This is the fourth chapter in A Soldier’s Duty, the memoir of Marshal of the Soviet Union Konstantin Konstantinovich Rokossovsky (1896-1968), who commanded troops from the very beginning of the Great Patriotic War to the final days of the defeat of Nazi Germany.
Rokossovksy was an ethnic Pole who served in the Russian army in World War I, the Red Army in the Civil War, fell under the finger of suspicion and was imprisoned in 1937, released back to active duty in 1940, and was in command of a mechanized corps at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War.
A Soldier’s Duty describes the planning and implementation of huge military operations, the relationship between high command and the front, and interesting people Rokossovsky met along the way. You are now reading a translation based on the 5th edition of Soldatskii Dolg, published by Voinizdat in 1988. The 1988 edition includes text that had been considered too controversial and scandalous to print during Rokossovksy’s lifetime.
See the largest and most cataclysmic war in human history through the eyes of one of the allies’ greatest generals.
Chapters:
Tomorrow There Will Be War
The Battle Begins
On the Yartsevo Heights
An Unexpected Order
The Volokolamsk Direction (COMING SOON)
Nowhere To Retreat
Forward!
Sukhinichi
Memorable Lessons
The Bryansk Front
Battle for Stalingrad
Closing the Vise
Destruction of the Enemy
The Kursk Salient
Going for the Dnieper
For Belarussian Soil
Both Offensives Are the “Main” One
Destruction
Warsaw
In Germany
On Two Fronts
East Pomerania
From the Oder To the Elba
Happiness of a Soldier
On the evening of October 5 I received a telegram from the Western Front headquarters. It said to immediately transfer the area of responsibility to Gen. Ershakov and deploy the 16th Army headquarters to Vyazma by October 6 and organize a counterattack in the Yukhnov direction. The message further communicated that five rifle divisions and means of receiving reinforcements would be made available to us.
It was all absolutely incomprehensible. Gen. Lukin to our North was facing a difficult situation, and what was happening on the left flank and further to the South, unknown…
Comrades Lobachev, Kazakov, Malinin and Orel were, like me, also suspicious of the telegram. I remember how the chief of staff exclaimed, ”Leave the troops in a time like this? It’s incomprehensible!”
I insisted on receiving the order in writing with the personal signature of the Front commander.
That night a pilot arrived with the order signed by Ivan Konev and his member of the Military Council Nikolai Bulganin.
No more doubts, but also no clarity. Personnel from Ershakov’s 20th Army had already arrived, and the transfer of responbility was brief. The headquarters headed to its new location, and we all felt that something terrible had happened. At this alarming moment we had no troops, and were skeptical that we would find troops at the place we had been ordered to.
It was necessary to try to learn the situation ourselves, which we did by sending patrols in several directions.
The apparent situation became alarming as we headed towad the Dnieper East of Yartsevo. Abandoned positions and not one person in the trenches. We knew there was an army in the Front’s reserves to our rear. But where it was and what had happened here was hard to guess.
On the way to Vyazma we began to pass vehicles from various rear units of the 30th and 22nd Armies. Red Army soldiers all had the same story of German paratroopers destroying their units, but they had managed to break out and had to find their own way now. We were also passing increasing numbers of refugee groups with their possessions in wagons.
People’s stories and intelligence gathered by the scouts clarified things somewhat. Apparently, tanks and mechanized troops of the enemy had managed to break through the lines of the 19th and 30th Armies penetrated deep into the East. Refugees said that there were already large German forces in Siychevka, Pigulino, Holm-Zhirkov and other villages. All of these points were to the north of the Yartsevo-Vyazma highway. It could be inferred that this was one of the attacking wedges of the enemy, and they could be expected to turn and create an inner ring to encircle our troops.
We didn’t meet any of our units and I couldn’t establish communications with Front headquarters. The feeling of isolation was stifling. I urgently needed information about what was happening to the South of the highway. Kalinin and I stopped by a haystack while Lobachev and several officers went ahead to do a reconnaissance. Not more than an hour later he returned, sat beside us at the haystack and said, ”I met Vasily Danilovich Sokolovsky at the crossroads. There is no one in Kasnya anymore. But he said our mission remains the same.”
It was Lobachev’s opinion that the Chief of Staff of the Front did not know what was going on.
The scouts still had not found any of our soldiers around Vyazma. Where were these divisions promised by Ivan Konev in his order? With this thought in mind I went to the assigned location of our new command post.
