The Germans deployed the 10th Panzer Division, an SS division, and other units outside Yelnya to block the dead Kalinin's 24th Army. In order to prevent www.biquge.info the enemy from continuing to advance in the direction of Moscow, Kalinin used his troops and technical equipment to carry out heavy artillery strikes and rapid assaults on the areas occupied by the enemy for a month.

However, due to the enemy's superiority in terms of strength and technical equipment, and the fact that it also firmly held the air supremacy of the battlefield, the 24th Army could only do all this to delay the German army in the Yelnya area, and could not recapture the city that had long been occupied by the Germans.

Zhukov told Rokossovsky that his troops would launch a full-scale counteroffensive against the Germans in the Yelnya area on the evening of August 29, but that an unexpected situation arose a few hours before the battle began.

As soon as Zhukov gave the order to prepare for battle to the two commanders of the 24th and 43rd armies, which were about to enter the battle, the chief of staff, Major General Liapin, hurriedly walked in from outside and said with a little emotion: "Comrade commander, I have just received the latest information. ”

Zhukov glanced at his chief of staff and said in a dissatisfied tone: "What kind of information is worth your gaffe now." ”

"I just received information from a reconnaissance group," Liapin said excitedly, "and they found that the German tank column was leaving Yelnya and heading south. ”

"What, the Germans are retreating?" When Zhukov heard the news, his brows immediately furrowed, he looked at Liapin and asked vigilantly: "Comrade Chief of Staff, where did you send this reconnaissance group you are talking about, is it reliable?" Also, the information they provided could not be a disinformation deliberately spread by the Germans, right? ”

"No, Comrade Commander." Liapin spoke very quickly: "These scouts are all long-tested old party members, and they are absolutely credible. And the information they provided, which I also checked with the intelligence service of the 24th Army, also proved that they did see German tank units heading south. After reconnaissance, it turned out that this was Guderian's 46th Tank Army. ”

Zhukov hurriedly looked down at the map in front of him, and after looking at it for a while, he finally saw the problem. After slapping the table heavily, he said loudly: "Cunning Guderian, he mobilized the tank troops to the south at this time, but he wanted to cut off the back road of the defenders of Kiev. ”

After figuring out the enemy's intentions, Liapin was also taken aback, and hurriedly asked Zhukov: "Comrade General, what should we do then?" Is it necessary to immediately launch an offensive against the enemy, leaving their armored forces behind? ”

Zhukov stood up and walked back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back, his mind quickly thinking about what to do. After walking for about ten minutes, he finally stopped and said to Liapin: "No, Comrade Chief of Staff, not only can we not attack in advance. On the contrary, it is necessary to postpone the attack. ”

"Comrade Commander, why is that?" Liapin asked, confused.

"It doesn't matter if we attack early or on time." Zhukov said resolutely: "The attacking troops are likely to be counterattacked by the German armored forces, and in the face of such a large number of armored forces, our troops, which are mainly light firearms, will pay a huge price." Therefore, I decided to postpone the attack until tomorrow morning, so that with the transfer of Gudeli's armored troops, the German forces in Yelnya would be weakened, and our counterattack would have the desired effect. ”

Liapin looked at Zhukov hesitantly and asked, "But our offensive plan has already been reported to the Supreme Command, and it may not be appropriate to revise the battle plan at this time......

"Okay, Comrade Chief of Staff, I have the final say in this matter." Zhukov interrupted him and said to himself: "If the Supreme Command wants to pursue it, I will bear the responsibility alone. Now you immediately inform the commanders of the 24th and 43rd armies and ask them to change the time of the attack to seven o'clock tomorrow morning. ”

"Yes!" Leah said yes with little confidence, and then turned around and went to convey Zhukov's order.

Zhukov watched Lyapin call the other two army commanders, and suddenly remembered that he had told Rokossovsky about the battle plan, and now that he had revised the time of the attack, if he had not informed him to adjust accordingly, his troops might suffer a great loss in tonight's battle.

