Chapter 2348:

Chapter 2348

It was just dawn, and Sokov was on the phone asking Melekhov how far his troops had advanced overnight. But he saw Yakov not far away, raised the microphone in his hand at him, and said a few words silently. From the way the other person spoke, Sokov could tell that what he said was: "A call from General Zakharov."

He quickly spoke into the phone faster and said: "General Melekhov, if you have any latest developments, remember to call me and report to me in time. Wish you good luck!"

Putting the microphone on the phone base, Sokov quickly came to Yakov, took the microphone in his hand, put it to his ear and said: "Hello, Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, I’m Sokov, what are your instructions?”

"Misha, I'm not calling you to ask how far your troops have advanced overnight." Zakharov did not beat around the bush, but said straight to the point: "I got news that there seems to be a White Russian army. The army has contacted you privately and is preparing to surrender to you, is this true?"

 For Sokov, the surrender of Asano's troops was nothing more than a small matter, so he did not report it to his superiors at all. At this moment, when Zakharov heard this question, he quickly replied: "Yes, Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, this is indeed the case."

“How is the progress now?” Zakharov asked: “Did they ask for anything from you?”

“Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, it actually doesn’t matter whether they make demands or not.” Sokov said: “Because they have all been eliminated.”

"Destroyed?" Zaharov was shocked when he heard this, and quickly asked: "Who did this?"

Sokov reported everything related to Asano's troops to Zakharov in detail, and finally said: "When my troops arrived at the location of Asano's troops, they only found corpses on the ground. After careful search, The chief of staff of the unit, Kupitman, was discovered. According to him, the news that the troops were preparing to surrender to our army was secretly reported to the Japs by the former Belarusian commander, Beshgov. Then the Japs dispatched 107 The division encircled and suppressed them, resulting in the complete annihilation of this unit.”

After listening to Sokov's report, Zakharov was silent for a while, and then asked: "Misha, did you say that your subordinates have been to the Asano troop station?"

"Yes."

“Have you found any traces of the Kwantung Army?”

Sokov once asked Melekhov many details, so when he heard Zakharov's question, he did not panic at all, but said clearly: "According to the report of the commander who went there, except for the Kwantung Army's No trace of the Kwantung Army troops was found outside the bodies."

 “Misha, do you think there is something wrong with this?”

 “What’s the problem?” Sokov asked puzzled.

"Logically speaking, if there is a rebellion among the troops," Zakharov saw that Sokov did not understand, he analyzed it for him: "After sending out troops to carry out encirclement and suppression, the defense in that area will definitely be strengthened to prevent any fish that slip through the net from escaping. But when your men arrived, they found no trace of the Kwantung Army nearby. Tell me, what does this mean?"

Sokov frowned and thought for a moment, and suddenly thought of a possibility. He said with shock: "Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, do you mean that the Kwantung Army may want to escape?"

 “Be confident.” Zakharov said jokingly on the phone: “Remove the word ‘maybe’.”

Sokov thought about it carefully and felt that what Zaharov said was very reasonable. According to normal circumstances, after the Japs annihilated the rebel Asano force, they would definitely strengthen their vigilance nearby and launch a search to see if anyone had slipped through the net. of fish. But when the troops sent by Melekhov arrived, except for the corpses on the ground, not a single living person was seen there. This shows that after the Kwantung Army eliminated the traitors, they did not even have time to clean the battlefield and left in a hurry. Having arrived there means that they are eager to return home and have no intention of continuing to stay there.

“I understand.” Sokov said: “I will order the troops to speed up the attack and try to eliminate as many of the enemy’s effective forces as possible before they escape into the big cities.”

"By the way, Misha." Before Zakharov put down the phone, he suddenly thought of a question and asked casually: "If the Asano troops really surrender to you, how do you plan to arrange them?"

