Ponedelin received a call from Bogolyubov, asking him to go to the front headquarters immediately.
After putting down the phone, Ponejelin felt very uneasy. He was worried that because his troops lost the results of the previous day and allowed the German army to occupy two cities, his superiors would punish him.
His expression was noticed by Chief of Staff Ozerov, and he asked tentatively: "Comrade Commander, are you worried that the Front Army Headquarters is letting you go because it is preparing to punish you for our army's defeat today?" Bar?"
"Yes, Comrade Chief of Staff." Although Ponedelin and Ozerov had not been together for a long time, he felt that he was a trustworthy person, so he nodded and approved the other person's statement: "That's how I am. considerate."
"Comrade Commander," Ozerov said: "As your chief of staff, I also have an unshirkable responsibility for the defeat in today's battle. If the superiors want to punish me, let me punish him too. Let me explain a few words. , and then follow you to the front army headquarters."
"No, no, no," Ponjelin waved his hands and said, "You are just the chief of staff who advises me, and I am the one who makes the final decision. If my superiors want to investigate the cause of the failure, I will bear all the consequences. I see, you It’s better to stay in the headquarters and command the troops, so you don’t have to follow me to be punished.”
"Comrade Commander, look at what you said." But Ozerov had already decided to advance and retreat with Ponedelin at this moment, so he said decisively: "I have already said that I am your chief of staff. If something goes wrong, Whatever it is, I am willing to take responsibility with you. Now that the war has stopped, the work can be completely handed over to other staff members. I will accompany you now. "
Seeing that Ozerov's attitude was now firm, Ponedelin knew that whatever he said would be useless, so he nodded with a wry smile and said: "Okay, Comrade Chief of Staff, since you are willing to accompany me to the front headquarters, I don't object to that. But let me say hello in advance. The 50th Army has just changed its commander. There are some unstable factors in the army. If both of us are dismissed, it may not be a good thing for the army. Therefore, once the superiors If you want to be responsible for this failure, I will bear everything. You are not allowed to argue with me, because this army needs you more. Do you understand?"
Ozerov was silent for a long time, and finally nodded slowly and said, "Okay, Comrade Commander, I will listen to you in everything." He said this, but in his heart he was thinking, if his superiors really held him accountable, No matter what, he must advance and retreat with the commander and share some responsibilities with him.
However, after the two were about to leave the headquarters, Ponejelin suddenly stopped and turned to Ozerov and said: "Comrade Chief of Staff, after leaving this time, I don't know if there will be a chance to come back. I want to take advantage of this last opportunity." I’ll make another call when I get the chance.”
"Who to call?" Ozerov asked curiously.
"General Sokov, commander of the 48th Army." Ponedelin explained to Ozerov: "If he hadn't protected me after I was rescued from the German prisoner of war camp, I'm afraid I would still be in Rupee. In Janka's cell."
When the call was connected, Ponedelin recognized that the person who answered the phone was Sidorin, and greeted him with a smile: "It turns out to be Chief of Staff Sidorin. I am Ponedelin. I wonder if Comrade Commander is here?" ?」
"Yes, yes, he is here." Sidorin glanced at Sokov who was standing not far away, and nodded vigorously, "I will let him answer the phone right now."
Full of questions, Sokov took the microphone from Sidorin's hand and put it to his ear: "Hello, General Ponedelin, what can I do for you?"
"Comrade Commander," even though he has left Sokov's army, Ponedelin's address to Sokov has not changed: "I am calling you today to say goodbye to you. This may be our Last call."
Sokov was shocked by Ponedelin's words. He quickly asked: "General Ponedelin, why do you say that? What happened to you?"
"That's right, Comrade Commander." Ponjelin said with a wry smile: "My troops suffered a huge defeat during the German counterattack today. Not only were the results achieved yesterday in vain, but they also lost two City. I just received a call from the Front Army Headquarters.
