Although Sokov prepared sniper rifles for the snipers, few results were achieved in the following days. The reason is very simple. The Germans are not fools and will not stand on the position and let you be a target. At the same time, they also deployed a group of experienced snipers from the rear specifically to deal with Soviet snipers. The sniper contest between the two sides lasted until early May, with casualties on both sides, and it was considered a draw.
Starting from the last few days of April, Sokov called Malinin almost every day, ostensibly to report to him, but in fact to find out whether Rokossovsky had returned to the front line.
Sokov remembered reading a time-travel book before, saying that in order to avoid the yellow-faced woman in his family, Rokossovsky hurried back to the army without waiting for his injuries to recover, and even did not even attend the annual "Fifth Five-Year Plan". Didn't even participate in the "One" military parade. And now that April is over and the May Day military parade has passed, there is still no news that Rokossovsky is coming back.
Seeing Sokov's distraught look, Potukin couldn't help but curiously asked: "Comrade division commander, I see that you have a sad face. I wonder why you are so worried?" Potukin thought in his heart, and the superior gave our division a supplement. We have recruited more than 4,000 troops, and the tank battalion and artillery battalion have also added tanks and artillery respectively. What else do you have to worry about?
"It's already May." Sokov was thinking in his mind that the Battle of Kharkov was about to begin. Even though he was now the commander of the 328th Infantry Division, if Rokossovsky didn't come back in time, he would be in trouble at any time. May be transferred to his troops by Timoshenko to participate in this doomed offensive campaign.
"Yes, it's already May." Potukin couldn't guess what Sokov was thinking, and casually echoed: "After the 'May Day Military Parade' in previous years, the residents of Moscow would gather in groups. I went to my hut in the suburbs, planted some vegetables, and waited until autumn to harvest. But this year it won’t work. Although the German troops were driven away from Moscow near Moscow, who knows when they will fight back. In that case, The vegetables grown by the residents are all cheaper than the Germans.”
When Sokov heard what Potukin said, it was completely different from what he thought, so he did not correct him, but followed his meaning and said: "Yes, the German army has dozens of divisions deployed near Moscow. It is said that residents in the city cannot go out to plant vegetables, and even the members of the collective farms dare not sow seeds casually after returning to the villages where they live. I am worried that in the second half of the year, there will be a grain harvest failure."
"There is nothing we can do about it." Potukin said with some helplessness: "You must know that it is during the war after all, and the vicinity of Moscow is still a battlefield. Even if the food is planted, it will be bombed by German planes before the harvest season. , once the tank was crushed, everything was wiped out."
While the two were chatting, the phone on the table suddenly rang. Sokov thought it was one of the commanders below calling to report the work, but he just glanced at the phone and did not reach out to answer the phone. Sokov could not answer the phone, but Potukin, as his deputy, had to. After he picked up the phone and listened for a moment, he handed the phone to Sokov and said: "Comrade division commander, this is your call. Chief of Staff Malinin is calling."
Sokov thought that when he called Malinin today, everything that needed to be said had been said. What would happen to him when he came to him at this time? With doubts, he put the receiver to his ear and said into the phone: "Hello, Comrade Chief of Staff, I am Major Sokov. What instructions do you have?"
"Misha, let me tell you good news." Malinen said excitedly on the phone: "Comrade Commander is back. You should go to the headquarters to see him immediately. He wants to see you."
Hearing that Rokossovsky was back, Sokov couldn't help but feel secretly happy. He quickly said into the microphone: "I understand, Comrade Chief of Staff, I'll rush over right away."
After Sokov put down the phone, he suddenly thought that Malinin had not said whether to let Potukin go with him. However, he only hesitated for a moment before making a decisive decision: Anyway, there will be nothing going on in the division for the time being, so it doesn't matter if he takes him with him. So he said to Potukin: "Chief of Staff Malinin called me and told me that Comrade Commander is back. Anyway, there is nothing wrong now. Let's go to the army headquarters together."
