Sokov's convoy returned to the group army headquarters smoothly. Seeing that it was getting closer and closer to the headquarters, Koshkin, who was sitting in the co-pilot's seat, suddenly turned to Sokov and said: "Comrade Commander, Bel
The hovercraft unit commanded by Colonel Jin should have arrived!"
"Oh?!" Sokov asked in surprise: "How did you know?"
"Look at the forest on the right." Koshkin pointed to the forest on the right and said to Sokov: "The latest hovercraft parked inside should be, right?"
Sokov quickly turned his head and looked out the car window, and sure enough he saw many huge monsters covered with tarpaulins parked in the forest. Coupled with the soldiers nearby who were armed with live ammunition and acting as guards, it was indeed possible that they were hovercrafts.
Seeing Sokov staring out the window non-stop, Koshkin asked tentatively: "Comrade Commander, how about we stop the car and go take a look to see if it is a hovercraft?"
"No, Captain Koshkin." Although Sokov really wanted to see what the newly manufactured hovercraft looked like, he was worried that Belkin was waiting at the headquarters to do his own thing at the moment, so he rejected Koshkin's proposal.
: "We will return to the headquarters as planned. As for whether these things in the forest are hovercrafts, we will find out when we meet Colonel Belkin."
The convoy had just stabilized outside the headquarters, and before Sokov could get out of the car, he saw Sidorin rushing out of the headquarters and went directly to the outside of the car to open the door for him.
After Sokov got out of the car, he curiously asked Sidorin: "Comrade Chief of Staff, how did you know that I was back?"
"I called the front army headquarters an hour ago, and the commander who answered the phone told me that you left very early." Sidorin explained: "I guess you must be on your way back to the headquarters.
, I ordered the troops along the way to pay attention and report to the headquarters immediately if they find your convoy."
"I just received a call from the station observation post, saying that your convoy has entered the command area, so I rushed out to greet you. Come on, Comrade Commander, everyone is waiting for you."
When Sokov and Sidorin walked inside, Sokov asked tentatively: "Comrade Chief of Staff, is Colonel Belkin here?"
"That's right." Sidorin nodded and said affirmatively: "Colonel Belkin and his hovercraft unit arrived at our defense area in more than an hour, otherwise I would not have taken the liberty to call you."
As soon as he walked into the headquarters, before Sokov's eyes could adjust to the light in the room, a man came over quickly and gave him a bear hug: "Misha, I didn't expect that we would meet again so soon.
"
Sokov recognized Belkin's voice, patted his back with his hand and said: "Berkin, I didn't expect that you came just as you said, without saying hello in advance. If I hadn't given him
Thea called, I didn’t know you were at the front line.”
"Did Asiya tell you that I was coming here?"
"Of course not." Sokov shook his head and said, "She only knows that you left your weapons and equipment and came to the front line with a group of hovercrafts. As for which front line, she has no way of knowing."
Belkin let go of Sokov and asked curiously: "Then where did you know that I was coming here?"
"Who knows your whereabouts best?" Sokov asked himself and answered: "Since Asya doesn't know where you are, I called Comrade Ustinov directly, and he told me personally, saying
You came to me with a hovercraft unit."
After figuring out what happened, Belkin was secretly relieved. You know, where he went with the hovercraft unit, this matter is absolutely confidential in the weapons and equipment department. If it was really Asya who said
Yes, I'm afraid it will cause some unnecessary trouble for Asiya, after all, this is a leak.
But if Ustinov told Sokov personally about this matter, that would be another matter. This is not a leak, but a notification to the relevant parties, which is reasonable and reasonable.
After Sokov asked Belgin to sit down, he asked curiously: "Bergin, since Comrade Ustinov agreed to your request and handed over these hovercrafts to us, you should give me a call to inform me.
ah."
"There is no way," Belgin said helplessly: "From the moment I received the departure order to the time of departure, Comrade Ustinov gave me two hours. I have so many things to be busy with, where can I go?"
I’ll call you when it’s time.”
