Chapter 2361:
With the backing of the air force, the 53rd Army's advance speed was greatly accelerated. Especially General Afnin's 18th Guards Army. Even though they only had two divisions engaged in the battle, their progress far exceeded that of the 49th Army that set off earlier.
When Afunin reported the good news to Sokov, Sokov suddenly remembered the 4th Guards Airborne Division that was training and asked quickly: "General Afunin, I wonder how the troops of Commander Ye Liaoming are training." Already?"
If it were in normal times and the troops had just trained for two days, Sokov would definitely not take the initiative to ask about the opponent's training situation. However, the current Far East campaign will end in a few days. If he does not urge the opponent, he may not wait until the little devil announces it. Surrender, the training of the troops has not yet begun.
Fortunately, Afuning had already expected that Sokov would ask about this matter, so he answered confidently: "Reporting to Comrade Commander, starting yesterday, Major General Ye Liaoming organized his troops to start parachuting training. Except for a few soldiers When jumping from a high place, I sprained my feet due to my unskilled movements, but the rest of the training subjects were completed.”
“How did you train?” Sokov asked curiously.
"It means building a three-meter-high wooden platform with one-meter-thick sand underneath, and then the soldiers jump off the platform according to the instructions." Afunin was worried that Sokov didn't understand, and specifically explained: "This is an airborne landing. One of the most basic training subjects for soldiers."
"Yeah, that's good." Sokov nodded and said, "Although this kind of training will cause some soldiers to sprain their feet, it will allow them to master the skills of parachuting as soon as possible."
“I have a plan to borrow air force transport planes to allow troops to parachute from the air.” Afuning said cautiously: “But I am worried that many soldiers will not dare to jump from the plane after they get to the sky.”
"General Afunin," Sokov suddenly laughed when he heard what Afunin said: "I heard that in previous airborne training, when the instructors encountered those soldiers who did not dare to jump, they would usually kick them. They kicked them down. If the troops are in the air and encounter soldiers who dare not jump down, they can also use this method."
"Okay, let's do it as you said." After Afuning said this, he asked tentatively: "But you need to apply to the Air Force for the transport aircraft."
"No problem, no problem." Sokov said carelessly: "I will contact the Air Force now. I wonder when you plan to use transport aircraft for training?"
Afuning thought for a while and replied: "If possible, it is best to do it the day after tomorrow. After all, in these two days of training, most of the soldiers have mastered the skills of parachuting. Only by actually going to the sky and jumping once can they become real airborne parachutists." Soldiers."
“How many transport planes do you need?”
“Of course the more the better,” Afuning said: “But if the Air Force has limited transport aircraft, then at least ten of them must be provided for us, so that at least one battalion of soldiers at a time can participate in real airborne training.”
After Sokov ended the call with Afnin, he directly dialed the airport dispatch room: "I am Sokov, please help me find Lieutenant Colonel Denis."
"I am Denis." Denis's voice came from the receiver: "Comrade General, what can I do for you?"
"That's it, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." Sokov explained to the other party: "I plan to airdrop one of my airborne divisions behind enemy lines in the near future, but this unit has been used as infantry in the past few years, so most of them are Infantrymen with no airborne experience. In order to allow them to better perform this airborne mission, I specially selected them for training. After two days of training, the soldiers have roughly mastered the skills of airborne. In order to familiarize themselves with airborne operations as soon as possible, I plan to ask you to borrow a group of transport planes and let them conduct a real airborne training."
“Comrade General,” Denis said, somewhat dumbfounded after listening to Sokov’s words: “Do you know how long it takes to train a real airborne soldier?”
"have no idea."
Seeing that Sokov did not understand the specific situation, Denis explained to him: "Ordinary infantrymen can be released from the company after three months of training in the new company, but for airborne troops, this time must be extended to at least six months. If they want to become qualified airborne troops who can perform special operations missions, they usually need to train for no less than one to one and a half years. If you ask soldiers who have just trained for two days to carry out real airborne landings, you are not asking them to do so. Going to die?"
