One day in early June, Sokov, who was staying at his headquarters, suddenly received a call from Malinin. The Army Chief of Staff conveyed Rokossovsky's order: Sokov and Potukin must arrive at the Army Headquarters before 11 noon today to attend an important military meeting.
At this moment, the Battle of Kharkov commanded by Marshal Timoshenko has ended in failure. In this battle, the Soviet army suffered 750,000 casualties, 2.39 million prisoners, and lost 1,249 tanks, 2,026 artillery pieces, and mortars. When Sokov heard that Malinin asked him and Potukin to go to the army headquarters, he guessed that a new round of offensive in the direction of Bryansk was about to begin.
On the way to the headquarters, Potukin asked curiously: "Comrade division commander, our troops have been resting for nearly half a month. You said that Chief of Staff Malinin informed us to have a meeting. Is there any important combat mission?"
"That's for sure, Comrade Chief of Staff." Sokov glanced at the driver and said cautiously: "Our army has suffered a setback in the direction of Kharkov and must launch new offensives in other directions to contain the German army. , lest they take the opportunity to expand their results and cause our army to suffer greater losses."
The army headquarters is located in a forest, a semi-underground shelter. A dozen soldiers stood at the entrance, led by a second lieutenant, responsible for checking the identities of the commanders attending the meeting.
Seeing the arrival of Sokov and Potukin, the second lieutenant looked them up and down and asked tentatively: "Are you from the 31st Guards Division?"
"That's right." After hearing the second lieutenant's question, Sokov nodded quickly and replied: "I am Major Sokov, acting commander of the 31st Guards Division, and this is my chief of staff, Lieutenant Colonel Potukin. "
After verifying the identities of the two people, the second lieutenant raised his hand and saluted them, and then said: "Please come in. The conference room is at the end of the corridor."
The two walked along the simple wooden steps and walked into the headquarters. In the corridor outside the conference room, Sokov saw a dozen officers waiting outside the door, including school-level officers and generals. Some of them were standing, and some were sitting on benches against the wall, chatting. Seeing Sokov and Potukin coming over, he only glanced at them and continued chatting.
When the number of people waiting in the corridor reached more than thirty people, the closed wooden door of the conference room suddenly opened. Malinen walked out of it and said to the officers standing in the corridor: "Comrade commanders, please come in. The meeting is about to begin." After saying this, he turned his body to one side and leaned his back against wall to make way for the commanders attending the meeting.
When Sokov walked into the conference room, he saw several people sitting at the other end of the long conference table. He recognized at a glance that General Zhukov, the commander of the front, was sitting in the middle, and Rokossovsky, the commander of the group army, was sitting on his right, while Lobachev, the military commissar of the group army, and Romanov, the director of the political department of the group army, were sitting there. Sitting on his left side.
There were not many seats around the conference table, so almost all general-level officers walked to the table and sat down. Sokov, who had the lowest military rank, found a seat against the wall and sat down. Unexpectedly, as soon as he sat down, he heard Rokossovsky knock twice hard on the table, and then said: "Major Sokov, don't sit in the corner, come and sit in the front!"
When the officers who were looking for seats heard Rokossovsky say this, they couldn't help but cast their eyes on Sokov, who was sitting in the corner. In full view of everyone, Sokov stood up with some embarrassment, walked to the table and sat down, thinking to himself: What on earth is going on? Why does Comrade Commander let me sit in front?
After everyone sat down, Ma Lining walked to the map hanging on the wall and said to everyone: "Comrade commanders, we have called everyone here for a meeting today to deploy the next combat mission. Everyone. It is clear that the attack launched by our army in the direction of Kharkov did not achieve the desired results, so it is necessary for us to launch an attack in a new direction..."
When Malinin introduced the battlefield situation, Sokov was thinking to himself: "It seems that my guess is correct. After the Soviet army suffered a disastrous defeat in the direction of Kharkov, it must launch attacks from other directions to contain the German forces. , lest the enemy take advantage of the great victory to expand the results. Today Zhukov came to the meeting in person, indicating that our next attack will still be aimed at the direction of Bryansk."
What happened next was exactly as Sokov expected. The troops will launch an attack on the German Bryansk defense line at dawn tomorrow, and his 31st Guards Division is in the starting lineup. The only difference is that last time, as the vanguard of the entire group army, his troops attacked in the direction of Bryansk, and Orlov's infantry corps followed as the second echelon. This time, Orlov's troops were deployed on his right wing, and the two troops advanced hand in hand to attack the enemy's defensive positions.
After introducing the combat deployment, Rokossovsky stood up, glanced at the commanders present one by one, and said: "Comrade commanders, this attack did not give us much preparation time. Therefore, there must be many unexpected problems. If you have any ideas, you can put them forward now."
As soon as Rokossovsky finished speaking, Orlov stood up and asked unceremoniously: "Comrade Commander, I would like to ask how long the artillery can provide us with power before this attack." Are you ready for artillery fire?"
Rokossovsky heard Orlov's question and said with a wry smile: "Comrade General, I think you may be disappointed. Since the front of this attack has become more exaggerated, the density of artillery fire you have obtained will be much higher." It is smaller than in May. At the same time, the number of tanks that can cooperate with you in combat will also be greatly reduced."
After hearing this, Orlov asked in surprise: "Comrade Commander, you should remember that when my troops attacked in May, it was because they did not receive enough artillery support, which resulted in heavy casualties. If this time When attacking Bryansk, the artillery support we receive will be far less than in May, so it will be difficult for me to guarantee that we can break through the German defenses within the specified time."
Regarding Orlov's statement, Zhukov intervened and said: "General Orlov, although you have received less artillery support, your attack this time will be supported by a large number of aviation forces. In this way, we It controls the air on the battlefield, and as soon as the German artillery fires, it will be severely hit by our air force."
