wojtop79 wrote:. On the 8th of August 1944 commanders of Soviet forces fighting in Poland - Rokossowski and Zukov sent to Stalin (acting on their own initiative) a proposal to execute the "Warsaw Operation" targeted at destroying German forces in the area and as a result liberating the city.
I think the following document is meant:
The report by marshals G.K. Zhukov and K.K. Rokossovsky to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief on the plan of Warsaw operation.
Operational Army
8 August 1944
To the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Marshal of the Soviet Union comrade Stalin
We report considerations on further actions of the 1st Belorussian Front and the outline of the Warsaw operation plan.
1. The front will be able begin the Warsaw operation after all the armies of the right wing reach the line of Narew river and seize a bridgehead on its western side in the sector Pultusk-Serock.
Combat formations of these armies are separated by 120 kilimeters from the Narew river; it will take 10 days to pass this distance. Thus, the offensive operation of the right wing armies for reaching Narew must be conducted from 10 to 20.08.44.
2. At the same time on the left wing of the front it’s needed to conduct a supplementary operation by the forces of 69th, 8th Guards Armies, 7th Guards Cavalry and 11th Tank Corps in order to expand the bridgehead on the western side of Vistula and reach the line Warka, Stromiez, Radom, Wierzbica.
In order to conduct this operation it is needed to transfer the 1st Guards Tank Army from the 1st Ukrainian to the 1st Belorussian Front and dispatch it from Opatow via Ostrowiez, Senno with the task to reach the front Zwolen, Radom striking to the north-west and to assist 69th, 8th Guards Armies, 7th GCC, 11th TC in defeating opposing enemy forces.
Also it’s needed to shift the delimiting line between the 1st UF and 1st BF to the north up to the line Krasnystaw, Ilzanka, Opoczno, Piotrokow. That will make the combat formations of the left wing of the 1st Belorussian front denser and increase the striking power of our forces in the Radom sector.
3. After accomplishing these operations and after the right wing armies reach the line of Narew river and the left wing armies the line Warka, Stromiez, Radom, Wierzbica the troops will need at least 5 days to relocate the airforces to pull artillery and rear services and to deliver ammunition and fuel.
4. Taking into account the amount of time needed for preparation, the Warsaw operation could be begun on 25.08.44 by all the forces of the Front with the objective to reach the line Ciechanow, Plonsk, Wyshogrud, Sochaczew, Skiernewice, Tomaszov and take Warsaw.
In this operation we will use three armies, 1 tank and 1 cavalry corps for offensive north of Vistula and for offensive south of it - 69th, 8th Guards, 1st Tank and 2nd Tank Armies, 2 cavalry corps, 1 tank corps and one army at the expense of the right wing.
The 1st Polish Army will advance on the western side of Vistula with the task to capture Warsaw in cooperation with the right and left wings of the front.
5. Reporting stated above, we ask to approve our considerations on further offensive actions of the 1st Belorussain Front and our calculation of time for their implementation.
Zharov [Zhukov]
Rumyantzev [Rokossovsky]
Translated from the same "Russkiy arkhiv", Vol. 14. The document was partly published in "Soviet General Staff" by Shtemenko in late 60's. The archial reference to the copy of the plan must be TsAMO f.233, op. 2356, d. 28, ll 181-183
The questions I'm interested in are: what are the reasons to believe that the plan was written by private initiative of Zhukov and Rokossovsky and what are the reasons to believe that it was rejected?