Chapter 986:

  Chapter 986

Chuikov on the ground naturally saw the airdrops falling from the sky, so he quickly called an officer and told him: "You take a battalion of troops to collect the German airdrops and send them to the places where the prisoners of war are taken. "

The officer asked puzzledly: "Comrade Commander, why do you send the supplies to the place where the prisoners of war are taken?" According to his thinking, it is difficult to supply supplies on the side, and it happened to be supplemented by airdrops from the German army. To the enemy?

Seeing that the other party did not understand his intentions, Cui Kefu regretted that he had chosen the wrong person. He pointed at the other party and said bitterly, "You never thought about how much food we need to mobilize so many prisoners? Before I ordered There must be a lot of food in the airdrops you collected, and if they are used on the Germans, the food we need to mobilize is much less?"

  After Cuikov’s explanation, the officer immediately understood what was going on, blushed and said, “Understood, Comrade Commander, I’ll take people to collect the German airdrops.”

   After completing the simple surrender ceremony, Chuikov returned to his headquarters. He planned to call Rokossovsky and inform him that the remaining German troops had surrendered.

   But after the call was made, Malinin, who stayed in the headquarters, told him: "General Chuikov, Comrade Commander has left the headquarters and is heading to your place by car. I believe he will arrive soon."

Although the German troops in the city have put down their weapons and surrendered, no one can guarantee whether there are still stubborn stragglers hiding in those ruins, and whether Rokossovsky will be attacked if he happens to pass by their position , is an unknown.

  In order to ensure the safety of Rokossovsky, Chuikov hurriedly asked Malinin for the driving route. Malinin was reluctant to say it at first, but he heard that there might be stragglers of the German army along the way. Out of consideration for Rokossovsky's safety, he immediately notified Cuikov of the detailed route.

   At noon, Rokossovsky's convoy arrived near Chuikov's headquarters. When Chuikov heard that Rokossovsky had arrived, he immediately came out to meet him. When the two shook hands, Chuikov said with emotion: "Comrade Commander, I really didn't expect that we would meet again just two or three weeks later."

"Yes, it hasn't been long since we met last time. It's really amazing that you have wiped out all the enemies in the city." Rokossovsky smiled and said to Chuikov: "The commendation from the headquarters for your army group, I don’t think it will take long to come down. As far as I know, I plan to reorganize you into the Guards Army.”

"Is this true, Comrade Commander?" After listening to Rokossovsky's words, Chuikov became excited. He asked nervously, "Will we really be reorganized into the Guards Army?" He thought that after the defense of Shandong University of Technology, at best, a few infantry divisions under his command would be converted into guard divisions. Who knows that the base camp actually wanted more than one million yuan to reorganize the entire group army into a guard group army. The whole news is really surprising: "We really have a chance to be reorganized into the Guards Army?"

   "This is reliable news I got." After Rokossovsky answered, he asked Chuikov: "I plan to give a speech to the commanders and fighters who have established military exploits. Where do you think is more appropriate?"

Chuikov originally wanted Rokossovsky to speak here, but after thinking about it, this place is not conducive to the assembly of large troops, and the best location is the Central Railway Station, so he offered: "Comrade Commander, I think it is better to Choose the place where you speak at Central Station, where as many troops as possible can be assembled."

"Well then, General Chuikov." Regarding Chuikov's proposal, Rokossovsky only thought for a moment, and then readily agreed: "I will choose the place where I will speak to the commanders and fighters at the Central Railway Station. Your The troops are too far away from there, you might as well send some representatives to participate in it.”

   "Yes, Comrade Commander." Cuikov quickly replied, "I will immediately call the commanders of the divisions and ask them to dispatch manpower to the Central Railway Station."

  Sokov received the notice and immediately arranged for manpower to clear the ruins outside the Central Railway Station, and installed tweeters in different positions so that the commanders and fighters assembled in the square could hear Rokossovsky's speech.

