Rokossovsky, who has the memory of later generations, clearly remembers on what day the Battle of Kursk began, and how the Germans in the Orel direction attacked. However, he was worried that the appearance of his butterfly would deflect some history, so he did not dare to take it lightly, and every day he personally checked the strength and deployment of the German troops provided by the reconnaissance bureau in order to know by heart.

Having to take part in the May Day parade, Rokossovsky returned to Moscow with the military commissar Ponomarenko, having handed over the work of the front to Malinin and Trubnikov.

He and Ponomarenko were standing on the viewing platform on the right side of Lenin's tomb and watching the troops walking with their heads held high on Red Square, when suddenly an officer came up to him, half-crouched down and whispered to him: "Comrade Rokossovsky, after the parade, please come to the Kremlin." ”

Rokossovsky turned his head to look at the person he was talking to and recognized it as an officer of the General Staff. He leaned closer to the other party and asked in a low voice, "Am I going alone?" ”

The officer nodded to Bonomarenko, who was sitting next to him, "And your military commissar will go with you." I'll be waiting for you later at the entrance to the Sparsco Clock Tower. After saying that, he raised his hand and saluted, got up and left.

The May Day parade was not large-scale and ended in less than an hour. Rokossovsky and Ponomarenko sat in their seats, waiting for the audience to be almost gone, before getting up and walking towards the entrance of the Sparsco bell tower, which was not far away.

When he came to the entrance of the bell tower, the officer of the General Staff was already waiting there, and after a few words of explanation to the officer on duty at the door, he motioned to Rokossovsky and the two of them to go with him.

As soon as Rokossovsky walked in front of the officer on duty, he was stopped by him, and then his cold voice was heard: "Two comrades generals, please leave your guns." ”

It was not the first time that Rokossovsky had entered and exited the Kremlin, so he naturally knew about this rule, and hurriedly took out the two matching guns on his body and handed them to the officer on duty.

The officer on duty took Rokossovsky's pistol and said curiously: "Comrade General, why do you carry two pistols with you?" ”

Naturally, Rokossovsky would not tell the officer that the other pistol was kept for suicide when someone from the Ministry of Internal Affairs came to arrest him. Instead, he said in a high-sounding voice: "Comrade officer, I am a front-line commander, and accidents may happen at any time." Of these two pistols, one is for combat. And the other," he pointed to the rifle that had belonged to Paulus, "was the one I used when I found myself in danger of being captured by the Germans." ”

After hearing this, the officer on duty immediately stood in awe of Rokossovsky. After completing the registration of the gun number, he handed the slip to Rokossovsky, and then raised his hand to give a solemn military salute.

Rokossovsky and the others followed the staff officers to the office building, only to learn that today's meeting was held in Stalin's office. When he entered his office, he found that the conference table was full of people on both sides, including members of the Supreme High Command and the People's Commissariat of National Defense, as well as commanders and military commissars of several other fronts.

Seeing Rokossovsky enter the house, Stalin, who was sitting in his seat, pointed to the vacant seat next to him with his hand holding the cigarette butt and said politely: "Comrade Rokossovsky, you can sit there." ”

After Rokossovsky and Ponomarenko were seated, Stalin spoke: "Comrades, since everyone is here, let's meet now." First of all, I would like to ask Comrade Vasilevsky, Chief of the General Staff, to give us a briefing on the current situation on the battlefield. ”

After waiting for Stalin to finish, Vasilevsky got up and walked to the map hanging on the wall, picked up an explanatory stick, and briefed the participants on the current situation in various battlefields in the country. After about five minutes of talking, he put down his baton, straightened up to face the group, and said, "I'm done." ”

"Comrades," said Stalin, after waiting for Vasilevsky to return to his position, "through the introduction of Comrade Chief of the General Staff, I think everyone has a certain understanding of the current situation in the country. Next, we have to discuss where the Germans will focus their summer offensive. ”

"Allow me to speak." As soon as Stalin finished speaking, Zhukov, who was sitting next to him, stood up. After receiving a nod of approval from Stalin, he spoke: "According to our reconnaissance report and the intercepted German telegrams, we have reason to believe that the main direction of the German summer offensive will be in the Kursk arc.

