Red Moscow

Chapter 2518

“But no matter what, General Vatutin is the liberator of Kiev.” Adelina said unconvinced: “His name will be recorded in history together with the liberator of Kiev.”

"Agelina," Sokov wanted to find out why all the women he knew were interested in Vatutin before further discussing Vatutin. Could it be that he was particularly handsome? "I want to know one thing, why are you so interested in General Vatutin?"

"In any case, he once commanded a front army and dealt a heavy blow to the Germans." Agelina said calmly: "I think you have dealt with him before, and you should have some respect for him. understood.”

"I just said that with General Vatutin's ability, being a military commander is already his limit. If he is allowed to serve as a higher-level commander, it will not be a good thing for the army." To increase the authenticity of what he said, Sokov also specifically mentioned the Third Battle of Kharkov: "In early 1943, just after the Battle of Stalingrad, our army dispatched the Southwest Front Army and the Voronezh Front Army. We launched an attack on Manstein's troops. At that time, our army far surpassed the Germans in terms of strength and equipment. As long as the commander made a battle plan and did not make fatal mistakes, then we could win this battle. The army will definitely achieve final victory.

  But what is the final result? Even if I don't say it, you should understand it in your heart. Our army failed, and failed miserably. Fortunately, Kursk was saved, and there was still a battle in Kursk a few months later. "

"Misha, I heard that there were many reasons for the failure of the Third Battle of Kharkov." Agelina said: "It is said that our army's logistics supply line was too long, and the tanks and artillery on the front line lacked fuel and ammunition. Therefore, it cannot play its due role.”

“Have you ever thought about why our army’s supply line is so long?”

"No." Agelina shook her head and replied truthfully: "I guess the enemy retreated too quickly. In order not to break away from them, our army had to speed up the advance, which caused the supply line to be stretched too far. long."

Seeing that Agelina was not ignorant about military affairs, Sokov nodded slightly and continued to express his opinion: "Manstein saw that his strength is far weaker than our army. If he adopts head-on tactics, he will be He was the one who suffered in the end, so he deliberately ordered the troops to retreat towards the Dnieper River after a brief resistance. However, Vatutin did not understand that this was Manstein's conspiracy, and when he saw the German troops retreating, he Decisively ordered the troops to catch up.

 The consequence of this is that our army must constantly divide its troops to guard the occupied towns, thereby weakening the troops responsible for the main offensive task. The situation with the Germans was just the opposite. As they gave up more and more territory, the retreating troops gathered together and became extremely powerful. Manstein waited until our army was dispersed and supplies were insufficient, and then he decisively launched a counterattack, which resulted in the defeat of our army. "

Agelina didn’t speak, just hummed softly.

Sokov got excited and continued: "Although Vatutin was relieved of his post as commander of the Southwest Front after the failure of the Third Battle of Kharkov, less than two months later, he was dismissed again. He was reactivated and served as the commander of the Voronezh Front. At that time, Rokossovsky was responsible for the defense of the north of Kursk, while Vatutin was responsible for the defense of the south. After the battle of Kursk started, we faced the crazy German attack. The tactics that the army should adopt is to use the fortifications that took several months to build for defense to consume the effective strength of the German army, and then launch a counterattack against the German army when the time is right.

But General Vatutin thought that after several months of rest and recuperation, his troops had recovered from the defeat in the Third Battle of Kharkov and were fully capable of fighting the enemy head-on, so he gave up. Strong fortifications and take the initiative to attack the enemy. But what he didn't expect was that Manstein only dispatched a few SS divisions, but was defeated by one of his fronts.

Fortunately, there was also the Steppe Front Army commanded by Marshal Konev on the battlefield at that time. Seeing that the situation in Vatutin was tense, the Supreme High Command hurriedly transferred three armies from the Steppe Front Army for reinforcements, which was able to hold off the German attack. The unit I command is also one of the three armies. We repelled the crazy attacks of several German SS divisions and helped the Voronov Front to hold their positions. "

Sokov stopped here, looked at Agelina and asked: "Agelina, do you need me to continue?"

