Red Moscow

Sokov received a formal notification from Vatutin that all the commanders and fighters rescued from the prisoner-of-war camp would be incorporated into his 27th Army after undergoing the necessary screening.

This good news made Sokov overjoyed. He added 20,000 people to his group army at once, and the vitality of the troops was basically restored. Moreover, these commanders and fighters who have been bullied by German guards are full of hatred for the enemy. As long as they are fully armed, they will be an extremely terrifying force, and they will become a nightmare for the Germans.

Vatutin continued: "After discussion and research, the Front Army Command decided to send the deputy commander, General Apanashenko, as a representative of the Front Army, to your department to supervise the implementation of the screening work."

Sokov had been happy for less than two minutes, but his heart became cold because of Vatutin's words. After waiting for the other party to finish speaking, he said cautiously: "Comrade Front Army Commander, Lieutenant General Lunev, the military commissar of our army, is a political worker from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. I think that with his ability, he can completely complete this mission." screening work."

"Major General Sokov, it's useless for you to say anything." Vatutin said in an unquestionable tone: "The more than 20,000 rescued prisoners of war will all be incorporated into your troops. If traitors and cowards are allowed to mix in, they will be killed." It will bring unexpected consequences to your troops. General Apanashenko applied to go to your place on his own initiative, and you must cooperate with him, understand, Major General Sokov?"

Hearing that Apanashenko voluntarily applied to join his army, Sokov felt an indescribable awkwardness in his heart, but since it was a decision made by his superiors, he had no right to object, so he could only bite the bullet and answer: : "Understood, Comrade Front Army Commander, we must cooperate with him in his work."

Sameko didn't seem to care at all whether Apanashenko would come to supervise the work. He was very excited about getting 20,000 soldiers at the moment: "Comrade Commander, I don't know how you plan to distribute the 20,000 soldiers?"

"The 188th Division and the 81st Guards Division suffered extremely heavy casualties in this blocking battle, and they should be replenished first." Seeing Sameko taking a pen to record what he said, Sokov slowed down and said: "The casualties of the 384th Division are not small, and they will serve as the second batch of supplementary objects. As for the 84th and 254th Divisions, the two Marine Brigades will be the third batch; while the Infantry Brigade and the 182nd Division can be excluded this time. outside of the supply plan."

After remembering what Sokov said, Sameko raised his head and asked, "Then how many people can be assigned to each division of the 20,000 people?"

For Sameko's question, Sokov did not give an accurate answer: "You can call a meeting with the division commanders to discuss how many soldiers should be allocated to each division according to the ranks I just divided."

After writing something down in his notebook, Sameko asked again, "What about the weapons and equipment?"

"I'm afraid it will take some time to replenish the assault rifles." As for the weapons to be used by these newly recruited soldiers, Sokov has also seriously considered, and feels that although the assault rifles are more powerful than the Popov submachine guns, these new soldiers are still more powerful. The fighters who joined had no experience in using this kind of weapon. Even if they were equipped with assault rifles, their combat effectiveness would be affected to a certain extent: "And even if the assault rifles are equipped with newly supplemented fighters, they still need a process of adaptation. And we can't get through it." How long will it take before the attack on Belgorod will start, and the time is a little too late, I think let them continue to use our army's standard weapons."

After explaining to Sameko about the distribution of troops and the allocation of weapons, Sokov turned to Lunev and said to him: "Comrade Military Commissar, the Front Army Command intends to send the deputy commander, General Apanashenko. Oversee our screening of prisoners of war."

Lunev heard the implication of Sokov's words, smiled and said to him: "Comrade Commander, don't worry. Don't forget, I am from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. We take second place in some things, so no one dares to No matter whether there is General Apanashenko’s supervision or not, our screening work can be completed smoothly.”

After dawn, a convoy of three jeeps and five trucks appeared at the location of Sokov's headquarters.

After checking, the officer on duty at the intersection knew that it was the convoy of General Apanashenko, the deputy commander of the Voronezh Front, and quickly let it go, and called Sokov.

