Sokov turned his head to Sameko: "Comrade Chief of Staff, which unit is training today?"
"Report to the commander," although Sameko and Sokov were usually casual when talking, today in front of Zhukov, he quickly straightened his back and said respectfully: "Major General Fomenko's 268th Infantry Division is conducting exercises two kilometers away from the headquarters."
"Exercise?" Zhukov immediately became interested, and he asked Sameko: "What kind of exercise method?"
Sameko glanced at Sokov and continued to answer: "Comrade Marshal, according to the commander's order, the troops should also carry out offensive or defensive training at the appropriate time and place while conducting basic military training. According to the command's arrangement, today is exactly the day for the 268th Infantry Regiment to attack and act."
When Zhukov learned that he could see the offensive acting here, he could no longer sit still. He stood up and said to Sokov and others, "Let's go and have a look."
On the way to the exercise field, Zhukov asked Sokov, who was sitting beside him: "Misha, I want to hear, how did your offensive exercises be conducted?"
"The order I gave to the troops was to let them attack an imaginary enemy fortification. In combat, the soldiers used real guns and ammunitions. Through this training, new soldiers who had never fired guns could feel the feeling of going to the battlefield." Sokov explained to Zhukov: "In order to avoid unnecessary casualties, there is no one on the defensive position..."
"What, there is no one in the defensive position?" Zhukov couldn't help frowning and said with some displeasure: "Let the soldiers attack an empty position. What's the point of your exercise like?"
Faced with Zhukov's questioning, Sokov was not at all worried, but replied confidently: "There are two goals for doing this. One is to let the new soldiers practice courage, and the other is to test the cooperation between the troops during the attack..."
Before Sokov could finish his words, the rumbling of artillery fire came from outside. Hearing this sound, the adjutant sitting in the passenger seat was immediately frightened and thought he had encountered the enemy. He quickly pulled out his pistol at his waist and stared nervously out the window to see if there would be enemies coming out of the forest on the side of the road.
"Don't worry, comrade adjutant." Sokov naturally knew what the cannon sound was going on outside, so he comforted the adjutant and said, "It's my army that is doing offensive acts. This is the artillery preparation before the attack."
"Preparation of artillery fire before the attack?" Zhukov listened to the sound of artillery outside and said dissatisfiedly: "Judging from the sound of artillery, you are using mortars. The firing speed of the mortars is fast, and the combat firing rate is 15-20 rounds per minute. Even if you only use twenty mortars and fire for five minutes, you will consume 2,000 rounds of artillery shells. Don't you know our current supply situation, it is still very difficult?"
"I understand, Comrade Marshal." Sokov considered the consumption of ammunition when he formulated the training outline, but he felt that as long as the troops could be improved, even if a batch of shells was consumed, it was completely worth it: "But only by doing this can we achieve practical results in the exercise."
After hearing what Sokov said, Zhukov stopped talking. He thought Sokov was very reasonable. As long as this kind of training can improve the combat effectiveness of the troops, what is it to consume some ammunition? Anyway, judging from the current situation, there will be no major battles for the time being, and the spent ammunition can be replenished slowly.
The convoy drove forward for a while and was blocked by a checkpoint. A lieutenant wearing a red armband stopped in front of the car and said loudly: "I'm sorry, military exercises are being conducted ahead. Please take a detour."
Sokov pushed open the car door and got out of the car, walked straight to the lieutenant, and said to him: "I am Major General Sokov, the commander of the army, and immediately notify your supreme commander to come here to see me."
Although the lieutenant had never seen Sokov, he did not dare to neglect when he heard that the other party called himself the commander of the army. He hurriedly returned to the post to call his superiors and reported to them about the situation here.
A few minutes later, a jeep rushed over like a electric shock. Before the car could stop, the door opened and a general and two colonels jumped out of it. Sokov recognized at a glance that the general was Major General Fomenko, and the colonel beside him was Colonel Manoxin, a political commissar.
The three of them came to Sokov and were about to raise their hands to salute him, but unexpectedly saw Zhukov standing beside Sokov. He was stunned and didn't know who to report to first. Zhukov saw their embarrassment and said, "Report to your army commander, I came here to see."
Fomenko hurriedly saluted Sokov: "Comrade Commander, Major General Fomenko, commander of the 84th Infantry Division, reported to you that our 268th Regiment is attacking and acting, please instruct!"
Sokov raised his hand and said, "Master Zhukov and I are here to watch the acting. Please take us to see it quickly."
"Okay, Comrade Commander." After accepting Sokov's order, Formenko introduced the colonel next to him: "Comrade Commander, I will introduce you to you. This is Colonel Lusufu, the leader of the 268th Regiment."
"Hello, Colonel Lusufu." Sokov asked after a brief greeting to the other party, "Is there a place where you can watch the exercise?"
"You can go to my regiment command post, where you can see the whole process of the exercise." After answering Sokov's question, Lusufu said in embarrassment: "But the space there is limited and it cannot accommodate too many people."
"Just go with your commander." Fortunately, Zhukov rescued him in time: "The rest will stay here and wait for us to come back."
In this way, Sokov accompanied Zhukov to the 268th Regiment command post. The two stood in front of the lookout and observed the acting outside through the telescope or gunshot.
After a quarter of an hour of shelling the imaginary enemy's position, the artillery stopped the artillery. After another minute or two, Sokov heard whistles coming from outside, and then saw groups of commanders and fighters emerging from where they were hiding. The commanders and fighters who appeared did not attack immediately, but instead formed a formation in front of the position. When they took a few minutes to complete the formation, lined up in a scattered formation, and walked towards the imaginary enemy's position with big strides, Sokov couldn't help frowning.
