Chapter 201 Konev's Ambition
"Of course," Yuri took a puff of his cigarette, blew out a smoke ring casually, and said, "However, the Supreme Command now has more considerations. At least in the short term, well, to be precise, it is impossible to reorganize the Leningrad Front before most of the battles on the northern front are over."
He paused for about two or three seconds before continuing, "As for the Volkhov Front, I have received an order from the General Staff to dismantle it after the Luga River offensive is over."
"Where will Comrade Kirill Afanasyevich be transferred to?" Rokossovsky asked curiously.
"Commander of the Karelian Front," Yuri said, "the High Command's plan is to launch a Karelian offensive campaign in the summer to force the Finns to surrender."
Kirill Afanasyevich refers to Meretskov, who is now the commander of the Volkhov Front.
"Then he will probably be disappointed," Rokossovsky said with a smile, "I have met him before, Comrade Kirill Afanasyevich, and he hopes to be in Belarus, even as my deputy."
"The Supreme Command will never agree to his request," Yuri also laughed. He and Meretskov were not close friends, but they knew each other. In Yuri's opinion, this short, fat, kind-looking guy was quite interesting. "After all, we are now lacking senior commanders who are good at commanding operations on the northern front. If Kirill is transferred to Belarus, who will take over his job? His current deputy is not someone the Supreme Command can trust."
Rokossovsky nodded silently. He had to admit that what Yuri said was absolutely correct.
Who is Meretskov's deputy at the moment? It's Comrade Fyodor Isidorovich Kuznetsov. This is a legendary comrade. Before the war, after the Great Purge in 1938, he first climbed from a regimental commander to the position of deputy commander of the military district in less than three years. Then, after the outbreak of the war, he suffered a series of defeats and was demoted from the commander of the front to the chief of staff of the army group in less than 8 months.
To put it bluntly, this comrade was a man who was suitable for political work but not very good at commanding operations. If it weren't for his strong background and the fact that someone always spoke well of him in front of Stalin, he would have been executed long ago. Just imagine, with such a person, who would dare to let him take over Meretskov's position and lead the war on the northern front?
"Everyone must obey the orders of the Supreme Command. I believe Kirill can understand this." Since Meretskov's destination was determined, Rokossovsky had nothing more to say. He said this casually to change the subject.
Yuri also knew that Meretskov and Rokossovsky had a good relationship. Not only were they old acquaintances, but they also had the same fate and were somewhat sympathetic. However, Meretskov had to stay on the northern front. This was a decision made by the Supreme Command, and no one could change it.
Of course, in Yuri's opinion, the reason why Meretskov was kept on the northern front where the fighting was not so intense and the troops and equipment were relatively backward was probably also because of Comrade Zhukov. After all, the relationship between the two was very bad.
"Report!"
Just at this moment, the voice of the communications soldier came from the door.
"Come in," Yuri said, standing up and glancing towards the door.
"Comrade General, here is the latest battle report from Moscow." The young communications soldier walked quickly into the door, handed a battle report to Yuri, and said.
"Okay, I understand," Yuri took the battle report, sent the signalman away, and then looked at the cover of the battle report.
The cover of the war report is marked with the words "General Staff", with Vasilevsky's signature below and the file number 159/44-фг in the upper right corner. The number indicates that this is a confidential document with a confidentiality level of фг. In this number, ф is the first letter , which means that this document is currently confidential to personnel below the commander of the front, and Rokossovsky has the right to read this document in terms of his position.
Lifting the cover, Yuri took a closer look at the contents of the battle report: This was the latest operational plan from the field command of the 2nd Ukrainian Front forwarded by the General Staff - an operational plan to expand the landing site on the right bank of the Dnieper River.
The moment he saw the title, the combat situation map of the southern front emerged in Yuri's mind. At the same time, the location of the 2nd Ukrainian Front was also marked in his mind.
On the southern front, before the New Year, the 2nd Ukrainian Front had broken through the German defenses on the Gulets River line on the right bank of the Dnieper River and occupied Alexandria, Znamenka and other places .
Znamenka is a large railway hub with an extremely critical strategic location. In this area, the German army has organized two consecutive counterattacks in the past period of time, trying to recapture this key position, but both were repelled by the front.
