Chapter 200 Coincidence
History always has its own inertia. Sometimes, even if its evolution goes astray, the general direction and certain details are still consistent with the original historical trajectory.
Rokossovsky believed that before the summer offensive, he needed cooperation from the 3rd Ukrainian Front, or at least, he needed to transfer the 28th Army, which was currently under the command of the 3rd Ukrainian Front, to his command.
What is so special about the 28th Army? To be honest, there is nothing special about this unit itself, but its current position is very important. Just two days ago, the 9th Tank Army commanded by Mikhail Yefimovich Katukov, in cooperation with the 18th and 38th Army Corps, carried out the Zhitomir-Berdichev Campaign and successfully liberated the two cities. Afterwards, these armies continued to advance westward, preparing to participate in the Proskurov-Chernovitsky Campaign, and the 28th Army, as a reserve, followed and is currently stationed in the Zhitomir-Berdichev area.
From a geographical point of view, Zhitomir is located at the bend of the Pripyat River. From here, going north through Koroslin and Sarny, you can directly enter the vast Pripyat swamp. This is the boundary between Ukraine and Belarus. Because of the swamp as a natural barrier, the German army did not set up any defenses on this line. As long as the Soviet army can sneak into the swamp and cross the Pripyat River, it can bypass Bobruisk without being noticed, thus cutting off the German army's retreat.
Yuri did not comment on Rokossovsky's views, mainly because he could not comment on this matter, because the Supreme Command had already made a decision on this matter, and according to the Supreme Command's previous decision, the troops to be transferred to the First Belorussian Front during the summer campaign were not the 28th Army, but a large-scale armored combat group including the 9th Tank Army. And these things are still top secret information, and Yuri cannot disclose them to the outside world.
"Comrade Konstantin Konstantinovich," Yuri hesitated, smiled, and said to Rokossovsky, "I think that for now, the first thing you need to consider is how to seize the landing site on the right bank of the Dnieper River. I think the Supreme Command will definitely ask you to submit a relevant plan before the summer offensive plan is fully determined."
Rokossovsky nodded silently. He also knew that this question was the key. However, based on the conclusions drawn from previous reconnaissance and exploratory attacks, it was obviously not an easy task to seize a landing site on the Dnieper River between Mogilev and Zhlobin.
Yuri certainly knew the difficulties Rokossovsky was facing. In the previous life, in the Belarusian offensive campaign, the so-called "Bagration" operation plan, Rokossovsky chose an offensive plan that was to launch an all-out attack on Bobruisk in several directions. Moreover, such an attack was not divided into primary and secondary, but all of them were the main attack, which was to push all the combat groups of the entire Belarusian First Front forward, from Mogilev to Rogachev, to Zhlobin, and then to Glusk, to launch a comprehensive attack on the entire German defense line.
In the military research of later generations, all those who have touched upon this battle have praised Rokossovsky's offensive plan, saying that it was such a brilliant and wise decision. But what was the reality? What was the actual situation? What was the basis for Rokossovsky's decision? It's very simple. In Yuri's view today, he had no choice but to do so.
On the Mogilev-Zhlobin line, the defense built by the German Mogilev combat group was very solid. After the First Belorussian Front captured Rogachev, the offensive was blocked on the Dnieper River line. Afterwards, no river crossing operations in the Rogachev direction or in the Berezina River line achieved any results. So far, the First Belorussian Front has only captured a salient in the direction of Glush in the narrow strip between the Berezina River and the Pripyat River.
The area of this salient is very narrow. If the 1st Belorussian Front chose this place as the main assault direction during the summer offensive, the front's troops would not be able to deploy at all - this is like using a pencil sharpener to poke a rhinoceros. Even if the knife breaks, it may not cause much damage to the rhinoceros.
Therefore, Rokossovsky was forced to choose an all-out war. His real hope was probably the special force that sneaked across the Pripyat swamp.
After the two had a brief conversation, Rokossovsky realized that this former subordinate of his was a tight-lipped guy. It was probably hopeless to try to get some information from him indirectly.
