Chapter 35 6.chief of staff without command

On the evening of December 4, our plane landed at an airport near Voronezh.Among those who came to greet him was Borgin.The commander-in-chief immediately asked the chief of staff about the situation of the Southwest Front Army in detail. Boggin reported that the enemy's offensive of 25 November was still continuing.A particularly violent attack was carried out in the area of ​​the 13th Army, in the direction of Yelets.The 3rd Army was not easy either: Guderian's army, which had penetrated in the direction of Lyazhsk, was rounding its right flank.New reinforcements were coming from the rear of the three German infantry divisions attacking in the direction of Yelets.The enemy tried to split the 13th Army and rushed to Zadonsk.Only in the direction of Kastornoye did the enemy's 9th Tank Division and the 16th Motorized Division make no progress.In this way, the gap between the two assault groups of the German army attacking Yelets and Kastornoye increased day by day, forcing the enemy to pull out their troops.This was to our advantage - it was easier to flank the enemy Yelets Group's rear.But we are going to wage a campaign under the condition that the enemy continues to attack.

Our army's assault group should be concentrated before the end of December 5th.The 3rd and 14th Cavalry Divisions of the 5th Cavalry Corps have been moving forward to the concentration area since December 1: the 32nd Cavalry Division, which should be incorporated into the army, has been concentrated on December 3.The 34th Motorized Rifle Brigade and the 1st Guards Rifle Division were still marching.The 129th Tank Brigade has just been formed and has begun to transfer it to the starting area. It has not yet been decided how best to use these forces.Give them to the 13th Army of General A. M. Gorodnyansky?But he is now fighting the enemy, and these armies may be drawn into defensive battles.It would be better to leave them at the disposal of the Front, put them under the command of General Kostenko, and send him a combat group from the headquarters of the Southwest Front, and reinforce some of the officers of the former Yansk Front as the leading body.

"We have to step up our campaign preparations," Borgin said. "It is clear that something extremely serious has taken place near Moscow. Judging from the measures taken by the headquarters there, it can be inferred that the enemy will be severely punished. The headquarters requires us to suspend the 3rd, The retreat of the 13th Army, the reliable guarantee of the joint with the Western Front, and the most positive interpretation of these words. Due to your delayed return, we had to make some preliminary plans for the offensive determination by ourselves - there was no time to prepare. Therefore , we have issued specific tasks for the current campaign to the army today. We do not think that our determination is absolutely correct. If you find something that needs to be revised, there is still time to revise it..."

"The outline is clear," the commander-in-chief interrupted him, "I'll report the rest of the situation in Voronezh... Get in the car!" After he gave the password, he walked quickly to his car.But after he opened the car door, he stopped suddenly and called me to him: "That's right, Comrade Baghramyan, pack up immediately and go to the concentration area of ​​the assault group. I appoint you as the chief of staff of the assault group. The commander is Comrade Kostenko. He will also command the 3rd Army during the campaign. Combat operations with the 13th Army. There is barely enough time before the attack is launched, so you have to hurry."

"There is a chief of staff, but there is no headquarters!" I couldn't help saying. "You take as many people from our command as you think you need. You'll get the communication tools too. That's it, let's do it!" I watched the commander-in-chief's car go away for a long time, and I fell into deep thought. I pondered the meaning of this urgent task that suddenly fell on me, until I heard Borgin's shout: "Ivan Khristoforovitch! Get in the car, we're going to headquarters." We immediately proceeded to form an interim command in Voronezh.As you all know, the Southwest Front Army Headquarters is at the same time the commanding body of the Commander-in-Chief of the entire Southwest Front, so our personnel are not enough.It's not easy getting staff officers for my cluster.It's a struggle to pick everyone.It was only in my War Department that I could choose the staff I needed without any hindrance.Colonel A. H. Rukhle, my new Deputy Minister, who succeeded Colonel Zakhvatayev, tried to help me select the required comrades as quickly as possible.

