "I have something important to report to Comrade Stalin. Please transfer the phone for me."

   "No problem, I'll transfer it for you right away."

"Dear Konstantin Konstantinovich, hello! Did you bring me any good news?" When Stalin's voice came from the receiver, Rokossovsky felt the other party's He was in a good mood, and if he was asked the question of transferring troops to defense on the spot at this moment, the other party should not be furious.

   "Unfortunately, Comrade Stalin." Rokossovsky replied with some embarrassment: "I may have brought you bad news."

"what news?"

"My troops were in East Pomerania today. They were attacked by the Germans and were forced to retreat in many areas. In a word, the results achieved yesterday are almost wiped out today." Luo Kosovsky said cautiously: "In order to stabilize the position, I have ordered all troops to temporarily stop attacking and turn to defense on the spot."

"What, your troops turned to defense on the spot?" Rokossovsky's words made Stalin frowned. He put his pipe on the table and asked: "Comrade Rokossovsky, what is it?" What made you make such a decision?"

"Insufficient troops, Comrade Stalin." Rokossovsky replied truthfully: "You must know that when you ordered our front to turn to the west, you gave the order to assign five of the armies to Chernyakhovs. General Ji’s Third Front Army. After our hard work, you left the 48th Army Group behind. However, the strength of our Front Army has been greatly weakened. This is why the attack went smoothly yesterday, but it was unable to expand rapidly. The reason for the victory."

  After listening to Rokossovsky's statement, Stalin fell silent. The other party was right. At that time, in order to strengthen Cherniakhovsky’s Belarusian Third Front Army, he did order the five armies of the Second Front Army, including the most elite 48th Army and the 5th Guards Tank Army. Army Group. Although the 48th Army remained in the original organization because Yakov served as the deputy chief of staff of the Third Front Army, Rokossovsky's troops were still weakened.

   Before making a final decision, Stalin decided to listen to Rokossovsky first: "Comrade Rokossovsky, what do you think should be done?"

"There are two ways," Rokossovsky said: "One is to send us new troops, and the other is to ask Marshal Zhukov to draw troops from his troops to assist us in the war against East Pomerania." attack."

Regarding Rokossovsky's proposal, Stalin seemed very hesitant. He thought to himself: To smash the German East Pomerania with 29 infantry divisions, 3 tank divisions, 3 motorized divisions and a large number of independent troops For the group, it is not enough to rely on the strength of the Belarusian Second Front Army. It is indeed necessary to supplement them with new forces in order to complete such a difficult task. However, it must be too late to draw troops from the reserve team of the base camp. The best way is to let Zhukov draw the right-wing troops, but assist Rokossovsky in fighting, and jointly defeat Vistula in East Pomerania group.

   Just when he was about to express his thoughts, he suddenly remembered something. If Zhukov was really ordered to mobilize the right-wing troops to assist Rokossovsky in fighting, it would mean that the day of attacking Berlin would need to be postponed. When he thought that the time to capture Berlin would be postponed again, Stalin felt very unwilling.

But after repeated weighing, he said to the microphone: "Konstantin Konstantinovich, I agree with your decision to temporarily transfer the troops to the defensive on the spot to prevent the German army from achieving greater results. As for you Regarding the lack of troops, I will call Zhukov later to see if he can spare troops to support you, after all, everything you are doing now is to cover the right wing of the Belarusian First Front Army."

   Hearing what Stalin said, Rokossovsky suddenly gained confidence: "Well, Comrade Stalin, I will wait for your decision."

After putting down the phone, Rokossovsky waved his fist excitedly, and then said to Bogolyubov and Subbotin: "The Chief of Staff, the Military Commissar, and the Supreme Commander himself have agreed to our plan to switch to defense on the spot. .”

   "Great, this is really great." After Bogolyubov applauded, he asked: "Then did he mention when he will replenish our troops?"

   "He said that he would call Marshal Zhukov later to see if he could draw troops from the right wing of the First Front Army to fight with us and defeat the German Vistula Group in East Pomerania."

   Hearing what Rokossovsky said, Bogolyubov immediately leaned over to look at the map in front of him, thinking about which units of the First Front Army Stalin would ask Zhukov to hand over to the Second Front Army for command.

Seeing his chief of staff looking at the map so seriously, Rokossovsky shook his head with a wry smile, and then said: "Comrade chief of staff, I don't think you understand what I mean. Comrade Stalin is asking Marshal Zhukov to send troops to cooperate When we fight, we don't allocate troops to our command."

"Oh, so that's the case." Hearing what Rokossovsky said, Bogolyubov realized that he had made a mistake, and he couldn't help showing an embarrassed expression on his face: "I thought the Supreme Commander himself planned to start from the first On the one hand, the army has transferred some troops and put them under our command."

   "But in any case, with the support of friendly forces, our next battle will be easier."

"Comrade Marshal, the 48th Army of General Sokov has not yet entered the battle as a reserve force." Bogolyubov asked Rokossovsky: "In order to prevent the situation from deteriorating, please see if his troops Go into battle too?"

   Regarding Bogolyubov's proposal, Rokossovsky hesitated for a long time, and finally said slowly: "Comrade Chief of Staff, we cannot use Misha's 48th Army lightly, and we will use it for a big purpose in the future."

   "What's the big use?" Bogolyubov asked puzzledly, "What's the big use?"

"After we invade Berlin, we will always need a force to attack the Reichstag, which is a symbol of Germany. As long as we occupy it, it means Germany's failure." Rokossovsky explained with a smile: "If Put Misha's troops into battle ahead of time. If we suffer huge losses, after we enter Berlin, where will we have extra strength to attack the Reichstag? At that time, we will have to give up such an honor that can be recorded in history to others force."

