Red Moscow

Sokov is not a god, so naturally he can't conjure enough weapons for the armed forces out of thin air. He couldn't help but feel a headache after hearing Ponegelin's question.

At this time Sidolin suddenly said: "Comrade Commander, I heard that there is an arsenal in the city. There must be a lot of weapons in it. Why don't we discuss it with General Antoneta and ask him to take out some weapons from the warehouse?" Batch of weapons, hand over to us to equip the troops?"

Regarding Sidolin's proposal, Sokov felt that it was very reasonable, so he prepared to order Ponegerin to contact Antoneta, and let the other side send a batch of weapons to his troops.

But before Sokov could speak, he heard Ponegerin say: "Comrade Commander, I think the Romanians still have scruples about us today. It may be very difficult for them to provide us with weapons."

"Lieutenant Colonel Ponegerin, arming our troops is our top priority. Otherwise, when the Germans launch an attack, our soldiers can only use their teeth and fists to fight the Germans." Sokov knew very well. Negelin's current identity is relatively sensitive, so he has a lot of scruples when doing something, so he took the initiative to say: "I think, let me contact General Antoneta."

When Antoneta received Sokov's call, she thought that her subordinates were in trouble again, so she asked nervously, "General Sokov, did my subordinates cause you trouble again?"

"No, General Antonetta, you misunderstood. I didn't make this call to complain to you." Sokov said with a smile: "I have another matter to ask you for help."

"Can you ask me for help?" Antoneta asked in surprise, "What can I do for you?"

"General Antonetta," Sokov said, "I just learned about the situation of the troops, and I accidentally discovered that the 122nd Guards Regiment stationed outside the city is seriously short of weapons and equipment, and only two or three soldiers have a gun. If the Germans come to attack, I can't let the soldiers bite the Germans with their teeth?"

"That's right." Antonetta agreed with Sokov's statement. After all, this is not the era of cold weapons. If there are no weapons, no matter how many people there are, it's useless. So he tentatively asked: "General Sokov, what are you going to do?"

"I'm thinking, isn't your 52nd Infantry Regiment also outside the city?" Sokov said deliberately slowly, "Or, let's redefine the defense zone, and you and I will have half of the troops, so that when the Germans attack, We are under much less pressure. Even if we are short of weapons, we will not be unable to hold our positions."

"General Sokov, that's not what was said in our agreement." Hearing what Sokov said, Antonetta became anxious: "You can't just keep your word."

"General Antoneta, I would like to abide by the agreement, but isn't the current situation special?" Sokov pretended to be embarrassed and said, "If our troops can't stop the Germans' attack, wait until they break through the defense line and rush forward." If you enter the city, you will also suffer."

Sokov's words made Antoneta fall into deep thought. After a fierce ideological struggle, he stomped his feet, and then gritted his teeth and said to Sokov: "General Sokov, can you see if this works. There is also an arsenal in the city of Otac, which contains enough weapons and ammunition to equip two regiments. If you don't mind, I can give these weapons and ammunition to your troops first, so that you can arm all the officers and soldiers. "

Seeing that Antoneta offered to take out the weapons in the general's arsenal, Sokov was extremely excited, but he still asked calmly: "General Antoneta, this will not embarrass you, will it? "

"No embarrassment, no embarrassment at all." Antonetta had already made up his mind, as long as his troops were not allowed to go to the battlefield, it would be fine to give them all the weapons in the city. He even said to Sokov in a flattering tone: "General Sokov, it's because I don't understand the situation, not even such an important thing as the lack of weapons for the friendly forces. Now that I know about this, I must not be indifferent , I will send someone to deliver the weapons to the friendly troops outside the city."

"General Antoneta, on behalf of all the commanders and fighters of the Guards Division, I would like to express my gratitude to you!"

After putting down the phone, Sokov said to Ponejielin with a relaxed face: "Lieutenant Colonel Ponejielin, the matter of weapons has been settled. You can call Colonel Papchenko later and ask him to arrange Hands receive weapons sent by friendly forces."

Sidolin gave Sokov a thumbs up and said with emotion: "Comrade Commander, I thought that borrowing weapons from the Romanian army would take a lot of words before the other party could agree. It's done."

