"Impossible, this is absolutely impossible." When Sokov heard what Asiya said, his first reaction was that the other party was joking with him. You know, Belkin is currently in the 84th Infantry Division of the 27th Group Army.
How could someone who held the position of deputy division commander become a staff member of the weapons and equipment department in a blink of an eye? "Asiya, you can't joke about this kind of thing."
Hearing Sokov question himself, Asiya was also angry: "Misha, I called you specially to tell you such important news, but you actually doubted me?!" After that, she did not defend Sokov.
opportunity, I immediately hung up the phone.
Sokov held the microphone from which the blind tone came, and shook his head with a wry smile. He really didn't expect Asiya to have such a bad temper. He just asked her casually, but she actually got angry and hung up the phone directly. Fortunately, he just asked her casually.
She is still young, otherwise she must have reached menopause.
"Comrade Commander, what did Asiya say on the phone?" Sidorin, who was sitting aside, asked curiously: "You just said a few words to her, why did she hang up the phone?"
Sokov put down the phone and said to Sidorin: "Asiya said on the phone that the person who takes over Yakov's post is actually Colonel Belkin. I found it a bit unbelievable, so I asked who it was.
I knew she would get angry."
Sidorin automatically ignored Asiya's angry words, but asked with some urgency: "Comrade Commander, what are you talking about? Colonel Belkin has gone to the Weapons and Equipment Department now?"
"Yes, that's what Asiya said." Sokov thought of the scene when Asiya hung up on him and realized that this might be true: "I think there should be nothing wrong."
"Oh my God." After confirming the news that Belkin was in the weapons and equipment department, Sidorin was so excited that he almost jumped out of his seat: "Comrade Commander, this is really great news. If he really takes over
Colonel Yakov, no, it’s General Yakov’s position now, so we can get some new weapons and equipment through him.”
"I think about it this way too." Sokov felt that no matter what Asiya said was true or false, he needed to call the weapons and equipment department to find out whether Belkin had taken over Yakov's position: "I
Call the weapons and equipment department now to double-check this information."
Sokov acted immediately and immediately called the director of the Communications Corps and asked him to help him connect the phone to the weapons and equipment department. After hearing the female operator's voice, Sokov said bluntly: "Please
Answer Colonel Belkin's call for me."
When the other party heard what Sokov said, he couldn't help but hesitate for a moment, and then said: "Please explain your identity."
"I am General Sokov, commander of the 48th Group Army, and I am an old friend of Colonel Belkin." Sokov politely said to the operator: "Please help me transfer to his office."
"Please wait a moment, Comrade General." After hearing Sokov's self-introduction, the operator was startled and said hurriedly: "I will connect you to Colonel Belkin's office immediately."
The call was quickly connected, and Belkin's familiar and long-lost voice came from the receiver: "I am Belkin, where are you?"
"It's me, Belkin!" After Sokov heard Belkin's voice, he couldn't help but said with excitement: "I'm Sokov, I'm very happy to hear your voice again."
"It turns out it's you, Misha!" Belkin on the other end of the phone had obviously guessed that Sokov would call, and said with a smile: "Not long ago, I met Asiya, and I went out of my way to
Tell her, if you need my help with anything, just call me. I thought I would have to wait a few more days, but I didn't expect you to be so impatient and you called me just after an hour."
"So, you took over Yakov's position?"
"Yes, I took over General Yakov's position."
"If I ask you for weapons and equipment, can you provide them to me?"
"That depends on whether the equipment you need exceeds my authority!"
"Can the hovercraft be used now?"
"Wait a minute, I need to check the information." The next moment, Sokov heard the sound of flipping through the account book from the receiver. It should be that Belkin was checking the relevant records.
A few minutes later, the sound of turning over the ledgers stopped, and then came Belkin's voice: "Misha, I found it. The Weapons and Equipment Department now has 20 hovercrafts, including 15 transport hovercrafts and 5 combat hovercrafts.
"
"Is it the original one or the newly improved one?"
"According to the accounts, all the original hovercrafts have been scrapped, and these are all newly manufactured."
"Have the parameters of the hovercraft been improved?"
