Sokov picked up the map on the table, placed it in front of Beria, pointed at it and said to him: "Comrade of the People's Committee, please see, judging from the situation on the map, Model's Ninth Army moved south from Orel, while Manstein's troops headed north from Belgorod. Both sides tried to meet outside the city of Kursk and encircled our army's heavy army group in the Kursk protrusion."
"This is very obvious, Comrade Sokov." As a member of the People's Defence Committee and a member of the Supreme Command, Beria was commonplace to attend important military meetings, and naturally knew the German intention of attack. He interrupted Sokov and said impatiently: "I want to know where the enemy's next attack is focused?"
"I'm not easy to say what the situation on the Northern Line is. After all, my troops are too far away, so many situations are not clear." Sokov decided to focus on telling Belia about the war on the Southern Line: "Let me talk about the situation on the Southern Line.
Although our army's artillery attack forced the enemy to delay the attack time by three hours, their combat effectiveness on the first day still successfully broke through our army's first defense. General Vatujing urgently transferred the front army reserve team and launched a counterattack against the enemy. He did this with only two goals. One goal was to restore the first defense occupied by the German army; if it could not be done, use this part of the troops to block the enemy from the second line of defense.
But unfortunately, the enemy opened a gap in his second line of defense and successfully crossed the Pena River, advancing more than 30 kilometers to the depth of our army's defense. In order to take the initiative in the battlefield, both the enemy and us dispatched a large number of air forces to fight for air supremacy on the battlefield..."
Listening to Sokov's analysis, Beliya kept nodding, expressing his agreement with his statement. Lunev, who was standing aside, felt relieved when he saw Beliya's expression as usual, and felt that Sokov could not pass the test easily today.
Sokov spoke for a while, feeling a little dry, so he took a sip with the teacup on the table, and then continued to say: "... the enemy was hit hard by us in the Oboyan area, and their elite imperial troops were almost completely lost. In this case, they would definitely give up their attack in the Oboyan area and shift the direction of the attack to their right wing, namely Prokholovka. The terrain there was flat, which was conducive to the development of the large-scale mechanized German troops. Therefore, the next battle will revolve around this area."
"Your analysis makes some sense." Before coming here from Moscow, Belia roughly learned about the situation on the front line. According to the summary information, the enemy's armored troops were gathering towards the Prokholovka area, and the 5th Guards Army and the 5th Guards Army mobilized by the base camp to the Voronezh Front were also heading towards the above-mentioned areas. As long as those who know this news understand that the main battlefield of the next step will be around the Prokholovka area. Belia knew that a lot of the information he had was top secret. Not to mention Sokov, who was at the level of the army leader, even the leader of the front, Konev and others, would not know it. In this way, he was indeed a military genius, who could analyze the next situation so accurately.
Through conversation with Sokov, Belia felt that there was no flaw. He felt that his previous judgment might have been deviated. How could he regard this young man trusted by Stalin and many senior commanders as a German spy? After chatting for a few more words, he stood up and said goodbye. He was eager to return to Moscow and instructed the relevant departments to change their thinking and no longer conduct any private investigations on Sokov.
Seeing that Belia was about to leave, Sokov planned to send him out, but he waved his hand and said, "Let Comrade Lunev send me, I have something to say to him."
On the way to the simple airport, Beria asked Lunev, who was sitting beside him: "Comrade Lunev, you have been partnering with Sokov for a long time. What do you think of his level?"
"Comrade Beliya, please be honest." Lunev and Sokov had been together for a while and felt that following him would continue to make contributions, which would be very helpful for their future prospects. When he heard Beliya ask, he naturally had to say good things to Sokov: "If he was not too young, with his military talent, he could be on par with Zhukov, Vasilevsky, Rokosovsky and others."
If Sokov had heard Lunev's evaluation of him here, he might have been embarrassed to find a crack in the ground. If others don't understand the situation, Sokov still doesn't know his background? If he didn't come from the future and knew the direction of history, and let him command wars with his real ability, his level would probably be similar to that of an ordinary infantry squad leader.
Lunev's evaluation of Sokov surprised Beria: "Oh, I really didn't expect that you would have such a high evaluation of him."
"Yes, Comrade Beliya." Lunev nodded and said in a positive tone: "I believe that in the near future, Comrade Sokov will command the troops and make more contributions in the Kursk region."
Shortly after Beria left, General Boluboyarov, the chief of the 4th Guard Tank Army, appeared in Sokov's command center. Seeing his appearance, Sokov was a little surprised: "Comrade General, why did you come to me?"
"Comrade Commander, Hello!" General Poluboyarov raised his hand to salute Sokov and asked politely: "I want to ask, what is the next combat mission of our army?"
Although large-scale armored troops cannot be deployed due to the terrain restrictions in the Shumakovo area, with a tank army as a backing, Sokov is much more confident when commanding the battle: "Have your tanks arrived in Shumakovo?"
"Yes, Comrade Commander, all the tanks arrived in Shumakovo." Poluboyarov said with some regret: "It's a pity that we are one step late."
"Comrade General, you don't have to feel regret." Sokov comforted the other party: "The areas that were fighting not long ago were not conducive to the development of tank troops. If a large number of tanks and armored vehicles were destroyed on the road, it would block our road to Oboyan."
"So when can we join the battle?"
"It's almost done," Sokov said casually: "Good steel is used on the blade. Your army is the most powerful force in our army. We must put you into battle at the most critical moment."
