Rubuta ci gaba don wannan sakin layi - A cikin 1939, Vatutin ya shirya ayyukan don mamayewar Soviet na Poland tare da Jamus, kuma ya yi aiki a matsayin Shugaban Ma'aikata na Kungiyar Kudancin Red Army. A shekara ta 1940, a ƙarƙashin jagorancin Georgy Zhukov, wannan rukunin sun kwace Bessarabia
daga Romania. A matsayin lada ga waɗannan kamfen ɗin da ba na yaƙi ba, Stalin ya ɗaga Vatutin zuwa matsayin Laftanar Janar kuma ya nada shi zuwa mahimmin matsayi na Shugaban Babban Ofishin Gudanar da Ayyuka na Babban Jami'in. Vatutin, duk da haka, bai dace da sabon aikinsa ba: yayin da yake da kirkire-kirkire da aiki tuƙuru, ba shi da ƙwarewar yaƙi kuma iliminsa game da fasahar aiki da dabaru ya yi yawa. Duk da haka, asalinsa na manomi, shekarunsa na ƙuruciya, da himmar jam'iyyar sun sa ya zama ɗaya daga cikin kaɗan daga cikin waɗanda Stalin ya fi so a cikin sojojin Soviet. Vatutin, tare da sauran manyan kwamandojin Red Army, sun kasa shirya sojojin don harin Jamus na 22 ga Yuni 1941.