"In my opinion," Ivanov said while staring at the map: "The factory area to the north of the city was too severely damaged during the battle. It is obviously inappropriate for the German army to establish their headquarters there. In this way, they can only Consider establishing the headquarters in the residential area south of the city or somewhere in the central district."
Seeing that Ivanov had basically guessed the location of Paulus' headquarters, Sokov had a smile on his face. He turned to look at Sidorin: "What do you think, Comrade Chief of Staff?"
Sidorin put his right hand under his left armpit, his left elbow on his right arm, and his left hand holding his chin. He looked at the map on the table seriously. After a long time, he said: "I agree with the deputy division commander. In our army, Under a powerful blow, Paulus's headquarters will definitely be moved, and the location where he can set up his headquarters may be the largest in the central area, because most of these places are tall stone buildings, which are very suitable for headquarters. .”
After both of them had expressed their opinions, Sokov said calmly: "You are all right. Once our army strengthens its offensive, Paulus's headquarters will definitely be transferred. And he The location of their new headquarters is nothing more than a group of stone buildings in the residential area in the south of the city or in the central district. Think about it, if we deploy a strong force where they may set up a new headquarters, then what will happen? What kind of effect does it have?”
Sokov's words made the two people's eyes light up. Sidorin asked in surprise: "Comrade division commander, the reason why you insist on letting the third battalion stay in the city is for the purpose of attacking the German headquarters in the future?"
"That's right."
"If we want to attack the German headquarters, I'm afraid Captain Andrei's troops are not enough." Ivanov reminded Sokov: "Although the third battalion has more than a thousand people in name, if we want to use them With such strength, it may still be very difficult to break through the security forces of the German headquarters."
"The deputy division commander is right." Sidorin continued: "In my opinion, troops should be transferred from other places to strengthen Captain Andre..."
"No." Sokov immediately shook his head in opposition to Sidorin's proposal, "Under the current circumstances, we cannot replenish Captain Andre's troops for the time being."
Sidorin and Ivanov were confused by Sokov's words, and Sidorin asked in confusion: "Comrade division commander, if Captain Andre is not given additional troops, how can they break through the defense of the German guard troops? "
"Comrade Chief of Staff, if we replenish Captain Andre's troops now, it doesn't mean telling the Germans: We have a strong force at the place where you are planning to set up a new headquarters, and we can launch an assault on you at any time." Sokov said with a smile: "If the enemy discovers this situation, will they still set their headquarters near the third battalion?"
"The division commander makes sense." After listening to Sokov's words, Ivanov nodded vigorously and said in a positive tone: "We want to create an illusion for the enemy, making them think that we do not have any troops in this area." No amount of troops can threaten their safety. Only in this way can the enemy confidently and boldly establish their headquarters in a location where we can attack at any time."
Sidorin felt that what Ivanov said made sense, so he did not mention the matter of replenishing troops, but asked tentatively: "Do I need to give an order to Captain Andrei to closely monitor the enemy?"
"Let them stay as they are. Whatever they did before, they still do it now. Don't make any extraneous matters." Sokov said: "Lest they alert the enemy and have a bad impact on our next plan."
"Comrade Commander, I have another question." Sidorin hesitated for a moment and asked: "As mentioned just now, with the strength of Captain Andre, it will be difficult to break through the German defense. How will we start from then? Should the local government allocate troops to strengthen them?"
"When the leaders were here just now, I mentioned to them that with General Rokossovsky's character, he would definitely launch a new large-scale offensive." Sokov looked at the three of them and asked: " Do you guys still remember?"
"Remember, remember," the three of them nodded at the same time. Anisimov, who had been silent for the whole time, asked, "Comrade division commander, do you plan to transfer 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 it will take until mid-January for Paulus to move his headquarters to the location we said." Sokov picked up the pencil on the table, drew a few lines on the map, and said Said: "I think by that time, the entire group army's defense line will have advanced significantly to the west. By then, we won't have to worry about our flanks being cut off by the enemy, and we can move the Belkin Regiment to the city."
Having said this, Sokov threw the pencil in his hand on the table and said coldly: "I don't believe that the shrinking regiment with the strongest combat effectiveness in the entire division will not be able to break through the defense line of the German headquarters."
Hearing Sokov calling the Belkin Regiment the most powerful unit in the division, Ivanov's mouth couldn't help but twitch violently twice. He wanted to mention his three old subordinates, but in his heart he thought After thinking about it, I found that they didn't seem to have any impressive achievements, so they could only keep their mouths closed.
As the political commissar of the Guards Division, Anisimov did not have as many scruples as Ivanov. He pursed his lips and said, "Comrade Commander, I have a problem with you."
"Any comments?" Sokov asked with a blank look on his face: "Comrade Political Commissar, do you have any comments?"
"We all know that the shrinking regiment is the old foundation of your original 73rd Infantry Brigade. The soldiers relied on the new tactics they mastered and achieved good results in many battles." Anisimov was dissatisfied. He said: "But now the other three Guards regiments are also your subordinates, but you just use them as reserve forces. You have never considered teaching them new tactics and letting them perform more glorious and arduous combat missions. . If this continues, they will always become vassals of the downsizing regiment."
Anisimov's words made Sokov fall into deep thought. He felt that what the other party said was reasonable. Out of trust, he had always assigned various important tasks to the Belkin Group to complete. Even if the leaders of other regiments take the initiative to ask for a fight, he will ask them to stick to their positions. If things go on like this, these three Guards regiments will just be reduced to a soy sauce role.
Sokov knew very well that after the Battle of Stalingrad, in the Third Battle of Kharkov, the Soviet army was beaten to a pulp by Manstein even though it had the advantage in numbers and equipment. . If he cannot improve the combat effectiveness of the entire Guards Division in a short period of time, no matter how capable the commanders and fighters of the Belkin Regiment are, they may suffer heavy losses in the coming battles.
"You are right, Comrade Political Commissar." After Sokov realized his mistake, he stood up and apologized to Anisimov: "Maybe it's because the drawdown regiment is my old unit, so I paid too much attention to them. In the future, attacking the German headquarters will not only be a task for the downsizing regiment, but also an important combat task for the entire division. Therefore, I decided to allocate troops from each regiment to form an attack force to capture the German headquarters."
"Great, Comrade Commander, this is great." Hearing Sokov say this, Ivanov felt warm in his heart. He held the other party's hand and said excitedly: "On behalf of the other three The commanders and fighters of the Guards Regiment thank you."
"Comrade Deputy Division Commander," Sokov also sincerely apologized to him when shaking hands with Ivanov: "I didn't think carefully before, and I apologize to you. If I make similar mistakes again in the future, please feel free to ask for help. Bring it up to me.”
