Red Moscow

"Is the battalion commander still alive?" Sokov asked.

"Yes, the battalion commander is still alive." Koshkin replied: "But his ears are a little deafened, and he needs to speak loudly in his ear to hear him."

"What is he doing now?"

"Manpower is being organized to bury the comrades who died."

"I see." Sokov nodded and said with a heavy heart: "I will personally greet General Kurishenko and ask him to replenish the anti-aircraft machine gun battalion as soon as possible."

Knowing that the anti-aircraft machine gun battalion suffered heavy casualties, Yakov also sighed: "It's a pity that such a good unit suffered more than half of the casualties after one round of air strikes."

The speaker was not interested in the listener, and Yakov's words reminded Sokov that there was no air defense unit in the troops directly under the army group. He turned to Shtemenko and said, "Comrade Deputy Chief of Staff, I would like to ask you something. "

"Please ask me something?" Seeing Sokov's serious expression, Shtemenko asked tentatively, "Is it related to the supplementary air defense force?"

"Yes, Comrade Deputy Chief of Staff." Seeing that Shtemenko guessed his intentions, Sokov nodded and said, "When I was the commander of the 27th Army, I once formed a women's anti-aircraft artillery regiment. Under the direct control of the group army, they have made a lot of achievements in air defense operations."

"I see, Comrade Sokov." Shtemenko is also a smart man, knowing that Sokov would not bring up this matter without reason, he took the initiative to say: "After dark, I will call Konev , ask him to transfer the women's anti-aircraft artillery regiment from the 27th Army and place it under your command."

"Thank you, Comrade Deputy Chief of Staff, thank you very much." Seeing that Shtemenko agreed to his request so readily, Sokov couldn't help being overjoyed, and said repeatedly: "With this air defense force, we will There is no longer any fear of German air raids on us."

Taking advantage of the absence of battle reports, Sokov called the headquarters of the 41st Guards Division.

Hearing Sokov's voice, Sidolin who answered the phone thought that there was a combat mission assigned, and quickly asked: "Comrade Commander, is there any combat mission that should be handed over to our division to complete?"

"You stick to your current positions for the time being. If there is a need for you, I will call."

Sidolin was extremely disappointed in his heart, "Oh, I understand, Comrade Commander, we will resolutely obey your order and stick to the existing defensive position."

"Sidorin, I called you because of something else." Sokov bluntly explained the reason for his call: "The anti-aircraft machine gun battalion lost all its anti-aircraft machine guns in the battle that ended not long ago. , 91 soldiers were sacrificed, 123 were wounded, and more than half of the entire battalion was killed or injured. I hope you can replenish this force as soon as possible.”

If it is to replenish other troops, Sidolin may hesitate for a while. Hearing that it is to replenish anti-aircraft machine gunners, he immediately replied without hesitation: "Okay, Comrade Commander, I will complete the replenishment within a week. But anti-aircraft weapons, You still need to provide it.”

"That's okay." Sokov glanced at Yakov who was standing beside him: "I'll take care of the anti-aircraft weapons."

After putting down the phone, Sokov said to Yakov, "Yasha, when are you going back to Moscow?"

"The unloading of all the cargo was just completed at noon." Yakov replied: "Next, the technicians will need to spend a few hours to repair the hovercraft. The fastest, I am afraid that we will not be able to set off until tomorrow morning."

"Misha," Yakov guessed what Sokov was thinking: "Don't worry, when I left Moscow this time, I asked the transportation department to store some weapons and ammunition in Kursk, including anti-aircraft weapons. If you just go to the warehouse Ersk, then the round trip can be completed within two days."

Sokov thought to himself, although Yakov said that he could go back and forth in two days, but there are many uncertain factors on the road, and returning in three days is considered fast. By that time, I am afraid that Lida's women's anti-aircraft artillery regiment has already been transferred from the 27th Army. Then he urged: "Yasha, this time you go to Kursk, I hope you bring more anti-aircraft weapons, not only anti-aircraft machine guns, but also anti-aircraft guns of various calibers."

"I remember, Misha." Yakov nodded and said, "The next batch of weapons and equipment will be mainly various anti-aircraft weapons."

The battle continued, and the 3rd Airborne Division sent the 8th Regiment of Lieutenant Colonel Maxim Pinkov to attack the German army near the town of Golovanivsik to support the 57th Army that was attacking from the front.

