Red Moscow

Sokov did not expect that inadvertently, his troops had as many as seven infantry divisions, one infantry brigade, one tank army, two artillery divisions, and several directly subordinate tank brigades.

He said to Sameko: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I really didn't expect that without knowing it, the size of our army group has grown to seven infantry divisions, plus several troops. It is a good thing that the army has grown stronger, but it also brought us It's inconvenient."

"Yes." Sameko agreed, "When there were five divisions in the past, it might only take five or six minutes to issue an order. Now that we have so many troops, it takes at least half an hour for us to convey the order. Hour."

"It takes half an hour to convey a combat order, which is not acceptable." Sokov said: "You must know that every minute is precious in a war, and it is easy to delay the fighter plane."

"Comrade Commander, you are right." Lunev interjected, "I heard that since this year, infantry units have appeared in the organizational system of many group armies, and each army has three or four divisions. .If the superior gives us the organizational system of the two infantry corps, it will be convenient for you to command in future battles."

"Comrade Military Commissar, you are right. The superiors do have plans in this regard." Sokov said to the two, "When I went to the Front Army Command today, General Konev told me that it might happen soon. We will add military-level organizational systems to our army to facilitate our command."

"Then when can the infantry corps be added?" Sameko asked.

Although Sokov knew the date when the unit's designation was changed, he didn't know when the infantry army was restored in the organizational system of each group army. He could only shake his head and say, "I don't know."

After receiving Sokov's call, Fomenko and Khokhlov immediately rushed to the headquarters to accept the combat mission in the shortest possible time.

After shaking hands with the two men one by one, Sokov asked with concern: "How are you, comrades, can your troops continue to fight?"

"Of course we can continue to fight." When Fomenko thought of the thousands of commanders and fighters he had just added to him, the corners of his mouth could not help but curl up slightly: "You just added so many experienced commanders and fighters to us, who are fully capable of performing any combat mission. .”

"And what about you, Colonel Khokhlov?"

"Comrade Commander!" Hearing Sokov ask himself, Colonel Khokhlov hastily stepped forward and replied with some excitement: "Since our division recruited a large number of recruits in the latter part of the Kursk Battle, you have been Let us be the reserve team, and no combat tasks were assigned to us. A large number of experienced commanders and fighters were added to us in the first two days, which greatly improved the combat effectiveness of our division, and we are also capable of completing any combat tasks assigned by our superiors."

Seeing that the two division commanders were so confident, Sokov nodded with satisfaction, and then said: "Very well, since you are all so confident, then I will assign you combat missions. Although our army liberated Kharkov, But in the west, southwest and south of the city, there are still a large number of German troops, and if we want to reach the Dnieper River smoothly, we must find a way to eliminate them."

Fomenko asked: "Comrade commander, where is the target of our attack?"

"Meliefa Fortress!"

"Melefa Fortress?!"

"Yes, the Meliefa Fortress." Sokov said to the two: "If you want to capture the Meliefa Fortress and the railway junction, you must first cross the Muza River and find a way to destroy the enemies hiding on the steep river bank. And establish a landing field on the left bank."

Knowing that the target of his attack was the Fortress of Meliefa, Fomenko couldn't help frowning: "Comrade Commander, the rivers in that area are not conducive to the deployment of mechanized troops. If we want to force the crossing, I'm afraid we won't be able to get artillery support. .”

"General Fomenko," Sokov said reassuringly, "you don't have to worry about the artillery, but when the river crossing operation begins, I will deploy the tank brigade and artillery by the river to provide you with direct artillery cover."

"Comrade Commander," as soon as Fomenko's problem was solved, Khokhlov raised his concerns again: "Now that Colonel Yakov's hovercraft unit has left, we can only use ordinary boats to carry out the forced crossing. Zha River, and climbed the steep bank, I am afraid that a great sacrifice will be made."

"Colonel Khokhlov, we have also taken your concerns into consideration." Sameko said: "In order to avoid unnecessary sacrifices, we have formulated two plans. One is to send troops to smuggle from the upper reaches of the Muza River, and the other is to After the smuggling failed, the forced immigration operation was launched from the front.”

After Waiting for Sameko to finish speaking, Fomenko asked cautiously: "Chief of Staff, which army do you plan to let smuggle in, and which army will launch a forced immigration operation from the front after the smuggling fails?"

