Zakharov took Sokov to the door of an office. The captain sitting at the door saw Zakharov's arrival and quickly stood up and saluted.
"Comrade Captain," Zaharov asked in a friendly manner, "Is Comrade Commander inside?"
"Yes, Comrade Chief of Staff." The captain replied in a positive tone: "Comrade Commander is still working inside. Do you need me to inform you?"
"No need, Comrade Captain. I'll go in and see him directly." After Zakharov finished speaking, he stepped forward and opened the door, turned around and shook his head at Sokov: "Come in, Comrade Sokov."
Sokov followed Zakharov into the room and found that it was a spacious conference room. There was a long conference table and a dozen armchairs near the window, and Konev He was sitting behind a desk near the door.
"Sokov is here!" Seeing Zakharov and Sokov enter the door, Konev quickly stood up, walked out from behind the desk, came to Sokov, stretched out his hand and said with a smile: " On behalf of all the commanders and fighters of the Second Ukrainian Front, I welcome you!"
"Hello, Comrade Commander of the Front Army." Sokov stretched out his hands to hold Konev's hand, shook it vigorously a few times, and said with a smile on his face: "I am the one who can return to your command. An honor."
After a brief exchange of greetings, let’s get back to business.
"Comrade Sokov," Konev said seriously, "I believe you already knew about your superior's appointment before you came to the front line."
"Yes," Sokov nodded: "Let me take over the post of Major General Tarasov and serve as the commander of the 53rd Army."
"You once commanded the 53rd Army in Kremenchug. The division commander of this unit is familiar with you. This is very helpful for you to quickly become familiar with the unit." Konev put his hand on the cable Cove held him on his shoulders and walked towards the wall on the other side of the conference table, saying: "Let me introduce to you the current situation between us and the enemy."
When he came to the wall with the map, Konev picked up the explanation stick on the wall, pointed at the map and said to Sokov: "In order to implement Manstein's order to stick to the bend of the Dnieper River, the Germans on the right bank of the Dnieper River The Kanev area forms the Cherkasy salient. The core of this salient is in Korsun. The area controlled by the German army is more than 100 kilometers long and wide. It is an important place to guard the crossing point at the bend of the Dnieper River.
As of January 28, our troops once again penetrated the German defense line. At the same time, the 5th Guards Tank Army cut off the German army's retreat. Now the Cherkasy salient no longer exists, and only the Cherkasy salient remains. encirclement'. Our next task is to find a way to eliminate the Germans in the encirclement and achieve another great victory like the Battle of Stalingrad. "
Sokov knew very well that Konev's idea was good, but it was very difficult to implement it. In the history he knew, the 60,000 besieged German troops finally broke through the encirclement. However, according to relevant records, due to the muddy roads, the movement of tanks on both sides was restricted, so that the German army had to throw away all their heavy weapons when they broke through.
After Konev's words came to an end, Sokov asked cautiously: "Comrade Commander of the Front Army, I would like to ask if my tank unit is unable to carry out large-scale operations because of the muddy roads?"
Unexpectedly, after hearing this question, Konev showed a shocked expression on his face. After he and Zakharov looked at each other, he asked Sokov with a straight face: "Comrade Sokov, I want to ask, Who told you that our tank troops were unable to carry out large-scale operations because of the muddy roads?"
"Yes, Comrade Sokov." Zakharov continued: "Don't you know that from mid-January to mid-February every year, the temperature is the lowest? How can there be muddy roads?"
After listening to what the two said, Sokov couldn't help but fell into confusion. He felt that the information he read should not be false, and Konev and Zaharov didn't seem to be joking with him. So where did it come from? What's the problem?
Seeing that Sokov was silent, Konev continued: "In order to prevent the besieged troops from being annihilated by our army, Marshal Manstein sent the 3rd and 47th Armored Corps to carry out relief operations. They started from the north of the encirclement. Launched an attack in an attempt to open a passage for the surrounded Stemermann Group Army. However, their attempt went bankrupt under the tenacious obstruction of the 1st Ukrainian Front."
