Red Moscow

  Chapter 1987

Seeing that his goal had been achieved, Sokov continued to say: "General Ponegerin and Colonel Sidolin, you already know each other. In fact, the commanders of the 48th Army who came with me this time are far more than them. The two, as well as Colonel Kirillov, former commander of the 13th Infantry Corps, and dozens of cadets from the Frunze Military Academy."

"Maybe some commander comrades feel that if I call so many people at once, it may affect your status. I can tell you here, don't worry, the students I brought are all regiment-level commanders and will not threaten you. They are all commanders with rich combat experience, and they were sent to study in the intermediate class of the Frunze Military Academy. When I graduated, just in time for the Supreme Command to send me to the 53rd Army, they followed me On to the new unit."

"You must not underestimate these students. Although they are all lieutenant colonel or major ranks, every student sent to the combat unit has played a great role. The 53rd Army I commanded before, the reason why Being able to achieve such a brilliant record has a close relationship with them."

"Considering that they have just arrived on the battlefield and don't know the situation on the battlefield, I generally assign them the positions of deputy regimental commander or regimental chief of staff. After several months of practice tests, these trainees have faithfully performed their military duties, dealt a severe blow to the German invaders."

"Comrade Commander," after Sukov's words came to an end, Major General Onu Priyanko, the commander of the Near Sixth Division, stood up and said, "The commander of my 25th Guards Regiment was killed in a battle not long ago because of his responsibility. I was seriously injured and withdrew from the battle, I wonder if you can arrange a new regiment leader for me?"

"Yes." Sokov readily agreed to Onu Priyenko's request, but he did not specify on the spot who would worry about the head of the 25th Guards Regiment, but said to Ponejielin: "Deputy Comrade Commander, I will leave this matter to you to arrange."

  Ponejielin stood up and said: "No problem, after the meeting is over, I will arrange a suitable regiment leader for General Onuprienko."

   Onupriyenko asked Sokov to arrange a regiment leader for him, which is tantamount to releasing goodwill. Sokov turned his attention to Tolstikov and other division commanders again, hoping that they would also express their views at this time. But to his disappointment, these teachers didn't seem to hear what he said, they either looked down at the table in front of them, or looked up at the ceiling, as if there was something nice on it.

   "That's the end of today's meeting." Seeing that everyone was unwilling to express their attitude, Sokov didn't force it, but announced: "The meeting is adjourned!"

  After all the division commanders left, Sokov asked Pugachev: "Comrade Military Commissar, where is my office?"

   "Come with me, Comrade Commander." Pugachev said kindly, "I'll take you to the office."

  Sokov's office is bigger than he imagined. The desk is in front of the wall facing the door, and a rectangular conference table and the desk form a T-shape.

"Comrade Commander," Pugachev said to Sokov, "my office is next door. If you need anything, just come to me, or call me." He pointed to the button on the phone, " You just need to pick up the receiver and press the word 2 on the base to connect to my call."

   "Comrade Military Commissar," Seeing that Pugachev was about to leave, Sokov stopped him and asked, "Where are the offices of the deputy commander and chief of staff?"

"The deputy commander and the chief of staff usually don't have an office," Pugachev said: "They usually stay in the war room and deal with the internal affairs of the group army. Only when they encounter things that cannot be handled will they call the commander for instructions. "

"Comrade Military Commissar," Sokov looked at the office that belonged to him, feeling a little uncomfortable, and said to Pugachev: "I see, I don't want this office anymore. I will still work with the deputy commander." , The chief of staff stays in the war room, so that he can know the latest situation on the battlefield as soon as possible."

   "However, Comrade Commander, we are now in a truce." Pugachev reminded Sokov: "There is nothing to do in the war room."

"Comrade Military Commissar, you are wrong." Sokov corrected the other party and said: "Although we have not fought against the Germans for the time being, we usually have a lot of work to deal with. If I am not in the same place as the Deputy Commander and the Chief of Staff , there will be a lot of inconvenience, so I'd better go to the war room and stay."

