In Sokov's impression, Rotmistrov was a man with a calm personality. But he didn't expect that when the other party heard that he was about to obtain the rank of Marshal of the Armored Forces, he also lost his composure. Less than half an hour later, this person
The future marshal of the armored forces appeared at the front headquarters.
Seeing Rotmistrov's appearance, Susekov quickly went up to him and greeted him with a smile: "General Rotmistrov, you are here. Have you brought the warm port wine?"
"
Rotmistrov chuckled twice and said: "Now that you are here, you must not come empty-handed." As he said that, he raised his hands to a position higher than his right shoulder and patted them twice hard.
Just when everyone was wondering, a young officer walked in from outside, holding a wooden box in his hand. After he entered the door, he handed the wooden box in his hand to Rotmistrov.
Then he raised his hand and saluted, then turned and left.
Rotmistrov came to the conference table with the wooden box in his hands, put it on the table, opened it, took out a bottle of wine from it, smiled and said to Sussekov: "Comrade Military Commissar, this is what I treasure.
Years of port wine.”
When Susakov and Zakharov stood at the table, took the warm Port wine from Rotmistrov's hand and admired it repeatedly, Sokov was muttering secretly in his heart: Port
Warm wine is just a kind of cheap wine mixed with alcohol. Because this wine has a strong stamina and easily affects people's ability to express themselves after drinking it, it is also called "slurred wine". However, this wine is very popular in Russia.
Popular, sales volume is second only to vodka.
When Susaikov handed the bottle to Zakharov, he accidentally turned around and saw Sokov's disgusted look on his face. He was stunned for a moment, and then he understood why the other party had such a reaction. He smiled.
To Sokov: "Comrade Sokov, are you surprised that a low-end wine like Portweng can easily make people talk nonsense after drinking it, but we cherish it very much?"
"That's right." Now that Susaikov had guessed what he was really thinking, Susaikov didn't hide it. He nodded and said, "I do think so."
After hearing this, the three people first looked at each other, and then they all laughed. Their laughter confused Sokov. He didn't know what he said wrong, so he turned his questioning eyes to Susaikov.
, hoping to get the answer from him.
"Comrade Sokov," after the laughter stopped, Rotmistrov began to explain to Sokov: "You are right, port wine is a low-grade ordinary wine with added alcohol.
, drinking it will make people confused and even gibbering. This kind of wine can be seen everywhere before the war, but as the place where this wine is produced was occupied by the Germans, the originally ordinary wine became
It’s extremely precious.”
After Rotmistrov's explanation, Sokov finally understood why Susekov and Zakharov reacted like that when they saw the bottle of wine: "Oh, so that's it.
."
Sokov then thought that Ukraine not only produces beautiful women, but also produces fine wine. Located in Yalta on the Crimean Peninsula, there is the world-famous Massandra Winery, which is the origin of the famous Massandra red wine.
.
Massandra Winery is recognized as the best winery in Tsarist Russia. Its wine cellar contains millions of bottles of Russian wine and Western European wine. Some of the Russian wines are also engraved with royal seals. The wine cellar has a long history.
, on a grand scale, it collected 400,000 bottles of Ukrainian and foreign wine products in the 1970s, with a total of more than 700 varieties. The oldest wine was produced in 1775. Now it has more than 1 million bottles of famous wines, most of which are priceless treasures.
"I heard that the Massandra Winery in Ukraine produces famous wines," Sokov said with emotion: "I wonder when our army will be able to regain this city."
"Hurry up, Comrade Sokov, hurry up." Rotmistrov said: "You know, not only our troops on this front are launching an attack on the enemy, but the other fronts are also launching a full-scale attack.
Counterattack. I believe that if the current trend continues, it won't be long before we can completely drive the enemy out of our country."
Sokov agreed with Rotmistrov's statement. In his memory, the Soviet army stationed in Belarus, after launching the offensive in June, defeated the unprepared German army.
The army was defeated, and in less than a month, the entire territory of Belarus was recovered.
"General Rotmistrov," Zakharov put the port wine back into the box, closed the lid, and said to Rotmistrov: "The commander has rested today, so drinking is the right time."