When Sokov heard this, he couldn't help but interjected: "Comrade Commander of the Front Army, I think I understand what you mean. The Germans have not succeeded in breaking through from the north of the encirclement. They will definitely change the direction of the breakout and choose to break out from the south. And. If they want to successfully break out of the encirclement, they must first break the defense line of my brother's 53rd Group Army. Is my understanding correct?"
"Exactly, Comrade Sokov." After Konev and Zakharov looked at each other, a knowing smile appeared on their faces: "Originally, I was worried about the 53rd Army commanded by Major General Tarasov. Blocked the German assault, but now you are the one commanding this force, I feel much more at ease."
Sokov is very self-aware. He does not think that a unit that makes his superiors uneasy will become invincible just because he is the commander. There must be a long process. He asked cautiously: "I would like to ask how the troops and equipment are doing?"
"Comrade Sokov," it was Front Army Chief of Staff Zakharov who spoke this time: "The troops belonging to the group army have just been replenished. Now the Guards division has 10,000 people per division, and the ordinary infantry division has 8,000 Men, you have outnumbered the besieged Germans."
Knowing that the number of his troops had exceeded the number of besieged German troops, Sokov did not feel particularly happy. He knew very well that the outcome of the war was not only determined by the number of people, but also by weapons, equipment and reasonable tactics. , then asked: "What about the weapons and equipment?"
"Except for an artillery division and several rocket launcher battalions directly under the group army, each division is equipped with artillery regiments." Zakharov said: "As for the weapons in the hands of the soldiers, although the number of machine guns and submachine guns is somewhat smaller, , but almost everyone is equipped with a Mosin-Nagant rifle..."
Hearing the data reported by Zakharov, Sokov couldn't help but frowned: Unexpectedly, with tens of thousands of troops, the number of machine guns and submachine guns was limited. It would be difficult to achieve a firepower advantage on the battlefield with such weapons. As for the artillery, it is even weaker. The artillery regiments of each division are equipped with 76.2 mm cannons. Even if the heavy artillery of an artillery division is added, it will be difficult to start a close artillery battle with the enemy's artillery.
Although Sokov felt that the prospects were not optimistic, he still needed to go to the 53rd Army to find out whether he could stop the German army from breaking through. So he asked: "I want to ask, when can I go to the 53rd Army to take up my post?" ?”
Zakharov took Sokov to the door of an office. The captain sitting at the door saw Zakharov's arrival and quickly stood up and saluted.
"Comrade Captain," Zaharov asked in a friendly manner, "Is Comrade Commander inside?"
"Yes, Comrade Chief of Staff." The captain replied in a positive tone: "Comrade Commander is still working inside. Do you need me to inform you?"
"No need, Comrade Captain. I'll go in and see him directly." After Zakharov finished speaking, he stepped forward and opened the door, turned around and shook his head at Sokov: "Come in, Comrade Sokov."
Sokov followed Zakharov into the room and found that it was a spacious conference room. There was a long conference table and a dozen armchairs near the window, and Konev He was sitting behind a desk near the door.
"Sokov is here!" Seeing Zakharov and Sokov enter the door, Konev quickly stood up, walked out from behind the desk, came to Sokov, stretched out his hand and said with a smile: " On behalf of all the commanders and fighters of the Second Ukrainian Front, I welcome you!"
"Hello, Comrade Commander of the Front Army." Sokov stretched out his hands to hold Konev's hand, shook it vigorously a few times, and said with a smile on his face: "I am the one who can return to your command. An honor."
After the simple greetings, let’s get back to business.
"Comrade Sokov," Konev said seriously, "I believe you already knew about your superior's appointment before you came to the front line."
"Yes," Sokov nodded: "Let me take over the post of Major General Tarasov and serve as the commander of the 53rd Army."
"You once commanded the 53rd Army in Kremenchug. The division commander of this unit is familiar with you. This is very helpful for you to quickly become familiar with the unit." Konev put his hand on the cable Cove held him on his shoulders and walked towards the wall on the other side of the conference table, saying: "Let me introduce to you the current situation between us and the enemy."
