Red Moscow

After dawn, the troops of the Steppe Front Army and the Voronezh Front Army continued to attack the enemy in front of them.

Not long after the battle started, Zhukov and Vasilevsky arrived at Konev's forward headquarters.

Konev's forward command is located at the station of the 53rd Army. Seeing the arrival of the two marshals, Konev hurriedly stepped forward to greet them, and asked with some surprise: "Comrade marshals, why do you think of coming to me?"

Vasilevsky, who was shaking hands with Konev, tilted his head on purpose when he heard what Konev said, and asked jokingly, "Why, Konev explained, don't you welcome us?"

"Where is there!" Konev replied with a smile: "It is my honor for you to come to my headquarters. But this is very close to the front, and I am worried that you may encounter danger on the way here."

"Comrade Konev, you are worrying too much." Zhukov deliberately said with a straight face: "During the Moscow defense war, the situation was so dangerous. Didn't I often run to the front with only one driver? Now our army is attacking the enemy , and there are so many soldiers accompanying us when we travel, how could it be dangerous."

Hearing what Zhukov said, Konev remembered the past two years ago: "That's right, Marshal Zhukov. I still remember that when you came to the front to take over the post of commander of our Western Front, you only brought A driver."

Speaking of this, Konev said gratefully: "At that time, I was being examined by Voroshilov, Molotov and Bulganin. If you hadn't helped me speak well, I'm afraid I would have been sent to the military. Court, today it is impossible to assume the post of commander of the grassland front army."

Zhukov stared at Konev for a while, feeling sorry for him secretly. Konev was an admiral long before the station, but the war has been going on for two years, and he still carries the admiral's shoulders. And Rokossovsky, his subordinate back then, is now a general, and his subordinate's military rank surpasses his own. Presumably Konev is not feeling well in his heart.

However, it is enough to think about Konev's sad past in his heart, so there is no need to speak out. Zhukov walked to the table, looked down at the map spread out on it, and asked casually, "Comrade Konev, has your right-wing Sokov made any progress in the past two days?"

"Yes, Comrade Marshal." Konev didn't know in his heart whether Sokov had reported to Zhukov, so he reported the results of the 27th Army to Zhukov: "They captured October Town and Kazan one after another. Zakia Compass Town, when our Front Army and Voronezh Front Army launched an attack on the Kharkov area yesterday, they launched an attack from Kazakh Ya Compass Town to Gergach.

When the battle progressed until dark, Colonel Shechtman's 254th Division broke through the German defenses and entered the city of Dergach, occupying most of the north of the city. "

"It was a good fight." Since Sokov did not report the results of the battle to Zhukov, Zhukov has not yet known that Sokov's troops rushed into the city of Dergach. He turned his face to Vasilevsky beside him and said: "This Xiaoxiao is really good at fighting. I thought he would need at least two or three days to reach Dergach. I didn't expect that he captured it yesterday." The northern part of Djergach, it's amazing."

After talking to Vasilevsky, he turned to Konev and asked, "How is the battle today? Have they continued to expand the results?"

I thought Konev would report another series of Sokov's victories to himself, but saw the other party shake his head and say with a bitter face: "I'm sorry, Comrade Marshal, they didn't achieve any results today. Before dawn, their The troops were driven out of Dergach by the enemy."

"What, I was driven out of Dergach by the enemy." Zhukov's face showed a trace of anger: "What is going on? Aren't Sokov's troops good at defense? Why were they driven out of the city by the enemy?" come out?"

"Comrade Marshal, Sokov's troops were driven out of the city by the enemy, and they cannot be blamed at all."

"You can't blame them at all?" Zhukov asked with a straight face, "Why?"

"The Germans used flamethrowers to set fires in the middle of the night, and in the buildings occupied by our army, there were a large number of gasoline barrels discarded by the enemy. In addition, our army was at the downwind, and the fire quickly spread everywhere. There was no way to put out the fire, and the troops stuck in the city had to withdraw immediately to avoid the end of the entire army being wiped out."

