Chapter 1864 Open and honest

  Sokov's troops will move westward as a whole, and who will hand over Uman City has become a problem. Hand it over to the friendly forces of the Second Front, Moskalenko's 38th Army is just outside the city; hand it over to the troops with Moskalenko, it's not easy to explain to Konev.

  Stemenko saw Sokov's embarrassment, so he asked bluntly: "Comrade Sokov, are you making trouble for handing over the city to whom?"

"That's right, Comrade Deputy Chief of Staff." Sokov glanced at Moskalenko who was sitting opposite, and continued: "It stands to reason that if we want to hand over our defense, it should be handed over to the friendly forces of the same front. But now The friendly army is too far away from us, even if we go as fast as we can, we may not arrive until tomorrow.

  But if you want to hand over to General Moskalenko's troops, you need to ask Marshal Konev for instructions, and at the same time inform Marshal Zhukov. "

"Leave this matter to me." Shtemenko took the initiative to take care of Sokov's embarrassment: "I'll call the two Marshals Zhukov and Konev and give them an overview of the situation here." report."

   The matter of calling the two marshals, neither Sokov nor Moskalenko are suitable candidates. However, as the deputy chief of the general staff, Shtemenko came forward to contact the commanders of the two front armies, which could not have been more appropriate.

Although there was a little unpleasantness with Moskalenko just now, Sokov still took advantage of the time when Shitemenko was calling the two marshals, and took the initiative to strike up a conversation with the other party: "General Moskalenko, you Did the group army use armored units in this attack?"

"No." Moskalenko replied very wrongly, "This **** road is muddy everywhere. According to the plan, we should launch a storming attack on the German positions with the cooperation of tank troops. But our tanks drove out No matter how far they are, they will be stuck in the quagmire and unable to move. We have no choice but to temporarily change our tactics and use simple infantry to attack the enemy's position."

"My situation is similar." Sokov sighed and said, "To tell you the truth, due to the muddy roads in this attack on Uman, tank troops could not be used, and we only used infantry. Since there was no cooperation of tanks, We paid a high price when we broke through the German lines."

Sokov's words resonated with Moskalenko: "Yes, facing the solid fortifications of the German army, if there are no tanks to guide the front when attacking, and only rely on infantry, it will definitely pay a lot more. cost.

  General Sokov, I am not afraid of your jokes. In order to break through the four lines of defense of the German army, two of my divisions had to withdraw from the battle due to excessive casualties, and retreated to the rear for repairs. "

"My situation is similar." Sokov continued: "After this round of fighting, the 18th Army of my most elite guards has lost more than half of its personnel. I ordered them to advance westward to capture When the cities of Hessing and Japilik were in the air, I was worried that they might not be able to complete this arduous task due to lack of troops. That's why I ordered the 49th and 57th armies to follow up, just to prepare for them to lose their offensive capabilities. After that, these two forces will take their place."

"Oh, so that's the case." Moskarenko nodded after hearing this, and changed the topic to other directions: "General Sukov, I heard that your army has a special transport tool that can be transported between swamps and It can also drive fast on the water. I don’t know if this rumor is true or not?”

   Facing the question raised by Moskalenko, Sokov hesitated. He didn't know whether he should tell the other party about the hovercraft. After a fierce ideological struggle, he decided to tell the other party, after all, there are not a few people who have seen hovercraft. If I tell him that there is no, and he knows that he has it through other channels, I am afraid that he will feel resentful towards himself. Sokov didn't want to make enemies casually, so he decided to tell him the truth.

"Your information is accurate, General Moskalenko." Sokov replied with a smile: "There is indeed such a vehicle that can travel in swamps, lakes and forests with a full load. I When he was still the commander of the 27th Army, in the battles of liberating Belgorod and Kharkov, he used this kind of hovercraft to carry commanders and fighters, and carried out surprise attacks on the German river defense positions, and achieved excellent results. Effect."

   "A surprise attack on the German river defense position?" Moskalenko asked cautiously: "General Sokov, I don't quite understand. Can you explain it more clearly?"

Sokov did not immediately answer Moskalenko's question, but sorted out his thoughts and asked: "General Moskalenko, for example, if your troops want to forcibly cross a river with a width of 500 meters, it will probably take how long?"

