After the meeting, Sokov took Ivanov back to his command center. Seeing that Sidolin and Belkin were also there, he greeted the two of them and then introduced to Ivanov: "Comrade Colonel, let me introduce you to you. This is my brigade political commissar Belkin, now the leader of the reduction regiment; this is Lieutenant Colonel Sidolin, the chief of the brigade staff, and now the chief of the division staff."
After Ivanov and Sokov introduced his identity to the two, he frowned and asked Sokov: "Comrade Commander, is this appropriate to let political workers serve as the leader of the reduction team?"
Sokov had long guessed that Ivanov would ask this question, so he replied with a smile: "Don't worry, comrade Colonel, Berkin served as the military chief in the early years and later became a political cadre. During his time with me, he also knew very well about the various tactics I used. I am confident that he will be a qualified regiment commander."
"Comrade Chief of Staff," Ivanov did not give any comments on the matter, but looked at Cidolin and asked, "Where are the leaders of my subordinates?"
"They are resting in the room next door." Cidolin quickly replied, "Do you need me to call them?"
"Call them over," Ivanov nodded and said, "Let them know the division commander and deploy combat missions after dawn to them."
The three commanders were next door. As soon as the people sent by Sidolin shouted, they came over immediately. The three of them walked into the command center and came straight to Ivanov. They were about to raise their hand to salute their division commanders according to the regulations, but Ivanov stopped them. He pointed at Sokov, who was standing next to him, and said, "This is our new division commander, Colonel Sokov. You can report to him."
Although the three commanders were full of resentment about their division commander being demoted, they still showed their due respect when facing Sokov, the new division commander. The three raised their hands neatly and said, "Comrade Commander, the commander of the 122nd, 124th, 125th Guards, report to you, we are waiting for your order, please instruct!"
After Sokov and the other three put down their hands, they raised their hands to give them a military salute, then turned to Ivanov and said, "Comrade Deputy Division Commander, can you introduce me to the three regiment commanders? Their speaking speed just now was too fast, and I didn't hear their names and military ranks clearly."
Ivanov did not object to Sokov's request. He nodded, pointed to the three commanders standing in front of him, and began to introduce to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, please allow me to introduce to you the three commanders of the division, Lieutenant Colonel Papchinko, the 122nd Regiment Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Starcha, the 124th Regiment Commander, and Lieutenant Colonel Yershakov. They are all commanders with rich combat experience. I believe that in the battle after dawn, you will achieve satisfactory results."
Sokov nodded, introduced Belkin and Cidolin to the three regiment commanders, and then spoke: "Comrades Commanders, in the battle at dawn, you will rush into the enemy's defensive positions without any cover. You are all commanders with rich combat experience. I won't say much nonsense. I just hope that you can see that you are all alive when the battle ends tomorrow."
Sokov's words made Ivanov and the three commanders look at each other. After a while, Lieutenant Colonel Papuqinko, the leader of the 122nd Regiment, asked carefully: "Comrade Commander, I don't quite understand what you mean. Can you explain it to us?"
"Comrades," Sokov looked at Ivanov and his three subordinates and said, "Warning is not only brave, but also wisdom. Our soldiers are not afraid of sacrifice, but they cannot make unnecessary sacrifices." He pointed to his head, "In combat, we commanders should use our brains more, try to minimize casualties in the army, and obtain the greatest victory at the lowest cost."
"Comrade Commander," as soon as Sokov finished his words, Lieutenant Colonel Starcha, the commander of the 124th Regiment, said with confusion: "If I remember correctly, have I criticized the idea of ​​winning by bleeding less, and said it has always been incorrect and guided the army to easily win?"
"Yes, in the army, I have indeed criticized this view of less bleeding in battle," Sokov said as usual: "But after more than a year of war tests, the bloody facts tell us that if the commander uncontrollably consumes the precious lives of the soldiers in battle, it will be of no help to reverse the situation on the battlefield except for causing countless unnecessary casualties."
Although Starcha did not fully agree with what Sokov said, he said vaguely: "I understand, comrade of the division commander! I will find ways to reduce the casualties of the troops in combat."
They all got to know each other, and then Sokov began to assign tasks to the three regiment commanders: "In the battle after dawn, the 122nd and 124th regiments were the first to attack the enemy's positions; the 125th regiment was the second tier, and after the first tier broke through the enemy's defense line, they immediately entered the battle to consolidate the breakthrough..."
After arranging the mission, Sokov considered that the commanders and fighters of the 41st Division of the Guards used the old tactics, so he added: "Before tomorrow's attack begin, the army artillery deployed on the left bank will carry out artillery preparations for half an hour on the enemy's positions. According to previous practice, our troops only attacked the enemy's positions after the artillery was over. However, I planned to adjust the steps of the attack. When the artillery began, our first echelon set out directly towards the enemy's positions."
"What, when the shelling begins, head towards the enemy's position?" Sokov's words scared Ivanov, and he quickly reminded Sokov: "Comrade Commander, then our soldiers may be hit by their own shells."
Sokov did not answer his question immediately, but quickly came to the wall and greeted everyone, "Everyone comes to me!" After everyone gathered beside him, he took a lecture stick, pointed to the map on the wall, and said to everyone, "Look at the map, it is almost four kilometers away from Mamayevgang to the first line of defense. At the normal speed of travel, it will take about forty minutes to complete the four kilometers. Think carefully, if you are bombarded by the enemy, how long can the soldiers re-enter the shooting position after the shelling ends?"
