Red Moscow

"You are right, Comrade Commander." Sameko nodded after hearing this and said, "I want to inform General Afunin and immediately order the troops to repair the fortifications in the snow. Otherwise, the ground will be frozen hard after a night of freezing. It’s not that easy to dig fortifications.”

While Sameko was on the phone, Zakharov asked Sokov: "Comrade Sokov, I want to ask you a question. If the Allies don't open up a second front behind the Germans, how much will we need?" How long will it take to completely defeat the Germans?"

Facing the question raised by Zakharov, Sokov was silent for a long time, and said slowly: "Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, if the Allies do not open up a second front, then the Germans can safely and boldly send more Troops, put into the Eastern Front, to stop our march on Berlin.

If this happens, it means that our army can only rely on its own strength to defeat the German army. Even if we can win the final victory, I am afraid that we will pay a very heavy price. "

"You make a lot of sense." Zakharov nodded after hearing this, and continued to ask Sokov: "Comrade Sokov, do you think that the Allied forces will really open up a second battlefield?"

Sokov was a little speechless, thinking that he had just talked about this matter specifically, why is Zakharov still struggling with this matter? But since the other party asked, he can only truthfully say: "The United States sees it very clearly. If we are allowed to do it alone, maybe in two years, those countries that were originally occupied by the Germans will be defeated by us because of the Germans. Our allies. And this is seriously inconsistent with the European policy of the United States. In order to prevent this from happening, it is only a matter of time before the United States opens up a second front."

"Comrade Sokov," Zakharov waited for Sokov to finish speaking, pulled him aside, and asked in a low voice: "Tell me, if the United States wants to open up a second battlefield, where will they choose?" place?"

For a moment, Sokov didn't know how to answer the other party. As for where the allied forces will open up the second battlefield, I am afraid that apart from the Ministry of Defense of the United States, only he, a traverser, knows best.

Seeing that Sokov was silent, Zakharov's face was full of smiles, and he said in a low voice: "Comrade Sokov, you and I have not been dealing with each other for a day or two, and now I want to ask you for help. You won't refuse, will you?"

"Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army," Sokov said with a wry smile, "I'm just an army commander, not a strategic researcher. I really don't know where the United States plans to establish a second battlefield."

"This is not a place to talk, let's talk in another place." Zakharov said to Sokov: "I have very important things, and I want to talk to you in private."

Hearing what Zakharov said, Sokov realized that the other party must have something important, so he said politely: "There is a room next to it. Few people usually go there. We can go there to talk."

After the two came to the next room, Zakharov closed the door himself, then took out a squarely folded map from his satchel, unfolded it and put it on the table, and said to Sokov : "Comrade Sokov, please help me find out where the Allied Forces may open up a second battlefield."

Seeing that Zakharov was so abnormal, Sokov couldn't help asking curiously: "Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, I have a question. Why are you so eager to know where the Allied forces opened up the second battlefield?"

"Comrade Sokov, since you asked, I will tell you secretly." Zakharov said with some embarrassment: "Recently, there is a vacancy for the deputy chief of the General Staff, and I want to fight for it."

Although Zakharov's words were not finished, Sokov already understood what he meant: "Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, I understand what you mean. You want to increase Your chances of running for the post of Deputy Chief. Am I right?"

"That's right, Comrade Sokov, your guess is completely correct." Seeing that Sokov had guessed his intention, Zakharov no longer concealed it, but said sincerely: "I wonder if you are willing to help me?" Is this busy?"

If he was still in the war room at this moment, in front of so many people, Sokov would naturally not say anything to Zakharov, so as not to cause unnecessary trouble for himself by talking too much. But now that there are only myself and Zakharov in this room, the situation is different.

"Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army," Sokov pushed the map on the table to Zakharov, pointing to the French coastline and said: "If I were the commander of the Allied Forces, then I would organize the fleet to cross the English Channel. Seize a strategic landing field in the north, create the conditions for opening a second front in Europe and eventually defeating Germany."

