It is naturally a good thing for Sokov to not attack. Because in this way, he had enough time to order the troops to repair fortifications, strengthen their defensive positions, and establish a complete defense system. More importantly, his current troops are several times more than during the Stalingrad defense war, and the military supplies consumed every day are also astronomical, and it also takes time to replenish them.
Looking at the ammunition, fuel and various supplies transported into the city every day, Witkov couldn't help but sigh: "Comrade, you still have a way to get so many supplies."
"Comrade Chief of Staff," Sokov said to Vetkov with a smile: "The reason why the superiors can give us so much supplies is entirely because of the huge achievements we have achieved some time ago that have allowed the superiors to see the hope of defeating the German army, so they will continue to provide us with resources so readily."
"That's true." Vitkov agreed with Sokov. "If our attack did not achieve any results and were even beaten to a miserable situation by the German army, we might not only not get so much supplies, but we might even order us to hand over the existing defense zone to friendly forces."
Sokov stared at the map in front of him and found that before he knew it, a protrusion was formed in the location of his and friendly troops. After discovering this situation, he was shocked and thought that because of his own, the original Kursk protrusion had become the Donetsk protrusion. In the next few months, he might face an attack of more than 100,000 or even hundreds of thousands of German troops. The number of troops in his hand seemed to be quite large, but when facing the 100,000 German troops, the lambs to be slaughtered.
"Comrade Commander," said Vitkov, staring at the map in front of him in a daze, and asked curiously: "What are you thinking?"
Sokov pointed to the map and said to Vetkov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I found that our combat cluster had accidentally replaced the defense position of the Southwest Front. The Germans dispatched ten to fifteen divisions to attack us. Can we stop them?"
"Comrade Commander, please be honest." Witkov looked at the enemy and us on the map and said worriedly: "Not to mention that the German army dispatched ten to fifteen divisions, even if the five German military advisors stationed in Balvinkovo are dispatched at the same time, it is still an unknown whether we can stop them."
"Comrade Commander," at this moment, a staff officer came in from outside and reported to Sokov: "Comrade Lunev from the Ministry of Internal Affairs has arrived."
"Lonev?" Hearing this strange name, Sokov couldn't help but look at Vetkov, wanting to see if he knew about Lunev from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. "Comrade Chief of Staff, do you know?"
"I don't know." Weitkov answered very simply.
Although he didn't understand the other party's purpose, Sokov still said to the staff officer: "Please come in."
Soon, a middle-sized general in the Interior Department wearing a blue hat walked in.
Seeing that the opponent's military rank on his epaulette was one level higher than his, Sokov quickly saluted him: "Hello, Lieutenant General, on behalf of all the commanders and soldiers of the combat cluster, I welcome you."
"Hello, Major General Sokov." The other party stretched out his hand to Sokov and said politely: "Let me introduce you to me. I am the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Lunev. I am ordered by the headquarters and serve as the representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the combat cluster from now on. Now, report to me about the situation of your cluster command."
"Comrade Deputy Minister, please allow me to report to you." Before Sokov could speak, Vetkov took a step forward, straightened his back and said to Lunev: "I know the situation of the cluster command better than the commander."
Lunev did not speak, but instead cast an inquiring look at Sokov. Sokov immediately realized that the other party might not know Vitkov, so he introduced him to him: "Comrade Deputy Minister, let me introduce you to you, this is Colonel Vitkov, the chief of staff of the Cluster, who was formerly the Deputy Chief of Staff of the 62nd Army."
When Lunev learned that Vetkov was from the 62nd Army, a smile appeared on his face: "The 62nd Army is all good. It was because of your bravery and tenacity and fear of sacrifice that he could defend the great Stalingrad and completely crush the German conspiracy to seize the city."
Hearing the other party praise the 62nd Army, Vitkov smiled on his face, and he felt less in his resistance to the Deputy Minister of the Internal Affairs. He began to report to the other party: "The previous combat cluster command was with the 41st Guard Division, and it was just separated not long ago. Now our command center has a 200-person guard company, more than 30 staff officers of various types, and twenty correspondents."
"Your people are a little fewer." After hearing this, Lunev said with some emotion: "If you encounter a sneak attack from the Germans, your troops will be far from enough."
"Comrade Vice Minister, please rest assured." Seeing Lunev's nervous expression, Sokov hurriedly comforted him and said, "Although we have few troops, we will not be at a disadvantage even if we encounter the same number of German soldiers. By the way, Comrade Vice Minister, I wonder how many people you brought this time?"
"I brought two inner guards."
"There are a little less people." Sokov said carefully: "Or I will send you another guard platoon to take charge of your safety." He was worried that his proposal would be rejected by the other party, so he emphasized specifically, "Lt. Samoilov, the platoon leader, was also a member of the internal affairs force before, and he joined my guard battalion during the Stalingrad War."
When he learned that Sokov was about to send a unit commanded by the former officer of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to him, Lunev smiled again: "General Sokov, since it is your kindness, I can't refuse, so accept it."
"Comrade Deputy Minister, you must be very tired from Moscow." Sokov said with a smile: "I will arrange a manpower immediately and send you to rest."
Sokov called Samoilov and asked him to send Lunev to rest. Seeing Lunev's back disappear from the door, Vitkov asked Sokov with a worried look: "Comrade Commander, why did the superior send us a representative from the Ministry of Internal Affairs to us? Can't you trust us?"
