Red Moscow

  Chapter 928

   After dawn, when Yakov reported to Ustinov, he specifically mentioned Golikov's plan to transfer Sokov to the Voronezh Front Army.

  Ustinov smiled lightly after hearing this, and then said, "I really didn't expect Sokov to be so sought after, even Golikov wanted to recruit him."

  Yakov heard that Ustinov had something to say, and hurriedly asked: "Comrade People's Commissar, did someone want to recruit Misha into his army before?"

"As far as I know, Rokossovsky lobbied Sokov twice." Ustinov said: "The first time was in the town of Khimki, when Sokov had just been promoted to platoon commander. Rokossovsky promised that as long as he agreed to be transferred, he would be given a company commander. Two months ago, Rokossovsky even proposed that as long as Sokov was willing to join his army, he would be given The post of a military commander."

   "What, give him the position of army commander?" Yakov had heard Sokov mention Khimki's matter, but he didn't pay attention to it. However, in order to attract Sokov, Rokossovsky even promised him the position of army commander. Yakov didn't know about this. Hearing Ustinov mention it now, he felt a bit too farcical: " is this real?"

"Of course it is true." Ustinov nodded, and said in a positive tone: "I have my own news channel, so I can get a lot of news that the Ministry of Internal Affairs is not clear about." He paused for a moment, He went on to say, "Whether it is Rokossovsky or Golikov, they all respect Sokov's opinion."

   "Why do you say that?" Yakov asked curiously.

"This question is very simple." Ustinov said lightly: "If the two of them don't respect Sokov, they only need a transfer order to transfer Sokov to their troops. Let alone Sokov Now I’m just a division commander, even if I’m an army commander, even if I don’t want to, I can only obediently obey orders.”

   "Comrade People's Commissar," Yakov waited for Ustinov to finish speaking, and asked tentatively, "When do you plan to let him return to Stalingrad?"

  Ustinov was silent. After a long time, he said: "According to the Supreme Commander himself, Sokov is not allowed to return to Stalingrad for the time being."

   Knowing that the order not to let Sokov return to Stalingrad was actually issued by his father, Yakov couldn't help asking in surprise: "Why?"

"Perhaps, your father intends to send Sokov to a certain direction to participate in the battle there when the situation deteriorates." After Ustinov finished speaking, he also specially emphasized: "Of course, this is just My guess."

   "Paulus' troops have fallen into the encirclement of our army," Yakov said with a look of surprise: "Do they still want to break out?"

"Surrounding the enemy does not mean destroying the enemy." Ustinov said with a wry smile: "Last winter, our army besieged 100,000 German troops in Demyansk. The German army supplied by air not only blocked our army's onslaught from several directions, but also successfully broke through in the end.

   Also, Model's 9th Army was besieged in the Rzhev area, and finally successfully smashed the siege of our army.

   Also, Holm, Susinich, etc...”

  Yakov heard these examples cited by Ustinov and found that the German army was indeed surrounded a lot, but in the end they not only smashed the Soviet army's plan to annihilate them, but even successfully broke the siege. From this point of view, although Paulus's troops were besieged, it was not an easy task to annihilate them.

  After listening to Ustinov's analysis, Yakov was in a bad mood. He returned to his office with a dejected face, and woke up Sokov who was sleeping in the room.

  Sokov sat up from the sofa, rubbed his eyes, and asked Yakov weakly: "Yasha, did you ask for me, when can I return to Stalingrad?"

   "I asked," Yakov replied, "You may not be able to return to Stalingrad in a short time."

   "Why?" Sokov was a little anxious when he heard that he would not be able to return to Stalingrad for the time being.

Yakov repeated the conversation he had just had with Ustinov to Sokov, and finally said worriedly: "I think Comrade People's Commissar's analysis is very reasonable. Maybe my father will not let you return for a long time." Stalingrad is to send you to the most dangerous place when the situation deteriorates."

After hearing this, Sokov couldn't help laughing: "Yasha, you actually believe such words? You don't even think about it, I'm just an ordinary teacher, if the situation in a certain direction really deteriorates, even if I'm in danger , Bringing troops to support, I am afraid it will not help."

  After Sokov’s analysis, Yakov felt that this was the case. Sokov has never been to any military academy, and now he holds the position of division commander, which is an exceptional promotion. It may not be easy to get to a higher level. Therefore, it is unreliable to say that he was kept in Moscow in preparation for being sent to important areas at critical moments.

