Konev learned that the attack of the 7th Guards Army actually achieved results under Sokov's guidance, and he couldn't help but secretly lament that the tactics provided by Sokov were suitable. He held the microphone and thought for a moment, then ordered the communications soldier to connect to Sokov's command post.
When a voice came from the receiver, Konev was afraid that the other party would waste his precious time, so he said bluntly: "I am the commander of the front army, General Konev. Let your commander Sokov answer the phone."
When the staff officer who answered the phone heard that the call was from Konev, he did not dare to neglect at all and immediately reported to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, the Commander of the Front Army wants to speak to you."
Hearing that Konev called him, Sokov had a look of astonishment on his face, but he still stood up and walked over to take the microphone from the staff officer's hand: "Hello, Comrade Commander of the Front Army! I am Sokov Husband, what instructions do you have?"
"I heard that General Shumilov once called you?"
Sokov trembled all over, wondering whether the tactics he taught Shumilov were not used or something went wrong. Cold sweat suddenly broke out on his head, and he replied tremblingly: "Yes, Commander of the Front Army Comrade Comrade Shumilov, General Shumilov did call me not long ago to discuss how to attack the breakthrough position. I just expressed some personal opinions. Is there something wrong? "
Konev could hear the uneasiness and panic in Sokov's tone, and couldn't help laughing. Then he said: "Comrade Sokov, don't worry, I'm not calling you to call you to accuse me, but to accuse you." Let me tell you, your tactics are very effective. The 36th Guards Division under the 7th Guards Army has successfully rushed into the city and is developing deeper into the city to eliminate the stubborn enemies."
Knowing that Shumilov's troops had broken through the city, Sokov felt relieved. He said with a smile: "Comrade Commander of the Front Army, it won't be long before our army can completely capture Poltava." .”
"Although the 36th Guards Division rushed into the city, the enemy's resistance continues." Konev was still very cautious about capturing Poltava. "If we want to completely capture this city, we still need to go through Brutal fighting."
"As long as Poltava is captured, our army's path to the Dnieper River will be completely opened." It is crucial for Sokov that friendly forces can capture Poltava as soon as possible. This means that As the supplies from the rear can be doubled, more friendly troops can move to the Dnieper River, thereby changing the passive situation in which we can only defend but not attack: "Maybe we can launch an offensive on the right bank of the Dnieper River. "
"You are right." Konev agreed very much with Sokov's statement: "Poltava blocks our army's road to the Dnieper River. As long as this nail is pulled out, the war situation will quickly change." It is in a direction that is conducive to the development of our military."
Although the situation of Sokov's troops must be reported to the front army headquarters every three to five, Konev still asked about Sokov's current situation: "How is the situation there recently? If the main force reaches the Dnieper River, can you take the lead in launching an attack?" Attack?"
"We still have enough reserves on the left bank," Sokov replied: "If the superiors need to launch an attack on the enemy, these reserves can be put into battle first."
After hearing Sokov's statement, Konev did not immediately express his position. He knew very well that although there were two armies deployed on both sides of the Dnieper River, it would probably be difficult to use them to seize more areas on the right bank. Easy thing, since they lacked a sufficient number of tanks and artillery.
Considering these problems, Konev solemnly said: "Comrade Sokov, if you need my help, just ask, and I will do my best to help you."
Hearing what Konev said, Sokov's heart moved, thinking that he planned to let the troops use a large number of bicycles in the next attack. However, even if the bicycle factory in Kremenchug was operating at full capacity, it could not satisfy the troops. If you ask Konev for help, you might be able to get twice the result with half the effort.
Thinking of this, Sokov immediately said: "Comrade Commander of the Front Army, we need bicycles, a lot of bicycles."
"Bicycle?!" This time it was Konev's turn to be confused. He asked curiously: "What do you want a bicycle for?"
