Red Moscow

Early the next morning, Sokov received a call from Zakharov: "Comrade Sokov, I will inform you now that you will come to the Front Army Command immediately to attend an important military meeting."

Sokov didn't wait for the other party to finish, and rushed to say: "I am alone, or with Smirnov and Gorokhov."

Unexpectedly, Zakharov said: "In addition to the three of you, the divisional commanders of the infantry and artillery, and the brigade commanders of the tank units will all come to the meeting."

Knowing that all the division and brigade commanders under his command were to attend the military meeting, Sokov couldn't help being a little embarrassed: "Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, if all the division and brigade commanders leave, if something happens, the troops will probably be killed." will be thrown into chaos."

"Don't worry, Comrade Sokov." Zakharov comforted Sokov and said, "The Germans have just suffered a defeat in our hands. It is impossible to launch a new attack in the short term. Don't worry."

"Okay." Now that Zakharov said that, Sokov couldn't say anything more, so he could only reply: "I will rush there with my subordinates as soon as possible."

Although Zakharov said that the enemy would not take any action in the short term, Sokov did not dare to take it lightly. After all, opposite the defense area of ​​the 41st Guards Division is the October Town occupied by the Germans. There are not only the 1st Armored Division, but also the There are banner guard divisions with strong combat effectiveness, and any division that launches an attack will give yourself a headache.

As soon as Sokov put down the phone, he said to Smirnov and Gorokhov who came over: "Chief of Staff, Comrade Military Commissar, just received a notification from General Zakharov, let us go to the Front Army Command to start a military operation." Meeting."

Smirnov asked, "Just the three of us?"

Sokov shook his head and said to Smirnov: "In addition to the three of us, the divisional commanders of the infantry and artillery, and the brigade commanders of the tank units all have to go to the meeting together."

Hearing what Sokov said, Smirnov showed a surprised expression on his face: "Comrade Commander, what happened to ask the division and brigade commanders to attend the meeting?"

"Not very clear." Zakharov didn't say the content of the meeting, so Sokov naturally didn't know. However, he was silent for a moment, and suddenly thought of a possibility, and said to the two of them: "Our army has severely attacked the enemies in the Cherkasy encirclement. The front army headquarters is holding a meeting at this time. General Assembly."

Hearing what Sokov said, Gorokhov nodded again and again and said, "That's right, that's right, I think Comrade Commander is right. Although the number of German troops we wiped out in the Cherkasy region cannot be compared with other Compared with the battle, the death of the commander of the German 11th Army, Stemmermann, is considered a remarkable result."

Before Smirnov called the commanders of the divisions and brigades, he specifically asked Sokov for instructions: "Comrade commander, do you want everyone to gather here?"

"No." Sokov shook his head and said, "Our troops are too scattered. It will take at least an hour to gather everyone at the headquarters, and then rush to the front army headquarters to attend the meeting. It will take another hour on the way. Just wasted two or three hours."

"Then where should I ask them to gather?"

Sokov looked down at the map in front of him, then pointed to a location on it, and said to Smirnov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, you tell them to gather here, and then we will go to the Front Army Command together."

Smirnov looked at the location Sokov pointed to, and felt that it would save at least half of the time for everyone to gather there than in the headquarters, so he readily agreed, then picked up the phone and informed The commanders of each unit went to the military meeting of the Front Army Command.

Facts have proved that Sokov's decision is correct. The location he chose was not too far from the defense zones of the divisions. In less than half an hour, the division and brigade commanders who participated in the meeting arrived.

When the large-scale convoy arrived at the city where the Front Army Headquarters was located, a major officer at the entrance stopped the convoy, and then asked loudly, "Which part are you from? What are you doing in the city?"

Smirnov quickly pushed open the car door, stretched out half of his body, and said to the officer, "Comrade Major, we belong to the 53rd Army and have been ordered to come to the city to attend the military meeting."

After learning that it was the commanders of the 53rd Army, the officer immediately called the two soldiers to give some instructions. When the two soldiers entered the sidecar motorcycle parked next to him, he said to Smirnov: "Comrade General, these two soldiers are your guides, please follow them in your convoy. Where are you going to meet?"

The convoy followed the motorcycle leading the way for several blocks to the outside of a small theater.

