Red Moscow

  Chapter 394 Marching towards enemy fire

The 35th Guards Division has lost all its heavy weapons during the battle, and even suffered two-thirds of its casualties. If they continue to stick to areas without perfect fortifications, what awaits them will be the end of their entire army. . After repeated weighing, Glazkov gave the troops an order to retreat.

  After receiving Grazkov's retreat order, the regiments immediately withdrew from their positions while the enemy was being repelled, and moved towards Mamayev Post. But neither Glazkov nor the grassroots commanders ignored the fact that there were German reconnaissance planes in the sky. As a result, shortly after withdrawing from the position, the German artillery fired at the retreating troops.

  Scattered shells landed in the middle of the retreating troops and exploded. The air waves of the explosion lifted the commanders and fighters near the blast point, or threw the stumps, arms and gun parts into the air. The commanders and fighters, whose morale was low due to the retreat, were suddenly stunned by the sudden shelling, and the team fell into chaos. The soldiers instinctively fled in all directions to avoid the German artillery fire.

   Glazkov, who followed the troops withdrew, saw that the troops were in chaos under the enemy's artillery fire, and couldn't help stomping his feet anxiously. He shouted at the top of his voice: "Everyone, don't make a mess, don't make a mess..." However, his voice was covered by the sound of cannons and the shouts of soldiers, and no one heard him at all.

When the observation post on Mamayev Kurgan noticed that the 35th Guards Division had withdrawn from its position, it immediately called Sokov to report: "Comrade Brigadier, I saw the troops of the 35th Guards Division withdrawing from their positions. gone."

The first thing Sokov did after he put down the phone was to ask Sidolin directly: "Comrade Chief of Staff, did the Army Group Command inform us when the troops of the 35th Guards Division will retreat to Mamayev Post? "

"No." Sidolin said blankly: "It stands to reason that if they want to retreat, they will definitely report to the army headquarters first, and then General Chuikov will call us and ask us to send troops to respond. But I So far, no calls have been received from the headquarters."

   "But the observation post just reported to me that the troops of the 35th Guards Division have begun to transfer." Sokov said with a serious expression: "I want to call the headquarters and ask."

  Sokov was lucky, and he quickly got through to the headquarters. The person who answered the phone was Chief of Staff Krylov. As soon as the other party heard that Sokov mentioned the attack on the 35th Division, he said impatiently: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, when the 35th Guards Division is transferred, I will give you I'm on the phone. I'm very busy here, I don't have anything important to do, so don't call me."

  Sokov noticed that the other party was about to hang up the phone, so he quickly stopped him: "Comrade Chief of Staff, please wait a moment, I am calling you to tell you that the 35th Guards Division has begun to transfer!"

   "What, the 35th Guards Division has already begun to transfer?" Krylov asked in surprise: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, who told you this information?"

   "It's my observation post." Sokov quickly replied: "He reported to me that the troops of the 35th Guards Division have withdrawn from their positions and are moving in the direction of Mamayev Post."

   "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, I will verify what you said immediately." After finishing speaking, Krylov hung up the phone without waiting for Sokov to speak again.

Sokov held the microphone that heard the blind voice, and said to Sidolin and Belkin with some embarrassment: "So far, the headquarters does not know that the 35th Guards Division has abandoned its position and is heading towards our Mamayev hill. Transferred."

  Sidolin waited for Sokov to finish speaking, and immediately asked: "Comrade Brigadier, what should we do now?"

"We have to do two things now." Sokov said, stretching out two fingers: "One is to verify whether the report from the observation post is true; second, immediately order the 192nd Battalion in Goria to prepare. The 35th division really started to move, let them go out to meet them."

Sidolin nodded, picked up the phone and called the observation post on the top of the hill to check with them: "Hello, observation post? I'm Chief of Staff Sidolin, you confirm the troops of the 35th Guards Division, Are you retreating to Mamayev Kurgan?"

