Red Moscow

Coming up the next day, Sokov, who had just arrived at his new headquarters, suddenly heard the roar of an aircraft engine coming from outside. Judging from the sound, there were quite a few coming. At first he thought it was an enemy plane coming to bomb, but after listening carefully for a while, he realized that the sound came from behind him. The German plane could not appear from the east, and it should be one of his own. The plane is right.

He went to the window, opened it and looked up at the sky. Dozens of transport planes were seen flying towards Warsaw under the escort of four fighter jets in formation of four. Seeing this, Sokov thought to himself: What is going on, why are there so many transport planes heading towards Warsaw?

Sidolin also came to the window, looked up at the fleet of transport planes flying overhead, and asked Sukov with some puzzlement: "Comrade Commander, what's going on? Why are there so many transport planes?"

Ponegerin also came over and asked tentatively: "Could it be that Comrade Marshal plans to send airborne troops to parachute in Warsaw City to assist our troops in the east of the city to capture Warsaw City?"

"This kind of possibility is not big." Although Sokov didn't know why so many transport planes appeared, he knew very well in his heart that the so-called airborne in Warsaw was just Ponejerin's wishful thinking. Not to mention that there are only dozens of transport planes, even if there are hundreds of them, they are airborne in Warsaw at this moment, and the German ground anti-aircraft artillery fire can wipe out most of the paratroopers in the air. Therefore, he explained to the two: "The anti-aircraft firepower on the ground in Warsaw is strong. Airborne in such a city is tantamount to letting the paratroopers go to death."

"Then why are there so many transport planes in the sky?" Pornegelin asked in puzzlement, "What are they going to do?"

"Instead of guessing wildly here, we might as well call the front army headquarters directly, maybe we can only get a decent answer from us." Sokov finished speaking, and called the director of the communications corps, asking him to help him After answering the call from the Front Army Command, I planned to ask Rokossovsky or Malinin personally what happened to these transport planes.

The phone was connected quickly, and when he heard Malinin's voice coming from the receiver, Sokov hurriedly said respectfully: "Hello, Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, I have something to ask you for advice."

"Go ahead, General Sokov."

"That's right. Not long ago, I saw a large number of transport planes flying towards Warsaw under the escort of fighter planes." Sokov asked tentatively, "I don't know what mission they are going to perform?"

Ma Linin originally wanted Sokov not to meddle in his own business, but after thinking about it, every time the transport fleet sent to Warsaw to perform airdrop missions had to fly over Sokov's army station, he no longer concealed it, but truthfully He replied bluntly: "General Sokov, we were ordered to drop arms, ammunition, food and medicine to the rebels in Warsaw to support them in continuing to fight the Germans."

Sokov was taken aback, and then asked back: "Ordered to airdrop weapons, ammunition and supplies to the Warsaw Uprising Army? I don't know who issued this order?"

Ma Lining was silent for a moment, and then said in a low voice, "It's an order from the Supreme Command."

After hearing this, Sokov was even more puzzled. How could the Supreme Command suddenly issue an order to Rokossovsky in such a situation, asking him to send planes to carry out airdrops to the rebels in Warsaw? With such doubts, Sokov asked again: "Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, I would like to ask what is going on. Why did you suddenly think of airdropping weapons, ammunition and supplies for the Warsaw Uprising Army?"

"The Polish Government-in-Exile in London personally called Comrade Stalin, asking him to extend a helping hand to the Warsaw Uprising Army and provide necessary help to the Uprising Army. There is even a delegation that will visit Moscow in the near future," Malinen said. : "It is precisely for this reason that we will venture to the sky above Warsaw to drop supplies to save the rebel army in the city."

After Sokov learned the information he wanted to know, he ended the conversation with Malinin. On the other hand, Bonejelin and Sidolin, who were eager to know the answer, asked: "Comrade Commander, what happened to the transport plane flying over our defense zone?"

