Red Moscow

The Soviet army easily took the first line of defense, but it took a lot of time to capture the second line of defense. After all, there were not many infantrymen following the tanks into the second line of defense. As soon as they started, the defenders noticed something abnormal, and the two sides launched a fierce exchange of fire.

Fortunately, the German lieutenant colonel who was in charge of the command had been crushed to death in the headquarters that was bombarded by tanks. The German army lost its unified command and could only fight on its own. As the large Soviet troops came from the first line of defense, the enemy's resistance melted away like snow in the sun.

Katukov walked out of the command post, pointed at the troops cleaning the battlefield, and said to Sokov with relief: "Comrade Sokov, when you first proposed this plan, I thought it was really crazy, and I was worried that it might It will not be successful. But now it seems that you are right, this unexpected tactic actually allowed us to easily recover those positions that we could not win after fighting for a day."

After finishing speaking, he turned to the chief of staff and said: "Comrade chief of staff, immediately report to the headquarters of the front army, saying that we have successfully captured the position on the left bank of the Pena River, and the enemy has been driven across the Pena River."

After receiving Katukov's report, Vatutin froze for a moment. He called Lieutenant General Ivanov, chief of staff, and asked, "Comrade chief of staff, I remember that a few hours ago, General Katukov Still complaining to me that the enemy, relying on defensive positions along the coast, has defeated their many attacks and wants us to provide them with air support."

"Yes, Comrade General, that is indeed the case." Ivanov nodded and replied: "When General Katukov's troops launched an attack on the enemy entrenched on the left bank of the Pena River, they were once attacked by the Luftwaffe. The bombing, which led to an attack they had hoped to win, ended in failure."

"But what's the matter with this report?" Vatutin handed the received telegram to Ivanov: "Just a few hours later, he actually told me that he had regained all the positions on the left bank of the Pena River. , drove the enemy across the Pena River. Go and ask, what is going on here?"

Fortunately, there was a dedicated telephone line between the headquarters of the Front Army and Katukov's headquarters, so Ivanov didn't have to send telegrams to ask what was going on. When he learned the whole situation from Katukov over the phone, he was extremely shocked. So much so that after Katukov hung up the phone, he still held the receiver for a long time.

Seeing his chief of staff holding the microphone in a daze, Vatutin asked curiously, "Comrade chief of staff, what are you in a daze for?"

"Comrade General, it's incredible." Ivanov woke up from his contemplation, looked at Vatutin and said excitedly: "General Katukov adopted Major General Sokov's suggestion and readjusted his offensive tactics. ..." He told Vatutin in detail what he had just learned.

After listening to it, Vatutin felt that it was a fantasy, and he also murmured in his heart that Sokov's plan was too crazy. In the process of execution, as long as there is a slight mistake, it will bring unimaginable consequences.

He calmed down and felt that he should immediately report the good news of recovering the left bank of the Pena River to the Supreme Command, so that those who were suffering could get the good news earlier. He connected to the General Staff through a high-frequency telephone, and when he heard Antonov's voice coming from the receiver, he smiled and said, "Comrade Chief of General Staff, hello!"

"I'm very bad, Comrade Vatutin." Antonov said in a serious tone: "The current situation in the Kursk region is very unfavorable to our army. What a good mood."

"Comrade Chief of Staff, I guessed that you might be in a bad mood at the moment, so I want to tell you some good news."

"Good news, what good news?"

"Not long ago, General Katukov's First Tank Army, after a fierce battle, restored all of our army's positions on the left bank of the Pena River and drove the enemy across the Pena River."

"What, the positions on the left bank of the Pena River have all been restored?" Antonov was surprised when he heard Vatutin say this: "This is really exciting news. How did you do it?"

"Comrade Chief of the General Staff, to tell you the truth, this is a victory won by General Katukov following the advice of Major General Sokov. He..."

Before Vatutin could finish speaking, Zhukov's voice suddenly came from the receiver: "Comrade Vatutin, what did you just say, Katukov's troops were able to recover all the positions on the left bank of the Pena River because of the Soko The help of Major General Hu? Please tell us quickly, what is going on here?"

Hearing Zhukov's voice, Vatutin was taken aback for a moment, and then thought that the other party had been to Sokov's headquarters before leaving Kursk. He must have been more concerned about what Sokov came up with. Take the left bank position that cannot be attacked for a long time.

After listening to Vatutin's narration, Zhukov couldn't help muttering: "This Misha can come up with such a crazy plan. Not only the enemy, but even I can't think of such a plan. Therefore, his success There is still a reason."

Hearing Zhukov's constant praise of Sokov on the phone, Vatutin was not in a hurry. After he finished speaking, he tentatively asked: "Comrade Marshal, according to various signs today, the area where we will fight the Germans next , it should be in the Prokhorovka area, can you provide us with more assistance?"

If Vatutin had proposed such a situation a few hours ago, Zhukov would have rejected it without hesitation. After all, the base camp had put Konev's 5th Guards Tank Army and 5th Guards 5th Army into two units. It was placed under the command of Vatutin, and it was impossible to mobilize more troops.

But at this moment, Zhukov had a new idea in his heart. Since Sokov has so many ghost ideas, if he transfers his troops to the Prokhorovka area, then maybe he can create new miracles in the next battle. Thinking of this, he asked Vatutin: "Where is Major General Sokov now?"

"After he assisted General Katukov's troops to regain the position on the left bank of the Pena River, he should return to his headquarters. At this moment, he should be on the way." Vatutin felt that Zhukov would not ask Sokov for no reason , then tentatively asked: "Comrade Marshal, what do you ask him for?"

