Chapter 40: The Great Battle
Zhukov and Vatutin came all the way from Moscow and summoned a group of senior generals from the Kiev Special Military District. Their purpose was naturally not to chat about family matters, but to formulate a counterattack strategy based on the battlefield situation on the first day after the outbreak of the war.
Before coming to Kiev, when he was still in Moscow, Zhukov had already had a relatively detailed understanding of the entire war situation. Generally speaking, on the first day of the war, the Soviet army performed very badly in all directions. Among them, the performance of the Western Special Military District was particularly terrible. As the commander of the military district, Pavlov was like a drunkard, and he was confused. Moscow failed to contact him all morning, and finally contacted him in the afternoon, but he knew nothing about the situation of his troops.
In addition to the Western Military District, the North was also attacked. The Leningrad Military District was also threatened from the north. The Norwegians, Finns, and other fascist lackeys were taking advantage of the situation. Fortunately, in the Far East, the Japanese were pinned down by the Chinese battlefield. They did not join forces with their allies to launch an offensive against the Soviet Union. Otherwise, with the Far East battlefield, the situation would be completely irreparable.
Seeing everyone entering the room, Zhukov raised his hands and made a downward gesture, signaling everyone to be quiet, and then said: "Comrades generals, I think everyone should understand the current situation. Yes, it is very complicated and very dangerous. The time we have is very limited, so we don't have any extra time to reminisce and chat."
"First, I want to announce a decision of the Supreme Military Council here," Zhukov took out a document from the briefcase he carried with him, looked at it, and said, "Faced with the sudden outbreak of war, in order to more effectively mobilize military forces in one direction and concentrate superior forces, weapons and equipment to fight against the invasion of German fascism, the Supreme Military Council decided to temporarily abolish the original military district system and implement a more efficient wartime front military system."
Zhukov turned a page and continued reading: "The former Kiev Special Military District will be reorganized on the spot, and the Southwestern Front will be established on the original basis. The commander of the front will be Comrade Mikhail Petrovich Kirponos."
When he heard his name, Kirponos put his legs together, straightened his chest and raised his head, and saluted.
"The member of the Front Military Committee is Comrade Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev," Zhukov said. "Since Comrade Khrushchev is at the front, I will inform you of this decision later."
"Finally," Zhukov continued, his eyes moving around everyone's faces, "the Chief of Staff of the Front is still Comrade Maxim Alexeevich Purkayev. As for the appointment of other people, we will notify you later."
Although it is said that the notice will be given later, in fact, those who can attend the meeting now will definitely stay in their positions. Don't think this is good news. On the contrary, at this time, no sensible person would like to come here to work.
"Have the 62nd and 18th mixed aviation divisions been contacted?" Zhukov closed the document and threw it aside, then looked at Putukhin who was sitting at the back and asked.
"Not yet," Putukhin stepped forward hastily and said, "but I have arranged for someone to rush over, and I think we will receive news in a few hours."
"A few hours? But we don't have a few hours left," Zhukov said in a dissatisfied tone, "I can only give you two hours at most. After two hours, I need to know their specific situation."
"Okay, Comrade Zhukov," Putukhin nodded through gritted teeth.
Zhukov also knew that Putukhin, the Air Force Commander, was in a difficult situation. After all, in the past day's battle, the Kiev Special Military District's air force suffered heavy losses, while in Moscow, Comrade Stalin was still considering giving the Germans and their accomplices some color. Just this morning, after learning that the war had broken out, Comrade Stalin personally gave orders to the Air Force, requiring them to concentrate on bombing several enemy targets, including not only Helsinki, Danzig, Bucharest and Koenigsberg, but also the Ploiesti oil field in Romania. He even ordered the Red Navy's Black Sea Fleet to attack Constanza in Romania because there were large oil depots there.
Zhukov did not approve of these suicide attacks which only had political significance but were unlikely to produce military effects, but he had no ability to stop them. He only hoped that after tomorrow's counterattack, he would still have the air force at his disposal.
"Okay, everyone, come here," Zhukov asked about the situation of the air force and motioned everyone to gather around the table, "Now I will announce the latest combat plan."
