Seeing that Burke rejected his request without hesitation, Sokov was not discouraged. He rolled his eyes and thought of other methods in his mind. He chuckled: "Colonel Burke, actually I have always admired Mann."
Marshal Stein, I would like to know more about him. Since you are his adjutant, you must know him very well. I wonder if you would like to sit down and have a drink with me and tell me something about the marshal.
listen."
"What, you admire our Marshal Manstein?" When Burke heard what Sokov said, the first thing he thought in his mind was that he was hearing hallucinations, but when he saw the expressions of astonishment on the faces of the Russian officers and soldiers around him,
Only then did he realize that he had heard correctly. Sokov had indeed said that. He asked tentatively: "Can I ask why you admire him?"
"He is an amazing military genius," Sokov said shamelessly in order to dispel the other party's doubts: "Sevastopol is an unconquerable fortress in the eyes of our Supreme Command. Many German generals
Their failure proved this point. But with the emergence of Marshal Manstein, this view was completely subverted. Under his command, your army easily captured this so-called eternity.
The fallen fortress made him the unmitigated conqueror of Sevastopol."
Hearing Sokov's generous words of praise for Manstein, Burke couldn't help but smile proudly on his face. Sokov praised Manstein so much. As Manstein's adjutant, he also had a close relationship with Manstein.
Rong Yan. So when Sokov invited him to sit down for a drink again, he did not refuse, but sat down at the table happily.
Seeing that the other party had fallen into his trap, Sokov couldn't help but smile on his face. He picked up the silver flagon, poured half a cup of vodka into the glass in front of the other party, and said with a smile: "Colonel Burke, please try it.
Try our best vodka.”
Burke picked up the wine glass, took a sip gently, closed his eyes and felt it for a moment, then opened his eyes and said, "It is indeed a good wine."
"Colonel Burke, let's chat while drinking." Sokov picked up the wine glass, touched it lightly with the other party, and then asked: "What do you think if the commander of the Sixth Army was not Paulus?
But it’s Marshal Manstein, so what kind of situation will it be?”
Hearing Sokov's question, Burke put down the wine glass in his hand, picked up a biscuit on the plate on the table, took two bites, and said: "If Marshal Manstein were to command the Sixth Army, then
They will definitely not be annihilated by you. But judging from the Marshal's grasp of the battlefield situation, he can successfully jump out with his troops before your encirclement is closed.
To say the least, even if we accidentally fall into your encirclement, when General Huote and other troops launch a rescue operation, they will take active action and successfully break through your encirclement."
The Soviet commanders and soldiers standing aside were filled with anger when they heard Burke's arrogant statement. If they hadn't seen Sokov drinking with him calmly, someone would have slapped him long ago.
But what everyone did not expect was that after Sokov waited for Colonel Burke to finish speaking, he shook his head and said: "Colonel Burke, you are wrong. If during the Battle of Stalingrad, the commander of the Sixth Army
It's Marshal Manstein, and our army can't hold Stalingrad at all, let alone encircle and annihilate the Sixth Army later."
Sokov's words were shocking. Not to mention that Burke was stunned on the spot. Even the commanders and soldiers next to him were stunned. They never dreamed that Sokov would make such dangerous remarks.
.If another person said this, there would be only one fate waiting for him, and that would be to be sent to a military court.
But Sokov's words aroused great curiosity in Burke. He asked with interest: "General Sokov, why do you think that if Marshal Manstein commanded the Sixth Army, we would have captured Stalinger?"
What’s the possibility of strangulation?”
"Colonel Burke, please don't think that I deliberately say good things about Marshal Manstein just to please you. Listen to me and I will slowly analyze it for you." Sokov saw that he had successfully attracted Burke's attention.
He continued: "If Marshal Manstein were to command the battle, after your army crosses the Don River, you will definitely not deploy General Hoth's Fourth Armored Group to attack the damn Caucasus. Instead, you will concentrate all your forces on the Caucasus."
The troops rushed towards Stalingrad. You must know that at that time, basically all the troops of our army were in the Don River Basin, fully resisting your attack.
