Red Moscow

  Chapter 368 Hitting East and West

  As soon as Sokov returned to the headquarters, he received a call from Khrushchev: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, how is the situation there? Has the German army launched a ground attack?"

"No, Comrade Military Commissar." Before returning to the tunnel, Sokov carefully observed the area where the German army might appear, but found nothing, so he replied affirmatively: "In front of Mamayev Post, For the time being, no signs of German army gathering have been found, and it seems that they will not launch an attack in a short time."

"I just received a report from Chuikov," Khrushchev said to Sokov after confirming that there were no enemies in the direction of Mamayev Post. attacked."

"What, the Germans launched an attack on the factory area?" Sokov knew very well how big the factory area was. Let alone one regiment, even if the German army invested ten regiments at a time, it could be fully deployed. After the large-scale bombardment, only one regiment of ground troops was dispatched, which is a bit intriguing. He tentatively asked: "Comrade Military Commissar, is there any conspiracy by the Germans to attack with only one regiment in such a vast area as the factory area?"

"What kind of conspiracy can the Germans have?" After hearing this, Khrushchev said disapprovingly: "I think it must be because Zhukov's counterattack in the north has restrained a large number of their troops, so that they can't draw any more troops." Sufficient troops to attack the factory area to the north."

  Since Khrushchev has come to a conclusion, Sokov can't argue with the other party just because of his own guess, right? Moreover, his own judgment may not be correct. He was silent for a moment, then asked: "Comrade Military Commissioner, what can I do for you?"

"The Front Army Headquarters is preparing for the transfer," Khrushchev looked at his watch and said into the microphone, "We will pass Mamayev Post at the latest in half an hour and arrive at the ferry to board the ship. I hope you can send capable troops to take charge of the security work from your defense area to the pier."

   "Understood," Sokov immediately said unequivocally when he learned that the Front Army Command was about to evacuate the city, "I will immediately send troops to set up defenses."

After putting down the phone, Sokov immediately began to issue orders. He said to Sidolin: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the German army has about a regiment of troops. Under the cover of dozens of tanks, it launched an attack on the factory area. Although we here The weather is calm, but the battalions must still be ordered to prepare for battle."

  Sidorin had a stunned expression on his face when he heard the news. He ignored Sukov's words and asked in surprise: "The German attacking force only has one regiment?!"

"Yes, there is only one regiment." Sokov nodded, and told Sidolin his guess: "I am worried that the German army's attack on the factory area is just to attract our attention. In fact, their attack target It's somewhere else."

   "Other places?" Sidolin asked curiously, "What do you think it will be?"

Before answering Sidolin's question, Sokov picked up the phone and said into the microphone: "Let Seryosha come to me." Then he said, "Maybe we are the ones the Germans want target of attack."

  Sidorin said cautiously: "Comrade Brigadier, the German army has conducted two tentative attacks on us, but both ended in failure. I think it is unlikely that they will launch another attack."

"Comrade Chief of Staff, the Germans have suffered from us twice in a row, and they will definitely not let it go. They will retaliate sooner or later." Seeing that Sidolin did not pay enough attention to this matter, Sokov felt Thinking to myself: In the real history, the reason why Mamayev Hill fell easily was that there was no perfect fortification on the hillside, which was one of the reasons. The more important reason must be that the commander who held on to this high ground was too paralyzed by the enemy. As a result, the German army easily captured the commanding heights of Stalingrad. In order to prevent Xidolin from underestimating the enemy, he said with emphasis: "The enemy is very cunning. As commanders, we must not underestimate the enemy, otherwise the consequences will be disastrous."

   As soon as Sokov finished speaking, he heard someone shouting a report at the door. He turned his head and saw Sergei standing at the door. He quickly waved to the other party and said, "Seryozha, come to me!"

   Serezha came to Sokov, straightened his back and asked, "Comrade Brigadier, what instructions do you have?"

