Chapter 2322

At this moment, more and more commanders are entering the conference room. Lyudnikov, who is sitting next to Sokov, is an old soldier and has been a commander for many years. He knew many of these new commanders, so he took the initiative to greet them and introduced them to Sokov: "Misha, let me introduce to you. This is the commander of the 1st Red Flag Army. General Loborodov."

"Hello, General Beloborodov!" Although Sokov had never met this general, he had heard of his name, so he said with a smile: "You are the first commander of the 9th Guards Division. , you have made great achievements in the battle to defend Moscow, and you have always been one of my idols."

Sokov did not know Beloborodov, and neither did the other party. But when he saw a major sitting arrogantly at the conference table, he immediately realized that he had an extraordinary background, and turned his attention to Lyudnikov: "Lyudnikov, I wonder who this major is?" Bit?"

Lyudnikov scratched the back of his head and said with some embarrassment: "Beloborodov, please forgive me for not telling you his true identity. His identity cannot be decrypted until the battle begins, but you can Call him Major Matevosyan.”

Beloborodov obviously knew that in order to prevent leaks, many senior commanders used pseudonyms and false identities, so he did not go into details. He shook hands with Sokov, chatted for a while, and then found a place to sit down by himself. .

Through Lyudnikov’s introduction, Sokov met the commanders of the 25th, 35th, 15th, and 16th Group Armies, and shook hands with each other one by one, and exchanged a few simple greetings. But Sokov's true identity was not told to the other party for confidentiality reasons.

When all the commanders attending the meeting had almost arrived, a shout suddenly came from the door: "Comrade Marshal of the Soviet Union has arrived!"

Hearing this shout, all the commanders stopped talking, stood up and stood at attention, waiting for the arrival of several marshals.

A sound of footsteps came from the door. Sokov turned around and saw Marshal Vasilevsky walking in first, but he was wearing the rank of general on his shoulder straps at the moment. Although he used a pseudonym and a false identity, everyone present had seen his photo, and many people, like Sokov, had even greeted Vasilevsky himself, so as soon as he entered the conference room, He was recognized by most of the commanders.

Vasilevsky came to the other end of the conference table, raised his hands and pressed down: "Everyone, please sit down."

After everyone was seated, General Zakharov, whom Sokov knew, walked to the wall, opened the curtain blocking the map, picked up an explanation stick, and told the troops about the deployment of the next Far East campaign. : "Comrade commanders, the northeastern China, Mongolia and northern Goryeo are the areas where we carry out major combat operations, with a total area of ​​1.5 million square kilometers. The land combat area is about 1,500 kilometers in depth from north to south, from west to east. It stretches about 1,200 kilometers. The national borders between China, Mongolia, China, and Korea surround the entire theater from three sides, with a total length of 4,400 kilometers; and the naval battle area where our Pacific Fleet operates...

Generally speaking, Northeast China and the Goryeo Theater belong to a criss-crossing fringe mountains and inland plains. The larger fringe mountain systems include the Greater Khingan Mountains in the west, the Emur'er Mountains, the Yilhuri Mountains and the Lesser Khingan Mountains in the north, and the Greater Khingan Mountains in the east. Laoye Ridge, Zhangguangcai Ridge, Changbai Mountain and North Korea Mountains. These mountains form a barrier 100 to 400 kilometers wide. These inaccessible areas basically cut off the routes from Mongolia, Transbaikal, the Amur River coast and coastal areas to Northeast China, forming a situation that is easy to defend but difficult to attack. .

 …In order to better carry out the Far East campaign, the Supreme Command deployed three front armies in three directions of attack:

The commander of the Transbaikal Front is Marshal Malinovsky, and the chief of staff is General Zakharov. The front consists of the 17th, 36th, 36th, and 53rd armies, as well as the 6th Guards Tank Army, the Soviet Mongolian Cavalry Mechanized Group, the 12th Air Force Army and the Transbaikal Air Defense Army, a total of 654,000 people, 7,000 artillery and mortars, 2,146 tanks and self-propelled artillery, 1,360 anti-tank guns, 583 rocket launchers, 601 anti-aircraft guns and 1,334 A combat aircraft.

