"Comrade General," Chuklico said solemnly: "I have been in the 37th Tank Brigade since its formation. From the initial deputy company commander to the current brigade commander, I have already had a deep understanding of this unit. Very deep feelings. I would rather be demoted by you than stay in the army."
"Oh, you would rather be demoted than stay in the army?"
"Yes, Comrade General." Chukliko was afraid that his request would be rejected by Sokov, so he volunteered: "I am very familiar with everything about the tank brigade. If I are allowed to stay, I can assist the new brigade commander. Do a good job."
"Okay." Since Chukliko has lowered his stance so low, it would be a bit unkind for Sokov to refuse others, so he nodded and agreed to the other party's request: "Since you want to stay here so much, If you want to detach a unit, then stay and serve as deputy brigade commander."
Sokov called Major Bunch who was standing aside and introduced to Chuklik: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, let me introduce to you. This is Major Bunch. From now on, he will be the commander of the tank brigade." Acting brigade commander, and you will serve as his deputy, assuming the position of deputy brigade commander.”
Seeing that his immediate superior was actually a major with a lower rank than himself, Chuklik felt a lump in his throat, and he couldn't express what he felt in his heart. However, if you want to stay in the tank brigade and accept the command of this major, it is already a certainty. Chuklico had no choice but to raise his hand to salute Major Bunch, and said in an awkward tone: "Hello, comrade brigade commander, deputy brigade commander Lieutenant Colonel Chuklico is reporting to you. On behalf of all the brigade commanders and fighters, I welcome you. The 37th Tank Brigade works.”
"What about you, Colonel Atakuz?" After Sokov took care of the tank brigade's affairs, he looked at Colonel Atakuz who was standing not far away and asked: "Are you planning to stay and become the deputy division commander? Assist Colonel Weisbach in his work; or should I order someone to send you to the rear and go to a military court for review?"
"Comrade General," Atakuz's attitude became tough again after hearing the two choices Sokov gave him: "My unit is affiliated with the 5th Assault Army. If you want to remove me from my post, you must With the consent of General Tsvetaev, commander of the group army, and General Vatutin, commander of the front army, we cannot withdraw just by saying you want to."
"Comrade Military Commissar," Sokov waited for the other party to finish speaking, then turned to ask Lunev who was sitting next to him: "Has the telegram to Marshal Zhukov been drafted?"
"Yes, Comrade Commander, the draft has been completed." Lunev naturally understood the reason for Sokov's question and nodded: "Do I need to send it out immediately?"
"Is this easy to say? Comrade Military Commissar, of course, send it out immediately." Sokov stared at Atakuz and said viciously: "I want to show this colonel whether I have the qualifications to remove him. position."
Runev called Samoilov and handed him the drafted telegram: "Comrade Lieutenant, send this telegram to Marshal Zhukov immediately."
After Samoilov left, Sokov asked Mikhailov: "Comrade Captain, have you sent anyone to conduct reconnaissance in the vicinity?"
"Comrade Commander," Mikhailov heard Sokov's question and quickly replied: "Soon after my troops entered here, I sent a reconnaissance team in each of the four directions, southeast and northwest, to let them figure out the surrounding area. Are there any enemies?"
"Do your reconnaissance teams carry radios?" Lunev asked curiously.
"No." Mikhailev looked at Lunev and replied: "Comrade Military Commissar, the troops under my command are only a battalion-level unit. There is only one radio station to communicate with superiors. How can it be equipped for each reconnaissance team? Where’s the radio station?”
Sokov knew that what Mikhailev was talking about was true. In his own army, it was already a great thing for the radio station to be equipped with battalion-level units, but if he wanted the scouts sent by the battalion-level commander to Carrying a radio is obviously impossible. Since none of the reconnaissance teams had radios, Sokov was worried that they would not be able to feed back the intelligence in time, and he felt a little anxious.
