Chapter 1552

When konev's two aviation divisions arrived at the battlefield, they were bombarded by the German troops on the ground, which made them cry and cry. In the bombing area, there were destroyed tanks, armored vehicles, trucks, artillery and other equipment everywhere.

As soon as shumilov heard that the German army had been bombed, he couldn't wait to ask me, "Comrade deputy commander, since our air force is out, can we order the troops lying in ambush on both wings to attack?"

As I was looking at the map, when I heard what shumilov said, I looked up at him and said, "Comrade General, inform the troops lying in ambush on both wings to make them ready for attack. We must remind them that no one is allowed to attack at will until they have received the order to attack. "

Shumilov turned around and just called the chief of staff, ready to let the other side pass on my order. But without waiting for the other party to come, he suddenly realized that there was still a gap between the order I gave and what he imagined. He quickly turned to look at me and asked in amazement: "Comrade deputy commander, just let them prepare and don't attack from the flank?"

"Comrade General, don't worry." I replied with a smile: "our air force has just launched a bombing campaign against the German troops on the ground. If our troops attack at this time, they will be entangled with the enemy in a short time. The air force is worried that it will blow up its own people by mistake, and it will stop bombing the ground, which is tantamount to giving the German army a breathing space. "

"So it is. I see." After understanding my intention, shumilov turned to the chief of staff who had just come by and said, "chief of staff, give orders to the troops on both wings to make all preparations before the attack. When the air force returns, it will attack immediately and resolutely cut off the retreat of the German army."

When the air force ended the bombing and began to return, shumilov decisively gave orders to the troops to attack. Not only the infantry divisions and tank brigades ambushed on both sides of the line of defense, but also several divisions engaged in frontal defense launched a comprehensive counterattack. In less than half an hour, the German armored division, which launched an attack on chernovitzer, fell into the encirclement of our army.

The commander of the German army was very cunning. He saw that our army was strong in this area, with the help of air force, artillery and tanks. In order to avoid greater losses, he resolutely gave up the encircled troops and let the main force return to the starting point of attack. After a night of fierce fighting, only a dozen tanks and a few hundred soldiers of the German armored division escaped from our encirclement.

After listening to my victory report, konev said with some regret: "unfortunately, if our plan can be more detailed, we may be able to completely annihilate this armored division."

I heard what he said, but I said with disapproval: "Comrade marshal, the German attack on chernovitzer is just a test of our army's strength. Once they find something wrong, they will immediately withdraw."

"Well, you have a point." Konev carefully said: "the reason why the enemy sent only one armored division to attack chernovze is to test our strength in the area. You ate this armored division in one day, which gave the German the illusion that our army had assembled a large number of troops in the Romanian border area. In this way, they will not transfer their troops to Belarus. "

After konev said this, he was silent for a while, and then said to me, "Rita, I have just been informed by the headquarters of the general staff that I should rush to Moscow immediately to take on a new combat mission."

"Great, comrade marshal." Knowing that konev's recall to Moscow this time must be related to the next offensive campaign to liberate Ukraine, I said with a smile, "I think we are going to attack the Germans here too."

"According to the order, it was the two of us who went to Moscow together to accept the mission." Konev said: "you explain the next deployment to shumilov, and then immediately take the train back to Rovno."

After I put down the phone, I looked at shumilov and said, "Comrade General, I'm going back to Rovno soon."

After hearing this, shumilov raised his eyebrows, and then asked respectfully, "Comrade deputy commander, I don't know what our group army should do next?"

"Maintain the status quo." I gave a brief command: "in addition to continuing to transport troops to the Romanian border, we should strengthen the defense in the southwest to prevent the German army from attacking from this direction again."

"I see." Shumilov promised, and then offered: "for the sake of safety, I'll send a guard company to escort you to the station."

…………

According to the plan, as soon as I return to Rovno, I should accompany konev to Moscow. However, Antonov unexpectedly informed us that the meeting of the Supreme Commander himself with us was postponed to July 3.

At noon on the 3rd, konev and I boarded the special plane at the military airport of Rovno and flew to Moscow. Two hours later, our plane landed at a military airport on the outskirts of the city, and then in a car sent by Antonov, we hurried to the Kremlin.

The two of us came to Stalin's office and met Stalin who was busy. After shaking hands with him, konev respectfully asked, "Comrade Stalin, do you have any good news today?"

"Good news? Yes, of course there is good news. " Stalin, with his pipe in his mouth, replied with a smile: "our army is playing quite well in Belarus."

Standing in front of the map, he told us the current situation of the war with high emotion: "the third front army of Belarus arrived at the Berezina River between June 29 and 30, crossed the river in several places, and began to advance rapidly towards Minsk. Today, the second army of the close guard tanks first broke into the capital of Belarus. The first front army of Belarus, which pursued the enemy in the direction of Minsk and baranovic, also moved smoothly. Last night, the first army of the front army's close guard tanks made a detour from the south to Minsk and went out to the southeast suburbs, where they joined the third front army of Belarus. In this way, we have completed the encirclement of the basic forces of the German fourth group army and part of the ninth group army.

The second front army of Belarus also attacked Minsk at the same time. They are carrying out the task of containing, dividing and destroying the German forces. Our air force firmly controlled the air supremacy and carried out a strong assault on the German army, making it difficult for them to withdraw their troops and deploy their reserves in a planned way. "

What Stalin said, although we saw the war report before we left Rovno. But konev still showed a strong interest. As soon as Stalin finished, he immediately said, "the troops in Belarus are really good. I believe they will be able to drive the enemy out of Belarus in a short time."

