It was just dawn, and Sokov was on the phone asking Melekhov to know how far his troops had advanced overnight. But he saw Yakov not far away and raised the microphone in his hand.
, and said a few words silently. From the shape of the other party's mouth, Sokov could tell that what he said was: "A call from General Zakharov."
He quickly sped up his speech and said into the microphone: "General Melekhov, if you have any latest developments, remember to call me and report to me in time. I wish you good luck!"
Putting the microphone on the phone base, Sokov quickly came to Yakov, took the microphone in his hand, put it to his ear and said: "Hello, Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army,
I am Sokov, what are your instructions?"
"Misha, I'm not calling you to ask how far your troops have advanced overnight." Zakharov did not beat around the bush, but said straight to the point: "I got news that there seems to be a White Russian army.
The army has contacted you privately and is preparing to surrender to you, is this true?"
For Sokov, the surrender of Asano's troops was just a small matter, so he did not report it to his superiors at all. When he heard Zakharov ask this question, he quickly replied: "Yes, Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, indeed
There is such a thing."
"How is the progress now?" Zakharov asked: "Did they ask for anything from you?"
"Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, it actually doesn't matter whether they make demands or not," Sokov said, "because they have all been eliminated."
"Destroyed?" Zakharov was shocked after hearing this, and quickly asked: "Who did this?"
Sokov reported the matters related to Asano's troops to Zakharov in detail, and finally said: "When my troops arrived at the location of Asano's troops, they only found corpses on the ground. After careful search,
The chief of staff of the unit, Kupitman, was discovered. According to him, the news that the troops were preparing to surrender to our army was secretly reported to the Japs by the former Belarusian commander Beshgov. Then the Japs dispatched 107
The division encircled and suppressed them, resulting in the complete annihilation of this unit."
After listening to Sokov's report, Zakharov was silent for a while, and then asked: "Misha, did you say that your subordinates have been to the Asano troop station?"
"Yes."
"Then have you found any traces of the Kwantung Army?"
Sokov once asked Melekhov many details, so when he heard Zakharov's question, he did not panic at all, but said clearly: "According to the report of the commander who went there, except for the Kwantung Army's
No trace of the Kwantung Army troops was found outside the corpse."
"Misha, do you think there is something wrong with this?"
"What's the problem?" Sokov asked puzzled.
"Logically speaking, if there is a mutiny in the troops," Zakharov saw that Sokov did not understand, he analyzed it for him: "After sending troops to carry out encirclement and suppression, the defense in that area will definitely be strengthened to prevent any fish that slip through the net from escaping.
But when your men arrived, they found no trace of the Kwantung Army nearby. Tell me, what does this mean?"
Sokov frowned and thought for a moment, and suddenly thought of a possibility. He said with a shocked face: "Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, do you mean that the Kwantung Army may want to escape?"
"Be more confident." Zakharov said jokingly on the phone: "Remove the word 'maybe'."
Sokov thought about it carefully and felt that what Zaharov said was very reasonable. Under normal circumstances, after the Japs annihilated the rebel Asano force, they would definitely strengthen their vigilance nearby and launch a search to see if anyone had slipped through the net.
But when the troops sent by Melekhov arrived, except for the corpses on the ground, not a single living person was seen. This shows that after the Kwantung Army eliminated the traitors, they did not even have time to clean the battlefield and were in a hurry.
Leaving there in a hurry meant that they were eager to return home and had no intention of staying there any longer.
"I understand." Sokov said: "I will order the troops to speed up the attack and try to eliminate as many of the enemy's effective forces as possible before they flee into the big cities."
"By the way, Misha." Before Zakharov put down the phone, he suddenly thought of a question and asked casually: "If the Asano troops really surrender to you successfully, how do you plan to arrange them?"
"Chief of Staff of the Front Army, the members of Asano's troops are basically White Russians. Not only do they have low combat effectiveness, but their military discipline is also very poor. If they are incorporated into our army, it will definitely affect the image of our army." Sokov told Zakharov.
