Red Moscow

  Chapter 435 Going north (Part 2)

  Sokov knew very well in his heart that the reason why Chuikov sent little Sidorin to pass the order was nothing more than to find a reason to reunite their father and son, so as to avoid both sides leaving lifelong regrets. He said that he would only give Sidolin and his son half an hour to catch up on the old days, but when the time was up, he didn't send anyone to urge them at all.

  Sidorin is also a sensible person. Seeing that no one came to urge him, he guessed that everyone was planning to leave more time for his father and son to talk. But even if no one urged him, he always kept his responsibilities in mind, and he couldn't delay his official business because of his personal affairs. So as soon as the time came, he took his son Sidorin back to the headquarters and said to Sokov: "Comrade Brigadier, it's getting late, you and Sidorin go to the headquarters, don't let Comrade Commander Wait in a hurry."

After Sokov and little Sidolin left, Belkin asked Sidolin in a reproachful tone: "Comrade Chief of Staff, you are not ignorant of the current situation. Maybe today is the last time you and your father will meet. Why don't you Shall we talk a little longer?"

"Comrade Commissar, I appreciate the kindness of you and the brigade commander." Sidolin looked at Belkin and said gratefully: "I am a soldier, and I have long been prepared to bleed and die for the motherland. But the only My only regret is that I am worried about the safety of my child, and seeing him safe and sound today, I am already satisfied, how can I delay my work due to personal matters."

  Hearing what Sidolin said, Belkin nodded slightly, and said: "The commander called the brigade commander to the headquarters. I don't know when he will be back. You will be fully responsible for the work here."

"Don't worry, Comrade Political Commissar." Sidolin regained his usual self-confidence, "I believe our soldiers will hold their ground. But before that, we should follow the brigade commander's order and build a ring at the top of Nangang's hillside." fortifications."

  ...

  Sokov followed Sidolin to the location of the new headquarters. He thought that Chuikov's headquarters was probably located on the ground again, but when he got there, he realized that he had guessed wrong. The new command headquarters dug a few holes on the steep river bank. Since there could not be too many people inside, many staff officers stayed on barges parked by the river.

  Sidorin led Sokov into a cave, and said to the people inside: "Comrade Commander, I have been ordered to bring Lieutenant Colonel Sokov over."

With the help of the lantern in the room, Sokov saw clearly that Chuikov and Krylov were standing at the same table, so he hurriedly stepped forward, raised his hand to salute the two, and respectfully reported, "Comrade Commander, infantry Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, commander of the 73rd brigade, was ordered to come, I am waiting for your order, please instruct!"

   "Sokov is here," Chuikov stepped forward to hold Sokov's hand, and greeted enthusiastically: "Hurry up, please sit down."

After sitting down, Sokov looked around the cave and saw that there was no one else except Chuikov, Krylov, Gurov and a few signal soldiers, so he asked curiously: "Comrade commander, Where did General Rodimtsev go?"

   "He went to the 42nd Guards Regiment." Krylov put a cup of hot tea in front of Sokov, and continued: "He just left not long ago. Why, didn't you meet on the road?"

"No." Sokov shook his head and replied, "I missed some of them somewhere on the road." He paused for a moment, and then asked, "Commander, Comrade Chief of Staff, I don't know what you asked me to come here. Is it an important task?"

  Chuikov raised his chin at Krylov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, show that combat order to Lieutenant Colonel Sokov."

Krylov nodded, took out a piece of paper from a file bag hanging on the wall, walked up to Sokov, and said to him: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, please take a look at this document first." Order, and then we will give you a task."

Sokov took over the combat order in Krylov's hand, and saw that it read: "...to smash the enemy army group attacking Stalingrad, I order you to cooperate with the Stalingrad Front Army: Order Commander of the 62nd Army , Organize an assault group of at least 3 infantry divisions and a tank brigade in the Mamayev Hill area to attack the enemies in the northwestern suburbs of Stalingrad and wipe them out in this area. Task of the day: Behind the practical guarantee Reynolds and Orlovka areas, 128 and 98.9 highlands, and the northwestern and western suburbs of Stalingrad, destroy the enemy in the city.