It was not until late at night that I finally determined who should go with me to command the new rapid group attack. In all official documents, this group bears the name of the group commander, General Kostenko. Several officers from the War Department were incorporated into my headquarters, among them Colonel Yakovlev, Lieutenant Colonel Sobolev, and Majors Grigoriev, Mashuk, and Cherevchenko.To my great pleasure, the staff sent by the Ministry of Intelligence was headed by my old classmate, Colonel Kaminsky.General Dobekin, Director of Communications of the Front, sent me three officers.In a few hours I would be leading such a small command to command an army group hardly smaller in numbers and combat formation than the friendly 13th Army.

When I checked my list of assistants, I noticed that there was not even a logistics commander among them.Who will help me even organize the supervision of the army's material security?I hurried to Bo Jin.He comforted that he had asked the former Bryansk Front Army Logistics Department to transfer some people to General O. F. Kostenko. When all organizational matters were settled, I tried to equip the personnel.At that time, the severe winter had arrived, and the temperature at night was as low as minus 30 degrees.The chief of the administrative management section of the headquarters appeared to be extremely stingy, which is already a characteristic of some economic managers.No matter how much I asked, he was far from satisfying all our applications for winter protection, saying that we would get all winter clothes that we did not receive in Kastornoye.Our new Treasurer, Quartermaster II Vladimir Nikolaevich Dutov, was more talkative.When I got to him, he was already asleep, so I had to wake him up.Stretching his waist, he complained:

"Who ran into a ghost?" But when he saw me, he greeted me politely, and after listening to my words, he happily replied: "We'll do this right away, Comrade General!" He called someone, and within ten minutes, everything I asked for was done. That night, we boarded a construction train running between Voronezh and Kastornoye.Arrived at the destination at dawn.We found General Kostenko.His rapid group command post was opened at Kastornoye.Currently there are only Kostenko and two officers accompanying him in this command post.It is not difficult to guess how eagerly the commander is waiting for the arrival of his headquarters: the attack will start tomorrow morning.The general kept scolding us for being late.But I already knew that Kostenko, despite his stern appearance and somewhat sharp tongue, was the kindest man with whom it was easy to work.We have had a genuine affection for each other from the first days of the war.This time Kostenko also left quickly.

Colonel Petrusevsky, chief of staff of the 13th Army, commissioned by Bogin to draw up the campaign plan, came.He gave me a detailed introduction to the attack preparation process. "How could this be?" I was surprised. "Your group army is leaving tomorrow." "Yes, it seems that the simultaneous assault is impossible." I like the culture of A. B. Petrushevsky very much.His dusty military uniform looked surprisingly neat in combat conditions, and he wore it with elegance.Petrushevsky talked quietly, always with the striking humility of an old staff officer.His words are characterized by brevity and conciseness.What he told me, however, did not please me.I understand that the campaign plan has not actually been drawn up yet.Only one thing was done: the army was ordered to attack and fight.But neither coordinated action planning, nor combat and material support planning, nor radio signal tables, nor coded maps, anything that a command that prepares for an offensive campaign needs to do.All this is because the front army headquarters issued instructions to prepare for the battle too late.While waiting for the commander-in-chief to return from Rostov, Bogin seemed to have hesitated for a long time before making up his mind, which he did not make up his mind until after the marshal returned to Voronezh.

Some of my assistants had the thought: Wouldn't it be better to delay the attack by a few days?However, procrastination is not an option.It must be realized that the enemy, who has seized the cities of Pavelets, Skopin, and Chernava, is in danger of advancing out of the deep rear of our northern armies.The enemy also continued to attack in the direction of Yelets.Yelets fell yesterday, and the fascists have advanced on Zadonsk.Only in the direction of Kastornoye the enemy was forced to resist the stubborn counterattack of our troops.As the German divisions continued to advance in the direction of Yelets, the fronts of these divisions were greatly widened, and some weak areas were formed in the middle.This makes it possible for us to carry out a sudden assault here.General Kostenko's rapid group should coordinate with the 13th Army to implement this assault as soon as possible.

