Chapter 1356

When I learned that the German army in the city of Zhitomir had been completely eliminated, and after praising tavartkiraze for a few words, I called vatukin in Kiev to report to him the victory I had just won.

After listening to my report, vatukin froze for a long time, then asked unexpectedly, "do you really wipe out all the German troops in the city of Zhitomir?"

"Yes, comrade general," although I don't understand why he spoke to me in this tone, I told him truthfully, "our troops have recaptured two universities and eliminated all the enemies in the city."

"Good. You did a good job." After a few words of praise, vatukin turned the subject and said, "the battle of fativ will be finished by this morning at the latest. I will transfer the troops that were originally going to the area to ztomir. As for you, come to Kiev as soon as possible. I want to have a good talk with you. "

"I understand, Comrade General." I knew in my heart that he was definitely going to talk to me about the troops being transferred to the rear for rest, so he said in a smooth tone, "I'll get to you as soon as possible."

When I put down the phone, I took the time to explain my work to chisjakov and bezikov: "deputy commander, chief of staff and senior general asked me to go to Kiev immediately. I think I was ready to talk with me about the issue of transferring troops to the rear for rest. When I was away, you would be responsible for the work here."

As for my trip to Kiev, both of them have been psychologically prepared for a long time, so they are very calm, but chisjakov repeatedly told me to pay attention to safety on the road.

It's only 1670 kilometers from the base to Kiev. Although the road is not too long, because this road has just been opened by our army, no one can tell whether there will be residual German troops in the forest on both sides of the road. So before I set out, I asked major Yushchenko to find me an armored car, and then under the escort of a company of soldiers, I set out towards Kiev.

On the way to Kiev, there are still traces of fighting left on both sides of the road. Destroyed tanks, armored vehicles, trucks and artillery can be seen everywhere, both from our army and German. When you pass through kanevka Town, you can see that the trenches outside the town are crisscrossed with the bodies of officers and soldiers from both sides, so you can judge how fierce the fighting was here at that time.

After entering Kiev, I can hardly recognize the city I once occupied. I can hardly find the complete building. I don't know whether it was destroyed by the siege artillery of our army or the deliberate destruction of the German. In the ruins on both sides of the street, soldiers and civilians are buried in the cleaning work.

When I met watujing in the headquarters, he had just finished a phone call. Maybe he heard some good news. He looked very happy. After he asked me to sit down, he politely asked, "Comrade o'xanina, is this a smooth journey?"

I nodded and replied, "yes, Comrade General. All the way was smooth, and there was no encounter with the enemy's stragglers. "

"I have something important to tell you when I call you here today." After asking the adjutant to bring me a cup of hot tea, watujing told me the reason why he called me: "your group army has been fighting for more than a month, and the soldiers and ammunition are consumed a lot, and the commanders and fighters are exhausted. So the supreme command decided to withdraw you to the rear for a rest. "

I saw that he didn't mention the topic that he would classify us into other front forces at all, and I began to guess whether he didn't know about it or didn't say it on purpose. But I can only think about it in my heart, I can't ask him directly. As soon as he finished, I immediately asked, "senior general, our group army now occupies three areas: Zhitomir, the base and korostwev. We can withdraw only after we have troops to replace our defense."

"Don't worry, I've already made plans for it." "I will send the 60th group army to take over the defense of the two cities of Zhitomir and korostwev," vatujing said lightly; At the base, the 38th army will take over. After the handover of defense, your troops immediately withdraw to Kiev. "

"Yes, Comrade General." I quickly stood up and answered.

"Your troops are playing very well." "I would like to thank you for the successful completion of the tasks assigned to you by your superiors," watujing added. We will give necessary rewards to the commanders and fighters who perform well in the battle. Well, is that clear now? "

"That's clear." After answering this question, I was silent for a moment, and then tentatively asked, "Comrade General, have all our troops launched a counter offensive? I mean, have we launched counter offensives on all battlefields across the country? "

"Needless to say," said watujing with some pride, "our troops have certainly turned to a full-scale counter offensive. I attended a high-level meeting in Moscow two days ago. At the meeting, I mainly discussed and summarized the situation of the Soviet German war and analyzed the potential of military economy. The meeting pointed out: the strength of the Red Army has increased in all aspects. The most fundamental thing is that it has sufficient weapons. Commanders at all levels have matured. The patriotic enthusiasm of the soldiers in the army is unprecedented. Our army has nearly five million troops on the battlefield, 55000 guns and mortars, 5400 tanks and more than 3000 planes. After combat training, the Red Army is now superior to the enemy in many aspects: the number of people is 1.3 times that of the enemy, the number of artillery is 1.7 times, and the number of aircraft is 2.7 times... "

I was surprised by a series of data that watujing said. Although the Soviet army paid a lot of price in the continuous large-scale decisive battle, their supplement number was far beyond my imagination. I murmured: "I didn't expect that our army had unconsciously occupied the advantage of military strength and technical equipment."

