Sokov was worried that the infiltrating German troops might cause losses to friendly forces, so he couldn't wait to order the director of the communications corps to connect the phone to the front army headquarters.
Konev was a little surprised when he received a call from Sokov: "Comrade Sokov, do you have any good news for calling me at this time?"
"I'm sorry, Comrade Commander of the Front Army." Hearing what Konev said, Sokov said with some shame: "I think what I brought you is bad news."
"Bad news?" Hearing what Sokov said, Konev immediately thought of Kazachya Compass Town, and asked in a panic: "Is there something wrong with Kazachya Compass Town?"
"No, no." Seeing that Konev actually contacted Kazachya Compass Town, Sokov immediately shook his head and replied: "Comrade Commander of the Front Army, now Kazachya Compass Town is firmly under control
It is in the hands of our army. Even if the enemy launches an attack, they will never be able to take the town from our hands."
Knowing that the Compass Town of Kazachya was fine, Konev became relaxed again. For him, as long as the town was in the hands of the Soviet army, then when the main force launched an attack on Kharkov, Sokov's troops
He could cover the flank in the direction of the town. He asked casually: "Comrade Sokov, what do you mean by the bad news?"
"On the way to the Compass Town of Kazachia, one of my troops encountered several German soldiers disguised as our troops."
"Oh, we encountered Germans disguised as our troops." Konev asked with interest: "How many such enemies are there and what is their mission?"
Konev's words stopped Sokov. Since Shamrih and the others did not leave any survivors, Sokov had no idea how many enemies had infiltrated into the defense zone and what tasks they were responsible for. He could only be embarrassed.
He replied: "I'm sorry, Comrade Commander of the Front Army, I don't know."
"you do not know?!"
Faced with Konev's doubts, Sokov could only explain: "Because the enemy tried to resist after their identity was revealed, they were all annihilated by our army's commanders and fighters, leaving no one alive."
"No one was left alive." Konev said with some displeasure after hearing this: "Comrade Sokov, our main task now is to attack the enemy who occupied Kharkov. But you
You bother me with such insignificant things, maybe the situation is not as serious as you think, these enemies killed by you are just the enemy's scouts."
After hearing these words, Sokov didn't know how to respond.
Hearing Sokov's silence, Konev continued: "Comrade Sokov, even if the enemy has penetrated into our defense area, how many people can they have? You know, with the Voronezh Front, we always have
We have 600,000 to 700,000 troops, but what harm can a few German soldiers do to us?"
When Samyko saw Sokov put down the phone, he had a very serious expression on his face, and quickly comforted him and said: "Comrade Commander, General Konev is right, we now have six to seven million people gathered in the direction of Kharkov."
A large army, let alone a few German soldiers, even if a company of enemies comes, the threat it poses to us is limited."
Sokov originally felt disappointed because Konev did not pay attention to this matter. But after hearing what Samyko said, he immediately had a new idea. He could directly arrange manpower to search for the enemies that had infiltrated.
There is indeed no need to alarm Konev. You must know that he is nervously mobilizing his troops at the moment and has no time to care about such a trivial matter.
After figuring this out, Sokov called the director of the communications corps to him and asked: "Comrade director of the communications corps, can we talk to Colonel Koida in Compass Town, Kazachya now?"
"Yes, Comrade Commander." The Director of the Communications Corps nodded and replied: "The telephone line between us and the Compass Town of Kazachiya has been laid. You can talk to the commander there at any time."
"Then immediately put me through the 188th Division headquarters. I want to speak to the division commander, Colonel Koida."
The call was quickly connected. Koida on the other end of the phone asked nervously: "Comrade Commander, what are your instructions?"
Sokov did not immediately explain the mission to the other party, but asked about other things: "Have the troops of the 98th Guards Division arrived in Kazachiya Compass Town?"
"According to the report from the observation post, half an hour ago, about a regiment of troops rode on hundreds of trucks, passed through the town, and headed south." After answering Sokov's question, Koida asked tentatively.
: "Comrade Commander, is that why you called here to ask about this matter?"
