Red Moscow

Sokov wanted to leave at first, but was stopped by Rokossovsky: "Misha, I think you should leave tomorrow, at least listen to the battle reports from the Allies to see if their attack is It went well as you predicted."

"Okay, Comrade General." Now that Rokossovsky said so, Sokov no longer rushed to leave, but nodded and said: "Then I will wait until I read the Allied battle report tomorrow." Bar."

Nothing to say all night.

Early the next morning, Sokov, who was still sleeping in his room, was awakened by a hasty knock on the door.

He turned over in a hurry and got out of bed, without even bothering to put on his boots, he walked to the door barefoot and opened the door. A strange captain standing at the door, seeing Sokov appearing at the door, quickly raised his hand to salute, and said respectfully: "Good morning, Comrade General!"

"Good morning!" Sokov looked at the other party and asked, "Comrade Captain, what can I do for you?"

"That's right, Comrade General." The captain replied briefly: "Comrade Commander, please go to his headquarters, he has something important to see you!"

"I see, Comrade Captain." Sokov knew in his heart that it must be the battle report from the Allied forces. Rokossovsky was anxious to let himself go to see it, so he nodded at the other party and said, "I'm washing up." Go when you're done."

Five or six minutes later, Sokov appeared at Rokossovsky's headquarters.

Rokossovsky, who was standing at the table talking to Marinin, saw Sokov coming in, and greeted with a smile, "Misha, you are here! Come to me quickly!"

Sokov walked quickly in front of Rokossovsky and asked tentatively, "Comrade general, is the Allied battle report here?"

"That's right, their battle report has arrived."

Hearing what Rokossovsky said, Sokov's heart beat faster, and he asked nervously, "How is the situation? Have the Allied forces landed successfully?"

"Misha, look at the map in front of you."

Sokov looked down and found that there was a map of Normandy on the table, on which the offensive route and defensive zone were marked with red and blue pencils. He thought to himself that the reason why there is a map of Normandy here must have been obtained by Ma Lining. Before he came here, the two must have been deducing the details of the Allied landing.

"Misha, according to the Allied battle report." Rokossovsky said: "After a day of fierce fighting, the Allied forces successfully occupied Sword Beach, Juno Beach, Gold Beach, Utah Beach and Omaha Beach."

"Of the 29,000 Allied troops who landed on Sword Beach, the number of casualties was only 630;"

"The landing force at Juno Beach was 21,400 troops, with 1,200 guard casualties;"

"25,000 troops landed on Golden Beach, with only 400 casualties;"

"The landing force at Utah Beach was 23,000 with only 197 casualties."

"The battle was most intense in the Sea of ​​Omaha. The Allied forces suffered huge losses on the beachhead, with 2,500 dead alone..."

As a person from later generations, Sokov naturally knew that in the entire Normandy landing operation, the most tragic beach was Omaha Beach. In the classic movie "Saving Private Ryan", the most classic war scene in the front is based on the battle on Omaha Beach.

"The successful landing of the Allied forces is a very good thing." Sokov waited for Rokossovsky to finish speaking, and said with a smile: "In order to prevent the Allied forces from penetrating into the hinterland of France, the German army will definitely attack from the Eastern Front. Deploy troops for reinforcements. They think that our next attack will focus on Ukraine. If we want to mobilize troops, we can only choose to mobilize troops from Belarus. In this way, when Operation Bagration begins, the resistance we will encounter will be greatly reduced."

"Comrade Sokov, you are too optimistic." Unexpectedly, just after Sokov finished speaking, he was refuted by Malinin: "You know, the German commander who commanded the operations in the Normandy area was Rommy, known as the Desert Fox. Although the Allied forces have successfully landed on the five beaches, it may not be so easy for them to advance inland, and the armored forces commanded by Rommel are enough to completely defeat them."

Sokov waited for Malinin to finish speaking, first smiled lightly, and then expressed his opinion: "Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, your opinion is completely correct under normal circumstances. But this landing operation of the Allied forces is theirs. It has been brewing for a long time, and these factors must have been considered long ago, so even if Rommel commanded the armored forces to launch a counterattack, the Allied forces would have a solution."

