Chapter 390

Just as meletskov picked up the high-frequency telephone on the table beside the wall and was about to talk to the Kremlin, a general suddenly said, "Comrade commander of the front army, please wait a moment." I took a look at the general who stopped meletskov from calling and immediately recognized him as the chief of staff of the front army, stilimah.

Holding the microphone, meletskov asked stilimach strangely, "Comrade chief of staff, what's wrong?"

Strimacher looked at me and reminded meletskov in a low voice: "Comrade commander, I want to remind you that the German will attack Stalingrad. This is only major oshanina's personal judgment. At present, we can't confirm whether her conjecture is accurate. If we report the unconfirmed intelligence rashly in this way, it will mislead the Supreme Commander's judgment and make him decide to put the main forces in the wrong direction. Once something goes wrong in the future, you will be sent to the military court as the main responsible person. "

Meletzkov hesitated to hear his chief of staff say so. He put down the phone and walked back and forth in the room with his hands on his back. There was no sound in the room except his footsteps, and everyone's eyes moved with him.

He stopped in front of a political worker, looked up at him and asked, "Comrade zaborozzi, as a member of the Military Commission of the front army, what do you think of this matter?"

Zaborozzi looked down for a moment, then replied, "Comrade commander, I think the chief of staff has a point. What we have to consider now is that the battle of the siniavino bulge is about to begin, and the situation in the south of Moscow is in the charge of Marshal timoshinger, commander of the southwest front army, so we don't have to meddle. "

I was a little worried when I heard that two leaders of the front army had objected to reporting the enemy's situation I had analyzed. However, all the generals I was present were generals. Without meletskov's consent, the major who spoke lightly had no voice at all. Just as I was in a hurry, fejiuningsky said: "senior general, I think major oshanina's analysis is very correct. From all kinds of signs, it can be seen that the German troops launched such a fierce offensive near the Don river, not for exercises, but for more important strategic purposes. Let's look at the map. Where will Stalingrad attract the attention of the German army? I think we should report the situation immediately. "

"I agree with general fejaninski." It seems that the identity of fejiuningsky, the former commander of Leningrad's front army, still has some weight. As soon as his voice was heard, the commander of the eighth group army, starikov, immediately expressed his support. After expressing his opinions, he turned to ask another major general around him, "Comrade Gagan, what's your opinion?"

"Comrade commander of the group army, the Fourth Army of the close guard infantry will always be in line with you." Gagan replied with a smile. Only then did I know that this general was major general Gagan, commander of the guards under starikov.

Meletzkov turned his eyes to a lieutenant general who had never spoken. He asked, "general Krakow, who do you support as the new commander of the second shock group army?"

Looking at the tall commander of the group army, I said in my heart, comrade general, I'm from your second assault group army. You must support me.

Unexpectedly, general krakov looked left and right, then pointed to stilimach with his hand and said to meletskov, "senior general, I agree with the opinion of the chief of staff of the group army. This matter matters a lot. We must be careful. We can't report to the supreme command without confirming whether major oshanina's judgment is correct."

At present, the number of supporters and opponents is exactly three to three. Only meletzkov is left with a voice in the room. His opinion will ultimately decide whether to report my judgment to the supreme command. Everyone was silent, eyes fixed on meletskov, waiting for him to make the final decision.

Meletskov went to the table and sat down. He took a cigarette out of his pocket and held one in his mouth. Stilimach, who was next to him, immediately took out a match to light it for him. After lighting the cigarette, he stepped back and, like others, quietly waited for meletskov's decision.

Meletzkov hung his head slightly and sat still, only puffing. When the cigarette was finished, he threw the cigarette end on the ground, crushed it with his toes, raised his head abruptly, frowned, scanned all the people with his eyes, and resolutely said, "comrades, although our main task at present is to carry out the deployment of the headquarters and launch the campaign of the siniavino bulge as soon as possible. But now that we find that Germany may launch an offensive in Stalingrad, we should report to the headquarters in time. To put it bluntly, if we are afraid of taking responsibility and conceal this information, once the German army really launched an attack on Stalingrad and the headquarters failed to prepare in advance, which led to the fall of the city named after the leader, what should we do then? I have decided to report this matter to the headquarters immediately, and I will bear the consequences. "

At this point, he suddenly stood up, picked up the high-frequency phone again, and slowly dialed the number. As he dialed, there was silence in the headquarters, and everyone stood still and looked at meletskov.

After the phone call, meletskov asked, "is it Comrade boskrebeshev? I'm meletskov, commander of the volhoff front army. I have something important to report to Comrade Stalin. "

Then meletzkov stopped talking and silently put the microphone to his ear. After a while, he suddenly straightened up and said aloud, "Hello, comrade Stalin. Yes, I have safely returned to the front command. " After a simple greeting, meletzkov told Stalin my judgment.

