"General Zakharov, what place did you just talk about?" Zhukov asked bluntly: "Morenchi Village?"
"Yes, Comrade Marshal. It is the village of Morenchi!" Zakharov replied: "It is the hometown of the famous Ukrainian folk poet Taras Shevchenko."
After hearing this, Zhukov frowned and said to Konev: "Comrade Konev, let's go to Morenchi Village to take a look at the situation."
Before Konev expressed his opinion on Zhukov's proposal, Zakharov persuaded him: "Comrade Marshal, there was just an unknown bombing there. I think it's better not to go."
Konev saw Zhukov's livid face and knew that the other party was angry, so he quickly came out to smooth things over: "Okay, Comrade Marshal, I will accompany you there. Comrade Chief of Staff," what he said next was to Zakharov, "
Prepare two armored vehicles immediately, and we will all go there in the armored vehicles."
"There is no need for armored vehicles." Who knows that Zhukov put forward a different opinion: "Now that the surrounding area is our defense zone, there is no need for armored vehicles. If the rockets used by the enemy for bombing are powerful, let alone armored vehicles, we can even use tanks.
There is still a chance of being destroyed."
"Okay then, let's take a jeep there so that we can reach our destination quickly." Konev told Zakharov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, arrange a vehicle for travel immediately."
Although Zhukov advocated light vehicles and simple obedience, the people who went to Morienqi Village this time were two marshals and an armored marshal. If any accident happened to any of them, it would have catastrophic consequences. Therefore, except for the three-man
In addition to the three jeeps, Zakharov also arranged for the most capable security company to accompany him. Even if he encounters a small group of enemies on the road, he can destroy them.
When the convoy of Zhukov and others arrived at the village of Morianqi, forty minutes had passed since the explosion.
A major stood at the entrance of the village. When he saw the convoy approaching, he quickly waved his hand to signal the convoy to stop.
Konev was sitting on the first jeep. After he ordered the driver to stop, he opened the door, leaned out half-way, and asked the major: "Are you the garrison battalion commander of Morenchi Village?"
"Yes, Comrade Marshal." Even though it has been less than 24 hours since Konev received the Marshal's epaulette, the commanders and fighters of the entire Ukrainian Second Front knew the good news, so everyone called him quietly.
Variety.
Konev got out of the car, stood in front of the major, and said expressionlessly: "Comrade major, tell me about the situation. What happened?"
"Comrade Marshal, the situation is like this." The major introduced the situation to Konev and said: "Less than an hour ago, a huge explosion suddenly occurred in the west of the village, blowing up all the wooden houses near the explosion point, and destroying all the wooden houses in other locations.
The glass of the wooden house was all shattered by the shock wave of the explosion..."
"Comrade Major," Zhukov, who had just walked over, interrupted the other party and said straight to the point: "Tell me the specific number of casualties in the village."
The major first saluted Zhukov and then said: "Comrade Marshal, it is difficult to estimate the specific number of casualties, because all the people near the explosion point were blown to pieces."
"Then where did the number of casualties you reported come from?" Konev asked.
"Comrade Marshal," the Major replied with some embarrassment: "We base the statistics on the broken limbs and corpses near the explosion point. Let's put it this way, basically all the people in the west of the village died in the explosion, and the people in the center of the village died.
Either dead or injured. Even the people staying in the east of the village, almost everyone is injured."
"Take us in and have a look." Zhukov said with a straight face.
The major did not dare to neglect, and quickly acted as a guide, leading Zhukov, Konev and others to the west of the village to check the explosion site.
As Zhukov walked, he looked around. Sure enough, all the windows in the village were shattered, and there were glass shards all over the floor. Along the way, he could see injured people, some lying on stretchers on the roadside screaming in agony, and some
Receiving a simple bandage from a hygienist.
Finally, we arrived at the west of the village. All the buildings here were destroyed, leaving only a huge dark crater. There were wisps of green smoke rising from the bottom of the crater. Standing by the crater, you could feel the scorching heat coming from inside.
Konev stood at the edge of the crater, lowered his head to check the depth and diameter of the crater, then raised his head and said to Zhukov: "Comrade Marshal, it seems Sokov is right. This new type of rocket used by the German army not only has a long range
And it’s very powerful.”
