Sokov heard what Malinin said. After being stunned for several seconds, he finally understood the meaning of the other party's words. He asked in surprise: "Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, from now on, Sidorin is no longer a colonel." , but a major general? Am I understanding correctly?"
"Of course that's correct." Malinen nodded and said, "From now on, Sidorin will be officially promoted to the rank of major general." At this point, he turned around to face Sidorin, who was still in a state of shock, and stretched out his hand to him. Take action and say in a friendly tone, "Congratulations, General Sidorin!"
Sidorin came to his senses when he saw Malinin's hand stretched out in front of him. He hurriedly grabbed the other person's hand and said emotionally: "Thank you, thank you, Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army!"
"General Sidorin," Rokossovsky spoke at this time: "In this case, shouldn't you say something?"
When Sokov heard what Rokossovsky said, he murmured to himself: "Why did Comrade General say this? Did he intend to let Sidorin give an acceptance speech?"
Unexpectedly, Sidorin just stepped forward, straightened his back, raised his chin slightly, closed his eyes slightly, and said loudly: "Serve the Soviet Motherland!"
When Sokov heard this, he couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. The words he said when he was promoted were the same as when he received the medal.
Ma Lining picked up a red silk box from the table and handed it to Sidorin's hand: "General Sidorin, this is your new shoulder patch. You can put it on when you return to the army."
Sidorin nodded gratefully and then took the box from Malinen's hand.
Then Rokossovsky encouraged Sidorin a few more words, and finally said: "A new battle is about to begin, and I hope you will perform well then."
"Comrade General, don't worry." Sokov promptly expressed his attitude to Rokossovsky: "When the battle begins, you can see the results I have achieved. I will definitely not let you down. of."
When Sokov and Sidorin returned to the parking position, Ponedelin, who was waiting here, saw something strange about Sidorin and couldn't help but asked curiously: "Comrade Chief of Staff looks good. Did he encounter something strange?" What happy event has happened?"
"Comrade Deputy Commander, your guess is correct." Sokov felt that the effect of Sidorin's promotion would be better if someone else told it than if he told it himself, so he smiled and said: "Chief of Staff is indeed It's a happy event, he was officially promoted to the rank of major general not long ago."
"What, Colonel Sidorin was promoted to major general?" Ponedelin asked in shock after hearing this: "Didn't you go to reminisce with General Chuikov? How come he was promoted to major general in the blink of an eye? What on earth is going on? What's going on?"
"Yes, we were just catching up with General Chuikov at first." Sokov continued: "But not long after we chatted, Comrade General sent someone to find us. We followed the officer to Comrade General Chuikov's office. Chief of Staff General Malinen personally announced that in recognition of Sidorin's meritorious service, he was awarded the rank of major general."
After listening to Sokov's explanation, Ponedelin understood what was going on. He stretched out his hand to Sidorin and said in a friendly tone: "Comrade Chief of Staff, congratulations!"
"Thank you, thank you!" Sidorin quickly held Ponejelin's hand and shook it vigorously a few times.
"Comrade Chief of Staff," after Sidorin let go of Ponedelin's hand, the driver also stepped forward to congratulate Sidorin: "Please accept my sincere congratulations on becoming a general!" '
"Thank you, thank you, comrade driver." Sidorin expressed his gratitude to the driver and shook hands with him.
"Okay, let's all get in the car." Sokov said to everyone: "We have wasted a lot of time and need to rush back to the headquarters as soon as possible to convey the latest combat plan."
A few minutes later, this convoy of three jeeps and four trucks drove away from the front headquarters and headed towards the defense area of the 48th Group Army.
On the way, Sokov curiously asked Ponedelin: "Comrade Deputy Commander, have you ever dealt with General Chuikov before?"
"Yes, Comrade Commander." Ponedelin replied calmly: "I have worked with Chuikov before, but we have not contacted each other for many years."
Doubts arose in Sokov's mind. Since Ponedelin had worked with Chuikov before, why did the two of them look like passers-by when they met today? Could it be that there was some conflict between them?
Ponyjelin, who was sitting next to him, guessed what Sokov was thinking from the uncertain expression on his face, and took the initiative to say: "Comrade Commander, you must be thinking about what happened between Chuikov and me. ?"
