As time passed, all the soldiers and weapons and equipment that were replenished to us were in place, and we were still storing enough weapons and ammunition for a month.

On the evening of the first day of the implementation of the "Rumyantsev" operational plan, I summoned the commanders of all divisions and divisions of the group army, as well as the commanders of tank brigades and artillery regiments, to a meeting at the headquarters, to explain to them in detail the operational plan and to assign tasks to the units.

Looking at the full number of commanders at all levels below, I decided to personally brief everyone on the situation of the German army. Not only can I use the information provided by my superiors, but I can also add to it what I know from the history books of later generations.

I stood in front of the large map and held the commentary stick in both hands and preached to everyone: "Comrade commanders, everyone knows that tomorrow will be the day when we will implement the 'Rumyantsev' plan, so today I will first give you a briefing on the situation of the enemy and us in the south of Kursk. ”

At this point, I turned to the side and pointed to the map on the wall with my baton: "In front of our Voronezh Front, we are mainly facing the German 4th Panzer Army and the 7th Army. Among them, the 7th Army was deployed in the Sumy area, covering the junction of the German Army Group Central Front and Army Group South to deal with our 38th Army. Although this is not the main direction of our army's attack, from July 26, the 38th Army began to create a series of illusions of concentrated heavy forces, including arranging 450 tank models and running back and forth with 8 real tanks, hoping to achieve the purpose of confusing the German army's judgment. After I finished saying this, I saw a commander below pursed his mouth in disapproval, and he seemed to think that the actions of the 38th Army were a bit too childish. He hurriedly added, "As early as the defense of Moscow, General Katukov used this tactic to deceive the enemy. And with minimal casualties, a large number of enemies were eliminated. ”

I coughed, cleared my throat, and continued: "The German 4th Panzer Army mainly covers the front between Sumy and Belgorod, and his front is the main force of our Voronezh Front: the 27th and 40th Armies, the 5th and 6th Guards Armies, and the 1st Guards Tank Army. The 5th Guards Tank Army, supported by more than 1,800 tanks and self-propelled guns.

The German 4th Panzer Army, on the other hand, had been greatly weakened by the massive transfer of troops to the central and more southern fronts of the Eastern Front and to Italy. On 20 July, the total strength dropped to more than 130,000 troops, or only one-third of our strength, and was composed of the 48th Panzer Corps and the 52nd Army. According to the latest information we have detected, the main force of the 52nd Army as of yesterday includes: the 6th, 11th, and 19th Armored Divisions, and the 57th, 167th, 255th, and 352nd Infantry Divisions.

The Steppe Front was confronted by the 11th Army on the left flank of the German 'Kempf' battle group. The army mainly defended the Belgorod region and had the 106th, 168th, 198th, and 320th infantry divisions under its jurisdiction. The 42nd Army on the right flank of the campaign cluster. Responsible for covering the Kharkov direction, mainly against our 57th Army.

To sum up, the Germans had a total of 3 armies in front of our Voronezh Front, namely the 2nd Army of the 7th Army; the 4th Panzer Corps and the 48th Army of the 52nd Panzer Army; In front of the Steppe Front were the 11th Army and the 42nd Army of the 'Kempf' battle cluster. The Germans had 18 divisions with a total strength of about 310,000 men.

In terms of equipment, tanks and self-propelled guns were available to the entire Army Group South of the German army. Only about 500-600 units. ”

As I explained this, I found that some of the commanders were relieved. A relaxed expression appeared on his face. In order to prevent them from underestimating the enemy because of this, I hastened to add: "Although the Germans are inferior in terms of strength and equipment, we cannot take this lightly. You must know that after a long period of operation, the fortifications of this line of the German army were relatively strong. They built defensive positions on the basis of a series of fortresses, earthen embankments, and fortifications built in our country in the seventeenth century. It is about 90 kilometers deep. Including seven defensive areas, two lines of defense around Kharkov. ……”

