When Popov passed through the 61st Motorcycle Battalion defense zone of the German Army, he ordered people to send a telegram to the Front Command and Sokov each to inform him of his leadership of his breakthrough and the progress.
Seeing that Popov couldn't help asking for instructions, Vatujing ordered the troops to break through without authorization, and was furious. He shouted at Chief of Staff Bojin: "Popov led the troops to break through without authorization. This is a coward's behavior, which is to be greedy for life and fear death. I want to report this matter to the base camp immediately and send him to the military court."
"Comrade Commander," Bojin asked tentatively after the attack of Watujing, after he had finished, "What should we do? Order them to stop breaking through?"
"What is breaking through is to escape or escape." Vatujing said furiously: "Immediately send a telegram to Popov, ordering him to stop this wrong move, and immediately lead the troops back to his original station and wait for our disposal."
"Comrade Commander, since the breakout has begun, do you see if they can continue." Bojin said cautiously: "Many troops that are breakout are unable to ensure smooth communication. If such an order is issued to General Popov at this time, I am worried that the troops who received the order will retreat, and those who have not received the order will continue to attack the German army, which will cause unnecessary chaos."
Watujing thought about Bojin's words, and it seemed to make some sense, so he nodded and said, "Chief of Staff, you are right. Now Popov's troops are breaking through. If the order to stop breaking through is now issued, it may cause his troops to be in chaos. Then this order will not be issued for the time being, but Popov's affairs must be reported to the General Staff as soon as possible to see what they mean."
Hearing Vatujing's order, Bojin asked carefully and reminded him: "Comrade Wassevsky, the Chief of General Staff, does not seem to be in Moscow. Now the person in charge of the General Staff is Comrade Antonov, the first deputy chief of general staff and minister of combat. Based on my understanding of him, he will definitely agree with General Popov's breakthrough after he knows."
"If Popov's rapid cluster jumps out of the enemy's encirclement, then the encircled Sixth Army will face the danger of the destruction of the entire army." Vatujin said with a serious expression: "I will never tolerate such a thing happening. You should find a way to contact Comrade Huaseyevsky and report it to him."
"I heard that two days ago, Comrade Varielevsky went to the Voronezh Front. I immediately contacted General Pili Pianko, the chief of staff of the front, to find out where the Chief of Staff was going." Bojin assured Vatujing: "I will report to the Chief of Staff as soon as possible when Popov led his troops to break through."
…………
After receiving a telegram from Popov, Sokov carefully checked the location of the troops and asked Vitkov who was standing aside: "Comrade Chief of Staff, do you think General Popov's breakthrough will be successful?"
Witkov pointed at the location of Popov's troops with his fingers, shook his head and said, "It's already ten o'clock in the morning, but his troops have only wedged into the German defense line for six kilometers. It's so slow that it takes how much time to walk these two hundred kilometers."
"Yes, their movement speed is too slow." Sokov stared at the map and said in confusion: "Realistically speaking, in their current location, only some German company-level units could not stop them from breaking through. Why did it take more than ten hours to advance so far?"
"I'll send General Popov a telegram and ask what's going on." Vitkov also had a headache about Popov's speed of crawling like a snail: "If they keep marching at this speed, when will we send troops to reinforce?"
As soon as Vitkov left, Sokov received a call from the Front Command. Rokosovsky asked straight to the point: "Col. Sokov, Lieutenant General Popov's troops have begun to break through to your city. Do you know this?"
"Yes, comrade Commander of the Front, I know this." Since Rokosovsky called to ask about this, Sokov took the opportunity to report: "However, judging from the breakout report they provided to us, their actions were too slow. At present, their breakout forces have only advanced six kilometers eastward, and we cannot provide any help to them for the time being."
"Popov's situation is very bad." Rokosovsky frowned when he learned that Popov's troops were slow. He knew how far Sokov's troops were from Popov, so he did not blindly issue a task to respond. After some consideration, he reminded Sokov: "I will send a telegram to Popov and urge him to speed up. And you must be prepared to respond and be ready to attack at any time."
"You can rest assured that I have arranged this." Sokov reported to Rokosovsky: "I ordered all divisions to send German-speaking sabotage teams to the rear of the enemy. They will wear German uniforms and carry out sabotage and assassination operations everywhere, causing the enemy to panic. In this way, even if the enemy wants to attack us, they may not be able to concentrate all their troops."
"Oh, you let the destruction teams deep behind enemy lines wear German uniforms?" Rokosovsky said unexpectedly: "In the past, the enemy used this tactic to make us anxious, but now we can use the same method to deal with them. It's not bad, and if it is proved to be effective, I will order it to be promoted throughout the entire army."
After Sokov ended Rokosovsky's dialogue, Vitkov also reappeared in front of him and reported to him with a bitter face: "Comrade Commander, General Popov's call has been received. In the telegram, he mentioned in detail the reason for the slow movement of the troops."
“What’s the reason?”
"First, the existence of a large number of wounded people. The field hospitals slowed down the marching speed of the troops in the process of transferring wounded people."
"Apart from this reason, are there any other reasons?"
"They have more than a hundred tanks left. In order not to leave these technical equipment to the enemy, General Popov ordered the tanks that still have fuel to pull the fuel-exhausted tanks forward."
"What, use a tank with fuel to pull a tank that runs out of fuel?" Sokov couldn't help but raise his hand to hold his forehead, not knowing what he should say: "Has General Popov never considered that the tanks that were responsible for the traction mission basically became the role of a towing truck. If he encountered an enemy tank or anti-tank hand on the road, he would have no power to fight back?"
"Comrade Commander, tell me." Witkov asked tentatively: "Would we give General Popov a piece of advice to avoid making such low-level mistakes?"
Chapter completed!