Impossible. You might as well stay here for one night and drink with the commander tomorrow."
In fact, even if Zaharov didn't mention it, Rotmistrov didn't want to leave. After all, whether he had been promoted to Marshal of the Armored Forces had not yet been confirmed, and he still felt uneasy. Since Zaharov took the initiative to ask
If he wanted to stay, he said smoothly: "Okay, Comrade Chief of Staff, I'll call the army and I won't leave tonight."
Susykov called an officer, handed him the box containing the port wine, and then invited everyone to sit down and drink tea.
"Comrade Sokov," Rotmistrov was curious about Sokov's appearance at the headquarters: "Why are you here?"
"General Rotmistrov," Susaikov said before Sokov could speak, "Not only have you been promoted, but Comrade Sokov may also have received a higher military rank."
"Comrade Sokov, I congratulate you." Rotmistrov waited for Susaikov to finish speaking, then stood up and stretched out his hand to Sokov, saying friendly: "I congratulate you in advance on your higher achievement."
military rank."
Sokov quickly stood up, shook hands with the other party, and said politely: "Thank you, Comrade Marshal!"
After a few polite words, the two sat down again. In order to avoid being left in the cold, Sokov took the initiative to find a topic and asked Rotmistrov: "Comrade Marshal, I would like to ask you whether the tanks in your army are equipped with telephones."
?"
Sokov's question stunned the three of them. Fortunately, Rotmistrov had come into contact with the kind of tank phone Sokov was talking about, and he quickly asked: "Comrade Sokov, what did you say?"
Is it the kind of phone that is installed on the back of a tank and can communicate directly with the tank crew?"
"Yes, it's this kind of phone." Sokov couldn't help but feel a little bit in his heart when he heard Rotmistrov's answer. It seemed that his "invention" had not been promoted. In order to attract everyone's attention, he
He also specifically explained: "Everyone may know that once the crew in the tank closes the hatch, they are in a semi-isolated state from the outside world and cannot understand what is happening outside in a timely manner. In this case, the outside world needs to follow the action.
of infantry, providing them with instructions.
In the past, the tank crew would be attracted to the attention of the tank crew by knocking on the tank body, and then they would wait for them to lean out of the tank turret before they could communicate. However, because the roar of the tank engine was too loud, the tank crew might not be able to hear clearly what the infantry was saying.
The content of the reminder.
It was under this circumstance that I tried to install a phone on the back of the tank. In this way, the infantry following the tank could promptly report the situation outside to the tank soldiers inside the vehicle through the phone.
"
This may be the first time that Zakharov heard about the tank call. After hearing what Sokov said, he immediately turned to Rotmistrov and asked: "General Rotmistrov, I think Comrade Sokov's
This idea is good, why don’t you promote it in the army?”
Regarding Zakharov's question, Rotmistrov's eyes flashed with embarrassment. He coughed lightly, cleared his throat and said: "Comrade Chief of Staff, General Sokov's idea is indeed good, but
It is a big project to complete the transformation of all tanks. You know, the workers in the maintenance station are too late to repair the damaged tanks every day, so they have no time to install telephones on the tanks."
After he finished explaining, he saw Zakharov frown slightly and quickly added: "Comrade Chief of Staff, installing telephones in tanks not only takes a lot of time, but also requires an astonishing number of telephones.
Therefore, after discussing with the commander of the army group, I decided not to install it for the time being."
Although Sokov wanted to refute that the other party's approach was short-sighted, he swallowed the words hard as soon as they came to his lips. In any case, Rotmistrov was about to become the marshal of the armored forces, and he was the only one.
The little lieutenant general had no right to accuse the other party, so he could only choose to remain silent.
Seeing that the atmosphere in the room suddenly became depressed, Susaikov quickly came out to smooth things over: "Okay, let's change the topic to a lighter topic." After saying this, he stared at Susaikov and asked with a smile, "
Comrade Sokov, I heard that you were married to a female military doctor during the battle to defend Stalingrad. How about it, do you have children?"
Susaikov originally just wanted to ease the tension in the room, and the topic he deliberately found unexpectedly hit Sokov's sore spot. Even though he and Asiya had been registered for more than a year and a half, the two of them
So far, they are just a couple in name only. It would be strange if they could have children.