When Sidolin was on the phone with the observation post, Sokov stood aside and listened to the voice on the phone: "Yes, Comrade Chief of Staff, I can be sure that the troops of the 35th Guards Division have withdrawn from their positions and are on the way. Moved in the direction of Mamayev Hill. But now they are under shelling by the Germans, and the troops have completely lost their organizational structure and are in chaos."

   Knowing that the troops of the 35th Guards Division were being bombarded by the Germans, everyone couldn't help but turn pale with fright. After Sidolin put down the phone, he looked at Sokov and asked, "Comrade Brigadier, are we still sending the 192nd Battalion to respond as planned?" suffered heavy losses.

  What Sidolin thought of, Sukov also considered. He did not immediately answer whether to send troops, but asked Sidolin: "Comrade Chief of Staff, how many armored vehicles do we have captured?"

   "Two." After Sidolin finished his answer, he asked in puzzlement, "Comrade Brigadier, what are you going to do?"

"The enemy is bombarding the 35th Guards Division. It may not be appropriate to send troops to respond at this moment. Don't go to respond to friendly troops at that time. They will suffer heavy losses under the enemy's shelling." Sokov said thoughtfully: "Since our With two armored vehicles in hand, I immediately sent them out to find a way to bring General Glazkov back..."

"Yes, yes, Comrade Brigadier, you are right." Before Sukov finished speaking, Sidolin rushed to interject and said: "General Glazkov is the commander of the Guards Division. We must first ensure that He is safe. I will send someone to drive an armored vehicle to meet them."

Seeing Sidolin picked up the phone, Sokov quickly stopped him: "Chief of Staff, wait a minute. The paint on the two armored vehicles is still German. Let our soldiers remember to bring two red flags when they set off, so as not to cause unnecessary misunderstanding."

  Sidolin was on the phone, and when he was arranging staff to answer Grazkov, the high-frequency phone on the desk rang again. Sukov guessed that the call might be from the Army Group Command, and quickly picked up the phone: "I'm Sokov."

"I'm Chuikov." Chuikov's voice came through the receiver, and he asked in a stern tone: "We have lost contact with the 35th Guards Division. It seems that they may have really retreated. The troops sent out to respond are ready. ?"

"Comrade Commander, the situation has changed a little bit." Sokov thought that the retreating troops were being bombarded by the German army. If he sent troops to respond, it would be tantamount to letting his soldiers die, so he directly responded Chuikov: "The enemy is shelling the retreating 35th Guards Division. If I send troops to reinforce it, it will be tantamount to letting them die. I can't risk the lives of my soldiers."

  Hearing what Sokov said, Chuikov couldn't help but be furious: "If you don't want your soldiers to die, are you going to watch the commanders and fighters of the 35th Guards Division be wiped out by the enemy?"

"Comrade Commander," Sokov responded to Chuikov's accusation without humility: "If the troops of the 35th Guards Division are being pursued by the Germans when they are retreating, it is my duty to send troops to meet them. But now the enemy is shelling, and the flesh and blood of the soldiers can't stop the enemy's shells. However, I will not sit back and watch my friendly troops be wiped out by the enemy, I will try my best to help them."

   "Tell me," Chuikov might feel that what Sokov said had some truth, so his tone softened: "What are your plans?"

"I still have two captured German armored vehicles here," Sokov reported to Chuikov, "I plan to order soldiers to drive these two armored vehicles to find General Glazkov and take him to Mamayev. post."

Chuikov was silent for a long time, and then said: "Okay, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, just as you said, send two armored vehicles to look for General Glazkov. Remember, we must bring him safely to Mamaye Fugang."

   Seeing Sokov put down the phone, Sidolin couldn't wait to ask: "Comrade Brigadier, it has been arranged. Second Lieutenant Samoilov of the guard company will lead five soldiers to carry out this important task."

"Call Second Lieutenant Samoilov here," although Sokov believed that Samoilov had the ability to bring Glazkov back, but for the sake of safety, he still ordered Sidolin: "I have important to explain to him."