Because of the distance, I couldn't hear what Stalin said on the phone. Anyway, I found that meletzkov's face suddenly turned cloudy and sunny, as if he was being reproached by Stalin. After a while, he began to explain: "Comrade Stalin, from the war reports we received, major oshanina's judgment is accurate. The German target is neither Moscow nor the oil fields in the Caucasus, but Stalingrad! Yes, comrade oshanina analyzed and said, "at least at present, the German army will not launch a large-scale offensive campaign against Moscow or the Caucasus."

He should have been rudely interrupted by Stalin before he finished. His face was red and he bent down slightly to listen to Stalin's instructions.

"Yes, comrade Stalin, I know that our current task is to launch the battle of the sinavino bulge as soon as possible, but we can't take Stalingrad lightly, because it's a city named after you..."

At this point, it is obvious that meletzkov was interrupted by Stalin again, so that he did not stop talking. After a while, he was able to continue to say: "Comrade Stalin, please rest assured that we will launch an attack on the German forces in the sinavino protrusion within the specified time." With that, he took the microphone away from his ear and slowly put it back on the phone.

Meletzkov returned to the table and stood in silence. Like all of you, I watched him nervously, waiting for him to repeat the conversation with Stalin.

After a long time, he finally opened his mouth and said in a low voice, "Comrade Stalin just ordered us to launch the campaign of the siniavino bulge on July 17 at the latest."

"July 17?" "Isn't that the day after tomorrow?" starikov, commander of the 8th Army, said in surprise? Comrade commander, we need to know that our preparations have not been completed, that the soldiers, weapons and ammunition promised by the base camp have not been in place, and that the road leading to the starting point of the attack is still under construction. As you know, the existing road conditions are impassable for heavy tanks.... "

Before starikov finished his complaint, meletzkov interrupted him and said coldly, "this is an order issued by Comrade Stalin himself. No discussion is allowed. It must be carried out unconditionally."

Seeing that meletzkov carried out Stalin, starikov had no choice but to agree: "OK, comrade commander, I understand everything. When I get back to the army later, I will dispatch people to repair the road and get ready for the attack as soon as possible. "

"Comrade commander, what is Stalin's attitude towards the information we reported?" When fejiuningsky heard that meletskov suddenly announced the advance of the campaign, he was slightly surprised, but he still asked his own question.

Meletskov said with a bitter smile: "Stalin heard that the German army might launch an attack on Stalingrad in the near future. He was furious and said that I was talking nonsense. He must have listened to the rumors of German spies before he reported this kind of messy information to him."

Fejiuninsky glanced at me and then continued to ask, "what is Comrade Stalin going to do with major oshanina?"

Meletskov looked at me and said apologetically, "major oshanina, I'm sorry. It seems that you won't be able to stay in my front army for long?"

"Ah? Comrade commander, may I ask why? " This time, I couldn't help interrupting. You know, it's related to my future destiny.

"Comrade Stalin said," meletzkov said helplessly, "since major oshanina thinks that the German will launch an attack on Stalingrad, then when the battle of the sinavino bulge is over, send her to Stalingrad to defend the city. But we can't let her go empty handed. At that time, we will send her a company to hold the commanding point of Stalingrad, mamayev post, firmly for me. "

Although meletskov said this in a light tone, I can guess how stern Stalin's tone was on the phone just now. Otherwise, the experienced general would not change his face a lot. However, I was wronged most. I wanted to remind Stalin that the next target of German attack was not Moscow, but Stalingrad. However, I was directly demoted to company commander. Half an hour ago, I was relieved from the post of acting division commander of the 378th division and demoted to the post of operational staff officer in the headquarters of the front army.

Meletzkov saw me look depressed, comforted me and said: "major oshanina, don't worry, when you go to Stalingrad, I will send you excellent soldiers." At this point, he bowed his head and thought for a moment, then said very frankly: "you once commanded the second lieutenant training team of the front army, then let them go to Stalingrad with you."

Second Lieutenant's training team, listening to meletskov's mention of this unit, my heart is warm. It's his army at the bottom of the box. They are willing to take me to Stalingrad. This shows how much he attaches importance to me. My unhappiness was swept away. I stepped forward, raised my hand, saluted meletskov and said gratefully, "thank you, comrade commander of the front army."

Meletzkov waved his hand with a smile, and then said to the others in the room, "while the military commanders of the troops participating in the battle of the bulge are here today, let's first study how to fight this battle." After that, he waved to me and said, "major oshanina, although you will be transferred to Stalingrad soon, you are still the operational staff of our warhoff front army. Come and listen to me."

As I was about to move on, I saw that starikov frowned and didn't seem willing to let me participate in this level of discussion. Seeing his expression, I didn't take it to heart. Anyway, I won't stay in the front army of warholf for a few days. It has nothing to do with me what you think of me.

