Stalin's evaluation of Sokov, although Belia had to give up on Sokov's investigation, he was always unwilling. As soon as he returned to his office, he called a deputy and ordered the other party: "Tell us the people in Stalingrad to keep a close eye on Sokov. If he has any problems, report it to me immediately."
Hearing Beria say this, the subordinate couldn't help but be stunned for a moment, and then asked back: "Since he found out that there is something wrong with him, why don't you arrest him immediately, but just continue to monitor him?"
Beria glared at her verbal subordinate and said in a stern tone: "I told you to do whatever you want. Don't you know what you shouldn't ask? Go and execute the order."
The subordinates hurriedly agreed, and then quietly left Belia's office.
At the same time, Stalin walked back and forth in his office with his pipe. Although he had just praised Sokov as a military genius at the meeting and thus denied Beliya's suspicion of Sokov, what Beliya said inevitably made him confused in his heart. After reviewing all Sokov's war examples one by one in his mind, he found that what Beliya said was not completely unreasonable. Sokov's analysis of the situation and his grasp of the fighter can be described as perfect.
Some people may say that Sokov was able to achieve such great results because he commanded a unit with outstanding combat effectiveness. If it were someone else, he could achieve the same results. But Stalin clearly remembered that when Sokov sent the injured Rokosovsky to Moscow for treatment, he left the troops for a while. The unit suffered heavy losses in one battle, so the first thing Sokov did after returning was to reduce the troops.
Stalin returned to his desk and sat down, placed his pipe on the table, picked up the high-frequency phone, dialed a number, and when the voice of the operator of the Kremlin switchboard came out, he slowly said: "I am Stalin, pick me up the Stalingrad Front Command and find Comrade Khrushchev."
After the phone was connected, Stalin asked straight to the point: "Comrade Khrushchev, where is Goldorv?"
"The German army is launching a fierce attack on us," Khrushchev did not know that Stalin called Goldorf's purpose at this moment, but he replied truthfully: "Comrade Commander went to the front line in person."
Hearing Khrushchev's answer, Stalin couldn't help frowning: "Hey, he is the commander of the front army, and his command position should be at the headquarters. Why should he run to the front?" When he said this, Stalin muttered to himself: Is his decision to appoint Goldorf as the commander of the Stalingrad Front Army wrong?
Khrushchev was also wondering: Why Comrade Stalin asked this? Didn’t he know the older commanders that heard that the enemy launched an attack in certain areas. The usual practice was to take a few guards and take a car and hurry to the place where the battle was most intense? Is there anything wrong with Goldorf’s statement?
Stalin seemed to have guessed Khrushchev's thoughts and said on the phone: "Comrade Khrushchev, when Goldordorf comes back, please tell him that he is the commander of the front army, not the battalion commander, and we don't need him to charge, his command position is in the headquarters. He has no right to take risks with his life."
"I understand, Comrade Stalin." Khrushchev quickly replied, "I will convey your meaning to him."
"Also," Stalin hesitated for a moment and decided to tell Khrushchev the current overall situation so that he could be mentally prepared: "Analysis from the current situation, it is possible for the German army to rush to the city of Stalingrad, or even rush into the city, so you must be mentally prepared in this regard..."
"Comrade Stalin, please rest assured." Stalin's words surprised Khrushchev, and he quickly expressed his opinion: "Our commanders and fighters will definitely block the enemy and will never let them get close to Stalingrad."
"Comrade Khrushchev, you have a very good idea." Stalin said bitterly about Khrushchev's statement: "I believe that our commanders and fighters can show great courage and tenacious fighting spirit when facing a brutal enemy. But at the same time, we should also clearly realize that the strength of the enemy is far stronger than we imagined. With our existing strength, it is very difficult to block them."
As a military member of the Stalingrad Front, Khrushchev had already made the worst plan in the face of the unfavorable battle situation, but at this moment, he felt very uncomfortable when he heard Stalin say such words in person. After Stalin finished speaking, he asked carefully: "Comrade Stalin, what should we do next?"
"You take time to go back to Stalingrad to understand the construction of the fortifications in the city as a military commissioner of the Front Army." At this point, Stalin paused for a moment and continued: "Remember, when you return to the city, you first go to Mamayevgang to check out, and the 73rd Infantry Brigade is stationed there. You have a good chat with the brigade commander of the brigade Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, and then report what you said to me in detail."
"Ltd Colonel Sokov?" Khrushchev didn't understand why Stalin asked himself to meet an infantry brigade commander, and even reported his conversations with each other. He asked in confusion: "Comrade Stalin, can I ask, is there anything special about the lieutenant colonel you asked me to meet?"
"He is the son of Mikhail Ivanovicsokov."
After Stalin reminded him, Khrushchev suddenly remembered who Sokov was: "I remembered that when we formulated the Kharkov offensive campaign plan, he also attended the meeting. Now, he thought about it, the opinions he made at that time were completely correct."
Khrushchev's words aroused Stalin's great curiosity: "What opinions did he make at that time?"
"That's right, Comrade Stalin." Since Khrushchev knew Sokov's identity and the previous friendship between Sokov and Stalin, he could speak freely: "He proposed at the meeting that in order to win the Kharkov offensive battle, in the early stages of the battle, the German army must first eliminate the German occupation of the Balvinkovo ​​prominence, otherwise after the battle begins, the German army will launch a counterattack from this area. Unfortunately, both me and Marshal Temuxin, sneer at his statement, and Comrade Marshal even scolded him."
