The Chief of Staff of the Soviet Outer Mongolian Front, Lieutenant General Pozhnev, had to report the disappearance of the commander and political commissar of the Far Eastern Advance Command of the Air Force, Colonel-General Jonasov, to the commander, General Vasilevsky.

General Vasilevsky's psychology was almost collapsed, and while regretting it, he secretly hated that Admiral Jonasov, who did not listen to his own advice, and preferred to do something else.

Originally, in order to express sincerity, reflect the harmonious relationship between close comrades-in-arms between different units of the Soviet Red Army, and facilitate contact, he prepared a very good office location for the Far East Forward Command of the Air Force in Yekaterinburg, where the headquarters of the Front Army was stationed, but that Jonasov said, "You should live with your own pilots and be more aware of the dynamics of the battlefield!" ”

What is the result, if you listen to your own words, live in Yekaterinburg, can you live without seeing people, dead without seeing corpses?

General Vasilevsky's first reaction was that the incident was directly related to the attack on the airfield by a small group of troops of the Separate Division, but none of this mattered, what mattered was how to report it to Moscow.

The call of the chief of staff, Lieutenant General Pozhnev, woke him up from his chaotic thoughts, and in an instant, early this morning, all the unpleasant things piled up, and the accumulated anger erupted irrepressibly, "Immediately arrest the 57th Airport Guard Battalion, that bastard battalion commander and battalion commissar and shoot them!" He yelled at the Chief of Staff.

Chief of Staff Pozhnev hurriedly replied: "Comrade commander, before that, I had already sent people from the Security Department of the Front Army to the 50th airfield to investigate the situation on the spot and execute the two derelict battalion commanders and battalion commissars!" ”

General Vasilevsky, like a deflated ball. Sitting on the chair, his fat body pressed the chair with a painful "squeak" sound, and asked weakly: "Comrade Pozhnev, what is the result of the investigation?" How can it be concluded that Comrade Jonasov is missing, and not sacrificed? ”

Chief of Staff Pozhnev, of course, knew what the commander meant by this question, and he also hoped that Jonasov would die, in the course of an exchange of fire with a small group of sneak attack troops of the separate division. Or, it was killed by a violent explosion, even if there was a mutilated corpse in it, in this case, to the above. At least there is an explanation, but. The results of the survey. But it was not what the commander and himself had hoped.

The stakes were so high that he had to tell the truth, "Comrade Commander, the residence of Admiral Jonasov, is quite a long way from the oil depot that exploded. The explosion could not be reached, and, our investigators found, Admiral Jonasov's orderly. Killed in his room, the safe and the confidential documents on the desk were all gone, and the two sentries at the door were also killed by cold weapons. ”

"Also, our investigators, in the course of questioning the soldiers of the guard troops, there was a corporal named Alyosha, who provided an important information, thirty minutes before the explosion, Admiral Jonasov, in one truck, together with another truck, left the airport, thirty minutes later, there was a violent explosion at the airport oil depot, and then, the airport guard battalion, again shelled by mortars, suffered heavy casualties, all the way, that's it, therefore, it can be concluded that Admiral Jonasov, It was a small detachment of the independent division that destroyed the airfield, hijacked and left. ”

After a moment's hesitation, Chief of Staff Pozhnev continued: "Comrade commander, you know very well that General Jonasov has a large number of military secrets, including the specific attack time and plan of our front, the deployment of troops, and the specific situation of the other two fronts, the bombing plan of the air force, the performance and number of combat aircraft, etc., is a living intelligence base, he fell into the hands of the Chinese, and our campaign plan for attacking Outer Mongolia can be said to have no secrets!" ”

General Vasilevsky, of course, knew that the severity of the consequences of Jonasov falling into the hands of a small unit of the independent division meant that the offensive plan he had drawn up had been put on the desk of the Chinese Tang Qiuli.

Seeing that the commander was silent, Chief of Staff Pozhnev asked: "Comrade commander, how can we report this situation to the General Staff and the Air Force General Command?" ”

General Vasilevsky, with a heavy sigh, said: "Since it cannot be concealed, then report it truthfully, and also, give orders to each airport guard battalion, all of them are dispatched, according to their respective warning ranges, be sure to find the traces of those small units of independent divisions, even if they are chased to the ends of the earth, Comrade Jonasov must be rescued, even if it is a corpse, it is better than alive and falling into the hands of that Chinese Tang Qiuli." ”

"Order the troops stationed on the front line of the Ural Mountains to tightly block all passages, order the troops stationed in Samara and Chelyabinsk to block all areas of the southern front, and cooperate with the search force to carry out a comprehensive search, remember, these damned Chinese must not be allowed to slip back to Outer Mongolia!"

