Chapter 1796

   "General Zakharov, what place did you just mention?" Zhukov asked bluntly, "Morenqi Village?"

   "Yes, Comrade Marshal. It is the village of Morenzi!" Zakharov replied: "It is the hometown of the famous Ukrainian folk poet Taras Shevchenko."

   Zhukov frowned after hearing this, and he said to Konev: "Comrade Konev, let's go to Morenzi Village to see the situation."

   Before Konev expressed his opinion on Zhukov's proposal, Zakharov persuaded him: "Comrade Marshal, there was just an unknown bombing there, I think it's better not to go."

Konev saw that Zhukov's face was livid, and knew that the other party was angry, so he hurried out to smooth things over: "Okay, Comrade Marshal, I'll go with you. Comrade Chief of Staff," he said to Zakharov, " Immediately prepare two armored vehicles, and we will all go there in armored vehicles."

"There is no need for armored vehicles." Unexpectedly, Zhukov put forward a different opinion: "Now the surrounding area is our defense zone, and there is no need for armored vehicles. If the rockets used by the enemy for bombing are powerful, let alone armored vehicles, we will be considered as tanks. There is still the possibility of being destroyed."

   "Well, let's go there in a jeep so that we can get to our destination quickly." Konev told Zakharov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, arrange a vehicle for travel immediately."

  Although Zhukov advocated light vehicles and simple obedience, the people who went to Morenqi Village this time. There are two marshals and a marshal of the armored forces. Once any accident happens to any of them, it will bring disastrous consequences. Therefore, in addition to the three jeeps for the three people, Zakharov also arranged for one of the most capable The company of guards accompanied them. Even if you encounter a small group of enemies on the road, you can still destroy them.

  When the convoy of Zhukov and others arrived at Morenzi Village, forty minutes had passed since the explosion.

  A major stood at the entrance of the village. When he saw the convoy approaching, he quickly waved his hand to signal the convoy to stop.

  Konev was sitting in the first jeep. After ordering the driver to stop, he opened the door, leaned out halfway, and asked the major, "Are you the garrison battalion commander of Morenzi Village?"

"Yes, Comrade Marshal." Even though it has been less than 24 hours since Konev received the Marshal's epaulets, the commanders and fighters of the entire Ukrainian Second Front Army knew the good news, so everyone called him quietly. Variety.

  Konev got out of the car, stood in front of the major, and said expressionlessly: "Comrade major, tell us about the situation, what happened?"

"Comrade Marshal, the situation is as follows." The major introduced the situation to Konev and said: "Less than an hour ago, a huge explosion suddenly occurred to the west of the village, and all the wooden houses near the bombing point were blown up. The glass of the wooden house was also completely shattered by the shock wave of the explosion..."

   "Comrade Major," Zhukov who had just walked over interrupted the other party's words, and said straight to the point: "Tell me the specific number of casualties in the village."

  The major first saluted Zhukov, and then said: "Reporting to Comrade Marshal, it is difficult to count the specific number of casualties. Because the people near the bombing site were blown to pieces."

   "Then how did you get the number of casualties you reported?" Konev asked.

"Comrade Marshal," the major replied with some embarrassment, "we counted the remaining limbs and dead bodies near the bombing site. Let's put it this way, the people in the west of the village basically died in the explosion, and the people in the center of the village died." Either dead or injured. Even those who stayed in the east of the village, almost everyone was injured."

   "Take us in and have a look." Zhukov said with a straight face.

  The major did not dare to neglect, and quickly acted as a guide, leading Zhukov, Konev and others to the west of the village to check the explosion site.

  Zhukov looked while walking, and sure enough, all the window panes in the village were shattered, and the ground was covered with glass shards. And along the way, you can see people covered in injuries, some lying on stretchers by the side of the road screaming, and some are receiving simple bandages by health workers.

  Finally came to the west of the village. The buildings here were all destroyed, leaving only a huge black crater with wisps of smoke rising from the bottom of the crater. Standing by the crater, one could feel the scorching heat coming from inside.

