Kazakov slapped his thigh and said excitedly: "Comrade Commander, I understand. The infantry brigade in Shaoxing, Sokov, was provided with artillery fire support for us. Didn't they get more than a dozen 122mm howitzers? The power of the shelling just now should be caused by these artillery."
Rokosovsky nodded slightly: "It seems that my decision to leave the howitzer for them is completely correct."
"Is this a matter of saying?" Malining could have confirmed from the conversation between the two that it was Sokov's troops who defeated the German attack on the headquarters with heavy artillery. He said excitedly: "If you hadn't decided to leave the heavy artillery to Major Sokov, we would have been in danger today."
O'Orol, who had just walked into the door, raised his own question: "I know that several commanders have left the heavy artillery to the infantry brigade. But what I feel strange now is how he knows that we are attacked by the enemy and can use long-range artillery fire to accurately strike the enemy without letting the shells fall on our own people's heads?"
"Col. O'Goor, the question you asked is exactly what I am confused about." Rokosovsky said to Malining with a serious expression: "Chief of Staff, send a telegram to the infantry brigade and ask what's going on."
Malining agreed, and was about to send a telegram, but the phone ringing in front of him rang.
He quickly grabbed the microphone: "I am Malining!"
An urgent voice came from the earpiece: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I am here to observe the post. I just found a convoy coming towards the location of the village."
When Malining heard this, he was shocked and thought that he had just repelled the enemy's attack. Has another enemy come? "Have you seen clearly who is coming?"
"The soldiers in the car are all wearing our military uniforms, but I don't know which part of them they are from," the observation post said.
"I understand." After putting down the phone, Malining reported to Rokosovsky: "Comrade Commander, the observation post reported that a convoy was coming towards us, and the people sitting in the carriage were wearing our military uniforms. According to my speculation, they should have come to reinforce."
"The troops coming to reinforce?" O'Orol looked at Rokosovsky and asked curiously: "Comrade Commander, which unit do you think it will be? General Panfirov's 316th Infantry Division, or another unit?"
"Although we have asked for help from the 316th Infantry Division," Rokosovsky shook his head and said, "but they have no means of transportation. Even if they receive the request for help, they will immediately send troops to reinforce. I am afraid they are still on the road at this moment. The only possibility is Misha's infantry brigade."
Everyone was half-believing about Rokosovsky's analysis. After all, the attack of the headquarters occurred very suddenly and the infantry brigades were far apart. How could it be that they rushed over to reinforce in such a short time?
"Report!" The sound of a report came from the door.
"Come in!" Malining shouted at the door.
A staff officer walked up to Malining and reported to him: "A dozen soldiers came outside. The lieutenant who led the lead said that he was from the infantry brigade guard company and he had something to report to you."
"Let him come in."
Soon, the platoon leader of the guard appeared in front of Rokosovsky, Malining and others under the leadership of the staff.
"Second Lieutenant," Malining looked at the strange major in front of him and asked, "Which part of you are from, what are you doing here?"
The guard platoon leader looked at Rokosovsky standing next to him, not knowing whether to answer Malining's question first or salute Rokosovsky first.
Rokosovsky saw the platoon leader's embarrassment and said generously: "Comrade Lieutenant, since the Chief of Staff asks you a question, you can answer him first."
After receiving the platoon commander of the guards, Rokosovsky, he reported to Malining: "Report to Comrade Chief of Staff, I am the platoon commander of the infantry brigade. At the order of the brigade commander, I sent over the engine wreckage of the enemy planes that I found."
"Oh, you are the ones who sent the wreckage of the plane?" Since Rokosovsky handed over the wreckage of the plane to O'Orol for handling, he heard the guard platoon leader say so and walked forward and took two steps: "Where is the thing?"
"In the forest one kilometer away from here," explained the platoon leader of the guard. "While we came, we heard the sound of gunfire in the headquarters, so we found a place to stop and reported the situation we encountered to the brigade."
"The distance here is not close to the infantry brigade." Malining asked curiously: "I want to know, how did you pass the information to the brigade?"
