Sokov returned to the headquarters in Kremenchug by car, preparing to call the weapons and equipment department in Moscow to find out from Yakov what happened. He called the director of the communications corps in front of him. Before he could finish explaining the task, a staff officer came in and reported to Sokov: "Comrade commander, the front commander's car has arrived outside the door."
"What, the commander of the front army is here?" Although Sokov didn't know why Konev suddenly came to the city, he immediately called Lunev and Samyko and went out to meet Konev.
When the three of them walked out of the church door, they happened to see Konev leading two officers up the stairs. Sokov quickly stopped, stood at attention, and raised his hand to his forehead: "Hello, Comrade Commander of the Front Army, Commander Sokov of the 27th Group Army is reporting to you. You are welcome to come to us for inspection."
"Hello, Comrade Sokov." Konev raised his hand and returned the salute, then took Sokov's hand and said enthusiastically: "I heard that you just came back from the direction of Chigilin. Thank you for your hard work!"
"Yes, Comrade Commander of the Front Army, I have just returned to the headquarters not long ago." Sokov replied with a smile: "It is my duty to command the troops in combat, and it is not hard at all."
"Have all the troops been withdrawn?"
"Yes, get everyone back." Sokov felt that standing at the door of the church and talking made it inconvenient for the staff members of the headquarters to enter and exit, so he politely said to Konev: "Comrade Commander of the Front Army, this is not a conversation. Please go inside and have a cup of hot tea."
As a few people walked inside, Konev said to Sokov: "Comrade Sokov, due to combat needs, I have temporarily decided to return General Solomatin's 1st Mechanized Army to the establishment. You will not have anything." Thoughts?"
Even if Sokov was dissatisfied with Konev on this matter, he would definitely not say it out loud. He laughed and said: "Comrade Commander of the Front Army, since you want to transfer the 1st Mechanized Army, you must It is out of overall consideration, how dare I have an opinion? As for the defense area left by the mechanized evacuation, I have sent Colonel Koida's 188th Division to take over the defense."
Seeing that Sokov had considered everything that should be considered, Konev nodded with satisfaction, thinking that such a commander was good and could understand his own intentions. If it were another person, he might have been complaining.
Sokov knew very well that Konev always went to the Three Treasures Hall for everything. If there was nothing important, he would definitely not come to his headquarters. When Konev sat down, he put a cup of hot tea in front of him, and then asked: "Comrade Commander of the Front Army, you are here today. I don't know what important combat tasks you have to entrust us to complete." ?”
"I'm here today to explain to you the next combat mission." Konev took a sip of hot tea, put it on the table in front of him, and then pulled the map next to him. in front of.
Hearing that Konev was going to arrange the next stage of combat missions, Sokov and Samyko quickly came over. Even military commissar Lunev looked over.
Konev looked at the map in front of him and said to Sokov and Samyko: "You are now on the right bank of the Dnieper River, controlling a large landing site. The next stage of the task is to expand the landing site. area and find ways to liberate the cities occupied by the Germans so that I can deploy more troops to the right bank."
When Sokov heard this, he began to think about heading west to Cherkasy, which is now the landing site of the 7th Guards Army. His troops had just withdrawn from there, and it was obviously impossible to go there to join in the fun, so he asked tentatively: "Comrade Commander of the Front Army, in which direction should we develop?"
"Go south." Konev pointed on the map with his hand: "You can launch an attack to the south of the landing site and seize Alexandria. After completing this goal, you can use this place as a new starting point for the attack. Pushing southwest toward Kirovgrad..."
"General Konev," after Konev finished explaining the mission to several people, Lunev, who rarely expressed military opinions, suddenly said: "If our army group really advances to Kirovgrad, I'm afraid that We will be attacked by German troops from all directions. If there are no friendly forces to follow up in time, there is a possibility that we will be surrounded by German troops."
