Red Moscow

Zakharov took Sokov to the door of an office. The captain sitting at the door saw Zakharov's arrival and quickly got up to salute.

"Comrade Captain," Zakharov asked amiably, "is Comrade Commander in there?"

"Yes, Comrade Chief of Staff." The captain replied in an affirmative tone: "Comrade Commander is still working inside. Do you need me to inform you?"

"No need, Comrade Captain. I'll go in and meet him." Zakharov finished speaking, stepped forward and opened the door, turned around and shook his head at Sokov: "Come in, Comrade Sokov."

Sokov followed Zakharov into the room and found that it was a spacious conference room with a long conference table and a dozen chairs near the window, while Konev sat behind a desk near the door.

"Sokov is here!" Seeing Zakharov and Sokov enter the door, Konev stood up quickly, walked around from behind the desk, came to Sokov, stretched out his hand and said with a smile on his face: " On behalf of all the commanders and fighters of the Second Ukrainian Front, I welcome you!"

"Hello, Comrade Commander of the Front Army." Sokov stretched out both hands to hold Konev's hand, shook it vigorously a few times, and said with a smile on his face: "It is I who can return to your command." an honor."

After the simple greetings, let's get down to business.

"Comrade Sokov," Konev said sternly, "You must have known about your superior's appointment before you came to the front."

"Yes," Sokov nodded, "Let me take over from Major General Tarasov as commander of the 53rd Army."

"You once commanded the 53rd Army in Klemenchug. The division commanders of this army are familiar with you. This will be very helpful for you to quickly familiarize yourself with the army." Konev put his hand on the Kefu held him on the shoulder, walked towards the wall on the other side of the conference table, and said, "Let me introduce to you the current situation between us and the enemy."

When he came to the wall where the map was hung, Konev picked up the explaining stick on the wall, pointed to the map and said to Sokov: "In order to implement Manstein's order to stick to the bend of the Dnieper River, the Germans on the right bank of the Dnieper River The area around Kanev formed the Cherkasy salient. The core of this salient was in Korsun, and the area controlled by the German army was more than 100 kilometers long and wide. It was an important place to guard the crossing point of the bend of the Dnieper River.

As of January 28, our troops once again penetrated the German defense line, and at the same time, the 5th Guards Tank Army cut off the retreat of the German army. Now the Cherkasy salient no longer exists, and only the "Cherkasy" remains Encirclement'. Our next task is to find a way to eliminate the Germans in the encirclement, and to have another great victory like the Battle of Stalingrad. "

Sokov knew very well that Konev's idea was good, but it was very difficult to implement it. According to the history he knew, the 60,000 German troops who were besieged finally broke through the siege. However, according to relevant records, due to the muddy roads, the movement of tanks on both sides was restricted, so that the German army had to throw away all heavy weapons when they broke through.

After Konev's words came to an end, Sokov asked cautiously: "Comrade Commander of the Front Army, I would like to ask, is my old tank unit unable to carry out large-scale operations because of the muddy road?"

Unexpectedly, when he heard this question, Konev showed a shocked expression on his face. After he and Zakharov looked at each other, he asked Sokov with a straight face: "Comrade Sokov, I want to ask, Who told you that our tank units are unable to carry out large-scale operations because of the muddy roads?"

"Yes, Comrade Sokov." Zakharov continued: "Don't you know that the temperature is the lowest from mid-January to mid-February every year? How can there be muddy roads?"

After hearing what the two said, Sokov couldn't help but fell into confusion. He felt that the information he read should not be fake, and Konev and Zakharov didn't seem to be joking with him. So where did it appear? What's the problem?

Seeing that Sokov did not speak, Konev continued: "Marshal Manstein sent rescue troops to carry out rescue operations in order to prevent the besieged troops from being annihilated by our army. To the west is the 1st Army of the 3rd Panzer Army. Armored Division, Standard Guard Division, Baker's Armored Regiment, 16th and 17th Armored Divisions, 198th and 34th Infantry Divisions; to the south were the 11th, 13th and 14th Armored Divisions of the 47th Panzer Corps.

