Chapter 1992

   "Impossible, it's absolutely impossible." Sokov heard what Asiya said, and his first reaction was that the other party was joking with him. You know, Belkin is now serving as the deputy commander of the 84th Infantry Division in the 27th Army. How could he become a staff member of the Weapons and Equipment Department in a blink of an eye? "Asiya, you can't joke about this kind of thing."

Hearing Sokov questioning herself, Asiya also got angry: "Misha, I called you specially to tell you such important news, and you actually doubt me?!" Given the opportunity, he hung up the phone.

  Sokov held the microphone that came from the blind voice, smiled wryly and shook his head. He really didn't expect Asiya to have such a temper. She got angry just by asking casually, and hung up the phone directly. Fortunately, she is still young, otherwise she must have reached menopause.

   "Comrade Commander, what did Asiya say on the phone?" Sidolin, who was sitting on the side, asked curiously: "You just said a few words to her, why did she hang up the phone?"

Sokov put down the phone and said to Sidolin: "Asya said on the phone that the person who is now taking Yakov's position is actually Colonel Belkin. I find it a little unbelievable, so I asked one more question, who She would be angry."

  Sidorin automatically ignored Assia's angry words, but asked urgently: "Comrade Commander, what are you talking about, Colonel Belkin has gone to the Weapons and Equipment Department now?"

   "That's right, that's what Assia said." Sokov recalled the scene when Assia hung up his phone, and realized that it might be true: "I don't think there should be anything wrong."

"My God." Confirming Belkin's news in the Armament Department, Sidolin almost jumped up from his seat with excitement: "Comrade Commander, this is really great news. If he really takes over Colonel Yakov, no, now is the position of General Yakov, so we can get some new weapons and equipment through him."

"I think so too." Sokov felt that no matter what Asiya said was true or not, he had to call the Armament Department to find out whether Belkin had taken over Yakov's position: "I Call the Armament Department now to double-check this information."

  Sokov moved as soon as he said it, and immediately called the director of the communications corps, and asked him to help him get through the phone of the Weapons and Equipment Department. After hearing the female operator's voice from inside, Sokov said bluntly, "Please answer Colonel Belkin's call for me."

  The other party couldn't help hesitating after hearing what Sokov said, and then said, "Please explain your identity."

   "I am General Sokov, commander of the 48th Army, and an old friend of Colonel Belkin." Sokov said politely to the operator, "Please transfer me to his office."

   "Please wait a moment, Comrade General." After hearing Sokov's self-identification, the operator was taken aback, and hurriedly said: "I will immediately connect you to Colonel Belgin's office."

  The call was connected quickly, and Belkin's familiar and long-lost voice came from the receiver: "I am Belkin, where are you?"

   "It's me, Belkin!" After hearing Belkin's voice, Sokov couldn't help saying emotionally: "I'm Sokov, and I'm very glad to hear your voice again."

"So it's you, Misha!" Belkin on the other end of the phone obviously guessed that Sokov would call, and said with a smile: "Not long ago, I met Asiya, and I specially Tell her, if you need my help with anything, just call me. I thought I would have to wait a few more days, but I didn't expect you to be so impatient, and you called me just after an hour. "

   "So, you took Yakov's place?"

   "Yes, I took over General Yakov's position."

   "If I ask you for weapons and equipment, can you provide them to me?"

   "That depends on the equipment you need, whether it is beyond my authority!"

   "Hovercraft, can it be used now?"

   "Wait a minute, I need to check the information." The next moment, Sokov heard the sound of flipping through the ledger from the receiver. It should be that Belkin was checking the relevant records.

A few minutes later, the sound of turning over the ledger stopped, and then came Belkin's voice: "Misha, I found out. Now the Armament Department has 20 hovercraft, including 15 transport hovercraft and 5 combat hovercraft. "

   "Is it the original, or just improved?"

   "According to the accounts, the original hovercraft have all been scrapped, and these are newly manufactured."

   "The parameters of the hovercraft, are there any improvements?"