"Comrade Commander of the Front Army, I believe you can see from the map that many areas on the right bank of the Dnieper River are covered with forests, lakes and swamps, and our tanks and various combat vehicles cannot deploy." Sokov explained to Konev "I plan to provide the soldiers with bicycles to use while marching or chasing the enemy, thus improving the mobility of the troops," said the soldier.
Konev was stunned for a moment, and then his eyes lit up. He did not expect that Sokov could come up with such a good idea. He quickly said: "Comrade Sokov, your idea is good. If it can really make the soldiers Equipping a large number of bicycles can indeed provide the troops with mobility."
But as soon as the words came out, Konev realized something was wrong. If it were in peacetime, there would probably be no difficulty in producing thousands or even tens of thousands of bicycles. But now during the war, all kinds of materials are scarce, and a large number of skilled workers are either on the battlefield or moved to the rear. It is not easy to maintain normal production.
When Sokov heard that Konev agreed with his opinion, he couldn't help feeling ecstatic, but when he found that the other party was suddenly silent, he immediately realized that something was wrong, and asked tentatively: "Comrade Commander of the Front Army, are there any difficulties in this matter? "
"You are right, Comrade Sokov." Konev did not hide the true situation from Sokov, but said truthfully: "Since the war measures, many factories and enterprises have switched to the production of war materials. Bicycle factories are no exception. Even if there are still bicycle factories that have not converted to production, they may not be able to start operations due to a lack of raw materials and a lack of skilled workers. It may not be easy to equip the troops with a large number of bicycles."
Although Konev said that equipping the troops with bicycles was not an easy task, he did not say that it was impossible, which gave Sokov a glimmer of hope. He asked cautiously: "Comrade Commander of the Front Army, could you please contact your superiors and ask if you can allocate a batch of bicycles to us from somewhere to equip the troops?"
Regarding Sokov's request, Konev did not simply reject it. Instead, after careful consideration, he said to him: "Comrade Sokov, I cannot give you an accurate answer immediately. I need to contact you." Call the relevant departments and we will notify you immediately if there is any news."
After Konev put down the phone, he said to Chief of Staff Zakharov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, please call our logistics director over. I have something to ask."
Zakharov waited for Konev to finish, and immediately made a call to the logistics department of the front army, informing the logistics director and a group of his subordinates to come to the headquarters, saying that the commander had important matters to see them.
After receiving the notice, the logistics minister immediately rushed to Konev's headquarters with his munitions director, supply director and others, preparing to receive new orders.
When Konev saw that the logistics minister and a group of his men had arrived, he asked the logistics minister: "Comrade minister, can you get a bicycle?"
"Bicycle?" the logistics director asked without hesitation: "What bicycle?"
"Of course it's the kind of bicycle you ride." Konev told him: "I need a lot of bicycles now to equip frontline combat troops."
When the logistics minister received the notice from Zakharov, he thought that Konev was dissatisfied with the work of his logistics department and was going to criticize him severely. Unexpectedly, he actually asked about bicycles and planned to equip the troops with a large number of bicycles. .
This is obviously not professional.
For a moment, everyone in the logistics department looked at me and I looked at you, wondering how to answer Konev's question.
After a long time, the logistics director mustered up the courage and asked with difficulty: "Comrade Commander, may I ask what you plan to do by equipping the troops with bicycles?"
"Everyone must know what the road conditions are like in our country, right?" After Konev asked this question, he paused intentionally for a moment. Seeing everyone nodding in affirmation, he continued: "Judging from the current situation, , Whether it is railways or highways, our transportation capacity has basically reached its limit, and it is basically impossible to improve it further."
Regarding Konev's statement, the Minister of Logistics expressed his affirmation: "Yes, Comrade Commander. Our roads are originally dirt roads. They are muddy on sunny days and muddy on rainy days. Coupled with the bombing and destruction of the German army, the road conditions have deteriorated." It gets worse."