The Germans never dreamed that in addition to the frontal attack, the Soviet army would actually send troops to attack their flanks, and they were thrown into a panic for a while. The German commander tried to regroup the troops and launch a counterattack, but it was a step too late. Their third and fourth lines of defense were successively broken by troops of the 57th Army. In desperation, he could only choose to retreat to the town of Golovanivsik, trying to establish a new defense there to resist the Soviet attack.

Seeing that the remnants of the Germans retreated to the town of Golovanivsik, Chumakov, the commander of the 57th Army, called Sokov to announce the good news: "Comrade Commander, I have good news for you. The enemy, under our powerful offensive, has no ability to continue to resist, and has fled into the town of Golovanivsik."

"Good job, General Chumakov." After hearing the battle report, Sokov was also very happy. He told the other party: "The number of German troops in the town will not be too many. You have the advantage in strength. Attack Don't stop for a moment, let the Germans have no time to regroup, so that you can successfully capture the town in the shortest time possible."

After finishing the call here, Sokov asked a staff officer, "Does the 18th Guards Army have the latest battle report?"

"Yes, Comrade Commander." The staff officer replied: "At present, the Baryshev Regiment of the 4th Guards Airborne Division has reached a position 18 kilometers away from Uman. There is no position where the enemy can be captured on the march."

Sokov stared at the location on the map for a while, then raised his head and asked the staff officer, "How far is the nearest friendly army from the Baryshev regiment?"

The staff officer pointed to the map and said: "Colonel Kravtsov's 12th Airborne Regiment is at this location, about five kilometers away from Lieutenant Colonel Baryshev's 15th Regiment."

"The distance is five kilometers?" Sokov couldn't help frowning when he heard the data. After a day of fighting, not only the commanders and fighters became exhausted, but there were also varying degrees of attrition. Lieutenant Colonel Baryshev's airborne The 15th regiment is now tantamount to going deep alone. Once the German army finds that their strength is weak, it is entirely possible to implement an anti-encirclement against them. Once surrounded, the regiment is in danger of being wiped out.

Although in large corps operations, the loss of a regiment is basically negligible, but Sokov understands that such losses will affect the morale of the troops, so this situation must be avoided. Thinking of this, he ordered his staff: "Contact me with General Afunin."

After the call was connected, Sokov said into the microphone: "General Afunin, Lieutenant Colonel Balyshev's 15th Airborne Regiment rushed too fast, then suspended the attack and turned to defense on the spot."

Hearing Sokov's order, Afunin said unwillingly: "Comrade Commander, the Baryshev Regiment is only 18 kilometers away from Uman. If it continues to advance, it can completely rush into the city overnight..."

"General Afunin," Sokov interrupted him without waiting for the other party to finish, and asked in a stern tone: "Tell me, how many troops are left in the Baryshev regiment?"

"The regiment originally had more than 2,500 people. After half a day of fighting, there should be about 1,600 people left."

"There should be quite a few wounded among the 1,600 people, right?" Sokov said bluntly, "And the consumption of ammunition is also very high. You let such a force with insufficient strength and ammunition go to attack Uman overnight. , It’s tantamount to letting them go to die, understand, General Afunin!” Afunin didn’t dare to speak, and could only listen to Sokov’s reprimand honestly.

"Immediately order the regiment to switch to defense on the spot, seize the time to build fortifications, and wait for the arrival of follow-up troops." Sokov worried that Afunin would violate his order, and specifically emphasized: "The regiment does not have the main force of the division. Before the rendezvous, it is not allowed to attack the enemy's position without authorization."

"Understood, Comrade Commander." Now that Sukov had reached this point, Afunin knew that it would be useless for him to disagree, so he nodded and agreed: "I will pass on your order to Major General Rumyantsev, tell him to gather troops quickly."

"Also," Sokov waited for Afunin to finish, and continued: "The 3rd Airborne Division rested long enough. I think that except for the 8th Airborne Regiment of Lieutenant Colonel The rest of the troops can move forward."

Sokov put down the phone and stared at the map in a daze again, thinking to himself that the larger the chassis he occupied, the more scattered the troops would be, because he had to deploy troops to divide the troops for guarding.

