Chapter 1612

Biluzov is calling naval headquarters to discuss the use of troop carriers to transport infantry by sea. Tolbuhine came back to us and asked Zhukov a little uneasily: "marshal, when the German army saw that our army was moving on such a large scale, would they mobilize troops from other places to strengthen their defense in Bulgaria?"

Zhukov said with a faint smile: "the German general headquarters and the pro * * Bulgarian government troops did not realize that we were mobilizing troops to the Bulgarian border through Romania earlier. Now, even if they find out that we are mobilizing troops on a large scale, it is too late to deploy enough troops to prevent our troops from entering Bulgaria. "

"Comrade marshal is right." As soon as Zhukov finished, I immediately echoed: "since the liberation of Kiev by our army, the main forces of the German army have been tied down on all fronts by our army, and it is difficult to mobilize them quickly. This is true of the right bank campaign in Ukraine, and it is true of the Belarus campaign. I believe that in the upcoming Bulgarian campaign, the main forces of the German army will not be able to enter the main defensive zone before we start the campaign. "

"But we can't take it lightly just because the German army didn't have enough time to mobilize enough troops before the battle." After I finished, Zhukov solemnly told tolbuhine: "the preparations for the campaign are not allowed to be delayed, because the enemy will take corresponding measures to remedy the situation when they find that our army has mobilized a large number of troops. In this case, procrastination means the loss of the suddenness of action. "

"But Comrade marshal, as is often the case in war, although the troops have already been assembled, our attack has to be delayed because the supplies are not fully in place." Tolbusin complained to Zhukov: "for example, before the attack starts, it is necessary to ensure that there are enough shells and oil reserves. If it does not reach the required quantity, the artillery preparation will be greatly reduced before the attack; Tanks and cars can't move in quickly

After tolbuhin finished speaking, his military commissar zhertov said to Zhukov, "marshal, please send me to the logistics force. I'll take a group of political workers to talk with the truck drivers and train drivers who are responsible for transportation, so that they can understand the importance of this campaign and find ways to improve the transportation efficiency, so as to ensure that our army's transportation efficiency before the campaign starts, We can stock up enough supplies. "

"Very well, comrade gertov, you have a very good idea." Zhukov nodded to gertov and said with approval, "I believe that after the hard work of you and your comrades in arms, the efficiency of logistics and transportation will be greatly improved."

At this time, biliuzov returned to the table after calling and sat down. He reported to Zhukov, "Comrade marshal, the commander of the Black Sea fleet is not here. I have conveyed our message to him."

"Who answered the phone?" Zhukov frowned at the question.

"It's the chief of staff of the Black Sea fleet, and he assured me that he would report to the commander as soon as he came back," he replied

After listening to the report, Zhukov raised his hand and looked at his watch. Then he said, "anyway, there's nothing to do in the morning. After I can't eat, Rita will accompany me to the hospital to see Marshal Timoshenko."

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Zhukov and I arrived at the hospital just in time for Timothy to wake up. Zhukov was to take over his job, so they sat together and chatted for hours. By the time we left the hospital, it was already afternoon.

When Zhukov and I returned to the headquarters, we were surprised to find a general in navy uniform sitting at the conference table. Before I could see who the other party was, I heard Zhukov call out unexpectedly: "Nikolay grasimovitch, what's the matter with you?"

When I heard Zhukov calling each other's real name and father's name, and saw the rank of admiral on his epaulet, I finally recognized that he was admiral Kuznetsov, commander in chief of the Navy. When they shook hands, Kuznetsov replied with a smile, "Comrade marshal, it's the Supreme Commander himself who ordered me to come here immediately to accept your command."

"Under my command?" Zhukovsong opened his hand and asked with a blank face: "when was this order issued? How can I not know?"

Kuznetsov and I shook hands politely before answering Zhukov: "the latest order just issued two hours ago. I was inspecting the Black Sea fleet, and as soon as I received this order, I arrived here immediately. "

After everyone was seated, Kuznetsov began to explain to Zhukov what he had come here for: "Comrade marshal, I went to the Black Sea Fleet this morning to inspect the work, and the fleet commander, Admiral okjabriski, was going to meet me at the airport. When we returned to his headquarters, the chief of staff of the fleet reported to him that general torbhuin's Ukrainian third front army hoped that we could provide transport ships for them to transport troops far away from the battlefield to the Bulgarian border by sea.

I thought it was very important, so I immediately reported it to the headquarters of the staff. It may be that Antonov, deputy chief of general staff, felt that this was conducive to the rapid assembly of troops, so he immediately reported to the Supreme Commander himself. Soon, we received orders from the base camp. From now on, the Black Sea fleet of general okjabinski and the Danube fleet under the command of general Gorshkov belong to the third front forces of Ukraine in the operational sequence. "

"Great, that's great." When Zhukov heard this, he turned to tolbusin, who was sitting beside him, and said, "in this way, the Navy and the army will have a unified command and can cooperate more harmoniously in the battle."

Although tolbuhine knew the news much earlier than us, when he heard Zhukov say so, he replied with a smile: "yes, originally I was worried that the comrades in the navy would not support our practice. Now they are all under the unified command of the front army, and there are more things to do next."

"From now on until the end of the campaign, I will stay here to coordinate the unified action of the Navy and the army." Kuznetsov looked at Zhukov and asked, "don't you know what our navy's mission is, marshal?"

