Red Moscow

  Chapter 283 Contest (4)

  Belkin's proposal made Sokov's heart skip a beat. Thinking that the opponent could successfully escape the encirclement of the German army after the defeat in the Battle of Kharkov, and accommodate more than 100 commanders and fighters to fight guerrillas behind the enemy. He couldn't have done it without some ability.

  However, he was suddenly promoted to the chief of staff of the brigade, and Sokov still had some concerns. He was worried that the ability of the opponent would not match the position he was about to assume, so he planned to test him for a period of time. Thinking of this, he said to Belkin: "Comrade Commissar, let's let Captain Briski serve as the battalion commander for a period of time to see how his commanding ability is, and then decide whether to propose to his superiors and promote him to the brigade chief of staff. Do you think this is appropriate?"

Belkin suggested that Briski be the chief of staff of the brigade, but it was just a whim. At this moment, seeing Sokov telling himself about it so seriously, he nodded and said: "Then we will observe him for a while. Go ahead. If he's a competent battalion commander, we'll propose to his superiors that he be promoted to chief of staff."

   When Sokov led the soldiers to the competition site the next day, he found that Rotmistrov and his subordinates had been waiting here. Sokov hurriedly stepped forward to salute Rotmistrov, and said with a smile, "Hello, Comrade General! I didn't expect you to come so early."

   "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, you are not too late." After shaking hands with Sokov, Rotmistrov urged: "Hurry up and let the soldiers sit down."

  Sokov brought quite a few people. In addition to the participating fighters, fighters from the third and fourth battalions also came to watch the battle. Sokov ordered them to sit down in the open space opposite the commanders of the tank army, pointed to several tanks parked aside and asked, "General Rotmistrov, why are there so many tanks here?"

Rotmistrov replied with a smile: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, the situation is like this. After I went back yesterday, I told several brigade commanders about the military contest, and they suggested that since it was a military contest, I don’t know how to only consider infantry skills and tactics, after all, we are a tank army, so we should add tank competitions.”

Rotmistrov’s words made Sokov a little dumbfounded. He thought that tank soldiers could become infantry soldiers as long as they took up arms, but infantry soldiers had to go through long-term training to become tank soldiers. Do you deliberately make things difficult for yourself?

Perhaps seeing the displeasure on Sokov's face, Rotmistrov chuckled, and then said: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, I have inquired that there is a tank company in your brigade that happened to pass this time." Come and test their strength. Don't worry, the tanks you need during the competition will be provided by us."

Seeing this, Sokov could only turn his head and order a staff officer: "Rush to the tank company immediately and ask Lieutenant Alitai to bring his troops here. Remember, just let them come here on foot, no need to drive tanks .”

  After seeing the staff leave, Rotmistrov immediately said to Sokov: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, it's almost time, let's go to the viewing platform first."

  The so-called viewing platform is a small platform more than a dozen square meters high, with a long table and a few chairs placed on it. After Rotmistrov took Sokov to the stage and took a seat, he nodded to a colonel next to him, indicating that it was time to start. The colonel took a few steps forward, walked to the edge of the platform, and said loudly to the soldiers sitting on both sides of the viewing platform: "The military competition between the 7th Tank Corps and the 73rd Infantry Brigade has now officially begun. First of all, both parties are invited to participate. The fighters of the shooting competition are out!"

  As soon as he finished speaking, 20 soldiers walked out from both sides of the viewing platform, and stood in front of the stage. The colonel glanced over at Rotmistrov, as if asking which side of the fighters should shoot first. Rotmistrov asked Sokov with a sideways face: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, do you think your infantry brigade will shoot first, or our tank army will shoot first?"

   "I think it's better for the soldiers of the tank army to shoot first."

  Seeing that Sokov was so polite, Rotmistrov didn't show any pretense, and said to the colonel, "Comrade Chief of Staff, let our soldiers shoot first."

The chief of staff of the    army nodded, and then said loudly to the soldiers in the audience: "The soldiers of the tank army are the ones who shoot first. Each of them has five bullets. The side with the most rings is the winner."

  The soldiers of the tank army formed a group of ten, entered the shooting position respectively, and fired in a prone position. The soldier who finished shooting did not get up immediately, but continued to lie on the ground, and stood up neatly after the last soldier finished shooting.

