"Yes, Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, the situation at that time was very unfavorable to our army." Sokov said: "At that time, I was a garrison squad leader in the town of Khimki, north of Moscow. I heard what I heard every day. The German army advanced many miles towards Moscow. Fortunately, our army finally blocked the German attack and launched a counterattack against the German army under the city of Moscow, driving them far away from the city."
"The Germans caught us off guard back then, forcing us to abandon a large area of our territory and retreat step by step towards Moscow. But fortunately, we finally crushed the enemy's conspiracy and blocked them firmly in the city of Moscow. Outside." Zakharov said with some excitement: "Now it is our turn to attack, and they are defending. Judging from the current situation between the enemy and ourselves, the Germans will retreat step by step under our attack. I believe it will not take more than two years. With time, we can defeat them completely.”
"You are right, Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, our army is constantly winning." Sokov nodded in agreement with Zakharov's statement, but he still added his own opinion: "But the German resistance is very weak. Tenacious, if we continue at the current pace of advancement, I am afraid it will take another two or three years to reach Berlin."
"Then what do you think we should do to speed up our attack?"
"It's very simple, urging the Allies to open the second battlefield as soon as possible, so that part of the German army can be dispersed, thereby reducing the resistance our army encounters when attacking."
"Comrade Sokov," Zakharov said with some disapproval when he heard Sokov mentioning the second battlefield: "Do you really think that the Allies opening up a second battlefield will force the Germans to withdraw troops from the Eastern Front? ?”
"That's for sure, Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army." When Sokov said this, he was deeply afraid that Zakharov would not believe what he said, and he also specifically explained: "As far as I know, in the later stages of the Battle of Kursk, , the Allied forces landed in Sicily, forcing Mustache to transfer Manstein's general reserve 23rd Panzer Corps. If this unit was not transferred to Italy, but stayed in the Kursk area and participated in the final offensive , then it’s hard to say who will be the final winner in the Kursk battle.”
Sokov's words have already reached this point. If Zakharov still doesn't understand, then he is too incompetent as the chief of staff of the front army. Fortunately, Zakharov was not as stupid as he thought. After thinking for a while, he agreed with Sokov's statement: "Comrade Sokov, you are right. The three SS divisions that originally wanted to block the German army In the attack, we used troops from four fronts to barely block the enemy's offensive.
Of course, during the Battle of Kursk, the troops you commanded also contributed a lot. You single-handedly held back three German SS divisions and a battle group, completely reversing the unfavorable situation on the battlefield. "
Having said this, Zaharov picked up the tea cup and took a sip of water: "As for the fact that Manstein's general reserve team was transferred by Mustache, this is the first time I have heard of it. I don't know if this kind of news is reliable. ?”
"Of course it's reliable." Naturally Sokov would not tell Zakharov that he read about this historical event from Manstein's "Lost Victory". In order to prevent Zaharov from getting to the bottom of it, he pretended to be vague and said: "I obtained this news from reliable sources and it cannot be false."
"Comrade Sokov, I believe what you said is true." Zakharov said with some helplessness: "Since the first year when the war broke out, our country has been asking Britain and the United States to open a second battlefield, and even Every once in a while, delegations will be sent to visit the United States under various names and lobby the United States through various methods, hoping that they can open a second battlefield as soon as possible.
To be honest, at the beginning, I was still full of expectations for this second battlefield. But as time went by, when our army was tenaciously resisting the German attack, the United States did not make any movement, which made me completely disappointed with their so-called second front. "
Speaking of this, Zakharov suddenly remembered a trivial matter, and asked Sokov with a smile: "Comrade Sokov, among the supplies provided by the United States to assist our country, there is a kind of canned beef stew. Guess what our soldiers put it into?" What’s it called?”
Zakharov's words reminded Sokov of a plot he had seen in a movie before, and he asked tentatively: "Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, our soldiers will never call this kind of canned braised beef. What is it called?" A battlefield, right?”
