Red Moscow

"Comrade Marshal!" Seeing that victory was in sight, the German army turned back and caught their own troops by surprise. This incident made Vatutin feel ashamed. After hearing Zhukov's order, he added: "I think it's not enough just to drive the enemy out of Bogodukhov's logistics base. We must find ways to eliminate this enemy."

"Comrade Vatutin, how do you plan to destroy the German 11th Armored Division?" Vasilevsky asked curiously.

"Two Marshals, please look at the map." Vatutin pointed to the map hanging on the wall, and introduced to Zhukov and Vasilevsky: "Now in the Oboyan area, except for the 11th Armored Division of the German Army, There would be no more German troops, and we could have brought in General Katukov's First Tank Army for the final assault on them."

Vatutin said confidently: "I don't deny that the 11th Armored Division is powerful, but in any case, they only have one division, and after such a long period of fighting, their strength has been greatly weakened. As long as we use General Katukov's forces are fully capable of destroying them."

Vatutin's statement moved Vasilevsky very much. He looked at Zhukov and asked urgently: "Comrade Marshal, what do you think, order General Katukov's troops to launch a final attack on the 11th Armored Division?" attack?"

After listening to the opinions of Vatutin and Vasilevsky, Zhukov began to think seriously. It is undeniable that the 11th Panzer Division is an elite armored force of the German army, but after such a long period of fighting, the strength of the opponent has been greatly weakened. Now it is estimated that even half of the strength is not there. If it is really invested in Katukov's tank army , to attack it, then it is not impossible to wipe it out.

Thinking of this, Zhukov nodded slightly, and said to Vatutin: "Comrade Vatutin, since you think that investing in Katukov's tank army can wipe out the German 11th Armored Division, then go ahead and do it."

Seeing that his proposal was approved by Zhukov, Vatutin excitedly agreed, and called Ivanov to tell him: "Comrade Chief of Staff, you immediately contact General Katukov and order his troops to turn to Bo Godukhov, assisting units of the 6th Guards Army in destroying the German 11th Panzer Division."

As Vatutin's chief of staff, Ivanov also feels that the enemies occupying the Bogodukhov logistics base are nothing special. As long as Katukov's tank army is used, they can be completely wiped out. Therefore, after hearing Vatutin's order, he promised loudly and turned around to send a telegram.

Not long after Ivanov left, a staff officer came in and reported to Vatutin: "Report to Comrade General, General Konev, commander of the Steppe Front Army, is asking to see you outside!"

"Oh, Konev is here?!" Zhukov, who was sitting next to him, had a surprised expression on his face when he heard the staff officer's report, and hurriedly ordered the staff officer: "Hurry up and ask him to come in!"

Not long after the staff officer went out, he brought Konev in from the outside.

Zhukov hurriedly got up to meet him, shook hands with him, and said with a smile, "Comrade Konev, why did you come here?"

"Hello, Comrade Marshal of the Soviet Union." When Konev saw Zhukov now, he felt a little uncomfortable. He clearly remembered that when he handed over the post of commander of the Western Front to Zhukov in October 1941, he was a general and he was an admiral. Now that two years have passed, the other party has become the Marshal of the Soviet Union, but his military rank is still standing still. "I heard that you and Marshal Vasilevsky are here, so I rushed here."

After Konev shook hands with Vasilevsky, Vatutin and others, Zhukov asked him to sit down at the table, and then continued to ask: "Comrade Konev, if you have anything to say, just say it."

"That's right, Comrade Marshal." After the muscles on Konev's face twitched violently twice, he said with some embarrassment: "Not long ago, I received a notice from the General Staff to change the organization. The troops are the 9th Army, the 7th Guards Army, the 53rd Army and the 1st Mechanized Army, the 47th Army and the 3rd Guards Mechanized Army, the 4th Guards Army and the 3rd Guards Tank Army. The use of General Kulik's 4th Guards Army will only be allowed after the headquarters of the High Command agrees."

This is the first time Zhukov and Vasilevsky have heard of the new establishment situation mentioned by Konev. After waiting for Konev to finish speaking, Zhukov asked with some surprise: "Comrade Konev, during the battle of Kursk, the headquarters took a lot of troops from your troops, and now they have replenished you again. Not only has the strength not weakened, but it has become stronger. Do you think there is something wrong?"

