Red Moscow

When it was just dawn, there were almost no gunshots in the city of Uman, which meant that Sokov's troops had wiped out the defenders in the city and successfully controlled the city.

After Sokov learned that the resistance in the city was over, he said to the military commissar Gorokhov: "Comrade military commissar, the fighting in the city is over, and the next step is your work."

Hearing what Sokov said, Gorokhov immediately straightened his back, raised his head and said, "Comrade Commander, just give the order, I will definitely not disappoint your trust."

"According to the information we have in advance, there are at least 170,000 or 80,000 people in Uman City." Sokov said: "Although we did not see their shadows at all during the battle, I guess they are hiding in the basement or air-raid shelter to escape the flames of war."

"That's right, Comrade Commander." Gorokhov agreed with Sokov's statement: "I also think that the residents in the city are hiding in the basement or air-raid shelter at this moment."

Without waiting for Sokov to say anything, he guessed the task that the other party was about to assign to him, and said: "Comrade Commander, I think the order you are about to give me is to take people around to shout and let people hide in the basement. Or the residents in the air-raid shelters, all come out boldly, right?"

"That's right." Seeing that Gorokhov had guessed his intentions, Sokov nodded and said, "Now that we have liberated the city, we can no longer let residents live in dark and damp basements. Come out as soon as possible."

"Don't worry, Comrade Commander." Gorokhov said: "I will immediately arrange several radio vehicles to broadcast in the city, and tell the residents the news that the city has been liberated, so that they can rest assured and boldly come from Come out of the basement."

"Very well," Sokov said to Gorokhov: "Comrade Military Commissar, let's do this as soon as possible."

After Gorokhov left, Sokov asked Smirnov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, has General Afunin's troops set off yet?"

"The 41st Guards Division and a tank brigade have already set off for a quarter of an hour as the vanguard." Smirnov raised his hand and looked at the time, and continued to report: "The 3rd and 4th Airborne Divisions will also be in the half hour. Leave in an hour."

Sokov hummed, called the director of the communications corps, and asked him to connect him to the front army headquarters. He was going to personally report the news of the city's liberation to Marshal Konev.

Sure enough, Konev was overjoyed when he learned that Uman had been liberated: "Comrade Sokov, I congratulate you on the feats your 53rd Army achieved in the Battle of Uman."

"Comrade Marshal," Sokov waited for Konev's words to come to an end, and took the initiative to report to him: "Now the troops of the 18th Guards Army have left the city and are advancing towards the west of Uman."

"Oh, your troops have already set off," Konev said with some surprise, "Your actions are pretty fast."

"Soldiers are expensive. We just want to catch the Germans by surprise before they recover." Sokov continued: "In addition to the 18th Guards Corps, I also plan to send the 49th and 57th Infantry Corps as well. Put into battle. But in this way, Uman will become an empty city again, I wonder when the troops you sent to take over the defense will arrive?"

"Comrade Sokov, I originally planned to send the 27th Army to take over your defense." Konev said carefully on the phone: "But judging from the current situation, it doesn't make much sense to let them take over the defense. Therefore, I Changed his mind, and instead of sending troops to take over the defence, let all the troops advance west."

Sokov was in a hurry: "Comrade Marshal, if all my troops evacuate the city and you don't send someone to take over the defense, then Uman will become an empty city. Possibly take the city back."

"You don't have to worry about this," Konev said with a smile on the other end of the phone: "Marshal Zhukov's vanguard is only about five kilometers away from Uman City. No matter how tenacious the German resistance is, it will be noon at the latest. The troops of the front army can appear outside the city of Uman."

Knowing that Zhukov's troops were only five kilometers away from Uman, Sokov couldn't help but his eyes lit up, and then he asked: "Comrade Marshal, do you need me to send troops to attack the enemy from behind? Facing the two-sided attack of our army, the Germans It must be unstoppable.”

"I was just about to call you and ask you to wait until dawn to send troops to attack the rear of the German defense line and assist the comrades of the First Front Army to break through the German defense line." Konev said: "I didn't expect you to call first, Then make preparations now, and attack the enemy's rear after dawn."