"Seryozha, the situation is like this." Sokov said to Seryozha: "In another twenty minutes, the Front Army Command will pass through our defense zone and go to the pier to take a boat. You take the guards to the outside To be responsible for the defense, we must ensure the safety of the front army headquarters before boarding the ship."

   "Understood, Comrade Brigadier Commander." Seryosha raised his head and said, "I promise to complete the task."

  Watching Seryozha's back disappear from the door, the expression on Sidolin's face became serious. He looked around and saw that the staff officers and communications soldiers were busy, and no one looked at his position, but just to be on the safe side, he asked in a low voice: "Comrade Brigadier, the front army headquarters is going to be transferred, why not?" Does that mean that the situation in Stalingrad is critical?"

"Yes, this is indeed the case." Sokov nodded and said, "Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to transfer the headquarters of the Front Army to the opposite bank. In the next few days, we may have to fight street battles with the Germans. "

   "How could they do this?" The expression on Sidolin's face suddenly became a little angry: "The headquarters has moved to the other side at this time. Have they considered what impact it will have on the morale and morale of the army?"

"Although the transfer of the headquarters has a certain impact on the morale and morale of the army, these are all within the tolerable range." Sokov knew very well that Stalingrad was in danger. The possibility of being taken over by the German army will hit the morale of the army even more. Therefore, facing Sidolin who was on the verge of going berserk, he said: "If the headquarters continues to stay in the city, it will definitely be attacked by the German army. The tragedy of the Kyiv campaign cannot be repeated in Stalingrad, right? So I think the headquarters The transfer was a very wise decision."

  The Battle of Kyiv was a shame for every Soviet commander. In this battle, not only the top commanders of the Southwest Front Army were killed collectively, but also hundreds of thousands of commanders and fighters were captured, so that Hitler proudly boasted that this was the largest battle of annihilation in human military history.

   Hearing what Sokov said, Sidolin immediately understood that under the current situation, it might be the most correct decision to move the headquarters of the Front Army to the east bank. So he nodded, and took the initiative to change the topic: "Comrade Brigadier, when do you think the German army will attack Mamayev Post again?"

   "I don't know." Sokov shook his head and said jokingly, "If I knew the time when the German army attacked Mamayev Gang, then I would be Paulus' chief of staff."

   Just when Sokov’s words made Sidolin laugh out loud, the voice of political commissar Belkin came from the door: “What’s wrong with Paulus’ chief of staff?”

   "Comrade Commissar, you are back." Sidolin took the initiative to greet Belgin and explained to him: "Comrade Brigadier is joking with me. How is your inspection situation? Are there any heavy casualties?"

Belkin went back to the table and sat down, put the big hat on his head on the table, sighed and said: "After the enemy's bombardment, the first battalion and the second battalion had casualties. However, many sections of the surface positions on the southern **** were destroyed by artillery fire and needed to be repaired by manpower. As for the northern slope, since there were fewer shells from the enemy, the fourth battalion standing there had no chance of casualties."

   "Where's the women's anti-aircraft artillery battalion?" Knowing that Belkin had just gone out for inspection, Sokov immediately thought of the women's anti-aircraft artillery battalion that would just stand there stupidly and be bombed, and asked quickly, "How about their casualties?"

"Because they dug bunkers and anti-aircraft holes near the anti-aircraft position, there were no casualties in this shelling summary." Belgin looked at Sokov and said, "However, two anti-aircraft guns were shot. Enemy fire destroyed it."

  Sokov frowned slightly when he heard this. There were not a few anti-aircraft artillery left in the women's anti-aircraft artillery battalion, but now two more have been destroyed. This unit should consider abolishing the establishment. Thinking of this, he said to Belkin: "Comrade Commissar, you go and talk to Lieutenant Ulanova of the Women's Antiaircraft Battalion. Since they suffered so many casualties, and the antiaircraft artillery was almost lost, stay here." It doesn't make much sense anymore, let them withdraw to the factory."

"However, if the women's anti-aircraft artillery battalion is withdrawn, we will have no air defense force." Sidolin heard that the women's anti-aircraft artillery battalion would be withdrawn, and quickly persuaded Sukov: "Comrade brigade commander, I suggest You should think about it again."