"Comrade Marshal," Konev said bitterly, "General Rotmistrov's 5th Guards Tank Army and Major General Sokov's 27th Army were originally said to be under the command of the Voronezh Front Army temporarily. , after the battle is over, it will be returned to the organizational system. But now, these two armies do not exist in the new organization list."

"Comrade Konev," Vasilevsky immediately understood the reason why Konev came uninvited when he heard this, he interrupted and asked, "Are you here for the affairs of these two army groups?"

"Yes, Marshal Vasilevsky." Konev nodded and replied, "I am indeed here for these two troops."

After saying this, he paused for a while, and seeing that Zhukov and the others looked thoughtful, he continued: "During the Battle of Kursk, the base camp mobilized four of the most effective fighters from our front army. The group army, a mechanized army and a tank army were temporarily placed under the command of the Voronezh Front Army.

The two armies that belonged to the Voronezh Front, which are now incorporated into our Front, suffered great losses in personnel, artillery and weapons in each division during the July battle. Now our front army is facing the problem of insufficient number of tanks. The specific situation is: 60 vehicles of the 53rd Army, 88 vehicles of the 69th Army, 50 vehicles of the 7th Guards Army, and 200 vehicles of the 1st Mechanized Army. "

After Vasilevsky waited for Konev to finish a series of data, he said with some displeasure: "General Konev, with all due respect, your steppe front army is just a strategic reserve. It is absolutely correct for you to deploy troops to enrich the areas that are currently fighting fiercely."

Unexpectedly, after hearing this, Konev retorted: "Marshal Vasilevsky, I think the method of using the strategic reserve force in the base camp is incorrect. I think that the troops of the front army should not be dispersed, but the grassland The fronts are used as a whole and use us on the main fronts.

It must be emphasized that the scattered deployment of strategic reserves to the engagement can never achieve a significant purpose. In the summer of 1916, the offensive of the Southwest Front Army was a lesson. At that time, the extremely favorable situation formed by successfully breaking through the enemy's defense was not fully utilized. The reason was that the strategic reserve was dispersed and formed in the form of a single army Used to develop the offense, and entered the battle too late. "

Zhukov thought to himself, he felt that what Konev said was somewhat reasonable. In the battle of Kursk this time, in the defensive engagement, the strategic reserve was not used as a whole, but was scattered into the battle to ensure that the defenders in a state of crisis could crush the enemy's attack.

"Comrade Konev, I remember what you said. I will convey your opinion to the Supreme Commander himself at the right time." After Zhukov finished speaking, he took the initiative to propose to Konev: "Konev Comrade Nev, I guess you really want the 27th Army to return to your front formation? Otherwise, you would not send the air force to provide them with air cover for free."

Seeing that Zhukov guessed what was on his mind, Konev smiled a little embarrassedly. According to his idea, Rotmistrov's 5th Guards Tank Army can be abandoned, but Sokov's 27th Army must go back. It is the treasure of the Steppe Front Army, so it can't just be cheap for Vatu Beijing.

The reason why Konev rushed to the headquarters of the Voronezh Front Army today was mainly because he wanted to complain to Zhukov and try to reassign Sokov's troops to his own command. Now that Zhukov expressed his willingness to help, he felt more at ease, and after continuing to chat for a while, he got up to leave and went to Sokov's army headquarters.

As soon as Konev left, Vatutin became anxious on the back. In this battle of Kursk, he found that his two armies were inferior to Sokov's 27th Army. Once Zhukov helped Konev say good things and asked the headquarters to reclassify the 27th Army to the Prairie Front Army, he would lose a lot.

Out of such considerations, he anxiously said to Zhukov: "Comrade Marshal, we will soon launch Operation Rumyantsev to attack Kharkov and Belgorod where the enemy is entrenched. Transferring Sokov's 27th Army away at such a time would greatly weaken our strength."

"Yes, Comrade Marshal." After Vatutin finished speaking, Vasilevsky also echoed: "Operation Rumyantsev is about to start. If the 27th Army is transferred at this time, it will weaken the strength of the Voronezh Front Army. , It is very detrimental to our next battle."

Operation Rumyantsev was jointly formulated by Vasilevsky and Zhukov. If there are any uncertainties in the operation due to the transfer of the 27th Army, this is something Vasilevsky does not want to see, so he Only then will he echo Vatutin's opinion and firmly oppose the transfer of the 27th Army.

