Chapter 59 Inspection
Khrushchev was a special figure in the front. First of all, he was the first secretary of Ukraine before the war. During the Great Purge, he cleaned up all the government agencies of Ukraine, including the Politburo and the Secretariat. Until now, all officials in the Ukrainian system would shudder when they heard his name.
Secondly, he was the only political commissar in the Southwestern Front who was appointed by Comrade Stalin himself. He was highly qualified and could speak directly to Comrade Stalin, while others, even Kirponos, had to report and ask for instructions before they could contact Stalin directly.
Furthermore, Khrushchev came from the political system and was very famous in it. For example, Yevgeny Pavlovich Lykov, a member of the Military Committee, was speechless after being glared at by him. Even Kirponos, the commander of the front, had to retreat in the face of the furious Khrushchev.
In fact, many people, including Tupikov, knew why Khrushchev was so furious. He was not simply trying to speak up for Yuri. More importantly, he was taking advantage of the issue to increase his voice in the front.
Since the outbreak of the war, Khrushchev, who had been engaged in political work in the past, was in an awkward position in the Southwestern Front. Although he was a political commissar appointed by Stalin himself, he had no military accomplishments, so his voice was not very loud in the command system of the front. For example, if he wanted to recommend someone for a certain position, the commanders of the front could easily find an excuse to veto his proposal, just like Yuri was transferred from the 239th Brigade to the 34th Brigade.
This time, Khrushchev finally got the chance, and of course he wanted to let off some steam and leave a deep impression on the front's senior commanders.
Yuri, who was far away in Berezno, had no idea what was happening at the front headquarters. To be honest, as a brigade commander, his vision was limited to the current level. He could not know or understand things at a higher level. To give the simplest example, he could not figure out why the fierce German offensive lasted only one day, and on the second day, the fighting in the entire northern urban area of Berezno suddenly eased.
From the morning of the 8th until five in the afternoon, the German army launched only four large-scale offensives in the city. According to the intensity of the attack, Yuri even had reason to believe that this was a tentative feint attack by the German army.
At five o'clock in the afternoon, the 34th Brigade Command welcomed the front inspection team headed by Comrade Khrushchev. Only then did Yuri know which German unit he was facing. At the same time, he also learned that after paying a heavy price, the German army had decided to bypass Berezna and launched an offensive in the direction of Sosnitsa .
That's right, this is in line with the nature of the German blitzkrieg. In order to quickly advance to the rear of the Soviet army, they would not actively attack the Soviet army's tightly defended solid defense line, but would choose to attack the weak areas of the Soviet defense line. After breaking through, they would detour to the rear of the Soviet front line to encircle the Soviet army.
The Soviet army responsible for defending the Berezna area is a unit of the Bryansk Front. In addition, under the coordination of the Southwestern Theater Command, the Bryansk Front will also attack the German offensive forces from the flank to create obstacles for the German troops moving south.
After the inspection team inspected the 34th Brigade's defense line in the area north of the Desna River, Khrushchev praised Yuri and the 34th Brigade he commanded. In front of Yuri and many commanders and soldiers of the 34th Brigade, he made a promise, claiming that he would apply to the Supreme Command to award Berezna the title of "Heroic City of Honor" to commend the 34th Brigade for its outstanding performance in this battle.
In addition, Khrushchev also revealed to Yuri that the Supreme Command and the People's Commissariat of Defense were drafting a new order, Order No. 308. According to the order, the People's Commissariat of Defense would award the title of "Guards" to some troops that had performed outstandingly in previous battles. He planned to submit the deeds of the 34th Brigade, but the premise was that the 34th Brigade must have a more outstanding performance in the next battle - for example, launching a counterattack against the German troops on the front of Berezna in order to further expand the results of the battle, and it would be best to effectively annihilate a part of the German army.
In order to achieve this goal, Khrushchev also secured some reserve troops and weapons and equipment for Yuri. At present, the Southwestern Front has no more reserves, so if Yuri's 34th Brigade wants to replenish the lost troops, it can only get them from the soldier transfer station.
