Red Moscow

One day in early June, Sokov, who was staying in his headquarters, suddenly received a call from Malinin. The chief of staff of the army group conveyed Rokossovsky's order: before eleven noon today, Sokov and Potukin must rush to the army headquarters to attend an important military meeting.

At this moment, the Kharkov campaign commanded by Marshal Timoshenko has ended in failure. In this battle, the Soviet army killed 75,000 people, captured 239,000 people, and lost 1,249 tanks, 2,026 artillery pieces and mortars. When Sokov heard that Malinin asked himself and Potukin to go to the army headquarters, he guessed that a new round of offensive in the direction of Bryansk was about to start.

On the way to the headquarters, Potukin asked curiously: "Comrade commander, our troops have been resting for nearly half a month. You said that Chief of Staff Malinin informed us to go to a meeting. Is there any important combat mission?"

"That's for sure, Comrade Chief of Staff." Sokov glanced at the driver and said cautiously: "Our army has suffered a setback in the direction of Kharkov, and we must launch a new offensive in other directions to contain the German army. , lest they take the opportunity to expand the results of the battle and cause our army to suffer greater losses."

The headquarters of the group army is located in a forest, which is a semi-underground shelter. A dozen fighters stood at the entrance, led by a second lieutenant, who checked the identities of the commanders attending the meeting.

Seeing the arrival of Sokov and Potukin, the second lieutenant looked them up and down, and asked tentatively, "Are you from the 31st Guards Division?"

"That's right." Hearing the second lieutenant's question, Sokov nodded quickly and replied, "I am Major Sokov, acting commander of the 31st Guards Division, and this is my chief of staff, Lieutenant Colonel Potukin. "

After verifying the identities of the two, the second lieutenant raised his hand to salute the two, and then said, "Please come in. The meeting room is at the end of the corridor."

The two walked into the headquarters along the simple wooden steps. In the corridor outside the meeting room, Sokov saw that there were already a dozen officers waiting outside the door, including school-level officers and generals. Some of them were standing, some were chatting on the benches against the wall. Seeing Sokov and Potukin approaching, he only glanced at them and continued chatting.

When there were more than thirty people waiting in the corridor, the closed wooden door of the conference room suddenly opened. Ma Linin came out from the inside and said to the officers standing in the corridor: "comrades commanders, please come in, the meeting is about to start." The wall to make way for the commanders participating in the meeting.

When Sokov walked into the conference room, he saw that there were several people sitting at the other end of the long conference table. He recognized at a glance that General Zhukov, the commander of the front army, and Rokossovsky, the commander of the army, were sitting on his right, while Lobachev, the military commissar of the army, and Romanov, the director of the political department of the army, Sitting on his left head.

There are not many seats around the conference table, so almost all general-level military officers walked to the table and sat down. Sokov, who had the lowest military rank, found a place against the wall and sat down. Unexpectedly, as soon as he sat down, he heard Rokossovsky knock on the table twice, and then said: "Major Sokov, don't sit in the corner, sit in front!"

When the officers who were looking for seats heard what Rokossovsky said, they couldn't help turning their eyes to Sokov who was sitting in the corner. Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Sokov stood up a little embarrassedly, walked to the table and sat down, thinking to himself: What is going on here, why did Comrade Commander let me sit in front?

After everyone sat down, Ma Linin walked to the map hanging on the wall and said to everyone, "comrades commanders, I called you here for a meeting today to deploy the next combat mission. Everyone It is very clear that the offensive launched by our army in the direction of Kharkov did not achieve the desired results, so it is necessary for us to launch an attack in a new direction..."

When Malinin introduced the situation on the battlefield, Sokov thought to himself: "It seems that my guess is correct. After the Soviet army suffered a disastrous defeat in the direction of Kharkov, it must attack from other directions to contain the German troops. , lest the enemy take advantage of the big victory to expand the results of the battle. Today Zhukov came to the venue in person, indicating that our next attack is still aimed at the direction of Bryansk."

What happened next was exactly as Sokov expected. The troops would launch an attack on the German Bryansk defense line at dawn tomorrow, and his 31st Guards Division was in the starting lineup. The only difference is that last time, as the vanguard of the entire group army, his own troops charged in the direction of Bryansk, and Orlov's infantry army followed up as the second echelon. But this time, Orlov's troops were deployed on his right flank, and the two troops advanced side by side to attack the enemy's defensive positions.

After introducing the combat deployment, Rokossovsky stood up, glanced at the commanders present one by one, and said: "comrades commanders, this attack did not give us much time to prepare. Therefore, there must be many unexpected problems. If you have any ideas, you can raise them now."

As soon as Rokossovsky finished speaking, Orlov stood up and asked unceremoniously: "Comrade Commander, I would like to ask how long the artillery can provide us with artillery before this attack." Are the artillery ready?"

Rokossovsky heard Orlov's question and said with a wry smile: "Comrade General, I think you may be disappointed. Since the front of this offensive has become more exaggerated, the density of artillery fire you have obtained is far greater. Smaller than in May. At the same time, the number of tanks that can cooperate with you will also be greatly reduced."

After hearing this, Orlov asked back in surprise: "Comrade commander, you should remember that when my troops attacked in May, it was because they did not receive enough artillery support that the troops suffered heavy casualties. If this time When attacking Bryansk, the artillery support we will receive will be far less than in May, so it will be difficult for me to ensure that we can break through the German defense within the specified time."

Regarding Orlov's statement, Zhukov interrupted and said: "General Orlov, although you have received less artillery support, your attack this time will be supported by a large number of aviation units. In this way, our As long as the German artillery fires, it will be severely hit by our air force."