At this moment, the German troops from the west are fighting fiercely with our army on the north side of the encirclement, trying to open a passage for the besieged Stemmermann's army. The Ukrainian First Front Army, under the command of General Vatutin, was stubbornly blocking the German army, making it impossible for the two troops inside and outside the encirclement to join forces. "

Hearing this, Sokov couldn't help interjecting: "Comrade Front Army Commander, I think I understand what you mean. If the Germans failed to break out from the north of the encirclement, they would definitely change the direction of the breakout and choose to break out from the south. And if they want to jump out of the encirclement smoothly, they must first break through the defense line of my brother's 53rd Army. Is my understanding correct?"

"Exactly, Comrade Sokov." Konev and Zakharov looked at each other, with knowing smiles on their faces: "I was worried about the 53rd Army under the command of Major General Tarasov. Blocking the German assault, but now you are the one commanding this army, and my heart suddenly feels more at ease."

Sokov is very self-aware. He doesn't think that a unit that makes his superiors worry will become invincible just because he is the commander. There must be a very long process. He asked cautiously: "I would like to ask how the soldiers and equipment of the troops are?"

"Comrade Sokov," this time it was Zakharov, chief of staff of the front army, who spoke this time: "All the troops belonging to the group army have been replenished just now. Now the Guards Division has 10,000 people per division, and the ordinary infantry division has 8,000 people. Men, you outnumber the besieged Germans in numbers."

Knowing that the number of his troops had exceeded the number of the besieged German troops, Sokov was not particularly happy. He knew very well that the outcome of a war is not only determined by the number of people, but also by weapons and reasonable tactics. , Then asked: "What about the weapons and equipment?"

"Except for an artillery division and several rocket artillery battalions directly under the group army, each division is equipped with an artillery regiment." Zakharov said: "As for the weapons in the hands of the soldiers, although the number of machine guns and submachine guns is relatively small. , but almost everyone is equipped with a Mosin Nagant rifle..."

Hearing the data reported by Zakharov, Sokov couldn't help frowning: Unexpectedly, with an army of tens of thousands, the number of machine guns and submachine guns is limited. It is difficult to form a firepower advantage on the battlefield with such weapons. As for the artillery, it is even weaker. The artillery regiments of each division are equipped with 76.2mm cannons. Even if the artillery divisions are all equipped with heavy artillery, it is difficult to start a close artillery battle with the enemy's artillery.

Sukov suddenly had a feeling of being ordered in danger. He felt that it would be very difficult to block the German army's all-out breakthrough. But judging from the current situation, it will take at least a week or two for the German army to change the direction of the breakout. I should rush to the 53rd Army as soon as possible to find out the actual situation of the troops and make timely adjustments. After thinking about this, he asked, "I want to ask, when can I go to the 53rd Army to take up my post?"

"Of course, the sooner the better, after all, every minute on the battlefield is precious." After finishing speaking, Konev raised his hand and looked at his watch, and found that it was almost eleven o'clock in the evening, so he changed his words. : "However, you and your subordinates must be very tired just after arriving from Moscow. Why don't you stay here for one night and wait until dawn tomorrow before setting off."

Leaving Konev's office, Sokov found Ponejelin and others, took out a map and said to the three: "Comrades, the situation is very serious for us. Now the German army's powerful relief corps is in the north of the encirclement , and fought fiercely with the troops of the Ukrainian First Front Army. According to my judgment, their affirmative attempt to break out of the encirclement will definitely be smashed, and then they will choose a new breakthrough direction to the south of the encirclement.

General Konev's mission to our army was to stop the enemy at all costs when they broke through to the south, and to prevent any enemy in the encirclement from escaping. "

Muzichenko waited for Sokov to finish speaking, and immediately asked, "How is our military strength?"

"The specific number of soldiers will not be known until after the 53rd Army." Sokov replied: "However, the Chief of Staff of the Front Army told me that the number of soldiers owned by the Army Group has exceeded the number of the besieged German troops."

"What is needed on the battlefield is not numbers, but people. People with combat effectiveness, now is not the time to play with numbers." Muzichenko said with a straight face: "In the Battle of Uman, we outnumbered the attacking German army. But what was the final result? The troops in the encirclement were almost wiped out, and all three of us became prisoners of the Germans for various reasons..."