"Comrade Chief of Staff," Sokov also didn't know why his superior sent Lunev to serve as the representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Law, so he asked tentatively: "Tell me, under what circumstances does the superior usually establish the position of representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs?"
"As far as I know," no matter what, Vitkov stayed in the army for a long time than Sokov, and naturally knew much more. After hearing Sokov's question, he replied thoughtfully: "It is generally a front-level command center, and the superiors will be equipped with representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Also, some important army-group units, and the superiors will also set up representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs as appropriate."
"Important army unit?" Sokov heard this and heard some implicit words from Vitkov's words: "Comrade Chief of Staff, do you mean that your superiors plan to adapt our combat cluster into army unit?"
"I don't think it's realistic." Vetkov questioned Sokov's speculation: "Now we have 70 armies, so there is really no need to add one more. Unless an army is defeated by the enemy, the superiors are ready to rebuild."
"If we want to talk about the army that was defeated by the Germans, there is not a single one. What kind of number can we give us?" Sokov said this, and felt that it was quite possible to adapt his combat cluster into a army. In order to figure out what was going on, he sent a telegram to Rokosovsky, reported to him about Lunev's arrival, and wanted to ask what was going on.
Rokosovsky was shocked when he received a telegram and learned that Lunev had actually gone to Sokov's troops. He quickly connected to the General Staff of Moscow on a high-frequency phone and asked the Deputy Chief of Staff Antonov: "Comrade Vice Chief of Staff, I heard that the superior sent General Lunev, the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, to Sokov's combat cluster. I want to ask, what's going on?"
"General Rokosovsky, I was about to call you, but you called first." Antonov said: "Based on Sokov's troops' performance in recent battles, the base camp decided to adapt it into a group army."
"Change into a group army?" Rokosovsky was not surprised at all by the news. During the Moscow Defense War, the combat cluster he commanded was also adapted into the 16th Army. He was eager to know what number his superiors gave Sokov, so he continued to ask: "Then what number do you plan to give him?"
"The Sixth Army." Antonov replied briefly.
"What, the Sixth Army?" Hearing this number, Rokosovsky was shocked. This was not the army that was defeated by the German army not long ago. It is said that when breaking through, even the commander of the army, Karitonov, was injured, and is now recovering from the hospital in Moscow. He asked tentatively: "Where is the original commander Lieutenant General Karitonov?"
"After research by the Supreme Command, he has been removed from his post and the original command of the Sixth Army was disbanded." Antonov replied: "We will use the current combat cluster as the basis of the current combat cluster to form new combat clusters. Major General Sokov is the commander, Colonel Witkov is the chief of staff, and General Lunev is the military committee member and political commissar."
After hearing Antonov's words, Rokosovsky immediately understood why his superiors suddenly sent Lunev to Sokov's troops, and it turned out that he was preparing to serve as the political commissar of the new Sixth Army. After Antonov finished speaking, he hurriedly thanked the other party: "Comrade Antonov, thank you for telling me such good news. I will immediately tell Major General Sokov this good news, so that he can be happy."
"General Rokosovsky," Antonov had no disagreement with Rokosovsky's statement, only adding: "The formal order of adaptation will be issued in two days."
After finishing his call with Antonov, Rokosovsky immediately called Malinin and said to him with a smile: "Comrade Chief of Staff, let me tell you good news. According to the orders of the base camp, Sokov's combat cluster will be adapted into the Sixth Army, and he will also add some of the former Sixth Army troops. In this way, the area they are defending will become stronger."
After hearing this, Malining actually said with a smile: "It's interesting, it's really interesting."
“What’s interesting?”
"Comrade Commander," Malining explained to Rokosovsky with a smile: "half a month ago, the three German SS divisions defeated Lieutenant General Karitonov's Sixth Army; however, not long ago, Sokov commanded a 41st Guard Division, but defeated the three SS divisions. Now the base camp has adapted Sokov's combat cluster into a new Sixth Army. Isn't it a great irony for those SS divisions who are hiding in Balvinkovo and dare not move?"
"I think when Manstein learned this news, his lungs would probably be blown up." Rokosovsky said with a smile and ordered Malining: "Chief of Staff, hurry up and send him the good news."
After receiving the telegram from Malining, Sokov was stunned at first, and then he couldn't help laughing. He said to Witkov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, it seems that our guess is correct. The base camp is indeed planning to adapt us into a group army, with the number being the Sixth Army. Tell me, when Manstein learned that he had defeated his three SS troops not long ago, he transformed into the Sixth Army that they had defeated before, what would he react?"
"I heard that Manstein is not young anymore," Witkov replied with a smile. "I hope he won't suffer a stroke when he hears this bad news. If the Germans don't have him, they will become a mess of sand."
Sokov grinned and asked Vitkov: "Chief of Staff, tell me, if the troops are reorganized into a group army, do you think we can get more infantry divisions, tank brigades and artillery regiments?"
"It's all right." Witkov replied quickly: "The Sixth Army had eight infantry divisions in the past, and we had only four. Even if the superiors only added two divisions to us, we could still give us a higher level of strength."
"It would be great if we could add two infantry divisions," Sokov said with a smile. "But it would be even better if we could add two tank brigades or larger artillery regiments. Then I would not be waiting for the Germans to attack here, but instead attacked them on their own initiative."