After receiving the notice, Sokov didn't dare to neglect, and hurriedly took the members of the headquarters to the door to greet him.

Seeing the convoy approaching in the distance, Sameko couldn't help but shook his head and said: "It's really a rumor. Three jeeps and five trucks can all form a convoy for a military parade. If the enemy's reconnaissance plane finds it, the enemy You can definitely guess that there are important people in the convoy, and once the planes are dispatched to bomb, they will be in danger."

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Lunev waited for Sameko to finish, and continued, "You think too much. Now the air supremacy of the entire Kursk region is firmly in the hands of our army. If the plane does not appear, it will be shot down by our patrol planes once it appears."

The convoy stopped at the gate of the command headquarters, the passenger door of the second jeep opened, a lieutenant colonel jumped out of the car, went to the back and opened the door, and put his hands on the top of the door to prevent the people inside from bumping into each other when they came out .

Sokov saw the other party's grand pomp, guessing that the person who was about to get out of the car must be General Apanashenko, and trotted forward.

Sure enough, Apanashenko got out of the car. He stood up straight, looked around, and pulled the hem of his uniform with both hands.

"Comrade Deputy Commander of the Front Army, Major General Sokov, Commander of the 27th Army, reports to you." Sokov hurriedly stood at attention and saluted, and reported loudly, "Welcome to us to guide our work."

Apanashenko raised his hand to return the salute, and said indifferently: "General Sokov, I want to ask, what are your troops doing now?"

"I'm resting."

"Retiring?" Apanashenko shook his head and said, "This answer is too general, I want to know the specific answer!"

"Comrade General," Hearing what Apanashenko said, Sameko hurriedly stepped forward and said, "I am Major General Sameko, Chief of Staff of the Army Group. Please allow me to report to you."

"Report!"

After Sameko agreed resoundingly, he began to report to Apanashenko what the divisions, brigades, artillery and tank troops of the group army are doing now. Not only is it very detailed, but it is also very clear.

After listening to Sameko's report, Apanashenko finally had some smiles on his frosty face. Sokov quickly introduced Lunev to him: "This is Lieutenant General Lunev, the Military Commissar of the Group Army. In the next few days, he will cooperate with your work..."

"Comrade Lunev and I knew each other long before the war." Looking at Lunev who was standing upright, Apanashenko smiled even wider: "I didn't expect that we would have the opportunity to work together."

After Apanashenko followed Sokov and others into the headquarters, he went straight to the wall and looked up at the large map hanging on it. After watching for a while, he turned to Sokov who was standing behind him and said, "General Sokov, can you tell me about your combat situation yesterday?"

Regarding the detailed report on recent operations, Sokov sent someone to the Front Army Command after dark. Hearing what Apanashenko said at this moment, he couldn't help showing a bitter expression on his face. He felt that Apanashenko didn't seem to like him, so he targeted himself everywhere.

But the other party is his superior, no matter how dissatisfied he is with him, he can only hide it in his heart. He patiently reported the fighting situation of the past few days in detail.

Unexpectedly, just after he finished speaking, Apanashenko spoke again: "General Sokov, since you have already grasped the initiative on the battlefield, why don't you continue to expand the results of the battle? You know, if you make up your mind to defeat the German army After the arrival of the supporting troops, you may rush directly into Belgorod."

"Comrade General," Sokov heard Apanashenko say this, and he couldn't help but laugh: "The troops I can use are very limited, and when the troops pursue the enemy, the organizational system is completely messed up. Basically, battalion-level, company-level units, and even platoon-level units are fighting.

After encountering the support troops from Belgorod, if we don't retreat quickly and turn to defense on the spot, there is a possibility that we will be eaten by the enemy. "

After Sokov finished speaking, Sameko quickly echoed: "That's right, Comrade General, our two infantry divisions and the tank army are too scattered, and we have no ability to attack fortified positions at all. Even if we barely defeated the army from Belgorod The response troops from Germany are also unable to attack the enemy's well-defended cities."