We all stood around the table. Meletzkov held his hands on the table and said with some pride, "before we discuss the deployment of the campaign, I'd like to tell you a piece of good news. When I went to Moscow to report the campaign plan to the base camp, comrade Stalin asked me, "how many submachine guns and rifles do you need from the base camp to launch this campaign?"

"Three to five thousand submachine guns, five thousand rifles." Thinking about the difficulties of the base camp in terms of weapons and equipment in the past, I only put forward a minimum number.

I didn't expect Comrade Stalin to say very frankly: "I'll give you 20000 more. We have not only enough rifles, but also enough submachine guns. "

At that time, I was a little worried and asked, "Comrade Stalin, if you supply so many guns for us, will it affect the supply plans of other front forces?"

Comrade Stalin shook his head with a smile and said, "Comrade meletzkov, you don't know that the work of turning various departments of the national economy into the wartime track has been successfully completed, so that the weapons and equipment needed by the army can be fully supplied."

After listening to meletskov's words, several generals whispered excitedly.

When everyone was talking about this exciting good news, the chief of staff of the front army, steglimacher, went to the position of the telephone, picked up the receiver and made a phone call.

After a while, a voice calling for a report came from the door. I turned to see a colonel with a briefcase standing upright at the door. As soon as meletskov saw him, he immediately said, "don't stand at the door, comrade semunov. Come here to explain the details of the campaign plan to the commanders." With a promise, Colonel semunov walked quickly to the table and raised his hand to salute the generals.

Meletskov introduced himself to me and said, "major oshanina, I'd like to introduce to you. This is colonel semunov, the combat director of the headquarters of the front army. He is also your immediate superior." Then he introduced me briefly to semunov.

As soon as meletskov finished his introduction, I quickly raised my hand to salute semunov and politely said, "Hello, comrade colonel. Major o'shanina reports to you and is at your command. "

Without waiting for semunov to speak, meletskov said in advance, "OK, what do you have to say? I'll go back to the combat office after the meeting. Now, Colonel semunov, tell us the details of the campaign plan for the Ministry of prominence that you and the chief of staff, comrade stilimach, have worked out. "

Semunov agreed, opened the briefcase in his hand, took out a map from it and spread it on the table. I had a close look. It turned out to be a map of the sinavino area. After putting his briefcase under his feet, he began to explain the details of the campaign plan.

"As we all know, in this campaign, the main task of our Volkhov front army was general starikov's eighth group army and general Krakow's second assault group army. As for Leningrad's front army, there will be Neva campaign cluster, artillery and air force participating in this campaign. After the beginning of the campaign, the Neva campaign group, with the cooperation of the aviation forces, will take active actions to contain the enemy forces at the throat of Schlussel fort, so that they can not be transferred to the direction of the attack forces of our volhoff front army. As soon as the time for us to go out of the Neva River is delayed, the Neva campaign group will cross the Neva River with aggressive actions, actively move closer to our front army, and strive to achieve the goal of joining the two armies and breaking the siege. "

At this time, meletzkov raised his hand to interrupt the words behind semunov, and said solemnly: "when I reported the campaign plan in Moscow, the part of Leningrad's front army forced to cross the Neva River was denied by Comrade Stalin. He said that the Leningrad front army lacks the technical equipment to cross the Neva River. In the upcoming campaign, the volhoff front army will play the leading role, while the Leningrad front army will support our operations with its own artillery and aviation. Go on The last word he said was to Colonel semunov.

"After the battle plan was made, we began to prepare for the battle step by step," said Colonel semunov. What is most remarkable is that under the conditions of limited roads and the enemy's Air Force's frenzied operations, the army has changed its deployment, concentration and deployment in an organized way. Within half a month, the basic forces of various regiments and units used to carry out the campaign were transported along the two railways with low traffic capacity, and a small part of the troops moved along the dirt roads.

Unfortunately, the number of dirt roads is small, and the mud makes it difficult for transportation vehicles to pass. It's up to the railway to take on the whole burden. The widespread implementation of camouflage and counterintelligence measures has played a great role. In order to confuse the enemy, we used various campaign camouflage equipment to create the illusion of a large concentration of troops in little Visera. The city of glassmen, Brickmakers and sewing workers is located on the east side of the upper volhof river. As a result of the camouflage, it gave the Germans an impression that our army was going to fight in Novgorod. In addition, it has successfully created the illusion that troops and regiments are moving to the south. Under this pretext, some troops were transported to the sinavino area. The train started in the direction of Moscow, then turned around, passed vorogda, cheliebowitz and left for tikhvan. All the troops were transported in airtight carriages with the words "fuel", "grain" and "feed" written on them. Tanks were camouflaged with straw. Due to our proper security measures, although the German air force controlled the air, and even carried out intensive air raids on the railway hub and the unloading area, it failed to prevent our army from changing its deployment. What's more, the enemy has not found a train for transportation, nor has he determined the real direction of the train's increase in flow, because he is confused by the false appearance deliberately made by our army. "