After konev finished speaking, Stalin said, "in order to expand the results of the offensive campaign in Belarus, we will launch a new offensive in Ukraine. Comrade konev, are you ready? "

"Yes, comrade Stalin." Konev quickly stepped forward and replied respectfully: "although the attack time is one month earlier than we expected, we have basically completed the attack preparation after this time."

Stalin laughed, took his pipe out of his mouth, pointed at konev and asked, "now that the preparations for the attack have been completed, comrade konev, tell me where you plan to launch the attack?"

Although the map was right behind konev, he didn't even look back, so he directly replied, "Comrade Stalin, I intend to attack from the direction of Lvov."

"What, attack from Lviv?" Konev's words made Stalin frown. He went around konev for half a circle, and then said, "Comrade konev, don't you think we can achieve more by launching an attack from the Carpathian mountains? As long as our troops enter the territory of Romania, can we make this country withdraw from the servants of the Communist Party and join us? "

Konev looked at Stalin and replied, "Comrade Stalin, it is undeniable that if we choose the direction of attack in the Carpathians, we can really achieve the goal you said. However, judging from the actual situation, Romania is not suitable as the main direction of attack. Romania is mountainous, which is not conducive to the deployment of our armored forces. If we really want to attack from here first, we will certainly pay a huge price and delay a lot of time at the same time... "

"Comrade konev, I think you've been carried away by a series of victories." I didn't expect that Stalin didn't wait for konev to finish, so he directly interrupted what he said behind him. He turned to the door with his right hand clutching the cigarette end and said impolitely, "go outside first and calm down."

When konev walked out of the room and closed the door behind him, Stalin turned his eyes to me again and asked solemnly, "Rita, how do you think about it? Like konev, do you think our main attack direction in Ukraine should be Lvov? "

Seeing that konev was driven out of the room by Stalin without any warning and went to stand outside, my heart became uneasy. After hearing Stalin's question, I couldn't help getting a little flustered and stammered, "Stalin and comrades, I think that marshal konev said that it's reasonable."

"Oh, you think konev is right, too." Stalin returned to his desk with a cigarette end in his mouth, sat down, looked at me and said kindly, "tell me your reasons."

"Comrade Stalin," seeing that Stalin didn't get angry with me, which made me feel at ease again, I looked at him and said boldly, "the first reason is that marshal konev has said that the terrain in the Carpathian Mountains is easy to defend and difficult to attack, which is not suitable for us to invest a large number of armored forces. The second reason is that a series of feints I recently carried out on the Romanian border made the German army gather a lot of troops in the region. If we want to launch an attack from this area, we will confront the German heavy group. As marshal konev said, we not only have to pay a huge price, but also delay precious time

"What about Lviv?" Stalin asked noncommittally: "can we attack from here, and the resistance we encounter will be weak?"

"Yes, comrade Stalin, that's exactly the case." Seeing that Stalin showed no sign of anger, I boldly said, "the feint we carried out in the south of Ukraine has successfully confused the German general. During this period, they successively transferred five divisions from Lvov, two of which were armored divisions. Today, the troops in the direction of Lvov have become very weak. As long as we launch an attack, we can achieve great results. "

After I had said this, I quickly and carefully observed Stalin's expression. But he was still calm and quietly smoking his cigarette. After a long time, he said, "since you are so reasonable, I'll call konev in again to ask if he has changed his mind." As Stalin picked up the phone from his desk and was about to speak to his secretary, bosklebshev, the door was pushed open from the outside and a general rushed in. It was Antonov, deputy chief of general staff, that I recognized at a glance. With a piece of paper in his hand, he excitedly reported to Stalin: "Comrade Stalin, good news! hot wire!! Our troops have liberated Minsk. The German 4th and 9th army, about 100000 people, were surrounded by our army in a narrow area east of Minsk. " Stalin took the battle report from Antonov and quickly scanned it in front of him. I found his hand trembling slightly because he was too excited. After putting down the war report, he looked up at the ceiling and said with relief, "Minsk has finally been recovered by us!"“ Yes, comrade Stalin. " Antonov also said excitedly: "from the beginning of the campaign to now, our army has advanced 225-280 kilometers in 12 days at an average speed of 20-25 kilometers per day and night, liberating a large area of territory in Belarus. The main force of the German Central Army Group has been encircled and smashed by our army. "“ Next, it's time to look at Ukraine. " Stalin finished this sentence, picked up the phone on the table, and told the outside Persian klebshev: "let konev in!" When konev walked back into the office, Stalin asked directly, "Comrade konev, do you still insist on choosing the direction of attack in Lvov instead of the Carpathians?"“ Yes, comrade Stalin. " "I think Lvov is the best offensive direction in the offensive campaign," konev said categorically“ Well, comrade konev, since you insist, I agree with your choice. " After a pause, Stalin added: "if the attack in the direction of Lvov does not go well, you will also bear the consequences. Do you understand? "“ Yes, comrade Stalin. " Konev replied without squinting: "if the attack fails, I am willing to bear all the consequences caused by it!" After receiving konev's affirmative answer, Stalin waved his hand to us and said, "well, since you have made clear your responsibility, go back to Ukraine immediately and prepare for the attack."