Red Moscow

"Hurry up and invite them all in!"

Soon, two short generals, led by a staff officer, walked into Sokov's headquarters.

Sokov took a look, yo, the ranks of both of them are not low, and they are both lieutenant generals. If he didn't get an exceptional promotion, he would have the same military rank as them.

The two had already recognized Sokov without the introduction of the staff officer. After all, in this room, Sokov was the only one with the rank of general. They stood in front of Sokov, raised their hands in salute, and then began to report.

The chunky general on the left was the first to say: "Hello, General Sokov, I am Lieutenant General Bogdanov, commander of the 2nd Tank Army."

The slightly thinner general on the right who looked like a Central Asian went on to say: "Hello, Comrade General, I am Lieutenant General Kravchenko, commander of the 6th Tank Army."

When Sokov shook hands with the two of them one by one, he took a special look at Kravchenko. During the Battle of Cherkasy, although Kravchenko completed the joint division of the 5th Army of Guards Tanks and encircled tens of thousands of German troops, he was killed by Zhukov because he failed to stop the siege of the German Huber's First Armored Army. Downgrade to use. But judging from his expression, this downgrade doesn't seem to have much effect on him.

After calling the two to sit down, Sokov did not greet them any more, but began to assign tasks to them. "General Bogdanov, your troops are deployed on the right flank of our combat area, assisting the troops of the 27th Army to attack westward."

"General Kravchenko, the task of your 6th Tank Army is to follow General Afunin's 18th Guards Corps, break through the German and Romanian defenses to the south, capture Wengeny, and enter from this area. in Romania."

As a general-level commander, Kravchenko naturally understands the meaning of entering Romania. He stood up abruptly, and said a little excitedly: "General Sokov, in this way, our army group may be the first army to enter Romania?"

"General Kravchenko," although Kravchenko said that this possibility is very high, but for the sake of safety, Sokov did not give the other party an affirmative answer: "Theoretically speaking, it is indeed possible for your group army to It is the first army to enter Romania, and it will be recorded in history. However, it is not ruled out that friendly forces from other regions will enter Romania ahead of you because of the smooth progress."

"General Sokov," the honor recorded in history is paramount to Kravchenko. He decided to be the first to enter Romania at all costs, so he expressed his position to Sokov: "Please rest assured , our army group will never let you down on the battlefield."

Kravchenko's 6th Tank Army may be the first to enter Romania, which makes Bogdanov, who is sitting next to him, very jealous. He stood up and asked: "General Sokov, the commanders and fighters of our 2nd Tank Army all have rich combat experience. You put us in an unimportant direction, isn't it appropriate?"

Sokov laughed after hearing this, and then said to Bogdanov: "General Bogdanov, the combat mission of your army group is equally important. Look," he pulled the map over and placed it in Bogdanov He continued, "If you can take Chernivtsi, you may also become the first army to enter Romania."

When Bogdanov heard this, his eyes lit up. But after he saw the map clearly, the luster in his eyes dimmed: "General Sokov, it is not far from where we are now to Chernivtsi. But this road is full of forests and lakes. And swamps are not conducive to the deployment of mechanized troops at all."

After listening to Bogdanov's complaints, Sokov smiled lightly, and then said: "General Bogdanov, as far as I know, in addition to the 11th and 16th tank armies, your tank army also has the infantry corps. 60. The 112th and 194th Divisions, as well as the 115th Infantry Brigade, the 28th Ski Brigade, and the 11th Guards Tank Brigade.

Even if the terrain is not conducive to the deployment of tank troops on your way forward, the infantry you have is fully capable of breaking through the enemy's defenses. You must know that the number of German troops on this road is not large, and most of them are Romanian troops with weak combat effectiveness. "

In order to make the other party willingly carry out his order, Sokov paused for a moment, then said aggressively: "Of course, if you feel that your troops are not up to this combat mission, I can keep you as a reserve team and let others troops to attack instead of you."

This aggressive method really worked. For Bogdanov, who valued the honor of soldiers more than his life, it was intolerable for him to let other troops take over his combat missions. He blushed and said: "General Sokov, since the superior sent us here to accept your command, then what you say is an order, how can you change it casually? You know, you can change the order at will. Your order will adversely affect the prestige of your commander."

Seeing that Bogdanov really took the bait, Sokov couldn't help but feel secretly proud. He said to Bogdanov: "General Bogdanov, what you said is indeed somewhat reasonable. If the order I issued is changed casually, it will indeed have a negative impact on the prestige of my commander. Okay then." , your tank army is responsible for the strategy of the right wing of the combat group, I hope you and General Kravchenko will compete to see whose troops enter Romania first."

After sending the two generals away, Smirnov said with a smile: "Comrade Commander, your method is very effective. I think both Bogdanov and Kravchenko have a lot of energy in their hearts." , I plan to compete with the opponent on the battlefield to see whose troops enter Romania first."

"Marshal Konev sent the 2nd and 6th Tank Armies, which greatly strengthened our strength." Not long ago, Sukov was worried about the lack of troops in his hands. Now that there are two more tank armies at once, it is equivalent to an extra 100,000 troops, so that the troops will suddenly become richer, and his combat deployment will naturally have to be adjusted accordingly. "Now you can give General Afunin an order to lead the 3rd and 4th Guards Airborne Divisions into the city as soon as our negotiations with Kuptzny are over. In the next period of time, there will be Becoming a very important starting point for our offense.”

"Comrade Commander, I have a question in mind." Sameko reminded Sokov: "At the beginning you told General Afunin that his troops might become the first army to enter Romania. Now there is another A Kravchenko, I think things are a bit difficult to handle."

"There is nothing difficult to do." Sokov said confidently: "In the next few days, in order to become the first army to enter Romania, these troops will definitely explode with super fighting power. I think so Competition is absolutely necessary."