  Samoilov was in a room not far away. After receiving the call notification, he soon appeared in the brigade headquarters. Sokov walked up to him, raised his hand and patted him on the shoulder twice, and then said, "Comrade Second Lieutenant, are the missions clear?"

"Yes, Comrade Brigadier." Hearing what Sokov said, Samoilov quickly repeated the task assigned by Sidolin to everyone: "Our task is to find the first General Glazkov, commander of the 35th Division, and brought him safely to Mamayev Kurgan."

"Comrade Second Lieutenant," Sokov was uncertain about whether he could rescue Grazkov, but he still said to Samoilov solemnly: "I hope you can do everything possible to save Grazkov General Husband here. At that time, I will ask my superiors to honor you and your subordinates."

  Honor is more important than life to soldiers. After Samoilov heard Sokov's wish, he immediately replied in a loud voice: "Comrade Brigadier, don't worry, even if I sacrifice my life, I will bring General Glazkov back to the horses safely." Mayev Hill."

  ...

When two armored vehicles painted with white crosses appeared in front of the commanders and fighters of the 35th Guards Division who were retreating hastily, everyone had different reactions. Some lay down on the spot and were ready to fight; some stood there in a daze, I don't know what to do; some people are thinking in their hearts, we can't deal with the French and German armored vehicles, do we need to surrender?

   Just when everyone was panicking, a red flag suddenly protruded from the compartment of the armored vehicle. The flag was tied to a rifle. Seeing the red flag fluttering in the wind, the soldiers immediately understood in their hearts that it was not the enemy who came, but their own people. So many soldiers who were lying on the ground ready to shoot got up one after another and continued walking along the road.

Samoilov stood up and asked the soldiers who passed by him loudly: "Where is your commander?" Repeated again.

   Finally someone answered this time. A young soldier looked up at Samoilov standing in the carriage and said, "Comrade Second Lieutenant, our division commander seems to be still in the area under shelling..."

  Samoilov looked in the direction of the little soldier's finger, and saw that the area a few hundred meters away was indeed shelled by the German army. From such a long distance, even without binoculars, Samoilov could see the corpses of Guards soldiers lying on the ground, all of them fell under the enemy's fire.

   "Drive the car to the shelling area." Samoilov shouted loudly: "We are going there to meet General Glazkov."

"Comrade Second Lieutenant," the driver said to Samoilov, "the artillery fire in front is too violent, although he saw that the artillery fire ahead was not violent, but he drove over rashly. , if we drove over, we might become a target for the Germans."

   "Didn't you hear the soldiers of the Guards Division say that their division commander is there?" Samoilov ordered in an unquestionable tone: "Go forward! Go towards the enemy's artillery fire!"

  When the driver heard this order, he had no choice but to restart the armored vehicle and galloped towards the shelling area. At the same time, he was secretly praying that the shells would not hit his vehicle.

  A distance of several hundred meters is two or three minutes for an armored vehicle. When Samoilov braved the enemy's artillery fire and was looking for Grazkov's whereabouts, from time to time, the wounded lying on the ground extended a helping hand to them, and murmured: "Please!" You guys, save me, save me..."

  If it was normal, maybe Samoilov would show mercy and let the soldiers in the car get out of the car to save people. But at this moment, their task was to find General Samoilov, the commander of the Guards Division, so they could only ignore the wounded who asked for help on the roadside.

The armored vehicle passed through the artillery fire, and from time to time there were shrapnel flying across the armor plate, and even Samoilov's helmet was hit by a few shrapnel, but he didn't care, still staring at the artillery fire with wide eyes. In the smoke, look around for Glazkov's whereabouts.

At this time, a soldier rushed out from the bomb crater that was still smoking, and shouted at Samoilov in the car: "Help, comrade commander, please, help our comrades!" Master, he is injured."

   "Stop!" Samoilov vaguely heard the word teacher, and hurriedly ordered the driver to stop. Then he leaned down and asked the soldier: "Comrade soldier, what were you shouting just now? I didn't hear clearly, can you repeat it again?"

  (end of this chapter)