Thinking of this, he picked up the high-frequency phone in front of him and dialed the headquarters of the 16th Army. As soon as he heard someone talking in the earpiece, he went straight to the point and said: "I'm Zhukov, find me Rokossovsky." ”

The person who answered the phone was Ma Linin, and when he heard that Zhukov was looking for his commander, he hurriedly and respectfully said: "It turns out to be Comrade General, please wait a moment, I will let the commander answer the phone immediately." ”

Rokossovsky knew that Zhukov was looking for him at this time, and it was definitely not for small talk, but for something important, so he hurriedly rushed to Malinin's side, took the microphone from his hand, put it in his ear and said: "Hello, comrade general, do you have any instructions?" ”

"That's right, Comrade Rokossovsky." Because of the urgency of time, Zhukov did not go around in circles with him, but said straight to the point: "The current situation has changed, and our offensive time will be postponed until early tomorrow morning." ”

"Why, Comrade General?" Rokossovsky was just arranging for the artillery to cooperate with the troops' night attack, when he heard the news that Zhukov was going to postpone the attack, he couldn't help but be taken aback, and hurriedly asked: "Is there something wrong?" ”

"According to the report of the reconnaissance group, the enemy's 46th Tank Army left Yelnya and headed south." Zhukov did not directly say the reason, but first told the results of the reconnaissance.

When Rokossovsky heard Zhukov say this, he hurriedly looked down at the bow in front of him, and continued his rapid search south of Yelnya to find the possible whereabouts of the German tank troops. When his finger pointed at Kyiv, he couldn't help but exclaim: "My God, the German Panzer Corps left Yelnya at this time and headed south, most likely preparing to cut off the retreat of the Southwestern Front from the northeast of Kiev." ”

Zhukov couldn't help but be a little surprised to hear that Rokossovsky came to the same conclusion as himself so quickly: "Comrade Rokossovsky, how did you guess? You know, I thought about it for a while before I came to this conclusion. ”

Of course, Rokossovsky would not tell him that it was because he had the memory of later generations that he was able to guess the whereabouts of the German Panzer Army in such a short time, but pretended to be mysterious: "Comrade General, I analyzed the situation of the enemy and us on the map. ”

"That's right, you're right." Zhukov said approvingly: "If you can continue to maintain your state, maybe in less than two years, you will also be able to become the commander of the front." ”

When Rokossovsky heard Zhukov say this, he couldn't help but laugh dumbly, and said in his heart that he would not only become the commander of the front army in the future, but also become the marshal of the Soviet Union. He asked into the microphone: "Comrade General, I don't know how long you have postponed the attack?" ”

"Seven o'clock tomorrow morning." Zhukov replied: "Before the attack, in addition to the routine artillery preparations, I intend to dispatch the entire air force to deliver a devastating blow to the enemy's defensive positions and exposed technical equipment, to reduce resistance to our counterattack forces." ”

Dispatching the Air Force, when he heard this phrase, Rokossovsky's heart beat suddenly. You must know that from the outbreak of the war to the present, Soviet fighters have hardly been seen in the sky. More than a month ago, although they saw their own fighters in the air, not only did they fail to provide effective air support to the ground troops, but they were also beaten down by the superior German bombers.

He took a few deep breaths, tried to keep his emotions calm, and asked, "Comrade General, I don't know how many fighters we can dispatch tomorrow?" ”

"At least two aeronautical divisions." Zhukov did not hesitate to say: "The number of fighters and bombers combined will not be less than 150, which will be enough for the Germans to drink a pot by then." ”

Knowing that so many planes were participating in the battle, Rokossovsky couldn't help but feel itchy, and he asked tentatively: "Comrade General, if I postpone the battle to encircle and annihilate the German army on the east bank of the Wopi River until tomorrow day, I wonder if you can send planes to support us." Fearing that Zhukov would reject him, he also made a special complaint, saying, "Since the enemy has air supremacy, our artillery units do not dare to participate in the battle casually unless they have to, lest they be bombed by enemy planes......

