Although the Second Belarusian Front has adjusted its attack direction, the troops are still parked far away and have not taken any action, because the troops after fierce battles need to replenish ammunition and soldiers to prepare for the next stage of operations.
Rokossovsky was invited by Zhukov to visit the liberated city of Warsaw. When he returned, he specially came to the headquarters of the 48th Army in Sokov.
Sokov did not expect that Rokossovsky would come to his headquarters in person, so he quickly led people to greet him. While saluting, he asked in surprise: "Comrade Marshal, why do you have time to come to me?"
"Marshal Zhukov invited me to visit Warsaw." Rokossovsky replied: "On the way back to the headquarters, I thought that your combat area was nearby, so I ordered the driver to turn around and come to see you.
.”
"Comrade Marshal," Runev stepped forward to shake hands with Rokossovsky and asked specifically: "I wonder what the city of Warsaw has become now?"
Hearing Luniev's question, Rokossovsky snorted, and then said: "It can be described as hell on earth. Most of the buildings in the city were blown up by the Germans, and the whole city turned into a
Ruins; also, during last year's uprising, the remains of the insurgents who were killed by the Germans were still thrown on the streets or in the ruins of buildings. I really don't know what the Germans thought, so many corpses were not disposed of.
, aren’t they worried about the plague?”
"Comrade Marshal, I think the Germans have already considered this." Sokov said: "The reason why they allowed the corpses of the insurrectionists to be placed on the street was to frighten the Warsaw citizens who were dissatisfied with the Germans.
After the uprising was suppressed, the weather turned cooler and winter gradually entered, and they did not have to worry about those corpses causing the plague. Now that the winter has not passed, they abandoned this city that had no meaning to hold on and allowed our army to occupy the city.
We just want to wait for the plague that will occur after the spring to cause certain losses to our troops."
Rokossovsky agreed with Sokov's statement: "Misha, what you said is very reasonable. The Germans are actually evacuating the city at this moment with a conspiracy. There are only corpses in the city.
A city of living people not only does not mean much to us, but it will also infect the troops with the plague."
"I wonder if Marshal Zhukov has arranged for manpower to deal with the bones left in the city?"
Rokossovsky nodded and said affirmatively: "Marshal Zhukov also realized this, so the first thing he did after entering the city was to organize a corpse collection team to collect the remains of the massacred insurgents or civilians, and conduct
Handle it properly to avoid causing plague after spring."
"Comrade Marshal, when will we launch an attack on the enemy?" Sidorin couldn't help but ask: "The soldiers are impatient to wait."
Sidorin's words caused a burst of laughter in the room.
After the laughter, Rokossovsky said to everyone: "Comrades, you have worked hard in the previous stage of the battle. Use this time to have a good rest. There will be more difficult combat tasks next, etc.
I’m waiting for you to complete it.”
After Sokov waited for Rokossovsky to finish speaking, he asked cautiously: "Comrade Marshal, can you tell us about the situation on the battlefield?"
Regarding Sokov's request, Rokossovsky was very straightforward and briefly talked about the current situation: "According to the intelligence we have obtained, the 3rd Tank Army on both sides of the 4th Group commanded by the German Army Hosbach
and the 2nd Army's positions were all effectively broken through by our army. General Hans Reinhardt, commander of the German Army Group Center, called Mustache and asked for permission to immediately withdraw the 4th Army to the Masurian Lakes area.
In order to use the freed forces to slightly strengthen the 2nd Army and prevent our army's possible attack on Elbin."
After Rokossovsky said this, he looked at Sokov and asked: "Misha, tell me your analysis. Do you think the German 4th Army will retreat?"
"Comrade Marshal, as you just said, the defense lines of the German 4th Army's left and right wings have been effectively broken through by our army." Sokov stared at the map in front of him and said cautiously: "If Hosbach
If the general wants to continue to hold on, the fate like Paulus will be waiting for him. In order to prevent this army from being annihilated by our army, Mustache must order him to retreat even if he is reluctant to do so."
After listening to Sokov's analysis, Rokossovsky nodded slightly, seeming to be very satisfied with this answer.