The task of this front is to launch in the direction of Transbaikal, to carry out main assaults to Shenyang and Changchun, and to conduct auxiliary assaults to Zhangjiakou and Hailar. In order to give full play to the main assault role of this front in the entire campaign, we assigned the only tank army to this direction. After the battle begins, the tank group army must cross the Greater Khingan Mountains within five days, and then advance to the Shenyang-Changchun line to annihilate the Kwantung Army in the area. "

Zakharov then introduced the combat missions of the 1st and 2nd Far East Fronts, and finally said: "This strategic offensive in the Far East Campaign includes the Xing'anling-Shenyang Battle, Harbin-Jilin Battle, Songhua River Battle, Nansha The Battle of Harlem and the Thousand Islands. In order to achieve the surprise of the battle, we will communicate the specific time of the start of the battle two days before the start of the battle to prevent spies from being informed of our attack plan."

After assigning the task, Vasilevsky stood up, glanced at the commanders present, and asked expressionlessly: "Do you have any questions?"

As soon as he finished speaking, countless hands were raised. After understanding their combat missions, many commanders were eager to know some details. Now that it’s time to ask questions, everyone is very enthusiastic.

Sokov accidentally found a lieutenant colonel with an Asian face sitting by the wall not far from Vasilevsky. He approached Lyudnikov and asked in a low voice: "Lyudnikov, look at it." Do you know the lieutenant colonel sitting near Comrade Marshal?"

Lyudnikov's eyes quickly locked on the lieutenant colonel. He stared at him for a while, then slowly shook his head and said: "I'm sorry, Misha, I have never seen this person before, no. know."

Although Sokov knew that many of the commanders who came to the meeting today used pseudonyms and fake military ranks, the lieutenant colonel sitting in the corner clearly did not use fake military ranks. He couldn't help but become curious about this person. Why was this lieutenant colonel qualified to participate in such a highly classified military meeting?

The answer was soon revealed. When Vasilevskiy announced the adjournment of the meeting, Zakharov stood up and said: "Please ask the commander of the Transbaikal Front to stay for a moment."

Sokov guessed that Marshal Malinovsky must have something to explain, so he and Lyudnikov sat there without moving, quietly waiting for the commanders of the other two fronts to leave. Halfway through, he turned his head and glanced at where Yakov and Lukin were, and felt much more at ease when he saw the two of them sitting quietly in their seats.

"Comrade commanders," after only the commander of the Transbaikal Front was left in the conference room, Malinovsky walked to the seat that originally belonged to Vasilevsky, sat down, and greeted everyone: "At the conference table There are still a lot of empty seats, so please sit over here so that you can hear what I say more clearly."

After everyone had sat down, Zaharov said on behalf of Malinovsky: "Comrade commanders, I would like to introduce to you a commander from China." As he said that, he pointed his hand at the man sitting in the corner. The lieutenant colonel pointed, "This is the brigade commander of the 88th International Brigade."

Seeing that everyone was focusing on him, the lieutenant colonel and brigade commander quickly stood up and pulled the hem of his clothes with his hands. Then he quickly walked to the table and raised his hand to the commander sitting at the conference table. Hand salute.

"Please take a seat, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." After Zakharov greeted the Lieutenant Colonel to sit down, he said to everyone: "Comrade commanders, this brigade commander is from the Anti-Japanese Alliance in China. They fought with the Anti-Japanese Alliance in a difficult environment. The Kwantung Army, which had superior strength and equipment, fought tenaciously. In the end, in order to preserve its strength, it had to retreat to our country in batches and was transformed into the 88th International Brigade. Now we are about to fight the Kwantung Army. They will Allocate manpower to cooperate with our operations, enter the Northeast in advance, and collect information about the Kwantung Army. After the offensive operations begin, they will also serve as guides for us..."       Learned that the commanders and fighters of the 88th International Brigade will fight side by side with his own troops, Sokov My heart couldn't help but get excited. With the cooperation of these friendly forces who are familiar with the terrain, it will become easier to defeat the Kwantung Army.

The meeting did not last long before Zakharov announced that the meeting was adjourned.

