Red Moscow

The call was connected quickly. Guchakov was his old subordinate, and Sokov didn't know much about him, so he asked straight to the point: "Major Guchakov, I'm Sokov. I want to ask, Did the 300th Division's defense zone be breached by the Germans in many places?"

Guchakov didn't dare to neglect, and hurriedly replied: "Yes, Comrade Commander. According to the report from the frontier observation post, the defense zone of the 300th Division was breached by the Germans in many places."

"The defense zone of the 300th Division was breached by the Germans. What measures did you take?"

"Comrade Commander," Guchakov replied with some puzzlement when he heard Sokov's inexplicable question: "The line of defense that was breached by the Germans was in the 300th Division's defense area. After learning about this situation, I have already Order the frontier troops to prepare for battle to prevent the German army from taking the opportunity to attack our defense zone."

After Guchakov finished answering, Sokov immediately said, "Why didn't you send troops to reinforce?"

"What?" Guchakov was taken aback for a moment, and then he said a little embarrassedly: "Comrade Commander, can you say it again? The call effect is a bit bad, I didn't hear what you said clearly."

"Major Guchakov," Sokov slowed down and repeated what he said just now: "I'm asking you, why didn't you send reinforcements after the 300th Division's defense zone was breached by the Germans?"

This time Guchakov finally confirmed that he had heard correctly, and quickly explained: "Comrade Commander, I just said that the German army broke through the 300th Division's defense zone, not our brigade's defense zone, so I only let The forward units are ready to fight to prevent the Germans from rushing to our positions."

"All the units in the group army are a whole, but when a certain unit is in danger, the nearby friendly forces should provide timely assistance, instead of sitting on the sidelines like now." Sokov said sternly: "Do you know , What do you mean cold lips and teeth?"

Guchakov was silent for a long time, then he said: "Comrade Commander, I don't understand what that means. Can you explain?"

Hearing what Guchakov said, Sokov realized that he had accidentally uttered an oriental idiom because of excitement, and it was no wonder that the other party could understand it. After a couple of dry laughs, he explained to the other party: "The lips are dead and the teeth are cold, which is an ancient oriental idiom. Is your brigade's defense zone the one that received the attack?"

"Yes, that is indeed the case."

"It's good if you understand." Sokov said in a slow tone: "The 300th Division was newly incorporated into our army during the Battle of Kharkov, and there was indeed very little cooperation with other divisions. Everyone respected them. I'm not familiar with them, and I haven't regarded them as my own for the time being."

"You are right, Comrade Commander." Seeing that Sokov expressed his true thoughts, Guchakov replied truthfully: "After all, they have joined for too short a time and have not yet established a relationship with us. That kind of deep comradeship..."

"Major Guchakov," Sokov interrupted Guchakov before he finished speaking, and said rather displeasedly: "If other division and brigade commanders say this, I will It's acceptable. But you seem to have forgotten that Colonel Weisbach, the commander of the 300th Division, was your deputy brigade commander before taking over the post of division commander. Even if you don't have any personal friendship with him, after all, you have fought side by side for so long , seeing that he is in danger in the future, shouldn't you reach out and help him?"

"Comrade Commander, our brigade lost a lot of troops in the early battle." After thinking for a while, Guchakov replied cautiously: "If we want to support the 300th Division, I am afraid that our strength will not allow it."

"There is nothing that is not allowed." Sokov knew that Guchakov was worried about sending troops rashly and would wipe out the troops, so he decided to give him reassurance, "I will notify Chief of Staff Sameko and ask him to get rid of the troops as soon as possible." A batch of soldiers will replenish you."

The soldiers mentioned by Sokov refer to the commanders and fighters who were rescued in the prisoner-of-war camp outside the city when Klemenchug was captured. After recuperating in the field hospital for a period of time, the health of most people has improved to a great extent. At this time, it should not be a big problem to add them to the army.

With Sokov's guarantee, Guchakov's confidence suddenly became full: "Don't worry, Comrade Commander." He patted his chest and assured Sokov, "Since the defense zone of the 300th Division is very dangerous now, we It is absolutely necessary to support them. As you said, what is dead or cold..."

