When Sokov received the telegram from Malinin, he was completely stunned. He called Vitkov in front of him and asked with doubts: "Comrade Chief of Staff, have we reported any combat plan to the front army headquarters?"
"No, Comrade Commander." Vitkov shook his head and replied in a positive tone: "We did not report any combat plan."
Sokov handed the telegram to Vitkov, "What's this telegram about?"
After reading the telegram, Vitkov was also confused: "I'm sorry, Comrade Commander, I don't know what General Malinin's telegram is about? How about I send him a telegram back to find out the situation?
"
Sokov, who was eager to know the answer, nodded and said in agreement: "Well, hurry up and send a telegram to ask."
Ten minutes later, Malinin's reply came. The message contained a detailed attack plan in the direction of Izyum. After reading it, Sokov looked up at Vitkov and asked: "Comrade Chief of Staff, do you think this operation will work?"
Plan, does it feel familiar?"
"Of course we are familiar with it." Vitkov shrugged and said helplessly: "Isn't this the battle plan we casually discussed during our chat in the morning? But what's also strange is that Commander Rokossovsky
How did you know about this plan?"
"Yeah, it's quite strange." Sokov originally thought that Lunev might have revealed this news to Rokossovsky, but then he thought about it and realized that the two of them didn't seem to be familiar with each other, so he rejected the idea and continued to wonder.
He said: "Who revealed this plan to the commander of the front army?"
Therefore, Vitkov sent another telegram to Malinin, explaining to the other party that the attack plan the other party knew was just the deduction he and Sokov had made on the map in the morning, and was not really preparing to attack Izyum.
It does not meet the various subjective and objective conditions of Ijumu.
After receiving the second telegram from Vitkov, Malinin immediately reported to Rokossovsky: "Comrade Commander, it is clear that the combat plan only included Major General Sokov and Chief of Staff Vitkov.
The deduction on the map may have been overheard by General Runev and he mistakenly thought that they were formulating a battle plan, so he reported it to the Supreme Command through his own channels."
"Comrade Chief of Staff," Rokossovsky just explained to Stalin on the phone for a long time, but the other party always believed that this was a good plan and it was completely necessary to implement it. After understanding what was going on, Rokossov
Sky smiled bitterly and shook his head and said: "It seems you are right. Misha and Vitkov were misunderstood by Lunev during the deduction and reported it to the Supreme Command. Now the Supreme Commander himself has no idea about this plan.
I am very interested and ready to launch a new attack to seize Ijumu from the enemy's hands."
"Comrade Commander, now is not a good time to attack." Malinin took the initiative and said without waiting for Rokossovsky to ask again: "Think about it, after a long battle, each unit, whether it is soldiers or supplies,
They are all in a state of extreme shortage, and our logistics supply base is thousands of kilometers away from them. It will take at least a month or even longer to complete the supply work. Otherwise, the supplies the troops have will not be able to meet the needs of a large-scale
The need to fight.
Secondly, and the most critical point. We are now in the spring thaw season, and all roads have become muddy. Even marching is a problem, let alone fighting. If we really launch a forcible attack, our tanks and armored vehicles will be
During the attack, we will be stuck in the quagmire and unable to move, and the enemy's artillery can destroy our technical equipment like target shooting."
Rokossovsky agreed very much with Malinin's statement. He nodded and said: "Yes, what we can do now is to order all troops to move to defense on the spot and build fortifications, and
The enemy engages in confrontation."
"Comrade Commander, if all the troops in contact with the enemy belong to our front army, then things will be easy to handle." Malinin sighed and said: "Unfortunately, in addition to us, there are also the Southwest Front Army and the Voronezh Front Army, and our own
Troops can be commanded, but friendly troops cannot be commanded."
"I heard that Marshal Zhukov has returned to Moscow." Rokossovsky stared at the map and said: "Now the troops of the Southwest Front are commanded by General Malinovsky. Without the cooperation of the representatives from the base camp, we would not be able to
To conduct joint operations.”
"Since we cannot fight together, we can only focus on managing our own defense zones first." Malinen said: "Fortunately, our three armies now occupy the Red Army Village-Donetsk line, forming a huge
Defensive area. If the enemy does not attack, once he attacks, he will definitely suffer heavy losses."
"Well, send a telegram to the commanders of the three armies and order them to build fortifications on the spot and prepare to hold on for a long time. If you want to launch an attack on the enemy, you must report to the front army headquarters in advance and only after obtaining approval can the plan be implemented.
"
"Comrade Commander," after hearing Rokossovsky's order, Malinin reminded him: "Since you ordered the troops to establish defenses, how are you going to reply to the Supreme Command?"
"To be honest," Rokossovsky said calmly: "The Germans have assembled heavy troops in the Izyum area. If they launch an attack rashly, I'm worried that our only reserves will be exhausted. Once the enemy is eliminated,
Without the threat from their rear, we can turn around and head north to attack Kharkov-Belgorod again. I don’t think General Golikov can hold these places with his current strength.”
"You are right. As long as we build fortifications here, we will pose a threat to the German army's rear, and they will not be able to concentrate their superior forces to attack Kharkov-Donetsk." Malinin replied quickly.
Said: "I will send a telegram to the three group army commanders and order them to seize the time to build fortifications."
After receiving Malinin's telegram again, Sokov thankfully said to Vitkov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, it seems that Comrade Commander of the Front Army understands our situation very well and did not force us to attack Izyum.
Order us and the other two armies to move to defense on the spot and confront the Germans."
"Thank God for not having to attack anymore." Vitkov said with emotion: "I'm really worried that the commander of the front army will make a mistake and order us to attack the enemy according to the plan. Then our situation will become quite uncomfortable.