, let me rush over immediately. I guess it's to investigate the reasons for my failure. I don't know if I can come back, so I'll give you one last call to thank you for everything you've done for me. "
When he learned that Ponedelin was about to be punished, Sokov couldn't help but be stunned, and then asked: "General Ponedelin, you said you were about to be punished, who told you?"
"No one told me." Ponejelin said: "My troops had just lost the battle during the day, and I received a call from the front army headquarters at night, asking me to rush over immediately. This was not to punish me, but to punish me. what is it then?"
Sokov frowned and thought for a while, remembering that in real history, Rokossovsky's Second Belarusian Front made a request to the Supreme Command due to its poor performance in the early stages of the Eastern Pomerania Campaign. , the First Front Army deployed troops on the right wing to cooperate. After thinking about this clearly, he asked cautiously: "General Ponejelin, are you too pessimistic? I think the front army headquarters called you and asked you to rush there immediately for other reasons."
"Other things?" Ponejelin asked puzzledly: "Now that we have reached this point, what else can we do?"
"General Ponedelin, although I did not participate in the battle, I know very well that with our current strength, it is very difficult to defeat the German Vistula Group entrenched in Eastern Pomerania. "Sokov explained to the other party: "So we must get support from friendly forces. But which friendly forces can we get support from? Analyzing the current situation, we can only ask Marshal Zhukov to mobilize his right-wing troops to assist our second The Second Front is fighting. I think Marshal Rokossovsky urgently called you over, maybe just to coordinate with the friendly forces, so you don’t have to worry at all.”
"Is this true?" Ponedelin had been with Sokov for more than a year, so he naturally understood his character and knew that what he said was very accurate. He asked in an upright manner: " Comrade Marshal really called me here just to cooperate with friendly forces in fighting?"
Sokov could only chuckle twice at this moment, and then said: "General Ponejelin, you really think highly of me. I am just a small army commander, how can I know what is going on in the front army headquarters. What I just said is just my analysis and can only be used as a reference for you and cannot be accurate."
Although Sokov denied it, Ponedelin put his heart back in his stomach. He knew very well that maybe the other party was right.
After putting down the phone, he took Ozerov by car to the front army headquarters.
On the way, Ozerov saw that Ponedelin looked good, and he was completely different from when he first received the call. He couldn't help but become very interested in the conversation between Ponedelin and Sokov: "Comrade Commander, what did you say to General Sokov on the phone just now? I feel like your whole person has changed since you finished the phone call."
Ponedelin replied with a smile: "General Sokov told me that the front army headquarters urgently summoned us there, maybe not to punish us for today's failure, but for other important things."
"Other important things?" Ozerov asked in confusion: "What important things could it be?"
"He said that the reason why our army suffered a defeat was entirely due to insufficient strength." Ponejelin explained to the other party: "The front army headquarters called us there with the intention of sending new troops to assist us in the battle. Tonight is our meeting with the friendly commanders.”
Regarding Ponejelin's statement, Ozerov questioned: "Comrade Commander, as far as I know, our front army, except for the 48th Group Army in the second echelon and some units directly under the front army, has no reliable personnel. The troops have been mobilized. Did you make a mistake?"
"No, Comrade Chief of Staff." Ponedelin said in a positive tone out of trust in Sokov: "Based on my understanding of General Sokov, most of what he said is accurate. . And he also told me that according to his judgment, after we arrive at the front army headquarters, it is possible to meet the commander of the friendly forces and then discuss with them how to cooperate in the next battle. "
See Ponedelin vs. Sokov
With such trust, Ozerov felt speechless. He shook his head with a wry smile and turned his gaze to the dark window, hoping that the vehicle would arrive at the front headquarters as soon as possible so that he could understand the reason why his superiors summoned the two of them.
When we arrived at the headquarters of the front army, as soon as the car stopped, a lieutenant colonel came over and asked Ponejelin, "Is this General Ponejelin, the headquarters of the 50th Army?"