"When is the second wave of offensive planned to be launched here?" Since he could not get any information, Rokossovsky simply turned his attention to the northern battlefield. He propped himself up, reached out and tapped on the map, and asked.
"We plan to rest for a week," Yuri said directly without hiding anything. "The new battle will begin around January 6th."
"What's the more specific plan?" Rokossovsky continued to ask, looking at the map.
"The battle will initially be launched by the Volkhov Front," Yuri stepped forward, took out a pen from his uniform pocket, pointed at the location of Lake Ilmen, and said, "There are two main attack directions, Denor and Bolshoi Volokh, with the goal of encircling and annihilating the German Schmsk Combat Group."
Rokossovsky almost lay down on the map, carefully checking the location Yuri pointed to.
"After the battle of Lake Ilmen begins, the 2nd Baltic Front will launch an offensive in the Staro Russa area and Nasva two days later," Yuri continued. "The attack on Staro Russa is aimed at protecting the right wing position of the Volkhov Front's offensive corps. At the same time, depending on the conditions, we will attack the Novorzhev Line and form a pincer attack with the offensive corps in the Nasva direction to annihilate the German defense group in the area."
Rokossovsky frowned slightly. Although no one knew what he was thinking, it was obvious that he was not satisfied with the part of the battle plan that Yuri had mentioned earlier.
"Once the offensive in these two directions has achieved its initial combat objectives," Yuri drew a line to the right along the Luga River on the map with his pen, and continued, "The Leningrad Front will launch an offensive in the Luga and Narva directions, striving to break through the German Luga River frontal defense line."
"This is a phased offensive plan," Rokossovsky finally couldn't help himself. He interrupted Yuri and said, "Why is the overall offensive arranged in this way? Why can't the offensives of the three fronts be carried out simultaneously?"
Yuri smiled when he heard the question. He fumbled in his pocket, took out a cigarette, handed one to Rokossovsky, and lit another one for himself. Then he said in the rising light blue smoke: "Comrade Konstantin Konstantinovich, you have just arrived at the northern front and don't know much about the situation here. Therefore, you cannot use the mentality and requirements of commanding the First Belorussian Front to look at the troops on the northern front."
"Oh?" Rokossovsky raised his thick eyebrows, with a confused expression on his face.
"When I first came to the northern front, I was also very dissatisfied with the progress of the war here," Yuri walked to his desk, took out a notebook, and threw it on the map in front of Rokossovsky, saying, "But now I understand that here, we must follow a different set of standards."
"What is this?" Rokossovsky picked up the notebook, flipped through two pages casually, and asked casually.
"The deployment of the troops of the Leningrad and Volkhov Fronts," Yuri shrugged and said, "Leningrad was besieged by the Germans for three years, and our Leningrad Front resisted here for three years, and the deployment of the troops and the quality of the troops have also stagnated for three years . In other words, including the troops under the Volkhov Front, the combat effectiveness of most of our troops on the northern front is still basically at the level of 1941."
Rokossovsky frowned even more. He flipped through the notebook. Just as Yuri said, the notebook recorded the assignment of the subordinate units of the Leningrad Front. During the three years of siege, the Soviet Red Army's combat thinking, firepower configuration of each unit, and technical and tactical level have all developed greatly, but these developments obviously have little to do with the Leningrad Front. This front has always been under siege by the German army. Not to mention anything else, even the quality of the troops is very poor. Take the company-level unit as an example. In a company, the proportion of soldiers over 40 years old is as high as half. In addition, there are disabled, sick, and so on. The reason for this situation is also very simple, that is, the Leningrad Front surrounded by the German army can only replenish troops on the spot, and after three years of defensive battles, how high the quality of the troops can be is really worrying.
The siege of Leningrad had just been broken, and the entire front had been in a state of continuous combat, with no time to spare for tasks such as troop reorganization. Therefore, when it comes to the issue of troop combat effectiveness, the Soviet troops on the northern front and the Central Combat Group, especially the Combat Group on the southern front, are simply incomparable.
"This is indeed a problem that cannot be ignored," Rokossovsky flipped through the booklet in his hand, and finally let out a heavy breath and asked, "Have you reported this to the Supreme Command?"
