Chapter 2063:

  Chapter 2063

  When Chuikov's troops were active near the Vistula River, the Germans had a new move. For them, the loss of Brest not only shortened the distance to Warsaw, but also allowed the Soviet army to detour East Prussia from the south. In order to prevent this unfavorable situation, the German High Command tried to prevent the Soviet army from developing an offensive near Brest. To this end, it assembled the remnants of the 2nd and 9th Field Armies there.

When Sokov learned that the remnants of the 2nd and 9th armies had begun to gather and were preparing to launch a counterattack against Brest, he quickly adjusted his deployment and transferred all the troops originally deployed in the southwest of Brest to the north or Northwest, in order to counter possible German offensive.

  Just as he was deploying troops, he received a call from Rokossovsky: "Mischa, have the Germans assembled a large number of troops north and northwest of Brest?"

"Yes, Comrade Marshal." Sokov gave Rokossovsky an affirmative answer: "The remnants of the enemy's 2nd and 9th armies are gathering, and it looks like they are preparing to launch an attack on us to Recapture Brest."

   "Confidence to stop them?"

   "Of course, Comrade Marshal." Sokov said in an affirmative tone: "No matter how powerful the attacking enemy is, my subordinates are confident that they can crush their attack."

"Misha, I originally planned to let you rest for a while, but judging from the current situation, I'm afraid I'm going to break my promise." Rokossovsky said apologetically: "Chuikov's troops are currently carrying out important operations. mission, so I hope you can launch an attack on the German army, so as to divert the attention of the Germans from Chuikov. How, can you do it?"

   "It can be done, Comrade Marshal." Sokov knew very well that Rokossovsky wanted him to contain the German army so that the enemy would not be able to detect the actions of Chuikov's troops near the Vistula River. However, considering that there were too many new recruits in the army and lack of enough weapons, he took the opportunity to propose to the opponent: "Comrade Marshal, my army has recruited a lot of new recruits recently, but unfortunately, most of the new soldiers are not No weapons. You see, can you help us solve some of it?"

  If Sokov made such a request at any other time, Rokossovsky would definitely reject it without hesitation, but at this moment, Rokossovsky had to think about it. He thought for a while, and then said to Sokov: "Misha, you have replenished too many soldiers this time. Even I may not be able to replenish you with enough weapons. How about this, I will send someone to send you With the equipment of 10,000 people, you can arm as much as you can. The rest of the insufficient troops can be replenished on the battlefield. Don’t you think so, Misha?”

  Since Rokossovsky has already said this, does Sokov dare to say no? He could only bite the bullet and say: "Understood, Comrade Marshal, except for the 10,000 firearms provided by the Front Army Command, we need to find a way to solve the rest of the weapons and equipment."

After putting down the phone, Sokov said to Sidolin and Ponejielin: "Comrade Chief of Staff, Deputy Commander, the Front Army Command has just issued an order to us, in order to smash the German army's intention to capture Brest, order us Take the initiative to attack the enemy."

  When they learned that they were going to attack the enemy, whether it was Sidolin or Ponegerin, they all showed indifference. For them, soldiers fought on the battlefield. When and where the superior orders to fight the enemy, the troops must fight the enemy at the specified time and place.

However, what Xidolin is most worried about at the moment is the weapons and equipment of the troops. After all, the 50,000 people who have just been replenished have already emptied all the weapons in the logistics department of the group army: "Comrade commander, can the superiors replenish us with weapons and ammunition?" You know, in order to arm these 50,000 people, all the weapons stored in the logistics department of the group army have been exhausted."

   "I asked Comrade Marshal." Sokov said: "He said that he can provide us with 10,000 various firearms, but we need to find a solution for the remaining insufficient troops."

   "But where are we going to find a solution?" Sidolin said with a bitter face: "You know, we have entered the territory of Poland. This place cannot be compared with the country. There is absolutely no warehouse left by our army."

   "That's right, the Chief of Staff is right." Ponegelin also echoed: "Comrade Commander, I wonder if you have any way to help our newly added soldiers solve the problem of weapons and ammunition?"