In response to the first day's battle situation and the intelligence received from all sides, some true, some false, and some even guessed, the members of the Military Committee far away in Moscow formulated "Operation Order No. 3" aimed at driving the Germans back to the border.
This order will mobilize almost all the military forces of the Kiev Special Military District, but the order itself has only one very brief sentence: it requires "the Southwestern Front to use a concentrated and powerful attack of several mechanized armies and the entire air force, as well as other units of the Fifth and Ninth Armies, to encircle and annihilate the enemy forces attacking in the Vladimir-Volynsky and Brod directions, and occupy the Lublin area by dusk on June 24."
Note that this combat order was not drawn up by the General Staff or the Southwestern Front Command, but by the General Military Committee. In other words, it was drawn up by a group of military commissars who were engaged in military political work. Of course, Comrade Stalin signed it. When Zhukov and Vatutin rushed to Kiev with this order, Kirponos also signed it. Comrade Nikolai Nikolayevich Vashukin, a member of the Military District Military Committee, also signed it. He even signed it for Khrushchev after asking for his opinion over the phone (which laid the foundation for Vashukin's subsequent suicide and Khrushchev's shirking of responsibility).
Just half an hour ago, when Zhukov and Vatutin took out this order, the only dissenting voice came from the Chief of Staff of the Front, Purkayev. After a detailed analysis of the current actual situation of the Front, he advocated a more conservative plan: on the one hand, use the troops that have already participated in the battle to delay the enemy's attack, on the other hand, organize a solid defense in the deep areas of the rear, and at the same time, organize a second-tier counterattack force in the newly constructed fortified area, and wait until all fronts are stabilized before launching a counterattack.
Purkayev's proposal once won the approval of Zhukov and Vatutin after they learned the real situation, but Comrade Vashukin, the military commissar, firmly opposed it. In the end, Order No. 3 from the Moscow Military Committee was passed.
In fact, if the intelligence and battle situation obtained by the Moscow Military Committee were accurate, and the prediction of the direction of the German attack was also correct, and the Southwestern Front could still effectively command its subordinate combat units, this Order No. 3 would still be fine. Because in the first day of the battle, although the Germans had pushed the front line to Lutsk, Lviv and other places, the large-scale Fifth and Sixth Armies were still fighting on the border and were not seriously damaged. The German First Armored Group only tore a 50-kilometer-wide gap on the Volynsk line. Once one of its flanks was attacked by the Soviet army's superior forces, the influx of German troops could easily be surrounded.
Unfortunately, the Military Committee underestimated the German army's combat effectiveness but overestimated its own capabilities. In addition, they made completely wrong predictions about the German military deployment. Therefore, this large-scale counterattack was doomed to a dismal end from the very beginning.
As for Yuri, as a small battalion commander, even though he had just been verbally promoted to major by Khrushchev, he had no chance to get in touch with such a high-level military deployment plan. All he could do was to follow Khrushchev's orders and lead his 209th Battalion of more than a thousand people to defend the narrow passage between the Bredev Forest and the swamp water network.
After the first day of fighting, Lutsk had completely become an enemy-occupied area, and Yuri, who was in the enemy-occupied area, certainly could not sleep peacefully. On the first night after the battle, the 209th Battalion remained on high alert.
However, this night was also a sleepless night for many people, such as Lieutenant Nikita, the once arrogant communications lieutenant, who fled to the 209th Battalion's entrenched position like a stray dog in the middle of the night with her men. On the way to Chervono, she encountered a German motorized unit. After more than ten minutes of fighting, she fled back to Lutsk with the remaining 23 people. As a result, Lutsk had been occupied by the Germans at that time. After losing several people again, she fled into the jungle. When the scouts of the 209th Battalion found them lost and brought them back to the camp , there were only 6 female soldiers left with Lieutenant Nikita, some of whom were seriously injured.
War is war. It does not distinguish between men and women, and it does not know how to be gentle with women. The seriously injured female soldier died within half an hour after arriving at the 209th Battalion. The proud Lieutenant Nikita was obviously deeply shocked and fell silent.
However, Yuri had no time to comfort her at this moment, because the sky was gradually getting brighter, and a new day...a new battle was about to begin.