"Comrade Commander, before I come here." General Poluboyarov sat down opposite Sokov, took the tea cup handed over by the staff, took a sip of tea, and then continued: "I heard that the troops carrying out the assault seized a batch of German tanks. I wonder if this is the case?"
Before the attack, Sokov sent several small troops to attack the German camp with rockets. Taking advantage of the chaos of the enemy, he used three brigades to take turns to launch an attack, driving the enemy southward like a duck. The headquarters of the 2nd Armored Regiment of the German Army, shortly after the attack, the commanders and soldiers of the infantry brigade rushed into the camp and successfully seized 29 complete tanks. Now, in order to prevent these tanks from being attacked by the German air strike, Sokov had already ordered people to hide them. At this moment, when General Poluboyarov asked about this, he nodded and said, "That's right, when we attacked south, we did seize a batch of enemy tanks No. 3 and No. 4, a total of 29."
When he learned that a batch of German tanks had indeed been seized, Poluboyarov's eyes suddenly shone: "Comrade Commander, do you know that the number of tanks in our army is limited, and the new tanks that the superiors promised to supply us have not been in place so far. Look, can you equip all the captured tanks to our army?"
"What, equip these captured tanks to your army?" After seizing these tanks and supporting ammunition, Sokov has been considering which unit to allocate this batch of trophy to? According to the saying, General Poluboyarov's 4th Guard Tank Army has three tank brigades, one Motor Infantry Brigade, 7,500 people, 168 tanks and 76 artillery pieces of various caliber. If these 29 tanks are allocated to them, their strength can be made stronger.
But Sokov thought again, if General Poluboyarov's tank army was too strong, there would definitely be someone who would be jealous. At that time, the superiors issued an order to transfer the army to other army commands. At that time, he would lose his wife and his troops. Such a loss-making business could not be done.
On the contrary, the 85th and 483rd Battalions, which are directly under the Army, have less than fifty tanks, so we can consider allocating these tanks to them. After all, even if the superiors want to draw troops from their Army, they will not pay attention to such battalion-level units.
Unexpectedly, General Poluboyarov actually asked him straight to the point that he wanted the seized tanks, which made Sokov feel very embarrassed for a moment. Seeing that Sokov was reluctant to speak, Poluboyarov noticed his embarrassment and asked tentatively: "Comrade Commander, are you worried about how to allocate these tanks?"
"Comrade General, you guessed it right." Sokov did not go around in circles with General Poluboyarov, but said bluntly: "If our army had only one tank unit, I would definitely supplement all the captured tanks to your army without hesitation. After all, with a powerful tank unit, we will have a greater chance of winning on the battlefield."
"Yes, it's true." General Poluboyarov nodded, and then asked back with some confusion: "What's the reason why you can't make up your mind?"
"The reason is very simple," Sokov said with a wry smile: "The superiors may transfer your army to other army commands according to changes in the battlefield situation, and then our strength will be greatly weakened."
When General Poluboyarov didn't speak, he just held the tea cup and drank slowly. After a while, he spoke: "Comrade Commander, what do you mean is to assign these tanks to the two independent tank battalions?"
"I have such considerations." Sokov said cautiously: "Even if the strength of their two battalions is improved, they are only one battalion-level unit. Even if the superiors want to draw troops, they may be ignored."
"You make sense." General Poluboyarov expressed his understanding of Sokov's concerns. "From the current situation, the armored forces of the Voronezh Front have almost lost almost in the battle. Before obtaining new supplements, the superiors can only find ways to draw forces from other troops to strengthen them. If the superiors find that our army has not participated in the battle, it is possible to transfer us away."
What General Poluboyarov said was exactly what Sokov was worried about. He looked at the other party and asked, "Comrade General, do you have any good ways to avoid this?"
"There is a solution, but you must assign combat missions to us." General Poluboyarov said to Sokov with a smile: "As long as the superiors see our army fighting against the enemy, they will give up the plan to transfer us."
"This is a good method." Sokov felt that General Poluboyarov was very reasonable. As long as the tank troops under his name were fighting against the enemy, the superiors would definitely give up their plans to transfer them. "That is, as long as your army is fighting, the superiors would ignore you and not transfer you from our combat sequence."
"That's the case," General Poluboyarov continued: "If we are fighting the enemy, you keep making a series of demands to your superiors, such as insufficient tanks, insufficient ammunition and fuel, and needing to supplement them, etc. In this way, the superiors will have an idea that it is inappropriate to transfer us from your combat sequence, and they will give up this plan."
"It makes sense, it makes sense. Then I will arrange combat missions for your army immediately." Sokov just said this, and suddenly realized that he seemed to have jumped into the pit dug by General Poluboyarov in advance. He smiled bitterly and said, "Comrade General, next, you may be rightful to find the 29 German tanks I want to seize?"
Seeing that his trick was discovered by Sokov, General Poluboyarov laughed a little embarrassedly, and then said: "Comrade Commander, we will definitely lose tanks in the offensive battle. We can use these captured tanks to replace those damaged tanks."
"Okay, Comrade General." After some weighing, Sokov decided to hand over these tanks to Poluboyarov's tank army: "I can agree to your request, but you must arrange personnel as soon as possible to change the paint of these tanks, otherwise it will be bad if you are accidentally injured by your own people on the battlefield."
"I'm afraid there's too late to change the painting." General Poluboyarov said with a frown: "I think it's better to learn from the Germans and put a red flag on the tank's turrets, so that our commanders and fighters can tell that it's our tank from a distance."
Chapter completed!