"Yes, Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, the situation at that time was very unfavorable to our army." Sokov said: "At that time, I was a garrison squad leader in the town of Khimki, north of Moscow. I heard what I heard every day.
The German army advanced many miles towards Moscow. Fortunately, our army finally blocked the German attack and launched a counterattack against the German army under the city of Moscow, driving them far away from the city."
"The Germans caught us off guard back then, forcing us to abandon a large area of our territory and retreat step by step towards Moscow. But fortunately, we finally crushed the enemy's conspiracy and blocked them firmly in the city of Moscow.
Outside." Zakharov said with some excitement: "Now it is our turn to attack, and they are defending. Judging from the current situation between the enemy and ourselves, the Germans will retreat step by step under our attack. I believe it will not take more than two years.
With time, we can defeat them completely."
"You are right, Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, our army is constantly winning." Sokov nodded in agreement with Zakharov's statement, but he still added his own opinion: "But the German resistance is very weak.
Tenacious, if we continue at the current pace of advancement, I am afraid it will take another two or three years to reach Berlin."
"Then what do you think we should do to speed up our attack?"
"It's very simple. Urging the Allied forces to open the second battlefield as soon as possible can disperse part of the German army's forces and thereby reduce the resistance our army encounters when attacking."
"Comrade Sokov," Zakharov said with some disapproval upon hearing Sokov mentioning the second battlefield: "Do you really think that the Allies opening up a second battlefield will force the Germans to withdraw troops from the Eastern Front?
?”
"That's for sure, Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army." When Sokov said this, he was deeply afraid that Zakharov would not believe what he said, so he also specifically explained: "As far as I know, in the later stages of the Battle of Kursk,
, the Allied forces landed in Sicily, forcing Mustache to transfer Manstein's general reserve 23rd Armored Corps. If this unit was not transferred to Italy, but stayed in the Kursk area and participated in the final offensive
, then it’s really hard to say who will be the final winner in the Kursk battle.”
Sokov's words have reached this point. If Zakharov still doesn't understand, then he is too incompetent as the Chief of Staff of the Front Army. Fortunately, Zakharov is not as stupid as he thought.
Finally, he agreed with Sokov's statement: "Comrade Sokov, you are right. In order to block the attack of three German SS divisions, we used troops from four fronts to barely block it.
against the enemy's offensive.
Of course, during the Battle of Kursk, the troops under your command also contributed a lot. You single-handedly held back three German SS divisions and a battle group, completely reversing the unfavorable situation on the battlefield."
Having said this, Zaharov picked up the tea cup and took a sip of water: "As for the fact that Manstein's general reserve team was transferred by Mustache, this is the first time I have heard of it. I wonder if this kind of news is reliable?
?”
"Of course it's reliable." Naturally, Sokov would not tell Zakharov that he had read about this historical event from "The Lost Victory" written by Manstein. In order to prevent Zakharov from getting to the bottom of it
, he pretended to be vague and said: "I obtained this news from reliable sources, and it cannot be false."
"Comrade Sokov, I believe what you said is true." Zakharov said with some helplessness: "Since the first year when the war broke out, our country has been asking Britain and the United States to open a second battlefield, and even
Every once in a while, delegations will be sent to visit the United States under various names and lobby the United States through various methods, hoping that they can open a second battlefield as soon as possible.
To be honest, at the beginning, I was still full of expectations for this second battlefield. But as time went by, when our army was tenaciously resisting the German attack, the United States did not make any movement, which made me more confident about their attack.
The so-called second front has been completely disappointed."
Speaking of this, Zakharov suddenly remembered a trivial matter, and asked Sokov with a smile: "Comrade Sokov, among the supplies provided by the United States to aid our country, there is a kind of canned beef stew. Guess what our soldiers put it into?"
What’s it called?”
Zakharov's words reminded Sokov of a plot he had seen in a movie before, and he asked tentatively: "Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, our soldiers will never call this kind of canned braised beef.
A battlefield, right?”
