Perhaps because there was no fighting in the defense zone, Sokov slept peacefully without anyone disturbing him. When he woke up from his sleep, he found through the open window that it was already dark outside.
Sokov sat up straight and shouted outside: "Come here, come here!"
Following the shouting, a staff officer came in from outside and asked Sokov respectfully: "Comrade Commander, do you have any instructions?"
"Where is Colonel Chuvashov?"
"He is supervising the relocation of the division headquarters."
"Relocation of the division headquarters?" Sokov asked in confusion, "Okay, where are you going to move to?"
"That's it, Comrade Commander." The staff officer quickly explained to Sokov: "While you were sleeping, the Chief of Staff, General Samyko, and the Army Headquarters arrived in Kremenchug. The Division Commander wanted to send the Division Headquarters The relocation is to make room for the Army Group Headquarters."
"What, Chief of Staff Samyko has arrived?" Sokov put his feet down from the bed and put on his boots while complaining: "Didn't I tell Colonel Chuvashov to wait for the headquarters to arrive in the city? , will you report it to me immediately? Why didn’t he report it? Did he not take my order seriously?”
"Comrade Commander, don't be angry." At this time, a man walked in from outside and said with a smile: "I see that you are sleeping soundly, so I asked them not to disturb you."
Sokov looked up and saw that the speaker was actually Lunev. He didn't care that he had not put on his boots yet, stood up and shook hands with the other party, "Comrade Military Commissar, I didn't expect that you guys arrived so quickly. How about it, there are still some things on the way. Did it go well?"
"Yes, it went very smoothly." Lunev first answered Sokov's question, and then said to the staff officer who was standing beside him in a daze: "Comrade Lieutenant, there is nothing for you to do here. You can continue to work."
The staff officer raised his hand in salute, turned around and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.
After Sokov asked Lunev to sit down on the chair by the window, he sat on the bed again and put on his boots, and asked: "Comrade Military Commissar, you must have seen that area when you passed by Poltava. Let’s fight. How do you think it will take the friendly forces to take over that city?”
"Comrade Commander," after hearing Sokov's question, Lunev pondered for a while and replied: "With all due respect, based on my observations and the conclusions drawn from discussions with Chief of Staff Samyko, we Our friendly forces may not be able to capture Poltava even if it takes another half month. The resistance of the defenders in the city is too tenacious."
After putting on his boots, Sokov sat up straight, looked at Lunev and said: "Comrade Military Commissar, I came to the same conclusion as you, so I sent a telegram to Commander Konev, hoping that he could Send us to take part in the attack on Poltava."
"Oh, you made a request to General Konev to join the war?" Lunev asked with interest: "Not how he responded, when can we go into battle?"
After Sokov waited for Lunev to raise the question, he slowly shook his head and said with a wry smile: "Comrade Military Commissar, I'm afraid you will be disappointed. My request was rejected by Commander Konev."
"What, your request for war was actually rejected by General Konev?" Lunev asked puzzledly: "Why on earth is this? Doesn't he know that maybe our participation in the war can greatly shorten the time for our army to capture the city?" time."
"I think Commander Konev also understands this truth. After all, our group army has been performing well since the Battle of Kursk. It can be said to be the most powerful unit in the Steppe Front."
"Since he also understands that we are the most powerful force, why did he reject your request?" Lunev said confused: "I really don't understand."
"Commander Konev's answer is simple." Sokov replied: "The Kleminchug we captured and the landing site on the right bank we established are extremely important strategic points. If we leave the defense here to Friendly forces, he turned around to attack Poltava. Once the German scouts learned this information, they would immediately launch a crazy attack on the landing site. Except for our group army, he did not think that other troops in the front army could stop it. The enemy attacked forcefully one after another.”
Although the request to participate in the attack on Poltava was rejected by Konev, it was very regrettable. But after hearing Konev's evaluation of his unit, Lunev was still happy.
Sokov stood up and said to Luniev: "Comrade Military Commissar, the outside should be almost tidied up. Let's go out and say hello to the Chief of Staff first."
