Red Moscow

Sokov thought to himself: "It seems that Rokossovsky intends to hand over the task of attacking Zhizdra to our division. It is ridiculous to say that only a few days ago, Zhizdra Lacheng is still like a ripe apple, which will fall from the tree if you touch it lightly. But this city, which made the infantry army return home with feathers, has now become a hot potato."

He didn't speak, and continued to remain silent, waiting for Rokossovsky to continue. I only heard Rokossovsky continue: "General Orlov's infantry army failed to attack Zhizdra. I think you should know it. In order to open the road to Bryansk as soon as possible, I plan to Give this task to your teacher to complete. How about it, do you have confidence?"

Regarding Rokossovsky's inquiry, Sokov did not express his position in a hurry, but asked instead: "Comrade commander, I would like to ask, what kind of support can our division get when attacking Zhizdra? "

After Rokossovsky glanced over Kazakov and Orel, he smiled and asked Sokov, "Major Sokov, what kind of assistance do you need?"

"I need the support of artillery and tanks." Now that Rokossovsky had asked himself what kind of help he needed, Sokov naturally would not be polite, and said straight to the point: "When capturing the German positions on the outskirts of the city, I need the support of two artillery regiments and a tank brigade; as for the battle in the city, relying on the original strength of my division is enough."

Seeing that the number of artillery and tanks Sokov needed was far lower than he had expected, Rokossovsky couldn't help asking curiously: "Major Sokov, don't you think you need too little support? Yes, why is it not necessary for the group army to provide the cooperation of artillery and tank soldiers when fighting in the city?"

"Comrade Commander, every time the German army is bombarded by our army, they will withdraw their troops to the second line of defense, so that our artillery shells will fall on empty positions. According to my observations, Zizdra The German second line of defense outside the city was limited in size, and the firepower of two artillery regiments was enough to cause them heavy casualties." Sokov explained to Rokossovsky: "In the street battles of the city, the tanks, due to their vision, The limitation of both speed and speed makes it more vulnerable to the attack of German anti-tank fighters. If the tanks of the tank brigade are allowed to enter the city, as long as the Germans destroy the first and last tank respectively, the entire tank column will be unable to attack. Go forward and stay on the street to be targeted."

"Major Sokov, I can provide you with the support you need." Rokossovsky looked at Sokov and asked, "When can you launch an attack?"

"I need to go back and prepare," Sokov replied after thinking for a while, "As long as the artillery and tank brigades are in place in time, we can launch an attack on the city tomorrow morning."

After the meeting, Sokov originally planned to return to the division headquarters immediately, but as soon as he walked out into the street, he was stopped by Malinin who was chasing him out. The chief of staff of the group army asked with concern: "Misha, are you sure you can capture Zizdra?"

Regarding Malinin's question, Sokov was silent for a long time, then slowly shook his head and said, "Comrade Chief of Staff, I am not sure." Seeing the disappointed expression on the other party's face, he quickly added He said, "But I will do my best. I believe that all the commanders and fighters in the division have the same idea as me."

"When I just came out, I saw Kazakov and Orel go to make a phone call. I believe that when you return to your division headquarters, the artillery regiment commander and tank brigade commander who cooperated with you may have arrived first." Having said that, Malinin stretched out his hand to Sokov, and said sincerely: "Misha, I wish you good luck! The commander and I will wait for your good news." Sokov and Malinin shook hands and then shook hands He raised it to his forehead, saluted the other party, then turned and left.

Sokov returned to the division headquarters, and before he entered his room, he heard the sound of people in the room. He stepped into the room and saw that besides Chief of Staff Potukin and the three regimental commanders, there were three other school-level officers sitting at the table.

"Commanders, please be quiet." Seeing Sokov walking into the room, Potukin quickly stopped the ongoing discussion, and when the room regained calm, he stood up and greeted him: "Mr. Comrade, you are back!"

