Chapter 1185

On the early morning of July 18, I was surrounded by Danilov and bezikov in front of the map, studying the attack of the 67th division of the close guard on cleukovo and tomalovka, when the telephone rang on the table.

Akhromeyev, who answered the phone, reported to me that the call was from Ivanov, chief of staff of the front army. He told me that Danilov and I must arrive at the headquarters in Kursk for a meeting before 10 am. Finally, he added that the meeting was presided over by Marshal Zhukov, who had just returned to Kursk.

Hearing that the meeting was presided over by Zhukov, I guessed that a new attack must be deployed, so I ordered bzikov to stay and take charge of the internal affairs of the group army. Then I urged Danilov to say, "come on, comrade deputy commander!"

On the way, Danilov asked me tentatively, "commander, do you know why Marshal Zhukov suddenly held a meeting today?"

"There's no reason, of course, to be ready to attack. Haven't you heard that the place where the main Marshal Zhukov goes means that we are going to attack there? " At this point, I pointed to the infantry line opposite us outside the window, and the trucks towing the cannons, "you see, so many troops are constantly moving to the front, just to prepare for our attack."

Danilov's face flashed with joy when he saw so many troops on the road. Then he leaned close to the window, looked up into the sky and said anxiously, "won't the troops be attacked by the German air force if they march so swaggeringly in broad daylight?"

"No," I said confidently, looking at the endless flow of troops outside, "since the superior dares to order the troops to march in the daytime, there must be a way to deal with the German air strikes." Maybe it was to verify my statement. As soon as I heard it, two of our military fighters flew over the jeep and flew away

By the time we got to the conference room of the headquarters of the front army, there would have been a lot of people in it, not only the Voronezh front army, but also the grassland front army. Danilov and I sat down in a corner and looked around to see if we could find an acquaintance. As a result, this search really found an acquaintance - katukov.

I saw a vacancy beside me, so I waved to him and asked him to come to us. Katukov sat down next to me and said, "Rita, did your attack on bhuttovo go well yesterday?"

I nodded my head vigorously and said with certainty: "yes, comrade general, yesterday, after a hard struggle, the 67th division of the guards successfully recovered butovo. Today we will also attack klukovo and tomarovka. "

After listening to me, katukov said thoughtfully, "if you occupy these two small cities again, your group army will have a broad starting point for attack, which is very conducive to the expansion of the offensive forces."

Danilov couldn't hear the word "attack" now. At the moment, he heard katukov saying the same word. He immediately seized the other side and asked, "Comrade General, do you know something about the upcoming attack on our army?"

Katukov gave him a strange look. Then he shrugged his shoulders, spread his hands, and said helplessly, "general Danilov, I think I know as much as you do. I also got a call from general Ivanov, and I came here in a hurry from my own headquarters. As for the superior's attack plan, I know nothing about it. "

When listening to the conversation between them, I suddenly remembered that I had seen a movie before. At the beginning of the battle of Kursk, katukov was leisurely fishing by the pond, so I couldn't help asking curiously, "Comrade General, have you been fishing again recently?"

When katukov heard my question, he shook his head with a smile and said, "there's no time, Rita. I'm busy fighting with the Germans every day. Where else can I go fishing. You'd better wait until the war is over, and then find a chance to go fishing. "

"Yes, comrade katukov. After the battle, we'll go fishing together in the Dnieper As soon as katukov's voice fell, a familiar voice suddenly rang out behind me.

I jumped up from the table, raised my hand, saluted the speaker and said aloud, "Hello, comrade marshal of the Soviet Union!"

The speaker was Zhukov. Behind him stood vatukin and konev. He raised his hand and saluted. He looked at me and said with a smile, "Rita, you've done a good job in this period of time. I've read the confessions of some prisoners. The Germans are scared to death of you now. " With that, he and the two commanders of the front army, watujing and konev, walked towards the conference table.

After the meeting, Zhukov was the first to stand up and speak. He looked around with a smile on his face and said in a loud voice, "Hello, comrades, commanders!"

When the commanders here heard Zhukov say this, they couldn't help but move and straighten the originally straight waist.

"I'm glad to see you." Zhukov continued: "in this battle of Kursk, the comrades of both Voronezh front army and grassland front army performed very well. It was your excellent performance on the battlefield that smashed the German plot to attack Kursk from the south."

At this point, Zhukov suddenly stopped, he slowly looked around the meeting again. I guess he's organizing words in his head and going on.

After stopping for a while, Zhukov began to speak again: "comrades, the reason why we call you here for a meeting today is that the headquarters has approved the" rumenzev "campaign in the south of Kursk, which will turn into an all-round offensive. The basic intention of the campaign is to use the Voronezh front army and grassland front army to launch an attack on the left wing of the southern group army group in Manstein and eradicate the Belgorod Kharkov salient south of Kursk. "

At this point, Zhukov stopped again, threw a meaningful glance at vatukin, and then went on to say: "general vatukin once suggested to the headquarters that we should surround the German heavy army group in this area. And Comrade Moskalenko, commander of the 40th army, even suggested that the siege should be closed at Poltava, west of Kharkov! " At this point, his expression became serious. "But after repeated study, the general staff of the Red Army resolutely opposed the large-scale encirclement plan. We believe that the German army has a solid position in this area, and Kharkov itself is a huge fortress that can be held for a long time. Relying on these fortifications, the besieged German army will hold back the main force of our army for a long time, and buy time for the German army to establish a solid defense on the front line of the Dnieper River.