"Northern France?!" Hearing what Sokov said, Zakharov stared at northern France on the map, looking for possible places where the Allied forces would land. After a long time, he raised his head again with a smile on his face: "Comrade Sokov, I found it. It is Calais, it must be Calais. This is the closest port to the British mainland."

"That's right, Calais is indeed the closest port city to the British mainland." Sokov asked calmly, "But since you can think of it, couldn't the German High Command not see it? I think the Germans are looking for Calais. There must be a large number of troops and strong fortifications deployed in the direction they came from. If the Allied forces forcefully land here, the casualties will surely be astronomical."

"War, how can there be immortals." But Zakharov said disapprovingly: "In order to defeat the Germans, I think it is completely worth paying the price no matter how high it is."

"Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army," Sokov said slowly: "Since you can guess the landing place, it may be Calais, then the Germans can also think of it, so they are bound to arrange on the beach of Calais. With a large number of anti-landing obstacles, if the Allied forces want to successfully land on French soil, they will definitely suffer heavy casualties.

It was completely unacceptable to the Allied commanders to make troops suffer huge casualties while only occupying a beachhead. In order to avoid huge casualties of the troops, the Allied commanders will definitely change the location of the landing field to reduce the casualties of the troops. "

"Once the Allied commander changes the location of the landing site, I believe it will not be long before the mole lurking in the command will send this information through the radio." Sokov said: "And the German high-level knows the news Afterwards, corresponding adjustments will be made to the original deployment to counter possible attacks by the Allied forces."

"Comrade Sokov, from what you say, it seems that the Allied forces have to make huge sacrifices before they can capture a small landing field in France." Zakharov frowned and said, "You have nothing to do. What about reducing Allied casualties?"

"There is a way." Sokov said unhurriedly: "That is to set up a fake landing point, through a series of fake actions, and spread a lot of false information, so that the Germans will misjudge and think that Calais is the target of the Allied attack."

Zakharov understood what Sokov wanted to express, but he still asked modestly: "Comrade Sokov, I think you still tell me, will the Allied forces choose Calais as the landing site?"

"No," Sokov shook his head and said, "Although in terms of geographical location, Calais is undoubtedly the best choice. But as I said just now, since everyone knows that Calais is far from the British mainland The nearest port city, in order to prevent the landing of the Allied forces, the Germans will definitely build a large number of fortifications and heavy defenses here, thus making it more difficult for the Allied forces to capture the city."

"So according to my analysis, the Allied forces will definitely choose Normandy in northern France as the location of their attack."

As soon as Sokov's words came out, Zakharov immediately made a rebuttal: "Comrade Sokov, I don't understand. Now that the Allied forces have invaded Italy from the Mediterranean, the Italians have hardly resisted. Why don't they use warships?" Mobilize personnel, go from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, and then attack north from Italy and our army will form a north-south attack on Germany, but why do we have to take a huge risk and land in Normandy?"

"In my opinion, Normandy was chosen because the climate of this place is a temperate oceanic climate, the reason for the warm Atlantic current, and the high tide in summer, which is suitable for landing operations. Then the Allied forces used strategic deception, which made the German high command make a wrong judgment, which not only guaranteed the sudden landing operation It also ensures the smooth progress of the campaign and has a major impact on the entire campaign.”

Seeing that Sokov easily vetoed his opinion, Zakharov was not only not angry, but said with interest: "Comrade Sokov, if you were the commander of the Allied forces, what would you do?"

The answer to this question is readily available, and Sokov said without hesitation: "If I were the Allied commander, I would have successfully used double agents, electronic jamming, and the use of countermeasures in the southeast of England through effective feints of the navy and air force. A series of measures such as the assembly of camouflaged troops and ships in the region, coupled with strict secrecy measures, made the German High Command misjudge the location and time of the Allied landing for a long time.