Ponegelin also said in admiration: "Yes, if it were me, even if Antoneta was barely persuaded, I'm afraid he would set a deadline for me to use these weapons. In the end, these weapons must be returned. The arsenal. Unexpectedly, you just said a few words, and the other party offered to give you the weapon, and there was no question of returning it at all."

Hearing the compliments from the two of them, Sokov couldn't help being a little complacent: "This is the art of conversation. As long as we skillfully grasp the other party's psychology, we can make him willingly send us what we want."

"Comrade Commander," Pornejelin asked curiously, "Can you tell me what psychology you have caught on the other side?"

"Lieutenant Colonel Ponegerin, to put it bluntly, this matter is actually very simple." Sokov said to Ponegerin: "General Antoneta chose to sign a cooperation agreement with us in order to avoid combat. I I just deliberately said that the troops outside the city lacked weapons, and hoped to redefine the defense zone with them to jointly resist the German attack.

The last thing General Antoneta wanted was to send his troops into battle. So there are two options before him: one is to agree to my proposal, re-divide the defense zone outside the city, and our 122nd Guards Regiment and his 52nd Regiment will jointly resist the German attack.

The second is to provide the necessary weapons and equipment for our troops performing defensive missions, so that his troops can follow the provisions of the agreement, not to participate in the battle against the German army, but to concentrate on maintaining law and order in the city. "

"Hmm, that makes sense." Sidolin added: "General Antoneta just weighed it up and felt that as long as he took out weapons and ammunition, he could prevent his troops from participating in meaningless battles. So he finally The second option was chosen."

Ponedelin looked at Sokov and said thoughtfully: "Comrade Commander, I have a question in mind."

"what is the problem?"

"I'm thinking, if you were my chief of staff or my deputy during the Uman battle." Ponejielin immediately realized something was wrong after saying this, and now Sokov is the general. And he is still a lieutenant colonel who has committed crimes and made meritorious deeds, and the identities of the two are too different, so he quickly added: "I am just making an analogy."

"Lieutenant Colonel Ponegerin, I understand what you mean." Although Ponegerin only spoke half of what he said, Sukov already understood what he meant: "Do you think that I was your chief of staff at that time?" Or the Deputy Commander, is it possible to change the outcome of the Battle of Uman?"

Seeing that Sokov had guessed his thoughts, Pornegerin nodded and replied affirmatively, "That's right, that's what I thought."

Unexpectedly, after hearing this, Sokov waved his hand at him, and said helplessly, "Lieutenant Colonel Pornejelin, I am not some kind of God, and I have no ability to change the outcome of that battle."

Bornejelin asked curiously, "Why?"

Seeing that Ponegerin was so curious, Sokov felt that it was necessary for him to analyze the reasons for the Soviet army's defeat in the early stage of the war, and to avoid making similar low-level mistakes in future battles.

"Lieutenant Colonel Ponegerin, since you want to know the reason why I said that the outcome of the battle cannot be changed, then I will give you an analysis." Sukov said: "First: Our army's logistical support is poor, and we have not been able to fully do it. Good preparation for war. According to statistics, at least half of the lost tanks were abandoned due to lack of maintenance parts and fuel, and the urgently needed supplies on the front line were often not delivered in time. However, the German army was fully prepared and its logistics support system was relatively complete.

Second: The commanders of our army are inexperienced. The commanders who took office after the big purges only know how to blindly execute the orders of their superiors, causing heavy losses in combat. The German commanders have rich combat experience and considerable command freedom, and can adapt flexibly according to the development of the situation.

Third: There are serious problems in our army's combat deployment. We failed to find out the deployment of the German army, which led to the exposure of our own defensive weaknesses to the main attacking spearhead of the German army. Refueling tactics, so that the German army can always take advantage of local areas. "

Thinking of the collapse of the Soviet army in the early days of the war, Sokov couldn't help raising his voice: "Fourth and last point. Our army's commanders and fighters are seriously lacking in combat experience. They only know how to fight hard and fight hard. If you don't get up, you often form a single army to fight, so that the German army can break through one by one.

Under field conditions, it is often eaten by the German army, which is at a disadvantage in terms of strength and firepower. The hesitation when attacking and the disregard when retreating are closely related to the overall lack of training and the poor level of officers.

