Chapter 1544

Stalin did not look surprised when he heard what I said. Instead, he continued to walk towards his desk, picked up a packet of cigarettes on it, took out two, crushed them with his fingers, and filled them into his pipe. After lighting my pipe and taking a slow breath, I slowly asked, "what do you think?"

"I think the two chief of general staff's worries are superfluous," I quickly took a step forward, and then stood at attention again: "in the face of the Allied landing operation, the German army will definitely not join the armored forces."

"Why, give me your reasons." On hearing my reply, Stalin ignored the surprised eyes of vasilevsky and Antonov, and asked me curiously, "why don't the German troops use armored forces against the landing allies?"

"The reason is very simple. Before landing, the Allies carried out a series of deceptive actions against the German army, which made the German army firmly believe that the landing site of the allies would be Calais, not Normandy. In this way, even if the Allies successfully set up a landing site on the beach, the German army would consider it a feint and still focus their main attention on Calais

"Rita's statement is very novel," Stalin said after listening, facing vasilevsky, they asked: "what do you think?"

Antonov looked at vasilevsky, nodded slightly, then took a step forward, and then said aloud, "Comrade Stalin, I don't think oshanina's analysis is in line with the actual situation. The Germans are not stupid. When they see the Allied forces landing in Normandy with hundreds of thousands or even millions of troops, will they think that Calais is the main landing point of the Allied forces? "

After listening to Antonov's words, Stalin, with his pipe in his mouth, did not speak. Instead, he began to pace slowly, almost step by step, stopping more time than walking. I stood in the same place at a loss, staring at Stalin, who was in deep thought. I felt that he was engaged in a fierce ideological struggle at the moment: should he trust me or trust Antonov?

He went to his desk, stopped, took his pipe out of his mouth, suddenly turned and asked, "Rita, do you really think the Allied landing will not be attacked by the German armored forces?"

In my memory, only the German 21st armored division organized the counterattack on d day, but the division commander, general fishdinger, went to Paris to have fun, and at the same time brought a group of the most capable combat officers. The chief of staff had no right to mobilize his troops. He could only send his only 24 No. 4 tanks to attack the British Army east of Caen. However, due to lack of preparation and the cooperation of infantry, the hasty attack was easily repulsed by the British army.

In the afternoon of the same day, fishdinger rushed back to the division headquarters and assembled his troops to launch an attack on Luk town between Juno Beach and Sword Beach. While the 21st Armored Division was on the March, 500 allied transport planes were flying overhead to transport the follow-up troops and supplies for the British 6th airborne division. Fishdinger mistakenly thought that the Allied paratroopers were ready to attack their own parts back and forth, so he panicked, did not fight, and hurried back after giving up the counterattack. In addition, the German army had no more counterattack on d day.

It is precisely because I know this period of history that after hearing Stalin's question, I answered without hesitation: "Comrade Stalin, according to my judgment, even if the German troops put in armored forces to carry out counterattack, the number of tanks they can use will not be too many. The landing allies are enough to wipe them out, so you can rest assured of that. "

"Comrade o'shanina, is this too illogical?" Vasilevsky said to me solemnly, "according to our intelligence, the German army has assembled at least five armored divisions in Normandy. Even if only one armored division is put into battle, it is enough to drive all the landing allies to the sea."

I really don't know how to defend the query of vassilevsky. I can't tell them that I am from the future. The ongoing Normandy landing is just a history of dust settling for me, right? Just as I frowned and pondered, there was a knock at the door.

All the attention in the room was attracted by the knock on the door. As soon as the door opened, bosklebshev appeared at the door. Stalin looked at his secretary and asked, "what's the matter, comrade bosklebshev?"

"Report to Comrade Stalin, Zhukov is here!" replied bosklebshev, standing at the door

"Ask him in!" Stalin, after hearing the report, gave a brief order.

Bosklebshev nodded, went to the door, made a gesture of invitation to the room, and sideways to let Zhukov in.

Zhukov, who was not wearing a military cap, walked up to Stalin in high spirits. When he stopped and stood upright in front of Stalin, he said in a slightly trembling voice: "Comrade Stalin, I want to tell you a good news."

"Good news?" When Stalin heard this, he raised his eyebrows and asked curiously, "Comrade Zhukov, I don't know what kind of exciting news you have sent us?"

"According to the information I received, the Allies landed in Normandy." When Zhukov opened his mouth, he said that the Allies had opened up a second battlefield. "At present, they have successfully landed on Utah Beach, Sword Beach, Juno Beach, golden beach and Omaha Beach, and established landing sites. At present, fierce fighting is in progress."

"Comrade Zhukov, we already know what you have learned." After saying this, Zhukov turned to look at some of us, and then added, "we are discussing whether the German troops will drive all the landing allies into the sea if they put in armored forces to carry out counterattack at this time."

When Zhukov heard Stalin say this, he looked at us unexpectedly and asked curiously, "what's the result of your discussion?"

Stalin pointed to Hua silevsky and said: "the two chief of general staff agree that although the Allied forces have a temporary advantage, once the German armored forces fight back, all the landing allied forces will be driven to the sea. And Rita When he talked about me, he couldn't help smiling. "He thought that the German army could not put in a lot of armored forces to carry out the counterattack. The allies could smash the German counterattack and further expand the results."