  Moskalenko calculated silently in his heart, and replied cautiously: "I think it will take ten minutes at the fastest, and it must be under the condition that the river crossing equipment has not been sunk by German firepower."

Sokov nodded and said, "The speed of the hovercraft on the water is probably beyond your imagination. In a river 500 meters wide, the hovercraft carrying the troops can send the troops to the opposite bank in at most two minutes. Such a short time Within a few minutes, the Germans had no time to react, and our commanders rushed in front of them. Tell me, can the German river defense position still be held?"

"I can't hold it." Moskalenko shook his head and said, "If I am the defender, you are the attacker. According to my fixed thinking, it will take you at least ten minutes to complete the operation of crossing the river, and I am deployed on the bank. All kinds of firepower on the side are enough to destroy most of your river-crossing equipment, and the forced crossing operation you organized ended in failure. But if the time for crossing the river is shortened to two minutes, my troops will have no time to respond.”

  Although that is what he said, Moskalenko was full of doubts. Is there really such a means of transportation that can travel quickly on the water? He hesitated for a moment, then asked tentatively, "General Sokov, are you telling the truth?"

"Of course, of course it is true!" Sokov nodded and replied in a positive tone: "But the hovercraft is helping us pull the equipment, and I am afraid it will take a few days to return. I don't know if you will have a chance to see it." .”

  Moskalenko was full of curiosity about the hovercraft, and was about to ask Sokov where he could see the real thing. Hearing what he said, he felt discouraged. Don't look at the meeting of the two armies today, but the next time we fight side by side, we still have to wait until the year of the monkey. That is to say, the chance of seeing the hovercraft is infinitely close to zero.

  Just when Moskalenko was full of regrets, Shtemenko finished calling the two marshals, walked over to them and said to them: "Two generals, I have something important to announce to you."

   Hearing that Stemenko had something important to announce, both of them focused their eyes on him, quietly waiting for what he would say next.

   "After consultation with the two marshal comrades, from now on, Uman will be officially handed over to General Moskalenko's 38th Army."

  Moskarenko waved his fist excitedly when he heard that Uman was going to be handed over to his troops.

"Wait a minute, General Moskalenko, I haven't finished my sentence." Stemenko looked at Moskalenko and continued: "Given that the 53rd Army's current offensive strength is insufficient, Marshal Zhukov intends to send you The 237th Infantry Division under his command is temporarily placed under the command of Sokov. Are you boring?"

The smile on Moskalenko's face froze. He never dreamed that his troops were allowed to receive Uman, but in a blink of an eye, one of the infantry divisions was about to be assigned to the command of the 53rd Army. The mood suddenly fell to the extreme.

  "General Moskalenko," Seeing that Moskalenko remained silent, Stemenko continued, "This is a decision made by Marshal Zhukov himself. You don't have any objections, do you?"

"No, no." Hearing that the decision was made by Marshal Zhukov himself, no matter how dissatisfied Moskalenko was, he could only bite the bullet and say with a smile, "I resolutely obey the orders of Comrade Marshal." At this, he turned to Sokov and asked with a half-smile, "General Sokov, when do you plan to take over my troops?"

   "I don't know where the 237th Division is now?"

   "Here." Moskalenko pointed to a small town north of Uman and replied: "The 237th Infantry Division is stationed there now."

Sokov pointed to the west of Uman, and said to Moskalenko: "General Moskalenko, my headquarters will be transferred in a friendly manner soon, and you will let the commander of the 237th Division arrive with the troops. Come join me here."

   "Okay." Moskalenko said with a wry smile, "I will order the troops to your designated location as soon as possible."

"Comrade Commander, your phone number." Smirnov waited for Moskalenko to finish speaking, then called Sokov from the side, and shook the phone in his hand: "It's Lieutenant Colonel Ponedelin. Yes, it has something to do with the Uman Open Pit."

Knowing that it was related to the open-pit mine, Sokov couldn't help but his eyes lit up, and he quickly walked up to Smirnov, took the microphone in his hand, and whispered in his ear: "I am Sokov. "

   "Comrade Commander." Ponejelin on the other end of the phone said emotionally: "We have found the prisoners of war held in the open pit."