"Alright, alright, Comrade Rokossovsky." Zhukov didn't wait for him to finish, then interrupted his later words, "I will send you two fighter groups and a bomber group, not only to attack the enemy on the east bank of the Vopi River, but even the artillery positions on the west bank, I will also let them help you solve them." You see, okay? ”

"Okay, okay, no problem." When Rokossovsky heard Zhukov's promise, he nodded again and again and said: "As long as there is air support, our troops will definitely be able to defeat the enemy." ”

As soon as he put down the phone, Rokossovsky immediately instructed Malinin: "Chief of Staff, call several division commanders who are preparing for a night battle, and the original battle plan has been canceled. The time of the attack on the enemy was postponed until seven o'clock tomorrow morning. ”

"But, comrade commander, why is that?" Malinin asked in confusion after hearing Rokossovsky's somewhat inexplicable order.

"Yes, Comrade Commander." As soon as Malinin finished speaking, Kazakov also continued: "If our artillery were to participate in the battle during the day, in addition to the retaliatory strike of the German artillery, it would also be possible to receive a blow from the air. ”

"The situation has changed, so let's come and see." Rokossovsky called several of his subordinates to the table, and after everyone had formed a circle, he pointed to the map and said: "General Zhukov has just informed me that the German 46th Panzer Army has left Yelnya and is moving south!" ”

"The enemy's armored corps is pulling south?!" Hearing Rokossovsky say this, Lobachev, who was the first to express doubts, frowned and said: "Could there be any conspiracy here, knowing that General Zhukov's troops are gathering in the Yelnya region, it is impossible for the enemy not to know, but now instead of increasing troops in this area, they are also transferring the most combat-effective armored units, which is a bit too illogical." ”

"That's right, Comrade Commander," Malinin chimed in, "there must be some conspiracy of the enemy. They may have tried to give us the illusion that when our troops would take it lightly, they would suddenly turn back and launch a surprise attack on our troops in the area. ”

In response to Lobachev and Malinin's questioning, Rokossovsky waved his hand and said: "Don't worry, the Germans transferred their armored forces at this time, not because they set up any ecstasy array for us, but because they need this force to the northeast of Kyiv to cut off the retreat of the Southwestern Front." ”

Kyiv is now going on a decisive battle, and everyone in the command knows about it, so everyone nodded in agreement with Rokossovsky's statement after staring at the map for a while.

Kazakov again raised his concerns to Rokossovsky: "Comrade commander, I still say the same thing, if the artillery is allowed to participate in the battle during the day, it is very likely that there will be heavy losses under the double blow of the German artillery and the air force. Think again! ”

"Don't worry, Comrade Chief of Artillery." Rokossovsky looked at Kazakov and said to him with a smile: "Comrade General will send two brigades of fighters and one brigade of bombers tomorrow to bomb the German positions on both sides of the Wopi River. As long as the enemy's artillery and tank units suffer heavy losses, then the pressure on us when carrying out counteroffensive tasks will be greatly reduced. ”

"I see." After some explanation by Rokossovsky, Chief of Staff Malinin finally understood what was going on. He immediately straightened up and said to Rokossovsky: "Comrade commander, I will go and call the three division commanders Lidyukov, Kirillov and Orlov and inform them that the attack will be postponed until seven o'clock tomorrow morning. ”

Malinin took two steps towards the place where the telephone was set not far away, then stopped, turned his head and asked Rokossovsky again: "Comrade commander, do you need to tell them the reason for the postponement of the attack?" ”

"No, you don't have to tell them why." Rokossovsky said in a resolute tone: "In order to prevent leaks, the reason for postponing the offensive is limited to a few of our army group leaders. ”

"Don't worry, Comrade Commander, we have studied the regulations on secrecy and know what we can and cannot say." After expressing his position to Rokossovsky, Kazakov added: "I will call the commander of the artillery now and ask them to postpone the shelling until tomorrow morning." (To be continued.) )