"It's very simple." The guard platoon leader replied easily: "The brigade commander equipped us with a radio station so that we can keep in touch with us at any time."
Malining smiled: "Your brigade commander is quite generous. He sent you to send the wreckage of the plane engine and also equipped with a radio station."
"Comrade Chief of Staff," explained the guard platoon leader: "In fact, the reason why the brigade commander equipped us with a radio station was because he was worried that we would encounter the enemy when searching for the wreckage of the aircraft engine and could not escape. After having a radio station, he could ask for help from the brigade department through the radio station. The artillery of the brigade department then fired the enemy based on the shooting parameters provided by the artillery observers to protect us from successfully getting rid of the enemy."
When Kazakov heard this, his eyes lit up. He hurriedly came over and asked, "Comrade Lieutenant, did you say that your brigade commander equipped you with a radio station, so that you can contact the artillery troops in the distance and launch artillery bombardment on the enemy when you encounter the enemy?"
"That's right, it's true, Comrade General."
"So, the artillery attacks suffered by the enemy of the attacking command were carried out by the artillerymen of your brigade based on the data provided by the artillery observers?"
The guard platoon leader nodded again and said in a positive tone: "That's right, Comrade General. I heard from the brigade commander that this practice is called "call artillery support". You can contact the artillery through the radio when needed, so that they can effectively attack the enemy based on the shooting parameters provided by the artillery observers."
"Great, this approach is amazing." Kazakov was immediately excited after hearing this. He turned to Rokosovsky and said, "This Major Sokov is simply a talent, and only he can come up with such a genius tactic."
After hearing this, Rokosovsky couldn't help but nodded slightly, and couldn't help but feel a little proud. He thought that if this matter was true, it would mean that his approach to bring him from the 5th Army was too correct. After pausing for a moment, he asked the platoon leader of the guard: "Did your brigade commander say that he would send troops to rescue the headquarters?"
The guard platoon leader shook his head blankly: "I'm sorry, comrade Commander, I don't know much about this."
"Comrade Commander, don't worry. When the convoy enters the village, we will know which unit is coming."
A few minutes later, Sokov appeared in the headquarters.
Seeing Sokov's appearance, Rokosovsky smiled on his face.
Before Rokosovsky finished speaking, Malinin, who found Sokov, immediately greeted him: "Major Sokov, why are you here?"
After Sokov raised his hand to salute Malining, he replied respectfully: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I received a report from my subordinates. I knew that the headquarters was in danger, so he immediately brought two soldiers from the company to reinforce. He said, he reported to me." He pointed at the platoon leader of the guard standing next to him.
"Major Sokov," although all the signs showed that the infantry brigade used heavy artillery to bombard the German troops in the attacking command and successfully repelled them. But for the sake of safety, Kazakov still asked his question: "Did you use heavy artillery to defeat the enemy of the attacking command?"
"Yes, the artillery director." Sokov nodded and gave Kazakov a positive reply: "When our subordinates told me that the headquarters was attacked by the enemy, I assembled the troops and ordered the artillery in the brigade to carry out fierce artillery bombardment on the enemy of the attacking headquarters based on the shooting parameters provided by the artillery observers."
Sokov felt particularly comfortable when he thought of seeing piles of German corpses outside the village and several destroyed tanks. He continued: "I saw the situation outside the village, and our brigade's artillery achieved good results."
"Major Sokov," said Malining in a grateful tone: "If you hadn't supported us with artillery fire in time, the Germans must have rushed into the village at this moment..."
When Malining spoke, Sokov seemed a little absent-minded. He remembered that Rokosovsky wrote in his memoir that during the Battle of Moscow, he had been in danger many times. The command alone was attacked by the German army, which had happened several times. The most dangerous time, the Germans rushed into the village, and they began to divert. If the houses had not blocked the enemy's vision, they might not have escaped.
