Seeing Sokov staring at the map again in a daze, Cuikov guessed that the other party might be considering something, so he made a gesture to Krelov, indicating that he would not disturb Sokov's thinking. Krelov nodded in understanding, then pulled Cuikov to the side and asked in a low voice: "Comrade Commander, do you really think Sokov can come up with any good solutions?"
Cuikov looked at Sokov, who was in a state of contemplation, nodded slightly, and said, "Comrade Chief of Staff, you should know that Sokov often commands operations with ingenious in order to achieve unexpected results, otherwise I would not call him to the headquarters specifically. Wait, he will not disappoint us."
But Krelov didn't seem to be as confident in Sokov as Trekov. After hearing Trekov say, he just absent-mindedly said: "I hope so!"
Sokov, who had no one disturbed him, took him ten minutes to come up with a relatively reliable solution. He looked up at Cui Kov, who was busy not far away, and said, "Comrade Commander, I have come up with a solution."
When Cuikov heard Sokov think of a solution, his eyes glowed. He stuffed the battle report he was reading into the hands of the staff officer next to him, walked quickly to Sokov, and asked loudly: "Col. Sokov, what's the solution? Tell me quickly."
Krelov also heard what Sokov said, but he was receiving an important call and could not walk away for the time being. He could only worry but could not do anything.
"Comrade Commander," Sokov said to Sokov: "This is how I think about it. Since the German army's offensive against the two factories in the past two days is so fierce, the ammunition required must be astronomical. With so many ammunition, they must be limited to carry with them, and the rest must be stored not far from the battlefield..."
Before Sokov could finish his words, Cuikov understood what he meant: "Col. Sokov, what you mean is that we send people to find the enemy's arsenal and destroy it, so that the enemy's offensive strength can be reduced?"
Seeing that Cui Kov understood what he meant, Sokov nodded and said with certainty: "Yes, Comrade Commander, that's what I mean. As long as we blow up the German arms stock, their offense will come to a standstill in a short time, and then we will have time to reconsolidate the defense."
"Col. Sokov, you have a good idea." Krelov came over after answering the call and said to Sokov: "But since you can think of this, the Germans can definitely think of it too. Since the arms are the guarantee for their attack, I think the vicinity of the arsenal must be very cautious. Even if we send small troops over, we will not have a high chance of success."
"You are right, Comrade Chief of Staff." Sokov did not argue with him, but followed him. After a moment of pause, he added: "Although we send people to attack the enemy's arsenal, it may not be successful, and even the small troops sent cannot come back. But if we do not send people, we cannot pose any threat to the enemy."
Cuikov was silent for a long time before speaking: "Col. Sokov, you make sense. Although the small team we sent is not very likely to blow up the enemy's ammunition depot, after all, there is a hope of success, and we have to try it. As long as the enemy's ammunition depot is destroyed, the situation between the barricade factory and the Derrensky factory can be temporarily alleviated."
"But, Comrade Commander." Seeing that Cuikov agreed to Sokov's proposal, Krelov said in embarrassment: "We have no troops in our hands that can carry out this mission."
"Comrade Chief of Staff, call Major Gladshev." Cuikov seemed to have considered the candidates for a long time. As soon as Krelov finished speaking, he said without hesitation: "Let him draw personnel from the guard battalion and form a small team to carry out the mission of sneak attacking the enemy's rear arsenal."
"It's very difficult, Comrade Commander." Krelov sighed and said, "The guard battalion has drawn two companies to the combat area. Now it is serving as the headquarters' guard mission, with only one company's troops. If people are drawn from them, the headquarters' guard forces will become weaker. If there is another group of sneak attacks like today, the headquarters may be defeated by the enemy."
When Krelov and Trekov discussed whether to send soldiers from the guard battalion to sneak into the enemy's back to attack the ammunition depot, Sokov kept muttering: If people were to be drawn from the guard battalion, Major Gladshev would probably have to shrink the defense area. Otherwise, if the enemy came over, they would not be able to stop him. Do you need to recommend yourself and take the initiative to take the task of sneak attacking the German arsenal?
Although Krelov has repeatedly emphasized the lack of troops, Trikov seems determined to let the soldiers of the guard battalion perform this task: "The Chief of Staff, let the staff and logistics personnel organized by the Chief of Operations Colonel Zallijiuk, assist the guard battalion in charge of the headquarters' guard work. In this way, Major Gladshev can draw capable personnel and form a team to go deep into the enemy's back to carry out the mission."
