Sokov told his men at the military meeting that there would be no artillery preparations before the attack. But the plan could not keep up with the change. Just after dawn, he received a call from Zakharov: "Comrade Sokov, the artillery units assigned to you by the 7th Guards Army have all arrived at the Muza River. You Send someone to collect it, it will come in handy when we attack the fortress later."
"The friendly artillery unit has arrived?" Sokov was surprised and asked quickly: "Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, I would like to ask, how many artillery divisions are provided to us by the friendly forces?"
"There are four artillery divisions, two self-propelled artillery regiments, and six Guards rocket launcher battalions." After Zakharov reported the specific parameters, he smiled and said to Sokov: "Well, so many artillery units are enough. Bar?"
"There are a lot of artillery," Sokov continued, "Is there enough ammunition?"
Zakharov was delighted: "Comrade Sokov, do you know what you are talking about? You know, the artillery of the 7th Guards Army is tasked with cooperating with the infantry to capture Poltava, so their superiors equipped them with We have eight bases of artillery shells. Although I am only equipped with three bases of ammunition this time when I am transferred to cooperate with you in the battle, it should still be possible to destroy the defense of Merefa Fortress."
"Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, thank you so much." Sokov couldn't help but be overjoyed to learn that the 7th Guards Army provided him with so many artillery. He kept saying: "With so much artillery, we will win." The certainty is greater.”
After ending the call, Sokov put down the phone and asked Sameko: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the artillery unit of the 7th Guards Army has arrived at the Muzha River. Who do you think should receive the troops?"
When Sokov said this, he was secretly thinking that if Samyko was not willing to make a trip, he would have to do it himself. But Unexpectedly, Sameko said unexpectedly: "Comrade Commander, since it is an artillery matter, let it be left to the artillery commander."
Hearing Samyko mention the artillery commander, Sokov then remembered that an artillery commander did come last night, but he was busy preparing to attack the fortress, so he asked Samoilov to take him to rest. . If Sameko hadn't mentioned it, he would have forgotten that there was such an artillery commander.
Sokov walked to the door and shouted outside: "Lieutenant Samoilov, come to me!"
Following Sokov's shout, Samoylov appeared in front of him, straightened his back and asked: "Comrade Commander, what are your instructions?"
"Didn't the superiors send us an artillery commander last night?" Sokov said to him: "I asked you to arrange for him to rest."
"Yes, Comrade Commander, this is indeed the case."
"Please invite him here, just say that we have something to discuss with him."
When Samoilov went to find the new artillery commander, Sokov curiously asked Samyko: "Comrade Chief of Staff, do you know the situation of this artillery commander?"
"I know a little bit." Sameko nodded and said: "This artillery commander participated in the Spanish Civil War as a volunteer before the war. After returning to China in 1939, he served as the commander of the artillery regiment and the artillery director of the infantry division. 1941 In April of that year, he served as the commander of the anti-tank artillery brigade of the Kiev Special Military District.
After the war broke out, he led the brigade to fight tenaciously against the Germans within the formation of the Southern Front. Soon, he was promoted to commander of the 5th Artillery Corps. Later, he served as deputy director of the artillery of the 18th Army, commander of the artillery of the 37th Army and the 56th Army of the Southern Front and the North Caucasus Front, and deputy commander of the North Caucasus Front..."
After listening to Samyko introducing the other party's resume, Sokov couldn't help but gasped, and then asked: "Comrade Chief of Staff, what is his name?"
"Mitrofan Ivanovich Nedelin."
After Sokov repeated the name, he felt it felt very familiar, but for a while he couldn't remember where he had heard the name.
Before Sokov could figure out where he had heard this name, Samoilov walked in with a tall commander with a square face: "Comrade Commander, I have invited General Nedelin here. Got it!"
