Half an hour later, the division commanders and brigade commanders who received the notice came to Sokov's headquarters one after another.
Every time he saw a commander coming in, before they could ask, Sameko pointed to the bench by the wall: "Please sit down. We will answer your questions when the meeting starts."
When General Polubyarov, commander of the 4th Guards Tank Corps, appeared, the commanders sitting on the benches stood up and raised their hands to salute him. After Polubyarov returned the salute, he walked directly in front of Sokov and asked in a low voice: "Comrade Commander, you are so eager to invite us over for a meeting. Do you have any new combat tasks?"
Shortly after the Battle of Kharkov began, Polubyarov was injured when the tank he was riding struck a mine, so that his chief of staff commanded the troops throughout the battle. I just returned to the army today and heard that Sokov held an emergency military meeting, so I hurried over.
Upon hearing Polubyarov's question, Sokov did not answer immediately, but asked with concern: "Comrade General, have your injuries been healed?"
"Okay, everything is okay." Polubyarov waved his right arm and said to Sokov, Lunev, Samyko and others: "It was this arm that was injured at that time. Look, now I can move freely now.”
"Comrade General," Lunev said to Polubyarov with a smile: "Your injury is just right and you should rest more. I think your chief of staff should be in charge of this battle."
"How can this be done?" Polubyarov shouted: "During the Battle of Kharkov, I was injured and unable to command the battle. Now that I have finally been discharged from the hospital, how can I miss this opportunity to make contributions?"
"Comrade General, I think the Military Commissioner is right, you should rest for some time." Sameko interrupted: "You know, the tank you were riding in hit a mine, and it was not just the arms that were injured, but also the abdomen. shrapnel."
"General Polubyarov," Samyko's words reminded Sokov of the fact that Polubyarov's injury seemed to be serious at that time, and the field hospital had concentrated elite troops to rescue him, so he added: "Can you show me your discharge certificate?"
Hearing Sokov's question, Polubyarov's old face turned red. He murmured: "Comrade Commander, since my injuries have healed, it is natural that I should be discharged from the hospital. As for being discharged from the hospital, There’s no need to read it to prove something.”
Sokov heard the implication from Polubyarov's words. The general ran out of the hospital without permission before his injuries recovered enough to be discharged. If you are an ordinary commander and fighter, it is not easy to leave the hospital before your injuries recover. But as a general, it was not difficult for Polubyarov to leave the hospital. He mainly said that there was work to be done in the army, and who in the hospital would dare to stop him? Not even the director or the political commissar of the hospital.
Polubyarov's twisted expression made Lunev and Samyko understand what was going on. Lunev suppressed the smile on his face and said seriously: "General Polubyarov, since your injury has not healed yet, you should continue to recuperate in the hospital instead of violating the hospital's regulations and leaving the hospital without authorization to return to the army. "
In the army group, the person Polubyarov was most afraid of was Lunev. In any case, this military commissar from the Ministry of Internal Affairs could put pressure on people even if he sat there and said nothing. He replied sheepishly: "Comrade Military Commissar, my men are fighting to the death with the Germans on the battlefield, but I, the military commander, am lying in the hospital recovering from my injuries. I am worried. I have already missed the liberation." I don’t want to miss any more battles in Erkov. Please let me come back and command the troops as soon as possible.”
Seeing Polubyarov's sincere attitude, Lunev turned to look at Sokov and asked with a wry smile: "Comrade Commander, what do you think? Let General Polubyarov go back to command the troops?" ?”
In the battle to liberate Kharkov, although Sokov did not have much time to use tank troops. But he also deeply realized that the command ability of the military chief of staff was simply not comparable to Polubyarov. It was difficult for him to execute the orders given to him vigorously and resolutely. Every time he ordered the tank brigade to attack in a certain direction, the tank troops arrived belatedly on the battlefield only after the infantry had completed their breakthrough.
It was based on this consideration that after thinking for a while, Sokov nodded and said: "Okay, General Polubyarov, I agree that you can come back and continue to command the troops. But I have a condition!"