Even now, Zhukov was still unwilling to admit that the Germans had a weapon with a range of hundreds of kilometers. He shook his head and said: "Maybe Misha made a mistake. This crater was dropped by a German plane."
Formed by bombs.”
"Comrade Major," Konev waited for Zhukov to finish, then turned to ask the major standing behind him: "Where were you when the explosion occurred?"
"I am in the woods to the east of the village." The major explained to Konev: "I am training the newly recruited soldiers and teaching them how to use weapons. While training, there was a huge explosion in the village of Morenqi, and I
I quickly rushed over with my soldiers, but I only saw corpses and wailing wounded all over the ground."
"Before the explosion, did you see any German planes in the sky?"
"No, absolutely not." The major continued: "Our training location is no more than one kilometer away from the explosion point. If we are really bombed by an enemy plane, we can always see the plane in the sky. However, before the explosion, we
Didn't see anything."
"Comrade Marshal, we are basically certain." Konev said: "What Sokov said is true. The German army has weapons that can attack our army from a distance and can attack our key targets hundreds of kilometers away.
Carry out a strike."
After hearing what Konev said, Zhukov was silent for a moment and asked: "Comrade Konev, I remember that your headquarters was located in the village of Morenchi not long ago, right? I don't know where it is located?"
"It can still be there." Konev pointed to the dilapidated brick-concrete building two to three hundred meters away: "Well, my headquarters was located there at the time."
Zhukov looked at the crater in front of him, then at the buildings that were obviously knocked down by the explosion shock wave, and said thankfully: "Comrade Konev, fortunately your headquarters has been transferred, otherwise as soon as the enemy's rockets fell,
The personnel in your headquarters will suffer huge casualties."
Konev said to himself that the casualties among the members of the headquarters were trivial. When his headquarters was stationed in the village, there was a full battalion of guard troops. If the German rockets fell before the headquarters was transferred, the number of casualties would probably be huge.
The level increases.
"Major, are there any solid buildings nearby?" Konev planned to contact Sokov immediately to get more useful information from him, so he asked the major: "I want to prepare to communicate with the troops below."
The major looked left and right, and finally pointed to the half-collapsed village Soviet office and said: "Comrade Marshal, the only building in the village with a brick-concrete structure is the strongest building now."
Konev and others followed the major to the office of the Village Soviet. The building here had been damaged beyond recognition by the explosion shock wave. The roof was missing, and the wall near the explosion point also fell down. The entire office floor was
There were bricks and rubble everywhere, and there was no place to stay.
Fortunately, Konev brought a lot of people with him. With an order, a clean area was cleared in the room in less than ten minutes. At this time, the accompanying communications soldiers also set up telephone lines to communicate directly with the outside world.
call.
Sokov was surprised when he received a call from Konev. He asked with some surprise: "Comrade Marshal, do you have any latest instructions?"
"Comrade Sokov," Konev hesitated for a long time and finally said with difficulty: "You are right. The Germans really have rockets with a range of more than a hundred kilometers."
Hearing what Konev said, Sokov asked with a confused look: "Comrade Marshal, how do you know?"
"An hour ago, the village of Morenchi was attacked by a rocket like this from the German army, and the number of casualties exceeded 300 people." Konev said into the microphone: "At first we thought the village had been hit by an air raid. After understanding,
Before the explosion, our commanders and fighters did not notice any enemy aircraft in the sky, which shows that we were hit by a long-range attack."
"Comrade Marshal, I have a question." Sokov thought that since the Germans used V1 missiles to attack the Soviet army, they should be used to attack important targets, such as the decapitation operations that everyone is familiar with in later generations.
Why did the enemy's missile hit an inconspicuous village? "Why did the enemy's rocket attack an inconspicuous small village?"
"Comrade Sokov, the village of Morenchi is not an inconspicuous small village." Konev saw that Sokov knew nothing about the village of Morenchi, so he explained to him: "In addition to the famous Ukrainian folk poet, Konev explained to him:
Taras Shevchenko’s hometown, and not long ago, my headquarters was located here.”
