Chapter 58: The Commissioner's Counterattack
Khrushchev, who was signing the arrest warrant, did not notice the document handed over by Tupikov at first. He just looked up at Tupikov, said nothing, and continued to sign his arrest warrant. Comrade Stalin was very dissatisfied with the performance of Kiev. During the call last night, although the tone of the five consecutive questions was not very harsh, Khrushchev could still feel the suppressed anger on the other end of the phone.
"It's the result of yesterday's battle in the Berezna direction. The German intelligence intercepted by the 21st Army shows that the Germans suffered heavy losses in Berezna yesterday, and a German colonel-level staff officer was killed in the bombing." Tupikov coughed and said, "The German 47th Motorized Army responsible for the attack in that direction has decided to change direction. They believe that conquering Berezna will not only cost a heavy price, but will also take 3 to 5 days."
"Oh?" Khrushchev's hand paused as he was signing, but he still kept his head down, as if he was still looking at the small black book in front of him.
"Is the news accurate?" After nearly twenty or thirty seconds, he raised his head, stared at Tupikov, and asked softly.
He asked in a very soft voice, as if this was fake news and he was afraid that others would hear it.
"It's accurate, and the Western Front has verified it," Tupikov said seriously after scanning the command room.
"Have you reported this to the Supreme Command, Comrade Stalin?" Khrushchev asked, raising his distinctive short eyebrows in a slightly louder voice.
"It should have been reported," Tupikov said uncertainly, "This was forwarded by the theater headquarters."
A trace of dissatisfaction flashed across Khrushchev's face. He muttered something, then quickly grabbed the document and read it carefully.
The atmosphere in the command room relaxed instantly, and Tupikov also breathed a sigh of relief.
However, this relaxation did not last long, only two or three minutes. When Khrushchev finished reading the entire document, the expression on his face became gloomy again, and the cloud was even thicker than before.
He said nothing, put the document aside after reading it, and then continued to sign and approve arrest warrants.
Khrushchev was silent for a long time this time. As time passed, more and more people came into the command room. At 7:20, Baghramyan walked in with a tired look on his face. He had been to Priluki, where the theater headquarters was located, yesterday and had just hurried back ten minutes ago.
Baghramyan did not have a seat at the conference table; his seat was behind Tupikov, in the second circle.
As soon as Baghramyan walked into the command room, Khrushchev stopped signing and stared at him with his small eyes. Wherever Baghramyan went, his eyes followed him. Poor comrade who was going to be a marshal was frightened by his gaze and felt uncomfortable even when he sat down.
At this time, more than 20 people had come to the command room, including the top two leaders of each army group, several division and brigade commanders, military district staff, military committee members, and so on. Everyone felt the weirdness of the atmosphere, so no one dared to speak loudly.
The person who came in after Baghramyan was Major General Nikolai Vladimirovich Fekelenko, who had just replaced Ryabyshev as the commander of the 38th Army. Like Hitler, this guy had a small tuft of mustache under his nose and was always careless.
However, Fekelenko was not a man of few nerves. As soon as he entered the command room, he felt that the atmosphere was not right. He walked to his seat hesitantly and sat down. He whispered to Major General Kuzma Petrovich Podlas, the commander of the 40th Army, "What's going on? Is the German army taking new action?"
Podlas scratched his forehead with his middle finger, and under the cover of this action, he winked at Fekelenko. Afraid that he didn't understand, he glanced at Khrushchev's back with the corner of his eye, meaning to tell Fekelenko that Comrade Khrushchev was brewing anger and he should not meddle in other people's business.
Unexpectedly, Fekelenko completely misunderstood what Podlas meant. He thought that Khrushchev had expressed some dissatisfaction with him before he came in, and he froze instantly. He twisted uneasily in his seat for a while, and the more he thought about it, the more worried he became. The 38th Army under his command had indeed performed very poorly in the recent series of battles. Comrade Kirponos had criticized him by name two days ago.
No, this matter cannot be delayed. No matter where the mistake was made, it must be reported to the committee comrades in advance. The more Fekelenko thought about it, the more uneasy he became. Finally, he plucked up the courage, stood up from his seat, and moved behind Khrushchev.
"Nikita? Comrade Sergeyevich, I have something to report to you." Not daring to speak too loudly, Fekelenko bent over and spoke in a low voice.
"Oh, what's going on?" Khrushchev was in no mood to pay attention to him at this time, so he asked without turning his head.
"..." Fekelenko had no idea what he was going to report. He just thought that since he had come here and spoken on his own initiative, if Khrushchev had any dissatisfaction, why didn't he just say it out?
