Chapter 1997

Sokov listened to what Malinin said, and after being stunned for a few seconds, he finally understood the meaning of the other party's words. He asked in surprise: "Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, so from now on, Sidolin is no longer a colonel. , but a major general? Do I understand correctly?"

"Of course correct." Ma Linin nodded and said, "From now on, Sidolin will be officially promoted to the rank of major general." Having said that, he turned to Sidolin who was still in a state of shock, and stretched out his arms to him. Shot, and said in a friendly tone, "Congratulations, General Sidolin!"

  Seeing Ma Linin's hand stretched out in front of him, Sidolin came back to his senses, hurriedly grabbed the other's hand, and said emotionally: "Thank you, thank you, Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army!"

   "General Sidolin," Rokossovsky spoke at this time: "In this case, should you say something?"

  Sokov heard Rokossovsky say this, and murmured to himself: "Why did Comrade General General say that? Is he planning to let Sidolin give his acceptance speech?"

  Unexpectedly, Sidolin just took a step forward, straightened his back, raised his chin slightly, closed his eyes slightly, and said loudly: "Serve the Soviet motherland!"

  When Sokov heard this, he felt a little disappointed. What he said when he was promoted emotionally was the same as what he said when he was awarded the medal.

  I saw Ma Linin pick up a red silk box from the table and handed it to Sidolin: "General Sidolin, this is your new epaulette, and you can change it when you return to the army."

  Sidorin nodded gratefully, and then took the box in Malinin's hand.

   Then Rokossovsky encouraged Sidolin a few more words, and finally said: "A new battle is about to begin, and I hope you will perform well then."

"Comrade general, don't worry." Sokov expressed his attitude to Rokossovsky in time: "After the battle begins, you can see the results I have achieved. I will definitely not let you down. of."

When Sokov and Sidolin returned to the parking space, Ponegerin, who was waiting here, saw Sidolin's strangeness, and couldn't help but asked curiously: "Comrade Chief of Staff looks good, did you meet someone?" What is the happy event?"

"Comrade Deputy Commander, you guessed right." Sukov felt that the news of Sidolin's promotion was more effective than what he said himself, so he said with a smile: "The chief of staff is indeed It was a happy event, not long ago, he was officially promoted to the rank of major general."

"What, Colonel Sidolin was promoted to major general?" Pornegerin asked in shock after hearing this: "Didn't you go to catch up with General Chuikov? Why was he promoted to major general in a blink of an eye? What the **** is going on? What's going on?"

"That's right, we were just talking about the old days with General Chuikov at first." Sokov continued: "But not long after we chatted, Comrade General sent someone to find us. We followed the officer to Comrade General's office. The chief of staff, General Ma Linin, personally announced that in recognition of the meritorious service established by Sidolin, he was specially awarded the rank of major general."

  After listening to Sokov's explanation, Ponegerin understood what was going on. He held out his hand to Sidolin and said in a friendly tone: "Comrade Chief of Staff, congratulations!"

   "Thank you, thank you!" Sidolin quickly took Pornegerin's hand and shook it vigorously a few times.

   "Comrade Chief of Staff," after Sidolin let go of Pornegerin's hand, the driver also stepped forward to congratulate Sidolin: "Please accept my sincere congratulations, congratulations on becoming a general!" '

   "Thank you, comrade driver." Sidolin expressed his thanks to the driver and shook hands with him.

   "Okay, let's all get in the car." Sokov said to everyone: "We have already lost a lot of time, and we need to rush back to the headquarters as soon as possible to convey the latest combat plan."

   A few minutes later, this convoy of three jeeps and four trucks drove away from the headquarters of the Front Army and headed for the defense zone of the 48th Army.

   On the way, Sokov asked Ponejielin curiously: "Comrade Deputy Commander, have you dealt with General Chuikov before?"

   "Yes, Comrade Commander." Pornedelin replied flatly, "I have worked with Chuikov before, but we have not communicated for many years."

   Doubts arose in Sokov's heart. Since Ponegerin had worked with Chuikov before, why did the two meet today and act like passers-by? Could it be that there was some conflict between them?

