At 1:45 p.m. on 20 June, a Gaz A-type staff officer rushed into the Kremlin's parking lot in a convertible.

Before the car could stop, the rear door was pushed open from the inside, and a marshal with an oversized mustache jumped out of the car and strode towards the office area.

The person who came was none other than Marshal Budyonny, commander-in-chief of the Southwestern Direction of the Soviet Red Army.

The old marshal carried his briefcase and worriedly passed through one doorman after another.

There is no need to check documents, and the iconic beard on his face is the best proof of identification.

Walking unhindered to the conference room, and pushing open the door of the conference room, Marshal Budyonny saw that the room was already full.

Stalin sat in the middle of his desk, and Marshal Timoshenko, Marshal Shaposhnikov, Marshal Kulik, and General Zhukov sat on either side.

Seeing Marshal Budyonny in the dust, Stalin warmly got up to greet him and personally led him to the first chair on the left-hand side.

Marshal Budyonny, seeing that Stalin did not pursue his intention of defeat, calmed down and waited for Stalin to announce the opening of the meeting.

Stalin did not let everyone wait, glanced around the conference room, and when everyone had arrived, he put down his pipe.

"Today's meeting is more important than ever, because there are signs that the Germans are about to launch an attack on the Soviet mainland, and what we are going to discuss today is how to defeat the German attack and take advantage of the opportunity to counterattack the German mainland. Marshal Zhukov, you come to inform the comrades about the military situation at the front, so that the comrades know what the Germans are doing. ”

Zhukov got up and walked to the wall opposite Stalin, picked up the whip and pointed to the map of the Soviet-German border on the wall, and said: "The Luftwaffe's reconnaissance operations in the border areas are becoming more and more frequent, especially in the Ukrainian areas. The districts of the Central Front were the most severe. According to statistics. In the last five days. The number of reconnaissance aircraft incursions over the military districts of the Central Front was 387, which was 54 more than the figures reported by the Northwestern Front and the Western Front combined.

In the Baltic direction, the Baltic Red Banner flotilla seven times spotted submarines of unknown nationality trying to approach the Gulf of Finland.

On the ground border, our lurking scouts also detected signs of activity of German Army scouts, especially in the vicinity of the Central Front's districts, and in Przemyśl and other places, the enemy's border guards had begun to cut the barbed wire fence along the border. ”

Stalin waved his hand to stop Marshal Zhukov's explanation, and continued: "All the signs are indicated. The German offensive was about to be launched, and the main direction of the attack was the same as we expected, in Ukraine, on the Central Front. ”

Marshal Shaposhnikov, who was suave and always full of aristocratic manners, was the first to nod his head, agreeing with Stalin's judgment.

"When the General Secretary strongly proposed to attack Hungary and Romania, he had already prepared a plan, or rather, he had set a trap for the Germans, and now the Germans have fallen into our trap. What we're about to do is wait for the Germans to get into the trap. Tighten the noose and wipe out the Germans outside the Panther line. Then take advantage of the situation to attack the German mainland. The war situation is developing according to the judgment of the general secretary, and we only need to fight according to the predetermined plan. ”

Hearing Marshal Shaposhnikov's inconspicuous sycophancy, Stalin smiled smugly and smoked his pipe.

Marshal Timoshenko continued: "The Germans must have wanted to rush into Ukraine and outflank the rear of our troops in Hungary and Romania, and we can just take advantage of this psychology of theirs to fight them in a decisive battle on the territory of Ukraine and annihilate their main forces." ”

Stalin looked at Marshal Budyonny and said with a smile: "Dear Comrade Budyonny, this difficult task is about to fall on your shoulders, as the commander-in-chief of the South-Western Direction, do you have anything to say about the upcoming decisive battle?" ”

Marshal Budyonny quickly cleared his mind and said bluntly: "Our two tank armies have already been assembled behind the back of the Central Front, and after waiting for the Germans for almost a month, now they are finally waiting for the start of the war. The comrades have already recuperated their spirits and are waiting to beat the Germans head-on, but the report I sent back was not distributed to the front? ”

Zhukov saw Budyonny looking at him, his eyes full of inquiry.

He returned to his seat and said, "You are talking about the investigation report of the German-army battle?" The General Staff has already sorted out and distributed to the various units on the front, just in time to come in handy in the coming war. ”

Marshal Budyonny looked at Marshal Kulik, who was the head of the Ordnance Department.

