Perhaps because there was no fighting in the defense zone, Sokov slept peacefully without anyone disturbing him. When he woke up from his sleep, he found through the open window that it was already dark outside.
Sokov sat up straight and shouted outside: "Come here, come here!"
Following the shouting, a staff officer came in from outside and asked Sokov respectfully: "Comrade Commander, do you have any instructions?"
"Where is Colonel Chuvashov?"
"He is supervising the relocation of the division headquarters."
"Relocation of the division headquarters?" Sokov asked in confusion: "Okay, where are you going to move to?"
"That's it, Comrade Commander." The staff officer quickly explained to Sokov: "While you were sleeping, the Chief of Staff, General Samyko, and the Army Headquarters arrived in Kremenchug. The division commander asked the Division Headquarters
The relocation is to make room for the Army Group Headquarters."
"What, Chief of Staff Samyko has arrived?" Sokov put his feet down from the bed and put on his boots while complaining: "Didn't I tell Colonel Chuvashov to wait for the headquarters to arrive in the city?
, will you report it to me immediately? Why didn’t he report it? Did he not take my order seriously?”
"Comrade Commander, don't be angry." At this time, a man walked in from outside and said with a smile: "I see you are sleeping soundly, so I asked them not to disturb you."
Sokov looked up and saw that the person speaking was actually Lunev. He didn't care that he had not put on his boots yet, stood up and shook hands with the other party, "Comrade Military Commissar, I didn't expect that you guys arrived so quickly. How about it, there are still some things on the way.
Did it go well?"
"Yes, it went very smoothly." Luniev first answered Sokov's question, and then said to the staff officer standing beside him in a daze: "Comrade Lieutenant, there is nothing for you to do here. You can continue to work."
The staff officer raised his hand in salute, turned around and walked out of the room, closing the door.
After Sokov asked Lunev to sit down on the chair by the window, he sat on the bed again and put on his boots, and asked: "Comrade Military Commissar, you must have seen that area when you passed by Poltava.
Let's fight. How do you think it will take the friendly forces to take over that city?"
"Comrade Commander," after hearing Sokov's question, Lunev pondered for a while and replied: "With all due respect, based on my observations and the conclusions drawn from discussions with Chief of Staff Samyko, we
Our friendly forces may not be able to capture Poltava even if it takes another half month. The resistance of the defenders in the city is too tenacious."
After putting on his boots, Sokov sat up straight, looked at Lunev and said: "Comrade Military Commissar, I came to the same conclusion as you, so I sent a telegram to Commander Konev, hoping that he could
Send us to take part in the attack on Poltava."
"Oh, you made a request to General Konev to join the war?" Lunev asked with interest: "Not how he responded, when can we go into battle?"
After Sokov waited for Lunev to raise the question, he slowly shook his head and said with a wry smile: "Comrade Military Commissar, I'm afraid you will be disappointed. My request was rejected by Commander Konev."
"What, your request for war was actually rejected by General Konev?" Lunev asked puzzledly: "Why on earth is this? Doesn't he know that maybe our participation in the war can greatly shorten the time for our army to capture the city?"
time."
"I think Commander Konev also understands this truth. After all, our group army has been performing well since the Battle of Kursk. It can be said to be the most powerful unit in the Steppe Front."
"Since he also understands that we are the most powerful force, why did he reject your request?" Lunev said confused: "I really don't understand."
"Commander Konev's answer is simple." Sokov replied: "The Kleminchug we captured and the landing site on the right bank we established are extremely important strategic points. If we leave the defense here to
Friendly forces, he turned around to attack Poltava. Once the German scouts learned this information, they would immediately launch a crazy attack on the landing site. Except for our group army, he did not think that other troops in the front army could stop it.
The enemy attacked forcefully one after another."
Although it was very regrettable that Konev rejected his request to participate in the attack on Poltava. But after hearing Konev's evaluation of his unit, Runev was still happy in his heart.
Sokov stood up and said to Luniev: "Comrade Military Commissar, things should be almost tidied up outside. Let's go out and say hello to the Chief of Staff first."
The two left the room and entered the church hall. There was a busy scene everywhere. The staff officers were nailing the map on the wall, and the communications soldiers were busy pulling the phone lines. They saw Sokov and Lunev.