Bogolyubov thought to himself, yes, the occupation of the National Defense Building in Berlin, such a feat will definitely be recorded in the annals of history, if Sukov's 48th Army is consumed prematurely, after the troops of the front army enter Berlin, It is true that there is no extra power to attack the Capitol, and then other friendly forces will have to be allowed to perform this task.

After thinking about this, Bogolyubov nodded and said, "Comrade Marshal, you are right. If good steel is to be used on the blade, it is true that elite troops like the 48th Army should be reserved for last. "

"Well, the chief of staff is right." Su Bojing nodded and said, "Even if the German army launched a surprise attack a few days ago. If it were replaced by other troops, it would have been defeated long ago, but Sokov However, the general's troops forcibly withstood the enemy's attack and turned defeat into victory."

  What Su Bojing said was true. The troops of the 48th Army that were attacked by the Germans were only an infantry brigade, but they blocked several times their own troops. Seeing that the attack did not work, the German army turned to other directions. With its own strength, it defeated two divisions of the Soviet army and surrounded the other two divisions. If it weren't for the Front Army Command to timely mobilize other troops to reinforce, I'm afraid the situation would become uncontrollable.

   "Comrade Chief of Staff," Rokossovsky asked Bogolyubov: "Is all the ammunition available for the 48th Army?"

"Yes, Comrade Marshal, everything is in place." Bogolyubov nodded and said, "The ammunition reserve for the new rocket launcher is 20 bases, and the ammunition reserve for each soldier is 50 bases. Without any supplements within a month, we can maintain sufficient offensive strength."

Besides, after Stalin talked with Rokossovsky, he sat behind his desk and thought for a long time, finally picked up the phone in front of him, dialed a number, and said slowly: "I am Stalin, call me Marshal Zhukov .”

  After a short wait, Zhukov's voice came out of the receiver: "Hello, Comrade Stalin!"

   "Hello, Marshal Zhukov." Stalin asked with a smile, "How is your health recently?"

   "My health is very good, Comrade Stalin." Zhukov didn't know what medicine was sold in Stalin's gourd, but he replied truthfully: "Thank you for your concern."

"Marshal Zhukov, I'm calling you because of this." Then, Stalin said that Rokossovsky's troops were understrength, and it was difficult to independently defeat the German Vistula in East Pomerania. I told Zhukov about the group's affairs, and finally asked: "How about it, can you spare the troops to help him?"

  If it was something else, Zhukov might find a way to refuse. But the Belarusian Second Front Army, which is now fighting in East Pomerania, is to cover their right wing. If they can help them defeat the Vistula Group of the German army as soon as possible, they can completely relieve the threat to their right wing, so that they can rest assured and bold headed towards Berlin.

"Comrade Stalin," Zhukov made a decisive decision: "In order to assist Rokossovsky in defeating the enemies in East Pomerania faster, I plan to transfer Major General Poplavski's Polish 1st Army , to assist the friendly forces to complete this task.”

  When Stalin called Zhukov, he was deeply afraid that his proposal would be rejected by the other party. After all, everyone knew that Zhukov was stubborn. Seeing that the other party so straightforwardly agreed to send troops to support the Second Front Army, the stone hanging in his heart finally fell to the ground.

  As soon as the call with Zhukov ended, he immediately called Rokossovsky, preparing to tell him the good news.

When Rokossovsky learned that Zhukov planned to deploy the Polish 1st Army to support him, he felt a little disappointed. Although this army is the most powerful in the Polish army today, its overall strength is comparable to that of the Soviet Army. It's still a little bit worse, but having them is better than nothing.

   "Thank you, Comrade Stalin." Although he did not meet his expectations, Rokossovsky still expressed his gratitude to Stalin: "On behalf of all the commanders and fighters of the Belarusian Second Front Army, I would like to express my gratitude to you."

After Bogolyubov waited for Rokossovsky to put down the phone, he said unwillingly: "Comrade Marshal, why did you send the Polish 1st Army to support us in the battle? You know, their overall combat effectiveness is not strong. Don't wait. When a new battle starts, not only will they not be able to help them, they will even need us to send troops to protect them, which will weaken our strength instead."

"Comrade Chief of Staff, don't say anything that is not conducive to unity." Rokossovsky raised his hand and interrupted him before the other party finished speaking: "I admit that when the Polish 1st Army was formed, its combat effectiveness was indeed Unsatisfactory, but after such a long baptism of blood and fire, the commanders and fighters of the group army have rich combat experience, and I believe their combat effectiveness will be far better than before. With their assistance, I believe that I It won't take long for the military to completely defeat the Vistula Group of the German army."

Seeing that Rokossovsky was so supportive of the Polish 1st Army, Bogolyubov couldn't say anything more, but just reminded the other party: "Comrade Marshal, since Marshal Zhukov is going to send the Polish 1st Army to assist us in fighting, see if Invite their commander, Major General Popravsky, to study joint operations with him?"

"Well, you're right." Rokossovsky nodded and said, "The closest unit to them is the 50th Army of Lieutenant General Ponejielin, and they didn't cooperate with Polish troops. Experience. Since Major General Poplavski is invited, Lieutenant General Poniedellin may also be invited here, and let the two of them meet first to get acquainted with each other, which will also be helpful for future operations.”

"No problem." Bogolyubov said: "After you have contacted Marshal Zhukov, I will call General Ponejielin and ask him to come to the headquarters to accept a new task. By the way, wait for Popravsky With the arrival of the major general, we will discuss how to cooperate in the next battle."

  (end of this chapter)