Sidorin picked up a pen and paper, drew a rough outline of the Volga River on it, and drew a line to connect it. He explained to Sokov: "Comrade Division Commander, we can use a few steel cables to connect the two banks of the Volga River.
Then lay logs on the steel cables, and after the steel cables and logs are frozen, it will be a strong bridge. Not to mention vehicles transporting supplies, even heavy tanks will not be a problem."
After listening to Sidorin's proposal, Sokov asked the most critical question: "Chief of Staff, if you do this, how many steel cables and logs will be needed?"
Sidorin has been thinking about this plan for more than a day or two. He already has a general framework. When he heard Sokov's question, he immediately replied without thinking: "I made a rough calculation. To complete such a bridge, it will take at least
Twenty thousand meters of steel cable and five thousand logs.”
"Oh my god, we actually need so many steel cables and logs." Ivanov came out to sing the opposite: "With the current situation in Stalingrad, let alone the inability to come up with 20,000 meters of steel cables and 5,000 round logs.
Even if the wood could be taken out, it would take at least two or three days to build such a bridge across the river.
Comrade Chief of Staff, I wonder if you have ever considered that we have taken such risks and spent so much time and money to build a bridge over the Volga River. Maybe it will be destroyed by enemy aircraft in less than a day or even half a day.
Blow it up. I don’t think your plan is feasible. Even if you submit it to the army headquarters, I’m afraid it won’t be approved.”
Ivanov rejected Sidorin's proposal, but Sokov was secretly thinking about the feasibility of this plan. According to the orders from his superiors, after the major counterattack began, other units of the 62nd Group Army were to stick to the existing defenses.
The position is to block and contain the enemy; and the task of your own troops is to choose the right time to counterattack the German army.
To carry out a counterattack against the enemy, infantry alone is not enough. It also needs the support of artillery and tanks. But in hand, he only has a few tanks obtained from the factory director Peter, which are simply insignificant compared with the German tanks.
.If you can get tank support from the other side before the counterattack begins, your results in the counterattack will be even more brilliant.
But when he thought about the materials and time required to erect such a pontoon bridge, Sokov felt a headache. He was worried that even if he submitted the plan, Chuikov and the others might reject it due to factors such as insufficient materials and too long construction time.
Thinking of this, he sighed softly and said to Sidorin: "Comrade Chief of Staff, your plan is very good. However, under the current circumstances, it is obviously unrealistic to build such a bridge."
Seeing the disappointed expression on Sidorin's face, Sokov quickly changed the subject: "By the way, has there been any movement from the Romanian army in the past two days?"
"It's the same as usual," Sidorin shrugged and said: "She shelled our position for ten minutes every day, and then launched a ground attack. As soon as she received our counterattack, she immediately returned to the starting point of the attack."
"Yes, it's still the same. Without German supervision, their daily offensive is just a formality." Ivanov added with interest: "But this is very beneficial to us, we can deploy more
Use your forces in the attack to achieve greater results."
Although the Romanian army in front was defeated by his own men, Sokov did not take it lightly. He ordered Sidorin: "Chief of Staff, immediately send out scouts to conduct reconnaissance on the Romanian army's defense situation and find out the layout of their defense lines.
Where is the weak point?”
"Understood." Sidorin nodded and said, "I will arrange the scouts immediately."
After sending Sidorin and Ivanov to rest, Sokov lay on the cot in the corner of the headquarters and stayed awake all night, thinking about Sidorin's bridge-building plan over and over again.
Early the next morning, as soon as Sidorin walked into the headquarters from outside, Sokov turned over and sat up and greeted him: "Chief of Staff, you are here!"
Sidorin nodded to Sokov and asked tentatively: "Comrade Commander, you didn't sleep all night?"
"Can't sleep." Sokov stood up and walked to the table, picked up the cigarette case and matches placed on the table, and said to Sidorin: "Chief of Staff, I will leave it to you to take charge here. I will go outside to smoke a cigarette."
"
Sokov walked along the passage to the top of the slope. As soon as he walked out of the cave, he suddenly heard someone shouting loudly from behind a mound: "Stop, password!"