After Konev waited for the logistics minister to finish speaking, he continued: "Comrade Sokov, the commander of the 27th Army, told me that he planned to organize a unit equipped with bicycles to march or pursue the enemy on such bad roads. Thereby improving the mobility of the troops. How about, Comrade Minister, can you find a way to get enough bicycles?"
"Comrade Commander," the Minister of Logistics complained immediately after listening to Konev's words: "Before the war, we did have many domestic bicycle manufacturers, but with the outbreak of the war, these civilian factories were converted to production All kinds of military supplies, and I think the bicycle factory is no exception.”
"Yes, Comrade Commander." As soon as the Minister of Logistics finished speaking, the Director of the Munitions Department added: "As far as I know, several bicycle factories in Moscow have now switched to producing motorcycle tires, and they are simply unable to provide us with Bicycles provided.”
The director of the supply department also echoed: "That's right, the bicycle factories have basically switched production. Even if there are one or two that have not switched production, I'm afraid they will still face a shortage of raw materials and a shortage of workers. Even if we let them resume work, the output they can provide will be limited. It’s going to be ridiculously low.”
Zakharov, standing behind Konev, after listening to the speeches of everyone in the logistics department, realized that the problem was more serious than he thought. So he approached Konev and whispered: "Comrade Commander, it seems It is really not easy to get a bicycle nowadays. Otherwise, we call Sokov and tell him about this and let him find a way to solve the problem of the bicycle."
Unexpectedly, after hearing this, Konev shook his head and said: "Comrade Chief of Staff, if we can't solve the bicycle problem for Sokov's troops, then how can he get the bicycle he wants? "
"Then what should we do?"
Konev thought for a while and then said to the Minister of Logistics: "Comrade Minister, how about you contact General Khrulev, the Minister of Logistics in Moscow, to see if he has a way to solve this problem."
"Okay, Comrade Commander." After hearing the task assigned to him by Konev, the logistics minister said helplessly: "I will contact Minister Hrulev later to see if I can get help from him."
While Konev was busy getting the bicycle Sokov needed, Sokov and Lunev were walking on the streets of Kremenchug under the protection of more than a dozen soldiers.
Sokov has been in the city for a long time, but he spends most of his time in the headquarters and rarely goes outside. Walking on the street at this moment, in addition to seeing one patrol after another and citizens in a hurry, I also unexpectedly discovered that large speakers were installed in many places on the street, playing exciting music non-stop. Military songs.
When the song "Holy War" played, Sokov couldn't help but stop and looked up at the big speaker hanging on the telephone pole. His blood boiled all over, and he wanted to lead the soldiers to charge into the battle immediately.
Lunev, who was standing next to him, saw that Sokov attached so much importance to these newly installed loudspeakers, a smile appeared on his face: "Comrade Commander, what do you think of these loudspeakers?"
"Yes, quite good." Sokov nodded and said, "Listening to these exciting military songs every day will help improve our morale and make the soldiers more heroic on the battlefield."
"I think so too." Lunev said with a smile: "When I was preparing to install these speakers, some people raised objections and felt that there was no need for us to waste energy on these things."
"But the facts prove that you are right, Comrade Military Commissar. I don't know about others, but when I heard these songs, my blood boiled all over my body, and I wanted to immediately pick up weapons and go to the battlefield to fight the enemy." Sokov smiled. Said: "It seems that every time we liberate a city in the future, we can install loudspeakers in the city. In addition to letting the residents in the city listen to these military songs more, it can also play an inspiring role."
At this time, "Holy War" on the loudspeaker had ended, and "Katyusha" that Sokov was familiar with sounded. Listening to this familiar song, Sokov thought to himself: This song full of patriotic sentiments became famous because of the Great Patriotic War, causing many people to mistakenly believe that this song was composed during the Great Patriotic War. In fact, this song was born after the Zhang Gufeng incident in 1938. It seems more appropriate to say that it is an anti-Japanese song.