  Order the Artillery Director of the Front Army to use a powerful artillery attack to ensure that the 62nd Army will carry out an assault in the area from Gorodisheh and Gumlak on the right to the Tsaritsa River on the right.

  From 19:00 on September 18, 1942, the Gorishny Infantry Division was included in the 62nd Army formation.

Order the commander of the 62nd Army to cross the Volga River to Stalingrad from the northern crossing near the village of 'Red October' with most of the division before 5 o'clock on September 19, 1942, and to use this force from Highland 102 carried out an assault to the northwest suburbs of the city. ..." At the end of the order were the signatures of Yeremenko and Khrushchev.

After reading the combat order, Sokov handed it back to Krylov, looked at Chuikov and asked, "Comrade Commander, our brigade has suffered more than 3,000 casualties in the battles of the past few days. Go and participate in such a counterattack." The reason why he said first that his troops had suffered more than 3,000 casualties was to prevent Cuikov and the others from forcibly drawing troops from him to carry out these doomed counterattacks in order to complete the task of their superiors.

   But the facts quickly proved that Sokov was overthinking. Chuikov had no plans to draw a large force from Mamayev Post to participate in the counterattack. He said to Sokov: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, I called you here today not to let your troops participate in such a counterattack, but to have other tasks?"

   Knowing that his troops do not need to participate in the doomed counterattack, Sokov put his heart back in his stomach. He hurriedly asked: "Comrade Commander, may I ask what the mission is?"

"You should have seen in the combat order just now that we are about to launch an attack on the enemy north of Stalingrad in response to the Stalingrad Front Commanded by General Rokossovsky." Chuikov pointed at the map and asked So Kove said: "When our troops are fighting fiercely with the enemy, you lead an elite unit to pass through the gaps in the enemy's defense lines and go north to meet the troops of the Stalingrad Front going south."

Hearing Chuikov repeatedly mentioning the Stalingrad Front Army, Sokov felt dumbfounded. The troops known as the Stalingrad Front Army are still tens of kilometers away from the city; The troops belonged to the Southeast Front Army.

"Comrade Commander," Sokov thought that if he wanted to pass through the gap between the German defense lines, the size of the army he was leading should not be too large, so he asked Chuikov for instructions: "I don't know if the army I am leading How many people should the number of troops be controlled within?"

  Chuikov thought for a while and replied: "If there are too many people, it will be easy to be exposed when passing through the enemy's defense line; if the number is too small, it will not be able to play the necessary role. In my opinion, it will be three hundred people."

   As for which unit to lead northward, Sokov first considered the third battalion. But after thinking about it, the combat effectiveness of the third battalion is not weak, and they should be reserved for the most difficult moments. In addition, the most suitable candidate is the 192nd battalion. The commander and combat backbone of the battalion are all former infantrymen The 192nd Division, they are full of hatred for the German army, and they have not let them participate in the war recently, they must have a fire in their hearts, leading them northward, they will definitely be able to exert their combat effectiveness to the limit.

   Just when Sokov saw that the task had been assigned and was about to get up to leave, the phone on the table rang suddenly. Krylov picked up the receiver and listened to it for a while, then covered the receiver and said to Chuikov: "Comrade Commander, this is the call from Major General Matveyev, Artillery Commander of the Front Army."

  After listening to Krylov's name, Chuikov asked impatiently, "What is he going to say this time?"

   Sokov on the side heard what Chuikov said, and he couldn't help thinking to himself: Is there any contradiction between the commander and the artillery commander of the front army? In order to understand all this, he didn't leave immediately, but stood where he was, and listened carefully to the conversation between the two.

"What else can I say?" Krylov shrugged his shoulders, and said helplessly: "It's not those words, saying that in order to better attack the enemy, the artillery of the group army should be deployed in the city of Stalingrad, not in the east. shore."

"Didn't the Military Council of the Army Group make a decision long ago?" Chuikov continued: "Leave the artillery on the left bank of the Volga River, and only need to deploy the artillery observation post on the right bank. The firepower is mobile. The artillery that can stay in the city can only be mortars and anti-tank guns.”

