Red Moscow

After completing the communication with Katukov, Sokov told Sameko again: "Chief of Staff, when will those division commanders arrive here?"

"I have already called or sent a telegram to them." Sameko replied, "They are heading this way. I think they should be here in ten or twenty minutes."

"What did you call the division commanders for?" Konev asked curiously, "Do you have any combat missions?"

"No, Comrade Commander of the Front Army." Sokov explained to Konev: "Didn't I just tell you that I was about to get more than 20,000 new recruits? The purpose of calling these division commanders is to prepare them to join forces with them." My chief of staff came up with a distribution plan to divide up the more than 20,000 recruits."

"So that's the case." Konev nodded after listening, and continued: "In this battle, the casualties of each unit are different, and the degree of supplementation is also different. You must grasp the scale well. So as not to complain."

"Well, I have also considered this, so I called together the commanders of the divisions that need to be supplemented, and they will discuss with the chief of staff, Comrade Sameko, a distribution plan that everyone can accept..."

Before Sokov finished speaking, the phone rang suddenly. He picked up the microphone casually, and stuck it to his ear: "I'm Sokov, who are you?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Lunev's anxious voice came from the receiver: "Comrade Commander, I am Lunev."

"So it's Comrade Military Commissioner, what's the matter?"

"Comrade Commander, I have a situation that needs to be reported to you immediately." Lunev said hastily: "The commanders and fighters we received are not more than 20,000, but more than 30,000."

"More than 30,000 people?" Sokov asked in surprise, "How could there be more than 10,000 people for no reason?"

"When we received the notification, there were three commanders and fighters detained in prisoner-of-war camps who were not included in the statistics." Lunev explained to Sokov: "When the official handover was made, it turned out that there were not more than 20,000 people, but Thirty-one thousand seven hundred and twenty-nine people."

Suddenly there were more than 10,000 people. For Sokov, it was a great thing that the pie fell from the sky. can be drastically improved.”

"Comrade Commander, I called you just to talk about this." Lunev said on the phone with some embarrassment: "There are more than 10,000 people, and they were not captured in this battle." , but was captured after our army failed to attack Kharkov before the Battle of Stalingrad."

Sokov was confused by Lunev's words: "Since he was captured last summer, how could he be held in a prisoner-of-war camp near Oboyan?"

"I have carefully questioned a captured commander. According to him, after they were captured, they were originally held in a prisoner-of-war camp on the left bank of the Dnieper River. The Germans escorted them here more than ten days ago to build a new prisoner-of-war camp. battalion to detain our captured commanders and fighters." Lunev said: "They thought that after the new prisoner-of-war camp was built, the Germans would kill them all. Unexpectedly, before they had time to do it, our army killed them all. They were freed from prison camps."

Knowing that among the rescued prisoners of war, there were actually a group of commanders and fighters who were captured last year, Sokov couldn't help but become serious: "How is their physical condition, can they be incorporated into the army?"

"The situation is not very good." Lunev continued: "It may be because they have been tortured in the enemy's prisoner-of-war camps. Most of them are in very poor health and need to rest for a period of time before they can participate in the battle again. Commander Comrade, tell me, how should we arrange them?"

Up to this moment, Sokov finally understood that the purpose of Lunev's call was to ask how to arrange the weak prisoners of war. He pondered for a while, and then replied: "Comrade Military Commissar, I think we can form a In the reserve team, these weak commanders and fighters will be included, and when they recover, they will be supplemented with new troops."

"Set up a reserve team?!" Lunev repeated Sukov's words, nodded and said, "Comrade Commander, you are right, placing them in this way can ensure their physical recovery." After that, you can replenish the troops as soon as possible.”

Lunev was worried that Sokov would send all the frail officers and fighters to the rear hospital. The consequence of this is that it not only increases the burden on the rear hospitals, but at the same time, after these commanders and fighters recover, they may be taken by other troops first. However, by forming a reserve team within the group army and placing them all in, it will be possible to ensure that the fat and water will not flow into the fields of outsiders.

"Comrade Military Commissar," Sokov worried that Apanashenko would interfere with the screening and review work, so he tentatively asked Lunev, "When will your screening and review work start?"

