Red Moscow

  Chapter 220 Deception

Yakov brought Sokov and Potukin to the outside of the headquarters, pointed to the truck parked not far away, and said to Sokov: "Misha, the automatic guns and accessories prepared for you The ammunition is in the car. Do you think my people will send you back to the army now, or will you take it back yourself after you finish your work here?"

Sokov thought about the tone of Rokossovsky talking to him, and guessed that the other party must have something important to explain, and it might not be possible when they can go back, but Yakov's task is to deliver weapons. Definitely can't stay here for too long. Therefore, he decisively said to Yakov: "Yakov, I think you are the one who troubles you, and send these weapons to my troops." Then he ordered Potukin: "Comrade Chief of Staff, just Please be a guide to the comrades from Moscow and transport this batch of weapons back to the division headquarters."

   Waiting for Sokov to re-enter the headquarters, Yakov pointed to a jeep not far away, and said to Potukin: "Comrade Captain, my car is there, please get in the car!"

Although Potukin saw the jeep that sent him, he stopped not far away, but he thought it was better to leave it to Sokov, so he went to say hello to the driver, and then headed towards Yakov's jeep walk over.

The lieutenant who came with Yakov, seeing Potukin's respectful attitude towards Sokov, couldn't help asking Yakov curiously: "Comrade Captain, I just saw that lieutenant colonel and Sokov The attitude of the major is like a subordinate treating a superior, what is going on here?"

"Major Sokov is now the acting commander of the 328th Division, and the lieutenant colonel is his chief of staff." After explaining briefly to the lieutenant, Yakov told him, "The jeep that the lieutenant colonel and I sat in is leading the way." , you follow by truck."

  After Sokov returned to the headquarters, Rokossovsky gestured to the empty seat next to him: "Misha, sit down. I think we should have a good talk."

When Sokov was in the military hospital in Moscow, he had swornly told Rokossovsky that according to his own analysis, the other party would take up the post of commander of the Bryansk Front Army in May, and at the same time made a request that the other party be transferred to another post. At that time, he also took away his own troops.

  Although it has already arrived in May, and the Kharkov battle commanded by Marshal Timoshenko is about to start, there is no sign of Rokossovsky's promotion at all. Therefore, when Sokov heard that Rokossovsky said that he wanted to talk to himself, he felt guilty for a while. He forcefully asked, "Comrade Commander, I wonder what you plan to talk to me about?"

"I remember when you were recuperating at the Timiryazev Agricultural Academy, you once told me that according to your judgment, I will get a higher position in May." Rokossovsky looked at him with a half-smile. Sokov said: "It is already May now, and before I left Moscow, no leader talked to me. It seems that your judgment has gone wrong this time."

Rokossovsky's words made Sokov break out in a cold sweat. He only remembered that Rokossovsky served as the commander of the Bryansk Front Army after he was discharged from the hospital, but he did not remember the specific time. I don't know. But at that time, in order to avoid being transferred to the Southwest Front Army as cannon fodder, I couldn't wait to talk to Rokossovsky about it, and it turned out that I was riding a tiger.

"Comrade Commander," Sokov could only bite the bullet and said, "You know that before I visited you in the hospital, I attended a military meeting hosted by Marshal Timoshenko. The reason why I What I said to you was based entirely on the analysis of the situation at the time."

   Fortunately, Rokossovsky just asked casually. He didn't take this matter to heart. He was more concerned about whether the performance of the 328th Division would satisfy him after the offensive battle began soon. He pushed the map in front of Sokov and asked, "If your division is to attack the enemy on the other side of Zizdra, what do you plan to do?"

"Our forward position is only 200 meters away from the enemy." Sokov felt relieved when Rokossovsky asked how to attack the enemy on the other side of Zhizdra. He quickly pointed to the map and said : "If there is any disturbance in our position, the enemy on the other side can see it clearly. If they block it with firepower, our attacking troops will suffer huge casualties before reaching the river."

