Red Moscow

  Chapter 407 Friendly Army (Part 2)

After Ye Lin and his troops left Mamayev Post and went to the station, Sidolin felt that he should have a good talk with Sokov. Although he had said before that he would support some of the weapons of the friendly army, the amount provided was too much , has exceeded my imagination.

   "Comrade Brigadier," Sidolin said to Sokov with a straight face, "I want to ask, why did you provide so many weapons to the 42nd Guards Regiment?"

  Sidorin’s words stunned Sokov, “Comrade Chief of Staff, haven’t we already agreed with General Rodimtsev to provide weapons for his troops?”

"But, you gave them too much equipment." Sidolin said dissatisfiedly: "You know, the weapons they need should have been provided by the army headquarters. Just give them two or three hundred guns, but you gave them a regiment of equipment."

Hearing this, Sokov finally understood why Sidolin was unhappy, so he looked at him and asked back: "Comrade Chief of Staff, do you think the current situation of the Army Group Command can provide them with enough supplies in the short term?" A weapon?"

  Sidorin frowned and thought for a while, then shook his head and said, "I don't think it can be done!"

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Sukov said displeased seeing Sidolin contradicting himself for a few weapons and ammunition, "Didn't I tell you that if we want to win the Battle of Stalingrad, it depends on us alone?" One brigade is not enough. We also need the support of friendly forces, and the 42nd Guards Regiment is the friendly forces deployed on the right flank of our army. Only when they are stronger can we concentrate on dealing with the enemy in front. Do you understand? ?”

"Comrade Brigadier, don't get angry." Belkin, who was sitting on the sidelines, realized that Sokov and Sidolin were having an unnecessary dispute over the batch of ammunition provided to the friendly army, so he hurried out to smooth things over. : "I think Comrade Chief of Staff is also worried that too much ammunition will be given to friendly forces, which will cause us to encounter insufficient ammunition in battle. After all, the supplies that can be transported into the city every day are limited, and the chances of us getting supplies will be very low. "

"Comrade Commissar," Seeing Belkin come out as a peacemaker, Sokov took two breaths to control his emotions: "Our brigade now uses German-style equipment, and there are only a few soldiers using our army-standard equipment. Part of it. Instead of letting those weapons and ammunition sleep in the warehouse, it is better to support friendly forces to strengthen our strength."

After Sokov finished speaking, he paused for a moment, seeing that Sidolin still seemed to be a little puzzled, he continued: "I don't know if you have a feeling that during the two months of fighting, although the number of troops in the city Quite a few, but I always felt like I was alone."

"That's right, Comrade Brigadier." As soon as Sokov finished speaking, Belkin immediately echoed: "I often have this feeling too. Don't look at the number of troops in the city, but it is really the same as the German army. When people fight, I feel as if we are the only army fighting in the whole city."

  Sidorin couldn't help showing a surprised expression when he heard what Sokov and Belkin said, but he didn't ask why, but quietly became a listener.

   "Comrade Brigadier," Belkin glanced at the silent Sidolin, looked at Sokov and asked, "Can you tell us the reason?"

Sokov nodded and said: "Although there were many troops in the city before, they were not familiar with each other because they had no affiliation with us, so in battle, they usually fight them and we fight ours." , there is no cooperation with each other at all, no matter how many troops there are, they are just a mess...”

Sidolin waited patiently for Sokov to finish, and asked, "Comrade Brigadier, can I understand this? You provided so many weapons to the 42nd Guards Regiment just to find a reliable ally so that In the next battle, avoid the previous situation of fighting alone?"

"That's right, that's it." Sokov nodded, and said with certainty: "The troops of the 13th Guards Division have just entered Stalingrad, and they are in a state of black eyes, coupled with the extreme lack of weapons and ammunition. , if we provide them with selfless help at this time, then they will regard us as their trusted partners. In this way, we can get more help on the battlefield."

  Sukov's words finally convinced Sidolin. After he apologized to Sokov, he asked with some puzzlement: "Comrade Brigadier, there is one more thing I don't understand. Why do you want Colonel Yelin to ask for a recruit? I don't know who is a relative of a big man. Or do you have any special skills?"

"Chief of staff, are you talking about Vasily Zaitsev?" Sokov knew that Sidolin would ask about Vasily sooner or later, so he quickly said the excuse he had prepared: "I have heard other people say that I mentioned this soldier and said that he is a pretty good sharpshooter. I consider that the next battle in the city will be mainly street fighting, so I plan to form a sniper unit to hit Germany hard in street fighting people."

"Comrade Brigadier," Belgin asked tentatively, remembering that Sokov had formed a sniper unit when he was acting as the commander of the 328th Infantry Division, and had achieved considerable results. As in the 328th Division, form a sniper unit to destroy important targets and figures of the enemy?"

   "Yes, that's what I thought."

   "However, a sniper can play a limited role on the battlefield." Sidolin said with some concerns: "Even if their marksmanship is accurate, how many enemies can they destroy on the battlefield?"

"Comrade Chief of Staff, I think it is necessary to remind you." Sokov said to Sidolin: "The role of a sniper is not to kill many enemies on the battlefield, but to damage the morale of the enemy. Think about it , if our sniper kills an enemy at a long distance, and the enemy doesn't even see our sniper's shadow, how much will it affect their morale?"

After thinking about Sokov's statement for a long time, Sidolin thought it was very reasonable, so he nodded and said, "Comrade Brigadier, even if what you said is reasonable, how do you know that the soldier Vasily , can you be a good sniper?"

  Sokov thought, if you, like me, come from decades later, then you will feel how stupid the questions you ask are. However, he did not make more excuses, but simply said: "As for whether this new fighter is suitable to be a sniper, it depends entirely on his next performance."

  ...