Petrushevsky handed me the army strength chart.The rapid cluster has a total of about 20,000 people, 82 heavy machine guns, 360 light machine guns, 80 mortars of various calibers, and 126 artillery pieces (including anti-tank guns).There are currently none of the tanks.The 13th Army (with which our group should be closely coordinated) consisted of six infantry and one cavalry divisions with very few personnel, and a tank brigade without even a single tank (totaling 19,000 men, 60 heavy machine guns, ninety-five light machine guns, twenty-one artillery pieces, and five mortars.) When we compared our own strength with that of the Germans (the information was almost fully confirmed during the course of the campaign), the result was not pleasant.We have about 8,000 more men than the enemy, but the Fascist troops have far more machine guns (they have more than 2,000, while we have less than 1,000); the enemy has 470 artillery pieces and mortars, We have only two hundred and forty-five; the enemy has forty to fifty tanks, and we cannot produce even one at present. According to military academic theory, it is impossible to attack under such a comparison of forces.But in the autumn of 1941 the Red Army overturned the stereotypes of the past more and more frequently. The Rostov offensive we have just carried out is an example. More and more often, our military chiefs are revisiting everyone's favorite Suvorov quote: "In war, do what the enemy thinks impossible." When I was familiar with the content of the offensive combat order issued to the rapid group, I was surprised to find that this order was obviously inconsistent with the battle order of the front army headquarters: Bojin stipulated that our rapid group should carry out the main assault on Livne, while General Kostenko Move the main assault significantly to the right, pointing at Yelets. "Kostenko thinks it's better," Petrushevsky explained succinctly. I looked at the battle order of the front army headquarters again.The mandate is clearly stated: The 3rd Army guarded the occupied defense area and sent Yemenlemo Positive action in the direction of Arkhangelskoye, Arkhangelskoye, where Contain the fascist troops (active action, meaning offensive). The 13th Army attacked north of Yelets with a force, and advanced against the fast group to prevent the enemy from capturing the city of Yelets. The Rapid Group attacked from the area 60 kilometers southwest of Yelets to the northwest of the city of Livny in order to crush the enemy Yelets Group by attacking the flanks and rear (Bogin tried to give the Each regiment has its operations specified in detail. ) For the 40th Army, which is deployed south of the fast group, it is required to implement active operations, not Let the enemy go out and attack the flanks and rear of the army. Everything in the document was stipulated in great detail, showing the style of General Bogin: he loves to think about the details of the planned campaign by himself, and actually solves all problems for the executor.It was a fairly common ailment at the time.I've always disliked this approach to leadership—it reduces subordinates' confidence in their own strength, hinders their creative development, and makes them learn to rely only on instructions from above. Kostenko originally only had to copy the documents received from the Front Army Command and distribute them to the army for unconditional execution.But he took another approach. General Bogin tried to transfer the main force of the rapid group to the line of communication far behind the enemy's Yelets Group, that is, the Livny area. It seems that he thought that the fascist army would automatically flee westward after sensing a threat, and thus was attacked by various forces of our army. Corps assault.But Kostenko did not expect the enemy to flee voluntarily, so he decided to carry out the main assault directly on the flank and rear of the fascist offensive group. The reasons for the disagreement between the two equally experienced military chiefs are not difficult to understand.When Bokin chose the direction of the assault, the enemy's offensive group was still close to Yelets, so its main force could not escape our assault.However, when the battle order was sent to General Kostenko, the situation had changed: the enemy captured Yelets and continued to penetrate east and southeast.In this case, the direction of the main assault planned by the headquarters of the front army will cause the basic forces of the rapid group to deviate far from the enemy army group, thereby increasing the difficulty of smashing the group. Knowing the essence of the differences, I unwaveringly supported General Kostenko.But by this time we had received an offensive combat order signed by the commander-in-chief.He still let the advance orders issued by the chief of staff of the front army be effective. General