When Rokossovsky heard him say this, he couldn't help but sneer, and asked rhetorically: "Since it is a military store, as long as you see people in military uniforms coming to shop, you can sell it to them, why bother with any special ration cards, isn't this an extra move?" ”

The man replied with a wry smile: "Comrade General, do you know that some people in the city take advantage of the night to quietly go outside the city to pick up the military uniforms on the corpses, pretend to be soldiers to shop here, and then sell them at a high price on the black market. When we found out about this situation, we urgently issued a special ration card to prevent this phenomenon from happening. ”

After figuring out what was going on, Rokossovsky smiled and asked, "I don't have the special ration card you said, so I don't know if I can shop here?" ”

"Yes, of course." The man nodded desperately and said, "I can't trust others, can't I still trust you?" Whatever you want to buy, just ask, as long as we have it here, it must be open to supply. ”

Listening to the tone of the man's voice, Rokossovsky couldn't help but ask curiously: "Do you know me?" ”

But the man shook his head and said, "This is the first time I've seen you." However, from your rank, I guess you may be the commander of the Central Front, General Rokossovsky. It seems that there is no one of the same rank in the city except him. ”

"That's right, I'm Rokossovsky." Rokossovsky smiled and said, "I just want to buy two packs of cigarettes." ”

After listening to Rokossovsky's instructions, the man hurriedly turned around and yelled at the saleswoman: "What are you still doing in a daze, didn't you hear that Comrade General wanted to buy two packs of cigarettes?" ”

The saleswoman agreed in a panic, grabbed five or six packs of cigarettes from the counter, put them on the counter, and said in a stammering voice: "Will... The general is the same as... Comrade, this... It's your... The cigarette you want. ”

Rokossovsky walked over, picked up two packs of cigarettes and came out, and then politely asked the saleswoman: "Comrade salesman, I don't know how much two packs of cigarettes cost?" ”

"40 kopecks!" The saleswoman replied mechanically.

Rokossovsky put his hand in his coat pocket to take out the money, but found it empty, nothing. Fortunately, the second lieutenant on the side was still more clever, and hurriedly took out two 20 kopecks from his pocket and handed them to the saleswoman.

Rokossovsky put the cigarette in his pocket and said casually to the man: "You still have a lot of things in your store." ”

The man replied with a wry smile: "Comrade General, this shop turned out to be German, don't you see that most of the goods in it are German." But even with the special ration card, I don't think much of the goods here will sell. ”

The man's words aroused Rokossovsky's curiosity: "Why? ”

"I just came back from the head of the Commercial Bureau," the man said with a dejected expression, "They say that today's transportation force is used to transport military supplies such as guns and ammunition for soldiers and troops, and the transportation of civilian goods has been postponed indefinitely." In other words, when we sell out of things, we have to close. ”

Leaving the store, Rokossovsky's mood became extremely heavy, he did not expect that the current traffic situation would be so bad. Therefore, he specifically said to the second lieutenant: "Second lieutenant, when I return to the headquarters later, remind me to inquire about logistics and maintenance of law and order." ”

…………

Returning to the headquarters, Rokossovsky immediately instructed Malinin to call the head of logistics and the commander of the engineering corps, asking the two to rush to him immediately.

After more than ten minutes, only the commander of the engineering troops, General Proshlyakov, came, while the head of logistics, Andipienko, called back, saying that they were holding an important logistics meeting and that they might arrive a little later.

Taking advantage of the fact that Andypinkko did not come, Rokossovsky and Proshlyakov talked about the use of engineering troops. He said to Proshlyakov: "Comrade General, the Germans, in order to block our continued advance, blew up bridges and roads, and even burned villages, so that their troops could have a better defense. I called you here to discuss the use of sappers......"

Proshlyakov patiently waited for Rokossovsky to finish speaking, and then spoke: "Comrade commander, the situation you are talking about is very common. As we advanced through an area full of forests, rivers and swamps, we had to use a large number of troops to repair bridges and roads that had been blown up by the Germans. In just half a month, our engineers erected more than 20 pontoon bridges over the river, repaired more than 300 kilometers of damaged roads, and cleared thousands of mines planted by the Germans......"

"Proshlyakov, our comrade sapper is really remarkable." Before talking to Proshlyakov, Rokossovsky's understanding of sappers could not be about building pontoon bridges and clearing mines, and the most impressive thing was the assault sappers who were specially used for street fighting. But at this moment, he realized that he really knew too little about sappers. Then he said with emotion: "But our senior commanders only saw how many kilometers the infantry advanced and what cities they occupied, but they didn't think about how much effort the engineer soldiers had put in to help the infantry achieve such a goal......

The two were chatting speculatively when Anji Pianko hurried in from outside. Seeing that Rokossovsky and Proshlyakov were chatting, he hurriedly said apologetically: "I'm sorry, Comrade Commander, when the chief of staff called, I was holding an emergency meeting and didn't wait to get out for a while. ”

"General Antipenko," Rokossovsky asked curiously, "may I ask, what are you discussing?" ”

Andipenko shrugged his shoulders and said helplessly: "What else can it be, of course, it is a matter of transportation." My director of military communications, General Chernyakov, told me that since the railway was sabotaged by the Germans, all our transportation could only be done by road. Watzman, director of the Automobile Management Department, said that the current automobile transportation has become saturated, and the roads are dilapidated, and it is impossible to increase the volume of transportation. ……”

Rokossovsky knew what kind of adverse effects the bad roads of the Soviet Union would have on automobile transportation, so he waited for Andypinkko to finish speaking, then turned his eyes to Proshlyakov and asked tentatively: "General Proshlyakov, can your engineering units repair the railway damaged by the Germans as soon as possible?" ”

"Comrade Commander, I can't do this." When Proshlyakov heard this, he shook his head and said: "The Germans used special sabotage locomotives to cut all the sleepers into two pieces. It is important to know that repairing a railway is not simply to replace the broken sleepers.

