The transfer of the units of the 13th and 60th armies to the Voronezh Front was already a matter of certainty, and instead of continuing to argue with the General Staff, Rokossovsky summoned several of the main chiefs of the Front to discuss a serious problem at hand.

Rokossovsky looked at his colleagues sitting at the conference table and said loudly: "Comrade commanders, as you know, the Supreme Command has assigned two units of the 13th and 60th armies from our establishment to the Voronezh Front. Now there is a very important question, should we also hand over all kinds of technical equipment in this direction to friendly forces? ”

"No, Comrade Commander, we must not do this." As soon as Rokossovsky's words were finished, Kazakov stood up and spoke: "Some time ago, in order to crush the German counter-assault on the 60th Army, I deployed twenty artillery regiments on the left bank of the Dnieper. As soon as these artillery regiments were also handed over to the Voronezh Front, the artillery of the Front would be greatly weakened. ”

As soon as Kazakov's words were finished, Orel continued: "Comrade commander, we have six tank brigades deployed in the area of operations of the 13th and 60th armies, and if these tanks are lost, the assault capability of our troops will be weakened. ”

"Comrades, comrades." After Kazakov and Orel's speeches were over, Ponomarenko said in a bit of a hurry: "Have you ever thought that if we transfer these artillery regiments and tank brigades back from the operational areas of the 13th and 60th armies, they will be weakened? ”

"Comrade commander," Malinin also expressed his opinion: "We cannot hand over these artillery regiments and tank brigades, without them we will not be able to complete the new tasks assigned to us by our superiors. ”

"Comrade commanders," Rokossovsky asked, after everyone had finished speaking, "what can we do to ensure that we have enough strength to carry out the new tasks assigned to us by our superiors, and at the same time not to weaken the existing forces of the 13th and 60th armies?" ”

Rokossovsky's words made everyone fall into deep thought. Everyone uses their brains and thinks about what to do to get the best of both worlds.

The first to break the silence was Terekin, who said with a smile: "Commanders, it's actually very simple, to achieve the best of both worlds, it is better not to waste time on changing the deployment, but to take advantage of the favorable situation formed by the troops of Pukhov and Chernyakhovsky on the right bank of the Dnieper, strengthen them with tanks and artillery, and launch a surprise attack on Kyiv from the north while the enemy has not had time to mobilize a large number of troops here." ”

"Carry out a surprise attack on Kyiv with two army groups?" After repeating Terekin's words, Malinin nodded and said thoughtfully: "With such troops, coupled with the support of tanks, planes and artillery, the success rate of their rush to Kyiv is very high. I agree with Comrade Military Commissar. ”

After some discussion, everyone finally reached a consensus on the plan proposed by Terekin, and they used tanks, planes, and artillery to support the two army groups and carry out a strong attack on Kyiv from the north.

No sooner had the meeting ended than Rokossovsky received a call from Antonov. The Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army asked on the phone: "General Rokossovsky, Comrade Stalin has just made a decision to pay tribute to the troops of the Central Front on Red Square in Moscow before they are handed over to the Voronezh Front, in recognition of the heroic tenacity and fearlessness shown by the troops of the Central Front in the battle for the forced crossing of the Dnieper. I don't know what you think about this? ”

"Comrade Deputy Chief of the General Staff, I just have something to report to you." After explaining in detail to Antonov the resolution made at the meeting, Rokossovsky deliberately emphasized: "In my opinion, the matter of firing a salute can wait a little longer, because there is no need to alarm Hitler's high command too much. As for the assault on Kyiv that I just mentioned, do you think it was immediately reported to Comrade Stalin? ”

Antonov was silent for a long time, then he spoke: "Comrade Rokossovsky, I think your suggestion is good, you can report directly to the Supreme Commander himself. With his permission, you will be able to implement your battle plan immediately. ”

Rokossovsky heard Antonov say this, and knew that the other side was thinking about himself, and according to the efficiency of the Soviet army, if he went to Stalin through Antonov to apply for an attack, it would be one thing whether he agreed to it, and even if he agreed to his own battle plan, he would have to wait until tomorrow to get an official answer. So he said to Antonov gratefully: "Thank you, Deputy Chief of the General Staff, I will call Comrade Stalin." ”

Less than five minutes later, Stalin received a call from Rokossovsky, who he thought would send him a few complaints or something, but Rokossovsky reported to him a new battle plan.

After listening to Rokossovsky's report, Stalin fell into deep thought, he had already handed over the honor of liberating Kiev to Vatutin, although the 13th and 60th armies were about to be transferred to Vatutin's command, but after all, the troops had not yet been officially handed over at this time. As soon as they succeeded in conquering Kyiv, then the honor of liberating Kyiv would belong to Rokossovsky's Central Front.

Stalin took off his pipe, lightly knocked on the ashtray a few times, and then said into the microphone: "Comrade Rokossovsky, the question of the actions of the troops in the Kiev direction has already been decided, and it is too late to reconsider. I think you better hand over the two armies to Vatutin as soon as possible. You can leave the artillery and tank units belonging to the Front, and you only need to give the weapons in the establishment to Pukhov and Chernyakhovsky, and from the moment they are handed over, the Voronezh Front should provide them with technical equipment. ”

"I see, Comrade Stalin." Rokossovsky was very disappointed when he heard that Stalin had rejected his proposal, but he could only bite the bullet and say: "I will complete the handover as soon as possible." ”

"By the way, Comrade Rokossovsky, there is one more thing I forgot to mention." Before putting down the phone, Stalin finally said: "As for the firing of the salute, you are right, it is better to postpone it a little." ”