"I think we should send troops to attack immediately, and catch the Germans by surprise before they recover." Sukov was worried that his plan would be denied by Konev, and he took the initiative to say: "If you wait until the sun is bright, At that time, if we send troops to attack again, the enemy will be able to find us from a long distance, and then they will mobilize part of their troops and turn their guns to deal with us."

Konev was silent for a while, and then said: "Comrade Sokov, you are the commander of the group army. You don't need to ask me for instructions on what to do in your own defense zone. Everything will be executed according to your judgment. Do you understand?"

From Konev's words, Sokov heard that the other party asked him to let go. He would never interfere, let alone command by leapfrogging, so he said gratefully: "Comrade Marshal, thank you for your trust, I will definitely cooperate Comrades of the First Front Army, wipe out the vital forces of the German Uman Group."

After putting down the phone, Sokov said to Smirnov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the situation has changed. The 49th and 57th Armies will not move westward for the time being. They have more important combat tasks."

"What combat mission?"

Sokov pointed to the map and said: "According to the report from Comrade Marshal, the First Front Army under the command of Marshal Zhukov has now reached the outskirts of Uman, only five kilometers away from the city. I plan to order the 57th Army to attack immediately. Launch an attack from behind the line of defense and assist friendly forces to break through the enemy's line of defense."

"What about the 49th Army?" Smirnov asked, "Let them stand still, or continue westward as planned?"

"They don't need to stay where they are, nor do they need to go west according to the original plan." Sokov tapped twice on the map with his finger, and said: "Let them immediately go northwest of Uman to find a suitable location , build fortifications, and prepare to intercept the fleeing German army."

Smirnov asked in surprise, "The fleeing German army? Where did they flee from?"

"It's definitely not the enemy who escaped from the city." Sokov continued: "The rout enemy I mean means that after being flanked by our troops and friendly forces, they cannot continue to hold their positions and have to retreat. of those enemies."

Smirnov stared at the map for a while, and then understood what Sokov said. He asked tentatively: "Comrade commander, if the enemy finds that their retreat has been cut off during the rout, they may contact us. Desperately."

"That's right, when the enemy finds that their retreat has been cut off by us, they will definitely jump over the wall and try every means to break through." Sukov said with a serious expression: "And our troops in charge of blocking the mission may also pay a lot of sacrifices." .”

"Comrade Commander, since you have seen this, why do you still insist on letting the troops build a blocking position?"

"Yes, Comrade Sokov." Just after Smirnov asked the question, Shtemenko also echoed: "Tell me, why do you prefer to make the troops pay huge sacrifices, but also in the northwest of Uman?" How about building a blocking position in the direction?"

"Comrade Deputy Chief of Staff," Sokov replied to Stemenko, who had a high rank and position, although both of them asked the same question: "Once the fleeing enemy regroups, they will The combat power will be restored soon, and if we want to eliminate them by then, we will have to pay a huge price.

As for the fleeing enemies, they have basically lost their organizational structure during the escape process, even if individual squads can exert great combat effectiveness and successfully break through our blocking positions. But most of the enemies will be blocked by our blocking forces and wiped out. "

Worried that Shtemenko and Smirnov would not understand his intentions, Sokov went on to say: "The more enemies escape, the more troops they gather in the new defensive zone. And our army is constantly In the process of moving forward, we have to keep dividing our troops to hold on to the captured positions, which leads to the continuous weakening of the front-end offensive force. In this way, in the next battle, we may face the enemy's strength and our own If we are weak, it is inevitable that we will lose the battle.”

Regarding Sokov's seemingly alarmist statement, Shtemenko thought for a long time before slowly nodding his head and said: "Comrade Sokov, what you said makes sense. There were many battles, and our army obviously won, but However, not many enemies were annihilated, and the good annihilation battle turned into a rout battle. Although we occupied a lot of chassis, our offensive power was further weakened by the division of troops and defenses. In the end, we waited for the Germans to come to a counterattack , our army couldn’t resist it at all, and in the end not only failed to achieve the strategic goal, but lost more land.”