Ponegerin, who was sitting next to him, guessed what Sokov was thinking from the cloudy expression on his face, and said, "Comrade Commander, you must be thinking about the matter between me and Chuikov. ?"

Seeing Sokov nodded in affirmation, he continued: "We used to be very good friends, but something happened later, which caused our relationship to become estranged. As for what it is, please forgive me for not telling you now, maybe When the time is right, I will personally tell you what is going on."

Originally Sokov wanted to get to the bottom of it, but since Ponegerin said so, it is obviously inappropriate to entangle in this matter, so he changed the subject: "Comrade Deputy Commander, we put you alone I'm so sorry for leaving it in the parking lot."

   "It's okay." Pornejelin waved his hand and said, "Although the waiting time is a bit longer, but fortunately I am not alone. At least I have been chatting with the driver during the time before you come back."

   "We've been out for most of the day," Sidolin said with some concern, "I don't know if anything unexpected happened during our absence."

"Don't worry, my Comrade Chief of Staff." Sokov looked at Sidolin and said lightly: "If there is anything, we will understand everything when we return to the headquarters. Comrade Chief of Staff, you have to trust Your subordinates, believe that they have the ability to deal with all emergencies."

   "Well, maybe you're right..." Before Sidolin finished speaking, the jeep stopped suddenly, and he instinctively turned to ask the driver, "What happened, why did you stop?"

   "I don't know, Comrade Chief of Staff." The driver said aggrievedly: "I saw the truck in front stop, so I had to stop, otherwise I would be rear-ended."

   "Comrade Commander," Sidolin turned to Sokov and said, "I'll go down and see what happened, why the car in front stopped."

   "Wait a minute, Comrade Chief of Staff." Sukov suddenly smelled a dangerous smell, and quickly stopped Sidolin's intention to get out of the car. "I think something is wrong. Let's wait for the comrades in the car in front to report."

Seeing that Sidolin was a little restless, he explained to him: "Did you forget that when we came to the 48th Army to take office, we encountered a similar situation. At that time, the road was blocked by fallen trees, escorting us The officer wanted to get out of the car to check, but I stopped him. It was soon found out that this was a conspiracy by the German snipers, trying to kill with a sniper rifle while our commander got out of the car."

  Sidorin carefully recalled the situation at that time, and what Sokov said was true, he couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat. If the car stopped this time because the German sniper had placed trees on the road, and he went down rashly, he might be shot in the head by the sniper.

Soon, Koshkin, who was sitting in the front car, got out of the car to check it out, and came over to report to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, there are two fallen trees on the road ahead, which should have been placed in the middle by the Germans." , I have sent people to search in the forest, even if no trace of the enemy can be found, they can scare him away."

   "Great job, Captain Koshkin." Sokov said with admiration: "You will be responsible for our safety, I am very relieved."

   Facing Sokov's trust, Koshkin grinned, and then called his subordinates to divide into two groups, one into the forest to search for hidden enemies, and the other to remove the trees blocking the way.

   Half an hour later, the trees blocking the road were removed, and the soldiers who entered the forest to search also came back, but they didn't gain anything. Sokov didn't want to waste time on the road, otherwise it would be troublesome if it was delayed until dark, so he urged the convoy to start again.

   When the convoy returned to the headquarters of the Army Group, it was already dark.

   When getting out of the car, Sidolin asked Sokov for instructions: "Comrade Commander, please see if you can immediately gather the officers above the regiment level of the group army and convey the contents of the meeting."

"It's getting late today, let's wait until tomorrow." Sokov said this, and explained to Sidolin specifically: "On the way back today, we encountered trees blocking the way, which means that there are Germans nearby. Activities. If we notify officers above the regiment level to hold a meeting at night, it will be midnight after the meeting, and if these officers are asked to walk back at night, they may be caught by the German snipers. I don’t want the battle to start Several generals were lost."

"That's right, Comrade Commander is right." Ponegerin echoed from the side: "It's not peaceful outside now, and it's not appropriate to call the commander for a meeting at night. I think it's what the commander said, wait until tomorrow Inform the relevant personnel to come to the headquarters for a meeting."

