Chapter 2025

   Knowing that Baranovic has been taken down, Zhukov showed a rare smile on his face. He said to Batov: "Comrade Batov, it seems that sometimes it is good to put more pressure on you, so as to stimulate the enthusiasm of the troops."

   "Comrade Marshal, what should we do next?" Batov asked.

Zhukov stared at the map in front of him, and said to Batov: "According to the prior plan, after capturing Baranovich, you should go out to Svisloch and Pruzane as soon as possible. After the enemy of Ranovich, go to attack the enemy in the area of ​​​​the Sharay River. If they are annihilated, they will pose a threat to the enemy Pinsk group and force it to start retreating. This will speed up the 61st Army of General Belov along the Pripi The speed of attack on the north bank of the Yaj River."

  After listening, Batov asked Zhukov tentatively: "Comrade Marshal, I would like to ask, how long do you think it will take us to drive the Germans out of Belarus?"

   Zhukov did not answer this question immediately, but asked instead: "What do you think?"

   "It's hard to say," Batov replied cautiously: "If we follow the current style of play, I think we will be able to drive the Germans out within half a year!"

Unexpectedly, after Zhukov heard this, he shook his head slowly and said, "No, it's too slow! If it really takes half a year to drive the Germans out of Belarus, they will have enough time to build a new defense in the rear." Fortifications, this will be very detrimental to our army's future operations."

Seeing that Zhukov could not accept the idea of ​​driving away the Germans within half a year, Batov changed his statement again: "Comrade Marshal, I heard that General Sokov is full of confidence in Bagration's plan, saying that we can completely drive away the Germans within three months." inside, completely wipe out the German army in Belarus. Do you think this statement is somewhat exaggerated?"

"If others say this, I think he is too optimistic." Zhukov waited for Batov to finish speaking, and immediately expressed his opinion: "But if Misha said this, I don't think there is any debate He said that if the Germans can be driven out within three months, then they will definitely be driven out."

  Seeing that Zhukov recognized Sokov so much, Batov couldn't help but feel a little sour. He tentatively asked: "Comrade Marshal, do you trust Sokov so much? You know, although he is now an admiral and commands an army group, he is too young and lacks command experience..."

"Batov, there are no outsiders here, so let me tell you a secret." Zhukov approached Batov's ear and whispered, "Actually, Misha proposed the prototype of Bagration's plan. "

Seeing the shocked expression on Batov's face, Zhukov laughed, and then said: "Are you surprised? Today's huge battle plan was originally proposed by Misha. Get me the 48th Army immediately." Command, I want to know what Misha is doing at the moment."

At this moment, Sokov was sulking in his seat. He didn't expect Ponegerin's speed to be so fast. Before he left Minsk, he actually liberated Baranovich and the 65th Army. The troops wiped out the defenders in the city together, without even a chance to show themselves.

  But the phone on the table rang, and he grabbed the receiver and stuck it to his ear: "I'm Sokov, where are you?" Probably because he was in a bad mood, his voice was a bit loud.

   Zhukov’s voice came from the receiver: “Misha, I’m Zhukov, how is the situation there?”

Hearing that the call was from Zhukov, Sokov quickly stood up and replied respectfully: "Reporting to Comrade Marshal, the main force of our army is still in Minsk and is waiting for General Gorbatov's 3rd Army to take over the defense." Woolen cloth."

   "Is it a pity that I couldn't catch up with the liberation of Baranovic?"

"Comrade Marshal, if you say you have no regrets, you'd be lying." Sokov said with a dry smile, "But Minsk is surrounded by German troops. I can't act rashly until new troops take over the defense. As for It is indeed a pity that we did not catch up with the liberation of Baranovic. But we still have a lot of battles to fight, and I believe that when we liberate some cities next time, our army group will still be the focus of attention."

"I just heard from Batov that you once told others that our army can completely drive out the enemy within three months." Zhukov asked with a smile: "I want to ask, where did you come from?" confidence?"

