"Actually, it's nothing." Potapov said thoughtfully: "Comrade Stalin didn't ask many questions, mainly about the situation when I commanded the troops to fight in Ukraine, and what happened to me after entering the prisoner of war camp..."
"That's all?!" Ponedelin asked in disbelief: "That's all Comrade Stalin asked you?"
"Yes, that's all I asked about." As soon as Potapov finished speaking, he quickly added: "By the way, I also asked about the German defense situation in East Prussia."
Sokov was also quite puzzled. After Stalin and Potapov met, they asked such a simple question, and then even restored the other's military status and let him return to the front line.
With such doubts, Sokov waited for the silence on the field and asked: "General Potapov, after Comrade Stalin finished talking to you, did he reinstate your military status and let you return to the front line?"
"Reinstatement of military status was indeed after the conversation." Potapov explained to Sokov and everyone else: "But it was my initiative to return to the front line."
"Did you ask for it?" Ponjelin asked with a shocked look on his face: "Is this true?"
"Yes," Potapov nodded and continued: "After I met Comrade Stalin, I was placed in a hotel on Arbat Street. Early the next morning, Poskrebyshev came
They met me at the hotel and asked me if I wanted to stay in Moscow or go to the front."
"Then how did you reply?" After Sidorin asked this question, he immediately realized that he had said nonsense. If the other party wanted to stay in Moscow, how could he be on the front line at this moment? He quickly changed his words and said: "Then you
Just think of the front line, right?"
"Yes, that's exactly it." Potapov nodded, affirmed Sidorin's statement, and continued: "Then, Poskrebyshev asked me what kind of position I hope to hold.
"
This time no one interrupted him, allowing him to say the next words smoothly: "I thought about it, although I am a tank soldier. But after being detained in a prisoner of war camp for more than three years, I was really asked to command a tank.
I was afraid that I was powerless in the army, so I planned to change to other positions. After some thinking, I felt that I had some experience in commanding artillery operations, so I proposed to Boskrebyshev that I would be allowed to serve as a group army officer.
For the position of artillery director, if possible, it would be best to go to the 48th Group Army."
When Sokov heard this, he began to think: Potapov was the commander of the 5th Army in the early days of the war, and even Marshal Rokossovsky was his subordinate, but now he is willing to lower his profile and come to
It's a bit unbelievable to be the artillery director for yourself.
"General Potapov," while Sokov was deep in thought, Sidorin said: "I remember that you are the commander of the 5th Army. You have never commanded an artillery unit. You have come to us as a small
Artillery Director, is that suitable?"
"I think it's very appropriate." It was Ponedelin who spoke. He smiled and said to Sokov and Sidorin: "You may not know yet. When fighting in Ukraine, Potapov used swamps as his base.
They provided cover and used accurate and intensive artillery fire to attack the German troops advancing along the road, which made great contributions to our army's escape from the enemy's encirclement."
But after hearing this, Sokov felt even more uncomfortable, secretly thinking that no matter how capable you were, wouldn't you still have become a prisoner of the Germans in the end? What Ponedelin said may be exaggerated to a certain extent.
Potapov, who was observing the situation at the side, saw the change in the expression on Sokov's face and immediately guessed what was going on. He quickly explained: "General Sokov, in fact, during the battle in Kiev, I was able to get rid of being trapped.
The fate of being a prisoner, but because of a wrong order, caused an irreparable tragedy."
"What wrong command?"
"At that time, the situation in Kiev became extremely serious, and our superiors gave our group army an order to retreat." Potapov said: "Just when I was following the orders of my superiors to withdraw the troops from the fighting area in batches, I unexpectedly received an order.
A combat order allows us to concentrate all our forces and launch an attack on the German army."
"What, after Kiev's retreat began, someone actually gave you an order to attack?" After hearing this, Sokov was shocked: "Isn't this asking you to die?"
"Yes, the 5th Army has been severely weakened after a long period of fighting." Potapov explained: "In the offensive order from our superiors, we were asked to concentrate our efforts on attacking Zhytomyr, west of Kiev.