The real thought in my heart is, "If the surrender is really successful, I will arrange for them to fight with the front-line troops and be consumed as cannon fodder. If some people are lucky and can survive until the end of the war, we will discuss how to deal with them then. But
Now that the little devil has helped me solve this troublesome problem, at least I don't have to worry about how to deal with this army in the future."
"Don't you still have a wounded person in your hands? How do you plan to deal with him?"
When Zakharov asked how to deal with Kupitman, Sokov hesitated, because this man fled to the Northeast and joined the Asano army because he was implicated in the case of Marshal Blucher. Regardless of whether he was a former
What kind of person, but in the notorious Asano army, he may have done a lot of bad things, and it would not be an exaggeration to shoot him. However, considering the current special environment, Sokov replied: "I plan to temporarily
Let him recuperate in a field hospital, and after the war is over, he will be handed over to a military court and a dedicated person will decide how to deal with him."
"Misha, you are very thoughtful." Zakharov said earnestly: "When it comes to fighting, we are all experts. But when it comes to how to deal with surrendered people, it is not something we are good at. Professional matters,
It's better to leave it to professionals to handle it, so we don't have to worry about it."
Sokov had just put down the phone. He thought Zakharov had something else to say, so he grabbed the phone and said, "Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, do you have anything else?"
The other party hesitated for a moment, then said: "Is it General Sokov?"
Sokov recognized that the speaker was not Zakharov, but an unfamiliar voice, so he asked tentatively: "I am Sokov, who are you?"
"Hello, General Sokov!" the other party said carelessly: "I am Hudyakov, commander of the 12th Air Force Group Army."
Sokov couldn't help being surprised when he heard that the other party announced his home address. He was also the commander of the group army, but this Hudyakov was the air marshal. Although this military marshal was only equivalent to a general in the ordinary army, his military rank
Even though he was taller than himself, Sokov still showed enough respect: "Hello, Comrade Marshal! What can I do for you?"
"That's it, General Sokov." Hudyakov said to Sokov: "I received an order from the front army headquarters to provide necessary air cover for your group army. In order to better achieve air-ground cooperation, I specially
call you……"
Sokov thought that Yakov was usually in charge of this kind of contact with friendly forces, so he handed the microphone to Yakov, who would conduct further communication with Hudyakov.
Sokov walked to Lukin and sat down, picked up the cigarette case on the table, took out a cigarette and held it in his mouth. However, he did not light it immediately. Instead, he said to Lukin: "Comrade Deputy Commander
, it seems that our estimate of the enemy in advance was a bit too conservative."
"Oh, the original estimate of the enemy was too conservative?" Lu Jin asked with some confusion: "What does this mean?"
"When Melekhov reported to us that Asano's troops had been annihilated, we all overlooked one issue." Sokov explained to Lukin with a wry smile: "When our commanders and fighters arrived, in addition to the corpses of both warring parties, there were
There was no trace of the Kwantung Army at all. According to convention, even if the rebellious Asano troops were annihilated, the Kwantung Army should leave enough manpower to serve as a guard nearby and search for any fish that slipped through the net. But our people did not look at it at all.
The shadow of the Kwantung Army shows that the enemy may have seen that the situation was not good and knew that it could not resist our army's attack, so he chose the tactic of shrinking his troops, gave up his plan to fight in the wild, and retreated all his effective forces to the big cities.
, and engage in street fighting with us."
"If the nearly one million Kwantung Army retreats into the big cities, it will be difficult for us to fight the next war."
"Yes, Comrade Deputy Commander, I think so too." Sokov said to Lukin: "So we must now order the troops to speed up the attack and destroy the little devils before their main forces withdraw into the big cities.
As much vitality as possible.”