"Comrade Colonel, I'm calling you for something else."
"Something else?" Koida asked in confusion: "What thing?"
"The Guards regiment that just passed through the town encountered five German soldiers disguised as our troops on the way. According to the report of Colonel Chuvasov, commander of the 98th Guards Division, the documents they used were all Gucha
Identification of the commander and combatant of Cove Camp."
"What are the credentials of the commanders and fighters of the Guchakov Battalion?" Koida was suddenly startled into a cold sweat when he heard what Sokov said, and quickly asked: "Comrade Commander, what is going on? How can the enemy have a battalion of commanders and fighters?"
Where are your certificates?”
"I guess the enemy collected them from the fallen commanders and combatants when they attacked the hospital." Sokov said: "I don't know how many documents of our fallen commanders and combatants fell into the hands of the Germans during the battle.
Therefore, I have to give you an important task and immediately send people to search around the town to see if there are any fish that have slipped through the net."
Although the task assigned by Sokov was very high, searching for enemies disguised as one's own people in such a vast area was tantamount to finding a needle in a haystack. But Koida still replied unequivocally: "I understand, Commander
Comrade, I will immediately send out manpower to search nearby, and we will surely catch all the enemies who have infiltrated."
"Colonel Koida, your division must have suffered quite a lot of casualties when they captured the Compass Town of Kazachia, right?"
"Yes, Comrade Commander." As soon as he heard Sokov talking about the casualties, Koida began to complain: "Our division's battle in the Compass Town of Kazachiya was brutal, and the number of casualties has reached three.
One percent, some companies even have only an empty designation left, such as the Guchakov Battalion."
"The Guchakov Battalion no longer exists in the organization of your division." Seeing Koida mentioning the Guchakov Camp again, Sokov quickly reminded him: "Now Major Guchakov is the 73rd Infantry Division.
Brigade Commander, the remaining soldiers of the battalion have also been incorporated into the infantry brigade. After Kharkov is liberated, I will replenish the strength of your division, and then you will be able to rebuild a battalion."
Koida pretended that he had no intention of mentioning the Guchakov Battalion to Sokov, just to hint to him that he had lost a complete battalion in this battle, and hoped that Sokov could replenish it for him. Now he could see his purpose.
Having arrived, he quickly said: "Comrade Commander, if you have nothing else to do, I would like to assign a task to my subordinates and ask them to search for enemies disguised as our soldiers around the town."
"Wait a minute, Colonel Koida." Sokov quickly stopped Koida and said to him: "Since your division has suffered so many casualties, there may not be many manpower available to carry out the search mission. I will immediately
Contact Major General Fomenko and ask him to send personnel to assist you."
"Comrade Commander, if we want assistance from General Fomenko's 84th Division, I'm afraid you have to come forward." Koida reminded Sokov carefully: "After all, others are generals, and I am just a colonel."
Hearing what Koida said, Sokov felt that it made sense. If a colonel came to him at this moment and asked him to assist him in some work, he would definitely not pay attention. He quickly said: "Okay, I will give Fu
Major General Menko called and asked him to send manpower to assist you in the search."
After ending the call with Koida, Sokov asked the director of the communications corps to get through to the 84th Division headquarters. He wanted to speak to Major General Fomenko.
After the call was connected, Sokov asked straight to the point: "General Fomenko, where are you now?"
When Fomenko learned that it was Sokov who called him, he felt guilty for a while, because he had violated Sokov's orders and delayed allowing the troops occupying October Town to arrive at Kazachya Compass Town.
Supporting the 188th Division fighting here caused the division to suffer undue casualties.
Hearing Sokov's question at this moment, he was stunned for a moment and replied: "I'm sorry, Comrade Commander, I don't understand what you mean. Shouldn't I be in my own division headquarters?"
Sokov realized that his expression was not accurate enough and made Fomenko confused. He quickly added: "General Fomenko, I mean to ask whether you are in Kazachya Compass Town or somewhere else."
?”
