"Thank you, I really appreciate it." With Fuming's promise, Sokov felt much more at ease. However, out of caution, he also specifically added: "If there is a chance, I would like to chat with you in person.
,May I?"
Regarding Sokov's request, Fu Ming was obviously embarrassed: "General Sokov, my whereabouts are unpredictable every day. It may not be easy for you to find me. If I see something wrong with you, you can contact Cogne.
General Husband, just let him tell me."
From the tone of the other party's words, Sokov heard that he was politely rejecting him. Although he was full of regrets, he could only say helplessly: "Well, General Fuming, if I can't find you, I will ask the police to ask for help."
General Nev conveyed this."
When Sokov put down the phone, Smirnov asked with some confusion: "Comrade Commander, even if the Germans break through our defenses from the south, they will still encounter friendly forces blocking them along the way. When they reach Hill 239,
I am afraid that the combat effectiveness has become extremely weak and it is impossible to break through the defense line of the 41st Guards Division."
"Comrade Chief of Staff, when I called Colonel Sidorin just now, I already said that since the Germans have the possibility of breaking out to the south, they must take complete defensive measures." Sokov said: "And now
The 41st Guards Division does not even have a decent fortification on Highland 239. If the enemy suddenly rushes to the high ground, the troops without fortification cover will not be able to block the enemy's impact. In this case, they can only rely on
Powerful artillery fire to crush the enemy's attack."
After Sokov's explanation, Smirnov understood the other party's intention, nodded and said: "Comrade Commander, I understand, you want to use powerful artillery fire to build a difficult line in front of our army's defensive position.
The wall of fire prevents the enemy from advancing forward. Am I understanding correctly?"
"Very true." Sokov smiled and nodded, affirming: "That's what I meant."
After a pause, Sokov suddenly asked: "By the way, Comrade Chief of Staff, I would like to ask who is the artillery commander of our army group?"
"Major General Tsarev."
"What, is Major General Tsarev?" When Sokov heard the name, he couldn't help shouting in surprise: "Isn't he the military commissar of the group army?"
"Yes, he used to be the military commissar of the group army like General Gorokhov." Smirnov explained to him: "Later, the artillery commander unfortunately hit a mine and died on his way to the front.
The superiors temporarily appointed him as the commander of the artillery of the group army."
Sokov felt very speechless about this arrangement from his superiors. You must know that Tsarev is only a political worker and not a military cadre. For him to serve as the commander of the artillery is simply playing the piano randomly. But Sokov is new here, even if he wants to withdraw
Tsarev could not find anyone to replace him for a while, so he could only stay in this position.
Ponijelin, who was sitting aside, waited for the conversation between the two to come to an end and asked, "Comrade Commander, how do you plan to arrange for those students?"
"Yes, we still have 59 students." Sokov said to Smirnov: "These students are all from the intermediate commander training class. According to the original plan, half of them will stay at the front army headquarters and serve as staff officers.
They serve as commanders; while some others serve as regimental commanders in the group army."
"Then what are your plans?" Smirnov asked: "Are you going to assign half of them to each regiment as regimental commanders?"
"Comrade Chief of Staff, please give me the names of the commanders above the regiment level of the 41st Guards Division."
Smirnov agreed, took out a small book, flipped through a few pages, and began to read: "The commander of the 41st Guards Division is Major General Kurishenko, political commissar Colonel Afanasy, and chief of staff Colonel Sidorin.
, Colonel Papuchenko, commander of the 122nd Regiment, Colonel Starcha, commander of the 124th Regiment, and Lieutenant Colonel Harin, commander of the 126th Regiment.”
"Papchenko and Starcha are both old acquaintances. Only the name of the commander of the 126th regiment was heard for the first time." Sokov had an intuition that if the battle really started in his own defense zone,
Then the 41st Guards Division will face a fierce battle, and it is completely necessary to enrich their command team. "Who are the deputy commanders and chiefs of staff of each regiment?"
Sokov originally thought that Smirnov would pronounce some familiar names. Unexpectedly, the other party paused for a moment, but said with some embarrassment: "Comrade Commander, this unit suffered heavy losses in the early battles. Not only the soldiers
The casualties were huge, and even commanders at all levels lost a lot, so none of the three regiments had deputy commanders or chiefs of staff."
