After Sokov put down the phone, he still felt like he was dreaming.
The base camp intends to form a guard army with the 37th and 39th Guards Divisions. The news is really shocking.
When he told Ivanov, Cidorin and others about the news, everyone cheered.
After the cheers stopped, Ivanov asked curiously: "Comrade Commander, I don't know who the base camp intends to appoint as the commander of the Guards?"
Ivanov's question immediately attracted everyone's attention, and everyone turned their attention to Sokov, wanting to hear how he answered.
"Commander Trikov said that the appointments of the two generals, Guriyev and Jolujev, were reported to the base camp, were rejected," Sokov said, "In this way, as long as there is no airborne commander on the rise, my chances of taking this position are very high."
As soon as Sokov finished speaking, Cidolin rushed to say: "Comrade Commander, I think if the superior really wants to form this guard, then the position of commander will be you. You must know that in the battle to defend Stalingrad, you have commanded the large corps many times and accumulated rich command experience."
Everyone agreed with Sidolin's statement. After all, Sokov's performance in the entire battle is obvious to all. If he could not serve as the commander of the army, who else could take over?
"It may take some time to establish the Guards." Anisimov asked, "But I don't know when the class the superiors prepare to add new recruits to us?"
"Now the Voronezh Front and the Southwest Front are attacking Manstein's troops." Sokov knew very well that as soon as the battle in Stalingrad ended, the Supreme Command Base Camp will turn its attention to the direction of fighting, and the supply of the Don Front may slow down or even stop. "I think the supply work of the superiors in the near future should be tilted towards these two fronts."
"In this way, we will not be able to replenish our troops." Cidolin sighed and said, "According to customary practice, soldiers, weapons and ammunition will be given priority to important combat areas. I guess it will be until April or May before it will be our turn to replenish our troops."
Sokov was anxious when he heard Sidolin say that it would take April and May to replenish the troops. He clearly remembered that the Battle of Kursk began in early July. If the replenishment of the troops had to be until April and May, there would be no sufficient training time. In an open area, fighting with insufficient training troops would be equivalent to dying.
Thinking of this, he shook his head and said, "No, we must not wait until April or May to replenish the troops. We must find a way to make up for the shortage of the troops in each regiment within a week."
"What, to replenish the missing soldiers within a week?" Sidolin couldn't help but feel his head loud when he heard Sokov say this. He asked tentatively: "Comrade Commander, where are we going to find so many soldiers in a hurry? Are you planning to ask us to recruit militias and urban residents from the factory?"
"The Battle of Stalingrad has ended, and the focus of the next work is to clean up the ruins and restore normal production. These work requires a large number of manpower," Sokov said. "This means that our troops cannot consider factory militias and urban residents."
"Where should I replenish it?" Cidolin asked back.
"Chief of Staff, have you forgotten the guerrillas that have cooperated with us?" Sokov reminded Sidolin: "Although the guerrillas have extremely poor combat effectiveness, no matter what, they have more combat experience than those residents who have not received military training."
"Comrade Commander, you are right." Sidolin immediately said excitedly when he heard Sokov mention the guerrillas: "Especially the Ignatov brothers, they are not only large in number, but also the strongest in combat. They have cooperated with us before, and if they were to recruit their team, there would be no big problem."
"Chief of Staff, send a telegram to the Ignatov brothers' guerrillas immediately, asking the captain Mixiga and deputy captain Vovga to come to Mamayev hill." Sokov smiled and said, "Let them meet old friends like Guchakov."
"This is a good idea." Sidolin replied with a smile: "Captain Guchakov once fought side by side with them and established a deep fighting friendship. After they meet, we will persuade the other party to join our troops. It is probably not a big problem."
"Comrade Commander," while Sidolin was sending a telegram, Ivanov asked Sokov: "Would you recruit several regiment commanders to the division headquarters to officially announce the adaptation plan to them?"
"Yes." Sokov considered that after the troops were reorganized, he had to adjust the defense zone and replace it with new standard weapons. There were many things to do. He had to first unify the thoughts of the commanders: "Let them come to the division headquarters for a meeting immediately."
Less than ten minutes after Sidolin's telegram was sent out, he received a call from Mishiga. After reading the telegram, he excitedly reported to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, good news, Mishiga and his guerrillas are in the Orlovka region."
"Oh, he's in the Orlovka region?" Sokov said somewhat surprised: "What are they doing there?"
"The telegram didn't say it," Cidolin replied, "I guess I'm going to work with the main force to clear the enemies in that area. He said he would come here as soon as possible, and he would arrive tomorrow morning."
"Chief of Staff, telegram him back and said that there might be remnants of German officers and soldiers along the way, so he should pay more attention to safety."
"I understand, I'll send a report immediately."
…………
The leaders of the regiments who received the notice came to the division command center one after another.
Seeing that everyone was coming, Sidorin stood up and said to everyone, "Comrades, we are here today to announce something. After discussion and research by the division leaders, it was decided to disband Lieutenant Colonel Belkin's reduction regiment, and all the commanders and fighters were organized into three guard regiments.
As we all know, most of the commanders and fighters of the reduction regiment have experienced many battles with the division commanders, from Kursk to Stalingrad. The three guard regiments have been incorporated into such combat backbones, and their combat effectiveness can be taken to a new level in a short period of time."
When the three regiment commanders heard that they wanted to put the combat backbones of the reduction regiment into their own regiment, they all fought with Xiao Jiujiu in their hearts, hoping that Sokov could assign more people to their own troops.
"For specific personnel allocation, we will provide you with a specific list in two days." Sokov stood up and said to everyone after Sidolin finished speaking, "Next, I will announce the appointment of Lieutenant Colonel Belkin, the former leader of the reduction troop."