Senior General Vasilevsky is really on fire, and he must form a big net within the scope of the best possible to put Chutian's special operations detachment in the net.

Chief of Staff Pozhnev reminded: "Comrade commander, is it not that too many troops have been used, there are more than 70 airfields in charge of guarding our front army, plus the troops of the southern front, I am afraid that there are more than 90,000 troops, is this necessary?" ”

General Vasilevsky, his eyes were blood-red, and said with a fierce light: "It is absolutely necessary, this is only the first batch of troops, in addition, you give an order to the 37th Army, transfer the strength of a division, all in armored vehicles, form a mobile force, participate in the search and arrest of those damned Chinese, even if it is to rummage every inch of land west of the Ural Mountains, to find them, and eliminate them all, tell all the search and arrest troops, try to catch them alive, I would like to know, these soldiers of independent divisions, How did you sneak into the rear of our army! ”

General Vasilevsky never expected that because of this order, the special operations detachment of Chutian was given a chance to survive in a desperate situation, broke out of the encirclement of the Soviet army again and again, and finally got rid of more than 100,000 pursuers, and finally returned to the battlefield in Outer Mongolia in more than two months.

After giving these orders, General Vasilevsky said to the chief of staff of Pozhnev: "Order the engineering units to build all the roads in the Ural Mountains within five days, and if the task is not completed, the commander and political commissar of the engineering units will be sent to a military tribunal to convey to the various army groups the order of the front headquarters, and the time of the attack will be postponed until 6 o'clock in the morning of 16 March!" ”

Chief of Staff Pozhnev asked: "Comrade commander, the deployment of the offensive, it has definitely been exposed, whether it needs to be revised, especially the plan for the attack on Minusinsk and Kulen, and also, the problem of the coordination of the combat aircraft of the Air Force, which will take time, five days, is it too tense for the engineering troops!" ”

In the eyes of General Vasilevsky, a gambler-like cold light appeared, and said: "Offensive deployment, no need to adjust, that Chinese Tang Qiuli, after getting the information, will definitely think that I want to change the deployment, it will take longer to prepare, well, I will plan the same, launch an attack as quickly as possible, take him by surprise, more than one million troops, press up together, no matter how cunning that Chinese is, in the face of absolute superiority, any conspiracy and tricks will be useless!" ”

"As for the air force, we have no right to interfere, it will take longer to repair the airport, we don't have time to wait, and besides, our Outer Mongolian Front has not yet arrived, and Cheng Dù, who can't fight if he leaves the plane, give the order to go! Also, as soon as the call back from Moscow came, it was sent over! ”

Chief of Staff Pozhnev, after saluting, hurriedly left, General Vasilevsky, leaning weakly on the table, rubbing his aching temples with both hands, feeling a little uneasy, I don't know what Moscow's reaction will be after receiving the report?

Moscow's reaction was very fast, and more than an hour later, the telegram from the General Staff and the Air Force General Headquarters arrived almost at the same time, and the chief of staff of Pozhnev hurriedly sent it, and after reading the telegram, General Vasilevsky finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, in the telegram, there was no stern self-reproach, nor did it mean to pursue responsibility, moreover, the opinions of the General Staff and the Air Force General Command were surprisingly unanimous, urging the Outer Mongolian Front to rescue General Jonasov at any cost, and to see people alive and corpses dead, which coincided with their own intentions, that is, they must not let Jonasov fall into the hands of the Chinese Tang Qiuli.

However, in the two telegrams, there was a sentence: "When Comrade Stalin heard about this, he was extremely concerned and specially instructed that the matter should be handled by Comrade Vasilevsky, commander of the Outer Mongolian Front, without affecting the plan of attacking the troops of the independent division, and report on the progress of the search at any time!" ”

Pressure, tremendous pressure, General Jonasov, hijacked by a small group of troops of the independent division, into the eyes of the supreme leader, in the eyes of General Vasilevsky, this is not a good thing, it means that there must be a result, otherwise, he will not be able to explain to the leader, and the consequences will be very severe.

Putting down the telegram, General Vasilevsky, with a worried face, looked at the chief of staff, Lieutenant General Pozhnev, and said: "Comrade Pozhnev, Comrade Stalin has instructions to search for Comrade Jonasov, and our front is responsible, and there is no result, and it is impossible to explain it to Comrade Stalin. ”

"It seems that it is necessary to create a special command structure for unified command of the search forces, and in any case, to find out the whereabouts of Comrade Jonasov, who, based on your experience, is it more appropriate to send to command the search forces? This person needs to have strong coordination skills, as well as a wealth of reconnaissance experience! ”

(To be continued)(To be continued......