Red Moscow

When the tank army under Katukov launched an attack on the place occupying the Bogodukhov logistics base, Sokov was in his headquarters, telling Sameko what attitude he should take to treat those who had just Soldiers rescued from prison camps.

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Sokov knew that in today's era, captured commanders and fighters would be discriminated against by others. He couldn't change the general environment. He could only give them fair treatment within the scope of his own army. But before that, it is necessary to unify the thinking of the chiefs of the group army: "The captured commanders and fighters in the enemy's prisoner-of-war camps have been starved, beaten, and ridiculed by the enemy, and they are threatened with death all the time.

Because most of the commanders of our army adopt an unreasonable distrust attitude towards the commanders and fighters who have been prisoners of war, although these commanders and fighters are rescued, they will still encounter prejudice and extremely unfair treatment. This was perhaps the cruelest and most humiliating test of their troubled lot.

Most of them are people who are worthy of the motherland and the people and have fulfilled their obligations honestly. But after being rescued, they will be regarded as aliens for various reasons. They won the victory for us and did their best, but when we won the victory, they completely became people who had nothing to do with the victory. The titles of "prisoner of war" and "traitor" are a kind of embarrassment to them. The mark of people being sad to the point of tears..."

When Sokov spoke, Sameko remained silent, only occasionally nodding in agreement with Sokov.

When Sokov finished speaking and picked up his teacup to drink tea, Sameko said: "Comrade commander, in recent battles, commanders at the battalion and company level have lost a lot. I suggest that from among the rescued commanders and fighters, Select suitable candidates to replace these grassroots commanders."

Sokov originally planned to select suitable candidates from the newly added commanders and fighters to fill the vacancy of the grassroots commanders. At this moment, seeing Sameko take the initiative to bring up the matter, he said smoothly: "Okay, then when you discuss the allocation of troops with the commanders of the divisions, remember to mention this matter to them."

Sameko asked with some surprise: "Comrade Commander, don't you plan to meet those division commanders?"

"It's not that I don't want to see you, but that I don't have time." Sokov said helplessly: "I received a call from Marshal Zhukov not long ago, and he said that General Konev is coming to our headquarters, and it will take another half an hour. I can get there."

Knowing that Konev was coming, Sameko couldn't say anything more. He knew very well that there must be something important about Konev rushing to the army headquarters before the situation was completely stable. I find it inconvenient to talk over the phone, so I need to talk to Sokov face to face.

Sure enough, when Konev appeared at the headquarters, he simply asked Sameko about the situation of the troops, and then said to Sokov: "Comrade Sokov, is there a quiet place? I want to talk to you Talk alone."

"Yes, Comrade Commander of the Front Army." Sokov quickly replied, "At the end of the corridor is the conference room. There is no one in it. We can go there to talk."

"Okay, then we'll go there."

Sokov brought Konev to the meeting room. Before entering the door, he ordered Samoilov who followed him: "Comrade Lieutenant, I have something important to discuss with the commander of the front army. You personally bring a few people to stand guard in the corridor." Here, no one is allowed to come near here."

"And outside the window," added Konev, "and no one is allowed to come near."

"That's right." Hearing what Konev said, Sokov hurriedly continued: "Send someone to guard outside the window, and no one is allowed to come within ten meters."

After setting up the security task, Sokov accompanied Konev into the conference room.

After a guard brought tea and snacks to the two, Sokov asked straight to the point: "Comrade Commander of the Front Army, what important matters do you have?"

After taking a sip of the tea in front of him, Konev said slowly: "The latest troop establishment has come down, and your army group has been placed under the command of the Voronezh Front Army."

Sokov had just picked up the cup, and when he heard Konev say this, his hands couldn't help trembling, and the tea in the cup spilled out, making him grin his teeth. He quickly put down the teacup in his hand, and asked unexpectedly: "Didn't you say that once the Battle of Kursk is over, let our army group return to the army? Why did the superior change his mind again?"

