Chapter 1921 Advance to the Frontier

   "What, took it down so quickly?" When Sokov received the report, he was also very surprised that the battle ended so quickly. However, he did not get carried away by it. Instead, he told Ponedelin and Rumyantsev to be vigilant and prevent possible counterattacks by the German army.

After assigning tasks to the front-line troops, Smirnov reported to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, Lieutenant General Trofimenko and his headquarters will arrive tonight. See if we can change to a spacious one." place, as the new headquarters?"

   "Any good recommendations?"

"There is a school two streets away from here." Smirnov said, "I sent someone to check it out. The school building is complete and has not been damaged. It is a big place, suitable for us to make new ones. Command."

   "Since you have chosen a place, move there as soon as possible."

  Before the relocation of the headquarters, Sokov felt that it was necessary to report the progress here to Konev so that he could be more targeted when formulating the next battle plan.

When Konev listened to Sokov's report, he learned that the two cities of Sokiriani and Murovani Kurilivchi had been connected into a whole, which was equivalent to establishing a city on the right bank of the Dniester River. When the landing field was wide and stable, he couldn't help saying excitedly: "Comrade Sukov, you are really great. You have consolidated and expanded the position on the right bank in such a short period of time. This is very important for our army's next battle. It's very beneficial."

"Comrade Marshal, due to the shortage of ammunition in the army, if it cannot be replenished in time, it may be very difficult to continue to move forward." In order to persuade Konev to provide himself with ammunition, he even took a battalion from Yakuda For example: "For example, a battalion of the 98th Guards Division accidentally broke into the German defense zone. Although the commanders and fighters are veterans who have experienced many battles, due to insufficient ammunition, they can only fight the enemy with bayonets." If I hadn't urgently mobilized several regiments for reinforcements, I'm afraid the battalion would have to cancel its establishment."

  Since the outbreak of the war, Konev has been in command of the large corps almost all the time, so he naturally understands the consequences if the troops run out of ammunition. He pondered for a moment, then said into the microphone: "Comrade Sokov, I will immediately notify the logistics force to replenish some weapons and ammunition for you to ensure that the combat effectiveness of the troops will not be affected."

"Great, this is really great." Sokov heard Konev's statement that he was willing to provide part of the ammunition for his troops, and he couldn't help but be overjoyed: "As long as the troops have enough ammunition, they are fully capable of continuing to fight." Push deeper into the German defenses for greater success."

Next, Konev felt that it was necessary to inform Sokov of the current battle situation so that he could know what he knew: "Comrade Sokov, our coordinated attack with the Ukrainian First Front Army will destroy the German army's 'Southern Army. 'The Army Group was split into two parts. Among them, the German 8th Army was cut off from the 1st Tank Army and had to be transferred to the 'A' Army Group.

   Next, the main force of our front will deal with the German Army Group 'A', cut off the army group's retreat to the other side of the Transnistria, and cooperate with the Ukrainian Third Front to defeat it.

At the same time, the 40th Army, which was attacking west along the left bank of the Transnistrian River, was ordered to cut off the retreat of the enemy's 1st Tank Army to the south, and cooperated with the Ukrainian First Front Army to encircle it near Kamenets-Podolsky. .

  The 27th and 53rd armies under your command, together with the 52nd army, will develop an offensive from the Transnistria landing field. Together with the 2nd and 6th tank armies that will be assigned to you by the front army, they will quickly advance in the direction of the Prut River. "

  Sokov stared at the map in front of him, listening carefully to Konev's narration. After the other party finished speaking, he tentatively asked: "Comrade Marshal, after crossing the Prut River, we are only one step away from the Romanian border. I would like to ask, what should we do then? We should continue to move forward. Or stay and wait for the next order?"

   "It doesn't matter, Comrade Sokov." Konev said on the phone: "Of course we will continue to move forward. I hope that the combat group you command will be the first force to enter the enemy's land."

   "Understood, Comrade Marshal." Sokov was extremely excited when he heard that his troops might be the first to enter the enemy's territory. He said hastily, "We will definitely not disappoint your expectations."