   "I'm also very clear about what you said." Rokossovsky asked calmly, "I'm asking you now, how do you plan to force the troops to cross the Zhizdra River?"

   Sokov, who came from a later generation, although he has never been a soldier, has learned a lot of tactics through various media. If he wants to cross the Zizdra River, he will definitely not foolishly use people to fill it. If you attack directly from the position and cross the Zhizdra River, not only will the troops pay a heavy price during the distance to the river; even if they reach the river, they will pay the same heavy price while waiting to board the ship. In this way, half of the people died before crossing the river, so how to fight the rest of the battle?

So he pointed to the map and said to Rokossovsky: "Comrade commander, this is how I think about it. At the beginning of the offensive battle, bombard the German positions with artillery fire from the group army, and my troops also put on a forced crossing. Of course, these are all just to confuse the enemy. The main force of our division will quietly go up the Zizdra River without the enemy noticing, looking for places where the German army's defenses are weak. When crossing the river from the upper reaches Troops, when attacking from the enemy's flank, the enemy's attention will definitely be attracted, and then the troops deployed on the front will carry out forced crossings, which will greatly reduce casualties."

  According to Rokossovsky's idea, Sokov will definitely ask himself to bombard the enemy with the artillery fire of the army group, and then his troops will forcefully cross the Zhizdra River while the enemy is suppressed by the artillery fire. He was still thinking in his heart that the landing site of the troops was only tens of meters away from the German positions. No matter how careful the artillery was, accidental injuries would inevitably occur. But at the moment when he heard Sokov's plan, he couldn't help but his eyes lit up, and he asked quickly, "Misha, have you found a suitable place to cross the river?"

"Here." Sokov pointed to the upper reaches of the Zhizdra River, and said to Rokossovsky: "After our exploration, there is a section of river with a gentle flow and shallow water flow five or six kilometers upstream. , our troops could walk in vain. Most importantly, our scouts found no trace of German troops in the vicinity."

"In this way, it is very appropriate to choose this place as a breakthrough." Rokossovsky waited for Sokov to finish speaking, and said with satisfaction: "Major Sokov, our offensive will start in a week. You can start preparing for the attack now. If you need anything, just call me or the Chief of Staff, and we will do our best to meet your needs."

   Next, Malinin introduced to Sokov the offensive battle that will start soon, and pointed out their next offensive direction on the map.

  When Sokov left the headquarters, he thought he could only walk back to the division headquarters, but he accidentally saw the jeep that sent him and Potukin, which was still parked by the side of the road, so he hurried over.

  The driver who was dozing off in the car saw Sokov walking towards him, got out of the car to salute him, and reported, "Comrade commander, shall we go back to the division headquarters now?"

  Sokov asked curiously: "Comrade driver, why are you still here? Why didn't you go back to the division headquarters with the chief of staff?"

"Comrade division commander," the driver quickly replied upon hearing Sokov's question, "the chief of staff went back to the division with the commander from Moscow in another jeep. It’s convenient, so let me stay and wait for you. Please get in the car, we can leave at any time!”

  Sokov returned to the division headquarters and saw a pile of things covered with canvas next to the headquarters. He immediately judged that this was the automatic rifle sent by Yakov and the others. But just to be on the safe side, he still walked over and lifted the canvas to have a look, and it turned out to be a wooden box containing a rifle and bullets. He beckoned a soldier from the guard platoon and told him, "Comrade soldier, go back and tell your platoon leader to send two men over to guard. Without my order, no one is allowed to approach these weapons."

  Seeing Sokov walking in from the outside, Potukin said with surprise: "Comrade commander, you are back!"

   "I'm back!" When Sokov spoke, he glanced quickly at the command post, and found that there were only a few staff officers and signal soldiers besides Potukin, so he asked curiously, "Where are the comrades from Moscow?"