Rokossovsky's eyes lit up at Sokov's words, and he quickly asked, "Misha, what's the solution, come and tell me."

"Comrade General," Sokov looked at Rokossovsky and said, "In order to successfully land in Normandy, the Allied forces sometimes released a lot of false news to mislead the Germans. Judging from the current situation, their This deceptive tactic was successful, at least in diverting most of the German attention to the Calais region."

"Since the Germans think that the Allied forces will launch a landing operation in Calais, they will definitely not deploy heavy troops in Normandy. The armored forces used for assault should all be deployed near the Calais area, even if there are troops in Normandy. Armored units, I am afraid, will also stay away from the coast."

"When the Germans discovered that the real landing place of the Allied forces was in Normandy, not in Calais, it was too late. Their armored forces had to march at least hundreds of kilometers, or even farther, to reach the coast of Normandy Launch an attack on the Allies."

"But will the Allied forces sit still and let the Germans drive their armored troops to the seaside and drive the Allied troops who have just landed to the sea? Obviously not. The Allied forces will definitely use their air superiority, yes The German armored vehicles that appeared on the road were bombarding indiscriminately, and even if some troops could reach the seaside, I am afraid that they would be running out of heavy equipment such as tanks."

After hearing what Sokov said, Malinin smiled. He turned his head to look at Rokossovsky and said, "Comrade Commander, I really didn't expect that Sokov's thoughts are roughly the same as yours."

Rokossovsky hummed, and then said: "Comrade Chief of Staff, you now understand why Misha was able to serve as the commander of the group army at such a young age, and even won the rank of general."

"Comrade Commander, you are right." Ma Linin nodded and echoed, "Sokov's analysis of the situation has always been very accurate."

"Comrade General," Sokov suddenly thought of a key question. The battle report provided by the Allied Forces may not spread widely. Now that he knows the battle report, will it cause unnecessary trouble for himself? Woolen cloth? He tentatively asked Rokossovsky: "This battle report must be known to those with high confidentiality authority. Now that you have told me, will it cause you unnecessary trouble?"

"Misha, you are worrying too much." Rokossovsky explained to Sokov: "Although this battle report can only be read at the level of the commander of the front army, but you once predicted that the Allied forces would land in Normandy, so the highest The high command has specially greeted you, and can let you also read this battle report."

I heard that the superior specially greeted him and allowed himself to read this battle report. But I can see this battle report, it should not be unconditional, I must put forward some personal opinions.

Thinking of this, he looked up at Rokossovsky and asked, "Comrade General, what should I do after reading this report?"

Rokossovsky and Malinin looked at each other and smiled, and then said to Sokov: "Yes, we just want to hear what you think of the next situation. Do you think the Allied forces can achieve their campaign goals? ?"

Sokov naturally knew the progress of the Allied offensive after the Normandy landing, but how could he tell Rokossovsky and Malinin about this? If the next progress of the Allied Forces is exactly in line with his so-called prediction, how should he explain it?

It was precisely because of this that he deliberately stared at the map on the table in a daze for a while, then shook his head and said, "I'm sorry, Comrade General, just relying on a vague battle report to predict the next move of the Allied forces, I can not do it."

For Sokov's answer, Rokossovsky obviously expected it long ago, and he said in an encouraging tone: "Misha, I know that the information provided to you is a bit limited, but you can talk about your thoughts Say whatever you think of, even if you say something wrong, no one will blame you."

Although Rokossovsky said so, Sokov knew in his heart that every word he said here might be reported to the Supreme Command, so he should be more cautious when speaking today.

"Comrade General," Sokov picked up the battle report on the table, and said carefully: "From the first day of battle, the Allied forces as the attackers have a great advantage. I believe they have ability to maintain this advantage and defeat the Germans' attempts to drive them to sea."