And smashed the heavy German army group there. When I received this order, I knew that with my own strength, I was simply unable to complete these arduous tasks. But the habit of obedience developed in the army for decades made me clearly aware of this.
It’s an order for us to die, but we still gather the troops we can contact to attack Zhytomyr.”
Potapov didn't say what happened next, but everyone understood what was going on. When the troops in the Kiev area were showing signs of defeat, launching an attack on the enemy's heavily defended city was tantamount to dying in vain.
Needless to say, the final result was that Potapov's troops were annihilated by the enemy and he himself became a prisoner of the Germans.
Sokov took a deep breath, stood up straight, stretched out his hand to Potapov, and said in a friendly tone: "General Potapov, on behalf of all the commanders and fighters of the 48th Group Army, I welcome you to join us!"
Potapov quickly stretched out his hands, held Sokov's hand tightly, and said with some emotion: "Thank you, thank you, Comrade Commander! I will fully cooperate with you in the coming days."
Your."
Now that Potapov, the artillery director, has officially taken office, the topic to be discussed next is related to the offensive that will be launched in a few months.
Sidorin looked at Potapov and asked: "Comrade Director of Artillery, if our army wants to prepare artillery fire on the enemy's positions before attacking, where will your priority target be?"
In response to the question raised by Sidorin, Potapov pondered for a moment, and then said: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I have provided you with the drawings of the enemy's fortifications last time. If we want to attack, we must give priority to shelling those
A solid position. As long as the German solid fortifications are destroyed, their defense line will become shaky. When our infantry launches an assault, they will be able to break through the enemy's defense line in the shortest time."
Potapov's answer could only be regarded as quite satisfactory. There was nothing special about it. Sokov did not take it seriously after hearing it. What he was considering now was to let the scouts figure out the German defense situation as soon as possible, and so on.
When the attack starts, you can attack them in a targeted manner.
"Comrade Chief of Artillery," Sidorin was very dissatisfied with Potapov's answer. He felt that what the other party said was as if he didn't say it. Who doesn't know that before attacking, it is necessary to destroy the enemy's strongest armor well?
Fortifications, thereby reducing the resistance encountered by the troops during the attack: "Can you be more specific?"
"Comrade Chief of Staff, if you want me to tell you now, when we attack, we should first bombard those targets of the German army and what results we can achieve. Unfortunately, I cannot do it."
"Why?"
"The reason is very simple." Potapov continued: "I don't know the size of the army's artillery, as well as the number and specifications of the artillery. How can I come up with a constructive plan?"
"Potapov is right." As soon as Potapov finished speaking, Ponedelin added: "Although he stayed with us for a while, due to his sensitive status at the time, there was no information about the situation within the army group.
, I basically didn’t tell him, it’s not surprising that he is not familiar with the artillery situation.”
Sokov felt that what Ponedelin said made sense, so he said to him: "Comrade Deputy Commander, I will leave it to you to familiarize General Potapov with the work of the artillery unit. You are no different.
Opinion?"
"No." Ponejelin shook his head and said with a smile on his face: "I am happy to accept such a task."
"Also," Sokov continued to say to Ponedelin: "General Potapov's body is relatively weak. It is best to arrange a health worker to take care of his daily life..."
"Comrade Commander," Potapov hurriedly waved his hands and said after hearing that Sokov planned to arrange for a health worker to take care of his daily life, "I'm used to being alone, and I don't need anyone's help."
"No, General Potapov." But Sokov said firmly: "Your body is too weak. I don't want you to fall on the eve of victory because you work too hard." After saying this, he warned again.
Ponedelin, "Comrade Deputy Commander, remember, you must send the best health worker to take care of General Potapov's daily life."
"Don't worry, Comrade Commander." Ponedelin felt that what Sokov said was very reasonable. No matter how strong Potapov's body was before, after spending so long in a German prisoner-of-war camp,
He had long since become extremely weak. If he did not have someone to take care of him, he might fall ill one day, so he promised Sokov: "I will arrange suitable personnel to take care of Potapov."
