It is naturally a good thing for Sokov that the German army does not attack. Because in this way, he would have enough time to order the troops to repair fortifications and strengthen defensive positions to establish a complete defense system. More importantly, the number of troops he has now is several times greater than during the Battle of Stalingrad. The military supplies consumed every day are also astronomical, and it takes time to replenish them.
When looking at the ammunition, fuel and various supplies transported into the city every day, Vitkov couldn't help but say with emotion: "Comrade division commander, you still have a way to get so many supplies."
"Comrade Chief of Staff," Sokov said to Vitkov with a smile: "The reason why our superiors can give us so many supplies is entirely because of the huge results we achieved some time ago, which gave our superiors hope of defeating the German army. That’s why they are so willing to continuously provide us with supplies.”
"That's true." Regarding Sokov's statement, Vitkov agreed. "If our attack had not achieved any results and was even beaten by the German army, I am afraid that not only would we not have been able to achieve this With more supplies, they may even order us to hand over the existing defense area to friendly forces."
Sokov stared at the map in front of him and found that unknowingly, a salient had formed where he and his friendly troops were. After discovering this situation, he couldn't help being shocked. If it was because of himself that the original Kursk salient became the Donetsk salient, then in the next few months, he might Will face an attack by hundreds of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of German troops. The few troops he had in hand seemed to be quite a lot, but against the hundreds of thousands of German troops, they were just lambs to be slaughtered.
"Comrade Commander," seeing Sokov staring blankly at the map in front of him, Vitkov asked curiously, "What are you thinking about?"
Sokov pointed at the map and said to Vitkov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I discovered that our combat group has unintentionally taken over the defensive position of the Southwest Front. The German army dispatched ten to fifteen divisions to attack We attack and can we hold them off.”
"Comrade Commander, please forgive me." Vitkov looked at the situation of the enemy and ourselves on the map and said worriedly: "Don't say that the German army dispatched ten to fifteen divisions, even if there are five German divisions currently stationed in Barvinkovo If we are dispatched at the same time, it is still unknown whether we can stop them."
"Comrade Commander," at this moment, a staff officer came in from outside and reported to Sokov: "Comrade Lunev from the Ministry of Internal Affairs has arrived."
"Lunev?" Hearing this unfamiliar name, Sokov couldn't help but look at Vitkov, wanting to see if he knew this Lunev from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. "Comrade Chief of Staff, do you know him?"
"I don't know." Witkov answered simply.
Although he didn't understand the other party's intention, Sokov still said to the staff officer: "Invite him in."
Soon, a general of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, of medium height and wearing a blue hat, walked in.
Seeing that the rank on the opponent's epaulette was one level higher than his own, Sokov quickly saluted him: "Hello, Comrade Lieutenant General, on behalf of all the commanders and fighters of the combat group, I welcome you."
"Hello, Major General Sokov." The other party stretched out his hand to Sokov and said politely: "Let me introduce myself. I am Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Lunev. By order of the base camp, from now on, I will serve as Representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the combat group. Now, report to me on the situation at your group headquarters."
"Comrade Deputy Minister, please allow me to report to you." Before Sokov could speak, Vitkov stepped forward, straightened his back and said to Lunev: "I know the situation at the cluster headquarters better than Comrade Commander. .”
Lunev did not speak, but cast a questioning look at Sokov. Sokov immediately realized that the other party might not know Vitkov, so he introduced him: "Comrade Deputy Minister, let me introduce to you that this is Colonel Vitkov, chief of staff of the group. He was formerly the deputy general of the 62nd Army. chief of staff."
After learning that Vitkov came from the 62nd Army, Lunev showed a smile on his face: "The 62nd Army is all good. It was precisely because of your bravery, tenacity and fear of sacrifice that we were able to defend the great Stalin Grad, completely smashing the German conspiracy to seize the city."
Hearing the other party's praise of the 62nd Army, Vitkov's face showed a smile, and his inner resistance to the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs became a little less. He began to report to the other party: "The previous combat group headquarters was together with the 41st Guards Division headquarters, and it was separated not long ago. Now our headquarters has a guard company of two hundred people, and three More than a dozen staff officers of various types, and twenty communications troops.”
"You have a few people." After hearing this, Lunev said with some emotion: "If we encounter a sneak attack by the Germans, your troops will not be enough."
"Comrade Deputy Minister, please rest assured about this." Seeing Lunev's anxious expression, Sokov quickly comforted him and said: "Although our troops are small, even if we encounter the same number of German soldiers, we will not You will be at a disadvantage. By the way, Comrade Vice Minister, I wonder how many people you brought with you this time?"
"I took two internal security classes."
"The number of people is a bit small." Sokov said cautiously: "How about I send you another security platoon to be responsible for your safety." He was worried that his proposal would be rejected by the other party, so he emphasized specifically, "Platoon" Lieutenant Commander Samoilov was also a member of the Internal Affairs Corps, and he only joined my guard battalion during the Battle of Stalingrad."
When he learned that Sokov was going to send a force commanded by a former officer of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to him, Lunev smiled again: "General Sokov, since it is your kind intention, then I am not good either. If you refuse, then accept it.”
"Comrade Deputy Minister, you must be very tired after coming all the way from Moscow." Sokov said with a smile: "I will immediately arrange manpower to send you to rest."
Sokov called Samoilov and asked him to send Lunev to rest. Seeing Lunev's back disappear from the door, Vitkov asked Sokov with a worried look: "Comrade Commander, why did the superiors send us a representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs? Could it be that they can't trust us?"
