Burning Moscow

Chapter 1507 Zhukov is removed from office

After the plane landed, Zhukov and I got into the jeep Sokolovsky sent to pick us up. Not long after the car left the airport, Zhukov suddenly ordered the driver to stop. After the car stopped, he told the driver again: "Comrade driver, you go down and smoke a cigarette, and you will come up again when I call you."

The driver agreed, pushed the door and got out of the car, then ran to the truck behind us and smoked with the commander of the guard company who came down from the bridge.

I turned my head and glanced at the driver who was smoking, and then asked Zhukov blankly: "Comrade Marshal, why should we stop here?"

Zhukov asked me unexpectedly: "Lida, do you think the death of Comrade Vatutin is very problematic?"

When I heard his question, I couldn't help shivering. I learned from Khrushchev that the cause of Vatutin’s death was a wound infection, and Stalin had never approved the use of penicillin. But in front of Zhukov, I absolutely can't tell the truth. In that case, not only will it not help, but it will cause fire. So I can only pretend to say: "Didn’t the personnel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Kiev have solved the case? It is just that a few doctors and nurses bought by the Germans added a lethal injection to General Vatutin. Toxins."

After Zhukov waited for me to finish speaking, he snorted heavily, and then asked me in a contemptuous tone: "Lida, do you really think the information reported by the Ministry of Internal Affairs is true?"

I was not entangled in the authenticity of the internal affairs report, but curiously asked: "Comrade Marshal, I don't know what conclusion you have come to?"

"In my impression, Vatutin is not only a military genius, but he is also extremely talented in political work. In the course of the war, he paid great attention to discovering and cultivating talents, and was extremely good at establishing a team. The backbone of the team." Zhukov said to me with a solemn expression: "Because the troops under his command have obtained more and more lives, his prestige is also getting higher and higher. Therefore, he has also received the love and respect of Stalin's notice. "

I knew that Zhukov would definitely tell some inside stories that I didn't know, so I closed my mouth with interest and listened quietly to what he said.

"Because Comrade Stalin admired Vatutin very much, he would often go over the General Staff Headquarters and Khrushchev to deal directly with Vatutin regarding the command of the Ukrainian First Front. In this way, he served as Vatutin's political deputy. Khrushchev became a decoration. Khrushchev is a small belly, he will definitely be jealous of this kind of thing, and this affects the relationship between him and Vatutin."

When I heard this, I couldn’t help but interject: "Comrade Marshal, but when I was in the hospital, I saw that Comrade Khrushchev was very sad about the death of General Vatutin, and even cancelled his birthday party for this. And the award ceremony."

"Vatutin told me in private," Zhukov continued slowly: "The relationship between him and Khrushchev is not friendly, and there are often disputes over small things. I think Khrushchev must be I felt that my light was blocked by Vatutin's body, so I took extreme measures to get rid of this stumbling block."

Seeing Zhukov in front of me, as in history, I was really at a loss for Khrushchev because of Vatutin's death, and I couldn't help but feel a little at a loss. I wanted to talk a few words, and realized that although I knew the truth, I couldn't tell it. I could only say vaguely: "No?!"

"Why not?" Zhukov snorted again, and then said: "As far as I know, every time Vatutin made patrols in the past, he was either in an armored vehicle or accompanied by soldiers from at least one guard platoon. On the day of the accident, it happened. I took only three jeeps and one guard. I think this is a trap carefully arranged by Khrushchev to induce the Vatutin light car to pass through the village occupied by a group of anti-Soviet guerrillas and bandits, which resulted in tragedy. happened."

Thinking about the so-called truth that Khrushchev told me, and thinking about Zhukov’s analysis, I couldn’t help being lost: how on earth was Vatutin injured and why he died in the end? This is a problem. There seems to be no accurate answer in future generations. It seems that this incident will become another unsolved mystery in the Great Patriotic War just like the missing "Amber Room".

I raised my hand and looked at my watch, deliberately turning off the topic: "Comrade Marshal, it's getting late, should we hurry back to the headquarters soon. I am worried that the Chief of Staff and the military commissar are waiting in a hurry."

"Well, this is the end of this matter." Zhukov didn't seem to want to bother with this matter anymore. Hearing what I said, he immediately nodded and told me: "However, only you and I know. Understand. ?"

"Understood." Seeing that this matter finally came to an end, I felt a little more at ease in my heart, so I deliberately asked Zhukov: "Comrade Marshal, we have to continue on the road, shall we call the driver back now?" After getting his permission , I hurriedly pushed the car door, leaned out half of my body, and shouted at the driver who was smoking behind: "Hey, comrade driver, stop smoking, we are leaving now."

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

The mystery of Vatutin’s death was temporarily thrown by us. The most troublesome problem for us at the moment is that Hubei, led by more than 100,000 German troops, broke through the blockade of General Pukhov, left the mountainous area, and responded to it. The Waffen-SS 2nd Army units merged, withdrew smoothly in the direction of Lviv, and quickly established a new defense.

"How could this happen?" Zhukov slapped the table hard after reading all the battle reports, and shouted at Sokolovsky: "In the battle reports we received this morning, Pukhov didn't say that his troops were completely Can you stop the German attack? And Moskalenko and the commanders of the group army, also vowed to promise me that they have seized the main force of the German army, are they engaged in a siege? Why is it only a few minutes away? In a few hours, the situation on the battlefield has changed so much?"

"Comrade Marshal." Sokolovsky replied with a flushed face: "The main reason is that the enemy is too cunning. Hubei uses deception tactics to make our chasing and intercepting troops, using the decoy troops he throws as the main German force. Up."