After this question was raised, everyone immediately frowned and began to think. Soon, Ivanov came up with the answer: "I think at most five minutes, I can get all the soldiers into the shooting position."
"That's right." Sokov nodded and said, "If our soldiers leave their positions after the shelling is over and advance towards the enemy's positions. Before they get close to the positions, the enemy has made all preparations for combat. When our soldiers go up again, they can only use them as targets."
After Sokov's explanation, the four commanders, including Ivanov, all understood that to fight in Mamayevgang, some of the old tactics in the past had to be adjusted. Ivanov said readily: "Comrade Commander, I understand that after tomorrow, when the cannon sounded from the other side, I ordered the troops to attack the enemy's positions."
At the military meeting held by the headquarters, Sokov realized that neither Cuikov nor Krelov mentioned the enemy's troops deployment, perhaps because the time was too hasty and there was no time to send people to reconnaissance. Therefore, Sokov felt that it was necessary to show Ivanov and the others a warning bell in this regard: "Also, the headquarters does not seem to understand the enemy's troops deployment at all."
Starcha asked with a bitter face: "If you don't understand the enemy's troops deployment, how can we attack?"
"According to my estimate, the commander will ask the troops to send a battalion to reconnaise the enemy's defense line before attacking." Sokov thought that in the late stage of the war, the tactic that Cuikov liked to use was to send a reconnaissance battalion, touch the enemy's position near the enemy's position, and carry out firepower reconnaissance. If the enemy is not strong, the reconnaissance plane will turn to the defense on the spot and ask for reinforcements from the rear. "Then judge the enemy's troops' deployment based on the progress of the battle of this battalion."
"Hehe," Ivanov just turned from the First Guards Army and naturally had no idea about Cuikov's combat style. When he heard that Cuikov would send a reconnaissance battalion to test the enemy's firepower and military deployment, he couldn't help but complain: "If the reconnaissance area happened to catch up with the enemy's gathering of heavy troops, wouldn't it be a waste of money to ruin a reconnaissance battalion? Moreover, it would expose our army's offensive intention to the enemy."
"You are right. This kind of reconnaissance method does do more harm than good." Sokov agreed with Ivanov's statement, but he also said helplessly: "But the counterattack to be carried out this time is too hasty. Our army has not even had time to carry out basic reconnaissance, so we can only use this method to roughly understand the enemy's deployment of troops."
"Comrade of the Deputy Division Commander," Belkin, who had never spoken, said at this moment: "Because the friendly forces took active actions in the north of Orlovka. In order to block their attack and prevent the friendly forces from joining the defenders in the city, the Germans transferred all the troops stationed near Mamayevgang to Orlovka in the north. Now, the enemy opposite us is the Romanian army."
"What, the enemy opposite is the Romanian army?!" When I heard that the enemy I was facing was not the Germans, but the Romanian army of the vassal country, Lieutenant Colonel Papuchinko couldn't help but shine: "Comrade Commander, if the Romanian army opposite us is really the Romanian army, I can assure you that my troops will easily defeat them."
"Ltd. Colonel Papuchinko, even if the army of the vassal country is opposite us, we should not underestimate the enemy." In order to prevent the opponent from underestimating the enemy, Sokov specifically reminded Papucinko: "Ltd. Colonel Papuchinko, in the battle the day before yesterday, our Beigang was attacked by the Romanian army. After the enemy rushed to our position, he engaged in hand-to-hand combat with our soldiers. I witnessed all this with my own eyes. To be honest, the fighting will of the Romanian army officers and soldiers were still very strong. They and our defenders were fighting bayonets on positions several hundred meters wide, just like medieval soldiers. Although we finally repelled their attack, the defenders in Beigang were almost completely injured and killed."
Sokov's words forced Papuqinko to put aside his contempt for the Romanian army. He said cautiously: "I really didn't expect that these military troops of the vassal states would have the courage to fight bayonets with our soldiers. It seems that when we fight with them, we must be vigilant enough, otherwise we will suffer a loss."
"Lieutenant Colonel Papuchinko," Sokov, after he finished speaking, reminded the other party in kindness: "When you attack the Romanian army's positions, if you are intercepted by their machine gun fire, don't let the soldiers rush forward blindly, but should immediately establish several machine gun positions to suppress the firepower points on the enemy's positions and cover the soldiers to continue their attack."
If Sokov said this a few minutes ago, Lieutenant Colonel Papuchinko would not have been dissatisfied, but at this moment he knew very well that Sokov was teaching him valuable experience in the battlefield survival, so he said gratefully: "I understand, comrade of the division commander, I will never let the soldiers make unnecessary sacrifices."
Sokov raised his hand and looked at the watch. Seeing that it was getting late, he said to the three regiment commanders: "Comrade Commander, it's getting late. You all go back to your respective troops. While the battle is still five or six hours, hurry up and have a good rest."
After the three commanders left, Sokov felt something was wrong. He got up and looked around the house. He suddenly remembered that he had been back for so long, why didn’t he see the political commissar of the division? He hurriedly asked Ivanov: "Comrade Deputy Commander, where is the political commissar? Why didn’t I see where he is?"
Ivanov shook his head and replied, "In order to prevent the troops from losing serious losses under the enemy's artillery fire, I and the political commissar were not on the same barge when I set off. And as soon as I got off the ship, I received a notice to attend a meeting at the headquarters, so I don't know where he is now."
After Berkin and the other two finished speaking, they asked tentatively: "Are you talking about the battalion-level political commissar Anisimov?"
"Yes, that's him." Sokov and Ivanov nodded at the same time and asked in unison: "Do you know where he is?"
Chapter completed!