"Since these three Guards regiments do not have deputy commanders and chiefs of staff, then we will allocate people from among the people I brought to fill these positions." Sokov turned to Ponedelin and said: "Ponejelin
General Jielin, I leave you solely responsible for this matter. Let them report to the 41st Guards Division as soon as possible, seize the time to familiarize themselves with the troops and their own defense areas, and make necessary battle preparations."
"What about the rest?" Ponejelin asked.
"Let them stay in the headquarters for the time being, and then arrange for them to take up posts when suitable positions are available." After Sokov said this, he asked: "Are there any questions?"
"Military rank, what should we do about the issue of military rank?" Ponejelin raised a key question: "You know, the military ranks of the cadets are all majors or captains. If they are allowed to serve as regiment-level commanders, is the military rank a bit too low?
?”
Although Sokov knew in his heart that during the Battle of Stalingrad, Chuikov directly promoted a lieutenant colonel to a colonel, which meant that he also had the right to promote the cadets. However, out of caution, he also specifically asked Smirnov for advice
: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I would like to promote these accompanying trainees. Is it possible?"
"Comrade Commander, of course you can." After hearing Sokov's question, Smirnov said solemnly: "But the most you can do is promote them to the rank of colonel and then report to the front army headquarters. If
Whoever you want to promote to general must first apply to the front army headquarters, who will report it to the Supreme Command, and the superiors will decide whether the person is qualified for promotion to general."
"So that's it." After Sokov figured out the rules of the game, he said to Ponedelin: "General Ponedelin, please inform the students that from now on, all the students will be promoted to one rank.
, the captain was promoted to major, and the major was promoted to lieutenant colonel.”
"Okay, Comrade Commander." Ponejelin replied with a smile on his face: "I think the students will be happy and excited when they hear this news."
In the evening, Sokov received a call from Kurishenko, commander of the 41st Guards Division: "Hello, Comrade Commander, I am Major General Kurishenko."
"Hello, General Kurishenko." Sokov heard that the call was from Kurishenko, and said very politely: "I called you when I arrived in the morning. Regrettably,
, you went to inspect the defense at that time, but I couldn’t contact you.”
"Yes, Comrade Commander, I went to the 126th Guards Regiment to inspect the construction of the fortifications." Kurishenko explained to Sokov: "The regiment is stationed on Highland 239, which is the commanding heights of our division's defense area.
Once that area is lost, the two regiments behind the high ground will be undefeated."
After arranging the trainees' departure, Sokov once asked Smirnov about the defensive deployment of each division, and the 41st Guards Division was the focus of inquiry, so he knew the division's defensive deployment well.
As soon as Kurishenko finished speaking, he asked: "How are the fortifications on the high ground being built?"
"The situation is not ideal, Comrade Commander." Kurishenko replied: "Because the weather is too cold, the frozen soil on the highlands cannot be dug with pickaxes. At first, we considered using explosives to blast, although the effect was very good.
, but due to the limited quantity of explosives, they were quickly used up. I went there today to discuss with the regimental commander, Lieutenant Colonel Harlin, how to solve the problem of excavation of frozen soil."
"Have you figured out a good idea?"
"Yes, Comrade Commander." Kurishenko said: "Lieutenant Colonel Dukhalin thinks that we can light a few fires to bake the ground. When the fires are extinguished, the frozen soil will become soft, and then proceed.
Soil work is obviously much easier."
Sokov was muttering in his mind: "This is obviously my idea, okay?" However, he and Kurishenko had never met before, so they couldn't argue over such a trivial matter on the phone, so he could only pretend to be calm.
Question: "How effective is this approach?"
"Very good." Kurishenko said: "The ground baked by the fire is indeed very suitable for digging fortifications. In just half a day, half of the trench excavation work was completed." At this point, he seemed to remember something.
, and added, "When I just answered the division headquarters, I heard from the chief of staff, Colonel Sidorin, that you also proposed such a plan, saying that it would make it more convenient for our soldiers to carry out soil work."
Sokov came to the 53rd Group Army. After taking over the command, he planned to go to the units below and meet with the division commanders in the next time. He was originally considering which unit to go to first.
Lishenko called, and he decided to select the 41st Guards Division as the first unit to inspect.
"General Kurishenko," Sokov said, "I plan to visit your division tomorrow. I wonder if you can spare some time to be my guide?"