Polubyarov couldn't help but smile when he heard that Sokov agreed to come back and command the troops. When Sokov said there was a condition, he immediately patted his chest and said: "Comrade Commander, as long as you agree to my return to the army, let alone one condition, even if it is ten conditions, I will agree to it."
"We will launch an attack on the enemy tomorrow." Sokov felt that it was necessary to inoculate Polubyarov to prevent him from always sitting on the tank and running to the front line: "I ask you, in this battle You must stay in your command post until the end of the mission, and you are absolutely not allowed to go to the front in a tank again."
"Comrade Commander, you can rest assured about this." Polubyarov covered his abdomen with both hands and sat opposite Sokov. He replied: "My abdominal injury has not healed yet. If I want to get into the tank, That small space will definitely cause the wound to burst, and I will not do such a stupid thing."
While several people were chatting, a staff officer came over and reported to Sameko: "Comrade Chief of Staff, all the commanders coming to the meeting have arrived. Can the meeting begin?"
"Comrade Commander," Samyko asked Sokov, who was sitting aside, after waiting for the staff to finish speaking, "Can the meeting begin?"
"Okay." Sokov nodded and said, "Let's get started."
Samek agreed, then stood up and said loudly to the commanders sitting on the benches by the wall: "Comrade commanders, move the benches to the middle of the room, we are going to have a meeting soon. "
Upon hearing Sameko's greeting, the commanders stood up, moved hurriedly to the middle of the room, and sat down again.
"Comrade commanders," Samyko said after everyone sat down again: "A few days ago, with the liberation of Kharkov, we launched the Kharkov-Belgorod The battle ended victoriously.
Just after the battle, the base camp issued new instructions to the Steppe Front, Voronezh Front and South-Western Front troops, and assigned new offensive tasks to the three fronts: the planned direction of the Steppe Front was to Krasnograd and Upper Dnipro. In order to attack Fusk, the rapid troops should move forward to the Dnieper River and occupy the crossings. The task of the Voronezh Front Army is to attack Kremenchug. The Southwest Front Army troops should move in the general direction of Barvinkovo and Pavlograd, go forward to the Zaporozhye and Pologhi lines, and intercept the enemy Donbas Group's direction. West's retreat.
The task accepted by our group army now is to seize the Merefa Fortress south of Kharkov and across the Muzha River, as well as the railway terminal next to it, destroy the German railway transportation system on the left bank of the Dnieper River, and open the way for friendly forces to The road to Poltava allowed them to smoothly advance to the Dnieper River for the campaign to liberate Left Bank Ukraine from the German invaders. "
Among the commanders present, except for Polubyarov, they all know that the army's two infantry divisions and one infantry brigade, as well as the artillery division and tank brigade, have reached the outskirts of the Merefa Fortress. Therefore, they all acted calmly when they listened to Sameko's introduction.
Polubyarov did not know what everyone else knew. He saw that everyone was calm and was full of curiosity. He couldn't help but interjected and asked: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I would like to ask when can we ask Merefa Fortress advances?"
When Samyko suddenly heard this question, he couldn't help but frowned. When he saw clearly that the person asking the question was Polubyarov, his brows suddenly relaxed. He knew that the other party was hospitalized and did not know about the military actions taken today, so he explained to him: "General Polubyarov, you just came out of the hospital, and you may not know the current situation. The infantry of our group army The 84th and 182nd Divisions, the 73rd Infantry Brigade, the 37th Tank Brigade and the 1st Artillery Division have broken through the German defenses on the Muza River during the day and are now stationed outside Merefa Fortress."
"What, our army has broken through the Muza River?" Polubyarov asked in surprise: "The river embankment on the other side is steep. I wonder if our army made huge sacrifices when carrying out the forced crossing?"
"That's not true." Samyko turned to look at Sokov, shook his head and replied: "Due to the river-crossing tactics formulated by Comrade Commander, our army successfully crossed the Mujiang River without paying much cost. Stretch the river and set up a pontoon bridge on the river for tanks or artillery to pass."