Sokov shook his head and said with a wry smile: "Comrade Military Commissar, I don't have a child yet. I think that even if I want a child, I need to wait until the war is won."
"What, you want to wait until the end of the war to have children?" After hearing Sokov's answer, Susaikov couldn't help but shook his head and said: "Comrade Sokov, although our army is gradually gaining advantages on the battlefield, but
I estimate it will take two or three years to completely defeat the Germans. I think you should hurry up and have a child."
"Comrade Military Commissar, you are so pessimistic." Sokov, who knew the historical process, replied with a smile: "According to my judgment, in another year and a half at most, we will be able to completely defeat the Germans and achieve the final victory.
Victory." Although there were only fourteen months left before the victory of the Soviet-German war, Sokov still said one and a half years to be on the safe side.
Susaikov smiled and said: "Comrade Sokov, you are right, I may be too conservative. Before the battle of Kursk, if anyone had told me that we could drive the Germans away from Moscow,
Even driving them to the right bank of the Dnieper River, I will definitely think that he is talking nonsense. But the current situation shows that our army is gradually becoming stronger, and after so many years of war, the German officers and soldiers with combat experience are gradually becoming stronger.
The ground is being consumed little by little, and as one goes up and downs, the next war will become more and more useful to us."
"I agree with Comrade Sokov." Zakharov agreed with Sokov's view: "Although the Germans on all fronts are still resisting, their strength has been severely weakened.
At least under the current circumstances, they do not have the ability to proactively launch a large-scale offensive campaign against us, and the initiative on the battlefield has tilted towards our army. In other words, we can attack wherever we want, while the Germans
It has become a passive defensive party."
Having said this, Zakharov remembered the purpose of calling Sokov to the headquarters, and asked: "Comrade Sokov, have the scouts you sent found the open-pit mine?"
"No." Sokov said: "There is no news from the several reconnaissance teams I sent so far. I don't know if they had an accident or failed to reach the designated location."
When Rotmistrov heard what Sokov said, he quickly asked Susaikov in a low voice: "Comrade Military Commissar, what is going on? Why is General Sokov looking for an open-pit mine?"
"That's right, General Rotmistrov." Susaikov replied in a low voice: "Not long ago, Comrade Sokov used the body of General Stemerman and two thousand wounded German soldiers to replace
He brought back more than 3,000 prisoners of war from our army. From the mouth of one of the prisoners of war, he learned that tens of thousands of prisoners of war from our army were being held in a mine near Uman. He intended to send troops to rescue these prisoners of war and collect their bodies.
Healthy commanders and fighters are integrated into their own units."
After figuring out what was going on, Rotmistrov said regretfully: "It's a pity that I served in Russia before the war and never stayed in Ukraine, so I couldn't provide him with useful information."
"You don't have to worry about this." Susaikov nuzzled at Zakharov and said, "Our chief of staff has obtained the specific location of the open-pit mine from Khrushchev."
"Comrade Sokov, I have shamelessly asked Comrade Khrushchev about the open-pit mine." Zakharov dragged the map spread out on the other side of the table over and pointed to the location southwest of Uman.
: "Come and see, the open-pit mine is about ten kilometers southwest of Uman. Because this open-pit mine was abandoned in 1934, not many people know about it. Khrushchev also ordered people to investigate a lot.
Only then did I know that such a place existed.”
Sokov stared at the position of Zakharov's finger for a while, and after writing down the approximate direction, he said: "Thank you, Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army. I immediately called Chief of Staff Smirnov and asked him to inform him
The scouts narrowed the search scope and tried to find the specific location of the open-pit mine in the shortest possible time."
When Smirnov received the call, he thought Sokov was coming back and immediately asked: "Comrade Commander, are you coming back? Do you want me to send someone to pick you up?"
"Comrade Chief of Staff, I will not return to the headquarters for the time being." The military situation was urgent, so Sokov did not beat around the bush, but said bluntly: "I learned the approximate location of the open-pit mine from the front army headquarters, and now I will tell you, if you
Find a way to notify our scouts, narrow the search scope, and try to find the specific location of the mine as soon as possible."