Timoshenko, who had just arrived at the frontline headquarters, gave a solemn military salute to Meretskov, who was leaving dejectedly.
"What, are you making fun of me?" Meretskov, who mistook Timoshenko for being pretentious, squinted his eyes and squinted at Timoshenko, who was still saluting.
As the commander of the Leningrad Military District and the former frontline commander of Timoshenko, the commander of the Kiev Military District, Meretskov would inevitably feel repulsive when facing Timoshenko himself.
It's not that Meretskov hates Timoshenko, but because Timoshenko's temporary replacement really made him feel a great insult. When a commander is replaced on the battlefield, he has always denied the previous commander's approach.
.
As the master of offense and defense in fortified areas in the Soviet Red Army, Meretskov has always been well-known for his careful and thorough command and his foresight of the battle situation. The task of conquering the Mannerheim Line of Defense was originally assigned to this Soviet
The areas of expertise of famous generals.
Use Timoshenko, a general who is good at fighting plain battles, to replace him, an expert in offensive and defensive areas in fortification areas, to continue commanding the offensive battle of the Mannerheim Line. Doesn't this mean that Meretskov, as a general, is
Experts, in their own fields of expertise, are not even as good as Timoshenko who makes a temporary cameo!
"Comrade Meretskov, you misunderstood me." Timoshenko immediately shook his head and explained: "My trip was entirely an arrangement and had no other meaning. On the contrary, if I had not brought him from the Kiev Military District,
With the new troops and the large number of reinforcements mobilized from the rear, I might even refuse to accept the mission."
Perhaps moved by Timoshenko's sincere expression, Meretskov finally accepted the successor in his heart and kindly reminded: "Don't underestimate the enemy. I heard that you fought very well in Poland, but
This is Finland, not Poland. What you have to face is a group of terrible enemies."
"Are they difficult?" As soon as Timoshenko asked this question, he immediately regretted it. Asking this in front of Meretskov was equivalent to asking in disguise, "Are you unable to handle them?"
?”
Sure enough, as soon as Timoshenko's words came out of his mouth, Meretskov fell into a deep silence.
From the expression on his face, Timoshenko had probably guessed the psychological activities of his former frontline commander.
Just when Timoshenko was hesitant to find another topic to divert the awkward atmosphere, Meretskov suddenly spoke: "Yes, they are difficult to deal with."
With a wry smile, Meretskov raised a seemingly irrelevant topic to Timoshenko: "Have you ever heard of the German unit that faced the siege of a Polish group army alone?"
"You mean the German 30th Infantry Division?" Timoshenko nodded and responded seriously: "I have experienced the Polish campaign, so I know more about it. I heard that this German infantry division did not have any reinforcements.
Under such circumstances, he refused to surrender, faced ten times more Polish army siege alone, and gritted his teeth and endured!"
"Yes," Meretskov continued: "The only advice I want to leave you is to treat the entire Finnish army as a stubborn enemy like the German 30th Infantry Division."
Timoshenko could see that what he said was very serious and not alarmist!
Before the war, no one would have believed that the Finns would be so tenacious and unyielding.
At that time, looking at the whole of Europe, as far as everything related to the military was concerned, Nordic countries like Finland were just the objects of ridicule and ridicule. Their soldiers were not like soldiers, and their training methods were more like staying in the previous era.
Century. In addition to Sweden, the weapons and equipment of Finland and other Nordic countries are also dismissive.
People even doubt that once a war breaks out, no one in such a country will be able to muster the courage to shoot at the enemy.
But people soon got the answer. In more than a month of fighting with a huge disparity in strength, the army of a small country like Finland was able to block the Soviet Union's 350,000-strong army east of the Mannerheim Line of Defense.
Finland, a small country with a total population of just over 4.4 million and a standard military of only 32,000 standing army, has caused the Soviet Union, which has always regarded itself as a military power, to stumble one after another.
Once, Poland, which had an army of one million and was known as the fifth strongest country in Europe, could not stop the Soviet army for two months with an army of 200,000, allowing Timoshenko to break through the defense line.
Now, after nationwide mobilization, Finland, which has only expanded its army by 120,000 troops, has almost annihilated four Soviet reorganized divisions and inflicted varying degrees of losses on other Soviet divisions.
The slogan of the Soviet government before the war also changed from "As long as the door is raised slightly, the Finns will obey. If that doesn't work, you can fire a shot, and the Finns will raise their hands and surrender." to later "The artillery units only need to be prepared.
Twelve days of ammunition is enough, and the entire battle will end in 16 days at most." Now, "General Timoshenko, the conqueror of Poland, was ordered to take over at the critical moment, and the conquest of Finland is just around the corner."
Thinking of this, Timoshenko suddenly felt a little ironic. Faced with a weak country that lacked aircraft and artillery, almost no tanks, and a standing force of less than 40,000, the Red Army, which always claimed to be tenacious and good at fighting, and accompanied by a large number of aircraft and tanks, actually used several
One hundred thousand people can't defeat the opponent, now they have to add hundreds of thousands more troops?!
Meretskov looked at the heavy-faced Timoshenko, nodded, and then reached out and patted him on the shoulder: "The matter has come to this, there is no use thinking about anything else. Concentrate on command and win as soon as possible.
Let’s take the Finnish position.”
"I will ask the division commanders in the remaining troops to cooperate with you as much as possible and try their best to carry out the orders." This time, Meretskov encouraged Timoshenko sincerely: "But don't hug them.
Too much hope. To tell you the truth, the troops I brought from the Leningrad Military District are basically disabled now. The only thing we can really count on now is the cutting-edge troops you brought from the Kiev Military District."
"Meretskov, you..."
After stopping Timoshenko's unspoken words of gratitude, Meretskov smiled a little disappointedly: "That's all I can do for you. The rest, I can only rely on you."
When he said this, Meretskov's heart was actually as painful as a knife. Putting the goal that he had worked hard for day and night into the hands of someone new was like losing a nanny who had been cared for by him for many years.
The reason why the child left was because he didn’t think he had been taken care of well!
Looking at Meretskov's back when he left, Timoshenko was suddenly confused. Even if he brought such a powerful new army, could he really win Finland easily? Or maybe, he
It may take more time than Meretskov!
As this war that should have ended easily is still continuing, the Soviet Union's international influence has plummeted. What's even more frightening is that Timoshenko is not sure how long this rapid decline in influence will last.
