At dawn, Zakharov left Sokov's headquarters. He took the plane sent by Konev and returned to the front headquarters.
As soon as Zakharov entered the headquarters, Konev came up to him, shook hands with him, and asked with a smile: "Comrade Chief of Staff, did everything go well when I went to Sokov's this time?"
"Yes, Comrade Marshal, it went very well." After Zakharov let go of Konev's hand, he asked tentatively: "Is Comrade Ivanov still there?"
"Of course, of course he's still here." Konev nodded and said, "Do you want to talk to him now?"
"Yes, I need to talk to him immediately."
"He's in the room we had for him and you can find him there."
If anyone nearby heard the conversation between the two, they would definitely be confused and not understand what they were talking about.
Zaharov nodded to Konev, turned and walked out of the headquarters, heading to Ivanov's residence.
This Ivanov is the deputy chief of staff from the General Staff. His mission this time is to consider Sokov's abilities and conduct some tests on him. In order to avoid his appearance being too abrupt, he went directly to the front headquarters and asked Zakharov to take action on his behalf.
Zakharov's conversation with Sokov last night was just part of the test. He deliberately mentioned the Allied forces opening a second battlefield, just to hear what kind of judgment Sokov would make, and to test whether this judgment was correct in the future.
Ivanov opened the door, and when he saw Zaharov standing at the door, a surprised expression appeared on his face: "Comrade Zaharov, are you back so soon?"
"Yes, I'm back." When Zakharov shook hands with the other party, he asked politely: "Can we go in and talk again?"
"Okay, okay." Ivanov quickly turned sideways, making way for Zaharov, and said at the same time: "Please come in, dear Matvey Vasilyevich!"
After Zakharov entered, he closed the door and invited him to sit down at the round table in the middle of the room.
"Zakharov, tell me quickly, what are the results of your test this time?"
"The situation may have some deviations from our predictions." Zakharov saw a map on the table, or a map of Europe, so he dragged it in front of him, pointed with his finger and said: "Comrade Ivanov, according to In your judgment, if the Allies want to open a second battlefield and conduct landing operations in northern France, the best landing place is undoubtedly Calais."
"Yes, I did analyze it this way." Ivanov nodded and said: "If the Allied forces want to set off from the UK and land on the northern coast of France, Calais is undoubtedly the best choice."
"Yes, Comrade Ivanov, after listening to your analysis, I also feel that this choice is the most appropriate."
Ivanov heard the hidden meaning of Zaharov's words and couldn't help frowning, "Zakharov, is Sokov's judgment different from mine?"
"Of course, of course it's different." Zakharov laughed and said: "But after Comrade Sokov's analysis, he feels that the most likely place for the Allied forces to land is in Normandy."
"What, Normandy?" After hearing this, Ivanov shook his head like a rattle: "The Allies are not fools. They did not land in Calais, the shortest route, but chose Normandy, which is a far away road. How is this possible? "
After staring at the position of Normandy for a while, he shook his head and said, "It seems that Sokov's level is not as good as the legend says. At least there was a serious misjudgment in judging the location of the Allied landings."
"Comrade Ivanov, don't draw conclusions so early." Zakharov interrupted him. "I suggest that you make an evaluation after listening to Sokov's complete analysis."
"Okay." Ivanov took out a pen and paper, then raised his chin at Zaharov: "You tell me, I'll take notes here."
"First of all, it is obviously unrealistic to launch an attack from Italy. His judgment is completely consistent with yours." Zakharov began to report to Ivanov the content of his conversation with Sokov: "But what he said later When he arrived at the landing site in France, his judgment deviated from your analysis..."
Zakharov kept telling what Sokov said to him. At the beginning, Ivanov looked indifferent. But the more he listened, the more solemn his expression became. Later, he interrupted Zakharov's narration from time to time, carefully interrogated some detailed questions, and recorded them one by one in his notebook.