  Seeing that Sokov's attitude was so firm, Pugachev couldn't say anything more, so he could only take the three of them to the war room downstairs. The staff officers and communications soldiers in the war room were busy nervously. When they saw Pugachev approaching with two generals and a colonel, they guessed that someone must be coming. They quickly put down their work and stood upright. The waist salutes to them.

"Comrades," Pugachev said loudly seeing that everyone had stopped what they were doing, "let me introduce to you. This is the new commander, General Sokov, next to him is the deputy general. Commander, Lieutenant General Bornejelin, and Army Group Chief of Staff Colonel Sidolin."

When they learned that the people who came in with Pugachev were actually the new commander and chief of staff, the staff officers and signal soldiers couldn't help being surprised, thinking that Commander Romanenko had made a mistake and found someone To take his place?

  Knowing that these people are working, Sokov didn't make any inaugural speeches, but said briefly: "Comrades, we know each other now, let's go back to our respective posts and keep busy."

  After the staff officer and the communications soldier returned to their respective posts, Sokov walked quickly to the table and looked at the map spread out on the table. There was actually a construction schematic drawing on it.

  After looking at it for a while, Sokov looked up at Pugachev and asked curiously: "Comrade Military Commissar, I really didn't expect that the fortifications you plan to build are so huge?"

   "Yes, Comrade Commander." Pugachev nodded, and said rather helplessly: "According to the original plan, we will spend at least half a year to build a complete defense system."

   "Comrade Military Commissioner, I'm very curious." Sokov picked up the fortification repair map and asked curiously: "You have such a large area built next to the swamp. How can you solve the problem of water seepage in the trenches?"

   "According to Lieutenant General Romanenko's idea," Pugachev said: "Each trench must be dug at least one and a half people deep, and then laid with logs to solve the problem of water seepage in the trenches."

"If you really want to build the fortifications like this, it will take a lot of effort." Sokov put the map back on the table, and said to Pugachev: "Now that the construction of the fortifications is stopped, it can be said that the commanders and fighters are relieved. burden."

   "That's true." Pugachev nodded and said, "If you follow what you said at the meeting, we can indeed save a lot of time, so that the commanders and fighters can get enough rest."

"By the way, Comrade Commander." Pugachev knows when to change the subject: "After repeated battles in the group army, there is a certain degree of vacancy for regimental commanders. How do you plan to settle the troops you brought?" What about those students?"

   "Comrade Military Commissioner, don't you see that I have already hinted to the division commanders in the conference room, but except for General Onupriyenko, the rest of the division commanders did not respond."

"Comrade Commander," Ponedelin interrupted before Pugachev could speak, "I intend to appoint Lieutenant-Colonel Alexey Milesyev as commander of the 25th Guards Regiment. Is there any disagreement?"

"Comrade Deputy Commander, I just said at the meeting that you are responsible for the appointment of personnel." Sokov said to Ponejielin: "As long as it is proposed by you, I will agree, after all, you have served as Through their instructors, you should know best what everyone is capable of."

"By the way, Comrade Military Commissar." Although the 25th Guards Regiment already has a candidate for the head of the regiment, Sokov still doesn't know who the heads of the other two regiments are, so he asked Pugachev: " Who are the heads of the other two guard regiments?"

"The head of the 4th Guards Regiment is Lieutenant Colonel Ma Daqiang, and the head of the 10th Guards Regiment is Colonel Ivanov." Pugachev replied: "They are all excellent commanders with rich command experience. It is because of such an excellent commander that the 6th Guards Division performed very well in this year's battle."

Seeing that Sokov was interested in the regimental commanders of the divisions, Pugachev took the opportunity to introduce them to him, not only telling the names and ranks of those regiment commanders, but also their age, hobbies and specialties. Cove reported. Sokov found the information provided by Pugachev very useful, so he took out his notebook and recorded it carefully.

  The two were chatting when the phone on the table rang suddenly. Sidolin grabbed the phone instinctively and said into the receiver, "I am Colonel Sidolin, Chief of Staff. Where are you?"

  The other end of the phone hesitated for a moment, then smiled and said, "So it's Colonel Sidolin, I'm Rokossovsky, is Misha there?"