"Comrade Commander, you seem to have forgotten one thing." Trofimenko reminded Sokov: "Our troops are now in a situation of insufficient ammunition, even if General Afunin's 18th Guards Corps entered Kup Zny, also does not have the ability to develop the enemy's defense in depth. In other words, in the next few days or even a week, the only troops that can achieve results in the next few days or even a week are Bogdanov's 2nd Tank Army and Krafft Chenko's 6th Tank Army."

After being reminded by Trofimenko, Sokov immediately remembered that his troops were indeed facing the embarrassing situation of insufficient ammunition. Although Konev promised to supply himself as soon as possible, it is still unknown when the supplies will be in place. "It's okay," he could only bite the bullet and say, "These two tank armies are assigned to my command by the superiors. No matter what kind of results they achieve, they belong to the entire combat group."

Everything that happened next was as Sokov expected.

After the two Guards airborne divisions commanded by Afunin entered Kupcny, due to lack of ammunition and fuel, the troops could not continue to advance, so they could only turn to defense on the spot, watching Kravchen Coe's 6th Tank Army advanced through its own defense zone in the direction of Wengeny.

The three combat divisions commanded by Pornegerin also stopped advancing after reaching Bricheney due to lack of ammunition, and were forced to stop and rest.

Bogdanov's tank army continued to advance in the combined direction of Germany and Romania after the Ponedelin Group's advance stopped. Two days later they succeeded in capturing Khotin on the right bank of the Transnistria.

In this way, the road ahead of them is no longer a difficult road full of forests, lakes and swamps, but a flat river, which can completely allow large-scale armored groups to show their talents. So Bogdanov decisively gave orders to the two tank armies that were left behind, asking them to rush to the southwest of Khoting to assemble within a day.

After receiving the battle report from the two tank armies, Sokov said with a smile: "It seems that Marshal Konev has done a good thing for us. Without these two tank armies, we can only choose to stand still. , watching the enemy on the other side of the defense line use this time to rush to repair the fortifications and strengthen the defense."

After reading the battle report for a while, Smirnov raised his head and said to Sokov, "Comrade Commander, judging from the current situation, General Bogdanov's 2nd Tank Army should be the first to enter Romania. force."

"Really?" Sameko was still a little skeptical after hearing this. He first picked up the battle report and looked at the content on it, then walked to the map and silently calculated how far the two tank armies were from the Romanian border.

"No need to calculate, Comrade Sameko." Smirnov said to Sameko: "It is only more than 180 kilometers from Khotin to Chernivtsi, and all of them are large plains. Today's Kraff Raut, occupied by General Chenko, is still 400 kilometers away from Wengeny, and the road conditions are not ideal."

"That's right, General Smirnov is right." Trofimenko interjected: "Now the 6th Tank Army is not only farther away from the target, but also the road ahead is not conducive to the deployment of mechanized troops. Their advance will be severely slowed down over the next few days."

"In this way, the first troops to enter Romania will probably be the 2nd Tank Army under the command of Bogdanov." Before Sukov could finish his sentence, the phone on the desk rang.

Sokov reached out and grabbed the microphone, put it close to his ear and said, "I'm Sokov!"

"Comrade Sokov, this is Konev." Konev's voice came from the receiver: "How is your progress there?"

Although he had to report the results of the troops to the Front Army Command every day, and Konev knew the situation of the battle group very well, Sokov still reported truthfully: "Comrade Marshal, due to insufficient ammunition, so far, The units of the 27th and 53rd armies basically stayed put and were on standby. Those who took charge of the offensive mission were the commanders and fighters of the 2nd and 6th tank armies."

"Comrade Sokov, don't sell yourself in front of us anymore." Konev had long been accustomed to hearing this cliché from Sokov, and said with a smile: "So far, the railway leading to you The line has been completely repaired. All the materials transported to you have been loaded on the truck, and the train will depart in half an hour."

"Great, this is really great." Knowing that the weapons and ammunition supplied to his troops had been loaded and was about to set off, Sokov couldn't help but be overjoyed, and said repeatedly: "Comrade Marshal, on behalf of all the commanders and fighters of the combat group, Thank you. Once supplies are available, we will continue to push deeper into the enemy's defenses."

After chatting with Konev for a few words, Sokov put down the phone and said to everyone: "The supplies that the superior has added to us have been loaded into the car, and the car will start in half an hour. After a few hours, the supplies that have been replenished to us You can reach the defense zone."

"Comrade Commander, I have an idea." Trofimenko said suddenly: "Since the supplementary materials given to us by the superior will arrive in the defense area soon, can the troops who have rested for such a long time be sent to the defense area immediately?" How about going back into battle?"

"Comrade Deputy Commander," Sokov turned to Trofimenko and said, "After the supply work is completed, all our troops will resume operations and launch a new attack on the enemy's defense line."

Unexpectedly, Trofimenko waved his hands desperately and said: "Comrade commander, you have misunderstood me. What I mean is that the supplementary materials from the superior will soon reach our defense zone, so why don't you send the existing materials , all concentrated in one army, let them go into battle immediately?"

Regarding Trofimenko's statement, Sokov only thought for a moment before he understood the other party's intention: "You mean, gather all the weapons and ammunition and give them to one of the divisions so that they can recover in advance." An attack on the enemy?"

"That's right, that's how I think about it." Trofimenko said: "For example, the Ponejielin cluster can gather weapons, ammunition and fuel and hand them over to one of the divisions, so that they can attack immediately, while As the Germans have not recovered, they continue to advance deep into the enemy's defense."

After waiting for him to finish speaking, Sokov asked calmly: "Comrade Deputy Commander, which unit do you think should give all the ammunition and fuel to?"