The purpose of the Soviet Supreme Command to form the Voronezh Front was to improve the combat command in the region. Therefore, the command of the Bryansk Front and some left-wing troops were transferred to form this new front. The former commander of the Bryansk Front, Golikov, was transferred to the commander of the unit, and the vacant position was taken over by Rokosovsky.
Rokosovsky took Malining, Kazakov and others to the Front Command 15 kilometers east of Yeretz. Still far away, Malining, who was sitting in the front row, turned his head and said to Rokosovsky: "Comrade Commander, the commander left by the Bryansk Front Army is coming out to greet you."
Rokosovsky looked out through the car window and saw a group of officers standing at the entrance of a two-story building with a yellowish two-story building, one of which was a general. They lined up in neat formations, as if waiting for inspection.
As soon as the car stopped, the general trotted to the car, took the initiative to open the car door for Rokosovsky, and said respectfully: "Hello, comrade Commander! I am Major General Kazakov, Chief of Staff of the Front Army. On behalf of all the commanders and fighters of the Bryansk Front Army, I welcome you!"
"So it's you, Comrade Kazakov." After seeing the other party clearly, Rokosovsky couldn't help but be overjoyed: "We have been missing for many years, for many years."
This front-level chief of staff, Kazakov, was once a comrade-in-arms who had been through life and death with Rokosovsky. Now he is reunited here, and he is still quite excited: "Yes, since you entered the Advanced Leadership Training Class of Fulongzhi Military Academy, we have never met again. It has been almost ten years."
Although Rokosovsky knew that the chief of staff of the Front Army was Kazakov before coming here, he did not expect that he would be his old comrade-in-arms. After all, there were many people with the same surname, and the artillery commander who came here with him was also Kazakov. He looked at the other party and said, "I really didn't expect that I would meet you here."
"I am ordered to leave the command of the troops handed over to you," Kazakov said to Rokosovsky. "After completing the handover, I will immediately rush to the Voronezh Front to take on a new position."
In the headquarters, after handing over command to Rokosovsky and Malinin, Kazakov spoke to Rokosovsky: "Comrade Commander, I have called the commanders of the 3rd, 13th, 48th and 38th Army Groups to let them arrive here as soon as possible to meet you. The former deputy commander of the Front, Major General Chibisov, did not go to the Voronezh Front. He specifically applied to the base camp, hoping to continue to stay in this hero's unit. The base camp agreed to his request and appointed him as the commander of the 38th Army."
After hearing what Kazakov said, Rokosovsky became very interested in Chibisov. He wanted to see what kind of person the other party was. In order to stay in the Bryansk Front Army, he voluntarily gave up his position as deputy commander and served as an ordinary army commander.
However, before several subordinate army commanders arrived, Moscow called first. Stalin said to Rokosovsky on the phone: "Comrade Rokosovsky, have you arrived at the Bryansk Front?"
"Yes, Comrade Stalin." Rokosovsky quickly replied respectfully: "I have taken office as commander."
"Very good." Stalin waited for Rokosovsky to finish his speech, and then said: "I have sent my plane to pick you up. I have arrived at Yeretz. You can immediately arrive at the airport and take a plane to Moscow. I need to have a good talk with you."
Three hours later, Rokosovsky appeared in Stalin's office. Stalin shook hands with him and asked with concern: "How is it, Konstantin Konstantinovich, have your injuries healed?"
"Yes, Comrade Stalin, my injury has been cured long ago." Rokosovsky replied with a smile: "I think my body is fully qualified for the frontline work."
"Very good, very good!" Stalin said two good things in a row, called Rokosovsky to the wall, pointed to the big map hanging on it and asked, "Tell me, what are the Germans' attempts?"
Rokosovsky looked at the map and stared at the Soviet defense line marked with red lines and the German offensive direction marked with blue. After looking for a long time, he turned to Stalin and said, "Comrade Stalin, the Germans launched a new offensive on us."
"Yes, Comrade Rokosovsky," Stalin lit his pipe and said impatiently: "I know the Germans have re-launched the attack, and someone has long reported it to me in detail. I just want to know what the Germans' attempts are?"
"Continue to seize our city and destroy our army." Rokosovsky didn't know how to answer Stalin's question, so he could only say vaguely: "This is their attempt..."
"Comrade Rokosovsky," Stalin interrupted Rokosovsky's words: "Everyone knows that the Germans want to occupy our cities and destroy our troops. But what kind of troops do they use to attack which city we have? This is something we, as decision makers, should and must understand. As long as we see through the enemy's plans and guess their true intentions, we can take the right way to crush their conspiracy."
"Comrade Stalin," Rokosovsky suddenly remembered Ajelina who fled back from Bryansk some time ago, and asked tentatively: "Didn't a single intelligence officer return last week with important intelligence? I wonder if there is a German plan for the next action in her intelligence?"
"Yes, the intelligence officer brought back an important piece of intelligence." Stalin walked to the table, took off the pipe in his mouth, knocked it on the ashtray a few times, shook the ash inside, and then sneered: "The above said that the next direction of the Germans' action was Stalingrad. But it was obvious that this was the German conspiracy. They wanted to use this piece of intelligence to shift the focus of our army's defense to the wrong direction. In this way, they could send troops to seize Baku, obtain the Caucasus oil, and even continue to attack Moscow northward."
