Red Moscow

  Chapter 942

"In my opinion," Ivanov said, staring at the map, "the factory area to the north of the city was too severely damaged in the battle. It is obviously inappropriate for the German army to establish the headquarters there. In this way, they can only Consider establishing the headquarters somewhere in the residential area south of the city or somewhere in the central district."

  Seeing that Ivanov basically guessed the location of Paulus's headquarters, Sokov smiled on his face. He turned to look at Sidolin: "Then what do you think, Comrade Chief of Staff?"

Sidolin put his right hand under his left armpit, his left elbow on his right arm, and his left hand resting his cheek. He looked at the map on the table carefully, and said after a long time: "I agree with the deputy commander. Under a strong blow, Paulus's headquarters will definitely be transferred, and the location where he can set up the headquarters may be the largest in the central area, because most of these places are tall stone buildings, which are very suitable for the headquarters .”

After both of them had finished expressing their opinions, Sokov said unhurriedly: "You are all right. Once our army steps up its offensive, then Paulus's headquarters will definitely be transferred. And his The location of their new headquarters is nothing more than a residential area in the south of the city or a group of stone buildings in the central area. Think about it, if we deploy a strong force where they may set up a new headquarters, what will happen? What kind of effect does it have?"

  Sokov's words made the two people's eyes light up, and Sidolin asked in surprise: "Comrade commander, the reason why you insist on keeping the third battalion in the city is for the future assault on the German headquarters?"

   "Exactly."

"If you want to attack the German headquarters, I'm afraid Captain Andrei's strength is far from enough." Ivanov reminded Sukov: "Although the third battalion has more than a thousand people in name, but if you want to use them I'm afraid it will be very difficult to break through the security forces of the German headquarters."

   "The deputy division commander is right." Sidolin continued: "In my opinion, troops should be drawn from other places to strengthen Captain Andre..."

   "No." To Sidolin's proposal, Sokov immediately shook his head to express his disapproval, "Under the current circumstances, we cannot temporarily replenish Captain Andrei's troops."

Sidolin and Ivanov were confused by Sokov's words, and Sidolin asked in puzzlement: "Comrade commander, if Captain Andrey is not given additional troops, how can they break through the defense of the German guards? "

"Comrade Chief of Staff, if we replenish Captain Andrei's troops now, it is not the same as telling the Germans: We have deployed a strong force at the place where you plan to set up a new headquarters, ready to attack you at any time." Sokov smiled and said, "If the enemy finds out about this situation, will they honestly set up the headquarters near the third battalion?"

"The division commander makes sense," Ivanov nodded vigorously after hearing what Sokov said, and said in a positive tone: "We want to create an illusion for the enemy and make them think that we are not in this area. No amount of troops can threaten their safety, so that the enemy can safely and boldly establish the headquarters in an area where we can attack at any time."

  Sidolin felt that what Ivanov said was reasonable, so he didn't mention the matter of replenishing troops, but asked tentatively: "Do you need to give Captain Andrei an order to keep him close watch on the enemy?"

   "Let them keep it as they were, and do what they did before, and still do it now, and don't make extra troubles." Sukov said: "In order not to arouse the vigilance of the enemy, it will have a bad impact on our next plan."

"Comrade Commander, I have another question." Sidolin hesitated for a moment, then asked: "As I mentioned just now, with the strength of Captain Andre, it is very difficult to break through the German defense. How about deploying troops from the local government to strengthen them?"

"When the chiefs were here just now, I mentioned to them that with the character of General Rokossovsky, a new large-scale offensive will definitely be launched." Sokov looked at the three and asked: " Do you guys still remember?"

   "I remember," the three nodded at the same time, and Anisimov, who had been silent for a while, asked back: "Comrade commander, do you plan to draw troops from other regiments to strengthen the third battalion in the city?"

  Anisimov's question was also considered by the other two deputies. They all turned their attention to Sokov, waiting for him to give a reassuring answer.

"I estimate that Paulus will not transfer his headquarters to the location we mentioned until mid-January." Sokov picked up the pencil on the table, drew a few lines on the map, and said Said: "I want to wait until that time. It is estimated that the defense line of the entire group army has already advanced significantly to the west. By then, you don't have to worry about your flank being cut off by the enemy, and you can transfer the Belkin Regiment to the city."

   Speaking of this, Sokov threw the pencil in his hand on the table, and said coldly: "I don't believe that the most combat-strength regiment in the division will not be able to break through the defense line of the German Command."

Hearing Sokov call the Belkin Regiment the strongest unit in the division, the corners of Ivanov's mouth twitched violently. He wanted to mention his three old subordinates, but he thought in his heart After thinking about it, I found that they didn't seem to have any impressive achievements, so I could only shut my mouth wisely.

   As the political commissar of the Guards Division, Anisimov did not have as many scruples as Ivanov. He pouted and said, "Comrade Commander, I have a problem with you."

   "Any comments?" Sokov asked blankly, "Comrade political commissar, do you have any comments?"

"We all know that the downsizing regiment is the old foundation of your original 73rd Infantry Brigade. The soldiers have achieved good results in many battles relying on the new tactics they have mastered." Anisimov was displeased He said: "But now the other three guard regiments are also your subordinates, but you only use them as a reserve team. You have never considered teaching them new tactics so that they can carry out more glorious and difficult combat missions." .If this continues, they will only ever become vassals of the downsizing group."

  Anisimov's words made Sokov fall into deep thought. He felt that what the other party said made sense. Out of trust considerations, he has been entrusting various important tasks to the Belkin Group to complete. And even if the heads of the other regiments took the initiative to ask for a fight, he would let them stick to their positions. If things went on like this, if things went wrong, the three guard regiments could only be reduced to soy sauce roles.

Sokov knew very well in his heart that after the Battle of Stalingrad, the third Battle of Kharkov followed immediately. The Soviet army was beaten all over the place by Manstein when they had an advantage in numbers and equipment. . If he couldn't improve the combat effectiveness of the entire guard division in a short period of time, no matter how capable the commanders and fighters of the Belkin Regiment were, they would probably suffer a lot in the next battle.

"You're right, Comrade Commissar." After realizing his mistake, Sokov stood up and apologized to Anisimov: "It may be because the downsizing regiment is my old unit, so I took too much care of them. Yes. Attacking the German headquarters in the future is not only the task of the downsized regiment, but also an important combat task of the entire division. Therefore, I decided to draw troops from each regiment to form an attacking force to capture the German headquarters.”

"Great, Comrade Commander, this is really great." When Ivanov heard Sokov say this, he felt warm in his heart. He grasped the other's hand and said excitedly: "On behalf of the other three The commanders and fighters of the Guards regiment thank you."

"Comrade Deputy Commander," Sokov sincerely apologized to Ivanov when he shook hands with Ivanov: "I did not think carefully before, and I apologize to you. If I make similar mistakes in the future, please feel free to Bring it up to me."

  (end of this chapter)