Red Moscow

"How could this be?" Voroshilov, who was the first to feel the slap in the face, couldn't help blushing, and said jokingly, "I didn't expect that the judgments of us old guys are not as accurate as a little guy."

"That's right," Timoshenko also said with a wry smile, "Not long ago, we thought the Normandy landing plan proposed by Sokov was ridiculous and absurd. But we never expected that he would accurately judge the The landing direction of the Allied forces. Fortunately, he is one of our own, and if he is an enemy, he must be the most dangerous enemy."

"There is some truth to what you said." Stalin nodded and said, "If Misha is really our enemy, he will definitely deploy heavy defenses in the direction of Normandy, which will lead to the landing of the Allied forces in the area, and then ended in failure."

"Comrade Stalin," Vasilevsky asked cautiously: "The letter of appointment for Malinovsky has just been issued. If it is to be withdrawn, it is too late now! Do I need to order the letter of appointment to be withdrawn?"

Unexpectedly, after hearing this, Stalin pondered for a long time, finally shook his head slowly, and said: "I think the post of commander of the Ukrainian Second Front Army should be held by General Malinovsky. What you just said It makes sense, he has had experience in commanding a front army many times, and he has a wide network of contacts. It may be more appropriate for him to be the commander."

Now that Stalin had set the tone, it showed that Sokov missed the post of commander of the Second Front. Vasilevsky laughed twice, and said embarrassingly: "Yes, Malinovsky was already an admiral in the later period of the Stalingrad Defense War, and he also commanded the most elite 2nd Guards Army As for Sokov, he was only the commander of the 41st Guards Division at that time, and his military rank was only colonel."

"Not to mention, in terms of qualifications alone, he is far inferior to General Malinovsky. A commander of the front army in his twenties is still a young man in the hearts of many commanders. Children, let them accept the command of a child, they will have psychological resistance."

After Vasilevsky made a conclusion, Antonov asked tentatively: "Comrade Stalin, if General Malinovsky is the commander of the Ukrainian Second Front, then the commander of the Third Front that he vacated should be Now, who should take over?"

"I think how about General Tolbukhin?" Vasilevsky expressed his opinion without waiting for Stalin to express his opinion: "After the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War, his outstanding military qualities were particularly outstanding. Outstanding. He is loyal to his duties, brave and good at fighting, has outstanding talents, and treats his subordinates with generosity and sincerity.

From 1941 to 1942, he successively served as chief of staff of the Transcaucasus Front Army, the Caucasus Front Army and the Crimean Front Army. From May to July 1942, he served as the deputy commander of the Stalingrad Military District, and from July he served as the commander of the 57th Army of the Stalingrad Front Army. In February 1943, he served as the commander of the 68th Army of the Northwest Front, in March of the Southern Front, and in October of the Fourth Ukrainian Front. "

"Oh, he has held so many posts?" After hearing about Tolbukhin's resume, Stalin said with some surprise: "But after he was appointed as the commander of the Third Front Army, the post he vacated was not Who will be in charge?"

"I think General Petrov can take over." Timoshenko finally found a chance to speak, and recommended someone he knew well without hesitation: "When the war broke out, he was the commander of the 44th Army. , fought the invading Germans at Odessa for a long time. Because of the fortifications he held, they were so difficult to conquer that the Germans privately called him 'Defensive General'."

But what Timoshenko didn't expect was that he was opposed by Voroshilov as soon as he finished expressing his opinion: "I'm sorry, Marshal Timoshenko, I don't think General Petrov is suitable to serve as the fourth Ukrainian general. The post of commander of the front army."

His words aroused the curiosity of everyone present, and everyone turned their attention to Voroshilov, wanting to hear what he would say.

"If we talk about defensive warfare, Petrov is indeed better than many commanders in our army, but he has a fatal weakness." Voroshilov said with a serious expression: "He can only defend, not command troops. attack."