Zhukov and Vasilevsky had been in the army for more than ten or twenty years, and they naturally understood that when the fire was fierce, what the troops in the downwind had to do was not to fight the fire, but to escape in time.

"What about our casualties?" Zhukov asked.

"Before the enemy set fire, Sokov sensed that something was wrong, so he gave Shechtman an order to withdraw the two infantry regiments of the division from the city, leaving only the 762nd regiment to hold on to the occupied area." Konev explained to the two Zhukovs: "It was because of his order that the danger of the 254th Division being completely annihilated was avoided."

"Marshal Zhukov," Vasilevsky waited for Konev to finish, and said to Zhukov: "It seems that the reason why the 254th Division was able to break into the city of Dergach so smoothly was entirely because of the Germans in the city. They have prepared a trap."

"It's rare for Misha to see through the enemy's plot and minimize the losses of the troops." Zhukov sighed and asked Konev, "Are they launching an attack on Dergach now?"

"No." Konev shook his head and replied, "Although the fire in the north of the city has been extinguished, the fire is still hot. Our commanders cannot approach at all, so the attack time can only be postponed to the afternoon."

Zhukov sneered, and then said: "The Germans have suffered too much under Misha's hands, and now they are trying to set up a trap for Sokov, preparing to take revenge. However, Misha is not a vegetarian, he actually predicted the enemy in advance The conspiracy to withdraw large troops out of the city in a timely manner effectively reduced the casualties of the troops.”

After chatting for a while, Vasilevsky asked Konev's next plan: "General Konev, when are your troops going to rush into Kharkov?"

"Comrade Marshal," Konev hastily replied upon hearing Vasilevsky's question, "the conditions for entering the city are not yet ripe, and I plan to start a decisive battle with the enemy outside the city."

"Start a decisive battle outside the city?" Konev's statement made Vasilevsky very surprised: "Isn't it better to attack the city earlier and drive the enemy out of the city earlier?"

"Comrade Marshal," Konev explained in the face of Vasilevsky's questioning, "although the defense system in Kharkov is not as good as Stalingrad. But we know clearly that after such careful preparations, Combat in a large city requires the troops to make a very huge effort, which will definitely cause heavy losses of personnel, and the battle may be protracted. It will inevitably cause unnecessary losses to the residents, resulting in the destruction of residential buildings and intact industrial enterprises.

Therefore, after a study, the Military Council of our Front Army decided to divide and defeat the enemy groups individually under field conditions, so that they could not cooperate with the tank corps that carried out the counter-assault in the Bogodukhov area, and separated the city from the west. Tank reserves isolated. "

Konev's words reminded Zhukov of the report given to him by the Southern Front, "Comrade Konev, the day before yesterday the German army mobilized the Donbass reserve force in an attempt to strengthen the defense of Kharkov. But General Tolbukhin decisively The troops of four group armies were used to block and chase the German army, inflicting heavy damage on them, completely cutting off the possibility of the German army getting reinforcements from the Donbass.”

"Yes, Comrade Marshal." Konev replied with a nod of his head: "I know about it. The actions of General Tolbukhin strongly supported our attack on Kharkov. The Germans were annihilated, alleviating our operational resistance in the next phase."

"Comrade Konev," Sokov took the cigarette that Zakharov handed to him, without lighting it, but shook it in his hand, and said casually: "The army on your front has entered Kharkov. Before, Vasilevsky and I will stay here, if you have any difficulties, please feel free to ask, I will try my best to help you."

"This is really great." Knowing that Zhukov and Vasilevsky would stay in his headquarters, Konev couldn't help feeling ecstatic. He was still worried about dealing with the base camp, but now The two marshals are here, and if there is any difficult matter, they can completely solve it. "On behalf of all the commanders and fighters of the grassland front army, I welcome the arrival of the two marshals."

