Struggle in Soviet Russia

Speaking of it, Comrade Vatutin was really unlucky. Both of his brothers were sacrificed at this time. Now, this kind of tragedy has been taken out by himself to make a fuss. Victor doesn’t even know it. He used this incident as an excuse to help Comrade Stalin get rid of the position of commander of the First Ukrainian Front of Vatutin. How bad will the relationship between him and Vatutin be?

But more often, troubles are always inevitable. If he does not provide such an excuse, he can only produce some evidence that is more unfavorable to Vatutin, and these "evidences" are likely to need to be forged.

Following Comrade Poskrebeshev, he left the office of the Secretariat and went straight upstairs to the door of Comrade Stalin's office.

Unsurprisingly, when he walked into Comrade Stalin’s office, a lot of people had already gathered in this spacious office. Antonov and Štemenko from the General Staff did not know when he would rush from the front. Zhukov, Vasilievsky, and Rokosovsky returned.

In the office, Comrade Stalin was sitting alone behind his desk, while the remaining few people were sitting on the sofa in the middle of the office. Only Rokosovsky was standing alone in front of the military map by the wall, looking up. Looking at the huge map on the wall.

Seeing Victor coming in from the door with Poskrebeshev, several people sitting on the sofa stood up, especially Shtemenko, who gave Victor a military salute. Among these people, only His position and rank are the lowest, and now Victor has the status of a member of the Central Committee and his rank is higher than him. It is normal for him to salute.

Victor first returned the military salute to him, then stood at the door and saluted the remaining people. Then, Comrade Stalin said: "Well, Comrade Victor understands the situation in Ukraine. Let him introduce it."

When he said this, he still sat behind his desk and didn't move, his face was somber as if he had been blurred by a black cloud. Obviously, he hadn't communicated well with the generals present before.

Considering that Comrade Stalin had mentioned "16031 intelligence" on the phone before, Victor naturally knew what he meant by "the situation in Ukraine", so he walked straight to the front of the map and first turned towards Luo, who was standing next to the map. Kosovsky nodded, then glanced at the map roughly, and said: "The Foreign Intelligence Service of the People’s Committee of National Security received this year’s '16031' secret telegram from Kiev two days ago. This secret telegram contains a combat order issued by Manstein, commander of the German Army Group Southern Army. The order requires the retreat of the German Army Group Southern Army to implement the scorched earth policy in Eastern Ukraine while executing the retreat order."

Having said that, Victor briefly explained the main content of this scorched earth policy, and then continued: "In the past two days, the various units of the German Southern Army Group are implementing this order, according to the information provided by the Kiev Intelligence Station. According to the latest information, the German retreat forces have blown up the dam on the Sura River, creating a floodplain within nearly 30 square kilometers between Gorky and Vasilievsky. The specific casualties are still present. There is no way to count."

After a pause, he went on to say: "In addition, the Germans also blew up 13 coal mines in Donets. From Kharkov to Odessa, countless collective farms and farmlands were They were burned in an orderly manner by the German army, and the Germans are still arresting young adults from 13 to 35 years old..."

"Okay," Comrade Stalin finally said. He interrupted Victor's report, got up from the chair behind the desk, with a pipe in his right hand, walked to the front of the map without expression, and looked up at the map. Ukraine’s military situation said, “Did the Kiev Intelligence Station provide information before, showing that the southern German army is gathering in the area south of Kiev?”

Victor froze for a moment, and then hurriedly said: "Yes, according to the information we have obtained, the German Army Group South is moving from Odessa, Lviv, and other directions to Zhitomir and Faz. From the south of Tof to the front line of Stykey, the Korning area was mobilized and assembled."

"Then, tell me, what might be the intention of the German army's next campaign?" Comrade Stalin turned to his side, looked at Victor with a serious expression, and asked.

Is this cheating?

Victor blinked and turned to look at the map.

He is only engaged in intelligence work, and he is not a staff member of the General Staff. Can the movement of the Germans and their campaign intentions be judged by themselves?

Fortunately, even though he was only engaged in intelligence work, he had fought in wars somehow before, and he understood the military situation map in front of him to some extent. The most important thing is that the intelligence analysis department he has had previously been The intelligence has been analyzed, so Victor can still see something with the help of the map.