"How should I put it?" Konev said helplessly: "The superiors think that we are just a reserve front army, a strategic reserve force of the base camp, and do not have the ability to fight independently, so we must adopt continuous splitting methods. Our units are organized into armies, corps, and even divisions, and are assigned to those units that need to be replenished urgently."

As a person from the future, Sokov knew very well that on October 20 this year, the base camp will reorganize all the troops. Vatutin's Voronezh Front was reorganized into the First Ukrainian Front; and Konev's Steppe Front was reorganized into the Second Ukrainian Front.

Later, after Vatutin was attacked and injured, Zhukov temporarily acted as the commander of the front army for a period of time. As Zhukov had to accept a more important task, he was transferred away shortly afterwards, and then the Ukrainian First and Second Front Armies merged to form a super force with 1.2 million people, with Konev as the commander of the Front Army.

At this moment, Sokov finally understood why the base camp merged the first and second Ukrainian front armies, because both front armies had troops that Konev had commanded. Many army commanders are Konev's old subordinates, and they will spare no effort to support Konev in the process of integrating the troops.

After Konev completed the integration of the troops, the base camp quickly formed a new Ukrainian Second Front Army, with General Malinovsky as the commander of the Front Army.

"What do you think?" Just as Sokov was contemplating, he heard Konev's voice: "Do you want to stay in the Voronezh Front Army, or return to Jian?"

At this moment, it will be more than half a year before Konev becomes the commander of the Ukrainian First Front Army. Although he is now Konev’s highly valued subordinate, if he chooses to stay in the Voronezh Front Army, a new commander will replace him When he returned to Konev's command, his importance to him would be greatly reduced.

It was precisely because of this consideration that Sokov heard Konev's question and replied without hesitation: "Comrade Commander of the Front Army! I am willing to bring the troops back to the construction even now..."

Before Sokov could finish speaking, Konev raised his hand and interrupted him: "Comrade Sokov, I have understood what you mean, and I am very satisfied with your answer. I will try my best to report to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief." Let the Ministry fight for you to return to the organizational system of our front army."

"Will the Supreme Command agree?" Sokov asked with a little confidence. The performance of the army group he led in this battle of Kursk made him a dazzling star and an object of competition for everyone, so he was very worried that Vatutin would not let him go.

Konev saw Sokov's worry, smiled and said to him: "Comrade Sokov, since you have made your statement, I will also reveal some gossip to you. Before coming here, I went to the Voronezh Front Army Headquarters, go to see Marshal Zhukov. He has promised that he will report the reorganization of your army group to the Supreme Command as soon as possible, hoping to adapt the decision made by the superior."

"Great, this is really great." Sokov couldn't help but be overjoyed when he learned that his troops could continue to stay in the Steppe Front Army, because as long as he was in the next battle, he could be a part of the Steppe Front Army. Members, continue to establish new meritorious service.

Konev came here to see Sokov specially today, just trying to do everything possible to let Sokov continue to serve as his subordinate. He has even considered that once the Supreme Command refuses to allow the 27th Army to return to the establishment, he will also try to transfer Sokov back to the Steppe Front Army, and he will not be able to exchange it with other commanders.

In order to prevent the partition wall from having ears and leaking the wind, he asked for strict security before the meeting with Sokov. At this moment, he has figured out Sokov's true thoughts, and knowing that the other party is willing to stay and work with him, he feels more at ease.

Just when Konev made a promise to Sokov in a low voice, someone knocked on the door of the meeting room from outside.

Hearing the knock on the door, Sokov frowned and said displeasedly, "Didn't I tell them not to disturb me? Why did they forget my order so quickly?"

Dissatisfaction is dissatisfaction, but Sukov is also very clear in his heart that if there is no important matter, Samoilov, who is guarding outside, will not knock on the door casually to disturb him. He got up and walked to the door, opened the door, and asked Samoilov who was standing outside: "Comrade lieutenant, what happened?"

