"So that's it." After listening to Sokov's story, Rokossovsky said jokingly: "You are really like a cunning rabbit. Not only did you hide it from the Germans, you even hid it from me.
Keep up the good work, I hope to hear more good news soon."
Although Sokov knew that according to Russian tradition, rabbits are the most cunning animals, more powerful than foxes. But when he heard Rokossovsky compare himself to a rabbit, he still felt awkward. After all, in China
In Chinese tradition, rabbits have the meaning of being taken advantage of.
However, after putting down the phone, Sokov no longer cared about these details, but told Sidorin: "Comrade Chief of Staff and Comrade Marshal are very satisfied with the results we have achieved. He asked us to keep up our efforts and strive to create more brilliant results.
Let the engineers speed up the construction of the bridge. Once the pontoon bridge is completed, immediately send a tank brigade across the river to cooperate with the infantry to advance deeper into the German defenses and expand the area of our landing site as quickly as possible."
"The engineering corps has started erecting the pontoon bridge." Sidorin replied: "The director of the engineering department told me that they will complete the erection of the pontoon bridge within eight hours."
"Eight hours is a bit too long." Sokov thought to himself. It was not yet nine o'clock in the morning. If it takes eight hours to erect the pontoon bridge, that means that the tank brigade will have to wait until after five o'clock in the evening before it can move to the pontoon bridge.
Entering the west bank. The troops landing now are all lightly armed. Except for heavy machine guns, rocket launchers and a small number of mortars, there are no heavy weapons. If the German army launches a strong attack, it will probably be quite difficult to fight: "It will allow the engineers to speed up."
How fast is it to build a bridge?”
"It can't be faster, Comrade Commander." Sidorin said with a grimace: "You know, it takes five or six hours for other pontoon bridge troops to erect an 800-meter pontoon bridge, and the river in front of us is as wide as
Five kilometers, eight hours to complete, is already the limit.”
Hearing what Sidorin said, Sokov immediately realized that completing the erection of the pontoon bridge in eight hours might be an ideal state, and it was simply impossible to complete. If it takes five or six hours to erect an 800-meter pontoon bridge, his engineering troops
If the troops can complete the work within 24 hours, it is considered good.
"Okay." Sokov said helplessly: "Since the completion of the pontoon bridge will take a long time, then seize the time to send the 109th Infantry Division to the other side of the river. The more troops there are on the west bank, the more confident we will be in holding the landing site.
The bigger.”
The dispatch of the air force destroyed the German artillery positions deployed on the second line and rescued Bartov's troops from the baptism of artillery fire.
When Bartov learned that the German artillery had been wiped out, that the troops on the west bank were exchanging fire with the counterattacking German troops, and that the troops staying in the shoals were crossing the river again, he said with relief: "As long as the German artillery fire no longer interferes with our army's
Action, we will be able to build a huge landing site on the West Bank in a short time."
After saying this, he took a sip of water from the teacup on the table and asked Glebov: "Chief of Staff, are there any new trends in the 48th Army on the right?"
"It's not clear at the moment." Glebov shook his head and said: "When our army was being bombarded by the Germans, the soldiers I sent to observe by the river reported to me that the artillery of the 48th Group Army was constantly bombarding the west bank.
German positions. But what is strange is that they were not firing ordinary high-explosive bombs, but smoke bombs. Our soldiers saw with their own eyes that the German positions and the river on the west bank were shrouded in thick smoke."
"Strange?" Bartov said strangely after hearing this: "What is General Sokov doing by firing smoke grenades on the other side? Does he want to interfere with the German artillery fire? But that's not right. Our air force has been attacking the German troops on the west bank since yesterday afternoon.
The position has been bombarded continuously. No matter how many artillery the Germans have, they don't dare to expose it easily. What's the point of firing smoke?"
But the next moment, Bartov thought of the reason. He slammed the tea cup in his hand on the table. He didn't care that the tea splashed on the table, but said a little excitedly: "If I guessed correctly,
They wanted to use smoke to obscure the view of the German observation posts so that they could cross the river in the chaos."
"What, taking advantage of the chaos to cross the river?" Glebov expressed doubts about Bartov's statement: "I don't think it's possible?"
