Red Moscow

Although the enemies who tried to destroy the bridge were all wiped out, it also made Sokov realize that there were still many problems in his defense deployment. Otherwise, the two sabotage teams with 20 people each would not pass through their defense zone so easily.

After dawn, Sokov told Sameko: "Comrade Chief of Staff, immediately notify the division commanders and brigade commanders, and let them arrive at the headquarters before ten o'clock. I think it is necessary to tell everyone what happened last night." Ring the bell."

Last night's battle was basically directed by Sameko. As an insider, he knew very well how serious the consequences would be if the bridge over the Dnieper River was blown up by the Germans. So after hearing Sokov's order, he quickly walked to the radio operator and told him to immediately contact the various units under the group army and ask the division commanders and brigade commanders to come over for a meeting.

At ten o'clock in the morning, the commanders at all levels who received the order came to Sokov's headquarters.

Looking at the darkness in front of him, Sokov was in a daze for a moment. He didn't know when he had so many division and brigade commanders under him.

Due to too many people attending the meeting, the hall of the church seemed a little crowded, and Managarov felt that it would be inconvenient for him, an outsider, to be here when the 27th Army held a meeting, so he greeted Sokov and brought With a group of his subordinates, he left the church.

When he came outside the church, Derevyanko asked curiously: "Comrade Commander, although the 27th Army is holding a military meeting, as a friendly army, we can completely observe it. Why did you leave?"

Managarov reached into Derevyanko's pocket and took out a cigarette case, took a cigarette from it, put it in his mouth, and put the case back. Seeing this, Derevyanko quickly took out a match and lit a cigarette for Managarov.

After taking a puff of his cigarette, Managarov said to Derevyanko: "Comrade Chief of Staff, you are right. As a friendly army in joint defense with the 27th Army, when they held a military meeting, we stayed. It's totally fine to listen in. But I think today's military meeting is not only about discussing the next battle plan, but also a summary of last night's events?"

"Summary of last night's incident?" Derevyanko and others knew after dawn that German troops infiltrated the Dnieper River Bridge last night, and even almost blew up the bridge. Hearing what Managarov said at this moment, he asked in confusion, "Haven't the infiltrated enemies all been wiped out?"

"That's right, the enemy that infiltrated is indeed eliminated." Managarov said with a smile: "But how the enemy infiltrated is probably the focus of today's discussion. If I guess correctly, General Sokov He would throw a fit at the meeting, and if we were there, he would feel in the way, so I took you guys out first."

After listening to Managarov's explanation, Derevyanko finally understood why his commander couldn't wait to leave the church with his subordinates when he saw officers at all levels of the 27th Army enter the church. He asked cautiously: "Comrade commander, the military meeting won't be over for a while. Where should we go after such a long time?"

"Our troops have already entered defensive positions one after another, but as the supreme commander of the group army, we have never inspected the troops." Managarov said carelessly: "Since we have time today, we might as well go to various places." The troops walked around to find out how the mental outlook of some commanders and fighters is."

"Yes." Derevyanko nodded, agreed with Managarov, and then asked, "Then where should we go first, the upper reaches or the lower reaches of the Dnieper River?"

Managarov thought for a while, and felt that the main force of his army was concentrated on the upper reaches of the left bank of the Dnieper River, where they would fight against the enemies trying to go south, so he replied: "I see, let's go to the 28th Guards on the upper reaches first." You must know that since the German army crossed the river, they have been fighting the enemy continuously, and the troops have paid a great price. As commanders, it is necessary for us to visit them and boost the morale of the troops. "

With a group of his subordinates, Managarov immediately captured Kremenchug and headed towards the defense zone on the upper left bank of the Dnieper River. The military meeting chaired by Sokov officially began.

"Commanders, commanders," there was a long table near the altar in the church, and Sokov, Sameko, and Lunev sat behind the table. When a staff officer came over and whispered to Sameko that all the commanders attending the meeting had arrived, Sokov stood up, leaned forward slightly, put his hands on the edge of the table, and said loudly to many subordinates: "The main reasons for calling everyone here today are two things."