"Comrade Captain," Sokov looked at Mikhailev and asked, "If they discovered the enemy's situation, how could they come back and report to you?"
"I have five soldiers for each reconnaissance team." Mikhailev explained to Sokov: "Once they discover something, they will send one person back to report the situation, while the others continue to stay under surveillance."
"If they discover the enemy's situation and send someone back to report it, how long will it take?"
Regarding Sokov's question, Mikhailov replied without hesitation: "Comrade Commander, I asked them to only go five or six kilometers forward. Such a short distance, even if the enemy is really discovered, the reconnaissance team will send back the people It only takes an hour at most to get back to the Fisky collective farm.”
"Have any recon teams reported back so far?"
"No, Comrade Commander." Captain Mikhailev said in a positive tone: "Not yet."
After walking around the room with his hands behind his back for a few times, Sokov felt a little tired, so he sat down next to Lunev. When he was about to chat with him, a soldier came over with two cups of coffee and put on the table in front of them, and said respectfully: "Comrade Commander, Comrade Military Commissar, please drink coffee."
Sokov picked up a cup of coffee, smelled the refreshing aroma of coffee in the cup, and asked casually: "Comrade Captain, where does this coffee come from?"
"Didn't Captain Mikheyev just report to you?" Before Mikhailev could speak, Runev rushed to say: "He said that among the materials they seized, in addition to various alcoholic drinks, there were also cigarettes. And cans, coffee must also be among the seizures. Am I right, Comrade Captain?" His last words were asked to Mikhailev.
"You are right, Comrade Military Commissar." Mikhailev replied affirmatively: "There is indeed a large amount of coffee among the supplies we captured."
Hearing Mikhailev mention the captured supplies again, Sokov couldn't help but ask: "Comrade Captain, in addition to these military supplies, are there any weapons and ammunition in the warehouse you occupied?"
Mikhailev was silent for a long time and then said: "According to the information we captured, there are a large number of German warehouses a few kilometers away, which contain weapons and equipment that can be used by the two armies for three months..."
"What, weapons and equipment that can be used by two armies for three months?" Sokov jumped up from his seat: "This is unlikely. If there really are so many supplies, the Germans will definitely send heavy troops to guard them. This area is to prevent our army from approaching this area. But in the current situation, our army easily occupied the Fisky collective farm without encountering any decent resistance from the German army. More importantly, the strength of our two troops The officers and soldiers were all drunk, but the Germans didn't send any soldiers to harass her, which means there were no enemies nearby."
"Comrade Commander, after we arrived here, we seized a diary of the quartermaster of the 3rd Armored Division." Mikhailev explained to Sokov: "After translating, we figured out that the Germans were abandoning this place. Before the establishment of a regional warehouse, each army was notified to transport what they needed.
The quartermaster's diary stated: For a long time, whenever there was a transport mission, all units would complain about the shortage of vehicles. But this time I heard that these military supplies might fall into the hands of the Russians. The unit that received the notice found a way to overcome all difficulties and organized a huge transportation team to transport the military supplies.
Since each unit was notified and asked to take as much as they could, no more supplies could be left for the Russians. Therefore, many troops mobilized all their transportation vehicles and transported supplies to their respective defense areas around the clock. Due to the influx of too many vehicles, the roads were blocked and even affected the normal mobilization of combat troops..."
Sokov waited for Mikhailev's words to come to an end, then immediately interjected and asked: "Did the diary say how much supplies the enemy transported away in the past few days?"
"There is no specific data." Mikhailov shook his head and said: "But according to the contents of the diary, more than ten division-level transport vehicles have transported supplies to the Kef Combat Group. I estimate that at least two-thirds The supplies have been delivered to the enemies facing our army."
"What about the remaining supplies?" Lunev asked nervously: "Were they destroyed by the Germans?"
"No, Comrade Military Commissar." Mikhailov looked at Lunev and replied: "At least the warehouses in Fesky Collective Farm are generally complete."
