Red Moscow

Kachanin's friendly tone made Samoilov's nervous mood slightly calmer. After he took a deep breath, he said into the microphone: "Comrade general, after we broke through the German defense, the brigade commander decided to stay in the occupied position temporarily, and decide what to do after I find out where the friendly troops are." such action."

Hearing what Samoilov said, Jia Xiaoning couldn't help asking in surprise: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, so your troops are still staying at the position you just captured."

"Yes, Comrade General." Although Samoilov had been away from the army for a long time, he guessed that the army would not easily give up the occupied German positions before he contacted Sokov. The tone said: "The troops should still stay in that position at this moment."

"How many troops do you have?" Jia Xiaoning asked briefly.

Samoilov thought for a moment about the question posed by Kachanin, and replied: "At present, there is a battalion in the position, the guard battalion of the Army Group Headquarters, and the 308th Infantry Division. There are about a thousand people. In addition, there are There was a tank battalion with 11 tanks."

Jia Xiaoning originally thought that after Sokov's infantry brigade protruded from the enemy's encirclement, there would be dozens or hundreds of people left at best, but now, after listening to Samoilov's report, he found that there was actually an infantry division and an army group The guard battalion of the headquarters couldn't help feeling alive.

But the next thing to do is very important. Even if he is an army commander, he has no right to make decisions. He needs to ask Rokossovsky for instructions. Of course, Samoilov's level is too low, it is impossible to directly assign tasks to him, and the main person in charge, Sokov, needs to be found. Thinking of this, he then asked: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, if I want to contact Lieutenant Colonel Sokov directly, what frequency band and contact code should I use?"

Although Samoilov's military rank was low, he came from the Ministry of Internal Affairs after all. He immediately guessed that Kachanin must have important matters and needed to contact Sokov directly. He quickly asked Lieutenant Colonel Starcha to send someone to wait The radio operator outside the door called in, asked him about the contact band and code of the radio station, and told Jia Xiaoning respectfully.

After listening to Ka Xiaoning, he said politely: "Second Lieutenant Samoilov, you must be tired too, so you should stay at the headquarters of the 292nd Division to rest. As for Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, I will talk to you later. He will speak nice words for you when he contacts you.”

After putting down the phone, Jia Xiaoning picked up another phone on the table and said into the microphone, "I'm Jia Xiaoning, connect me to the Front Army Command and find Comrade Commander."

In the front headquarters of the small Ivanovka, Rokossovsky was chatting with Kirichenko, the newly appointed brigade political commissar, when he heard Malinin calling him, he turned his head and asked, "Comrade Chief of Staff, whats the matter?"

"Comrade Commander." Ma Linin covered the microphone with his hand, looked at Rokossovsky and said, "It's the commander of the 24th Army, General Jia Xiaoning. He said he has something important to report to you."

"Is there something important to report to me?" Rokossovsky thought at a loss. The 24th Army has no combat missions today, so what important things can he report to himself? He walked up to Malinin with doubts, took the microphone and whispered in his ear, "I'm Rokossovsky."

"Hello, Comrade Commander." Hearing Rokossovsky's voice coming from the receiver, Jia Xiaoning said a little excitedly: "I have important information to report to you."

"What is it?" Rokossovsky asked briefly.

Kachanin reported: "I have just confirmed that the 73rd Infantry Brigade standing in Orlovka has successfully broken through the German defense line in the north."

Rokossovsky remembered that not long ago, he had received a telegram from Chuikov through the Stalingrad Front Army Command, saying that Lieutenant Colonel Sokov's 73rd Brigade was breaking through to the north, and hoped that he could send someone to respond. At that time, he didn't have much hope that Sokov and the others could break through the enemy's siege, so he didn't immediately mobilize troops to respond, but just called Jia Xiaoning, commander of the 24th Army, to let him know Whether there are friendly troops in the defense area.

Unexpectedly, less than half an hour later, the other party gave me such a big surprise. But just to be on the safe side, he still asked cautiously: "General Jia Xiaoning, do you really confirm that the 73rd Infantry Brigade has successfully broken through the German defense?"

"Yes, Comrade Commander, they have successfully broken through the German defenses." Kachanin replied in an affirmative tone: "The liaison officer sent by Lieutenant Colonel Sokov is staying at Korogodsky at this moment." The colonel's division."

After confirming that Sokov's troops had broken through the encirclement, Rokossovsky couldn't help but secretly heaved a sigh of relief. He then asked, "Where are they?"

