Chapter 3085 Future Candidates

The last time Malashenko saw Vatutin was when he went to the front headquarters for a meeting before crossing the river.

At that time, Vatutin told Malashenko to be cautious in dealing with the enemy, and not to underestimate the enemy because of the victory of the Great Patriotic War and the complete destruction of the Nazis. Although the Japanese army was at an absolute disadvantage in all aspects, they still had to be careful.

Malashenko naturally agreed and promised that he would do it.

Now the Japanese army is lying dead all over the ground, and the leader's army won the first battle and broke the record of the number of enemies killed in a single day. Malashenko has fulfilled his promise.

At nightfall, Vatutin arrived at the headquarters of the leader's army. He saw Malashenko who led the team out of the city to greet him. He stopped the car with a congratulatory smile and walked down and went straight to meet Malashenko.

"In one day, one division of troops defeated 50,000 people. Such a story has now spread throughout the Far East Military Region and is flying to every corner of the motherland, even the whole world."

Vatutin gave Malashenko a different opening speech right at the beginning.

Looking at Vatutin with a bright smile, Malashenko took the hand that Vatutin offered and shook it tightly, and responded with a smile.

"It's mainly because Kurbalov commanded properly, Comrade Marshal. The military agency under my leadership only played a role in overall coordination in this operation, and was not involved in specific combat command.

"Oh? "

Such news was something Vatutin had not heard before he came.

To be honest, after reading various real-time feedback reports, Vatutin's intuition was that this battle was commanded by Malashenko.

The enemy's defense line was torn to pieces by the big opening and closing, and the steel tracks were involved, tearing the enemy's defense line to pieces, just like extinguishing a candle, and completely destroying the enemy's last glimmer of hope.

This is the iconic command style of Malashenko, who was used to being a battlefield fire brigade and running around in the early and middle stages, and was the absolute main force in the middle and late stages, and was used to fighting all kinds of tough battles.

It is also based on the various battles that Malashenko had to fight and must withstand the pressure head-on.

But now, Malashenko said that this battle was not commanded by him, which surprised Vatutin and aroused his interest at the same time.

"Kurbarov, I often heard you mention it before. I remember that you personally drafted the application for his Soviet Hero Award for him before. Is that the case? "

Vatutin was referring to the famous battle that Kurbalov fought in Ukraine that year, the battle to encircle and annihilate the Great German Division I.

In that battle, Kurbalov led the main force of a brigade, took advantage of tactical mobility and gave full play to his subjective initiative, boldly predicted the enemy's next action plan, successfully intercepted the fleeing main force of the Great German Division I, and persisted until the main force arrived and finally annihilated the enemy.

He made a decisive contribution to the then leader division's annihilation of this ace elite field division of the Wehrmacht.

Kurbalov also became famous for this battle and won The first Soviet Hero Award in his military career.

It must be said that Vatutin has a good memory.

The commander-level position is very busy, and there are a lot of things to deal with every day. Vatutin can still remember Kurbalov, which means that he has left a deep impression.

Especially Kurbalov was only a brigade commander of the leader division at that time. It is rare for Vatutin, who is in charge of hundreds of thousands of people, to remember him until now.

It was also because he saw that Vatutin still remembered Kurbalov that Malashenko, who was obviously happy, spoke up.

"Yes, Comrade Marshal. I did draft the application for Kurbalov's Soviet Hero Award. If it weren't for his subjective performance in that battle, the Great German Division might have slipped away from the leader division. "

"Hmm"

Hearing this, Vatutin nodded slightly, as if he understood something, and then he thought about it and continued to speak quickly.

"It seems that Comrade Kurbalov has learned a lot from you, and even his command style is almost the same as yours. This fully proves that as a corps commander, you have made outstanding contributions in training synthetic commanders for the Red Army. ”

What the Red Army lacks most now is senior commanders who are proficient in synthesis.

Many guards troops that use the teaching materials developed and explored by the leader army have not yet fully understood the synthesis of various arms at the brigade level. There are even fewer commanders at the division level who can prove their strength, such as Kurbalov.

So Vatutin's words hit the point, and he was not flattering Malashenko. Comrade Lao Ma smiled embarrassedly and did not deny it.

After all, it was not just Vatutin. Even when Malashenko studied and summarized the battle reports afterwards, he was quite surprised to find that Kurbalov's style of play was almost a replica of his own.

But even so, self-study is still a skill.

Kurbalov was able to flexibly apply Malashenko's replica style of play to actual combat without Malashenko's deliberate teaching, and won the first battle. This is enough to prove his ability to stand on his own.

"In fact, I plan to continue to train him further, Comrade Marshal. "

"It is almost certain that Lavrinenko and I will have new arrangements after the war against Japan ends, and the leadership of the army may be handed over to Kurbalov. At least I expect this. In terms of ability, I am willing to recommend him as the successor to the army commander. "

"Although the leap from the divisional headquarters to the army headquarters seems a bit big. But think about it, wasn't I the same way back then? Since Kurbalov is a capable and proven comrade, I think it's a good idea to give him a chance to try."

Hearing Malashenko's words, Vatutin, who had indeed considered the successor to the next commander of the leader's army, also responded in agreement.

"Because of the special nature of the leader's army, your recommendations on the successor to the army commander will play a big role."

"You can write a detailed report later, listing all the situations and details clearly, and I will add a note of approval and submit the report. How about that?"

It sounds like a question, but Malashenko can tell that this is Vatutin giving him great face and support.

The marshal's approval note is not something you can get just by wanting it.

Apart from Vatutin, Malashenko has only received Zhukov's approval note written on the report so far. That was when the upgrade plan for the integration of various arms was implemented and the report was submitted to the headquarters. It was finally approved and directly led to the birth of the leader division.

Now there is Malashenko's personal recommendation, plus Vatutin's postscript nomination.

As long as there are no major variables, it is basically settled that Kurbalov will take over Malashenko's class in the near future.

Comrade Cifu suffered from excessive interference in military command a long time ago, and now he is still very open to the selection and appointment of military commanders of front-line troops.

Thinking of this, Malashenko, who was grateful to Vatutin, spoke up and gave a surprise that he had prepared long ago.