Chapter 1998

   "No, he hasn't contacted me." When Sokov learned that Belkin had gone to the front, he couldn't help but feel a little anxious: "Assia, do you know which front he went to?"

  The reason why Sokov asked this is because there are many troops participating in this "Operation Bagration". Although Belkin went to the front line temporarily, it does not mean that he will come here by himself.

   "I don't know exactly where I went." Assia replied truthfully: "After all, this involves military secrets, and I am not qualified to know at my level."

  Sokov realized that he had taken it for granted. Assia was just a military doctor in the weapons and equipment department, and the whereabouts of a school-level officer. How could she have the right to know? But he asked unwillingly: "Then who knows where Belkin went?"

   "I think there are two people who might know."

   "Asiya, who are the two?"

   "One is of course your good friend Yasha." Assia said cautiously: "Although he left the weapons and equipment department, he still has contact with this place, and I can see him coming back to work from time to time."

  Sokov thought about it. Although Yakov still often returns to the weapons and equipment department, it must be for other things. Maybe he won’t even see Belkin’s face. How could he know which front line the other party went to? What's more, now I don't know how to contact Yakov.

   "Except for Yasha?" Sokov continued to ask, "Who else knows where Colonel Belgin is going?"

"Other than that, the only person who can know the whereabouts of Colonel Belkin is Comrade People's Commissar Ustinov." Asya said cautiously: "Although from him, you can definitely ask Belkin's whereabouts." Whereabouts, but if you call him directly, will he answer you?"

  Sokov thought to himself that he had dealt with Ustinov several times, and he was very enthusiastic about him at that time, but it should be because of Yakov's face. Now that Yakov has been transferred from the weapons and equipment department, and the tea will be cold as soon as he leaves, it is unknown whether Ustinov can still be as enthusiastic about himself as before.

"Misha, Misha!" After Assia finished her suggestion, she found that Sokov hadn't spoken for a long time, and she couldn't help but feel a little anxious, so she called twice and asked tentatively: "Are you still there? "

   "Still here! Assia, I'm still here!"

   "Why don't you speak, I thought you hung up the phone."

   "How could it be?" Sokov said with a smile: "I haven't chatted with you about family affairs, how could I hang up the phone so quickly?"

   Just when Sokov was about to say something sweet to Asiya, a strange female voice suddenly came from the receiver: "Comrade Commander, you are using a military line, please don't talk about personal matters."

  Sokov was taken aback after hearing this, who is this? Interfering with my phone call?

   Before he could speak, the female voice continued: "Your call will be automatically disconnected in 10 seconds."

   "Who are you?" Sokov asked vigilantly, "Why did you eavesdrop on my conversation?"

   But the other party ignored Sokov and just kept silent. After ten seconds passed, a blind tone came from the receiver, which was the sound of the phone being hung up.

"Damn, what the **** is going on?" Sokov thought a little angrily, "I called my wife, but someone eavesdropped on me, and the phone line was cut off as soon as I wanted to. It's just too shameful. "

After holding the microphone in a daze for a while, he picked up the phone and connected to the headquarters, found a communication staff officer on duty and asked, "Comrade staff officer, this is Sokov. I have an important matter to ask you for advice!" "

  The staff officer on duty heard that Sokov had called him, and said in a panic: "Comrade Commander, I can't talk about asking for advice. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask."

"I just called home, but in the middle of the call, a strange woman's voice came out of the receiver, saying that I have no right to use the military line to talk about personal matters." Sokov said angrily: "You know how to answer something?"

"Comrade Commander, this is what happened." The staff officer on duty figured out what was going on, and quickly explained to Sokov: "This is a regulatory measure of the communications department to ensure the smooth flow of military lines." It may be Worried that Sokov didn’t understand, he also deliberately added, “It seems that every letter we send has to pass the inspection of the wartime letter inspection agency. Some inappropriate content, or place names or words that may cause leaks, will be wiped off directly.”

