Sokov received a telegram from Popov and learned that they would break through to Luhansk where he was located after dark, so he ordered Vitkov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, General Popov has decided to break out."
We must be prepared to respond. Immediately deploy a tank brigade to the west of the city and be ready to respond at any time."
"Comrade Commander," Vitkov raised his own doubts about Sokov's arrangement: "We are now two hundred kilometers away from General Popov's rapid cluster, and there are many German troops in between.
Defense line, are you just sitting here and waiting?"
"Chief of Staff, do you have any objections?" Sokov asked calmly.
"I think we should take the initiative." Vitkov said: "If we stand still, the enemies will concentrate their efforts to block General Popov's troops. But if we attack each other at the same time, we can attack as quickly as possible.
Break through the enemy's defenses and achieve a rendezvous."
"I think Comrade Chief of Staff is right." After Vitkov finished speaking, Bely agreed: "The German army between our two armies does not have any decent fortifications. As long as we carry out mutual attacks, it will be very difficult."
It is easy to break their siege and join General Popov."
"It's not that we don't support General Popov, it's just that the time is not yet ripe." Seeing everyone's confused looks, Sokov explained to them: "Although General Popov has made up his mind to break out, after all, he
It has not yet been implemented, which makes the entire operation full of variables. If General Vatutin forcibly orders him to give up the breakout as soon as our troops are sent out, then our troops rushing to cooperate may plunge into the enemy's
middle."
Having said this, Sokov turned to Bely and Sidorin: "I think you should still remember that in the counterattack carried out in early September last year, a tank brigade of the Don Front Army successfully broke through the German army after a fierce battle.
They bravely rushed to Orlovka, but because the follow-up troops failed to follow and the troops in the city were unable to send troops to respond, their entire army was destroyed."
After Sokov reminded him, both Bely and Sidorin remembered this matter. Bely nodded and said, "Misha, what you said makes sense. If after our tank brigade attacks, General Popov
But the breakout operation was cancelled, then the tank brigade would become a lone force going deep into the enemy's territory, and could be annihilated by the Germans at any time."
As the deputy chief of staff of the 62nd Army, Vitkov was naturally impressed by what Sokov said. After hesitating for a long time, he finally expressed his attitude: "Okay, I agree with Comrade Commander.
My opinion is to deploy the tank brigade to the west first, and then attack when the time is right."
"Misha, I think you should leave the task of responding to friendly forces to my tank brigade." Bely proposed to Sokov: "The two new tank brigades have just been deployed. We must start from the existing ones."
If our defense area is moved to the west of the city, I'm afraid it will cause unnecessary chaos. But my tank brigade has been deployed in the west, which is very advantageous if we want to attack."
Sokov stared at the map and thought for a while, and found that moving the two tank brigades in the city to the west of the city would indeed cause chaos to a certain extent. After repeated thinking, he agreed to Bely's proposal: "Then
Okay, I will not mobilize the tank brigade in the city for the time being, and your tank brigade will be ready to meet friendly forces."
"It's two hundred kilometers from the Red Army Village to here. If you walk, it will take three to four days at the fastest." Sidorin reminded Sokov: "Comrade Division Commander, do you think we should arrange some vehicles to move these troops quickly?"
come out?"
"Lieutenant Colonel Sidorin is right." Vitkov said: "After such a long battle, General Popov's troops must have a large number of wounded. The existence of the wounded will inevitably slow down the march of the troops.
, if there are vehicles to transport them, then they can get rid of the enemy faster."
"Chief of Staff, what you said makes sense." Sokov doesn't understand this truth. But now he is too clever to make a living without straw. He has no means of transportation at all. How can he help friendly forces move quickly? "But we are fighting.
There are no transport vehicles in the cluster, so how can we help General Popov?"
"Comrade Division Commander," Sidorin suddenly said when Vitkov was also in trouble: "Do you still remember the 379th Infantry Division that came to support us when we were fighting the Germans in Bile Town a few days ago?"