"What's impossible?" Batov said with a straight face: "Immediately notify the troops on the left bank and send people along the river to conduct reconnaissance at the 48th Group Army's landing area to find out the real reason why they released the smoke.
.”
"Okay, Comrade Commander." Faced with Batov's involuntary order, Glebov could only say helplessly: "I immediately called Colonel Teremov and asked him to immediately send scouts to the 48th
Conduct reconnaissance at the location where the group army is planning to land to find out what happened."
"Hurry up and make a call." Batov urged: "It will be helpful for us to figure out Sokov's combat intentions as soon as possible."
"Comrade Commander," Military Commissar Rajecki asked curiously: "If you want to know the real actions of the 48th Group Army, wouldn't it be better to call General Sokov directly? Why do you have to send scouts to conduct reconnaissance?
?”
"Comrade Military Commissar, if I call General Sokov, he will definitely tell me the truth." Batov explained to Rajecki: "But if he asks about my action plan, you say I
Should you tell him or not?"
Hearing what Bartov said, Rajecki smiled: "Then just tell him. Anyway, we are all friendly forces and we are all here to defeat the Germans. What is there to hide?"
"Our troops landed on the West Bank shortly after the bombardment started. If I tell General Sokov about this," Batov looked at Rajecki and said, "What do you think he will react?
?”
Rajecki thought for a while and replied: "I think he might feel that if you ask the troops to take action in advance without telling him about such a big thing, you are somewhat suspected of stealing credit. Unpleasant thoughts will definitely arise in his mind."
"Yes, Comrade Military Commissar, I am worried about this." Batov said: "Otherwise, I would not have asked Colonel Teremov on the West Bank to send people to conduct reconnaissance."
An hour later, Teremov on the west bank sent back a reconnaissance telegram: "The 120th Guards Division under the 48th Army has successfully landed and established a landing site three kilometers wide and one kilometer deep."
After seeing the contents of the telegram, Bartov slapped the telegram on the table and said dissatisfiedly: "Comrade Chief of Staff, you saw it. I was right. The 48th Group Army released smoke to the West Bank in order to cover the German army.
The observation post's field of vision also allowed the large force to successfully board the west bank without being noticed by the enemy."
Glebov picked up the telegram and browsed it carefully for a while, then raised his head and said to Batov: "Comrade Commander, the telegram did not mention whether the 48th Group Army had any conflicts with the enemy during the landing and establishment of the landing site.
fighting."
"Huh?!" Batov was stunned for a moment, then remembered that he had indeed not seen such content in the telegram, and ordered Glebov: "Chief of Staff, please send another telegram immediately for Teremov to report.
More detailed information.”
Before Glebov could send a telegram, Teremov's second telegram came. This time the contents of the telegram were very detailed, describing how the 120th Guards Division landed, how they eliminated the enemies in the fortifications, and how they established the
The whole journey of the landing site.
After reading the telegram, Bartov fell silent.
Seeing that Bartov was silent, Rajecki picked up the telegram and looked at it carefully. After reading the above content, he couldn't help but said with emotion: "Comrade Commander, General Sokov is really amazing. He is indeed
They used smoke bombs to block the view of the German observation posts, and quietly landed on the west bank without the enemy noticing. They quickly cleared the enemies in the river fortifications and established a landing site that could accommodate more troops. This
It’s really amazing.”
"Comrade Military Commissar, you are right." Batov nodded slowly and said: "We set out earlier than the 48th Group Army, and a few days ago, we also established a forward outpost on the West Bank.
Logically speaking, we have a greater advantage in terms of positions, but why did General Sokov's troops build powerful landing sites, while we still stayed in the forward positions we secretly built a few days ago? This is worth thinking about.
of."
"Then what should we do next?" Glebov asked.
"Find a way to send part of the artillery to the west bank first, and establish a new artillery position there." Batov thought of the shelling he suffered not long ago, and couldn't help but hate it. If it weren't for his own artillery due to the range of
problem, and if we can't hit the other side, the plan to build a landing site will not go to waste. Thinking of this, he told Glebov: "As long as we establish an artillery position on the West Bank, even if we are bombarded by the Germans again, we can rely on ourselves
We can carry out counterattacks with our own forces, and there is no need to ask the Air Force for help.”
