Sokov turned to Samyko: "Comrade Chief of Staff, which troops are training today?"
"Comrade Commander," although Samyko usually spoke very casually to Sokov, today in front of Zhukov, he straightened his back quickly and said respectfully: "Major General Fomenko's 84th Infantry Division 268 The regiment is conducting exercises two kilometers away from the headquarters.”
"Exercise?" Zhukov immediately became interested and asked Samyko: "What kind of exercise?"
Samyko glanced at Sokov and continued to answer: "Comrade Marshal, according to the commander's order, while the troops are conducting basic military training, they should also conduct offensive or defensive training at the appropriate time and place. According to the commander According to the arrangement of the Ministry, today happens to be the day when the 268th Infantry Regiment will attack and perform."
Knowing that he could see offensive performances here, Zhukov could no longer sit still. He stood up and said to Sokov and others: "Let's go and have a look."
On the way to the training ground, Zhukov asked Sokov, who was sitting next to him: "Misha, I want to hear how you conduct this kind of offensive drill?"
"The order I gave to the troops was to let them attack an imaginary enemy fortification. During the battle, the soldiers used real guns and live ammunition. Through this kind of training, the new soldiers who have never fired a gun can experience the The feeling of the battlefield." Sokov explained to Zhukov: "In order to avoid unnecessary casualties, the defensive positions are empty..."
"What, there's no one on the defensive position?" Zhukov couldn't help but frowned, and said with some displeasure: "Let the soldiers attack an empty position. What's the point of an exercise like this?"
Faced with Zhukov's question, Sokov did not panic at all. Instead, he replied confidently: "There are two purposes for doing this. One is to let the new soldiers practice their courage, and the other is to test the cooperation of the troops during the attack..."
Before Sokov finished speaking, the rumble of artillery fire was heard outside. Hearing this sound, the adjutant sitting in the passenger seat was immediately frightened out of his mind. He thought he had encountered an enemy. He quickly pulled out the pistol at his waist and stared nervously out of the window to see if any enemies were coming from the forest on the roadside. Come out.
"Don't worry, Comrade Adjutant." Sokov naturally knew what the sound of artillery outside was about, so he comforted the Adjutant and said, "It's my troops who are performing an attack. This is artillery preparation before the attack."
"Artillery preparations before the attack?" Zhukov listened to the sound of artillery outside and said dissatisfied: "Judging from the sound of artillery, you are using mortars. Mortars have a fast firing speed, and the combat rate of fire is 15 —20 rounds/minute. Even if you only use twenty mortars and fire for five minutes, you will consume two thousand rounds of artillery shells. Don’t you know that our current supply situation is still very difficult?”
"I understand, Comrade Marshal." Sokov considered the consumption of ammunition when formulating the training outline, but he felt that as long as it can improve the combat effectiveness of the troops, even consuming a batch of artillery shells is completely worth it: "But that's the only way Only by doing it can we achieve actual combat effects in the exercise.”
After hearing what Sokov said, Zhukov stopped talking. He felt that what Sokov said was very reasonable. As long as the combat effectiveness of the troops can be improved through this kind of training, then consuming some ammunition would not matter. Anyway, judging from the current situation, there won't be any big battles for the time being, and the consumed ammunition can be replenished slowly.
The convoy drove forward for a while when it was blocked by a checkpoint. A lieutenant wearing a red armband stopped in front of the car and said loudly: "Sorry, there is a military exercise ahead. Please take a detour."
Sokov opened the door and got out of the car, walked straight to the lieutenant, and said to him: "I am Major General Sokov, commander of the group army. Immediately notify your supreme commander to come here to see me."
Although the lieutenant had never met Sokov, he did not dare to neglect when he heard that the other party claimed to be the commander of the group army. He quickly returned to the post to call his superiors and report to them the situation here.
