Red Moscow

Sokov was dumbfounded when he received the telegram from Malinin. He called Witkov to him and asked with doubts, "Comrade Chief of Staff, have we reported any combat plan to the Front Army Command?"

"No, Comrade Commander." Vitkov shook his head and replied in an affirmative tone: "We have not reported any combat plan."

Sokov handed the telegram to Witkov, "Then what is going on with this telegram?"

After reading the telegram, Vitkov was also at a loss: "I'm sorry, Comrade Commander, I don't know what happened to this telegram from General Malinin? How about I send him a telegram to find out the situation? "

Sokov, who was eager to know the answer, nodded and said in agreement: "Well, send a telegram to ask."

Ten minutes later, Ma Lining's call back arrived. The telegram detailed the attack plan in the direction of Igyum. After reading it, Sokov looked up at Vitkov and asked, "Comrade Chief of Staff, do you feel that this battle plan is very familiar?"

"Of course I'm familiar with it." Witkov shrugged his shoulders and said with some helplessness: "Isn't this the battle plan we casually discussed during our morning chat. But what's also strange is that Commander Rokossovsky How did you know about this plan?"

"Yeah, it's quite strange." Sokov originally thought that Lunev might have revealed the news to Rokossovsky, but after thinking about it, the two seemed unfamiliar, so he denied the idea and continued to wonder. Said: "Who the hell revealed this plan to the commander of the front army?"

Therefore, Vitkov sent another telegram to Malinin, explaining to the other party that the offensive plan that the other party knew was just a deduction on the map by himself and Sokov in the morning, and it was not really planning to attack Igyum. Does not have the various subjective and objective conditions of Iyum.

After Malinin received the second telegram from Witkov, he immediately reported to Rokossovsky: "Comrade Commander, I have figured it out. The battle plan was only issued by Major General Sokov and Chief of Staff Witkov. The deduction on the map may have been overheard by General Lunev, who mistakenly thought that they were making a battle plan, so he reported it to the Supreme Command through his own channel."

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Rokossovsky explained to Stalin on the phone for a long time just now, but the other party always thought it was a good plan and it was absolutely necessary to carry it out. Now that he figured out what was going on, Rokossov Sky smiled wryly and shook his head and said: "It seems that what you said is correct. Misha and Witkov were misunderstood by Lunev during the deduction and reported to the Supreme Command. Now the Supreme Commander himself has no doubts about this plan. Very interested, ready to launch a new offensive to wrest Igyum from the hands of the enemy."

"Comrade Commander, now is not a good time to attack." Malinin did not wait for Rokossovsky to ask again, and said: "Think about it, after a long period of fighting, the troops, whether it is soldiers or supplies, They are all in a state of extreme scarcity, and our logistics supply base is still thousands of kilometers away from them, and it will take at least a month or even longer to complete the supply work. Otherwise, the supplies owned by the troops simply cannot satisfy a large-scale The needs of the fight.

Second, and the most critical point. Now it is the season of spring thaw, all the roads have become muddy, and even marching is a problem, let alone fighting. If we really forcibly launch an attack, our tanks and armored vehicles will be stuck in the quagmire during the attack and it will be difficult to move. The enemy's artillery can destroy our technical equipment like a target. "

Rokossovsky very much agrees with Malinin's statement. He nodded and said, "That's right, what we can do now is to order all the troops to turn to defense on the spot, build fortifications, and confront the enemy."

"Comrade Commander, if all the troops in contact with the enemy belong to our front army, then things will be easy to handle." Ma Linin sighed and said: "Unfortunately, besides us, there are also the Southwest Front Army and the Voronezh Front Army. Troops can be commanded, but friendly troops can't be commanded."

"I heard that Marshal Zhukov has returned to Moscow." Rokossovsky stared at the map and said, "Now the troops of the Southwest Front Army are under the command of General Malinovsky. for joint operations.”

"Since we can't fight together, we can only concentrate on managing our defense zone first." Ma Linin said: "Fortunately, our three armies now occupy the Red Army Village-Donetsk line, forming a huge area. The defensive area. If the enemy doesn’t attack, it’s fine. Once they attack, they will definitely suffer a lot.”

"Well, send a telegram to the commanders of the three armies, ordering them to build fortifications on the spot and prepare for long-term persistence. If you want to launch an attack on the enemy, you must report to the front army headquarters in advance, and the plan can only be implemented after approval. "

"Comrade Commander," Malinin reminded Rokossovsky upon hearing this order, "since you ordered the troops to build defenses, how are you going to reply to the Supreme Command?"

"To tell you the truth," Rokossovsky said calmly, "the Germans have assembled a large number of troops in the Igyum area. If they attack rashly, I am worried that our only reserve will be exhausted. Once the enemy is eliminated Once the threat from their rear is eliminated, they can turn around and go north to re-attack Kharkov-Belgorod. I don’t think that with General Golikov’s current strength, he can hold these places.”

"You are right. As long as we build fortifications here, we will be able to pose a threat to the rear of the German army, and they will not be able to concentrate their superior forces to attack Kharkov-Donetsk." Malinin quickly replied Said: "I will send a telegram to the three army commanders, ordering them to hurry up and build fortifications."

After receiving another telegram from Malinin, Sokov thankfully said to Vitkov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, it seems that the Comrade Commander of the Front Army still understands our situation very well, and did not force us to attack Igyum. Order us and the other two armies to go on the defensive on the spot and confront the Germans."

"There is no need to attack, thank God." Witkov said with emotion: "I am really worried that the commander of the front army will make mistakes and order us to attack the enemy according to the plan. Then our situation will become quite bad. Wonderful."