"Ah~!" Sokov was startled by Konev's words. Although he had been to Konev's headquarters many times during the Battle of Cherkasy, the village where the headquarters was located at that time was called
He really didn't know what the name was. Thinking about the first time the Germans used V1 missiles, the target of the attack was Konev's former headquarters. It was horrifying to think about it carefully. It proved that the location of the front army headquarters had already been discovered by German scouts.
He said with lingering fear: "Comrade Marshal, fortunately your headquarters is not in the village at this moment, otherwise I am afraid there will be huge casualties."
"That's right." Konev saw the huge crater with his own eyes, and the shock it brought was something he would never forget: "The enemy's rocket was obviously aimed at my headquarters. Fortunately, they didn't know that I
The headquarters has been moved a few days ago, otherwise it may really cause us greater losses."
"Misha," Zhukov came over and took the microphone from Konev's hand and asked Sokov on the other end of the phone: "The German rockets not only have a long range, but are also amazingly powerful. If they
Having a large number of such weapons will definitely pose a huge threat to our army."
This was the first time Sokov heard that the German army actually used V1 missiles on the Soviet-German battlefield. Naturally, he didn't know the number of missiles the other side had. Therefore, he didn't know how to respond to Zhukov's words.
After Zhukov expressed his feelings, he asked: "Misha, do you have any way to deal with this new type of rocket launched by the Germans?"
"Comrade Marshal, according to my analysis, the reason why this rocket can fly such a long distance is probably because it uses fuel propulsion to increase its range." Sokov explained to Zhukov in a cautious tone.
: "This means that the Germans must add fuel to this rocket before launching it. Adding fuel is a long process. If we use this time to attack the enemy's launch position, then we can
These rockets are destroyed on the ground."
"It makes sense, it makes sense." After listening to what Sokov said, Zhukov agreed, and then said: "Misha, you mean to send troops to attack the enemy's launch positions."
"Yes, Comrade Marshal, that's what I mean." Sokov further explained to Zhukov: "According to the scout's report, the German army used a catapult similar to a conveyor belt when launching this rocket.
The inconvenience of moving this kind of thing means that we can send the air force to search in the air, and once we find a device similar to a conveyor belt on the ground, we can immediately attack it and destroy the enemy's rockets."
Konev heard clearly the conversation between Zhukov and Sokov. He took the microphone and began to express his opinion: "It is indeed a good way to attack ground targets and destroy enemy rockets before they are launched. But.
According to my analysis, the firing points of such powerful rockets will definitely not be as dense as the artillery on the artillery positions, but should be dispersed and concealed. Even if the Germans only arrange one firing position per square kilometer, it will not be possible.
It can cause us huge losses."
Since so far, except for a few scouts, no one has seen the German V1 missile with their own eyes, Sokov could not propose to Zhukov and Konev the suggestion of using an airplane to shoot down the V1 missile. He thought for a long time,
Finally, he said: "Comrade Marshal, we don't know how this kind of rocket flies in the air. To intercept it, it is obviously not visible. We have to minimize the loss. The best way at present is to use
The air force carried out ground attacks, and the second was to send small teams deep behind enemy lines to launch ground attacks on German launch positions."
"This is a good idea." When Sokov said that he was going to send a small team deep behind enemy lines to attack the enemy's launch positions, Konev couldn't help but nodded repeatedly and said: "We don't know how many launch positions the Germans have.
Therefore, it is completely necessary to send out more small teams."
"Misha, don't hesitate, take action immediately." Zhukov leaned closer to the microphone and said: "At the latest before dark, you must send a small team deep behind enemy lines to search for the launching positions hidden by the Germans and clean them thoroughly.
The earth will be destroyed."
"Comrade Marshal," Sokov heard what Zhukov said and realized that he had the opportunity to make conditions, so he quickly said: "I have a request."
"Say it."
"Can you give us a batch of new rockets?" Sokov was afraid that Zhukov would not agree, and specifically emphasized: "If the small team deep behind enemy lines has new rockets, they can attack the enemy's launch positions from a long distance.
, thereby reducing unnecessary casualties.”
After Zhukov walked around the room several times with his hands behind his back, he stopped and said decisively to Konev: "Comrade Konev, give Misha what he wants."