Red Moscow

  Chapter 436 FireWire Promotion

  Hearing that Sokov was assigning tasks to Krylov, Sokov felt that he should have nothing to do here, so he stood up to attention and asked, "Comrade Commander, can I leave?"

   "Yes." Cuikov nodded and said, "Although the offensive will start in a few days, you still need to make all preparations in advance, understand?"

   "I fully understand, Comrade Commander."

   "Very good." Chuikov nodded in satisfaction to Sokov's answer, and then said, "Now you can return to Mamayev Post."

  According to Sokov's idea, after leaving the army headquarters, he immediately returned to Mamayev Post. Now that the army is in chaos, it is better to return to the safety of his own site earlier. Unexpectedly, halfway through, he found that he couldn't go, because the German army was attacking the Krutoy gully where the 42nd Guards Regiment was located.

  Sokov had no choice but to take people to Colonel Ye Lin's regiment command post for shelter. Unexpectedly, as soon as he entered the door, he heard someone asking himself: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, why are you here?"

   Sokov took a closer look, and it turned out that the person who was asking the question was Rodimtsev. He quickly stood up and replied, "Report to Comrade General, Commander Chuikov summoned me to the headquarters to accept the task."

   "What task?" Rodimtsev asked casually.

   "I'm sorry, Comrade General." It stands to reason that Rodimtsev is now Sokov's immediate boss, and it doesn't matter if he tells him the tasks assigned by Chuikov. But now it is in Colonel Ye Lin's command post, where there are many people talking, what should we do if there is a leak? It is precisely because of this consideration that Sokov said very euphemistically: "This involves important military secrets, and I cannot tell you."

   Fortunately, Rodimtsev is also an old soldier who understands the principle of confidentiality, so he didn't continue to ask after hearing what Sokov said. He changed the subject in time and said to Sokov: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, come to me. The Germans are attacking the position of the 1st Battalion. Come and see, can they hold the position?"

   Sokov came to the lookout, took a telescope handed over by the staff next to him, and looked into the distance, only to see the defensive position of the first battalion shrouded in smoke. Through the gunpowder smoke, one could faintly see German tanks and infantry rushing towards the position of the position.

He heard Colonel Ye Lin, who was on the phone not far away, shouting hoarsely into the microphone: "Captain Fedoseyev, I order you to hold your position at all costs. Hold it to me at all costs, heard ?"

  Yelin put down the phone, walked to Rodimtsev's side, and reported to him: "Comrade Commander, I have already called Captain Fedoseyev of the 1st Battalion and ordered him to hold his position resolutely."

  Rodimtsev put down the binoculars in his hand, stared at Ye Lin and asked: "Comrade Colonel, do you think the first battalion can hold the position?"

"Comrade commander, it's hard to say." Facing Rodimtsev's question, Ye Lin said with some embarrassment: "If our regiment had just entered the defensive position, the scale of the German attack would not be able to break through our regiment at all." Defensive. But now our troops have suffered heavy losses in battle. The newly recruited militiamen, although they can shoot guns, have little combat experience. I am worried that when someone sees the tank rushing in front of them, they will turn around and run away, which will affect to the morale of our regiment."

"Comrade Colonel, you are too pessimistic." After listening to Ye Lin's words, Rodimtsev said to him in a stern tone: "Don't see that the recruits who just added to your regiment are all militiamen from various factories and mines. I Admitting that they lack sufficient military training and combat experience, but they are defending their homeland, and seeing these Germans trying to destroy their homeland, they must be able to burst into superhuman combat effectiveness."

Seeing that Rodimtsev had such confidence in his subordinates, Colonel Yelin couldn't say anything more, so he could only follow his meaning: "Comrade commander, maybe you are right, our soldiers will fight with their own flesh and blood. Hold off the enemy so they can't take the factory behind us."

Sokov didn't speak, just held up his binoculars and watched what happened in front of him quietly, but he was thinking in his heart: the artillery observers deployed on the Mamayev Hill should be able to see the attack here. The enemy, should they guide the artillery on the east bank to take a round of blocking fire to reduce the pressure on the defenders?