"General Sokov," Apanashenko picked up the explaining stick leaning against the wall, tapped on the map on the wall, and said to Sokov and others: "You guys are fighting too conservatively in this battle. If you continue to attack the city, it doesn't matter much even if you can't make progress for the time being. But after the Front Army Command learns that you have launched an attack on Belgorod, it will send troops to attack the city from other directions to alleviate the damage you have suffered. The main force."

"Also." Apanashenko turned around, held the explaining stick in both hands, looked at Sokov and said displeasedly: "We are a regular army, but judging from the series of tactics you use, it is completely guerrilla. The team’s style of play. Using such a tactic against the enemy, even if you win, it will be a great fluke.”

In the face of Apanashenko's criticism, Sokov really couldn't laugh or cry.

He suppressed the anger in his heart and asked: "Comrade general, tell me, what should regular army combat be like?"

Apanashenko didn't notice Sokov's face, and said to himself: "Since we are a regular army, we should fight according to the regular army's style of play, for example, use fortress against fortress, attack against attack." ..."

"Is it necessary to make a short assault while defending?" Sokov asked with a sneer.

"That's right, Major General Sokov, it seems that you still understand this." Seeing that Sokov finally understood how to fight regular warfare, Apanashenko asked the other party: "Since you know how to fight a regular army How to fight, so why do you always like to use guerrilla tactics? You must know that our commanders and fighters are very brave. In regular combat, they can use their courage to crush the enemy."

"Comrade General," Seeing that Apanashenko was still sticking to the outdated formula, Sokov was full of dissatisfaction with him. As soon as he finished speaking, he immediately said without humility: "I think as long as we can defeat the Enemies, no matter what tactics they use are fine."

Seeing Sokov refute his opinion, Apanashenko was even more dissatisfied with him, and he said with a straight face: "General Sokov, do you know that no matter how many battles you win with this guerrilla tactic? , the enemy still looks down on you, thinking that you don’t know how to fight at all.”

"Comrade general, I just want to eliminate more enemies. As for how they evaluate me, I don't care at all." Sukov said in a high tone: "I don't care whether I use regular tactics or guerrilla tactics on the battlefield." For me, as long as it can defeat the enemy, it is a good tactic."

Both Sameko and Lunev on the side heard a strong smell of gunpowder from the conversation between Sokov and Apanashenko, but they didn't know how to persuade them for a while. The atmosphere in the headquarters became extremely awkward.

After a while, Lunev broke the silence: "Comrade General, I wonder if you have brought the materials of those prisoners of war?"

"Bring it!" Lunev's words successfully diverted Apanashenko's attention: "Most of the more than 20,000 prisoners of war were captured in the Oboyan area, and they came from Prokhorovka. There is very little direction."

"Why is this happening, Comrade General?" Lunev asked.

Apanashenko sighed, gritted his teeth and said: "The enemy participating in the attack on the Prokhorovka area has two SS divisions-the Skeleton Division and the Banner Guard Division. These damn beasts, seize our army After the battle of Kursk, most of them were directly shot, and only a few able-bodied ones were sent to a prisoner-of-war camp near Oboyan, and they were going to be sent to Germany for hard labor after the Battle of Kursk was over."

"It seems that Huot in the direction of Oboyan is still a good soldier. At least he didn't wantonly massacre the captured commanders and fighters of our army." Lunev said: "In this regard, he is much better than other German generals. gone."

"That's right, he did not order the massacre of our prisoners of war, just to prevent his hands from being stained with the blood of innocent people." Apanashenko said: "But when they evacuated from the Oboyan area, Huot But he gave his troops an order to hand over more than a dozen prisoner-of-war camps in the Oboyan area to a cavalry regiment of the SS, and these murderous beasts will take care of the prisoner-of-war camps. If our troops hadn't arrived Hurry up, more than 4,000 people will die, I am afraid that the commanders and fighters in the prisoner-of-war camps will all be killed by these beasts."