Kostenko began to assert his resolve with characteristic tenacity.Bogin tried to convince him that it was a mistake for the commander of the group to change the direction of attack of his main force. "The enemy will slip away from you, and you will literally pull the enemy out of your pocket." But General Kostenko insisted on his point of view and asked him to report the situation to the commander-in-chief.In the middle of the night, we finally received a curt answer: "The Commander-in-Chief has no objection." So we held fast to our resolve, but how were we to carry it out? You must know that the determination that leads to victory in war is the ideal determination. The morning of December 6th.The cold winter day only sprinkled the first rays of light on the snow-capped land, reflecting the rosy brilliance, but it could not warm the soldiers who felt the bone-chilling cold. They were marching in columns to the area where they would attack the enemy. By order of the Commander-in-Chief, the attack was supposed to begin.But General Kostenko's fears proved to be justified: the divisions had just occupied the starting area, and their headquarters were still on the way. Lieutenant Colonel K. A. Kaseyev, chief of staff of the 1st Guards Rifle Division, sent a A liaison officer reported that the regiments had advanced to the settlements of Terbny, Borki, Mali-Borki, Alexandrovka.Various advance detachments and reconnaissance detachments attempted to advance north, but were repulsed by heavy enemy fire.Before the Guards came here, there were no troops in this area, so we had no information about the fascist troops entrenched here.And launching an assault without that intelligence is dangerous.Moreover, no one came to organize the attack, because only the division chief of staff and the advance troops arrived together, and the division commander, General Rusyanov, was still on the way to mobilize the lagging troops and logistics. The position of the cavalry corps was much the same, its advance troops occupied the villages of Alexandrovka, Kazakovo, Bogdanovo, Nizhny Bolishoye, Vasilyevka, etc.Attempts to continue northward here were also unsuccessful. General Kostenko, after listening to my report on the actual situation of the various corps and troops of the rapid group, was convinced that it was impossible for us to start the offensive before tomorrow morning. At noon, Kostenko got in touch with the commander of the 13th Army, whose assault group, commanded by General C. C. Moskarenko, had gone on the offensive. General A. M. Gorodnyansky complained that our rapid groupings today did not support his battle formation with a small shock of troops, leaving these troops alone to fight the enemy.Kostenko promised to change the status quo tomorrow morning.He didn't hide his displeasure at how things were going so badly.But later events showed that it was to our advantage to delay the start of the offensive. The fascist leader regarded the impact of the 13th Army's assault group as the main attack of our army, and hurriedly transferred all his reserves to the Yelets area, which greatly weakened his army's defense line in front of General Kostenko's rapid group.This contingency, then, eases our difficulty in accomplishing difficult tasks. Two hours later, I asked General Bogin to answer the telegram, and reported to him in detail the direction and condition of our rapid group.I told him that neither Kryuchongkin's 5th Cavalry Corps nor Rusyanov's 1st Guards Infantry Division had time to concentrate on the starting area, and the offensive could not begin before tomorrow morning.I also have serious concerns about logistics.At the moment we cannot imagine at all how the evacuation of the wounded and the supply of material and technical equipment to the attacking army will be organized, and who will be responsible for these tasks. I reminded Bokin again that we only have one radio station in total, and the communication tools of the former Bryansk Front Command did not arrive, and may not be able to arrive.Therefore, General Dobekin must be asked to find us some radio stations immediately.Finally, I request that the necessary quantity of topographical maps, a few cars, and a field mess be sent to us as soon as possible.The Chief of Staff promised to call Colonel J. T. Gavrilov, Head of Organization and Planning of the Logistics Department of the Front immediately, and let him answer all my concerns concerning logistics in person.He promised to send topographic maps in the early hours of December 7. Borgin avoided the question of the appropriate means of communication with silence.I repeated that we were afraid of losing command of the troops during the attack, since we had only telephone communication now, which would be cut off as soon as we advanced.We hardly had any means of field communication, mainly radio stations.I insisted