Konev stood by the crater, looked down at the depth and diameter of the crater, then raised his head and said to Zhukov: "Comrade Marshal, it seems that Sokov is right. The new rockets used by the German army not only have a long range And it's powerful."

Even at this time, Zhukov was still unwilling to admit that the Germans possessed a weapon with a range of hundreds of kilometers. He shook his head and said, "Maybe Misha made a mistake. The crater was dropped by a German plane." made of bombs."

   "Comrade Major," Konev waited for Zhukov to finish speaking, then turned his head and asked the major standing behind him, "Where were you when the explosion happened?"

"I'm in the woods to the east of the village," the major explained to Konev. "I'm training new recruits, teaching them how to use weapons. While training, there was a huge explosion in the village of Morenzi, and I I hurried over with the soldiers, but I only saw corpses all over the ground and howling wounded."

   "Then before the explosion, did you see a German plane appearing in the sky?"

"No, absolutely not." The major continued: "Our training location is no more than one kilometer away from the bombing point. If we are really bombed by enemy planes, we can always see the planes in the sky. However, before the explosion, we Didn't see anything."

"Comrade Marshal, it is basically confirmed." Konev said: "What Sokov said is true. The German army has weapons that can attack our army from a long distance, and can target our key targets hundreds of kilometers away. strike."

   Hearing what Konev said, Zhukov was silent for a moment, and asked back: "Comrade Konev, I remember your headquarters. It was set up in Morenzi Village not long ago, right? I don't know where it is set up?"

   "It can still be there." Konev pointed to the dilapidated brick-concrete building two to three hundred meters away: "Here, my headquarters was set up there at that time."

Zhukov looked at the bomb crater in front of him, then at the buildings that were obviously knocked down by the explosion shock wave, and said happily: "Comrade Konev, it's fortunate that your headquarters has been transferred, otherwise the enemy's rockets will fall. People in your headquarters would suffer enormous casualties."

Konev thought that the casualties of members of the headquarters were trivial matters. When his headquarters was stationed in the village, there was a full battalion of guards. If the German rockets fell before the headquarters was transferred, the number of casualties would be geometric. The progression goes up.

   "Major, are there any solid buildings nearby?" Konev planned to contact Sokov immediately in order to obtain more useful information from him, so he asked the major: "I want to prepare to communicate with the troops below."

  The major looked left and right, and finally pointed at the half-collapsed village Soviet office with his hand, and said, "Comrade Marshal, the only sturdiest building in the village today is the brick-and-concrete house."

Konev and others followed the major to the village Soviet's office. The building here had been destroyed beyond recognition by the explosion shock wave. The roof was gone, and the wall near the blast site also fell down. There are bricks and rubble everywhere, and there is not even a place to stay.

   Fortunately, Konev brought a lot of people, and after giving an order, within ten minutes, a clean place was cleared out of the room. At this time, the accompanying communication soldiers also set up telephone lines, allowing them to communicate directly with the outside world.

  Sokov was surprised when he received a call from Konev. He asked in surprise, "Comrade Marshal, do you have any latest instructions?"

   "Comrade Sokov," Konev hesitated for a long time, and finally said with difficulty: "You are correct, the Germans really have rockets with a range of more than 100 kilometers."

   Hearing what Konev said, Sokov asked blankly: "Comrade Marshal, how do you know?"

"An hour ago, the village of Morenzi was attacked by rockets of the German army, and the number of casualties exceeded 300." Konev said into the microphone: "At first we thought the village was under an air raid, but after understanding, Before the explosion, our commanders did not find enemy aircraft in the sky at all, which shows that we were hit by a long-range attack."

"Comrade Marshal, I have a question." Sokov thought to himself that since the Germans used V1 missiles to attack the Soviet army, they should be used to attack important targets. What if the missile hit an inconspicuous village? "The enemy's rockets, why did they attack an inconspicuous small village?"

"Comrade Sokov, Morenzi Village is not an inconspicuous small village." Seeing that Sokov knew nothing about Morenzi Village, Konev explained to him: "In addition to being a famous Ukrainian folk poet The hometown of Taras Shevchenko, not long ago, my headquarters was also located here."

