The last time Malashenko saw Vatutin was when he went to the front army headquarters for a meeting before crossing the river.
At that time, Vatutin told Malashenko to be cautious in dealing with the enemy. He must not underestimate the enemy after completely destroying the Nazis because of the victory in the Patriotic War. Although the Japanese army was at an absolute disadvantage in all aspects, they should still deal with it carefully.
.
Malashenko naturally agreed and promised that he would definitely do it.
Now that the Japanese army is littered with corpses, the leader's army won the first battle and set a new record for the number of enemies annihilated in a single day. Malashenko can be considered as fulfilling his promise.
At nightfall, Vatutin arrived at the headquarters of the leading army and immediately saw Malashenko, who was leading his team out of the city to greet him. With a congratulatory smile, he parked the car and walked straight towards Malashenko.
"In one day, one division of troops defeated 50,000 people. This story has now spread throughout the Far East Military Region, and is flying to every corner of the motherland, and even the world."
Vatutin gave Malashenko a different opening speech as soon as he came up.
Looking at Vatutin with a bright smile on his face, Malashenko, who took the hand offered by Vatutin and held it firmly, also responded with a smile.
"The main thing is that Kurbalov himself commanded it well, Comrade Marshal. The military agencies under my leadership only played an overall coordination role in this battle and did not involve specific combat command."
It was also decided based on the various battle experiences that Malashenko faced, where he had to fight and must withstand the pressure head-on.
Therefore, what Vatutin said was to the point. He was not flattering Malashenko. Comrade Ma also smiled sheepishly and did not deny it.
Vatutin was referring to the famous battle that Kurbalov fought in Ukraine that year, the battle to encircle and annihilate the Grossdeutschland Division I.
Kurbalov also became famous with this battle and received the Hero of the Soviet Union award for the first time in his military career.
After all, not only Vatutin, but also Malashenko was quite surprised to find that Kulbalov's playing style was almost a copy of his own when he studied and compiled the battle reports afterwards.
This is the iconic command style of Malashenko, who was used to being a battlefield fire brigade and running around in the early and mid-term, and then served as the absolute main force in the mid-to-late period, and was accustomed to fighting all kinds of tough and vicious battles.
It sounded like a question, but Malashenko couldn't tell that it was Vatutin trying to show his support for his great dignity.
Kulbalov was able to flexibly apply Malashenko's replicating style of play to actual combat without Malashenko deliberately teaching him, and win immediately, which is enough to prove his unique strength.
"Well"
"It is almost certain that after the war against Japan is over, Lavrinenko and I will have new arrangements. At that time, the leadership of the army may be handed over to Kulbalov. At least I have this expectation. In terms of capabilities,
, I am willing to recommend him as the successor to the military commander."
It was also because Malashenko, who was obviously delighted to see Vatutin still remembering Kulbalov, spoke immediately.
The position of a commander is full of things to do every day, and there are a lot of busy things that need to be done by superiors and subordinates every day. The fact that Vatutin can still remember Kulbalov shows that he has left a deep enough impression.
After hearing this, Vatuking nodded slightly, as if he understood something, then he quickly continued to speak after a second thought.
In that battle, Kurbalov led the main force of a brigade, took advantage of tactical mobility and gave full play to his own subjective initiative, boldly predicted the enemy's next action plan, successfully intercepted the main force of the fleeing Grossdeutschland Division I, and
They persisted until the large forces arrived and finally gathered and annihilated the enemy forces.
"Although the leap from a divisional organization to a military organization in one step seems a bit big. But imagine, wasn't it the same for me back then? Since Kulbalov is a capable and proven good comrade, I think I might as well give him a try.
Opportunity."
Open and close, break through from the front, tear the enemy's defense line into pieces amidst the involvement of artillery fire and steel tracks, and completely extinguish the enemy's last glimmer of hope like extinguishing a candle.
"Yes, Comrade Marshal Kulbalov's Hero of the Soviet Union award was indeed drafted by me for him. Without his subjective performance in that battle, the Grossdeutschland Division might have slipped away from the leading division."
"You can make a detailed report later, listing all the situations and details clearly. I will append my approval and then submit the report. How about that?"
One thing is that after reading various real-time battle reports, Vatutin’s intuition was that this battle was in the style of Malashenko’s command.
Many Guards units that use the teaching materials developed and explored by the Leader's Army still don't even understand the integration of various arms at the brigade level. Division-level integration commanders like Kurbalov can prove their strength.
It's even rarer.
"Kurbalov, I have often heard you mention it before. I remember that you personally drafted the application for his Hero of the Soviet Union award. Is that so?"
Especially since Kurbalov was only a brigade commander in the leadership division at that time, it is rare that Vatutin, who has hundreds of thousands of people in charge of him, still remembers him.
He made decisive contributions to the leading division at that time in annihilating this elite elite field division, which was the number one in the National Defense Force.
The most scarce thing in the Red Army right now is senior commanders who are proficient in synthesis.
"Because of the special nature of the leader's army, your recommendations for the successor to the army commander will play a great role."
Marshal's approval. P.S. It's not something you can just want.
But now, Malashenko said that he did not direct this battle, which surprised and interested Vatutin at the same time.
Such news was something that Vatutin had never heard before coming.
Apart from Vatutin, Malashenko has so far only received a postscript from Zhukov to approve writing in the report. That was when the upgrade plan for the synthetic reorganization of various arms was implemented and the report was submitted to the high command.
At that time, the final approval directly contributed to the birth of the leader.
"oh?"
"In fact, I plan to continue to further train him, Comrade Marshal."
It must be said that Vatutin has a very good memory.
But even so, self-taught is still a skill.
After hearing what Malashenko said, Vatutin, who had indeed considered the candidate for the next commander of the leadership army, also responded in agreement.
"It seems that Comrade Kurbalov has learned a lot of skills from you, and even the command style is almost exactly the same as yours. This fully proves that as the commander of the army, you have made great achievements in cultivating synthetic commanders for the Red Army.
made outstanding contributions.”
Now there is Malashenko's personal recommendation, plus Vatutin's postscript nomination.
As long as there are no major changes, it is basically a certainty that Kulbalov will take over from Malashenko in the near future.
Comrade Comrade Loving Father, who suffered the consequences of interfering too much in military command a long time ago, is still very liberal in the selection and appointment of military officers for front-line troops.
Thinking of this, Malashenko, who was grateful to Vatujing, then spoke, and incidentally also gave him a surprise that he had already prepared.