The so-called soldier transit station is actually a place in the Soviet army that specially accommodates defeated soldiers. Now, the largest soldier transit station of the Southwestern Front is located in Bobrovica, 120 kilometers northeast of Kiev, where tens of thousands of soldiers from several previously defeated army groups are accommodated. However, these soldiers have just experienced a major defeat on the battlefield, and their hearts are floating and their emotions are unstable. In addition, they are worried about being punished by the military court. Therefore, their fighting spirit and morale are very low, and they are definitely not high-quality soldiers.
Khrushchev meant that the reinforcements for the 34th Brigade could only be selected from these defeated soldiers. Apart from that, not only him but even the front command had no other choice.
As for weapons and equipment, Khrushchev secured a lot for the 34th Brigade, including 40 military transport vehicles, 19 artillery pieces of various calibers, 32 anti-tank guns, 11 tanks and a large number of PPD submachine guns.
To be honest, Yuri was very dissatisfied with Khrushchev's counterattack plan. He knew very well that fighting a counterattack and fighting a defensive war were two different things. The reason why his soldiers could fight a defensive war well was that they fought in small teams and relied on buildings as positions. In these buildings, these Soviet soldiers divided into small teams were actually trapped beasts. They were not defending their positions, but fighting for their own living space. Therefore, facing the German army's step-by-step offensive, their burst of combat effectiveness was amazing.
On the contrary, if these soldiers who had just experienced a war were pushed to the front line and asked to attack the German defense line, it would be difficult to predict what kind of results they would eventually achieve.
However, Yuri also knew that it would be difficult for him to refuse Khrushchev's proposal, mainly because he knew very well what kind of person this political commissar was and what kind of status this guy would get in the Soviet Union in the future. Now, this political commissar needed his 34th Brigade to launch a counterattack against the German army. If he obeyed this order, then the counterattack against the German army might fail, or he might achieve some results locally. Even if his counterattack failed, at best Khrushchev would feel disappointed. If he was lucky enough to achieve some results, then in return, Khrushchev would definitely not treat him badly. On the contrary, if he insisted on his own opinion and rejected Khrushchev's order based on complete rationality, then Comrade Khrushchev would not only be disappointed, but he would probably miss him.
It is not a good thing to be remembered by Comrade Khrushchev all day long .
Well, Yuri admitted that he was still a little bit away from being a standard soldier. On some technical issues, he could not stick to his own opinions and still considered his personal gains and losses more. But so what? In today's Soviet Union, are there really real soldiers who don't care about personal gains and losses and can firmly stick to their own opinions? It seems that there are none yet?
It took Yuri almost no effort to convince himself. During Khrushchev's inspection, he made it clear that after recruiting new troops, he would launch a counterattack against the German troops north of Berezna around the 11th.
Comrade Khrushchev was very satisfied with Yuri's clear statement. He asked Yuri to use the next two days to make a detailed counterattack plan. If it was feasible, he would even consider asking the 21st Army to cooperate.
When preparing to leave Berezna and return to Kiev, Khrushchev asked another question, meaning whether Yuri was interested in transferring to the Internal Troops directly under the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs. If he was willing to go, he could arrange a good position for Yuri in the Internal Troops system after the battle was over.
Yuri rejected Khrushchev's suggestion without hesitation. He was not crazy yet and would never join the Internal Security Forces at this time. After all, if he joined the system, he would inevitably have to deal with the notorious Comrade Lavrenti Pavlovich Beria. Considering this guy's miserable future, Yuri thought it would be better for him to stay away from him.
The most important thing is that although the internal security system is relatively safe in war, this safety will inevitably limit his personal development. In war, the fastest promotion is of course on the front line. What future is there in hiding in the rear?
Perhaps Yuri himself did not realize at this moment that with a series of promotions and command of several battles, his mentality had changed unconsciously. Now, facing the war, he was no longer as afraid as before.
After seeing off the inspection team headed by Khrushchev, Yuri vaguely sensed that there had been subtle changes in the atmosphere at the 34th Brigade's headquarters. The performances of some commanders were not very obvious, but Demel, the political commissar, suddenly became a staunch supporter of him as the brigade commander. The way he addressed him also changed from "Comrade Yuri Arkhipovich" to "Comrade Major " - in Russia, calling someone by their full name followed by a position is a sign of great respect.