After several people finished eating, they called the orderly to clear the table. Sokov picked up the cigarette case on the table and spread it around. But when he handed the cigarette case to Potapov, the artillery director
Rejected: "Thank you for your kindness, Comrade Commander, I have already quit."
Since Potapov didn't want to smoke, Sokov didn't force it. He put the cigarette case on the table, lit the cigarette in his mouth, and asked casually: "General Potapov, I want to ask you something
people."
"who?"
"After the war broke out, the German army captured many prisoners of our army when they attacked the Brest Fortress." Sokov looked at Potapov and asked: "I want to ask, what are the prisoners in your prisoner of war camp?"
Has there ever been such a prisoner of war?"
Hearing this question, Potapov frowned and thought about it. After a long time, he said in an uncertain tone: "There seems to be a group of prisoners of war from the Brest Fortress. But in February 1942, they
They were all shot dead by the Germans, and killed along with them were the family members of the soldiers who were captured in the fortress at the same stage."
"Damn Germans." When Sidorin heard this, he punched the table hard and said through gritted teeth: "This is another blood debt they owe, and we will pay them back sooner or later.
.”
After Sokov waited for Sidorin to finish speaking, he asked Potapov about the person he cared about: "The person I want to ask is Major Gavrilov, one of the defenders of the Brest Fortress.
He was the commander of the 44th Infantry Regiment. When the main force of the German army occupied the fortress, he held on to the fortress alone for a month.
I saw in a captured document that when Gavrilov was captured by the Germans, he was in ragged clothes, skinny, unshaven, and his face was dusty. He was in a coma, extremely weak, and even had trouble swallowing. But
Moments before he was captured, he still struggled to drop bombs and shoot with a gun, killing and wounding many German officers and soldiers."
After Sokov finished speaking, before Potapov had any reaction, Ponedelin said in surprise: "Comrade Commander, when did you see this information? Why have I never seen it before?"
Naturally, Sokov would not tell the other party that what he said came from the database of later generations. He could only say vaguely: "After the last occupation of the Brest Fortress, when I was checking the captured German information,
I saw it by accident.”
After hearing Sokov's impeccable statement, Ponedelin couldn't ask any more questions. He could only turn his attention to Potapov and wanted to hear whether his old friend had seen this Gavrilov.
.
But what is regrettable is that Potapov thought for a long time, and finally slowly shook his head and said apologetically: "I'm sorry, Comrade Commander, I have never heard of this person."
Sokov's frustration showed on his face and was seen by everyone. In order to resolve the awkward atmosphere, Sidorin said first: "Comrade Commander, if this Major Gavrilov is really like the German
As stated in the information, he might have been sacrificed a long time ago. After all, the Germans will not use their precious medicines on our wounded soldiers, especially the wounded soldiers who were captured by them."
Sokov knew a little bit about Gavrilov's ending. He knew that he lived until the day of victory and was awarded the title of "Hero of the Soviet Union" after returning to the country. Although he knew that the other party was still alive at this moment,
But he didn't know where to go to rescue him, which annoyed Sokov.
"Yes, Comrade Commander." Regarding Sidorin's statement, Ponedelin also agreed: "If his body is really so weak, let alone becoming a prisoner of the Germans, even if he is captured by our army
Even if he is rescued from the field hospital, he may not be able to survive."
"No, I believe there will be a miracle." Sokov said: "Although I don't know where he is at the moment, I am convinced that he will survive and even return to his homeland alive."
When Sidorin heard what Sokov said, he felt that the other party was taking it too much for granted, but in front of everyone, it was not easy to disgrace him, so he could only agree: "Comrade Commander is right, a brave fortress like this
The defender will definitely live until the day we win. It would be great if the troops who rescued him from the prisoner of war camp were our army."
Sokov does not know which concentration camp Gavrilov is currently being held in, or whether the concentration camp is within his combat area, so whether he can personally rescue Gavrilov is still unknown. But since Sidorin is like this
To comfort himself, he said casually: "I hope so."
This chapter has been completed!