After listening to the opinions of the two, Zhukov lingered on them for a long time, finally sighed, and said: "I think that even if the 27th Army is reassigned to the command of the Steppe Front Army, it will not affect our Rumyantsev operation." What impact will it have? Konev is right, we should not disperse the huge strategic reserves, but put them into the battlefield as a whole, maybe we can achieve greater results.”

"Comrade Vatutin, I can tell you. Even if the 27th Army is reassigned to the command of the Steppe Front, they will also participate in the battle to liberate Kharkov and Belgorod."

Zhukov had already talked about this point, and Vatutin knew that no matter how much he objected, it would be of no avail, so he couldn't help showing a bitter smile on his face.

…………

After receiving Vatutin's order, Katukov immediately called his chief of staff and told him: "Chief of staff, just received an order from Comrade General, let us send tank troops to Bogodukhov, Assist the troops of the Sixth Guards Army and destroy the 11th Armored Division entrenched in the logistics base."

Hearing this order, the chief of staff couldn't help being taken aback. He asked in amazement: "Comrade Commander, didn't the enemy's 11th Armored Division retreat to the south like the 17th Armored Division? Why did it suddenly appear in Bobo?" Where is Godukhov?"

"Balke, the commander of the 11th Armored Division, is a very cunning thing." Katukov said: "Seeing that the road to the south was blocked, he immediately turned around and went north. General Chistyakov was caught off guard."

After figuring out the situation, the chief of staff quickly asked: "Comrade commander, which troops do you plan to send there?"

Katukov thought for a while and replied: "Now our infantry is clearing out the remaining enemies. It is difficult to gather them in a short time. In my opinion, let's send a tank army over."

After Katukov finished speaking, the chief of staff quickly reminded him: "Comrade commander, if there is no infantry cooperation, only tanks will be sent over. I am worried that the enemy's anti-tank fighters will pose a great threat to us."

"Don't worry," Katukov said confidently: "After our tanks reach Bogodukhov, they will be supported by infantry from the Sixth Guards Army."

Seeing that Katukov was so confident, the chief of staff couldn't say anything. He could only immediately call the commander of the 31st Tank Army and order him to lead the entire army of tanks and rush to Bogodukhov as soon as possible to assist the Sixth Army Destroy the enemy occupying the logistics base with your troops.

After receiving the notice from the chief of staff, the tank commander immediately assembled all the tanks in the general, and rushed to Bogodukhov without even having time to replenish fuel and ammunition, preparing to eliminate the troops entrenched in the logistics base as soon as possible. 11th Armored Division.

When the troops of the tank army arrived at the logistics base, the battle had been going on for a long time. Since the enemy deployed many tanks in the base as fortresses, the two attacks launched by the infantry-based Guards Sixth Army failed. And ended up.

The 49th Tank Brigade, which rushed to the battlefield first, immediately contacted the 74th Guards Division, which was in charge of the attack, and prepared to wait for the infantry to regroup before launching an attack on the German troops in the logistics base.

Balk, who was staying at the logistics base, learned that the Soviet tanks had arrived, and immediately ordered an armored regiment to leave cover, and led the rest of the troops to withdraw westward along the road.

Discovering that the German troops at the logistics base were retreating, Major General Sokolov, commander of the 74th Guards Division, immediately found the commander of the tank brigade and said to him: "Comrade Colonel, the enemy is retreating. I think our attack time should be advanced."

The tank brigade commander glanced at the infantry who were still assembled, and said with some embarrassment: "Comrade General, but your infantry is still assembled. Attacking at this time may cause unnecessary confusion."

"Comrade Colonel," Sokolov said to the tank brigade commander: "The German 11th Panzer Division is trapped in the base. They don't have many infantry and anti-tank fighters. Even if you don't have the cover of infantry, you can still attack them." Launch an attack. I think so, you attack the enemy first, and we will follow up immediately after we complete the assembly."

The tank brigade commander thought, since the German army has no anti-tank fighters, even without the assistance of infantry, his own tank brigade can rush into the logistics base and destroy the enemies entrenched inside. Thinking of this, he readily agreed to the other party: "Okay, then our tank brigade will attack the enemy first."