When he came to the wall with the map, Konev picked up the explanation stick on the wall, pointed at the map and said to Sokov: "In order to implement Manstein's order to stick to the bend of the Dnieper River, the Germans on the right bank of the Dnieper River The Kanev area forms the Cherkasy salient. The core of this salient is in Korsun. The area controlled by the German army is more than 100 kilometers long and wide. It is an important place to guard the crossing point at the bend of the Dnieper River.
As of January 28, our troops once again penetrated the German defense line. At the same time, the 5th Guards Tank Army cut off the German army's retreat. Now the Cherkasy salient no longer exists, and only the Cherkasy salient remains. encirclement'. Our next task is to find a way to eliminate the Germans in the encirclement and achieve another great victory like the Battle of Stalingrad. "
Sokov knew very well that Konev's idea was good, but it was very difficult to implement it. In the history he knew, the 60,000 besieged German troops finally broke through the encirclement. However, according to relevant records, due to the muddy roads, the movement of tanks on both sides was restricted, so that the German army had to throw away all their heavy weapons when they broke through.
After Konev's words came to an end, Sokov asked cautiously: "Comrade Commander of the Front Army, I would like to ask if my tank unit is unable to carry out large-scale operations because of the muddy roads?"
Unexpectedly, after hearing this question, Konev showed a shocked expression on his face. After he and Zakharov looked at each other, he asked Sokov with a straight face: "Comrade Sokov, I want to ask, Who told you that our tank troops were unable to carry out large-scale operations because of the muddy roads?"
"Yes, Comrade Sokov." Zakharov continued: "Don't you know that from mid-January to mid-February every year, the temperature is the lowest? How can there be muddy roads?"
After listening to what the two said, Sokov couldn't help but fell into confusion. He felt that the information he read should not be false, and Konev and Zaharov didn't seem to be joking with him. So where did it come from? What's the problem?
Seeing that Sokov was silent, Konev continued: "In order to prevent the besieged troops from being annihilated by our army, Marshal Manstein sent the 3rd and 47th Armored Corps to carry out relief operations. They started from the north of the encirclement. Launched an attack in an attempt to open a passage for the surrounded Stemermann Group Army. However, their attempt went bankrupt under the tenacious obstruction of the 1st Ukrainian Front."
When Sokov heard this, he couldn't help but interjected: "Comrade Commander of the Front Army, I think I understand what you mean. The Germans have not succeeded in breaking through from the north of the encirclement. They will definitely change the direction of the breakout and choose to break out from the south. And. If they want to successfully break out of the encirclement, they must first break the defense line of my brother's 53rd Group Army. Is my understanding correct?"
"Exactly, Comrade Sokov." After Konev and Zakharov looked at each other, a knowing smile appeared on their faces: "Originally, I was worried about the 53rd Army commanded by Major General Tarasov. Blocked the German assault, but now you are the one commanding this force, I feel much more at ease."
Sokov is very self-aware. He does not think that a unit that makes his superiors uneasy will become invincible just because he is the commander. There must be a long process. He asked cautiously: "I would like to ask how the troops and equipment are doing?"
"Comrade Sokov," it was Front Army Chief of Staff Zakharov who spoke this time: "The troops belonging to the group army have just been replenished. Now the Guards division has 10,000 people per division, and the ordinary infantry division has 8,000 Men, you have outnumbered the besieged Germans."
Knowing that the number of his troops had exceeded the number of besieged German troops, Sokov did not feel particularly happy. He knew very well that the outcome of the war was not only determined by the number of people, but also by weapons, equipment and reasonable tactics. , then asked: "What about the weapons and equipment?"
"Except for an artillery division and several rocket launcher battalions directly under the group army, each division is equipped with artillery regiments." Zakharov said: "As for the weapons in the hands of the soldiers, although the number of machine guns and submachine guns is somewhat smaller, , but almost everyone is equipped with a Mosin-Nagant rifle..."
Hearing the data reported by Zakharov, Sokov couldn't help but frowned: Unexpectedly, with tens of thousands of troops, the number of machine guns and submachine guns was limited. It would be difficult to achieve a firepower advantage on the battlefield with such weapons. As for the artillery, it is even weaker. The artillery regiments of each division are equipped with 76.2 mm cannons. Even if the heavy artillery of an artillery division is added, it will be difficult to start a close artillery battle with the enemy's artillery.