We found it almost ready and the radio operators were already working. The Front headquarters was silent, they were probably still on the move and had not deployed their radio equipment.
The radio operators could not contact any unit at all.
Instructing Malinin to find troops and establish radio contact with the Front or main Headquarters, Lobachev and I proceeded into the city.
Ivan Nikitin, the garrison commander, reported, ”There are no troops in Vyazma, and none at the crossroads either. Only police. There is anxiety in the city due to rumors of German tanks coming from Yukhnov in the South and Southeast.”
”Where is the local council and party leadership?”
”In the cathedral. All the regional leadership is there.”
The cathedral stood on a high hill above Vyazma like an ancient forest. In the basement we found the secretary of the city party committee Dmitry Popov, and around him comrades from Smolensk and Vyazma city committees. There was also the chief of the Western Front politburo Dmitry Lestev. He waved happily and said, ”Everything is okay, comrades, meet the commander.”
Unfortunately, we had to give them bad news. Yes, the commander was here, but he had nothing to command. I asked Gen. Nikitin to inform the party leaders everything he knew about the situation in the area. Lestev was extremely surprised.
”How can that be?” He declared. ”I left the Front headquarters not long agoand they assured me that you had at least five divisions awaiting the arrival of the 16th Army headquarters.”
This conversation took place in the afternoon of October 6.
I was about to ask Nikitin about reconnaissance and surveillance of approaches into the city when the chairman of the Smolensk city council, Alexander Vakhterov, ran into the basement and exclaimed, ”German tanks are in the city!”
”Who said this?” I asked.
”I saw them from the belltower!”
”Alexey Andreevich, get the cars ready.” I said to Gen. Lobachev.
I went with Lestev and Popov to the belltower. We did indeed see tanks, and they were shooting their machineguns at cars fleeing the city.
The most spacious vehicles we had were my ZIS-101, and Lobachev and Popov’s smaller GAZ cars. We were able to take all the comrades out of the city to safety. At one point we almost collided with a tank, but turned down an alley and it wasn’t able to shoot us.
Our command post was located in the woods ten kilometers to the Northeast of Vyazma. Here we analyzed all the data the staff was able to collect. The Germans had attacked in their favorite way; broke through the front in two places, and the wedges would meet to create an inner encirclement. That much was clear at the moment. It was also clear that Vyazma was the place where the enemy’s ”pincers” closed, which we had seen and felt and our reconnaissance confirmed it. But it was not yet known where the outer ring of the encirclement was be formed, and we had to find out.
The evening of October 6 the Front’s Chief of Operations Gen. German Malandin and our old friend Gen. Ivan Kamera came to the command post. They were looking for the Front headquarters, and did not know the situation that was developing. I told them what we had found out, and advised them to try to get to the North of the highway at night. Most likely that’s where the Front headquarters was going too. A group of our officers accompanied them for security. These comrades successfully completed their mission, but on the way back were fired upon by Germans. Two were wounded and their car burned, and returned on foot.
Malinin reported that attempts to find any divisions in the vicinity of Vyazma were pointless. It was difficult to figure out what to do in this strange situation. Return to our own troops? The enemy had finished the inner ring of the encirclement, denying us this possibility. And the main thing was that the 16th Army Headquarters had a mission to perform, and it was our duty to try and carry it out.
For the rest of the evening of October 6 our headquarters unit traversed the forests Northeast of the city and North of the highway going from Vyazma to Mozhaisk. While on the move we were repeatedly detected by German aircraft.
All night and the following day we sent out patrols in different directions. It was established that the enemy had cut off the highway to the East of Vyazma, German mechanized infantry were in Vyazma itself, and enemy troops moving on the road toward Sychevska.
Tumanovo hadn’t fallen yet and we found an NKVD cavalry detachment who were pleased to join us.
From the known data, it was apparent that the enemy ha dormed a front cutting off all roads.
In the Tumanovo forest I gathered my closest subordinates in an abandoned dugout. Our courses of action boiled down to what couldn’t be expected. We would not receive any forces from the East and there was nothing we could do to help our encircled troops. We ourselves were cut off by the inner ring of the encirclement, which the enemy would strengthen as soon as possible.
My final decision was to break out to the Northeast, where the enemy presence as still weak. And there we would have more opportunities to meet our forces escaping the encirclement. We started the march on the night of October 7.
We gathered the trroubled soldiers and officers, organized them and raised their spirits, saying that a commander is most effective where there are committed communists and Komsomol members, where people faithfully do their duty for the homeland with all their strength. Now we had to prove it in our actions.
