In the evening, a convoy consisting of a jeep and two trucks drove out of the city of Kremenchug. After driving for a certain distance, they arrived at a small town in the north of the city, where troops of the 1st Mechanized Army were stationed.
When the convoy entered the town, it was stopped by a patrol. The second lieutenant leading the team came to the jeep, bent down and stood beside the car, and asked Samoilov, who was sitting in the passenger seat: "
Comrade Lieutenant, which section are you from and what are you doing here?"
"Comrade Second Lieutenant, we are from the headquarters of the 27th Army." Samoilov shook his head towards Sokov, who was sitting in the back. "The general sitting in the back row is our army commander Sokov.
"
After the second lieutenant heard Samoilov reveal Sokov's identity, he was immediately startled. He quickly took a step back, straightened his back and raised his hand to salute the jeep: "Hello, comrade general. I'm sorry.
We didn't know it was you who came, and we didn't receive any notification."
Sokov was not a person who liked to put on airs. When he saw the second lieutenant's frightened look, he quickly opened the car door, leaned out, and said politely to the other party: "Comrade second lieutenant, can you tell me, your soldiers
Where is General Solomatin?"
"In the church in the middle of the town, his headquarters is located there." The second lieutenant replied in a panic: "You only need to continue driving along the street. In a few minutes, you will see a black wall.
The church, that’s where the military headquarters is.”
Following the instructions of the second lieutenant, the convoy continued to move forward, and sure enough they saw a church with black walls. There were sandbag fortifications piled outside the church, and wooden fences with barbed wire. Soldiers with loaded guns and ammunition were vigilantly monitoring all directions.
The appearance of the convoy immediately attracted the attention of the other party. A lieutenant standing in the sandbag fortification quickly came up with five or six soldiers for questioning. When it became clear that Sokov was sitting in the car, his reaction was also
Like the second lieutenant just now, he apologized to Sokov repeatedly.
Sokov naturally did not care about these trivial matters, but smiled and said to the lieutenant: "Comrade lieutenant, where is your commander?"
"It's in the church, Comrade General." The lieutenant said respectfully, "I'll take you in."
Sokov asked Samoilov to wait for him outside, and then followed the lieutenant alone into the church.
As soon as he entered the church, the lieutenant quickened his pace, walked through the hall, ran to the other side, and reported to Solomatin, who was studying the battle there.
Seeing a lieutenant general and a dozen school-level officers walking toward him, Sokov immediately guessed that the leader should be Solomatin, and waved to them: "Hello, comrades, commanders.
"
"Hello, Comrade Commander." Solomatin came over, raised his hand to salute Sokov, and then extended his hand: "I am Lieutenant General Solomatin, commander of the 1st Mechanized Army. I am glad to see you here.
."
After the two shook hands, Solomatin introduced his chief of staff, military commissar, and several brigade commanders present to Sokov one by one.
After everyone returned to the table in the corner and sat down, Solomatin asked Sokov impatiently: "Comrade Commander, I would like to ask, what is the mission of our mechanized army?"
"General Solomatin," although Solomatin shouted one commander at a time, Sokov did not get carried away. After all, he was younger than the other man, had a lower military rank, and had been in the army for a long time.
Not as good as the other party, so he remained polite enough to Solomatin: "According to the original plan, after our troops captured Kremenchug and established a landing site on the right bank, we should deploy at least four infantry divisions and one
The strength of the tank brigade. But now that your mechanized army is temporarily under my command, I plan to adjust the deployment."
"How do you plan to adjust?" Solomatin asked with a normal expression.
Sokov looked at the map spread out on the table and saw that it was the map of the Kremenchug area. He casually pulled it in front of him and said to Solomatin: "I plan to land on the right bank of the Dnieper River.
Divide it into two parts, the east and west. The west side will be defended by my three infantry divisions and a tank brigade, while the east side will be defended by your army."
"Comrade Commander, can I ask a question?" After Sokov finished speaking, the military chief of staff suddenly asked.