"Yes, after our troops have established themselves on the right bank of the Dnieper, they will launch a series of continuous attacks against the enemy." "When we have no strength to fight back against the enemy, we can make great strides forward to the original border line and make all preparations for going abroad to fight in the future," said vatujing confidently

When vatukin mentioned advancing to the border line, he reminded me that travkin's team is still in Lutsk to detect the whereabouts of amber house. He quickly reminded vatujing: "senior general, our reconnaissance team is still in the city of Lutsk, trying to find the whereabouts of the amber room. If our group army retreats to the rear, will it affect the task of looking for the amber room? "

As for the question I mentioned, watujing frowned and thought for a while, then said, "Comrade oshanina, you don't have to worry about this matter. I'll send someone to follow up. When he comes, you can tell him about it

Watujing was talking when the telephone on the desk rang. As he walked towards the phone, he said to me, "sit down first. I'll ask you something later."

Originally, I thought he could finish his phone call in a few words, but he kept talking with each other. Waiting is sometimes a kind of torment, because I don't know whether he is ready to ask me a question and blame me for not secretly promising rokosovsky to go to the front army of Belarus, so I feel even more uneasy.

Finally, when he came to me after calling, I got up from my seat. He came to me and said with a trace of apology, "the phone call was from marshal vasilevsky. It took a long time to talk. I'm sorry to have kept you waiting so long."

He added: "when I discussed the next strategy with Marshal Zhukov yesterday, he suggested to me that I listen to your opinions. Now I want to ask you, if our army is going to have a large-scale battle with the Germans next, what should we pay attention to? "

I didn't expect that he would suddenly ask this question. For a moment, my mind was in a mess and I didn't know how to answer him.

When watujing saw that I was just staring at him and didn't speak for a long time, he laughed and said to me in an encouraging tone: "tell me about it, comrade oshanina. I know you have many ideas. You can say what you think. Even if you are wrong, I will never blame you. "

After serious consideration, I finally expressed my opinion: "senior general, I think in the next battle, we should not simply carry out a frontal attack to defeat the enemy, so that they will soon regroup in the rear and launch a new attack on us. Instead, we should boldly carry out the encirclement campaign, thoroughly eliminate the enemy's effective forces, and relieve the pressure for future overseas operations. "

After listening to my opinion, watujing nodded with a smile and said with approval, "Comrade oshanina, it's a coincidence that your idea coincides with that of Marshal Zhukov. No wonder he asked me to consult you. In the battle of liberating Kiev, your group army did a good job. They decisively occupied korostwev, cut off the retreat of the enemy forces in Kiev, and let our army annihilate more effective German forces near Kiev, reducing the pressure in the next battle. "

With these words, he walked back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back, stopped and looked at me, and said, "Comrade o'shanina, if you were not the commander-in-chief, I would never let you go."

"The Supreme Commander himself?" Vatujing suddenly mentioned Stalin, which made me confused. I asked in surprise: "Comrade General, I don't quite understand what you mean. How can I get involved with the Supreme Commander himself again?"

"Well, comrade oshanina." After calling me to sit down, vatujing said to me with a sad face: "before I came back yesterday, Marshal Zhukov talked to me about the use of you and your close guard Sixth Army. He thought that our army's strength in the direction of Ukraine was sufficient, while general rokosovsky's Belarusian front army still needed to be strengthened, Therefore, it is proposed that your army should be included in the formation of the Belarusian front army. Originally, I strongly disagreed. I even offered to replace you with other troops. However, the marshal has been very stubborn and, in spite of my strong opposition, must remove you. This matter finally shocked the Supreme Commander himself, and he decided that after you had a rest, you would be formally incorporated into rokosovsky's army. "

When I learned that the future of our group army had been decided by Stalin himself, and no one could change it, I was secretly relieved. To tell you the truth, although vatukin is also very good, I don't know how to do it. Under his command, I always feel constrained. Now I can't wait to go to rokosovsky. However, on the surface, I still want to pretend that I am reluctant to part with it: "senior general, can you ask the supreme commander to take back his life? You know, I'm used to fighting with the Germans under your leadership. I'm really not used to this sudden change of place. "

"I'm sorry, comrade oshanina." "I've tried my best, but I can't change the decision of the Supreme Commander himself," said vatukin with a gloomy face Maybe I saw my frown and comforted me and said, "don't worry, anyway, you and rokosovsky are old acquaintances. I believe you will get along well..." after a trial, I knew that our group army's going to the front army of Belarus was a certainty. So I changed the topic and asked, "senior general, I don't know where our group army will retreat to rest? "“ The higher authorities have not yet decided on the specific location for the rectification. Either Tula or Smolensk, they are all near Moscow. " "Now your first priority is to let the troops withdraw to Kiev. As for the next destination, I'll let you know then," he continued After that, he went to the desk where the telephone was put, picked up a document, handed it to me, and said, "you are right here. I will give you the order for your army to withdraw to the rear." After I took the order, I looked straight at him and asked, "Comrade General, will you allow me to leave? I'm going back to deploy the retreat. "“ Just a moment Vatukin stopped me again and added: "I know that before the battle to liberate fastif, katukov sent you two tank brigades and a mechanized close guard brigade. When you retreat, let them stay there and continue to stand by. By the way, the cavalry division and the Czech first brigade of general Svoboda are no longer under the command of your group army. " Although I knew for a long time that the troops mentioned by watujing could not be maintained, I was still a little disappointed when I really heard the order. Anyway, it was more than 20000 commanders and fighters and nearly 200 tanks, which were a force that could not be underestimated in the battlefield. But at the moment, with a few words from watujing, it all came to nothing.