Lunev's words gave Sokov a wake-up call. After staring at the map for a while, he realized Konev's intention. The other side planned to use its 27th Army as bait to attract Manstein's main force nearby. This would weaken the German army's strength in other directions, so that when friendly forces launched an attack, they would suffer Obstacles will be greatly reduced.
After thinking of this, Sokov couldn't help but start to wonder. If his troops really followed Konev's deployment and attacked Alexandria and Kirovgrad, I'm afraid it wouldn't be long before they would be attacked from all directions. surrounded by enemies. Once the logistics supply line is cut off, no matter how large the number of your troops is, they can only be reduced to lambs to be slaughtered.
Just when he was about to raise his question to Konev, Samyko had already spoken before him: "Comrade Commander, if our army group follows your order and launches an attack on Alexandria controlled by the enemy, It is necessary to first break through the defense line deployed on the ground south of the landing site.
Of the five divisions currently deployed by the enemy on this line of defense, two are armored divisions. And we only have one 4th Guards Tank Corps and two artillery divisions. It may be very difficult to suppress them with firepower. If we want to achieve this strategic goal, our superiors need to send us at least two to three more tank brigades, one or two artillery divisions, or several rocket battalions. "
After Konev heard the conditions proposed by Samyko, he did not immediately make any reply. Instead, he turned to Sokov and asked: "Comrade Sokov, what do you think?"
"Comrade Commander of the Front Army," Seeing Konev posing the question to himself, Sokov quickly replied: "The Chief of Staff said more. In order to break through the German positions defended by armored divisions, we need more tank brigades. and artillery division. Otherwise, when attacking, as long as the Germans send out armored forces to counterattack, their tanks will be enough to defeat our offensive forces."
"Yes, Comrade Commander." Hearing that Sokov's opinion was consistent with his own, Samyko quickly added: "After a long battle, the number of tanks owned by the 4th Guards Tank Corps has greatly increased. The reduction is no longer enough to support a large-scale offensive battle."
"Is that so, Comrade Sokov?" After listening to this, Konev still threw the question to Sokov.
"Yes, it is indeed like this." In the past, it was mainly defensive, and it had fewer tanks than the German army, which was harmless. But now we have to take the initiative to attack the German army. If there are too few tanks and we simply rely on infantry to attack, isn't that going to cost us lives? Sokov plausibly said: "We need to add more tanks and artillery before we can complete the operation to expand the landing site."
When Konev heard this, his expression became solemn. He originally thought that Sokov's existing troops and equipment alone would be enough to break through the German defense lines and liberate Alexandria and Kirovgrad. But now I found that there was a huge deviation from my original plan.
Sokov was deeply afraid that the other party would not agree to his request and forcefully issue an attack order. He quickly said something more important: "Comrade Commander of the Front Army, there is another important thing that I want to report to you. "
Konev looked at Sokov in surprise, and asked in surprise: "What happened?"
"The great successes of our previous attacks were all due to the superiority of our weapons and equipment to friendly forces." Sokov said to Konev: "There is a new type of rocket that can be used on any terrain. Launching can be said to be a nightmare for the Germans."
"That's right." Konev nodded desperately and said: "As far as I know, this new rocket is only provided to your troops now. Is there anything wrong?"
"Comrade Chief of Staff," Sokov said sideways to Samyko: "You come and report to the commander of the front army."
Samyko nodded and reported to Konev: "Comrade Commander, I received a call from Colonel Yakov from Moscow two days ago. He said that due to the sharp decline in the production of new rockets, the supply to us To pause."
"Suspension of supply to you?!" Konev was stunned for a moment, and then raised his own question: "Even if the output drops sharply, at least something can be produced. Why should we stop supply to you?"
"I don't know the specific reason." Sokov shook his head and said, "I just returned to the headquarters and was about to call Colonel Yakov to ask what happened. You happened to be here. I I didn’t even bother to make a phone call.”