"Misha, I have a suggestion." Yakov, who had just finished the phone call, came over and said to Sokov: "Since the Kwantung Army wants to escape, we naturally cannot let them successfully retreat to those big cities and fight with us.
What kind of street fighting, so should we also put the third echelon into the battle?"
"I think it is possible." Lu Jin agreed: "The area where we are fighting now is open and more troops can be deployed. I suggest that General Afnin's 18th Guards Corps be put into battle immediately, so that they can fight with the 49th Guards Corps.
The troops fought side by side and advanced in unison toward the depths of the enemy's defenses."
If it had been a few hours ago, Sokov might have hesitated for Lukin's proposal. But now he understood that the Kwantung Army had begun to escape, and his superiors had also arranged for the air force to provide air cover for his troops. In this situation
Under such circumstances, the original combat plan must be adjusted. He quickly said to Yakov: "Yasha, you immediately call General Afnin and ask them to enter the battlefield through the gap opened by the friendly forces and launch a full-scale attack on the Kwantung Army.
attack."
"No problem." Yakov said cheerfully: "I have just negotiated with Marshal Hudyakov. He will send an aviation division to cooperate with our army's actions. With air cover, the enemy who has already lost his fighting spirit is
It can't stop our attack at all."
When Afnin received the call from Yakov, he couldn't help but froze. I don't know how long it took before he tentatively asked: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I would like to ask if there is any problem on the front line."
?”
"No, what could be the problem?" Yakov asked puzzledly: "General Afnin, why do you ask that?"
"Comrade Chief of Staff." Afuning quickly explained: "Our army is the third echelon. According to my assumptions, we may not have a chance to participate in the war until the day the Far East Campaign ends. But now the battle has just begun.
The fact that we were rushed into battle the next day was obviously a sign that the front line was not progressing smoothly."
"You are worrying too much, General Afnin." After listening to the other party's story, Yakov said with a smile: "The reason why you are allowed to participate in the battle in advance is entirely because the front line is progressing too smoothly. Various signs indicate that the Kwantung Army is facing
The powerful offensive against our army has changed their tactics. They plan to abandon the original areas that are not conducive to defense, and withdraw the main force to a big city hundreds of kilometers away, intending to fight a decisive battle with us there. In order to prevent the troops from falling into a tragic
During the street fighting, we made a study and decided to put your army into battle. The two infantry armies advanced hand in hand and quickly rushed into the depth of the Kwantung Army's defenses. During their retreat, we eliminated as many of their effective forces as possible.
Then when we reach the big cities, the resistance we encounter will be insignificant."
After figuring out the truth of the matter, it was not what he feared. The stone hanging in Afuning's heart finally fell to the ground. However, he still asked with some worry: "During the attack, can we get artillery and tank troops?"
support?"
"None of this is a problem." Yakov explained to him: "On the offensive route we have arranged for you, the right wing is the troops of the 6th Guards Tank Army. The enemy's vulnerable tanks dare not come out at all.
Provocative. In addition, in addition to receiving artillery support during your attack, the Air Force will also provide you with necessary air support. In short, the issue you have to consider now is not how to break through the enemy's defense line, but how to make the most of it.
It is possible to bite more fleeing enemies and capture more prisoners."
After listening to Yakov's story, Afunin suddenly smiled and said: "Don't worry, Comrade Chief of Staff. I dare not say anything else. When it comes to capturing prisoners, we will definitely be stronger than any other army. Then I will worry about what you will do."
The prisoner-of-war camp we built does not have that much space to hold the prisoners we captured."
Yakov raised his hand to look at the time and continued into the microphone: "General Afnin, the commander said that troops need to be quick. I will give you one hour to prepare for the battle. When the time is up, you will immediately launch an attack.
, I hope you won’t disappoint us.”
"Don't worry, Comrade Chief of Staff." Afuning said with confidence: "I assure you that I will never betray your trust in me. The troops have been in a state of preparation for war. It will not take an hour at all, half an hour at most.