  After putting down the phone, Sokov couldn't hold back the joy in his heart, and said to Smirnov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I want to tell you a piece of great news."

"What good news?!" Smirnov was busy arranging the transfer of the headquarters, and he really didn't hear the conversation between Sokov and Konev. Seeing that Sokov was so excited at this moment, he couldn't help being interested: "Quickly talk and listen."

"Comrade Marshal said that the 2nd and 6th tank armies will be assigned to us soon, so that our combat group and the 52nd army can quickly push to the Prut River and enter Romania." Sokov said excitedly: "In this way, we will have the potential to be the first force to enter enemy territory."

   "Comrade Commander, if this is the case, it means that we will be recorded in the annals of history." Sokov's words made Smirnov excited like chicken blood. He looked down at the map for a while, then raised his head and said to Sokov, "Comrade Commander, in fact, if you want to enter Romania, you don't necessarily have to forcibly cross the Prut River."

   "Oh?!" Sokov asked in surprise, "Is there any shortcut?"

"It's not a shortcut, it's just a shorter journey." Smirnov pointed to the map and introduced to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, look, this is Wengen in western Moldavia. 85 kilometers to the north is the border between Moldavia and Romania, to be precise, it should be the border between our country and Romania, and we can enter Romanian land from here."

  Sokov looked in the direction of Smirnov's finger, and said with some surprise: "What, this city is on the left bank of the Prut River?"

   "Yes," Smirnov nodded and said, "That's why I said that even if we don't cross the Prut River, our troops can enter the Romanian border."

  After Smirnov finished speaking, Sokov began to think in his heart that the first army to enter Romania would definitely be recorded in history. In order to avoid being taken credit by other troops, it is very necessary to speed up the attack.

Smirnov saw what was on Sokov's mind, and asked tentatively: "Comrade commander, do you want the troops to speed up their attack so that they can reach Wengen in the shortest possible time and get ahead of the friendly troops? Successfully entered Romania?"

   "That's right, that's how I think about it." Sokov pointed to the map and said to Smirnov: "Although our troops are the closest to the Romanian border, no one can guarantee that there will be no accidents."

   "Accident?" Smirnov asked in surprise, "What accident can happen?"

"For example, on the way our army advanced to Wengen, we encountered tenacious resistance from the German and Romanian troops, resulting in slow progress." Sokov explained to the other party: "And the friendly army's attack is particularly smooth, even if it is The distance is farther than ours, and it is not ruled out that they will have priority to reach the Romanian border."

"The idea of ​​speeding up the attack is correct." Smirnov said thoughtfully: "But at present, most of the troops are running out of ammunition. Before we get replenishment from the superior, even if we order the troops Continue westward, but before long our troops will have to stop for lack of ammunition.

  If you are unlucky and the enemy takes advantage of our lack of ammunition to launch a counterattack, let alone continue to attack, whether you can hold the occupied area is a problem. "

"Comrade Chief of Staff, I have an idea, we can use two approaches." Sokov stared at the map and said: "On the one hand, prepare for the attack and wait for the superior's supplementary ammunition to arrive before launching an attack on the enemy's defense line; The second is to mobilize the guerrillas in the Moldavian region to carry out harassment operations against the enemy's rear, destroying their communications, transportation, and material storage warehouses, making it difficult for the enemy to persist in the existing area."

"It's a good way to ask the guerrillas to harass the enemy's rear." Smirnov said, "It happened that a guerrilla leader came two days ago. He took people to contact the guerrillas in the area, disrupted the enemy's traffic, transportation and material reserves, etc."

  Guerrilla Captain Blass received the notification, and when he came to see Sokov, he happened to see the staff officers and signal soldiers carrying equipment, and he couldn't help showing a shocked expression on his face.

  As soon as he saw Sokov, he couldn't wait to ask: "General Sokov, what's going on, are you planning to evacuate the city?"

   "Lieutenant Blass," Sokov was confused by his question, and asked back: "Why do you have such a strange idea?"