"The pontoon bridge from the shoal area to the west bank may not be able to be transported to the west bank in a short time." Glebov said to Batov: "How about we build a batch of rafts first and use the rafts to transport the artillery to the other bank?"
"It seems that this is the only way." Bartov said helplessly: "Inform the engineering troops and ask them to seize the time to build rafts so that our artillery can be transported to the west bank."
The scout sent by Teremov was able to obtain detailed information because he met Major General Nikitin, commander of the 120th Guards Division. After the scout left, Nikitin felt that the matter was very important, so he passed
The telegram reported to Sokov.
After receiving the telegram from Nikitin, Sokov smiled and said to Sidorin and Lunev: "Chief of Staff, Comrade Military Commissar, General Batov noticed that our troops successfully crossed Theo
Dehe was very surprised. I think he may have thought that his troops were the first to land on the west bank and should be the first to establish a landing site, but unexpectedly we were able to take the lead. I think he must be very depressed at the moment.
Bar."
"Yes, Comrade Commander." Sidorin said with a smile: "They started to cross the river when the front army's artillery was preparing to launch artillery fire on the enemies on the west bank, and they moved very quickly. It didn't take long to board the west bank.
, rendezvoused with the advance battalion that occupied the front position. But what they did not expect was that after our army's artillery preparations were completed, the Germans would actually use the artillery fire of the second line of defense to carry out long-range strikes against them, forcing his troops to have no choice but to
Not staying in place to avoid the bombardment forced them to delay establishing a landing site."
"Misha, what do you think about it?" Lunev asked: "Will you lend a helping hand to the troops of the 65th Group Army?"
In response to the question raised by Luniev, Sokov thought for a while and replied: "If they are attacked by the enemy and cannot hold out, I may send troops to reinforce them. But the situation today is different. We have to take advantage of
The enemy has not had a chance to recover and quickly expanded our landing site, making it difficult to disperse our forces. After the landing site is consolidated, maybe I will order the troops to develop to the south to reduce the pressure on the 65th Group Army."
"Well, your idea is correct." Lunev agreed with Sokov's statement: "If we want to help others, we must first have this ability. If we do not establish a stable landing site, we will
Rushing to send troops to support friendly forces will weaken the defense of the landing site. Once it is attacked by the enemy, it is possible that in the end, it will not help the friendly forces to repel the enemy, not to mention losing its own base, so how can we fight next."
Before Luniev expressed his opinion, Sidorin was thinking about whether the 65th Group Army was in a bad situation now and whether he should suggest to the commander to send troops to help them. But after listening to Luniev
After hearing what his husband said, Sidorin immediately realized that he had thought of the problem too simply. If he easily sent troops to help the friendly forces before establishing a stable landing site, it would be entirely possible that the friendly forces could not help him, and he had worked so hard.
The landing site that we worked so hard to build was also lost.
"Comrade Commander, I agree with what you and the Military Commissioner said." At this time, Sidorin could only choose to stand on the same front as Sokov and Lunev: "Our current task is to create ideas
A stable landing site, and then consider whether to send troops to support friendly forces."
"Comrade Chief of Staff, I remembered something." Sokov waited for Sidorin to finish speaking, and then said: "The director of the engineering corps said that the erection of the pontoon bridge can be completed within eight hours, but I feel a little hung up on it.
"I think it's better to let the engineers help us build a batch of rafts and transport some of the artillery to the west bank first. Then when the enemy launches an attack on our landing site, our infantry will be able to receive artillery support."
"I think it's okay." Sidorin said: "In addition to artillery, I think more of the new rocket launchers should be sent to the other side. After all, this thing is more useful than artillery. It's okay if the enemy doesn't attack. If they don't know how to survive or die,
Attack, we will let them have a taste of the new rocket launcher."
When the 120th Guards Division crossed the river, Sokov was worried that they would be intercepted by German artillery fire. If they were allowed to carry new rocket launchers, many of them would be lost in the process of crossing the river. Since the troops are now on the west bank
Having gained a firm foothold, if we transport new rocket launchers over now, we don’t have to worry about being sunk by German artillery fire in the river. He nodded and said, "Okay, then send a batch of new rocket launchers over as soon as possible to strengthen the troops at the landing site.