   "Oh, so that's what happened." After the staff officer on duty explained, Sokov understood what was going on: "Thank you, Comrade Staff Officer!"

   "You're welcome, Comrade Commander." The staff officer on duty said respectfully: "If you have any questions, please feel free to call me, I am willing to serve you at any time."

After hanging up the phone, Sokov felt that this matter was too funny, so he called Asiya, and there was someone monitoring him. Fortunately, he didn't say anything private, otherwise, if it got out, it would be a large-scale social death scene .

   Early the next morning, when Sokov came to the headquarters, he happened to meet Sidolin.

  When Sidolin saw Sokov, he smiled and asked, "Comrade Commander, did you call Assia last night?"

"beated!"

   "You haven't seen each other for so long, have you talked about some personal topics?"

  Hearing what Sidolin said, Sokov immediately showed an embarrassing expression on his face: "Hey, don't mention it! After talking for a while, the person in the telecommunications department forcibly cut off the phone."

   "People from the telecommunications department forcibly cut off the phone?" Sidolin asked at a loss: "Comrade commander, what is going on? Why did the people from the telecommunications department cut off your phone forcibly?"

  Sokov hurriedly repeated to Sidolin what the staff officer on duty said last night. Finally, he said with emotion: "It seems that I will not be able to call home casually in the future."

  Ponejielin, who came in from the door, happened to hear Sukov's words behind him, and he asked in surprise, "Comrade Commander, why can't you call home casually in the future."

Seeing Ponegerin's question, Sokov told Pornegerin what happened last night again, and finally said: "Comrade Deputy Commander, this is the situation. It seems that I will not Dare to contact family members casually. Knowing that every word I say on the phone is being monitored by someone makes me feel very uncomfortable.”

   "If you can't make a phone call, you can write a letter to your family." Pornejelin reminded.

"That doesn't work either." Sokov shook his head and said, "Every letter sent must go through the inspection of the wartime letter inspection agency. I wrote a letter to Asiya, and when it was in her hands, It is estimated that it has been smeared long ago so that it is impossible to see what is written."

"Comrade Commander, it is definitely inconvenient to send letters through regular channels." Ponegerin suggested to Sokov: "If you know who is going back to Moscow in the future, you can drag him to bring a letter to Assia, so that It can avoid the inspection of the wartime letter inspection agency."

"This is a good idea." Sidolin said from the side, "In this way, not a single letter on the letter Assia receives will be blotted out. Comrade Commander, I will help you pay attention, if If anyone is going back to Moscow, I will let you know in advance."

"Okay, let's talk about sending the letter later. What we have to do today is to convey the battle plan of the superior." Sukov told Sidolin: "Notify all regiment commanders immediately, and the commander Come to the meeting!"

   "Okay, Comrade Commander." Sidolin nodded and said, "I will immediately call the troops below and ask them to come to the meeting as soon as possible."

   Two hours later, the meeting was held in a spacious hall.

  When Sidolin read out Bagration's battle plan in public, the venue immediately boiled. Everyone was puzzled by the fact that the Front Army Command gave up the direction of Ilich and launched an attack from the swamp area, so they started talking among themselves.

  The reaction of everyone has long been expected by Sokov. When he first proposed this plan, Rokossovsky and Malinin also found it difficult to understand at first. Later, when Zhukov saw this battle plan for the first time, he also lost his temper, thinking that such a battle plan was simply nonsense. When these people really understood the subtleties of this battle plan, they all became die-hard supporters of the plan.

Sokov waited for the discussion in the venue to die down, then got up and walked to the microphone, and said to the commanders attending the meeting below: "Commanders, I know that everyone has a lot of doubts about this battle plan of the superior... "As soon as he opened his mouth to speak, the meeting room suddenly became quiet, and everyone's eyes were focused on him, waiting quietly for him to continue talking.

