The temporary pass was delivered early the next morning by an unknown lieutenant. After confirming Sokov's identity, he handed him the temporary pass in his hand and said to him: "Comrade Major, please hurry up and pack up. I am ordered to take you to Frunze Street."
Sokov took the pass and asked puzzledly: "What are you going to do on Frunze Street?"
Upon hearing Sokov's question, the lieutenant immediately replied respectfully: "At nine o'clock this morning, a military meeting will be held at the General Staff Headquarters on Gogol Boulevard on Frunze Street. You will attend this meeting. Meeting."
Although Sokov learned from Ustinov that Timoshenko would hold a meeting to deploy his comrades in Kharkov, he did not expect it to be so soon, so that he was not prepared at all. But since the person who picked him up had already arrived at the door, he certainly couldn't keep the other person waiting. He packed everything up within five minutes just like yesterday, and then set off with the other person.
The lieutenant drove Sokov to the General Staff Headquarters on Frunze Street. Under the guidance of the lieutenant, Sokov came to the conference room on the first floor. When he entered the door, he found that there were many officers in the room. Except for a few colonels, they were almost all generals. According to the rank marks on their collar badges, Sokov found that in addition to infantry, there were also artillery, tank soldiers and even Commanders of the Air Force and other branches of the military.
The meeting was officially held at nine o'clock. The person presiding over the meeting was Marshal Timoshenko. Sitting on his left were Comrade Comrade Khrushchev, the Military Commissar of the Front Army, Chief of Staff Bogin, and Minister of Operations Bagramyan; while on the right They are Chief of General Staff Shaposhnikov and Deputy Chief of General Staff and Minister of Operations Vasilevsky.
Shaposhnikov, who was sitting on the stage, seemed to be in poor health. He coughed a few times from time to time, and his face turned pale. Sokov, who was sitting in the audience, was worried that he might suffer from physical discomfort at any time. And exit.
Sokov looked at Shaposhnikov and Vasilevsky on the stage and thought to himself: Stalin once sought the opinions of these two chiefs of general staff and deputy chiefs of staff when the Supreme Command was planning the summer campaign of 1942. After analyzing the situation on the battlefield, the two men proposed to Stalin that a cautious strategic defense should be implemented along the Moscow axis and the offensive would be launched after the German army was weakened. Zhukov, commander of the Western Front, also agreed with this view of the two of them.
Although his three important subordinates all proposed that a cautious attitude should be adopted in defense, Stalin was dazzled by the massive counterattack under Moscow. Coupled with the influence of individual frontline generals, he made an overly optimistic plan. It was decided to launch a large-scale offensive south of Moscow.
When Timoshenko began to speak, the entire conference room became silent. All the commanders participating in the meeting concentrated on listening to his next speech.
"Comrade commanders, in the winter campaign that just ended, our army achieved a huge victory." Timoshenko said with a normal expression: "The Supreme Command ordered us to launch strategic defense in local areas while carrying out strategic defense." offensive to consolidate our army’s victory in the winter campaign, to achieve the purpose of improving the battle situation, seizing the strategic initiative, and disrupting the summer offensive that the German army may launch.…”
After Timoshenko's speech, the next speaker was Front Army Chief of Staff Bogin. He pointed to a huge map hanging on the wall and introduced the situation to the commanders present. Sokov, who was sitting in the last row, couldn't see the ground clearly on the map. He could only listen carefully to the information coming from the other party's mouth.
According to Bogin’s account, Sokov learned that General Moskalenko’s 38th Army attacked the German positions along the Northern Donets River in the area east of Kharkov on March 7. Launched a tentative attack. After a fierce battle, they successfully established a landing site on the opposite bank. After four days of fierce fighting, the depth of the landing site was successfully expanded to eight kilometers.
Bogin finally said: "...While the 38th Group Army was establishing its merits, the troops of the Southern Front also launched an attack on the German positions on the east bank of the North Donets River. Although their attack did not achieve any results, But it made us realize that if our army can invest more powerful forces in this area, we can achieve a more brilliant victory."
