Chapter 1084

Vasilevsky noticed my abnormality and said to me apologetically, "I'm sorry, Rita. You should understand that it has nothing to do with me, so you don't have to complain about me Then he came up and patted me on the shoulder, comforting me. "Don't worry. According to all the signs, the German attack from the South will not be earlier than September. The Supreme Command believes that Manstein will certainly wait for the central army group to occupy Kursk before launching an attack, and will attempt to meet with friendly forces in the east of korsk to form a situation of encircling Moscow. "

I couldn't laugh or cry when I heard what vasilevsky said. What I just said was in vain. He still insists that the German army will only attack Kursk from the northwest. He really thinks that Manstein and his three most elite SS divisions are vegetarian.

Perhaps to reassure me, vasilevsky told us more secrets: "at the beginning, Marshal Zhukov deployed you to the south of Kursk in order to block the southern army group of Manstein. If you think about it, the Voronezh front army has over 600000 troops, including the 6th and 7th guard group army, the 38th, 40th and 60th group army, general katukov's 1st guard tank group army and the 35th infantry army. It is also equipped with 8000 artillery and heavy artillery, as well as more than 1700 tanks and self-propelled artillery. "

"Yes, Rita." Shumilov also helped vasilevsky enlighten me: "don't worry too much. We have so many troops and technical equipment. If Manstein doesn't launch an attack, we will surely give them a lesson that will never be forgotten."

"In addition to what I have just said, the supreme command has deployed general konev's Grassland army behind the two front armies of rokosovsky and vatujing, who are responsible for providing reinforcements for you. Even in the worst case, if the Kursk defense line collapses, the grassland front army will become the last defense line to defend Moscow; Once our army turns to the counter offensive, the grassland front army will become our new force.

The supreme command used three front armies to deal with the 9th and 2nd army of the German central group army group, the 4th Army of the tank group army group of the southern group army group of Manstein, and the Kempf group. Our three front armies have absolute superiority in both strength and equipment. In addition, sokolovsky's Western Front Army, Popov's Bryansk front army, the 57th group army and the 2nd tank army of the southwest front army are deployed in Kursk state as battle reserves. "

Then he grabbed my arm and came to the battle map hanging on the wall. After pulling the curtain, he picked up the explanation stick and pointed to it and said to me and shumilov, "you see, in the forward position of Kursk protrusion, we have established multiple lines of defense, with a defense depth of more than 160 kilometers. The whole defense system is densely covered with trenches, barbed wire, anti tank support points, anti tank trenches and minefields. We also deployed heavy troops in the most likely direction of German attack. "

When vasilevsky explained the map to us, I could not help nodding my head, saying that I understood this period of history and knew what was the key point of defense, so I could naturally establish a defense system in a targeted way. And Zhukov, they just based on the situation analysis, the layout of the defense system, actually deployed in good order.

Shumilov is worthy of being an experienced commander. After vasilevsky's introduction, he added: "Comrade General Staff, judging from the current strategic situation, the Kursk bulge is defended by rokosovsky's central front army in the north and general watujing's Voronezh's front army in the south. To the north of the central front army are the Bryansk front army of Popov and the Western Front Army under the command of sokolovsky. In the south of our Voronezh front army, there is a Southwest front army, and the grassland front army in our rear is just in the rear center of the protrusion. In this way, they can attack the 9th group army of German modle to the north and the southern group army of Mannstein to the south, and at the same time, they can make the German army unable to encircle the central front army and our Voronezh front army. This kind of deployment of the supreme command is really wonderful. It's just fantastic. "

Although I heard what they said in detail and reasonable, my mood didn't get better. I still have in my mind when I can install the new equipment of the army. So much so that I heard vassilevsky ask me, "Rita, after all we've said, is there anything else you should worry about?"

"Of course." Without thinking, I said what I thought in my heart: "I'm thinking about whether my troops can complete the reloading before the outbreak of the war."

"New equipment! New equipment! Will the battle not be fought unless your group army is equipped with new equipment? " Vasilevsky showed strong dissatisfaction with my stubbornness, he said with a wave of anger: "even if we are backward in equipment, facing the enemy, we should fight bravely. When the bullets run out, they hit the sticks with stones; When all the stones are smashed and the sticks are discounted, they are beaten with fists; If you hurt your fist, bite it with your teeth. In a word, as long as we have one breath left, we will continue to fight with the enemy. "

As for vasilevsky's criticism, I said wrongly: "Comrade chief of general staff, even if we don't change the clothes of our commanders and fighters, we will be nailed to the position like nails in the face of the advancing enemy, and we will never step back. The reason why I strongly ask the superior to change our clothes as soon as possible is to reduce the casualties of the troops and let more young people live to see the day when we win the final victory. "