As soon as Sokov's words came out, there was a burst of laughter. But Zakharov raised his hand to stop everyone's laughter, and said sincerely: "Comrade Sokov, you are right, our soldiers did say that. The reason why they gave the United States Canned Braised Beef has such a strange nickname because they have completely lost confidence in the second front promised by the United States and can only use it to make fun of it to pass the boring time."
"Comrade Commander," as soon as Zakharov finished speaking, Gorokhov interrupted and asked, "I would like to ask, do you think the Allies will open a second battlefield?"
"Comrade Military Commissar, I think they will definitely open a second battlefield." Seeing that everyone around him was looking at him with suspicion, Sokov continued: "When the Great Patriotic War first broke out, the British and the Americans Seeing that our army is retreating steadily, the country is worried that once they open a second battlefield, the Germans will use them as the main target of their attack.
In the next two years, they saw repeated tug-of-wars between our army and the German army, and they were worried that if a second battlefield was opened at this time, the Germans would be able to mobilize enough troops to deal with their second battlefield.
Now the situation on the battlefield has become clear. The strength of the Germans is getting worse day by day. If we continue to fight like this, I am afraid that the entire European area occupied by the Germans will eventually be liberated by us. The United Kingdom and the United States are worried that my country will grow bigger in Europe. In order to curb our development, they will definitely send troops to open a second battlefield and compete with us for European land. "
Sokov's words made the people around him think deeply. All along, the various military assistance provided by the United States have given them a great impression of the United States in their hearts. But I never dreamed of the purpose of the United States doing this. After listening to Sokov's words, he finally woke up from a dream.
"So, in order to compete for control of Europe, the United States will definitely open a second battlefield?" Gorokhov asked.
"Yes, it is indeed like this." Sokov thought of the famous Normandy landing, which will begin in more than two months, and it is necessary to give everyone a warning in advance. He organized the vocabulary in his mind, and then said: "In order to seize more European land before our army, they will open a second battlefield as soon as possible to seize more land from the Germans."
"Comrade Commander, is your statement too alarmist?"
Faced with Gorokhov's doubts, Sokov smiled and said: "Comrade Military Commissar, if you don't believe it, there is nothing I can do. Anyway, according to my judgment, the Allied forces will open a second battlefield in June and July. Then you will know whether what I said is accurate."
While everyone was discussing the issue of the second battlefield, a phone on the table suddenly rang. As the chief of staff of the combat cluster, Sameko was worried that he would miss important notifications, so he quickly stepped forward and picked up the topic: "Hey, I am Chief of Staff Sameko, who are you?"
"Hello, Comrade Chief of Staff." The person on the other end of the phone was Colonel Konev. When he heard that Zakharov was answering the phone, he quickly said loudly: "I am Konev, commander of the 3rd Guards Airborne Division." Colonel Husband, I have important information that needs to be reported to Comrade Commander immediately."
Sokov mentioned that the other party knew him, so he walked over and took the microphone from Samyko's hand: "Colonel Konev? I am Sokov. I am glad to hear your voice."
"Comrade Commander," Samyko recognized Sokov's voice. He didn't have time to exchange greetings, but directly said what he wanted to report: "My scouts just sent back a piece of information. I think there is I need to report to you."
Sokov knew very well that the 18th Guards Corps was trapped in a snowstorm and was unable to walk. If there was no major matter, he would not report directly to him. He quickly said: "Colonel Konev, what exactly happened there?"
"Comrade Commander, the situation is like this." Konev explained to Sokov: "I thought that our troops would not be able to move forward anyway because of the snowstorm, and they would be idle anyway, so I sent a reconnaissance team. Conduct reconnaissance of areas where enemy forces are concentrated.
Unexpectedly, this reconnaissance made an unexpected discovery: "Comrade Commander, I originally thought that the enemies in front of us were all Romanian troops. Unexpectedly, the scouts accidentally discovered the German armored troops during the reconnaissance. Look, It seems that they have been ambushing there for a long time, preparing to catch our army by surprise."
"Approximately how many troops do the Germans have?"