"Strange," Lunev said with some surprise after hearing Mikhailev's answer: "Why didn't the Germans blow up the warehouse and destroy the materials inside? Aren't they afraid that these materials will eventually fall into our army? In your hands?"
"Comrade Military Commissar, I think I understand why the Germans did not destroy the warehouses and supplies."
"Comrade Commander," Lunev suddenly became excited when he heard Sokov said that he might know the answer: "Please tell me what is going on."
"Comrade Military Commissar, the reason why the enemy did not blow up the warehouse and destroy the supplies is because they were too confident." Seeing Lunev's eagerness to know the answer, Sokov did not beat around the bush and said straight to the point. : "They thought that the Kharkov battle launched by our army this time would end like the previous three times with our army's defeat and their victory, so they only moved most of the supplies and did not blow up the warehouse. Lest they have to spend manpower and material resources to rebuild warehouses and hoard supplies when they come back here." Mikhailev was silent for a long time and then said: "According to the information we captured, there are a large number of German warehouses a few kilometers away. There are weapons and equipment that can be used by two armies for three months..."
"What, weapons and equipment that can be used by two armies for three months?" Sokov jumped up from his seat: "This is unlikely. If there really are so many supplies, the Germans will definitely send heavy troops to guard them. This area is to prevent our army from approaching this area. But in the current situation, our army easily occupied the Fisky collective farm without encountering any decent resistance from the German army. More importantly, the strength of our two troops The officers and soldiers were all drunk, but the Germans didn't send any soldiers to harass her, which means there were no enemies nearby."
"Comrade Commander, after we arrived here, we seized a diary of the quartermaster of the 3rd Armored Division." Mikhailev explained to Sokov: "After translating, we figured out that the Germans were abandoning this place. Before the establishment of a regional warehouse, each army was notified to transport what they needed.
The quartermaster's diary stated: For a long time, whenever there was a transport mission, all units would complain about the shortage of vehicles. But this time I heard that these military supplies might fall into the hands of the Russians. The unit that received the notice found a way to overcome all difficulties and organized a huge transportation team to transport the military supplies.
Since each unit was notified and asked to take as much as they could, no more supplies could be left for the Russians. Therefore, many troops mobilized all their transportation vehicles and transported supplies to their respective defense areas around the clock. Due to the influx of too many vehicles, the roads were blocked and even affected the normal mobilization of combat troops..."
After Sokov waited for Mikhailev to finish speaking, he immediately interjected and asked: "Did the diary say how much supplies the enemy transported away in the past few days?"
"There is no specific data." Mikhailov shook his head and said: "But according to the contents of the diary, more than ten division-level transport vehicles have transported supplies to the Kef Combat Group. I estimate that at least two-thirds The supplies have been delivered to the enemies facing our army."
"What about the remaining supplies?" Lunev asked nervously: "Were they destroyed by the Germans?"
"No, Comrade Military Commissar." Mikhailov looked at Lunev and replied: "At least the warehouses in Fesky Collective Farm are generally complete."
"Strange," Lunev said with some surprise after hearing Mikhailev's answer: "Why didn't the Germans blow up the warehouse and destroy the materials inside? Aren't they afraid that these materials will eventually fall into our army? In your hands?"
"Comrade Military Commissar, I think I understand why the Germans did not destroy the warehouses and supplies."
"Comrade Commander," Lunev suddenly became excited when he heard Sokov said that he might know the answer: "Please tell me what is going on."
"Comrade Military Commissar, the reason why the enemy did not blow up the warehouse and destroy the supplies is because they were too confident." Seeing Lunev's eagerness to know the answer, Sokov did not beat around the bush and said straight to the point. : "They thought that the Kharkov battle launched by our army this time would end like the previous three times with our army's defeat and their victory, so they only moved most of the supplies and did not blow up the warehouse. Lest they have to spend manpower and material resources to rebuild warehouses and hoard supplies when they come back here."
