Long before the Battle of Kursk, Zhukov and Vasilevsky were sent to the Kursk area as representatives of the base camp and were responsible for coordination between several front armies.
Vasilevsky was usually stationed at the Voronezh Front, and Zhukov stayed there most of the time because he had many common topics with Rokossovsky. The shelling before the battle began was an order he personally gave.
As for the Voronezh Front, since Vasilevskiy was in charge, Zhukov rarely interfered with the battle plan of the front. He believed that Vatutin's ability was enough to handle various situations.
But what is unexpected is that Vatutin seems to have become a different person since he was defeated at the Dnieper River in early 1943 and was removed from the post of commander of the Southwest Front and changed to commander of the Voronezh Front.
In the early stages of the Battle of Kursk, the German army launched a fierce attack on the Soviet defense line from the south. The area under Vatutin's jurisdiction was breached by the German army from the front for about 35 kilometers and was almost penetrated. If it were not for the Supreme Command from Konev's grassland The front army promptly mobilized two group armies to help, and this round was really a disaster.
In comparison, the defensive pressure carried by Sokorovsky's Central Front was no less than that of the Voronezh Front. However, the German army tried its best and only advanced about 12 kilometers, and could no longer advance. The gap between the commanding abilities of the two is evident from this.
Later, when he launched a counterattack, Vatutin continued to apply for reinforcements from Stalin. It was not until Konev's entire Steppe Front was placed in the direction he was responsible for that he completely defeated the enemy.
In the battle to break through the Dnieper River, after Rokossovsky's troops captured the important Ukrainian town of Nezhin, Kiev was within easy reach. However, the Voronev Front Army commanded by Vatutin fought extremely hard. Not to mention that it was still more than 100 kilometers away from Kiev, and its progress was very slow.
Vatutin, who was eager to become the liberator of Kiev, took advantage of his first-come-first-served advantage and constantly lobbied Vasilevsky. Finally, he persuaded the other party to change positions with Rokossovsky's troops and let his troops Got the chance to liberate Kiev. Rokossovsky's troops were transferred to Belarus.
To be fair, whether it is Rokossovsky, Konev, Zhukov, or Vasilevsky, it is very interesting that they can do this to take care of the face of their colleagues. Their idea is very simple. Now that the Soviet army is winning steadily on all fronts on the battlefield, no matter how bad Vatugin is, he may not be able to make any difference.
Unexpectedly, not long after the liberation of Kiev, Vatutin once again stumbled into a big fight in Zhytomyr. Manstein ordered the German army to launch a counterattack in Zhitomir. Although the scale was small, it achieved miraculous results. Not only did they retake Zhitomir, but they also defeated the Soviet army.
Seeing that the defense line in the Kiev area was showing signs of collapse, Stalin urgently appointed Rokossovsky as a representative of the base camp and rushed to Kiev to assist Vatutin in commanding the 1st Ukrainian Front to resist the German attack and prevent Kiev from being lost again.
Before Rokossovsky left Moscow by plane, Zhukov personally went to the airport to see him off and had a conversation with him: "Koschka, I have a piece of advice for you!"
"What advice?"
"After you arrive in Kiev, you must take over the command of the troops as soon as possible."
Although Rokossovsky's conversation with Stalin also revealed his intention to let him replace Vatutin in commanding the First Ukrainian Front if necessary, this matter is of great importance and must be treated with caution. At this moment, when I heard that Zhukov had the same idea, I couldn't help but curiously asked: "Comrade Marshal, as far as I know, you and Vatutin have a good relationship. Why did you give me such advice?"
“In the past, Vasilevskiy and I accommodated Vatutin in every possible way because he was the Supreme Commander’s favorite general. However, we never expected that he would be such a weakling and was defeated by the German army even though he had the upper hand. Zhukov said angrily: "If you go to Kiev this time, if you want to quickly reverse the situation of the war, your top priority is to firmly control the command of the troops in your own hands. The overall combat effectiveness of the Ukrainian First Front is still good. Yes, it’s a pity that I met an incompetent commander and ended up in the current predicament.”
