Red Moscow

Sokov returned to the headquarters in Kremenchug by car, and was going to call the Armament Department in Moscow to find out what happened to Yakov. He called the director of the communications corps to himself, and before he finished his task, a staff officer came in and reported to Sokov: "Comrade commander, the commander's car of the front army has already arrived outside the gate."

"What, the commander of the front army is here?" Although Sokov didn't know why Konev came to the city suddenly, he immediately called Lunev and Sameko and went out to meet Konev.

When the three walked out of the church gate, they saw Konev leading two officers up the stairs. Sokov hurriedly stopped, stood at attention, and raised his hand to his forehead: "Hello, Comrade Commander of the Front Army, Commander of the 27th Army Sokov is reporting to you. You are welcome to visit us."

"Hello, Comrade Sokov." Konev raised his hand in return, then took Sokov's hand and said enthusiastically, "I heard that you just came back from the direction of Chijilin. Thank you for your hard work!"

"Yes, Comrade Front Army Commander, I just returned to the headquarters not long ago." Sokov replied with a smile: "It is my duty to command the troops to fight, and it is not hard at all."

"Have all the troops withdrawn?"

"Yes, all back." Sukov felt that standing at the door of the church and talking made it inconvenient for the staff officers of the headquarters to come in and out, so he politely said to Konev: "Comrade commander of the front army, this is not a place to talk." Please go inside and have a cup of hot tea."

When several people walked in, Konev said to Sokov: "Comrade Sokov, because of the needs of the battle, I temporarily decided to return the 1st Mechanized Army of General Solomatin to the establishment. You will have nothing to do." Thoughts?"

No matter how dissatisfied Sokov was with Konev on this matter, he would definitely not say it out loud. He said with a smile: "Comrade Commander of the Front Army, since you want to transfer the 1st Mechanized Army, you must It is out of overall consideration, how dare I have any objection? As for the defense zone left by the mechanized evacuation, I have already sent Colonel Koyda’s 188th Division to take over the defense.”

Seeing that Sokov had considered all the things that should be considered, Konev nodded with satisfaction, and said in his heart that such a commander is still good, and can understand his intentions. If it were a different person, they might have complained everywhere.

Sokov knew very well that Konev always went to the Three Treasures Hall for everything, and if there was no important matter, he would definitely not come to his headquarters. When Konev sat down, he brought a cup of hot tea and put it in front of the other party, and then asked: "Comrade Commander of the Front Army, you are here today. I don't know if there is any important combat task that needs to be entrusted to us to complete." ?”

"I came here today to explain to you the next combat mission." Konev took a sip of hot tea, put it on the table in front of him, and then pulled the map next to him to himself in front of.

Hearing that Konev was going to assign the next stage of combat missions, Sokov and Sameko hurried over, and even the military commissar Lunev poked his head and looked in this direction.

Konev looked at the map pulled in front of him, and said to Sokov and Sameko: "You are now controlling a large landing field on the right bank of the Dnieper River. The next task is to expand the landing field. area, and find ways to liberate the German-occupied cities so that I can deploy more troops to the right bank."

Hearing this, Sokov began to think about it, and headed west to Cherkasy, which is now the landing field of the 7th Guards Army. His troops had just withdrawn from there, and it was obviously impossible to go there to join in the fun, so he tentatively asked: "Comrade Front Army Commander, in which direction should we develop?"

"Develop to the south." Konev pointed on the map with his hands: "You can launch an attack to the south of the landing site and capture Alexandria. After completing this goal, you can use this place as a new starting point for your attack. Pushing southwest towards Kirovograd..."

"General Konev," Lunev, who seldom expresses his opinions on the military, suddenly said after Konev finished explaining the mission to several people: "If our army really advances towards Kirovgrad, I'm afraid We will be attacked by German troops from all directions. If there is no friendly army to keep up in time, we may be encircled by German troops."

Lunev's words reminded Sokov. After staring at the map for a while, he realized Konev's intentions. The opponent intends to use his 27th Army as a bait to attract Manstein's main force to the vicinity. In this way, the German army's strength in other directions will be weakened. obstacles will be greatly reduced.

After Sokov thought of this, he couldn't help thinking, if his troops really follow Konev's deployment and attack towards Alexandria and Kirovgrad, I'm afraid it won't be long before they will be attacked from all directions. surrounded by enemies. Once the logistical supply line is cut off, no matter how many troops there are, they can only be reduced to lambs waiting to be slaughtered.

Just as he was about to question Konev, Sameko said before him: "Comrade Commander, if our army follows your order to attack Alexandria controlled by the enemy, It is necessary to break through the defense line deployed on the ground to the south of the landing field first.

Of the five divisions the enemy is currently deploying on this line of defense, two are armored divisions. And we only have a 4th Guards Tank Corps and two artillery divisions. It may be very difficult to suppress them in terms of firepower. If we want to achieve this strategic goal, the superior needs to send us at least two to three additional tank brigades, as well as one or two artillery divisions or several rocket battalions. "

When Konev heard the conditions put forward by Sameko, he did not immediately make any reply, but turned to ask Sokov: "Comrade Sokov, what do you think?"

"Comrade Commander of the Front Army," Seeing Konev throwing the question to himself, Sokov quickly replied: "The chief of staff said a lot. If we want to break through the German positions defended by armored divisions, we need more tank brigades. And the artillery division. Otherwise, when the Germans attack, as long as they send out armored units to counterattack, their tanks are enough to crush our attacking troops."

"Yes, Comrade Commander." Hearing that Sukov's opinion was consistent with his own, Sameko quickly added: "After a long period of fighting, the number of tanks owned by the 4th Guards Tank Army has greatly increased. The reduction is no longer enough to support a large-scale offensive battle."