"The transport hovercraft can carry 40 soldiers, or a tank." Belkin said: "The combat hovercraft is equipped with two 12.7 mm machine guns and has an ammunition capacity of 5,000 rounds."
When Sokov heard this, it was very much the same as before. But these details were not important. What was important was if these hovercrafts could be used to transport supplies or transport troops across the swamp. Thinking of this, he asked tentatively: "Bergin,
I would like to ask, if I need these hovercrafts, can you make the decision to provide them to me?"
Belkin hesitated after hearing this: "Misha, to be fair, I wish I could provide you with everything in the weapons and equipment department. But you know, I just arrived here not long ago and my authority is limited. If I don't say hello to my superiors, I will
If I hand over the hovercraft to you, I'm afraid I'll have to go to court-martial tomorrow."
When Sokov heard that the other party seemed to be pushing back and forth, he couldn't help but feel a little unhappy: "Belkin, if you find it inconvenient, forget it, I don't want to embarrass you."
"No, Misha, you misunderstood." Belkin heard that Sokov had misunderstood him, and quickly explained: "I will report the matter to Comrade Ustinov as soon as possible. As long as he agrees, I will
Immediately arrange for someone to send the hovercraft to you."
"That's right." When Sokov heard Belgin saying that he could send someone to send him a hovercraft, his attitude immediately changed: "Bergin, my troops are stationed near the swamp, and transportation is quite inconvenient. If we can
Equipping hovercrafts as soon as possible can improve existing transportation conditions."
After Sokov and Belkin had discussed the matter about the hovercraft, they ended the call with confidence and said to Sidorin with a proud look on his face: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I have already made an agreement with Belkin, and he will do it as soon as possible."
Bring us 20 hovercrafts, including 5 combat hovercrafts and 15 transport hovercrafts."
Sidorin had seen the capability of hovercrafts with his own eyes. Hearing that he could get so many, he suddenly became excited: "Comrade Commander, if Colonel Belgin can really provide us with so many hovercrafts, our army will be able to survive the crisis."
The time in the swamp can be greatly shortened."
Sokov had an intuition that the construction of these newly built hovercrafts in the Weaponry and Equipment Department was probably started with Ustinov's approval, and perhaps they were prepared for his own troops.
Just when Sokov was feeling proud, the phone on the table rang: "I'm Sokov, where are you?" Sokov was closest to the phone, so he casually picked up the phone and put it to his ear.
Rokossovsky's voice soon came from the receiver: "Misha, this is Rokossovsky!"
"Hello, Comrade General." Hearing that the person calling him was actually Rokossovsky, Sokov suddenly became more energetic: "What instructions do you have?"
"Misha, I'm calling you because I have good news to tell you." The plan was approved, and Rokossovsky, as the formulator and commentator, said carelessly: "The combat plan has been approved!"
"Oh, the battle plan has been approved..." Sokov said absently, but the next moment, he realized the true meaning of Rokossovsky's words. He couldn't help being shocked, and then asked tentatively
: "Comrade General, is this the battle plan?"
"Yes, that's the battle plan."
Sokov could hear the joy in Rokossovsky's tone, and he said jokingly: "I hope that when you submitted the plan, the Supreme Commander himself did not punish you to stand outside!"
Unexpectedly, as soon as Sokov said this, Rokossovsky suddenly became quiet. After a long time, Rokossovsky asked tentatively: "Misha, how did you know? Did Zhukov
Has the Marshal called you?"
"No, Comrade General, how could Marshal Zhukov call me?" Sokov said perfunctorily: "I was just guessing, and I didn't expect that I actually guessed it right."
Rokossovsky thought to himself that only a few senior commanders who attended the meeting knew that he was punished by Stalin. Except for Zhukov and Konev, the rest of these people were not familiar with Sokov.
Naturally, they would not leak this matter to Sokov casually. They know Zhukov and Konev, and they would not say these things casually, so it is possible that, as Sokov said, he was just guessing.
.
After a brief silence, Rokossovsky asked again: "Misha, do you think who picked me up at the airport after I arrived in Moscow and then sent me to the Kremlin?"
Not knowing this word, Sokov almost blurted it out, but he immediately thought that Rokossovsky would not mention it for no reason. Obviously, the person who picked him up was someone he knew and had a good relationship with him.