Although I commanded a troop stationed at Mamayev Heights at the time, in a battle-level battle involving millions of people, the thousands of people I commanded, no matter how solid the fortifications were, could not stop your thunder.
hit."
Burke very much agreed with Sokov's words. After the Sixth Army was completely wiped out, there was a saying in Manstein's headquarters that if the marshal himself was to personally command this battle, it might end in
The winner will no longer be the Soviet army. And Stalingrad, which was reduced to ruins, will definitely fall into the hands of the German army.
Seeing that Burke agreed with his statement, Sokov continued: "There is actually nothing wrong with Paulus' tactics. He planned to separate the old and new cities of Stalingrad by occupying the commanding heights of Mamayev Hill.
, to separate our army's defense line in the city. But what he didn't expect was that he could not conquer the Mamayev Hill that I was holding on to.
If Marshal Manstein is replaced, he will definitely adjust his tactics in time and shift the focus of the attack from Mamayev Heights to other directions. For example, a frontal feint attack and roundabout on both wings, aren't they common tactics you use? As long as the two wings are roundabout
If the troops can break through our army's defense and reach the bank of the Volga River, they can go north or south along the river, join forces behind the Mamayev Hills, control the city's central ferry, and cut off the connection between the city and the outside world. If this is true
If you can do this, then the defenders in the city will soon be annihilated by you because they will run out of ammunition and food..."
Burke was so attracted by Sokov's ingenious remarks that when the prisoner-of-war team arrived at the exchange location, he was not interested in asking. Instead, he left it to Lieutenant Kahn to take charge. Sokov took advantage of Burke's absence
When he noticed it, he made a gesture to the commander of the 564th Regiment on the side, telling him to send someone to help the wounded return to their positions quickly.
Hundreds of people poured out of the position, which startled Burke. He asked Sokov alertly: "General Sokov, what are you doing?"
Seeing that Burke was frightened, Sokov quickly comforted him and said: "Mr. Colonel, don't worry. I saw that the wounded were unable to move, so I ordered the troops on the position to come out to meet them. Don't worry, I'm here.
, your safety can absolutely be guaranteed."
The soldiers walked into the prisoner of war team, took the stretchers with the seriously wounded from the hands of the lightly wounded, and walked faster towards their trenches. As for the lightly wounded, because their burden was lightened, their marching speed naturally increased.
It sped up. In less than a quarter of an hour, all the released wounded had entered the Soviet defense zone.
Seeing that the rescued wounded returned to the defense zone smoothly with the help of the soldiers, Sokov couldn't help but secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and with a few perfunctory words, he sent Burke and his men away.
Looking at the retreating figures of Burke and others, Sokov shouted to the guard platoon standing around him: "What are you doing standing here stupidly? If you don't run away quickly, do you want to be hit by German shells?"
?”
Samoilov made a gesture to the two soldiers next to him, stepped forward to hold Sokov up, and then shouted loudly: "Retreat quickly, retreat quickly, retreat to the trench."
Upon hearing Samoilov's order, all the soldiers started running wildly. Everyone just wanted to run back to their positions quickly to avoid the enemy's bombardment. As for the tables and benches with wine and food, no one cared about them at all.
As soon as a group of people ran back to the trench, the scream of artillery shells piercing the air was heard in the air. Then, a series of artillery shells landed at the exchange place not long ago, where Sokov once sat and chatted with the German colonel.
The stool was blown to pieces in an instant.
After entering the position, Sokov guessed that the enemy's next shelling position must be the trench where his group was located, and quickly shouted at the top of his lungs: "Retreat to the second line of defense immediately, retreat quickly!"
Fortunately, Sokov's order was issued in time. When he and the soldiers of the guard platoon retreated along the communication trench into the second line of defense, the German artillery shells fell like raindrops, suddenly covering the entire front line. Soon Sokov and the others
The trench he had been in before was suddenly shrouded in flames and smoke.
"It's so dangerous." Seeing that the position in front was covered by enemy artillery fire, Samoilov said with lingering fear: "Comrade Commander, if you hadn't ordered us to withdraw to the second line of defense in time, but continued to stay,
In the trenches, the losses are probably heavy at this point."