The two left the room and entered the church hall, where there was a busy scene everywhere. The staff officers were nailing the map to the wall, while the signalmen were busy pulling telephone wires. Seeing Sokov and Lunev appear, everyone quickly stopped what they were doing and stood at attention to salute them. After the two of them passed by, they continued to work on their respective tasks.
"Comrade Commander," Samyko, who was standing by the long wooden table, saw Sokov appear and quickly walked around the table to greet him: "Nice to see you again!"
After Sokov shook hands with Samyko, he asked politely: "Chief of Staff, when will the communication and communication be completed?"
Samek raised his hand to look at the time and replied: "The director of the communications corps is checking the phone lines outside. I believe it won't be long before our communications will be put into use."
Although he didn't get the answer he wanted from Sameko, Sokov didn't ask any more questions. After the three of them sat down at the table, Sokov continued to ask: "Chief of Staff, is there any news about General Solomatin's 1st Mechanized Army?"
On the way here, Samyko already knew that the 1st Mechanized Army had been temporarily placed under the command of the group army. Therefore, after arriving here, he contacted Solomatin through Chuvashov's communication line. At this time, Sokov asked, and he quickly reported what he knew to Sokov.
"Comrade Commander," Sameko said with regret: "Although the 21st Mechanized Brigade fought tenaciously at the No. 1 outpost position, in the end they were unable to block the enemy's attack. Within two hours, they were forced to Abandoned the outpost position, retreated to the second line position, and reorganized new defenses."
The loss of the No. 1 outpost position had long been expected by Sokov, so after listening to Samek's report, he did not show too much surprise, but said calmly: "The outpost position Just throw it away, let them hold on to the second-line position, and never let the enemy complete another breakthrough."
"Comrade Commander," seeing that the expression on Sokov's face did not change at all after hearing this regrettable news, he couldn't help but asked in surprise: "The enemy has occupied the No. 1 outpost position, which means he has a starting point for the attack. , which is very detrimental to us. Do you think we should order General Solomatin to counterattack and take back the position from the enemy's hands?"
"No, absolutely don't." Sokov waved his hand at Sameko and explained to him: "The area of the No. 1 outpost is too small and there are no solid fortifications. It cannot stop an attack launched by the Germans. Another attack. Instead of wasting troops there, it is better to temporarily hand them over to the Germans and concentrate the troops in places that are easy to defend and give the Germans a head-on attack." It may be because there is no fighting in the defense area, Sokov fell asleep this time He was very at ease and no one bothered him. When he woke up from his sleep, he found through the open window that it was already dark outside.
Sokov sat up straight and shouted outside: "Come here, come here!"
Following the shouting, a staff officer came in from outside and asked Sokov respectfully: "Comrade Commander, do you have any instructions?"
"Where is Colonel Chuvashov?"
"He is supervising the relocation of the division headquarters."
"Relocation of the division headquarters?" Sokov asked in confusion, "Okay, where are you going to move to?"
"That's it, Comrade Commander." The staff officer quickly explained to Sokov: "While you were sleeping, the Chief of Staff, General Samyko, and the Army Headquarters arrived in Kremenchug. The Division Commander wanted to send the Division Headquarters The relocation is to make room for the Army Group Headquarters."
"What, Chief of Staff Samyko has arrived?" Sokov put his feet down from the bed and put on his boots while complaining: "Didn't I tell Colonel Chuvashov to wait for the headquarters to arrive in the city? , will you report it to me immediately? Why didn’t he report it? Did he not take my order seriously?”
"Comrade Commander, don't be angry." At this time, a man walked in from outside and said with a smile: "I see that you are sleeping soundly, so I asked them not to disturb you."
Sokov looked up and saw that the speaker was actually Lunev. He didn't care that he had not put on his boots yet, stood up and shook hands with the other party, "Comrade Military Commissar, I didn't expect that you guys arrived so quickly. How about it, there are still some things on the way. Did it go well?"