Originally angry vasilevsky, but because of my last words, and softened down. He sighed and said to me, "Rita, I know what you're feeling. I don't think so. I hope more commanders and fighters can live to win. But we can't. The production speed of the ordnance factory has almost reached the limit. If we want to increase the output, we can't do it. "

"Is there really no way?" Although vasilevsky was sure, I asked with a fluke“ Perhaps the supreme command will be able to move the position of our group army to the front when arranging the changing order. "

"How can this be possible? The decision made by the supreme command is not allowed to be changed. This is the case with the operational plan, and so is the case with the reloading plan. " When he said this, he suddenly stopped and hesitated for a long time to spit out a word: "unless..."

As soon as I heard the play, I immediately asked, "Comrade chief of general staff, unless what?"

As if he didn't hear me, vasilevsky said to himself, "as far as I know, the Armament Department has special authority to directly load a small amount of equipment into designated units without passing through the supreme command." At this point, his face suddenly showed a surprise expression, turned to me and said, "Rita, don't you know Comrade Ustinov? You can call him to try, maybe there will be unexpected results

"Really?" When I heard him say this, I was overjoyed. Based on my friendship with Ustinov, even if the commanders and fighters of the whole group army could not be changed, the equipment of one or two close guard divisions should be guaranteed. I turned to look at shumilov beside me and asked excitedly, "Comrade commander, can you contact Moscow with your high frequency telephone?"

Shumilov looked at vasilevsky and saw that the other side nodded in agreement. Then he said to me with certainty: "you can talk to Moscow. However, Rita, I have to make it clear that you can only negotiate with Comrade Ustinov, and neither I nor the chief of general staff can participate in it. Do you see what I mean? "

"I understand. I fully understand, comrade commander." In order to confirm whether my guess is accurate, I specially added: "if you or the chief of general staff come forward in this matter, once you convince member Ustinov and get the equipment we want. Then the commanders of other troops will ask the chief of general staff to go out to solve the equipment for their own troops after they get the news. If this goes on, things may get out of control. "

"You're absolutely right, Rita." Vasilevsky praised me with a smile, and then said: "with your friendship with Comrade Ustinov, even if we can't completely change the equipment of the troops, the equipment of one or two close guard divisions is still OK."

Deeply afraid that I couldn't use the high frequency telephone, shumilov helped me dial Moscow. When he heard a voice coming from the microphone, he said in a serious tone: "Hello, comrade on duty, please find Comrade Ustinov for me. Who am I? Sorry, you don't have the right to know for the time being. Please inform the people's committee members immediately. If you miss something, you can't take the responsibility. "

Maybe the tone of shumilov's speech frightened the other party, so he would go to visit Ustinov immediately. After a moment, shumilov put his hand over the microphone and handed it to me. He said in a low voice, "it's comrade Ustinov."

After I nodded to him with a smile, I took the microphone and stuck it to my ear and said, "Hello!"

In the receiver immediately came Ustinov's familiar voice with magnetism: "Hello! This is Ustinov. Who is calling for me

"Hello, comrade member of the people's Committee." I replied politely, "I'm o'shanina."

"It's Rita." Ustinov's serious voice softened and even joked: "I heard that our heroine has gone to the front line to be commander of the group army. I haven't had time to congratulate you. How about being a commander? "

"Not so much. There's a lot of things to worry about every day." I also said in a joking tone: "if I had known that, I might as well stay with you and be the person in charge of the base."

"It's not too late now. I've always kept that position for you." After finishing this sentence, Ustinov returned to his normal tone and asked, "Rita, do you have anything important to call me today?"

"That's right, comrades of the people's Committee." When I heard Ustinov ask, I told him the situation of my group army. At last, I added, "do you think we can get a batch of new equipment in the near future?"

As for my request, Ustinov was silent for a long time before he said slowly, "Rita, it's not easy. At present, the production of the ordnance factory has reached its limit, so it is very difficult to increase the output. " When he said this, I heard the voice of turning the pages of the book. It seemed that he was looking through the change list provided by the base camp. Then, he said with embarrassment: "Rita, it's not easy to handle. According to the list of changing clothes, the time of changing clothes for your sixth guard group army is in the middle of October, that is to say, you need to wait five months before you can change clothes for the army."

Hearing what Ustinov said, I immediately said to him with a smiley face: "Comrade people's commissar, I seem to have heard that you still have mobile quota allocated by weapons. I wonder if you can give this quota to our group army in the face of your old friends?"