After the chief of staff of the   army listened to the report of the target soldiers, he announced loudly: "The score of the first group: 461 rings!" As soon as his voice fell, it immediately aroused cheers from the side of the tank army.

   "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov," Rotmistrov was obviously very satisfied with such results. He turned to look at Sokov and asked, "What do you think of our results?"

"It's not bad. It looks like a well-trained veteran." When Sokov said this, he was not at ease at all. He was afraid that the soldiers selected by each battalion would lose to the tank army in shooting. Shame on me.

   Soon, the second firing of the tank army was over. The results of this group were better than those of the first group, with a score of 481 points, a full improvement of 20 points.

After seeing the soldiers of the infantry brigade enter the firing position, Rotmistrov searched carefully for a while, and asked Sukov curiously: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, why didn't you see the two female soldiers from yesterday? "

"The two of them are snipers, so it's inappropriate to participate in this kind of competition." Sukov felt that even if he had a sniper against ordinary soldiers of the tank army, he would not be able to win by force. Therefore, in today's competition, there was no Let Zina and Susanna appear: "So I let them be the audience in the audience." After speaking, Sokov pointed to a corner of the audience.

   Rotmistrov looked in the direction of Sokov's finger, and sure enough, he saw the two female soldiers whom he had seen yesterday, holding their rifles in their arms, looking expectantly at their colleagues who were preparing to shoot.

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," Rotmistrov looked at the military uniforms on the two female soldiers who were obviously a few sizes too large, and asked with some surprise: "I don't know where they got the military uniforms they are wearing. How can they be so unsuitable?" Does it fit?"

"After we seized the warehouse of the German army, we found that there were a large number of uniforms of our army stored in the warehouse, which should have been captured by the German army." Sokov explained to Rotmistrov: "We just recruited thousands of uniforms. The recruits will distribute these military uniforms to the new soldiers."

   "Look, the military uniforms worn by female soldiers really don't fit well." Rotmistrov shook his head and said, "I don't know when the superiors will be able to produce military uniforms suitable for female soldiers."

Hearing Rotmistrov talk about military uniforms, Sokov couldn't help thinking of the German uniform worn by Adelina. In all honesty, the German uniforms are much better-looking than the Soviet uniforms, especially for female soldiers. The uniform also has the effect of self-cultivation, which perfectly sets off the figure of the female soldier. If Zina and Susanna were to wear German uniforms, they would surely captivate countless soldiers.

   While Sokov was thinking wildly, the first group of the infantry brigade had finished shooting. They scored 482 points, just one ring higher than the best result of the Tank Army. As soon as this result came out, the soldiers of the infantry brigade also cheered. Then, the second group of the infantry brigade fired again. Their results were better than the first group, and they scored a good score of 492 rings.

Seeing that the tank army was defeated in the first round of shooting, Rotmistrov tried to squeeze a smile on his face, and said to Sokov: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, when it comes to shooting, we are still comrades from the infantry brigade. Get a little better."

   Regarding Rotmistrov’s rhetoric about finding a way for himself, Sokov just smiled lightly, and at the same time thought in his heart: the next thing is a stabbing competition, and the soldiers of the tank army are definitely not the opponents of the infantry brigade.

  The number of people participating this time is 30 people from each side, divided into groups of 15 people, and they will fight to see which side has the most people left in the end, and whoever is the final winner. Since the seized warehouse contained a large amount of armor for fighting training and wooden guns with ashes, the participating fighters all wore armor and held wooden guns with ashes for the stabbing competition.

  Before the Chief of Staff announced the start of the competition, the soldiers of the tank army spontaneously shouted at the participating soldiers because they had lost for a while: "Brothers of the tank army, come on!"

  The soldiers of the tank army who were about to enter the field heard their comrades cheering for them, so they turned around and waved to them. The soldiers of the infantry brigade neither cheered nor waved, but stood there like clay sculptures without moving, quietly waiting for the referee's start order.