"Then make a call now, Comrade Sokov." Konev also wanted to figure out why the Weapons and Equipment Department suddenly stopped supplying Sokov's troops and what went wrong, so he ordered Sokov to say : "I also want to know what happened."
Sokov called the director of the communications corps and asked him to help him get through to the weapons and equipment department in Moscow. He planned to ask Yakov personally what happened to stop providing new rockets to his troops.
The call was quickly connected.
As soon as Sokov heard Yakov's voice, he couldn't wait to ask: "Yasha, this is Sokov. I want to ask, why do you want to stop supplying us with new rockets?"
When Yakov heard Sokov's voice, he naturally understood what his purpose was. He sighed softly and said helplessly: "Misha, this matter is very complicated and cannot be explained in a few words."
"Yasha, we are good friends. If you have anything to say, you can talk directly without hiding it." Sokov was worried that Yakov would not tell him the truth, and specifically added: "According to the orders of my superiors, my army group The troops are about to launch a new attack on the German defense line. If there are not enough new rockets, it means that we will pay a huge price during the attack. Can you bear to see this happen? "
When Yakov heard what Sokov said, he couldn't help but sigh and said: "Misha, you also know that since your army was equipped with new rockets, the combat effectiveness of the army has been greatly improved. And now our arsenal produces them The rockets that come out are only provided to one of your troops. If you do this, some people will inevitably be jealous, and they will definitely gossip behind your back and cause trouble, do you understand what I mean?"
Sokov heard the embarrassment in Yakov's tone, so he no longer asked aggressively, but asked cautiously: "Yasha, tell me the truth, did the factory not reduce production, and the new rockets produced, Are they all ready to be given to other troops?”
"Yes, your guess is correct." Yakov replied briefly.
Sokov hummed, and then asked: "Even if I asked you which army these new rockets are provided to, you wouldn't tell me, right?"
"Misha, I also have my own difficulties." Regardless of Yakov's special status, as a member of the Weapons and Equipment Department, he could only obey the orders of his superiors unconditionally: "Some things are top secret, please forgive me. I can't tell you."
Although Yakov did not answer Sokov's question directly, he already understood what was going on. Feeling that his troops had won too many battles, some commanders of other troops were jealous. They felt that if they got hold of those new rockets, they could improve the combat effectiveness of their troops, so they secretly used some means to make them more capable. Kokov's troops no longer had access to the new rockets they relied on to win.
Sokov chatted for a few more words, and after confirming that he could not learn more from the other party, he hung up the phone.
As soon as he put down the phone, Konev couldn't wait to ask: "Comrade Sokov, have you asked clearly? What is going on? Why did the Weapons and Equipment Department suddenly terminate the supplies to you?"
"Comrade Commander of the Front Army, I have roughly understood what is going on." After organizing the vocabulary in his mind, Sokov said to Konev: "There are some friendly commanders who feel that our army can achieve such Such huge results were entirely dependent on the various advanced weapons provided to us by the Weapons and Equipment Department. Therefore, some measures were taken to make the Weapons and Equipment Department stop supplying us with new rockets and hand over all new products to them."
"Oh, so that's what happened." After Konev figured out what was going on, although his heart was full of anger, in front of many subordinates, he tried his best to control his emotions and said in a calm tone: "So Comrade Kove, don't worry, I will report this matter to the Supreme Command as soon as possible, and I hope they can give you a fair solution."
Although Sokov didn't know who was behind the scenes, he also knew that the other party had great energy. It takes great courage to fight against such a person. Konev's statement at this moment indicated that he would come forward to seek justice for himself, and he quickly expressed his gratitude to him: "Comrade Commander of the Front Army, thank you so much. If the superiors can resume the supply of new rockets to us, then We must be confident in completing the operation to expand the landing site southward."
Konev stood up and said: "You should study the attack plan carefully. I will go back to the headquarters first. If there is any latest news, I will call you to inform you."
