Chapter 355: top priority

  Chapter 355 Urgent task

   Watching the people from the Ministry of Internal Affairs leave the headquarters, Sokov hurriedly thanked Chuikov: "Comrade Commander, thank you, thank you for coming in time to help me out."

"You idiot, you stupid idiot." Unexpectedly, as soon as Sukov finished speaking, Chuikov pointed his finger at his nose and cursed, "Do you know where the Ministry of Internal Affairs is? Come out intact? If you can’t get out, what will happen to your troops, what will happen to Mamayev Post? Will it all be handed over to the Germans?”

   "Comrade Commander, I'm sorry, I was wrong." Sokov just wanted to leave with the people from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, thinking in his heart that the other party wanted to arrest him, and it was nothing more than just disobedience. Now that he had already reported to Khrushchev, even if he went to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the other party would not dare to do anything to him. Hearing what Cuikov said at this moment, he realized that he had oversimplified the question, so he quickly apologized to Cuikov.

Chuikov waved his hand to tell the battalion commanders to come back immediately. He sat down at the table first, and then asked the three of them to sit down. One sentence: 'Are you having trouble?' Guess how I answered."

  Hearing this question from Chuikov, Sokov answered without hesitation: "You must have answered: 'There are difficulties, but I will not give up on Stalingrad.'"

  His answer startled Chuikov. The latter looked at him for a long time, and then gave him a thumbs up: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, I have to say, your guess is very accurate, and I did answer like that."

Belkin and Sidolin, who were sitting on the sidelines and were eating melons, showed surprise expressions on their faces when they heard what Chuikov said. They didn't expect Sokov to guess that Chuikov was in the headquarters of the front army. What he said made him look at Sokov with a hint of admiration.

   After a short pause, Chuikov asked again: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, what do you think is the most pressing issue for our army?"

   "Communication!" Sokov blurted out.

"Communications?!" Cuikov thought that Sokov would answer the problems he was facing, which were the lack of troops and equipment, as well as the lack of a perfect defense system, but Sokov said lightly that the most pressing problem was communication. Just confused him, he frowned and asked, "Why?"

"Comrade Commander, although the war has been going on for more than a year, communication is still the weak link of our army." Sokov explained to Chuikov: "As far as I know, all German troops are equipped with radio stations. , and the communication of our army is still based on wired telephones. Once there is a problem with the line, we can only send communication soldiers to send orders around. If the troops are very close, it doesn't matter; but if the troops are too scattered, not only can they not be grasped in time At the same time, it is difficult to convey orders in a timely manner.”

When Sokov said this, he stopped on purpose to observe Chuikov's expression. Seeing that he was deep in thought, he continued: "Now the German army is getting closer and closer to Stalingrad, and the defense lines of the enemy and us are constantly changing. If there is no secure means of communication and only rely on the communication soldiers to transmit the order, it is possible that when the order printed with "urgent" is delivered to the troops, the position stipulated in the order to be held has been lost; even the troops designated to execute the order may appear , under the attack of the German army, the whole army was destroyed..."

"You are right, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov." Chuikov waited for Sokov to finish, and said in agreement: "It seems that if I want to command the troops better, I must first be equipped with enough radio stations for daily communication."

"That's right, that's right, Comrade Commander." Since Chuikov is now the commander of the 62nd Army, Sokov no longer called him general, but changed his name to commander: "As long as the troops below have enough radio stations , you can convey various orders to the troops below in a timely manner, and you can also keep abreast of the current situation of the troops at any time."

  Chuikov asked Sidolin next to him for a cigarette. After lighting it, he asked Sokov: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I would like to ask, what level is the radio station in your brigade equipped?"

"Currently, each company in the brigade is equipped with a radio station." When it comes to the communication situation of the infantry brigade, Sokov is undoubtedly the most proud. It's the radio station. "Because of its special nature, the reconnaissance company equipped them with two."

"You have quite a few radio stations." After listening to Sukov's introduction, Chuikov couldn't help but enviously said: "The 64th Army I commanded had radio stations only up to the regiment level. If you want to contact the troops below, you just have to You can use the wired phone, or send a messenger to deliver the order."

"Comrade Commander, while the Front Headquarters is still in the city, you should immediately ask them to equip you with more radio stations." Sokov explained to Chuikov: "If your headquarters and the troops below are all With enough radio stations, even if the main force of the 62nd Army is cut off by the Germans, you can still use the radio to command the various troops in the encirclement and make them fight in an organized manner."

   "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, what did you just say, taking advantage of the opportunity that the Front Army Command is still in the city?" Cuikov asked back: "Do you think they will leave the city?"

   "If the battle is fierce, for safety reasons, I think the front army headquarters will definitely leave the city, cross the river to the left bank of the Volga River, and establish a new headquarters there to command the troops in the city to continue fighting."

   Regarding Sokov's statement, Chuikov laughed: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, do you really think that the enemy's attack will force the Front Army Command to withdraw to the opposite bank?"

"I think this is entirely possible," Sokov nodded and said, "If I remember correctly, Comrade Khrushchev once participated in the Kyiv campaign. , he is very likely to move the headquarters to a safe place before the danger comes."

"There is some truth in your statement." Chuikov stood up and said: "Khrushchev is a cautious person. During the Battle of Kyiv, he was one of the few senior commanders who successfully broke through. In order to avoid tragedy, Repeatedly, it is entirely possible for him to withdraw the headquarters to a safe area."

   "Comrade Commander, where are you going?" Seeing Chuikov stand up, Sidolin quickly asked: "Aren't you going to stay here and have dinner before leaving?"

"There's no time," Chuikov shook his head and said, "The main force of the 62nd Army has been cut off by the Germans. I need to immediately gather the reserve forces in the city to counterattack the enemy who broke through our defense line and restore the distance between the Army and the Army. contact."

  (end of this chapter)