Yakov brought Sokov and Potukin to the outside of the command center, pointed to the truck parked not far away, and said to Sokov: "Misha, the automatic guns and supporting ammunition prepared for you are on the car. Do you think my people will send you back to the army now, or will you take them back by yourself after you finish your work here?"
Sokov recalled the tone of Rokosovsky talking to him, and guessed that the other party must have something important to explain, and it is still possible to go back. Yakov and his team were tasked with sending weapons, so they would definitely not stay here for too long. Therefore, he said to Yakov decisively: "Yakov, I think it's your people to send these weapons to my troops." Then he ordered Potukin: "Comrade Chief of Staff, please help me to be a guide for the comrades from Moscow and transport these weapons back to the division headquarters."
When Sokov walked back into the command center, Yakov pointed at a jeep not far away and said to Portokin: "Captain, my car is there, please get in!"
Although Potukin saw the jeep he sent, he parked not far away, but he thought it would be better to leave it to Sokov, so he went over to say hello to the driver and walked towards Yakov's jeep.
The lieutenant who came with Yakov saw Potukin respectfully towards Sokov, and couldn't help but ask Yakov curiously: "Captain, I just saw the lieutenant colonel talking to Major Sokov, just like a subordinate treats his superiors. What's going on?"
"Major Sokov is now the acting commander of the 328th Division, and the lieutenant colonel is his chief of staff." After explaining briefly to the lieutenant, Yakov ordered him: "The jeep I and the lieutenant colonel are leading the way in front, and you can come here by truck."
After Sokov returned to the command center, Rokosovsky made a gesture to the empty seat next to him: "Misha, sit down. I think we should have a good talk."
When Sokov was in the military hospital in Moscow, he swore to tell Rokosovsky that according to his analysis, the other party would take over the commander of the Bryansk Front Army in May, and at the same time made a request to let the other party take away his troops when he was transferred.
Although it was already May, the Kharkov battle, commanded by Marshal Temuxingo, was about to begin, but there was no sign of Rokosovsky's promotion. Therefore, when Sokov heard Rokosovsky say he wanted to talk to him, he felt a sense of silence. He asked happily: "Comrade Commander, don't know what you plan to talk to me?"
"I remember when you were recuperating at Dimiryazef Agricultural College, you told me that according to your judgment, I will get a higher position in May." Rokosovsky looked at Sokov with a smile and said, "It's already May, and before I left Moscow, no leader had ever talked to me. It seems that your judgment was wrong this time."
Rokosovsky's words made Sokov sweat suddenly. He only remembered that Rokosovsky served as commander of the Bryansk Front after he was discharged from the hospital due to injury, but he couldn't remember the specific time. But in order to avoid being transferred to the Southwest Front to be cannon fodder, he couldn't wait to talk about this matter with Rokosovsky, but it turned out that it was now in a difficult situation.
"Comrade Commander," Sokov could only say with a gritty bullet: "You also know that before I visited you in the hospital, I attended a military meeting chaired by Marshal Timuxine. The reason why I said that to you was entirely based on the analysis of the situation at that time."
Fortunately, Rokosovsky just asked casually, and he did not take this matter seriously. He was more concerned about whether the performance of the 328th Division could satisfy him after the offensive battle began soon. He pushed the map in front of Sokov and asked, "What would you do if you let your division attack the enemy on the other side of Zhizdra?"
"Our front position is only two hundred meters closest to the enemy." Sokov felt relieved when he heard Rokosovsky ask how to attack the enemy on the other side of Juzdra. He quickly pointed to the map and said, "If there is any movement on our position, the enemy on the other side can see clearly. If they blockade with fire, our attacking troops will suffer huge casualties before reaching the river."
"I know very well what you said." Rokosovsky asked without hesitation: "I'll ask you now, how do you plan to force the troops to cross the Juzdra River?"
Although Sokov, who came from later generations, had never been a soldier, he learned a lot of tactics through various media. If he wanted to force crossing the Jizdra River, he would definitely not foolishly use people to fill it. If he attacked directly from the position and forced crossing the Jizdra River, not only would the troops pay a heavy price at this distance from the riverside; but even if he arrived by the river, he would still pay an equally heavy price when waiting to board the ship. In this way, half of the people died before they started crossing the river, so how could the remaining battle be fought?
Therefore, he pointed to the map and said to Rokosovsky: "Comrade Commander, this is what I thought about. At the beginning of the offensive battle, I used the artillery fire of the army to bombard the German positions, and my troops also acted as a forceful crossing. Of course, these were just to confuse the enemy. The main force of our division would quietly go up the River Juzdra without the enemy's notice, looking for places where the German army's defense was weak. When the troops crossed the river from the upstream and launched an attack from the enemy's flank, the enemy's attention would definitely be attracted. At that time, the troops deployed in the front and then carried out a forceful crossing, which would greatly reduce casualties."
According to Rokosovsky's idea, Sokov would definitely ask himself to bombard the enemy with the artillery fire, and then his troops would force cross the Juzdra River while the enemy was suppressed by artillery fire. He was still thinking that the landing location of the troops was only a few dozen meters away from the German position. Even if the artillery was careful, it would inevitably be injured by accident. But at this moment, when he heard Sokov's plan, he couldn't help but lit up and asked, "Misha, have you found a suitable crossing location?"
"Here." Sokov pointed to the upper reaches of the Zedra River and said to Rokosovsky: "After our exploration, five or six kilometers upstream, there was a section of river flowing at a gentle level and shallow water flowing, so our troops could traverse. Most importantly, our scouts found no trace of the Germans nearby."