When the person appeared, everyone quickly stopped what they were doing, stood at attention and paid attention to them. After the two people passed by, they continued to work on their own work.
"Comrade Commander," Samyko, who was standing by the long wooden table, saw Sokov appear and quickly walked around the table to greet him: "Nice to see you again!"
After Sokov shook hands with Samyko, he asked politely: "Chief of Staff, when will the communication and communication be completed?"
Sameko raised his hand to look at the time and replied: "The director of the communications corps is checking the phone lines outside. I believe it won't be long before our communications will be put into use."
Although he did not get the answer he wanted from Samyko, Sokov did not ask any more questions. After the three of them sat down at the table, Sokov continued to ask: "Chief of Staff, Solomatin
Is there any news about the General’s 1st Mechanized Corps?”
On the way here, Samyko already knew that the 1st Mechanized Army had been temporarily placed under the command of the group army. Therefore, after arriving here, he contacted Solomatin through Chuvashov's communication line. At this time, he heard that
When Sokov asked, he quickly reported what he knew to Sokov.
"Comrade Commander," Sameko said with regret: "Although the 21st Mechanized Brigade fought tenaciously at the No. 1 outpost position, in the end they were unable to block the enemy's attack. Within two hours, they were forced to
Abandoned the outpost position, retreated to the second line position, and reorganized new defenses."
The loss of the No. 1 outpost position had long been expected by Sokov, so after listening to Samek's report, he did not show too much surprise, but said calmly: "The outpost position
Just throw it away, let them hold on to the second-line position, and never let the enemy complete another breakthrough."
"Comrade Commander," seeing that the expression on Sokov's face did not change at all after hearing this regrettable news, he couldn't help but asked in surprise: "The enemy has occupied the No. 1 outpost position, which means he has a starting point for the attack.
, which is very detrimental to us. Do you think we should order General Solomatin to counterattack and take back the position from the enemy's hands?"
"No, absolutely don't." Sokov waved his hand at Sameko and explained to him: "The area of the No. 1 outpost is too small and there are no solid fortifications. It cannot stop an attack launched by the Germans.
Another attack. Instead of wasting troops there, it is better to temporarily hand it over to the Germans and concentrate the troops in places that are easy to defend and give the Germans a head-on attack."
"Okay, Comrade Commander." Seeing that Sokov had made up his mind, Samyko did not feel that he had the ability to change the other party's mind, so he could only follow the flow and said: "Then I will convey your words to Solomatin.
General, let them not have to counterattack the No. 1 outpost position, but only need to hold on to the second line position."
"By the way, Comrade Chief of Staff." Sokov suddenly remembered an important question and asked quickly: "Which troop is coming with the headquarters?"
"Colonel Khokhlov's 182nd Division," Samyko quickly added after answering Sokov's question: "In the Battle of Kursk, the division suffered too many casualties, and there were no subsequent replacements.
New recruits with combat experience, thus causing their combat effectiveness to be diluted, so that they are not assigned combat tasks most of the time. Therefore..."
"So you brought them here and prepared them for the defense of the landing site on the right bank so that they can establish new merits." Before Samyko could finish speaking, Sokov rushed to say: "Am I right, staff officer?
Long comrade?"
"Yes," seeing that Sokov had guessed his true thoughts, he did not hide it, but answered truthfully: "That's exactly what I thought about."
"Even if the recruits given to Colonel Khokhlov and the others were all new recruits." Sokov said to himself: "After such a long time, it is already their turn to appear." After saying this,
He looked up at Sameko and asked, "Where are you placing them?"
Seeing that Sokov did not hold him responsible for bringing the 182nd Division over without authorization, Samyko breathed a sigh of relief and quickly pushed the map in front of Sokov and introduced him: "Comrade Commander, I am
It is arranged like this: on the far left is Major Guchakov's 73rd Infantry Division, on their right is Colonel Shechtman's 254th Infantry Division, and then on the far right is Colonel Khokhlov's 182nd Infantry Division;
It is the 84th Infantry Division of Major General Fomenko..."