"Remember." Sokov said with a bit of laughter and tears: "By the time they arrived, the fighting in Bile Town was already over. What, Lieutenant Colonel Sidorin, why did you remember to mention this?"
"I remember that their troops came in trucks for reinforcements." Sidorin reminded Sokov: "Although we don't have trucks, the friendly forces have them, and we can borrow them from them."
"That's right." The words woke up the dreamer. Sokov just thought that he had no transportation vehicles in his hands, but he forgot that there were a large number of transportation vehicles in the 21st Army Group deployed on his left wing. He quickly turned around
The leader said to Vitkov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, you have worked with General Krylov for the longest time. It is up to you to borrow a truck from him. I believe he will not refuse you."
"There is no problem in borrowing trucks." After Vitkov agreed to accept the task, he tentatively asked Sokov: "But if he asks me what I am borrowing these trucks for, how should I answer him?"
"In order to prevent the enemy from noticing our intentions, I think we still need to control the people who know about this." Sokov emphasized to Vitkov: "If General Krylov asks about the purpose of these vehicles, you must
Find a suitable reason to prevaricate, and never let him know the true purpose of the vehicle."
"There will be a big battle soon," Vitkov suggested to Sokov: "Would you like to call the division commanders together for a meeting so that everyone can be mentally prepared?"
"Chief of Staff, you are right. A combat meeting should indeed be held so that everyone can be fully mentally prepared for the upcoming war." Sokov said to Vitkov: "Then you should immediately inform the division commanders
Call and inform them to come here for a meeting."
"The commander of the tank brigade and the commander of the artillery division, do you need to call them together?"
"You can ask Colonel Miyakotin, the artillery division commander, and the tank brigade commander to come over."
…………
Half an hour later, the division commanders, political commissars, and chiefs of staff of the three Guards divisions and the artillery division all arrived at Sokov's headquarters.
Seeing the gathering of commanders in front of him, Sokov stood up and said to them: "Comrade commanders, I have summoned you here today because I have something important to announce to you. Soon, there will be a big battle.
It’s going to unfold here, are you all ready?”
After Sokov finished speaking, none of the commanders present spoke. They just looked at each other and asked each other with their eyes what was going on. Why did they suddenly mention a big battle? But these division-level leaders who came one after another
None of them had an answer. Finally, Miyakotin asked: "Comrade Commander, can you tell us why the war happened?"
"Based on the intelligence we have obtained so far, the Sixth Army and Popov's Rapid Group, which are closest to us, are being dealt a devastating blow by the German army. They should not be able to sustain it for long."
Everyone was stunned by Sokov's words. After a while, Colonel Gorishny asked tentatively: "But, I heard from the intelligence agency's battle report that our army has successfully captured Zaporizhia. The German Marshal
If Manstein hadn't run so fast, he would have become a prisoner of our army."
Hearing this obviously embellished report, Sokov didn't want to refute it. After reorganizing the vocabulary in his mind, he said: "Comrade commanders, you have been in Luhansk for a while, here.
I think everyone should know what the situation is. And the two troops I just mentioned are now surrounded by the German army, and their situation is very difficult.
The Sixth Army is too far away from us. Even if we want to rescue, we are unable to do so. The only one who can help now is General Popov. His troops are now staying near the Red Army Village, only two hundred kilometers away from us. Not long ago, he gave
I sent a telegram, intending to lead the troops to break out in the direction of Lugansk, and asked me to send troops to rescue them."
"Two hundred kilometers is not a close distance." Sivakov said with emotion: "Under the current road conditions, my troops can only advance up to forty kilometers a day. In other words, even if General Popov implements
Even if the breakout operation goes smoothly, it will take them at least four or five days to enter Luhansk."
"It takes four or five days to enter Luhansk, which is not bad." As soon as Sivakov finished speaking, his political commissar Yegorov added: "To get from the Red Army Village to here, I don't know how many German troops have to be broken through on the way.