A few minutes later, a jeep rushed over at lightning speed. Before the car stopped, the door opened and a general and two colonels jumped out. Sokov recognized at a glance that the general was the division commander, Major General Fomenko, and the colonel beside him was the political commissar, Colonel Manokhin.
The three of them came to Sokov, and when they were about to raise their hands to salute, they unexpectedly saw Zhukov standing next to Sokov. They were stunned and didn't know who to report to first. Zhukov saw their embarrassment and said, "Report to your army commander. I followed him here to have a look."
Fomenko quickly saluted Sokov: "Comrade Commander, Major General Fomenko, commander of the 84th Infantry Division, is reporting to you that our 268th Regiment is performing an attack, please give instructions!"
Sokov raised his hand and returned the salute and said: "Marshal Zhukov and I are here to watch the show. Please take us to see it quickly."
"Okay, Comrade Commander." After accepting Sokov's order, Fomenko introduced the colonel next to him: "Comrade Commander, let me introduce to you, this is the 268th Regiment. Colonel Russov."
"Hello, Colonel Rusov." After briefly greeting the other party, Sokov asked: "Do you have a place where I can observe the exercise?"
"You can go to my regiment command post, where you can see the entire process of the exercise." After answering Sokov's question, Rusov said with some embarrassment: "But the space there is limited and cannot accommodate too many people. "
"Just me and your commander will go there together." Fortunately, Zhukov rescued him in time: "The rest will stay here and wait for us to come back."
In this way, Sokov accompanied Zhukov to the regiment command post of the 268th Regiment. The two stood in front of the lookout and observed the drama outside through a telescope or gun scope.
After shelling the imaginary enemy's position for a quarter of an hour, the artillery stopped shelling. After another minute or two, Sokov heard whistles coming from outside, and then saw groups of commanders and fighters emerge from their hiding places. The officers and soldiers who appeared did not immediately launch an attack, but lined up in front of the position. When they took a few minutes to complete the formation, formed a skirmish formation, and strode towards the imaginary enemy's position, Sokov He couldn't help but frowned.
But in order not to affect the exercise, Sokov did not speak, but continued to observe the advancing troops with his telescope. The soldiers started walking with long strides, but as they got closer and closer to the enemy's position, they changed from long strides to a trot. About a hundred meters away from the position, the soldiers stopped and headed towards the enemy's position. He fired a burst of guns randomly and continued to charge forward. As more and more commanders and fighters jumped into the imaginary enemy's position, a red flag soon rose, indicating that the position had been occupied by our own side.
Fomenko saw the red flag in the distance and said excitedly to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, you saw the red flag raised in the enemy's position, which means that our army has successfully occupied the enemy's position."
Sokov put down the telescope and turned to look at Fomenko, but he did not speak and could only hum softly. Zhukov also looked away from the gun scope, stood up straight and said to Sokov: "Misha, your exercise is over. Do you want to say something to these commanders?"
"Yes, Comrade Marshal." In fact, even if Zhukov didn't say this, Sokov also planned to comment on Fomenko and others. Since Zhukov wanted to hear his opinion on this exercise at this moment, he planned to tell the truth. : "I will summarize this exercise to them immediately."
When several commanders gathered around, Sokov straightened his face and said sternly: "Comrade commanders, I want to ask you, are you doing an exercise today or are you acting?"
After hearing Sokov's question, Fomenko asked in confusion: "Comrade Commander, didn't our troops successfully occupy the enemy's position?"
"Well, yes, your soldiers did occupy the enemy's position, and it was still an unmanned position." Sokov said unceremoniously: "If the commanders and fighters of the 268th Regiment behave like this on the battlefield, I will By the time the battle is over, this regiment can basically be demobilized."
When Rusov heard Sokov saying that his regiment would be deorganized after the real battle, he asked unconvincingly: "Comrade Commander, why did you say that?"
"It seems that you are still unconvinced, right?" Sokov sneered and said, "Then I will tell you about a series of problems that exist in Ziah's acting this time."