"Comrade commander, I'm sorry." Samoilov said to Sokov with an apologetic face: "I don't want to disturb you either, but the chief of staff just sent someone to inform you that something important happened, please return to the command immediately." department."

Hearing that Sameko was looking for him for something important, Sokov ignored the conversation with Konev, but walked quickly towards the headquarters. Konev didn't know what happened, so he hurriedly followed .

Sameko, who was arranging tasks for the staff and communications, saw Sokov and Konev come in, and hurried forward to report to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, something has happened!"

"What happened?!" Sokov asked anxiously, "Which of our troops has a problem?"

The reason why Sokov is so anxious is because there are two divisions in the defense area, which are not far from the Belgorod defenders. Could it be that they were attacked by the enemy?

With this question in mind, he tentatively asked, "Did our southern troops exchange fire with the enemy?"

Sameko shook his head and said, "No, Comrade Commander, our southern line is safe. I'm talking about friendly forces. Something happened to them."

When Konev heard this, he couldn't help interjecting and asked, "Which unit of the friendly army has the accident?"

"It was the 31st Tank Corps under General Katukov. While chasing the German 11th Armored Division, it was ambushed by the enemy and suffered heavy losses."

"What, General Katukov's troops were ambushed by the Germans?" Even if a shell fell beside him and exploded at this moment, it was definitely not as shocking as the news of Sameko: "How many troops do they have? How many troops are left, how could they be ambushed by the enemy?"

"The 31st Tank Corps is the most elite unit under General Katukov," Sameko reported to the two men: "Although they also suffered heavy casualties in recent battles, the three Tank brigade and a separate tank regiment, with half of the tanks remaining.

After expelling the German armored regiment occupying the Bogodukhov logistics base, after being attacked by the 31st Tank Corps, they only resisted for less than half an hour and began to retreat westward along the road. Seeing the enemy fleeing, Colonel Zolikov, commander of the 49th Tank Brigade, ordered the troops to pursue.

When they were more than ten kilometers away from Bogodukhov, they were suddenly attacked by tank guns and anti-tank guns on both sides of the road, and seven or eight tanks were immediately destroyed by gunfire. Colonel Zolikov ordered the troops to deploy on the spot, and at the same time sent a distress telegram to the tank commander.

Knowing that Colonel Zolikov was in danger, the tank commander immediately ordered the 100th Tank Brigade and the 17th Independent Tank Regiment to go for reinforcements. Trying to break the ambushes and rescue the trapped 49th Tank Brigade.

Unexpectedly, as soon as the reinforcements arrived at the place where the 49th Tank Brigade was besieged, they were attacked by the dominant German armored forces. The tanks of the 17th Independent Tank Regiment were all destroyed by the Germans in less than ten minutes. The leader died at the beginning.

Fortunately, the 100th tank brigade of Colonel Inov desperately carried out an assault on the enemy, tore a gap in the enemy's encirclement, and rescued the besieged 49th tank brigade. However, there are only seven tanks left in the brigade, and one arm of the brigade commander, Colonel Zolikov, was blown off..."

"Why are there only tanks chasing and infantry?" Konev asked angrily when he heard this: "With the cooperation of infantry, even if ambushed by German armored forces, it would not be possible to pay so much in such a short period of time." A high price."

Regarding Konev's question, Sameko said with a wry smile: "Comrade Front Army Commander, you do not know that the mechanized and infantry corps of the First Tank Army are clearing out the defeated 17th Armored Division in the south of the Oboyan area. , the 31st Tank Army Division fought alone."

"What about Chistyakov's Sixth Guards Army?" Konev continued to ask angrily, "Aren't they also too scattered to cooperate with tanks?"

"The situation is not what you imagined." Seeing that Konev was angry, Sameko carefully explained to him: "The Sixth Guards Army received an order to cooperate in the operation, but the tanks advanced too fast, and the infantry was far away. Far behind, the tanks could not get cover from the infantry."