 Agelina poured a cup of hot tea and placed it in front of Sokov: "Tell me, Misha, I want to know what a real Vatutin is like."

Since Adelina was interested, Sokov took a sip of tea from the cup, moistened his throat and continued: "You just said that Vatutin is the liberator of Kiev. I don't deny this. After all, he commanded The troops liberated Kiev. But what I want to say is that as the German counterattack began, his incompetence was undoubtedly exposed. Due to the crazy counterattack of the German troops advancing to the west, they finally had to reoccupy it. The region withdrew to Kiev.

 You may not know how bad the situation in Kiev was at that time. After the Supreme Commander himself found out about this, he called Vatutin and scolded him. Then he called the commander of the Belarusian Front, Marshal Rokossovsky, and asked him to hand over the command of the troops to the deputy commander, and then rushed Go to Kiev to take command of Vatutin. "

Agelina’s eyebrows raised, and she asked in surprise: “How come I don’t know about this?”

"This is not a glorious thing, and naturally it will not be publicized to everyone." Sokov sneered and said: "It's really funny. Not long after the Ukrainian First Front liberated Kiev, they were faced with the city being retaken by the enemy. It was under such circumstances that Marshal Rokossovsky took office and took over the command of the troops instead of Vatutin." At this point, he was worried that Agelina did not understand what he wanted to express, so he quickly added. In one sentence, "Vatutin was not removed from his post, but was temporarily stepped aside, and the command of the troops was handed over to Rokossovsky.

Fortunately, Marshal Rokossovsky lived up to expectations and successfully crushed the German army's attempt to retake Kiev. He firmly defended his defense line and established a foothold on the right bank of the Dnieper River, creating a basis for the development of the subsequent war. favorable conditions. "

“So, if Vatutin had not sacrificed his life, maybe the First Ukrainian Front he commanded would have suffered more defeats in the following battles?”

Sokov looked at Adelina and nodded, and said in a positive tone: "Yes, Adelina, you are right. If Vatutin has been commanding the 1st Ukrainian Front, I think they I’m afraid we won’t be able to achieve that many results in the next battle.”

 The two chatted for a long time, and the topic all revolved around Vatutin.

Sokov accidentally raised his hand to look at the time. Seeing that it was almost twelve o'clock, he quickly stood up and said, "Agelina, it's getting late. If you have anything to say, we'll talk about it tomorrow."

 But Agelina grabbed his sleeve and said with a blushing face: "Misha, don't leave in a hurry. I still have one thing I don't understand and I want to discuss it with you."

"whats the matter?"

"I want to play the role of Major Lucas's wife, and you play Sagar." Agelina continued: "Look how she can see through Sagar's 'fake Lucas' identity in one minute. "

"oh."

"oh?"

Sokov said oh twice in a row. The first one was obviously perfunctory, but the second one was full of curiosity.

Want to recreate for yourself the scene where Sagal’s identity was discovered by Lucas’ wife? ! Sokov suddenly became uneasy.

 …

 Early the next morning, Sokov, who spent the whole night proving to Agelina that this situation had nothing to do with him, felt that when he walked, the soles of his feet were as soft as stepping on cotton. He turned his head and glanced at Agelina, who had not yet woken up. He gently opened the door and walked out slowly while holding on to the wall.

Sokov came to the door of his room, raised his hand and knocked on the door twice. Yakov's voice soon came from inside: "Who? Who is outside?" "It's me, Yasha, open the door for me."

After Yakov opened the door, he saw Sokov standing outside the door with a surprised expression on his face: "Misha, why do you look so bad? Are you sick?"

"No, no." Sokov waved his hand and said: "Adelina and I have been chatting all night. I am a little sleepy now and want to come back and lie down. Later, when the engineering troops go to Borodino Highlands to clear mines, It’s up to you to supervise them.”

Yakov helped Sokov to sit down beside the bed, and said with a half-smile: "Misha, I'm going to the cafeteria now. Do you want to eat? If you want to eat, I'll bring it back to you."

 “No need, Yasha.” Sokov waved his hand and said weakly: “I just want to sleep now and don’t want to eat.”

