Chapter 1056

For the sake of my safety, Zhukov added several soldiers to Yushchenko and formed an elite guard team. Yushchenko, the former commander of the guard battalion, can only follow me and wrongly become a guard monitor who can only command more than a dozen soldiers.

Although there were only a dozen people in my guard class, we were still crowded with a covered truck when we left Zhukov headquarters. Seeing this, watujing couldn't help laughing at me and said, "general oshanina, it seems that you've made a lot of noise when you go out. Apanashchenko and I will take four or five guards when we go to inspect, and you have more guards than the two of us put together. "

For watujing's ridicule, I can't be angry, I can only accompany with a smile and say: "senior general, because I have been in danger too many times on my way, Marshal Zhukov specially assigned me this guard class for the sake of protecting my safety."

"Don't worry, comrade oshanina. I'm just kidding you." Watujing saw that I was a little nervous and at a loss, so he explained to me. After that, he opened the back door, made a gesture to me, and said: "get on the bus, we have to catch several hundred kilometers. However, you can rest assured that the situation and route are all within our defense area, and there will be no danger. "

After a rough night on the road, we finally arrived at the headquarters of Voronezh's front army in oboyan at dawn.

Our car stopped outside the building where the headquarters is located. As soon as I got off, I saw two familiar figures from the crowd standing at the door ready to meet us. One of them was apanashchenko, and the other was Khrushchev, who once served as a military commissar of Stalingrad's front army. But now he is no longer a mere political worker, but recently he was awarded the rank of lieutenant general.

I followed watujing and shook hands with the commanders who came to greet me. When I shook hands with Khrushchev, I showed relative respect to the future leader. I bent slightly, stretched out my hands and said politely, "Hello, comrade military commissar, nice to meet you here!"

"Hello, Rita!" When Khrushchev saw me, a former comrade in arms of Stalingrad's front army, he was very friendly. He shook my hands and said warmly, "welcome to our Voronezh front army to supervise and guide our work."

In front of this future boss, I showed my due humility. I accompanied him with a smile and said, "Comrade military commissar, you are joking. Where can I direct any work in front of you leaders? I came to Voronezh's front army to assist commander vatukin in his work. In addition, I am young and have little experience. If there is anything wrong, please point it out to me. "

"Well, comrade military Commissar." "We'd better go to the headquarters and convey the superior's intention to the commanders at all levels as soon as possible," said watujing, interrupting our reminiscence

When I entered the conference room, I took my seats. Vatukin was sitting opposite me. He had deputy commander apanashchenko in his left hand and Khrushchev in his right hand. Major general korgenevich, chief of staff, was sitting on my left hand. In his right hand was major general kazakov, commander of the 69th group army.

At the beginning of the meeting, vatukin scanned the whole room and said slowly, "comrades commander, I have brought the latest orders from Moscow. The task of our Voronezh front army is no longer simply to guard against the German forces in Belgorod and encircle the flanks of the central front army, but to strengthen the construction of fortifications in the defense area so as to prevent the German forces from launching a violent attack. This general oshanina, the special commissioner sent from the base camp, is responsible for supervising the construction of various fortifications in our defense area. "

Hearing that watujing introduced me to you, I quickly got up from my seat, raised my hand and saluted all the people present before I sat down again.

"General oshanina has a special mission, so no matter which group army she enters, you should give her active cooperation. Do you understand?" said vatujing

"I see." Several group commanders sitting at the table answered neatly.

After the house was quiet again, apanashchenko said his question in public: "Comrade commander, I don't understand why the base camp has adjusted our place as the main defense direction. As we all know, there is an elite German central army group in the Oreal region. They may attack general rokosovsky's central front army at any time. In front of us, Belgorod is the weakened disabled general under the command of Manstein. "

After listening to this question, vatukin did not immediately answer it. Instead, he looked at me and said, "Comrade oshanina, I think it is more appropriate for you to answer the question of Comrade deputy commander."

Seeing that vatukin had pushed this problem to me, I could not refuse. I had to stand up and say to apanashchenko: "Comrade deputy commander, you are right about one thing. The troops of Manstein were weakened in the battle. But have you ever thought about what kind of strength they were before they were weakened and what kind of strength they will be after they were weakened? "

"This, this..." in the face of my question, apanashchenko seemed a little flustered, and got stuck in the middle of his words. But after all, he was not a simple man. A moment later, he came back to himself and asked, "I really don't know the specific strength of the Manstein troops. However, a unit that has been attacked jointly by our southwest front army and Voronezh front army, even if its combat effectiveness is stronger in the past, its current strength will be greatly reduced. "

Although apanashchenko's seniority is old, even as commander vatukin is not as good as him, I don't have the slightest awe for him, so I don't speak in circles, and say directly: "Comrade deputy commander, I have witnessed a German division, in a few hours, severely damaged one of our guards, And easily broke through their solid defense. At that time, the tank brigade that I sent reinforcements to attack from their flanks was destroyed after a fierce battle. We need to know that these troops annihilated by the German army are all elite troops who have just gone through the battle of Stalingrad, but they still have no fighting power in front of the inferior German army. We can see how strong their fighting power is. "

After listening to my words, apanashchenko said unconvinced: "even if there is such a German division, does he dare to risk being encircled and go into the defense area of our front army alone?"