"The number of German troops who fled into the mountains was almost 200,000." Zhukov said angrily: "And we used several group armies to fight for two or three days, and only annihilated less than 50,000 people, which actually cost more than 100,000 people. We successfully escaped from our ambush circle. Have you ever thought about how much trouble this will cause us in the next strategy?"

When Zhukov was furious in the headquarters, none of us dared to speak. Even the staff officers and communications personnel who entered and exited the headquarters relaxed their steps, fearing that Zhukov's thunderous anger would be incurred.

But fortunately, the sudden call helped us all. Zhukov was originally angry. After hearing the ringing, he looked down and found that it was a high-frequency phone that could directly talk to Moscow. After taking a deep breath, he picked up the phone and spoke to the microphone as calmly as possible. Said: "I am Zhukov!"

"Comrade Zhukov, I am Stalin!" Stalin's solemn voice came from the earpiece: "I just got the information that hundreds of thousands of troops of the 1st Army Group of German Tanks escaped our encirclement. What happened? What's the matter? When you reported to me these two days, didn't you say that the German army had no way to retreat? How could so many enemies escape from our siege in a blink of an eye."

"Comrade Stalin, it's all my responsibility!" Although Zhukov was furious at everyone just now, when faced with the reproach of his superiors, he would not push the responsibility to his subordinates, but take it on his own. This alone made him take it. Everyone admired him. "Because I misjudged the direction of the German army's action, so that the heavy soldiers were placed in the wrong position, making the German army's breakthrough easier."

"Yes, you have an unshirkable responsibility for the German breakthrough." Stalin said after Zhukov finished speaking, "Comrade Antonov of the General Staff, once pointed out the direction in which Hubei led the breakthrough. You will not choose the south, but will choose the direction where you can easily converge with their friendly forces. But what about you? Instead, take the judgment of the General Staff as a breeze, and deploy the main force of the front army to the south...."

I listened attentively to what Stalin taught Zhukov, and at the same time I was thinking: Zhukov, as the commander of the front army, will certainly not adopt the judgment provided by the General Staff if he finds it unreasonable. After all, he is the one commanding the troops. Rather than the General Staff, this is understandable.

When I was thinking about it, I suddenly heard Stalin say: "...In the last two offensive campaigns, you made several wrong decisions in a row. As a result, the enemy that should have been annihilated by us was not good. Escaped from the encirclement formed by us. After discussion at the highest base camp, it was decided to remove your position as commander of the army."

Zhukov's face turned green when he heard this. After taking a few deep breaths in a row, he tried to ask in a calm tone: "Comrade Stalin, I don't know who you plan to take over my position?"

"Konev!" Stalin said without hesitation a name that everyone is familiar with: "I decided to let him command the Ukrainian First and Second Fronts in a unified manner." After these words, Stalin was silent for a moment. Then he added, "For the specific handover, I will let Comrade Antonov contact you." As soon as he finished speaking, Stalin directly hung up the phone.

After Zhukov put down the phone, he sat in his seat and said nothing. The military commissioner Krainyukov wanted to persuade him. Sokolovsky, who was standing next to him, quickly grabbed his sleeve and shook his head gently at him.

"Comrades!" Just when a few of us were standing uneasy, Zhukov suddenly looked up at us and said blankly: "I just received a call from Comrade Stalin and he informed me that I had been withdrawn from Ukraine. The position of commander of the First Front."

The three of us just heard the conversation between him and Stalin, so when we heard him say this, we all behaved very ordinary. He went on to say: "The position of commander of the front army will be taken over by Marshal Konev. According to Comrade Stalin, our Ukrainian first front will merge with Marshal Konev's second front to become one. Form a larger front army unit."

"Comrade Marshal," Kreinyukov was probably trying to alleviate the dreary atmosphere in the room. He waited for Zhukov to finish speaking and said with a smile: "If the two fronts really merge, then the total strength of this new front will exceed Millions. With such a huge force, we can use the strength of one front army to launch a separate offensive campaign in a certain area."

"Yes, Comrade Military Commissioner." Zhukov nodded and echoed: "The current remaining German forces in Ukraine can't compete with our millions of troops. I don't want a long time, we just It can push all Germans in Ukraine outside the border."

"Comrade Marshal," Seeing Zhukov's mood slightly recovered, Sokolovsky asked tentatively: "Did Comrade Stalin say what kind of work is arranged for you?"

"This is unclear. He said he would let Comrade Antonov call me." As Zhukov's words were just here, the high-frequency phone in front of him rang again. He smiled and pointed to the phone, and said, "Maybe it is from Antonov."

After speaking, he grabbed the microphone, pressed it to his ear, and said loudly: "Hey, this is Zhukov, is this Comrade Antonov?"

"Yes, Comrade Zhukov." As expected, Antonov's familiar voice came from the receiver~www.wuxiaspot.com~ Comrade Stalin asked me to call you. "

Zhukov smiled bitterly when he heard what the other party said, and then asked: "Comrade Antonov, I don't know where I am going to preside over the work?"

"Comrade Zhukov, the leader of the Supreme Command has studied and found that you are too tired recently and need to rest for a while." Antonov waited for Zhukov to finish speaking, and said euphemistically: "So I plan to recall you to Moscow. What kind of work do you arrange, let you cultivate your body first."

"There is no need to rest." Zhukov replied unceremoniously: "Under the current situation, I have no leisure to rest. Let me send me somewhere to form a new army."

"Comrade Zhukov, you have misunderstood." Antonov said with a smile: "We are recalling you to Moscow. In addition to giving you a temporary rest, we are also going to award you honors in recognition of your great achievements."

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