Red Moscow

Sokov thought for a while and said: "The people who went to accept the surrender of the German army with me at that time, in addition to Koshkin, there was also General Selivanov, the commander of the 5th Guards Cavalry Army. He and his subordinates saw it with their own eyes. When it comes to Stemmelman's suicide, if the superiors really want to investigate, I think these people can testify for me."

"Well, if it's General Selivanov, that's enough." Shtemenko nodded and said, "Besides, he's not your subordinate, so what he said is more credible."

Since Stemenko said there was no problem, Sokov stopped thinking about it here, but turned his head and asked Ponedelin who had just walked over: "How is the situation at Lieutenant Colonel Kirillov's place? German attack?"

"Yes, Comrade Commander, it has been repulsed." Ponejielin reported to Sukov: "The German infantry, under the cover of tanks, attacked the 252nd Division's defense line. When they were seven miles away from the position When we were more than 100 meters away, we were bombarded by artillery directly under the army. Five tanks and more than 100 soldiers were wiped out by our intercepting artillery fire.

Those soldiers and tanks who managed to pass through the artillery blockade were again stubbornly resisted by the 252nd Division. After a fierce battle, the Germans left four destroyed tanks and more than two hundred corpses, and retreated to their starting point of attack in despair. "

"Very good." Sokov was very satisfied with the result: "Tomorrow's attack on Uman will begin. Let all the troops stick to the established offensive positions and absolutely not let the Germans take them away. Otherwise, attack tomorrow." With the previous artillery preparations, we have to readjust the target."

As soon as he finished speaking, Konev called: "Comrade Sokov, I heard that General Shtemenko, the deputy chief of the general staff, is with you?"

"Yes, Comrade Marshal." Sokov didn't wait for Konev to ask again, and he took the initiative to tell the reason why Stemenko came to his army: "The deputy chief of the general staff came to me to observe how we are going to the army. The Germans attacked."

"Oh, I went to your army to observe the battle?" Konev said with some surprise: "Why didn't I receive any notice? What's going on here?"

Sokov didn't know what was going on, but since Shtemenko didn't inform Konev, he must have his reasons, and it's hard for him to say anything to an outsider. I can only ask politely: "Comrade Marshal, the Deputy Chief of Staff of Shtemenko is here, do you need to talk to him?"

Konev was silent for a moment, and then said: "Since he came to the frontier and didn't notify me, he must be unwilling to call me. I don't think there is any need to talk."

"Comrade Marshal," Sokov suddenly remembered that Lunev would be coming to the front soon, and conducted an investigation on himself according to the order of his superiors, and quickly said to Konev: "There is one more thing that I need to report to you."

"whats the matter?"

"I received a call from Lunev from Moscow not long ago, saying that he is about to fly to the front to investigate me."

"Investigate you?" Konev was taken aback when he heard this: "Comrade Sokov, what happened, the superior actually wanted Lunev to investigate you?"

"It's about the cause of the death of the commander of the 11th Army of the German Army, Stemmermann." The reason why Sokov wanted to tell Konev about this was because Konev visited the front line not long after the battle ended and saw it with his own eyes. When it came to Stemmermann's body, if he wanted to defend himself, he would have more weight than anyone else.

"What's going on here?" Sokov's words confused Konev: "Can you explain in detail, the more I listen now, the more confused I become, and I don't even know what happened."

"Someone complained to their superiors," Sokov said helplessly about the headache: "It is said that Stemmermann did not commit suicide, but was killed by an SS officer when he was about to surrender to our army. This puts me on the charge of pretending to be a military leader."

"Nonsense, this is simply nonsense." Konev was immediately angry when he heard it: "Stemmelmann committed suicide, and there has been a conclusion for a long time. Now someone jumped out to make a fuss about this matter, I want Immediately report to the Supreme Commander himself and let him order what is going on."

"Comrade Marshal, thank you for your kindness." Hearing that Konev wanted to stand up for himself, Sokov was quite moved, but he was worried that this matter was acquiesced by Stalin. If Konev rashly defended himself, Maybe it will make the other party feel unable to step down, and it will complicate simple things at that time, he quickly stopped and said: "However, Lunev will rush to the front in a short time, and then let him follow the normal procedures Come on, I'm sure everything will work out."