   "The transport hovercraft can carry 40 fighters, or a tank." Belkin said: "The combat hovercraft is equipped with two 12.7 mm caliber machine guns with a load of 5,000 rounds."

   When Sokov heard it, it was much the same as before. But these details are not important, what is important is if these hovercraft can be used to transport supplies, or transport troops when crossing swamps. Thinking of this, he tentatively asked: "Belkin, I want to ask, if I need these hovercraft, can you provide them to me?"

Belkin hesitated after hearing this: "Misha, to be fair, I wish I could provide you with everything in the Weapons and Equipment Department. But you know, I have just arrived here not long ago, and my authority is limited. Give you the batch of hovercraft, I'm afraid I will have to be court-martialed tomorrow."

  When Sokov heard that the other party felt a little pushy, he couldn't help but feel a little displeased: "Belkin, if you find it inconvenient, then forget it, and I don't want to make it difficult for you."

"No, Misha, you misunderstood." Belkin heard that Sokov had misunderstood himself, and quickly explained: "I will report this to Comrade Ustinov as soon as possible. Immediately arrange for someone to deliver the hovercraft to you."

"That's right." Sukov heard that Belkin said that he could send someone to deliver a hovercraft to him, and his attitude immediately changed: "Belkin, my troops are stationed near the swamp, and transportation is quite inconvenient. If we can Equipping the hovercraft as soon as possible can improve the existing transportation conditions."

After talking about the hovercraft with Belkin, Sokov ended the call with confidence, and said to Sidolin proudly: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I have already talked to Belkin, and he will come back as soon as possible." Give us 20 hovercraft. Five combat hovercraft and 15 transport hovercraft."

Sidolin had seen the capabilities of the hovercraft with his own eyes, and when he heard that he could get so many, he immediately became excited: "Comrade Commander, if Colonel Belgin can really provide us with so many hovercraft, our army will spend a lot of time in the future." The time in the swamp can be greatly shortened."

  Sokov had an intuition that the newly-built hovercraft of the Weapons and Equipment Department probably started construction after Ustinov's consent, and they might be prepared for his own troops.

   Just when Sokov was triumphant, the phone on the table rang: "I'm Sokov, where are you?" Sokov was the closest to the phone, so he grabbed the microphone and stuck it to his ear.

   Soon Rokossovsky's voice came from the receiver: "Misha, I'm Rokossovsky!"

   "Hello, Comrade General." Hearing that the person who called him was actually Rokossovsky, Sokov immediately regained his spirits: "Do you have any instructions?"

   "Misha, I called you because I have good news to tell you." The plan was approved, and Rokossovsky, as the planner and narrator, said carelessly: "The battle plan has been passed!"

"Oh, the battle plan has been approved..." Sokov said absently, but the next moment, he realized the true meaning of Rokossovsky's words, and couldn't help being shocked, and then asked tentatively: "Comrade General, is that the battle plan?"

   "That's right, that's the battle plan."

  Sokov could hear the joy in Rokossovsky's tone. He said jokingly: "I hope the Supreme Commander himself didn't punish you to stand outside when you submitted the plan!"

  Unexpectedly, as soon as Sokov said this, Rokossovsky immediately fell silent. After a long time, Rokossovsky asked tentatively: "Misha, how did you know? Did Marshal Zhukov call you?"

   "No, Comrade General, how could Marshal Zhukov call me?" Sokov said perfunctorily, "I was just guessing, but I didn't expect it to be right."

Rokossovsky thought to himself that only a few senior commanders who participated in the meeting knew about his being punished by Stalin. Except for Zhukov and Konev, the rest of these people were not familiar with Sokov. Naturally, they would not casually leak this matter to Sokov. I know Zhukov and Konev, and they will not say these things casually, so it is possible that he was guessing as Sukov said.

  After a brief silence, Rokossovsky asked again: "Misha, do you think who picked me up at the airport after I arrived in Moscow, and then sent me to the Kremlin?"

   Not knowing the word, Sokov almost blurted it out, but it immediately occurred to him that Rokossovsky would not bring it up for no reason. Obviously, the person who picked him up was someone he knew, and he had a good relationship with him. Reminiscent of Yakov being transferred from the weapons and equipment department, Sokov guessed that the person who picked up Rokossovsky at the airport might be Yakov.

