Chapter 88 32nd Infantry Division
Rokossovsky did not come alone. He was accompanied by several staff officers from the army headquarters. However, these staff officers were all very young, and some of them had not even graduated from military school.
No country would train commanders on the front lines where war is fierce, but the current situation in the Soviet Union is special. The shortage of commanders forces the Supreme Command to take some risks. These cadets who have not yet graduated from military academies are not so much staff officers of the army group as they are here to study and learn the experience of commanding operations in actual combat.
In addition to these young staff officers, Rokossovsky Kazakov, the chief of the army's artillery, Maximenko, the elderly chief of communications, and Orel, the chief of tank and mechanized forces. In addition, there was Ivan Pavlovich Kamela, the chief of artillery of the 19th Army, whom Rokossovsky introduced in particular.
Camera and Rokossovsky are old colleagues. When Rokossovsky was still commanding the Independent Kuban Cavalry Brigade, Camera served as the battalion commander of the artillery battalion under him, so the two have a very good relationship.
This was the first time Yuri met Rokossovsky. He followed Military Commissar Lobachev and met Rokossovsky and his entourage on the road to Moscow outside Vyshenki.
If we talk about Yuri's first impression of Rokossovsky, it is that... this man is indeed a handsome guy, especially his eyes, which are very bright. When he looks at him, it feels like his eyes are shining.
As for the second impression, this person is very optimistic and likes to joke . For example, he called Military Commissar Lobachev not by his name, but by "peasant", like a nickname. However, Yuri later learned that this nickname was not given to Lobachev by Rokossovsky, but by Lukin. When he introduced Lobachev, he used the original words "peasant from Furmanov".
Two weeks ago, the Soviet troops assembled in the Moscow area had completed the task of changing their uniforms. At this time, Rokossovsky and his entourage were all wearing brand new military coats that had just been issued, and they looked very energetic.
Rokossovsky first exchanged a few words with Lobachev. When he turned his gaze to Yuri, he smiled at him, strode forward, extended his hand, and said, "Is this Comrade Lieutenant Colonel Yuri Arkhipovich? I have received a notice from the Supreme Command and know that you are coming to the army headquarters. I think this is the greatest support the Supreme Command has given to the 16th Army in recent times."
Yuri felt a little embarrassed after hearing this.
"Welcome to the 16th Army. We will be colleagues from now on," Rokossovsky shook Yuri's hand and continued, "In fact, we have dealt with each other before. When we were in Lutsk, you were guarding the Bredev Pass, and the troops I commanded were less than 15 kilometers away from your position."
Yuri nodded. He knew about this. In the battle of Lutsk, the troops under Rokossovsky's command suffered heavy casualties. If he had chosen the Bredev Pass as the direction of the breakout, many losses could have been avoided. But then again, Rokossovsky's decision on which direction to breakout from was not final. Even if he had the final say, he probably would not have chosen the Bredev Pass. After all, no one dared to bet on an infantry battalion.
"I remember you were still a captain then?" Rokossovsky smiled as he looked at Yuri's shoulder straps. "It's only been a few months, and you've already become a lieutenant colonel. That's great, and you deserve it. You did a great job in the battle of Shaws, and also in Sychevka last night. Livkov's courage is still a little lacking. If it were me, I would have at least fired five base shells at him first."
At this point, Rokossovsky let go of Yuri's hand. He told Yuri the latest news, that is, in the early morning of today, the German army had begun to build a bridge over the Vazuza River. According to intelligence, there was indeed a German tank regiment hiding on the other side of the Vazuza River last night. Livkov's artillery bombardment caused some losses to this tank regiment. The most ridiculous thing was that because they attacked suddenly, there was not enough artillery support in the rear, and there was no way to force a crossing of the river. Therefore, when facing the artillery bombardment, this German army had to endure it and did not even make a basic counterattack.
The few people chatted and laughed on the road for a while. Lobachev asked about the situation in the direction of Rzhev, and the smile on Rokossovsky's face quickly faded.
"The Germans are advancing very fast. Although this heavy snow has caused trouble for them, it seems to be the same for us," Rokossovsky said seriously, stroking his chin after a moment of silence. "Early this morning, Comrade Stalin called Comrade Zhukov specifically to ask for his opinion on how to deal with Comrade Khomenko. He was very dissatisfied with the performance of the 30th Army. Comrade Konev was also criticized."