On the contrary, once the troops are in a solidly fortified area and have the training and preparation for independent operations, our army's performance is better. This also verifies from another aspect that at the beginning of the war, our country's intention for the war was to keep the enemy out of the country as much as possible, and to fight a defensive war under the condition of strong fortification in the fortified area. "

Ponegerin was a little absent-minded at first, but after listening for a while, he felt that what Sokov said was very reasonable, so he quickly took out his small notebook and wrote it down.

After taking a look at him, Sokov said in a slow tone: "Also, in wars, our troops are often defeated by German tanks first, and then surrounded and wiped out by a large number of German infantry who swarmed up. Therefore, the anti-tank combat Success or failure has become the key to our army's resistance to the German attack. Our army's major defeat in the early stages of the battlefield was directly caused by ineffective anti-tank operations."

After Sokov finished speaking, Ponegerin stopped recording and tapped the notebook lightly with the pencil in his hand, as if he was thinking about what Sokov had just said.

After a long time, he raised his head and said to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, you are indeed well-deserved to be the commander of the army group at such a young age and to be awarded the title of general. Apart from anything else, at least No senior commander I know sees our problems as clearly as you do."

Hearing the other party's praise, Sokov was still a little complacent, but he always kept the most important thing in mind, and quickly told Ponejielin: "Lieutenant Colonel Ponejielin, hurry up and call Papchenko , get him ready to receive the equipment."

Before Ponegelin finished speaking, Sidolin said first: "Comrade Commander, let me call. I think the division commander still has questions and wants to ask you for advice."

While Sidolin was on the phone, Sokov looked at Pornegerin and asked, "Lieutenant Colonel Pornegerin, do you have any questions?"

"How long do you think it will take us to drive the Germans out of our land?"

Sokov naturally had a standard answer to this question from Ponegerin. After ten Stalinist raids by the Soviet army, on August 29, 1944, all German troops were driven from their own country.

Knowing the answer is one thing, but how to answer the other person is another. "Lieutenant Colonel Pornegelin, I understand your feelings. You want to drive the Germans out of our land as soon as possible. I don't think so. But it can't be done," Sukov said with a sigh: "Although the Germans They are retreating steadily, but their strength still exists, and it will take a long time to completely drive them out of our country."

Pornegerin hesitated for a moment, and then asked cautiously: "I don't know if I can live to see the day of victory?"

"Lieutenant Colonel Ponegerin," Sokov asked inexplicably, "Why are you so pessimistic? You know, according to the current situation of the war, we will definitely defeat the Germans completely within two years. win the final victory."

"That's good, that's good." If someone else said that, Ponegerin might still have some doubts in his heart, but since Sokov said it, he naturally chose to believe it unconditionally: "If the war really It can be over in two years, and maybe I can see the day of victory with my own eyes."

Sokov felt that Ponegerin would not say this for no reason, and thought it was someone from the Ministry of Internal Affairs who was looking for him, so he asked with concern: "Lieutenant Colonel Pornegerin, is someone from the Ministry of Internal Affairs looking your trouble?"

"No, no!" Unexpectedly, Bornejelin waved his hands and said, "No one from the Ministry of Internal Affairs has ever come to look for me."

"Then why did you say such a thing?" Sokov asked puzzled.

Pornegerin grinned silently, and then said: "Comrade Commander, to tell you the truth, I often feel chest tightness, difficulty breathing and heart palpitations recently, so I went to the military doctor for examination. The other party said that I was infected in the prisoner-of-war camp. Severe rheumatism, and now rheumatism has transformed into rheumatic heart disease."

After figuring out what was going on, Sokov immediately said to Ponejielin: "Lieutenant Colonel Ponejielin, since you are not feeling well, why didn't you tell me earlier? If I knew, I would arrange a military doctor to help you." You healed."

"I asked the military doctor, and he said that there is no specific cure for this disease, and we can only rest more." Ponegerin said with a wry smile: "As the battle is so fierce today, how can I lie down and rest as the leader of the first division?" Well. I estimate that I can live for two or three years with this disease, and if the war can really end within two years, I still have a chance to see the day of victory."