After saying this, Zhukov paused for a moment and continued: "Think about it, how many results the 27th Army has achieved in the hands of Mischa? The Germans will be frightened when they hear the number of this unit. Shivering. But with the departure of Sokov, the combat effectiveness of this unit plummeted, and in the end it was unable to participate in the battle to liberate Kiev due to heavy casualties."
The two had a common topic and chatted for hours. Although the pilot responsible for transporting Rokossovsky to Kiev was anxious, he saw that Marshal Zhukov was talking to Rokossovsky and did not dare to disturb them. He could only stand aside and worry.
Fortunately, Rokossovsky noticed that the pilot was waiting impatiently, and quickly said to Zhukov: "Comrade Marshal, the pilot is still waiting to take me to Kiev. If anything happens, we can talk on the phone."
"Okay." Zhukov nodded and said to Rokossovsky: "Kostchka, remember. Although Vatutin is now the commander of the First Ukrainian Front, with his ability, he can only He can be a group army commander, but he is simply not qualified to be a front army commander."
Zhukov's words reminded Rokossovsky of Sokov. He asked tentatively: "Comrade Marshal, do you think Mischa is capable of serving as the commander of the front army in the future?"
"That's terrible." Although Zhukov was very caring about Sokov, he made a rare objective comment on this matter: "Judging from the results he has achieved so far, he is a qualified group army commander. . But since he has not received a systematic education in military theory, he may not be able to command a force of hundreds of thousands of people."
After listening to Zhukov's evaluation of Sokov, Rokossovsky chuckled and said: "Comrade Marshal, I thought you would say that he is definitely qualified for the position of commander of the front army. I didn't expect your ideas and me too."
"I think that if you really want him to become the sole commander of the front army, in addition to going to a military academy to study military theory, it is best to stay at your headquarters for half a year to learn how to command a large corps in combat."
Regarding Zhukov's statement, Rokossovsky said modestly: "Comrade Marshal, you are really honored. If you want to guide him to master the skills of large corps combat, it is best to stay with you. You are very good in this regard." You have more experience than me. After all, before the Great Patriotic War broke out, you once severely beat up Japan in the Far East."
"That's different." Zhukov shook his head and said: "Not to mention that Japan's weapons and equipment cannot be compared with those of the Germans, even compared with us, they are at an absolute disadvantage. Our victory depends entirely on our military strength and The advantage in equipment is crushing." After saying this, he raised his hand and looked at his watch, and found that it was already late, so he gently pushed Rokossovsky's shoulder with his hand, "Time It’s getting late, so hurry up and get on the plane, it’s up to you to reverse the situation in Kiev.”
Rokossovsky was still very uneasy on the plane to Kiev. He felt that it would be a bit unethical to seize the command of the troops directly from Vatutin when he arrived in Kiev.
But when he arrived at the headquarters, after a brief conversation with Vatutin, he found that the other party was only thinking about asking his superiors for more reinforcements and technical equipment, but how to deal with the situation at hand, but he had no countermeasures at all. In this case, it is nonsense to try to reverse the current unfavorable situation if you still show mercy to the other party.
After thinking about this, Rokossovsky said to Vatutin: "Comrade Vatutin, from now on, I will temporarily take over the command of the First Ukrainian Front until the German army attacking Kiev is completely crushed. "
"Why?" Hearing that Rokossovsky was about to take away his command, Vatutin couldn't sit still: "Why should I hand over the command of the troops to you? Who gave you this right? "
"Comrade Vatutin," Rokossovsky said calmly in the face of the furious Vatutin, "the Supreme Command is very dissatisfied with your command mistakes, so that's why they sent me here. After the conversation just now, I found that if you continue to command the troops, it is basically an impossible task to crush the German attempt to retake Kiev. From now on, I have decided to temporarily take over your command, and then follow my instructions way to command the troops to fight the German troops rushing toward Kiev."
Bogolyubov, who had just returned from the phone call, happened to overhear the conversation between the two.