"What, Comrade Commander is back?" Although Rokossovsky was injured and hospitalized shortly after the 328th Division was assigned to the 16th Army, Potukin heard the news of Rokossovsky's return. There was still a happy look on his face: "Then don't wait any longer, let's rush there right away."
The two took the division's jeep and came to the army headquarters. Just as he was about to enter, Sokov heard someone calling him from the side. When he turned around, he saw a lieutenant who looked very familiar. Seeing Sokov staring at him in a daze, the other party asked with a smile: "Why, Comrade Major, you don't recognize me anymore? We went to Nizhny Novgorod together last month."
After being reminded by the other party, Sokov immediately remembered that there was indeed this person among the officers who went to Nizhny Novgorod with Yakov. Since he didn't know the other party's name, Sokov directly called the other party's military rank when he stepped forward to shake hands: "Hello, Comrade Lieutenant! Why are you here?"
"We were ordered to deliver a batch of supplies here." The lieutenant nodded to a covered truck not far away and said, "A new type of automatic gun is ready to be handed over to one of your divisions."
Hearing that the lieutenant said that the car was equipped with automatic guns, Sokov's heartbeat couldn't help but speed up. He thought to himself: "Oh my God, isn't it the assault rifle I need?"
However, he did not ask which division these rifles were going to be assigned to, because it was useless to ask. If he could reveal it to himself, the lieutenant would have just told him directly. In order to ease the atmosphere, Sokov promptly changed the subject: "Comrade Lieutenant, did you personally escort the car here?"
"No." The lieutenant shook his head and replied: "I came with Captain Yakov. He is in your headquarters at the moment. Maybe you can see him again later and have a good chat with him. "
"Comrade Major," Potukin saw Sokov standing at the door chatting with an unfamiliar lieutenant, and couldn't help but urge: "Comrade Commander is still waiting for us, let's go in now."
Sokov learned that Yakov was in the headquarters and couldn't wait to see him immediately, so he stretched out his hand to the lieutenant and said politely: "Comrade Lieutenant, I'm glad to see you here. I have something to do now, Let’s talk another time.”
When Sokov and Potukin walked into the headquarters, Potukin glanced at the lieutenant standing at the door and said in a low voice: "What, is it your comrade-in-arms?"
"We had dealings with each other when we were in Moscow." Sokov did not explain the identity of the other party to Potukin, but said vaguely: "We also went on a business trip to a military factory in other places." Potukin Seeing that Sokov was unwilling to elaborate, he did not continue to ask, but walked faster towards the room where the headquarters was located.
As soon as the two entered the room, Sokov heard a familiar voice: "Misha, you are here!"
Sokov took a closer look and saw that Rokossovsky was walking towards him. He quickly stood at attention, raised his hand in salute, and said in a respectful tone: "Hello, Comrade Commander, I'm glad to see you back on the front line. ”
After shaking hands with Sokov, Rokossovsky pointed sideways and said: "Come on, meet your old friend. If you don't come, he will come to your division in person." I'm going to find you." Seeing Yakov standing next to him, Sokov's face showed a smile. As he walked towards Yakov, he took the initiative to reach out to him.
When Yakov shook hands with Sokov, he hit him twice on the shoulder with his left hand, and then said with a smile: "You guy, why didn't you say hello to me when you left Nizhny Novgorod? What a shame. I thought you had been kidnapped by the enemy, and I specifically contacted the garrison commander and asked him to send people around the city to find your whereabouts."
"What, Yakov doesn't know about my departure?" Hearing what Yakov said, Sokov was stunned for a moment, and then he understood. This kind of thing is very Russian, and there is no communication between various departments. I only thought that things would happen in future generations, but I didn’t expect that similar things would happen in this era.
He guessed the reason, but he didn't explain it. He just grinned and said apologetically: "I'm sorry, dear Yakov, I also received an order to return to the army temporarily, so I left before I could say hello to you. .”