"Yes, I'm back." Sokov shook hands with Potukin, looked at the three strange officers, and asked, "Comrade Chief of Staff, what were you discussing before I came back?" ?”

"Comrade Commander," Potukin shrugged his shoulders, spread his hands and said, "What else can we discuss, of course, is to study how to seize the outer positions of the German army."

On the way back, Sokov thought about how to attack, but he finally found out with regret that there was really no other way but to attack. "Has there been any results from the discussion?"

"I'm sorry, Comrade Commander." Potukin replied with a blushing face, "I haven't researched any useful tactics yet."

"Are you Major Sokov, the acting commander of the 31st Guards Division?" A round-faced middle-aged colonel stood up from the table, came to Sokov, stretched out his hand to him, and said enthusiastically: "I Colonel Lyabinkin, Commander of the 229th Artillery Regiment."

"Hello, Comrade Colonel." After confirming that the other party was the artillery commander who cooperated with him, Sokov quickly held his hand and said enthusiastically, "Nice to meet you."

"Comrade Major, let me introduce you." Lyabinkin pointed to a chunky officer next to him, and said to Sokov: "This is my old friend, Lieutenant Colonel Peter, commander of the 317th Artillery Regiment. "

"Hello, Lieutenant Colonel Peter." Sokov quickly extended his hand to Lieutenant Colonel Peter and said with a smile on his face, "Welcome!"

After getting to know the two artillery regiment commanders, Sokov set his sights on a colonel wearing a tank uniform, and asked with a smile: "If I'm not mistaken, you are the commander of the tank brigade. Comrade colonel, I don't know what should I call it?"

"Comrade Major, you can call me Gustov." Probably seeing that Sokov's military rank is two ranks lower than his own, the tank brigade commander said with a flat expression: "My brigade was ordered to come to obey your orders." command!"

"Commanders, stop standing, please sit down." After everyone sat down, Sokov looked at the commanders present and said, "Let's continue discussing tomorrow's battle."

After he finished speaking, he stopped, thinking that the three commanders under him, or the three commanders might say something. Then I waited for a while, but found that everyone remained silent, so I tried my best to squeeze a smile on my face and asked, "What's the matter, comrades commanders, why don't you speak?"

"What can I say?" Colonel Gustov said in a low voice, "The task of our tank brigade is to accompany the infantry in the charge. As for whether we can break through the outer positions of the German army, it depends on your luck."

The tone of Liabinkin's speech was much more polite: "Major Sokov, our two artillery regiments are cooperating with you in fighting. You can just tell me what to do."

"Comrade Colonel," Sokov directly chose to ignore Gustov's eccentricity. He looked at Liabinkin and asked, "I want to ask, how much time can you provide us with artillery preparation?"

"Comrade Major," Lyabinkin's expression became serious when he heard Sokov's question: "Due to the limited number of shells, the artillery preparations before the attack can only last about fifteen minutes at most."

"A quarter of an hour of artillery preparation? That's enough!" Sokov pushed the map in front of Liabinkin and told him, "Comrade Colonel, look, this is the first line of defense for the German army. The second line of defense is 700 to 800 meters behind. After tomorrow's artillery preparations begin, you will first bombard the first line of defense for five minutes, and then conduct extended fire to bombard the enemy's second line of defense!"

"Comrade Major, I don't quite understand what you mean." After hearing this, Lyabinkin looked at Sokov with strange eyes and asked, "Why did it take so much time to bombard the second channel that is temporarily impossible to capture?" What about the line of defense?" Liabinkin's question was also a question of the commanders present, and everyone focused on Sokov, trying to figure out his purpose for doing so.

