Sokov's choice not only surprised Rokosovsky, but even Stalin was surprised.

He thought he had heard it wrong, so he said to the microphone: "Konstantin Konstantinovich, say it again, which army does Xiaomia want to go to?"

"It's General Konev's grassland front."

"Can't you make a mistake?"

"I've checked it repeatedly and I'll never make any mistakes."

"I see."

After Stalin put down the phone, he held his pipe and walked back and forth in the house. The reason he planned to transfer Sokov from the current front was because no battle would happen in a short period of time in the Red Army village, Donetsk. The troops of the Leningrad Front were fighting against the enemies besieging Leningrad; and the troops of the Western Front also exchanged fire with the troops of the German Central Army Group from time to time.

According to his idea, when Sokov learned that he would be transferred from the existing territory, he would choose one of the two fronts as his new destination. But unexpectedly, he did not choose either of these two fronts, but chose only the grassland front of the reserve team.

Thinking of this, he walked to the table and picked up the phone, and asked someone to connect to Konev's headquarters. When he heard Konev's voice coming from the receiver, he spoke, "Is it Konev? I am Stalin!"

Konev didn't expect Stalin to call him at this time, and quickly straightened his body and said, "Hello, Comrade Stalin."

"Konev, I want to ask, are you familiar with Sokov?"

"Sokov?" Konev repeated the surname and then asked back: "Comrade Stalin, are you talking about Major General Sokov, the commander of the Sixth Army, right?"

"Yes, that's it." Stalin asked without moving, "Are you familiar with him?"

"Comrade Stalin," although I don't know why Stalin asked, Konev replied truthfully: "I have seen his news in the newspaper, and I have never seen a real person. I can be said to be a completely stranger."

"Today I asked Rokosovsky to inform Sokov that he was going to transfer him from the Sixth Army and let him freely choose where he wanted to go?" Stalin asked, "Guess, where did he choose?"

Konev couldn't help but feel a little nervous when he heard Stalin say this, thinking to himself: Sokov won't ask my troops to come, right? But I am a reserve team, and he may not have any chance to make achievements after he comes. Although he has the answer in his heart, Konev still pretends to be confused and asks: "Where?"

"He told Comrade Rokosovsky that he wanted to go to your army." Stalin said with some confusion: "I felt strange. According to his personality, he would definitely go to the Leningrad Front or the Western Front, but he did not expect that his last choice was to go to your army. I was just confused about this, so I called you to ask you what was going on."

"Comrade Stalin," Konev said quickly, seeing that Stalin seemed to have doubts about himself, "Major General Sokov and I have never had any intersection, and whether he knows me is still a question. So, I have no idea why he chose my troops."

Stalin had no doubt about Konev's statement. After he said a few words, he hung up the phone directly.

Konev was dazed with the phone that came from blind voice, and began to think in his mind: there are many troops organized by his front army, but these troops were all transferred from other front army. The troops were insufficient to supplement and have no material equipment reserves, and were very tired. They must be supplemented and strengthened during an extremely tense period to equip combat operations to establish combat institutions. What did Major General Sokov liked before he took the initiative to apply for his own troops?

Before he could come up with a reason, the military commissioner Lieutenant General Mechlis walked in. He looked at Konev holding the microphone in a daze, and greeted him with a smile: "Comrade Commander, what are you thinking? I saw you holding the microphone for a long time and didn't let go. Who called you?"

"It's Comrade Stalin."

"What, Comrade Stalin?" Mechlis, who had just sat down, immediately jumped out of his seat when he heard that Konev had just finished his call with Stalin and asked tentatively: "Comrade Commander, I wonder what did the Supreme Commander tell you on the phone?"

Although Mechlis and Konev are partners, Konev does not like this person who loves to report at all. Especially in 1942, he was sent to the front line of Crimea as a representative of the headquarters of the Supreme Command, and had conflicts with the commander of the Front Army Dmitry Kozlov, and used his power to remove a group of cadres, resulting in the loss of 500,000 people in Crimea's Soviet army in a week.

But since the other party had asked, he couldn't help but say: "Comrade Stalin told me that Major General Sokov, the commander of the Sixth Army, took the initiative to ask for our front army."

"Major General Sokov, Commander of the Sixth Army?" Mehlis asked in surprise: "Are he not confronting the enemy on the front line of the Red Army village, Donetsk? How could he take the initiative to ask our front army to come? You must know that we are just a reserve front army, and whether we can participate in the battle is a question, let alone make achievements."

"I don't know the specific reason," Konev looked at Mehlis and said, "Since he is the commander of the Sixth Army and has made meritorious achievements not long ago. How should such a commander be placed in our army? It is a bit inappropriate to let him be the commander of the division, or even the commander of the army. If the commanders of the four armies are selected, they can't be dismissed and let him take over, right?"

"Comrade Commander," Although Mehlis likes to report and flatter, he still has his own opinions on personnel appointments: "I think it is most appropriate for him to have the Supreme Command to arrange it, so we don't have to worry about this."

"Military Comrade," Konev thought it was still very reasonable to Mechlis' proposal, so he nodded and said, "I think your proposal is good. Since it was my superior who transferred Major General Sokov, then what position he had to hold should be given to him to arrange."

The two were about to wait until Sokov arrived at the Grassland Front, and then asked the base camp to ask them to arrange their posts for Sokov. Unexpectedly, the next morning, Lieutenant General Zaharov, chief of staff, came to report to Konev: "Comrade Commander, something is wrong, something happened."