As soon as Sokov's words came out, they immediately aroused laughter. But Zakharov raised his hand to stop everyone's laughter, and said sincerely: "Comrade Sokov, you are right, our
That's what the soldiers said indeed. The reason why they gave the American canned braised beef such a strange nickname is because they have completely lost confidence in the second front promised by the United States, and they can only use this matter to
Make jokes to pass the boring time.”
"Comrade Commander," as soon as Zakharov finished speaking, Gorokhov interrupted and asked: "I would like to ask, do you think the Allies will open a second battlefield?"
"Comrade Military Commissar, I think they will definitely open a second battlefield." Seeing that everyone around him looked at him with suspicion, Sokov continued: "When the Great Patriotic War first broke out, Britain and the United States
Seeing that our army was retreating steadily, the country was worried that once they opened a second battlefield, the Germans would use them as the main target of their attack.
In the next two years, they saw repeated tug-of-wars between our army and the German army, and were worried that if a second battlefield was opened at this time, the Germans would be able to mobilize enough troops to deal with their second battlefield.
Now the situation on the battlefield has become clear. The strength of the Germans is getting worse day by day. If we continue to fight like this, I am afraid that the entire European area occupied by the Germans will eventually be liberated by us. The United Kingdom and the United States are worried that our country will become bigger in Europe.
In order to curb our development, they will definitely send troops to open up a second battlefield and compete with us for land in Europe."
Sokov's words made the people around him deep in thought. The various military aids provided by the United States have always made them have a great affection for the United States. But they never dreamed that the United States would do this.
What is the purpose? After listening to Sokov's words, he finally woke up from a dream.
"So, in order to compete for control of Europe, the United States will definitely open a second battlefield?" Gorokhov asked.
"Yes, it is indeed like this." Sokov thought about the famous Normandy landing, which will begin in more than two months. It is necessary to give everyone a warning in advance. He organized the vocabulary in his mind, and then said
: "In order to seize more European land before our army, they will open a second battlefield as soon as possible to seize more land from the Germans."
"Comrade Commander, is your statement too alarmist?"
Faced with Gorokhov's doubts, Sokov smiled and said: "Comrade Military Commissar, if you don't believe it, there is nothing I can do. Anyway, according to my judgment, the Allied forces will open a second battlefield in June and July.
Then you will know whether what I said is accurate."
Everyone was discussing the issue of the second battlefield when a phone on the table suddenly rang. As the chief of staff of the combat cluster, Sameko was worried that he would miss important notifications, so he quickly stepped forward and picked up the topic: "Hey, I am
Chief of Staff Sameko, who are you?"
"Hello, Comrade Chief of Staff." The person on the other end of the phone was Colonel Konev. When he heard that Zakharov was answering the phone, he quickly said loudly: "I am Konev, commander of the 3rd Guards Airborne Division."
Colonel Husband, I have important information and need to report it to Comrade Commander immediately."
Sokov mentioned that the other party knew him, so he walked over and took the microphone from Samyko's hand: "Colonel Konev? I'm Sokov. I'm glad to hear your voice."
"Comrade Commander," Samyko recognized Sokov's voice. He didn't have time to exchange greetings, but directly said what he wanted to report: "My scouts just sent back a piece of information. I think there is
I need to report to you."
Sokov knew very well in his heart that the 18th Guards Army was trapped in a snowstorm and could not walk. If there was no major matter, he would not report directly to him. He quickly said: "Colonel Konev, where are you?
what happened?"
"Comrade Commander, the situation is like this." Konev explained to Sokov: "I thought that our troops would not be able to move forward anyway because of the snowstorm, and they would be idle anyway, so I sent a reconnaissance team.
Conduct reconnaissance of areas where enemy forces are concentrated.
Unexpectedly, this reconnaissance made an unexpected discovery: "Comrade Commander, I originally thought that the enemies in front of us were all Romanian troops. Unexpectedly, the scouts accidentally discovered the German armored troops during the reconnaissance.
It seems that they have been lying in wait there for a long time, preparing to catch our army by surprise."
"Approximately how many troops do the Germans have?"
