Chapter 1464

Zhukov looked at me for a while, then shook his head and said slowly, "Rita, if the German army used 15 divisions to counter attack our army, this possibility you said really existed. However, at this moment, the enemy who carried out the counter attack has temporarily gained the upper hand. It seems that there is no need for balk to command the troops to break through again. "

"But, comrade marshal." When Zhukov didn't care about my proposal at all, I couldn't help feeling a little anxious. I quickly raised my voice and said, "you should know that even if the enemy is attacking, this kind of attack won't last long and will be crushed by us sooner or later. I implore you to send reconnaissance planes to reconnoiter the movement area of the 48th German armored division, so as to keep abreast of the latest enemy movements in time... "

"Well, you don't have to say it." Zhukov raised his hand and interrupted me. He said with some arbitrariness: "now we are not discussing whether the German 48th armored army will break through the encirclement, but how to smash the German anti assault. "Chief of staff," he said to me briefly, then called Bogoliubov, who was busy on the other side of the room, and said, "inform the commanders of the group army to go to the headquarters of the front army after dark."

In my mind, Zhukov has always been an invincible and invincible talent, which is certainly related to the legend in the army that where Zhukov is, he will turn to attack; What's more, he has won great victories in all the battles he commanded. Therefore, his image in my mind is extremely tall. But through the past few days, I found that he was sometimes headstrong, too confident to listen to different opinions.

When all the commanders of the participating army groups came to the headquarters. From their gloomy faces, I know how much they are holding back in today's battle. The German was still under pressure yesterday. As a result, today the offensive side turned to the defensive side.

The first speaker was chernyahovsky. After introducing the defense situation of the group army, he said to Zhukov, "Comrade marshal, the enemy has mobilized reserve forces to attack our attacking forces under the cover of tanks and planes. After the fighting lasted for several hours, although the enemy paid a huge price, our group army had to give up some positions in the afternoon because of the temporary transfer of defense, the poor Fortifications on the positions and the large consumption of ammunition in the fighting these days. In a word, the German offensive today has almost wiped out the achievements we have made in recent days. "

At the end of chernyahovsky's speech, glicko also expressed a similar view. He finally asked: "under the current circumstances, comrade marshal, I suggest that the troops temporarily stop attacking and rely on the existing fortifications to consume a lot of the enemy's living strength."

With the leadership of the two group commanders, the rest of the commanders no longer have any scruples. They talk about their views on the current situation, and then make a request to Zhukov, hoping that the troops can set up defenses in place, so as to consume the effective strength of the German army.

Zhukov and all the commanders of the Group Army stood up and analyzed the situation: "comrades, at the beginning of this campaign, we succeeded in achieving tactical suddenness, even though the enemy knew that we were going to attack them and might even guess where our army would launch a surprise attack, Because the deployment of our front army has shown that. Every day, the Germans built more and more fortifications in the expected breakthrough areas, and even deployed elite troops to strengthen these areas. However, under our strong offensive, their defense was soon destroyed by us

As soon as he said that, a staff officer came in a hurry. "What's the matter?" Zhukov asked Obviously, I'm not happy to be disturbed.

Hearing Zhukov's severe tone, the staff officer flurried over the telegram and said, "Comrade marshal, the urgent telegram from the supreme command."

Originally, Zhukov, who was full of anger, heard that it was an urgent telegram from the supreme headquarters, and his face immediately softened a lot. He took the telegram from the staff officer's hand, scanned it quickly, then handed it to me, and continued to analyze it to the commanders present.

I took Zhukov's telegram to my eyes and found that the superior's idea coincided with ours. We ordered our front forces to suspend their offensive operations in the main direction and turn to defense on the spot, so as to fight against the German counter assault and mobilize forces to prepare for more powerful assault operations.

When I finished reading the telegram, Zhukov just finished analyzing the situation of the battlefield to the commanders here. He took the telegram from my hand, raised it high above his head, and said in a loud voice: "comrades, this is the telegram just sent by the supreme command, ordering us to suspend the attack in the main attack direction and turn to defense, After the enemy's living strength has been consumed by our army, we will turn to a new attack. "

At the command of the supreme command, everyone was also relieved to turn attack into defense. Zhukov, after the house regained calm, then announced: "according to the order, we will cross the Dniester River on the way and make a strong assault on chernovitzer, so as to advance to the original border line of our country.

In order to achieve this goal, after the new attack, the 13th group army was transferred to the right wing of the front army to attack Brody and Lvov; On the left, the 18th and 38th group armies continued to attack the areas of khomelinik, venica and zhmeilinka. And the 60th group army and the 1st group army of the guards, together with the three tank groups concentrated there, with the air support of the air force, took the most decisive action to destroy the enemy's resistance and quickly pushed south. "

The military conference presided over by Zhukov ended in only half an hour. As soon as bogoleubov announced the end of the meeting, the commander stood up, raised his hand, saluted Zhukov and me, turned and left the headquarters.

Seeing that there were only a few of us left in the headquarters, I was hesitating whether to persuade Zhukov to pay more attention to the German 48th armored force, so as not to make balk jump over the wall and escape from the gap of our defense line while other German forces launched a fierce attack on us.

"Rita, come here." Zhukov, who was already behind his desk, saw that I was still standing at the conference table in a daze, so he called me over. When I walked towards him, I carefully observed his face and saw that he was smiling. It seems that he is in a good mood at the moment.