"The Chief of Staff of the Front Army said," Sokov replied: "This is an order from the Supreme Command. Our army dispatched a transport plane to drop weapons, ammunition and supplies to the rebels in Warsaw to ensure that they can continue to fight the Germans. "

After hearing Sokov's words, Sidolin said a little unconvinced: "Didn't those gentlemen in London say they want to support the Krajov Army? Why don't they use the air force to drop supplies to the Warsaw Uprising Army, but want to How can our people do this kind of thing? From my point of view, even if those Krajov troops in Warsaw got the supplies we airdropped, they probably wouldn’t think well of us, and still think that all this is the master of London. We did it for them."

Hearing what Sidolin said, Sokov couldn't help but smile wryly in his heart, secretly saying that it's not that the British don't want to support Warsaw, but the problem is that they are powerless at the moment. Whether it is the United States or the United Kingdom, they are busy carrying out "Operation Garden Market", where there are troops and a sufficient number of aircraft to drop supplies for the Warsaw Uprising.

The tactical thrust of Operation Garden Market was to seize a series of bridges on the main rivers in the Netherlands that were still controlled by the Germans through the largest surprise attack of airborne forces in history, combined with the rapid movement of ground armored forces; Control of these bridges allowed the Allies to cross the Rhine River, the last natural barrier on the German frontier, and ended World War II in a short time before the German army could stand still.

However, the balance of fate was in favor of the German army from the beginning. Due to intelligence errors, Montgomery had no idea that in the area where the Allied forces were scheduled to land, the German army had already deployed two armored divisions of the 2nd SS Panzer Army and part of the 1st Airborne Army.

What was especially bad was that, just two hours after the Allied air assault, General Kurt Student, commander of the German 1st Airborne Army, obtained an Allied combat order from a downed glider. He immediately took this order to the headquarters of Army Group B to meet Commander-in-Chief Model and plan the German counterattack. Among the German generals, Student knew Holland better than anyone, and also understood the important shortcomings of the airborne force-such as lack of mobility on the ground and lack of heavy weapons. In the end, Model chose Anheng as the training area for a part of the SS Armored Forces, and they tried their best to prevent the Allied Airborne Forces and Armored Forces from joining forces.

Sokov knew this period of history. He felt that Model was far away in the Netherlands. Among the commanders who fought against the Soviet army, none of them had the ability to match Model. If the Soviet army launched a large-scale offensive at this moment, it would definitely Achieve unexpected results.

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Sokov looked at Sidolin and said, "I think there are many reasons why the British did not airdrop supplies to the rebel army in Warsaw, but the main reason should be that they are not so active today. There are many transport planes that can be used for airdrops; secondly, when they carried out airdrops in the city of Warsaw some time ago, they were hit by the German ground anti-aircraft fire and lost some planes, which made them feel that such unnecessary sacrifices should be avoided, so they stopped. Airdrops from the rebels in Warsaw."

After hearing what Sokov said, Sidolin sneered and said: "The British have really calculated their calculations. Their support for Warsaw is only in words, and let us implement it instead of them."

"I think if the insurgents in Warsaw can continue to fight the Germans and win the final victory." Pornejelin suddenly interjected: "At that time, the object of gratitude of the Krajov Army will still be It was London, not us who made huge sacrifices."

"You're right." Sokov thought of the voices from later generations condemning the Soviet army, saying that they were just outside Warsaw, but they remained silent, allowing the weak rebel army to fight against the enemy armed to the teeth. This is obviously distorting the facts, taking the verbal support from London as a real thing, but they have blacked out the Soviet army who paid the price for the liberation of Warsaw: "If they can persist until our army finally occupies Warsaw, their hearts The objects of gratitude are probably those gentlemen far away in London."

"Comrade Commander, is our operation today still focused on expanding the landing field?" Sidolin asked.

"Yes, Comrade Chief of Staff." Sokov nodded and said: "No matter how the situation changes next, the task of our army group is to gain a firm foothold on the landing field on the left bank and try to expand it. Wait for the 65th and the 65th. After the 70th Army join forces, they will launch a new attack on the enemy."

"Comrade Commander, when do you think we will be able to take Warsaw?" Sidolin said excitedly: "Now we have deployed five or six army groups near Warsaw. At the beginning of the month, taking Warsaw City should not be a big problem."

But Sokov is obviously not as optimistic as Sidolin. He knows that many things will happen next. For example, the rebel army in Warsaw will lay down their weapons and surrender to the German army on October 2. I don't know if the appearance of my little butterfly will delay the surrender of the rebel army.