Seeing Sokov nodding in affirmation, he continued: "We used to be very good friends, but then something happened that caused our relationship to become estranged. As for what it was, please forgive me for not telling you now, maybe When the time comes, I will tell you personally what is going on.”
Originally, Sokov wanted to get to the bottom of it. Since Ponedelin said so, it was obviously inappropriate to dwell on this matter anymore, so he changed the subject: "Comrade Deputy Commander, we will leave you alone." It’s so embarrassing to leave it in the parking lot.”
"It doesn't matter." Ponejelin waved his hand and said, "Although the wait took a little longer, fortunately I am not alone. At least during the time before you came back, I have been chatting with the driver."
"We have been out for most of the day," Sidorin said with some worry: "I don't know if anything sudden happened during our absence."
"Don't worry, my Comrade Chief of Staff." Sokov looked at Sidorin and said lightly: "If there is anything, we will understand it all when we return to the headquarters. Comrade Chief of Staff, you have to trust me Your subordinates, I believe they have the ability to handle all emergencies."
"Well, maybe you are right..." Before Sidorin finished speaking, the jeep suddenly stopped. He instinctively turned to ask the driver: "What happened? Why did you stop?"
"I don't know, Comrade Chief of Staff." The driver said aggrievedly: "I saw the truck in front of me stopped, so I had no choice but to stop, otherwise I would be rear-ended."
"Comrade Commander," Sidorin turned to Sokov and said, "I'm going to go down and take a look and see what happened and why the car in front stopped."
"Wait a minute, Comrade Chief of Staff." Sokov suddenly smelled a hint of danger and quickly stopped Sidorin from getting out of the car. "I feel something is wrong. I'd better wait for the comrade in the car in front to come over and report."
Seeing that Sidorin was a little restless, he explained to him: "Have you forgotten that we encountered a similar situation when we came to take charge of the 48th Army? At that time, the road was blocked by fallen trees, escorting us The officer wanted to get out of the car to check, but I stopped him. It was quickly discovered that this was a conspiracy by the German snipers, who tried to take advantage of the time when our commander got out of the car to kill with a sniper rifle."
Sidorin carefully recalled the situation at that time. Sokov was right, and he couldn't help being shocked and broke into a cold sweat. If we stopped this time, it was really because German snipers placed trees on the road. If we went down rashly, we might get shot in the head by a sniper.
Soon, Koshkin, who was sitting in the front car, got out of the car and took a look, then came over and reported to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, there are two large fallen trees on the road ahead. They should have been placed in the middle by the Germans. , I have sent people to search the forest, even if no trace of the enemy is found, they can scare him away."
"Well done, Captain Koshkin." Sokov said admiringly: "I feel relieved that you are responsible for our safety."
Faced with Sokov's trust, Koshkin grinned, and then summoned his men to divide into two groups. They entered the forest to search for hidden enemies, and were responsible for moving away the trees blocking the road.
Half an hour later, the trees blocking the road were moved away, and the soldiers who entered the forest to search also came back, but they found nothing. Sokov didn't want to waste any more time on the road, otherwise it would be troublesome to wait until dark, so he urged the convoy to start again.
When the convoy returned to the army headquarters, it was already dark.
When getting out of the car, Sidorin asked Sokov for instructions: "Comrade Commander, please see if you can immediately summon the officers of the regiment level and above of the group army and convey the contents of the meeting."
"It's getting very late today, let's wait until tomorrow." After Sokov said this, he specifically explained to Sidorin: "On our way back today, we encountered trees blocking the road, which means there are Germans nearby. activities. If we notify the officers above the regiment level to hold a meeting at night, and it will be midnight by the time the meeting is over, and these officers are asked to walk back at night, they may be caught by German snipers. I don’t want to have to wait until the battle has started. We lost several generals."
"Yes, Comrade Commander is right." Ponejelin echoed from the side: "It's not peaceful outside now, so it's not appropriate to call the commanders for a meeting at night. I think it's just what the commander said, wait until tomorrow Inform the relevant personnel to come to the headquarters for a meeting."