Sokov looked at the lieutenant general title on the opponent's shoulder straps and couldn't help but twitch the corners of his mouth. He was only a major general, but the military commissioner was a lieutenant general, and now there was another lieutenant general. He extended his hand to the general and said warmly: "Hello, General Nedelin, nice to meet you."
"Hello, Commander Sokov." General Nedelin said equally politely: "When I heard that I could join your army, I was very excited, because I could communicate with a general who made the Germans fearful. Fight alongside."
After Sokov introduced Samyko to the other party, he returned to the subject: "General Nedelin, the situation is like this. In order to allow us to conquer the Merefa Fortress more smoothly, the superiors specially deployed the artillery of the 7th Guards Army. Came to support, and now these troops are on the banks of the Muza River.”
Nedelin is also a smart man. After hearing what Sokov said, he immediately understood what the other party meant: "Comrade Commander, do you plan to let me receive this batch of artillery and direct them to bombard the German fortress?"
"Yes, that's what it means." After Sokov gave the other party a positive answer, he asked: "Is there any problem?"
"Yes, Comrade Commander." Now that Sokov has spoken, Nedelin naturally wants to tell the problems he is facing: "First, you have to send a reliable person to assist me in receiving the troops. After all, I am new here. , not to mention that the artillery comrades don’t know him, even the commanders and soldiers of the 27th Group Army don’t know him.”
"No problem, I will send Lieutenant Samoilov to accompany you later." Sokov replied very readily: "He is the person I trust most. Even if people in the entire army do not know him, they will listen to him." I mentioned his name and with him accompanying you, you will definitely be able to receive the troops smoothly."
After finishing his first request, Negerin continued: "Second, if the artillery is to assist the infantry in attacking, it must have a prepared bombardment direction. You can't order the artillery to fire towards the place where the sun rises, right?"
Nedelin's words caused Sokov and others to burst into laughter. After laughing, Sokov said to him: "Comrade General, originally according to our plan, only the 1st Artillery Division provided artillery support to the attacking infantry, and adopted close-range artillery fire tactics, so no artillery observers were sent. To survey for accurate data.”
After hearing Sokov's words, Nedelin couldn't help but frowned: "Comrade Commander, I don't understand why there is no artillery preparation before attacking such a fortress?"
"Is artillery preparation useful?" Sokov asked rhetorically: "You know, we are facing a solid fortress. Without heavy artillery over 152 mm and using condensate-breaking bombs, it is impossible to destroy those solid fortifications. Since So, why should we waste precious artillery shells? It is better to let the artillery push the artillery closer to the fortress, which can directly destroy the enemy's firepower points and open up a path for our infantry. "
"Comrade Commander, your words have successfully aroused my curiosity." Nedelin waited for Sokov to finish and then asked curiously: "As far as I know, your troops never conduct any offensive operations before the attack begins. Prepare for artillery fire, but use the new rockets and rocket launchers provided by the Weapons and Equipment Department to deal with the German fortifications. Am I right?"
"Exactly, Comrade General." Sokov said to Nedelin: "I feel that the effect of artillery preparations before the attack is very limited."
"Tell me, why is the effect limited?"
"The Germans are very cunning," Sokov explained to him: "As soon as our army started shelling, except for a few people who stayed as observation posts, the rest of them withdrew along the communication trenches to the second line of defense, and our artillery shells It was like landing in an uninhabited open space. As soon as our bombardment ended, the Germans returned along the communication trenches and re-entered defensive positions to resist the attack launched by our troops."
After patiently listening to Sokov's words, Nedelin shook his head and said: "Comrade Commander, I don't deny that what you said is true. But I think that artillery preparations before the attack are still completely necessary. After all, we Violent shelling can destroy the German fortifications. Even if only a part of the fortifications are destroyed, when our offensive begins, a considerable number of enemies will be unable to rely on the fortifications to resist..."
Sokov disagreed with Nedelin's statement. He immediately retorted: "Comrade General, I don't agree with your statement. You know, even if our artillery fire destroyed part of the German fortifications, they would return As the first line of defense, we can also find new fortifications to resist our army’s attack.”
