But Rokossovsky and Malinin waited for two hours, but still did not receive a call from General Bellinger. Seeing that the other party did not reply for a long time, Rokossovsky could not sit still. He ordered Malinin: "Comrade Chief of Staff, call General Bellinger immediately and ask what is going on and why it is so long. Time has not given us an answer.”
Malinen nodded, grabbed the phone in front of him, and immediately ordered the communications soldier to help him get through to the headquarters of the Polish 1st Army. As soon as he heard Bellinger's voice, he couldn't wait to ask: "General Bellinger, how are your negotiations with the Krajov Army going? Is it over?"
"Yes, Comrade Chief of Staff." Bellinger said in a low voice, "The negotiations are over."
"Now that the negotiation is over," Malinen said with some displeasure, "then why didn't you report the details of the negotiation to the front army headquarters in time? Also, do you all understand what happened in Warsaw?"
"Comrade Chief of Staff, I have already asked the representatives of the Krajow Army." Bellinger said hesitantly: "They said categorically that everything is business as usual in Warsaw, and there is no uprising at all. Let us not make random guesses."
"What, what did you say?" Malinin asked in surprise: "Is this what the people from the Krajov Army said?"
"That's right, Comrade Chief of Staff, that's what they said."
Rokossovsky, who was standing aside, heard the conversation between Malinin and Bellinger. He reached out and took the phone: "General Bellinger, do you think what the representative of the Krajov Army said is reliable? "
"This, this..." Rokossovsky's question stopped Bellinger. He hesitated for a long time and said slowly: "Comrade Marshal, what should I say? If I consider my own identity, I think You should believe what they say. But I saw their expressions flickering when they said this. Something big must have happened in Warsaw."
At this point, Bellinger suddenly raised his voice: "Comrade Marshal, we should still have intelligence personnel in Warsaw. I think we can directly ask them for confirmation. Find out what happened."
"General Bellinger, I'm afraid I'm going to disappoint you." Rokossovsky said regretfully: "Our underground organization in the city has been eradicated by the German army due to being betrayed by traitors. In other words, we It’s impossible to get any useful intelligence from the city like before.”
"Comrade Marshal, if we can't get news from the city, it will be really difficult to handle this matter." Bellinger expressed his worries: "After today's negotiations with the Krajov Army, I found that they They are full of hostility towards us. As you know, even if they do not regard us as enemies, they will never cooperate with us or provide us with any form of help."
"I understand, General Bellinger." Rokossovsky said slowly, "I will find a way to find out what happened in the city."
After ending the call, Rokossovsky came to the wall and looked up at the map hanging on it. He was lost in thought. He wanted to find out what happened in Warsaw. Was it like Soko? Did an uprising really break out as my husband analyzed?
After an unknown amount of time, Rokossovsky woke up from his reverie. He turned to face Malinin and said, "Comrade Chief of Staff, we have two things to do now. Please record them."
Malinin quickly picked up a pen and paper, preparing to record Rokossovsky's order.
"First, you call Commander Polainin of the Air Force Group and ask him to send more reconnaissance planes to Warsaw to perform reconnaissance missions. In order to prevent the reconnaissance planes from being attacked by enemy planes again, a sufficient number of fighter planes should be dispatched to escort them. .”
"Second, get in touch with the Polish comrades in Lublin and ask them to come forward to find out what happened in Warsaw. I believe they can accomplish this."
After Malinin recorded what Rokossovsky said, he raised his head and asked: "Comrade Commander, is there anything else?"
Rokossovsky thought for a while and replied: "I plan to go to the 2nd Tank Army. They are currently fighting near Warsaw. Maybe we can see something of concern in the area they occupy."
Two hours later, the armored vehicle Rokossovsky was riding in arrived at the area occupied by the 2nd Tank Army. Seeing Rokossovsky's arrival, Army Group Commander Bogdanov was somewhat surprised and asked: "Comrade Marshal, why did you come to my defense zone?"
Rokossovsky did not immediately explain the purpose of his visit, but said in a haha: "I just want to see how the war on the front is going."