Malinin on the side, perhaps wanting to rescue Sokov, took the initiative and said: "Yakov, blame me for this, blame me! Because something happened within the army, Sokov needed to come back to deal with it, so I asked Bragon When General Lavov returned, he brought Major Sokov with him."
After Yakov waited for Malinin to finish speaking, he nodded to him and said: "Comrade General, after Bragonravov returned to Moscow, he called me specifically and told me that Misha was ordered to rush back to Moscow. . After I answered the phone, I asked the garrison headquarters to cancel the search in the city."
Rokossovsky waited patiently for Sokov and Yakov to finish talking about old times before he said: "Major Sokov, I think you should know very well in your heart that we will soon launch an attack on the German army. attack. I would like to ask, how prepared is your division?"
"Please rest assured, Comrade Commander." Hearing Rokossovsky address his official position, Sokov quickly replied in a business-like manner: "After being replenished, the morale of our division is high, and all commanders and soldiers are ready to fight. We are ready to carry out the combat missions assigned to us by our superiors at any time."
After listening to Sokov's words, Rokossovsky looked at Malinin and said with a smile: "I didn't expect that Misha was ready to fight so quickly." Then he turned his attention to Sokov again. Cove suppressed the smile on his face and said, "I called you here today for two purposes. One is that in the upcoming offensive campaign, your division will serve as the vanguard of the entire group army and first attack the enemy. Launch an attack and strive to tear apart the German defenses in the shortest possible time and open a channel for our follow-up troops."
Since assuming the role of acting division commander, Sokov has been making various preparations for the offensive. He sent people to reconnoiter the distribution of the German troops; he also sent people to explore which locations were suitable for crossing the river. If it were not for the lack of sufficient artillery support and necessary air support, he might have led his troops to attack the German positions on the other side.
Seeing Rokossovsky finish telling him the first purpose of coming here, Sokov stopped talking and couldn't help but asked curiously: "Comrade Commander, can I ask the second one?" What’s the purpose?”
Rokossovsky chuckled, pointed at Yakov, and said to Sokov: "The second purpose is related to Yakov. Just ask him."
Sokov waited for Rokossovsky to finish speaking, then turned his eyes to Yakov next to him, and asked: "Yakov, can you tell me your purpose of coming here?"
"Brother, don't look so serious on your face." Seeing Sokov's serious look, Yakov quickly raised his hand and patted him on the shoulder, signaling him to calm down: "I am now I will introduce to you the supplies I brought. After the overtime work of the workers in the machinery factory, all the 50 automatic guns you need have been produced. The purpose of my coming to the 16th Army is to escort Rokossovs General Ji returned to the front line, and the second reason is to deliver these weapons to you." After that, he picked up an assault rifle that was left on the table and handed it into Sokov's hands.
Sokov took the automatic rifle and first tried to aim it. Then he pulled the bolt and looked at it. He casually asked: "Yakov, I want to ask how much ammunition each gun is equipped with."
"Each automatic gun is equipped with three hundred rounds of ammunition, which is equivalent to ten magazines for each rifle." After Yakov introduced the situation, he asked: "Misha, if there is nothing wrong with you, we will be here A handover will be done outside. As long as the weapons are delivered to the location, my mission will be completed."
"Let's go, let's go now." After Sokov said, he stepped forward and hugged Yakov, walking side by side outside. After walking a few steps, Sokov remembered that he was now in Rokossovsky's office, and his boss had not allowed him to leave. How could he just leave? So, he stopped, faced Rokossovsky and asked with some embarrassment: "Comrade Commander, do you allow us to leave?"
"Okay." Rokossovsky smiled and nodded, and said to Sokov and Yakov: "Misha, you and Yakov go to count the weapons first. When you come back later, I still want to talk to you. Let’s talk. You don’t object, right?”
"No objection." Sokov quickly shook his head and said, "I am very happy to chat with Comrade Commander."
