As soon as the match was over, Khrushchev took us into the rest room behind the stands and rested for about half an hour. When we left, although the number was the same as when we entered the lounge, no one found that several of the senior commanders had changed.
Shortly after we left, a group of commanders came out of the lounge. Although they were carrying the rank of lieutenant or second lieutenant on their epaulets, a colonel came out of the next room. After seeing them, he trotted all the way, raised his hand and said respectfully, "general, the car is ready for you. We can go to the airport at any time."
If someone who is familiar with them is present, he will be surprised to find that the burly Lieutenant standing in the front is actually general rokosovsky, commander of the first front army of Belarus, and the others behind are also commanders of the second and third front army of Belarus and the front army along the coast of the Baltic sea.
Rokosovsky nodded and said politely, "thank you, comrade colonel. Please show us the way ahead."
The captain led rokosovsky to the back of the stadium, where he boarded a military bus with curtains drawn. After all the people boarded the bus, the Colonel signaled the Department to get on the door, and then loudly ordered: "go to the airport!"
On the way to malinski palace, konev, who was sitting next to me, said with a smile: "since June 20, from the front line of our army to the whole area of the border, the Belarusian guerrillas have attacked the enemy's railway lines."
"If hundreds of thousands of guerrillas act at the same time, it will certainly cause a lot of trouble to the Germans. At least after the beginning of the campaign, the German army could not use the railway to transport troops and all kinds of military materials. " After I said this, I looked sideways at konev and asked, "when are we going back to Rovno?"
"It's going to be a few days." Konev sighed softly, then said: "the first front army along the Baltic Sea and the third front army of Belarus will attack the German army first tomorrow; Rokosovsky's troops will launch an attack on the German army in the early hours of the day after tomorrow. We'll wait for their attack to start before we return to Rovno
I nodded: "I understand that as long as we stay here, we can give the German army the illusion that since several commanders of the front army are not in the army, it is impossible to launch an attack on them in the near future."
After listening to me, konev was suddenly dumbfounded. After a moment, he continued: "because of the deceptive tactics of Britain and the United States, the Germans mistook the landing site of the allies for Calais, so that when Normandy was attacked, the armored group stationed in the direction of Calais was still standing. We also used similar deception tactics this time. I believe that after rokosovsky's attack, the German army will think that there is only a feint attack, and the real attack direction of our army is in Ukraine. "
In order to confuse the German spies in Kiev, the next morning, konev and I, accompanied by Khrushchev, went to the nearby garrison camp to inspect. Along with us, in addition to the other three commanders of the Ukrainian front army, is rokosovsky, their substitute.
At noon, when we returned from the garrison camp, Khrushchev received a call from Moscow. Stalin told him: "Comrade Khrushchev, bagramian's troops have successfully broken through the German defense line, crossed the West German Vera River and surrounded vitibutsk; Chernyahovsky's right wing is rapidly advancing towards boresov, approaching the Berezina River; Zaharov's Belarusian second front army also successfully broke through the German defense line The actions of the Belarusian guerrillas paralyzed all the railways in the German rear and made it impossible to transport soldiers and materials to the front line. "
"Great, that's great." When Khrushchev heard the news, he was overjoyed. He then asked with concern, "is there any change in the enemy's military deployment in the front of rokosovsky?"
"No, according to the intelligence, because of your deception, they have successfully confused the enemy, so they have not expected that we will attack them in the swamp area."
After Stalin finished, Khrushchev asked cautiously, "Comrade Stalin, marshal konev and Rita are still here. Do you need to talk to them?"
"Give konev the phone." Stalin simply ordered.
Konev received the call and heard Stalin's order: "comrades konev, now that your puzzle task has been completed, you can go back to Rovno immediately."
"After going back, what kind of actions need to be taken to cooperate with the friendly forces?"
Stalin thought about konev's proposal for a while, and then replied, "you can put on a posture that is about to launch an attack to attract the attention of Germany, so that they will not be able to transfer their main forces to Belarus in a short period of time, and rokosovsky's attack will be much weaker."
"I see, comrade Stalin." Konev replied with a smile: "I will immediately return to Ukraine and put on an offensive posture in the direction of the Carpathians, so that the enemy mistakenly thinks that we will immediately launch an attack on Romania, so as to contain their forces."
"Very well, comrade konev, you have a very good idea." After hearing konev's proposal, Stalin immediately agreed, "as long as you can draw the enemy's attention to the south, then the troops of rokosovsky and bagramian will be able to make a big show."
…………
With Stalin's permission, konev and I immediately flew back to Rovno.
The first thing I did when I got back to the headquarters, konev said to me in a deliberative tone: "Rita, I want you to go to chernovze immediately, mobilize your troops there, and put on a special attack on Romania, so as to attract the attention of the German army."
"All right, comrade marshal." I readily agreed to the order given to me by konev. After discussing some details, I took the train to chernovze overnight.
Although I know in my heart that a series of measures taken at the Romanian border can only deceive the Germans for a short time. With our army's big fight in Belarus, Hitler soon understood that our army's real main attack direction was in Belarus, not Romania.
