Red Moscow

  Chapter 1693 North-South Echo

   Rokossovsky heard Bogolyubov address himself, from a certain general to a commander, which shows that the other party has begun to accept him. He smiled slightly and said to the other party: "Comrade Chief of Staff, hurry up and call."

   "Yes!" Bogolyubov swept away the decadence of half an hour, and replied energetically: "I will call Major General Pukhov immediately and order him to move to the Korosten area as soon as possible."

   A few minutes later, Pukhov, commander of the 13th Army, received a call from Bogolyubov: "Major General Pukhov, are your troops ready for battle?"

   "Yes, Comrade Chief of Staff." Pukhov replied with a tragic expression: "I have just returned from the troops below. The commanders and fighters are all ready to fight and are ready to cooperate with the 38th Army to launch a counterattack against Zhytomyr."

"Major General Pukhov, the mission of your army has been adjusted." Bogolyubov waited for the other party to finish speaking, and immediately corrected: "You don't have to rush to support the 38th Army, but turn to the northwest to assist the 60th Army. Army Group captures Korosten."

"What, assist the 60th Army to capture Korosten?" Pukhov couldn't help crying secretly when he heard this order, because his vanguard division has now left Kyiv and is heading west along the Kyiv-Zhytomyr Highway Advance and prepare to join the retreating 38th Army. He said aggrievedly: "But my vanguard division has already set off and is preparing to rush along the road to join the 38th Army."

"Immediately order the leading division to change the marching direction and immediately move towards the Koroszhan area." Bogolyubov was afraid that the other party would not pay attention to this order, and specifically emphasized: "This is an order issued by General Rokossovsky on behalf of the headquarters. The order must be carried out unconditionally."

   Pukhov heard that Rokossovsky gave the order, and asked in surprise: "What, is it the order from General Rokossovsky? When did he become the representative of the headquarters?"

"It is today," Bogolyubov replied briefly: "In order to save the situation in the Kyiv area, the Supreme Command temporarily appointed General Rokossovsky as the representative of the headquarters to come to our headquarters to assist in commanding operations. But from From now on, he has taken over the command of the entire army, so you must obey his orders unconditionally. Understand?"

Knowing that Rokossovsky had taken over the command of the front troops, Pukhov couldn't help but smile. He knew very well that Rokossovsky's ability to command operations was far better than Vatutin's. Commanding the troops will surely turn the current unfavorable situation around. He quickly and loudly replied: "Understood, Comrade Chief of Staff, I will immediately order someone to notify the vanguard division, so that they can change their marching direction and head towards the Korosjian area."

After Bogolyubov waited for Pukhov to finish his statement, he continued: "General Pukhov, once your army assists the 60th Army to capture Korosten, you will deploy troops to Chernobyl and Pripyat. The quarterly movement, echoing the Belarusian front army going south, made it impossible for the enemy to mobilize enough forces to re-attack Koroszyn."

   "Don't worry, Comrade Chief of Staff." Knowing that Rokossovsky is now commanding the troops, Pukhov felt more at ease, "I will definitely implement the new combat order to the letter."

   "Very well, then we will wait to hear your good news."

After Bogolyubov put down the phone, he immediately reported to Rokossovsky: "Comrade Commander, I have conveyed your order to the 13th Army. The commander of the Army, Major General Pukhov, told me that his leader The division is advancing along the road in the direction of Zhitomir, and he will order the troops to turn to the Korosten area as soon as possible."

After hearing this, Rokossovsky nodded slightly, and said to Bogolyubov: "Whether Kyiv can hold or not depends entirely on the 60th and 13th Army Groups. When can they take Korosten to disperse the main force of the German army?" the goal of."

On the matter of resolving the crisis in the Kyiv area, Rokossovsky considered very carefully. He felt that if all the troops were placed inside and outside Kyiv according to Vatutin's approach, then the Germans might repeat the war. The same tactics they used in 1941, encircled the Soviet army in the Kyiv area, and tried to win a similar victory. Once something goes wrong with the Soviet army in the Kyiv area, the great situation that was so hard-won will be ruined.