Rokossovsky put down the phone and said disappointedly to Malinin and Terekin, who were sitting at the table: "Comrade Stalin rejected our request to attack from the north, he said that the glorious task of liberating Kyiv had been given to the Voronezh Front, and the troops that entered Kyiv first should have been commanded by Vatutin. ”

As soon as Malinin waited for Rokossovsky to finish speaking, he hurriedly asked: "What about the artillery and tank units that are reinforced to these two armies?" Will it be left to them, or will it be withdrawn? ”

"We only need to give the weapons within the establishment of these two group armies and strengthen the technical equipment given to them, and they can all be withdrawn." Rokossovsky looked at Malinin and said: "Chief of staff, you immediately call the commanders of the two army groups and inform them of this." ”

Two days later, Vatutin came to Rokossovsky's headquarters and officially went through the formalities for the handover of the two armies with him. At the same time, Rokossovsky received an official notification: the 50th, 3rd and 63rd armies, which originally belonged to the Bryansk Front, were officially transferred to the Central Front.

After reading the phone call handed to him by Rokossovsky, Vatutin said with a smile: "Comrade Rokossovsky, the base camp has been arranged in such a way that your combat area is all in Belarus. It seems that the Supreme Commander-in-Chief himself intends to entrust the great and glorious task of liberating Belarus to your front. ”

"You are right, Comrade Vatutin. Our front will be the main force in the liberation of Belarus. Rokossovsky nodded and said: "And to liberate Ukraine, I estimate that it is far from enough to rely on one of your fronts, at least Konev's steppe front will also be added." In addition, one or two more fronts will be added to cooperate in the operation, so that there will be a chance to completely drive the fascist aggressors out of Ukraine within a year or so. ”

"What, the troops fighting in Ukraine will reach as many as four fronts?" When Vatutin heard Rokossovsky say this, a surprised expression appeared on his face: "Comrade Rokossovsky, do you know any inside story?" ”

Rokossovsky smiled faintly and replied: "I don't have any inside information, I just analyzed it based on the situation on the battlefield." Since the German army still had a large number of troops in these two areas, in order to completely crush them, each battlefield required the troops of several fronts to work together. Not only will the liberation of Ukraine require three or four fronts, but even the liberation of Belarus will require the use of troops from no less than three fronts. ”

"Makes sense, makes sense." After listening to Rokossovsky's analysis, Vatutin nodded again and again and said approvingly: "Comrade Rokossovsky, your analysis is very reasonable. I estimate that in order to defeat the enemy in Ukraine, we will need to use at least a million troops, so that it is exactly the troops of three or four fronts. ”

The two chatted for a while, and Vatutin, in a hurry to meet Pukhov and Chernyakhovsky, got up to say goodbye to Rokossovsky.

After Vatutin left, Malinin asked curiously: "Comrade commander, do you really think that in order to defeat the enemy in Ukraine, it is necessary to use at least three or four front troops?" ”

"That's for sure, Comrade Chief of Staff." What Malinin was curious about, for Rokossovsky, was a history that had already happened, and he was naturally confident when he said this: "It is simply impossible to liberate Ukraine and Belarus as soon as possible without millions of troops in each direction." ”

"And what about Belarus, for which we are responsible?" Malinin continued to ask: "Do you also need to use millions of troops?" ”

Rokossovsky silently calculated in his mind that the troops participating in the Belorussian campaign, in addition to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Belorussian Fronts, also included the 1st Baltic Front, as well as the newly formed 1st Polish Army. Therefore, he nodded and said: "That's right, Comrade Chief of Staff, when we launch an offensive in Belarus, we will definitely not fight alone, and on our left and right flanks, there will be friendly support." ”

Although Rokossovsky said it well, Malinin only nodded in disbelief, and then asked: "Comrade commander, since the units of the 13th and 60th armies have been officially handed over to the Voronezh Front, what should we do to strengthen the artillery and tank forces in these two areas?" ”

Rokossovsky stared at the map for a while, then pointed his finger upwards and said to Malinin: "Chief of Staff, you see these three new armies assigned to us by the base camp, who, having routed the enemy, have successfully crossed the Sozh River and established a landing ground on the right bank of the river. In this way, they are in a parallel state with the right flank of our original Front.

The artillery and tank units withdrawn from the areas of operation of the 13th and 60th armies were to reinforce the 61st, 65th and 48th armies on the original right flank, so that they had enough strength to continue their advance into the depth of the German army. ”

Malinin raised his head, looked at Rokossovsky and said: "Comrade commander, we still have a very critical problem at present. If we do not solve this problem, it will have a negative impact on our next operation. ”

"Tell me, Comrade Chief of Staff." Rokossovsky knew that Malinin was not a purposeless person, so he urged the other party: "What kind of crisis do we have? ”

"There are not enough soldiers, comrade commander." Ma Lining said with a serious expression: "The soldiers replenished by our superiors, plus the wounded who were discharged from the hospital, are far from making up for the soldiers we lost in the battle. As a result, many divisions now have only 40~50% of the soldiers. ”

Although Rokossovsky knew in his heart that in the process of the defeat of the German army, in order to prevent the Soviet army from replenishing troops on the spot after liberating these places, he captured all adult men or shot them on the spot, so that in many cities liberated by the army, only women, old people and half-grown children remained. But he still asked with luck: "Chief of Staff, can we recruit new soldiers from the areas we have liberated to solve this problem?" ”

"I'm afraid not," Ma Linin said, shaking his head, "unless we recruit the elderly or half-grown children into the army, we will not be able to solve the problem of insufficient soldiers." But if we let these people join the army, it will make it impossible for the local factories to resume work and the countryside will not be able to farm, which will be very bad for us in the long run. ”

Hearing Ma Linin's words, Rokossovsky's mood also became depressed: "Is there really no way to solve the problem of insufficient soldiers in the army?" ”