After dawn, when Yakov reported to Ustinov, he specifically mentioned that Golikov planned to transfer Sokov to the Voronezh Front.
After hearing this, Ustinov smiled faintly, and then said, "I really didn't expect that Sokov was so popular that even Golikov wanted to recruit him."
Yakov heard Ustinov's words and asked quickly: "Comrade of the People's Committee, has anyone wanted to recruit Misha before?"
"As far as I know, Rokosovsky has lobbyed Sokov twice," Ustinov said: "The first time was in the town of Shimki. At that time, Sokov had just been promoted to platoon leader. Rokosovsky promised to give him a company commander as long as he agreed to transfer. Two months ago, Rokosovsky even proposed that as long as Sokov was willing to join his troops, he would give him a position as commander."
"What, give him a position as the commander?" Yakov had heard Sokov mention it before, but he didn't care about it. However, in order to recruit Sokov, Rokosovsky even promised him the position of the commander. Yakov didn't know about this. At this moment, he felt it was a bit too fantasy when he heard Ustinov mention it: "Is this true?"
"Of course it's true." Ustinov nodded and said in a positive tone: "I have my own information channels, so I can get a lot of news that is unclear to the Ministry of Internal Affairs in time." He paused for a moment and continued, "Whether it is Rokosovsky, or Golikov, he respects Sokov's opinions very much."
"Why do you say that?" Yakov asked curiously.
"This question is very simple." Ustinov said lightly: "If both of them do not respect Sokov, they can transfer Sokov to their troops with just a transfer order. Not to mention that Sokov is now just a division commander, even if he is a commander, even if he is unwilling to do so, he can only obey the order."
"Comrade of the People's Committee," Yakov asked tentatively after he finished speaking, "When are you going to let him return to Stalingrad?"
Ustinov was silent. After a long time, he spoke: "According to the Supreme Commander himself, Sokov will not be allowed to return to Stalingrad for the time being."
When he learned that the order to prevent Sokov from returning to Stalingrad was actually issued by his father, Yakov couldn't help but ask in surprise: "Why?"
"Maybe, your father intends to send Sokov in a certain direction when the situation deteriorates." After Ustinov finished speaking, he also emphasized: "Of course, this is just my guess."
"Paulus's troops have fallen into the encirclement of our army," Yakov said in surprise: "Do they still want to break out?"
"Absorbing the enemy does not mean that the enemy can be eliminated." Ustinov said with a wry smile: "Last winter, our army besieged 100,000 German troops in Demiansk. For two and a half months, the German army, which relied on air supply, not only blocked the fierce attack launched by our army from several directions, but also successfully broke through in the end.
Model's 9th Army was besieged in the Rzev area, and finally successfully crushed our army's siege.
In addition, there are Holm, Sushinic and so on…”
When Yakov heard these examples listed by Ustinov, he found that the German army was indeed surrounded many times, but in the end they not only crushed the Soviet army's plan to annihilate them, but even successfully broke the siege. In this way, although Paulus's troops were besieged, it was not easy to annihilate them.
After listening to Ustinov's analysis, Yakov was in a bad mood. He returned to his office with a frustration and woke Sokov who was sleeping in the room.
Sokov sat up from the sofa, rubbed his eyes, and asked Yakov weakly: "Yasha, have you asked me when will I be able to return to Stalingrad?"
"Ask," Yakov replied, "You may not be able to return to Stalingrad in a short period of time."
"Why?" Sokov felt a little anxious when he heard that he could not return to Stalingrad for the time being.
Yakov repeated the conversation he had just had with Ustinov to Sokov, and finally said worriedly: "I think the analysis of the People's Committee is very reasonable. Maybe my father will not let you go back to Stalingrad, just to send you to the most dangerous place when the situation deteriorates."
After hearing this, Sokov couldn't help laughing: "Yasa, would you believe such words? You don't think about it. I am just an ordinary division commander. If the situation in a certain direction really deteriorates, even if I am ordered to lead the troops to support me in the face of danger, it will probably be useless."
