Chapter 1508

After the plane landed, Zhukov and I got into the jeep that sokolovsky sent to pick us up. Not far from the airport, Zhukov suddenly ordered the driver to stop. After waiting for the car to stop, he told the driver: "Comrade driver, you go down to have a cigarette first. When I call you, you come up again."

With a promise, the driver pushed the door open and got out of the car. Then he ran to the truck behind us and the commander of the guard company who came down from the bridge to smoke.

I turned to look at the driver who was smoking. Then I asked Zhukov, "marshal, why do we stop here?"

Zhukov asked me unexpectedly, "Rita, do you think there is a problem with the death of Comrade vatukin?"

When I heard his question, I shivered. I learned from Khrushchev that the cause of vatukin's death was a wound infection, and that Stalin had never approved the use of penicillin. But in front of Zhukov, I absolutely can't tell the truth. In that case, it's not only useless, but it will set me on fire. So I can only pretend to be confused and say: "have not the staff of the Ministry of interior in Kiev solved the case? It was a few doctors and nurses bought by the Germans who added lethal toxins to the injections given to general vatukin. "

When I finished, Zhukov snorted heavily, and then asked me in a scornful tone, "Rita, do you really think that the information reported by the Ministry of the interior is true?"

Instead of pestering over the authenticity of the report of the Ministry of internal affairs, I asked curiously, "Comrade marshal, I don't know what kind of conclusion you have reached?"

"In my impression, vatukin is not only a military genius, but also a very talented person in political work. In the course of the war, he paid great attention to discovering and cultivating talents, and was extremely good at building a backbone team. " Zhukov said to me solemnly, "because the troops under his command have made more and more achievements, his prestige is also getting higher and higher. Therefore, it is also loved and valued by Stalin

I knew that Zhukov would tell something I didn't know, so I closed my mouth and listened to what he said quietly.

"Because Comrade Stalin particularly appreciated vatukin, he often crossed over the general staff and Khrushchev to deal directly with vatukin in connection with the command of the first front army of Ukraine. In this way, Khrushchev, the political deputy of vatukin, became a decoration. Khrushchev is a small bellied man, for this kind of thing, he will certainly have a grudge, and thus affect the relationship between him and vatukin

When I heard this, I couldn't help but interrupt and ask, "Comrade marshal, but when I was in the hospital, I saw that Comrade Khrushchev was very sad about the death of general vatukin, and even cancelled his birthday party and medal ceremony."

"Vatukin told me in private," Zhukov continued slowly, "that the relationship between him and Khrushchev was not friendly, and there were often disputes over trifles. I think Khrushchev must have felt that his light was blocked by vatukin's body, so he took extreme measures to get rid of this stumbling block. "

Seeing Zhukov in front of me, as in history, he was really disgusted with Khrushchev because of vatukin's death, I couldn't help feeling at a loss. I want to persuade you, but I find that although I know the truth, I can't say it. I can only say it vaguely: "no way!"

"Why not." Zhukov snorted again, and then said, "as far as I know, every time vatukin used to patrol, he either rode in armored cars or accompanied soldiers with at least one guard platoon. On the day of the accident, I had only three jeeps and one guard. I think this is a trap carefully arranged by Khrushchev to induce watujing to drive through the village occupied by a group of anti Soviet guerrillas and bandits, which led to the tragedy. "

When I think of the so-called truth that Khrushchev told me and the analysis made by Zhukov, I can't help falling into a confusion: how was vatukin injured and why did he die in the end? It seems that there is no accurate answer to this question in the future. It seems that this incident, like the missing "Amber Room", will become another unsolved mystery in the patriotic war.

I raised my hand and looked at my watch. I deliberately digged off the topic: "marshal, it's getting late. Should we rush back to the headquarters as soon as possible. I'm afraid the chief of staff and the military commissar are in a hurry. "

"Well, that's it." Zhukov didn't want to entangle in this matter any more. When he heard what I said, he immediately nodded his head and told me, "but only you and I know. Do you understand? "

"I understand." Seeing that this matter had finally come to an end, I felt a little more secure in my heart, so I intentionally asked Zhukov, "Comrade marshal, we still have to go on our way. Will we call the driver back now?" After getting his permission, I quickly pushed the door open, leaned out half of my body, and yelled at the driver who was smoking in the back, "Hey, comrade driver, stop smoking. We are going to start now."

Although we were still in Kiev, sokolovsky reported the German breakthrough to Zhukov on the phone. But we were delayed on the road for more than two hours, and the enemy situation changed again.

The mystery of vatukin's death has been thrown over by us for the time being. At present, the most troublesome problem for us is that Hubei led more than 100000 German troops to break through the block of general pokhov, left the mountainous area, joined up with the second army of the armed SS, successfully withdrew to the direction of Lvov, and quickly established a new defense.

"How could that be?" After reading all the war reports, Zhukov slapped the table hard and yelled at sokolovsky: "in the war reports we received this morning, didn't pokhov say that his troops completely blocked the German attack? And Moskalenko, several commanders of the group army, also assured me that they had captured the main force of the German army and were launching a siege and annihilation war? How could the situation on the battlefield have changed so much in just a few hours? "

"Comrade marshal." Sokolovsky blushed and replied, "the main reason is that the enemy is too cunning. Hube used deception tactics to make our pursuit and interception troops regard the decoy troops he threw as the main force of the German army."

