Red Moscow

Probably because there was no fighting in the defense zone, Sokov slept soundly this time, and no one disturbed him. When he woke up from his sleep, through the open window, he found that it was already dark outside.

Sokov sat up straight and shouted to the outside: "Come on, come on!"

Following the shout, a staff officer came in from outside and asked Sokov respectfully, "Comrade Commander, do you have any instructions?"

"Where is Colonel Chuvashov?"

"He's overseeing the relocation of division headquarters."

"The relocation of the division headquarters?" Sokov asked a little puzzled: "Okay, where are you going to move?"

"That's right, Comrade Commander." The staff officer hurriedly explained to Sokov: "While you were sleeping, the chief of staff, General Sameko, and the army headquarters arrived in Kremenchug. The division commander asked the division headquarters The relocation is to make room for the army headquarters."

"What, Chief of Staff Sameko has arrived?" Sokov put his feet off the bed, and while putting on his boots, he complained: "Didn't I tell Colonel Chuvashov that as soon as the headquarters arrived in the city?" , report to me immediately? Why didn’t he report, didn’t he take my order seriously.”

"Comrade Commander, don't be angry." At this time, a person walked in from the outside and said with a smile: "I see that you are sleeping soundly, so let them not disturb you."

Sokov looked up and saw that it was Lunev who was speaking. He didn't care that he hadn't put on his boots yet, so he stood up and shook hands with him, "Comrade Military Commissar, I really didn't expect you to arrive so soon. How about it? Is it going well?"

"Yes, it went very well." Lunev first answered Sokov's question, and then said to the staff officer standing beside him in a daze: "Comrade Lieutenant, there is nothing for you here, you can continue to work."

The staff officer raised his hand in salute, turned and walked out of the room, and closed the door behind him.

Sokov told Lunev to sit down on the chair by the window, then sat on the bedside again and put on his boots, and asked: "Comrade military commissar, you must have seen that area when you passed through Poltava. How about the battle. How long do you think it will take for the friendly forces to take that city?"

"Comrade Commander," Lunev replied after hearing Sokov's question, "with all due respect, according to my observations and discussions with Chief of Staff Sameko, we Even if it takes half a month for our friendly forces, I am afraid they will not be able to capture Poltava, because the resistance of the defenders in the city is too tenacious."

After putting on his boots, Sokov sat up straight, looked at Lunev and said: "Comrade Military Commissar, I came to the same conclusion as you, so I sent a telegram to Commander Konev, hoping that he can understand it." Send us to join the attack on Poltava."

"Oh, you asked General Konev to join the war?" Lunev asked with interest: "Not how he answered, when can we go into battle?"

Sokov waited for Lunev to ask a question, then shook his head slowly, and said with a wry smile, "Comrade Military Commissar, I'm afraid you will be disappointed. My request was rejected by Commander Konev."

"What, your request for war was rejected by General Konev?" Lunev asked inexplicably, "Why is this? Doesn't he know that maybe our participation in the war can greatly shorten the time for our army to seize the city?" time."

"I think Commander Konev also understands this truth in his heart. After all, our army group has performed well since the Battle of Kursk. It can be called the most powerful unit in the grassland front army."

"Since he also understands that we are the most powerful army, why did he reject your request?" Lunev said in a daze, "I really don't understand."

"Commander Konev's answer is very simple." Sokov replied: "The Kremenchug we captured and the landing field on the right bank we established are extremely important strategic points. If we hand over the defense here to He turned around to attack Poltava. Once the German scouts learned of this information, he would immediately launch a frenzied attack on the landing field. Except for our army group, he did not think that other troops in the front army could stop it. The enemy's wave after wave of strong attacks."

Although the request to participate in the attack on Poltava was rejected by Konev, it is very regrettable. But hearing Konev's evaluation of his army, Lunev was still very happy.

Sokov stood up and said to Lunev: "Comrade Military Commissar, it should be almost cleaned up outside, let's go out and say hello to the chief of staff first."

