Chapter 1444

After the meeting, rokosovsky left me alone, saying that he wanted to have a good talk with me, and at the same time, he asked my familiar chief of staff, malining, to accompany me.

After chatting with me for a few minutes, malining turned to the next combat task. He asked frankly, "Rita, when our army has won absolute victory in the Dnieper River and Ukraine on the right bank, in what direction will we open up a new battlefield?"

"Exactly speaking, it's the main attack direction of the summer campaign. Where do you think it will be?" As soon as marinin's words were finished, rokosovsky added: "I think our army will have a complete victory in Ukraine, at least after May. When the Supreme Command supplies us with soldiers and supplies, and when we go into battle, it should be summer. So what we are going to discuss now is the main attack direction of the summer campaign. "

After listening to what malining and rokosovsky said, I did not immediately tell them my "conjecture", but asked in a strange way: "Comrade General and chief of staff, where is the main direction of our army's summer campaign? This is a question to be considered by the Supreme Command and the general staff. I'm just a small group commander. I don't seem qualified to talk about this, do I? "

After I finished, rokosovsky and malining looked at each other with a smile, and then continued: "Rita, first of all, I want to tell you a good news. According to the news from the supreme command, you will be able to command a front army alone in the near future, maybe our two branches will fight side by side. We are now studying the main direction of attack, which is to lay a foundation for future cooperation. "

From rokosovsky's mouth, knowing that he had a chance to serve as commander of the front army, my heart beat faster. My heart said that it was true, or did he tease me? My eyes swept back and forth on their faces, and I saw that they both looked as usual. It was estimated that they would not deceive me on such a big event, so I did not hide and said what I knew about history in the form of "speculation".

"Senior general, chief of staff," I got up and went to the map, pointed to the map and said to them, "I think the higher authorities may order the troops of the front army along the Baltic Sea to attack first, cut off the contact between the German northern army group and the mainland, and let the troops attack prozick and Drissa along the West Dewey River to capture Riga."

"Wait a minute, Rita." As soon as I finished talking about the action to be taken by the front forces on the Baltic coast, malining interrupted me. He frowned and said, "I don't think launching a large-scale attack on the German forces on the Baltic coast can surprise them, because the Germans are fighting on the inside line. They can take advantage of the perfect railway network and roads under their control, Maintain their mobility advantage. On the other hand, there are many swamps and lakes in this area, which is not conducive to the use of tanks by our army. "

"Yes, comrade chief of staff, your analysis is quite correct." As soon as marinin finished, I said, "in our main attack direction, if we want to use the tank corps to fight, we must have a broad plain. We can think of that, and so can the Germans. "

"It makes sense, it makes sense." "According to the German military theory, they think that tank troops are more suitable for fighting in plain areas," rokosovsky interjected. Rita, since you mentioned this, I think you must have your own ideas. Let's hear them

I gave rokosovsky a smile, and then said: "Comrade General, if we want to ensure the sudden launch of the campaign, I think we should surprise the German army in unexpected places. In this way, the main direction of attack will be along the Baltic Sea and become the swamp and Lake area of Belarus. "

Rokosovsky heard me say this, suddenly stood up, walked quickly to the wall, looked up at the map in front of him, frowned and thought. In order to avoid interrupting his thoughts, I stood by and looked at him quietly without saying a word.

I didn't speak, and malining didn't speak, so we stood still and stared at rokosovsky, and the whole headquarters fell into silence.

After a long time, rokosovsky turned to look at me and said, "Rita, I think what you said is very reasonable. After returning to the army, you should send more reconnaissance teams to conduct all-round reconnaissance on the German army and find out their deployment, so that when we are about to launch an attack, we can know the whole terrain of Belarus like the palm of our hand."

…………

I rushed back to my headquarters overnight. As soon as I entered, chisjakov came up and asked, "Comrade commander, I don't know what general rokosovsky said at today's military meeting. Is it our troops that are going to attack Minsk?"

After I waved my hand to him and sat down in my seat, I said to him and bzikov, who was sitting next to me: "the matter discussed in today's military meeting is very simple, that is, to let the group armies strengthen and improve the defense system in the existing defense area, so as to prevent the possible anti assault by the German army."

After listening to what I said at the military meeting, chisjakov said rather disappointed: "so it is. I thought the superior was going to order us to attack Minsk."