The two men then argued over whether artillery preparation should be used before the bombardment. Sokov came from a later generation, so he naturally knew that the Soviet army's constant shelling of two to three hours was a waste of little meaning. Rather than wasting precious artillery shells in these places, it is better to directly use rockets or use the bayonet tactic on the cannon to shoot at close range, which will achieve greater results.
But as an artillery commander, Nedelin naturally disagreed with Sokov's view. On the contrary, he felt that his statement was too ridiculous, so he refused to give in.
The dispute between the two was based on the public's reasoning and the mother-in-law's reasoning. No one could convince the other.
Samyko was caught in the middle and was in a dilemma. Fortunately, Samoilov reminded him: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I think the debate between the commander and the artillery commander will not stop for a while. Why don't you give the artillery a try?" The commander of the First Division made a phone call and asked him to send a few artillery observers to the front to indicate the direction of the artillery attack to the incoming artillery."
"Comrade Lieutenant, what you said makes perfect sense." Samyko accepted Samoilov's suggestion very well. He immediately picked up the phone, blocked one of his ears with one finger, and gave the command to the 1st Artillery Division. Department calls.
After Samek finished explaining the arrangement of artillery observers to Colonel Terenga, he saw that the two were still arguing, so he came out to smooth things over: "Comrade commanders, please stop arguing."
The two people who had been arguing for a long time finally stopped when they heard what Sameko said.
Seeing that the two men were no longer arguing, Samyko reported to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, I just called Colonel Terenga, commander of the 1st Artillery Division, and asked him to send artillery observers to conduct close reconnaissance and prepare for the new arrivals. The artillery provides accurate firing parameters."
After hearing what Samyko said, Nedelin felt much more at ease. No matter what Sokov thought, at least his chief of staff was on his side, and he also helped him contact the artillery observer. In this way, when you command the artillery to fire, you will have an accurate shooting target.
After Samek finished his report, he cautiously asked Sokov: "Comrade Commander, are we preparing artillery fire before attacking?"
Sokov and Nedelin argued for a long time, but they couldn't come up with a solution. Hearing Samek's question at this moment, he said angrily: "Since General Nedelin likes to prepare artillery fire, let him arrange this later."
During the meeting last night, all commanders attending the meeting were told that there would be no artillery preparations before the attack. But now that artillery preparations have been temporarily added, Sokov felt that he should give everyone a break in advance to avoid calling them later to ask what was going on. Sokov told Samyko: "Comrade Chief of Staff, you immediately contact all the troops participating in the war and tell them that there will be a period of artillery preparation before the start of today's attack, so that they can postpone the original attack time." Sokov At the military meeting, he told his subordinates that there would be no artillery preparations before the attack. But the plan could not keep up with the change. Just after dawn, he received a call from Zakharov: "Comrade Sokov, the artillery units assigned to you by the 7th Guards Army have all arrived at the Muza River. You Send someone to collect it, it will come in handy when we attack the fortress later."
"The friendly artillery unit has arrived?" Sokov was surprised and asked quickly: "Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, I would like to ask, how many artillery divisions are provided to us by the friendly forces?"
"There are four artillery divisions, two self-propelled artillery regiments, and six Guards rocket launcher battalions." After Zakharov reported the specific parameters, he smiled and said to Sokov: "How about, so many artillery units are enough. Bar?"
"There are a lot of artillery," Sokov continued, "Is there enough ammunition?"
Zakharov was delighted: "Comrade Sokov, do you know what you are talking about? You know, the artillery of the 7th Guards Army is tasked with cooperating with the infantry to capture Poltava, so their superiors equipped them with We have eight bases of artillery shells. Although I am only equipped with three bases of ammunition when I am transferred to cooperate with you this time, it should still be possible to destroy the defenses of Merefa Fortress."