"Tell me, Misha." After Zhukov found a seat and sat down, he said calmly: "I also want to hear about the various problems that this troupe has in their acting."
"After the shelling, your troops did not immediately launch a charge, but lined up on the position. Do you feel that you are afraid that the Germans will not be able to defeat you, so you deliberately let the soldiers stand there as targets?" Sokov said angrily. He said hurriedly: "Do you know that it is precisely because you did not attack in time that you missed a good opportunity, so that the enemy who was bombarded could have enough time to repair the positions that were blown up by the artillery fire. In this way, when you approach the position At that time, we will be able to rely on complete defenses to resist your attack."
"Secondly, when your troops were still a hundred meters away from the enemy's position, I didn't see you setting up machine gun positions to suppress the firepower points on the enemy's position and cover the troops' attack. Instead, you fired off a burst of guns in a swarm. Rushed into the enemy's position. If it were really on the battlefield, the enemies hidden in the fortifications would have already treated your soldiers as targets. Tell me, according to today's fighting method, when the battle is over, you Can the regiment be abolished?"
As soon as Sokov finished speaking, Zhukov continued: "Comrade commanders, as far as I know, German soldiers do not raise their guns and shoot randomly, but they look for shooting opportunities very patiently and try to hit them accurately. The target. As for your soldiers, they are crowded together and rush forward regardless of each other. This is purely to serve as a target for the enemy."
"Comrade Marshal," Sokov added: "This is probably the difference between a veteran who has experienced hundreds of battles and an inexperienced recruit."
"That's right." Zhukov nodded, looked at Sokov and said: "Misha, I think this kind of exercise you conducted is very necessary. Only through exercises can we discover some of the problems that the troops have during normal training. Problem. Otherwise, even if such troops go to the battlefield, they will die in vain."
Rusov, the regiment leader, kept what Sokov and Zhukov said firmly in mind. After the two of them finished speaking, he quickly expressed his position and said: "Comrade Marshal, Comrade Commander, I have remembered everything you said. In the following training, I will definitely find ways to overcome the current problems in the regiment." The problem."
"Comrade Colonel, you don't have to find a way to overcome it, but you must overcome it." Sokov said with a serious expression: "During the exercise, not only any mistakes you make can be made up for. But if the same problem occurs on the battlefield, It may lead to your complete failure. Do you understand?"
"Understood, Comrade Commander." Rusuf hurriedly replied: "I will strengthen the daily training of the troops to ensure that the combat effectiveness of the troops is improved as soon as possible."
After commenting on the problems that occurred during the exercise, Sokov then asked: "How much ammunition did you consume this time?"
"Report to Comrade Commander!" After hearing Sokov's question, division commander Fomenko quickly stepped forward and replied: "We used twenty mortars, and each gun fired a base number of shells; every soldier who participated in the battle Soldiers are also equipped with a basic amount of ammunition..."
When he heard the series of data reported by Fomenko, Sokov's heart was bleeding. He was simply a prodigal, wasting so much ammunition, and the exercises he conducted were neither fish nor fowl. After finally waiting for Fomenko to finish, he said feebly: "General Fomenko, in the next two months, the main task of your division is to seize the time to conduct training, improve the technical and tactical level of the commanders and combatants, and improve The combat effectiveness of the troops. How about it? Can it be done?"
"Comrade Commander, please rest assured, we can do it!" Fomenko replied loudly.
"Very good!" After Sokov replied, he turned around and asked Zhukov: "Comrade Marshal, since we have finished watching the exercise, should we go to other units to have a look?"
"Well, it's still early today anyway." Zhukov replied cheerfully: "I just want to see the current situation of the troops belonging to your group army so that I can arrange the next step for you."
Sokov doesn't care what kind of work Zhukov will arrange for himself next. What he thought was that as long as his troops were not carrying pickaxes and shovels to repair fortifications every day, then when the Battle of Kursk broke out, his men would have an elite force that could compete with the Germans.