At present, the main defensive forces of the German army are mainly concentrated in the Kirovograd area. From Iasi through Kirovograd to Novgorodka, the German army has deployed 8 divisions including the 320th, 286th and 376th Infantry Divisions, 1 SS Cavalry Division, 10th Motorized Division, 3rd, 11th and 14th Tank Divisions, and 1 field aviation division.
However, due to the short time to build the defense and the lack of troops, the German defense line was not stable. Their defenses were mainly weak fortifications based on trenches connecting supporting firepower points. In some weak areas, the German army even built only some infantry bunkers that could accommodate 3 to 5 soldiers. In addition, in terms of defensive weapons, because of the heavy losses in the previous battles, the German army on this line of defense could no longer provide too many tanks for defense support. They could mainly use some mobile artillery for defense.
The field command of the 2nd Ukrainian Front sensed the weakness of the German army and therefore hoped to launch a quick offensive to repel the German troops on the Kirovograd front or even annihilate the main German forces entrenched in the area.
"This is the latest battle plan sent by Ukraine," Yuri frowned and thought for a while after reading the report. Seeing Rokossovsky looking at him with a concerned expression, he smiled, handed over the report, and said, "The 2nd Ukrainian Front plans to launch an offensive in the near future to capture Kirovograd in order to expand the channel to attack the highlands along the Dnieper River."
"It seems that Comrade Ivan Stepanovich is getting a little impatient," Rokossovsky said with a smile as he took the battle report and flipped through it. "But he does need to prove himself more."
Ivan Stepanovich refers to Konev, the unfortunate guy who, because of Yuri, did not have the opportunity to show his prowess in the Battle of Kharkov as he had done in history. As a result, he was still an unpopular guy in the eyes of the Supreme Command, especially in the eyes of Comrade Stalin.
Some time ago, with the successful liberation of Kiev by the First Ukrainian Front commanded by Philip Ivanovich Golikov, Comrade Stalin obviously had more objections to Konev. There are reports that Stalin once asked Zhukov who would be more suitable to replace Konev.
It is not a good thing to be remembered by Comrade Stalin all day long, so it is normal for Konev to seek to show off in recent times.
Putting aside all external factors, Yuri approved of the report on the battle plan itself: in the early battles, the 2nd Ukrainian Front's subordinate units suffered little damage, and its 4 armies, 2 tank armies, and 1 cavalry mechanized combat group were relatively complete, and compared with their opponents, they had an absolute advantage in terms of manpower. At this time, Konev chose to launch an attack on the German army, whose defense structure was not yet complete, which should be said to have chosen a very appropriate time.
"Comrade Ivan Stepanovich is still very cautious," Yuri said with a faint smile, knowing what Rokossovsky meant, "so he prepared two plans."
What Yuri said was reflected in the battle report, because Comrade Konev, who was not favored by Stalin and became more cautious, did prepare two offensive plans.
The first offensive plan was to launch a concentric assault in the direction of Kirovograd after the battle was launched, striving to quickly break through the German defense line with superior forces. The second offensive plan was to implement a pincer attack with Kirovograd as the center, striving to destroy the basic German forces in this area.
"He has a big appetite," Rokossovsky flipped through the battle report and quickly grasped the core of the battle plan. He relit his extinguished cigarette, took a puff, and smiled, "However, such a battle plan, relying solely on the current basic strength of the 2nd Ukrainian Front, is probably difficult to support."
It is obvious that Rokossovsky did not take the first operational plan submitted by Konev seriously, and he directly focused on the second operational plan.
According to the plan formulated by Konev, once the battle is launched, the 53rd Army of the 2nd Ukrainian Front will cooperate with the 5th Guards Mechanized Army to launch an offensive in the southwest direction, that is, to the Kucherovka and Kohaniyevka areas, and launch a concentric attack in the direction of Vladimirovka to cut off the German retreat. At the same time, the 9th Guards Army will launch an offensive in the direction of Ivangorod and Zlatopol to contain the basic German forces in this direction.
The 9th Guards Army and the 9th Guards Tank Army needed to launch an assault in the direction of Plavny and Pokrovskoye in order to bypass Kirovograd from the northwest. The Soviet troops had to capture Kirovograd within two days and advance to the Fedorovka and Yurievka lines.