"The lips are dead and the teeth are cold!"

"Yes, it's the lips and teeth." Guchakov then said with a smile: "The defense zone of the 300th Division is now our lips. Once the lips are gone, our teeth will be exposed in front of the Germans."

After finishing the conversation with Sokov, Guchakov asked his chief of staff Askel: "Comrade Chief of Staff, which battalion of our brigade has the most complete organizational structure?"

"Fourth Battalion." Askel replied without hesitation: "This battalion is a reserve team most of the time and has not participated in any battles, so their organizational system is the most complete." After answering this question, he tentatively Asked Guchakov, "Comrade Brigadier, why are you asking this?"

"Chief of Staff, you should know that the defense zone of the 300th Division has been breached by the Germans in many places, even posing a certain degree of threat to our positions."

"Yes, I know." Askel nodded and said, "Didn't you already order the frontline troops to prepare for battle, and just wait for the enemy to approach and shoot immediately?"

"Chief of Staff, the situation has changed. Immediately send the Fourth Battalion and the machine gun company to the 300th Division's defense area to help them defeat the enemy who broke through the defense line."

"Why is this, Comrade Brigadier?" Askel was very puzzled by Guchakov's order: "They are our last living force. Once the defense of the 300th Division collapses, , without them, the enemy cannot be stopped at all.”

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Guchakov knew that Askel hadn't heard the conversation between himself and Sokov, and quickly explained to him: "This is what Comrade Commander meant, and he said that the troops of the entire army group are As a whole, if one of the troops is in danger and the rest of the troops do not go to support, then once this army is wiped out, the dying troops will face the German attack and wait for their attack. Will be the same fate."

Although Guchakov had already talked about this point, Askel still said with great concern: "Comrade Brigadier, after a period of fighting in our brigade at the landing site, the number of troops in our brigade has been very serious. If we take this last Our reserves have also gone into battle, once lost, when the enemy rushes to our position, what kind of troops will we use to stop them?"

"You don't have to worry about this, Comrade Chief of Staff." Guchakov understood what Askel was worried about in his heart, and quickly explained to him: "Comrade Commander has assured me that the rescued commanders and fighters will be sent to the hospital as soon as possible." The large forces in the army should be added to our brigade."

Knowing that Sokov had made a guarantee, Askel felt relieved immediately. After a few seconds of silence, he said to Guchakov: "Comrade Brigadier, I will immediately notify the commanders of the Fourth Battalion and the Machine Gun Company to order They rushed to support the 300th Division that was under attack as quickly as possible."

When Sokov was talking to Guchakov, Fomenko was standing not far away, and he heard the entire conversation between the two. After Sokov put down the headset and microphone, he asked cautiously, "Comrade Commander, do you still need to contact the 1st Mechanized Army?"

"1st Mechanized Army?" Sokov repeated the number, shook his head, and asked, "Why should I contact them?"

"Aren't they behind the defense zone of the 300th Division?" Fomenko reminded Sokov, "Once the defense line of the 300th Division is completely broken by the Germans, the defense zone of the 1st Mechanized Army will also be attacked."

"It's not necessary." Sokov waved his hand and explained to Fomenko: "The 1st Mechanized Army was only temporarily assigned to our command. In the early battles, they had already suffered a lot of casualties. If they Let them go to support the 300th Division, I am worried that they will pay a higher price, once this unit is wiped out, I can't explain to Commander Konev."

Fomenko did not think that Sokov's statement was exaggerated. Judging from the defensive battle situation in the early stage of the landing field, the 73rd Infantry Brigade adjacent to them not only suffered far less casualties than them, but even achieved far more results than them. Even if they are forced to send troops to support the 300th Division, with the old tactics they use, they may suffer huge casualties, and the gains will outweigh the losses.

Sokov raised his hand and looked at his watch, and found that only a few minutes had passed. No matter whether it was the troops attacking Chijilin or the troops that captured the two towns of Ratswe and Jingji, it was impossible to make any substantial progress. Command the radio operator: "Comrade radio operator, please put me through the army headquarters. I want to find Chief of Staff Sameko."