   "However, I saw your subordinates carrying supplies." Blass replied, "I can't think of any other reason than that."

"Lieutenant Blass, the situation is like this." Smirnov explained to him: "When it gets dark, there is another army headquarters that will move to work with us. In this way, the place here will be It's getting too crowded, so we're going to move to a bigger place and continue working. The new headquarters is just two blocks away."

   Blass let out an ooh, and asked curiously: "Comrade General, I wonder if you called me over. Is there anything important?"

"Lieutenant Blas, our main force is about to advance westward and intends to enter Romania north of Wengen." Sokov said to Blas: "In order to better implement this strategic goal, we need to use Moore The guerrillas in Davia harassed the enemy's rear, destroyed their communication lines, blew up roads and railway bridges, burned their material warehouses, and forced the enemy who had lost their supplies to abandon their existing positions. Retreat to the rear."

"So, our main force intends to enter Romania from the north of Wengen." Blass said thoughtfully: "As far as I know, there are about twenty guerrillas operating in these places." There are three or four hundred people in the large number, and only seventy or eighty people in the small number."

   Knowing that there are so many guerrillas in the area about to break through, Sokov couldn't help being overjoyed: "There are so many guerrillas?"

"Yes, Comrade General." Blass nodded and said, "Judging from the number of guerrillas, there are indeed quite a few, but many guerrillas are poorly equipped and have no combat effectiveness at all. What they can usually do , that is, to ambush the German messengers delivering letters, or to stick slogans on the walls in the dark.”

  Sokov didn’t expect that the guerrillas’ combat effectiveness would be so poor. He felt a little disappointed, but he still took a chance and asked, “How many guerrillas can cooperate with us?”

  Brass thought for a while, then stretched out a slap: "No more than five."

   "Although five are a little less, they are enough to cause some trouble to the Germans." Just after Sokov finished speaking, he remembered a key question: "By the way, what are the composition of these guerrillas?"

   "What is the composition of the guerrillas?!" Blass replied blankly: "I'm sorry, Comrade General, I don't quite understand what you mean."

"It's like this, Lieutenant Blass." Smirnov explained to him: "The guerrillas active in Ukraine are generally divided into three types: one is the pro-Soviet guerrillas, and they are usually attacked by our troops. The second type is the pro-German guerrillas, who are the minions of the Germans; the third type is the guerrillas who want to fight both our army and the Germans.”

After figuring out the three types of guerrillas, Blas immediately assured Sokov and Smirnov: "Comrade generals, I assure you that the guerrillas operating in Moldavia are basically It belongs to our camp, and absolutely no one will support the Germans."

"That's good." After confirming the nature of the guerrillas, Sokov said to Blass: "Comrade Lieutenant, I will now interrupt the task of contacting these guerrillas and leave it to you to complete. How about it, have confidence ?"

But after hearing Sokov's words, Blas said with a look of embarrassment: "Comrade General, don't look at me commanding a guerrilla force of more than 700 people, but some guerrilla captains had higher positions than me before the war." , I can't mobilize them."

When Sokov heard this, he immediately understood that Blass was only a lieutenant when the war broke out. Although the guerrilla he commanded had grown to more than 700 people, after all, his rank was high, and many people would not be convinced by him. exist. He really couldn't complete the task he had given him.

"Comrade Brass, from now on, I will officially promote you to a major." Sukov used his authority to promote Brass to a major, and solemnly said: "Your task is to immediately go to the guerrilla to establish contact with them in areas where they operate, and to carry out a series of sabotage operations behind enemy lines."

   Then he called a cadet from the Frunze Military Academy and said to Blass: "This major will be your deputy, and he will accompany you to the guerrillas and assign combat missions to those guerrillas."

  Although Sokov promoted Blass to major, he still lacked confidence. At this moment, seeing Sokov sending another major to assist him in his work, he suddenly became confident: "Comrade Commander, please rest assured that I will never disappoint your expectations of me, and will definitely complete the tasks you entrusted to me." Task."

  (end of this chapter)