"Okay then, since you all said that, let's hold the meeting tomorrow." Sidolin said to the two with a smile, "Let me sort out the minutes of today's meeting by the way to see if there is anything missing. In order not to convey it tomorrow Something went wrong during the superior's combat deployment."

   "Then go get busy." Sokov said to Sidolin: "Remember to rest early, don't be exhausted."

  After returning to his room, Sokov lay on the bed and began to think. With the strength of his troops, after the offensive started, even if the German defense forces were not strong, there would probably be a lot of casualties. In order to reduce the casualties of the troops during the attack, the best way is to shorten the charge time in the swamp and improve the weapons used. To achieve this, without the support of the Weapons and Equipment Department, it is impossible to do it at all.

  When Yakov was working in the weapons and equipment department, what equipment Sokov needed could be basically solved with just one phone call. Now Yakov has been transferred to the General Staff, and Belkin will replace him. Although Belgin is his old partner, and he is willing to help him. But it is a pity that after all, he has just joined the Weapons and Equipment Department not long ago. He has no backing or qualifications. Many people in the department don't buy his account, so his work is not going smoothly.

  But Sokov thought it was a week or two ago that he called Belkin last time, and the other party hasn't contacted him until now, and he doesn't know how his affairs are going.

  Thinking of this, Sokov picked up the high-frequency phone placed by the bed and directly dialed the switchboard of the Weapons and Equipment Department. Hearing the voice of the operator, he said straight to the point: "Girl, hello! This is General Sokov. Please transfer me to Colonel Belgin's office. I have something urgent to see him."

   "Okay, Comrade General." The operator said politely: "I will transfer the call for you immediately."

But after a minute or two, the phone still wasn't connected, and just as Sokov was in a hurry, a familiar voice came from the receiver again: "Hello, Comrade General, I'm glad to hear your voice again! "

  Sokov pondered for a while, remembering that the voice belonged to operator 9037, and said with a smile, "So it was you, girl operator 9037."

  The operator on the other end of the phone couldn't help showing a sweet smile when he heard Sokov call out his number. But the next moment, she restrained the smile on her face, and said in a business-like tone: "I'm sorry, General Sokov, the phone in Colonel Belkin's office cannot be connected, maybe he is not in the office at the moment. Please change the time Call again, okay?"

"Okay." Sokov was also very disappointed that he couldn't get through to Belkin's phone number, but there was nothing he could do about it. After all, today's communication cannot be compared with that of later generations. In addition to being able to use mobile phones, later generations have many other ways to communicate. Communication software, as long as the other party's mobile phone is turned on, you can find the other party. But at this moment, he can only regretfully say: "Then I will fight another day!"

After hanging up the phone, Sokov sat by the bed in a daze for a while, then remembered that he hadn't called Asiya for a long time, and didn't know if the other party was angry with him, so he picked up the phone again and directly let the communication Bing helped him get through the phone at home.

   Soon Asiya's voice came from the receiver: "Hello, who is it?!"

   "Asiya, it's me." Sokov said into the microphone, "I'm Misha!"

   "Ah, Misha, it's you!" Assia asked in surprise, "Why did you think of calling me?"

   "If I miss you, I will give you a call."

"It's nonsense, if you really miss me, you won't stop calling me for a month or two." Assia said with a resentful face: "If I didn't guess, you call me at this time, There must be something important to ask me. Misha, are you right?"

Sokov called Asiya because he had something important to do. He wanted to know about Belkin's situation through Asiya, so he said with a haha, "I must be thinking of you, so I will call you." , and inquire about something else by the way."

   "Tell me, what is it?"

"I want to ask, have you seen Belkin recently?" Sokov said cautiously: "He said he contacted me about the hovercraft, but after such a long time, there was no further news. I just called him phone, and it turned out that there was no one in his office."

   "Misha, don't you know?"

   "Know what?" Sokov couldn't help but thump in his heart when he heard what Assia said, and secretly said that nothing should happen to Belkin, otherwise there would be no one in the Weaponry Department who could help him.

   "Belkin has already gone to the front line." Assia said, "He set off yesterday. Didn't he contact you before he left?"

  (end of this chapter)