Bagramyan, the Minister of Operations who finally stood up, supported the edge of the table with both hands, looked at the officers participating in the meeting and said: "Comrade commander, there are still many imperfections in this plan. If you have any opinions, feel free to Bring it forward so that we can develop further detailed plans.”
A lieutenant general who was the first to stand up and ask questions not only did not agree with the combat plan, but instead raised questions: "Comrade Bagramyan, I would like to ask, if we launch an offensive in the Kharkov area, what will our Can we have an advantage over the enemy in terms of military strength?"
"General Moskalenko," after hearing Bagramyan's name, Sokov realized that the first person to attack was Moskalenko, who had just been praised by Chief of Staff Bogin. Sokov secretly thought that among so many commanders attending the meeting, he should be the one with the most say. Regarding Moskalenko’s doubts, Bagramyan explained with a smile: “I will now answer the questions in the minds of you and some of the commanders here.
After the winter campaign, the German Sixth Army was greatly weakened. Among the 10 German divisions opposite our Southwest Front, at least eight have lost the ability to attack. They can only participate in defense tasks in existing areas in the form of regiments or battalions. For example, the German 169th and 79th Infantry Divisions. The officers and soldiers of the two divisions were split into battle groups and scattered in several defensive strongholds such as Belgorod and Kharkov.
According to our analysis, the German Kharkiv cluster is simply unable to launch an attack on our army before it is supplemented with personnel and weapons and equipment. Not only do their officers and soldiers need to rest, but even if the German high command plans to deploy new battle reserves in this area, it will take a long time. "
While the two were arguing on the stage, Sokov also recalled the reasons for the failure of the offensive campaign: the heads of the southwest strategic direction and the military chiefs of the southern front misjudged the strategic situation of the campaign and lacked well-organized coordinated actions. The tank army entered the battle too late; there was insufficient campaign support; there were errors in army command.
The Kharkov offensive launched at the wrong time caused great losses to the manpower and technical weapons of the Southwest Front and the Southern Front. It also lost the important battle landing site on the North Donets River, making it impossible to carry out the offensive originally scheduled for the summer. offensive campaign. All this further complicates the overall situation in the southwest.
Seeing that the two couldn't argue, Shaposhnikov stood up and announced: "We will take a half-hour break now and everyone can move freely. We will continue the meeting at eleven o'clock."
Seeing that the two marshals on the rostrum had already left first, the officers sitting below also stood up, walked out of the conference room, and went outside to chat and smoke.
Sokov strolled to the rostrum. Seeing that there was no one on the rostrum, he bravely walked up the small stairs next to it. He came to the wall where the map was hung and looked up at the red and blue arrows on the map that represented the enemy and ourselves.
He remembered that the Soviet army was progressing very smoothly in the early stages of the battle. However, the German army suddenly invested a large number of troops in the Barvinkovo area. As a result, the 9th and 57th Group Armies deployed in this area were defeated in one fell swoop. It led to the disastrous defeat of the Soviet army.
Judging from the logo on the map, the 9th Army of the Southern Front was near the Barvinkovo area. However, for some reason, they did not take the lead in capturing this area after the battle began, which resulted in disastrous consequences.
"Comrade Major, what are you looking at?" Just when Sokov saw the trance, a stern voice suddenly came from behind, startling him. He turned around in a hurry and saw the burly Vasilevsky standing behind him with an angry look on his face. Seeing him turn around, Vasilevsky then asked: "Who are you? What are you doing here?"
"Report to Comrade Deputy Chief of General Staff," Sokov quickly raised his hand to his forehead and replied in a panic: "I am Major Sokov, commander of the Istria Battalion. I am watching the upcoming battle. Schematic diagram.”
"Are you Major Sokov?" Vasilevsky seemed to have heard Sokov's name before, so after hearing him announce his home, the expression on his face softened a lot: "I see you are here. After looking at it for a long time, do you see anything?"