In order to enhance his persuasiveness, he also explained with specific things: "As everyone knows, I used to supervise the North Caucasus Front Army's implementation of the Crimean landing operation as a representative of the base camp. But this offensive campaign ended in failure. And it ended because Petrov didn't know how to attack."

He turned his head to where Stalin was: "Comrade Stalin, I offered to fire Petrov, but you replied: What we have to do is not to fire Petrov, but to teach him to attack, after all, he has never Attacked."

"Yes, I did say that." Stalin agreed with Voroshilov's statement: "However, in order to punish Petrov for his defeat in the battle, I dismissed him as the commander of the front army. And demoted from general to general, let him serve as the commander of the 33rd Army."

"I see that the Ukrainian Fourth Front will not set up the post of commander for the time being. Lieutenant General Biryuzov, the chief of staff, will be responsible for all the work." Stalin said thoughtfully: "I plan to arrange a new post for Petrov. Position."

"A new position?" Vasilevsky raised his eyebrows and asked tentatively, "Comrade Stalin, you don't want him to be the commander of the newly formed Belarusian Second Front, do you?"

"What's wrong with this?" Stalin said with a smile: "Although he made some mistakes in military command, we can't beat him to death with a stick. We can assign him a new position and train him well." Some. If he does a good job in his new position, I will formally appoint him commander of the Fourth Ukrainian Front in due course."

Neither Vasilevsky nor Antonov expressed any opinion on the selection of the commander of the Ukrainian Fourth Front. The two knew in their hearts that if they proposed Sokov to take up this position, it would definitely be approved. However, the next main attack direction of the fourth front army is Bulgaria and other countries, and the achievements made by it cannot be compared with the main attack direction of the first and second front armies.

In Stalin's heart, he also wanted Sokov to be the commander of the Fourth Front Army. He should make a transition and accumulate some command experience, so that he can justifiably hand over more important troops to his command. But he waited for a long time, but saw that no one had nominated Sokov as the commander of the Fourth Front Army, so he had no choice but to announce that the Fourth Front Army would not appoint a commander for the time being.

After discussing the important candidates for the commander of the front army, they then began to talk about the next strategic direction and how to deploy the troops on each front.

What happened in the Moscow Kremlin is naturally unknown to Sokov who is far away in Otatz. He is studying with Trofimenko, Sameko and others how to fight against the German army in the Chernivtsi area. Ferocious attack.

"Commanders," Sokov said to the several commanders around the table, "During this time, the enemies fighting our army are all Romanian troops. Their morale is low, and their combat effectiveness is not comparable to that of the Germans." than, so our offense seems to be very smooth."

Just when smiles appeared on everyone's faces, Sokov continued: "While we have won one victory after another, there have been some bad signs, that is, the idea of ​​underestimating the enemy.

I heard the commanders of some troops even chanted the slogan "From east to west, one push and it's over". In their minds, the Romanian army ahead of us is not an enemy, but a hospitable host who welcomes us to their home at any time. As long as our army advances westward, the Romanian army along the way will voluntarily give up resistance and choose to cooperate with us. "

Sokov's words made the expressions on everyone's faces serious. Not only the grassroots commanders, but even their army-level commanders now have such signs of underestimating the enemy in their hearts.

"Commanders," Sokov said earnestly to everyone, "if we let this trend continue, we will suffer a lot. Of course, some Romanian troops we met on the way forward were unwilling to fight. And those who choose to cooperate with us; there are also those who are full of hostility to our army, and the meeting between the two sides is an endless battle."

"Comrade Commander," Trofimenko voluntarily admitted his mistake as soon as Sokov finished speaking this time: "I have such a thought of underestimating the enemy. The fighting is nothing more than that. Ignoring that Romania is still a slave state of Germany, as long as they do not break with Germany and stand on the same front as us, then they are our enemies."

"Well said, General Trofimenko." Sokov agreed with Trofimenko's remarks: "As long as we are commanders and don't have any thoughts of underestimating the enemy, then on the battlefield, the enemy will It is not an easy task to make us suffer.”

