There were many people coming to participate in the conference room, and the command center could not sit at all, so Sokov changed the meeting location to a nearby church. In the spacious hall of the church, more than 100 commanders were not crowded.
The commanders who came to attend the meeting were confused about the sudden military meeting. They secretly guessed in their hearts what was the purpose of the commander convening all the officers at the regiment level and above for a meeting?
Some officers immediately remembered that Sokov ordered the troops to issue ammunition the day before yesterday and entered a state of combat readiness. Could it be that the superiors began to hold him accountable and Sokov planned to withdraw his original order? But it was not like that. If it was really the case, you could notify the divisions and brigades in the name of the headquarters, and there was no need to convene all regiment-level commanders to meet?
Just as everyone was thinking and talking, they saw the Chief of Staff of the Army Sameko walking to the middle, and the entire hall suddenly became quiet.
"Comrades, I know very well that everyone feels strange. Why did all the commanders at the regiment level and above suddenly convene a meeting?" After Sameko asked this question, he gave the answer directly: "Early this morning, the artillery of our Central Front and Voronezh Front carried out violent artillery bombardment of the enemy's field fortifications in front of us, causing great damage to the enemy."
After learning that the artillery of friendly forces had been violently bombarded the enemy's positions in the early morning, the commanders in the church were excited after a brief shock. Someone even asked Sameco loudly: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I want to ask, did our friendly forces attack the enemy's fortifications?"
"I'm sorry, comrade Lieutenant Colonel." Sameko looked at the lieutenant colonel who asked the question and said: "The reason we wanted to launch a shelling on the enemy's defense zone was because we had the accurate information of the enemy's upcoming attacks, so we fired artillery at the areas where the enemy gathered to disrupt their attack steps. Unfortunately, the enemy's strength was stronger than we thought, so the Kursk region was in fierce battle."
"Comrade Chief of Staff, what is our combat mission?" The commanders present immediately guessed that today's emergency military meeting would definitely be related to the fierce battle in the Kursk region, so they asked one after another: "Can we participate in the battle?"
"Comrades Commanders, be quiet, please be quiet!" Samek raised his hand and pressed down a few times, signaling the many commanders to be quiet. After the hall calmed down, he continued: "I called you here today to arrange combat missions for everyone. Once the meeting ends, the pioneer division needs to set off immediately and go to the north of Oboyan, and choose a place there to build fortifications to block the enemies that may break through our defense line."
Since Sokov ordered the distributing ammunition to the troops and entered combat readiness, the several division commanders were nervous. They had already made the troops ready to set off at any time, and could only start immediately with the order from the superiors. At this moment, when they heard that Sameko was about to announce which division was the vanguard division, everyone could not help but hold their breath.
"The vanguard was Colonel Khokhlov's 182nd Infantry Division." Sameko said to Khokhlov: "Comrade Colonel, after the convoy sent by the Front Army arrived, your division will immediately rush to the north of Oboyan and choose the appropriate terrain to build fortifications. Are there any difficulties?"
"No." Seeing that Sameko ordered his division to be the vanguard, Khokhlov showed a gratified smile on his face. He replied simply: "Please rest assured, the leader of the group army, we will never let your trust down."
After hearing this, Samek nodded and began to assign tasks to the commanders of the other divisions in turn, explaining them the time of departure, the location where they are about to move in, etc.
After assigning the mission, Sameko turned around and asked Sokov, who was sitting beside him: "Comrade Commander, do you have any other places to add?"
Sokov stood up and walked to Sameko's side, looking at the commanders present and said, "Comrades, I have only two things to say. The first thing is that I ordered the logistics department to make the identity card. Why are there still several divisions and brigades not being collected yet?"
Major General Gricenko, the commander of the 384th Infantry Division, did not send anyone to the logistics department to collect the identity card. At this moment, he heard Sokov say this, and couldn't help but mutter: "Comrade Commander, identity card is usually used by the Germans, so we don't need to use this kind of thing."