After the conversation between the two ended, Zaharov discovered that two hours had passed. He even felt that assisting Konev in commanding a battle was not as tiring as this conversation with Ivanov.
Zakharov yawned and said to Ivanov: "Comrade Ivanov, do you have any questions? If not, I want to go to rest. As I get older, I get sleepy when I stay up late."
"It's okay, you can go and rest." Ivanov wanted to seize the time to digest what he heard. He wished that Zakharov would leave early. At this moment, hearing that the other party wanted to leave, he said casually: "If I have any objections, When I understand something, I’ll talk to you in detail.”
Zaharov came out of Ivanov's room and did not go to rest as he said, but returned directly to the headquarters. He felt he had a lot to say and needed to talk to Konev.
When Konev saw Zakharov coming back, he nodded to him and raised his hand to check the time: "The conversation between you and Comrade Deputy Chief of General Staff lasted almost two hours. It seems that you talked about a lot. .”
"Yes." Zaharov pulled out a chair and sat down, saying weakly: "I feel like having a conversation by myself is more tiring than helping you direct a battle."
"Tell me what happened."
Konev was also present when Zakharov went to Sokov's headquarters to talk to Ivanov. Therefore, there is no need to hide many things from Konev.
However, after the conversation, Zaharov looked around first for confidentiality reasons. Seeing that the staff officers closest to him were seven or eight meters away, they probably couldn't hear the conversation between him and Konev. But he still lowered his voice and said: "Comrade Marshal, you know that before I went to the Sokov headquarters, Ivanov gave me two questions."
"Remember." Konev nodded and said: "First, I asked why the Allies could not launch an attack on the Germans from Italy. Second, if they wanted to land on the northern coast of France, where would they choose as the landing site."
"Well, due to various factors, the Allies will definitely not launch an attack on the German army from Italy. This is something we all have reached a consensus on. And Sokov also made an accurate judgment." Zakharov said with a wry smile. : "The biggest difference today is the location chosen by the Allied forces when they landed on the northern coast of France. The two have completely different views."
"Didn't Ivanov choose Calais?" Konev heard this and said with some confusion: "From the perspective of landing operations, this is undoubtedly the best landing point. Even if it encounters stubborn resistance from the German army, Allied follow-up troops can also continuously pass through the strait through various ships and land in Calais."
"Sokov believed that since we all felt that Calais was the best place to land, obviously the Germans could also think of this." Zakharov explained: "He specifically emphasized that the Germans wanted to prevent the Allied forces from landing in Calais. To land there, they must build strong fortifications and deploy heavy troops for defense. If the Allies forcefully choose to land there, they may not be able to achieve their strategic goals even if they pay a heavy price."
The expression on Konev's face became solemn. He looked at Zakharov and asked: "So, where do you think the Allied forces will land?"
Zakharov looked down at the table and found that it was a map of Ukraine. He ordered his staff to find a map of Europe and spread it out on the table. After the staff left, he pointed to the location of Normandy and said to Konev: "Comrade Marshal, Sokov firmly believes that the Allies will definitely choose to land in Normandy."
Konev lowered his head to look at the map on the table. After carefully comparing Calais and Normandy, he shook his head and said: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I have never doubted Sokov's military commanding ability. But this time , I am on the side of Deputy Chief of Staff Ivanov, Sokov’s judgment is wrong. The Allied forces are going to land on the northern coast of France, and the location they choose will definitely not be Normandy, but Calais.” At dawn, Zakharov left Sokov's headquarters. He took the plane sent by Konev and returned to the front headquarters.
As soon as Zakharov entered the headquarters, Konev came up to him, shook hands with him, and asked with a smile: "Comrade Chief of Staff, did everything go well when I went to Sokov's this time?"
"Yes, Comrade Marshal, it went very well." After Zakharov let go of Konev's hand, he asked tentatively: "Is Comrade Ivanov still there?"
"Of course, of course he's still here." Konev nodded and said, "Do you want to talk to him now?"