After I finished speaking, the expressions on everyone's faces became solemn again. "As far as I know," after a brief silence, to lighten the mood in the room. Danilov stood up with a smile and said: "Comrade commanders, no matter how strong the defensive positions of the German army are, it is not enough to defend the Belgorod-Kharkov region with less than a third of the strength of our army. So rest assured, comrades, their fortifications will not be able to stop our attack at all, and the final victory will definitely belong to us. ”

"Yes, Comrade Deputy Commander has a point." Bezikov continued: "According to intelligence, Manstein's main energies were pinned down by us in the Donbass and the Mius direction, and he had to draw a considerable number of troops to cope with the offensive of our Southwestern Front and the Southern Front. Next, I will give you a detailed explanation of the offensive lines of the divisions of our group army. ……”

I sat in my seat, looked at the commanders at all levels sitting below, and secretly thought to myself: "It is not the first time that the division commanders who are in charge of the offensive have learned about this information, but it is probably the first time that they have heard of it when they put all the materials together like me and Bezikov. ”

After assigning tasks to the division commanders, Bezkov finally said: "In order to maximize the artillery fire in the offensive direction, the high command transferred the 13th, 16th, and 17th breakthrough artillery divisions and the 3rd rocket artillery division from the Bryansk Front to our Voronezh Front, replenishing them with sufficient ammunition.

On the positions of our 5th and 6th Guards armies, the density of artillery and mortars reached 113 and 129 per kilometer, respectively; And the 53rd Army reached 242 artillery mortars per kilometer.

At five o'clock tomorrow morning, the Front will first use artillery, mortars, and rocket artillery to carry out a ferocious and rapid five-minute bombardment of the German front and defensive depths. Then check and test fire with a large-caliber artillery ruler for 35 minutes; The planned suppression, destruction and salvo of "Katyusha" against German targets took 1 hour and 20 minutes; With artillery and mortars, accelerate fire to the maximum rate of fire in 20 minutes; Systematic artillery fire was carried out at the resistance hub in the depth of the German defenses, which took 45 minutes.

Aviation, after takeoff, was to first bomb the command posts of the German troops. communication hubs and communication lines to disrupt its chain of command, followed by a second, third and fourth successive bombardment of artillery positions, troop concentrations and reserves in the depth of the German defense.

Just half an hour after the first five minutes of shelling, we were about to send out fighters and begin to clear the obstacles in the path of the attack. And to open the way from the minefield. And when the artillery fire intensified to 7:55 of the maximum rate of fire, our infantry followed the tanks and self-propelled or artillery to attack! ……”

Every short sentence that Bezikov says represents a bloody battle; Every word spoken, meant the death of hundreds, if not thousands. Perhaps it is precisely because of this that when he explains, he takes the trouble to explain to everyone the various intricate difficulties that may be encountered on each offensive line.

After waiting for Bezikov to finish, I turned to the commander present and asked, "Do you have any questions?" ”

After I finished my question, the room fell silent again. That's how people sometimes are. When you are not asked to ask, it feels like there are a lot of questions to ask; But when you really ask a question, you often don't know what to ask.

But then the commander of the troops, who participated in the first echelon of the offensive, began to ask questions to Bezikov. Before the meeting, we estimated all the possible problems and discussed how to answer them to the subordinate commanders. At this moment, Bezikov, who had been prepared for a long time, calmly and patiently answered the questions of each commander.

Wait until the meeting is over. When there were only a few of us left in the command, Danilov suddenly asked me: "Comrade commander." I don't understand why the data you started explaining is different from the data we have. Are these data true and reliable, and they won't mislead the troops, right? ”

Seeing that all eyes were on me, I certainly couldn't have told them the data I was talking about. Many of them are history books from later generations, and they can only vaguely reply: "I came to a conclusion based on a comprehensive analysis of the information from my superiors and scouts." Even the slightest error will have no effect on the upcoming war. ”

Speaking of which, I suddenly thought of Tomarovka. This city was the first city to be captured after the start of the battle of "Rumyantsev", although we captured it many times in the previous period, but under the frantic counterattack of the German army, the city was lost again. Therefore, in this campaign, the task of capturing the city fell on Katukov.