Just when the atmosphere in the headquarters was harmonious, the high-frequency phone on the table rang. Zakharov stepped forward to pick up the phone and listened for a while, then reported to Konev: "Comrade Commander, General Goryunov, Air Force Commander, said that according to the reconnaissance of the Air Force, they found that there was a large area in the direction of Bogudukhov and Azerbaijan. Fighting is going on in the Hetelka area, and it seems that the German army has launched a powerful counterattack to the area occupied by our army."

"What, the enemy launched a powerful counterattack in the direction of Bogudukhov and in the Akhturka area?" Hearing this news, Zhukov was the most surprised: "If this is true, why didn't Vatutin report to me?" Report?"

Konev whispered from the side: "It's not that I didn't report it, I'm afraid it's not too late."

"No, I want to call Vatutin to confirm and see if the enemy has really launched a powerful counterattack in the direction of Bogudukhov and the Akhturka area."

However, before Zhukov called Vatutin, he reached for the phone in Zakharov's hand, put the receiver against his ear, and said loudly into the receiver: "Is it General Goryunov? I'm Zhukov, please repeat to me what you just reported."

Goryunov was taken aback when he heard that the person on the other end of the phone suddenly changed from Zakharov to Zhukov. Although he knew that Zhukov couldn't see it, he still straightened his back and repeated to Zhukov what he had just reported to Zakharov.

Without waiting for Zhukov to speak, he preemptively said, "Comrade Marshal, the pilots conducting the reconnaissance are all completely reliable veteran pilots. I believe that the information they provide will never be wrong."

"I know." Zhukov said in a low voice, "Thank you, General Goryunov, for the information you provided."

When Zhukov called Vatutin's headquarters on a high-frequency telephone, he unexpectedly encountered the front line. Seeing that the phone could not be connected, Zhukov felt unexplainably angry. He called Konev's communications director and scolded him, and ordered him to get through to Vatutin's headquarters within two minutes.

The director of the communications army was blushing from the scolding, but he didn't dare to refute, so he could only bow his head and remain silent. After finally waiting for Zhukov to finish his training, he ordered his subordinates to do everything possible to contact the headquarters of the Voronezh Front Army.

After some tossing and turning, the other party’s call was finally connected. The director of the Communication Corps wiped the sweat from his forehead, and then reported to Zhukov: “Comrade Marshal, the headquarters of the Voronezh Front Army has been connected, and you can speak now! "

Zhukov nodded, took the microphone: "I'm Zhukov, who are you?"

"Comrade Marshal," the person who answered the phone was Lieutenant General Ivanov, Chief of Staff of the Front Army, and the person who heard the speech was actually Zhukov, and he quickly replied respectfully: "I am Ivanov, what instructions do you have?" ?”

"Comrade Ivanov," Sokov didn't talk nonsense with the other party, but asked straight to the point: "Let me ask you, is the enemy attacking your troops in the direction of Bogudukhov and in the Akhturka area?" Launched a powerful counterattack?"

"Comrade Marshal, we have also received such information." Ivanov replied: "We are verifying the reliability of the information so that we can take corresponding countermeasures."

"It's such a time, why are you still verifying? Don't you have to wait until the enemy hits your command department before you can confirm whether the enemy has really launched a counterattack?" Zhukov said in a stern tone: "What are you going to do now? , not to verify the authenticity of the news, but to take timely measures to smash the enemy's counterattack in the above-mentioned area."

"Yes, Comrade Marshal." Ivanov quickly replied, "I will immediately convey your order to the commander."

"Where is Vatutin?" Zhukov asked displeasedly. "Where is he?"

"Report to Comrade Marshal," Ivanov hastily replied when Zhukov asked about Vatutin's whereabouts: "He went to inspect General Katukov's First Tank Army. A counter-attack in the direction of Hof and in the Akhturka area."

"Then why are you dawdling?" Zhukov said angrily: "Hurry up and notify him immediately, let him rush back to the headquarters as soon as possible, and adjust the deployment to deal with the German counterattack."