When he learned that Rokossovsky planned to take over Vatutin's command, he couldn't help but feel secretly happy. As the chief of staff of the front army, he knows the situation better than anyone else during this period. However, in such an unfavorable situation, Vatutin appeared panicked. Apart from requesting reinforcements and equipment from his superiors, he had no good response measures at all. He relied on the commanders of each group army on the front line to direct the operations alone.
How could Vatutin hand over his command so easily? He continued to roar: "Comrade Rokossovsky, although you are the representative of the base camp, you can only assist me in commanding, but cannot replace my commanding. Everything here I will report exactly what happened to the Supreme Commander himself."
"Comrade Vatutin," although Vatutin was already furious, Rokossovsky said with a normal expression: "Whatever you want to do, just do it. I think even if you contact the Supreme Commander himself, I'm afraid You won’t get the results you want either.”
Rokossovsky's words made Vatutin realize that since the other party dared to say something about replacing him, he must have received instructions from above, or even Stalin himself. If you call and complain regardless, you might get a scolding.
"Okay." Vatugin can be regarded as a wise man who knows the current affairs. Seeing that handing over the command is a done deal, he is no longer stubborn: "I will hand over the command of the army to you. I hope Don’t let me down with your performance.”
"Don't worry, General Vatutin." Seeing that Vatutin agreed to hand over the command of the troops, Rokossovsky breathed a sigh of relief. In this way, when he issued various combat orders, he would not Someone will come to restrict it. "I will never let you down. If something goes wrong, I take all responsibility."
Since Rokossovsky had already said this, Vatutin no longer persisted, but called all the people in the headquarters over and told them in front of them: "Comrades, from now on, The First Ukrainian Front is under the command of General Rokossovsky. If you have anything to report or ask for instructions, go directly to him."
When Vatutin said this, he thought that many people would stand on his side and say a few words of sympathy. But he didn't expect that after he finished speaking, he saw expressions of relief on most people's faces. His heart suddenly felt as if it had fallen into an ice cellar, and it became so cold.
When he learned that Rokossovsky planned to take over Vatutin's command, he couldn't help but feel secretly happy. As the chief of staff of the front army, he knows the situation better than anyone else during this period. However, in such an unfavorable situation, Vatutin appeared panicked. Apart from requesting reinforcements and equipment from his superiors, he had no good response measures at all. He relied on the commanders of each group army on the front line to direct the operations alone.
How could Vatutin hand over his command so easily? He continued to roar: "Comrade Rokossovsky, although you are the representative of the base camp, you can only assist me in commanding, but cannot replace my commanding. Everything here I will report exactly what happened to the Supreme Commander himself."
"Comrade Vatutin," although Vatutin was already furious, Rokossovsky said with a normal expression: "Whatever you want to do, just do it. I think even if you contact the Supreme Commander himself, I'm afraid You won’t get the results you want either.”
Rokossovsky's words made Vatutin realize that since the other party dared to say something about replacing him, he must have received instructions from above, or even Stalin himself. If you call and complain regardless, you might get a scolding.
"Okay." Vatugin can be regarded as a wise man who knows the current affairs. Seeing that handing over the command is a done deal, he is no longer stubborn: "I will hand over the command of the army to you. I hope Don’t let me down with your performance.”
"Don't worry, General Vatutin." Seeing that Vatutin agreed to hand over the command of the troops, Rokossovsky breathed a sigh of relief. In this way, when he issued various combat orders, he would not Someone will come to restrict it. "I will never let you down. If something goes wrong, I take all responsibility."
Since Rokossovsky had already said this, Vatutin no longer persisted, but called all the people in the headquarters over and told them in front of them: "Comrades, from now on, The First Ukrainian Front is under the command of General Rokossovsky. If you have anything to report or ask for instructions, go directly to him."
When Vatutin said this, he thought that many people would stand on his side and say a few words of sympathy. But he didn't expect that after he finished speaking, he saw expressions of relief on most people's faces. His heart suddenly felt as if it had fallen into an ice cellar, and it became so cold.