"They've already left!" replied Potukin hastily. "They unloaded their weapons and left in a hurry. I wanted to ask the captain to come in for tea, but he said there was something urgent and he needed to hurry." I didn’t keep them when I returned to Moscow.” After a short pause, Potukin asked again, “Comrade Commander, how should we distribute these new automatic rifles?”

   Seeing Potukin's embarrassed face, Sokov knew in his heart that the number of this batch of assault rifles was too small, only fifty, no matter how they were distributed, it would not be enough. So he said decisively: "This batch of new automatic rifles should be handed over to the division guard platoon for them to change their equipment."

  The reason why Sokov handed over the assault rifle to the guard platoon was because the supplementary soldiers from the superior had been filled to the regiments and battalions, so that the original division guard battalion had to be temporarily changed to a platoon because of insufficient numbers. There are fewer people defending the division headquarters. If the weapons are worse, if you encounter an enemy who sneaks up on the division headquarters, you will have no power to fight back.

  After solving the problem of the distribution of guns, Potukin asked again: "Comrade Commander, may I ask, what did Comrade Commander talk to you about?"

   "In another week, we will launch another attack on the enemy." Sokov slapped the map in front of him with his hand: "The first thing we need to break through is the enemy position in front of the 1135th Regiment."

After hearing what Sokov said, Potukin couldn't help frowning: "Comrade commander, you should know that the front position of the regiment is only 200 meters away from the enemy's position. As soon as our troops leave the position , they will be killed by the firepower of the German army on the other side. After reaching the river, our soldiers will board the ship under the rain of enemy bullets, and the casualties will be even more terrifying."

"Yes, Comrade Chief of Staff, you are quite right." Sokov stared at the map in front of him and said, "If we order the 1135th Regiment to take a forced crossing operation, half of the commanders and fighters will be killed by enemy fire before crossing the river." wiped out by the river, so we had to adopt new tactics."

   "New tactics?" Potukin couldn't help being taken aback when he heard Sokov say that, and then asked, "What new tactics?"

"It's very simple. Before the attack, the artillery of the group army will provide us with artillery support and shell the German army on the opposite bank." Sokov drew a small arc on the map with his hand and continued: "We can order The 1135th put on an attacking stance to attract the attention of the enemy, while our main force moved up the river, crossed here, and turned back to the German flank."

"This is very interesting." Although Potukin felt that Sokov's tactics were very novel and had hope of success, he still said with some concerns: "However, Comrade Commander, if our actions are discovered by the German army, then we will be killed in the future." Troops crossing the river upstream will be in danger. What can you do to prevent the enemy from discovering our army's intentions?"

"Don't worry, Comrade Chief of Staff, I have a solution." Sokov tapped twice on the position of the 1st Battalion of the 1135th Regiment with his finger, and then said: "Tomorrow morning, I will order Colonel Bindasov to take the other two The battalion was transferred to the position of the first battalion."

"What, transfer the other two battalions into the first battalion?" Hearing what Sokov said, Potukin asked puzzledly: "Comrade commander, although the first battalion has been reinforced, but at the same time put so I think it is very inappropriate to have too many troops in the forward position. In this way, the enemy will quickly judge what actions our army will take in this area, which will expose our strategic intentions."

"The troops will go up during the day, and then quietly withdraw at night. Then after dawn, they will be sent to the front again." Sokov ignored the stunned Potukin, and said to himself: "We just want to give the Germans a The illusion, let them think that we are increasing our troops at the front, making them mistakenly think that we will launch an attack here first, so as to attract them to transfer more troops."

  Potukin still has a certain ability to be the chief of staff of the division. After Sokov's explanation, he suddenly realized: "Understood, Comrade Commander, I understand everything. We are constantly increasing our troops to the front. The German army must have thought that we would carry out forced crossings at any cost in this area, so they We will focus all our attention here and relax the monitoring of other areas, so that our army crossing the river upstream can successfully cross the Zhizdra River."

  (end of this chapter)