   "We sent out of the city to search for the three brigades that the German army participated in. Have you gained anything recently?"

"Yes, Comrade Commander." Sidolin nodded, then opened a notebook and reported to Sokov: "The three brigades we sent, after several days of searching, eliminated a total of 685 German troops. Of the officers and soldiers, 275 were killed by the 109th Infantry Brigade, 319 by the 118th Infantry Brigade, and 91 by the 122nd Infantry Brigade.

  After listening to Sidolin's report, Sokov couldn't help frowning: "What happened to the 122nd Infantry Brigade? The number of enemies eliminated is less than a hundred. What's going on?"

Seeing the anger on Sokov's face, Sidolin quickly explained to him: "Comrade Commander, there are many reasons. For example, there are no Germans in the area searched by the 122nd Infantry Brigade. Existence, all the results they achieved will be the smallest."

  Sokov sneered, and continued to ask: "Is there any other reason?"

   "Other reasons?" Sidolin thought for a while, and replied: "There is another possibility, that is, most of the people sent to search are inexperienced recruits, so it is difficult for them to find the hidden enemies."

   After Sidolin finished speaking, Sokov said: "Where is Lieutenant Colonel Victor now? His brigade headquarters, or did he lead the team to search?"

   "It's not very clear." Sidolin said in a panic, "I'll make a phone call first to confirm."

   Soon, Sidolin finished the confirmation call and reported to Sokov: "The brigade chief of staff reported that Lieutenant Colonel Victor is now training recruits on the training ground."

   "Okay, I see." Sokov stood up and said to the two with a serious expression: "I'll go to Victor's place to have a look, and I'll leave the work here to you."

   Soon, Sokov, accompanied by Koshkin, came to the station of the 122nd Infantry Brigade and found Victor on the training ground. He was training the troops at the moment.

   Seeing Sokov's arrival, he quickly stopped the training, and ran over to report to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, the 122nd Infantry Brigade is conducting military training, please give instructions!"

   "Continue training!" Sokov simply replied.

   Soon, the training that was temporarily stopped started again.

   "Lieutenant Colonel Victor," Sokov looked at the soldiers who were practicing walking and aiming, and asked with some displeasure: "Is this how you train your troops?"

  Hearing what Sokov said, Victor asked in surprise, "Comrade Commander, is there something wrong?"

   "Of course not." Sokov pointed to the soldiers walking back and forth practicing goose steps in front of him, and said to Victor: "Do you think these goose steps can be used in offense, or can they be used in defense?"

  Sokov's questioning immediately overwhelmed Victor, leaving him wondering how to answer this question.

Seeing that Victor did not speak, Sokov became even more angry, "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," he said bluntly, "After you go to the battlefield, do you think the things the soldiers are training can be used?" Is it useful?"

"cannot."

   "Okay, since you said you can't, why do you still let the soldiers train?" Sokov said, "Isn't this a waste of time?"

   "Then what should we train?"

  “I think soldiers should be allowed to experience the feeling of bullets flying over their heads, so that they can overcome the fear after going to the battlefield.”

   "How should we train?" Victor asked.

Sokov said to a row of mounds dozens of meters away with his hands: "Let the soldiers hide behind the mounds and shoot at their hiding places, so that they can experience the feeling of bullets flying over their heads. "

   "This is not very good, Comrade Commander." Victor could not help but feel a little disheartened when he heard Sokov say this: "This will easily cause unnecessary casualties."

   "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, no." Koshkin interjected and said, "There are steel plates in the mounds on the training ground, which are enough to block bullets fired from tens of meters away."

   "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, gather your people." Sokov said to Victor in an orderly tone: "I will organize such training myself."

   Facing the order given by Sokov, no matter how reluctant Victor was, he could only bite the bullet and gather people together. Fortunately, those who participated in the training on the training ground were all recruits who had just been added to the army, and the number was not too many.

"Comrades," Sokov stood in front of the queue and said loudly to the recruits in the queue: "If you haven't been on the battlefield and personally experienced the feeling of bullets flying over your head, then how well you train on the training ground Well, that's useless. Next, we're going to do live ammunition and let everyone in turn experience the sensation of a bullet flying overhead."