Password?! Sokov was immediately confused. He thought that he just wanted to take a breath of fresh air at the top of the slope and smoke a cigarette. How could he know what the password was? Just when he was about to reveal his identity, the other party suddenly exclaimed.
: "It turns out it's you, Comrade Teacher."
As soon as he finished speaking, a soldier wearing a steel helmet and a white camouflage uniform emerged from behind a mound with a gun. He came to Sokov, straightened his body and said apologetically: "
I'm sorry, Comrade Commander, I didn't know it was you..."
"It doesn't matter, you are also responsible." Sokov waved his hand towards the other party and said magnanimously: "Fortunately, you recognized me in time, otherwise you would not have heard me answer the password and would have fired at me directly.
A gun?"
"How is this possible?" The soldier replied with a red face: "I will not shoot casually."
Sokov looked around. After a long period of shelling and bombing, the top of the slope had become unrecognizable. There were dark craters everywhere. He looked for a long time, but he couldn't see where the observation was.
location, he asked the soldier: "Where is the observation location?"
"You go forward along these craters." The soldier pointed not far away and patiently explained to Sokov: "After walking about twenty meters, you will see a trench. You just need to walk along the trench towards
Go east and you'll see the observation post."
After Sokov thanked the soldier, he quickly found the observation post in the direction he directed. When the observation post in the observation post saw Sokov walking in, he quickly raised his hand to salute him, and asked in a panic: "Division Commander"
Comrade, why are you here?"
"How is it going?"
"The enemy's position is very calm, there is no movement at all."
After listening to the report from the observation post, Sokov turned towards the ferry, raised his telescope and looked towards the river. Through the lens of the telescope, he found that the river had frozen again, and two transport ships sailed from the west bank to the east bank.
The ship was actually frozen by the ice. Seeing this, he turned around and asked the observation post: "How long has the transport ship been frozen on the river?"
"It was frozen when it got dark yesterday." The observation post heard Sokov's question and quickly replied: "When it was almost dawn today, I saw the sailors on the ship abandoning the ship and leaving."
Looking at the two frozen transport ships, Sokov thought to himself: If the sailors of the district fleet found that the channel was frozen, would they use a simple and crude method to open the channel again with gunboats?
"Comrade Division Commander," the observation post discovered that Sokov had been observing the two frozen transport ships, and said cautiously: "Do you think it is of little significance for the sailors to do this?"
Hearing what the observation post said, Sokov put down his telescope, turned to look at him, and asked curiously: "Why doesn't it make much sense?"
"The night before yesterday, I was on duty here and saw with my own eyes that the sailors used the gunboats as icebreakers." The observation post said to Sokov: "One gunboat sank and the other two were seriously damaged, so they managed to open up a narrow channel.
The channel, just after being used for a day, was frozen again. If you still want to continue using this channel, you can only use the original method and continue to use gunboats to hit the ice..."
After patiently listening to the observation post's statement, Sokov couldn't help but think of Sidorin's suggestion. Twenty thousand meters of steel cable may be a problem for other cities in a state of war, but
As a large heavy industrial city, Stalingrad should be able to obtain such a large number of steel cables. As for the logs, they can be replaced by sleepers that can be seen everywhere in the factory area.
"Don't worry." After Sokov made up his mind, he raised his hand and patted the observation post twice on the shoulder. He smiled and said to him: "The sailors no longer need to use gunboats as icebreakers. There will be better things."
method to solve the problem of material transportation to the other side."
Looking at Sokov's leaving figure, the observation post murmured in a low voice: "What's a good idea? We can't transfer two icebreakers from the North Pole to open a channel here, right?"
As soon as Sokov entered the headquarters, he said loudly to Sidorin: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I have carefully considered your plan last night and feel that it is completely feasible. Let's discuss the details again and then report it to the group army.
Report from headquarters.”
Sidorin originally had a lot of hope for his idea, but last night Ivanov poured cold water on him, and when he saw that Sokov didn't agree with his plan, he felt a little disappointed. At this moment,
Hearing Sokov mention the old story again, hope was rekindled in his heart.
