Red Moscow

If only ordinary Soviet troops are stationed in Shumakovo at this moment, Hausser will definitely order the Imperial Division to continue to attack north without hesitation. After all, in his eyes, one Imperial Division is enough to deal with five or six Russian divisions. . But now that he learned that Shumakovo was actually stationed with his enemy, he had to become cautious.

Hausser was silent for a long time, and asked the division chief of staff: "Chief of staff, are you sure that the Russian troops stationed in the Shumakovo area are Sokov's 27th Army?"

"That's right, Your Excellency Commander." The division chief of staff replied: "This is basically certain. But we don't know exactly how many troops they have assembled in the Shumakovo area."

"Immediately send capable scouts to reconnaissance this area." Hausser felt that if his troops wanted to continue to advance northward, they had to figure out the situation of the Soviet army's defenses in the Shumakovo area. If we move forward hastily, the tragedy of the previous months may happen again.

"Understood, Your Excellency Commander." The division chief of staff replied respectfully: "I will send scouts as soon as possible to conduct reconnaissance in the Shumakovo area."

"Chief of staff, not as soon as possible, but immediately, immediately." Hausser said to the division chief of staff in a stern tone: "On the battlefield, every minute is precious. Knowing the enemy's troop deployment one minute earlier, then We have a better chance of winning. Understand?"

"Understood." The chief of staff of the division replied loudly: "I will immediately send a capable reconnaissance force to the Shumakovo area for reconnaissance to find out the situation of the Russians' defense there."

At this moment, the number of Soviet troops arriving in the Shumakovo area has increased to four divisions, namely Colonel Khokhlov's 182nd Division, Major General Fomenko's 84th Division, Colonel Koida's 188th Division and Major General Gritsenko's 384th Division.

Sokov called four division commanders to his temporary headquarters for a meeting. He pointed to the map spread out on the table and said to everyone: "Now there are three lines of defense in the Shumakovo area, which are held by the 182nd Division. The first line of defense, the second line of defense defended by the 84th Division, and the third line of defense controlled by the 188th Division. Our presence in this area must have been detected by the Germans, but in order to confuse the enemy and make them misjudge , The regiment where your divisions are sticking to their positions can set up more false positions to make the enemy think that each of our defense lines has a division's strength, so that they cannot take the initiative to attack us until they gather enough troops. "

"Comrade Commander," Lunev asked curiously after Sokov finished speaking, "Are we just passively waiting for the enemy to launch an attack?"

"Comrade Military Commissar," Sokov said to Lunev with a smile, "Passive defense has never been my specialty. All I ordered the troops on the defensive line to make fake moves to confuse the enemy was to cover actions in other directions. .General Gritsenko!"

"Here!" Major General Gritsenko, whose name was called, quickly straightened his back, quietly waiting for Sokov's order.

"According to my judgment," Sokov pointed to the map with a red and blue pencil, and said to Gritsenko: "The enemy will not dare to attack the Shumakovo area easily until they have figured out our deployment. The task of your division is to sneak around to the enemy's flank, launch an attack by surprise, and disrupt their offensive deployment."

"Comrade Commander," Gritsenko glanced at Lunev next to him after hearing Sokov's order, and then replied with some embarrassment: "The new rockets issued by our division, They were handed over to Comrade Military Commissioner. I don’t know how many new rockets you can provide us with this roundabout mission?”

Sokov is very familiar with the power of the new rockets, and knows that Gritsenko's troops do not have any decent artillery. If the number of rockets they carry is too small, it will be very difficult to actively attack the German army. Out of this consideration, he said: "In order to better complete this detour mission, in addition to returning all your original rockets, I will also add some to you."

"Great, Comrade Commander, this is really great." Not long after Gritsenko arrived here, he heard that the squad went deep into the enemy's rear and wiped out almost a battalion of the German army with rockets, and he couldn't help feeling itchy. Knowing that Sokov will provide himself with a large number of rockets to carry out roundabout combat missions, he couldn't help but be overjoyed, and said repeatedly: "We will definitely not let you down."