Seeing that the other party did not want to elaborate on the matter, Sokov promptly changed the subject: "By the way, Belkin, how come you were suddenly transferred to the weapons and equipment department?"
"Misha," Belkin said, "after you were injured and left the army last year, one of my old superiors visited the army. After meeting and chatting with me for a long time, he suggested that I work in an agency in the rear. I thought at the time
He said it casually and had no objection. But one day, I received a transfer order from Moscow and found out that I had been transferred to the Weapons and Equipment Department and took over the post of General Yakov."
"Oh, so that's it." Sokov nodded, and then asked: "I don't know if you are coming here this time with an empty ship or a ship full of goods?"
"Misha, since I came here with the hovercraft detachment, I will definitely not come empty-handed." Belkin said with a smile: "Except for the five combat hovercrafts, the other 15 transport ships are full of supplies."
"Comrade Commander," Sidorin on the side interjected: "I asked about this matter after I met Colonel Belgin. After listening to what he said, I went to see it in person.
They are the weapons and ammunition we urgently need. In order to prevent leaks, I asked them to park the hovercraft in the forest, cover it with canvas, and send people to guard it to prevent irrelevant people from approaching easily."
"Comrade Chief of Staff, you did the right thing." Sokov praised Sidorin's arrangement: "Not only the weapons and ammunition on the hovercraft, but also the hovercraft itself, don't let too much damage happen before the battle begins.
If the Germans know that our offensive forces have hovercrafts, they will definitely strengthen their defenses, and I am afraid that we will pay more when we break through the enemy's defense lines."
Hearing what Sokov said, Belkin added: "Yes, if the enemy knew that we were equipped with hovercraft, they would definitely strengthen their defenses. I remember that we used the hovercraft to easily cross the outside of Belgorod.
river and occupied the German river defense positions.
After the enemy suffered this loss, they learned their lesson. On the river defense position outside Kharkiv, they not only pulled up barbed wire, but also laid minefields to prevent our army from using hovercraft to break through their positions again.
By the way, Misha, when will you attack the enemy?"
When Sokov heard Belgin ask this question, he understood in his heart that because the other party was not at a high level, he was not qualified to know about such a major operation as Bagration. But now that he has come to his own territory, and will assist his
The troops launched an attack, so it would be okay to tell him some inside information.
So he pulled a map on the table over, pointed at the position where his troops were about to attack, and said to Belkin: "Bergin, look, this is the position where my troops are about to attack. No.
Let me tell you, there is a large swamp on our way forward, and it would take the attacking troops at least half an hour to pass through this swamp. Now with the hovercraft you brought, they can cross it in two or three minutes at most.
A wide swampy area.”
Belkin looked at the map with an expression of astonishment on his face: "Misha, how could you launch an attack from the swamp area? Also, why did I hear that the next stage of the attack will still be in Ukraine?
How come it turned into Belarus in the blink of an eye?”
"Belkin, the statement that Ukraine will be the next main attack direction as you know is a strategic deception we implemented on the German army, causing the German high command to make wrong judgments. In this way, it can not only ensure the suddenness of the offensive operations
It also ensured the smooth progress of the campaign and had a significant impact on the entire campaign.
Since it was impossible to deploy large-scale mechanized troops in Belarus, the Supreme Commander placed all four tank armies in Ukraine. This allowed the German high command to make wrong judgments on the direction and time of our army's attack. Maybe we would wait until we were in Belarus
After the offensive campaign began, the Germans would still regard it as a diversionary feint. This resulted in most of the German troops and weapons on the Eastern Front being wasted in Ukraine, while the troops in Belarus were unable to resist our army due to their thin strength.
A powerful offensive.”
After listening to Sokov's story, Belkin stared at the map for a while, then nodded and said: "Misha, it seems that our army's deception tactics are very successful. At least not long ago, I firmly believed that
, our army’s new main attack direction will still be in the Ukraine region. Since even I will make wrong judgments, let alone the Germans. It seems that the Belarus campaign launched by our army this time will definitely be successful.”