"Yes, it went very smoothly." Lunev first answered Sokov's question, and then said to the staff officer who was standing beside him in a daze: "Comrade Lieutenant, there is nothing for you to do here. You can continue to work."
The staff officer raised his hand in salute, turned around and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.
After Sokov asked Lunev to sit down on the chair by the window, he sat on the bed again and put on his boots, and asked: "Comrade Military Commissar, you must have seen that area when you passed by Poltava. Let’s fight. How do you think it will take the friendly forces to take over that city?”
"Comrade Commander," after hearing Sokov's question, Lunev pondered for a while and replied: "With all due respect, based on my observations and the conclusions drawn from discussions with Chief of Staff Samyko, we Our friendly forces may not be able to capture Poltava even if it takes another half month. The resistance of the defenders in the city is too tenacious."
After putting on his boots, Sokov sat up straight, looked at Lunev and said: "Comrade Military Commissar, I came to the same conclusion as you, so I sent a telegram to Commander Konev, hoping that he could Send us to take part in the attack on Poltava."
"Oh, you made a request to General Konev to join the war?" Lunev asked with interest: "Not how he responded, when can we go into battle?"
After Sokov waited for Lunev to raise the question, he slowly shook his head and said with a wry smile: "Comrade Military Commissar, I'm afraid you will be disappointed. My request was rejected by Commander Konev."
"What, your request for war was actually rejected by General Konev?" Lunev asked puzzledly: "Why on earth is this? Doesn't he know that maybe our participation in the war can greatly shorten the time for our army to capture the city?" time."
"I think Commander Konev also understands this truth. After all, our group army has been performing well since the Battle of Kursk. It can be said to be the most powerful unit in the Steppe Front."
"Since he also understands that we are the most powerful force, why did he reject your request?" Lunev said confused: "I really don't understand."
"Commander Konev's answer is simple." Sokov replied: "The Kleminchug we captured and the landing site on the right bank we established are extremely important strategic points. If we leave the defense here to Friendly forces, he turned around to attack Poltava. Once the German scouts learned this information, they would immediately launch a crazy attack on the landing site. Except for our group army, he did not think that other troops in the front army could stop it. The enemy attacked forcefully one after another.”
Although the request to participate in the attack on Poltava was rejected by Konev, it was very regrettable. But after hearing Konev's evaluation of his unit, Lunev was still happy.
Sokov stood up and said to Luniev: "Comrade Military Commissar, the outside should be almost tidied up. Let's go out and say hello to the Chief of Staff first."
The two left the room and entered the church hall, where there was a busy scene everywhere. The staff officers were nailing the map to the wall, while the signalmen were busy pulling telephone wires. Seeing Sokov and Lunev appear, everyone quickly stopped what they were doing and stood at attention to salute them. After the two of them passed by, they continued to work on their respective tasks.
"Comrade Commander," Samyko, who was standing by the long wooden table, saw Sokov appear and quickly walked around the table to greet him: "Nice to see you again!"
After Sokov shook hands with Samyko, he asked politely: "Chief of Staff, when will the communication be completed?"
Samek raised his hand to look at the time and replied: "The director of the communications corps is checking the phone lines outside. I believe it won't be long before our communications will be put into use."
Although he didn't get the answer he wanted from Sameko, Sokov didn't ask any more questions. After the three of them sat down at the table, Sokov continued to ask: "Chief of Staff, is there any news about General Solomatin's 1st Mechanized Army?"
On the way here, Samyko already knew that the 1st Mechanized Army had been temporarily placed under the command of the group army. Therefore, after arriving here, he contacted Solomatin through Chuvashov's communication line. At this time, Sokov asked, and he quickly reported what he knew to Sokov.
"Comrade Commander," Sameko said with a look of regret: "Although the 21st Mechanized Brigade fought tenaciously at the No. 1 outpost position, in the end they were unable to block the enemy's attack. Within two hours, they were forced to Abandoned the outpost position, retreated to the second line position, and reorganized new defenses."