"No problem, no problem." Hearing that Sokov was going to inspect his division, Kurishenko said repeatedly: "On behalf of all the commanders and fighters of the division, I welcome your arrival."
"I will not go there alone. I will also bring a group of commanders there." Sokov thought that Ponedelin was selecting cadets to be sent to the 41st Guards Division, and added: "They are all fresh graduates.
For those who graduate from the intermediate commander training class at the Frunze Military Academy, I plan to arrange for them to serve as deputy commander or chief of staff in your division."
Hearing Sokov's arrangement, Kurishenko couldn't help but be overjoyed: "Comrade Commander, this is really great. You know, after the army completes its replenishment, what is most lacking is a battalion-level commander. Please give it to us at once
Sending so many commanders really solved my big problem."
"By the way, General Kurishenko, I remembered something important."
"Comrade Commander, what's going on?"
"It's like this. After I took over as commander in the morning, I called the Weapons and Equipment Department. They promised to provide us with a batch of artillery." Sokov asked: "I want to ask, when did that batch of artillery arrive?
No?"
"It's here, it's here." Kurishenko said repeatedly: "I was just going to report this to you."
"How many artillery pieces are there, and what's the condition of the supporting ammunition?"
Although Sokov did not ask about the model of the artillery, Kurishenko still answered truthfully: "The Bofors M1930 75mm field guns were sent to our defense area, a total of 24. I originally thought that each
It would be nice if the cannons had a base number, after all, this kind of artillery is very rare. But I didn’t expect that the cannon shells brought to us by the transport team had three base numbers for each gun, which is enough to organize an attack."
"General Kurishenko, I appreciate your fighting enthusiasm, but now is not a good opportunity to attack." After Sokov waited for the other party to finish speaking, he said seriously: "The mission of your division is to be like a nail.
Yes, stick to the current position and never allow the Germans to move forward."
But Kurishenko on the other end of the phone, when he heard what Sokov said, he frowned in disapproval. In his heart, he did not think that Highland 239 would be attacked by the German army. After all, the besieged German army was to the north of the encirclement.
Launch a crazy offensive, trying to open a gap in the Soviet defense line and join forces with the troops coming to rescue. If the German army failed to break out in the north and turned around to the south, it would have been severely damaged, coupled with the obstruction of friendly forces along the way.
, by the time they arrived near Highland 239, they had basically lost their combat effectiveness, and their own troops were enough to completely defeat them.
"Don't worry, Comrade Commander." Kurishenko said on the phone: "As long as the Germans come, we will fight until they doubt their life."
From the tone of Kurishenko's words, Sokov noticed that the other party did not seem to pay attention to the surrounded German troops, and he couldn't help but frowned. He thought to himself that although the German troops were trapped in a tight siege, they were so thin.
Camels are bigger than horses. Although the German officers and soldiers who have experienced many battles are at a disadvantage in terms of strength, they will still suffer heavy losses if they underestimate the enemy.
Facing Kurishenko who underestimated his enemy, Sokov was full of dissatisfaction, but he did not reveal his true situation. Instead, he tried hard to control his emotions and said in a calm tone: "Kurishenko
General Shenke, there are some things that are difficult to say on the phone. Let’s talk about it after we meet tomorrow.”
After finishing the call with Kurishenko, Sokov looked at Smirnov sitting opposite and asked: "Comrade Chief of Staff, what do you think of General Kurishenko's abilities?"
"How should I put it?" Hearing Sokov's question, Smirnov was silent for a moment, and then said cautiously: "When the war broke out, he was just a major battalion commander. In more than two years, he became a major battalion commander.
If you can grow up to be a division commander of the Guards Division, I think you must still have the ability."
After listening to Smirnov's evaluation, Sokov said nothing more. He felt that Kurishenko should have some abilities, but he was a little underestimating the enemy. He would have a good talk with him when he goes to the 41st Guards Division tomorrow.
Talk, let him be alert and prepare for the coming fierce battle.
At this time, Ponedelin came in from the outside and said to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, the trainees who will serve in the 41st Guards Division have been selected. I don't know when they will be allowed to take up their posts."
"Tomorrow." Sokov replied briefly: "Tomorrow I will personally send them to take office in the 41st Guards Division."