Looking at the vehicles parked in the parking lot not far away, Sokov smiled and said to Smirnov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, it seems that we arrived a bit late. Look, there are one or two hundred cars parked in the parking lot." Car. If we come a little later, we probably won’t even find a place to park.”

Gorokhov, who was sitting next to Sokov, said with a smile: "Comrade Commander, we have more than 30 vehicles, and we probably can't park them. I guess they can only be parked on the nearby streets."

Gorokhov's words quickly became a reality. Due to limited parking spaces, after five or six cars were parked, the remaining cars could only be parked on nearby streets. Sokov waited for all his subordinates to gather before leading them towards the small theater.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he walked into the hall, he saw that there were a lot of people here, at least several hundred people. Seeing this scene, Smirnov couldn't help exclaiming: "My God, there are so many people."

"This is normal, Comrade Chief of Staff." Sokov said with a smile: "Think about it, there are more than 50 people from our group army alone. With so many troops under the Front Army, there must be a lot of people coming."

Sokov searched the crowd to see if he could find a familiar face, and suddenly felt someone pat him on the shoulder from behind. He turned his head and saw a familiar face appeared in front of him. Immediately, he couldn't recognize him and exclaimed, "Colonel Chuvashov, it's you!"

But as soon as he finished speaking, he immediately realized that he had made a mistake. At this moment, the epaulets carried by Chuvashov, the commander of the 98th Guards Division, were no longer colonels but major generals.

Before he could speak again, Chuvashov raised his hand to salute him, and said respectfully, "Hello, Comrade Commander, it's a pleasure to meet you here."

Sokov was somewhat surprised to meet Chuvashov here, because he knew that the 27th Army was under the command of the Ukrainian First Front Army, and today was a meeting of the Second Front Army. How could the other party appear here? With this question in mind, he tentatively asked: "Comrade Chuvashov, are your troops still in the 27th Army?"

"Yes, Comrade Commander, my 98th Guards Division is still part of the 27th Army." Seeing Sukov's doubts, he took the initiative to explain: "In the later stages of the encirclement and annihilation campaign, the 27th Army was Officially placed under the command of General Konev."

After listening to the other party's explanation, Sokov finally understood the reason why Chuvashov appeared here, turned his head and said to the curious Smirnov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, let me introduce you, this is Chuvashov Comrade, he is the commander of the 98th Guards Division. When I left the 27th Army, he was a colonel, and now he is also a general. Chuvashov, this is General Smirnov, who used to be at the Podolsk Infantry Academy He was headmaster, and now he's my chief of staff."

"Hello, General Smirnov." When Chuvashov shook hands with Smirnov, he said in a friendly tone: "I once participated in the Defense of Moscow precisely because of you and your students, relying on With crude weapons and our own flesh and blood, we held off the Germans for 12 days, before we had enough time to build strong fortifications in the direction of the enemy's advance."

The battle of Yukhnov was the first battle of Podolsk Academy, and it was also a battle that Smirnov was proud of. At this moment, when Chuvashov mentioned something he was proud of, he couldn't help showing a smile on his face. He stretched out his hand to hold the other party and stretched out: "Hello, General Chuvashov, nice to meet you."

After waiting for Chuvashov to chat with Smirnov, Sokov asked tentatively, "Chuvashov, are there any other people in the army here?"

"Yes, of course." He grabbed Sukov's hand and said emotionally: "Comrade Commander, I will take you to meet them. Since you were wounded and sent to Moscow, everyone missed you very much." Woolen cloth."

After walking a few steps, Chuvashov noticed that Sokov was walking with a limp, so he stopped quickly and asked with concern: "Comrade Commander, is your leg injury still not healed?"

"Yes, I haven't fully recovered yet." Sokov grinned and said, "So it's not very convenient to walk. If you walk too fast, I can't keep up with you."

Hearing what Sokov said, Chuvashov quickly apologized to him: "I'm sorry, Comrade Commander, I didn't notice the injury on your leg, please forgive my recklessness."

"It's okay, it's okay." Sokov waved his hand generously, and then urged the other party: "Hurry up and take me to meet other comrades in the group army. I can't wait."

When Chuvashov brought Sokov to a corner of the hall, Sokov saw that almost all the people standing here were carrying the general's epaulettes. In the next second, he saw countless familiar faces.

At this time, Chuvashov, who was supporting Sokov, suddenly shouted loudly at the group of commanders: "comrades commanders, look, who is coming to see you?"