Hearing Sokov's order, the radio operator dared not be negligent, and hurriedly connected to the headquarters of the group army, and informed the radio operator over there that the commander had something urgent to call the chief of staff.

When the radio operator at the headquarters learned that Sokov was looking for Sameko, he hurriedly notified the communications staff officer on duty and asked Sameko to come and answer the phone. Sameko took the headset and microphone from the radio operator: "Hi, Comrade Commander, I'm Sameko, do you have any latest instructions?"

"I have ordered Guchakov to send troops to reinforce the 300th Division," Sokov said bluntly to Sameko, "However, after defending the landing site some time ago, I estimate that the casualties of the 73rd Brigade are also very serious. There is an urgent need for supplementary troops. The rescued commanders and fighters have rested in the field hospital for such a long time, and their health has been greatly improved.

Sameko, as Sokov's right-hand man, naturally heard the meaning of his words from his words, and replied with a feeling: "I understand, Comrade Commander, I will immediately send those who are in good health to the hospital. The commanders and fighters will be called up to supplement the progressive brigade to ensure that their combat effectiveness will not be affected in the next battle."

"If you don't have enough new-style weapons, equip the original old-fashioned weapons first." Sokov thought that the assault rifles he had cheekily ordered from the weapons and equipment department had long been sold out, and now he wanted to get new ones from Yakov. Assault rifles will be a very difficult thing, and Sameko can only use the Bobosha assault and Mosin Nagan rifles used by other troops for these newly supplemented commanders and fighters: "They should use the original weapons more familiar, which saves time on training.”

"You are right, Comrade Commander." Sameko nodded and said, "Most of these commanders and fighters were captured at the beginning of the war. I am afraid that many people have never used submachine guns. Equipping them with old-style weapons will save us the time to train them."

"But do we have so many old-style weapons?" Sukov usually didn't ask about the stockpile of weapons and ammunition. Now when he planned to issue weapons to the commanders and fighters who were going to enrich the progressive brigade, he worried that the number of weapons would not be enough: "Or, I Apply again to Commander Konev?"

"No need to apply." Sameko said: "Comrade commander, you usually don't care about the stockpile of weapons and ammunition. You don't know that we sealed up a batch of weapons and ammunition during the Battle of Kharkov. You just need to put this batch of weapons and ammunition in stock." Unblocking will arm the commanders and fighters who will be replenished to the infantry brigade."

Sokov hummed a few times, and told Sameko: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I will entrust you with full responsibility for this matter. You must arm all these commanders and fighters, understand?"

"Understood." After Sameko agreed, he remembered the battles taking place in Chigilin, Ratsve, Jingji and other places, and couldn't help asking tentatively: "Comrade Commander, I would like to ask, what is your current situation?" How's the battle going?"

Hearing Sameko's question, Sokov looked at Fomenko at the side, trying to figure out if there was any latest battle report. Seeing Sokov looking at him, Fomenko immediately understood what the other party wanted. He shook his head slightly and spread his hands to indicate that he had not received any battle report for the time being.

After understanding what Fomenko meant, Sokov said into the microphone: "Comrade Chief of Staff, there are no recent results yet. But don't worry, once there is new progress, I will let them know as soon as possible." reported to you."

Not long after the conversation with Sameko here ended, Shumilov on the left bank called Sokov again and asked politely: "General Sokov, my subordinates reported to me that they heard the news from the other bank. There is the sound of guns and gunpowder, and you can see the rising smoke, it must be that your troops have engaged in battle with the enemy."

"That's right, General Shumilov." Sokov was still polite enough to his former superior, "A regiment of our army has rushed into the town of Ratsve and is engaged in a fierce battle with the enemy. I believe it will not happen." How long will our army be able to capture the town and support your troops to cross the Dnieper River smoothly."

"That's really great." After Shumilov confirmed the news he wanted to know from Sokov, he said happily: "I have ordered the 15th Guards Division to prepare for crossing the river. Once the troops capture the town, a large-scale river crossing operation can begin."