Sokov didn’t know that the training time given to the airborne division was too short, but there was nothing that could be done about it. Before the war, for reasons of confidentiality, the troops had to keep a low profile to prevent the Kwantung Army from detecting the Soviet offensive intentions.
"I know, Lieutenant Colonel Denis." Sokov said with a serious expression: "If possible, I would also like to let this unit train for half a year before going into battle, but isn't the situation now special? In order to prevent more enemies Retreat to the big cities and build strong fortifications there to fight positional warfare with us. We must airdrop the airborne troops to the enemy's rear in the shortest possible time and occupy in advance those cities that the enemy plans to use to hold on for a long time to reduce the number of enemies. Unnecessary casualties to our troops.”
After listening to Sokov’s heartfelt words, Denis was silent for a long time. He finally said: "Comrade General, I understand what you mean. I can help you. I wonder how many transport aircraft you plan to need for airborne training of paratroopers?"
"Of course, the more, the better." Sokov thought that there were two or three transport planes parked at Solon Airport, which was far from the number Afunin requested, so he asked tentatively: "I wonder if you can provide us with twenty More than two transport planes?" He said that the number of twenty planes gave Denis room for bargaining.
Unexpectedly, as soon as he finished speaking, Denis shook his head and said: "No, Comrade General, with my authority, I simply cannot provide you with so many transport aircraft. Nowadays, in addition to fighters and bombers, at Solon's airport , there are only three transport aircraft, which are specially used to transport fuel and ammunition for our combat aircraft. If I lend these transport aircraft to your troops, then the fighters and bombers at the airport may be due to lack of sufficient fuel. and ammunition, it is no longer possible to provide air support to your troops as originally planned."
Sokov couldn't help but frowned after hearing this: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, what should I do?"
Denis thought for a while, and then suggested to Sokov: "Comrade General, why don't you contact our Air Marshal personally to see if he can provide you with more transport aircraft."
When he learned that he could discuss with Hudyakov to obtain more transport aircraft from him, Sokov thought of a key question and quickly asked: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I forgot a key question: Solon Airport How many planes can be parked now?” According to Sokov’s idea, if he borrowed twenty or thirty transport planes from Hudyakov, and when the plane arrived in Solon, he found that the airport here could not park at all, then the transport planes would help with the air landing. After the soldiers complete their airborne training, they must fly back to the air force base on the other side of the border.
"The maximum limit of Solon Airport is to accommodate sixty aircraft of all types." Denis replied: "Today, the total number of reconnaissance aircraft, fighters, bombers and transport aircraft at our airport is forty-five. That is to say , and can accommodate up to fifteen transport aircraft.”
“Fifteen, right,” Sokov said, “I understand, and I immediately called Marshal Hudyakov. Thank you, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel.”
“You’re welcome,” Denis said, “I wish you good luck!”
After Yakov saw Sokov finishing the phone call, he asked Sokov worriedly: "Misha, the airborne troops have only trained for two days, is it too risky to let them go to the sky for real airborne training?" What if we cause a lot of casualties and our superiors hold us accountable?"
"Yasha, you may have heard the conversation between Lieutenant Colonel Denis and me." Sokov explained to Yakov helplessly: "The training of new airborne troops alone takes six months. If you want It will take longer to train them into qualified airborne troops. But we don't have time. The enemies we are fighting are on the verge of collapse and are quickly pushing towards the big cities in the hinterland. Once they enter the big cities, they will be there If we engage in street fighting, the duration of this battle will be extended from the current few months to three months or even longer, and our army's casualties will also increase exponentially."
"Comrade Chief of Staff, I agree with Misha." Lukin stood up and supported Sokov's point of view: "I remember Misha once said before, sweat more in peacetime and bleed less in war. A few days of training Although it is a bit shorter, as long as the training intensity of the airborne troops is increased, they can still master enough useful skills. I have an idea. When we board the plane for airborne training in two days, we can improve the training results and select the outstanding ones. Commanders and fighters were organized into specialized airborne troops to carry out this dangerous and glorious mission."