that the Chief of Staff instruct General Dobekin to construct a movement communication hub for us at Derbny Station as soon as possible. Borgin responded to my reasons: "Okay. I'll take action right away." The first result of this conversation was that Colonel Gavrilov, who was in charge of organizing the logistics of our cluster, asked me to call.He told me that since the morning of December 6 the Chief of Logistics of the 13th Army has been in charge of supplying all the technical equipment of the Kostenko Group. The application for the group command was sent there.From the conversation with Gavrilov, we learned that the reserves we should build up in the units of our group are: no less than two ammunition bases for tanks, three ammunition bases for infantry and motorized units, various vehicles No less than three oil bases, and no less than five days' worth of grain and feed.I understood only one thing from Gavrilov's explanation: the supply to our cluster was just beginning to be arranged. When Gavrilov heard that the former Bryansk Front logistics commander had not yet arrived, he promised to take measures. When I reported to General Kostenko the result of my conversation with the representative of the Front's Logistics Department, he cursed in the colloquial language of the cavalry. At around three o'clock in the afternoon, the commander-in-chief asked us to talk directly.Kostenko whispered as he went to the telegraph room: "It's time for us to be scolded! We changed his mind, and the marshal will not spare us." But, to our delight, what Kostenko feared did not happen.The conversation was very calm and serious from the start. "Are you ready for what you are supposed to do?" asked the Commander-in-Chief. "One more thing. We don't quite agree with the right deviation, because it is necessary to maintain the northwest direction, even on the first and second days of the offensive. The right wing must not cross the Aurem River..." "It looks like it's over," Kostenko whispered to me. The general smoothed the map before him, and first began dictating to the telegrapher a report on the situation of the troops of the cavalry corps and the Guards infantry division, and only then began to explain his reasons for disagreeing with the commander-in-chief's determination. "Because," he said, "the main group of the enemy forces is located in the Yelets area and south of it, and it continues to advance desperately to the southeast. I ask permission to attack along the east bank of the Orem River with the forces of the 1st Guards Division, and Let Kryuchynkin's cavalry corps advance along the west bank of the river. The task of this corps is to enter the Nikitskoye area and cut off the enemy's communication lines from Yelets to the west and south-west.... All its troops use Please approve.” Kostenko thought for a moment and added: “Please note that the current purpose of our group is to cooperate with the 13th Army to crush the enemy’s Yelets Group...” When the telegraph operator began to receive the Marshal's reply, Kostenko eagerly pulled out the note without waiting to glue it on.He quickly read the reply telegram, breathed a sigh of relief, and handed me the note.The Commander-in-Chief replied: "Okay. The order we gave you to complete the task at hand is still valid. But I warn you in advance not to turn the troops to the right at the first contact with the enemy, and replace the flank assault with a frontal assault. I ask the 1st Guards infantry The 1st Division boldly marched forward to Rogge and Pyatnitskoye, requiring the cavalry to advance resolutely northward, and at the same time send a strong side force in the direction of Livny. They should not stay by the enemy's support point, but go around." Next comes the details of the offense.General Kostenko responded briefly to all the Marshal's proposals: "Understood. Execute." He was so pleased with the unforced revision of the Commander-in-Chief's resolution that he forgot to complain about what we lacked. We had not had time to finish our conversation with the Commander-in-Chief when General A. H. Rusyanov, flushed from the cold, and C. O. Galajev, political commissar of the brigade, arrived at the headquarters.Galajev went to Kostenko's immediately after saying hello, and I stopped Rusyanov, whom I hadn't seen since October, and started asking questions. Rusyanov looked well rested and looked radiant.His blue eyes flashed excitedly, as if he was asking: "Hey, who is going to beat up next?" How many times did his guard division defeat the fascist army, how many times he got out of the predicament beautifully, so that the division commander was full of blood. Confidence that you can do anything.This time he immediately told me his intentions, how he planned to smash the enemy tomorrow.Rusyanov did not complain about the lack of time to prepare for the attack, the