In fact, Sokov did not care at all that he ordered the destruction of the Belgorod State Museum, causing damage to the cultural relics stored there. To him, no matter how precious those cultural relics are, can they be compared to the lives of the commanders and soldiers? As long as the casualties of the troops can be reduced during the battle, even if the precious cultural relics are destroyed, it is completely worth it.
What he is most concerned about now is to quickly occupy the south of the city and completely cut off the southward retreat of the German troops in the city, creating a situation of closing the door and beating the dogs. Therefore, when Luniev called Beria, he contacted the division commanders in the city via phone and radio and assigned them new combat tasks.
At dawn, almost all the streets in the south of the city were occupied by Sokov's troops.
Seeing the battle reports sent from the city, Sokov couldn't help but smile. It seemed that the division commanders and brigade commanders under him were very good at commanding operations, and they did not disappoint him.
Sokov put the battle report on the table, patted it lightly with his palm a few times, and said to Samyko with a smile: "Comrade Chief of Staff, it seems that by capturing Belgorod, our army group has taken a step forward. achievement."
"Yes, Comrade Commander." After listening to Sokov's words, Samyko replied with a blush on his face: "No, I thought it would take at least half a month to capture a city like Belgorod. Time. But I didn’t expect that the enemy would be so vulnerable. Judging from the current progress, we will be able to completely eliminate the enemies in the city by tomorrow, August 5th.”
Sokov knew very well in his heart that without his own history, the Soviet army had liberated Belgorod on August 5. Now that he was born and the troops he led achieved great results, so liberation The time in the city was bound to be advanced, so he smiled and said to Sameko: "Comrade Chief of Staff, don't you have confidence in our troops and think they can't liberate this city today?"
Hearing what Sokov said, Samyko laughed twice, and then said: "Comrade Commander, of course I hope that the entire city can be liberated today, but the city is so large. When a group of our army enters the city, the strength is very large. They will soon become dispersed. In this case, it will definitely take a lot of time to clear out the remaining enemies in the city."
"Have you forgotten the friendly forces attacking from the northwest and north?" In response to Samyko's concerns, Sokov said confidently: "As long as the day breaks and these friendly forces enter the city in large numbers, they will become the enemy. The end is coming.”
"Comrade Commander, do you really think we can liberate Belgorod today?"
"Yes, Comrade Chief of Staff, I am absolutely sure." Sokov said with a smile: "Don't forget, the future commanders and fighters of the 98th Guards Division planted their flags on the top of the municipal building yesterday to express their gratitude. We have occupied the city and are now in the stage of clearing out the remaining enemies."
"The 98th Guards Division?!" After Samyko repeated the unit number Sokov said, he suddenly remembered that the other party had heard about it yesterday, which was to merge two marine brigades and an infantry brigade to form The new 98th Guards Division. He nodded quickly and replied, "Yes, Colonel Chuvashov's troops have planted the flag on the top of the municipal building. According to the tradition in the Russian army, from the moment the red flag is raised, it means that the city has been occupied. We occupy.”
After a short pause, Sameko continued to ask: "Then what is our next move?"
"After occupying Belgorod, our army's next move is to launch a new attack on Kharkov and drive the enemy away from the city." Sokov picked up the red and blue pencils and began to paint in Kharkov. Cove drew a circle to the west and said to Samek: "I estimate that the superiors will order our army group to attack from the west of the city again."
After Samek stared at the map for a while, he nodded in agreement with Sokov's statement: "Comrade Commander, you are right. I also think our superiors will order us to attack from the west of the city."
"Why?" Lunev couldn't help but asked curiously when he heard both of them saying this. "Why are you so sure that our superiors will order us to attack the west side of the city again?"
"The reason is simple." Samyko explained to Lunev with a smile: "Because we have hovercrafts." To make Lunev understand what he meant, he pointed to the west of Kharkov and added, " To the west of the city is the Oud River, and the width of the river is much wider than the river outside Belgorod. If we want to choose to launch an attack from this direction, it must be our army."