  Knowing that the prisoners of war were found, Sokov's heartbeat suddenly accelerated, but he still tried to control his emotions, and tried to ask in a calm tone: "Where are the enemies guarding the mine pit?"

   "We wiped them all out." Pornejelin said, "A total of 158 people, none of them escaped."

   "How many prisoners of war are there, and what is their physical condition?" Sokov asked in order to find out how many prisoners of war could be incorporated into his troops in a short period of time.

   "According to the seized roster, there are a total of 48,219 people."

   "What, there are 48,219 people?" Sokov was taken aback by this number. After taking a deep breath, he asked cautiously, "Lieutenant Colonel Pornejelin, is this number reliable?"

"I don't think it may be accurate." Ponegelin replied truthfully: "According to the captives, since the mine is more than 100 meters deep, as long as they guard the top of the mine, no one can escape, so the captured After the officers and fighters of our army came in, they basically ignored it. That is to say, if a prisoner of war died, they would not clean it up in time and erase the person's name from the roster."

  Sokov took a breath after hearing this, and then asked: "Lieutenant Colonel Pornejerin, according to your judgment, how many people are there?"

   "I just stood on the edge of the pit and looked down. I dare not say how many there are. There are still 30,000 people."

   Hearing that there were more than 30,000 people, Sokov once again had hope in his heart: "How is their physical condition?"

   "Not very good, Comrade Commander." Pornejelin replied cautiously: "It seems that most people need to rest for a period of time before they can be incorporated into the army. Comrade Commander, I have a request."

   "What request?" Sokov asked.

   "My manpower is too small, and it is difficult to deal with more than 30,000 prisoners of war. Look, can you send me more manpower?"

   "Wait a minute, let me ask first." Sokov covered the microphone with his hand, turned his head and asked Moskalenko: "General Moskalenko, how many people are there in your 237th Division?"

   "The 237th Division is at full strength, with a total strength of around 8,000." Moskalenko didn't know why Sokov suddenly asked about this, so he asked curiously, "Why are you asking this?"

"It's like this, General Moskalenko." Sokov explained to the other party: "My troops liberated a prisoner-of-war camp built in an open pit and rescued more than 30,000 prisoners of war. The person in charge of rescuing them The number of troops is too small, and more manpower is needed to receive these prisoners of war. So I plan to personally take the 237th Division there to examine, screen and treat these prisoners of war."

   "What, there are more than 30,000 prisoners of war? That's a lot of people." Shtemenko asked Sokov with some surprise: "Comrade Sokov, is this number reliable?"

   "Comrade Deputy Chief of Staff, there are 48,219 people in the seized roster, but according to the judgment of Lieutenant Colonel Pornegerin, the total number should not be that many, but there are still 30,000."

"Comrade Sokov, if you can incorporate all these people into your army, your shortage of troops will be completely resolved." Shtemenko held out his hand to Sokov and said in a friendly manner: "I Congratulations to you."

Sokov did not shake hands with Shtemenko, but said with a bitter face: "Comrade Deputy Chief of Staff, I heard from Lieutenant Colonel Ponedelin that the physical condition of these prisoners of war is not ideal, and I am afraid they will have to rest for a while." Only then can they be reorganized into the army."

   "As long as they can re-enter the army, I believe they will be very helpful in providing your army's combat effectiveness."

  Sokov let go of the hand covering the microphone and said to Pornejelin: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I will take an infantry division there, so that there will be enough manpower to rescue and screen the rescued prisoners of war."

   "A division?" Pornejelin asked in surprise, "I wonder which division you plan to bring over to help?"

"The 237th Infantry Division," after Sokov said the number, knowing that Ponejielin must not know the origin of the other party, he took the initiative to say: "This division originally belonged to the 38th Army of General Moskalenko. Zhukov The marshal temporarily placed this full-armed division under my command. The first task I gave them was to rush to the open pit to assist you in your work."

   "That's really great, Comrade Commander." Originally, Ponegerin thought that the division that Sokov transferred was a unit that suffered heavy casualties, so even if he came, he could help only to a limited extent. Now that there is a team full of teachers to help him, his next work will be much easier. He said quickly: "I look forward to your arrival."

  (end of this chapter)