The advantage of this is that even after the Allied forces successfully landed in Normandy, they would still be considered by the Germans as a diversionary feint, which led to the waste of most of the German troops and weapons on the Western Front in the Calais area, while Normandy was unable to resist the Allied landing due to its weak force. "

After Sokov finished speaking, he intentionally paused to let Zakharov digest it. Unexpectedly, Zakharov asked again: "Comrade Sokov, you haven't answered my question yet."

"What's the question?" Sokov asked blankly.

"Um, that's what I just asked, why not attack from Italy?"

Seeing that Zakharov has been struggling with this issue, Sokov said helplessly: "Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, there are many reasons, the first is that the terrain for Italy's northward attack is too poor.

You must know that between Italy and Germany, there is a tall Alps. The average altitude of the Alps reaches about 3,000 meters. It is the birthplace of many large rivers in Europe. Tens of thousands of Allied forces want to cross the Alps to attack Germany, which is undoubtedly asking for trouble for themselves. The Germans can take advantage of the favorable terrain to counterattack condescendingly. The mountainous terrain is also not conducive to large corps operations, and the Allied tanks and armored vehicles cannot be deployed at all. "

"As far as I know, after the surrender of Italy, the Allied forces also tried to advance northward from the Alps, but the Germans had already built the Gustav Line on the Alps, and the Allied forces killed no less than 10 soldiers under the Alps. million people.

The last point is the problem of logistical supplies. Normandy is very close to Britain, and Allied soldiers only need to cross the short English Channel to land in Western Europe. If attacking from Italy, how will tens of thousands of officers and soldiers be transported to Italy? Even the joint troop transport between Britain and the United States is very difficult, and it will also be attacked by German submarines. suffer unnecessary losses. "

While Sokov was expounding his point of view, Zakharov was quickly recording with a pen and paper. While recording, he gave Sokov a thumbs up: "Comrade Sokov, I really didn't expect that you can see the problem so thoroughly. I think you should stop being a commander and work in the General Staff. Maybe ten or twenty years later, you can also become the chief of staff of our army."

"Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, you are really flattering yourself." Sokov knew very well that the Soviet Army had always had a tradition of underestimating staff members. Even if he became the chief of general staff, he would still be looked down upon by many people. He said haha Said: "I think the most suitable place for me is to command operations at the front."

Zakharov put away the notebook, and said to Sokov with a solemn expression: "Comrade Sokov, what we just talked about, except for this room, you'd better forget it immediately, I don't want a third person know."

Sokov was worried that he had leaked the secrets of the Normandy landing, which might cause him a lot of inconvenience in the future. Hearing what Zakharov said, he felt a lot easier, and said repeatedly: "Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, we Didn’t I just talk about the customs and customs of various places, I think most people are not interested in such content.”

"That's right, that's right." Zakharov saw that Sokov said so well, and agreed: "The two of us were indeed talking about some customs and customs just now, and it's not a big deal. Hahahaha!"

When the two returned to the war room, Sameko came over and reported to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, I have faithfully conveyed your order to General Afunin. He said that he would organize the manpower overnight. , Digging fortifications in some important areas, ready to resist the possible attack of the German army."

"Very good, very good." Sokov nodded and added: "I remember that the 18th Guards Corps still has two artillery regiments. Let General Afunin not forget to deploy the artillery positions. In this way, when the infantry When the position is attacked by the Germans, they can provide timely artillery support."

"Comrade Commander," Sameko waited for Sokov to finish speaking, and reminded with a smile: "The 18th Guards Army is not going deep alone, they are operating in conjunction with General Kravchenko's 6th Tank Army Once a fight broke out, General Kravchenko would not only provide them with artillery support, but also send out tanks to attack the German offensive forces and completely disrupt the enemy's offensive steps."

"That's right, there is also General Kravchenko's troops working together with them." Sokov raised his hand and slapped himself on the forehead, and said with some annoyance: "How can I forget such an important thing?" It's over."