"There is nothing to consider." Sokov said in an unquestionable tone: "Comrade Chief of Staff, you should know that the aircraft moves very fast in the air, and if you want to shoot down targets in the air, you must have enough anti-aircraft weapons. But now there are only two or three anti-aircraft guns left in the women's anti-aircraft artillery battalion. It is impossible to shoot down enemy planes, but it is better to let them withdraw to the factory area and leave these anti-aircraft guns for us to fight enemy tanks."

   "Okay, Comrade Brigadier Commander." After hearing Sokov's words, Belkin felt that the women's anti-aircraft artillery battalion is now a weak point. Not only will staying here be useless, but they need to send troops to protect them. So he hesitated for a moment before agreeing to Sokov's proposal. He put the hat on the table back on his head, got up and said, "I'll go talk to Lieutenant Ulanova now and hear her opinion."

As soon as Belgin left, Sokov said to Sidolin: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I think something is right. Why are the enemy's shells mainly concentrated on the south **** instead of the north slope? You must know that there are There are quite a few oil storage tanks full of fuel, once the shells hit them, they can be turned into a sea of ​​flames. Then the enemy did not do this, but concentrated their artillery fire on the south slope, what is their intention?"

Sidolin thought for a while, and then expressed his thoughts: "I think the reason why the enemy didn't bombard the North Slope is that they knew that there was an oil storage tank full of fuel. Once captured, they could give their tanks Refuel."

"Yes, this is entirely possible." Sokov looked at Sidolin and said, "But in this way, the problem arises again. How did the Germans know about the oil storage tanks on the north slope? What about the ones full of fuel?"

   "Why?" Sidolin blurted out the question.

"I think there must be spies sent by the Germans hidden in our vicinity, so that we can be so clear about our situation here." Sokov said: "We will send people to the residential area near Mamayev Hill to conduct investigations. Search for hidden German agents."

   "Comrade Brigadier, are you saying that there are German spies hidden in the residential areas near us?" Hearing what Sokov said, Sidolin couldn't help asking back in surprise: "How is this possible?"

"Is there anything impossible?" Sokov said with a sneer, "Since I led two infantry brigades to cut a gap in the enemy's encirclement, there must have been many Germans who disguised themselves as our army's breakthrough soldiers. Infiltrated into the city. If these spies are not eradicated, we will definitely suffer a big loss when we fight the Germans in street fighting in the future."

   Sidolin did not express doubts about Sokov's statement. After all, he was once the chief of operations of the 64th Army and had heard of Germans disguised as Soviet troops. As soon as Sokov finished speaking, he immediately stated: "After the security company has completed its security mission, I will send them to the nearby residential areas to search. The deserters who retreated from the front line..."

  While Sidolin was talking about his thoughts to Sokov, the phone on the table rang. Sokov grabbed the receiver and put it close to his ear and said, "I'm Sokov. Where are you?"

"Comrade Brigadier, I am Captain Briski, Commander of the Fourth Battalion." Lieutenant Briski hurriedly said on the phone: "Germans, a lot of Germans, a lot of Germans appeared in front of our position. It seems that they They are planning to attack us."

"These damned Germans actually played a trick with me." Sokov thought to himself. After the shelling, the enemy attacked the factory area north of Mamayev Gang with great fanfare. The attention of the defenders in the city has been attracted, and then they can take advantage of their negligence to strike a thunderbolt.

The soldiers came to cover up the water and the earth. Now that the Germans appeared, Sokov would naturally see the tricks. After putting down the phone, he said to Pence Dolin: "Bliski reported that they found more than 20 German vehicles in front of them." tanks, and behind the tanks is an endless line of skirmishers. It seems that the enemy is really preparing to take the North Slope. You immediately notify Captain Oshanin of the dog company and send 20 dogs to support them. The Fourth Battalion has no anti-tank weapons, so they can only rely on these military dogs to blow up enemy tanks."

  (end of this chapter)