Chapter 2018

  Onuprienko heard the implication of Sokov's words, and his troops were the first to rush into Minsk, and they had made great contributions. It is best to entrust other troops to do work such as clearing out the remnants of the enemy in the city, so that they can also get some credit. If all the credit is taken away, I am afraid it will become a target of public criticism.

   "Understood, Comrade Commander." Onuprienko said with a smile: "Before the new order is issued, I will order my subordinates to take a good rest and not participate in the search for the remaining enemies in the city for the time being."

"General Onu Prienko, it's not that he doesn't participate, but that he doesn't take the initiative to participate." After Sokov said this, seeing the confused expression on Onu Prienko's face, he made further remarks to him. Explanation: "I won't let you search for the remnants of the enemy. I mean those areas outside your defense zone. As for the enemies in your defense zone, you still have to find a way to eliminate them yourself. Understand?"

"I understand now." Onupriyenko is also a smart man, fully understood what Sokov meant, nodded and said: "I will let the commanders and fighters carry out the battle in the spare time when clearing out the remnants of the enemy in the defense zone." Proper rest."

Sokov nodded and said to Onu Priyenko: "General Onu Priyenko, our offensive battle has just begun, and there are still many battles to be fought. This means that you may For a long time, you will not be able to get replenishment of soldiers. If you do not take proper rest and reorganization, a large number of commanders and fighters will not be able to participate in the next stage of operations due to exhaustion, and it will be a huge loss for you.”

  After leaving the division headquarters of the 6th Guards Division, Sokov then went to the division headquarters of the 1st Guards Division. The reason why he chose to see Tolstikov was to appease him and prevent Tolstikov from being devastated by this blow.

  But when Sokov came to the headquarters of the 1st Guards Division, Tolstikov was calling a meeting of the heads of the regiments. The slowness of the attack on the regiments led to a fury that the Minsk government building and the committee building were preempted by the 6th Guards Division.

Although he said that his troops were the second to enter Minsk, he knew very well that in future history books, when the battle for the liberation of Minsk was mentioned, the 6th Guards, who were the first to rush into the city, would definitely be killed. The Normal University writes a special book, but he will selectively ignore his own army, which is something he cannot tolerate.

  Seeing Sokov's arrival at this moment, he could not help complaining: "Comrade Commander, I can't figure it out!"

   "Is there anything you can't figure out?" Sokov said with a smile: "Just listen to it, and I'll give you an opinion."

"Comrade commander, you should know that our division was the first to launch an attack on Minsk." Tolstikov said confidently: "If you don't believe me, I can get the commanders and fighters to testify and let them tell You, our division was the first to attack the enemy."

   "I believe it." After Sukov said this lightly, he asked tentatively: "Then tell me, since you are the first to attack, why can't you be the first to enter the city?"

Hearing Sokov's question, Tolstikov couldn't help but blushed, and said with some embarrassment: "After the enemy discovered that our division was attacking the city, they immediately dispatched troops from different places to attack us. Tenacious resistance. It was precisely because the enemy deployed troops from various places to deal with us that the troops in some areas became weak, and the 6th Guards Division took the opportunity to attack the weakly defended areas of the German army, thus becoming the first to enter troops in the city."

"General Tolstikov, your words seem reasonable, but have you ever thought that the reason why the 6th Guards Division was the first to enter the city was that they seized the weak points of the German defense In addition, it is also related to the combat effectiveness of their troops, if they change troops, even if they face an enemy with weak defenses, they may not be able to break through the enemy's defense and successfully rush into the city."

  Tolstikov waited for Sokov to finish, and thought about it carefully. It seemed that this was really the case. For a while, he didn't know how to refute Sokov.

"Okay, General Tolstikov, don't worry about it anymore." Sokov said to him with a smile: "Operation Bagration has just started for more than a week, and there are still many battles to come. I hope that in the next In a siege battle, your division can be the first army to enter the city."

   Hearing what Sokov said, Tolstikov muttered in a low voice: "Even if we are the first to rush into the city, what's the use? Is there any city in Belarus that is more important than Minsk?"