"It's not good, Comrade Commander." Bogdanov shook his head and said: "The German army put up a tenacious resistance. Every step my troops take, they have to pay a bloody price. Now our daily advancement speed is It’s calculated in meters.”
Regarding the offensive situation of the 2nd Tank Army, Rokossovsky had already seen it from their battle reports, but now after hearing Bogdanov's report, he couldn't help but take a breath.
After a pause, Rokossovsky asked: "General Bogdanov, where can you see the situation on the battlefield?"
"You can go to my observation post," Bogdanov said, "but my observation post is located on the high chimney of the factory. You have to climb a long ladder."
Rokossovsky was eager to know the situation in Warsaw and was not afraid of climbing ladders at all, so he urged the other party: "Okay, General Bogdanov, stop talking, hurry up and lead the way, take me there Your observation post.”
Unexpectedly, as soon as everyone walked out of the church where the headquarters was located, someone shouted loudly outside: "Alert, air raid siren, hurry up and take cover."
Everyone looked up in the sky and saw three German dive bombers, making strange noises and diving towards the location of the headquarters. Rokossovsky shouted: "No, it's a German bomber, hide it, hide it quickly."
When Bogdanov asked someone to take Rokossovsky to hide, he shouted at the nearby anti-aircraft firepower point: "Prepare the anti-aircraft guns to shoot down the enemy planes in the sky!"
Just as the anti-aircraft guns on the ground started firing, the bombs from the German bombers had already been dropped, falling and exploding around the church. A series of explosions sounded all around. Several bricks that were blown away shot out in the deafening explosion, shattering the stained glass on the front of the church. Several bricks that hit the wall bounced back, hitting several soldiers who had no time to hide. Gotta scream.
Facing the anti-aircraft fire on the ground, the German bombers were not afraid at all. After dropping the bombs, they rose to a high altitude, circled in the air, and then dived down to continue bombing.
Fortunately, the bombing by the enemy planes did not last long, and they were driven away by a group of fighter planes that happened to be passing by.
Rokossovsky came out of his hiding place and looked at the thick smoke and blazing fire in front of him. His ears that were still buzzing heard the faint wailing. He quickly looked around and found that the bell tower on the top of the church was blocked. It was blown up, and the soldiers were running around busily. Bogdanov held a soldier who had half of his leg broken by the bombing, and shouted loudly for the health worker.
After finally dealing with the bombing site, Bogdanov took Rokossovsky to the location of the chimney. However, considering the limited area that could be carried on it, only Bogdanov and Rokossovsky climbed to the observation post on the chimney, while the rest stayed under the chimney and waited.
Rokossovsky stood on a tall factory chimney and looked through the telescope at Warsaw in the distance. He clearly saw that the entire city was shrouded in smoke, houses were burning in some places, and bombs and shells exploded one after another. Judging from all aspects of the situation, there is a battle going on in the city.
"Comrade Marshal," Bogdanov asked Rokossovsky with some surprise when he saw this situation: "What on earth is going on? Why is there a fighting in Warsaw? Is it possible that you have sent a certain unit?" Rushed into the city?"
"No." Rokossovsky shook his head and said, "If I guess correctly, there should be an uprising in Warsaw trying to seize the city."
"An uprising broke out in Warsaw?" Bogdanov said with a shocked look on his face: "Comrade Marshal, what is going on? Why didn't we hear any news beforehand? Otherwise, we could speed up the attack and rush over to support them."
"General Bogdanov, it's useless. Others don't want our troops to enter the city at all, so they didn't even say hello to us in advance for such a big thing as launching an uprising." Rokossovsky said angrily: " I came here today just to find out whether there was an uprising in Warsaw. Although it cannot be finalized at this time, the troops fighting in the city at this moment are definitely not our troops."
"Comrade Marshal, why don't the Poles prepare our troops to enter Warsaw?" Bogdanov asked puzzledly: "You know, only with our help can they completely liberate Warsaw."
"General Bogdanov, it's a long story." Rokossovsky told Bogdanov the whole story in detail, and finally said: "Do you understand?"