Hearing him say this, Yuri knew that the situation in Rzhev might be bad, because that should be the defense line of the 30th Army.
Sure enough, Rokossovsky immediately said: "The 30th Army's position was lost early this morning. What is unacceptable is that Comrade Khomenko's troops lost it before they even had time to enter the position. At present, our situation is very bad, because it is not only the 30th Army that did not have time to enter the position, but also the 5th Army on the left wing. Now, our troops have formed a salient in this direction."
This situation was indeed very bad. No wonder Stalin was angry and was preparing to remove Khomenko from his post.
"In the southwest, the German 2nd Armored Group has captured Tula. However, Comrade Lukin's troops are still fighting. It is estimated that the German army will not be able to launch a large-scale offensive against our defense line before the battle of Vyazma is officially over, so we still have time." Perhaps to ease the tense atmosphere, Rokossovsky smiled and added a piece of good news that was not really good news.
The effect of this comfort was obviously not very effective, and the expressions on everyone's faces were not very good.
"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel Yuri Arkhipovich," Rokossovsky seemed to be trying to change the subject and looked at Yuri again. He said, "You have completed your reporting work today. However, considering the current tense situation, I don't have time to prepare a welcoming ceremony."
"Comrade Commander, please give me orders," Yuri understood what he meant. He straightened up, saluted, and said.
"Well, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel Yuri Arkhipovich, I want you to go to Borodino, where the 32nd Division under Colonel Polosukhin is," Rokossovsky said. "They are not familiar with the situation there. In addition, there are some militia units active in the area. I want you to gather them together and form a fighting force."
"Yes, Comrade Commander," Yuri answered calmly, standing straight as a bolt of lightning.
From Rokossovsky's order, he saw a problem, that is, he was not very confident in the current defense line.
Borodino is less than 120 kilometers away from Moscow. Compared with the current direction of the 16th Army, it is considered to be the rear. In fact, in Yuri's memory, in the Battle of Moscow in the previous life, this front line was also not held at the moment.
"Go and get ready. I want you to leave as soon as possible, preferably tonight," said Rokossovsky.
"Okay, I'll go right away." Yuri nodded, said goodbye to Rokossovsky, and turned to leave.
In fact, deep down, Yuri didn't want to go to Borodino. It wasn't because he was too lazy to run around, but being on the front line was far less comfortable than being a combat staff officer in the army group staff. Being a staff officer was so good, you only needed to come up with ideas and make plans, it was safe and not tiring, and going to the front line... never mind, Yuri was used to it, since the war broke out, he seemed to have always been on the front line.
The most important thing is that Yuri had some impression of Polosukhin. In his previous life, he seemed to have performed well. Moreover, the 32nd Infantry Division was a reinforcement force of the Far East Military Region. They not only had sufficient manpower but also were well-equipped. Yuri liked such troops, even if he was not the commander of the troops.
Borodino is far away from here, and considering the difficult road conditions, Yuri must hurry if he wants to get there before night.
He returned to the camp, packed up his belongings, borrowed a jeep from the headquarters, and said goodbye to Rokossovsky before leaving. Then he left with Arseny and a guard, heading straight for Borodino in the northeast.
Thinking back carefully, ever since receiving the order to go to the 16th Army Headquarters to serve as a combat staff officer, Yuri felt that he had never stopped in the past two days. He ran around here and there, and almost ran through the area around Moscow.
There is no way. It is wartime now. The defense line of the entire 16th Army is so long, and the troops are stationed in various places. What else can he do if he doesn't run?
Fortunately, since the heavy snow stopped yesterday, although the weather was gloomy that day, it did not snow again. It was just a little cold, so it was not so difficult to sit in the car and travel.
Yuri spent almost the entire day in the car and didn't even have lunch. Even so, it was already five o'clock in the afternoon when he arrived in Borodino.
Borodino is not the name of a city, but a plain area located on the banks of the Kolocha River. It is also an ancient battlefield. 130 years ago, Napoleon's army was defeated by the Far Eastern troops commanded by Kutuzov here.