Krelov hesitated for a while about Cuikov's arrangement, finally nodded, and said helplessly: "Okay, Comrade Commander, I will call Colonel Zalijiuke over immediately and ask him to immediately draw staff and logistics personnel to assist the guard battalion in strengthening the headquarters' defense."
Seeing Krelov picking up the phone and as if he was about to call Zalijiuk to assign tasks, Sokov was a little impatient. He drew personnel from the group army guard battalion and formed a squad. Not only would it weaken the defensive power here, but this squad had no experience in fighting behind enemy lines. It was still unknown whether it could complete the task.
It was precisely based on this consideration that Sokov felt that the initiator could no longer remain silent, so he quickly stopped him and said, "Comrade Chief of Staff, please wait!"
Krelov glanced at Sokov in surprise and asked, "Col. What's the matter?"
"Comrade Chief of Staff," Sokov said hesitantly: "I think the headquarters' guards are too weak now. If something happens here, the entire army will fall into chaos because of the loss of unified command. I think such a task can be completely left to our division to complete."
After Sokov finished speaking, Krelov looked at Trekov, then looked at Sokov again and asked, "Col. You won't make things too difficult for you, right?"
When Krelov and Trekov looked at each other, Sokov saw the sly smiles flashing on the faces of the two men, and immediately realized that they might have been fooled. The two men in front of him were acting for him to see. However, it was obviously impossible to repent after he said that, so he could only bite the bullet and answer: "Don't make things difficult, not be difficult at all. We have the confidence to complete any task assigned to us by our superiors."
Seeing that Sokov had taken the bait, Cuikov suppressed his smile and said, "Okay, Colonel Sokov, since you have taken the initiative to request such a task, in order not to undermine your enthusiasm, I will agree to your request. You should go back to the army to deploy now and try to kill the enemy's ammunition depot as soon as possible."
The amused and crying Sokov gritted his teeth and agreed, raised his hand to salute Cuikov and Krelov, and turned around and walked out of the headquarters. Looking at Sokov's back, Krelov asked Cuikov in a low voice: "Comrade Commander, if Colonel Sokov had been pretending to be deaf and dumb, would we really draw personnel from the guard battalion and go to the rear of the enemy to carry out the mission?"
Cui Kev smiled proudly and said, "Comrade Chief of Staff, it seems that you still don't understand Colonel Sokov. Since he proposed this plan to attack the enemy ammunition depot, he must have been prepared to send troops to carry out the mission. Therefore, regardless of whether we both acted in this scene, whether we were in a misleading position or not, it would not affect the final result."
Krelov raised his finger at Trikov and said with approval: "Comrade Commander, you are still awesome. You know Colonel Sokov so thoroughly that you can even guess his little thoughts."
"I think he will soon understand that we are acting for him." Although there is a possibility that Sokov will see through this matter, Cuikov did not think about it at this time. He quickly turned his attention to the two factories that were being attacked by the German army: "Does there any latest battle reports from the Chief of Staff, Barrier Factory and Derrensky Factory?"
"Not yet." Krelov shook his head and said, "I'll call now to ask..."
Sokov walked out of the headquarters and waited outside Samoilov immediately stepped forward and asked, "Comrade Commander, you are out, where will we go?"
"Return to Mamayev Hill."
"Return to Mamayev's hill?" Samoilov thought Sokov would say back to the Red October factory, and was stunned: "Comrade Commander, why is this?"
"The superiors have assigned us an important combat mission." Sokov said helplessly: "I want to go back to Mamayev's post to arrange manpower to carry out the mission."
When he heard that there was a combat mission, Samoilov couldn't help but tremble and asked vigilantly: "Comrade Commander, the commander and others will not ask us to draw troops again, but assist somewhere in defense, right?"
"This is not." Since the next task to be assigned is not a secret, Sokov did not hide it from Samoilov: "The commander asked us to send a small army to the rear of the enemy, but blow up their ammunition depot."
"Comrade Commander, we have several troops behind enemy lines. If we want to perform any combat mission, we just need to give them orders directly. Why do we have to go there in person?"
Chapter completed!