Chapter 2235

   The next day, Sokov's 48th Army began to advance eastward.

Soon after the troops set off, Sokov received a call from the 6th Guards Division, who served as the vanguard. The new division commander Ivanov said anxiously to Sokov on the phone: "Comrade Commander, we The way forward is blocked!"

"The way forward is blocked?!" Sokov couldn't help being taken aback when he heard this. Since the end of the Battle of East Pomerania, there have been no traces of the Germans at least 20 kilometers in front of him. Where did the enemies on the way forward of the 6th Division come from? With this question in mind, he asked back: "Colonel Ivanov, where did the enemy blocking your way come from? How many troops do they have, and what is their firepower configuration?"

   Unexpectedly, after Sokov finished asking, Ivanov was silent. After a while, he said: "Comrade Commander, you are mistaken. It is not the German troops that block our way, but the fleeing refugees."

   "What, refugees?" Sokov asked puzzled, "How could they block your way?"

"My political commissar went to inquire. These German refugees escaped from East Prussia. They listened to Goebbels' rumors and thought that we would massacre them after we occupied East Prussia. The escape route.” Ivanov explained: “After the end of the East Pomeranian Battle, Himmler’s Vistula Army Group was beaten by us so that we did not dare to show up. After our army occupied East Prussia, , and there is no disturbance to the people, so the rumors of the Germans are naturally self-defeating. These refugees who originally fled, after learning that our army will not embarrass them, returned to their homes one after another.”

"Oh, that's how it is." After Sukov figured out what was going on, he ordered the other party to say: "You immediately send people to maintain order and help the refugees return to their homes in an orderly manner. Only when the road is cleared, you Only by speeding up the march can we rush to the Schwert area to take over the defense of the First Front Army in the shortest possible time."

Just after calling Ivanov, the logistics chief of the group army called again and complained to Sokov: "Comrade commander, the situation has changed. I am afraid that the materials that were originally scheduled to be transported by rail can only be changed to trucks." transportation."

  Sokov couldn't help being surprised after hearing this, and asked: "Comrade Director, why is this?"

"I asked the front army's logistics department." The logistics chief said: "Because we have just occupied the East Pomerania area, the railway traffic situation has not yet fully recovered. Almost. Their transportation tasks are heavy, and they have to complete hundreds of thousands of soldiers, thousands of artillery pieces, tens of thousands of tons of ammunition and countless material transportation tasks. Therefore, the transportation plan for our operation needs to be adjusted accordingly. Only tanks and Combat vehicles that march on their tracks can only be transported by rail, and the rest of the equipment, supplies, and personnel can only be transported by trucks, horse-drawn carriages, or other means of transportation."

  Sokov knew very well in his heart that logistics is what wars are about. In the third Battle of Kharkov in early 1943, why was the Soviet army beaten all over the ground by Manstein even though it had superior troops and equipment? It was nothing more than the fact that the army's logistics supply line was stretched too long, which resulted in a large number of tanks and artillery having to be discarded on the battlefield due to lack of fuel and ammunition, and became the spoils of the German army. If I advance to Berlin this time, I'm afraid the prospects are not good.

  Thinking of this, he tentatively asked the director of logistics: "Comrade director, is there no room for turning this matter around?"

   "No, Comrade Commander." The logistics chief replied in an affirmative tone: "After my repeated efforts, the front army's logistics force agreed that the tanks of our tank brigade can be transported through their railways."

After putting down the phone, Sokov said to Sidolin and Lunev in front of him: "Chief of Staff, Comrade Military Commissar, we have encountered a little trouble now. Since the front army has just occupied the East Pomeranian area, supplies and The transportation of personnel cannot return to normal in a short period of time. Therefore, the infantry divisions originally planned to be transported by rail can only march forward on foot. Now the only ones that can advance by train are our tank brigades .”

   Hearing what Sokov said, Lunev couldn't help frowning. He tried hard to think of any way to improve the current unfavorable situation. If the troops fighting at the front cannot receive timely support from friendly forces and supplements with ammunition and various supplies, they may not be able to last for long. At that time, not to mention breaking through the defense of the German army, it is not bad to not be wiped out by the German army.