"Yes, there is indeed no city in Belarus that is as important as Minsk." Sokov looked at Tolstikov and said earnestly: "But you should not be discouraged by this. You know, we removed the Germans from the After being driven out of Belarusian land, we will definitely go to their hometown. At that time, your division will still have the opportunity to be the first to enter Warsaw, and even the first to rush into Berlin..."

  When Tolstikov heard Sokov say that he was the first to rush into Berlin, his whole body suddenly became excited like a chicken blood. He said to the regiment leaders present: "Comrades, regiment commanders, have you all heard what the commander said?"

   "I heard it!" The group leaders below replied in unison.

"It's good to hear it." Tolstikov said loudly to his subordinates: "Although we are not the first to rush into the city today, please remember that we will strive to be the first to rush into the city in the future." troops in Berlin."

   "Comrade Commander," Koshkin walked in from the outside and handed a telegram to Sokov: "This is a telegram from Chief of Staff Sidolin."

  Sokov knew that if there was no important matter, Sidolin would not send a telegram to himself casually, so he quickly unfolded the telegram and browsed it carefully. After reading it, he was immediately overjoyed.

"Commanders, commanders," Sokov said, holding the telegram high above his head, shaking it twice, "I just received a telegram from the Front Army forwarded by my chief of staff, which said that due to Vitebsk, Bo The enemy forces in the area east of Bruysk and Minsk were wiped out, and a gap as wide as 400 kilometers appeared in the front. The German command did not have the strength to close this gap in a short period of time, so the Supreme Command asked our front to make full use of this gap. An extremely favorable situation to expand the results obtained.

In order to implement this instruction from the base camp, the Front Army Command decided not to stop chasing the enemy, but at the same time, the 48th and 65th Army Groups carried out a concentric assault in the general direction of Baranovich to encircle the German Baranovich Group. and annihilate it. "

  After hearing Sokov's words, the commanders present were taken aback for a moment, and then cheered. They secretly guessed in their hearts that since the commander read the telegram in public, it indicated that there would be some new combat tasks assigned to his troops.

Sure enough, their guesses were quickly confirmed, and Sokov said to Tolstikov: "General Tolstikov, you have heard the telegram from your superiors. I have decided to attack you this time." Leave it to your teacher to complete, I wonder if there is any difficulty?"

   "No, Comrade Commander." Tolstikov was unexpectedly nervous when Dusokov said that he planned to let his troops take the lead in the attack: "I will never let you down."

  As the situation in Minsk stabilized, Sokov informed Sidolin to move his headquarters to the city, and established a new headquarters in the committee building occupied by the 6th Guards Division.

As soon as Ponedelin met Sokov, he reported an important news to him: "Comrade Commander, I have good news for you. A salute will be fired on Moscow's Red Square tonight to celebrate the liberation of Minsk. .”

   Sokov was stunned for a moment, then remembered that since when an important city was liberated, Moscow Red Square would fire a salute to celebrate. As the capital of Belarus, Minsk naturally has to follow this example.

Seeing that Sokov did not speak, Ponederin thought that he was shocked by the news, and continued: "There is a road connecting Minsk and Moscow, and this road can directly reach the heart of our country. The Great Patriotic War After the outbreak, Minsk was the first major city captured by the Germans, and the liberation of this city has important symbolic significance. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to fire a salute to celebrate."

Sokov naturally ordered these words from Ponegerin, but at this moment he was thinking in his heart that although the city was liberated, there were still a large number of German troops around the city, including the main force of the 4th Army and part of the 9th Army In order to prevent these troops from being annihilated by the Soviet army, the newly appointed commander Model will definitely take various measures to rescue these besieged troops.

  After Ponegerin finished speaking, he found that Sokov was silent and realized what the other party was thinking about, so he quickly asked with concern: "Comrade Commander, what are you thinking?"

"Comrade Deputy Commander," since the other party is also the chief military officer, Sokov didn't go around in circles, but expressed his worries: "Although we liberated Minsk, we should also see that in Minsk There are still a large number of enemies around, and if we want to carry out the orders of our superiors and carry out a concentric attack with the 65th Army, we must leave enough troops to defend the city, lest the enemy take advantage of it and take the city back."

