After completing the communication with Katukov, Sokov ordered Sameko: "Chief of Staff, when will the division commanders get here?"
"I have already called them or sent a telegram." Sameko replied: "They are heading this way. I think they should be able to get here in another ten or twenty minutes."
"Why did you summon the division commanders together?" Konev asked curiously: "Do you have any other combat missions?"
"No, Comrade Commander of the Front Army." Sokov explained to Konev: "Didn't I just tell you that we will soon receive more than 20,000 new recruits? Calling these division commanders here is to prepare them and
My chief of staff came up with a distribution plan to divide the more than 20,000 recruits."
"So that's it." Konev nodded after hearing this, and then continued: "In this battle, each unit suffered different casualties, and the degree of supplementation was also different. You must grasp the scale carefully.
So that I won’t be blamed.”
"Well, I have also taken this into consideration, so I called together the commanders of the divisions who needed to be supplemented, and they discussed with the Chief of Staff Comrade Sameko to come up with a distribution plan acceptable to everyone..."
Before Sokov finished speaking, the phone suddenly rang. He grabbed the receiver and put it to his ear: "I am Sokov, who are you?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Lunev's anxious voice came from the receiver: "Comrade Commander, I am Lunev."
"It turns out to be Comrade Military Commissar, what's the matter?"
"Comrade Commander, I have a situation that I need to report to you immediately." Lunev said urgently: "The number of commanders and combatants we have received is not more than 20,000, but more than 30,000."
"More than 30,000 people?" Sokov asked in surprise: "How come there were more than 10,000 people added for no reason?"
"When we received the notice, there were three commanders and fighters detained in prisoner-of-war camps, but they were not included in the statistics." Lunev explained to Sokov: "When the official handover was made, it turned out that it was not more than 20,000 people, but more than 20,000.
Thirty-one thousand seven hundred and twenty-nine people.”
Suddenly there were more than 10,000 people. For Sokov, it was a great thing. He kept saying: "This is really great. There are more than 10,000 people. Our problem of insufficient soldiers is solved."
can be completely improved.”
"Comrade Commander, I called you just to talk about this matter." Lunev said with some embarrassment on the phone: "These are more than 10,000 people who were not captured in this battle.
, but he was captured after our army failed to attack Kharkov before the Battle of Stalingrad."
Sokov was confused by Runev's words: "Since he was a commander and combatant captured last summer, how could he be detained in a prisoner of war camp near Oboyan?"
"I carefully interrogated a captured commander. According to him, after they were captured, they were originally held in a prisoner of war camp on the left bank of the Dnieper River. More than ten days ago, the Germans escorted them here to build a new prisoner of war camp.
Camp to detain our captured commanders and fighters." Lunev said: "They thought that after building the new prisoner of war camp, the Germans would kill them all. Unexpectedly, before they had time to do it, our army
They were rescued from prison camps."
When he learned that among the rescued prisoners of war, there were actually a group of commanders and fighters captured last year, Sokov's expression became solemn: "What is their physical condition? Can they be incorporated into the army?"
"The situation is not very good." Lunev continued: "Maybe because of the torture in the enemy's prisoner-of-war camp, most of the people are in very poor health and need to recuperate for a period of time before they can participate in the battle again. Commander
Comrade, tell me, how should we arrange them?"
Up to this moment, Sokov finally understood that the purpose of Luniev's call was to ask how to resettle this group of weak prisoners of war. He thought for a while, and then replied: "Comrade Military Commissar, I think we can form a
In the reserve team, incorporate these weak commanders and fighters into the reserve team, and then add them to the new unit after their health recovers."
"Establish a reserve team?!" Lunev repeated Sokov's words, nodded and said: "Comrade Commander, you are right, placing them in this way can ensure their physical recovery.
After that, we can replenish the troops as soon as possible."
Lunev was worried that Sokov would send these weak commanders and fighters to hospitals in the rear. The consequence of this would not only increase the burden on the hospitals in the rear, but at the same time, after these commanders and fighters recovered, they might be sent to other troops.
The first step is to get there first. By forming a reserve team within the group army and placing them all in, we can ensure that the good news does not go to outsiders.
"Comrade Military Commissar," Sokov asked Lunev tentatively, worried that Apanashenko would hinder the screening and review work after the screening and review work was carried out: "When can your screening and review work start?"