exhaustion of the people marching, or the lack of time for the logistics staff to deliver a sufficient amount of ammunition, but he insisted on one thing, that is, to allocate additional means of transportation for him to evacuate wounded.I said we have nothing.But he kept repeating: "Find it, Ivan Khristoforovich, find it." Then he explained: "I should push forward in the confidence that not one of my wounded soldiers will be denied medical attention." I promised the Minister of Health some cars, and suggested that horses and sledges be found in the surrounding villages first, and that captured transports could be used to evacuate the wounded when the offensive began.The teacher thought about it and agreed that this possibility should also be used. Let's go to General Kostenko.Rusyanov discussed with him at length various courses of action for this offensive.After getting answers to all the questions, he went back to the teacher. And C. G. Galajeev, director of the Political Department of the Southwest Front, stayed with us until very late.After getting half an hour to catch my breath, I struck up a conversation with him.Sergey Fyodorovich asked me for details of the battle to liberate his hometown of Rostov.When he learned that the villages on the outskirts of Rostov had been razed to the ground by the Hitlerites, he said distressedly: "How much more blood will the peaceful inhabitants have to shed in this terrible war!" I asked him where he met Rusyanov. Galajev said that he led a large number of front political workers to almost all the units of the fast group. He became acquainted with Rusyanov's division during the march. . "What a hero!" he marveled. "They've just come out of combat and marched exhaustingly, and yet they don't say they're tired, and they don't ask for a breather. All the conversations we have end with the question: 'What are we doing? Time to start attacking?'" Galajeev was silent for a while, and then said confidently: "How significant is it to keep a core of commanders and fighters who have been trained in combat in a division! How many times has this division recruited new recruits who have not fought in battle. But after one or two months, these people have been influenced by the fighting tradition of the division, and you can't tell the difference between them and the heroic veterans." When the rapid grouping of corps and troops marched to the starting area, the staff of the political department of the front army and the political staff of each unit worked together to study people's thoughts and explain to them new combat tasks.At short party meetings, during talks with militant activists and short rallies, they explained the significance of the current campaign for our army's general victory near Moscow.Political workers pointed out that the offensive near Yelets will be a new contribution to the cause of smashing the fascist invaders and a continuation of the glorious pioneering work that Soviet soldiers laid the foundations near Rostov and Tikhvin. Galajev pointed out with satisfaction that the publications of the Front Army and the Army Group provided invaluable help in strengthening the offensive spirit of the soldiers.Its impact is huge.The powerful team of writers and poets who actively participated in the work of our army's newspapers have made great contributions in this regard.Galajev said that there are now thirty members of the Writers Association working in the editorial offices of the newspapers of the Southwest Front.Among these members he mentioned with particular respect Alexander Bezymensky, Mykola Baran, Wanda Vasilievskaya, Yevgeny Dolmatovsky, Alexander Konetchuk, Alexander Tvardovsky. "This is really the heavy artillery we advertised." Galajeev said proudly. "The author's infectious phrases inspired soldiers to fight bravely, to yearn for merit and to hate the fascist invaders." As I listened to Galajeev, I couldn't help thinking how much the soldiers looked forward to receiving the new papers in time.Consequently, people hear more complaints about the lack of delivery of newspapers to the front than about the late delivery of bread.The "Direct Aiming" column of the "Red Army Newspaper" of the Front and the supplement "The Mob", devoted to exposing the crimes of fascist executioners, were always read to pieces.It is not difficult to imagine how excited the soldiers were when the authors of "Direct Aiming" and "Mob" appeared in the various teams. Galajev said the political operatives who came with him will remain in the fast cluster until the end of the campaign.This is great news for us. While the chiefs at all levels were working on the main direction of the assault, our small command had its hands full: a map was to be plotted that would visually show the missions of the various corps and units on the first and subsequent days of the offensive , It is necessary