By evening, feedback from each division had come back, and no soldiers meeting the above criteria were found.
The clue is broken.
Vitkov said to Sokov with a serious expression: "Comrade Commander, it seems that the enemy is very cunning. After assigning the task, he lurked again. I am afraid that we will not be able to find his traces for a long time. "
"Since we can't find him, let's put this matter aside for the time being. I think it is impossible for the Germans to launch a similar attack in a short period of time." Now that the clue has been cut off, Sokov does not want to do it again at this time. Too much energy was wasted on the battlefield. At this time, he was more concerned about the trends on the battlefield: "What has the enemy done recently?"
"As you have judged, the enemy has launched an attack on the Voronezh Front after defeating General Vatutin's Southwest Front." Vitkov said with a wry smile: "Faced with the enemy's attack, the friendly forces showed some incompetence. "
"It seems that it won't be long before the German army will retake places like Kharkov and Belgorod."
Before Sokov finished speaking, Zhukov came in from outside. He asked with a straight face: "Then tell me, what will the German army do after they reoccupy these two places? They will attack Moscow again. ?"
"I think not." After Sokov raised his hand to salute Zhukov, he moved the map on the table to Zhukov and said to him: "Comrade General, please look at the map. I think the German army is defeating the Southwest Front and the After the Voronezh Front, it will be unable to continue advancing to the north, and the enemy's and ours' fronts will be stabilized on the Kursk and Orel lines."
"Misha, your idea is very bold." After Zhukov stared at the place pointed by Sokov for a while, he said: "If the situation you mentioned really occurs, it means that we will have tens of thousands of square kilometers. The land has fallen. If I didn’t know you better, I could regard your judgment as a defeatist argument.”
Zhukov's words scared Sokov into a cold sweat. He didn't expect that he just told the true history truthfully, but he actually had to face such a serious problem.
Seeing Sokov standing in front of him dumbfounded, Zhukov waved his hand and continued: "Of course, after my careful analysis over the past two days, I feel that the situation you mentioned is entirely possible. When the time comes, we will be the enemy and the enemy. The two sides may form a confrontation, and then both sides begin to accumulate strength for another decisive battle at the battle level."
Seeing Zhukov speculate that there will be a battle-level decisive battle in the Kursk area, Sokov couldn't help but admire him. He only knew about the Kursk battle based on his understanding of history. Zhukov, on the other hand, accurately deduced based on the situation on the battlefield that there would be a decisive battle.
"Misha, have you ever considered that after the German army retakes Kharkov and Belgorod, it is possible that it will turn east and launch a large-scale attack on Lugansk. How will you prepare to deal with it then?"
"Comrade General, we are seizing the time to build fortifications." Sokov said confidently: "With our current strength, we can completely withstand the attack of a German armored corps."
"I am very pleased that you have such confidence." Zhukov was very satisfied with Sokov's reply: "If you need any help after I leave here, just contact me and I will try my best to meet your request. .”
…………
Sokov knew very well that the best weapon to deal with the German armored clusters was artillery. Therefore, early the next morning, he came to the artillery division's station and met the division commander Colonel Miyakotin and political commissar Makhmutov. Lieutenant Colonel.
After the two sides sat down, Sokov did not talk around in circles, but asked directly: "Comrade Colonel, in a while, the enemy may launch an attack on Luhansk. Can your artillery deal with the German armored group?"
"Our division has a heavy artillery regiment, equipped with thirty-six 152mm howitzers." Miyakotin replied: "It should be able to have some effect against the enemy's armored assault. But you have to tell the infantry, never Don't let enemy tanks rush into our position, our artillery won't fight with bayonets."
At Miyakotin's last joke, Sokov smiled faintly, and then said: "Comrade division commander, if the enemy's offensive is fierce, there may be time to put the bayonet on the cannon."
Seeing Miyakotin's confused look, he quickly explained: "Our infantry lacks sufficient anti-tank weapons. If the Germans have too many tanks, it will be very difficult to completely block them, so we must do a good job The worst plan. I remember that your division has a 76mm artillery regiment. I think you can equip this regiment with some armor-piercing projectiles. When the enemy tanks approach your artillery position, use direct fire to destroy the enemy tanks. That's what's called 'bayonet on the cannon.'"
The three had an in-depth discussion on how to use artillery in the coming battle, and finally reached a consensus. That is, when the enemy attacks, heavy artillery is used to intercept the enemy's infantry and armored vehicles with long-range artillery fire; while medium artillery provides artillery cover for the defending infantry.
Sokov and Samoilov left the artillery division headquarters and walked towards the jeep parked not far away when a tall soldier walked towards him with an ax in his hand. As he passed Sokov, he raised his hand to his forehead in salute and sped up.
"Comrade soldier, please wait a moment." Sokov felt that something was wrong with this man. When other soldiers saw the commander approaching, they would take the initiative to get out of the way and stand aside to salute, but this man walked directly from his own Passing by, Sokov quickly called out to the other party.
The tall warrior who was stopped turned to face Sokov without saying a word.
Sokov walked up to the tall man, looked at him and asked: "Comrade soldier, what are you doing with an axe?"
"Comrade Colonel," the tall man straightened his body and replied, "I am from the cooking class at the division headquarters. I was just ordered to cut some firewood for making a fire."
The tall cook's answer seemed to be spotless, but Sokov had some doubts in his heart. He felt that something was wrong with this man, but he couldn't explain why.
Seeing Sokov frowning in thought, the tall cook asked politely: "Comrade Colonel, can I leave? Are you still waiting for a life of wood in the cooking squad?"
"You can leave now."
The tall man made a backward movement and limped toward the house where the headquarters was located.
He is tall and walks with a slight limp. These two characteristics immediately matched the memory in Sokov's mind. He pointed his hand at the tall cook and told Samoylov: "He is the messenger, catch him."
Samoilov agreed, and rushed forward with two soldiers. He subdued the cook with three strikes, five divided by two, and pushed him in front of Sokov with his hands behind his back.
Sokov sneered at the cook and said, "We were looking for you all day yesterday, but we didn't expect to meet you here today. Come on, I'll take you to meet two acquaintances."
"Comrade Commander," Miyakotin and Makhmutov heard the soldier's report that the cooks of their division were captured by Sokov's men at the door. They ran out in a hurry to find out. What happened. "What happened? Why did we arrest him?"
"Because he is a German spy lurking in our army." When Sokov said this, seeing the unbelievable expressions on the two people's faces, he added: "If you don't believe it, come with me, I will Let you understand what is going on.”
Miyakotin and Makhmutov's first impression was that Sokov must have arrested the wrong person. But in order to find out what was going on, the two of them followed Sokov to the cluster headquarters.