After Sokov's analysis, Yakov felt that this was true. Sokov had never attended any military academy, and now he was promoted as a division commander. It would probably not be easy to get to the next level. Therefore, it is unreliable to leave him in Moscow to prepare to be sent to important areas at critical moments.
However, when Yakov thought of the possibility of breaking through the Soviet siege, he felt particularly disappointed when he thought of the possibility of breaking through the Soviet siege. He asked Sokov tentatively: "Misha, do you think the Paulus siege will break through the siege of our army?"
"I think if the Paulus group in the encirclement can decisively make up their minds to break through and break through the southwest direction of the encirclement, then there is a possibility that they can escape successfully. But now they not only did not break through, but instead shrink their troops and form a heavy army group in the middle of our encirclement to test this way to resist our army's attack." Sokov sneered: "If their approach had been done last year or at the beginning of this year, they might have really worked, but now they are seeking death."
Sokov's generous speech confused Yakov. He asked in confusion: "Misha, you have confused me. Can you tell me your reasons?"
"The reason is very simple." Sokov said seriously: "Last winter or at the beginning of this year, the reason why our army could not annihilate the besieged German army was that the commanders and fighters involved in the offensive lacked combat experience and had poor technical and tactical skills; the other was that they were not well-equipped and could not be compared with the German army in the encirclement.
But more than a year of war has allowed our officers and soldiers to learn how to fight in the war, and their combat effectiveness has been improved gratifyingly. Moreover, various new equipment emerges one after another, and compared with the enemy's technical equipment, they are not at all inferior. Tell me, our army has improved its combat effectiveness and equipment, can we defeat the enemy?"
"Well, if we follow your statement, it should be possible for our army to defeat the German army." Yakov said thoughtfully: "But the German army has so many troops after all, and it may take time to eat them in one bite."
"In fact, the more enemies we are trapped in the encirclement of our army, the more beneficial it is for our army." After Sokov said this, he saw Yakov's confused look on his face and explained to him: "We surrounded Paulus' heavy army group and cut off their land supply lines, so that they could only use transport planes to provide air supply.
The German air force needs to supply Paulus's troops, not only to provide fuel and ammunition, but also to a large amount of food. It may be maintained in a short period of time, but over time, the enemy will have to cut the ration standards. Think about it, if the Germans were hungry for several months, would they still have the strength to continue fighting with us?"
Yakov knew about Leningrad being besieged. In order to ensure that more people could survive, the city leaders had to grit their teeth and repeatedly cut the ration standards. He suddenly lit up and said excitedly: "Once there is a problem with the supply of the German army and cannot meet the needs of the trapped troops, Paulus had to cut the rations of the soldiers. In this cold season, German soldiers cannot eat, and it is easy to experience a large number of non-combat reductions."
After Yakov finished speaking, he added: "If our army dispatched air force and continuously attacked transport aircraft that provided supplies to Paulus's troops, it would greatly reduce the supply obtained by Paulus. Over time, the combat effectiveness of Paulus' troops would be greatly weakened, reducing the pressure for our army in the subsequent battles."
"Misha, what you analyzed is really reasonable." After listening to Sokov's analysis, Yakov admired him so much that he quickly expressed his opinion: "I will report your analysis results to my father truthfully."
When he heard Yakov mention Stalin, Sokov couldn't help but feel a little moved. He asked tentatively: "Yasa, can you arrange an opportunity to let me meet your father?"
"I'm afraid this won't work." Yakov replied with a wry smile: "Don't say it's you, even I can see it just by wanting to."
Seeing Sokov's disappointed look, Yakov quickly added: "But I can pass on your analysis to the People's Committee and ask him to report the results of the analysis upward when reporting to my father's work so that my father can also know it."
Since he couldn't see Stalin and could not return to Stalingrad in a short time, Sokov could only focus on the hovercraft being developed. After a while, he asked Yakov tentatively: "Yasa, since I cannot return to Stalingrad in a short time, can you arrange for me to go to the hovercraft project team to understand the progress of their development?"
Chapter completed!