"It has already started." Lunev replied: "The political workers from each division have not arrived yet, so the more than 20 political workers I brought with me are a bit busy."
"Who is that? Didn't it interfere with your work?" Sokov asked cautiously.
"No." Lunev replied unequivocally: "At the beginning, I thought he would interfere with my work. Unexpectedly, after the review began, neither he nor the people he brought interfered with our work.
Just sitting on the sidelines and supervising."
Hearing that Apanashenko did not interfere with Lunev's work, Sokov finally felt at ease. No matter what Apanashenko's background was, as long as he did not interfere with the affairs of his army, he could stay wherever he wanted.
Let him stay somewhere.
After putting down the phone, Sokov called Samyko in front of him and said to him: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the situation has changed, and the original distribution plan may need to be adjusted."
"What adjustment?" Hearing what Sokov said, Samyko asked vigilantly: "Is any army going to leave part of its troops from us?"
"No, Comrade Chief of Staff, you misunderstood." Sokov explained to Samyko: "Not only do we have no troops to take away our soldiers, on the contrary, we have more than 10,000 more soldiers who can be supplemented."
After learning that he could get 10,000 more troops, the expression on Sameko's face changed from shock to ecstasy: "Comrade Commander, this is great. Having more than 10,000 troops at once will greatly enhance the strength of our group army."
Become stronger and achieve more brilliant results in the next battle."
"Comrade Military Comrade told me that the more than 10,000 extra people were the commanders and fighters captured during the Battle of Kharkov last year. Because the German prisoner-of-war camps were tortured, most of them were very weak.
It is impossible to immediately integrate into the army for combat." Sokov sighed and said: "So I plan to form a temporary reserve team first, integrate these weak commanders and fighters, and send military doctors and health workers to continue their treatment.
After recovery, he will be incorporated into other combat units."
After listening, Samek asked tentatively: "Comrade Commander, how many people are there in this reserve force, and who do you plan to appoint as the commander of this force?"
"I can't say the specific number of people yet. But there are still five or six thousand people." Even if there are only five or six thousand people, it is a division-level unit, but who will serve as the commander of this reserve team?
This is a headache for Sokov. He said with some embarrassment: "I don't have a suitable division commander at hand. I'm afraid the commander of this unit will be temporarily vacant for a while."
"Comrade Sokov." Konev, who had been silent for the whole time, said, "I think if you don't have a suitable candidate, you might as well choose from these rescued commanders and fighters. You might be able to find a suitable candidate.
"
"Comrade Commander of the Front Army," Sokov said hesitantly in response to Konev's proposal: "Aren't all our captured school-level officers directly imprisoned by the Germans in so-called officer prisoner-of-war camps?
Among these ordinary commanders, can you still find a division-level commander?"
"It's hard to say." Konev put his left hand under his right armpit, his right elbow on his left arm, and his right hand supporting his chin. He said thoughtfully: "After some school-level officers were captured by the Germans, in order not to expose themselves
They usually pretend to be soldiers. Among the commanders and fighters captured last year, there may only be one school-level officer."
"What you said makes sense." Sokov felt that Konev's statement was very reasonable. He quickly grabbed the phone in front of him and told the director of the communications corps: "Get me through the military commissar immediately. I have
If you have urgent matters, please contact him."
Two minutes later, the director of the communications corps helped Sokov contact Lunev.
As soon as Sokov heard Lunev's voice, he couldn't wait to say to him: "Comrade Military Commissar, I have a very important task to give you now."
"Comrade Commander, just tell me, I'm listening."
"I think among the commanders and fighters captured last year, there may be school-level commanders with hidden identities." Sokov told Lunev on the phone: "You have to find a way to find all these people."
"What are you looking for these people for?" Luniev didn't know the reason why Sokov suddenly mentioned this matter, so he asked tentatively: "Are you going to send them all to a military court?"
"How is this possible, my comrade military commissar?" Seeing that Lunev misunderstood what he meant, Sokov quickly explained: "Aren't we going to set up a reserve team? We couldn't find suitable candidates to serve as this team for a while.
The commander of this unit. Therefore, I am considering looking for school-level officers with hidden identities among these rescued commanders and fighters, so that they can lead this unit."
"Oh, so that's what happened." After listening to Sokov's explanation, Lunev finally understood Sokov's intention and quickly replied: "Then I will definitely find a way to kill all the commanders who have hidden their identities.