"General Fomenko," Sameko said, looking at Fomenko, "Colonel Khokhlov's 182nd Division, due to various reasons, is currently the lowest in combat effectiveness in the entire army. It is not suitable, so Comrade Commander thinks that they can carry out the smuggling mission.

As for your 84th Division, the combat power is top-notch in our group army. It is undoubtedly the most suitable for you to take on the frontal crossing mission. Comrade Commander and I can rest assured. "

Hearing Sameko's praise, Fomenko couldn't help but smile. He quickly stated to Sameko: "Don't worry, Comrade Chief of Staff, we will never let down the trust of you and Comrade Commander. Once the battle starts, we will In the shortest possible time, we will cross the Muza River and rush to the Meriefa Fortress quickly, so that the enemy has no time to react."

"General Fomenko, I'm glad to see you have such confidence, but don't underestimate the enemy." Sokov said with a smile: "Although the Germans were driven out of Kharkov by us, in all fairness, their Combat strength should not be underestimated, if you think the enemy is vulnerable, you will suffer a big loss."

Sameko went on to say: "General Fomenko, I'm afraid the higher-ups will not be able to provide you with enough boats, so you must prepare enough river-crossing equipment within a day for use in forced crossings."

Hearing what Sameko said, Fomenko couldn't help having a headache. After riding a hovercraft, he sneered at all boats, thinking that even the best boats could not be compared with a hovercraft. The hovercraft is not only fast on the river, but also not slow on the flat ground. It is a pity that it has been transported back to Moscow now, otherwise it will play a great role in the next battle.

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Fomenko asked Sameko bitterly, "where should I get ships?"

"The superiors will allocate some to us." Sameko replied: "But the amount is far from meeting our needs for crossing the river, so you have to find a way to get some river crossing equipment yourself. For example, door panels, coffins or logs. It can be used as a river crossing device."

When Sokov heard Sameko mentioning using coffins as crossing equipment, he couldn't help shaking his head slightly. He used door panels and logs to make rafts to cross the river. It was so beautiful that he couldn't bear to think about it.

Khokhlov interrupted and said: "Commander, Comrade Chief of Staff, if our division wants to go upstream to carry out smuggling, I am afraid that we will not be able to carry the boats with us. How will we cross the river then?"

"Comrade Colonel, what's the matter with you?" Lunev couldn't stand listening to this, and interjected, "Is this your first day as a commander? Can't you think of a way to solve this kind of thing?"

"Comrade Military Commissar," Khokhlov replied somewhat flusteredly, "Although officers and soldiers can swim across, there will always be some soldiers who cannot swim and cannot cross the river."

Seeing that Khokhlov was in an embarrassing situation, Sokov hurried out to rescue him. He looked at Khokhlov and asked: "Comrade Colonel, how many marching pots are there in your division?"

"March pot?!" Sokov's words stopped Khokhlov from asking. Although he didn't know why the commander asked about the marching pots, he still answered truthfully: "A company has three marching pots, and a battalion has nine pots...the whole division should have hundreds of marching pots." He was puzzled Ask, "Comrade Commander, I don't understand, what is the connection between the marching pot and our smuggling?"

"Of course there is a connection." Sokov walked quickly to the table, waved at the other party, and said, "Comrade Colonel, come to me."

When Khokhlov came to the table, Sokov put several tea mugs on the table together and said to him: "Comrade Colonel, for example, these tea mugs are marching pots. You put nine The pots are tied together, and a wooden frame is built on it," Sokov said, putting a few pencils on the tea mug, "isn't this a simple raft, can't you take your men across the river? ?"

Khokhlov stared at the tea mug and pencils on the table for a long time, then slapped the table with his hand, and said excitedly: "It's wonderful, this is simply wonderful. Nine pots form a raft, and hundreds of pots form a raft. One pot can form a dozen rafts, and each raft can carry a squad at a time, and more than a dozen squads can be crossed at one time. It won’t take long for the whole division to cross to the other side.”

After saying this, Khokhlov looked up at Sokov and said with admiration: "Comrade Commander, you are such a genius, you can actually come up with such a genius method."

And Fomenko also nodded and said: "The raft conceived by Comrade Commander is indeed ingenious, and it is also easy to carry. I think our division should also prepare such a raft and use it when carrying out forced crossings."

