Chapter 590 Breakout Plan

After Yakov leaned his head over to see the content of the telegram, he said doubtfully, "Misha, with all due respect, the order General Chuikov gave you is too ambiguous. Saying it is tantamount to not saying it. Let you play it by ear and continue Stick to Orlovka and wait for the reinforcements that don’t know when it will appear? Or do you decisively choose to break through when you see that the situation is not good? No matter whether you choose to stick to it or break out, once Orlovka falls into Germany In the hands of others, the superiors will hold you accountable."

  Sokov thought for a while, and felt that what Yakov said made sense, so he smiled wryly and did not express any opinions. He turned to look at the radio operator next to him, and said to him, "Inform Colonel Gurdiyev, Major Tenev, and Captain Vanya to come to me for a short meeting after dark."

   "Comrade Brigadier," the radio operator waited for Sokov to finish speaking, and asked tentatively, "What about Colonel Bely, do you want to inform him too?"

  If it wasn't for the operator's reminder, Sokov almost forgot about Bely. You know, the meeting held tonight will discuss how to break out of the encirclement, and the direction of breakout will be in the north controlled by Bely. If he does not attend, there will be no substantive content discussed in this meeting. Therefore, he nodded and said to the radio operator: "Yes, Colonel Bely will also attend tonight's meeting. Remember to inform him later."

   While the radio operator was sending telegrams to several commanders, Yakov approached Sokov and asked in a low voice, "Misha, have you really decided to break out?"

"Yes." Sokov nodded, and said in an affirmative tone: "Now the enemy has separated us from the main force, and we can't get any supplies if we stick here. Once the ammunition and food are exhausted, even if the commanders and fighters behave No matter how brave we are, we cannot escape the fate of being killed in battle or being taken prisoner. In order to prevent this from happening, we must take the initiative to launch a breakout operation and jump out of the enemy's encirclement before the troops are in desperation."

   "Misha, let me ask you a very serious question." Yakov looked at Sokov and asked solemnly: "Is there only one way for you to break through now?"

   "That's right." Sokov nodded, and said solemnly: "Under the current situation, we can only choose to break through, otherwise there is a danger of the entire army being wiped out."

  Yakov then asked: "Do you really think that the reinforcements outside the encirclement cannot rush in and join us?"

  Sokov thought not to mention now, even if he waited another month, the reinforcements outside the encirclement would not be able to reach Orlovka. With logistical supplies cut off, sticking to this place is tantamount to death. But he couldn't tell Yakov that everything that happened in front of him was a history recorded in books for him. The situation has become more serious. If he really said that, Yakov would definitely treat him as crazy. So he said vaguely: "Yakov, we don't know when the reinforcements outside the encirclement will arrive, and with our existing weapons and equipment and soldiers, we can't hold on for long. Instead of doing nothing here It is better to jump out of the enemy's encirclement earlier, preserve strength and continue fighting with the enemy."

   Yakov was silent after listening, he was quietly thinking about what Sokov said. After a long time, he sighed and said, "Misha, I understand your current situation. It seems that breaking through is the only choice. You can do what you want to do with confidence. If the superiors blame you, I will help you explained."

  Yakov's words reassured Sokov. The reason why he sent a telegram to Chuikov was to make his breakout operation justifiable. However, Chuikov's brief reply made him feel uneasy. Now with Yakov's guarantee, Sokov's heart is finally put back in his stomach. Even if the superior wants to hold him accountable in the future, with Yakov's endorsement, the matter will be settled in the end.

  After dark, several commanders who received the notification came to the hill where Sokov's headquarters is located. Therefore, the space in the headquarters is too narrow to accommodate so many people, and everyone can only sit at the door for meetings.

Seeing that everyone was present, Sokov said, "comrades, commanders, I called you here for a meeting today to inform you that Orlovka can no longer hold on. I plan to lead the troops to break through. Jump out of the German encirclement."

  As soon as Sokov finished speaking, everyone began to discuss. When they received the notice of the meeting, they thought that Sokov was going to deploy defense matters, but when he opened his mouth, he mentioned breakout, which greatly exceeded everyone's expectations.

After a while, the discussion gradually stopped. Gurdiyev stood up and asked on behalf of everyone: "Comrade Brigadier, I would like to ask, is it an order from the superior to abandon Orlovka to break through, or is it yours?" the meaning of?"

   "Colonel Gurdiyev," facing Gurdiyev's doubts, Sokov said without changing his face: "I have reported to Commander Chuikov about the breakout and got permission."

   Knowing that Chuikov had agreed to let the troops break through, Gurdiyev didn't ask any more questions, but simply said: "I have no problem." Then he sat down again.