But in mid-October, Rokossovsky, who was preparing to concentrate his forces on the final offensive against Warsaw, received an order from Stalin to hand over the position of the First Belarusian Front Army to Zhukov, and then went to the Second Front Army to serve as a general. Commander post. The liberation of Warsaw will have to wait until January 17, 1945.

Thinking of this, Sokov couldn't help shaking. He clearly remembered that the troops that liberated Warsaw were the 47th and 61st Army Groups, as well as the Polish 1st Army Group. The 48th Army under his command and the 65th Army under Batov also inexplicably disappeared from the battle order of the First Belarusian Front.

Seeing Sukov suddenly startled, Sidolin quickly touched his arm with his hand and asked tentatively, "Comrade Commander, are you alright?"

"It's okay, it's okay." Sokov woke up from his contemplation, and quickly said in a disguised manner: "I happened to be thinking about something, and I was fascinated unconsciously."

"Comrade Commander," Ponejielin said to Sokov, "I think the Chief of Staff's words are very reasonable. If the superiors really order us to provide large-scale assistance to the rebel army in the city, then it means that our army will provide assistance to the rebels in the city in the near future." Warsaw launches a new round of offensive and strives to take the city as soon as possible."

"Comrade Deputy Commander, I don't think so." Sokov said to Ponejielin based on his knowledge of history: "The troops of the Front Army are now scattered, and it is impossible to regroup in a short time to launch a larger-scale attack. The attack. So I think that within three months, our army will not launch a large-scale attack on Warsaw..."

"Ah, within three months, there will be no attack on the city of Warsaw?" Hearing what Sokov said, Sidolin, who had been a little absent-minded, suddenly regained his spirits, and he retorted: "Comrade commander, although all the troops In the early battles, certain casualties were paid, but if Comrade Field Marshal gathers all the troops, I don’t believe that he can’t deal with a few divisions of the German army.”

"Chief of Staff, you can't say that." Sokov continued: "The German army's troop organization is different from our army. Now the strength of our division is only 6,000 to 8,000; as for the Germans, ordinary infantry The division has 15,000 people, and the armored division has 18,000 people.

For example, if the German army has two or three divisions in a certain area, the total strength can reach about 50,000. However, if our army wants to defeat or even eliminate the German army of these two or three divisions, it must dispatch eight divisions to be roughly equal in strength to the opponent. You are also an experienced commander, and you should understand how complicated the coordinated operations of the eight divisions were. If there is no excellent commander to unify the command, the enemy may not be wiped out in the end. Our army suffered heavy losses. "

"Yes, yes, what Comrade Commander said is very reasonable." Pornejelin echoed: "Two or three divisions cooperate with each other, and there are relatively few problems between them. But if the number of joint operations increases to eight If there are even more divisions, the situation will be completely different. Without a unified command, the troops will definitely fight independently on the battlefield. Even if there is a unified command, those division commanders will willingly obey a Isn't it the command of your superior commander?"

"Comrade Chief of Staff." Sokov didn't want to get entangled in these issues, so he changed the subject in time and asked Sidolin: "When will the 3rd and 109th Infantry Divisions cross the Narew River?"

"The troops are already massing towards the river at Naref," replied Sidorin. "In a maximum of two hours they will be able to start crossing the river. I would like to ask, will they go into battle as soon as they have crossed the river?" "

"Not for the time being." Sokov shook his head and said, "Let them take a rest first, recharge their batteries, and when they are needed, they will naturally be thrown into battle."

"Okay, Comrade Commander." After Sidolin recorded Sokov's order, he said to him: "I will convey your order to the commanders of the 3rd and 109th Infantry Divisions as soon as possible, and let them follow your instructions. orders to be carried out.”

"By the way, we have erected three more pontoon bridges now." Sokov asked: "Can the existing air defense force guarantee the safety of four pontoon bridges at the same time?"

"It's not a big problem." Sidolin replied, "I have rationally allocated two anti-aircraft artillery regiments in the area where the four pontoon bridges are located. No matter which direction the German bombers come from, it is enough for him to drink a pot."