"Although the Allied forces landed successfully, they didn't carry many heavy weapons, so I'm afraid they might not be able to attack the fortifications." Ma Lining said cautiously: "Also, they only occupied five beaches and did not occupy the port. I want to know , How did they transport the heavy weapons needed by the troops, as well as weapons, ammunition and various supplies ashore."

"That's right." Rokossovsky added without losing the opportunity: "The weapons, ammunition and supplies consumed by hundreds of thousands of troops every day are an astronomical figure. Without a suitable port, they simply cannot transfer supplies from the ship to the ashore."

"Comrade general, you may have overlooked the strong industrial production capacity of the United States." Sokov reminded Rokossovsky: "If the troops under my command want to carry out such a huge landing operation, the logistics supply work will definitely be difficult. Priority. The successful landing of troops on the beach is only the beginning. How to continuously send follow-up troops and combat resources to the island is the key. After all, landing troops will soon be easily counterattacked by the enemy. If there is no strong follow-up force support If there is not enough combat material support, I am afraid that the entire landing operation may fail."

"There are usually two solutions to complete the supply: the first solution is to send supplies and follow-up troops to the beachhead through transport barges and tank landing craft; the second solution is to seize the port and let the transport ships directly Dock at port and unload supplies."

"Although the first plan can support the troops and supplies needed for beach landing, it is impossible to meet the capacity needs of the entire follow-up operation, and it has little value in solving practical problems."

"Although the second option is more practical for the Allied forces, it has the same problems. The landing site chosen by the Allied forces is in the Lower Normandy area of ​​the Normandy region. There are basically beaches here, and there are no decent places nearby. port, that is to say the Allies could not obtain a desirable unloading dock."

"Comrade Sokov, what you said is very reasonable." Malinin asked: "If it were you, how do you plan to solve this problem?"

"The best solution is to build several artificial beaches on the occupied beaches." Sukov continued: "I think, with the shrewdness of the Allied commanders, they should complete the artificial beaches before the Normandy landing. port design and construction, and to ensure that these artificial ports can be assembled on the Normandy beachheads immediately following the D-Day landings."

Sokov didn't say what kind of artificial dock it was. It's not that he didn't know, but he couldn't say it. After all, he was only an army and had never been in contact with the navy. How could he imagine the manufacturing process of an artificial dock.

Sure enough, Rokossovsky asked Sokov in the next step: "Misha, tell me, what does this artificial dock look like, and how should it be assembled on the Normandy beach?"

"Comrade General, I can't answer this point for you." Sokov deliberately pretended to be embarrassed and said, "After all, I am an army and have never dealt with the navy. How could I know what the artificial dock made by the Allies is?" How about it?"

Ma Linin opened his mouth, as if he wanted to ask something, but Rokossovsky raised his hand to stop him: "It's ok, Comrade Chief of Staff. Misha has already said everything he can think of. The rest It can only be handed over to professionals for analysis.”

Sokov felt that he had said everything he needed to say, and there was no point in staying here, so he tentatively asked Rokossovsky: "Comrade general, will you allow me to go back to my army?"

"Allow!" Now that Sokov's value has been almost squeezed out, Rokossovsky naturally has no need to let him stay, so he agreed to his request to return to the army, and at the same time urged: "Although from The area from the front headquarters to your headquarters is controlled by our army, but no one can guarantee whether the enemy's airborne troops will infiltrate, so you should pay more attention to safety on the way home. "

"Comrade General, thank you for your concern." Faced with Rokossovsky's concern, Sokov said gratefully: "I will pay attention to safety on the road."

When Sokov came out of the Rokossovsky headquarters and walked out along the corridor, he asked the captain leading the way: "Comrade captain, where are my subordinates now?"

"They have been settled in a nearby small hotel," the captain said to Sokov while walking forward, "Comrade General, if you want to see your subordinates, I will inform them immediately."

"Captain, go and inform them that I'm going back and get them ready to go." Sokov said with a long sigh of relief: "It's been a day since I've been out, and it's time to go back."