"Of course." Sokov said reasonably: "Comrade Chief of Staff, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask."
"Judging from the terrain on the map, there are mostly forests, lakes, and swamps to the west of the landing site. Even if the German army were to launch an attack, it would be difficult to use a large number of armored forces." The chief of staff of the army pointed at the map with his hand and proposed.
Question: "As for the east side, the number of forests and lakes is much smaller, which can be said to be the most suitable for attack. If the German army wants to launch an attack on the landing site, the east side is the most vulnerable area. Can you help us deploy here?
Direction, do you plan to let us fight the Germans to the death, and then your troops will come to take advantage of the situation?"
"Chief of Staff," the Army Chief of Staff had just finished speaking when he was scolded by Solomatin, "How can you talk to Comrade Commander like this? We are soldiers, and it is the duty of soldiers to obey. Since Comrade Commander wants
Deploy us on the east side of the landing site, then deploy on the east side. After all, this is an order given to us by our superiors, and we can only obey it unconditionally."
Sokov could tell from the tone of Solomatin's words that although the other party was criticizing his chief of staff, he could also hear the serious dissatisfaction in his heart.
Sokov knew very well that if his explanation today could not satisfy the other party, they would probably delay the orders he issued in the next battle, thus affecting his plan.
"General Solomatin," Sokov said with a smile: "Your chief of staff just raised the questions in his heart. He was not rude to me in his words and does not need to apologize to me." After finishing the scene.
, he continued, "According to our combat plan, we will use the defense of the troops on the east side of the landing site to block the enemy's attack; while the troops on the west side will choose the right time to launch an active attack on the enemy."
Hearing what Sokov said, Solomatin immediately realized that he might have wrongly blamed the other party, and quickly said: "Comrade Commander, please tell us your plan, so that we can all be aware of it for future battles."
We will fully cooperate with you."
"General Solomatin," Sokov said to Solomatin: "Originally we planned to launch an attack on the enemy in the Svetlovodsk district this morning from the 84th Infantry Division stationed on the west side.
, strive to break through the enemy's defense line in one fell swoop and expand the area of the landing site..."
Solomatin thought that since his troops stationed here, the surroundings have been quiet. If there is any battle, he will definitely know it at the first time. Since there is no sound of fighting, it means that the attack is because of
Canceled due to some special reason.
In order to find out what was going on, he asked tentatively: "Comrade Commander, for what reason did you cancel this attack?"
Sokov pointed at the location of Svetlovodsk District with his finger and said with a wry smile: "Comrade General, the reason why we made the decision to attack Svetlovodsk District at that time was because according to the
According to the scout's report, there was only one German infantry battalion there, plus a tank battalion with more than twenty old Panzer III and Panzer IV tanks."
Solomatin stared at the map for a while, then shook his head and said: "Comrade Commander, please forgive me, in such an important place as the Svetlovodsk District, the German army will never have just one infantry battalion.
And a tank battalion with extremely weak combat effectiveness, I think this should be a conspiracy."
Before Sokov could speak, the Army Chief of Staff rushed to Solomatin and said: "Comrade Commander, there is another possibility. The German army is short of troops and they do not have more forces to deploy in Svetlovods."
Ke District.”
After Sokov waited for the army chief of staff to finish speaking, he said slowly: "One hour before the attack started, I received an urgent telegram stating the deployment of German troops in the Svetlovodsk district.
Not one infantry battalion but two infantry regiments, and nearly a hundred tanks, most of which are Panther tanks that pose the greatest threat to the T-34."
"Oh my God!" Solomatin exclaimed after hearing what Sokov said: "If the German troops deployed in the Svetlovodsk area are really two infantry regiments plus nearly a hundred tanks
, then if you attack with an infantry division, you are simply asking the soldiers to die."
"You are right, Comrade General." Sokov agreed with Solomatin's statement: "This is indeed a conspiracy of the Germans. They may have guessed that after our army establishes a landing site, it will face
When conducting reconnaissance in an area, they deliberately set up a trap so that our scouts could be fooled without realizing it. After the scouts sent false information back through the radio, they then set up an ambush.