In addition, the two wings of the Voronezh front army and the grassland front army were also very weak, unable to carry out large-scale and deep encirclement. If we want to adjust the deployment of our forces, it will take a lot of time. In this way, the German army, whose strength has been greatly weakened after the operation of the fort, will also have the opportunity to enhance its strength.

After repeated consideration, we finally decided to use two tank groups, the first and the fifth close guard tank groups, which are concentrated in the north of Belgorod, to rush into the defense depth of the German army, cut off the enemy's aid routes, and at the same time divide them and eliminate them one by one. "

Zhukov went to the big map hanging on the wall and picked up the explanation stick leaning against the wall. When I was wondering why I didn't see vasilevsky today, I heard Zhukov say: "according to the plan of the general staff, the Voronezh front army in the south of Kursk will launch a surprise attack from north to south, directly attack the side of the bulge, insert into the junction of the fourth German armored group army and the" Kempf "campaign cluster, and cut off the retreat to the west of Kharkov.

The main attack of the front army is in the charge of the left-wing fifth close guard group army, and the sixth close guard group army is guaranteed on the right side. The two groups will open a breach in the German position, and then the first group army of the close guard tank will enter the breach from a section of 4km on the right side, and the fifth group army of the close guard tank will enter the breach from a section of 6km on the left side. After the two tank groups rush into the depth of the German flank, they will detour to the left and surround Kharkov: the first group army of katukov's close guard tanks forms an outer encirclement of Kharkov, and the fifth group army of rotmistrov's close guard tanks forms an inner encirclement of Kharkov. "

When Zhukov explained, everyone, including me, did not dare to speak out. He just quickly recorded what he said in a small book.

"According to the Supreme Commander himself, the operation should start on July 23. However, we found that the Voronezh front army suffered a serious loss after Manstein's fierce attack and needed more time to recuperate. After the struggle between Comrade vasilevsky and me, comrade Stalin gave you another 10 days to repair and prepare. As a result, the attack date was postponed to August 3.

On the right wing of Voronezh's front army are the 27th group army, the Fourth Army of close guard tanks and the tenth army of tanks; The 40th group army and the second and 38th group army of the equipped guard tanks. The 40th and 38th army groups will attack on August 5 and 8, respectively.

On the other hand, the grassland front army was responsible for attacking the bulging part of bergorod Kharkov from the front. To this end, the 53rd, 69th and 7th guard group forces were deployed. The main enemy to face is the "Kempf" campaign cluster. For general konev, the commander of the front army, this task is quite arduous. Because his most elite troops have been handed over to Voronezh's front army in the defense stage, the remaining strength is not particularly sufficient, and the only assault force, the first mechanized army, is used to strengthen the 53rd army.

In addition, the southwest front army to the south of the grassland front army will also attack Kharkov with the 57th group army. Their main enemy is the 42nd army of the German "Kempf" campaign cluster. "

After explaining the whole plan, Zhukov leaned his stick against the wall, walked back to the table, put his hands on the table, leaned forward slightly, and said solemnly: "comrades commander, the situation has become more and more favorable for us since the war, if we can win this offensive battle, Then the situation on the battlefield will take a huge turn. " When he said that, his face was unexpectedly happy, "that is to say, the German attack and our defense situation will be completely reversed. It's going to be our attack, and the Germans have to turn to full defense

Before sitting down, Zhukov said with a smile, "if you have any questions, please ask me."

As soon as his words were over, Moskalenko, commander of the 40th army, stood up and asked in a loud voice, "Comrade marshal, I want to ask, how much artillery support can we get in the attack?"

Hearing his question, Zhukov squinted at him and said, "general Moskalenko, before the attack, the headquarters will strengthen the artillery units of Voronezh's front army. I don't know to what extent it can be strengthened, but what I can tell you is that at least in the front of the battlefield, our artillery density can reach more than 100 guns per kilometer. "“ More than a hundred As soon as Zhukov's words were finished, there was a cry of surprise among the commanders sitting below. We should know that in the early days of the battle of Kursk, when our army carried out preemptive artillery, the most intensive artillery area was only about 80 guns per kilometer. And in the upcoming attack, the average density can reach more than 100, how can we not be surprised. Then another commander asked, "can we get the necessary air support?" When I heard his question, I thought it was funny. I guessed that they might have suffered a lot from the German army. Who knows, the smile on my face just bloomed, just because of a word from the commander with one tendon, and froze on my face. Just listen to him say: "if we don't have air support, then the troops are bound to suffer heavy casualties. You know, general apanashchenko, the deputy commander of the front army, was killed when he was attacked by enemy planes during the inspection of the front line... "I didn't hear what the man said. If katukov and Danilov hadn't noticed my abnormality, grasped my hands from both sides in time and pressed me firmly on the table, I would have picked up my stool and smashed it at the commander“ Calm down, Rita Katukov came close to me and whispered, "don't forget this is a high-level military conference. You are also a group commander. If you make any mistakes because of impulse, even Marshal Zhukov will find it hard to defend you in public. " Katukov's words calmed me down again. I leaned against the wall and gasped. My eyes were fixed on the commander who was talking. I scolded in my heart: "boy, you are lucky today. If you fall into my hands one day, I will never forgive you." After the commanders present asked all the questions, Zhukov stood up and announced, "now that the tasks are clear, all the commanders, go back to the army immediately and make preparations for the attack." The commander on the spot stood up and replied neatly: "yes!"