He stared at the map for a while and found that the deployment of German troops was mainly concentrated on the line from Zhitomir to the Rossi River, thus forming a similar "walking" arc-shaped defense line in the southern area of ​​Kiev. This arc-shaped line of defense, on the one hand, defended against the Soviet offensive to Kiev, on the other hand, it threatened the flanking position of the Soviet Ukrainian First Army from the south wing.

To make a non-figurative analogy, this direction is like an open palm, dragging the offensive front line of the entire Ukrainian 1st Front. The position of the thumb and hukou is the defense zone of Kiev, and the four fingers are located. The position is the flanking line of defense of the Ukrainian 1st Front Army.

Once the four fingers of this palm are curled up, they will turn into an iron fist and hit directly on the body of the Ukrainian 1st Front. The waist and ribs of the front army made this large army itch.

As long as the Ukrainian First Front was scratched to the itch and shivered a little, this hand would be quickly taken away, relying on the Kiev-Zhytomyr railway to escape.

Victor knew that the Soviet Union launched the Dnieper Battle on the southern front with the participation of the four fronts. Its purpose was not to liberate Kiev. In the combat plan of the General Staff, it was necessary to capture Kiev first. Cut off the railway from Kiev to Zhytomyr, thereby encircling the German corps deployed on the southern line and swallowing it in one bite.

However, the German army clearly saw through the Soviet army's campaign intentions. When the Ukrainian First Army was besieging Kiev, they transferred a large number of troops from the southern line to the southern line of Kiev, seizing favorable terrain, and actually shattered the Soviet army. The highest strategic intent.

In the final analysis, it is no wonder that Comrade Stalin would be angry about this. The time spent by Vatutin in Kiev is equivalent to creating the most precious opportunity for the deployment of German troops. If Rokosovsky’s central front could decisively cross it Crossing the Dnieper River and capturing Kiev for the first time, then the purpose of the campaign to encircle the German Southern Front Group has a chance to be realized.

Now, more than half a month has passed, but Vatutin's troops have still failed to make a decisive breakthrough in Kiev. To be honest, the most favorable opportunity for the Soviets has been wasted.

Considering this, Victor understood what Comrade Stalin wanted him to say, so he pursed his lips and said: "Considering the scorched earth policy implemented by the German army in Odessa and other places, I think the next step of the German Army Group Southern Army The purpose should be to carry out limited assault operations in the area south of Kiev to create time for the retreat of the southern front corps."

Sure enough, after he finished speaking, Comrade Stalin who had been staring at him immediately turned his gaze to Vasilevsky sitting on the sofa and said, "Look, our young comrade Victor can see this. At one point, isn't our general staff aware of this?"

Be young when you are young. What does "Comrade Victor Jr." mean?

Victor secretly slandered himself, but at the same time he was relieved, at least he did not understand Comrade Stalin's intentions.

"Of course we cannot deny the possibility of the German retreat," Vasilevsky said after a moment of silence. "But the pressure on Comrade Vatutin's flanks south of Kiev cannot be denied. My opinion is that the Ukrainian military 1. The front army can abandon the previous combat plan, abandon the auxiliary attack at Liu Jieri, and use the Bucklin landing field as the main direction of assault. However, such a combat plan requires support from the base camp."

Taking Bucklin Landing Field as the main direction of assault means that the Soviet army will make a breakthrough from the southern line of Kiev. The location launched an assault.

In this way, it can not only avoid being caught directly by this palm, but also force this hand to retract actively after suffering pain.

But in this way, the Soviet army obviously completely lost the opportunity to encircle and destroy the main German army on the southern front. Its campaign to liberate Kiev has changed from the siege and annihilation as originally conceived to a regrettable deportation battle.

Victor peeped at Comrade Stalin's face, he only felt that the leader's face was really blue at this time.

"Comrade Georgi Konstantinovich," after a moment, Comrade Stalin turned his gaze to Zhukov and asked, "If you command the attack on Kiev, do we have a better choice?"

Victor's eyelids couldn't help but jump. In his opinion, Comrade Stalin had already made concessions. Of course, this was also a provocation to Zhukov and Vasilievsky.

"I think the plan of the General Staff is well thought out," it's a pity that Comrade Zhukov obviously didn't bite this bait, and he said calmly.