The two left the room and entered the hall of the church, which was full of busy scenes. Staff officers were pinning maps to the wall, while signalmen were busy pulling telephone wires. Seeing Sokov and Lunev appear, everyone quickly stopped their work, stood at attention and saluted them. After the two of them passed by, they continued to work on their work.

"Comrade Commander," Sameko, who was standing by the long wooden table, saw Sokov appearing, and quickly walked around the table to greet him: "It's a pleasure to see you again!"

After shaking hands with Sameko, Sokov asked politely, "Chief of Staff, when will the communication be completed?"

Sameko raised his hand to look at the time, and replied, "The director of the communications corps is checking the telephone line outside. I believe it will not be long before our communications will be put into use."

Although he didn't get the answer he wanted from Sameko, Sokov didn't ask any more. After all three sat down at the table, Sokov continued to ask: "Chief of Staff, General Solomatin's 1st Mechanized Army, any news?"

On the way here, Sameko already knew that the 1st Mechanized Army had been temporarily placed under the command of the Group Army, so after arriving here, he contacted Solomatin through the communication line of Chuvashov. Hearing Sokov's question at this time, he quickly reported to Sokov what he knew.

"Comrade Commander," Sameko said with regret, "Although the 21st Mechanized Brigade fought tenaciously at the No. 1 outpost, it still failed to stop the enemy's attack. In two hours, they Abandoned outposts, retreated to second-line positions, and reorganized a new defense."

The loss of the No. 1 outpost had long been expected by Sokov, so after listening to Sameko's report, he did not appear overly surprised, but said unhurriedly: "The outpost Just throw it away, let them hold on to the second-line position, and absolutely not let the enemy complete a breakthrough."

"Comrade Commander," seeing that the expression on Sokov's face did not change the slightest after hearing the regrettable news, he couldn't help asking in surprise: "The enemy's occupation of outpost No. 1 is equivalent to having a starting point for an attack , is very bad for us. You see, order General Solomatin to counterattack and take the position back from the enemy's hands."

"No, please don't." Sokov waved his hand at Sameko and explained to him: "The area of ​​the No. 1 outpost is too small and there are no solid fortifications. It can't stop a German attack." Another attack. Instead of wasting our forces there, it is better to leave them to the Germans temporarily, and concentrate our forces in places that are easy to defend, and give the Germans a head-on blow."

"Okay, Comrade Commander." Seeing that Sokov had made up his mind, Sameko didn't feel that he had the ability to change the other party's mind, so he could only say smoothly: "Then I will relay your words to Solomatin. General, let them not counterattack the No. 1 outpost, but only need to stick to the second line."

"By the way, Comrade Chief of Staff." Sukov suddenly remembered an important question, and quickly asked, "Which unit is it that came with the headquarters?"

"Colonel Khokhlov's 182nd Division," Sameko answered Sokov's question, and then quickly added: "During the Battle of Kursk, the division suffered too many casualties, and there were no supplements in the later period. New recruits with combat experience, thus diluting their combat effectiveness, so that most of the time they are not assigned combat tasks. Therefore..."

"So you bring them here and prepare for the defense of the right bank landing site, so that they can establish new exploits." Before Sameko finished speaking, Sokov rushed to say: "Am I right, staff officer?" Comrade Chang?"

"Yes." Seeing that Sokov had guessed his true thoughts, he didn't hide it, but replied truthfully, "That's exactly what I thought about it."

"Even if Colonel Khokhlov and the others were recruited at the beginning." Sokov said to himself, "It's been such a long time, and it's their turn to play." After saying this, He looked up at Sameko and asked, "Where did you deploy them?"

Seeing that Sokov did not pursue his responsibility for bringing the 182nd Division here without permission, Sameko breathed a sigh of relief, quickly pushed the map in front of Sokov, and introduced to him: "Comrade Commander, I am It was arranged like this: on the far left, Major Guchakov's 73rd Infantry Brigade, on their right was Colonel Shechtman's 254th Infantry Division, and then Colonel Khokhlov's 182nd Infantry Division; It is the 84th Infantry Division of Major General Fomenko..."