Everything was arranged, with all our troops assigned to units. The movement was divided into three columns; the right under Gen. Kazakov, I at the center in the second echelon, and the trucks with Col. Orel following. The armored vehicles and BT-7 tanks would be in the central column within armreach of the commander for encounters with the enemy. Security and reconnaissance was also organized with the help of the NKVD detachment. Everyone except drivers was on foot.
Lobachev gathered our people at the headquarters bus. One final order for the officers, drivers and infantry… Under no circumstances would we break up into smaller groups. We would go together as directed by the military rule, one for all and all for one. Wounded would not be left behind, and dead, if they could not be taken, would be buried on the spot.
It was hard to see people’s faces in the twilight but we felt they understood the order correctly. The war had already taught us a lot.
Night. Movement. Heavy rain. Muddy roads.
The convoy halted from time to time to bring up stragglers. Most of the delays were from vehicles, there were about a hundred of them, getting stuck in the mud. We used the tanks to pull them out.
Our first checkpoint was planned 15 kilometers out nearr one of the villages. As we approached, our scouts encountered German motorcyclists and two trucks of infantry. Our troops, with the support of two tanks, made short work of the enemy. The Germans fled, leaving behind their dead, a wrecked truck and several motorcycles. Our main force didn’t participate in the skirmish.
Firefights repeatedly broke out between our scouts and small groups of Germans. This alarmed people, but didn’t cause any confusion.
At the village, I don’t remember the name, honestly, we stopped for a brief rest. People have to eat. By the way, in Tumanovo, where the cavalrymen joined us, we found a food shipment at the rail station. We took what we could and burned the rest in the railcars.
I, Lobachev, Malinin, and other staff and political officers entered a hut. The hosts met us hospitality, but were gripped with anxiety. A little boy ran over.
”Well, young scout, what news is there?”
He shyly said that the previous evening three fascist tanks and around five trucks carrying soldiers entered the village. The hostess said had seen refugees from New Dugino and Tesovo, about 15 kilometers to the North, there were many enemy tanks and vehicles.
For the first time we heard a male voice in the hut. ”Comrade Commander, what are you doing?”
I turned around and looked. On the bed there lay a graybearded old man. Apparently, the hostess’s father.
He looked at me sharply and spoke with pain and bitterness, ”Comrade Commander, you run, and throw us away, after we gave everything for the Red Army down to our last shirt. I’m an old soldier who fought the Germans. We did not give Russian soil to the enemy. What are you doing…”
I remember these words to the present day. I felt them like a slap to the face, and everyone was dejected.
Of cours we tried to explain that this setback was temporary, and everything would be made right. But frankly, there was no reassuring this old soldier who had been wounded twice in the first world war. When we left he said, ”If it weren’t for this damn illness, I would have gone to defend Russia.”
We were again on the march. As I walked I could not stop thinking about this hut, the doomed family, and the old collective farmer. His criticism was fair…
After crossing the fields the center column went back into the forest. Scouts reported that to our North there were elements of the 18th Rifle Division of the People’s Militia. We took command of them for joint operations against the enemy.
From that moment on, our group was a pretty solid force capable of breaking through in any direction.
Joiningt forces with us pleased the militiamen, but I must say that they knew how to handle themselves in a difficult situation. Even before meeting us they were in a fighting mood. They were Muscovites who knew how to stand up for themselves and a common cause. They would go on to complete a short but smart training course under the experienced direction of Gen. Nikolai Cherniyshev, hero of the defense of Smolensk, and not for nothing earn the title of ”Guards” during the Battle of Moscow.
Dawn was near. We walked no less than a grueling 30 kilometers. We were very tired. It was at this time I was informed that a U-2 biplane had landed three kilometers away. I sent Gen. Konstantin Baranchuk, commander of the 16th Army air forces, to meet it. Soon he returned with good news, that our troops were in Gzhatsk (Now named Gagarin, due to being his hometown –IK), and the day before had been in Voroshilov and Molotov.
Overjoyed, Baranchuk had not thought to bring the pilot or ask him more questions. I ordered for the pilot to be brought to us, but the plane had already taken off and was heading West for some reason.
News quickly spread through the group and there were quickly requests to finish the journey in the vehicles. Gzhatsk was no more than ten kilometers away.
People were exhausted, there was still a long way to go, and dawn was close. Therefore it was decided to move by vehicle to the bridge to Gzhatsk. As an extra precaution, the advance party was reinforced with two tanks and an armored vehicle. The cavalry were sent ahead to the Northern part of the city to find the fords. The militia followed in the second echelon to provide security to our West and South.