However, he still stopped Sokov and asked: "Major Matevosyan, when do you plan to take up the post in the 53rd Army?"

"Of course, the sooner the better, Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army." Sokov thought that he still didn't know where the troops were, so he asked tentatively: "I want to ask, where are my troops deployed now? "

"Here, you're here." Zakharov led Sokov to the map, pointed at a location with his explanatory stick, and said to him: "The 53rd Army is stationed here. Early tomorrow morning, I will give him You arrange a special plane to take you to the 53rd Army Headquarters."

Sokov looked at the lieutenant colonel standing not far away and asked Zakharov tentatively: "Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, didn't you say that the comrades of the 88th International Brigade intend to cooperate with us in fighting? Can you tell me , Where are they stationed now?"

"The main force of the 88th International Brigade is stationed on the outskirts of Khabarovsk." Zakharov said to Sokov: "If you are interested, you can follow the lieutenant colonel to his unit to have a look. If you think it is appropriate , I can take some people with you to the 53rd Army Headquarters."

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," Sokov walked up to the Lieutenant Colonel, smiled politely at him, and then said: "I think you must have heard what the Chief of Staff of the Front Army said. Can you take us to your unit? See?"

“Comrade Major.” The lieutenant colonel asked with some confusion, “Can you tell me which army you are from?”

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." Before Sokov could speak, Zakharov said from the side: "Since you want to send personnel to his unit, then I will tell you the truth. He is the commander of the 53rd Group Army. General Kove, sitting next to him in a wheelchair is his deputy commander, Lieutenant General Lukin, and the other is the chief of staff, Major General Yakov."

The lieutenant colonel originally thought that Sokov was an ordinary major, and he was quite puzzled. Why could a major attend such a high-level military meeting openly and sit beside the conference table with a carefree attitude? After learning Sokov's true identity, he quickly stood at attention and raised his hand to salute Sokov: "Hello, Comrade General!"

“Comrade Lieutenant Colonel,” Sokov repeated what he just said: “Can you take us to visit your unit?”

"Of course, Comrade General." The lieutenant colonel nodded and said, "Please come with me."

Sokov and others followed the lieutenant colonel and walked out of the headquarters building. The military meeting should have ended at this moment, and the martial law near the headquarters has been lifted. Bezikov and the guard soldiers are staying at the door, waiting for Sokov and others to come out.

Seeing Sokov coming out at this moment, Bezikov hurriedly came up to him and asked politely: "Comrade Commander, shall we go back now?"

“Comrade Major,” Sokov said to Bezikov, “We are not going back to the guest house for the time being. We need to go to the countryside first.”

Hearing that Sokov was going to the suburbs, Bezikov couldn't help being shocked: "Comrade Commander, why are you going to the suburbs? You know, the city is so tightly guarded, and there are spies who have been sneaking in. If you want to If you go to the countryside, your safety may not be guaranteed."

"Comrade Major, we are going to the 88th International Brigade's station in the suburbs." Sokov pointed to the lieutenant colonel standing next to him and said: "This is the commander of the 88th International Brigade. He has his Accompany me, I think there shouldn’t be any danger when we go to the countryside.”

Now that Sokov has said this, Bezikov wants to object, which is obviously not possible. He can only nodded and said helplessly: "Okay, Comrade Commander, since you have made a decision, Then I will take the security team to accompany you."

 The lieutenant colonel came here for a meeting and came by jeep. Seeing that Sokov and others had discussed it, he came over and said: "Comrade General, my car is opening the road in front, you can just follow it." After saying that, he came to a jeep in front, opened the door and sat down Got in.

Seeing the Lieutenant Colonel get on the bus, Sokov quickly called for others to get on the bus as well.

The lieutenant colonel sitting in the car in front saw Sokov and his men getting into the car. He patted the driver on the shoulder and told the driver: "Let's go back to the camp."

Sokov, who was sitting in the car behind, saw that the jeep the lieutenant colonel was riding in had already started, and he quickly ordered Bezikov: "Comrade major, follow the jeep in front, he will take us to the camp in the suburbs."

 (End of this chapter)