"Misha." After Malining finished speaking, Rokosovsky came over and patted Sokov's shoulder with his hands, and said in a grateful tone: "On behalf of all the members of the headquarters, I would like to express my gratitude to you and your subordinates. If you hadn't extended a helping hand in time, I think we might have life worries. By the way, you, Comrade Lieutenant." Rokosovsky's words later said to the platoon leader of the guard standing next to him, "You have made great contributions to our ability to escape danger, and you will receive your honor!"
When the guard platoon leader heard that Rokosovsky would award him honor, he was overjoyed and hurriedly expressed his gratitude to the other party: "Thank you, thank you, Comrade Commander!"
"Major Sokov," Kazakov asked with interest, "can you tell me how did you come up with your 'call fire support' tactic?"
Sokov did not answer Kazakov immediately, but looked at Rokosovsky and said, "Comrade Commander, the wreckage of the plane engine we sent was placed not far outside. Look, will you send someone to receive it?"
After Sokov reminded him, Rokosovsky immediately remembered the task assigned to him by his superiors, and turned to O'O'er and said, "Col. O'O'er, follow this lieutenant to receive the wreckage of the plane engine."
After O'Orgil left with the guard platoon leader, Rokosovsky smiled and said to Sokov: "Misha, tell me, how did you come up with the tactic of 'calling artillery fire support', we all wanted to know the answer."
Seeing that Rokosovsky, Kazakov and others looked at themselves with anticipation. Sokov did not hide his own personalities, so he popularized the tactics that only appeared in the 1950s to several people: "In the past, when our troops needed artillery support from the rear when they needed artillery fire support, they usually used to block and shoot in front of the position. This could indeed achieve the effect of blocking and delaying the enemy, but the disadvantages were also very obvious, such as the high ammunition consumption and the limited number of enemies to be eliminated.
I was considering whether there is a way to effectively eliminate the enemy without wasting ammunition. After repeated thinking, I felt that artillery observers could stay at the forefront and feed the shooting parameters to the artillery behind through the radio station in a timely manner, thereby improving the accuracy of the artillery.”
In order to enhance persuasion, Sokov mentioned the battle that ended not long ago: "For example, in today's battle, in accordance with the previous practice, if you want to provide artillery support to the defenders of the headquarters, you can only cover the fire here. Although it can block and delay the enemy, there will definitely be many shells hitting their own people's heads. In the small unit that was first approaching the headquarters, there is an artillery observer. He can report the enemy's position to the rear artillery in a timely manner through the radio station, and guide them to carry out accurate strikes on the enemy. In this way, the enemy can be eliminated and the tragedy of shells falling on their own people's heads can be prevented."
"Good, Misha, you're really good." As soon as Rokosovsky finished speaking, he immediately praised him and said: "From the achievements made by artillery in combat today, your tactics are very effective. Comrade Kazakov," he said to Kazakov afterwards: "Do you see if this tactic can be promoted in the artillery troops to provide the accuracy of artillery strikes?"
Kazakov nodded: "When I go back, I will call on the artillery commanders to study Major Sokov's tactics carefully."
"Misha, how many people have you brought to reinforce us this time?" Rokosovsky asked.
"Two companies." Sokov replied briefly: "About three hundred people."
"There are so many people. It seems that Misha is quite concerned about our safety." Rokosovsky sighed to his deputy and asked Sokov with concern: "You will not weaken your strength by drawing so many people to support us, right?"
"No, of course not." Sokov said proudly: "I have not used any of the three main battalions. The people who followed me this time were all commanders and fighters of the reserve team. You know, we have a large number of commanders and fighters in the past period, so it will be fine if we have organized three or four battalions."
When Rokosovsky heard Sokov say this, he was silent for a moment, and then asked tentatively: "Misha, the headquarters has too few troops. I wonder if you are willing to give up and leave all the two you brought?"
According to Rokosovsky's idea, after he made this request, even if Sokov wanted to agree, he would definitely have to bargain.
Unexpectedly, Sokov said without hesitation: "No problem, Comrade Commander. I only took away the guards carrying the wreckage of the plane engine. The two companies I just brought were left to protect the safety of the headquarters."