At nine o'clock in the morning of June 23, Zhukov took the head of the Southwestern Front and the chief of staff to the command post of the 8th Mechanized Army to ask the commander of the army, Lieutenant General Dmitry Ivanovich Ryabes_pr6 mntpnn_n ev, about the situation of the troops and discuss the problems of counteroffensive operations. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

This mechanized corps consisted of three tank divisions (12, 34, 7) with a total of 900 tanks. Of these, 340 were the most advanced T-34-85 medium tanks at the time, with relatively strong firepower and armor, and 130 KV-1 medium tanks.

The rest are some outdated tanks of the T-26, T-28, T-35, BT series, etc., which have been discontinued, but the combat capabilities of these tanks are not inferior to the No. 2 and No. 3 tanks equipped by the main equipment of the German army.

It is not difficult to see from the appearance of Ryabishev and his staff that this mechanized corps in a short time went through a difficult trek from the Drogobech region, south of Lviv, to the Brody region. Even after the long journey, the morale of the officers and men of the whole army was still high, and they were determined to drive the invading fascists out of the territory of the Soviet Union.

"Georgi, we're meeting again." When the commander of the 8th Mechanized Army, Ryabishev, saw Zhukov, he was very excited. As early as when he was working in the Kiev Special Military District, Zhukov already got to know the army commander in front of him and established a deep friendship.

"Yes, Mika (Dmitry's nickname), you're getting more and more general-like now." Seeing an old friend, Zhukov also had to say a polite word.

Due to the urgency of the battle, Ryabishev quickly got to the point, "We have received instructions from the front and are now preparing for a counteroffensive. ”

"What are the preparations? When will it be completed and put into the counteroffensive? Zhukov asked very carefully, since he came here, of course he had to know more. If you only know the surface, you can just call directly from Ternopil, so why bother to go out yourself?

"During this time, our preparations included repairing weapons and replenishing reserves. At the same time, it takes a day and a night to conduct combat reconnaissance and organize command in a short period of time. Therefore, our Eighth Mechanized Corps will not be fully engaged in battle until the morning of June 24. ”

At this time, Manturov, who was the military commissar of the Front, also came over and asked: "On the morning of June 24?" That is, tomorrow morning, in the course of a day, are you sure you can do all the preparations? ”

"Comrade Military Commissar, I guarantee that our Eighth Mechanized Corps will be able to complete all the preparations within 24 hours. Of course, if we were given one more day, we would be more prepared, and the soldiers would have more rest, and when they counterattacked, they would naturally be able to play a better fighting ability. Ryabishev explained.

Zhukov clearly understood that after the march, the soldiers needed time to rest, and the troops needed to replenish more supplies in order to have the desired combat effect, so he agreed to Ryabishev's request, "Okay, then I'll give you another day." I hope you can make good use of your time and replenish enough supplies so that the soldiers can have a better rest. ”

"No way!" Manturov did not believe that this arrangement would be conducive to the development of the war, "We must be ready for battle as soon as possible, launch an attack on the enemy's armored forces, and destroy their 3rd and 48th Panzer Corps as soon as possible, which will greatly weaken the combat effectiveness of the German 1st Tank Group." ”

"Then why do you have to attack tomorrow?" Zhukov did not understand what Manturov meant, but he did not ignore Manturov's opinion. Although Manturov was not a soldier, but a political worker sent by the central government to supervise the army, Zhukov had already seen Manturov's military talent as early as the Battle of Nomenkhan.

Manturov picked up a pencil and scribbled a line on the map on his desk as he explained what he had speculated, "Everyone, please see, now, the enemy's 48th Panzer Corps has advanced to the southwest of Lutsk and northwest of Brody, probably near Lopatin. By tomorrow morning, there is a good chance that they will advance to an area 20 to 30 kilometres north of Brody.

In addition, the German 3rd Panzer Corps continues to advance east in the area north of Gorokhov, and is expected to advance to the vicinity of Radomiché tomorrow morning and 20 to 35 kilometers southeast of Lutsk in the afternoon. ”

After listening to a long round, Ryabishev still did not see the intention of Manturov, the political commissar (general) of the second-class army, and asked: "Comrade Military Commissar, your analysis of the enemy's movements may be somewhat accurate, but why do you want to attack the enemy army tomorrow, not the day after tomorrow?" ”

"When the Germans go to war, they always have a habit. Their armored forces will always advance rapidly at the front, while their infantry is far from keeping up with the speed of the armored divisions.

Tomorrow afternoon, when the German 48th Panzer Corps advances north of Brody and the 3rd Panzer Corps advances south of Lutsk, the main infantry force closest to them will still remain in the Gorokhov area, more than 40 kilometers away from the Panzer Corps. ”

At this time, Zhukov also understood what Manturov meant, and added to him: "I think Comrade Manturov means that we will concentrate the forces of the 8th and 22nd Mechanized Corps tomorrow morning and launch an attack on the German 48th Panzer Corps and the 3rd Panzer Corps respectively.

In this way, we will be able to take advantage of our superiority in the number of tanks, encircle them east of the Steele River, and quickly annihilate Kleist's main armored force!

Due to the considerable distance between the enemy's main infantry and armored forces, their main forces will not be able to rush to reinforce the armored division 40 kilometers away in a short time, and we now have air supremacy and a large number of PE-2 and Tu-2 bombers.

If they are reinforced, we will send planes and bomb their reinforcements in order to slow down, or even prevent their reinforcements, and at the same time weaken the enemy's vital forces. ”

After Zhukov's explanation, Ryabishev finally understood Manturov's intentions and agreed to this battle plan. But after a while, he found some problems on the map and from what Manturov had just said.

Ryabishev said: "Comrade Manturov, the Germans have the strength of 2 Panzer Corps. Our two mechanized armies alone may not be able to wipe them out in a short period of time. ”

"I think so," Manturov further explained his assumptions, "so we also need to move the 87th and 124th Infantry Divisions, which are responsible for attacking the 25th Motorized Infantry Division of the enemy's 3rd Panzer Army." The 8th and 22nd Mechanized Corps were responsible for outflanking the west of the Steele River and cutting off the enemy's retreat, while the 5th, 9th, and 19th Mechanized Corps launched offensives against the enemy from the southeast, due east, and northeast respectively, to reduce the encirclement.

At the same time, in order to ensure the smooth operation, the 5th Army also tried to contain the German 6th Army in the area west of Lutsk, and the 6th Army of the Red Army to contain the German 17th Army in the Lviv-Rajkhov area, so as to prevent the enemy from advancing eastward and breaking the siege. ”

"How do you contain them?" Kilponos also raised questions with Manturov.

"I feel that we can launch some smaller counter-assaults, and increase the density and frequency of air strikes on the enemy's 17th Army and the 6th Army, and reduce the density of air strikes on the 1st Tank Group of Kleist, so that the enemy thinks that we are concentrating all our efforts on the offensive of the 6th and 17th armies, ignoring the direction of Dubno-Lutsk, so as to relax the enemy's vigilance. At the same time, this will also attract the first tank cluster to accelerate its advance.

After the German 3rd and 48th Panzer Corps had crossed the Steele River, we would send a large number of air forces to attack them, and our ground forces would have to quickly encircle them. Manturov's explanation was detailed, but there were still unresolved problems.

"So, how do we prevent the enemy from discovering our intentions?" Chief of Staff of the Southwestern Front Pulkaev asked.

This time, it was not Manturov who answered the question, but Kirponos, who had just raised the question, "so we must do a good job of air defense and avoid enemy reconnaissance planes approaching." The participating troops should also do a good job of concealment to reduce the chance of being detected by the enemy. (To be continued.) )