"Comrade Sokov," Shtemenko asked curiously seeing Sokov's pensive look, "what are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking, the more territory we occupy, the more dispersed our forces become. As a result, the forces used for frontal attacks become weaker."

"So how do you want to solve this problem?"

"There is one way." Sokov pointed to the map and said to Shtemenko: "It is to request the command of the front army to send a second echelon of troops to take over our defense, so that we can concentrate all our forces and continue to attack the German army. The entrenched Uman advances."

"I agree with you." Shtemenko agreed with Sokov's idea: "Since your group army is taking on the main offensive task, you should keep advancing, so you can't keep spreading your forces for defense. "

Seeing that Shtemenko also agreed with his opinion, Sokov picked up the phone and connected to the Army Group Command, and Smirnov who answered the phone said: "Comrade Chief of Staff, please call the Front Army Command. It is said that our tension is going well, and the forward has approached the outskirts of Uman. However, due to the shortage of troops, I hope to order the second echelon to quickly take over the area occupied by our troops to ensure that we have enough troops to continue attacking in the direction of Uman. "

After recording Sokov's words, Smirnov asked again: "Comrade commander, when will you return to the headquarters?"

"I'm not going back." Sokov said briefly: "After you contact the Front Army Command, immediately order someone to move the Group Army Command forward. The troops are moving forward, and our headquarters should also move forward. The fighters have to understand that we are always with them."

"Comrade Commander," who knows that after Sokov finished speaking, Smirnov said unexpectedly: "I am opposed to moving the headquarters forward again. You know, we only came here yesterday from tens of hundreds of kilometers away. , Many things have not been straightened out, and moving forward hastily, I am afraid it will cause unnecessary confusion."

"Then do you have any good suggestions?"

"I think the Army Group Command will stay where it is for the time being, and it will not be too late to move forward when the main force of our army arrives outside Uman City." After Smirnov said this, he was worried that Sokov would be unhappy, and deliberately He emphasized: "Of course, this is just my personal opinion. It is up to you to decide whether the Group Army Command will stay in place or move forward."

Smirnov's words made Sokov realize that he hadn't considered it carefully. The observation post at this moment is only a few kilometers away from the headquarters. If the headquarters is really moved over, I'm afraid they won't be able to stay for long, and they have to move forward again. It's better to stay in the distance for the time being, and wait for the main force of the group army to gain a firm foothold outside Uman City before moving forward.

After thinking about this, he said into the microphone: "Comrade Chief of Staff, you are right. Our headquarters just moved here yesterday, and today we are moving forward in a hurry. I'm afraid it will cause unnecessary confusion. Stay where you are for now."

Shtemenko patiently waited for Sokov to finish the call, and then said: "Comrade Sokov, we have been in the observation post for a day. If it is already dark today, we will not be able to see it even if we stay here." If something happened, why don’t you go to the headquarters of the 41st Guards Division to rest for one night, and then decide where to go tomorrow.”

When the group returned to the headquarters of the 41st Guards Division, Kurishenko and Sidolin were eating.

Suddenly seeing so many people pouring in outside, Kurishenko was about to get angry, but seeing clearly that it was Sokov, Shtemenko and others, he quickly stood up and saluted, his mouth was full of food, and his speech was a little vague Qing: "Report to Comrade Commander, Major General Kurishenko, commander of the 41st Guards Division, is having dinner. I am waiting for your order, please instruct!"

"Comrade Commander," Sokov asked the other party with a smile: "Comrade Deputy Chief of Staff and I are also hungry. I wonder if you have prepared dinner for us?"

"Yes, yes." Before Kurishenko could speak, Sidolin rushed to reply. He called a staff officer and gave some instructions in a low voice. After the staff officer left, he said with a smile on his face: "How could the two commanders come to us and make you hungry. Please sit down for a while, your dinner will be here soon."

After swallowing all the food in his mouth, Kurishenko called Sokov and Shtemenko to sit down, and then asked with concern: "Comrade commander, I don't know how the battle outside is going?"

Sokov knew that other troops were charging, while Kurishenko's troops were sitting in the trenches doing nothing. Whoever changed this matter would be on pins and needles. He smiled slightly, and then said: "The left wing of our army fought very well. Among them, a regiment of the 4th Guards Airborne Division has reached a position 18 kilometers away from Uman. After the main force of the tomorrow's division joins them , will continue to advance towards Uman.”