But when he thought of Ivanov's attitude, Sidorin asked worriedly: "Comrade division commander, didn't the deputy division commander say last night that with the current situation in Stalingrad, I'm afraid we won't be able to provide so much bridging material. And this
Planting bridges takes a long time, and they may be blown up by German planes as soon as they are built.”
"Comrade Chief of Staff, don't forget, Stalingrad is a heavy industrial city. Even if it is in a state of war, I think there is still a way to get enough steel cables."
"What about the logs?"
"You can use sleepers instead." Sokov replied with a smile: "When building fortifications in the factory area, a large number of sleepers will be used. If there are really not enough," he said, pointing to the west with his hand.
"Not far in front of our position, there is a ring railway, and there are quite a lot of sleepers that can be used there."
Hearing that Sokov solved the problem of steel cables and logs in a few words, Sidorin couldn't help but smile. But this expression did not last long, and he remembered an important question: "The deputy division commander still has
One thing is quite right. It will take at least a day or two to build such a bridge. What if we are bombed by enemy planes as soon as we build it?"
"Chief of Staff, you don't have to worry about this." Sokov waved his hands and said confidently: "There are only a few days left before the big counterattack begins. By the time our bridge is built, we will probably have the air supremacy over the battlefield.
In your hands, by then the enemy's planes will be busy fighting with our planes, so how can we come here to bomb an inconspicuous bridge."
Sokov's words eliminated Sidorin's worries. He paused for a moment and asked tentatively: "Comrade division commander, can you report this matter to the headquarters?"
"Isn't it the same with your report?" Seeing that Sidorin voluntarily gave up the opportunity to win the favor of his superiors, Sokov couldn't help but asked in confusion: "You have a good relationship with the commander. When he hears the plan you proposed, he might return it."
I will praise you."
"No, no." Sidorin shook his head vigorously and resolutely refused: "The person Comrade Commander trusts the most is you. If he hears you propose such a plan, he will definitely adopt it readily."
Since Sidorin took the initiative to give up this opportunity, Sokov did not show any pretense and asked the communications soldier to connect the phone to the group army headquarters. When he heard Chuikov's voice coming from the receiver, he immediately said: "Comrade Commander
, I would like to make a suggestion to you!”
"Oh, give me some advice?" Chuikov said with a smile: "Then I want to listen carefully, so feel free to suggest it."
"That's right, Comrade Commander, in order to ensure smooth transportation of the Volga River, I think a bridge should be built across the river." Sokov carefully reported the bridge repair plan to Chuikov in detail, and finally said: "Commander
Comrade Communist Party member, this is just a suggestion from me. As for whether a bridge should be built, it is up to you to decide."
"Colonel Sokov, your plan is very good." Chuikov waited for Sokov to finish and said with satisfaction: "I will immediately report it to the front army headquarters and ask Commander Yereomenko to send an engineering unit to work with our group army.
The engineering troops will work together to complete the bridge construction work."
"Comrade Commander," Sokov asked curiously: "You don't need to discuss it with other group army leaders and just report it directly to the front army headquarters?"
"What, discuss it with other leaders?" Chuikov was obviously more surprised than Sokov: "Does the plan you proposed still need to be discussed?"
"..." Sokov simply couldn't believe that these words were spoken by a group army commander. His unreserved trust in himself made him feel a lot of pressure.
"Colonel Sokov, I may study and discuss the plan proposed by others with other leaders. But for you," Chuikov's tone was full of trust in Sokov: "Whether the proposed plan is suitable or not?
I still know it well."
When Sokov heard this, he was completely speechless. Although Chuikov's unreserved trust in him made Sokov feel a lot of pressure. He became uneasy.
When he got up, he worried that when he commanded the troops to carry out a counterattack, he would not be able to achieve results that satisfied Chuikov, and then he would be embarrassed.
"By the way, what's the situation like there?" Seeing that Sokov didn't speak, Chuikov automatically changed the topic: "Have you started preparing for a counterattack?"
"Yes, Comrade Commander." Sokov replied: "I have sent scouts to conduct reconnaissance on the Romanian army's defense areas to find their weak points as a breakthrough for our counterattack."
"Very good, very good!" After Chuikov said "very good" twice, he warned: "If you have any difficulties, please call me at any time." After saying that, he hung up the phone.
