Red Moscow

The temporary pass was sent by an unknown lieutenant early the next morning. After confirming Sokov's identity, he handed him the temporary pass in his hand, and said to him, "Comrade Major, please take the time to pack up. I am ordered to take you to Frunze Avenue."

Sokov took the pass and asked puzzledly, "What are you going to do on Frunze Avenue?"

Hearing Sokov's question, the lieutenant immediately replied respectfully: "At nine o'clock this morning, a military meeting will be held at the General Staff Headquarters on Gogol Boulevard on Frunze Avenue, and you will attend this meeting Meeting."

Although Sokov learned from Ustinov that Timoshenko would hold a meeting to deploy his comrades in Kharkov, he did not expect it to be so soon, so that he was not prepared at all. But since the person who picked him up had already arrived at the door, he definitely couldn't make him wait for a long time. Just like yesterday, he packed everything up within five minutes, and then set off with him.

The lieutenant drove Sokov to the General Staff Headquarters on Frunze Avenue. Under the guidance of the lieutenant, Sokov came to the conference room on the first floor. When he entered the door, he found that many officers had come to the room. Except for a few colonels, almost all of them were generals. According to the rank marks on their collar badges, Sokov found that in addition to infantry, there were also artillery, tank soldiers and even soldiers. Commander of the Air Force and other arms.

The meeting was officially held at nine o'clock. Marshal Timoshenko presided over the meeting. Sitting on his left were Comrade Comrade Khrushchev, Comrade Comrade Commissar of the Front Army, Bokin, Chief of Staff, and Baghramyan, Minister of Operations; Chief of the General Staff Shaposhnikov, Deputy Chief of the General Staff and Chief of Operations Vasilevsky.

Shaposhnikov, who was sitting on the stage, seemed to be in poor health. He coughed a few times from time to time, and his pale face made Sokov, who was sitting off the stage, worry that he might be unwell at any time. And exit.

Looking at Shaposhnikov and Vasilevsky on the stage, Sokov thought to himself: When Stalin deployed the 1942 summer campaign at the Supreme Command, he had consulted these two chiefs and deputy chiefs of staff. After analyzing the situation on the battlefield, the two men proposed to Stalin that a cautious strategic defense should be implemented along the Moscow axis, and the offensive should be launched after the German army was weakened. Zhukov, the commander of the Western Front, also agreed with the views of the two of them.

Although his three important subordinates all proposed that a cautious attitude should be adopted for defense, but Stalin was dazzled by the counterattack under the city of Moscow, and coupled with the influence of individual front-line generals, he made an overly optimistic view. It was decided to launch a large-scale offensive south of Moscow.

When Timoshenko started to speak, the entire meeting room became silent, and all the commanders who participated in the meeting focused on listening to his next speech.

"Commanders, our army has won a great victory in the just-concluded winter campaign." Timoshenko said with a normal expression: "The Supreme Command ordered us to launch strategic defenses in some areas while conducting strategic defense. Offensive, in order to consolidate our army's victory in the winter campaign, to achieve the goal of improving the campaign situation, seizing the strategic initiative, and disrupting the possible summer offensive launched by the German army.  …”

After Timoshenko's speech was over, the Chief of Staff of the Front Army, Bokin, spoke next. He pointed to a huge map hanging on the wall and introduced the situation to the commanders present. Sokov, who was sitting in the last row, couldn't see the ground on the map at all, so he could only listen carefully to what the other party said with his ears sideways.

According to Bogin's account, Sokov learned that General Moskalenko's 38th Army was in the area east of Kharkov on March 7, facing the positions established by the German army along the North Donets River. Launched a tentative attack. After a fierce battle, they succeeded in establishing a landing field on the opposite bank. After four days of fierce fighting, the depth of the landing field was successfully extended to eight kilometers.

Bokin finally said: "...while the 38th Army was making great achievements, the troops of the Southern Front also launched an attack on the German positions on the east bank of the North Donets River. Although their attack did not achieve any results, but But it made us realize that if our military can invest more powerful forces in this area, we can achieve more brilliant victories."

The Minister of Operations, Bagramian, who finally stood up, put his hands on the edge of the table, looked at the officers attending the meeting and said: "Comrade commander, there are still many imperfections in this plan. Bring it up so we can develop further detailed plans."

The first lieutenant general who came forward to ask a question, not only did not agree with the combat plan, but questioned it instead: "Comrade Baghramyan, I would like to ask, if we launch an offensive in the Kharkov area, what will happen to our army?" Compared with the enemy, can the army have an advantage?"

"General Moskalenko," Hearing Baghramyan's name, Sokov realized that the first person to attack was actually Moskalenko, who had just been praised by Chief of Staff Bokin. Sokov thought to himself that among so many commanders who participated in the meeting, he should have the most say. Regarding Moskalenko's doubts, Bagramyan explained with a smile: "I will now answer the questions in the minds of you and some of the commanders here.

After the Winter Campaign, the German Sixth Army was greatly weakened. Of the 10 German divisions facing our Southwest Front, at least eight have lost their ability to attack. They can only participate in defensive tasks in existing areas in the form of regiments or battalions. For example, in the 169th and 79th Infantry Divisions of the German Army, the officers and soldiers of the two divisions were divided into battle groups and scattered in several defensive strongholds such as Belgorod and Kharkov.

According to our analysis, the Kharkov group of the German army is basically unable to attack our army before it is supplemented with personnel and weapons and equipment. Not only do their officers and soldiers need to rest, even if the German High Command plans to deploy a new combat reserve in this area, it will take a long time. "

When the two were arguing endlessly on stage, Sokov also recalled the reasons for the failure of this offensive campaign: the chiefs of the southwestern strategic direction and the military chiefs of the southern side misjudged the strategic situation of the campaign and lacked well-organized coordinated actions. The tank army entered the engagement too late; the campaign support was insufficient; the army command error.