If Sokov was here, he would definitely be surprised by the information brought back by Ajlina, because the German army's next attack direction was Stalingrad named after Stalin himself. Unfortunately, Sokov was not here, and Rokosovsky, who stood in front of Stalin, knew nothing about the German army's next attack direction. Therefore, he believed in the analysis that Stalin said.
Next, the task Stalin assigned to Rokosovsky was to actively take various offensive actions to restrain the German troops in the direction of Bryansk, Orel and Voronezh, making them unable to attack Moscow, nor to draw troops to support the troops attacking the Caucasus.
After the conversation between the two, Rokosovsky looked at Stalin and asked, "Comrade Stalin, are you allowed to leave?"
Unexpectedly, after hearing this, Stalin waved his hand at him and said, "Wait a minute, I have a conversation here, which may be very interesting to you. You can sit for a while." After that, Stalin walked to his desk, picked up the phone, and said to the microphone, "Comrade Poskrebeshev, let Kozlov come to me."
When he heard Kozlov's name, Rokosovsky's eyebrows couldn't help but tilt up. Based on the war reports some time ago, he knew that due to Kerch's defeat, Kozlov himself was removed from his position as the Crimean Front and was demoted. But what was the purpose of Stalin asking himself to stay and listen to his conversation with Kozlov at this moment?
According to Rokosovsky's idea, Stalin would definitely be furious when he saw Kozlov and even threatened to send the other party to the military court. However, when Kozlov came in, Stalin was extremely calm, with no slight anger on his face, and no dissatisfaction at all. After shook hands with Kozlov, he said politely: "General Kozlov, tell me, you ask me to receive you. Do you have any questions to tell me?"
"I don't agree, Comrade Stalin." Kozlov was extremely excited when he heard Stalin's question, and even a little hysterical: "I feel that my opinion on my handling is unfair, and I should not bear such responsibility for this failure."
Stalin did not interrupt him, but calmly listened to his complaint and asked without moving, "Have you finished speaking?"
"It's over!"
"You complain that we are unfair to you?"
"Yes. The reason for Kerch's defeat was that the representatives of the base camp seriously hindered my command."
"How did Mehlis get in the way of you?" Stalin continued to ask.
"He hindered my command. When our army was about to take combat actions, he wanted to hold a meeting and even issued contradictory orders. As his representative of the base camp, he suppressed me as the commander."
"That is to say, he has hindered you." Stalin asked calmly: "Comrade Kozlov, please tell me, who do you two know the commander of the Front Army, is it you or Mechlis?"
Kozlov replied guiltily: "It's me."
"So, you are the commander of the Front Army, and Mehlis is not." Stalin asked as usual: "That is to say, you should be the one who commands the troops, not Mehlis, am I right?"
"Yes, but..."
Stalin interrupted Kozlov's later words: "You just said that you are the commander of the Front."
"Yes, I am the commander of the front army." Kozlov nodded vigorously and replied, "But Mehlis has his own confidants everywhere, replaces commanders with rich combat experience, and prevents me from commanding the troops from fighting."
"Did you forget to hand over the front army to the headquarters of the Supreme Command under your command, but Mehlis?" As he said this, a hint of anger appeared on Stalin's face: "Your headquarters has a high-frequency telephone?"
"some."
"Since there is a high-frequency call, why not report it to me?" Stalin stared into the other party's eyes and said in a stern tone: "Even if you report it to me once, and say that someone hinders your command, I will ask about this matter myself."
"I want to call." Kozlov replied in a panic: "But there is no chance."
After hearing what Kozlov said, Stalin asked curiously: "Why?"
"He is always by my side," Kozlov said guiltily: "I dare not sue you in front of him."
"Why can't you call me in front of him?" Stalin asked, "In this way, we can solve the problem quickly."
Kozlov remained silent about Stalin's inquiry.
Stalin snorted coldly and continued, "If you think it's you, not him, why don't you call me when he's around? Obviously, Comrade Kozlov, you're afraid that Mechlis will beat the Germans, right?"
"No, Comrade Stalin." Kozlov shouted excitedly: "You don't know Mechlis."
"Comrade Kozlov, I know Mehlis very well. Although he lacks experience in commanding operations, I heard that when the troops began to defeat, he was very brave. He even took a jeep to the front line to stop the retreating troops and organize them to defend." Stalin continued after taking a puff of cigarettes: "In the report submitted by Vasilevsky, the various reasons that led to your failure: such as weak defense depth configuration, improper use of the reserve team, poor ability to cooperate in combat, poor commanders' ability to respond, and the main leaders of the front army were not determined to execute orders, etc. As the commander of the front army, you should bear all the responsibility for the failure of the front army, rather than attribute the failure of the battle to Mehlis' interference with you. I personally think that Comrade Kozlov, the handling we have made against you is completely correct and you should be punished."
After Kozlov walked out, Stalin turned to Rokosovsky and said, "Comrade Rokosovsky, this is a very interesting conversation, and I hope I can learn from it."
"I will learn from General Kozlov's lesson, Comrade Stalin." Rokosovsky was afraid that Stalin would have a whim and sent Mechlis to his troops to serve as the base camp representative, so he asked tentatively: "I want to ask, who do you plan to appoint as the military commissioner of the Front?"
Fortunately, Stalin's next words made Rokosovsky feel at ease: "I will send Comrade Susaikov, a military-level political commissar, to the Bryansk Front Army as a military commissioner."
When Rokosovsky walked out of the Supreme Commander's office, Poskrebeshev came up and asked, "General Rokosovsky, are you going to go back to the front line now?"
Chapter completed!