"Chief of Staff of the Front Army, the members of Asano's troops are basically White Russians. Not only do they have low combat effectiveness, but their military discipline is also very poor. If they are incorporated into our army, it will definitely affect the image of our army." Sokov told Zakharov. The real thought in my heart is, "If the surrender is really successful, I will arrange for them to fight with the front-line troops and be consumed as cannon fodder. If someone is lucky and can survive until the end of the war, we will discuss how to deal with them then. But Now that the little devil has helped me solve this troublesome problem, at least I don't have to worry about how to deal with this army in the future."

“You have a wounded person in your hands, what are you going to do with him?”

When Zakharov asked how to deal with Kupitman, Sokov hesitated, because this man fled to the northeast and joined Asano's troops because he was implicated in the case of Marshal Blucher. No matter what kind of person he was in the past, he probably did a lot of bad things in the notorious Asano unit, and it would not be an exaggeration to shoot him. However, considering the current special environment, Sokov replied: "I plan to temporarily let him recover from his injuries in a field hospital. After the war is over, he will be transferred to a military court and a dedicated person will decide how to deal with him."

"Misha, you are very thoughtful." Zakharov said earnestly: "When it comes to fighting, we are all experts. But when it comes to how to deal with surrendered people, it is not something we are good at. Professional things, It’s better to leave it to the professionals so we don’t have to worry about it.”

Sokov just put down the phone. He thought Zakharov had something else to say, so he grabbed the phone and said, "Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, do you have anything else to do?"

The other party hesitated for a moment, and then said: "Is it General Sokov?" Sokov recognized that the speaker was not Zakharov, but an unfamiliar voice, so he asked tentatively: "I am Sokov?" ,May I ask you are?"

"Hello, General Sokov!" the other party said carelessly: "I am Hudyakov, commander of the 12th Air Force Group Army."

Sokov couldn't help being surprised when he heard that the other party announced his home address. He was also the commander of the group army, but this Hudyakov was the air marshal. Although this military marshal was only equivalent to a general in the ordinary army, his military rank Although he was taller than himself, Sokov still showed enough respect: "Hello, Comrade Marshal! What can I do for you?"

"That's it, General Sokov." Hudyakov said to Sokov: "I received an order from the front army headquarters to provide necessary air cover for your group army. In order to better achieve air-ground cooperation, I specially call you…"

Sokov thought that Yakov was usually responsible for this kind of contact with friendly forces, so he handed the microphone to Yakov, who would conduct further communication with Hudyakov.

Sokov walked to Lukin and sat down, picked up the cigarette case on the table, took out a cigarette and held it in his mouth. However, he did not light it immediately. Instead, he said to Lukin: "Comrade Deputy Commander , it seems that our estimate of the enemy in advance was a bit too conservative."

"Oh, the original estimate of the enemy was too conservative?" Lu Jin asked with some confusion: "What does this mean?"

"When Melekhov reported to us that Asano's troops had been annihilated, we all overlooked one issue." Sokov explained to Lukin with a wry smile: "When our commanders and fighters arrived, in addition to the corpses of both warring parties, there were There was no trace of the Kwantung Army at all. According to convention, even if the rebellious Asano troops were annihilated, the Kwantung Army should leave enough manpower to serve as a guard nearby and search for any fish that slipped through the net. But our people didn't look at it at all. Seeing the shadow of the Kwantung Army, this shows that the enemy may have seen that the situation was not good and knew that it could not resist our army's attack, so he chose the tactic of shrinking his troops, gave up his plan to fight in the wild, and retreated all his effective forces to the big cities. , and engage in street fighting with us."

“If the nearly one million Kwantung Army retreats into the big cities, it will be difficult for us to fight the next war.”

"Yes, Comrade Deputy Commander, I think so too." Sokov said to Lukin: "So we must now order the troops to speed up the attack and destroy the little devils before their main forces withdraw into the big cities. As much vitality as possible.”