"Yes, yes. Comrade General, please wait a moment, I will ask him to answer the phone." After finishing speaking, Sidolin covered the receiver with his hand, and then said to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, it is Roman A call from General Kosovsky."

Knowing that it was Rokossovsky's call, Sokov guessed that there must be something important, so he quickly took the microphone from Sidolin's hand, and whispered to his ear: "Hello, Comrade General , I'm Sokov, what instructions do you have?"

"Instructions are not counted, I just have something to inform you." Rokossovsky said with a smile on the phone: "I am afraid that Marshal Zhukov will visit your place in two days. You have to prepare in advance. Don't make any mistakes, it would be bad to make Comrade Marshal angry."

"What, Marshal Zhukov is coming to inspect?!" If Rokossovsky hadn't mentioned it, Sokov would have almost forgotten about it. He remembered that he had watched it in a movie. In order to determine where the final attack direction was, Accompanied by Rokossovsky, Zhukov once went to the edge of the swamp to inspect the terrain. Unexpectedly, just after he took office, Zhukov would come to inspect his site. Although he and Zhukov were acquaintances, he still felt a little nervous: "Comrade General, when will Marshal Zhukov come to our place?"

"Misha, I can't tell you the specific time." Rokossovsky said on the phone: "According to regulations, Marshal Zhukov's itinerary is absolutely confidential. I can only tell you the specific time before he goes to your defense zone." time, and let you do the reception work."

"Don't worry, Comrade General." Sokov had some work to do, but he thought about it for a while, but he didn't expect Zhukov to come so soon, so he changed his mind and planned to take the people on the high ground to the hospital before Zhukov called. The troops were properly deployed and started to build a launch platform for tanks on the edge of the swamp. He assured Rokossovsky: "When Comrade Field Marshal arrives, I will show him something different."

  After listening to Sokov, Rokossovsky nodded in satisfaction and said, "Very good, Misha, I believe you will satisfy Marshal Zhukov."

After putting down the phone, Sokov said to the three urgently: "Comrades, I just received a call from General Rokossovsky, who said that Marshal Zhukov will come here for inspection in two days. What should we do until Marshal Zhukov arrives?"

"Needless to say." After hearing this, Xidolin replied without hesitation: "Of course, we must hurry up to deploy artillery and machine gun fire points on the high ground. In addition, we must hurry up to build the tank launch platform by the swamp. In a word, it is necessary to start the construction of all basic projects before the arrival of Marshal Zhukov."

"The chief of staff is right." Sokov knew very well that the reason why Zhukov came here was nothing more than two reasons: one was to choose the direction of the next attack; the other was to see the current situation of fortifications on the edge of the swamp. how. "Time is running out, we have to hurry up, otherwise when Comrade Marshal comes over to take a look, we won't be ready for anything here, and I will lose face by then, but I will not be the only one."

"Comrade Commander, I don't think there is any rush to deploy troops on high ground and build tank launch platforms." Pugachev said with a smile, "After all, you just arrived today, why don't you go and rest first. Cultivate your spirit, it won’t be too late to talk about it tomorrow.”

   "Comrade Commander." Ponejielin looked at Sokov and said, "Our students are still outside. How do you plan to arrange them?"

"Comrade Military Commissar," Sukov said on his first day here, he was unfamiliar with the place, and the only person who was familiar with the terrain and could be appointed by him was none other than Pugachev: "I want to discuss something with you. thing."

   "Comrade Commander, if you have anything to say, just say it."

"It's like this, Comrade Military Commissar." Sokov smiled and said to Pugachev: "Didn't a group of students come with me? Now they are still outside, with no food, drink or shelter. You see , can you go with the deputy commander to deal with this matter, first find a place for them to live, and let them have a good rest."

"No problem, Comrade Commander." Pugachev readily agreed to Sokov's request: "Since they are the students who came here with you, they are also members of this army at the moment. Let's make arrangements for them. Accommodation is a matter of course." He looked at Pornejelin and said, "Comrade Deputy Commander, please come with me, and we will arrange accommodation for the students together."

  (end of this chapter)