Lobachev was on fire with impatience.
”Maybe I will find Voroshilov again!” He exclaimed.
I allowed him to go to the advance party, but only in an armored vehicle. And the member of the military council left.
The headquarters was spread out along one road. There was an understandable desire to quickly cross the river and link up with our own. We were going faster than we meant to and almost collided with the rear of the advance party near the bridge, which had spread out somewhat. At that moment there was an explosion and cloud of smoke. The vehicles at the head of the column, including mine, rushed forward. It is difficult to explain why we did it, but we pushed into the open and immediately came under fire from heavy machinegun and tank fire. Everything began to fall apart in a chain reaction.
Having oriented myself on the move, I ordered the advance party to be reinforced, and vehicles moved off the road and hidden. One regiment of the 18th was to engage the enemy in Gzhatsk while the rest was to move North and try to break through there.
What happened was a BT-7 had pushed ahead and got destroyed by an antitank mine, then the enemy opened fire on the approaching force. Lobachev’s car was hit by a dud round (it was found in the cab later), the occupants got out and joined the fight. The bridge was blown up. We arrived, and just in time, because upon seeing how small our advance party was, the Germans tried to cross the river. They were repulsed.
The pilot’s information had turned out to be false. He sent us straight into the enemy, deliberately or not, I don’t know.
So the road we had hoped to use to break through to our own forces was already blocked by the enemy. Without river-fording equipment, we could not assault the town. It would be a senseless battle as the enemy had gathered enough forces to stop us.
There was cover in front of the town, and our forces managed to maneuver to the North undetected. We still heard exploding bombs in the town’s direction. German planes flew overhead at high altitude, but did not attack us.
We were on the move again. We defeated small enemy groups, bypassed the bigger ones, and collected everyone we met who had escaped the encirclement. Apparently, the inner ring of the encirclement was not dense, only the main routes were defended tightly.
Later we found a places to cross the Gzhat River and on the night of October 8 made it safely to the other side. I won’t describe all the events, skirmishes with Germans, and crossings. Heading East, we slipped out of the enemy’s closing pincers.
It was only in the forests to the North of Uvarovka, 40 kilometers away from Mozhaisk, we finally made contact with the Front headquarters. We were to report in near Mozhaisk.
That same day a U-2 came for myself and Lobachev. Malinin stopped me and said, ”You should bring the order to transfer your command to Ershakov.” I asked him why, and he replied ”It might be helpful.”
In a small one-floor apartment building we found the Front headquarters. Comrades Voroshilov, Molotov, Konev and Bulganin were waiting for us. Kliment Efremovich immediately asked the question, ”How did you and your headquarters, without the troops of the 16th Army, end up in Vyazma?”
”The Front Commander communicated that the units I had to assume control of were there.”
”Strange…”
I showed the marshal the ill-fated order signed by the commander. Voroshilov had a heated conversation with Konev and Bulganin. Then he called Gen. Georgy Zhukov into the room.
”This is the new commander of the Western Front, and he will give you new orders.”
After listening to our short report, Voroshilov congratulated us on the behalf of the government and General Staff, andwished us success in repelling the enemy.
Soon afterward I was called to Georgy Zhukov. He was stern and calm. There was a strong will apparent in his whole form.
He was taking on a huge responsibility. By the time we arrived at Mozhaisk there were very few troops left in the Western Front. And with these forces it was necessary to slow down the enemy offensive toward Moscow.
First off, on October 11 Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov ordered us to assume command of the Mozhaisk area of operations. By the time we did this we received a new order, to take the headquarters and 18th Rifle Division of the People’s Militia to the Volokolamsk area and organize a defensive line from the Moscow Sea in the North and Ruza to the South.
We arrived in Volokolamsk on October 14. Two days later, German tanks attacked the army’s left flank.
Chapters:
Tomorrow There Will Be War
The Battle Begins
On the Yartsevo Heights
An Unexpected Order
The Volokolamsk Direction (COMING SOON)
Nowhere To Retreat
Forward!
Sukhinichi
Memorable Lessons
The Bryansk Front
Battle for Stalingrad
Closing the Vise
Destruction of the Enemy
The Kursk Salient
Going for the Dnieper
For Belarussian Soil
Both Offensives Are the “Main” One
Destruction
Warsaw
In Germany
On Two Fronts
East Pomerania
From the Oder To the Elba
Happiness of a Soldier