"How could this happen?" Voroshilov, who was the first to feel slapped in the face, couldn't help but blush and said jokingly: "I didn't expect that the judgment of us old guys can't be as accurate as that of a little guy."
"Yes," Timoshenko said with a wry smile: "Not long ago, we thought Sokov's plan for the Normandy landing was so funny and absurd. But we never expected that he actually judged it accurately. The landing direction of the Allied forces. Fortunately, he is one of our own. If he is an enemy, he must be the most dangerous enemy."
"This makes some sense." Stalin nodded and said: "If Xiao Misha is really our enemy, he will definitely deploy heavy defenses in the direction of Normandy, which will lead to the Allied landing operations in the area. It ends in failure.”
"Comrade Stalin," Vasilevsky asked cautiously: "The letter of appointment to Malinovsky has just been issued. If you want to withdraw it, it is completely too late! Do you need me to order the withdrawal of the letter of appointment?"
Unexpectedly, after hearing this, Stalin pondered for a long time, and finally shook his head slowly and said: "I think the position of commander of the Second Ukrainian Front should be held by General Malinovsky. What you just said It makes sense. He has had the experience of commanding a front army many times and has a wide range of contacts. It may be more suitable for him to serve as the commander."
Now that Stalin had set the tone, it was clear that Sokov missed the post of commander of the Second Front. Vasilevsky laughed dryly twice and said nonchalantly: "Yes, Malinovsky was already a general in the late stages of the Battle of Stalingrad, and he also commanded the most elite 2nd Guards Army. . And Sokov was just the commander of the 41st Guards Division at the time, and his military rank was only colonel."
"Not to mention anything else, in terms of qualifications alone, he is far inferior to General Malinovsky. A front army commander in his twenties is still a young man in the hearts of many commanders. Children, if you let them accept the command of a child, they will be psychologically resistant."
After Vasilevsky concluded, Antonov asked tentatively: "Comrade Stalin, if General Malinovsky serves as the commander of the Second Ukrainian Front, then the commander of the Third Front he vacates will be Who should take over the position?"
"I think how about General Tolbukhin?" Vasilevsky took the initiative to express his opinion without waiting for Stalin to express his position: "After the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War, his excellent military qualities were particularly outstanding. Outstanding. He is loyal to his duties, brave and good at fighting, has outstanding talents, and is generous and sincere to his subordinates.
From 1941 to 1942, he successively served as the chief of staff of the Transcaucasian Front, the Caucasus Front and the Crimean Front. From May to July 1942, he served as deputy commander of the Stalingrad Military District, and from July he was appointed commander of the 57th Army of the Stalingrad Front. In February 1943, he was appointed commander of the 68th Army of the Northwestern Front, in March he was appointed commander of the Southern Front, and in October he was appointed commander of the Fourth Ukrainian Front. "
"Oh, he has held so many positions?" Stalin said with some surprise after hearing about Tolbukhin's resume: "But after he was appointed as the commander of the Third Front Army, the position he vacated became another Who will be in charge?"
"I think General Petrov can be the one." Timoshenko finally found a chance to speak, and he recommended someone he knew without hesitation: "When the war broke out, he was the commander of the 44th Army. , fought for a long time against the invading Germans in Odessa. Because the fortifications he held were extremely difficult to conquer, the Germans privately called him the 'Defense General'."
But what Timoshenko didn't expect was that as soon as he finished expressing his opinion, he was opposed by Voroshilov: "I'm sorry, Marshal Timoshenko, I think General Petrov is not suitable to serve as the Fourth Army of Ukraine." The position of commander of the front army.”
His words aroused the curiosity of everyone present, and everyone turned their attention to Voroshilov, wanting to hear what he would say.
"If we talk about defensive warfare, Petrov is indeed better than many commanders in our army, but he has a fatal weakness." Voroshilov said with a serious expression: "He can only defend, but not command troops. attack."