"Yes, Comrade Marshal, I understand everything." Bogdanov nodded and said: "I really didn't expect that they actually rejected our good intentions and would rather use a group of rabble to fight against the Germans. It would be outrageous to accept our help."
Rokossovsky had already seen what he wanted to see. When he turned around and was about to go down the chimney, Bogdanov stopped him and asked: "Comrade Marshal, what should we do? We are helping the uprising in the city. What about the army, are you still not going to help?”
"If we get help from them, we can help them to a limited extent." Rokossovsky said cautiously: "But if they don't ask us for help, we can ignore them."
Rokossovsky returned to his headquarters, and Malinin quickly stepped forward to report to him: "Comrade Marshal, the Polish comrades have replied to me and said that they will immediately send people to Warsaw to find out what happened in the city. matter."
"Is there a report from the Air Force?" Rokossovsky thought that even if he sent people out now, it would probably take a day or two to learn about the situation in Warsaw. If you want to know what is happening in the city in the shortest time, the most reliable way is to conduct reconnaissance by the Air Force: "Did the reconnaissance plane sent by General Polenin figure out what happened in Warsaw?"
"Comrade Marshal, this is exactly what I am going to report to you." Malinen continued: "General Bogdanov called and said that smoke and fire can be seen everywhere in Warsaw, and there seems to be a battle going on."
"It seems that the matter is already very clear." Rokossovsky waited for Malinen to finish and said with a sneer: "The underground resistance organization in Warsaw did launch an uprising in an attempt to drive away the Germans, but judging from the way they blocked the news It seems that the candidate to lead the uprising should be the Krajov army loyal to the exiled government."
"Comrade Marshal, if this uprising is really led by the Krajov Army, it means that our army's hope of cooperating with them has been completely shattered." Malinin said: "I don't know what will happen to these rebels after they leave us. Achieve victory?"
"I feel so embarrassed." Rokossovsky shook his head and said: "I just came back from the 2nd Tank Army. General Bogdanov personally told me that they encountered tenacious resistance from the Germans. Every time the troops moved forward, Going further will cost a lot of casualties. Our well-equipped regular army fought very hard after encountering the German army. Do you think a group of insurgents who lack sufficient military training and have no combat experience can defeat those who are so armed? Enemy of teeth?”
"This is definitely not possible." Malinin reminded Rokossovsky: "Comrade Commander, this matter is of great importance. I think we should report it to the Supreme Command immediately and listen to their opinions."
"That's right, Comrade Chief of Staff, you reminded me more." Rokossovsky also felt that the matter was of great importance and must be reported to the Supreme Command immediately, so he asked the communications troops to connect to the Kremlin switchboard.
Hearing the female operator's voice coming from the receiver, Rokossovsky said politely: "Hello, comrade operator, I am Marshal Rokossovsky, commander of the 1st Belarusian Front. Please transfer my call. Comrade Stalin’s office.”
When he learned that the call was from Rokossovsky, the operator did not dare to neglect and said hurriedly: "Hello, Comrade Marshal! I will immediately transfer the phone line to Comrade Boskrebyshev's office for you."
Not long after, Rokossovsky heard Boskrebyshev's voice coming from the receiver: "I am Boskrebyshev, who are you?"
"Hello, Comrade Poskrebyshev." Rokossovsky said politely: "I am Rokossovsky. I have important matters and need to report to Comrade Stalin immediately. Can you help me?" Would you like to transfer the call?"
"Comrade Marshal, please wait a moment." Boskrebyshev said cautiously: "I will ask Comrade Stalin first. If he is willing to answer your call, I will transfer the call for you."
Although the waiting time was only a minute or two, for Rokossovsky, it seemed as long as a month. Finally hearing Stalin's voice coming from the receiver, he hurriedly said: "Hello, Comrade Stalin, I am Rokossovsky."
"Oh, it turns out to be our liberator of Belarus." Stalin said in a great mood: "I really didn't expect you to call me. Tell me quickly, have we achieved any results?".
