Chapter 2114 You Have to Return What You Borrow

"What happened? Why are you calling me here in such a hurry?"

The communication room is not far from the office where Malashenko was just now. They are in the same building. Malashenko can get there by just running downstairs for a few steps. The political commissar has been waiting here for a long time.

"Look at this. The telegram I just received will definitely surprise you."

"Unexpected?"

Malashenko took the telegram handed over by the political commissar with a little doubt in his mouth, and couldn't help but feel curious about the so-called "unexpected".

"Then let me guess, is it a good surprise or a bad surprise, huh?"

Whether Malashenko expected the next words or not, the answer given by the political commissar really scared Malashenko who had just picked up the telegram paper to review.

"The telegram sent by the headquarters of the Third Belarusian Front was forwarded by the headquarters of the First Ukrainian Front, and then it was handed over to us. I think you should be able to guess what the telegram says after I say this."

"Hmm? The Third Belarusian Front? The old unit???"

Before the political commissar finished speaking, Malashenko, who heard the words, instantly became energetic and trembled as if he had stepped on a high-voltage wire.

Malashenko has been dreaming of returning to his old unit these days. The leadership division itself is a unit of the Third Belarusian Front and is under Vatutin's command, but it has been working for others since the beginning of the battle to liberate Poland. First it was driver Luo, and now it's Konev. He has been running around in the battlefield for most of Poland, but he didn't fight with the old unit he was supposed to belong to.

To be honest, this is really unpleasant. If Malashenko didn't know that there were some very complicated issues involved, he would have thought that Vatutin sold him out and exchanged the leadership division for some unknown benefit.

Now, as the political commissar blurted out these almost explicit words, Malashenko almost guessed what these words meant without even thinking about it, and immediately looked at the telegram in his hand with an excited look.

Just as Malashenko guessed, the words recorded in this telegram were what he had been looking forward to for a long time.

The Belarusian Third Front commanded by Vatutin was about to launch a major strategic offensive operation, which would surely be a battle that would go down in history. The name "Battle of East Prussia" was very familiar to Malashenko.

The fruits of the victory in the anti-fascist war obtained through this battle were still enjoyed by the Russian Federation and remained unchanged even in the post-Soviet era decades later. The enclave of Kaliningrad was the greatest victory of the Battle of East Prussia.

Before the thunderous strategic offensive began, Vatutin, who was preparing for the campaign, made a "reasonable request" to Moscow: let the strongest field main force of the Third Belorussian Front return to the base, and Malashenko and the leader division he commanded must participate in the East Prussia Campaign and serve as the main attack force. Only in this way can the absolute victory of this extremely important battle be ensured.

There is only one person in Moscow who can make the final decision on Vatutin's request: the great leader sitting in the highest power office of the Kremlin, Comrade Stalin, the loving father.

"What do you think? Zhukov, I heard that Vatutin has recently applied for the return of the leader division three times. I didn't hear about the previous two times. How did you deal with it?"

The reason why the loving father knew about the third time but not the first two times was mainly because Vatutin, who had not received a response to his request for a long time, chose to call Stalin's office directly for the third time after repeated failures, and applied to Comrade Stalin in person.

All the procedures that should have been followed were skipped. It can be said that Vatutin made a report beyond his level, which led to the current situation.

Facing the inquiry of his father Comrade Stalin, Zhukov, who was still unclear about the whole story and had no idea about the matter, could roughly guess some possible reasons. However, when he was not sure that it was the case, it was better to be conservative. After all, he had to take responsibility for what he said.

"I'm not sure, Comrade Stalin. I've been busy with the inspection of the frontline troops and the formulation of combat plans recently, and I haven't had time to meet Comrade Vatutin. All fronts on the front are progressing very quickly. We have to prepare for the next step in advance, as you know."

"But I think that the recent combat deployment of the leader division is very tight, and there is no possibility of withdrawing from the battlefield to the north for the time being, so the General Staff has temporarily shelved Comrade Vatutin's request. But Comrade Vatutin may not know this situation, so he called you. After all, the action against East Prussia is imminent, and I can understand his anxiety."

""

Stalin, holding a pipe, sat behind his desk, listening to Zhukov's report in front of the desk while looking at the recent documents about the leader division's battle report in his hand.

The pipe on his mouth was burning tobacco and puffing out smoke. Comrade Kind Father, with his eyes slightly narrowed, repeatedly flipped through the two most critical pages in the battle report. As if he had confirmed something, he put down the battle report in his hand and spoke to Zhukov.

"But this still doesn't explain why the General Staff didn't submit Vatutin's first two requests to me in written form. I didn't even know about the first two times until Vatutin called me the third time. There is no mention of the relevant situation in these pages about the leader division. Everything looks like a normal troop transfer between the fronts."

"Well, tell Vasilevsky to come to my office today."

"In addition"

Comrade Cifu, who put down his pipe, still squinted his eyes. Zhukov, who was familiar with this action, knew that the leader was about to give an order. He couldn't help but straighten his chest and raise his head. As he stood at attention, his ears stood up and he stood still.

"If I remember correctly, the leader division was originally a unit under Vatutin. The whole process from Rokossovsky to Konev was just a nominal secondment. Is that right?"

Comrade Leader asked, and Zhukov naturally had to tell the truth. The answer with a nod of affirmation came out immediately.

"Yes, Comrade Stalin, the leadership division is only a nominal secondment, and its affiliation has always been under the command of the Third Belorussian Front."

"Then this is easy to handle. You and I both know that even if you borrow tools from your neighbors to do work, you have to return them. This is not your thing, and the leadership division is not even a tool."

Stalin tapped his pipe and refilled it with tobacco, and then blurted out the final order that sounded ordinary.