"The actual combat has proved that the 76.2 mm tank guns on our T-34 tank and KV-1 tank can barely deal with the German No. 4 tank, but in the face of the Germans' more powerful heavy tanks, and the kind of turretless tanks are very difficult, and the Ordnance Department must replace our tanks with more powerful tank guns as soon as possible, otherwise it will be a crime for the tankers."

Budyonny said as he took out two blank sheets of paper from his briefcase and unfolded them with the help of Marshal Timoshengo beside him.

On the first white sheet of paper, the front and sides of a tank were drawn.

It's so handsome! This was the first impression that the tank graphics made on everyone in the conference room.

"This is drawn according to the dictation of the front-line soldiers, this tank is very large, about the same size as our KV-1 tank, powerful, on the territory of Romania and Hungary, both fronts have encountered this tank in battles, because we do not know his model, we can only call it the X tank for the time being, all our tanks now are not its opponents. How many of these X-tanks there are, we don't know at all, but I can be sure that over time, there will definitely be more and more of them. Therefore, the study of new tanks is the most important task of the Ordnance Department at the moment. ”

Marshal Kulik nodded and said: "After receiving feedback from the front, our Ordnance Department has begun to upgrade the tank gun, and the results will be available soon." What is drawn on the second piece of paper? ”

Marshal Budyonny unfolded the second piece of paper, on which a tank destroyer No. 4 was drawn.

"This weapon is also based on the oral description of the front-line soldiers, it seems to be a weapon modified from the chassis of the No. 4 tank, this weapon is very lethal to our tank clusters, especially in ambush warfare, I suggest that the Ordnance Department design a similar weapon after this weapon."

Marshal Kulik did not speak, but looked at Stalin first.

Copying the enemy's weapon design style naked-naked will not damage the self-esteem of the general secretary.

Stalin's answer was straightforward.

"As long as this weapon is effective, no matter whose design it is, we can refer to it, don't give up learning because of vanity, the Ordnance Department will take it to study as soon as possible, design a new weapon that belongs to us, and then distribute it to the troops.

What Marshal Budyonny has just said is a matter of detail, and your General Staff and the Ordnance Department will discuss it at a later meeting, and we will now return to the subject of the meeting and continue to discuss the decisive battle that is about to take place. ”

"Marshal Budyonny is already preparing for a decisive battle with the Germans in Ukraine, let's discuss the operational plans of the Western Front and the North-Western Front," Zhukov said. ”

"The Western Front and the Northwestern Front are ready for battle, they will hold off the Germans in the Baltic states and in the Polish regions under our control, and then wait for a joint counterattack after a decisive battle on the Central Front," said Marshal Timoshenko. The main force of the Germans is in Ukraine, and the Germans who attack them will not be very strong, and the purpose must be to drag them down and prevent them from rushing to the southern front, and there will be no problems in the battle in these two directions. ”

Stalin said: "Well, in short, the victory of the war depends on the Central Front, on the performance of our dear Marshal Budyonny, and on the future of our great Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and I believe that you will be able to shoulder this heavy responsibility." ”

Marshal Budyonny's heart sank when he saw that the eyes of everyone in the room were focused on him.

Unlike the crowd in the rear, he had just returned from the front and had a clear understanding of the gap in the combat effectiveness of the German and Soviet armies.

The gap in the quality of officers, the quality of soldiers, and the gap in weaponry all show that the Central Front Army will face a vicious battle, and moreover, it will be a vicious battle that has a bearing on the fate of the country.

After hesitating for a while, Marshal Budyonny's heart suddenly welled up with pride.

"Any enemy who stepped into the territory of the USSR would be turned into corpses and buried in the ground, and the soil of the USSR would be nourished with their flesh and blood, and victory in the war would surely belong to the great Soviet Red Army."

Hearing Marshal Budyonny's rhetoric, Stalin nodded with satisfaction.

"You're right, victory will be ours. However, this war is so important that it will not only determine the safety of our homeland, but also whether we can plant our flag all over Europe, so we cannot limit the war to the army.

I have already decided that the day after the German attack on our homeland, I will give the order for a general mobilization.

At that time, every man and woman in the USSR, young and old, every ton of iron ore, every drop of oil, will serve the war that is about to break out until the day when we achieve final victory. (To be continued......)