But in order not to affect the exercise, Sokov did not speak, but held a telescope to continue observing the moving troops. The soldiers initially strode, but as they got closer to the enemy's position, they changed from strode to trot. About one hundred meters away from the position, the soldiers stopped, put a burst of guns towards the enemy's position, and continued to rush forward. As more and more commanders and soldiers jumped into the imaginary enemy's position, a red flag was soon raised, indicating that the position had been occupied by their own side.
When Fomenko saw the red flag in the distance, he excitedly said to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, you see the red flag raised in the enemy's position, which means that our army has successfully occupied the enemy's position."
Sokov put down his telescope and turned his head to look at Fomenko, but he didn't say anything, so he could only snort gently. Zhukov also turned his eyes away from the gunshot, stood up straight and said to Sokov: "Misha, your exercise is over. Have you said something to these commanders?"
"Yes, Comrade Marshal." In fact, Zhukov did not say this, and Sokov also planned to comment to Fomenko and others. Since Zhukov wanted to hear his opinion on this exercise at this moment, he planned to tell the truth: "I will summarize the exercise to them immediately."
After several commanders surrounded him, Sokov said sternly: "Three commanders, I want to ask you, are you doing exercises today or acting?"
When Fomenko heard Sokov's questioning, he asked in confusion: "Comrade Commander, hasn't our troops successfully occupied the enemy's position?"
"Well, that's right, your soldiers did occupy the enemy's position, and it was a position without anyone." Sokov said bluntly: "If the commanders and fighters of the 268th Regiment performed like this on the battlefield, I think that when the battle ended, the regiment would basically be revoked."
When Lusufu heard Sokov say that his regiment would be revoked after the real battle, he asked dissatisfiedly: "Comrade Commander, why did you say that?"
"It seems that you are still very unwilling to accept it, right?" Sokov sneered: "Then I will tell you, oh, the series of problems that exist in this acting."
"Tell me, Misha." Zhukov found a seat and sat down, and said lightly: "I also want to hear about the various problems that this group has in acting."
"After the shelling was over, your troops did not charge immediately, but lined up on the positions. Do you feel that you were afraid that the Germans would not be able to defeat you, so you specially asked the soldiers to stand there as targets?" Sokov said angrily: "Do you know that it is because you did not attack in time that you missed the opportunity so that the enemy who was bombarded could have enough time to repair those positions that were bombed by artillery fire. In this way, when you approach the position, you can rely on complete fortifications to resist your attack."
"Secondly, when your troops were still one hundred meters away from the enemy's position, I did not see you establish machine gun positions, suppress the firepower points on the enemy's position, and cover the troops' attacks, but instead set aside a bunch of guns and rushed into the enemy's position. If the enemy who was really hidden in fortifications on the battlefield had long been hit by your soldiers as targets. Tell me, according to today's fighting style, can your regiment be abolished when the battle ends?"
As soon as Sokov finished speaking, Zhukov continued: "Comrades Commanders, as far as I know, German soldiers will not shoot with guns in a row, but will be patient in searching for shooting opportunities and try to accurately hit the target. And your soldiers are crowded in everything and rush forward regardless of it. This is purely a target for the enemy."
"Comrade Marshal," Sokov added: "This is probably the difference between a veteran who has been through many battles and an inexperienced new recruit."
"That's right." Zhukov nodded and looked at Sokov and said, "Misha, I think the exercise you are doing is very necessary. Only through exercises can we discover some of the problems that the troops have during their daily training. Otherwise, even if such troops go to the battlefield, they will only die in vain."
The leader of the regiment Lusufu was firmly remembered by what Sokov and Zhukov said. After the two of them finished speaking, he quickly expressed his opinion: "Comrade Marshal, Comrade Commander, I remember everything you said. In the next training, I will definitely find a way to overcome the current problems in the regiment."
"Comrade Colonel, it's not about finding a way to overcome it, but must overcome it." Sokov said with a serious expression: "During the exercise, you can make up for it not only any mistakes, but also all of them can be made up. But if the same problem occurs on the battlefield, it may lead to your complete failure. Do you understand?"
"I understand, Comrade Commander." Lu Sufu replied in a hurry: "I will strengthen the daily training of the troops to ensure that the combat effectiveness of the troops is improved as soon as possible."
After commenting on the problems that the troops had encountered during the exercise, Sokov then asked: "How much ammunition did you consume this time?"
"Report to the commander!" Hearing Sokov's question, the division commander Formenko hurriedly stepped forward and replied: "We used twenty mortars, each of which fired a base shell; each soldier who participated in the war was also equipped with a base ammunition..."
When he heard the series of data reported by Fomenko, Sokov was bleeding in his heart. He was a prodigal son. He wasted so much ammunition and the exercises he created were inappropriate. After finally finishing the speech, he said weakly: "General Fomenko, in the next two months, your division's main task is to seize the time to train, improve the technical and tactical level of the commanders and fighters, and improve the combat effectiveness of the troops. How about it, can it be done?"
"Comrade Commander, please rest assured, we can do it!" Fomenko replied loudly.
"Very good!" Sokov replied, and turned around and asked Zhukov: "Comrade Marshal, since the exercise has been completed, should we go to another army to see it?"
"Okay, it's still early anyway." Zhukov replied readily: "I just happen to see what the current situation of the troops under your army are in order to arrange your next work."
Chapter completed!