red moscow

Chapter 3062

After receiving the telegram from Sokov, Belkin immediately sent someone to fetch Vasya.

"Comrade Major!" Belkin said to Vasya, "I just received a telegram from the brigade commander, instructing you and the other officers and soldiers to proceed to the Ruza River as quickly as possible once they have acquired their weapons. There is an important combat mission."

"Comrade Deputy Brigade Commander, what exactly is going on?" Vasya asked, puzzled. "Didn't the brigade commander say he would give us a day to rest before we went back into battle? Why did he suddenly change his mind?"

“I’m not entirely clear on the specifics either,” Belkin said, shaking his head. “But the brigade commander is urging us so urgently, I suspect something serious has happened. The third battalion, which is the second echelon, also set off half an hour ago. Go back and prepare to depart with the brigade headquarters.”

Vasya left the brigade headquarters with a belly full of questions and returned to the 4th Battalion's garrison to begin assembling the troops.

When the company commanders of the Fourth Battalion saw that Vasha had rushed to assemble his troops and prepare for departure after going to the brigade headquarters, they couldn't help but come over to inquire about the situation: "Comrade Battalion Commander, what's going on? Weren't we supposed to leave tomorrow? Why is the departure time earlier?"

Vasya glared at him and said irritably, "You're asking me? Who am I supposed to ask? Alright, stop dawdling. This is an order from the brigade commander. Just carry it out."

As the Fourth Battalion was assembling urgently, the communications officer of the headquarters placed a pile of newly compiled telegrams in front of Ma Lining.

Malinin took the telegram, casually placed it on the table, and continued discussing the troop advance plan with Rokossovsky. As for the telegram, he'd set it aside for later; after all, the telegrams were always the same: how far the troops had advanced, how many enemies they had annihilated, and how much supplies they had captured. Such telegrams, even a single one, were invaluable during a period of retreat. But now, with the Soviet army launching a major counter-offensive and routing the German forces, such telegrams had become commonplace.

Lobachev walked over, watched the two chatting, and casually flipped through the telegrams on the table.

When he flipped to a telegram, he casually remarked, "It's a telegram from the cavalry corps." He skipped the contents of the telegram and stared blankly at the commander's signature, muttering, "A telegram from the cavalry corps, what's Lieutenant Colonel Sokov's signature?"

Lobachev's words made Rokossovsky, who was chatting, stop and ask curiously, "Comrade Military Commissar, why don't you take a look at what the telegram says? I'm also very curious, how come the cavalry's telegram has Misha's signature?"

No sooner had he finished speaking than Rokossovsky noticed that Lobachev's expression had become unusually serious, and he quickly asked, "Comrade Military Commissioner, is something wrong? You look a little off."

Lobachev turned to Rokossovsky, handed him the telegram, and said in a heavy voice, "Comrade Commander, General Dovator has been killed in action!"

"What?! General Dovator has been killed?!" Rokossovsky's expression froze. He snatched the telegram from Lobachev's hand and examined it carefully. "This can't be true. How could Dovator have been killed?" Malinin also quickly moved closer to see what had happened.

Lobachev continued, "Not only was Dovator killed, but almost the entire cavalry corps command was wiped out. Even Colonel Tavliev, the commander of the 20th Cavalry Division whom we sent to support Dovator, was killed on the banks of the Ruza River."

After reading the telegram, Rokossovsky placed it on the table, then took off his military cap and bowed his head in silent mourning for his fallen comrade, Dovator.

After a while, Rokossovsky put his military cap back on and then said to Malinin and Lobachev, "Chief of Staff and Military Commissar, you two stay at headquarters. I'm going to take some men to the Ruza River to take a look."

“Comrade Commander, the situation at the Ruza River is too complicated. It would be dangerous for you to go there now,” Malinin hurriedly advised. “I think it would be better to wait until the situation stabilizes before going.” “No. With almost the entire cavalry command gone, the troops have lost unified command and may fall into chaos,” Rokossovsky stated his position with an unquestionable tone. “Only I can get the cavalry out of chaos quickly.”

Since Rokossovsky had already put it this way, Malinin knew that further persuasion would be useless, so he stopped trying to stop him and instead suggested, "The infantry brigade is marching toward the Ruza River. You can go with them; at least your safety on the way will be guaranteed."

Before Rokossovsky could speak, Malinin continued, "I'll call the infantry brigade first and ask them when they're leaving."

“Alright, why don’t you make a call and ask?” Rokossovsky thought Malinin’s words made sense. Although the area from here to the Ruza River was under Soviet control, no one could guarantee that there wouldn’t be German stragglers along the way. Although they were like rats in front of organized Soviet troops, they posed a huge threat to small Soviet squads.

The call was quickly connected, and as soon as he heard the voice on the other end, Malining got straight to the point: "This is Chief of Staff Malining. Who is this?"

"This is Lieutenant Colonel Belkin, the deputy brigade commander." Belkin asked respectfully on the other end of the phone, "Comrade Chief of Staff, what instructions do you have?"

"That's right, the commander plans to go to Luzha River in person. He wants to ask when you will depart, as he intends to travel with you."

“The Third Battalion, as the second echelon, set off for the Ruza River more than half an hour ago,” Belkin replied. “The Fourth Battalion is assembling. If the Commander is not in a hurry, he can go to the Ruza River with the Fourth Battalion.”

“How long will it take?”

"At most one hour."

“No, an hour is too long.” Malining shook his head and said, “Half an hour, I can only give you half an hour at most. How about it, can you complete the assembly in such a short time?”

Belkin hesitated for a moment, then replied decisively, "No problem, Comrade Chief of Staff, our troops can set off within half an hour."

After hanging up the phone, Belkin began to ponder. The Fourth Battalion now had nearly four thousand men, and it was clearly unrealistic to expect them to assemble and depart within half an hour. However, since the Commander wanted to depart in half an hour, it wasn't impossible. He could simply select a company from the Fourth Battalion to escort Rokossovsky to the Ruza River.

Having made up his mind, he quickly drafted an order, called over a communications soldier, and instructed him: "Give this order to Major Vasya and tell him to act according to the order."

The communications soldier received Belkin's order, gave a loud reply, and ran out of the brigade command post.

Watching the communications soldier's figure disappear through the door, Belkin couldn't help but sigh softly, pondering to himself, "What exactly happened at the Ruza River? Why did not only the brigade commander order the 4th Battalion to set off ahead of schedule, but even the commander-in-chief was in a hurry to get there? This means that something big has happened there."

(End of this chapter)