"Comrade Chief of Staff, what you said is not correct." After Sokov said this, he ignored Sameko, who was full of doubts, and continued: "Major Guchakov's 73rd Infantry Brigade is not located in the The far left wing of the landing field. To their left is General Solomatin's 1st Mechanized Corps."

"Yes, yes, Comrade Commander, you are right." After hearing what Sokov said, Sameko realized that he had made a low-level mistake, and said repeatedly: "General Solomatin's 1st Mechanized Army is now Under our command, the troops on the far left should be them."

"Is there any movement of the enemy at present?"

"Yes," Sameko pointed to the map and introduced to Sokov: "According to the reconnaissance information we gathered from various ministries, the enemy has deployed two infantry divisions, one armored division, and a large number of artillery to the south of the landing field. , ready to launch a large-scale attack on us."

When Sokov was sleeping in the morning, the attack launched by the German army was still small-scale, and the troops and technical equipment invested were not many. It was almost wiped out by the battalion commanded by Captain Mikhaiev. Unexpectedly, in just one day, they assembled so many troops on the defensive front of the landing field.

He secretly calculated the comparison of the strength of the enemy and us in his heart, and asked, "Where is the enemy's air power?"

Sameko shook his head, "So far, no enemy reconnaissance planes have been found on the battlefield. I don't think the enemy will invest in air power when attacking the landing field. After all, in the Battle of Kursk and the Battle of Kharkov, Their air power has taken a heavy blow from my Air Force."

"Comrade Chief of Staff, don't take it lightly." Although Sokov knew very well that shortly after the start of the Battle of Kharkov, the Soviet Army had already mastered the air supremacy on the battlefield, and the threat of the Luftwaffe became smaller and smaller. But even so, he still did not dare to take it lightly. He reminded Sameko: "Even if there are only a few enemy planes in the air when the enemy starts to attack the landing field, I am afraid that it will pose a great threat to our ground troops. We must communicate with them as soon as possible. Front Command got in touch and asked them to prepare an air force for us so that it could be ready for battle at the critical moment."

The phone on the table rang, and Sokov, who was closest to the phone, picked up the receiver and stuck it to his ear: "I'm Sokov, where are you?"

"Hello, Comrade Commander." Solomatin's voice came from the receiver: "I am Solomatin."

"Comrade General," Sokov knew that the other party couldn't call for no reason, and there must be something important, so he asked bluntly, "Is there something important you called?"

"Yes, Comrade Commander." Solomatin said on the phone: "Unfortunately, my troops lost the No. 1 outpost. Launch a counterattack and try to recover the lost positions from the Germans."

After hearing this, Sokov asked calmly, "Who are you planning to send those troops to take back the No. 1 outpost?"

"I plan to put the 19th Mechanized Brigade and the 219th Tank Brigade into battle." Possibly to boost Sokov's confidence, he also took the initiative to say: "The 19th Mechanized Brigade has a tank regiment with 21 tanks, and three The infantry battalion, plus two infantry companies equipped with 76.2mm field guns; and the 219th tank brigade, with three tank battalions equipped with T-34 tanks. I believe that as long as these two units are put into battle, they will be able to regain Lost ground."

"After restoring the No. 1 outpost, what are your plans?" Sokov asked.

"After regaining the outpost, I will order the 19th Mechanized Brigade to defend and hold the enemy firmly, preventing them from advancing a single step."

"Comrade General, I want to ask you." After hearing Solomatin's plan, Sokov knew that he planned to fight a war of attrition with the Germans again, so he asked in a stern tone: "Have you considered that the outpost is small, There is no strong fortification, and placing troops on it can only be consumed in vain under the enemy's artillery fire. Once your troops lose their positions again due to exhaustion of casualties, do you intend to prevent the troops from counterattacking again to recover the lost position?"

"Comrade Commander, isn't the education we have always received in the army that we must never leave an inch of land to the enemy?" It's totally worth it."

"It is indeed worth paying the price of blood and life in order to defend the motherland." Sokov said bluntly: "But if the commanders and fighters are allowed to die in vain, this is absolutely impossible. We cannot send precious soldiers , wasting in vain on this unnecessary war of attrition."