In order to enhance his persuasion, he also explained specific things: "As everyone knows, I once served as a representative of the base camp to supervise the North Caucasus Front Army's implementation of the Crimean landing operation. However, this offensive campaign ended in failure. The reason why it ended was that Petrov didn't know how to attack."
He turned his head to where Stalin was: "Comrade Stalin, I proposed to relieve Petrov from his job, but you replied: What we have to do is not to relieve Petrov from his job, but to teach him to attack. After all, he has never Attacked."
"Yes, I did say that." Stalin agreed with Voroshilov's statement: "But in order to punish Petrov for his defeat in the battle, I dismissed him from the post of commander of the front army. And he was demoted from general to general and asked to serve as commander of the 33rd Army."
"I saw that the Fourth Ukrainian Front will not set up the position of commander for the time being. All work will be taken care of by Lieutenant General Bilyuzov, the Chief of Staff." Stalin said thoughtfully: "I plan to arrange a new position for Petrov. Position."
"New position?" Vasilevsky raised his eyebrows and asked tentatively: "Comrade Stalin, you don't want him to be the commander of the newly formed Second Belarusian Front, do you?"
"What's wrong with this?" Stalin said with a smile: "Although he made some mistakes in military command, we can't beat him to death with a stick. We can assign him new positions and train him well. Some. If he does a good job in his new post, I will officially appoint him as the commander of the Fourth Ukrainian Front at the appropriate time."
Neither Vasilevsky nor Antonov expressed any opinions on the selection of the commander of the Fourth Ukrainian Front. The two knew in their hearts that if they proposed that Sokov take up this position, it would definitely be approved. However, the Fourth Front's next main attack direction was Bulgaria and other countries, and its achievements were simply not comparable to those of the First and Second Front armies.
Stalin originally wanted Sokov to serve as the commander of the Fourth Front Army. He should make a transition and accumulate some command experience, so that he could legitimately put more important troops under his command. But after waiting for a long time, he saw that no one nominated Sokov as the commander of the Fourth Front Army, so he had no choice but to announce that the Fourth Front Army would not arrange a commander for the time being.
After discussing the important candidates for the commander of the front army, they then began to talk about the next strategic direction and how to deploy the forces on each front.
Sokov, who is far away in Otats, naturally has no way of knowing what happened in the Moscow Kremlin. He is studying with Trofimenko, Samyko and others how to fight against the Germans in the Chernivtsi area. Attack ferociously.
"Comrade commanders," Sokov said to several commanders around the table: "During this period, the enemies fighting our army are all Romanian troops. Their morale is low, and their combat effectiveness is not comparable to that of the Germans. ratio, so our offense seemed to go very smoothly.”
Just as smiles appeared on everyone's faces, Sokov continued: "While we were winning one victory after another, some bad signs appeared, that is, the thought of underestimating the enemy.
I heard some commanders of the troops even shouted the slogan 'from east to west, one push and it's all done'. In their minds, the Romanian troops in front of us were not enemies, but hospitable hosts who welcomed us into their homes at any time. As long as our army advances westward, the Romanian army along the way will actively give up resistance and choose to cooperate with us. "
Sokov's words made the expressions on everyone's faces become serious. Not only the grassroots commanders, but also the commanders at the group army level now have such signs of underestimating the enemy.
"Comrades, commanders," Sokov said to everyone earnestly: "If we allow this trend to develop, we will suffer big losses. Of course, the Romanian troops we encountered on the way forward are unwilling to fight. And those who choose to cooperate with us; there are also those who are full of hostility to our army, and when the two sides meet, it will be an endless battle."
"Comrade Commander," as soon as Sokov finished speaking, Trofimenko took the initiative to admit his mistake: "I have such a thought of underestimating the enemy. I feel that the progress during this period has been unusually smooth, and I thought that the next The battle is nothing more than this. It ignores that Romania is still a slave country of Germany. As long as they do not break with Germany and stand on the same front as us, then they will be our enemies."