"Comrade deputy commander," I thought that he would die in a few months, and there was no possibility of becoming my immediate superior, so I was not afraid of offending him. I said realistically, "there are three German divisions under the command of Manstein, and we can't cope with one of them. If we meet three at the same time, our troops will be dominant, There will still be a fierce battle. Moreover, after the loss of such elite troops, the German aggressors will certainly give priority to replenishing them, so that they can recover their original combat effectiveness as soon as possible and pose a greater threat to our army. "

"Rita," Khrushchev asked slowly after my impassioned speech, "are you sure that the German Central Army Group will not attack the defensive zone of the central front army first?"

"No, comrade military Commissar." In response to Khrushchev's question, I respectfully replied: "the German army assembled the central army group in the Orel area in order to attract our 70 infantry divisions deployed near Moscow, as well as rokosovsky's central front army, so that we could concentrate all our attention on the West, They can secretly deploy troops to strengthen the army of Manstein in the future. "

"Where do you think the main direction of German attack will be?" Khrushchev then asked.

"Prohorovka!" Since I have mentioned this place in Zhukov's headquarters for a long time, there is no need to hide it here, so I simply said: "commander vatujing once explained that because prokholovka's terrain is an open hilly area, which is divided into two parts by an important railway, it is not conducive for us to build a complete defense system, Once the German army chooses this place as a breakthrough point, it will be very difficult for us to block the German attack with our current fighting capacity. So we need to survey the area as soon as possible and build fortifications in suitable places. "

"Yes, general oshanina is quite right. The next main task of our front army is to select the right location in Prokhorovka area and build a perfect defense system." After these words, watujing looked at major general kazakov sitting on my right hand and said, "general kazakov!"

Hearing watujing call his name, major general kazakov quickly stood up from his seat, straightened his waist and waited for watujing's next order.

"Prokhorovka is the defense area of your 69th army," watujing looked at him and began to explain the task to him. "You are going to accompany general oshanina personally to complete the topographic survey, understand?"

"I understand." Karzakov replied loudly, then sat down.

"Next, we..." as soon as he was halfway through, he was interrupted by a staff officer who rushed in. I saw the staff officer close to watujing and whisper a few words in his ear. Watujing's face suddenly changed. I waited for the staff officer to stand up straight again and asked watujing nervously, "Comrade commander, what's the matter?"

"Well, comrade oshanina." Vatukin got up from his seat and said to me solemnly, "the troops stationed in prohorovka have called and reported that traces of German have been found near the area."

Before I could speak, apanashchenko got up from his seat and said in a loud voice, "Comrade commander, since the enemy has been found in prohorovka, what are we doing here?" After that, he stopped for a moment. Seeing that vatukin didn't mean to stop him, he continued, "I suggest that the meeting should be stopped immediately. The commanders of the headquarters should go to prohorovka to see what happened."

Apanashchenko's words made me frown, because I thought of Zhukov in my heart, considering what action Zhukov would take if he heard the news. Based on what I know about him, he will definitely order the person who reports his intelligence to find out where the enemy is and what kind of forces and equipment they have, instead of rushing to end an important military meeting and leading a large group of commanders to the place where the German army appears. If the enemy ambush on the road, so many senior commanders out of any accident, the army will fall into a leaderless situation.

Thinking of this, I stared nervously at watujing to see what kind of decision he would make. Besides me, Khrushchev, who was sitting next to him, and a group of commanders of various army groups were staring at him, waiting for him to make a final decision. Vatukin was silent for a long time. He looked down at Khrushchev and asked, "Comrade military commissar, what do you think?" Khrushchev didn't expect that vatukin would blame him for this problem. He raised his hand, scratched the back of his head, and finally said: "Comrade commander, we hastily end the military meeting and then rush to Prokhorovka. I think it's a bit hasty. Why don't you do that? Since Rita is going to prohorovka to survey the terrain, she should simply ask the deputy commander and general kazakov to accompany her. We can not only understand the situation of the German army in prohorovka area, but also survey the local area by the way, killing two birds with one stone. What do you think? " After listening to Khrushchev's opinions, vatukin nodded and said with approval: "Comrade military commissar has a point. We are holding an important military meeting. We can't interrupt the meeting just for this matter. Comrade deputy commander, will you go to prohorovka with general oshanina and general kazakov to see what happened“ OK, I'll go now. " Apanashchenko said this and called me and kazakov: "come on, let's go to prohorovka immediately and find out what the Germans really want to do." As for apanashchenko's reckless behavior, I sighed in my heart, but I couldn't oppose it. I had to say goodbye to vatukin and Khrushchev and follow him and karzakov to Prokhorovka. On the bus to prohorovka, I really admire Stalin's arrangement with apanashchenko. If we raise him from the position of commander of the Far East Front Army and directly let him take charge of an important direction, the Soviet army will suffer unnecessary heavy losses because of his old command ideas.