After pondering for a long time, Fekelenko was still trying to think of what he should report when he heard a rustling sound in the command room. It turned out that everyone left their seats and stood up.
Thankfully, Fekelenko took the opportunity to straighten up and turned his gaze towards the door, just in time to see Comrade Kirponos walking in with a few others.
"Everyone, please sit down." As the supreme commander of the Southwestern Front, Kirponos has been very haggard in recent times. The unfavorable conditions on all fronts have made him extremely nervous. He has submitted four reports in succession to the theater command and the Supreme Command, requesting the withdrawal of troops to the east bank of the Dnieper River, but none of them were approved.
The most recent time, Comrade Stalin personally called him. During the call, Stalin reminded Kirponos not to forget the previous defeat suffered by the Southwestern Front in Uman. It was not impossible for the Southwestern Front to withdraw to the east of the Dnieper River and to the Psel River area, but as the commander of the front, Kirponos must take responsibility for the possible defeat of the Soviet army during the withdrawal.
Stalin actually put forward requirements for the retreat of the Southwestern Front, namely: if the Southwestern Front was to evacuate the Kiev area, it must build a defensive position on the Psel River line, and at the same time, launch a counterattack against Guderian's troops heading south to effectively prevent the German troops from moving south quickly. Only by doing this can the Southwestern Front ensure that it will not encounter a flank attack from the German army during the retreat, which would lead to a collapse of the entire front and repeat the tragedy of the Battle of Uman.
As the commander of the Southwestern Front, Kirponos knew very well that the conditions proposed by Stalin were actually difficult to achieve. Therefore, he had been suffering during this period. Today's meeting was actually to discuss this issue and see if enough forces could be mobilized to block Guderian's German troops heading south in advance.
The war was urgent, and Kirponos didn't have time to talk nonsense. He asked many commanders to return to their seats. He walked quickly to his seat and directly introduced the key topic without waiting for them to sit down.
According to Kirponos's idea, he hoped that the newly formed 40th Army commanded by Podlas, which was stationed in Sumy and Konotop, could advance in the direction of Sosnitsa and cooperate with the Bryansk Front to effectively block the German offensive from the south. At the same time, the Ninth Army was required to cooperate with part of the 26th Army to block the German assault troops heading north in Piryatin and Lokhvitsa. In addition, the 37th Army needed to launch a counterattack against the German troops in the direction of Obukhov to contain the offensive force of the German army on the southern line.
However, in response to Kirponos' request, Podlas, commander of the 40th Army, said that his army had just been formed and its troops were all new recruits who had never participated in any battles, so their combat effectiveness was very limited. In addition, his troops were seriously short of weapons and equipment. Facing the well-equipped and well-trained 47th Motorized Army of the German Army, he was worried that he might not be able to hold the Sosnitsa defense line.
"Kuzma? Comrade Petrovich, I want to remind you that your 40th Army has all the problems you mentioned." Comrade Khrushchev, who had been gloomy and silent before, finally spoke when Podlas mentioned all kinds of hardships. He stood up suddenly, grabbed the document at hand, waved his arms vigorously, and roared loudly, "But the fact is that just yesterday, facing the same German army, a brigade commander who was not trusted by our comrades Baghramyan and Potekhin, relied on a brigade of new recruits to deal a heavy blow to the enemy."
"So!" Khrushchev slammed the document on the table, stared with his eyes wide open, looked around the command room, and concluded viciously, "I think any excuse is weak. The key is that some of our commanders do not have sufficient command qualities. Some of them were even frightened by the German offensive. They passively avoided fighting and actively feared fighting. This is a cowardly behavior and an act of treason!"
Sitting opposite, Tupikov wiped his face speechlessly. He saw that Kirponos's face was blue, and behind Khrushchev, Podlas' lips were trembling with anger. Potekhin also had a speechless expression. Although he could not see Baghramyan's expression behind him, he estimated that he must not be much better.
Khrushchev's artillery attack was so fierce that the strike range almost involved all the commanders of the Southwestern Front.
"This is a piece of intelligence intercepted by the 21st Army yesterday. I can read it to you and let you know how a brigade commander who was not trusted by Comrade Baghramyan and Comrade Potekhin bravely commanded the battle." After a rant, Khrushchev was not ready to turn the page. He was ready to continue to slap people in the face. So, the document he waved in the air was brought out again. He wanted to read the document in front of everyone and make these self-righteous commanders feel ashamed. Of course, before reading, he did not forget to mention the names of Baghramyan and Potekhin again.