Ponegerin was startled by Sokov's words and broke into a cold sweat. He was only thinking about how to expand the results of the battle, forgetting that the main force of the German 4th Army and a part of the 9th Army were near Minsk, and the commanders who commanded these troops Model, also has the reputation of the defense master. If the friendly forces are unable to eat this enemy for a long time, then Minsk will still be in danger.

   "Comrade Commander," Pornejelin said cautiously, "Then what do you think we should do?"

"The orders of the Front Army Headquarters must be implemented. At the same time, we must not abandon the city's defense work." Sukov frowned and said, "I think the concentric attack with the 65th Army will have the 1st Guards, The 6th Division came to carry out, and the rest of the troops stayed to ensure the safety of the city, and the Germans must not let the city be snatched from us again."

  Ponedelin is very much in favor of Sokov’s statement. As long as the salute is fired on Red Square tonight, it means announcing to the world that the Soviet army has taken back the Belarusian capital Minsk, which was occupied by the German army. But if the city was taken away by the Germans just after the celebration, it would be a public slap in the face. At that time, not only would he be sent to a military court, but Sokov might also be implicated.

But Ponegerin felt that it was too little to send only two divisions to fight with the 65th Army, so he tentatively said to Sukov: "Comrade commander, only two divisions are appropriate. ?"

   "Why is it inappropriate?" Sokov asked back: "Comrade Deputy Commander, don't you think that if we send too many troops, it may weaken Minsk's defense force."

   "But the two divisions are indeed a little short." Pornegerin said in embarrassment: "It's not even a quarter of the strength of the entire army group. How about adding another division?"

  Seeing that Ponegerin insisted on his opinion again and again, Sokov didn't want to sweep his face. After some thought, he finally let go, "Well, Comrade Deputy Commander, since you must insist on increasing your troops, let Lieutenant Colonel Victor's 122nd Infantry Brigade also participate in this battle. "

He was worried that Pornegelin would ask for additional troops, so he said first: "Two infantry divisions and one infantry brigade, this is a lot of troops, enough to cooperate with the 65th Army in combat. As for the other troops, they will continue to stay. The city of Minsk is being prepared for defense in case the Germans jump over the wall and try to take the city back from us."

   "Then when shall we convene a meeting of the division commanders?" Sidolin asked.

"Wait until after dark." Sokov said to Sidolin: "By that time, the remaining German forces in the city must have been wiped out by our army. The division commanders and brigade commanders who came to the meeting don't have to worry about meeting people on the road." attacked by the enemy."

  After dark, the division commanders and brigade commanders under the group army gathered at the headquarters to participate in an impromptu military meeting. When they heard that Sokov planned to send the 1st and 6th Guards Divisions and the 122nd Infantry Brigade to cooperate with the troops of the 65th Army Group to carry out a concentric assault on the German Baranovich Group, the division commanders who could participate in the battle, The brigade commanders were certainly happy; but the division commanders and brigade commanders who remained were not happy.

Originally liberating Minsk, they did not achieve much results. Now that the task of assaulting the German Baranovich Group has been handed over to other troops, it is no wonder that they feel aggrieved, so it is inevitable to complain .

   "Quiet, please be quiet!" Seeing that the venue was as noisy as a vegetable market, Sidolin quickly stood up and tapped heavily on the table a few times, "Please keep quiet!"

  After Sidolin spoke several times in a row, the venue finally returned to calm.

Sokov continued: "comrades, commanders, I know that many people will be somewhat emotional because they will not be able to participate in tomorrow's offensive. However, I would like to remind everyone that although we liberated Minsk, the surrounding areas of the city There are still a large number of enemies. If all our troops participate in the attack on the Baranovich Group, who will defend the city? If the Germans take advantage of the emptiness of the city and attack the city again, who will defend her then ?”

"Whether it is to attack the Baranovich Group or stay and stick to Minsk, it is equally important." Sokov specially emphasized in order to let the commanders who are in charge of the stay mission prioritize: "If the attack fails, We can attack another day; but if the city is lost, what face do we have to face our country and our people?"

  Sokov's words made everyone fall into deep thought, and the venue became silent.

  (end of this chapter)