When the commanders heard Chuvashov's voice, they all turned their heads and looked over in unison. When they saw Sokov standing next to Chuvashov, they couldn't help shouting, and then rushed over.

The one who took the lead was Sameko, Chief of Staff of the Army Group. He came to Sokov, looked him up and down, and then opened his arms and gave him a warm hug. While patting Sokov's back with his hands, he said emotionally: "Comrade Commander, it's great to see you again. You don't know how much everyone misses you after you left with an injury."

"I miss you too, Comrade Chief of Staff."

After the two finished embracing, Sokov looked at Sameko's lieutenant general epaulets and said with a smile, "Comrade Chief of Staff, you are now a lieutenant general."

Sameko grinned, and then explained: "My new military rank was just obtained yesterday." Then, he turned and pointed at the subordinates around him, and continued, "Besides me, there are many others. The commanders were all promoted to military ranks, and the former colonels basically became generals.”

At this time, someone shouted, "Stand at attention!"

The commanders surrounding Sokov immediately stood at attention.

Then the voice continued to shout: "Salute to Comrade Commander!"

Seeing that the old subordinates around him all raised their hands to salute him, Sokov quickly raised his right hand to his forehead and saluted everyone, thinking in his heart, so many people saluted himself at the same time, how could there be a feeling of saying goodbye to the corpse? ?

After everyone put down their hands, Sameko immediately helped Sokov to sit on the bench next to him, offered to help him take off his military coat, and sent a commander to the clothes depository.

Sokov and Sameko had just chatted a few words when the door of the theater was opened, and a lieutenant colonel officer walked out from inside. He stood at the door and said loudly: "Commanders, you can go in."

The commanders who were chatting all fell silent, and walked towards the open door in an orderly manner.

At this time, the lieutenant colonel said loudly again: "Each group army has its own signboard, please take your seats according to the number."

Smirnov and Gorokhov squeezed over and said to Sokov, "Comrade Commander, we are starting to enter the arena. Let's go in too."

Sokov nodded, and with the support of the two, walked along the crowd to the theater.

In the theater, there are chairs in the corridor, and every few rows there is a sign with the serial number of each unit. Sokov and the others successfully found their location according to the sign's instructions, and they were still in the first three batches.

After finding a place to sit down, Sokov looked up at the presidium, and saw a long table above, behind which sat Konev, Zakharov, Susaikov, and five or six of himself. unknown general.

When the theater fell silent, Zakharov stood up first. He picked up the microphone in front of him and said loudly: "Commanders and comrades, we are now in a meeting! First of all, I would like to invite General Susaikov, the military commissar. , read everyone the commendation order given to us by the Supreme Command!"

"Hello, comrades!" Susaikov stood up, greeted everyone with a smile on his face, picked up a piece of paper, and began to read the content on it: "Commendation order!

After 14 days of continuous fierce fighting, the 2nd Ukrainian Front troops ended the campaign of annihilating 10 divisions and 1 brigade of the German 8th Army encircled in the Korsun-Shevchenkovsky area on February 25. .

In this battle, 52,000 Germans died and 11,000 soldiers were captured.

All the technical weapons and equipment of the enemy were seized by our army.

During the battle, the troops commanded by Lieutenant Generals Trofimenko, Sokov and Lieutenant General Koroteyev, the cavalry commanded by Lieutenant General Selivanov, Rotmistro General Tank Corps General Kirichenko, Tank Corps Commanded by Major General Polozkov Tank Corps and Pilot Commanded by Lieutenant General Goryunov.

To commemorate the victories achieved, the corps and units with outstanding military exploits in the battle were awarded the title of "Korsun" and awarded medals.

Today, at one o'clock in the morning on March 1, the capital of our motherland, Moscow, will salute 224 guns 20 times in the name of the motherland to pay tribute to the heroic troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front that completed the annihilation of the besieged German troops.

In recognition of outstanding combat operations, awards were announced to all units of the 2nd Ukrainian Front that took part in the battle in the suburbs of Korsun, and to General Konev himself, who commanded the campaign to clear the besieged German forces.

Eternal glory to the heroes who died in the struggle for the freedom and independence of our Fatherland!

Destroy the German invaders!

Supreme Commander: Generalissimo Stalin of the Soviet Union

March 1, 1944. "