The first thing we had to do was to move the rails and sleepers aside, then dig up the gravel from the roadbed and re-lay the gravel. After the new stones are laid, put the new sleepers on them and fix the rails......"

Hearing Proshlyakov talking endlessly about how to repair the railway, Rokossovsky felt that his head was too big, he waited for the other party to finish speaking, and asked with a wry smile: "General Proshlyakov, how much time do you think it will take for us to repair the more than 200 kilometers of railway damaged by the German army?" ”

Proshlyakov made a silent calculation in his heart and said: "Comrade commander, since we can dispatch more than five engineer regiments and have enough construction machinery, I think that within two months, this section of the railway should be completely repaired. ”

Two months?! After hearing Proshlyakov's time, Rokossovsky really laughed and cried, instead of spending two months with five engineering regiments to build a railway, it is better for them to improve the road, and maybe after the road condition improves, it can also increase the capacity of road transportation.

Considering that there will be a lot of fighting in the coming days, the replenishment of the troops, especially the three armies newly assigned to his command, is the most important thing. Therefore, he solemnly said to Antipchenko and Proshlyakov: "Since the railway cannot be repaired for the time being, we will put it aside for the time being." I'm asking you very seriously, if we send people to repair the roads, can the transport capacity be increased? ”

Andisenko and Proshlyakov looked at each other, and then said cautiously: "If General Proshlyakov's sappers can repair the highway for the use of the car convoy, I think it is barely possible to increase the volume of transportation by a quarter." ”

"No, General Anjipiko, a quarter is too little." As soon as Antipenko finished speaking, Rokossovsky denied his claim: "At least three-quarters higher." ”

As soon as Rokossovsky's words were finished, Andisenko's face turned into a bitter melon face. He stretched out his hands and scratched his hair desperately, and said bitterly: "Comrade commander, the target you have raised is too high, and for us, this is simply an impossible task. ”

"Don't forget, Anji Pianke, you and I are both party members." Rokossovsky said: "Comrade Lenin once said that party members are made of special materials, and there is nothing they cannot do. ”

Seeing that Rokossovsky had already said this, Antipenko knew that it was useless to continue to argue, so he could only turn his eyes to Proshlyakov for help, and said pleadingly: "General Proshlyakov, I can only pin my hopes on you, and hope that your sappers will quickly repair the roads destroyed by the enemy." ”

Ma Linin, who had been silent, spoke: "Comrade Commander, I think that the troops coming from the rear can move towards the combat area in a way that is not possible, and use all the cars to transport weapons, ammunition and various materials needed by the troops. ”

"By the way, General Anjipienko, I have something to ask you." Rokossovsky suddenly remembered what the man in the store said, and couldn't help but ask Anjipinkko: "Can you spare some of your strength to deliver daily goods to the inhabitants of the city?" ”

"But Comrade Commander," said Andipiko, with a crying voice, "we cannot guarantee the transportation of our troops, so how can we spare the strength to deliver daily necessities to the inhabitants of the city?" ”

"Comrade Anjipiko, no matter how tight your transportation forces are, you must spare a certain percentage of vehicles to deliver daily necessities to the residents of the city." Rokossovsky said in a categorical tone: "This is my order, it can only be carried out, it cannot be discussed and pushed, understand?" ”

"Understood," seeing Rokossovsky's resolute attitude, Andypinkko could only say helplessly: "I will regularly deliver daily necessities to the residents of the city." ”

Seeing that Antipinkko was willing to obey his orders, Rokossovsky nodded with satisfaction and said to Terekin: "Comrade Military Commissar, I just heard that there are people in the city who go outside the city to pick up the military uniforms on the corpses, pretend to be our soldiers to go to the military stores to shop, and then go to the black market to sell them at a high price. In order to put an end to this situation, I agreed to immediately form pickets to patrol the city and bring to justice those who posed as our soldiers. ”

"Don't worry, Comrade Commander." Terekin nodded and said, "I'll talk to the representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs later, and they will take the lead in forming such pickets." ”

When Antipinkko and Proshlyakov were about to say goodbye and leave, Rokossovsky, thinking that transportation had always been his biggest concern, left Andypinkko behind, and asked uneasily: "Comrade Antipyanko, as far as I know, the transportation of ammunition has always been our weak point. Now that the troops are advancing at a rapid pace, the logistical supply lines have been lengthened, and the replenishment of the troops must be treated differently. ”

Hearing Rokossovsky say this, Andypinkko hurriedly sat down again, took out a pen and paper from his briefcase, carefully wrote down what Rokossovsky said in his notebook, and then asked: "Comrade commander, I don't know the supply of ammunition, which troops should be the main one?" ”

Rokossovsky thought for a moment, and then said: "Since the 13th and 60th armies were transferred to the command of the Voronezh Front, General Batov's 65th Army has become the main offensive direction, so in the supply of ammunition and materiel, they should be given priority. ”

"There are also General Romanenko's 48th Army, and General Belov's 61st Army," Malinin added, "both of which are priority targets." ”

And Terekin, hearing that there was no one he wanted to hear in the number reported by Malinin, hurriedly reminded Rokossovsky: "Comrade commander, have you forgotten that you promised the commanders of the 50th and 3rd armies that you would replenish their troops with sufficient weapons and ammunition?" ”

"That's right, that's right." After Terekin's reminder, Rokossovsky remembered that he had really made a promise to the commanders of the two army groups to replenish the ammunition that the troops urgently needed, so he said to Antipiko: "The two army groups mentioned by Comrade Military Commissar are also running out of ammunition at present. Therefore, you need to take this into account when distributing supplies. ”