I arrived at chernofse at dawn and arrived at the headquarters of the seventh group army of the close guard stationed here as soon as I could. After a few simple greetings with the familiar commander, shumilov, I decisively gave him the order of the front army. I immediately sent the infantry division to drive into the border defense area.
After hearing my order, shumilov hesitated and asked, "Comrade deputy commander, it's a bit too hasty for us to go straight to the border before we finish our supply work."
I took a look at shumilov, who was standing opposite me, and then said, "Comrade General, our army's offensive in Belarus has been fully launched. In order to prevent the German troops from moving northward from Ukraine, we must feint here, so that the enemy can not know where our real attack direction is. Do you understand? "
"I understand." Shumilov nodded, pointed to the map and said to me, "at present, there are German defensive positions in the southwest of chernovitzer. If we transfer our main forces to the border area, chernovitzer will become empty. If the German army takes the lead in attacking us at this time, we will become very passive."
I asked shumilov to move his troops just to confuse the enemy. I didn't really want to move several infantry divisions stationed in chernovitzer to the border area. At the moment, seeing shumilov's worried expression, I can only explain my plan to him: "general shumilov, you don't have to worry about this. We don't want to transfer all our troops to the border areas. We just want to put on a move to confuse the enemy. During the day, you transfer an infantry division, and then at night, you bring the division back. When the German army hears that our position is moving troops day and night, they will surely think that we are going to attack in this direction. "
"Is that effective?" After hearing this, shumilov asked suspiciously.
"Of course it works." I don't know how many generals have used this tactic since ancient times. If it doesn't work, it won't be handed down to later generations. It was because of his confidence that when I heard his question, I immediately replied confidently, "don't worry, comrade general, the Germans won't be aware of the truth at least in the short term."
Seeing that I was so confident, shumilov immediately told his chief of staff, "chief of staff, call major general zirkov of the 15th division and major general lilenkov of the 36th division, and ask them to rush to the headquarters of the group army immediately."
A few minutes later, two major generals appeared in the headquarters. Shumilov went up to the two men and said, "comrades of division commander, you two will immediately assemble your troops and take a truck to the border area."
"Comrade commander," as soon as shumilov finished speaking, general kirkov, standing on the left, said with embarrassment, "at present, the troops are still in rest, and the troops and weapons and ammunition have not been replenished. It seems a little inappropriate to transfer the troops to the border area at this time."
"There's nothing inappropriate." Shumilov waved his hand and said to them truthfully, "I asked you to transfer your troops to the border, not to fight immediately, but to deceive the Germans."
"Deceiving the Germans?" Both cherkov and lilienkov looked at each other and were surprised by the opposite look. After a moment's silence, Li liankov asked, "Comrade commander, I don't understand what you mean. Since we are not allowed to fight, what will we do when we are transferred to the defensive position at the border?"
I took two steps forward, came to them and said with a smile, "comrades, you may not know that our Belarusian front army and the Baltic front army have launched a comprehensive attack in Belarus. In order to attract the German troops in Ukraine and prevent them from joining the Belarusian region, we have to use some deceptive means to make the Germans feel that Ukraine is the key point of our attack and dare not move the troops away. Do you understand? "
"I see." The two teachers replied in unison. Immediately, cherkov asked with a smile, "Comrade deputy commander of the front army, do not know what we should do?
"It's very simple," I said lightly, "you get the infantry on the vehicle first, and then drive into the border area in a big way. Wait until it's dark before they are brought back from the front. After daybreak, the troops were transported to the front. When people see us mobilizing our troops in such a high-profile manner, they will surely think that we are about to launch an attack on us and that we are bound to strengthen our defense along the border. In this way, they will not be able to transfer more troops to Belarus. " After understanding my intention, the two teachers saluted and turned to leave. Shumilov also asked with some uneasiness: "Comrade deputy commander, if you light up the infantry, you may not be able to hide from the enemy. I think we should send more tanks and artillery, and put on a posture of large-scale attack, so as to achieve the effect of deceiving the enemy."“ It's reasonable. Infantry alone is not enough. At least we need to send out some more tanks and artillery to make it like a real attack. " Thinking of this, I tentatively asked: "general sumilov, I don't know how many tanks and artillery you can mobilize to the front line?"“ As for tank troops, there are two tank brigades that can be mobilized. As for artillery, "shumilov said here, hesitating slightly for a moment, as if thinking about which army to send“ It doesn't need too many artillery. It only needs two howitzer regiments. " I said to shumilov with a smile, "our artillery can also be transported up in the daytime and back in the evening like infantry." Less than an hour later, the troops stationed south of chernovitzer began to move on a large scale. Trucks full of commanders and fighters, artillery trucks with guns behind them, and tank brigades that have just completed the renovation, take the way of multi-channel parallel advance and drive toward the border area in a mighty manner. Shumilov and I stood in the church bell tower, looking at the traffic, and asked, "Comrade deputy commander, I don't know how long we need to maintain such deception?"“ Don't worry, general shumilov I put down my telescope, looked at him, and said with a smile, "as long as we can keep the main force of the German here for two days, it's a great victory."