Everyone can see how good Belkin's level is in the past few months of battle. Therefore, the three regiment leaders were eager for Sokov to arrange Belkin into his regiment, even if he only served as a deputy, he would get more benefits in the future.
"After discussing by the division leaders," Sokov did not say it was his own idea, but claimed to be the result of collective discussions between the division leaders, so as not to have any objections: "I decided to transfer Lieutenant Colonel Belkin to the 124th Regiment to serve as the political commissar of the regiment."
Lieutenant Colonel Starcha was overjoyed when he learned that Belkin would serve as his political commissar. He quickly stood up, stretched out his hand to Belkin through the table, and said friendly: "Hello, Comrade Political Commissar, on behalf of the commanders and fighters of the entire regiment, I welcome you."
"Comrade Commander, I have an opinion." Seeing Starcha shook hands with Belkin, Lieutenant Colonel Papuchinko stood up and said dissatisfiedly: "You know, when attacking the department store, our regiment and the reduction regiment were always fighting side by side. Let Lieutenant Colonel Belkin come to our regiment, so he can adapt to his work faster."
"Ltd. Col. Papuchinko," Starcha was a little anxious when he saw that Papuchinko was about to compete with him for Belkin. He shouted at Papuchinko: "Since the division commander has made a decision to let Lieutenant Col. Bilkin be my political commissar, then this appointment cannot be modified."
"Okay, okay, it's all quiet." Sokov saw that Starcha and Papchinko were in a quarrel, so he quickly raised his hand to stop the two. After they calmed down, Sokov continued: "Everyone knows that before the 73rd Infantry Brigade and the 41st Guard Division merged, Lieutenant Colonel Belkin was my political commissar. When the number of military cadres was enough, I thought he should be allowed to do his old job. Just as the 124th Regiment lacked political commissar, I arranged for him to go to the 124th Regiment."
After Sokov finished explaining, he paused for a moment and asked Papchinko specifically: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, do you understand what I meant to do this?"
"Yes, comrade instructor." Papuchinko quickly replied, "I understand everything now."
"Next, I want to talk about the issue of soldiers." Seeing that the other party had no objection, Sokov continued: "Although the total strength of our division is still more than 6,000, there are still many shortages of soldiers, so we need to replenish soldiers as soon as possible."
"Comrade Commander," asked Yershakov, the commander of the 125th Regiment, "Where should we replenish the troops?"
"Comrades, with the end of the Stalingrad defense battle, the resumption of factory work and the reconstruction of the city will be put on the agenda. At that time, a large number of people will be needed to complete these two difficult tasks. Therefore, we cannot recruit new recruits from militias or residents." Sokov said to everyone: "Some people may ask, if we cannot recruit new recruits from militias and residents, then where should the troops we lack come from?"
"Can our superiors replenish our troops?" Papuchinko asked loudly.
"No." Sokov shook his head and explained to the other party: "Since our Voronezh Front and the Southwest Front are attacking the Manstein Group on the most Dnieper River, the replenishment of the Supreme Command Base will give priority to these two combat troops."
"So, we cannot get supplements from our superiors in a short period of time?"
Seeing everyone whispering and talking in a low voice about the problems facing the troops, Sokov did not interrupt them, but let them continue to discuss. After everyone had almost finished discussing, he spoke: "The superior cannot replenish our troops, so we can only find a way."
"Since our superiors cannot replenish our troops, nor can we recruit militias and residents from the city." Starcha said with a frown: "Where should the recruits be recruited?"
Seeing that everyone was helpless, Sokov smiled and asked, "Did you forget the guerrillas?"
"Guerrillas?" Hearing Sokov say this, several regiment commanders couldn't help but look at each other. After a while, Starcha asked tentatively: "Comrade Commander, I don't know where guerrillas are you going to recruit? As far as I know, under the crazy attack of the German army, there were no guerrilla activities near our defense zone."
"There is a guerrilla team of Ignatov brothers. More than two months ago, we fought side by side with the small teams we sent behind enemy lines and captured two German train stations." Sokov's mouth curled up slightly: "I plan to incorporate this guerrilla team and then assign troops to each regiment."
When Sokov mentioned the Ignatov brothers guerrillas, the commanders here all remembered it. After all, Guchakov led his squad deep into the enemy's backbone, assembled more than a dozen or twenty guerrillas, directly seized two railway stations occupied by the German army, and destroyed the massive amount of supplies stored there by the German army. Because of the outstanding results, Guchakov, who served as the main commander, was promoted to the rank and received a medal.
"Comrade Commander, I think this guerrilla team is good. After being incorporated into our army, it can also form combat effectiveness very quickly." After praising the Ignatov brothers guerrilla team, Starcha asked with some concern: "But we don't know where they are now? How can we adapt them?"
Regarding Starcha's concern, Sokov smiled and said, "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, before you arrive, I have contacted Comrade Mishiga, the captain of the Ignatov brothers guerrillas. He said that his troops are now in Orlovka and will probably arrive at Mamayev hill tomorrow morning."
"Comrade Commander," Yershakov stood up and asked, "I want to ask, how are their equipment?"
"It is said that after the last attack on the German train station, they moved a large amount of weapons and ammunition back to the guerrilla camp." Sokov said thoughtfully: "I think they should be all German-style equipment at this moment."
When he heard Sokov talk about German equipment, Belkin, who had just been appointed as the political commissar of the 124th Regiment, immediately remembered an important thing, stood up and said to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, I have a question to remind you."
"Please tell me."
"The reduction regiment is all German equipment. When a regiment is alone, there is not much problem with ammunition supply." Berkin said with a serious expression: "But if it is broken up and incorporated into another guard regiment, logistics supply will become a big problem."
Chapter completed!