"Okay, Comrade Sokov, let's put this matter aside for the time being." Konev called Sokov to remind him that the Battle of Uman will officially start tomorrow. Are you ready: "At seven o'clock tomorrow morning, the artillery unit of the front army will carry out powerful artillery preparations for the German defense line. The time is about two hours. If you are not ready, I hope that in the last two hours Inside, all deployments can be completed.”

Sokov didn't know the purpose of Konev's call until now, and quickly explained: "Comrade Marshal, please rest assured that my troops are ready to attack. Although the enemy is still attacking our defense zone at this moment attack, but we are confident that after the battle begins, we will launch the attack on the designated target on time."

"I heard that you don't plan to use armored units when attacking. Is it true?"

"It's true, Comrade Marshal." Sokov replied truthfully: "I personally checked the road conditions on the offensive route. The road is very muddy, and it is indeed not suitable for armored units such as tanks, self-propelled artillery or armored vehicles."

"If you don't use armored units, what will you do if you encounter strong German fortifications?"

"Colonel Yakov sent a batch of weapons and ammunition to my troops, including new rockets and rockets for attacking fortifications. I believe that troops equipped with these two weapons are fully capable of breaking through the German defense."

"Since you are so confident, then I am relieved." Seeing that his goal had been achieved, Konev finally said: "Then I wish your troops more brilliant results in the new battle."

"Lieutenant Colonel Ponegerin," Sokov said to Pornegerin as soon as he put down the phone: "The battle of Uman will officially start at seven o'clock tomorrow morning. You should immediately call the three army commanders and ask them to Come to me immediately for a meeting."

"Do you need to notify General Smirnov of this meeting?" Ponedelin reminded Sokov in a low voice: "After all, he is the chief of staff of the army group."

Sokov thought for a while, and said to Ponegerin: "You call him and ask how his health is. If it doesn't affect you, come over to the meeting as soon as possible." The reason why he said this was because Smirno Husband was slightly injured when the headquarters was attacked by missiles. If he didn't want to come to the meeting, he wouldn't force him.

Ponegerin was very efficient. In just a few minutes, he called Smirnov and the three army commanders, informing them to come over as soon as possible for the pre-war meeting.

After finishing all this, he came to Sokov and reported to him: "Comrade Commander, I asked General Smirnov, and he said that his injury is not serious, and it will not affect the meeting here at all." .”

"Very good." Sokov nodded after hearing this, and said, "Then we will formally hold the meeting after the Chief of Staff arrives."

"But the Chief of Staff has something to say."

"What is he trying to say?"

"He said that most of the troops are now moving to the front, and the army headquarters is not very useful if it stays in the rear. It's better to move to Safran as well."

"Well, that's a good proposal." Sokov considered that if the headquarters continued to stay where it was, then Smirnov would have to go back after the meeting. He readily agreed: "I agree with the Chief of Staff's opinion, then move the Army Group Command to Safran as soon as possible."

"What about Lieutenant Colonel Kirilov?" Ponejielin continued to ask, "Do you plan to let him stay in the Velishanka area, or stay at the current location of the Army Group Command?"

Shtemenko, who was silent all the time, couldn't help interjecting when he heard this, "Isn't Lieutenant Colonel Kirillov's 252nd Division deployed at the forefront of the Velishanka area? Why did he appear in the Where is your original headquarters?"

"Comrade Deputy Chief of Staff, this matter is very complicated, let me explain it to you." Pornegelin said: "At that time, the headquarters decided to let part of the 49th and 57th Infantry Corps be stationed in Vilichan. Considering that part of the 252nd Division is relatively close to the Velishanka area, the two regiments of the division were deployed directly in the current combat area, under the unified command of the deputy division commander. Lieutenant Colonel Kirillov, Then he and the remaining regiment, as well as the division field hospital, stayed near the headquarters of the group army."