The identity card mentioned by Sokov is the "dog card" collectively referred to by later military fans, and is used for identity identification. However, the Soviet army did not have such things. Each officer and soldier carries an ebony tube the size of a cigarette, with a note inside that records personal identity information. However, this kind of thing is easy to be lost and not fire-resistant, which leads to the inability to identify the identity of many soldiers after their sacrifice because the ebony tube is lost or damaged, so they have to be included in the missing list.
"General Grizenko," Sokov heard Major General Grizenko's complaints and said seriously: "The reason why I asked every officer and soldier in the army to wear this kind of identity card is to ensure that the soldiers can quickly confirm their identities through their identity cards after their sacrifice."
"But, comrade Commander, we have ebony tubes." Gritzenko took out a small ebony tube from his top pocket and said to Sokov: "Our personal information is all stored here."
"Comrade General," Sokov said earnestly: "You should know that many of our commanders and soldiers think that putting a note of personal information in the ebony tube you carry with you will bring unluckyness to yourself, so many people's ebony tubes are empty. I would like to ask everyone, once a soldier dies on the battlefield, when we restrain his body, we find that the ebony tubes he carries are empty. How do you identify him?"
Grizenko said somewhat dissatisfied: "We can ask his comrades or fellow countrymen to identify his body and confirm his identity."
"If his comrades or fellow countrymen also died in the battle, who should confirm his identity?" Sokov felt that many of the commanders present had the same mentality as Major General Grizenko, so he struck while the iron was hot: "I cannot identify the identity, and according to the regulations, he could only put this person on the missing list. Everyone knows that the family members of the officers and soldiers listed on the missing list cannot receive pensions, and even have to endure the rolling eyes of others. Do you want your family to suffer the same fate?"
After Sokov said this, Major General Gricenko immediately realized his mistake and quickly admitted his mistake to Sokov: "I'm sorry, comrade Commander, I was wrong. As soon as the meeting ended, I immediately arranged for people to go to the logistics department to collect the ID card."
Sokov took off his identity card that he hung around his neck and explained to everyone: "Comrades in command, the identity card you are going to wear is composed of two thin aluminum alloy plates, divided into main card and secondary card. The main card has a 24-inch aluminum alloy long necklace, and the secondary card has a 4-inch short necklace.
The ID card can have the number of the troops and their own name. If there are casualties, our medical staff can easily identify the blood type and name of the injured based on the records on the ID card, which will win time for quick rescue of the injured and provide a basis for accurately identifying the dead bodies."
"Comrade Commander, I have another question." Major General Grizenko asked curiously: "If you want to prove the identity of the commander and the fighter, just one brand is enough. Why should you divide it into the main card and the deputy card?"
"When a commander and fighter died in battle, his comrades or medical staff will put one of the two identity cards of the victim into the mouth of the deceased, and the other one will be wrapped with the deceased's clothes for the aftermath to properly handle it according to the records on the identity cards."
After listening to Sokov's explanation, the commanders present suddenly realized that they finally understood why Sokov used such resources to create a large number of identity cards that seemed useless. If every commander and fighter really wore an identity card, then after their sacrifice, they could use this identity card to prove their identity, avoid being mistaken for missing persons, and thus bear unreasonable infamousness.
After the meeting, looking at the crowded church hall, which had become empty again, Lunev smiled at Sokov: "Comrade Commander, I want to ask, would you suggest to the commander of the Front Army to implement this identity card within the entire Front Army?"
"Not yet, my military committee member."
"Why?" Lunev asked curiously.
"The reason is very simple. Everyone thinks that only our enemy, the Germans, wear this kind of dog card. Let them wear this kind of dog card like the Germans, and they will be very psychologically resistant." Sokov explained to Lunev: "You have just seen it. Although the order I asked the commanders and soldiers to wear dog card has been issued for a long time, there are still several division commanders who have not sent anyone to collect it."
"Just just finished listening to your explanation, they understood the importance of a type of identity card, and they all expressed that they would send someone to collect it as soon as possible."
"I hope so." Sokov didn't know what he said just now. How many people really listened to it. Maybe many people would not carry it according to the regulations even if they got the dog card. He said helplessly: "I have done what I should do. As for whether the commanders and fighters are willing to obey our orders, they can only leave it to fate."
"Comrade Commander," asked Sameko, "When will our headquarters move towards Oboyan?"
Chapter completed!