  But when Yakov thought of the possibility of breaking through the siege of the Soviet army by the Paulus troops in the encirclement, he felt particularly disappointed. He tentatively asked Sokov, "Misha, do you think Paulus' troops will break through our encirclement?"

"I think the Paulus Group in the encirclement, if they can decisively make up their minds to break out of the encirclement and break out from the southwest direction of the encirclement, then it is possible to escape successfully. But now they have not only failed to break through, but have shrunk their forces. A heavy army group was formed in the middle of the encirclement circle, trying to use this method to resist our army's attack." Sokov sneered and said: "If they did this last year or early this year, maybe it would really work. But by doing that now, they’re asking for their own death.”

  Sokov's impassioned statement confused Yakov, and he asked in bewilderment: "Misha, you have confused me, can you tell me your reason?"

"The reason is very simple." Sokov said seriously: "Last winter or early this year, the reason why our army was unable to annihilate the besieged German army was that the commanders and fighters who participated in the attack lacked combat experience and their technical and tactical level was poor; the second was that the equipment It is not sophisticated and cannot be compared with the German army in the encirclement.

  However, after more than a year of war, our commanders and fighters have learned how to fight in the war, and their combat effectiveness has been gratifyingly improved. Moreover, various new types of equipment emerged one after another, and compared with the enemy's technical equipment, they were not inferior at all. Tell me, can our army defeat the enemy with improved combat effectiveness and improved equipment? "

"Well, according to what you said, it should be possible for our army to defeat the German army." Yakov said thoughtfully: "But the German army has so many troops after all, if we want to eat them all at once , I am afraid it will take time."

"In fact, the more enemies that are encircled by our army, the more beneficial it is for our army." After Sokov finished speaking, seeing Yakov's bewildered expression, he explained to him: "We Surrounded Paulus's heavy army group, cut off their land supply lines, so that they can only use transport aircraft for air supply.

  The German Air Force needed to resupply Paulus' troops, not only to provide fuel and ammunition, but also a lot of food. It may be maintained in a short period of time, but over time, the enemy will have to reduce the ration standard. Think about it, if the Germans are starved for several months, will they still have the strength to continue fighting with us? "

  Yakov knew about the siege of Leningrad. In order to ensure that more people survived, the leaders in the city had to grit their teeth and repeatedly cut the rationing standards. His eyes suddenly brightened, and he said excitedly: "Once there is a problem with the German army's supplies and cannot meet the needs of the trapped troops, Paulus will have to reduce the soldiers' rations. In this cold season, German soldiers cannot eat Well, it is easy to have a large number of non-combat attrition."

After Yakov finished speaking, Sokov added: "If our army dispatches the air force to continuously attack the transport planes that provide supplies for Paulus' troops, it will greatly reduce the supplies that Paulus has obtained. Time Over time, the combat effectiveness of Paulus' troops will be greatly weakened, reducing the pressure on our army in the next battle."

"Misha, your analysis is really reasonable." After listening to Sokov's analysis, Yakov admired him, and quickly stated: "I will truthfully report your analysis results to my father. Report."

  As soon as Yakov mentioned Stalin, Sokov couldn't help being moved. He asked tentatively: "Yasha, can you arrange an opportunity for me to meet your father?"

   "I'm afraid it won't work." To Sokov's request, Yakov replied with a wry smile, "Don't say it's you, even I can't see it if I want to."

Seeing Sokov's disappointed look, Yakov quickly added: "However, I can pass your analysis on to Comrade People's Commissar, and ask him to report the results of the analysis to my father when he reports to my father. , so that my father can also know what he knows."

  Since he couldn't see Stalin, and he couldn't return to Stalingrad in a short time, Sokov could only focus on the hovercraft he was developing. After being silent for a while, he tentatively asked Yakov: "Yasha, since I can't return to Stalingrad in a short time, can you arrange for me to visit the hovercraft project team to learn about their development progress."

   Let Sokov go to see his father, Yakov has more than enough energy. But Yakov still has the authority to take Sokov to study the hovercraft project team, so he nodded and said, "Okay, Misha, I will arrange this matter as soon as possible, and let you take a look at it." The development process of the hovercraft."

  (end of this chapter)