"The chief of staff is right," Sokov nodded in agreement: "Yesterday's attack made the superiors realize that only the new river-crossing equipment we have can break through the enemy's water blockade in the shortest time to reduce the number of troops. Possible casualties during forced crossing."
"Oh, that's it." After listening to the two people's words, Lunev nodded slightly, and then asked: "Didn't Colonel Yakov say yesterday that most hovercrafts have malfunctioned to varying degrees due to overload use? , it needs to be repaired before it can be put back into use. Please tell me whether they can complete all the repair work before the offensive battle begins."
Lunev's words stopped Sokov. He had never asked Yakov whether those overloaded hovercrafts could be reused in a short time, so he could not answer Lunev's question.
However, he changed the subject in time: "Comrade Military Commissar, didn't you say you wanted to call Comrade Beria and report to him the situation here? I wonder how he responded to you?"
"Comrade Commander, I made many calls today and finally contacted Comrade Beria." Lunev replied: "After listening to my report, he told me that he would contact the relevant parties about this matter. , don’t worry.”
As soon as the three men mentioned the state museum being destroyed by artillery fire, the phone on the table rang. Sokov clearly saw the ringing phone. It was actually a high-frequency phone that could make outside calls. He guessed that it must be a call from a superior leader. He quickly grabbed the phone and put it to his ear: "Hello, I am Major General Sokov. Hello. What's the matter?"
"I'm Zhukov." Zhukov's voice came from the receiver: "Misha, did you get into trouble again?"
"Causing trouble?" Zhukov's words made Sokov stunned for a moment, but then he figured out what the other party meant: "Comrade Marshal, you are talking about the fact that I ordered the artillery to fire at the state museum and destroy it, right?"
"Is there such a thing?" After Zhukov asked this question, without waiting for Sokov's answer, he said to himself: "I just received two calls, both from the base camp. Someone said you are Unorganized and undisciplined, they used troops to attack the enemy without asking for instructions."
"Two phone calls?" Sokov was a little dumbfounded. He didn't seem to have done anything harmful recently. How could two leaders of the base camp want to make trouble in front of Zhukov at the same time? He instinctively asked: "Comrade Marshal, I wonder what those two phone calls said about me?"
"A phone call said that you took your own initiative and ordered your troops to fire at the Belgorod Museum, causing serious damage to the cultural relics about the Battle of Poltava. Such acts of destroying civil and military affairs should be severely punished." Zhukov Said: "The other phone call was to put in a good word for you, saying that although you issued the order to bombard the state museum, it was to eliminate the enemies hidden inside. This behavior is forgivable."
Although Zhukov did not tell Sokov that it was those two people who called him, Sokov still guessed that the person who spoke well for him must be Beria. After all, Lunev had just called him not long ago. After calling him, maybe he was thinking about his old relationship with Lunev and helped him out.
In fact, Sokov did not care at all that he ordered the destruction of the Belgorod State Museum, causing damage to the cultural relics stored there. To him, no matter how precious those cultural relics are, can they be compared to the lives of the commanders and soldiers? As long as the casualties of the troops can be reduced during the battle, even if the precious cultural relics are destroyed, it is completely worth it.
What he is most concerned about now is to quickly occupy the south of the city and completely cut off the southward retreat of the German troops in the city, creating a situation of closing the door and beating the dogs. Therefore, when Luniev called Beria, he contacted the division commanders in the city via phone and radio and assigned them new combat tasks.
At dawn, almost all the streets in the south of the city were occupied by Sokov's troops.
Seeing the battle reports sent from the city, Sokov couldn't help but smile. It seemed that the division commanders and brigade commanders under him were very good at commanding operations, and they did not disappoint him.
Sokov put the battle report on the table, patted it lightly with his palm a few times, and said to Samyko with a smile: "Comrade Chief of Staff, it seems that by capturing Belgorod, our army group has taken a step forward. achievement."
