Steel Soviet Union

"What happened? Why did you call me here in such a hurry?"

The communications room is not far from the office where Malashenko was just now. They are both in the same building. Malashenko only needs to run downstairs for a few steps to get there, and the political commissar has been waiting here for a long time.

"Look at this. The telegram you just received is absolutely unexpected."

"unexpected?"

Malashenko, who muttered with some doubts in his mouth, took the telegram handed over by the political commissar and couldn't help but be curious about this so-called "unexpected".

"Then let me guess, is it a good thing that's unexpected, or a bad thing that's unexpected, huh?"

Regardless of whether Malashenko expected what he said next, the answer given by Comrade Political Commissar really shocked Malashenko who had just picked up the telegraph newspaper to review.

"The telegram sent from the headquarters of the Third Belarusian Front was transferred through the headquarters of the First Ukrainian Front before it was transferred to us. I think if I say this, you should be able to guess what is written in the telegram. content.”

"Huh? Third Belarusian Front? Old army???"

Before Comrade Political Commissar finished speaking, Malashenko suddenly became energetic and trembled when he heard this, as if he had stepped on a high-voltage wire.

Malashenko has been dreaming of returning to his old army these days. The Leadership Division itself is a unit of the Third Belarusian Front and is under Vatutin, but he has been working for others since the beginning of the campaign to liberate Poland. First, Driver Luo, and now Konev, traveled around half of Poland on the battlefield, but did not fight with the old troops to which they were supposed to belong.

One thing to say, this is really unpleasant. If Malashenko didn't know that there were some very complicated issues involved, he would have thought that Vatutin had sold himself out and exchanged the leader for unknown benefits.

And now, as Comrade Political Commissar blurted out these almost explicit words, Malashenko almost guessed what these words meant without even thinking, and instantly looked at the telegram in his hand with excited eyes.

Just as Malashenko guessed, the text recorded in this telegram was what he had been looking forward to for a long time.

The Third Belarusian Front commanded by Vatutin is about to launch a major strategic offensive operation. This will surely be a battle that will go down in history. The name "Battle of East Prussia" is very familiar to Malashenko.

The fruits of victory in the Anti-Fascist War gained through this battle will still be enjoyed by the Russian Federation and remain unchanged even in the post-Soviet era decades later. The enclave of Kaliningrad is the East The greatest victory of the Prussian campaign.

Before the start of the thunderous strategic offensive, Vatutin, who was preparing for the battle, made a "reasonable request" to Moscow: to return the most powerful field main force of the Belarusian Third Front to Malashenko and the leaders he commanded. The division must participate in the East Prussia Campaign and serve as the main offensive force. Only in this way can the absolute victory of this extremely important battle be ensured.

There was only one person in Moscow who could make a decision on Vatutin's request: the great leader and father-in-law Comrade Stalin who sat in the Kremlin's most powerful office.

"What do you think? Zhukov, I heard that Vatutin has applied three times recently for the return of the leading division. I didn't hear about it the previous two times. How did you handle it?"

The reason why the loving father knew about the third time but not the first two was mainly because Vatutin, who had not received a response to his request for a long time, chose to make a phone call for the third time after repeated attempts to no avail. I called Stalin's office and applied in person with my loving comrade.

All the procedures that were supposed to be followed were skipped. It can be said that Vatugin overstepped his authority and made a report, which is why the current situation occurred.

When faced with the questioning of his loving father, Comrade Stalin, Zhukov, who did not know the ins and outs and did not understand the matter at all, could roughly guess some possible reasons. However, when he was not sure that this was the case, it was best to say so. It's better to be conservative. After all, you have to be responsible when you say something.

"It's not very clear, Comrade Stalin. I have been busy inspecting front-line troops and formulating combat plans recently, and I haven't had time to see Comrade Vatutin yet. All fronts are progressing very fast. We have to Be prepared for the next move, you know it.”

"But I think the recent combat deployment of the leadership division is very tight, and there is no possibility of being withdrawn from the battlefield and transferred north for the time being, so the General Staff Headquarters has temporarily shelved Comrade Vatutin's request. But Vatutin Comrade may not be aware of this situation, so he called you. After all, the action against East Prussia is imminent, and I can understand his anxiety. "

""

Stalin, holding a pipe in his hand, sat behind his desk, listening to Zhukov's report at the desk and looking at the recent documents in his hand regarding the battle reports of the leading division.

The pipe beside his mouth was burning with tobacco and he kept puffing away the smoke. The loving comrade, who was squinting softly, flipped through the two most critical pages of the battle report again and again. As if after confirming something, he put down the battle report in his hand. And spoke to Zhukov.

"But this still doesn't explain why the General Staff did not submit the first two requests made by Vatugin to me in the form of written reports. I didn't even know about the first two requests until Vatugin submitted the request for the third time. I called. There is no mention of anything related to it in the pages about the Leader's Division. Everything looks like a normal troop movement between front armies."

"Well, you go tell Vasilevsky and ask him to come to my office, within today."

"in addition"

The loving comrade who put down his pipe still narrowed his eyes. Zhukov, who was familiar with this action, knew that the leader was preparing to give an order. He couldn't help but raise his chest and raise his head as he stood at attention. His ears immediately stood up and he stood still.

"If I remember correctly, the Leadership Division was originally a unit under Vatutin. The entire process from Rokossovsky to Konev was just a nominal secondment, is that right?"

When the leader comrade asked a question, Zhukov naturally told the truth, and immediately blurted out the answer with a positive nod.

"Yes, Comrade Stalin, the leading division is seconded in name only, and its subordinate establishment has always been under the command of the Third Belarusian Front."

"Then this is easy to handle. You and I both know that even if you borrow a neighbor's tools to do work, you will have to return them. This is not your thing, not to mention that the leader is not a tool."

Stalin knocked on his pipe and refilled it with tobacco before blurting out a final order that sounded ordinary.