I went up to him, thinking about how to mention balk again, but he said, "Rita, are you still thinking about the German 48th armored army?"

Seeing that Zhukov had guessed what was on my mind, I didn't deny it. I nodded hard and said calmly and seriously, "yes, marshal, you are right. I still insist on my original view that the 48th armored army of the German army will escape from the gap between the 60th group army and the 1st group army of the guards."

"Rita, why are you so stubborn?" Zhukov said sternly to me, "can't you see so far that the enemy's target is to drive our troops back to the starting point of attack?"

I saw him frowning and quickly replied, "marshal, although the German army has made a lot of achievements in today's battle and seized some positions from our troops, these are only temporary. In a week at most, we will have enough strength to launch a more powerful offensive, break through the German solid defensive zone, and advance to our country's border line. Not only do we understand this, but I believe balk will also know it in his heart. In order not to let his troops be driven into Romania or eliminated by us, all he can do is to lead the troops to break through in unexpected directions when the time is favorable to him. "

Zhukov did not immediately express his opinion after I made these words clear. Instead, he called bogoleubov over and asked, "chief of staff, what do you think of Rita's analysis? What I want to hear is the truth. Don't use ambiguous words to deal with me. "

I saw Bogoliubov's embarrassed smile, and I knew that he might be trying to make peace. As a result, Zhukov's words put him in a dilemma. After a long hesitation, the general, who once served as the first vice minister of the combat department at the general staff, finally said, "marshal, I don't think the situation mentioned by the deputy commander is possible." He originally thought that neither side would offend, but under the current situation, he can only choose to support Zhukov“ Even if the enemy can't resist the attack of our army, they can choose to retreat into Romania. There's no need for them to break through our defense zone at the risk of the whole army's collapse. This kind of play is totally inconsistent with military theory. "

I don't know what bogoleubov really thinks, but I don't care a bit about his standing on Zhukov's side against me. This is because the chief of staff has been in a state of failure since he was taken down from the post of deputy director of the combat Department of the general staff. First, he went to the northwest front army to serve as chief of staff for konev and kurotchkin. In less than a year, the front army was withdrawn. After he was transferred to the front army and served as chief of staff for watujing, he became a soy sauce player in the headquarters because watujing was originally a staff officer and liked to do things by himself. Now it's not easy for Zhukov to come here. He will certainly seize this opportunity and try to keep in line with Zhukov, which will help his future.

I waited for Bogoliubov to finish. After a short weighing in my mind, I said decisively to Zhukov: "marshal, although you think the 48th German armored army will not break through our defense line, I still reserve my own opinion. At the same time, I implore you to send a reconnaissance team to closely monitor the movement of the force. "

"This is no problem." After listening to my last sentence, Zhukov said frankly, "I will order the reconnaissance office to report to you as soon as there is any news from the German 48th armored army."

Zhukov can say that, has given me a lot of face, I will not fight against him. Anyway, he has said that as long as there is news of the 48th armored army, I can know it at the first time, so that as long as I find any clues of the enemy's breakthrough, I can inform Zhukov and ask him to deploy accordingly.

I left the headquarters and walked a little along the corridor. Khrushchev followed me quickly. With an expression of hatred on his face, he said to me in a tone of teaching: "Rita, how can you contradict Comrade Zhukov? You know, he has been in the army for a longer time than you, and his experience in commanding operations is beyond your grasp. Since he said that it is impossible for the German armored forces to pass through the middle of our defense zone, he certainly can't be wrong. "

Looking at the leader standing in front of me, I can't help feeling with emotion. As early as in the war of Stalingrad's defense, he still looked down on me, but now he is worried that I may have offended Zhukov. In the face of his care, I gave him a little smile, and then said: "Comrade military commissar, facts speak louder than words. As for whether the German army will break through the gap of our defense, I think it will be almost clear in a week at most."“ A week? " When Khrushchev listened to me with such confidence, he couldn't help wondering, "Rita, why are you sure you'll see it in a week?"“ It's very simple, "I explained patiently to Khrushchev about his doubts." judging from the scale of the anti attack carried out by the German army at present, it can last about a week at most. When they are greatly weakened and tired, it's our turn to launch a new round of attack. In order to avoid being annihilated by our army, balk can only choose to break through the encirclement. For him, the best way to break through the encirclement is the gap between the 60th group army and the close guard 1st group army. " When Khrushchev saw that I repeatedly insisted that the German army would break through from the front, he did not criticize me any more. On the contrary, he humbly asked me for advice: "Rita, if, I said if. If the German army really breaks through from the position you said, do you think our two army groups can annihilate them? " To tell you the truth, I admire balk's adventurous spirit. I dare to let the troops break through our defense area at the risk of the whole army being destroyed. Although I also want to annihilate this armored force, after my repeated observation in the past two days, let alone the fact that the loss of our troops in the main attack direction is too large, even if the organizational system is complete, it is almost impossible to leave this German unit with strong combat effectiveness. Thinking of this, I shook my head and said helplessly: "Comrade military commissar, although I also want to destroy this German army, their soldiers are brave and have strong fighting capacity, and they have such an excellent commander as balk. Even if they pay a heavy price, they can still stand out our encirclement."“ Is that true? " After listening to what I said, Khrushchev said with regret: "I can't imagine that with the strength of our two army groups and three tank army groups, we can't completely annihilate one of the German armored forces!"