Jiazhan Ning's friendly tone made Samoilov's nervous mood slightly calm. After taking a deep breath, he said to the microphone: "Report to Comrade General, after we broke through the German defense, the brigade commander decided to stay in the occupied position for the time being. After I found the location of the friendly army, I decided to decide what action to take."
When Kazanin heard Samoilov say this, he couldn't help but ask in surprise: "Comrade Lieutenant, your troops are still on the newly captured position."
"Yes, Comrade General." Although Samoilov had been away from the troops for a long time, he guessed that the troops would not easily give up the occupied German positions before he contacted Sokov, so he said in a positive tone: "The troops should still stay on that position at this moment."
"How many troops do you have?" Jia Xingning asked briefly.
Regarding the question of Kazanning, Samoilov thought for a moment and replied: "There is currently a battalion on the position, the guard battalion of the Army Command, and the 308th Infantry Division, which has about 1,000 people. In addition, there is a tank battalion with 11 tanks."
Jiaxiaoning originally thought that Sokov's infantry brigade could have dozens or hundreds of people left at most after protruding from the enemy's encirclement. But now, after hearing the report of Samoilov, he found that there was an infantry division and the guard battalion of the Army Command, and he felt very excited.
But what we need to do next is important. Even if he is a commander of the army, he has no right to make decisions and needs to ask Rokosovsky for advice. Of course, Samoilov's level is too low to directly assign tasks to him. He also needs to find the main person in charge Sokov. Thinking of this, he continued to ask: "Comrade Lieutenant, if I want to contact Lieutenant Colonel Sokov directly, what band and contact code should I use?"
Although Samoilov's military rank was low, he came from the Ministry of Internal Affairs after all. He immediately guessed that there must be important things in Jiazhanning and needed to contact Sokov directly. He quickly asked Lieutenant Colonel Starcha to send someone to call the radio operator waiting outside the door, ask him about the radio contact band and code, and respectfully told Jiazhanning.
After hearing this, Jiaxiaoning said politely: "Lieutenant Samoilov, you must be tired, so stay at the 292nd Division headquarters for rest first. As for Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, I will help you with good things when I contact him later."
After putting down the phone, Jia Xiaoning picked up another phone on the table and said to the microphone: "I am Jia Xiaoning, please pick me up the Front Army Command and find the commander."
In the Front Command of Ivanovka Little, Rokosovsky was chatting with Kilitschenko, the newly appointed brigade-level political commissar. Suddenly, he heard Malining call him and quickly turned his head and asked, "Comrade Chief of Staff, what's the matter?"
"Comrade Commander." Malining covered the microphone with his hands and looked at Rokosovsky and said, "It is General Kasunning, the commander of the 24th Army. He said there are important things to report to you."
"Are there any important things to report to me?" Rokosovsky thought in confusion that the 24th Army had no combat mission today, so what important things could be reported to him? He walked to Malining with questions, took the microphone, and said in his ear: "I am Rokosovsky."
"Hello, Comrade Commander." Hearing Rokosovsky's voice coming from the receiver, Kashinin said excitedly: "I have important information to report to you."
"What's the matter?" Rokosovsky asked briefly.
"I have just confirmed that the 73rd Infantry Brigade, which was defending Orlovka, has successfully broken through the German defense line in the north."
Rokosovsky remembered that he had received a telegram forwarded by Trikov through the Stalingrad Front Command not long ago, saying that Lieutenant Colonel Sokov's 73rd Brigade was breaking north, hoping that he could send someone to help. He did not have much hope for Sokov and others to break through the enemy's siege, so he did not immediately mobilize troops to help. Instead, he just called Jia Xiaoning, the commander of the 24th Army, to let him know whether friendly forces appeared in the defense zone.
Unexpectedly, less than half an hour later, the other party gave him such a big surprise. But for the sake of safety, he still asked cautiously: "Add General Ning, do you really confirm that the 73rd Infantry Brigade has successfully broken through the German defense?"
"Yes, comrade Commander, they have successfully broken through the German defense." Jiazhann replied in a positive tone: "The liaison officer sent by Lieutenant Colonel Sokov is now staying in Colonel Korogotsky's division headquarters."