After glancing at the map on the table, Zhukov pointed to it with his hand: "Comrade Stalin, that's the topographic map of the coast of France. Please allow me to introduce the situation to you."

When I saw Zhukov stride to the table and take a look at the map, a strange idea suddenly appeared in my mind. Didn't Zhukov have the meeting that Stalin, the chief of staff, held not long ago?

Seeing Stalin and vasilevsky gathered around the conference table one after another, I hastened to stand behind Zhukov and looked at the map on the table to hear how Zhukov analyzed the form.

"Comrade Stalin, according to the reports of the Allied forces and our own reconnaissance intelligence," Zhukov introduced the situation to Stalin without expression: "in June 1944, Germany's military deployment was 179 divisions and 5 brigades in the Soviet Union, 13 divisions in Norway and Sweden in northern Europe, 21 divisions in Italy, 25 divisions in Yugoslavia, 12 divisions in Greece and 4 divisions in Hungary. There are 60 divisions in France, Belgium and the Netherlands on the Atlantic coast, accounting for about 18% of their total forces. Among these 60 divisions, 23 are deployed in Calais, and only 6 divisions and 3 regiments are deployed in Normandy where the Allied forces landed, accounting for about 2% of their total forces. "

After introducing the German forces, Zhukov straightened up and continued: "Comrade Stalin, we can analyze from these intelligence that the German defense in Normandy is weak. Facing the hundreds of thousands of troops invested by the Allied forces, there is no fighting back force. I believe that in less than two days, the allies will be able to gain a firm foothold at the landing point and develop in depth to the German defense. "

Although Zhukov and Stalin often fight for certain things, I know in my heart that Zhukov is the person he trusts most in military affairs. In the same way, no matter what I or vasilevsky said, he would have to go through repeated consideration and weighing, and what Zhukov said would make him believe it.

This time is no exception. As soon as Zhukov's words were finished, Stalin took off his pipe in his mouth and nodded his head, saying with approval: "yes, judging from the distribution of German forces we know, Normandy is the weakest place for them to defend and the easiest place for them to stand firm after the Allied attacks. I believe it won't be long before we get good news. "

When Stalin finished his speech, he suddenly looked at me and said, "Rita, next I want to talk about the use of you. Don't know what you think? "

"Comrade Stalin," although Stalin asked me to make a statement, I understood very well that this was just his attitude, and it did not mean that he really wanted me to express his true views. So he quickly and wisely said, "I firmly obey your instructions, and I will go wherever you arrange me?"

"Comrade Antonov," when Stalin saw that I had given him the right to choose, he turned to Antonov and asked, "what position do you think we should give Rita?"

Antonov looked at me for a moment, and then replied, "Comrade Stalin, general oshanina used to be the commander of the sixth group army of the guards. Now her troops are in Belarus. I suggest that she be sent to rokosovsky to take part in the upcoming battle of Belarus."

"No way," as soon as Antonov's words were finished, Zhukov immediately objected: "Rita's guards of the sixth group army, now under the command of the second front army of Belarus, even if she went to rokosovsky, she was just a bare commander. I think we should send her to Ukraine."

Two powerful subordinates put forward two different plans, which made Stalin a bit embarrassed. He thought for a moment, and then for vasilevsky, who had never made a statement: "what's your opinion, comrade vasilevsky?"

Vasilevsky looked at Antonov beside him, and then at Zhukov standing in front of Stalin. After a short hesitation, he said decisively, "Comrade Stalin, I think this matter should be decided by you."

On how to use me, after a big circle, the final choice returned to Stalin's hands. He gave a silent smile, saw his pipe in his mouth, took a sip, and said, "since Comrade Zhukov thinks Rita should go to Ukraine, let her go back to the first front army of Ukraine. But this time, she no longer went as a representative of the base camp, but as a deputy commander of the front army. "

"Comrade Antonov, you will call konev later and announce my decision to him." After giving orders to Antonov, Stalin said to me, "Rita, the main reason why I sent you back to Ukraine is that nearly 100000 prisoners of war rescued this time were incorporated into our army, especially the 18th guards. When you go back to Ukraine, you keep an eye on this army. If something goes wrong, I can't spare you. " Perhaps seeing the embarrassed expression on my face, vasilevsky came out to help me out: "Rita, comrade Stalin sent you to Ukraine, which is his trust in you. If you think about it, with our continuous victory, more and more prisoners of war of our army will be rescued from the German prison camp in the future. If these prisoners of war who have been incorporated into the army in Ukraine can perform well, then we will be of great help to the next work of prisoner of war reorganization. " When I heard that, I instinctively turned to see Stalin to see his reaction. But now Stalin, with his pipe in one hand and the back of one hand behind him, began to pace the room again. Because his back was facing me, I couldn't see the expression on his face. But on second thought, since Stalin did not immediately stop wassilevsky's statement, it proved that he maintained an attitude of no support and no objection to the work of reorganizing prisoners of war. With this understanding, I quickly stood at attention in the same place. Facing Stalin's back, I said, "Comrade Stalin, please rest assured that I will live up to your expectations." Stalin was satisfied with what I said. He turned to me, put his hand on my shoulder, and said kindly, "I'm sure you'll live up to my trust, Rita." With that, he raised his hand and looked at his watch, adding, "it's getting late. You stay with us for lunch."