  The recruits in the queue didn't know the purpose of Sokov's words, and their faces were full of confusion.

Sokov bent down and picked up a disc machine gun, and said to the soldiers: "Now, I need three volunteers to hide behind the mound, and then I will shoot towards the mound, so that they can experience the bullets for themselves. The feeling of flying overhead."

   After listening to Sokov's words, the recruits were all frightened into a cold sweat. It must be a job with a high mortality rate to hide behind the mound and withstand the machine gun fire. Although many people are not afraid of death, it is not worth dying on the training ground like this.

   Seeing that no one volunteered to go out, Sokov pointed at a corporal with his hand and ordered: "Comrade corporal, come out!"

  The corporal who was named by Sokov did not dare to neglect, stood up from the queue in a hurry, and asked in a panic: "Comrade commander, what instructions do you have?"

   Sokov handed the light machine gun in his hand to Koshkin, and then said to the corporal: "Comrade corporal, let me take you to experience the feeling of bullets flying over your head."

  When the two came to the back of the mound, Sokov shouted to Koshkin, who was holding a light machine gun: "We are ready to shoot."

   But Koshkin was worried that Sokov would be in danger, so he hesitated to shoot. Seeing that he was not shooting, Sokov raised his voice and shouted: "Koshkin, shoot, shoot quickly, we are ready." After shouting, he retreated behind the mound again.

  The corporal who was hiding behind the mound with Sokov was already so frightened that he lay face down on the ground trembling with his back to the sky, and asked tremblingly, "Comrade Commander, will we be killed?"

"No, Comrade Corporal." Sokov comforted the Corporal and said, "This kind of mound can hide at least three people. After you go to the battlefield, you must remember what I said, which can increase your chances of survival. .”

  When Koshkin was holding a machine gun and was about to shoot at the mound, Victor stopped him and asked tentatively: "Comrade Captain, how about we replace it with blank ammunition, which can greatly avoid accidental injuries."

"No, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." Koshkin unequivocally rejected Victor's proposal: "Since the commander ordered the use of live ammunition, it must be used." After speaking, he pointed at the mound The position hit two bursts. After finishing all this, he stood up straight and shouted at the position of the mound: "Comrade Commander, the shooting has been completed, you can come out!"

Hearing Koshkin's shout, Sokov slowly poked his head out from behind the mound, glanced at Koshkin's position, and found that Koshkin really put the machine gun aside, so he boldly stand up.

   Sokov led the corporal to answer the front of the queue, and asked everyone: "Comrades, who else wants to try?"

   Seeing that Sokov took the corporal to experience it for himself, the recruits became more courageous and raised their hands to ask for a try. Sokov pointed at the two soldiers at any time, and then asked the corporal to lead them to hide behind the mound.

   This time, Sokov personally shot. He first fired two bursts, and then fired a burst. Then he stood up and shouted to the back of the mound: "You can come out!"

   When the corporal returned to the front of the queue, Sokov stopped him, and then said with a smile: "Comrade corporal, you tell comrades, what does it feel like when a bullet flies over your head?"

The corporal thought for a while, and then replied: "When the bullets first flew over my head, I was so scared that I almost wet my pants. If I go the second time, I will have more experience. As long as I hide behind the mound and don't move, then Bullets can't hit me at all."

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," Sokov called Victor to him, and said to him, "Let every soldier experience the feeling of bullets flying over their heads. In this way, when they go to the battlefield in the future, they will not There's going to be some cold blood. Do you understand?"

   "Understood, Comrade Commander." Victor nodded and said, "I will immediately arrange manpower to come here to cooperate with the recruits for training."

   "Also," Sokov told the other party: "Two burst shots are enough for each experience. Don't waste too many bullets, lest we don't have enough ammunition when our army goes to the battlefield."

   "Okay, Comrade Commander." Victor nodded vigorously after hearing this, and replied, "I will follow your order and effectively control the consumption of ammunition while completing special training."

  (end of this chapter)