Then he patted the map on the table and said to everyone: "Although the Germans have launched an attack on Chernivtsi now, there is General Bogdanov's 2nd Tank Army there. I believe they have enough troops." Ability to block the crazy attack from the German army."

"Don't we need to support them?" Sameko asked tentatively.

"Help, I definitely want to help. After all, they are now under our command temporarily. How can I do nothing about it." Sokov explained to Sameko: "But in the current situation, we can only rely on His own strength, to resist the German attack. The work we have to do now is to consolidate the occupied areas to ensure that we will not have any worries when we fight the Germans."

When he said this, Sokov's eyes stayed on the military commissar Gorokhov: "Comrade military commissar, I have an important task for you now."

"Please tell me, Comrade Commander." Gorokhov guessed what task Sokov would give him, but he still asked tentatively: "Do you want me to cooperate with local comrades to carry out various tasks in the newly occupied area?" Let's work?"

"That's right, Comrade Military Commissar." Seeing that Gorokhov had guessed his intentions, Sokov nodded with a smile, and said, "That's what I meant. I wonder if you agree?"

"No problem." Gorokhov replied straightforwardly: "This is what I have to do, you just leave it to me."

"Chief of Staff," Sokov said to Sameko after arranging for Gorokhov to assist local comrades and carry out various tasks in the city: "Although General Bogdanov's troops are strong, we don't need them for the time being." The ground forces are there to support them, but the air force is there to provide them with the necessary air support."

A few months ago, Sokov had reached an agreement with Konev. At special times, he could directly contact the Air Force and let the Air Force provide the necessary air support for his troops. At this moment, he felt that if the air force could be dispatched to attack the German ground forces, especially the armored forces, it would greatly reduce the pressure on Bogdanov.

"General Sameko," Smirnov worried that Sameko didn't understand the situation, so he took the initiative to introduce him: "Comrade Commander and Marshal Konev have reached an agreement, and if necessary, you can directly contact General Goryunov. , asking him to dispatch the air force to provide air cover for our troops."

The 27th Army has just been assigned to the Second Front Army for a short time, and Sameko still doesn't understand many things. He is full of gratitude for Smirnov's reminder: "General Smirnov, thank you so much .Without your reminder, I wouldn't know who to contact to provide air support to General Bogdanov."

After a short pause, he asked Smirnov again: "General Smirnov, I would like to ask, how many sorties can the other party dispatch after we request assistance from the Air Force?"

"General Sameko, let me tell you this." Seeing Sameko humbly asking himself for advice, Smirnov said enthusiastically: "As long as we apply to General Goryunov, he will randomly send strong The troops of General Ryazanov, Commander of the 1st Fighter Aviation Corps, General Podgorny, Commander of the 4th Fighter Aviation Corps, and Major General Polbin, Commander of the Bomber Aviation Division, provided the necessary air support for our ground forces."

Sameko originally thought that after asking for help from the Air Force, it would be interesting if the other side dispatched one or two flying regiments. But hearing what Smirnov said, it seems that as long as there is a need, the three aviation armies can be mobilized at the same time.

But he had never dealt with Goryunov before, and if he called directly, he would have to explain to the other party for a long time. In order to save this trouble, he tentatively asked Smirnov: "General Smirnov, may you call General Goryunov?"

"Why?" Smirnov asked puzzled.

"The reason is very simple." Sameko said with some embarrassment: "I don't know General Goryunov at all. If I call rashly, it will definitely take a lot of time to introduce myself. Wait for him After knowing who I am, he may not agree to my request."

Smirnov was also kind-hearted. Seeing Sameko's embarrassed face, he readily agreed: "Okay, General Sameko, I'll call General Goryunov right now. After the call gets through , let me introduce the two of you to each other, and when you both know each other, you can call him directly in the future to contact him about providing air cover."