   Following the order of the chief of staff of the army, the soldiers on both sides rushed towards each other with wooden guns in hand. Seeing the charging posture of both sides, Sokov knew in his heart that his infantry brigade had won this battle again. The tank army is based on individuals, fighting on their own; while their own fighters are in groups of three, fighting with each other. One person stabbed his opponent in the front, and the other two were responsible for covering his left and right wings, blocking him from the bayonets coming from the side.

  After just two minutes, the soldiers with their armor covered in white ash all quit the match, and there were only nine people left on the field, of which only two soldiers remained in the tank army. Facing the opponents who surrounded them from all sides, although they acted bravely, they were outnumbered and their entire army was wiped out.

Seeing that the first group of fighters participating in the assassination had lost, the chief of staff of the army was about to call the second team, but was stopped by Rotmistrov: "Okay, comrade chief of staff, there is no need to compete any more. We concede this game!"

  Hearing that the tank army had voluntarily surrendered, the soldiers of the infantry brigade sitting under the stage immediately cheered. They took off their military caps one after another and threw them into the air. Seeing those military caps flying in the air, Sokov couldn't help feeling a little worried. When the field ended later, there would definitely be many soldiers who couldn't find their military caps.

Although Rotmistrov lost two rounds in a row, there was no sign of discouragement on his face. Instead, he smiled and said to Sokov: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, next we will race to drive tanks over obstacles. Whoever reaches the destination in the shortest time is the final winner."

  Although there is only one tank company in the infantry brigade, Sokov recognizes the ability of his subordinates very much. Therefore, as soon as Rotmistrov finished speaking, he stretched out his hand and made a gesture of invitation: "General Rotmistrov, let your soldiers come down."

  Rotmistrov stood up, walked to the edge of the stage, waved at the three crews standing in front of the tank, and said in an extremely majestic tone: "Let's go!"

  The soldiers of the three vehicle groups agreed loudly, and then turned over and climbed onto the tank. Soon a puff of black smoke was emitted from the rear of the tanks, and the three tanks made a half-circle on the spot before rushing towards the distant obstacle.

   Sokov walked to Rotmistrov's side and looked into the distance. I saw these tanks rushing up the hill quickly, and then swooping down the ramp quickly, kicking up high dust behind the car. After watching it for a while, Sokov said to himself: "It seems that this obstacle course is not difficult. The soldiers of the tank company should be able to complete it with ease."

   Just as he was thinking, Sokov saw a gully three meters wide appearing in front of the tank. He thought to himself, how would the soldiers of the tank army drive through such a wide gully? The three tanks came to a stop in front of the ravine, the top cover of the turret was opened, and two soldiers drilled out of each of them, unloaded two pieces of wood from the body, carried them to the front of the ravine, and put the wood on both sides of the ravine, Then go back to the tank and lift out the other two logs and put them on the ravine.

   After finishing all this, the three tanks started again, and slowly drove across the ravine from a few logs. Seeing their comrades complete the action of crossing the ravine, the soldiers of the tank army cheered again.

   Before the three tanks returned to the viewing stand, the three captains lifted the top cover and got out of the tanks, walked to the front of the stage and raised their hands to salute Rotmistrov on the stage. "Good job, comrades, you are all good." Seeing that the three tanks under his command returned smoothly, Rotmistrov had a gratified smile on his face, and he said to the tank soldiers, " You have worked hard, go back and rest first. Next, we will watch the comrades from the infantry brigade perform for us."

   "Alitai!" Although Sokov said that he had just sent someone to look for Aritai, he didn't know if he had arrived. At this moment, it was the turn of the soldiers of the tank company to appear on the stage, and Sokov shouted to the crowd in the audience: "Is Ali Tai here?"

"I'm here, Comrade Brigadier Commander." Following Sokov's shout, Ali Tai, who was wearing a black tank uniform, walked out of the crowd, looked up at Sokov and said, "I obey your orders, please instruct! "

   "Comrade Lieutenant, I think you have seen the performance of the soldiers of the tank army." Sokov said to Ali Tai: "The next thing you have to do is to repeat what they just did. Do you understand?"

   "Understood, Comrade Brigadier Commander." After Ali Tai replied loudly, he said with some embarrassment: "However, I don't have enough manpower, so I may not be able to complete your task."

  (end of this chapter)