"Muzichenko," Ponedelin heard Muzichenko mentioned the Uman battle that he was ashamed of, and quickly stopped him, saying: "The Uman battle is in the past tense, what we are going to discuss now is How to block the breakout operation that the German army may launch."

Muzichenko glanced at Sokov, wanting to see his reaction. Seeing that the other party was just staring at the map in front of him expressionlessly, he shut his mouth knowingly and looked down at the map on the table.

"We will set off for the 53rd Army early tomorrow morning," Sokov said after looking at the map for a while, "Only after we understand the specific situation of the Army, can we formulate corresponding countermeasures."

"That's right, our current priority is to find out the actual situation of the 53rd Army so that we can formulate a reasonable combat plan." Ponegerin said: "Also, in terms of weapons and equipment, maybe you will be needed at that time." Contact Colonel Yakov and ask him to provide us with some weapons."

"That's for sure." Ever since Sokov knew that the equipment of the 53rd Army was poor, the first thing he thought of was to contact Yakov and ask him to send him 20,000 assault rifles and thousands of new rockets. After owning such a weapon, one's heart will be at ease.

But before the matter was completed, Sokov didn't want to say anything. He could only say with a cold expression: "I will contact Colonel Yakov at the right time and ask him to arrange a batch of weapons and equipment for us."

After explaining the basic situation to the three of them, Sokov said, "Okay, it's getting late. You all go back to rest. Tomorrow morning, we will rush to the station of the 53rd Army."

Before dawn the next day, Sokov was awakened by a knock on the door.

He turned over in a daze and got out of bed. Without even wearing his boots, he came to the door barefoot and opened the door with his hand. After seeing clearly that it was Koshkin standing at the door, he asked casually, "Lieutenant Koshkin, what's the matter?"

"Comrade General," Koshkin straightened his body and said respectfully, "everyone is ready to go, and we are waiting for you."

"What, everyone is ready to go?" Sokov asked in surprise: "Has the car arranged by General Konev arrived?"

"Yes, the vehicle is already waiting outside." Koshkin said, "Major Pornedelin asked me to invite you."

Knowing that everyone was waiting for him outside, he quickly said to Koshkin: "Lieutenant Koshkin, go back and tell Major Pornejerin that I will be there in five minutes." After finishing speaking, he didn't even close the door, turned around Just walk towards the bathroom.

Five minutes later, a well-dressed Sokov came out of the building, and he saw a dozen jeeps parked at the door, as well as five covered trucks full of soldiers.

Seeing Sokov come out, Ponejielin went up to meet him and said to Sokov, "Misha, all the personnel are ready to go and can go at any time."

Sokov realized that he had already delayed a lot of time, and he didn't want to make everyone wait any longer, so he waved his hand and announced: "Let's go, try to get to the group army headquarters as soon as possible."

The headquarters of the 53rd Army is stationed in a small town called Bochapinchi, which is only more than 20 kilometers away from Konev's headquarters. In hours, we reached our destination.

The chief of staff, Smirnov, had already received a call from Zakharov and learned that the new commander was coming to take up his post today, so he took the members of the headquarters and waited outside.

However, in order to keep it secret, Zakharov only told Smirnov that a new commander had taken office, but he did not tell him who the new commander was. At this moment, when everyone was waiting anxiously outside the headquarters, Military Commissar Gorokhov asked Smirnov curiously: "Comrade Chief of Staff, do you know who the new commander is?"

"I don't know." Smirnov shook his head and said, "Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army didn't say anything. He only said that he was an excellent commander. After taking office, our group army can make repeated military exploits on the battlefield."

Gorokhov couldn't help but feel moved when he heard what Smirnov said, and asked, "Comrade Chief of Staff, tell me, will our new commander be General Sokov?"

"I don't think so." Smirnov shook his head and said, "Two days ago, the chief of staff of the Front Army informed me that a group of students selected by General Sokov would soon serve as regiment-level commanders in our army group. At that time, I specifically asked General Sokov about his situation, and told him that he was still studying at the Frunze Military Academy and would not be able to graduate until at least half a year later.”

Gorokhov was disappointed: "If what the Chief of Staff of the Front Army said is true, then the new commander must not be General Sokov. Apart from him, I can't think of anyone who can command the troops to win one after another. Great victory."