Red Moscow

  Chapter 1556

After receiving the telegram from the infantry brigade, Sameko smiled and said to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, look, Major Guchakov was still worried that he would be blamed if he did not launch a counterattack, so he sent a telegram on purpose." report to you for an explanation."

Sokov took a look at the telegram, and then told Sameko: "Chief of Staff, you telegraph Major Guchakov. The situation on the battlefield is changing rapidly. I will give him the right to deal with it on the fly. You don't need to report everything to the commander." Report to the Ministry, so as not to delay the fighter plane."

   "Okay, Comrade Commander." Sameko readily agreed: "I will immediately ask the radio operator to send a telegram to Major Guchakov, so that he can feel at ease earlier."

"General Sokov." Derevyanko felt very puzzled by Sokov's behavior of delegating power. He asked curiously: "You give the troops below the right to deal with it on an impromptu basis. Don't you worry that at a critical moment, Is there a situation where the command cannot move the troops?"

"General Derevyanko," Sokov explained to Derevyanko in the face of Derevyanko's questioning: "If every unit has to ask for instructions and report before taking any action, it will definitely waste a lot of time. If there is a crisis in the war, they may not be able to contact the headquarters. Could it be that before they receive the combat order from their superiors, they can only choose to wait passively and watch the fighter miss it?

  Giving the subordinate troops the right to deal with the situation is to facilitate the commander of the unit to adjust the tactics used in a timely manner according to the change of the battlefield situation, so as to avoid delaying the fighter plane.

   As for the point you are worried about, it does not exist at all. I believe that my subordinates, after receiving the combat order from me, will definitely execute it without compromise. "

Seeing Derevyanko seemed to want to say something, but Managarov stopped him and said to him: "Comrade Chief of Staff, General Sokov is right. As the troops under our command become more and more More and more, if we have to intervene in everything, we as commanders will be too busy at all. Properly delegating power to the troops below may be more conducive to the flexibility of the troops.”

Although Derevyanko has always disagreed with Sokov's approach, since Managarov has expressed his position, he gave up the debate with Sokov, but nodded to Managarov and said: " Comrade Commander, you are right. It seems that we should also learn from General Sokov in the future and delegate command authority to the lower-level commanders."

  ...

  The German army's attack on the landing site lasted for two days. Although they did not seize even an inch of land, the Soviet troops responsible for the defensive mission paid a considerable price.

After telling Sokov about the situation, Sameko said worriedly: "Comrade commander, after these two days of fighting, more than one-third of the troops standing on the front line have suffered casualties. Look, do you want to withdraw them?" Take a break, and let the follow-up troops take over their defense?"

"It's not necessary." Sokov waved his hand and said, "Our two artillery divisions and several rocket launcher battalions have been deployed on the left bank of the Dnieper River. Once the German army launches an attack again, we can use long-range artillery fire to attack the attacking enemy. Intercept and massively kill and injure their vital forces."

   "The ammunition reserves of our artillery are not ideal." Hearing what Sokov said, Sameko quickly reminded him: "I am afraid it is not enough to support long-term shelling."

   "How many shells per gun?"

  Sameko opened the notepad and took a look, and replied: "Except for the 76.2mm artillery, which has three base numbers of shells, the rest of the heavy artillery only has one base number of ammunition."

"Heavy artillery only has one base number of ammunition?" Sokov knew very well that if he wanted to use artillery fire to support the landing site on the right bank from the left bank of the Dnieper River, he had to use heavy artillery. One base number of ammunition is too little: "The superior gave us When will the supplementary ammunition be delivered?"

   "Comrade Commander, since the superiors have to prioritize the ammunition needs of the attacking Poltava troops, the supply to us may be a little slower."

Hearing Sameko speak so cautiously, Sokov asked impatiently: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I know that the higher-ups will give priority to the troops attacking Poltava in terms of supplies, but I want to know, when will they Can you provide us with a sufficient number of shells?"