Seeing that Sokov said he would not eat, Yakov did not force himself, so he walked out of the room alone and closed the door behind him.

Sokov, who had worked hard all night, lay on the bed and fell asleep. He slept for an unknown amount of time until someone knocked on the door and woke him up.

He didn't want to get up and open the door, so he turned over and put the quilt over his head. He felt that the people outside the door knocked on the door for a while, and as long as they saw no movement in the house, they would naturally leave.

But what he didn't expect was that the person knocking on the door was particularly patient. Although Sokov didn't make any response, he still kept knocking on the door outside.

Since he couldn't sleep anymore, Sokov turned over and sat up, rubbing his face with both hands. When he felt that he was not so sleepy, he got up and opened the door.

Opening the door and seeing the person outside the door clearly, he couldn't help being stunned: "Agelina, why is it you?"

"Why can't it be me." Agelina squeezed into the room from Sokov and said to him: "You have been sleeping all day. If you don't get up to eat something, your stomach will be hungry."

Sokov raised his hand and looked at the time. It was already four o'clock in the afternoon, and asked casually: "Where is Yasha?"

“Where else could he be, of course, on the Borodino Highlands? Didn’t you ask him to supervise the demining of the engineering troops? He has been staying there all day today.”

“I wonder how many landmines were dug out?”

"There must be more than sixty." Agelina said with a wry smile: "Because the mine detector could not detect the wooden mines, several more engineer soldiers were injured. But fortunately, the power of the wooden mines It’s not big. The injured soldier’s life is not in danger.”

"I'll pack up and go to the high ground to have a look." Sokov said to Agelina: "Please wait for me."

 But at this moment, Agelina suddenly closed the door.

Seeing this, Sokov couldn't help trembling, and asked nervously: "Agelina, why did you close the door?"

“Misha, don’t be nervous, I won’t eat you.” Agelina smiled and said, “I have something important to talk to you about.”

Sokov was helpless at the moment and asked with a guilty conscience: "What important thing?"

"Don't you think the timing of my appearance here is too coincidental?" Adelina ignored Sokov and said to herself: "Not long after you and Yasha arrived in Borodino, I'm here too."

“This is probably a coincidence.” Sokov said disapprovingly: “In other words, this is a kind of fate, and we are destined to meet here.”

"Misha, you are wrong." Unexpectedly, Agelina shook her head and said, "The reason why I appear here is because of the arrangement of my superiors."

When Sokov heard this, she couldn't help but feel a little bit in her heart. The other party appearing in front of her was actually arranged by her superiors. If this was really the case, then the conversation last night would have caused a lot of unnecessary trouble for myself.

Agelina saw Sokov's nervousness, and immediately smiled and comforted him and said: "Misha, don't be nervous. Although I was sent here by my superiors, the words I said last night were just between you and me. I will not report this kind of conversation between friends.”

 Knowing that Agelina would not report what she said yesterday to her superiors, Sokov felt much more at ease. However, he still had many questions in his mind: "Didn't you say that with the end of the war, no one cares about you agents? Why did you suddenly have a superior? What is going on?"

“My superiors want me to go to Berlin to work.” Since there are no outsiders here, Agelina speaks without any scruples: “In order to facilitate the development of the work, I need an important person to accompany me.”

"Since you are going to Berlin for work and need an important person to accompany you, you can ask the Intelligence Bureau to help you arrange it." Sokov asked with some confusion: "Why did you send me specifically?"

“Marshal Zhukov has never invited you to work in Berlin and assist him in managing the reconstruction of the city.” Agelina said, “I hope you can accompany me to Berlin.”

"No, this is definitely not possible." Sokov refused resolutely and said: "I have already rejected Marshal Zhukov's invitation. How can I accompany you to Berlin again? I think you should find someone else to accompany you."

"Misha." Agelina's eyes turned red when she heard Sokov's pillowmate say such heartless words: "Why do you plan to let me go to Berlin alone, a place I am not familiar with? What if? If something happens to me on the road, won’t your heart hurt?”

 (End of this chapter)