"Yes, Comrade Commander." After listening to Sokov's words, Samyko replied with a blush on his face: "No, I thought it would take at least half a month to capture a city like Belgorod. Time. But I didn’t expect that the enemy would be so vulnerable. Judging from the current progress, we will be able to completely eliminate the enemies in the city by tomorrow, August 5th.”
Sokov knew very well in his heart that without his own history, the Soviet army had liberated Belgorod on August 5. Now that he was born and the troops he led achieved great results, so liberation The time in the city was bound to be advanced, so he smiled and said to Sameko: "Comrade Chief of Staff, don't you have confidence in our troops and think they can't liberate this city today?"
Hearing what Sokov said, Samyko laughed twice, and then said: "Comrade Commander, of course I hope that the entire city can be liberated today, but the city is so large. When a group of our army enters the city, the strength is very large. They will soon become dispersed. In this case, it will definitely take a lot of time to clear out the remaining enemies in the city."
"Have you forgotten the friendly forces attacking from the northwest and north?" In response to Samyko's concerns, Sokov said confidently: "As long as the day breaks, these friendly forces will enter the city in large numbers, and they will become the enemy. The end is coming.”
"Comrade Commander, do you really think we can liberate Belgorod today?"
"Yes, Comrade Chief of Staff, I am absolutely sure." Sokov said with a smile: "Don't forget, the future commanders and fighters of the 98th Guards Division planted their flags on the top of the municipal building yesterday to express their gratitude. We have occupied the city and are now in the stage of clearing out the remaining enemies."
"The 98th Guards Division?!" After Samyko repeated the unit number Sokov said, he suddenly remembered that the other party had heard about it yesterday, which was to merge two marine brigades and an infantry brigade to form New 98th Guards Division. He nodded quickly and replied, "Yes, Colonel Chuvashov's troops have planted the flag on the top of the municipal building. According to the tradition in the Russian army, from the moment the red flag is raised, it means that the city has been occupied. We occupy.”
After a short pause, Sameko continued to ask: "Then what is our next move?"
"After occupying Belgorod, our army's next move is to launch a new attack on Kharkov and drive the enemy away from the city." Sokov picked up the red and blue pencils and began to paint in Kharkov. Cove drew a circle to the west and said to Samek: "I estimate that the superiors will order our army group to attack from the west of the city again."
After Samek stared at the map for a while, he nodded in agreement with Sokov's statement: "Comrade Commander, you are right. I also think the superiors will order us to attack from the west of the city."
"Why?" Lunev couldn't help but asked curiously when he heard both of them saying this. "Why are you so sure that our superiors will order us to attack the west side of the city again?"
"The reason is simple." Samyko explained to Lunev with a smile: "Because we have hovercrafts." To make Lunev understand what he meant, he pointed to the west of Kharkov and added, " To the west of the city is the Oud River, and the width of the river is much wider than the river outside Belgorod. If we want to choose to launch an attack from this direction, it must be our army."
"The chief of staff is right," Sokov nodded in agreement: "Yesterday's attack made the superiors realize that only the new river-crossing equipment we have can break through the enemy's water blockade in the shortest time to reduce the number of troops. Possible casualties during forced crossing."
"Oh, that's it." After listening to the two people's words, Lunev nodded slightly, and then asked: "Didn't Colonel Yakov say yesterday that most hovercrafts have malfunctioned to varying degrees due to overload use? , it needs to be repaired before it can be put back into use. Please tell me whether they can complete all the repair work before the offensive battle begins."
Lunev's words stopped Sokov. He had never asked Yakov whether those overloaded hovercrafts could be reused in a short time, so he could not answer Lunev's question.
However, he changed the subject in time: "Comrade Military Commissar, didn't you say you wanted to call Comrade Beria and report to him the situation here? I wonder how he responded to you?"
"Comrade Commander, I made many calls today and finally contacted Comrade Beria." Lunev replied: "After listening to my report, he told me that he would contact the relevant parties about this matter. , don’t worry.”