   After Sokov finished speaking, Sameko stopped talking. To be honest, he doesn't know when the superior will be able to provide supplies under the current situation.

   Seeing Sameko's delay in speaking, Sokov became impatient: "Comrade Chief of Staff, why didn't you answer me?"

"I'm sorry, Comrade Commander, I don't know." Sameko replied in a panic: "As far as I know, the troops under the command of General Rokossovsky also did not receive any soldiers or ammunition for a while." Supplement, because the higher-ups should give priority to replenishing these things to troops on other fronts."

"Comrade General," Sokov felt that Sameko's words were very reasonable. Out of overall consideration, his superiors would definitely give priority to supplying the 5th and 7th Guards Army that attacked Poltava. For a long time, maybe he can only find a way to raise ammunition by himself. He recalled that the 53rd Army was now under his command, and he might be able to get some help from Managarov, so he tentatively asked, "I want to ask, how is your artillery ammunition reserve?"

Derevyanko had already guessed that Sokov would ask this question, so he answered truthfully: "General Sokov, most of our artillery is equipped with 76.2mm artillery, and there are not many large-caliber artillery, so the matching Ammunition is also limited."

Sokov heard what Derevyanko said, and his heart suddenly turned cold. According to his thinking, he also planned to borrow some shells from the 53rd Army to ensure that his artillery units had enough ammunition, but now it seems that this plan is in vain. .

"Comrade Chief of Staff, let me explain to General Sokov." Seeing Sokov's disheartened look, Managarov interrupted Derevyanko's words, and smiled at Sokov said: "Although we have a small number of heavy artillery, each artillery is equipped with two basic shells. I think we may be able to help you at a critical moment."

  Knowing that the opponent has heavy artillery and two basic ammunition, Sokov felt more at ease. Even if there are only a few heavy artillery pieces, they can cause a lot of casualties to the German army attacking the landing field. He quickly said: "Comrade General, this is really great. Please deploy these heavy artillery pieces on the bank of the Dnieper River as soon as possible. As soon as the enemy's attack begins, they can be severely punished with heavy artillery."

   "Yes." Managarov agreed very readily: "Chief of Staff, you immediately contact the Heavy Artillery Regiment and order them to deploy on the left bank of the Dnieper River as soon as possible, and be ready to provide artillery support to friendly forces at any time."

But after hearing this, Derevyanko reluctantly said to Managarov: "Comrade Commander, we only have one heavy artillery regiment, and their task is to provide artillery support for the defense forces. If the They were transferred to the Dnieper River, so they could not provide artillery support for other troops."

"Comrade Chief of Staff, don't be so stingy." Managarov naturally understood what his chief of staff was worried about, so he said with a smile: "From the current situation, the enemy's attack is focused on the landing field on the right bank, and they will not cross the river for the time being." Fighting with us on the left bank, so the heavy artillery regiment is useless in the short term, it is better to lend it to General Sokov for a while."

Derevyanko is unwilling to lend the heavy artillery regiment to Sokov. In fact, he also has his own difficulties. The entire 53rd Army has only such a heavy artillery regiment. , I am afraid that there will also be a loss of heavy artillery or exhaustion of shells.

But now that Managarov has expressed his attitude, no matter how much he objected as the chief of staff, it might not help, so he could only bite the bullet and reply: "Okay, Comrade Commander, I will immediately give the heavy artillery regiment Call the chief and ask him to rush to the Dnieper River to deploy defenses as soon as possible."

Sokov was also a smart man, so he couldn't see what Derevyanko was worried about, so he comforted him and said, "General Derevyanko, don't worry, I will return your heavy artillery regiment to you intact. But now our army doesn’t have enough heavy artillery, so we can only borrow it for a while.”

Now that Sokov's attitude has been made clear, Derevyanko is no longer pretentious, but nodded and said: "General Sokov, when this battle is over, please remember to let our heavy artillery regiment return. "

   "No problem, no problem." Sokov replied carelessly: "I will definitely let them return to Jian."