   And he sent the 13th Army to the outside of Korosjan City to assist the 60th Army there to capture the city. Once the city is liberated, the two armies can divide their forces. Some will continue to stick to the newly liberated city, while the other will turn around and go north to cooperate with friendly forces in Belarus.

  Rokossovsky called the director of the communications corps to himself, and told him: "Comrade director of the communications corps, please help me connect with the Belarusian Front Army. I want to speak to Chief of Staff Malinin."

The phone was connected quickly, and Malinin heard Rokossovsky's voice, and immediately asked with concern: "Comrade Commander, I heard that you were appointed as a representative of the headquarters and sent to the First Ukrainian Front. How are you, are you there yet?"

"Yes, I have already arrived at the new headquarters." After Rokossovsky briefly answered the other party's questions, he said casually to Malinin as usual: "And I just took over the command of the troops. From now on, I can command the Belarusian Front and the First Ukrainian Front at the same time."

Hearing the news, Ma Linin couldn't help being overjoyed, and said repeatedly: "Great, Comrade Commander, this is really great. In this way, you can adjust the deployment of troops and choose the direction of attack in a timely manner according to the situation on the battlefield. This enables us to gain the initiative on more battlefields."

"Comrade Chief of Staff, I think so too." Rokossovsky knew that if he wanted the two front armies to cooperate on the battlefield, he had to explain to Ma Linin, so as not to cause communication problems between the two troops. During the attack on the German army, there was a situation of fragmentation again.

He said into the microphone: "Gomel has been liberated by our army. It can be used as a material transfer point for us. You must stock up enough weapons, ammunition and military supplies there as soon as possible to ensure that when our army fights in Belarus, Supplies can be obtained in a timely manner.”

   Rokossovsky's words reminded Malinin of Vatutin. The Kharkov counterattack at the beginning of the year was initiated by Vatutin on his own initiative. He miscalculated the situation, thinking that after the Soviets wiped out Paulus's 6th Army at Stalingrad, the German army was in a rout. Vatutin wanted to rewrite the battle situation with his own offensive, and instigated the Soviet army to launch a general offensive against Manstein's troops, eventually eating up the entire Southern Army Group.

  Vatutin commanded the Southwest Front Army to break into the German defense line for more than 600 kilometers, and the distance from the nearest supply point exceeded 200 kilometers. In order for Vatutin to completely defeat the German army on the left bank of the Dnieper River, the Supreme Command specially mobilized the entire Voronezh Front Army for reinforcements. However, not only did the goal of the campaign not be achieved, on the contrary it allowed the German army to fight a beautiful turnaround, and it also achieved the highlight moment in Manstein's military career.

Although the defeat of the Kharkov counterattack caused heavy losses to the Soviet troops, Vatutin received a very light punishment. Although the post of commander of the Southwest Front Army was removed, he was soon reassigned to the Voronezh Front Army Commander. The original Voronezh Front Commander Gorikov became his scapegoat.

   "Comrade commander, you can rest assured about this." Ma Linin replied respectfully: "As long as it is an order from you, I will definitely execute it unconditionally."

"Very good." Rokossovsky continued: "I have ordered the 13th Army to advance to the Korosten area, preparing to assist the 60th Army fighting there to capture the city. Once the city falls into our hands, The 13th Army will draw some of its troops and push towards Chernobyl and Pripyat. At that time, you can send a force south and push in the direction of these two cities, so that the Germans will have to divide their defenses , thereby reducing the pressure on our army in offense and defense."

After Rokossovsky finished speaking, Ma Linin thought for a while, and then said: "Comrade Commander, if I understand correctly, you want to connect the combat areas of the two front armies so that you can Support each other in battle."

"Yes, I do have such an idea." Rokossovsky said: "Although we have been taking the offensive, there are always remnants of the German army among the various fronts. In order to prevent these enemies from attacking our defense zone and transport lines pose a threat, we also need to mobilize a certain amount of troops to defend them, so that the offensive force on the front line is weakened in disguise."