"Still staying on the occupied German position." Jia Xiaoning said cautiously: "According to the liaison officer, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov wants to find out where our troops are before deciding in which direction to move."

"Then what do you think about it, General Jia Xiaoning?"

Hearing that Rokossovsky immediately asked the key point, Jia Xiaoning's heart beat a little faster, but he still tried hard to control his emotions, and said in a calm tone: "Comrade commander, our troops have been There was an attack on that position in an attempt to open a breach in the enemy's encirclement. Unfortunately, our attack was not successful. Now that Lieutenant Colonel Sokov's troops have taken it, can we send troops to replace it How about their defense, and use it as a starting point for a new offensive against the enemy defending Stalingrad?"

"You have a good idea." Seeing that Jia Xiaoning's proposal coincided with his own, Rokossovsky nodded in satisfaction, and then asked: "While the position is still in the hands of the friendly army, you immediately send The 292nd Infantry Division rushed over to join them and take over the defense, we want to turn it into a new starting point for the attack.”

Now that he had received Rokossovsky's permission, Kachanin immediately began to dispatch troops. He knew very well in his heart that to rush into the depths of the enemy's defense from there, only Korogotsky's 292nd The division was far from enough, so he gave an order to Major General Vasilyev, the commander of the 298th Division, to move his troops in the same direction.

While Jia Xiaoning was mobilizing troops, Rokossovsky was not idle. He called several other army commanders to a meeting and began to study ways to break the German encirclement. After the map was placed on the table, everyone gathered around the table in unison, waiting quietly for Rokossovsky to explain his plan.

"Commanders, Commanders," Rokossovsky drew a line between his position and Orlovka with a red and blue pencil, "Everyone knows that the distance from Little Ivanovka where we are There are only a dozen kilometers between Orlovka, which is the closest distance to our friendly forces. We tried to break through the German defense in this direction, and went out to Orlovka to join our friendly forces. However, the tenacious German defense , but made our intentions come to nothing.”

Except for Malinen and Kirichenko, the other commanders who participated in the meeting had no idea that the German line of defense, which caused them headaches, had been occupied by Sokov's troops. The commander of the 21st Army, Major General Denizif, was also curious. Question: "Comrade Commander, if I remember correctly, when attacking this line of defense a few days ago, a division of the 24th Army was wiped out. You called us here today because you are planning to change to another unit Are you going to continue the attack?"

When the other army commanders heard what Danizev said, they couldn't help but thumped in their hearts, thinking to themselves: Wouldn't Rokossovsky plan to let his troops attack the death hillside? The infantry division that was destroyed in front of the enemy's position left an indelible impression on everyone, and no one wants to let their troops repeat the same mistakes.

In order to prevent this death mission from falling on his own head, Lieutenant General Kuznetsov, commander of the 63rd Army, said: "Comrade commander, please forgive me, if we do not get the cooperation of the air force, we will not be able to break through that line of defense." In order to gain the support of several other army commanders, he also specifically emphasized, "Due to the special terrain there, our long-range artillery fire cannot destroy the enemy's fortifications on the top of the hillside at all, while tanks and artillery approached and fired , will be bombed again by the Germans. If you really plan to attack from there, I am afraid we will lose two or three divisions."

"That's right, that's right," after Kuznetsov finished speaking, several people responded immediately: "If we can't get the cover of the air force, then our tanks and artillery will be of no use. With a few machine guns overhead, our attacking forces could be wiped out in a river or on a hillside."

When many army commanders expressed their views, Rokossovsky did not speak, but remained silent. After the room regained calm, he announced in a shocking manner: "comrades commanders, what you are worried about The German defense line has been taken not long ago."

"What, the German defense line has been taken down?" As soon as Rokossovsky's words fell, everyone couldn't help but stand still, with disbelief on their faces. They have searched their brains more than once, thinking about a good strategy to seize the enemy's position, but they have never come up with a solution. At this moment, Rokossovsky suddenly told them that the enemy's position had been taken. How could it not make them dumbfounded and dubious. "Comrade Commander, are you telling the truth?"

"Of course it is true. General Kachanin's troops are rushing there to take over the defense at the moment." Malinin felt that it was time for him to play, so he came out to support Rokossovsky: "But the troops that seized the enemy's position, But it is not from our Don Front Army, but a small force that broke out from the direction of Orlovka."