  Sokov was thinking in his heart that with the addition of the heavy artillery regiment of the 53rd Army, he would have four heavy artillery regiments in his hands, which would consume a lot of shells. If you blindly wait for the supplies from your superiors, you don't know that you will have to wait until the Year of the Monkey. Thinking of this, he began to think about whether to contact Yakov to see if he could provide him with some help.

  Calling Yakov is preparing to solve the problem of logistics supplies through his channel. If the headquarters were all our own people in the past, we could have just picked up the phone and made a call. But now it is under the combined command with the 53rd Army, and some calls are not suitable for making in public.

After thinking about this truth, Sokov called his communications director aside and asked in a low voice: "Comrade communications director, I want to call the Armament Department in Moscow, can you help me find a quiet place?" ?”

The director of the communications corps is also a smart person. Hearing Sokov ask himself this question, he immediately understood the content of the other party's call. He didn't want more people to know, so he nodded and said, "Comrade commander, I can connect a telephone line." Go to your room, so that when you talk to your superiors, you will not be disturbed by others."

   "Then you arrange people as soon as possible to help me lead a line that can connect to Moscow. I am in a hurry here."

  Ten minutes later, the director of the communications corps reported to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, the phone has been connected, and you can talk to Moscow at any time."

  Sokov hurried back to his usual resting room, picked up the microphone on the table, and talked to the person on the other end of the phone: "Hello, hello! Can I trouble you to find Colonel Yakov for me?"

  After the other party was silent for three seconds, he asked in an indifferent voice: "Who is looking for Colonel Yakov?"

Sokov knew that if he did not reveal his identity, he might not be able to contact Yakov today, so he replied truthfully: "I am Major General Sokov, commander of the 27th Army, please help me find Colonel Yakov. .”

   "It turned out to be General Sokov." The voice on the phone immediately became enthusiastic: "Please wait a moment, I will connect you to Colonel Yakov's office immediately."

  The phone was connected quickly, and Yakov's familiar voice came from the receiver: "I'm Yakov, where are you?"

   "Yasha, hello!" Sokov said with a smile, "Can you hear my voice?"

   "Misha, it's you." Yakov was also very happy when he realized that the person calling him was actually Sokov. But his joy only lasted for a second, and then disappeared without a trace. He asked vigilantly, "You called me today, is there anything important?"

   "What can be the matter?" Sokov laughed and said, "I just miss you, so I'll make a call to greet you."

Yakov, who has dealt with Sokov many times, although he has never heard of the idiom "Go to the Three Treasures Palace for nothing", but he also knows that Sokov called himself today, and it is also out of good intentions. Looking for something to help him, "Come on, Misha, we are so familiar, you don't have to hide it anymore. Tell me, what important things do you want to get from me this time?"

Seeing that Yakov saw through his little trick so easily, Sokov was not annoyed, but said with a smile: "Yasha, you are right, I am looking for you this time, it is really important. I want to talk to you about it.”

"I have nothing to talk to you." Yakov quickly drew the relationship between the two: "If you call me and ask about Asiya's recent situation, I can tell you the truth. But If you want to get any equipment from me, then let me tell you, don't bother, I will definitely not help you this time."

Regarding Yakov's statement, Sokov directly chose to ignore it. He said with a playful smile: "Yasha, you see, we have been good friends for so many years. If you have good things, you must give priority to taking care of your friends. You Say it?"

Yakov sighed softly, and said weakly: "Okay, Misha, you won. Tell me, what weapons and equipment do you want today, as long as I can help, I will definitely help you with all my strength." .”

   "Yasha, actually, I called you today because I wanted to get some heavy artillery shells from you."

   "What, heavy artillery shells?" Yakov was surprised when he said the request for payment. He picked up a folder on the table, opened it, looked at it, and then said in surprise: "This morning, 50,000 heavy artillery shells were just sent to the Prairie Front Army, and 40,000 were also sent yesterday. If the transportation There is no problem with the shell's vehicle, and the shell should have reached the front of Poltava at this time."

  (end of this chapter)