"Comrade Chief of Staff, what you said is incorrect." After Sokov said this, he ignored Samyko, who was full of doubts, and continued: "Major Guchakov's 73rd Infantry Brigade is not located in
The far left wing of the landing field. To their left is General Solomatin's 1st Mechanized Army."
"Yes, yes, Comrade Commander, you are right." After listening to what Sokov said, Samyko realized that he had made a stupid mistake and said repeatedly: "General Solomatin's 1st Mechanized Army is now
They should be the troops on the far left under our command."
"What are the enemy's current movements?"
"Yes," Samyko pointed to the map and introduced to Sokov: "According to the reconnaissance information we compiled from various ministries, the enemy has deployed two infantry divisions and one armored division, as well as a large number of artillery, to the south of the landing site.
, prepare to launch a large-scale attack on us."
When Sokov went to bed in the morning, the German attack was still small-scale, with not much troops and technical equipment invested. It was almost wiped out by a battalion commanded by Captain Mikhailev. Unexpectedly, it only took one day.
At that time, they gathered so many troops on the defensive front of the landing site.
After secretly calculating the comparison of the enemy's and our own forces in his mind, he asked: "Where is the enemy's air power?"
Samek shook his head, "So far, no enemy reconnaissance planes have been found on the battlefield. I think the enemy will not invest air power when attacking the landing site. After all, in the Battle of Kursk and the Battle of Kharkov,
Their air power suffered a heavy blow from our air force."
"Comrade Chief of Staff, please do not take it lightly." Although Sokov knew very well that not long after the Battle of Kharkov began, the Soviet army had already gained control of the air on the battlefield, and the threat of the German Air Force was getting smaller and smaller.
But despite this, he still did not dare to take it lightly. He reminded Sameko: "Even if there are only a few enemy planes in the air when the enemy starts to attack the landing site, I am afraid it will also pose a great threat to our ground troops. We must fight with him as soon as possible."
The front army headquarters got in touch and asked them to prepare an air force for us so that it can be launched into battle at any critical moment."
The phone on the table rang. Sokov, who was closest to the phone, grabbed the receiver and put it to his ear: "I am Sokov, where are you?"
"Hello, Comrade Commander." Solomatin's voice came from the receiver: "I am Solomatin."
"Comrade General," Sokov knew that the other party couldn't call for no reason. There must be something important, so he asked directly: "You called me, did you have something important to do?"
"Yes, Comrade Commander." Solomatin said on the phone: "My troops unfortunately lost the No. 1 outpost. After some discussions with several of my deputies, I decided to wait until dawn tomorrow to attack the enemy.
Launch a counterattack to regain the lost positions from the Germans."
After hearing this, Sokov asked calmly: "What troops do you plan to send to retake the No. 1 outpost?"
"I plan to put the 19th Mechanized Brigade and the 219th Tank Brigade into battle." Perhaps to enhance Sokov's confidence, he also took the initiative to say: "The 19th Mechanized Brigade has a tank regiment with 21 tanks, and three
The infantry battalion, plus two infantry companies equipped with 76.2 mm field guns; and the 219th Tank Brigade, has three tank battalions equipped with T-34 tanks. I believe that as long as these two troops are put into battle, we will be able to recapture
Lost ground."
"What are your plans after restoring Outpost No. 1?" Sokov asked.
"After retaking the outpost position, I will order the 19th Mechanized Brigade to defend and resolutely block the enemy and prevent them from moving forward."
"Comrade General, I want to ask you." After hearing Solomatin's plan, Sokov knew that he planned to fight a war of attrition with the German army, so he asked in a stern tone: "Have you considered that the outpost position is small?
There are no solid fortifications, so putting your troops on it will only be wasted under the enemy's artillery fire. Once your troops lose their position again due to all casualties, do you plan to prevent the troops from counterattacking again to regain the lost positions?
position?"
"Comrade Commander, the education we have always received in the army is that we must never leave an inch of land to the enemy?" Solomatin said plausibly: "In order to defend our great motherland, I will definitely pay some price.
It’s totally worth it.”
"In order to defend the motherland, it is indeed worth paying the price of blood and life." Sokov said unceremoniously: "But if the commanders and soldiers die in vain, it is absolutely unacceptable. We cannot use our precious soldiers to