A line of defense. If they encounter an area where the German army resists tenaciously, they may not be able to break through in two or three days. As a result, it may take them ten days to reach Luhansk."
Sokov did not speak, but sat in his seat, quietly listening to his subordinates express their opinions. When the room became quiet again, he stood up again and said: "Comrade commanders, we are
We cannot just watch General Popov's troops being wiped out by the enemy, so we will go to rescue them when necessary."
"Comrade Commander," Merkulov stood up and asked, "I would like to ask, when and which troops do you plan to send to rescue General Popov?"
"Although General Popov has informed me that he plans to start a breakout operation tonight." Sokov said to everyone: "But I don't know yet whether there will be uncertain variables, so what we can do at the moment
Just stay put. After confirming the direction of General Popov's breakout, we will send troops to rescue. I plan to send Colonel Bely's tank brigade and a regiment of the 41st Guards Division to carry out this rescue mission."
"Comrade Commander, I request you to allow my troops to participate in this rescue operation." Merkulov said confidently: "Currently, our division is fully staffed and has high morale. If we can allow soldiers to participate in the rescue mission,
, I believe everyone will be very happy."
Seeing Merkulov's request, Sokov did not immediately agree to him. Instead, he quietly discussed with Vitkov next to him to see if he would agree to Merkulov's request. "Comrade General," Vitkov said.
The husband stood up and said: "I have contacted General Krylov, the commander of the 21st Group Army, and he has agreed to lend us a hundred trucks. If your division wants to participate in the rescue operation, you will first receive these trucks and take them."
Car rush to meet General Popov."
"Okay, I will receive this batch of vehicles as soon as possible." Merkulov said happily: "With these trucks, our division's movement speed can be greatly improved. It would have taken four or five days to walk.
, we can complete it in one day at most.”
"Comrade General," Sokov reminded Merkulov: "The trucks I borrowed from the friendly forces are mainly to transport the wounded in General Popov's troops. Once you join the friendly forces, immediately move as quickly as possible.
Speed and transport the wounded to Lugansk in trucks."
After arranging the rescue troops, Sokov continued: "Once we cooperate with General Popov's troops and withdraw to Lugansk, the main force of the German army will definitely swarm in, and there will be a fierce battle. I hope everyone will
During this period, we must seize the time to repair fortifications and consolidate our defense areas to ensure that we can block them when attacked by the enemy."
"Don't worry, Comrade Commander." The first person to respond to Sokov was Sivakov, commander of the 71st Guards Division. In the battles of the past few days, his troops suffered the disadvantage of not having solid fortifications, so he heard that
When Sokov said this, he immediately stood up and said: "I assure you that when the enemy launches another attack on our division's defense area, we will be able to resolutely block them."
Seeing that the meeting was almost over, Sokov glanced at everyone one by one and asked: "Does anyone have any questions?"
"Comrade Commander, I have a question." Colonel Miyakotin, commander of the 11th Artillery Division, couldn't help but get up when he saw that Sokov had arranged a half-day mission that seemed to have nothing to do with his own troops.
Asked: "What is the mission of our division?"
"Comrade Colonel," Sokov looked at the other party and replied: "Didn't I tell you a few days ago that the task of your division is to establish artillery positions as soon as possible to provide artillery cover for the defenders when they are attacked by the enemy?
"
"However, our division can definitely do more work." Miyakotin said unconvinced: "I think we can also participate in this rescue. When the troops attack, if they can get artillery support, they can
Break through enemy defenses faster."
Miyakotin's words reminded Vitkov, and he said to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, I think Colonel Miyakotin is right. If the offensive force can receive artillery support, it can break through the enemy's defense line faster.
.”
"No." Sokov shook his head and rejected Vitkov's proposal: "The artillery divisions are all towed artillery and are not very mobile. I don't want these heavy artillery to fall into the hands of the enemy." Seeing Miyakotin
With a disappointed look on his face, he added, "But we can bring a Guards Rocket Artillery Battalion with us and use their powerful firepower to blast away the German defensive positions."