"Of course it is in Kazachya Compass Town." Fomenko replied: "The division headquarters of the 188th Division is in the school in the south of the town, and my headquarters is in the church in the middle of the town. Comrade Commander,
Why do you ask this?"
"General Fomenko, the situation is like this. A group of German soldiers disguised themselves as our army and used our army's documents to infiltrate our army's defense lines." Sokov told Fomenko what happened on the phone.
After introducing it in detail, he said: "Because the 188th Division suffered heavy casualties in the battle that ended not long ago. If you rely solely on their strength to search for these infiltrated enemies, their strength seems a bit weak, so I would like to ask you to send manpower."
, to assist the 188th in their search efforts."
After understanding that Sokov called him just to allow him to send manpower to help the 188th Division, Fomenko couldn't help but secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and then replied loudly: "Don't worry, Comrade Commander, I will contact Komen immediately."
Colonel Ida got in touch and discussed with him about sending troops to conduct a joint search around the town."
After coordinating the joint operations of the two divisions, Sokov put down the phone, picked up the already cold tea on the table, took a few sips, and then raised his head and asked Samyko: "Comrade Chief of Staff, what do you think of me?"
Are there any deficiencies in the deployment?"
Samyko, who was standing nearby and wanted to speak for a long time, heard Sokov ask him this and quickly reminded him: "Comrade Commander, have you forgotten the task assigned to you by Marshal Zhukov?"
Sokov was stunned for a moment, then raised his hand and slapped himself hard on the forehead: "Confused, I am so confused, how could I forget this matter."
According to the earliest plan, Koida's troops should have rescued Italian prisoners of war, but because the division was entangled by the Germans in the town of Cazachia Compass, there was no way to spare the strength to carry out this task. Sokov stood up
, walking back and forth in the headquarters with hands behind his back, wondering in his mind which troops should be sent to carry out this task.
"Comrade Commander, I have an idea. Do you want to hear it?"
Sokov stopped and faced Samyko and said: "Comrade Chief of Staff, if you have any ideas, just say it. Even if you say it wrong, I won't blame you."
"Comrade Commander, according to our original plan, after the 98th Guards Division passes through the Compass Town of Kazachia, it will disguise itself as German troops, and then escort a group of so-called 'prisoners' into the enemy's defense zone," Samai said.
Co said cautiously: "Can you see if the 98th Guards Division can be diverted to the prisoner of war camp? The enemy will not have any doubts when they see such a large group of our prisoners appearing. Colonel Chuvasov and the others may be able to easily
We took down the prisoner-of-war camp and freed all the Italian prisoners of war held there."
Samyko's proposal made Sokov's eyes light up. If according to the original plan, the commanders and fighters of the 98th Guards Division pretended to be Germans, and then escorted a group of our "prisoners of war" into the enemy's defense area, their identities would be exposed to some extent.
Maybe. But if they changed their route in time and went directly to the prisoner-of-war camp outside Dergach, the guards there would definitely not have any suspicion when they saw a team of their own escorting a group of Soviet prisoners of war. In this way, maybe
Chuvashov's troops were able to seize the German prisoner-of-war camp without any blood and free the Italian prisoners of war held there.
"Chief of Staff, I think your plan is completely feasible." Sokov said politely: "Let's sit down and discuss some details first and formulate a new action plan."
Samyko was not polite and pointed at the map and told Sokov his detailed plan. Sokov listened patiently to the other party's explanation, only occasionally interrupting him to ask some questions in his mind.
Just like that, in less than half an hour, a new combat plan was released.
After Sokov picked up the combat plan and browsed it carefully, he picked up a pencil and signed his name in the lower right corner. Then he called the director of the communications corps and handed the plan to him: "Comrade director of the communications corps, please put this in immediately
Send a telegram to Colonel Chuvashov, commander of the 98th Guards Division, ordering him to implement our new orders."
The director of the communications corps took the plan from Sokov's hand. After looking down for a few times, he nodded vigorously and said, "Yes, Comrade Commander, I will personally send a telegram to the headquarters of the 98th Guards Division."