After finishing the call with Malinin, Rokossovsky held the microphone and thought for a while, thinking that he should talk to Chernyakhovsky, commander of the 60th Army Group, to learn about the situation in the Korosten area .

  The director of the communications corps learned that Rokossovsky wanted to contact the 60th Army, so he didn't dare to neglect, and the call was connected in less than three minutes. Rokossovsky put the microphone close to his ear, and when he heard a voice coming from inside, he immediately said, "Please help me find General Cherniakhovsky."

"The commander is observing the enemy's situation outside. I am the chief of staff of the group army." The chief of staff of the group army answered the phone. He didn't know who called, so he spoke without any scruples: "If you have anything to say, just tell me directly. Say."

"I am Rokossovsky." After Rokossovsky said his name, considering that the other party might not know his current position, he added: "Now, as a representative of the base camp, I took over the command of the First Ukrainian Front. That is to say, I am now the acting commander of the Front."

  After hearing Rokossovsky's identity, the chief of staff quickly straightened his body and said respectfully: "Hello, Comrade Acting Commander, do you have any instructions for us?"

   "Send someone to bring Cherniakhovsky back, I have a task to give him."

   "Understood." The chief of staff called a staff officer and told him: "Hurry up and invite Comrade Commander back, and tell him that there is an important call and he needs to answer it in person."

After the staff officer left, the chief of staff hurriedly reported to Rokossovsky: "Comrade Acting Commander, I have ordered someone to invite General Cherniakhovsky. Came to take your call."

   Rokossovsky knew very well that even if the chief of staff sent someone to invite Cherniakhovsky immediately, it might take a lot of time. The situation in the Kyiv area is not good now. Rokossovsky didn't want to waste too much time, so he asked the chief of staff about the situation in the Korosten area while Cherniakhovsky hadn't come yet.

   "Comrade Chief of Staff, how is the situation there?" Rokossovsky asked kindly: "How long will it take you to capture Korosten from the enemy?"

"We have broken through the German perimeter defenses outside the city and are trying to break into the city." The chief of staff replied, "But the German resistance is too tenacious. We have attacked for two days in a row, but we still have not been able to re-enter the city." "He paused here, and after thinking about it for a while, he added, "Comrade Acting Commander, our army group has been greatly weakened in the battle to liberate Kyiv. At that time, the fight was more difficult. If you can send us reinforcements, even a division or even a regiment, it may be able to play a decisive role in the battle situation."

   "One division is too small, Comrade Chief of Staff." Rokossovsky said with a smile: "I can give you an army group so that Korosten can be captured from the hands of the Germans in the shortest possible time."

"What, give us reinforcements for an army group?" The chief of staff was stunned when he heard Rokossovsky's words. is that true?"

"Of course it is true." Rokossovsky replied: "In order to ensure that you can capture Korosten from the Germans in the shortest possible time, I decided to send General Pukhov's 13th Army To you."

"Great, this is really great. As soon as the 13th Army arrives, our strength will be greatly strengthened." The chief of staff was happy for a few seconds, and suddenly thought of a key question, and asked quickly: " The two armies are in the same area, who will be in command then?"

Rokossovsky knew very well that the commander of the 60th Army, Chernyakhovsky, not only had a higher military rank than Pukhov, but also had two grades higher in command ability, so he said without hesitation: "When the 13th Army arrives, I will order them to resolutely obey your command."

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Cherniakhovsky appeared at the entrance of the command department just as the Chief of Staff was overjoyed. He walked in and asked, "Who are you calling?" ?”

   "It's General Rokossovsky." The chief of staff quickly replied, "It's a call from General Rokossovsky, commander of the Belarusian Front."

"General Rokossovsky?" Cherniakhovsky couldn't help frowning after hearing what the chief of staff said, and he muttered to himself: "What is he calling himself? Going to Belarus?" In order to find out what was going on, he asked, "Does he have anything to do?"

  (end of this chapter)