Regarding the order issued by Sokov, Merkulov, the commander of the 67th Guards Division stationed at the Central Railway Station, said in embarrassment: "Comrade Commander, you also know that the square in front of the station has long been destroyed after a long battle. It has become potholed, and there are bricks and rubble everywhere, and I am afraid it will not be cleared in a short time."

"General Merkulov," Sokov waited for the other party to finish speaking, and immediately went on to say: "I know the situation there very well. The entire square must be cleared out. Without the help of large machinery, I am afraid that it will take several months." It can’t be cleaned up. But we will hold a conference there soon, so we must level up a site that can accommodate thousands or even tens of thousands of people. You can order the soldiers to fill the crater with bricks, stones, and rubble so that they can stand People will do."

   "Okay, Comrade Commander." After listening to Sokov's order, Merkulov said with a wry smile: "I will follow your order to clean up the square in front of the station."

  At four o'clock in the afternoon, more than 20,000 commanders and fighters of the Sokov combat group gathered in the square in front of the Central Railway Station. At the same time, representatives from several other divisions of the 62nd Army arrived. Fortunately, Merkulov obeyed Sokov's order and asked the soldiers to fill up the bomb craters with bricks and rubble piled nearby, so that everyone could have a foothold.

  As soon as the troops were assembled, Rokossovsky's convoy arrived.

  The convoy stopped in front of the steps of the station. As soon as Rokossovsky got off the car, Sokov led a group of division commanders to meet him. After raising his hand and saluting, he reported loudly to Rokossovsky: "Comrade Commander of the Front, Colonel Sokov, commander of the combat group, reports to you that the troops have been assembled, please give instructions!"

"Relax!" After Rokossovsky raised his hand to return the salute, he stepped forward to hold Sokov's hand, and said with a smile on his face: "Colonel Sokov, you are really not easy, you can actually take Paulus Captured alive. The Supreme Commander himself heard that Paulus was captured and that you were closely related, and he praised you."

  Hearing that Stalin praised him, Sokov couldn't help feeling ecstatic. Although he tried his best to pretend that nothing had happened, the slightly raised corners of his mouth still revealed the secret in his heart.

   After Rokossovsky met and shook hands with the division commanders one by one, he came to the microphone on the steps. After scanning the more than 20,000 broadcasters standing on the square, he said loudly into the microphone: "Comrades, hello, I am Rokossovsky, commander of the front army.

   Today, I would like to proudly and sincerely say the long-awaited words to you: 'Well done, Guardsmen, you are the heroes of the motherland'.

  The Battle of Stalingrad is finally over. The German Sixth Army that attacked the city, in addition to the more than 200,000 people wiped out by us, there are nearly 100,000 enemies who put down their weapons and surrendered to us. This is our great victory..."

   As soon as he said this, a tsunami of cheers suddenly sounded in the square: "Ulla! Ulla! Ulla!!" The sound that went straight into the sky covered what Rokossovsky wanted to say.

When calm was restored on the square, Rokossovsky continued: "We wiped out the Paulus Group and dealt a heavy blow to the German army. But this is only the beginning. In the days to come, we will continue to fight with the German army." The enemy continues to fight until the enemy is driven from our borders."

  Hearing this, Sokov murmured to himself: "It's not enough to just drive the Germans out of the Soviet Union. At least we must go straight to the Yellow Dragon, capture Berlin, and send those who started the war to trial."

As soon as he thought of capturing Berlin, Sokov couldn't help being a little distracted. He thought to himself: "Although the Battle of Stalingrad was a victory, it was a tragic victory. Next, we will compete with Manstein's troops for a while." However, it is regrettable that the Soviet army was still beaten by Manstein despite the superiority in numbers and technical equipment.

Even in the Battle of Kursk that took place in July, if the Allied forces hadn't landed in Sicily, holding back a lot of German troops and forcing Sidolin to order Manstein to send troops for reinforcements, who would win the battle of Kursk? Negative is still an unknown. "

  After Rokossovsky's speech, the commanders and fighters in the square dispersed one after another. Rokossovsky came to Sokov, handed him a cigarette, and took one in his mouth to light it, and then asked, "Misha, what are your plans next?"