"It's more than a success." Sokov, who knew the outcome of the Belarusian Campaign, said confidently: "The Belarusian Campaign will be an unprecedented great victory."
"Comrade Commander," Sidorin heard this and couldn't help but interject again: "I think it would be good to achieve greater results in this Belarusian campaign. How can I dare to mention any great victory?"
"Comrade Chief of Staff, you are so pessimistic." Sokov said to Sidorin with a smile: "So many troops were used in this battle, and a breakthrough was made from the weakest defense zone of the German army. The results achieved are...
It’s definitely beyond your imagination. So I think it’s very appropriate to call it a great victory.”
Sidorin believed in Sokov's commanding ability, but this time he was not the commander of the battle, but just a participant. The credibility of what he said was not that high.
But before he could raise his question, Sokov suddenly asked: "By the way, where did Comrade Deputy Commander go? Why didn't I see him?"
"Before you came back, he received a call from Colonel Kirillov. It seems that after a period of searching, something was found." Sidorin explained to Sokov: "The deputy commander answered the phone and called me.
After saying hello, he left. As he walked forward, Colonel Belkin arrived at the headquarters."
Now that Kirillov was mentioned, Sokov couldn't help but ask Sidorin: "Chief of Staff, do you know what Colonel Kirillov found?"
"I don't know." Sidorin shook his head and said in an uncertain tone: "The deputy commander didn't tell me, but from his expression, I think it should be something very important."
Belkin was confused by the conversation between the two, and couldn't help but ask Sokov, who told him: "Since there is no suitable position for Colonel Kirillov in the army for the time being, I will take the post temporarily."
A search team was formed, led by him, to search for military warehouses that our army might have left behind in the defense zone."
"Misha, please forgive me, if you really want to find any military warehouse in your defense area, I'm afraid you will be disappointed." Belkin said sharply: "It is close to the swamp and it is too humid.
It’s not suitable for building any military warehouse at all, that’s why I say you will be disappointed.”
"Bergin, I have already considered the possibility you mentioned." Sokov said with a smile: "But I didn't consider that Colonel Kirillov had nothing to do and was afraid that he would stifle something wrong, so I specially gave him
Where is the job he is looking for?"
"Then guess what Colonel Kirillov found?"
"I'm not a magician who can do calculations. How could I know what Colonel Kirillov found?"
"Comrade Commander, do you think what we found is gold?" Sidorin said.
"This is unlikely." Sokov said hesitantly: "The location where the gold sank should not be within the search range of Colonel Kirillov."
"What is impossible?" Sidorin insisted on his own opinion: "Since one bank can throw gold into the swamp, it is possible that a second bank and a third bank will appear. When it seems impossible to escape from the German encirclement,
, chose to throw the gold into the swamp.”
"Gold, what gold?" Belkin asked with a smile: "What on earth are you talking about? I was confused."
"Bergin, the situation is like this." Sokov explained to Belkin: "Some time ago, one of my regiment commanders reported to me that a soldier in his regiment was a national soldier before the war.
Employees of Minsk Bank, after the war broke out, the bank urgently transferred 180 tons of gold. Unexpectedly, they were bombed by enemy planes and intercepted by German ground troops on the way. In order to prevent this batch of gold from falling into the hands of the Germans, they chose
All the gold sank into the swamp."
"That batch of gold didn't end up in the hands of the Germans, right?"
"No." Sokov shook his head and said: "After the offensive campaign begins, the bank will organize manpower to carefully search and salvage the location where the gold was sunk."
"Oh, that's what happened." After figuring out what was going on, Belkin said to Sokov: "I think Chief of Staff Sidorin is right. Since there is a bank that can sink the transferred gold into the swamp,
It is entirely possible that a second or even a third bank will appear that sinks gold into the swamp. Maybe Colonel Kirillov discovered this batch of gold, so he couldn't wait to call the deputy commander and ask him to rush there immediately.
Check."
"It's hard to say." Sokov was not a god, so how could he possibly know what Kirillov had discovered? He could only say with a wry smile: "Only when Comrade Deputy Commander comes back, we can tell what exactly Kirillov discovered."