"According to my estimate, there are at least one or two divisions of troops."
After saying this, Sokov couldn't help but take a breath. Fortunately, he now knew that the Germans had entered the battlefield. If the troops did not know this in advance and still followed the original plan to attack the enemy in front, they would surely have to pay a huge price.
of casualties.
"Comrade Commander," Konev reported to Sokov on the phone: "The enemy's strength is really too strong. If we really fight, with the few troops in my hand, I will definitely not be a match for the enemy.
"
"Don't worry, Comrade Colonel." Sokov comforted the other party and said: "You are not fighting alone. There is also the 4th Guards Airborne Division beside you, as well as the 254th Infantry Division that is about to arrive, plus the friendly force Kra
General Vchenko's 5th Tank Army. With your strength, let alone guarding a small embankment, you are eager to attack important German cities. That's no problem."
"By the way, have you reported this to General Afnin?"
"No." Konev shook his head and said, "I haven't had time to report it yet."
"Then you should report it as soon as possible," Sokov reminded the other party: "If you do not prepare in advance, once the attack starts, it is entirely possible for the troops to suffer heavy losses."
Konev said quickly: "Okay, Comrade Commander, I will call the military commander right away and report to him truthfully what I have discovered."
After ending the call with Konev, Sokov put down the phone and raised his hand to check the time. He wanted to find out how long Colonel Konev had to wait before reporting the reconnaissance information to Afnin.
The general reports.
Samyko saw Sokov staring at his watch and asked curiously: "Comrade Commander, why do you always look at the time?"
Sokov looked up at Samyko and said: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I am counting the time." After saying this, before Samyko could ask anything else, Sokov continued, "I want to see
, after Colonel Konev received my order, how long did it take for the news to reach Afnin's ears."
After Samyko figured out why Sokov was staring at his watch, he said thoughtfully: "I think it will take at least an hour for Colonel Konev to send the information to the division headquarters."
"Comrade Chief of Staff, every minute on the battlefield is precious. If it really takes Colonel Konev more than an hour to report this information to General Afnin, it proves that he does not pay attention to time.
people."
"Comrade Commander, is there such a possibility?" Smirnov suddenly interjected: "Colonel Konev reported the reconnaissance information to General Afunin in a timely manner. But General Afunin felt that
This matter is of no importance, so I never thought of reporting it. So if you want to wait for General Afuning to report this matter to you, I'm afraid you will be disappointed in the end."
"This possibility cannot be ruled out." Regarding the possibility that Smirnov said, Sokov felt that it completely existed. For example, after obtaining a lot of enemy intelligence, Sokov would not immediately report to the front army.
The headquarters made a report. Maybe after Afnin received Colonel Konev's report, he felt that the sudden appearance of German troops in western Zhejiang was not surprising, so whether to report the matter to his superiors became irrelevant.
But just when Sokov was about to give up, the phone on the table rang again.
The person who answered the phone this time was Samek. He picked up the phone and listened for a moment, with a happy face. He covered the phone with his hand, turned to Sokov and said: "Comrade Commander, the phone number is Afunin."
The general called. He said he had just received a report from Colonel Konev that a large number of Germans had been discovered in the area where they were preparing to attack..."
Sokov patiently listened to Samyko's words, and then asked: "Comrade Chief of Staff, did General Afnin tell you what measures they took?"
This question stopped Sameko. After a while, he shook his head and said: "No, General Afnin did not adjust his deployment in time, and was still preparing to launch an attack on the Germans in strict accordance with the plan."
"Comrade Chief of Staff, please tell General Afnin." Sokov pointed at Samyko and said: "We must make two preparations. First, everything goes well. Our army's reinforcements arrived and jointly defeated the new troops.
Secondly, the attack did not go smoothly and the troops had to return to the original starting point of the attack.
If no measures are taken and no fortifications are built in the existing area, if our army fails to attack and is pushed back to the starting position by the enemy, if we do not have decent fortifications and face the crazy attacking enemy, how can we
To stop them?"
This chapter has been completed!