Regarding the proposal of Khrulev and Antonov, Rokossovsky thought about it only for a moment, and then nodded in agreement. This time, however, he did not ask Malinen or anyone else to help him, but wrote a written report to Stalin himself.

In this report to Stalin, Rokossovsky briefly commented on the situation on the southern flank of the Soviet-German battlefield after the winter war of 1942~1943, and talked about some of his suggestions for the upcoming summer operations. He emphatically stressed that the battlefield where the enemy is most likely to launch a decisive offensive is the Kursk arc. Here the enemy wants to repeat what they have not done in winter, but have made great efforts. At the end of the report, he proposed the need to create a strong reserve and deploy it in the area east of the Kursk arc in order to help the Central Front and the Voronezh Front to repel any possible surprise attacks by the enemy in that direction.

After inspecting the front, Khrulev and Antonov took Rokossovsky's written report back to Moscow and handed it over to Stalin himself.

After reading Rokossovsky's report twice, Stalin picked up the telephone in front of him, and after hearing Boskorebeshev's voice coming from it, he said slowly: "Immediately let Zhukov and Vasilevsky come to my office." ”

A few minutes later, Zhukov and Vasilevsky walked side by side into Stalin's office.

Stalin pointed to the empty chair at the conference table and said, "Sit down!" After the two of them sat down, he raised the report in his hand and said to the two, "I have just received a written report from Rokossovsky, who believes that the main direction of the German attack in the upcoming summer operation is in the Kursk arc, and asks me to form a strong reserve to be deployed to the east of the Central Front and the Voronezh Front, so that at the right time, they can help them repel the German offensive in this area." ”

After reading the report, both Zhukov and Vasilevsky turned their eyes to Stalin to hear what he had to say.

Stalin sat down in his place, tapped his fingers on the report on the table, looked at the two and asked: "Tell me, what do you think of Rokossovsky's report?" ”

"Comrade Stalin," it was Zhukov who stood up first to speak: "I think what Rokossovsky said is quite reasonable, and depending on the situation on the battlefield, I should pay special attention to the Kursk arc. ”

"That's right, Comrade Stalin." As soon as Zhukov's words were finished, Vasilevsky chimed in: "In the previous stage of the fighting, we lost Kharkov and Belgorod. In my opinion, the reason for the failure was the lack of attention to the formation of reserves in a timely manner. So much so that when the enemy concentrates a large number of troops for a sudden counter-assault, we do not have the forces to repel its attack. It is precisely because we have no battle reserves in the depth of our defense that the enemy forces are able to break through our front in a narrow area and complete the encirclement of our army without almost any resistance. ”

Although Vasilevsky was heard mentioning the defeat in the Battle of Kharkov, Stalin did not mind in the slightest, and he continued to ask: "It seems that you all agree to place a strong reserve to the east of the Central Front and the Voronezh Front?" ”

Zhukov and Vasilevsky looked at each other, then nodded, and replied in unison: "Yes, Comrade Stalin, it is absolutely necessary to place a strong reserve to the east of the Kursk arc. ”

"Since both of you have agreed to form a strong reserve." After taking a habitual puff of his cigarette, Stalin then asked: "Tell me, then, what kind of troops do you need to meet the standards you say?" ”

Zhukov frowned and thought for a moment, then replied: "Comrade Stalin, if there were only one or two army groups to support our troops in the Kursk arc, the forces would be somewhat weak. I therefore propose that at least one Front unit be deployed to the east. ”

"And what about your opinion?" After listening to this, Stalin looked at Vasilevsky and asked noncommittally: "Comrade Vasilevsky, what do you think about it?" ”

Vasilevsky turned his head to look at Zhukov and replied decisively: "I completely agree with Comrade Zhukov's opinion that it is necessary to deploy a front army in the Kursk arc, so that the German army can form a superiority in troops. ”

"Well, Comrade Vasilevsky, I will leave the work of forming a new reserve front to you with full responsibility." After Stalin finished saying this, he suddenly remembered a key question and hurriedly asked: "Then who do you think is the most suitable person to be the commander of this front?" ”

"How is General Konev?" After a short period of thought, Zhukov proposed his own candidate.

Unexpectedly, when Stalin heard this, he immediately shook his head and said angrily: "No, he is not the right person." Comrade Zhukov, you mention one more one. ”

Zhukov knew in his heart that the main reason why Stalin didn't like Konev was that after the defense of Moscow, Konev, who was back in charge of the Western Front, commanded the troops in the battle with the German Army Group Center, and fell into a bitter battle, so that when Stalingrad was in great danger, he could not send troops to reinforce it. Because of this, he was rebuked by Stalin and transferred to the post of commander of the North-Western Front.

Vasilevsky thought about the generals he liked, and it turned out with sadness that these people were either already the head of the front army, or they were not capable enough to be qualified for the post of head of the front army. Therefore, he could only shake his head and say to Stalin regretfully: "I'm sorry, Comrade Stalin, I really can't think of a suitable candidate." ”

Seeing that neither Zhukov nor Vasilevsky could nominate a suitable candidate, Stalin got up and walked back to his desk, picked up a piece of paper and walked back again. "I have a suitable person," said Stalin, placing the paper in front of Zhukov and them, "the commander of the Far Eastern Front, General Apanashchenko, has just sent me a telegram saying that he wants me to transfer him to the Western Front to fight. ”

Vasilevsky picked up the telegram and looked at it, then looked up at Stalin and said: "Comrade Stalin, General Apanashchenko is a commander with rich combat experience, and he is also an excellent commander of the Front, and the troops he formed and trained have performed very well in the 41 years of the defense of Moscow. Moreover, several of the divisions that participated in the war also received the honorary title of Guards Division. ……”

Apanashchenko, one of Stalin's most valued commanders, could not help but smile with satisfaction when he heard Vasilevsky praise Apanashchenko's series of successes.