Sokov pointed to the map and said to Rokossovsky: "Comrade Marshal, please see, Bolkin's 50th Army is the closest to the German 4th Army. If it can be decisively launched before the German retreat begins,
After launching an attack, I think the German retreat is entirely likely to turn into a rout. By that time, we will have more initiative on the battlefield."
The smile on Rokossovsky's face grew wider: "Misha, that's a good analysis. Chief of Staff Bogolyubov and I have also discussed that if the German 4th Army wants to retreat, we will order Bolkin's 50th Army
Launch an attack on them, try to disrupt the German army's retreat sequence, and severely damage their effective strength."
After Rokossovsky left, Lunev said to Sokov with a look of regret: "Misha, if Bolkin's 50th Army really launched the main attack and defeated the German 4th Army, then
The honor of opening the road to Berlin will fall to him."
Regarding this period of history, although Sokov knew whether he believed it or not, he clearly remembered that although Bolkin's 50th Army was closest to the German 4th Army, for unknown reasons, it was not able to receive Rokossovsky after receiving it.
After issuing the order to attack, Bolkin stood still, allowing most of the German 4th Army to escape to a safe area. By the time the Soviet scouts discovered that the German position was empty, it was already too late.
.
In order to punish Bolkin, Rokossovsky directly dismissed him from the post of commander of the army group, and replaced him with the chief of staff of the group army Ozerov.
Hearing Lunev's complaint at this moment, Sokov smiled slightly, but did not speak, because he knew in his heart that this honor would not fall on Bolkin's head in any case. If he is lucky, his troops will take over the
The 50th Army attacked the German 4th Army and still had a chance to win this honor.
On the morning of January 21st, under Reinhardt’s repeated pleas, Mustache finally issued the order for the 4th Army to withdraw to the Masurian Lakes area and the area west of the Masurian Canal to the north.
Continue to build fortifications to resist the Soviet attack.
However, Hosbach found that his troops were faintly surrounded by the Soviet army. If he retreated according to normal steps, the losses of the troops would be very heavy. Therefore, he directly ordered his subordinate troops to evacuate the existing troops as quickly as possible.
defense zone, get rid of contact with the Russians, rush to the area where the 2nd Army is located, and join up with friendly forces.
As the order was issued, the German officers and soldiers who were eager to escape immediately abandoned their positions and retreated to the area where the 2nd Army was located as quickly as possible. Except for a few commanders, no one knew about the retreat they had received.
The order was actually to rush to the Matsu Lake area to build a new line of defense, not to join the 2nd Army.
In order to get rid of contact with the Soviet army as soon as possible, the troops encountered groups of fleeing civilians during their retreat. Hosbach ordered people to drive these civilians to both sides of the road to clear the road for convoys carrying troops to pass quickly.
As Sokov remembered, after receiving the telegram from Rokossovsky, Bolkin did not follow the order and sent out enough reconnaissance forces to monitor the German 4th Army. Until the evening of the 21st,
A Soviet reconnaissance team accidentally entered the German position, only to find that the originally well-defended position was empty, and quickly reported it to their superiors.
After receiving the report, the director of the reconnaissance department quickly took the telegram from the scouts to find Bolkin. But after reading the telegram, Bolkin directly threw it aside and said to the director of the reconnaissance department with disdain: "Comrade director, are you
Don’t you think this is false information fabricated by the Germans just to lure us into their trap?”
After hearing this, Chief of Staff Ozerov said to Bolkin: "Comrade Commander, since it is the intelligence sent back by the frontline scouts, should you report it immediately to the front army headquarters and see how they respond?"
"No, no, no." But Bolkin waved his hands and said stubbornly: "I said this is a German conspiracy. It is a German conspiracy. Go back and stay there. No one is allowed to act rashly, otherwise I will definitely
Don't be lenient."
Seeing that Bolkin was so stubborn, Ozerov could not help but frown. He recalled the order sent by the front army headquarters not long ago, saying that the enemy might choose to retreat in the near future, and asked them to strengthen surveillance of the enemy and not let it go.