Zhukov thought for a moment, and then said, "Comrade Kuznetsov, the main task of your navy is not to let enemy ships escape from Bulgaria, but to cooperate with ground forces to capture Varna and Burgas. At the same time, the Navy should also transport those troops far away from the battlefield for the army, send them to the vicinity of the enemy's ports, launch attacks on the enemy's ports with the cooperation of the Marine Corps, and firmly hold these ports occupied by our army before the main forces arrive. "

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At the same time, Bulgaria, which has been in anarchy for two consecutive days, has finally elected a new interim government led by moraviev. As soon as the government came to power, it could not wait to make a statement through radio Sofia, claiming that the government would end the wrong policy opposed by the Bulgarian people in the shortest possible time, restore the people's right to follow China and grant unconditional amnesty to all those arrested and imprisoned for opposing the Bulgarian poisonous vegetable system and the alliance with the German army To ensure the dissolution of all the Communist organizations and to maintain the strictest neutrality in foreign policy. In addition to disarming the German troops stationed in Bulgaria and those who will enter the country in the future. At the same time, negotiations should be held to make Bulgaria withdraw from the state of war with Britain and the United States.

A group of us gathered around the radio and listened to the high sounding statement of the moraviev government. There was no expression of joy on anyone's face, because we all knew that it was just a tactic of the moraviev government to postpone our army's entry into Bulgaria.

When moraviev's speech was over, Zhukov turned off the radio, waved his hand to let the interpreter leave, and then asked us with a sneer: "everyone has heard the speech of the new government. Tell us what you think."

"Let me say a few words," the first speaker was the military commissar gertov, who said without expression: "moraviev said on the radio that we should withdraw from the state of war with Britain and the United States by means of negotiation, but he only lightly mentioned to our country: we should improve our relations with Russia! There is not a word about how to improve it in the statement. "

After gertov finished, torbusin added: "according to my understanding, moraviev's talk is just to stabilize us so that our army can not launch active attacks in the short term. Once their peace talks with Britain and the United States are successful, Bulgaria will be separated from the camp of the Communist Party. In this way, we will not be able to attack our allies. "

"Ally, what ally?" Zhukov said angrily: "they are just allies of Britain and the United States. For us, as long as we don't develop Bulgaria's border to us, they are still our enemies."

When biliuzov heard Zhukov's words, his face immediately showed a happy expression. He interrupted and asked, "Comrade marshal, if I don't understand it wrong, should we continue our assembly on the Bulgarian border?"

"General biliuzov," Zhukov said solemnly as soon as he heard biliuzov say so, "before I give an order to stop marching on the Bulgarian border, the assembly of troops must continue unconditionally. Do you understand? "

"I understand," biliuzov replied cheerfully, "I am worried that the statement of moraviev's government will lead to a change in our policy towards Bulgaria. Since everything is the same as before, let's assume we haven't heard this announcement. "

Stalin, who was far away in Moscow, also heard the statement issued by the moraviev government. He called Zhukov and told him, "Comrade Zhukov, since the moraviev government has made a statement that it is willing to withdraw from the Communist camp through negotiation, we should show enough goodwill to their move."

Zhukov's face muscles twitched violently when he heard Stalin say so. Then he asked, "Comrade Stalin, I don't know what we should do to show enough goodwill."

Stalin thought for a moment and said, "you should send a reconnaissance team to carry out reconnaissance on the ports of Bulgaria and find out if there are any German warships here; It is necessary to find out in the shortest possible time what the current situation of the German forces in Bulgaria is and whether the moraviev government is collecting these German weapons.

In addition, the troops of the Ukrainian third front army should not push forward any more when they have been in the front line for a long time, such as Razgrad, Shumen, dergopol and the North Bank of Kamen River, so as to avoid conflicts with Bulgarian border forces. "

"I see, comrade Stalin." Zhukov nodded his head and replied, "I will pass on your order as soon as possible." Zhukov put down the phone, repeated Stalin's account to torbhusin and Kuznetsov, and finally told them, "before the battle, our troops must not go beyond the area designated by Comrade Stalin, so as to avoid putting our troops in a passive position politically." On hearing this order, Kuznetsov seemed a little indifferent, but torbusin said with a grim face: "marshal, if we stop advancing within the prescribed area and are still provoked by the Bulgarian army, what should we do?" When tolbuhine said the word "provocation", the whole conference room quieted down. Just a few years ago, a few hours before the German invasion, the General Staff Headquarters issued an order to the following troops, which also vaguely mentioned that they might be provoked by the Germans“ "Provocation" gives you the feeling that it is a skirmish on the scale of more than ten or twenty people. Therefore, not many people are on the alert. As a result, the troops are defeated again and again by the enemy due to lack of preparation at the beginning of the war. Zhukov recognized the meaning he wanted to express from tolbuhine's words, and immediately said firmly: "Comrade tolbuhine, please tell the troops below that as long as they are provoked by the enemy, no matter how many enemies come, they must be completely eliminated."“ Yes, that's what we should do, comrade marshal. " After receiving Zhukov's instructions, tolbuhine once again showed a long lost smile on his face: "if the enemy doesn't come, we can make peace with them. If they live impatiently and have to challenge us, then what is waiting for them will be the fate of annihilation. " Zhukov waved to tolbuhine and said: "remember, we must tell the following commanders and fighters that no matter how the situation in Bulgaria changes, we will enter this country. So we must not relax our vigilance and continue to keep on the war readiness. Only when the time is right, our hundreds of thousands of troops will stride across the border of Bulgaria and advance in depth with the support of the guerrillas. "