The Battle of Oryol, conducted by the Central Front, the Western Front, and the Bryansk Front, achieved great results: more than 90,000 enemy troops were destroyed, 500 tanks and 2,402 artillery pieces were destroyed, and 150 kilometers to the west were advanced, leveling the Kursk defensive line, but it failed to complete the plan drawn up before the war to encircle and annihilate the German Army Group Center. At the same time, the price paid by the Soviet Red Army was enormous, with 429,890 casualties, 2,586 tanks, 892 artillery pieces, and 1,104 aircraft.

At the end of August, Rokossovsky and the commanders of several other fronts were recalled to Moscow for a military conference chaired by Stalin himself.

At the military airfield in Moscow, Rokossovsky met Konev, who hurriedly stepped forward to shake hands with the other party and said warmly: "Hello, General Konev, it's a pleasure to meet you here." ”

As early as the defense of Moscow, Konev, who served as the commander of the Western Front, was the rank of general, and two years later, his rank is still the same, on the contrary, his former subordinate Rokossovsky has changed from a major general to a general, and the rank is one level higher than him. So much so that when he sees each other, he also needs to salute each other first.

The empathetic Rokossovsky shook hands with Konev first, and also talked about family routines, just to avoid this embarrassing situation. "General Konev, your troops in the battle for the liberation of Kharkov, behaved very heroically, I heard that several more units were awarded honorary titles."

"Yes, Comrade Rokossovsky." Seeing that Rokossovsky behaved so kindly to himself, Konev also replied with a smile: "The battle for Kharkov was carried out extremely fiercely, the 5th Guards Tank Army suffered heavy losses, and by the end of the battle, they had only 50 tanks left. The Germans, in the face of our powerful offensive, destroyed all roads, railways and bridges along their way, polluted water sources, burned crops in the fields, destroyed buildings, and left us with a dilapidated Kharkov before withdrawing from Kharkov. ”

When the two drove to the Kremlin together, Konev looked at Rokossovsky with a look of desire to speak, as if he had something to say to Rokossovsky. Rokossovsky noticed Konev's strangeness, so he smiled and asked: "General Konev, do you have anything to say to me?" ”

"Comrade Rokossovsky," Konev said with courage, "Actually, I always owe you an apology, and if I don't say something to you, I feel like I'll regret it for the rest of my life." ”

"Apologize?" Konev's words confused Rokossovsky: "What apologies? ”

Konev said apologetically: "Do you remember that during the defense of Moscow, I suddenly ordered you to hand over your troops to friendly forces and only take the transfer of the command?" ”

"Yes, Comrade General, I remember this." Rokossovsky said in his heart that if you hadn't asked me to lead the headquarters out of the army, the troops would have been surrounded by the Germans in the Vyazma area, and maybe I would have been locked up in a Nazi prisoner of war camp like Lukin now, and where else could I be the commander of the front.

"I'm sorry to you, that's it." Konev blushed and said to Rokossovsky: "At that time, I saw that you were too prominent on the front line, and your superiors also had a good impression of you, and even revealed that you wanted to replace me. I was also jealous at the time, so I removed you from the front and put you in an unimportant position, ready to be cold for a while. Who knew what happened next, it was completely beyond my imagination, and I almost wiped out the Western Front......"

Facing the self-reproaching Konev, Rokossovsky raised his hand and patted him on the shoulder, and said in a friendly manner: "General Konev, this is all in the past, if you don't say it, I will forget." I hope that in the next battle, our two fronts will work together to deal a greater blow to the German army. ”

"Don't worry, Comrade Rokossovsky, I will remember what you said today." The hands of the two front commanders were tightly clasped in everything, which meant that the previous mustard had come to naught.

When the two came to Stalin's office, they saw the commander of the Front sitting inside, and in addition to Vatutin of the Voronezh Front, there was also the commander of the Southwestern Front, Malinovsky, and the commander of the Southern Front, Tolbukhin.

Seeing that all the commanders of the front forces attending the meeting had arrived, Vasilevsky called the meeting to order. He walked up to the map, pointed at it with his baton, and said to everyone: "Comrades commanders, after the victorious conclusion of the Battle of Kursk and the liberation of a chain of cities such as Orel, Belgorod and Kharkov, we will continue to launch a new offensive against the fascist bandits entrenched on the territory of our country. The general purpose of this offensive campaign was to crush the enemy forces on the southern flank of the Soviet-German battlefield, liberate all the territory of the Ukrainian region on the east bank of the Dnieper, force the Dnieper River from the march and seize the landing ground on its western bank. This arduous task will be accomplished by the troops of your five fronts. ”

"Comrade Chief of the General Staff," as soon as Vasilevsky's words were finished, Rokossovsky preemptively asked: "I don't know what the tasks of our front are?" ”

"Comrade Rokossovsky," Vasilevsky said to Rokossovsky again, pointing to the map with his baton: "The Central Front should attack south-west towards Shostka, Bakhmachi, Nezhin, Kyiv, force the crossing of the Desna and Dnieper rivers, and cooperate with the Voronezh Front to capture Kyiv." The dividing line between you and them is Loginskaya station, Terny, Red Kolya, Ichnia, Kyiv. ”

After recording the combat mission given by Vasilevsky, Rokossovsky continued: "Comrade Chief of the General Staff, I would like to know how much time we can get to prepare. ”

Vasilevsky did not answer, but looked at Stalin on the side, waiting for him to give an answer for Rokossovsky. Stalin stood up, waved his fist clenching his pipe, and said loudly: "In order not to give the German army time to replenish its troops and technical equipment, after the study of the Supreme High Command, we can only give you ten days to prepare." ”

"Ten days?" Stalin's words surprised all the commanders of the front army present, and everyone looked at each other for a moment, but no one spoke, and once again focused their eyes on Stalin.

Seeing that everyone did not speak, Stalin took a puff of cigarette, put his pipe on the ashtray and said to the crowd: "I know that it is obviously not enough to give you only ten days, and I want to give you a few more days." But no, comrades of the commanders of the fronts from all fronts, it is impossible to postpone the offensive, and any delay on our part will be used by the enemy to strengthen the troops and build a solid defense. According to the information available to our reconnaissance department, Hitler's bandits were building powerful fortifications in the area of the Dnieper and Sozh rivers, part of the so-called "Eastern Barrier". This is also confirmed by the partisans of Belarus and Ukraine, who say that the enemy is intensifying the refurbishment of fortifications in this area and moving troops here, that is. The Germans intended to hold on here. ”

At this point, he slammed his fist and said with a resolute expression: "Therefore, we must attack the enemy while the Germans are not fully prepared, and destroy the defensive line they have built in this area in one fell swoop." ”

Zhukov, who had always remained silent, waited for Stalin to finish speaking, then he also stood up and said: "Comrades commanders, do you all understand? You have to find a way to overcome all difficulties and prepare for battle in the ten days that you have been given. Do you understand everything? ”

"Got it!" The five commanders replied in unison.