"Hello, General Hogarsky." Sokov and the other party finished speaking, asked tentatively: "I want to ask, how many artillery soldiers can you give me?"
"I can hand over the 8th Artillery Division, the 9th Artillery Division and the 11th Artillery Division to you," Hogarsky had already thought about which troops to hand over to Sokov's command before calling, so he replied without hesitation: "The 76mm, 85mm, 122mm and 152mm artillery of the three divisions has a total of 320 artillery pieces. However, the reserve of shells is limited, and it can only provide you with forty minutes of artillery preparation at most."
"What, can only provide us with forty minutes of artillery preparation?" Sokov did not expect that the time for artillery preparation he repeatedly compressed was reduced by ten minutes by Hogarsky. He smiled bitterly and said, "General Hogarsky, the time for artillery preparation is too short. Can it be extended to fifty minutes?"
"No!" Hogarsky replied very simply: "Now the artillery shells reserved by the group army's artillery can only barely maintain an hour of artillery shelling. If all the shells are consumed in the direction of your division and other troops ask me to provide artillery fire support, what should I do?"
Originally, Sokov wanted to work hard to persuade Hogarsky to change his mind, and even as soon as the other party said this, he immediately blocked Sokov's words. After a long time, Sokov asked awkwardly: "General Hogarsky, can you use rockets to cover the enemy's second line of defense after your artillery fire is over? You must know that the several rocket launchers staying by the river have consumed all the rockets."
Khogarsky heard Sokov wanted to attack a rocket at the end, and wanted to reject the party, but when he heard the other party mentioned the attacking second line of defense, he was stunned for a moment, and then asked back: "Col. Sokov, I don't understand why you asked us to use rockets to attack the enemy's second line of defense, and what about the first line of defense?"
"General Hogarsky, if nothing unexpected happens," Sokov said confidently: "When you completed the forty-minute shelling, we have successfully occupied the first line of defense of the German army. If you attack the first line of defense with rockets, wouldn't you hit your own people?"
"Damn, how is this possible?" Hogarsky couldn't believe his ears, and he asked, "Are you going to attack the enemy's positions while the artillery was preparing for artillery fire?"
"Yes, General Hogarsky, that's exactly what he said." Although Hogarsky couldn't see his expression on the other end of the phone, Sokov nodded vigorously and said seriously: "My troops will attack the enemy's position ten minutes after the bombardment begins. When the artillery fire extends to the second line of defense, the attacking troops can occupy the enemy's position."
"Col. Sokov, you are simply crazy." After hearing Sokov's words, Hogarsky not only did not have any joy, but was instead angry: "It's crazy to order your troops to attack the enemy's positions before the shelling has stopped. Haven't you ever thought about how much casualties the shrapnel flying everywhere would cause to our army?"
"I have considered it, General Hogarsky." Considering that the next attack required full support from the artillery, Sokov did not conceal Hogarsky, but said truthfully: "The first group of people who rushed into the German positions would be Colonel Bere's tank brigade. Even if they encountered shrapnel flying across the sky, they would not cause any harm to them. The infantry following the attack would enter the occupied position five minutes after the tanks occupied the enemy's position. At this time, your artillery fire had long been extended and would not pose any threat to the infantry."
"Well, since you said that, I can have two guards rocket battalions provide you with a volley and use firepower to cover the enemy's second position after the shelling is ready." After hearing Sokov's introduction, Hogarsky changed his mind and decided to use the rocket battalion to provide support to the attacking troops. He then asked: "Col. Sokov, I also want to ask, how do you provide shooting parameters for my artillery?"
"General Hogarsky, you don't have to worry about this. There are your artillery observers in Mamayev's hill, and they can provide special shelling parameters to the artillery." Sokov finally proposed: "Comrade General, do you see if we have established a special communication line so that I can command the artillery more conveniently?"
"No problem." Hogarsky agreed to Sokov's request very readily: "I will let you three artillery divisions, and I will let Major General Rozanovic, the commander of the 8th Artillery Division, come to unified command, and you can contact him directly at that time."
Sokov and Hogarsky chatted for a few more times before putting down the phone and saying to Sidolin and Ivanov who were standing aside: "Chief of Staff and Deputy Division Commander, the situation has changed now. The preparations for artillery fire for the East Coast artillery on the enemy have been reduced from the original fifty minutes to forty minutes. Therefore, our original combat plan must also be adjusted accordingly."
"Comrade Commander," Ivanov, after Sokov finished speaking, frowned and said, "According to your words, when the enemy is bombarded by our army, it will retreat to the second line of defense, leaving only a few observation posts on the position. In this way, even if we do not destroy the enemy's fortifications, we can easily seize the first line of defense. What I am worried about now is that as the time for artillery preparation is shortened, can our army's artillery destroy the enemy's second line of defense?"
The bombardment time of the second line of defense was shortened by ten minutes, which was also a headache for Sokov. Instead of answering Ivanov's question immediately, he asked Cidolin: "Chief of Staff, how long does it take for the infantry to go from the first line of defense to the second line of defense?"
Sidolin knew the distance between the two lines of defense and had calculated in advance the time it took for tanks and infantry to operate. Therefore, when he heard Sokov's question, he replied without hesitation: "Tanks take three minutes and infantry needs eight minutes."
After listening to Sidolin's answer, Sokov ordered: "Then after the artillery fire is ready, immediately let some infantry take tanks and rush towards the enemy's second line of defense. Calculate from time to time, when they approach the second line of defense, our army's rocket launcher has just completed the firepower coverage of the enemy's positions. The smoke has not yet dissipated. The enemy must still be in the cover and the anti-aircraft shelter has not come out. We can seize the enemy's positions at a very small price."
After deploying the mission, Sokov suddenly remembered the agreement between him and Hogarsky, so he called the company commander Maxim over and said to him: "Comrade Lieutenant, we need to establish a dedicated line contact with the artillery on the left bank. You can arrange personnel to set up a telephone line immediately, so as not to affect the battle later."
"Comrade Commander," Maxim and Sokov said timidly: "In fact, there is no need to set up any dedicated line, and there is no time in time. We can contact the artillery on the left bank by calling radio."
"Will there be bad signals when calling with radio?" Golikov couldn't help but interrupt and said, "When the battle in the city was the most intense, Cuikov used radio to talk directly to the Front Command in an emergency, but the effect was not good and intermittent. If this happens later, will it affect the subsequent battle?"
"Comrade Deputy Commander of the Front Army," Maxim and Golikov finished speaking, replied respectfully: "If the radio antenna is on the top of the hill, there will be no bad signal situation you are worried about."
Since the radio call can be used to establish contact with the artillery on the other side, Sokov did not want to set up any local routes to waste money. He turned to Sidolin and said to him: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I will leave it to you to be responsible for the contact with the artillery on the other side. You should contact the commander of the 8th Artillery Division as soon as possible..." At this point, Sokov suddenly forgot what the commander called, so he paused and frowned and began to recall.
"The commander of the 8th Artillery Division is Major General Rozanovic." Seeing Sokov's expression of thinking hard, Sidolin reminded him kindly.
Chapter completed!