When Sokov spoke, the commanders sitting below kept silent, just looked at Sokov, wanting to hear what he was going to say to everyone.

Seeing that no one spoke, Sokov continued: "After more than ten days of mobilization, the troops of the entire group army have reached the banks of the Dnieper River. Among them, the 84th, 182nd, 254th and 300th infantry divisions, as well as the infantry The 73rd Brigade was deployed at the landing field on the right bank, and has been fighting the enemy for some time, and achieved good results..."

When Sokov was speaking, Colonel Koida, the commander of the 188th Division sitting below, asked the political commissar Mashkov sitting next to him in a low voice: "Comrade political commissar, comrade commander, did you say, when will our division Also transferred to the landing field on the right bank?"

"No." Mashkov shook his head and replied in a low voice: "I didn't hear Comrade Commander mention our division in his speech..."

The whispering between the two was seen by Sameko who was sitting behind the long table. He knocked on the table with his hand and said in a stern tone: "The commander sitting below pay attention, don't talk, listen carefully to the commander. Comrade speech."

Keida and Mashkov, who had been warned by Sameko, immediately shut their mouths, sat upright, and listened carefully to what Sokov said.

After Sokov finished talking about the first thing, the topic turned to the second thing, that is, the German army passed the defense zone of several troops along the Dnieper River with ease last night: "...Next, what I want to talk about Yes, the German army sent two sabotage teams last night, starting from the upper and lower reaches of the Dnieper River, passing through our army's defense line, trying to blow up the bridge on the river..."

The commanders of the troops deployed on the right bank knew that the Germans tried to blow up the bridge. But the troops deployed on the left bank, even north of Klemenchug, knew nothing about it. After listening to Sokov, they were still whispering: "What the hell is going on? How could the enemy pass through our defense zone so easily without being discovered by our troops..."

Seeing that the commanders below were discussing in private again, Sameko knocked on the table again, stood up and said, "Commanders, please keep quiet! If you want to discuss something, wait until the commanders finish speaking." Afterwards, we will set aside a special time for you to discuss."

Hearing what Sameko said, the uninformed commanders present did not dare to discuss casually, no matter how curious they were, and could only obediently listen to Sokov's account of what happened last night.

After Sokov introduced the situation to the commanders present, he turned his attention to Solomatin who was sitting in the first row, and said seriously: "General Solomatin, the enemy who once occupied the right bank of the Dnieper River Bridge yesterday is It infiltrated from your army's defense zone. What I don't understand is why your subordinates still don't know anything about it until the end of the battle?"

When Solomatin received the notice of the meeting, he knew in his heart that Sokov would definitely ask about the infiltration of the German sabotage team at the meeting, and he was thinking about the way to deal with it all the way. But it is regrettable that until the meeting until now, he still has not come up with a proper solution.

Hearing Sokov asking himself at this moment, he could only stand up and said in a low voice, "Comrade Commander, it's all my negligence. I was so focused on guarding against the enemy in the front, but I didn't expect the enemy to detour to our rear from the flanks." Solomatin's military rank is higher than that of Sokov. It is not easy for him to make such a low profile. According to his thinking, as long as he explains it this way, maybe Sokov will make a big deal a small one.

But what he didn't expect was that after he finished speaking, Sokov said aggressively: "General Solomatin, don't you even send patrols at night? If the German army uses the night to launch an attack, isn't that right?" Want to catch you off guard?"

"No, no, Comrade Commander." Solomatin argued: "In fact, we also sent a patrol team to patrol the river, but it rained for a while last night, and our patrolling soldiers did not bring rain gear. , I found a place to take shelter from the rain, maybe the Germans passed through our defense line at this time."

"General Solomatin," Sokov saw that Solomatin didn't mean to admit his mistake at all, but instead defended his subordinates: "Have you ever thought that if the German army passed through your line of defense last night, it was not a sabotage squad?" , but a powerful force, so is it possible for your army to be encircled by the German army?"