"Well, since you all said so, let's have another meeting tomorrow." Sidorin smiled and said to the two of them: "I will sort out today's meeting minutes to see if there is anything missing. In order to avoid conveying it tomorrow What went wrong during the superior's combat deployment?"
"Then go and do your work." Sokov said to Sidorin: "Remember to go to bed early and don't get exhausted."
After Sokov returned to his room, he lay on the bed and began to think. With the current strength of his troops, after the attack began, even if the German defense forces were not strong, there would probably be a lot of casualties. The best way to reduce the casualties of troops during an attack is to shorten the charging time in the swamp and improve the weapons used. To achieve this, it is simply impossible without the support of the Department of Arms and Equipment.
In the past, when Yakov worked in the weapons and equipment department, whatever equipment Sokov needed could basically be solved with just a phone call. Now Yakov has been transferred to the General Staff, and his replacement is Belkin. Although Belkin is his old partner and is willing to help him. But it was a pity that he had just joined the weapons and equipment department not long ago, so he had no backers and no qualifications. Many people inside did not buy his account, so his work did not go smoothly.
However, Sokov thought that the last time he called Belgin was a week or two ago, and the other party has not contacted him yet, and he does not know how his affairs are going.
Thinking of this, Sokov picked up the high-frequency phone placed next to the bed and dialed the switchboard of the Weapons and Equipment Department directly. When he heard the operator's voice, he said straight to the point: "Hello, girl! I am General Sokov. Please transfer me to Colonel Belkin's office. I have something urgent to call him."
"Okay, Comrade General." The operator said politely, "I will transfer the call for you immediately."
But after a minute or two, the call was still not connected. Just when Sokov was anxious, a familiar voice came from the receiver again: "Hello, Comrade General, I'm glad to hear your voice again! "
Sokov pondered for a moment, then remembered that the voice belonged to operator No. 9037, and said with a smile: "So it's you, girl operator No. 9037."
The operator on the other end of the phone couldn't help but smile sweetly when he heard Sokov calling out his number. But the next moment, she suppressed the smile on her face and said in a businesslike tone: "I'm sorry, General Sokov, the phone number in Colonel Belkin's office cannot be connected. Maybe he is not in the office at the moment. Could you please change a time?" Call again, okay?"
"Okay." Sokov was also disappointed when he couldn't get through to Belkin's phone. However, there was nothing he could do about it. After all, today's communication cannot be compared with that of later generations. In addition to being able to communicate with mobile phones, there are many other things in later generations. Communication software, as long as the other party's mobile phone is turned on, you can find the other party. But at this moment, he could only say regretfully: "Then I'll fight another day!"
After hanging up the phone, Sokov sat on the edge of the bed in a daze for a while. Then he remembered that he hadn't called Asya for a long time, and he didn't know if the other party was angry with him, so he picked up the phone again and directly asked Asiya to communicate. Bing helped him get through the phone at home.
Asiya's voice soon came from the receiver: "Hey, who is this?!"
"Asia, it's me." Sokov said into the microphone: "I'm Misha!"
"Ah, Misha, it's you!" Asiya asked in surprise: "Why did you remember to call me?"
"I miss you, so I gave you a call."
"That's nonsense. If you really missed me, you wouldn't have called me for a month or two." Asiya said with a look of resentment: "If I hadn't guessed, you would have called me at this time. You must have something important to ask me. Misha, are you right?"
Sokov called Asiya. It was indeed important. He wanted to know about Belgin’s situation through Asiya, so he said haha: "I must be thinking about you, so I called you." , I’d like to inquire about a few more things by the way.”
"Tell me, what's the matter?"
"I want to ask, have you seen Belgin recently?" Sokov said cautiously: "He said he would contact me about the hovercraft, but it took such a long time and nothing happened. I just called him. The phone call turned out to be no one in his office.”
"Misha, don't you know yet?"
"What do you know?" Sokov couldn't help but feel a little bit in his heart when he heard what Asya said, secretly saying that nothing should happen to Belkin, otherwise there would be no one in the weapons and equipment department who could help him.
"Belkin has already gone to the front line." Asiya said, "He set off yesterday. Didn't he contact you before he left?"