"Comrade Commander of the Front Army," Sokov felt that if he wanted to obtain a higher military rank and position, he needed to improve his combat theory, and studying at the Frunze Military Academy was undoubtedly the right choice for him. : "I feel that my ability is not enough. It is a bit difficult to command a division. If I command more troops, my level will appear a little incompetent. Therefore, I would like to ask my superiors to send me to a military academy to study for a period of time and improve myself. ability."

"Misha." Hearing Sokov's request, Rokossovsky was silent for a long time, and finally said: "To tell you the truth, we wiped out the enemies in Stalingrad, but the battle is not over yet. After a short rest, we will advance westward to eliminate the Manstein Group entrenched there. Only by completely eliminating the Manstein Group can Moscow become safe again and will no longer be threatened by the enemy.”

  Sokov could not help but smile wryly when he heard Rokossovsky say this. I thought that the Kharkov campaign launched by the Soviet army was to resolve the threat to Moscow, and launched an attack on the Manstein Group hastily. Unfortunately, due to insufficient logistics supplies and command errors, the The Soviet army, which had an advantage in numbers and equipment, ended in a disastrous defeat.

Rokossovsky continued: "I think at this time, you don't go to some military academy to study, but stay in the army to command operations. I think it is more meaningful for you to study at the front than at the rear. But The choice is yours, whether to stay in the front line or go to the military academy to study is up to you.”

  Seeing that Rokossovsky said so much, if he continues to ask to study at the Military Academy, he may be ignorant of current affairs. Sokov took two deep puffs of the cigarette, then threw it on the ground, crushed it with his toes, straightened his body and said to Rokossovsky: "Comrade Commander of the Front Army, I resolutely obey your orders. You let If I stay, I will stay; if you let me study, I will study, no matter what."

   Rokossovsky couldn't help smiling after hearing Sokov say this. He pointed at Sokov and said, "Misha, you are so clever, you have made such a big circle, and you finally handed over the contradiction to me. Well, since you let me make a choice, I will help you If you choose, then stay in the army."

  Since he wanted to stay on the front line, Sokov was eager to know how many troops he would command in the coming days. You must know that the next battle will be a big battle with hundreds of thousands or millions of people as the unit. Don't think you have a division in your hand, but in a battle of that scale, I'm afraid it won't take a day, and you will be beaten light.

Therefore, he asked cautiously: "Comrade Commander of the Front Army, I would like to ask, how many troops can I command in the next few days?" After a dry laugh, he added, "I know very well that with With the end of the Battle of Stalingrad, the combat group under my command will definitely be disbanded. I hope you can tell me in advance how many troops I will be able to command by then."

"You're right, the battle group will be disbanded soon." Rokossovsky gave Sokov an affirmative answer, and then went on to say: "The troops you will be able to command at that time will naturally only need to be close. One division of the 41st Wei Division."

   Hearing that he was only given one division, Sokov felt very cold in his heart, so he gave himself a few thousand people. In the next battle, such a small number of people may not be enough to feed the Germans.

Seeing Sokov's disappointed expression, Rokossovsky guessed his thoughts, and said with a smile: "Don't worry, Misha. I know that the 41st Guards Division lost its personnel during the battle to defend the city. It is very serious. Therefore, I will give you priority replenishment as soon as possible, at least to make your troops reach tens of thousands of soldiers."

  Sokov murmured in his heart that if he really gave himself 10,000 troops, even if he was unable to turn the tide when the Soviet army was defeated, there should be no problem with self-reporting. However, he began to worry about other things in his heart. When his superiors replenished himself with soldiers, would they send some special people in, and then the troops would be difficult to manage.

"If my troops can really reach tens of thousands of people," Sokov quickly replied, seeing that Rokossovsky had expressed enough sincerity. We can still serve as the defense of key areas just like we defended Stalingrad."

  (end of this chapter)