Confirming that Sokov's troops had broken through the encirclement, Rokosovsky couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, and he continued to ask, "Where are they?"
"It's still on the occupied German positions." Jiaxin Ning said cautiously: "According to the liaison officer, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov wanted to figure out where our troops were and then decide in what direction to move."
"Then what did you think about it? General Ning of the Jiaxue?"
When he heard Rokosovsky ask the point, Kazanning's heartbeat could not help but accelerate, but he tried hard to control his emotions and said in a steady tone: "Comrade Commander, our troops had attacked that position two days ago, trying to open a gap from the enemy's encirclement. Unfortunately, our attack was not successful. Now that Lieutenant Colonel Sokov's troops have occupied there, can we send troops to take over their defense and use it as a new starting point for the offensive to launch a new attack on the enemy defending Stalingrad?"
"Your idea is good." Seeing that Kazanning's proposal coincided with him, Rokosovsky nodded with satisfaction, and then asked: "While the position is still in the hands of friendly forces, you immediately send the 292nd Infantry Division to join them and take over the defense. We want to turn it into a new starting point for offensive attacks."
Since he received the votes from Rokosovsky's permission, Jiaxiaoning immediately began to dispatch troops. He knew very well that it was far from enough to rush to the enemy's defense from there to rely on Korogotsky's 292nd Division, so he issued an order to Major General Vasiliev, the commander of the 298th Division, to let his troops move in the same direction.
While Kazanning was mobilizing the troops, Rokosovsky was not idle either. He summoned several other army commanders to a meeting and began to study ways to break the German encirclement. After the map was placed on the table, everyone surrounded the table and quietly waited for Rokosovsky to tell his plan.
"Comrades," Rokosovsky drew a line between his position and Orlovka with a red and blue pencil. "Everyone knows that the little Ivanovka we are located is only a dozen kilometers away from Orlovka, the closest distance to friendly forces. We once tried to break through the German defense in this direction and went forward to Orlovka to meet with our friendly forces, but the German tenacious defense made our intentions fail."
Except for Malining and Kilitschko, the other commanders who attended the meeting had no idea that the German defense line that made them a headache had been occupied by Sokov's troops. Major General Dannyjiv, the commander of the 21st Army, asked curiously: "Comrade Commander, if I remember correctly, when attacking this line of defense a few days ago, a division of the 24th Army was destroyed. Are you summoning us here today to change to another army to continue the attack?"
When several other army commanders heard Dannyjiv say this, they couldn't help but feel a little shocked, thinking: Wouldn't Rokosovsky plan to let his troops attack the death hillside? The infantry division that was destroyed in front of the enemy's position paid attention to the indelible impression on everyone, and no one would want his troops to repeat the same mistakes.
In order to prevent this death mission from falling on his head, Lieutenant General Kuznetsov, commander of the 63rd Army, said: "Comrade Commander, please be honest, if we do not have the cooperation of the Air Force, we will not be able to break through that line of defense." In order to get the support of several other army commanders, he also emphasized specifically, "Due to the special terrain there, our long-range artillery fire cannot destroy the enemy's fortifications on the top of the hillside, and tanks and cannons will be bombed by the German army. If you really plan to launch an attack from there, we may lose two to three divisions of troops."
"That's right," Kuznetsov finished speaking, several people responded immediately: "If we don't have the cover of the air force, then our tanks and cannons will not be used for anything. The enemy only needs to deploy a few machine guns on the top of the hillside to destroy our offensive forces in the river or on the hillside."
When many army commanders expressed their opinions, Rokosovsky did not speak, but remained silent. After the house calmed down, he announced in shock: "Comrades Commander, the German defense line you are worried about has been taken down not long ago."
"What, the German defense line was taken down?" As soon as Rokosovsky finished speaking, everyone stood there, with an incredible look on their faces. They had searched their dry intestines more than once, thinking about good strategies to seize the enemy's position, but never came up with a solution. At this moment, Rokosovsky suddenly told them that the enemy's position had been taken down, how could they not be stunned and doubtful? "Comrade Commander, are you all true?"
Chapter completed!