"Oh, so that's what happened." Only then did Shtemenko understand why after the headquarters was attacked by German missiles, Kirillov was the first person to rush to the headquarters, and at the same time, there were troops on the ground. On the frontier of Velishanka, fighting the invading German army. He couldn't help saying with emotion: "The strength of this division is too scattered."

"Isn't it?" Ponegerin continued: "If our communication lags behind, there may be confusion in the command."

"Comrade Sokov," Shtemenko said after listening to Ponedelin, turning to face Sokov, "I think the war is coming, and you shouldn't let a unit be too scattered, which will make the unit Commander, I encountered a lot of headaches when conducting the command. Do you understand?"

"I see, Comrade Deputy Chief of Staff." Sokov realized that he had not considered Kirillov's tasks when he assigned them. As a result, the three regiments of the division were distributed at a distance of seventy or eighty kilometers. If any regiment is in danger, the other regiments will not be able to rescue in time. In the face of Stemenko's criticism, he readily accepted: "I will not make similar mistakes in the future."

General Afunin was the first to arrive at the headquarters. After all, his headquarters was the closest to Sokov.

He guessed that Sokov calling himself here at this moment must be related to tomorrow's battle, so as soon as he entered the door and saw Sokov's face, he asked directly: "Comrade commander, is today's temporary meeting related to tomorrow's battle?" Attack related?"

"Yes, although you have known the battle plan for a long time. But before the start of large-scale battles, it is still very difficult to hold a pre-war meeting to discuss some possible problems and come up with corresponding solutions. Necessary."

"That's right, Comrade Commander." Seeing that Sokov's thoughts coincided with his own, Afunin was happy when he suddenly found a general sitting at the table, so he stopped immediately. He looked at the other party and thought to himself, this general looks very familiar, where did he meet him?

"General Afunin," Shtemenko saw that Afunin had been gazing at him, and asked with a smile, "do you think I look familiar?"

"Ah, yes..." Afuning replied in a panic, "It looks familiar, but I just can't remember..."

"General Afunin," Sokov introduced next to him, "this is our deputy chief of staff and chief of operations, General Stemenko, who came here specially to inspect our work."

Hearing that the person in front of him who looked somewhat familiar turned out to be the Deputy Chief of Staff, Afunin hurriedly stood at attention and raised his hand to salute him: "Hello, Comrade Deputy Chief of Staff, please forgive me Didn't recognize you right away!"

Shtemenko returned the salute, stepped forward to shake hands with the other party, and asked with a smile: "General Afunin, have you really not seen me?"

"I can't say I haven't seen you before," Afunin replied cautiously, "I've seen your picture in newspapers, but this is the first time I've seen you in real life, so I didn't recognize you right away."

The second to appear at the headquarters was Major General Melekhov, commander of the 49th Army.

Sokov waited for him to salute himself, and asked with a straight face: "General Melekhov, I want to ask you, why did you put the 252nd Division with an incomplete organization at the forefront of your defense line? Don't you Do you know that the division has only two regiments in the Velishanka area, and they are still seriously short of troops and equipment after combat reduction?"

Facing Sokov's questioning, Melekhov didn't dare to say anything, but just lowered his head in shame.

"Have you ever thought that once the defense line of the 252nd Division is breached by the enemy, the enemy will rush to our army's second and third defense lines? You know, whether our troops are stationed in Safran or Villichan The cards are all for the purpose of using this place as the starting point of the attack, and it is impossible to have any strong fortifications.

If our troops are unable to resist the German attack and are forced to withdraw from this area, it will seriously affect the Uman campaign plan of the Front Command. If this battle is lost because of us, who will be responsible for the resulting responsibilities? "

"I'm sorry, Comrade Commander, I didn't think carefully." Melekhov first took the initiative to admit his mistake to Sokov, and then began to talk about difficulties: "I put the 252nd Division at the forefront for the purpose of serving as a warning , I never thought that the Germans would play their cards against common sense and take the initiative to attack us."

It is also difficult for Sokov to find fault with Melekhov's deployment. After all, this can ensure the integrity of the attacking troops. As soon as the battle begins, the troops that have already recharged their batteries can immediately go into battle.