Sokov turned to look at the map and said hesitantly: "Comrade Deputy Chief of Staff, can I tell the truth?"
When Vasilevsky heard what he said, he immediately straightened his face and said: "There is no point in hearing lies. Just say whatever comes to your mind."
After getting Vasilevsky's permission, Sokov walked to the map, picked up an explanation stick leaning against the wall, pointed at the map and said: "Comrade Deputy Chief of General Staff, I want to ask, why Our army has not yet captured Barvinkovo, so that this place has become a salient?"
"Marshal Timoshenko's troops once launched an attack here." Vasilevsky shrugged his shoulders, spread his hands, and said helplessly: "But their attack was finally crushed by the German army. "
"Comrade Deputy Chief of General Staff," Sokov said when he saw that he and Vasilevsky were the only two people on the rostrum, and the people sitting under the stage were too far apart to hear his conversation, Sokov said nothing. He said with concern: "If we do not eliminate the enemies in the Barvinkovo area in the early stages of the battle, it will bring us devastating disaster."
Although Sokov's words sounded a bit alarmist, Vasilevsky did not get angry. On the contrary, he said encouragingly: "Comrade Major, tell me your opinion."
"When our army advances from the Barvinkovo protrusion, the flanks will be exposed to the German army." Sokov pointed at the map with his explanatory stick and said to Vasilevsky: "Although there is the 9th Southern Front The Army Group is covering the flanks of our army, but their cover is limited. Once the German army establishes a strong assault group in the Barvinkovo area, the 9th Army Group will not be able to block their assault at all. At the same time, it is deployed in The 57th Group Army a little later will also be attacked.
You can imagine if the troops of the 9th and 57th Army were defeated by the enemy. Then the flanks of the troops of the Southwest Front who are charging forward will be completely exposed to the enemy. If the enemy launches an assault from the flank at this moment, then our Southwest Front troops will be in danger of being encircled..."
"Nonsense! It's just nonsense!" Before Sokov could finish his words, he heard a roar from behind him. He turned around and saw Bagramyan with a shaved head, who was using The fire-breathing eyes stared at himself and said angrily: "Major, who gave you the right to talk nonsense here? How could we have assembled such a powerful offensive force and not be able to defeat a few incomplete German divisions... "
"Comrade Bagramyan, don't get angry." Vasilevsky saw that Bagramyan looked like he wanted to eat people, so he quickly came out to smooth things over: "I think what Major Sokov said is somewhat reasonable. You should Listen carefully to his opinion, it will also be of some use when formulating a detailed battle plan."
"Comrade Deputy Chief of General Staff, who did you just say he was?" Bagramyan felt that Sokov's name seemed familiar, so he quickly asked: "The surname is Sokov or something else?"
"Sokov!" Vasilevsky said in a positive tone: "I think you should be familiar with this last name."
"Sokov?!" After Bagramyan repeated the name again, a surprised expression suddenly appeared on his face: "Comrade Deputy Chief of Staff, you said he is a relative of Mikhail?"
"Not a relative," Vasilevsky shook his head with a smile and said, "The Major Sokov in front of you is the son of the cavalry commander you know."
Sokov couldn't help being a little dumbfounded when he heard the conversation between the two. I really didn’t know what a great person the real Sokov’s father was, that so many senior commanders knew him, and might even be his former comrades-in-arms. He began to think about whether he should change his name to the two generals in front of him.
Just when Sokov was thinking wildly, Bagramyan's hands had already grabbed his arms, straightened his body, and looked at him carefully. After looking at it for a while, he turned to Vasilevsky and said: "Yes, Comrade Deputy Chief of General Staff, there is nothing wrong at all. He is Misha's son. This boy looks so much like his father."
"Let's talk about old things later." Vasilevskiy smiled at Bagramyan, and then said: "His idea is quite novel, let's let him continue talking."