And Sidolin asked anxiously: "Comrade commander, since the superior has assigned our army group as the main force to attack Berlin, can't we find a way to improve our marching status? If the troops marched on two legs, our original combat The plan would be completely disrupted."

"Comrade Chief of Staff, there is no way around this." Sokov said helplessly: "Now that our army has just occupied East Pomerania, it may take a long time for the railway transportation system to be put into normal operation. Before that, we could only transport troops by road. In addition to cars, we should also collect horse-drawn carts, ox carts, and other means of transportation that can be collected.”

Hearing what Sokov said, Sidolin suddenly remembered a past event: "Comrade Commander, I remember that there used to be a group of hovercraft in the Weapons and Equipment Department, which not only travels fast, but also is not restricted by the terrain. If the superior can Put those hovercraft back to us, and I think it will improve our transport situation."

Sokov had indeed considered hovercraft, but after thinking about it, he relied on twenty or thirty hovercraft. No matter how powerful they were, the ammunition and supplies that his army needed to consume were nothing more than what they brought. It is a drop in the bucket. If you really want to solve the problem, you still have to rely on railway and road transportation.

"Misha, I remember that when we liberated that city, didn't you use all the bicycles you could collect in the city because of the lack of sufficient means of transportation?" Lunev reminded Sokov, "If we Being able to collect a large number of bicycles in the existing area can increase the marching speed of some troops."

"Comrade military commissar, this is not realistic." Sokov simply rejected Lunev's proposal: "In the cities we control, it is rare to see people riding bicycles. Even if we order collection, I am afraid that we can collect The number of bicycles arriving will be very limited, and it will not solve the big problem at all.”

"Then what should we do?" Sidolin saw that the two transportation plans proposed in a row were rejected by Sokov, and he couldn't help becoming a little impatient: "Could it be that we just watched our troops fail because of insufficient logistics supplies?" Is it too late to push in the direction of Berlin?"

  The hovercraft was not available, and a sufficient number of bicycles could not be collected. This matter made Sokov very anxious. With his hands behind his back, he walked back and forth in the room, thinking about how to solve this problem.

   After walking for an unknown amount of time, he finally stopped. When he looked back at the map hanging on the wall, Sidolin's face showed joy, and he couldn't wait to ask: "Comrade Commander, have you thought of any good solution?"

Sokov did not answer his question immediately, but walked quickly to the map, pointed to one of the locations, and said to Sidolin: "Comrade Chief of Staff, according to our original plan, the 6th Guards Division will They arrived at this location in an hour. Although their marching speed has been affected by the German refugees blocking the road, I think they will be able to reach this location in two hours at the latest."

   "That's right, Comrade Commander." Sidolin nodded in affirmation of Sokov's statement: "They can indeed arrive in two hours."

"From the map, this is an open land." Sokov said to Sidolin: "We can request the headquarters of the front army to use transport planes to transport the weapons, ammunition and various supplies needed by the vanguard to this area. I know that with the end of the Battle of East Pomerania, the air supremacy of the entire East Prussian region is firmly in the hands of our army. Even without fighter escorts, our transport planes can safely land in this area. "

"This is a good way." Lunev nodded repeatedly after hearing this, and said, "Even if the transport plane cannot land because of the muddy roads on the ground, they can also use airdrops to deliver the weapons, ammunition and various supplies needed by our army." Drop it off."

   Sokov picked up the phone on the table and connected to the Front Army Command. After hearing Bogolyubov's voice from the receiver, he said politely: "Hello, Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, I am Sokov, and I have something urgent to report to Comrade Marshal."

Bogolyubov learned that Sokov had something important to report to Rokossovsky, and he didn't dare to neglect, and quickly handed the microphone to Rokossovsky next to him: "Comrade Marshal, your The call is from General Sokov."

   "Misha, I'm Rokossovsky." Rokossovsky asked bluntly into the microphone: "What do you want?"