"Is that so, Comrade Sokov?" Konev still threw the question to Sokov after listening.

"That's right, that's true." In the past, it was mainly defensive, and it had fewer tanks than the German army, which was innocuous. But now we want to take the initiative to attack the German army. If the number of tanks is too small and we simply rely on infantry to attack, isn't that going to kill people? Sokov said eloquently: "We need to add more tanks and artillery before we can complete the expansion of the landing field."

When Konev heard this, his expression became serious. He thought that relying on Sokov's current strength and equipment alone would be enough to break through the German defenses and liberate Alexandria and Kirovgrad. But now I found that there was a huge deviation from my original plan.

Sokov was deeply afraid that the other party would not agree to his request and would forcefully issue an attack order, and quickly said something more important: "Comrade Commander of the Front Army, there is one more important thing that I want to report to you. "

Konev looked at Sokov in surprise, and asked in surprise, "What happened?"

"The reason why our previous offensives were able to achieve great victories was that our weapons and equipment were superior to our friendly forces." Sokov said to Konev: "Among them is a new type of rocket that can be used on any terrain. The launch can be said to be a nightmare for the Germans."

"That's right." Konev nodded desperately. "As far as I know, this new type of rocket is only provided to your troops. Is there something wrong?"

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Sokov said to Sameko sideways, "you come and report to the commander of the front army."

Sameko nodded and reported to Konev: "Comrade Commander, I received a call from Colonel Yakov from Moscow two days ago. He said that due to the sharp drop in the production of new rockets, our supply To pause."

"Suspension of supply to you?!" Konev was stunned for a moment, and then raised his own doubts: "Even if the production has dropped sharply, at least something can be produced. Why stop the supply to you?"

"I don't know the specific reason." Sokov shook his head and said, "I just returned to the headquarters and was planning to call Colonel Yakov to ask what happened. I didn't bother to call."

"Then you call now, Comrade Sokov." Konev also wanted to figure out why the Armament Department suddenly stopped supplying Sokov's troops, and what went wrong, so he told Sokov to say : "I also want to know what happened."

Sokov called the director of the communications corps and asked him to help him connect to the Moscow Weapons and Equipment Department. He planned to ask Yakov himself what happened to stop the supply of new rockets to his troops.

The call was quickly connected.

As soon as Sokov heard Yakov's voice, he couldn't wait to ask: "Yasha, I'm Sokov. I want to ask, why did you stop supplying us with new rockets?"

When Yakov heard Sokov's voice, he naturally understood what his purpose was, so he sighed softly and said helplessly, "Misha, this matter is very complicated, and I can't explain it in a few words."

"Yasha, the two of us are good friends. If you have anything to say, you don't have to hide it." Sokov worried that Yakov would not tell him the truth, and added on purpose: "According to the order of the superior, my army group The troops are about to launch a new attack on the German defense line. If there are not enough new rockets, it means that we will pay a huge price in the attack. Do you have the heart to see this happen?"

Hearing what Sokov said, Yakov couldn't help sighing, and said, "Misha, you also know that since your troops are equipped with new rockets, their combat effectiveness has been greatly improved. Now our arsenal produces The rockets that come out are only provided to one of your troops, so it is inevitable that some people will be jealous, and they will definitely gossip behind your back and make you stumble, you know what I mean?"

Sokov heard the embarrassment in Yakov's tone, so he stopped asking aggressively, but asked cautiously: "Yasha, tell me the truth, is the factory not reducing production, and the new rockets produced are Are they ready for other troops?"

"Yes, your guess is correct." Yakov replied briefly.

Sokov hummed, and then asked again: "Even if I ask you which army these new rockets are supplied to, you won't tell me, will you?"

"Misha, I also have my own difficulties." Although Yakov is special, but as a member of the weapons and equipment department, he still can only obey the orders of his superiors unconditionally: "Some things are top secret, please forgive me. I can't tell you."

Although Yakov didn't answer Sokov's question directly, he already understood what was going on in his heart. Feeling that his troops had won too many battles, the commanders of other troops looked jealous, thinking that if they got those new rockets, they could improve the combat effectiveness of their troops, so they used some means in private to make Suo Cove's troops no longer had access to the new rockets they had relied on to win.

Sokov chatted for a few more words, and after confirming that he could not learn more from the other party, he hung up the phone on his own initiative.

As soon as he put down the phone, Konev couldn't wait to ask: "Comrade Sokov, have you asked clearly? What's going on? Why did the Weaponry Department suddenly stop supplying you?"

"Comrade Commander of the Front Army, I have roughly understood what is going on." After organizing the vocabulary in his mind, Sokov said to Konev: "Some friendly commanders think that our army can obtain such What a huge battle result, it is completely dependent on the various advanced weapons provided by the Weapons and Equipment Department. Therefore, some means were adopted to make the Weapons and Equipment Department stop supplying us with new rockets, and all new products were handed over to the them."

"Oh, so that's what happened." After Konev figured out what was going on, although his heart was full of anger, he tried his best to control his emotions in front of many subordinates, and tried to say in a calm tone: "Sure Comrade Kov, don't worry, I will report this matter to the Supreme Command as soon as possible, and hope they can give you a fair solution."

Although Sokov didn't know who the manipulator behind him was, he also knew very well that the other party had a lot of energy. It takes a lot of courage to fight against such a person. And Konev's statement at this moment means that he will come forward to seek justice for himself, so he quickly thanked him: "Comrade Commander of the Front Army, thank you very much. If the superior can resume the supply of new rockets to us, then We must be confident in completing the operation of expanding the landing field to the south."

Konev stood up and said: "You guys study the attack plan carefully, I'll go back to the headquarters first. If there is any latest news, I will call you."