Yakov felt that he could not refute Lukin's statement. After all, it is obviously inappropriate to ask six to seven thousand commanders and fighters with no airborne experience to form real airborne troops in just a few days. But there would be no problem at all if we select some elites and form an airborne assault force behind enemy lines.
“Well, I agree with you two and let the commanders and fighters of the 4th Airborne Division board the plane as soon as possible for real airborne training.”
Seeing that everyone had reached a consensus, Sokov picked up the phone and called the Air Force Army Headquarters. He said to the staff officer who answered the phone: "Hello, I am General Sokov, commander of the 53rd Army. Please call me. Comrade Air Marshal Hudyakov, I have important matters to discuss with him."
Soon, Sokov heard Hudyakov’s voice: “Hello, General Sokov, I wonder if you have anything to ask me about?”
When Hudyakov finished listening to Sokov's words, he fell silent.
Hearing the sudden silence from the receiver, Sokov couldn't help but feel a little panicked, thinking that Hudyakov didn't agree to his request and hung up the phone directly. But if you listen carefully, you can vaguely hear someone talking inside and the beeping sound from the radio.
Just when Sokov was anxious, he finally heard Hudyakov's voice: "General Sokov, I want to ask you two questions."
“Excuse me, Comrade Air Marshal.”
“First, how many more planes can be parked at Solon’s airport?”
"Solon's airport can park a total of about sixty aircraft." Fortunately, Sokov once asked Lieutenant Colonel Denis, so he could easily answer Hudyakov's question: "Now there are more than forty aircraft of various types in the airport. Five, which means it can park no less than fifteen aircraft.”
"Well!" Hudyakov said yes and then continued to ask: "I can provide you with eighteen transport aircraft for the training of airborne troops. But the training time of your airborne troops is too short. If during the training If an accident occurs and a large number of casualties occur, what should we do?”
Sokov has also carefully considered the situation Hudyakov mentioned. When the other party asked, he answered cautiously: "Comrade Air Marshal, although my airborne division has been used as infantry in the past two years, the original airborne troops have also been sacrificed and wounded, and the number of personnel has been reduced. It is extremely serious, but after all, a group of combat backbones have been left behind. I plan to assign these backbones to each transport aircraft, and let them guide the soldiers to parachute, thereby minimizing possible casualties."
Sokov finished these words in one breath. Thinking that Hudyakov was tactfully reminding himself that once there were casualties, his superiors might hold the relevant personnel accountable, so he took the initiative and said: "If it really happened during the airborne landing, I will be responsible for all the consequences of the large number of casualties."
After Hudyakov received Sokov’s assurance, his worries disappeared. He said into the microphone: "Okay, General Sokov, now that you have considered all the issues that need to be considered, I will arrange transport planes to Solon as soon as possible. When will you need these planes?"
“In two days, okay?”
"No problem." Hudyakov replied readily: "Early in the morning the day after tomorrow, the transport aircraft formation to help you conduct airborne training will arrive in Solon. I will say hello to Lieutenant Colonel Denis about this, so you don't have to worry. ”
Sokov put down the phone and felt that he was covered in sweat. He raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead and said to Yakov and Lukin with relief: "Yasha, Comrade Deputy Commander, I have made an agreement with Marshal Hudyakov." Yes, he will provide us with fifteen transport aircraft for the airborne training of the airborne troops. The planes will arrive in Solon early the day after tomorrow, and then our airborne troops will be able to engage in formal training."
"Comrade Commander, phone." At this time, the director of the communications unit called Sokov with a microphone not far away: "It's General Melekhov calling. He said he has important military information to report to you."
After learning that there was important military information, Sokov did not dare to neglect. He rushed over with a few quick steps, took the microphone from the director of the communications corps, put it to his ear and said: "I am Sokov, General Melekhov. What do you have to report to me?"