  Vassily came to the entrance of the east **** of the southern hill of Mamayev Gang. Seeing the two soldiers standing at the gate, he asked hesitantly, "I'm sorry, my name is Vasily, and I was ordered to come here..."

   "Is there a pass?" A soldier asked back.

   "Yes, I have a military ID." Vasili took out his ID from his pocket, thinking to himself: "Why did the colonel ask me to sit here?"

  After checking Vasily's military ID, the soldier turned his head and shouted into the tunnel: "Comrade company commander, soldier Vasily is here."

  Following the shouts of the soldiers, a lieutenant walked out of the tunnel. He came to Vasili wearing a brand-new military uniform and asked, "Are you Vasily?"

   "Yes, Comrade Lieutenant." After seeing the other party's military rank, Vasily replied respectfully: "I am Vasily, and I came here in name."

   "Comrade company commander," the soldier who checked Vasily's military ID card quickly handed the ID card to the lieutenant, "This is soldier Vasily's military ID card."

  The lieutenant, who is called the company commander by the soldiers, is the company commander of the guard company Sergesha. He was ordered to come here to meet Vasily. He took the military ID card from the soldier, checked it carefully, nodded slightly, and then said to Vasily: "Comrade soldier, please come with me. Comrade brigade commander has been waiting for you for a long time." Stuffed it into Vasily's hand, turned around and walked into the tunnel.

  When Vasily followed Sergei inside, he asked curiously: "Comrade Lieutenant, I want to ask Comrade Brigadier if he has seen me before?"

"No, I have never seen it." As Sokov's confidant, Seryozha naturally knew a lot about Sokov, so after hearing Vasily's question, he immediately shook his head and said like a rattle: "As for Why he transferred you from the friendly army, I don't know."

Seeing that Seryozha didn't know why he was transferred to the 73rd Infantry Brigade, Vasily was a little disappointed. He thought to himself: "Maybe the brigade commander who transferred me made a mistake. He must have regarded me as a Another person with the same name and surname."

  After arriving at the headquarters, Vasily saw a square table in the middle of the room, and three people sat around the table. Except for one political worker, the other two were lieutenant colonels. After Vasili's gaze swept the two of them back and forth, he resolutely walked up to the older Sidolin, raised his hand and saluted, and said, "Report to Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, soldier of the 42nd Guards Infantry Regiment Wah Siri is here under orders, please give instructions!"

"Hello, Comrade Vasily." Seeing that Vasily had made the same mistake as Ye Lin, Sidolin couldn't help crying and saying, "You made a mistake. I am Lieutenant Colonel Sidolin, the chief of staff. Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, the brigade commander of the infantry brigade."

   Seeing that he had made a mistake, Vasily blushed with shame. He quickly faced Sokov and said apologetically, "I'm sorry, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I made a mistake. Because you really..."

"I'm really too young, right?" Sokov didn't wait for Vasily to finish, then smiled and said to him: "Comrade Vasily, it doesn't matter, you are not the first person to make a mistake, just a few days ago Colonel Ye Lin also made a mistake a few hours ago."

  Sokov's approachable attitude and easy-going tone made Vasily look very relaxed. After a moment of silence, he asked Sokov: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, may I ask why you transferred me to your unit?"

   "Comrade Vasily, I plan to form a sniper unit." Sokov looked at Vasily and said, "I heard that your marksmanship is good, so I discussed with Colonel Yelin and transferred you to our army."

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," Vasily said with some embarrassment after listening to Sokov's explanation, "I used to be a hunter. Although my marksmanship was not bad, I only shot wild animals and never killed people. I don't know myself. Whether it is suitable for the profession of a sniper, I am worried that I have failed your expectations."

"Comrade Vasily, when you shoot the Germans, don't treat them as human beings, but as beasts with two legs." Sukov noticed that Vasily had some psychological burden, so he comforted him and said, "You shoot at them." At that time, it is right to fight wild animals."

   "If it's fighting beasts," Vasily said with a grin, "then there's no problem."

  Seeing that Vasily agreed to his proposal and was willing to be a sniper, Sokov couldn't help but secretly heaved a sigh of relief. Then he asked the most crucial question: "Comrade Vasily, what is your best weapon?"

   "I used to hunt with Mosin Nagant rifles." Vasily said with some hesitation, "So I hope that the weapons I own can also be Mosin Nagant rifles, preferably with scopes."

"Don't worry, Comrade Vasily, you will get the weapon you want, and I will send someone to accompany you to get the right weapon later." Sokov couldn't help sighing secretly, talking to himself Said: "I prepared a Mauser 98K rifle for you, but I didn't expect you to still use the Mosin Nagant."

   Who knew that Vasili couldn't help his eyes light up when he heard the Mauser 98K, and hurriedly asked: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, do you have any sniper rifles used by the Germans here?"

"Yes, there are several." Sokov thought that his troops had killed many German snipers and seized several sniper rifles. He originally planned to save the best one for Vasily to use, but he did not expect him to He actually wanted to use the Mosin Nagant rifle, "Since you don't want to use it, I'll hand it over to other snipers."

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," Vasily said hastily when he learned that Sokov planned to hand over these sniper rifles to others, "If you allow me, I would like to try the Mauser 97K to see if its performance is better than that of the Mosin Nagant is better."

"Seryozha!" Sokov called Seryozha to his face and told him, "Take Comrade Vasily to the underground warehouse to pick out weapons. Whether it is Mosin Nagant or Mauser 98K, take one Find a place for him to try the gun. If there is no problem, put him, Zina and Susanna into the sniper team of the guard company."

   "Understood, Comrade Brigadier Commander." Seryozha replied respectfully, and then said to Vasily: "Comrade Vasily, please come with me, and I will take you to choose a satisfactory sniper rifle."

  (end of this chapter)