"Misha, I have a suggestion." Yakov, who had just finished the phone call, came over and said to Sokov: "Since the Kwantung Army wants to escape, we naturally cannot let them successfully retreat to those big cities and fight with us. What kind of street fighting, so should we also put the third echelon into the battle?"

"I think it is possible." Lu Jin agreed: "The area where we are fighting now is open and more troops can be deployed. I suggest that General Afnin's 18th Guards Corps be put into battle immediately, so that they can fight with the 49th The troops fought side by side and advanced in unison toward the depths of the enemy's defenses."

Had it been a few hours ago, Sokov might have hesitated about Lukin's proposal. But at this moment, he realized that the Kwantung Army had begun to escape, and his superiors had also arranged for the air force to provide air cover for his troops. In this case, the original combat plan had to be adjusted. He quickly said to Yakov: "Yakov Sha, you call General Afuning immediately and ask them to enter the battlefield through the gap opened by friendly forces and launch a full-scale attack on the Kwantung Army."

"No problem." Yakov said cheerfully: "I have just negotiated with Marshal Hudyakov. He will send an aviation division to cooperate with our army's actions. With air cover, the enemy who has already lost his fighting spirit is It can’t stop our attack at all.”

Afunin was stunned when he received the call from Yakov. After an unknown amount of time, he asked tentatively: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I would like to ask if there is any problem on the front line?"

“No, what can go wrong?” Yakov asked puzzledly: “General Afnin, why do you ask that?”

"Comrade Chief of Staff." Afuning quickly explained: "Our army is the third echelon. According to my assumptions, we may not have a chance to participate in the war until the day the Far East Campaign ends. But now the battle has just begun. Rushing us into battle the next day is obviously a sign that things are not going well on the front line."

"You are worrying too much, General Afnin." After listening to the other party's story, Yakov said with a smile: "The reason why you are allowed to participate in the battle in advance is entirely because the front line is progressing too smoothly. Various signs indicate that the Kwantung Army is facing The powerful offensive against our army has changed their tactics. They plan to abandon the original areas that are not conducive to defense, and withdraw the main force to a big city hundreds of kilometers away, intending to fight us there. In order to prevent the troops from falling into a tragic During the street fighting, we studied and decided to put your army into battle. The two infantry armies used a head-to-head approach and quickly rushed into the depth of the Kwantung Army's defenses. During their retreat, we eliminated as many of their effective forces as possible. Then by the time we get to the big cities, the resistance we'll face will be negligible."

Finding out the truth of the matter, it was not what he feared, and the stone hanging in Afuning's heart finally fell to the ground. However, he still asked with some worry: "Can we get support from artillery and tank troops during the attack?"

"None of this is a problem." Yakov explained to him: "On the offensive route we have arranged for you, the right wing is the troops of the 6th Guards Tank Army. The enemy's vulnerable tanks dare not come out at all. Provocative. In addition, in addition to receiving artillery support during your attack, the Air Force will also provide you with necessary air support. In a word, the issue you have to consider now is not how to break through the enemy's defense line, but how to make the most of it. Maybe bite more fleeing enemies and capture more prisoners.”

After listening to Yakov's story, Afunin suddenly smiled and said: "Don't worry, Comrade Chief of Staff. I dare not say anything else. When it comes to capturing prisoners, we will definitely be stronger than any army. Then I will worry about what you will do." The prisoner-of-war camp we built does not have that much space to hold the prisoners we captured."

Yakov raised his hand to look at the time and continued into the microphone: "General Afnin, the commander said that soldiers need to be quick. I will give you one hour to prepare for the battle. When the time is up, you will immediately launch an attack. , I hope you won’t disappoint us.”

"Don't worry, Comrade Chief of Staff." Afuning said with confidence: "I assure you that I will never betray your trust in me. The troops have been in a state of preparation for war. It will not take an hour at all, half an hour at most. , we can go into battle with high spirits.”

 (End of this chapter)