After introducing the situation to Polubyarov, Samyko said to the commanders present: "Everyone understands the situation. Next, we will assign new combat tasks to the troops that have not yet entered the battle."
"Colonel Chuvashov!"
"Here!" Colonel Chuvashov, commander of the 98th Guards Division, stood up when his name was called. Among a group of seated commanders, he stood out.
"The mission of your division is to accompany the 37th Tank Brigade and the two tank battalions directly under the group army to detour to the south of Merefa Fortress and cut off the southward escape route of the fortress defenders."
"Yes!" Chuvasov agreed loudly and sat down again. Half an hour later, the division commanders and brigade commanders who received the notice came to Sokov's headquarters one after another.
Every time he saw a commander coming in, before they could ask, Sameko pointed to the bench by the wall: "Please sit down. We will answer your questions when the meeting starts."
When General Polubyarov, commander of the 4th Guards Tank Corps, appeared, the commanders sitting on the benches stood up and raised their hands to salute him. After Polubyarov returned the salute, he walked directly in front of Sokov and asked in a low voice: "Comrade Commander, you are so eager to invite us over for a meeting. Do you have any new combat tasks?"
Shortly after the Battle of Kharkov began, Polubyarov was injured when the tank he was riding struck a mine, so that his chief of staff commanded the troops throughout the battle. I just returned to the army today and heard that Sokov held an emergency military meeting, so I hurried over.
Upon hearing Polubyarov's question, Sokov did not answer immediately, but asked with concern: "Comrade General, have your injuries been healed?"
"Okay, everything is okay." Polubyarov waved his right arm and said to Sokov, Lunev, Samyko and others: "It was this arm that was injured at that time. Look, now I can move freely now.”
"Comrade General," Lunev said to Polubyarov with a smile: "Your injury is just right and you should rest more. I think your chief of staff should be in charge of this battle."
"How can this be done?" Polubyarov shouted: "During the Battle of Kharkov, I was injured and unable to command the battle. Now that I have finally been discharged from the hospital, how can I miss this opportunity to make contributions?"
"Comrade General, I think the Military Commissioner is right, you should rest for some time." Sameko interrupted: "You know, the tank you were riding in hit a mine, and it was not just the arms that were injured, but also the abdomen. shrapnel."
"General Polubyarov," Samyko's words reminded Sokov of the fact that Polubyarov's injury seemed to be serious at that time, and the field hospital had concentrated elite troops to rescue him, so he added: "Can you show me your discharge certificate?"
Hearing Sokov's question, Polubyarov's old face turned red. He murmured: "Comrade Commander, since my injuries have healed, it is natural that I should be discharged from the hospital. As for being discharged from the hospital, There’s no need to read it to prove something.”
Sokov heard the implication from Polubyarov's words. The general ran out of the hospital without permission before his injuries recovered enough to be discharged. If you are an ordinary commander and fighter, it is not easy to leave the hospital before your injuries recover. But as a general, it was not difficult for Polubyarov to leave the hospital. He mainly said that there was work to be done in the army, and who in the hospital would dare to stop him? Not even the director or the political commissar of the hospital.
Polubyarov's twisted expression made Lunev and Samyko understand what was going on. Lunev suppressed the smile on his face and said seriously: "General Polubyarov, since your injury has not healed yet, you should continue to recuperate in the hospital instead of violating the hospital's regulations and leaving the hospital without authorization to return to the army. "
In the army group, the person Polubyarov was most afraid of was Lunev. In any case, this military commissar from the Ministry of Internal Affairs could put pressure on people even if he sat there and said nothing. He replied sheepishly: "Comrade Military Commissar, my men are fighting to the death with the Germans on the battlefield, but I, the military commander, am lying in the hospital recovering from my injuries. I am worried. I have already missed the liberation." I don’t want to miss any more battles in Erkov. Please let me come back and command the troops as soon as possible.”
Seeing Polubyarov's sincere attitude, Lunev turned to look at Sokov and asked with a wry smile: "Comrade Commander, what do you think? Let General Polubyarov go back to command the troops?" ?”