The enemy fled.
Ozerov knew that he could not convince Bolkin, so he took the director of the reconnaissance department to the next room and secretly gave him a new order: "Comrade director of the reconnaissance department, I think your information is valuable. But for the sake of
To be on the safe side, you should send more manpower to conduct reconnaissance on the German positions and find out what they are doing. Do you understand?"
"Understood." The director of the reconnaissance department agreed, turned around, left the room, and carried out the order.
Ozerov sat in the room and thought for a while, feeling that such important information must be reported to the front army headquarters immediately. Otherwise, if something goes wrong, the superiors will investigate and the consequences will be disastrous. It is for this reason that he
He came to the telecommunications room and said to a radio operator: "Give me the call to the front army headquarters."
After a while, the call was connected, and Bogolyubov's voice came from the receiver: "I am Bogolyubov, where are you from, what can I do?"
"Hello, General Bogolyubov." Ozerov quickly revealed his identity to the other party: "I am Major General Ozerov, Chief of Staff of the 50th Group Army."
Bogolyubov hummed and then asked: "What's the matter?"
"Not long ago, we received a telegram from the front army headquarters, ordering me to conduct surveillance on the German 4th Army."
"Yes, there is this order and I personally signed it." Bogolyubov asked in surprise: "Is there any problem?"
"General Bogolyubov, I received a piece of information from the director of the reconnaissance department not long ago, saying that the scouts he sent accidentally entered the German position and found that there was not a single enemy on the position."
"What, there is no enemy?" Bogolyubov raised his voice: "What's going on? Have all the Germans grown wings and flown away?"
"I don't know the specific situation." Hearing that the other party was angry, Ozerov replied in a panic: "I have sent someone to verify it. I believe it won't take long to get a reply."
"As soon as you have the latest news, report it to me immediately."
After Bogolyubov put down the phone, he reported to Rokossovsky what Ozerov had said.
Rokossovsky couldn't help but frowned after hearing this: "Comrade Chief of Staff, if what General Ozerov reported is true, why didn't we get Bolkin's report?"
Hearing Rokossovsky's question, Bogolyubov couldn't help but be startled. Yes, normally such a big thing should be reported personally by the commander of the group army. Why did the chief of staff secretly call him this time?
Could there be something wrong with it?
With such doubts, he said to Rokossovsky: "Comrade Marshal, I think something may have happened to General Bolkin, because Chief of Staff Ozerov secretly tried to report this to me.
"
"How long does it take to get from us to the 50th Army Headquarters?"
"If you take a car, it will take about an hour."
Rokossovsky stood up, tied his belt and told Bogolyubov: "Prepare a car for me immediately, I want to go to the headquarters of the 50th Army."
"What, go to the 50th Army Headquarters now?" Bogolyubov was startled and quickly reminded Rokossovsky: "It's dark outside and the road may not be safe."
"I think there is something wrong with the 50th Army. If I don't go and take a look in person, I won't feel at ease." Rokossovsky urged Bogolyubov again: "Get me a car!"
When Bogolyubov called Rokossovsky to prepare the car, Military Commissar Subotin, who was sitting next to him, stood up and said: "Comrade Marshal, I will go with you."
Since Suboting was willing to go with him, Rokossovsky was naturally happy and nodded in agreement: "Okay, Comrade Military Commissar, you go with me."
After making the call, Bogolyubov said to Rokossovsky: "Comrade Marshal, the car will be here soon. Do you need me to call General Bolkin?"
"No need." Rokossovsky waved his hand and said, "I just want to know the true situation of the 50th Group Army. If I were notified in advance, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to see what I want to see."
Looking at the retreating figures of Rokossovsky and Subbotin, Bogolyubov sighed softly, his heart filled with sympathy for Bolkin. If the Germans really retreated, and the troops stationed nearby
The 50th Army was not aware of it at all, and Bolkin had an unshirkable responsibility. According to Rokossovsky's character, there was a high probability that he would be dismissed directly. In this case, he might have to be transferred from other units.
Commander, I'm going to take over Bolkin's duties.