"Well said, General Trofimenko." Sokov agreed with Trofimenko's remarks: "As long as we as commanders do not have any thoughts of underestimating the enemy, then on the battlefield, the enemy will It’s not easy to make us suffer.”
Then he patted the map on the table and said to everyone: "Although the Germans have launched an attack on Chernivtsi, General Bogdanov's 2nd Tank Army is there. I believe they have enough ability to block the crazy attack from the German army."
"Don't we need to support them?" Samek asked tentatively.
"Help, I must help. After all, they are now under our command temporarily. How can I not save them?" Sokov explained to Samyko: "But in the current situation, we can only rely on Use his own strength to resist the German attack. What we have to do now is to consolidate the occupied area and ensure that we will have no worries when fighting the Germans."
When he said this, Sokov's eyes stayed on Military Commissar Gorokhov: "Comrade Military Commissar, I now have an important task to give you."
"Please tell me, Comrade Commander." Gorokhov guessed what tasks Sokov would give him, but he still asked tentatively: "Do you want me to cooperate with local comrades to carry out various projects in the newly occupied areas?" Let's work?"
"That's right, Comrade Military Commissar." Seeing that Gorokhov guessed his intention, Sokov smiled and nodded, and said, "That's what I meant. Do you agree?"
"No problem." Gorokhov replied readily: "This is my responsibility, just leave it to me."
"Chief of Staff," after arranging for Gorokhov to assist local comrades and carry out various tasks in the city, Sokov said to Samyko: "Although General Bogdanov's troops are strong, we will not use them for the time being. Ground troops are deployed to support them, but the air force can be deployed to provide them with necessary air support."
A few months ago, Sokov had reached an agreement with Konev. At special times, he could directly contact the Air Force and let the Air Force provide necessary air support for his troops. At this moment, he felt that if the air force could be dispatched to attack the German ground forces, especially the armored forces, it would greatly reduce the pressure on Bogdanov.
"General Samyko," Smirnov was worried that Samyko didn't understand the situation, so he took the initiative to introduce him: "Comrade Commander and Marshal Konev have reached an agreement. If necessary, General Goryunov can be contacted directly. , requesting him to dispatch the air force to provide air cover for our troops."
The 27th Army had just been assigned to the Second Front not long ago, and Samyko still didn’t understand many things. He was filled with gratitude for Smirnov’s reminder: “General Smirnov, thank you so much. .Without your reminder, I wouldn’t have known who to contact to provide air support to General Bogdanov.”
After a pause, he asked Smirnov again: "General Smirnov, I would like to ask, after we request assistance from the Air Force, how many sorties can the other side send out?"
"General Samyko, let me tell you this." Seeing that Samyko humbly asked him for advice, Smirnov said enthusiastically: "As long as we apply to General Goryunov, he will randomly send troops The troops of General Ryazanov, commander of the 1st Fighter Aviation Corps, General Podgorny, commander of the 4th Fighter Aviation Corps, and Major General Polbin, commander of the Bombing Aviation Division, provide necessary air support for our ground forces."
Sameko originally thought that after asking for help from the Air Force, the other side would send out one or two flying groups, which would be quite interesting. But listening to what Smirnov said, it seems that as long as necessary, these three aviation armies can be mobilized at the same time.
However, he had never dealt with Goryunov. If he called directly, he would have to explain to the other party for a long time. In order to avoid this trouble, he tentatively asked Smirnov: "General Smirnov, could you please call General Goryunov?"
"Why?" Smirnov asked puzzled.
"The reason is very simple." Samyko said with some embarrassment: "General Goryunov and I don't know each other at all. If I call him rashly, it will definitely take a lot of time to introduce my identity. Wait for him After knowing who I am, he may not agree to my request."
Smirnov was also a warm-hearted person. Seeing Samyko's embarrassed look, he readily agreed: "Okay, General Samyko, I will call General Goryunov right now. After the call is connected, , let me introduce you two to each other, and once you both get to know each other, you can call him directly in the future to contact him about providing air cover."