The Kharkov offensive launched at the wrong time caused great losses to the live forces and technical weapons of the Southwest Front and the South Front, and lost the important landing site of the North Donets River campaign. offensive campaign. All this further complicates the overall situation in the southwest.

Shaposhnikov saw that the two were still arguing, so he stood up and announced: "Now rest for half an hour, everyone can move freely. We will continue the meeting at eleven o'clock."

Seeing that the two marshals on the rostrum had left first, the officers sitting below also got up one after another, walked out of the meeting room, and went outside to chat and smoke.

But Sokov strolled to the front of the rostrum. Seeing that there was no one on the rostrum, he bravely walked up the small stairs next to it. He came to the wall where the map was hung, and looked up at the red and blue arrows on the map representing the enemy and us.

He remembered that the Soviet army was progressing very smoothly at the beginning of the campaign, but because the German army suddenly invested a large amount of troops in the Barvinkovo ​​area, the 9th and 57th armies deployed in this area were immediately defeated. led to the disastrous defeat of the Soviet army.

Judging from the marks on the map, the 9th Army of the Southern Front is near the Barvinkovo ​​area, but for some reason, they did not take the lead in taking this area after the battle started, which led to disastrous consequences.

"Comrade Major, what are you looking at?" Just as Sokov was lost in thought, a stern voice suddenly came from behind him, which startled him. He hurriedly turned around, and saw the burly Vasilevsky standing behind him with an angry expression on his face. Seeing him turn around, Vasilevsky then asked: "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

"Report to Comrade Deputy Chief of Staff," Sokov hurriedly raised his hand to his forehead, and replied in a panic: "I am Major Sokov, commander of the Istria Battalion, and I am watching the upcoming battle Schematic."

"You are Major Sokov?" Vasilevsky seemed to have heard Sokov's name before, so after hearing his self-introduction, the expression on his face softened a lot: "I see you are here After watching for a long time, did you see anything?"

Sokov turned his head and glanced at the map, and said hesitantly, "Comrade Deputy Chief of Staff, can I tell the truth?"

When Vasilevsky heard what he said, he straightened his face immediately and said, "There is no need to listen to lies. Say what you think of."

After obtaining Vasilevsky's permission, Sokov walked up to the map, picked up an explanatory stick leaning against the wall, pointed to the map and said: "Comrade Deputy Chief of Staff, I would like to ask why Our army has not captured Barvenkovo ​​so far, so that this place has become a salient point?"

"Marshal Timoshenko's troops once attacked here." Vasilevsky shrugged his shoulders, spread his hands, and said helplessly, "But their attack was crushed by the German army in the end. "

"Comrade Deputy Chief of Staff," Sokov saw that there were only himself and Vasilevsky on the rostrum, and the people sitting under the stage were too far away to hear his conversation, so he didn't care. He said cautiously: "If the enemies in the Barvinkovo ​​area are not cleared in the early stage of the battle, it will bring us a devastating disaster."

Although Sokov's words sounded a bit alarmist, Vasilevsky did not get angry. On the contrary, he said encouragingly: "Comrade Major, tell us your opinion."

"When our army advances from the Balvenkovo ​​salient, the flanks will be exposed in front of the German army." Sokov pointed to the map with a explaining stick, and said to Vasilevsky: "Although the 9th Army of the Southern Front The group army is covering the flanks of our army, but their cover is limited. Once the German army establishes a powerful assault group in the Barvinkovo ​​area, the 9th group army will not be able to stop their assault at all. A little later the 57th Army will also be hit.

You can imagine that if the troops of the 9th and 57th armies were defeated by the enemy. Then the flanks of the Southwest Front Army's assaulting troops are completely exposed to the enemy. If the enemy launches an assault from the flank at this moment, then the troops of our Southwest Front Army are in danger of being encircled..."

"Nonsense! It's nonsense!" Before Sokov finished speaking, he heard a roar from behind him. He turned his head and saw Baghramyan with a big shaved head. Staring at himself with fire-breathing eyes, he said angrily: "Major, who gave you the right to talk nonsense here? We have assembled such a powerful offensive force, how could we not be able to defeat a few broken German divisions... "

"Comrade Baghramyan, don't get angry." Seeing that Baghramyan looked like he was going to eat people, Vasilevsky hurried out to smooth things over: "I think what Major Sokov said makes sense, you should Listen carefully to his opinion, it can also be useful when formulating a detailed battle plan."

"Comrade Deputy Chief of Staff, who did you just say?" Baghramyan felt that Sokov's name seemed familiar, so he quickly asked, "Is it Sokov or something else?"

"Sokov!" Vasilevsky said in a positive tone, "I think you should be familiar with this surname."

"Sokov?!" Baghramyan repeated the name again, with a surprised expression on his face: "Comrade Deputy Chief of Staff, you say he is a relative of Mikhail?"

"Not relatives," Vasilevsky shook his head with a smile, and said, "Major Sokov in front of you is the son of the cavalry commander you know."

Sokov couldn't help being a little dumbfounded when he heard the conversation between the two. I really don't know what a great man the real Sokov's father is, so many senior commanders know him, and he may even be his former comrade-in-arms. He began to think in his heart whether he should call the two generals in front of him uncles.

Just as Sokov was thinking wildly, Baghramyan grabbed his arm with both hands, straightened his body, and looked at him carefully. After looking at it for a while, he turned to Vasilevsky and said, "That's right, Comrade Deputy Chief of Staff, there's nothing wrong with that. He's Misha's son. This kid really looks like his father."

"Let's talk about the past later." Vasilevsky smiled at Baghramyan, and then said, "His idea is quite novel, let's let him continue."