This small team is trying to completely eliminate them."
Solomatin broke into a cold sweat: "Then the reconnaissance team is out of danger?"
"After a fierce battle, five soldiers, including the captain and the radio operator, died. The deputy captain, Sergeant Ivar, and five other soldiers emerged from the ambush circle. After escaping, Ivar was not in a hurry to lead people back to the troop's station.
Instead, we turned back again and entered the Svetlovodsk district.”
"This is really strange." The chief of staff of the army muttered in a low voice: "We finally escaped from danger. Naturally, the sooner we can return to the army, the better. Why are we still running deep into the enemy's defenses?"
"Comrade Chief of Staff of the Army," Sokov said, looking at the Chief of Staff of the Army who was carrying the epaulettes of a major general in front of him: "The reason why Sergeant Iva led people back to the Svetlovodsk District was because he felt that he had gained
The intelligence process went too smoothly, and the ambush encountered on the road was too coincidental. No matter how you looked at it, it looked like a trap set by the Germans.
The Germans never dreamed that after Ivar broke through with the remaining soldiers, not only did he not quickly return to our defense line, but instead, they returned to the Svetlovodsk area to conduct reconnaissance to find out what happened.
what's going on.
It was under this circumstance that Sergeant Iva saw the German armored group heading towards the Svetlovodsk district, as well as the covered trucks full of soldiers. When he realized that the strength of the German army was not as strong as he had initially
As we were conducting reconnaissance, we looked for opportunities to capture another prisoner, and after getting useful information from him, we reported it to the division headquarters."
Understanding what was going on, Solomatin nodded and continued to ask: "Comrade Commander, since you know that there are heavy German troops stationed in Svetlovodsk District, why do you still set the direction of the attack?
Which direction?"
"The reason is very simple." Sokov replied with a smile: "Your army chief of staff also said just now that the terrain on the east side is wider and flatter than the west side, which is conducive to the deployment of large-scale tank troops.
.”
Solomatin looked back at his chief of staff, nodded and said, "Yes, he did say this. But I don't understand, does this have anything to do with your strategy?"
"Of course it does matter." Sokov replied: "Since it is an area conducive to deploying armored forces, the German army will definitely deploy superior forces to prevent our attack. We currently have a limited number of tanks. If we are in the same area as the German armored forces,
If we work hard here to spend money, we will definitely be the ones who suffer in the end."
Hearing this, Solomatin finally understood Sokov's intention, and asked tentatively: "Comrade Commander, are you because the complex terrain on the west side is not conducive to the deployment of the German armored forces? Our infantry is attacking
At this time, even if there is no cover from tanks, will there still be a chance to break through the German defense line?"
"Yes, that's what I thought about." Seeing that Solomatin had guessed his intention, Sokov did not hide it, and said truthfully: "I plan to wait for the German army to launch an attack on the landing site, and then look for a suitable opportunity to attack
The attack in the Svetlovodsk district made it difficult for the German troops to respond from the front to the rear, making it easier for us to defeat them one by one."
"I understand, Comrade Commander." Solomatin's ability to become the commander of the mechanized army proved that he was not bad at it. Therefore, he quickly understood Sokov's intention, and then said: "Are you planning to attack in the East?"
The front was defended, while the west was attacked."
Seeing that Solomatin understood his intention, Sokov was also very pleased. He then said to Solomatin: "Comrade General, since our landing site has not been established for a long time, there are not many decent fortifications. In order to better
Hold the position well, I suggest you immediately mobilize your commanders and soldiers and seize the time to repair the fortifications. Please tell every soldier that digging an extra shovel now is to save one less shell in the future."
Sokov's words surprised Solomatin: "Comrade Commander, what you said is very interesting. It is simple and clear. The soldiers can understand what is going on. Don't worry, we will definitely be in the German army."
Before the attack begins, the necessary defenses must be built."
This chapter has been completed!