"In this way, it is very appropriate to choose this place as a breakthrough." After Sokov finished speaking, he said with satisfaction: "Major Sokov, our offense will start in a week. You should start preparing for the offensive matters now. If you have any needs, just call me or the Chief of Staff, and we will do our best to meet your needs."
Next, Malinin introduced Sokov to the offensive battle that would begin soon, and pointed out their next attack direction on the map.
When Sokov left the command center, he thought he could only walk back to the division headquarters, but accidentally saw the jeep that sent him and Potukin. At this moment, he was still parked on the side of the road, so he hurried over.
The driver who was napping in the car saw Sokov coming towards him, quickly got out of the car and saluted him, and reported, "Comrade Commander, are we going back to the division headquarters now?"
Sokov asked curiously: "Comrade Driver, why are you still here? Why haven't you returned to the division headquarters with the Chief of Staff?"
"Comrade Commander," he heard Sokov's question, and the driver quickly replied: "The Chief of Staff took another jeep and returned to the division with the commander from Moscow. He was worried that it was inconvenient for you to return to the division headquarters without a car, so he asked me to stay and wait for you. Please get in the car, we can set off at any time!"
Sokov returned to the division headquarters and saw a pile of things covered with canvas next to the command center. He immediately determined that this was the automatic rifle sent by Yakov and his friends. However, for the sake of safety, he walked over and lifted the canvas and looked at it. It was indeed a wooden box loading rifles and bullets. He waved to a warrior from the guard platoon and told him, "Comrade Warrior, go back and tell you the platoon leader, and let him send two people to guard. Without my order, no one is allowed to approach this batch of weapons."
Seeing Sokov walking in from outside, Potugin said with surprise: "Comrade Commander, you are back!"
"I'm back!" Sokov spoke, his eyes swept through the command center quickly, and found that there were only a few staff officers and correspondents except Potukin. He asked curiously: "Where are the comrades from Moscow?"
"They have left long ago!" Potukin replied quickly, "They unloaded the weapon and left in a hurry. I originally wanted to invite the captain in for tea, but he said there was something important and he needed to rush back to Moscow immediately, so I didn't leave them." After a moment of pause, Potukin asked again, "Comrade Commander, how should we allocate this batch of new automatic rifles?"
Seeing Potukin looked embarrassed, Sokov understood in his heart that the number of these assault rifles was too small, only fifty, and they were not enough to be distributed. Therefore, he said decisively: "This batch of new automatic rifles will be handed over to the Division Guard Platoon and let them change their clothes."
The reason why Sokov handed over the assault rifle to the guard platoon was that the troops supplemented by the superiors were all added to the regiment battalions, so that the original division guard battalion could only temporarily change to a platoon system because of insufficient numbers. The number of people in the defense division headquarters was small, and if the weapons were worse, if they encountered enemies who sneaked into the division headquarters, they would have no power to fight back.
After solving the problem of gun distribution, Potukin continued to ask: "Comrade Commander, can I ask, has the commander talked to you about anything?"
"In another week, we will launch another attack on the enemy." Sokov slapped the map in front of him with his hand: "The first thing we need to break through is the enemy position in the front of the 1135th Regiment."
After hearing Sokov's words, Potukin couldn't help but frown: "Comrade Commander, you should know that the frontier position of the regiment is only two hundred meters away from the enemy's position. Once our troops leave the position, they will be killed and injured by the German firepower on the other side. After arriving at the river, our soldiers will board the ship under the enemy's guns and bullets, and the casualties will be even more terrifying."
"Yes, comrade Chief of Staff, you're right." Sokov said, staring at the map in front of him: "If we order the 1135th Regiment to take a forced crossing action, half of the commanders and fighters will be eliminated by the enemy's firepower before crossing the river, so we must adopt new tactics."
"New tactics?" Potukin was stunned when he heard Sokov say this, and then asked back: "What new tactics?"
"It's very simple. Before the attack, the artillery of the group army will provide us with artillery support and launch artillery attacks on the German army on the other side." Sokov drew a small arc on the map with his hand and continued: "We can order the 1135th Regiment to take a stance to attack to attract the attention of the enemy. And our main force will go up the river, cross the river here, and detour to the side of the German army."
"This is very interesting." Although Potukin felt that Sokov's tactics were novel and had hope of success, he still said with some concerns: "But comrade, if our actions were discovered by the German army, then the troops crossing the river upstream would be in danger. What can you do to avoid letting the enemy discover our army's intentions?"
"Don't worry, Comrade Chief of Staff, I have a solution." Sokov knocked the position of the 1st Battalion of the 1135th Regiment twice, and then said: "About tomorrow morning, I will order Colonel Bindasov to transfer the other two battalions into the position of the 1st Battalion."
"What, transfer the other two battalions into the first battalion's position?" Hearing Sokov say this, Potugin asked in confusion: "Comrade Commander, although the position of the first battalion has been strengthened, it is very inappropriate to place so many troops on the frontline positions at the same time. In this way, the enemy will soon determine what actions our army will take in this area, which will expose our strategic intentions."
"The troops are transferred up during the day and quietly retreated at night. Then after dawn, they will be sent to the front line again." Sokov ignored Potukin, who was stunned and said to himself: "We just want to give the Germans an illusion that we are constantly increasing troops at the front line, so that they mistakenly think that we will first launch an attack on this place to attract them to transfer more troops."
Chapter completed!