"Comrade Brigadier," Gurdiyev sat down, and the next question was Major Tenev. He got up and asked, "As far as I know, our roads to the south and east have been blocked by the Germans. I would like to ask, from which direction do you plan to break out?" The question Tenev asked was exactly what everyone was concerned about, and everyone focused on Sokov, waiting patiently for him to say the last word. s answer.

  Unexpectedly, Sokov's reply surprised everyone again: "comrades, commanders, I plan to break out from the north..."

"What, break out from the north?" Several commanders were stunned by the answer. According to their thinking, the direction of Sokov's breakout was either the east or the south, and the east was the most likely choice, because it only needed By breaking through a line of defense of the German army, you can join the friendly army on the opposite side. Unexpectedly, Sokov chose to break through to the north, which made everyone feel puzzled. After a long time, Sverlin, the political commissar of the 308th Infantry Division, tentatively asked: "Comrade Brigadier, did I hear correctly? Break out to the north. You must know that the enemy has assembled a large number of troops in the north. If you break out in that direction, Isn't that the same as a sheep entering the tiger's mouth?"

Sverlin's words resonated with everyone. Except for Yakov and Bely, who knew the inside story, everyone agreed that Sukov might have made a mistake. What he wanted to say was the east or south, but because I was so excited that I made a slip of the tongue.

Sokov raised his hands and pressed down. After several commanders became quiet again, he continued: "Commanders, you heard me right. The direction I chose to break out of the encirclement is the north. That's right, this direction There is a large mass of German troops, but their defenses are directed to the north to prevent General Rokossovsky's troops from approaching us. If we attack them unexpectedly from behind, we will surely catch them by surprise."

   "Comrade Brigadier, is it too risky to do this?" Tenev asked cautiously: "After all, several armies can't break through the enemy's defense line. Can we, more than a thousand people, break through?"

   "Misha," Yakov heard this, and whispered in Sokov's ear, "Can you ask the ministries to report the number of troops and see how many troops there are?"

  Considering that the troops had fought during the day, there would be some casualties, so Sokov stood up and asked, "Commanders, all commanders, tell me about your current strength."

Gurdiyev was the first to stand up. After hesitating for a moment, he said: "During the daytime battle, our division launched several counterattacks against the enemy's positions, so the casualties were a bit heavy. At present, there are still 937 soldiers in the division. people, including more than 200 lightly and severely wounded."

Knowing that the 308th Infantry Division had less than 1,000 soldiers left, the muscles on Sokov's face twitched violently. He didn't expect that this unit lost nearly half of its strength after just one day. . After recording the number of the division in his notebook, Sokov asked Tenev again: "Comrade Major, how many people are there in your guard battalion?"

"There are 197 people in the whole battalion, and there are about 40 people who are lightly or seriously wounded." After reporting the count, Tenev proposed to Sokov: "Comrade Brigadier, although our number is a little small, we are fully capable of the main offensive task. .”

   Sokov chose to ignore what Tenev said later, and turned his attention to Vanya. Before he could speak, Vanya replied first, "Report to Comrade Brigadier Commander, there are still 121 people in the battalion and 14 wounded."

Sokov's heart skipped a beat, and he thought to himself: When we set off from the Red October factory, there were more than 600 people in Vanya's first battalion, but after less than two days, there were only 600 people left. Lower one-fifth of the troops. How many people are left in this army when it breaks through the German defenses and joins Rokossovsky's troops?

After counting the number of troops, Sokov said: "comrades commanders, in order to complete the task assigned to us by our superiors, we need to hold on to Orlovka for another day tomorrow. After dark, all The troops moved to the north, under the cover of the tank battalion, and carried out the breakout operation to the north."

   After saying these words, Sokov glanced over everyone one by one, and then asked, "Does anyone have any questions?"

  Gurdiyev hurriedly stood up and asked: "Comrade Brigadier, I would like to ask, how many tanks are still available in the tank battalion? Can they complete the task of covering the troops to break through?"

   "Colonel Bely," Sokov immediately turned to Bely and said after hearing the question, "I leave it to you to answer Colonel Gurdiyev."

Bely nodded, got up and said to Gurdiyev: "Colonel Gurdiyev, we still have 12 tanks to use. Although the number of tanks is a bit small, I am confident that they will definitely be able to assist the infantry to break through Surrounded by the enemy."

   Then, Tenev and Vanya also asked some questions that may be encountered during the breakout, and Sokov answered them one by one. After the scene returned to calm, Sokov waved to everyone and said, "Okay, this is the end of today's meeting. You all go back to your respective troops to make preparations."

  (end of this chapter)