"Ah~!" Sokov was taken aback by what Konev said later. Although he had been to Konev's headquarters many times during the Battle of Cherkasy, the village where the headquarters was located at that time was called What name, he really didn't know. Thinking of the first time the Germans used V1 missiles, the target of the attack was Konev's former headquarters. After thinking about it, it was horrifying to prove that the location of the Front Army headquarters had already been mastered by German scouts. He said with lingering fear: "Comrade Marshal, fortunately your headquarters is not in the village at the moment, otherwise I'm afraid there will be huge casualties."

"That's right," Konev saw the huge crater with his own eyes, and the shock brought him will never be forgotten: "The enemy's rocket is obviously aimed at my headquarters. Fortunately, they don't know that I The headquarters has been transferred a few days ago, otherwise it is really possible to cause us greater losses."

"Misha," at this time Zhukov came over to take the microphone in Konev's hand, and asked Sokov on the other end of the phone: "The German rockets not only have a long range, but also have amazing power. If they Possessing a large number of such weapons is bound to pose a huge threat to our army."

   It was the first time Sokov heard that the German army actually used V1 missiles on the Soviet-German battlefield. Naturally, he didn't know the number of missiles the opponent had. Therefore, he didn't know how to respond to Zhukov's words.

  After talking about his feelings, Zhukov asked back: "Misha, do you have any way to deal with this new German rocket?"

"Comrade Marshal, according to my analysis, the reason why this kind of rocket can fly so far is most likely because it uses fuel propulsion to increase its range." Sokov explained to Zhukov in a cautious tone. : "This means that the Germans must refuel the rocket before launching it. Refueling is a long process. If we use this time to attack the enemy's launch position, then we can These rockets wiped out the ground."

   "It makes sense, it makes sense." After hearing what Sokov said, Zhukov agreed, and he continued: "Misha, you mean to send troops to attack the enemy's launch position."

"That's right, Comrade Marshal, that's what I mean." Sokov further explained to Zhukov: "According to the scout's report, the German army used a catapult similar to a conveyor belt when launching this rocket. The inconvenient movement of this kind of thing means that we can send the air force to search in the air, and once we find a device similar to a conveyor belt on the ground, we will immediately attack it and destroy the enemy's rockets."

Konev heard the conversation between Zhukov and Sokov clearly. He took the microphone and began to express his opinion: "Attacking ground targets and destroying enemy rockets before launch is indeed a good way. But According to my analysis, for such a powerful rocket, the launch point will definitely not be as dense as the artillery on the artillery position, but should be scattered and concealed. Even if the Germans only set up one launch position within each square kilometer, the It would be a huge loss for us."

  Since, except for a few scouts, no one has seen the German V1 missile with their own eyes so far, Sokov cannot propose to Zhukov and Konev the suggestion of shooting down the V1 missile with an aircraft. He thought for a long time, and finally said: "Comrade Marshal, we don't know how this kind of rocket flies in the air. If we want to intercept it, we obviously don't show it. We want to minimize the loss. The best way at present , One is to use the air force to carry out ground attacks, and the other is to send small units deep behind enemy lines to launch a ground attack on the German launch positions."

"This is a good idea." Hearing that Sokov said that he was going to send a small team to go deep behind the enemy to attack the enemy's launch positions, Konev couldn't help nodding, and said, "We don't know how many launch positions the Germans have. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to send more teams."

"Misha, don't hesitate, act now." Zhukov leaned closer to the microphone and said, "Before dark at the latest, you have to send a small team to go deep behind the enemy's rear to search for the launch positions hidden by the Germans and clean them up thoroughly. wiped out."

   "Comrade Marshal," Sokov heard Zhukov say this, and realized that he had the opportunity to make a condition, so he quickly said, "I have a request."

   "Speak."

"Can you give us a batch of new rockets?" Sukov was afraid that Zhukov would not agree, and he emphasized specifically: "Squads that go deep into the enemy's rear, if they have new rockets, they can attack the enemy's launch positions from a long distance. , so as to reduce unnecessary casualties."

  After walking around the room with his hands behind his back, Zhukov stopped and said decisively to Konev: "Comrade Konev, give Misha what he wants."

  (end of this chapter)