Although Shtemenko did not mention a specific battle, nor did he mention the name of any commander, but Sokov knew very well in his heart that what the other party was talking about was the Battle of Kharkov last year. Originally, the Soviet army had a great advantage in terms of military strength and equipment, but when they encountered a commander with such ambition and talent as Vatutin, they played a poor hand of cards. It ended in a fiasco.

Smirnov picked up the phone on the table and first connected to the headquarters of the 57th Army: "General Chumakov, I now officially inform you that the original order to move west of Uman has been cancelled."

"What, the order has been cancelled?" Chumakov couldn't help being surprised when he heard Smirnov say this: "Why?"

"Now that the enemy situation has undergone new changes, your army's combat missions must be adjusted accordingly." Smirnov said into the microphone: "You leave a small number of troops to maintain law and order in the city, and the remaining troops immediately move north to Attack the German defense line five kilometers away, and open a passage for friendly troops heading south."

"Friendly troops going south?" Chumakov asked tentatively: "Comrade Chief of Staff, are you talking about the comrades of the First Front Army commanded by Marshal Zhukov?"

"That's right, it's them." Smirnov said in an affirmative tone: "Their vanguard is now only five kilometers away from Uman City, but it was blocked by the solid German defense line, and they failed to succeed after several attacks. "

Chumakov, who had just participated in the battle to liberate Uman, was bursting with confidence at this moment. As soon as Smirnov finished speaking, he immediately stated: "Comrade Chief of Staff, don't worry, our army will definitely assist the friendly army." Destroy the German defenses."

"Very good," Smirnov said, nodding his head, "Hurry up and gather the troops, and then move north of the city, trying to attack the German positions as soon as possible."

After calling Chumakov here, Smirnov called Melekhov, commander of the 49th Army. He asked straight to the point on the phone: "General Melekhov, can your troops continue to fight today?"

"Of course, Comrade Chief of Staff." Melekhov thought that Smirnov was urging them to leave, and quickly explained: "My troops are gathering. In about twenty minutes, the vanguard group will be able to set off."

"General Melekhov, the situation on the battlefield has changed, and you don't need to move west for the time being."

"Not moving west?" Melekhov asked in surprise, "Why?"

"The new order from Comrade Commander is for your army to rush to the northwest of Uman immediately, choose a suitable place to build a defensive position, and prepare to stop the enemy fleeing from the northeast."

"The enemy fleeing from the northeast?" Melekhov said in a daze, "but the troops of our army group are all in the city. How could there be an enemy fleeing from the northeast of the city?"

"General Melekhov, the situation is like this. The troops of the First Front Army commanded by Marshal Zhukov have appeared in the north of Uman, five kilometers away from the city, but they were blocked by the German defense line." Smir Nove explained to the other party: "The commander has transferred the 57th Army to the north, but he assisted the friendly army to break through the German defense line. The German army who was attacked from front to back must not be able to hold their positions. Their defense system will soon collapse. By then The defeated German army will retreat to the northwest, and the task of your army is to block them and consume as much of the Germans' vitality as possible. How, can it be done?"

"No problem at all, Comrade Chief of Staff." After figuring out what was going on, Melekhov said confidently: "I think that as long as our army establishes a blocking position, no German can pass through our position. We will cooperate with the friendly troops who are chasing up and wipe them out completely."

It is good to have confidence, but Smirnov knew very well that even if the Germans were defeated, they were still stronger than the 49th and 57th armies, so he reminded the other party: "General Melekhov, you can't just because you just Once Uman is liberated, be proud and complacent, it is easy to make the mistake of underestimating the enemy, and it will be too late to regret after losing the battle.”

Smirnov's words sounded the alarm for Melekhov. He suppressed the smile on his face and replied seriously: "I see, Comrade Chief of Staff, I will arrange the defense as soon as possible and try to prevent more enemies from passing through." Our position flees."