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Ternopil, the headquarters of the South-Western Front.

Huge maps hung on the walls of the spacious headquarters and the conference table was piled with various messages. Zhukov sat at his desk, and as usual, he was flipping through the telegram he had just received. Judging by the battle reports sent by the units below, the situation was quite unfavorable for the Soviet army. In many areas, Soviet units were beaten by the Germans to the point where they were left to parry.

Zhukov hurriedly read the telegrams he had just received, frowned, raised his head and said to Kirponos, the commander of the Front who was sitting opposite: "Comrade commander, judging from the current situation, your front is in danger of being cut apart by the German army. Especially after the German occupation of Dubno, it has already directly threatened Shepetovka, you must know that there are the main warehouses of our army there, if the Germans are allowed to occupy Shepetovka, then the troops of your front will be in a situation where they have no ammunition and no provisions! ”

After listening to this, Kirponos turned his face to look at Chief of Staff Pulkaev, who was sitting next to him. The latter, knowing it, stood up and respectfully reported to Zhukov: "Comrade Chief of the General Staff, Lieutenant General Ryabishev's 8th Mechanized Corps, located only fifty kilometers from Dubno, will be ordered to launch an offensive against the enemy at nine o'clock tomorrow." And in Shepetovka, the Fifth Mechanized Corps under the 16th Army, where Lieutenant General Lukin was stationed, had more than a thousand combat vehicles, and the separate tank brigade had about three hundred tanks. ”

"Where is the 22nd Mechanized Army?" Hearing that the Fifth Mechanized Army was in Sherpatov, Zhukov's heart was also much more steady, and he then asked: "Where is Major General Kondrusev and his corps headquarters?" ”

"The command of the Front has lost contact with them," said Pulkaev with great distress at Zhukov's question: "According to the place where they last fought, we analyze that they were engaged in a stubborn battle with the Germans near Kotin, west of Dubno. ”

Zhukov was obviously not satisfied with Pulkaev's answer, so he frowned and said dissatisfied: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I don't want to make any analysis, I want to find out where the 22nd Mechanized Army is now, and can they carry out a centripetal assault on the Dubno area tomorrow together with the 8th Mechanized Army?" ”

Without waiting for Pulkaev to answer, the chief of operations of the Front, Colonel Bagramyan, hurried over and handed a telegram in his hand to Kirponos. Then, in a voice that everyone could hear, he said: "We have just received the latest battle report, the commander of the 22nd Mechanized Corps, Major General Kondrusev, died in battle. The 41st Tank Division of the army, which was crushed by the Germans. ”

Hearing the bad news, Zhukov got up from his seat and walked back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back. And the military commissar Vashukin, who had never spoken, asked in surprise: "Comrade Colonel, how did General Kondruschev die?" ”

Baghramyan hurriedly turned to face Vashukin and reported in a proper manner: "General Kondruschev was killed by German artillery fire at the observation post where he was commanding the 41st Tank Division and the German armored units. ”

After hearing this, Vashukin nodded silently, and then said a cliché: "General Kondruschev is good, he behaved heroically in battle!" ”

"Alright, Comrade Vashukin." Zhukov interrupted him impatiently, "You should keep these words for when writing the death notice." He walked to the table and stood still, put his hands on the table, leaned forward slightly, and said to Kirponos, "The situation in Lutsk is very bad now, and if the Fifth Army is encircled, the right flank of the entire Front will collapse." Tell me, what other troops can be immediately thrown into battle? ”

Kirponos thought for a moment and replied: "The commander of the 19th Mechanized Corps, Major General Feklenko, once called me and said that his troops were coming from near Zhytomyr towards Lutsk. In order to increase the speed of their march, I asked General Morgunov, to transfer forty trucks from Shepetovka to them. They will arrive in Lutsk tomorrow at noon or later. ”

"Zhytomyr, Zhytomyr." After repeating this ground twice, Zhukov suddenly asked: "Rokossovsky's 9th Mechanized Corps is also stationed in Zhytomyr, and their station is farther away from Lutsk, why did they rush to Lutsk on the day the war broke out?" ”

Hearing Zhukov ask about Rokossovsky, Vashukin's emotions became excited, and without waiting for the others to speak, he preemptively said: "Comrade Chief of the General Staff, I will report this matter to you." You know, General Putukhin and I rushed to the front with the Ninth Mechanized Army. ”

Zhukov glanced at Vashukin with some surprise and said in a calm tone as much as possible: "Comrade Vashukin, then please tell us about the situation at that time." I am very curious as to why his troops were able to enter the battlefield in such a short time. However, it was precisely because of such active actions that our line of defense was not broken through by the Germans. ”

After receiving Zhukov's permission, Vashukin told everything he knew about Rokossovsky's pre-war exercises, and finally made a point of mentioning that with the cooperation of the representatives of the station army, the troops were given 72 buses to transport the troops.

It was the first time that those present had heard Vashukin mention the matter, and when he had finished speaking, Pulkaev nodded and said with admiration: "Comrade Rokossovsky's method is good, using buses to transport troops. A single vehicle can carry 40 fighters and the weapons and ammunition they carry with them, and can put nearly 3,000 people on the battlefield at a time. If the warriors were to walk, it would take at least four days to walk. He did such a beautiful job! ”

"Where is Rokossovsky now?" After Zhukov waited for Pulkaev to finish, he looked at him and asked: "Are you still staying in Lublin?" ”

Pulkaev thought for a moment and replied: "The front command has informed them that due to the change in the situation of the battle, it is impossible to send other mechanized corps to Lublin to join them, so he is ordered to lead his troops to break through as soon as possible." ”

"Did they break through?" Zhukov then asked.

Pulkaev shrugged his shoulders, spread his hands, and said: "Comrade Chief of the General Staff, you also know that today we are so overwhelmed by the situation near Dubno that we don't bother to contact Rokossovsky......"

Without waiting for him to finish speaking, Zhukov decisively ordered: "Comrade Chief of Staff, immediately contact Rokossovsky to find out where they are now." ”

"Okay, Comrade Chief of the General Staff, I'll arrange it." After Pulkaev said this, he beckoned Baghramyan and asked him to go to the telecommunications room to send a telegram to Rokossovsky about the location of the 9th Mechanized Army.

After Bagramian ran out, the rest of the room was silent again. Sending telegrams and receiving telegrams is not a task that can be completed in a short time, so everyone looked down at the telegram in front of them silently. Only Vashukin, after reading the telegram absentmindedly for a while, got up and walked to the gate, where he stood waiting for news from Baghramyan.

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