   Facing Zhukov’s question, Sokov began to ponder in his heart: “How should I answer this question? I can’t tell Zhukov that I read the answer in a future history book, right?”

"How should I say it?" Sokov organized the vocabulary in his mind, and said carefully: "I analyzed it based on the interrogation of prisoners and the information obtained. Since I was transferred to the First Belarusian Front Army, I have been constantly I thought about which direction to choose to attack, so as to catch the Germans by surprise and make our army achieve huge results. After thinking about it for several days, I finally came up with the prototype of Bagration's operation, and told the front army about the plan Commander."

"Misha, I have to admit that although this plan of yours is very bold, it is very effective." Zhukov said with emotion: "When I first saw the plan drafted by Rokossovsky, I thought I would I scolded for a while, but the more I thought about it, the more I felt the subtlety of this plan. If it can be implemented, it can catch the Germans by surprise."

"However, I think the three months you said to completely eliminate the German army in Belarus is a bit too optimistic. Among other things, the new commander of the German army, Marshal Model, was not only in Rzhev. I have suffered a lot, and even Konev and Rokossovsky did not take advantage of them. I think this is probably why Mustache asked him to clean up the mess in Belarus."

"Comrade Marshal, I admit that Model has made you suffer before and caused great losses to our army." Sokov knew that although Mustache sent Model to Belarus to preside over the overall situation, the general situation is gone now, so he His own strength is powerless.

   "But today is different from the past. Our troops are stronger than before, with better equipment, and the commander has richer command experience. It is impossible for him to defeat our army again to reverse the unfavorable situation of the German army in Belarus."

"Well, Misha, it seems that you are really full of confidence." Zhukov was very satisfied with what Sokov said, and he said with a smile: "Then I wish you even more brilliant victories in advance. .”

   "Thank you, Comrade Marshal, for your trust." Sokov said into the microphone: "I will never let you down."

  In the evening, a middle-aged general came to Sokov's headquarters.

"Hello, General Sokov!" The middle-aged general raised his hand to salute Sokov, and reported his family: "I am Major General Terelenko, commander of the 4th Infantry Army of the 3rd Army, and I was ordered to come to replace you. defense."

"Hello, General Teresenko." Knowing that the other party was here to take over Minsk's defense, Sokov naturally showed extra enthusiasm: "Didn't you say that you can't arrive until noon tomorrow, why did you arrive so soon? "

   "The superior dispatched a batch of vehicles to us urgently to speed up our march, so we were able to arrive in Minsk half a day earlier."

   "I don't know how many troops have come?" Sokov asked this question to find out how many troops he could take away tomorrow?

   "We have three infantry divisions, one tank brigade and two artillery regiments in our army." Terelenko replied: "The troops entering the city today are two of the infantry divisions and the tank brigade."

   "Comrade Commander," Sidolin waited for Terelenko to finish speaking, and asked Sokov for instructions: "Look, where should they go to take defense first?"

"Chief of Staff, the defensive troops in the city will not move for the time being." Sokov told Sidolin: "Let the new friendly troops take over the offensive troops. These two divisions and brigades fought so hard against the Germans After a long time, the commanders and fighters must be very tired, so we take them down first to rest and recuperate."

"General Terelenko," Sokov said after explaining to Sidolin, he felt that some things must be made clear to Terelenko in advance, so as not to complain to each other in the future: "After the German army stopped attacking Minsk, in order not to let the The enemy slipped away, and I used two divisions and two brigades to conduct a diversionary attack on the German army. I hope your troops can go over and switch defenses with them as soon as possible, so that I can take the troops that have changed defenses to other places to perform new combat missions .”

   After hearing what Sokov said, Terelenko acted very reasonable: "No problem, General Sokov, I will let my troops take defense wherever you tell me to go."

"Then hurry up and switch defenses." Sokov urged: "This will allow our commanders and fighters to take the time to rest, and when they set off for a new destination at dawn, they will not be exhausted and affect their marching speed." .”