Several other division commanders couldn't help feeling a little jealous when they heard that Sokov had handed over such a difficult task to Division Gritsenko. Khokhlov stepped forward and said, "Comrade Commander, our division has been stationed here for the longest time and is the most familiar with the environment. I hope you can assign similar tasks to us."

"Don't worry, Comrade Colonel." Sokov comforted Khokhlov and said: "After the enemy is confused by us, I will let the main force of your divisions also detour to the enemy's flanks and give them a hard lesson. .” He drew a circle on Oboyan’s position with his finger, “Even if we can’t completely annihilate the Imperial Division, we must drive them south from here.”

"Comrade Commander," the commanders present were puzzled by Sokov's statement. Colonel Koyda asked the question in everyone's mind on behalf of everyone: "Why do you want to drive the enemy to the south?"

"Everyone should know that Oboyan is an important assembly point for our army. Once a large number of German armor stays in this area, it will pose a huge threat to our army." Sokov continued: "But we have to They rushed south and forced them to turn towards Prokhorovka, so that Oboyan would be much less threatened."

"Comrade Commander, I don't understand why you want to drive the enemy to Prokhorovka?" Kuida said puzzledly: "The terrain in that direction is flat, which is conducive to the deployment of the German army's large-scale armored forces. Once they come from If we launch an attack from that direction, our defensive positions will not be able to stop them from turning to the rear of our army. I am worried that if this happens, all our troops may be encircled."

As soon as the encirclement was mentioned, the faces of several commanders present changed. Some of them participated in the defense of Kiev and were lucky enough to break out of the siege; some of them participated in the Kharkov offensive and experienced the feeling of being encircled by the German army. At this moment, knowing that once the German army reaches Prokhorovka, our troops are in danger of being encircled, and I can't help feeling anxious. But everyone knew that Sokov would not talk about Prokhorovka for no reason, so they were going to listen to what he had to say, and then decide whether they should persuade him.

"From Oboyan to us, there are a lot of hills, swamps and rivers." Sokov said to everyone: "Such terrain is not only not conducive to the deployment of the enemy's armored forces, but also affects our investment in this area. The number of tanks. But if it is changed to Prokhorovka, the situation will change. Not only the tank army of the Voronezh Front Army can fight the enemy's armored troops here, but even the Fifth Guards Tank Army of our Front Army. We can go into battle. At that time, we will be able to rely on our superiority in numbers to defeat the enemy who is trying to rush to Kursk."

After listening to Sokov's explanation, everyone stared at the map for a long time, and felt that what Sokov said was indeed very reasonable. The two sides can take advantage of the wide terrain of Prokhorovka and invest as many tanks as possible for a large-scale decisive battle.

But if the large-scale decisive battles with the enemy were all concentrated in Prokhorovka, then it would be a bit idle for my own troops to stay in Shumakovo. Therefore, after a short pause, Koyda asked tentatively: "Comrade commander, if the enemy and us really launched a large-scale decisive battle in Prokhorovka, wouldn't it be difficult for us to make achievements here? "

"Don't worry, Comrade Colonel." Seeing Koyda's worried look, Sokov comforted him and said, "As long as we severely damage the Imperial Division, it will be a great victory. As long as we disrupt the enemy's offensive deployment, then We can choose the right time to launch a surprise attack on the enemy."

If other commanders said that, the commanders present would definitely murmur in their hearts, thinking that the other party was bragging. But when these words came from Sokov's mouth, they were particularly convincing. Everyone felt that it was only natural for their troops to attack the German army.

"General Gritsenko," Sokov called Gritsenko's name again after assigning tasks to each division, and said to him, "I know that after the long march of your division, all commanders and fighters have changed. I’m so exhausted. I wanted you to take a good rest for a while, but I can’t, Comrade General.” Sokov sighed and said, “Now is a rare opportunity. If you miss it like this, if you want to destroy these enemies in the future, We will have to pay a higher price."