   "Hello, Comrade Marshal!" Sokov said, "I'm calling you because there is an important matter that requires your support."

   "What's important, let's talk about it."

"It's like this, Comrade Marshal." Sokov said: "My logistics chief told me that the leader of the logistics department of the front army informed him that due to the unsatisfactory situation of railway transportation, the original plan to help us transport troops and weapons Cancellation, at best, of transporting tanks or other combat vehicles that march on tracks..."

When Rokossovsky heard this, he immediately covered the receiver with his hand, repeated what Sokov said to Bogolyubov, and then ordered the other party to say: "Call the Minister of the Later Period and ask what is it?" what happened."

   Bogolyubov nodded, walked aside, picked up another phone, called the Minister of Logistics, and asked him about the relevant matters.

   A few minutes later, Bogolyubov returned to Rokossovsky and repeated to him what the Minister of Logistics had said. Rokossovsky nodded after hearing this, then let go of his hand covering the microphone, and said: "Misha, I have inquired about it. The logistics department is currently facing a lot of transportation pressure. In order to transport more troops to the The front line, had to change the original transportation plan, I hope you can understand them."

"Comrade Marshal, I can understand the difficulty of the logistics department." Sokov said into the microphone: "But my troops are about to launch an attack on the German army. If there are not enough weapons, ammunition, various supplies, and corresponding reinforcements, I am afraid You will suffer a lot in battle."

After hearing this, Rokossovsky couldn't help laughing: "Misha, since you called me this time, you must have already figured out how to deal with it, why don't you tell me, and I'll see if I can help you busy."

"Yes, yes, of course." Sokov nodded vigorously, and then said: "Comrade Marshal, although the situation of railway and road transportation is very severe, can we use air transportation to solve the weapons, ammunition and supplies we need? What's the situation?"

Hearing what Sokov said, Rokossovsky was taken aback for a moment, and then he saw on the map where the 6th Guards Division had arrived today, and tentatively asked, "Misha, are you planning to join the guards?" In the area where the 6th Division arrives, set up a field airport and let the transport plane deliver enough weapons, ammunition and supplies to you?"

"Yes, Comrade Marshal, that's how I think about it." Sokov replied straightforwardly, "But I don't have time to build any field airports. It's good that the transport planes that transport supplies can land. If they can't land, they can." Just drop the supplies by air, and I will let the troops collect the airborne supplies below."

Rokossovsky pondered for a while about the suggestion made by Sokov, and felt that this should be a good solution to the current shortage of transportation capacity, so he nodded and said: "Okay, Misha, I will talk to the Air Force Commander immediately. Get in touch and ask him to arrange 30 transport planes to transport supplies for you. But whether it is a direct landing or an airdrop, I need to discuss with the other party before I can give you an accurate answer."

"Great, Comrade Marshal, this is really great." Sokov did not expect Rokossovsky to agree to his request so readily, thanked him repeatedly, and said: "Comrade Marshal, I would like to thank you." You guarantee that as long as the leading troops can obtain ammunition and supplies in time, they will be able to rush to the Schwert area to join the troops of the First Belarusian Front Army within the stipulated time, and after taking over their defense, they will be able to face-to-face The enemy attacks."

"Well, I believe you will be able to do what you say." Rokossovsky said: "I will call General Porenin now and ask him to arrange a transport plane to transport ammunition and supplies for you. If possible, then It is not impossible to transport troops to you."

After Sokov put down the phone, he excitedly said to Sidolin and Lunev: "The Chief of Staff, Comrade Military Commissar, and Comrade Marshal have agreed to my request, saying that they will negotiate with General Porenin immediately and let him dispatch The transport plane transports the required ammunition and supplies for our leading troops. Even at critical moments, it can directly transport the troops behind.”

"That's really great." Sidolin said with relief: "Although the cargo transported by the transport plane is not as good as the train each time, it is faster. As long as they come a few more times, our vanguard will have enough supplies." Ammunition and supplies to carry out the next phase of combat operations."

  (end of this chapter)