  Thinking of this, Sokov tentatively asked: "Comrade General, did Yasha pick you up at the airport?"

  After hearing this, Rokossovsky laughed heartily, and said, "Misha, how did you guess it?"

"This is what I have analyzed." Sokov thought that he would not be able to bypass Rokossovsky's barrier when dealing with the Weapons and Equipment Department in the future. Some things are better to greet him in advance, so he said truthfully. : "Today I thought that many recruits in the army did not have weapons, so I planned to ask Yasha to see if he could provide us with a batch of necessary weapons. Unexpectedly, my operator on the switchboard told me that Yasha had been transferred. I Asked if the other party knew where Yasha was transferred, but the other party replied that she didn't know at all with her authority.

  Originally, I thought about Yasha and wanted to make contributions, so I went to a certain army on the front line, and I was waiting for you to come back. Please help me find out which army Yasha went to. But to my surprise, Asiya actually called me. "

   "Assia?!" After repeating the name, Rokossovsky suddenly remembered that Sokov's wife was named by this name, and asked curiously, "What did she call you for?"

   "She said that after Yasha was transferred from the Weapons and Equipment Department, he went to the General Staff Headquarters to work as an assistant to the Chief of Operations, General Shtemenko. The person who replaced Yasha happened to be an old acquaintance of mine."

"Your old acquaintance, who is he?" Rokossovsky really didn't know who took over Yakov's position. Hearing Sokov say that the newcomer was his old acquaintance, he couldn't help but Curious: "Do I know him?"

"Oh, so it was him." After hearing what Sokov said, Rokossovsky nodded and said, "Misha, to tell you the truth, the superior arranged for Belkin to go to the Weapons and Equipment Department, but At that time, you lacked an assistant, so your superiors temporarily changed their minds and asked Belkin to serve as your deputy political battalion commander to assist you in your work."

   When Sokov heard it, it seemed that Rokossovsky knew Belkin's background quite well, so he tentatively asked: "Comrade General, do you know how Belkin was transferred to the Armament Department?"

"I don't know." Rokossovsky shook his head and said, "Although I don't know the specific situation. But I know that there are people behind Belkin, and it may be the people behind him who contributed to him that he was transferred to the The weapons and equipment department. By the way, since you are an old acquaintance with him, you can call him and ask if he can get you a batch of weapons and equipment."

   "Before you called, I just finished talking with him." Sokov said: "He promised to provide me with a batch of hovercraft to transport supplies or soldiers."

"What, Belkin can help you get a hovercraft?" Rokossovsky couldn't help being surprised when he heard this: "Didn't you say last time that those hovercraft were all scrapped when they were overloaded? Now From where did a batch of hovercraft emerge?"

"It's needless to say, of course it's a new one." Sokov said: "But this matter is of great importance, he needs to ask Comrade Ustinov for instructions first, and then send someone to deliver the hovercraft to me after approval." The defense zone of the group army."

Rokossovsky had seen the hovercraft before, and when he learned that the hovercraft would be delivered soon, he couldn't help saying with emotion: "If the hovercraft can be delivered before the outbreak of the battle, no matter it is an assault in the swamp, Or transporting weapons and equipment, it will become extremely easy.”

   "Misha," Rokossovsky said in a friendly tone, "I'm in Moscow now, if you need anything, just ask, and I'll bring it back for you when I return to the Front Army headquarters."

Sokov thought for a while, and found that there was really nothing to buy, so he politely declined Rokossovsky's kindness: "Thank you, Comrade General, thank you for your kindness, but I really don't have anything need."

  Since Sokov didn't want anything, Rokossovsky didn't force it. He said: Good luck! Then hung up the phone.

After Sokov put down the phone, Sidolin said from the side: "Comrade Commander, shouldn't you call Assia and coax her? After all, she will contact you and Colonel Belkin in the future." Bridge, she is ready to give you information about the Armament Division."

  (end of this chapter)