"Ask him what to do?" Zhukov sneered, "You are about to fight the enemy in the Prokhorovka area. With your current strength, you will definitely not be able to stop the large-scale German armored forces. Do your best to add more troops to you."

Hearing what Zhukov said, Vatutin immediately realized that the other party might plan to assign Sokov's troops to his own command. Although I don't have much affection for this commander who became a general at a young age, but now that the battle is imminent, the more strength I have in hand, the more confident I will be in fighting.

He quickly said: "Comrade Marshal, it would be great if Major General Sokov's troops could also be assigned to the command of our Front Army."

Sokov, who was being talked about by the two, was returning to the army headquarters in Shumakovo in a jeep with General Poluboyarov at the moment.

On the way, General Poluboyarov was full of praise for Sukov's tactics: "Comrade Commander, at that time I thought your plan was too bold, and I was full of doubts about whether it could be carried out smoothly." But I didn't expect that when the war really started, everything went according to your plan. The Germans didn't suspect this army coming out of our defense zone at all, and let them enter their own defense zone .”

"Actually, I also took advantage of a loophole." Facing General Poluboyarov's praise, Sokov said modestly: "There is a gap between the German SS and the Wehrmacht. When the defenders see a When the SS came out of our defense zone, the first thing that came to mind was not to go out and flank our attacking troops with them, but to stay in the fortifications and watch the opponent fight our army to the death. Wait until you see the SS After the troops penetrated our army's formation, they were worried that their actions just now would cause dissatisfaction on the other side, so they could only allow the other side's tanks and infantry to enter their defense zone."

General Poluboyarov listened to Sokov, pondered for a moment, and asked thoughtfully: "Comrade Commander, if I understand correctly, what you mean is that if someone who rushed out of our defense zone Troops, not the SS but the Wehrmacht, so there is a possibility that our plan will not be implemented?"

"That's right, Comrade General." Seeing that General Poluboyarov understood his intentions, Sokov nodded and said: "If the defenders find out that it is the Wehrmacht that appeared on the battlefield, they will first try to figure it out. The number of the other party, and then flank our attacking force with them back and forth, in this way, my plan will put our offensive force in danger."

When the car they were riding was five or six kilometers away from Shumakovo, a three-wheeled motorcycle came oncoming. Samoilov looked carefully, then turned to Sokov and said, "Comrade Commander, you are a communications staff officer at the headquarters."

Knowing that it was the communications staff officer from the headquarters who came to find him, Sokov immediately realized that something important was about to happen, so he told the driver: "Put the car on the side of the road."

Not long after the car stopped, the motorcycle drove over and stopped beside the jeep. The staff officer sitting in the sidecar jumped out as soon as the car came to a complete stop, trotted out of the car window, raised his hand in salute, and said, "Comrade Commander, I have an urgent telegram from you."

"Emergency telegram?!" Sokov opened the car door and reached out to the other party: "Bring it to me."

The staff officer took out a folder from the briefcase, took out a telegram from it, and handed it to Sokov. After doing all this, he raised his hand in salute, turned around and left on a motorcycle.

Sokov opened the telegram and saw that it was a note written by Chief of Staff Sameko: "Comrade Commander, I just received a notification from my superiors that Marshal Zhukov will call you in half an hour. Please return to Commander-in-Chief immediately." department."

After reading the telegram, Sokov said to everyone: "The chief of staff told me that Marshal Zhukov will call me in half an hour and ask me to return to the army headquarters immediately."

"What important things will happen?" General Poluboyarov asked curiously: "You must know that Marshal Zhukov has not been away from the headquarters for a long time."

From the moment Sokov saw the telegram, he realized what he had done to restore the position on the left bank of the Pena River. Zhukov understood it all. task. However, he didn't tell the truth to the subordinates in the car, but told the driver: "Drive, we have to return to the group army headquarters as soon as possible."

After rushing back to the Army Group Headquarters, Sokov told Sameko and Lunev about the battle to regain the positions on the left bank of the Pena River. Before he could finish speaking, the high-frequency phone on the table rang. Sameko did not take the initiative to answer the phone as usual, but looked at Sokov and said, "Comrade Commander, it should be Marshal Zhukov."

Sokov walked to the phone, took a deep breath, put the receiver close to his ear and said, "I am Major General Sokov, where are you?"

"I'm Zhukov." A moment later, Zhukov's voice came from the receiver: "Misha, I heard that you assisted General Katukov's troops to successfully recover all the positions on the left bank of the Pena River not long ago. , you are really amazing."

"Comrade Marshal, you are really flattering yourself." Sokov heard Zhukov praise himself, and said modestly: "My work is just a little effort, not worth mentioning, not worth mentioning."

"Misha, you did a good job." Unexpectedly, Zhukov continued to praise him: "It is precisely because of your bold plan that the casualties of our army were minimized. On behalf of the commanders and fighters who survived, thank you!"

What Zhukov said was not a scene, but the truth from the heart. It is precisely because of Sokov's seemingly absurd but surprisingly effective tactics that the attacking troops have at least lost hundreds of thousands of people, as well as a lot of technical equipment. Just for this, Zhukov said to him Thank you, and it makes sense.

"I just met with Comrade Beria not long ago." Zhukov went on to say, "I heard from him that according to your analysis, the next battle location between our army and the Germans will be in the Prokhorovka area. Am I right?"

"Yes, Comrade Marshal." Although Sokov thought Zhukov's question was strange, even if he didn't say it himself, a commander of his level should be very clear about where the German army's next attack target is. But since Zhukov asked, he replied truthfully: "I think so."

"Since the Germans have already been driven across the Pena River, it would be a bit too wasteful to station such a large force in the Shumakovo area." Zhukov said slowly: "I plan to transfer them to Prokho You don't think differently about the Lovka region, do you?"