"According to my estimation, there are at least one or two divisions of troops."
After saying this, Sokov couldn't help but take a breath. Fortunately, he now knew that the Germans had entered the battlefield. If the troops did not know this in advance and still followed the original plan to attack the enemy in front, they would surely have to pay a huge price. of casualties.
"Comrade Commander," Konev reported to Sokov on the phone: "The enemy's strength is really too strong. If there is a fight, with the few troops in my hand, I will definitely not be a match for the enemy. "
"Don't worry, Comrade Colonel." Sokov comforted the other party: "You are not fighting alone. There is also the 4th Guards Airborne Division beside you, as well as the 254th Infantry Division that is about to arrive, plus the friendly force Kra General Vchenko's 5th Tank Army. With your strength, let alone guarding a small embankment, but rushing to attack important German cities, that's no problem."
"By the way, have you reported this to General Afnin?"
"No." Konev shook his head and said, "I haven't had time to report yet." "Yes, Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, the situation at that time was very unfavorable to our army." Sokov said, "I At that time, I was a garrison squad leader in the town of Khimki, north of Moscow. Every day I heard that the German army was advancing many miles towards Moscow. Fortunately, our army finally blocked the German attack and won the victory in Moscow. A counterattack against the German troops was launched below the city, driving them far away from the city.”
"The Germans caught us off guard back then, forcing us to abandon a large area of our territory and retreat step by step towards Moscow. But fortunately, we finally crushed the enemy's conspiracy and blocked them firmly in the city of Moscow. Outside." Zakharov said with some excitement: "Now it is our turn to attack, and they are defending. Judging from the current situation between the enemy and ourselves, the Germans will retreat step by step under our attack. I believe it will not take more than two years. With time, we can defeat them completely.”
"You are right, Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, our army is constantly winning." Sokov nodded in agreement with Zakharov's statement, but he still added his own opinion: "But the German resistance is very weak. Tenacious, if we continue at the current pace of advancement, I am afraid it will take another two or three years to reach Berlin."
"It's very simple, urging the Allies to open the second battlefield as soon as possible, so that part of the German army can be dispersed, thereby reducing the resistance our army encounters when attacking."
"Comrade Sokov," Zakharov said with some disapproval when he heard Sokov mentioning the second battlefield: "Do you really think that the Allies opening up a second battlefield will force the Germans to withdraw troops from the Eastern Front? ?”
"That's for sure, Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army." When Sokov said this, he was deeply afraid that Zakharov would not believe what he said, and he also specifically explained: "As far as I know, in the later stages of the Battle of Kursk, , the Allied forces landed in Sicily, forcing Mustache to transfer Manstein's general reserve 23rd Panzer Corps. If this unit was not transferred to Italy, but stayed in the Kursk area and participated in the final offensive , then it’s hard to say who will be the final winner in the Kursk battle.”
Sokov's words have already reached this point. If Zakharov still doesn't understand, then he is too incompetent as the chief of staff of the front army. Fortunately, Zakharov was not as stupid as he thought. After thinking for a while, he agreed with Sokov's statement: "Comrade Sokov, you are right. The three SS divisions that originally wanted to block the German army In the attack, we used troops from four fronts to barely block the enemy's offensive.
Of course, during the Battle of Kursk, the troops you commanded also contributed a lot. You single-handedly held back three German SS divisions and a battle group, completely reversing the unfavorable situation on the battlefield. "
"Of course it's reliable." Naturally Sokov would not tell Zakharov that he read about this historical event from Manstein's "Lost Victory". In order to prevent Zaharov from getting to the bottom of it, he pretended to be vague and said: "I obtained this news from reliable sources and it cannot be false."
"Comrade Sokov, I believe what you said is true." Zakharov said with some helplessness: "Since the first year when the war broke out, our country has been asking Britain and the United States to open a second battlefield, and even Every once in a while, delegations will be sent to visit the United States under various names and lobby the United States through various methods, hoping that they can open a second battlefield as soon as possible.