Sokov originally thought that he would have to wait until tomorrow night at the earliest to carry out the smuggling operation. After all, without the hovercraft, it would be a very time-consuming and labor-intensive task to prepare the river-crossing equipment. But now that marching pots can be used to make river-crossing equipment, the preparation time is greatly shortened, and even the river-crossing operation can be carried out tonight.

As September approaches, it gets dark earlier and earlier. It used to be dark at eleven o'clock, but now it's completely dark at around nine o'clock. And Khokhlov's troops, as soon as it got dark, set off immediately and headed towards the upper reaches of the Muza River.

After hearing the news of the departure of the 182nd Division, Sameko asked Sokov with some concern: "Comrade Commander, do you think the 182nd Division can cross the Muza River smoothly?"

"It's hard to say." On the battlefield, no matter how good the plan is, it often fails to keep up with changes in the situation. Don't look at Sokov's confident performance when assigning tasks, but after the start, he also has no idea: "We'd better wait patiently for their news."

At one o'clock in the morning, Sokov received a telegram from Khokhlov, the content of which was simple: "Our division has arrived at the designated location and is preparing to carry out smuggling."

After reading the telegram twice, Sokov handed it to Sameko on the side, and said to him: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the 182nd Division has already started to cross the river. Order the observation post to closely stick to that direction. If there is any movement, we will immediately Report to us promptly."

Besides Sokov and Sameko, those who were eager to know the situation of crossing the river were Konev from the city. He called Sokov himself and asked with concern: "Comrade Sokov, how is the situation?"

Hearing that it was Konev's call, Sokov quickly replied respectfully: "Report to Comrade Commander of the Front Army that the 182nd Division has arrived at the designated location and is making preparations before crossing the river."

After listening to Sokov's report, Konev was silent for a moment, and then asked cautiously: "Comrade Sokov, do you think their smuggling operation will be successful?"

"Comrade Commander of the Front Army," Sokov said carefully, "I don't think the enemy has noticed our intention to cross the river, so there should be no strict defense in the upper reaches. The probability of our crossing the river is very high."

Although Sokov's statement is also very uncertain, but because of the outstanding performance of the 27th Army in the Battle of Kursk and the Battle of Kharkov, Konev is convinced of his statement. After humming, he said to Sokov: "Well, if there is any latest news, remember to notify me in time."

Seeing Sokov put down the phone, Sameko said with a wry smile, "Comrade Commander, it seems that General Konev is more nervous than we are at crossing the river."

"Yes." Sokov nodded, and said: "Whether we can quickly take the fortress of Meriefa will be related to whether the attack of the friendly forces on Liubotin will be affected. As long as we occupy the railway hub, then the enemy Our supplies will be interrupted, the enemy in Lyubotin will not be able to support us for long, and we will be able to open the road to Poltava more quickly."

Sameko raised his hand and looked at his watch, and suggested to Sokov: "Comrade commander, please see if you can let the 84th Division also enter the designated position. Once the smuggling of the 182nd Division fails, you can order them to take advantage of the cover of night. , to start a forced crossing to the other side?"

"Forced crossing at night?" Sokov couldn't help frowning when he heard Sameko's suggestion: "At night, we simply look down on the defense situation on the other side. If we rashly launch a forced crossing operation, we will not only be hit by enemy artillery and machine gun fire." interception, and there may even be a situation where it finally rushed to the shore, but lost its way."

After talking about his worries, Sokov said enviously: "No, it is absolutely impossible to carry out forced crossing at night. During the daytime forced crossing, although the enemy will be frantically intercepted, our artillery can play a great role. "

"Alright then." Seeing Sokov's resolute attitude, Sameko said helplessly, "Then wait until dawn before attacking the enemy on the other side of the Muza River."

At two o'clock in the morning Colonel Khokhlov sent another telegram.

Sameko took the telegram from the communication staff officer and read it impatiently. After he read the above content, he waved his fist violently, then raised his head and said to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, Colonel Khokhlov reported that their first batch of river-crossing troops have successfully boarded On the other side, no trace of the enemy was found on the shore."

"Great, this is really great." Sokov couldn't help but be overjoyed when he heard the news, and he told Sameko, "Hurry up and send a telegram to Colonel Khokhlov and let them set up the landing field immediately." , to prevent possible counterattacks by the enemy."

"Comrade Commander, I don't think it is necessary to send this telegram." Sameko said to Sokov with a smile: "Khokhlov is also an old commander, and these things are basic common sense to him. , I think even if he does not send him a report, he will order the troops to establish a landing field on the other side."