"I understand, Comrade Commander." Gritsenko was very moved when he saw that Sokov trusted him so much that he actually spoke his mind to himself. He assured Sokov, "When I return to the army, I will Let the political commissar, Lieutenant Colonel Jaynego, do propaganda and agitation work for the commanders and fighters, and I believe that the commanders and fighters will always maintain the highest morale to complete this glorious task you entrusted to us."

Just when Sokov was about to announce the end of the meeting, Lunev interjected and asked: "Comrade commander, since you want to order the 384th Division to attack the enemy from the flank, should you give them more anti-tank weapons? After all, the enemy still has more anti-tank weapons." A tank regiment equipped with Tiger tanks?"

If Lunev didn't say it, Gritsenko would have forgotten that he still needed to deal with the enemy's tanks. At this moment, when he heard that Lunev made a request for himself, he stared at Sokov intently, wanting to hear what he had to say.

But Sokov waved his hand and said, "I don't think it's necessary. I just said that in our direction, due to terrain constraints, it is impossible for the enemy to invest a large amount of armored troops, so even if we are making a detour During the process, the tank units encountered by the enemy were only small and small units, and they could completely deal with them with their existing anti-tank weapons."

"Okay then." Hearing what Sokov said, Lunev felt that he was a bit right. If the 384th Division, which was conducting a roundabout operation, might encounter a large-scale German armored force, even if he didn't say it, With Sokov's character, he will definitely arrange a large number of anti-tank weapons for the opponent. He replied with some embarrassment: "Then follow your orders."

Seeing that Sokov was unwilling to give him more anti-tank weapons, Gritsenko was somewhat disappointed. But after listening to Sokov's explanation, I felt that with the existing anti-tank forces in my division, it should be no problem to deal with the enemy's armored forces. After trying to understand this truth, he untied the knot, raised his hand to give a ring salute to Sokov and Lunev, and then turned and walked out of the temporary headquarters.

As soon as several division commanders were sent away, Sokov received a call from Konev: "Thank God, Comrade Sokov, I finally heard your voice."

"Hello, Comrade Commander of the Front Army." Hearing the call from Konev, Sokov hurriedly said respectfully, "Do you have any instructions?"

Since Sokov came to Shumakovo with the guard company, he entrusted Sameko to be in charge of the contact with the Front Army Command. After hearing the report relayed by Sameko, Konev still felt a little uneasy, and felt that he needed to ask Sokov personally about some things before he could feel relieved.

Today, he was supposed to contact the troops below as usual, but the communications staff unexpectedly told him that he could talk to Sokov's temporary headquarters. Konev was overjoyed when he heard the news, and quickly ordered the communications staff to connect to Sokov's phone. He wanted to know the real situation at the front for himself.

"How is the situation on your side?" Konev asked. "Has the enemy launched an attack on Shumakovo?"

"There used to be a small detachment that broke into our defense area rashly, but it has been wiped out by us." Sokov replied lightly: "Then I ordered people to take advantage of the captured German armored vehicles to attack the enemy in the dark. One of their camps, wiped out one of their battalions with new rockets."

"Good job." Konev praised Sokov, and then asked, "What are your plans for the future?"

Thinking of his battle plan, he would have to report it to the Front Army Command sooner or later. Since Konev asked at this moment, he would simply tell him. So Sokov replied: "Report to Comrade Front Army Commander, I feel that to defend Shumakovo, passive defense cannot be carried out. The enemy's flank, teach them a lesson."

Konev stared at the map in front of him, and asked with a serious expression, "Which direction are you going to detour from?"

Sokov replied: "Nowadays, a large number of German troops have been assembled in the area south of Oboyan. If we are not careful, our detour troops will fall into the encirclement of the German army. And from the enemy's The situation is much better when the left flank is detoured, and this area is basically under the control of friendly forces. Even if the attack does not go smoothly, we can successfully jump out of the enemy's encirclement with the help of friendly forces."