"Comrade Chief of Staff," Sokov also didn't know why his superiors would send Lunev to serve as Raushizi's representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, so he asked tentatively: "Tell me, under what circumstances do superiors usually appoint representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs? A position?"
"As far as I know," anyway, Vitkov has stayed in the army longer than Sokov and naturally knows much more. After hearing Sokov's question, he replied thoughtfully. : "Generally, it is a front-level command headquarters, and the superiors will be equipped with representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Also, for some important group army units, the superiors will also set up representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs as appropriate."
"An important group army unit?" Sokov heard this and heard some overtones from Witkov's words: "Comrade Chief of Staff, are you saying that the superiors plan to transform our combat group into a group army?"
"I think it's unrealistic." Regarding Sokov's guess, Vitkov questioned: "Now we already have 70 group armies, and there is really no need to add another one. Unless a group army is defeated by the enemy, superiors are ready to To rebuild.”
"If we want to say that the group army was defeated by the Germans, it is not that there is no one. What kind of designation can we give us?" Sokov said here, feeling that it is quite possible to transform his combat group into a group army. In order to do it After knowing what was going on, he sent a telegram to Rokossovsky, reporting to him the arrival of Runev and wanting to know what was going on.
Rokossovsky received the telegram and was surprised to learn that Runev actually went to Sokov's army. He quickly connected the General Staff Headquarters in Moscow with a high-frequency phone and asked Deputy Chief of General Staff Antonov: "Comrade Deputy Chief of General Staff, I heard that the superiors sent Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs General Lunev to Sokov's Combat Group, I want to ask, what is going on?"
"General Rokossovsky, I was about to call you, but you called first." Antonov said: "Based on the performance of Sokov's troops in recent battles, the base camp decided to send them to Adapted into a group army."
"Change to a group army?" Rokossovsky was not surprised at all by this news. During the Battle of Moscow, the combat group he commanded was also reorganized into the 16th Army. He was eager to know what designation his superiors had given Sokov, and then asked: "Then what designation are you going to give him?"
"Sixth Army," Antonov replied shortly.
"What, the Sixth Army?" Hearing this number, Rokossovsky couldn't help but be shocked. This was not the army that was defeated by the Germans not long ago. It is said that even the commander of the army, Kharidonov, was injured during the breakout. , is currently recuperating in a Moscow hospital. He asked tentatively: "What about the original commander, Lieutenant General Kharitonov?"
"After research by the Supreme Command, he has been relieved of his duties, and the original Sixth Army command organization has been disbanded." Antonov replied: "We will use the current combat group as the basis and integrate some of the original Sixth Army troops to form a new combat group. Major General Sokov will serve as the commander, Colonel Vitkov will serve as the chief of staff, and General Lunev will serve as the military commissar and political commissar."
After listening to Antonov's words, Rokossovsky immediately understood why his superiors suddenly sent Lunev to Sokov's army. It turned out that he was going to serve as the political commissar of the new Sixth Army. After waiting for Antonov to finish speaking, he quickly thanked him: "Comrade Antonov, thank you for telling me such good news. I will immediately tell Major General Sokov the good news and let him also Happy happy.”
"General Rokossovsky," Antonov had no objections to Rokossovsky's statement. He just added: "The formal reorganization order will be issued in two days."
After Rokossovsky ended his call with Antonov, he immediately called Malinin and said to him with a smile: "Comrade Chief of Staff, let me tell you good news. According to the order of the base camp, Sokov's combat group It will be reorganized into the Sixth Army, and some troops from the original Sixth Army will be added to it. In this way, the area they hold will become stronger."
After hearing this, Ma Lining actually said with a smile: "Interesting, really very interesting."
"What's interesting?"
"Comrade Commander," Malinen explained to Rokossovsky with a smile: "Half a month ago, the three German SS divisions defeated Lieutenant General Kharitonov's Sixth Army; however, in Not long ago, Sokov commanded the 41st Guards Division, but defeated these three SS divisions. Now the base camp has reorganized Sokov's combat group into the new Sixth Army, which will attack those huddled in Bar. Isn’t it a great irony for the SS division that Wenkovo dared not move?”
"I think when Manstein learned the news, his lungs would explode with anger." Rokossovsky said with a smile and then ordered Malinin: "Chief of Staff, hurry up and send a telegram to Xiaomi Sofa. Tell him the good news."
After receiving the telegram from Malinin, Sokov was stunned for a moment, and then he couldn't help laughing. He said to Vitkov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, it seems that our guess is not wrong. The base camp is indeed preparing to reorganize us into a group army, and the designation is the Sixth Army. Tell me, when Manstein learned that he had been defeated not long ago The troops of three SS divisions were transformed into the Sixth Army, which they had defeated before. How would he react?"
"I heard that Manstein is not young anymore," Witkov replied with a smile: "I hope he won't have a stroke from being too excited when he hears the bad news. The Germans will be different without him. It became a piece of loose sand.”
Sokov grinned and asked Vitkov: "Chief of Staff, tell me, if the troops are reorganized into a group army, does that mean we can get more infantry divisions, tank brigades and artillery regiments?"
"It goes without saying." Vitkov quickly replied: "The Sixth Army used to have eight infantry divisions, but we only have four. Even if our superiors only give us two additional divisions, we can still make it Our strength has reached a new level.”
“It would be great if we could be given two more infantry divisions,” Sokov said with a smile, “But it would be even better if we could be given two more tank brigades or larger artillery regiments. At that time, I will not stay here and wait for the Germans to attack, but I will take the initiative to attack them."