"The reason is very simple. Every time the German army is bombarded by our army, they will withdraw their troops to the second line of defense. Our artillery fire basically hits empty positions. And when our army's artillery fire stops, When the infantry launched an attack, the German army would go through the traffic trenches and return to the first line of defense to block our army." In order to confuse everyone, Sokov raised his voice and said, "The reason why I want the artillery to attack the first line of defense The five-minute bombardment on the first line of defense was to make the Germans have the illusion that our army was still spending precious shells on empty positions as before. When they were paralyzed, the artillery extended the artillery fire unexpectedly, Bombard their second line of defense. While the enemy is being dazzled by our artillery fire, our infantry attack under the cover of tanks."

Gustov heard Sokov's off-screen voice, so he waited for Sokov to finish speaking, and asked: "Comrade Major, if I guessed correctly, are you planning to bombard the German 1st Army in the artillery regiment?" In the second position, order our infantry to charge. Am I understanding correctly?"

"That's right, Colonel Gustov. That's how I think about it." Seeing that Gustov had guessed his intentions, Sokov didn't hide anything, and admitted with a nod: "During the shelling, the tank brigade The tanks will lead the way in front, and the infantry will follow behind the tanks. If we can successfully capture the first line of defense, except for a small number of troops defending, the remaining troops will continue to advance to the second line of defense, and the infantry will hide behind Advance the tank behind to avoid accidental damage from our artillery fire."

Sokov's words aroused Gustov's interest. He stared at the map and said: "Comrade Major, what you said is very reasonable. If our army has not stopped the shelling, we will attack the enemy's second line of defense. Offensive, the tanks marching in front can block the flying shrapnel for the infantry."

Seeing that the tank brigade commander agreed with his statement, Sokov pointed to the map and said, "Colonel Gustov, the starting point of your regiment's attack is here. When will you be able to enter the starting point of the attack?"

Gustov raised his hand and looked at his watch, and then said: "My tank brigade is still on its way, and it won't arrive at the starting position until after two o'clock in the morning at the earliest."

"It's too late!" Sokov smiled and said to Gustov: "Our attack will start at six o'clock in the morning."

After arranging the artillery and tank troops, Sokov then began to assign offensive tasks. He said to Pavel, "Lieutenant Colonel Pavel, your 1137th Regiment had the least casualties in the entire division, so tomorrow's main attack task will be handed over to your regiment."

"Don't worry, Comrade Commander." Seeing that Sokov handed over such an important task to his regiment, Pavel quickly stood up and said, "Our regiment promises to break through the outer positions of the German army."

Sokov nodded, and once again turned his attention to Bindasov who was sitting aside: "Colonel Bindasov's troops, after Lieutenant Colonel Pavel's 1137th Regiment broke through the outer positions of the German army, quickly moved out of the breach. Enter the battlefield and cooperate with friendly forces to destroy the enemies in the city. Do you understand?"

"Understood!" Bindasov quickly stood up and agreed.

Although Sokov felt that he had a high success rate in capturing Zhizdra, he did not put all his eggs in one basket. Instead, he announced: "As for the 1139th Regiment of Lieutenant Colonel Ajik, it serves as the reserve team of the entire division. Accompanying the division The artillery battalion and the tank battalion acted together."

"Comrade commander, I want to talk about my thoughts." As soon as Sokov finished speaking, Ajik stood up and said with a bitter face: "During the battle some time ago, our regiment was almost playing a supporting role. In the battle to liberate Zizdra, do you want us to continue to play supporting roles?"

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," Sukov said, knowing that Ajik had just been transferred to the division as regimental commander, and hoped to make some achievements as soon as possible, so that the superiors could take a good look at it, so he said these words, and comforted him Said: "Don't worry, the protagonist and supporting role on the battlefield are constantly changing. Maybe you think that you only have a supporting role in your life, but you may become the leading role under the wrong circumstances."

Sokov waved to the commanders present, and said: "Okay, today's military meeting is over, let's go back to our respective units and make preparations. Remember, artillery preparations will start at six o'clock tomorrow morning. , infantry and tank troops will attack from their starting positions at 6:05. Understand?"

"Understood!" The commanders in the room replied loudly at the same time.