They will use a coordinated pincer attack from the north and south flanks to encircle and annihilate our heavy army groups throughout the salient. This campaign, if successful, would have shortened the German front and greatly increased the mobility of the German troops. ……”

The senior commanders, sitting below, listened to Zhukov's analysis of the enemy's direction of action and wrote down important things in their notebooks.

After Zhukov's speech, Stalin's eyes swept over everyone's body and he said: "Comrades, after listening to Zhukov and Vasilevsky's speeches, what do you think, can you talk about it?" ”

After a brief silence, a commander with the rank of general stood up and said in a loud voice: "Comrade Stalin, since we have figured out the intentions of the German army, in order not to let the initiative on the battlefield fall into the hands of the enemy, I propose to act before the Germans attack, to attack their defensive zone first. ”

When the general expounded his point of view, Ponomarenko, who was sitting next to Rokossovsky, asked in a low voice: "Comrade commander, who is this comrade general who is speaking?" I don't think I've ever seen it before. ”

Rokossovsky looked at each other carefully and saw that it was a raw face, which he had not seen before. Just as he was about to shake his head and tell Ponomarenko that he didn't know him, he suddenly remembered that Apanashchenko, the commander of the Far Eastern Front, whom Vasilevsky had mentioned, could it be that he was the one who was speaking?

Thinking of this, he whispered to Ponomarenko: "Comrade Military Commissar, if I am not mistaken, the person who is speaking is the new commander of the Steppe Military District, Senior General Apanashchenko. ”

The whispers of Rokossovsky and Ponomarenko were seen by Stalin, but they only smiled faintly and said nothing. When Apanashchenko finished speaking, he stood up, pointed at Apanashchenko and said: "Comrades, perhaps many of you here, do not know Comrade Apanashchenko yet. He was previously the commander of the Far Eastern Front, and recently transferred to the newly formed Steppe Military District. ”

After introducing Apanashchenko, Stalin sat down again, waved his hand twice with the butt of his cigarette and said: "Who else wants to speak?" ”

"Comrade Stalin, let me say a few words." As soon as his words fell, the commander of the Voronezh Front, Vatutin, stood up with a smile on his face, "...... Now that it is known that the main direction of the German summer offensive is the Kursk arc. Then we could launch a preemptive attack to disrupt the German offensive preparations and regain the strategic initiative lost in the Battle of Kharkov. ”

As soon as Vatutin finished speaking, Stalin nodded in agreement with a smile on his face. He took a puff of his cigarette, knocked the ash into the ashtray on the table, put the pipe on the table, and said: "I agree with the suggestion of Apanashchenko and Vatutin, our troops should attack before the enemy attacks, so as to seize the initiative on the battlefield. ”

Hearing that Stalin actually agreed with the preemptive strike plan of Apanashchenko and Vatutin, the muscles on Rokossovsky's face could not help but twitch violently twice, and he said in his heart: In real history, just defending almost made the Germans make dumplings. If you take the initiative to attack, it won't be hitting a stone with an egg?

The expression on Rokossovsky's face, which was seen in Stalin's eyes, he coughed lightly and asked: "Comrade Rokossovsky, I think you seem to have a different opinion, right?" ”

"Yes, Comrade Stalin." Rokossovsky hurriedly got up from his seat and replied respectfully: "I think our army should be prepared for defense, and when the German offensive begins, rely on fortifications to consume their living forces." When the enemy's offensive energy is exhausted, we will launch a full-scale counterattack. ”

Stalin did not expect that Rokossovsky would actually contradict him, and not only did he not agree to take the initiative to offensive, but suggested to himself that the troops should be defended. He restrained the smile on his face and asked Zhukov expressionlessly: "Comrade Zhukov, what is your opinion?" ”

Zhukov stood up, glanced sideways at Rokossovsky, turned to Stalin and said: "Comrade Stalin, I agree with Comrade Rokossovsky, in the current situation, we cannot take the initiative to attack, but should first go on the defensive. ”

"Why?" A flash of anger flashed in Stalin's eyes.