Konev was shocked and asked quickly: "What happened?"

"Major General Ozerov, commander of the 27th Army, had a car accident while inspecting the troops."

"How is his injury?" Konev asked quickly: "Can you continue to command the troops?"

"No," Zaharov replied very simply: "I asked the director of the field hospital. He said Major General Ozerov's liver and spleen ruptured and rescue is now underway. Even if the rescue goes well and the dangerous period is successfully passed, I'm afraid I will have to lie in bed for two months."

After Zakharov finished his report, he saw that Konev was silent and continued: "Now the various troops are undergoing supplementary and intense training. If the 27th Army does not have a commander, it may affect normal work. I suggest that someone be sent to temporarily act as Major General Ozorov."

Konev did not make a statement, but picked up the phone, dialed a number, and said to the microphone: "I am Konev, please come to me with a comrade in the military committee."

When Zaharov heard Konev wanted to call Mehlis over, he opened his mouth and wanted to say something, but in the end he still didn't say it.

Soon, Mehlis came to the command center. Seeing that Zaharov was also there, he nodded to him, saying hello, and then asked Konev: "Comrade Commander, you call me over, is there anything wrong?"

"It's so, Comrade Chief of Staff just reported to me." Konev told Mehlis: "Major General Ozerov, commander of the 27th Army, was in a car accident and is now undergoing rescue in the hospital..."

When Mehlis heard the news, he immediately blurted out: "That's great, this is really great." But as soon as he said that he found that Zakharov's face was a little wrong, but this was normal. The other party reported that a senior commander of his subordinate had a car accident and was undergoing rescue, but he kept applauding. If it were another occasion, he might be beaten up.

Fortunately, he saw Konev's expression as usual, and obviously understood what he wanted to express. Since Konev knew what he wanted to say, Mehlis turned to face Zakharov and said, "Comrade Chief of Staff, don't misunderstand. Comrade Commander and I are worried about how to place the upcoming Major General Sokov. Now Major General Ozerov has a car accident, and the position of the commander of the 27th Army is naturally empty. We can ask our superiors to let Major General Sokov serve as the commander of the army in the future."

"What, Major General Sokov is going to be transferred to our front army?" Zakharov obviously didn't know the news that Sokov was going to be transferred. At this moment, when he heard Mechlis speak, he couldn't help but look shocked on his face. He asked Konev tentatively: "Comrade Commander, is this all true?"

"It's true, Comrade Chief of Staff." Konev nodded and said to Zaharov: "Military Commissioner and I planned to wait until Sokov was transferred here before asking our superiors to arrange a suitable position for him. But now it seems that he is lucky. If there is no accident, his superiors will definitely appoint him as commander of the 27th Army."

After Zakharov figured out what was going on, he quickly said to Konev: "Comrade Commander, then I will call the General Staff immediately to report the news of Major General Ozerov's injury, and ask them to arrange personnel to take over the position of commander of the group army."

Originally, Rokosovsky planned to delay until the end of April, and wait until the Soviet and German fronts were completely stabilized before letting Sokov leave. However, with Major General Ozerov being injured in a car accident, the Supreme Command quickly agreed to the request of the Grassland Front and formally appointed Sokov as the commander of the 27th Army, and ordered him to go to the Grassland Front to report within a week.

After receiving the transfer order, Sokov said to Vitkov and Lunev: "Chief of Staff, comrade of the Military Commission, after I leave, the Sixth Army will be handed over to you. I hope you can firmly defend your current position to ensure that our army can have more offensive starting points when launching the summer offensive."

"Don't worry, comrade Commander." Vetkov assured Sokov: "Although I do not have the command ability you have, there should be no big problem in defending the existing position."

Sokov remembered the time when he was recuperating in the Stalingrad defense battle, that was when Vitkov was commanding his troops on his behalf. Although his command style was very different from that of himself, under the strong attack of the German army, he still stubbornly defended his position. The only shortcoming was that the casualties of the troops were too great.

Now the Sixth Army has eight infantry divisions, three tank brigades, one artillery division and several other troops, with a total force of 70,000. As long as the German attacking troops do not deploy the same number of troops, it is impossible to break through the defensive position on the Red Army village, the Donetsk line.

"Comrade Commander," although Lunev and Sokov were not together for a long time, they got along very well. Sokov was about to be transferred away, and he was reluctant to let it go. He said to Sokov: "What you are going to is a new force. If you don't bring some of your familiar subordinates, it may be very difficult to carry out the work."

"Military Comrade, you are right." Sokov knew very well that if he went to the new army alone, it would probably take a long time to integrate and train the army, but if someone assisted him, the situation would be different.

Sokov took out a list and handed it to Vitkov, saying to him: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I plan to let these comrades go to the new troops with me. Please draw them out as soon as possible."

When Vitkov took the list, he saw that he was all officers above the lieutenant level, with a total of forty people. Among them, the highest was Colonel Beerkin, the political commissar of the 124th Regiment, and Major Vanya, the chief of staff of the 122nd Regiment.

After browsing the list, Vitkov couldn't help but sigh in his heart that the people Sokov wanted to take away were basically old subordinates of the 73rd Infantry Brigade. I believe these people would be happy after receiving this news. He carefully put the list in his pocket and assured Sokov: "Comrade Commander, don't worry, I will draw these commanders out as soon as possible and let them go to the new army with you."

Lunev felt that after he came to the front line, he got along well with Sokov, so he asked tentatively: "Comrade Commander, I wonder if you can ask your superiors to let me go to the new army with you?"
Chapter completed!