"... Ilich, which has a flat and dry terrain and no rivers and swamps, didn't choose the direction, but chose a land full of swamps and rivers. You know, these places can't use armored vehicles on a large scale at all, that is to say, It will take our infantry desperately to capture every enemy stronghold. Say, am I right?"

  Sokov's words spoke out the aspirations of the commanders present. Everyone did not understand why the main attack direction was chosen to be in the swamp area since the superior had already seen this problem. But none of them spoke, because they knew in their hearts that their commander would soon explain the mystery to everyone.

"Yes, the direction of Ilich is indeed very attractive. Since there are no rivers, forests and swamps, our army can normally use armored troops in this direction. But..." Sokov's expression suddenly became serious: "The Germans can also think about the problems we can think about. Therefore, they have established a complete defense system in this direction and deployed heavy troops. If we want to attack from this direction, what we have to face is the German army. With a powerful fire defense system, it can be said that every step forward, we have to pay a lot of casualties.

  I have calculated that if the superior assigns the task of attacking the direction of Ilich to our army group to complete. Facing such solid fortifications, powerful artillery fire and heavy troops of the German army, we suffered casualties of at least one division every day. In less than ten days, the entire group army was wiped out. "

He guessed that what he said would definitely arouse everyone's doubts, so before the people present could open their mouths, he went on to say: "I think there must be many people who think my statement is alarmist. If we attack from the direction of Ilich, one division will be killed or injured every day, so if we attack from the swamp area, we won’t have to pay such a heavy casualty?”

  After asking this question, he asked himself and answered: "Yes, if you let me say it, I can tell you clearly that if we attack from the swamp area, the casualties our army will suffer will be greatly reduced.

why?

  Because the German defense forces in these areas are very weak, and they have not formed a complete defense system. At best, they are only on some high grounds, and even have some firepower points. If we attack from these places, even without the support of tanks, the infantry can easily capture these German high grounds and quickly rush to the depths of the German defenses..."

   Following Sokov's explanation, those commanders who had different ideas about Bagration's battle plan gradually understood the subtleties of this plan, and they couldn't help showing relaxed expressions on their faces.

  Especially the commanders of the infantry divisions, according to their thinking, if they want to launch such a large-scale battle, their own troops will suffer more than half of the casualties in the first three days of the battle. However, if the attack is launched from the swampy area, the casualties of the troops will be greatly reduced due to the weak defense of the German army.

  After Sokov finished speaking, he turned and returned to his seat, leaving Sidolin to take care of the rest.

  The practice of military meetings is that the superior commander assigns tasks in front of them. After all the commanders participating in the meeting received the task, they entered the questioning session. They would ask the chief of staff some detailed questions, and the responsibility of the chief of staff was to explain to them and propose solutions.

   "Comrade Commander," Pornedelin said in a low voice close to Sokov, "If you were not there, it might not be easy for the commanders to accept this task willingly."

   Sokov agrees with Ponegerin's statement very much. Although the commanders at all levels of the Soviet Army are used to obeying, they will still carry out the orders given by their superiors no matter how much they don't understand in their hearts. However, they felt a little uncomfortable in their hearts, but their own explanations made them understand the real reason why their superiors chose this offensive route, so as to resolve their grudges so that they could better perform combat missions.

   "Comrade Deputy Commander," Sokov recalled that Ponegerin was an older generation commander. Every time he carried out a combat mission, he never gave any explanation to his subordinates, and only needed to convey the order. And those subordinates received their orders, even if they didn't understand them, they could only bite the bullet and execute them. Now this method is proved to be unworkable, and it is necessary to make adjustments: "I personally think that when assigning combat missions to the troops, giving appropriate explanations will help the commanders below understand our intentions better. What do you think? ?”

Hearing what Sokov said, Ponedelin realized that the other party was pointing out the shortcomings of his previous command, and couldn't help blushing, then nodded and said: "Comrade commander, you are right. I will convey it later." When ordering, as long as conditions permit, necessary explanations can be given to grassroots commanders so that they can understand our true intentions."

  (end of this chapter)