"According to our analysis," Zhukov, although he knew that Stalin was not satisfied with his opinion, he still said to himself: "When the German army ended the Kharkov campaign, it was faced with two choices: one was to take advantage of the fact that our army was not firmly on the ground and launch an offensive campaign in advance; The second is to wait for our army to attack first, and after our army is exhausted and exhausted, and the energy for the offensive is exhausted, the German army will carry out a counteroffensive and cut off the rear road of our army in a roundabout way. ”

Hearing this, Stalin stood up, walked to the open space next to the conference table, and walked back and forth with his hands behind his back. Zhukov quickly stopped, stared at Stalin with his eyes, and waited for him to express his opinion.

After walking back and forth a few times, Stalin came to Zhukov, put his hands on the back of his chair, looked at Zhukov and asked: "Comrade Zhukov, which option do you think the Germans will choose?" ”

"From what I know about Manstein, he will definitely choose the second option, wait for our army to attack first, and then carry out a counterattack. But," Zhukov said unhurriedly, "with Hitler's character, Manstein would definitely be forbidden to take the second option, because he would have thought that by letting our army attack first, we would lose the initiative on the battlefield." ”

The expression on Stalin's face softened: "Since you think that Hitler chose the first option, why did the Germans delay in attacking us?" ”

"The reason is simple," Zhukov continued, "and the Germans need enough time to gather their forces and wait until they are roughly equal in strength to ours before attacking us. ”

"Comrade Rokossovsky," Stalin walked up to Rokossovsky, looked at him and asked, "how do you think our army should defend itself?" ”

"Comrade Stalin, we should first of all create a well-developed defense system in the Kursk arc." Rokossovsky replied respectfully: "The entire defense system will consist of a large number of closely coordinated trenches, barbed wire, anti-tank fire points and anti-tank trenches, as well as minefields. In addition, we had to gather a large number of troops and technical equipment in the most likely direction of the German attack. ”

"Then what direction do you think is the most likely direction for the Germans to attack?" Stalin continued to ask.

Rokossovsky walked to the map, pointed to it, and said to those present: "According to my judgment, in the upcoming summer campaign, the Germans will attack our troops in the Kursk arc from two directions, Orel in the north and Belgorod in the south, at the same time. Therefore, we must build strong defenses in these two directions, and use these strong fortifications to massively deplete the living forces of the German army in battle. When their offensive weakens, we can launch a full-scale counter-offensive against them with the cooperation of friendly forces. ”

Vatutin, who was sitting not far away, couldn't help but ask when he heard Rokossovsky say this: "Friendly army, what friendly army?" ”

"Comrade Vatutin," Rokossovsky said to him with a smile: "I am talking about friendly forces, which are deployed in the steppe military district to the east of our two fronts. Their entry into the battle at the right time will accelerate the victory of this battle. ”

After Rokossovsky returned to his seat, Zhukov and Vasilevsky spoke one after another, both of whom expressed support for Rokossovsky's proposal.

Seeing that the offensive and defensive opinions were evenly matched, Stalin could not help frowning and sat in his place and pondered. None of the people present were silent, but stared intently at Stalin to hear what decision he would make in the end.

In the eyes of everyone, there was no one next to Stalin to fill his pipe with tobacco. After loading the tobacco, he put the pipe in his mouth, but he did not light it. These actions of his indicate that he is in the process of thinking.

I don't know how long, Stalin finally struck a match and lit the pipe in his mouth. After spitting out a smoke ring, he said slowly: "I have decided, and I will adopt the plan of Comrade Rokossovsky, and our army will take a defensive position in the arc of Kursk and not take the initiative to attack the enemy." ”