Stalin's heartbeat suddenly accelerated. You should know that this situation is not available. It seems that Xiaomi Sa is not simple, and his judgment on the battle situation is so accurate. Thinking of this, he quickly said to Khrushchev in a hoarse voice: "Comrade Khrushchev, go to Mamayevgang as soon as possible to talk to Xiaomi Sa and listen to his views on the next battle situation. Note that he has said many times on different occasions that the German army will sooner or later rush into Stalingrad, and the enemy and us will launch a cruel street battle in the city. You'd better understand how he came to such a conclusion."
"I understand, Comrade Stalin, please allow me to rush to Stalingrad now." Khrushchev immediately realized that this matter was urgent and asked: "Only in this way can I help you find the answer you want."
Stalin was silent for a moment about Khrushchev's request, and then said, "Now Goldorf is not in the command center, then you should hand over the command to Chief of Staff Major General Nikishev."
Khrushchev put down the phone and called Major General Nikishev over, and said to him with a serious expression: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I will grant the order of the Supreme Commander himself to return to Stalingrad immediately. I will give you everything here."
Although Nikishev was the chief of staff of the Front Army, since the command was in the hands of Goldordov and Khrushchev, he often was a decoration. At this moment, when he heard Khrushchev say that he would hand over the command to him, he was overjoyed and quickly expressed his opinion to the other party that everything in the headquarters would remain normal.
Everything that happened in Moscow was ignorant of Sokov. Seeing him sneezing constantly, Belkin, who was sitting opposite him, asked with concern: "Comrade Brigade Commander, do you have a cold? Otherwise, I will call Asia and ask her to come and see you."
"No, no," Sokov waved his hand quickly and said, "I don't have a cold, maybe I'm allergic to something. Don't worry about me, it'll be fine in a while. Let's continue with the topic just now, where should our field hospital be placed."
"In my opinion," said Belkin confidently: "There are so many buildings on the nearby pier that can accommodate our field hospitals. Why not just put them there?"
"No, we must not." Sokov firmly opposed Belkin's proposal: "Once the battle is transferred from outside the city to inside the city, the direction of the pier will be the focus of German bombing and shelling. If we place the field hospital in a building near the pier, the wounded will be put in a dangerous situation."
"But, comrade brigade commander, have you ever thought that if you put the field hospital in the tunnel according to your ideas, the air inside is not circulating and the possibility of collapse at any time will really put our wounded in danger." Berkin said tit-for-tat: "One other reason I suggest placing it on the dock is that our wounded can be sent to the other side through ships traveling between the two sides of the straits."
Just as the two were fighting each other, Selyosha broke in from outside and hurriedly reported: "The brigade commander and political commissar, a big man came outside and was inspecting our fortifications."
"Big man?" Sokov asked curiously when he heard Selyosha say this: "Are you the leader of the city or the city defense committee?"
Selyosha thought for a while, then shook his head and said, "No. If he was the leader of the city or the city defense committee, Major Ozor should know him, but I just saw that it seemed like they had met for the first time."
"Let's go, comrade political commissar." Seeing that Selyosha couldn't tell who was coming, Sokov rushed to Belkin, who was sitting opposite him and said, "Let's go and welcome this big man."
After leaving the tent, Selyosha pointed to the hills in the distance and said to Sokov and Belkin: "The Brigade Commander, Political Commissar, and the great man, accompanied by Major Ozor, went to the south slope to inspect our fortifications."
When he learned that the big shot had already climbed the south slope, Sokov and Belkin followed Seryosha to climb upwards. Unexpectedly, as soon as they reached halfway, they were blocked by several soldiers from the Ministry of Internal Affairs wearing blue hats.
"What do you mean?" Sokov was very angry when he was pulled over in his defense zone. He asked loudly at the warrior who was blocking the road: "Which part of you are, what are you here to do?"
As soon as he finished speaking, he heard a familiar voice: "Is it Lieutenant Colonel Sokov?"
Sokov looked in the direction of the sound, and saw that there was a short and fat man in a military uniform and a little bald man standing side by side with Ozor on the hill. However, after only a moment, Sokov recognized that the person standing next to Ozor was Khrushchev, a military committee member of the Front Army. He did not expect that he would come to Mamayev's hill, so he replied in a panic: "Yes, I'm Sokov."
"Come here, come to me, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov!" Khrushchev shouted, so Belkin forced himself to panic, while passing by two soldiers who gave way and walking towards Khrushchev.
Sokov arrived at a place two or three steps away from Khrushchev and stopped, straightened his body straight, raised his right hand to his forehead and saluted, and said nervously: "Hello, Comrade of the Front Military Military Commission, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, the commander of the 73rd Infantry Brigade, reported to you, I obey your orders, please give instructions!"
"Hello, lieutenant colonel." Khrushchev, who had a smile on his face, finished saluting Sokov, held his hand, and said loudly: "I was ordered to go to the city to check the construction of the fortifications. When I passed by, I saw someone building fortifications on the hills. Out of curiosity, I came over to take a look. How about it, it didn't disturb your work, right?"
When Sokov heard Khrushchev's question, he smiled awkwardly, and said in his heart: You should ask Ozor next to him this, what does it mean to ask me? But he still said with a respectful attitude on the surface: "Comrade Military Commissioner, welcome to Mamayev's Gate to guide our work. I would like to invite you to visit our newly built fortifications and then give us some valuable suggestions."
Chapter completed!