After Vasilevsky finished speaking, Stalin opened his mouth and said: "Since our chief of the General Staff is also optimistic about General Apanashchenko, then he will be the commander of this newly formed reserve front." ”

"I agree." Vasilevsky was the first to agree.

Although Zhukov felt that Apanashchenko had been staying in the Far East since the outbreak of the war, did not participate in the war against Germany, and it was not suitable for him to suddenly serve as the commander of the front on the Western Front, but seeing that Stalin and Vasilevsky had expressed their attitudes, he could not speak against it, so he could only reluctantly say: "I also agree!" ”

……

……

Two days later, Rokossovsky received a call from Vasilevsky.

On the phone, Vasilevsky said proudly: "Comrade Rokossovsky, I have already seen your report to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief himself. As a result of our research, it was decided to form a strong reserve to the east of the Kursk arc. Its size will be an army on one front. ”

Hearing this, Rokossovsky's heart was also very happy, he felt as if everything was developing according to real history, and Stalin, after receiving his report, really agreed to place a unit of the Front Army as a general reserve to the east of his army.

He smiled and asked: "Comrade Chief of the General Staff, I don't know what the number of this reserve is?" And who is the commander? ”

"The newly formed unit will be called the Steppe Military District," Vasilevsky replied in a relaxed tone, "and the commander will be the commander of the Far Eastern Front, General Apanashchenko." ”

Rokossovsky knew in his heart that the troops deployed east of Kursk were originally called the "Steppe Military District" and soon changed their names to the "Steppe Front." These were all expected by him. But Vasilevsky's choice of commander surprised him.

He secretly said in his heart: "The commander of the steppe front, isn't it Konev? And Konev commanded the troops in the Battle of Kursk to fight remarkably, which made him one of the famous generals of the Soviet army. But how did it become Apanashchenko now? With this question, he asked tentatively: "Comrade Chief of the General Staff, who did you just say is the new commander of the Front?" ”

"Commander of the Far Eastern Front, General Apanashchenko." Vasilevsky's heart, although he wondered why Rokossovsky asked this question, patiently replied: "He will be the commander of the newly formed reserve." ”

"But, Comrade Chief of the General Staff." Seeing that history had deviated here, Rokossovsky said unwillingly: "I don't think Senior General Apanashchenko is very suitable for the post of commander of the Front." ”

Rokossovsky's words surprised Vasilevsky, who asked with some surprise: "Why?" ”

"As far as I know, General Apanashchenko has held the post of the Far Eastern Front since 41." Rokossovsky hoped that Vasilevsky would convey his opinion to Stalin, so he earnestly stated his opinion: "For so many years, he fought only two battles with the Japanese in the north, and had no experience in fighting the Germans at all. I don't think it's appropriate to rush him to the post of commander of the front army. ”

After listening to Rokossovsky's opinion, Vasilevsky sighed softly, and then said: "Comrade Rokossovsky, your opinion is exactly the same as Zhukov's. He also believed that Apanashchenko had no experience in fighting the Germans and was not suitable to immediately assume the post of commander of the front on the Western Front. But ......"

"But what?" Rokossovsky asked knowingly.

"Comrade Stalin said that although Apanashchenko had no experience in fighting the Germans." Vasilevsky repeated to Rokossovsky what Stalin had said: "But he has a unique way of training his troops. Many of the units that distinguished themselves in the defense of Moscow were trained by him. Stalin meant that he should be put in charge of the formation of the new front first and then for training. This will make it possible for well-trained troops to use in our upcoming summer operations. ”

Faced with such a strong reason, Rokossovsky knew that it was useless for him to say anything more. He hurriedly diverted the topic and asked how long it would take for the soldiers and various military supplies replenished by his superiors to the Central Front Army to reach the designated position.

Putting down the phone, Rokossovsky summoned Terekin and Malinin and introduced to them that the base camp was about to form a reserve at the level of the front army in the east of the Kursk arc. After everyone's cheers were over, he instructed Malinin: "Chief of Staff, in the upcoming summer campaign, the main direction of our front is the Orel area, and you must send more scouts to find out the deployment of the German army in this area." ”

Rokossovsky made this arrangement because he thought that in real history, the plan was known to the Soviets through a captured German soldier a few hours before the German army launched an attack on the Soviet army in the Kursk arc. In order to stop the German offensive, the Soviet army fired 10,000 artillery shots at the area where the German troops were assembled, which not only delayed the German army's offensive time, but also caused certain losses to the German army.

However, due to the poor timing of the shelling and the inaccurate target of the shelling, the German attacking forces were not effectively damaged, and as a result, after the all-out German offensive was launched, the Central Front and the Voronezh Front were once in a mess. He hoped that through reconnaissance, he could find out the accurate deployment of the German army, especially the direction of every line of defense and every trench, so that in this heavy artillery bombardment, the German army would be inflicted heavy losses and would not be able to recover its offensive capability as quickly as in real history.

However, Malinin, who did not know the specific situation, thought that Rokossovsky had just assigned himself a task according to the usual practice, so when assigning the task to the chief of the reconnaissance chief, General Vinogorodov, he only asked him to find out the strength and distribution of the German troops in Orel.