I looked at Danilov and asked: "Comrade Deputy Commander, the battle will officially begin tomorrow, should we go to the forward troops separately to see if we can avoid repeating the lessons of the failure to capture Tomarovka last time." ”

Speaking of Tomarovka, everyone's faces became ugly. This is probably the most humiliating battle of our army group from the Battle of Kursk to the present. When Vatutin heard that several attacks on Tomarovka had failed, he was furious and went so far as to publicly announce the dismissal of Colonel Baksov from his post as division commander and asked me to find someone else to replace him. Fortunately, I considered that changing the division leadership in this situation would have a bad impact on the troops, so with my efforts, Vatutin finally agreed to let Baksov be guilty of meritorious service.

"The failure of the last assault on Tomarovka is a disgrace to our army group. Only by achieving brilliant results can we wash away this shame. I think we should also send troops, at least one division, to participate in the battle for the attack on Tomarovka. ”

"Which division will you send?" Bezkov asked, looking at me.

"How about the 52nd Guards Division?" Although I knew that the first unit to attack Tomarovka was Colonel Nekrasov's 52nd Guards Division, I still said to you in a consultative tone: "After the Germans broke through our first line of defense, the 52nd Guards Division fought well behind enemy lines. It not only contained a large number of German troops, but also achieved brilliant results. ”

"I agree!" As soon as I finished speaking, Kirillov immediately chimed in: "Let Nekrasov's troops go." ”

"But, Comrade Military Commissar." Danilov said with a little concern: "The 52nd Guards Division, like the 51st Division, has just been replenished with a large number of recruits. And these fighters have not undergone any military training before, and the combat effectiveness of the division may be diluted, right? ”

"My comrade deputy commander." When Bezikov heard him say this, he immediately became a little anxious, and immediately retorted: "Of the divisions under the group army, which division has not been replenished with new recruits?" We can't wait for new recruits to become veterans before we let them go into battle, right? So I still think that we should immediately throw them into battle, and let the blood and fire on the battlefield hone their will and improve their technical and tactical level. ”

Danilov opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something, but I raised my hand to interrupt him. I followed the meaning of Bezikov and said: "Comrade Deputy Commander, I decided that the Chief of Staff is quite reasonable. Do you have to wait for the recruits to become familiar with the troops and master the necessary technical and tactical skills before they can go into battle? ”

"Comrade commanders, I think your worries are completely unnecessary." Akhromeyev interjected: "Although we attacked Tomarovka several times, they ended in failure. But we must also take into account the objective reasons for the defeat, which are due to two reasons: first, the number of troops we use to attack is too small, and the two regiments of the German army in the city are more numerous than one of our divisions; Second, without artillery fire and necessary air support, and without weapons for attacking fortifications, our commanders and fighters can only fill with their lives. ”

"Comrade Major, what exactly do you want to say?" Danilov didn't wait for Akhromeyev to finish speaking, then unceremoniously interrupted him and said: "Is it because the 67th Guards Division failed to attack some time ago and came out to fight the grievances?" ”

"No, it's not like that, Comrade Deputy Commander." Seeing that Danilov was angry, Akhromeyev hurriedly explained: "I mean that the reason for the failure of the offensive at that time was due to insufficient troops and insufficient firepower to attack the fortified positions. But now that these problems have all been solved, the troops involved in the offensive have at least three infantry divisions and a tank corps, which, with the support of powerful artillery fire and air power, will be easy to destroy the enemy in Tomarovka. ”

"Well, Comrade Major, since you say so, then I will believe you." After Danilov said this, he turned to me and said: "Comrade commander, I agree to send Colonel Nekrasov's 52nd Guards Division to participate in the battle for the capture of Tomarovka. (To be continued.) )