"Yes, it's me."
"I was sent by Comrade Marshal to pick you up." After the Lieutenant Colonel said this, he looked at Ozerov next to Ponedelin and asked tentatively: "Who is this?"
"He is my chief of staff, General Ozerov."
After figuring out Ozerov's identity, the lieutenant colonel nodded, and then said to the two of them: "Please come with me, Comrade Marshal is waiting for you."
They followed the lieutenant colonel to Rokossovsky's headquarters. As soon as they entered, they saw a major general wearing a Polish army uniform sitting at the table. Ponejelin couldn't help but secretly rejoice: It seemed that Sokov's analysis was correct. Marshal Zhukov indeed sent troops to assist him in the battle. This major general of the Polish army should be the commander of the friendly forces.
But Ozerov thought in surprise: I remember that there were no Polish troops in the Second Front. Where did this Polish general come from?
The answer was soon revealed.
After Ponejelin and Ozerov saluted Rokossovsky, Rokossovsky introduced them to them: "Let me introduce to you. This is the commander of the Polish 1st Army. Major General Plavsky. Comrade Major General, these two are Lieutenant General Ponedelin, commander of the 50th Army, and General Ozerov, chief of staff."
After inviting everyone to sit down, Rokossovsky said to Ponejelin and Ozerov: "I called you here because in the next few days, you will fight with the troops of the Polish 1st Army. , jointly attack the German Vistula Group entrenched in Eastern Pomerania. Today is your meeting, let you get familiar with each other first, which will be very helpful for the subsequent coordinated operations. "
After listening to Rokossovsky's words, Ozerov's face was filled with shock. Before entering this room, he was still laughing at Ponedelin in his heart, feeling that his partner was too superstitious about the original commander Sokov, thinking that the other party was an omniscient prophet. But at this moment, he found that he was wrong, and he was very wrong. He didn't expect that the other party's judgment was correct. It seemed that he could no longer look down on the young army commander in the future.
Rokossovsky caught a glimpse of Ozerov's face turning green and white, and asked tentatively: "General Ozerov, you don't look right. Is there something wrong with you? How about I call the military doctor?" Come here and check you out?" With that, he raised his hand and called a staff officer, preparing to tell him to call in a military doctor.
"Comrade Marshal, you don't need to call a military doctor." Ozerov said in a panic: "I am in good health and there is nothing wrong with me."
"But I see something wrong with your expression. Did something happen?"
Seeing that Rokossovsky was about to break the pot and ask the question, Ozerov could only say helplessly: "Before we came here, we thought you called us here to punish us for today's defeat on the battlefield. So before leaving, the commander made a special call to the commander of the 48th Group Army, General Sokov."
"Oh, you called Misha before departure." Rokossovsky's eyes swept back and forth between Ponedelin and Ozerov, and asked Ponedelin curiously: "Poniedelin" General Nedelin, I wonder what Misha said to you?"
Ponedelin knew that Rokossovsky valued Sokov very much, so he said without any scruples: "He said that you summoned us to the headquarters not to punish us for our losses during the day. After all, Our army's troops are limited, and it will be difficult to expand the results before being replenished. If we want to defeat the German army in East Pomerania, we must get the assistance of Marshal Zhukov. When you make such a request, Marshal Zhukov may come from the right wing Deploy troops to cooperate with us in operations. When you come to the headquarters tonight, you may be preparing to discuss with us matters related to coordinated operations with friendly forces."
After listening to Ponedelin's story, Rokossovsky's face showed
Smiling, he said: "This little Misha is really clever. He even guessed what happened here." He nodded to Ponijelin and said, "Yes, Misha guessed it right. I The purpose of calling you here is to get to know the commanders of friendly forces. After all, in the next period of time, you will fight side by side to attack our common enemy."
"Next, General Poplavsky will introduce the situation of your troops." Rokossovsky continued: "And what methods you plan to use to conduct joint operations with our troops."