That kind of thing. Thinking of Yakov being transferred from the weapons and equipment department, Sokov guessed that maybe the person who picked up Rokossovsky at the airport was Yakov.
Thinking of this, Sokov asked tentatively: "Comrade General, is it Yasha who picked you up at the airport?"
After hearing this, Rokossovsky laughed and said, "Misha, how did you guess it?"
"This is what I analyzed." Sokov thought that he would not be able to bypass Rokossovsky when dealing with the weapons and equipment department in the future. For some things, it would be better to greet him in advance, so he said truthfully
: "I thought today that many recruits in the army did not have weapons, so I planned to ask Yasha to see if he could provide us with a batch of necessary weapons. Unexpectedly, my operator at the switchboard told me that Yasha had been transferred. I
I asked the other party if she knew where Yasha had been transferred, but the other party replied that she didn't know at all given her authority.
Originally, I thought that Yasha wanted to make a contribution and went to a certain army on the front line, waiting for you to come back. Could you please help me find out which army Yasha went to. But what I didn't expect was that Asiya actually gave me
Called."
"Asia?!" After Rokossovsky repeated the name, he suddenly remembered that Sokov's wife had this name, and asked curiously: "What did she call you?"
"She said that after Yasha was transferred from the Weapons and Equipment Department, he went to the General Staff Headquarters to work as an assistant to the Chief of Operations, General Shtemenko. And the person who succeeded Yasha happened to be an old acquaintance of mine."
"Your old acquaintance, who is he?" Rokossovsky really didn't know who took over Yakov's position. At this moment, when he heard Sokov said that the new person was his old acquaintance, he couldn't help but
Becoming curious: "Do I know him?"
"Oh, it turns out it's him." After listening to Sokov's words, Rokossovsky nodded and said, "Misha, to tell you the truth, the superiors arranged for Belkin to go to the Weapons and Equipment Department, but
At that time, you lacked an assistant, so your superiors temporarily changed their mind and asked Belkin to serve as your political deputy battalion commander to assist you in your work."
When Sokov heard this, it seemed that Rokossovsky knew quite a bit about Belkin's background, so he asked tentatively: "Comrade General, do you know how Belkin was transferred to the Weapons and Equipment Department?"
"I don't know." Rokossovsky shook his head and said, "Although I don't know the specific situation. But I know that there are people behind Belkin. It may be that the people behind him contributed, and he was transferred to
Weapons and Equipment Department. By the way, since you are an old acquaintance with him, you can give him a call and ask if he can get a batch of weapons and equipment for you."
"Before you called, I just ended the call with him." Sokov said: "He promised to provide me with a batch of hovercrafts to transport supplies or soldiers."
"What, Belkin can help you get a hovercraft?" Rokossovsky couldn't help but be surprised when he heard this: "Didn't I say last time that all those hovercrafts were scrapped due to overloading? Now?
Where did a group of hovercrafts appear from?"
"Needless to say, it is naturally a new one." Sokov said: "But this matter is of great importance. He needs to ask Comrade Ustinov for instructions first. After getting approval, he will send someone to send the hovercraft to me.
Army group’s defense zone.”
Rokossovsky had seen a hovercraft and learned that the hovercraft would be delivered soon. He couldn't help saying with emotion: "If the hovercraft can be delivered before the war breaks out, no matter whether it is an assault in the swamp,
It will also become extremely easy to transport weapons and equipment."
"Misha," Rokossovsky said in a friendly tone, "I am in Moscow now. If you need anything, just ask and I will bring it back to you when I return to the front headquarters."
Sokov thought for a while and found that there was really nothing to buy, so he politely declined Rokossovsky's kindness: "Thank you, Comrade General, thank you for your kindness, but I really don't have anything."
need."
Since Sokov didn't want anything, Rokossovsky didn't force it. He said: Good luck to you! Then he hung up the phone.
After Sokov put down the phone, Sidorin said from the side: "Comrade Commander, should you call Asya to coax her? After all, she will be the one who will contact you and Colonel Belkin in the future.
Bridge, she can provide you with information about the Armament Department at any time."