to draft a battle order for the army, to draw up a reconnaissance plan, to draw a communication map, and to explain its subsequent development.But there is still a lot left to do because no one is doing it.So I had no choice but to draw up a logistics support plan, a radio signal table, and a coded map.This added a lot of difficulties to us in the command of the army during the course of the campaign.There is only one reason: rush.In fact, the preparation time for the battle was only one day and night: the offensive battle order was issued on the evening of December 4, and the offensive would begin on the morning of December 6.To plan and guarantee such a complicated campaign carefully, our small headquarters certainly needs much more time.My colleagues have done everything in their power. Why does the commander-in-chief try to attack as quickly as possible?Of course he understands very well that the growing crisis on the right wing of our front army can only be eliminated if the front army quickly turns to a resolute offensive.At the same time, he also knew that on December 5 and 6, the Western Front and the Kalinin Front would launch a general offensive near Moscow.The Western Front assumes the main task.They were to smash the main shock group of the fascist army, west and south of the capital, with tank corps at its core.At the same time, the Kalinin Front should crush the German 9th Army and, after liberating the city of Kalinin, advance out of the enemy's rear in front of the Western Front.The right wing of our Southwest Front Army should smash the communication line of the Yelets Group and the divisions of the fascist advance to the south of Moscow, and cooperate to win the overall victory. Thus, the campaign we are preparing is part of the forthcoming Moscow counter-offensive.Therefore, it is very important to coordinate this battle with the actions of the Western Front in terms of time. About eight hours before the attack, our scout Colonel Kaminsky reported to General Kostenko that he had spotted the new 95th Infantry Division of the German army in front of my group.We knew in the past that the division was organized into a group attacking in the direction of Yelets, but the information that the division was now unfolding in front of us still alarmed us. In less than half an hour, an urgent report came from General B. D. Kryuchongkin: "An officer was captured in the area of ​​the village of Zamarika, a camper of the 95th Infantry Division. He stated that, The division headquarters is now located in Mali-Olishan, and the division commander sent him to the village of Borki to prepare a house for the division headquarters..." Our 5th Cavalry Corps has been deployed close to the village.According to the information that the newly arrived German division commander intends to deploy his headquarters here, it is not difficult to guess that the enemy did not see any threat from them. Kostenko was very interested in this prisoner and ordered him to be escorted to Kastovnoye. It was midnight, and General Boggin called me to talk.He also asked very carefully about the state of our troops and their readiness to attack tomorrow morning.I assured him that the army was ready and would go out as scheduled. The Chief of Staff of the Front was disturbed when I spoke of the confessions of the captured officers.It wasn't until he learned that the appearance of the Fascist cutting-edge division was not because the Germans saw through our attempts that he calmed down a little. After reading all my reports, Bo Jin made a summary: "It can be considered that the army has already taken the starting point of the offensive. Now Rusyanov and Kryuchynkin must be reminded again to act resolutely, not to engage in frontal battles, but to detour the enemy from the west. Tell General Kostenko : Although the Marshal allowed him to move directly to the north (he considered that this would allow our army to advance to the main flank of the German Yelets Group), but if the enemy puts up fierce resistance in this direction, he must immediately turn to the northwest and look for Unoccupied gaps, advance to the enemy's rear. I think Rusyanov and Kryuchungin understand this, but if they don't, tell them in time..." Then Bogin conveyed General Faraleyev's complaint: Our army did not mark its own arrival line, so the pilots were afraid of hitting their own people.He asked if we had received the communication kit.I replied that I only received the second radio station from General Dobekin, but the rest of the equipment that should have been shipped from the former head of the Bryansk Front has not yet arrived. Finally, the Chief of Staff informed that the Thirteenth Army had cut off the Yelets-Efremov road within the past day.One division had penetrated into the eastern outskirts of Yelets, and another was encircling the city from the northwest.