  The change of defense went smoothly. In less than two hours, the troops of the 4th Infantry Army replaced the troops that Sokov planned to take away. Sokov called the two division commanders and the two brigade commanders to his headquarters, and asked straight to the point: "Commanders and comrades, I want to hear you tell the truth. Can you still go into battle?"

   "No problem, Comrade Commander." Hearing Sokov's question, the four commanders replied without hesitation: "Our troops are fully capable of continuing to fight."

  Sokov knew in his heart that after more than half a month of fighting, the troops suffered a lot of casualties, and some divisions had nearly half of their casualties, and they had not received any supplements. The casualties of the commanders in front of them are basically more than one-third of the casualties. The reason why they still insist that their troops can continue to fight is because they don't want to transfer them to the rear for rest and replenishment, thus losing A chance to make a difference in the great battle.

   "Comrade Commander," Sidolin approached Sokov, and whispered, "Their casualties are not small, basically close to 40%. Do you really intend to let them continue to fight?"

   Sokov didn't speak, just nodded silently. After pausing for a moment, he said to the four people: "comrades commanders, I still know the casualties of your troops. But unfortunately, we may not be able to get supplements in a short time, so you can only think A way to solve the problem of shortage of troops.”

   "Comrade Commander," as soon as Sokov finished speaking, the brigade commander of the 109th Brigade asked curiously: "I would like to ask, how can we solve the problem of insufficient troops?"

"It's very simple, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." Sokov glanced at the other party's military rank and said, "There are usually three ways to solve the shortage of troops: one is to recruit local residents and incorporate them into the army. The advantage is to expand the army. The speed is fast, but the disadvantage is also obvious, that is, they have not received military training, nor have any combat experience, after being incorporated into the army, although the number of troops will increase, the combat effectiveness of the troops will be diluted."

   "The second method is to let the wounded soldiers who have recovered from their injuries return to the team. Everyone knows that most of the wounded soldiers who return from the hospital have rich experience, so there will be many people fighting for it."

"The third method is to find a way to liberate the prisoner-of-war camps built by the German army, rescue all our commanders and fighters locked inside, and use them to supplement our troops. These commanders and fighters have undergone strict military training. Can form a strong fighting force.

  And these commanders and fighters suffered all kinds of inhuman torture in the German prisoner-of-war camps, suffered so much, and their hearts were full of hatred for the German army. If they are allowed to enter the battlefield, they will definitely be able to display super fighting power. "

   "But, Comrade Commander, is there any enemy prisoner-of-war camp near here?"

  Sokov couldn't help but wryly smiled when he heard him ask this question, and said to himself, if I knew where there was a prisoner-of-war camp, would I still need to stay here and worry about it? He shook his head and said, "I'm sorry, Comrade Colonel, I don't know where there is a prisoner-of-war camp nearby. But you can send scouts to scout around, maybe you can find the enemy's prisoner-of-war camp."

"This method is good, this method is good!" Hearing what Sokov said, the commander suddenly became excited, and said repeatedly: "Comrade commander, don't worry, when I return to the division, I will immediately send out scouts to arrive at the division." Go around and do reconnaissance to see where the Germans have set up prison camps."

Sokov was very pleased with his subordinate's ability to draw inferences from one instance to another. He gave the other party a thumbs up and said, "That's right, Comrade Colonel. There are some things that we don't need to say hello to. You can take the initiative and send people nearby to do it." Reconnaissance, find out the enemy's defense situation, and whether there is a prisoner-of-war camp. Once you know that there is a prisoner-of-war camp nearby, you can rush there as soon as possible to eliminate the guards of the prisoner-of-war camp and rescue our commanders and fighters."

  The brigade commander of the 109th brigade asked: "Comrade commander, besides the three situations you mentioned, is there any other way to replenish our troops as soon as possible?"

Sokov thought for a while, then stretched out four fingers and said: "The fourth method is also the simplest and most convenient. Aren't there many guerrillas operating near our city? You may consider recruiting one or several Guerrillas. Although their combat effectiveness is not strong, after all, they have been fighting against the German army for the past few years and have rich combat experience. form a stronger fighting force."

  (end of this chapter)