"Yes, I need to talk to him immediately."
"He's in the room we had for him and you can find him there."
If anyone nearby heard the conversation between the two, they would definitely be confused and not understand what they were talking about.
Zaharov nodded to Konev, turned and walked out of the headquarters, heading to Ivanov's residence.
This Ivanov is the deputy chief of staff from the General Staff. His mission this time is to consider Sokov's abilities and conduct some tests on him. In order to avoid his appearance being too abrupt, he went directly to the front headquarters and asked Zakharov to take action on his behalf.
Zakharov's conversation with Sokov last night was just part of the test. He deliberately mentioned the Allied forces opening a second battlefield, just to hear what kind of judgment Sokov would make, and to test whether this judgment was correct in the future.
Ivanov opened the door, and when he saw Zaharov standing at the door, a surprised expression appeared on his face: "Comrade Zaharov, are you back so soon?"
"Yes, I'm back." When Zakharov shook hands with the other party, he asked politely: "Can we go in and talk again?"
"Okay, okay." Ivanov quickly turned aside to make way for Zakharov, and said at the same time: "Please come in, dear Matvey Vasilyevich!"
After Zakharov entered, he closed the door and invited him to sit down at the round table in the middle of the room.
"Zakharov, tell me quickly, what are the results of your test this time?"
"The situation may have some deviations from our predictions." Zakharov saw a map on the table, or a map of Europe, so he dragged it in front of him, pointed with his finger and said: "Comrade Ivanov, according to In your judgment, if the Allies want to open a second battlefield and conduct landing operations in northern France, the best landing place is undoubtedly Calais."
"Yes, I did analyze it this way." Ivanov nodded and said: "If the Allied forces want to set off from the UK and land on the northern coast of France, Calais is undoubtedly the best choice."
"Yes, Comrade Ivanov, after listening to your analysis, I also feel that this choice is the most appropriate."
Ivanov heard the hidden meaning of Zaharov's words and couldn't help frowning, "Zakharov, is Sokov's judgment different from mine?"
"Of course, of course it's different." Zakharov laughed and said: "But after Comrade Sokov's analysis, he feels that the most likely place for the Allied forces to land is in Normandy."
"What, Normandy?" After hearing this, Ivanov suddenly shook his head like a rattle: "The Allies are not fools. They did not land in Calais, the shortest route, but chose Normandy, which is a far away road. How is this possible? "
After staring at the position of Normandy for a while, he shook his head and said, "It seems that Sokov's level is not as good as the legend says. At least there was a serious misjudgment in judging the location of the Allied landings."
"Comrade Ivanov, don't draw conclusions so early." Zakharov interrupted him. "I suggest that you make an evaluation after listening to Sokov's complete analysis."
"Okay." Ivanov took out a pen and paper, then raised his chin at Zaharov: "You tell me, I'll take notes here."
"First of all, it is obviously unrealistic to launch an attack from Italy. His judgment is completely consistent with yours." Zakharov began to report to Ivanov the content of his conversation with Sokov: "But what he said later When he arrived at the landing site in France, his judgment deviated from your analysis..."
Zakharov kept telling what Sokov said to him. At the beginning, Ivanov looked indifferent. But the more he listened, the more solemn his expression became. Later, he interrupted Zakharov's narration from time to time, carefully interrogated some detailed questions, and recorded them one by one in his notebook.
After the conversation between the two ended, Zaharov discovered that two hours had passed. He even felt that assisting Konev in commanding a battle was not as tiring as this conversation with Ivanov.
Zakharov yawned and said to Ivanov: "Comrade Ivanov, do you have any questions? If not, I want to go to rest. As I get older, I get sleepy when I stay up late."
"It's okay, you can go and rest." Ivanov wanted to seize the time to digest what he heard. He wished that Zakharov would leave early. At this moment, hearing that the other party wanted to leave, he said casually: "If I have any objections, When I understand something, I’ll talk to you in detail.”