"Almost 200000 German troops fled into the mountains." Zhukov said angrily: "we used a few group forces to fight for two or three days, only less than 50000 people were killed, and more than 100000 people escaped from our ambush successfully. Have you ever thought about how much trouble this will cause to our next strategy? "

When Zhukov was furious in the headquarters, we didn't dare to speak. Even the staff and communication personnel who came in and went out of the headquarters were relieved, for fear of provoking Zhukov's thunder.

But fortunately, the phone call suddenly broke the siege for all of us. Zhukov was very angry. When he heard the ring, he looked down and found that it was a high-frequency telephone that could talk directly with Moscow. After taking two deep breaths, he picked up the phone and said to the microphone in a smooth tone: "I'm Zhukov!"

"Comrade Zhukov, I'm Stalin!" Stalin's serious voice came out of the receiver: "I just got intelligence that more than 100000 people of the German tanks of the first group army escaped from our encirclement. What's the matter? When you reported to me these two days, didn't you say that the German army had no way back? How can we let so many enemies escape from our siege in a twinkling of an eye? "

"Comrade Stalin, it's all my responsibility!" Although Zhukov has just been furious with everyone, when facing the blame from his superiors, he will not put the responsibility on his subordinates, but take it on his own, which makes everyone admire him“ Because I misjudged the direction of the German army's action, I put the heavy troops in the wrong position, which made it easy for the German army to break through. "

"Yes, you have an unshirkable responsibility for the German breakthrough." After Zhukov finished speaking, Stalin said without hesitation: "Comrade Antonov of the general staff once pointed out that the direction for Hubei to lead the breakout would not be the south, but the direction that could easily merge with their friendly forces. But what about you? However, he ignored the judgment of the general staff and went his own way to deploy the main force of the front army in the south. "

I listened to Stalin's lesson to Zhukov. At the same time, I thought: Zhukov, as the commander of the front army, would not accept the judgment provided by the general staff if he thought it was unreasonable. After all, it was him who commanded the army, not the general staff.

While I was thinking wildly, I suddenly heard Stalin say: "in the last two offensive campaigns, you have made several wrong decisions in succession. As a result, the enemy who should have been annihilated by us fled from the encirclement we formed. After discussion in the highest base camp, we have decided to remove your position as commander of the front army. "

Zhukov's face turned black when he heard this. After several deep breaths, he tried to ask in a calm tone, "Comrade Stalin, I don't know who you are going to replace me?"

"Konev!" Stalin did not hesitate to say a familiar name: "I decided to let him command the first and second front forces of Ukraine." After these words, Stalin was silent for a moment, and then added, "I will let Comrade Antonov contact you about the specific handover." As soon as he said that, Stalin hung up.

Zhukov put down the phone and sat in his seat without saying a word. Military commissar kleinukov wanted to come forward to persuade him. Standing beside him, sokolovsky quickly grabbed his sleeve and shook his head at him.

"Comrades!" Just as we were standing uneasily, Zhukov suddenly looked up at us and said without expression, "I just received a call from Comrade Stalin, who informed me that I had been removed from the post of commander of the first front army of Ukraine."

All three of us have just heard his dialogue with Stalin, so when we heard him say that, we all acted very ordinary. He continued: "the position of commander of the front army will be taken over by Marshal konev. According to Comrade Stalin, our first front army of Ukraine will merge with the second front army of Marshal konev to form a larger front army unit. "

"Marshal," kleinukov said with a smile as soon as Zhukov finished speaking, probably to ease the dull atmosphere in the room. "If the two front armies are really merged, the total strength of the new front army will exceed one million. With such a large force, we can use the strength of a front army to launch a separate offensive campaign in a certain area. "

"Yes, comrade military Commissar." Zhukov nodded his head and echoed: "at present, the remaining German forces in Ukraine can't compete with our million troops. I don't think it will be long before we can drive all the Germans in Ukraine out of the border. "“ Marshal, "seeing that Zhukov's mood recovered a little, sokolovsky tentatively asked," did Comrade Stalin say what kind of work will be arranged for you? "“ It's not clear. He said he would ask Comrade Antonov to call me As soon as Zhukov said that, the high-frequency telephone in front of him rang again. He pointed to the phone with a smile and said, "maybe it's Antonov." With that, he grabbed the microphone, put it to his ear and said aloud, "Hello, I'm Zhukov. Is that Comrade Antonov?"“ Yes, comrade Zhukov. " Indeed, Antonov's familiar voice came from the receiver, "Comrade Stalin asked me to call you." Zhukov heard the other party say so, with a wry smile, and then asked: "Comrade Antonov, I don't know where I am going to take charge of the work?"“ Comrade Zhukov, the leader of the supreme command, after research, thinks that you are too tired recently and need to rest for a while. " After waiting for Zhukov to finish, Antonov said euphemistically, "so I'm going to recall you to Moscow, and I won't arrange any work for you for the time being. Let you cultivate your body first."“ No need to rest. " Zhukov replied impolitely: "under the current situation, I don't have any leisure. I'd better send me to some place to form a new army."“ Comrade Zhukov, you have misunderstood. " Antonov said with a smile: "to recall you to Moscow, in addition to giving you a rest, I am also ready to honor you in recognition of your great achievements."