"Comrade deputy commander," seeing chisjakov's disappointed expression, I quickly comforted him and said, "don't say it's you, even me, want to immediately organize troops to attack Minsk, wipe out all the German troops in that area, and rescue our city from the enemy's clutches. But, no, the current conditions are not mature. "

"What conditions are not yet ripe?" Bzikov, listening to me, said somewhat unconvinced: "the Germans have only the second, fourth and ninth group armies in Belarus, and our group army is twice as many as theirs. If we attack them at the same time, I don't believe they can stop us. "

"Comrade chief of staff," I said patiently after listening to the angry words of bzikov, "although the enemy has only three army groups in name, their strength and equipment are still superior to our whole front army. Not to mention that our forces are not as many as the enemy's, even if we have an advantage in our forces, if we do not have enough ammunition and rashly attack the enemy, we will only be defeated in the end. At the beginning of last year, although we fought on the left bank of the Dnieper River several times as much as the enemy, we were defeated by the Germans because our logistic supplies could not keep up with us. We can't make the same mistake again in Belarus. "

"Did the superior say when we can attack the enemy?" Kisjakov asked reluctantly

"At present, our army is fighting hard with the German army in Ukraine on the right bank of the Dnieper River." I went on to explain to the two: "because of the supply of troops and weaponry by the supreme command. They are all inclined to Ukrainian forces, so we have to wait for the final victory of the battle in Ukraine before we can get enough supplies. "

"The fighting on the right bank of the Dnieper is very fierce." Chisjakov turned to look at the map on the wall and said thoughtfully, "although our troops have the initiative in the battlefield and continue to attack the enemy, the enemy is also making a tenacious defense. I estimate that the battle will not be known until after June at the latest. "

"What, until June?" After listening to the analysis of chisgakov, bzikov said in surprise: "in this way, our attack on Minsk will not be postponed until after July?"

"Almost," chisjakov continued to stay on the map, and said carelessly about the question of bezikov: "if the attacks of several Ukrainian front forces are successful and the whole campaign is completed in June, then we can launch an attack on the German army in Belarus in early July or earlier."

From later generations, I remember the attack time of the Soviet army very clearly. However, in this case, I would not jump out to be a magic wand and tell them that the attack on the German army would take place on a certain day and a certain month. Instead, I would sit by and listen to their conversation quietly without saying a word.

Although chisgakov did not become the commander of the sixth group army of the guards as he did in real history, he was still very capable. He got up and went to the wall, pointed to the map on the wall and said to us, "you see, between our defense area and Minsk, there are swamps, lakes and forests. If we launch an attack now, we can make use of the favorable conditions of freezing up and use a large number of tank units in swampy areas. If the attack starts at the end of June and the beginning of July, these swamps and lakes will become obstacles for us to use tank troops. "

After listening to chisjakov's analysis, I couldn't help nodding my head, because in the attack launched a few months later, due to the influence of swamps and lakes, the number of tanks put into combat by the Soviet army was very limited, and his analysis was completely consistent with the judgment of the general staff of the Soviet army.

After expressing his views, chisjakov turned to look at me and said, "Comrade commander, do you have anything to add?"

"Comrade deputy commander, I think what you said is very reasonable." I would like to flatter him and then say, "if the attack really takes place in June and July, our troops can only attack the enemy through swamps and lakes. However, I think that since we all think that it is difficult to use tank troops in these places, I believe that the Germans will also consider it that way. "

As soon as I finished, he immediately asked, "Comrade commander, I don't understand what you mean."

"Since both sides of the enemy and us think that it is difficult to launch large forces in these places." I went to the map, pointed to the blank area between moziri kalinkovich and Minsk with my stick, and said to him: "then, their defense in this area will not be very tight. You see, according to the information we have so far, on the edge of the swamp, the German army only deployed sporadic defensive forces on some commanding heights... "

"The German army is on the edge of the swamp, with only a few small troops deployed?" When bizikov heard this, he couldn't help interrupting and asked, "Comrade commander, don't you know how you got the news?"

When I heard bezikov's question, I immediately realized that I had let slip. We didn't send any scouts to the enemy's defensive zone to conduct reconnaissance. How can we know what kind of troops the enemy deployed at the edge of the swamp? So I quickly changed my tongue and said, "I got the information from the Intelligence Department of the headquarters of the front army." Thinking that it was impossible for them to go to rokosovsky or malining for verification for this kind of thing, they continued to bluff, "I think it might be general Batov's troops. In order to successfully capture moziri and kalinkovic, they specially sent people to carry out reconnaissance. However, because they were exposed by the German army, the intelligence they detected was naturally handed over to the intelligence forces of the front army. "

"Oh, so it is." After listening to my explanation, bezikov's face was suddenly enlightened. He went on to say: "however, general Batov, the intelligence they investigated is from a long time ago. Maybe with our successful occupation of moziri and kalinkovic, the German deployment will be adjusted."“ The chief of staff is quite right. " "In order to find out the enemy's deployment, I think we should immediately send reconnaissance personnel to go deep into the enemy's defense and find out their deployment. In this way, when the offensive campaign begins, we can launch targeted attacks. "“ Since we were transferred from the first front army of Ukraine to the command of the Belarusian front army, major travkin, the best scout, has left our organization. " When it comes to sending people to scout, bzikov thinks of the former scout battalion commander travkin and says with emotion: "so far, I haven't found a more capable scout than him. If only we could get him back from the first front army of Ukraine." To tell you the truth, I also very much want to get travkin back from vatukin, but when I think about the confidentiality level of the tasks he is involved in, I know that my idea is wishful thinking. After a long sigh, I had no choice but to say to bzikov, "forget it, chief of staff. I don't think it's possible for major travkin to be rebuilt. To be on the safe side, you'd better choose a few suitable scouts from our existing troops. "