"Comrade General," Krylov waited for Chuikov to finish speaking, and let go of the microphone. "In the city, our artillery group has neither horsepower nor mechanical traction. In this way, our artillery Almost lost mobility. Think about it, it is impossible for us artillerymen to push cannons and howitzers with both hands, walk on rough streets that have been bombed, and pass through the ruins of urban areas.

  And since late August, it has become very difficult to transport shells from the left bank of the Volga River and then into the city, and sometimes it is completely impossible. Because during the day the enemy watched all the roads leading to the Volga from the east. The enemy's air force and artillery have blocked our river crossing area. It is more difficult for us to transport ammunition across the water that is only one kilometer wide than to transport ammunition to the banks of the Volga from a hundred kilometers away. ..."

When Krylov was explaining to Matveyev the advantages of leaving the artillery on the left bank, an idea suddenly popped up in Sokov's mind. He walked up to Chuikov and said in a low voice: "Commander Comrade, I think it is possible to deploy several rocket artillery battalions in the right bank area."

"Set up a rocket launcher battalion in the city?" After hearing Sokov's suggestion, Chuikov frowned and said, "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I would like to ask you, if there are really several rocket launcher battalions in the city, what do you plan to do?" How to use them?"

"Comrade Commander, it's the layout of your new headquarters that gave me a new idea." Sokov pulled Cuikov to the entrance of the cave and said to him, "We can dig some caves on the steep river bank. , to hide the rocket artillery vehicle. Once the enemy is found to launch a large-scale attack on our army's position, our rocket artillery battalion will drive out of the cave where it is hiding and cover the enemy with firepower. After completing the shooting mission, return to the cave where it is hiding .Do you think this will work?"

  Sokov did not express his opinion immediately, but stood by the river, carefully observing the nearby embankment. After a long time, he finally nodded and said, "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, your proposal is completely feasible. I will contact General Matveyev and ask him to send us a few rocket artillery battalions as soon as possible."

Chuikov returned to the cave again, walked quickly to Krylov, took the phone from him, and said into the microphone: "General Matveyev, hello, I am Chuikov. I am now With a new idea, you can send us two or three rocket artillery battalions, and we will deploy them in the city and use them to hit the Germans hard."

Hearing what Chuikov said, Krylov immediately became anxious. He lowered his voice and reminded Chuikov: "Comrade Commander, if we really deploy the rocket artillery battalion in the city, within two days, they will be destroyed by German artillery and aircraft." destroyed, I suggest leaving them on the other side."

Chuikov didn't even raise his eyelids, but continued to speak into the microphone: "Comrade General, you also know that our counterattack is about to begin, please be sure to bring the rocket launchers we need to the city tonight and tomorrow night. "

As soon as Chuikov put down the phone, Krylov said anxiously: "Comrade commander, have you forgotten the situation in the city? Under the current situation, if we deploy artillery in the city, we will not be able to conduct fire maneuvers at all. It can only make them the target of the enemy."

"Comrade Chief of Staff." Chuikov waited for Krylov to finish speaking, and said with a smile on his face: "Didn't you hear clearly just now, what I asked for was a rocket artillery battalion, not cannons or howitzers. You should be very clear, rocket artillery The mobility of the battalion is very high."

   "But the roads in the city have been severely damaged." Krylov said impatiently: "Even a highly mobile rocket launcher will become difficult to move when it arrives in the city."

Chuikov turned his head and glanced at Sokov, and then said to Krylov: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov suggested to me that we can build caves on the river embankment for rocket launchers to hide in. Usually, we hide rocket launchers in caves." , When the enemy launches a large-scale attack on our army, the rocket battalion will drive out from the cave, set up a position on the river bank, and cover the enemy who enters the range with firepower. After completing the combat mission, they return to the cave where they hid. "

After figuring out what was going on, Krylov showed a surprised expression on his face: "Comrade Commander, if this is the case, it is completely feasible to transfer some of the rockets back from the east bank. The hit-and-run tactic will surely inflict heavy casualties on the enemy."

   Seeing that Krylov agreed with his opinion, Chuikov went on to say: "Chief of Staff, you immediately arrange for engineers to choose a suitable location to dig caves, and still build slopes for rocket launchers to attack."

  (end of this chapter)