"It has already started." Lunev replied: "The political workers of each division have not yet arrived, but relying on the more than 20 political workers I brought, I am a bit overwhelmed."

"That who, didn't interfere with your work?" Sokov asked cautiously.

"No." Lunev replied unequivocally: "At the beginning, I thought he would interfere with my work, but after the review began, neither he nor the people he brought interfered with our work. Just sitting on the sidelines and supervising."

Hearing that Apanashenko didn't interfere with Lunev's work, Sokov finally felt at ease. No matter what Apanashenko's origin is, as long as he doesn't interfere with the affairs of his own army, he can stay wherever he wants. where to leave him.

After putting down the phone, Sokov called Sameko to him and said to him: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the situation has changed, and the original allocation plan may need some adjustments."

"What adjustment?" Hearing what Sokov said, Sameko asked vigilantly, "Is there any army that wants to send some of its troops away from us?"

"No, Comrade Chief of Staff, you misunderstood." Sokov explained to Sameko: "Not only are there no troops to separate our soldiers, on the contrary, we have more than 10,000 additional soldiers that can be replenished."

Knowing that he could get 10,000 more soldiers, the expression on Sameko's face changed from astonishment to ecstasy: "Comrade Commander, this is really great. Having more than 10,000 more soldiers at once will increase the strength of our army." Become stronger and achieve more brilliant results in the next battle."

"Comrade Military Commissar told me that the extra 10,000 people were officers and fighters who were captured during the Battle of Kharkov last year. Most of them were very weak because they were tortured in the German prisoner-of-war camp. I can’t be incorporated into the army immediately.” Sokov sighed and said: “So I plan to form a temporary reserve team first, incorporate these weak commanders and fighters, and send military doctors and health workers to continue treatment for them. After recovery, they will be incorporated into other combat units."

After listening, Sameko tentatively asked: "Comrade commander, how many people are there in this reserve team, and who do you plan to appoint as the commander of this force?"

"I can't say the exact number yet. But there are still five or six thousand people." Even if there are only five or six thousand people, it is another division-level unit, but who will be the commander of this reserve team is a matter of fact. A headache for Sokov. He said with some embarrassment: "I don't have a suitable division commander in my hand. I'm afraid the commander of this unit will be temporarily vacant for a while."

"Comrade Sokov." Konev, who had been silent all this time, said, "I think if you don't have a suitable candidate, you might as well choose from these rescued officers and fighters, maybe you can find a suitable candidate. "

"Comrade Commander of the Front Army," Sokov said hesitantly to Konev's proposal, "Aren't our captured school-level officers directly imprisoned by the Germans in the so-called officer prisoner-of-war camps? Among these ordinary commanders, can we still find a division-level commander?"

"It's hard to say." Konev put his left hand under his right armpit, put his right elbow on his left arm, and rested his chin on his right hand, and said thoughtfully: "After some school-level officers were captured by the German army, in order not to expose themselves They usually pretend to be soldiers. Among the commanders and fighters captured last year, there may only be one school-level officer."

"You make a lot of sense." Sokov felt that Konev's statement was very reasonable, and quickly grabbed the phone in front of him, and ordered the director of the communications army: "Call me the military commissar immediately, I have We need to find him urgently."

Two minutes later, the communications chief helped Sokov contact Lunev.

As soon as Sokov heard Lunev's voice, he couldn't wait to say to him: "Comrade Military Commissar, I have a mission for you now."

"Comrade Commander, tell me, I'm listening."

"I think that among the commanders and fighters captured last year, there may be school-level commanders with hidden identities." Sokov told Lunev on the phone: "You have to find a way to find all these people."

"What are you looking for with these people?" Lunev didn't know the reason why Sokov suddenly mentioned this matter, so he asked tentatively, "Are you going to send them all to court-martial?"

"How is this possible, my Comrade Military Commissioner." Seeing that Lunev misunderstood what he meant, Sokov quickly explained: "We are not going to form a reserve team. The commander of this unit. Therefore, I consider finding school-level officers with hidden identities among the rescued commanders and fighters, and let them lead this unit.”

"Oh, so that's what happened." After listening to Sokov's explanation, Lunev finally figured out Sokov's intentions, and quickly replied, "Then I must find a way to get those commanders who hide their identities out of the way." find out."