As soon as Sokov's words came out, the entire hall fell silent. Among the commanders at all levels present here, many of them have been fighting the Germans on the battlefield since the outbreak of the war. They have all encountered the situation that Sokov mentioned more or less. Once the German army detours to the rear of its own troops, everyone knows very well what the consequences will be. Everyone focused their eyes on Solomatin in unison, wanting to hear how he explained it.

But Solomatin saw that everyone's eyes were focused on him, and he was not only secretly anxious, he never thought that a small mistake would put him in such an embarrassing situation.

Fortunately, Lunev got up in time to rescue Solomatin: "Comrade Commander, I think General Solomatin was just negligent for a while. If they can learn the lesson from this time and strengthen the security work in the defense zone, they will definitely be able to put an end to the situation." similar incidents."

Since Lunev came forward to say good things for Solomatin, and the mechanized army was only temporarily assigned to his command, it would be returned to the construction as soon as this battle was over, and Sokov could not be embarrassed about this matter. Solomatin could only sigh softly, and said to Solomatin: "Remember the lesson this time, Comrade General. I hope that similar things will not happen again in the future."

Seeing that Sokov let him go so easily, Solomatin was filled with surprise. He quickly expressed his thanks to Sokov, and then said: "Don't worry, Comrade Commander, I assure you that nothing like this will ever happen again."

After the two topics of the meeting were finished, Sameko waited for Sokov to sit down, and got up and asked, "Do you have any questions, commanders? Feel free to ask them, and Comrade Commander and I will try our best to answer them for you." .”

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Sameko's voice had just finished, and Poluboyarov, commander of the 4th Guards Tank Corps, stood up. He asked with a serious expression: "I want to ask, when will my tank army Can you enter the landing field on the right bank?"

"General Poluboyarov," Sameko politely replied to Poluboyarov's question, "according to the results of our research, your tank corps will remain on the left bank and will not participate in the right bank for the time being." The battle on the landing site."

"Why, Comrade Chief of Staff?" Hearing Sameko's answer, Poluboyarov became angry: "Our whole army is ready for all battles, but why don't we go to the landing field on the right bank to participate in the battle?"

"General Poluboyarov, I think it's up to me to answer this question." Sokov felt that it was more appropriate for him to explain this to Poluboyarov, so he stood up and said with a smile: "We are An assault direction was selected on the right bank, which is the area where General Fomenko's 84th Division is located. There are forests, lakes and swamps everywhere, which is not conducive to the deployment of mechanized troops. On the south side, where the landing site is conducive to the deployment of mechanized troops, a large number of troops are deployed. If you use your strength to face the enemy head-on, you will suffer losses. For the sake of protecting you, after repeated studies, we have decided not to allow the 4th Guards Tank Corps to enter the landing site on the right bank for the time being.”

"What about us, Comrade Commander?" As soon as Sokov finished speaking, before Poluboyarov could express his position, Koida stood up impatiently and asked anxiously: "Tank Army Temporarily not entering the right bank is because the area where the counterattack is being prepared is not conducive to the deployment of tanks. Then why can't our division be transferred to the right bank landing field?"

"Colonel Keda, the battle at the landing site on the right bank will be long-term and cruel." Sokov looked at Keda who raised doubts, and said with a smile, "The reason why I didn't transfer your division to the right bank is because I was preparing to transfer your division to the right bank." As a reserve force, when the troops on the right bank are too downsized and unable to continue to undertake combat tasks, you will transfer your division to replace them. Do you understand?"

Koyda, who was originally full of anger, felt much more at ease after hearing Sokov's explanation, and he quickly said: "Understood, Comrade Commander. I express my opinion to you on behalf of the commanders and fighters of the entire division. No matter what you say It is time to transfer us to the landing site on the right bank, and we can all set off in the shortest possible time."

"Very good, Colonel Koida." Sokov nodded with a smile, and said to Koida: "I believe what you said, and hope that you can enter the right bank landing site in the shortest possible time after receiving the order. .”