Just when Sokov was worried about the defenders, there was the whistling sound of shells in the air, and then in the German offensive line, the soil blown up by the shells shot up into the sky, not only the German soldiers near the bombing point were blown up , Even the tanks that opened the way ahead were torn apart by the power of the explosion like paper toys, and then thrown high into the air. Facing the sudden Soviet artillery fire, the German officers and soldiers who were charging had to lie on the ground to avoid the artillery fire.

   "Colonel Ye Lin," Rodimtsev urged Ye Lin when he saw the artillery fire from his own side and forced the German army to lie on the ground: "Call the 1st Battalion immediately and ask them to carry out a counter-charge and beat the enemy down."

Hearing the order from Rodimtsev, Ye Lin didn't dare to neglect, quickly picked up the microphone, and called Captain Fedoseyev again: "Comrade Captain, have you seen the enemy being suppressed by our army's artillery fire?" ...Very well, now that you have seen it, you and your subordinates should stop hiding in the trenches, counterattack, and immediately order all companies to counterattack, and we must drive the enemy away from the front of our position."

A few minutes after the order was issued, Sokov saw an officer wearing a large-brimmed hat jumping out of the trench with a submachine gun in his hand, standing above the trench, turning around and shouting something to the soldiers, and then He rushed forward with a gun in his hand. Seeing the officer charging forward, two or three hundred soldiers crawled out of the trenches and charged forward behind the officer.

"Comrade Commander," Ye Lin, who put down the phone and returned to the lookout, saw the commander leading the charge, and proudly said to Rodimtsev, "The commander who took the lead in the attack is the first battalion. Battalion Commander Captain Fedoseyev."

   "Good job, really good job." Seeing his officers leading the charge against the enemy's bullets, Rodimtsev couldn't help saying with emotion: "I believe they will be able to defeat the enemy."

However, Rodimtsev's words seemed to be a bit too early. When everyone saw Fedoseyev who was charging forward, he was suddenly shocked and stopped on the spot. First, he knelt on his knees. After holding it for a few seconds, he fell crookedly. Seeing that the battalion commander was shot and fell, the soldiers who were charging fell into chaos. In order to avoid the flying bullets and shrapnel, they had to lie on the ground again.

   Seeing this situation, Rodimtsev couldn't help being anxious: "Damn, what's going on, why are you all lying down?"

   "Comrade Commander," Ye Lin saw clearly that with the fall of Captain Fedoseyev, the commanders and fighters who were charging all fell to the ground at the same time. "The first battalion commander, Captain Fedoseyev, died, and the troops lost a unified command, so they became a little at a loss."

"Colonel, send someone to take over his command immediately." Seeing that his troops only needed to rush up to defeat the enemy, but because the battalion commander who led the charge fell down, the charge was terminated. The husband couldn't help being anxious, and urged Ye Lin: "Don't dawdle, act quickly."

Sokov didn't care about who Ye Lin would take over as Captain Fedoseyev's command. He only hoped that Rodimtsev would not notice him. Know what to do?

  But before Colonel Yelin could find a suitable candidate, Sokov saw an officer get up from the ground and shout something to the soldiers around him. Sokov saw clearly that the officer who had just stood up was Captain Dragan, the company commander of the first battalion and company. His heart was filled with anticipation, hoping that Dragan would lead the commanders and fighters who were lying on the ground again, and launch another attack on the German army. One charge.

   But Dragan yelled for a long time on the spot, but very few people got up, so angry that Dragan fired two shots at a militiaman lying not far away. When seeing Dragan shoot, Sokov still trembled in his heart, thinking why this Dragan is so violent, he actually shoots at the soldiers, if everyone is killed, who will continue to attack? ?

Fortunately, he quickly saw that Dragan's bullets did not hit the militiaman, but all hit the soil around the militiaman. The startled soldier jumped up from the ground , Holding the bayonet-mounted spear, he rushed forward. The other soldiers were lying on the ground, and no one noticed that Dragan shot at the militiamen who dared not stand up. They only saw a man charging forward with a gun in his hand, so they stood up and rushed forward with shouts. go up.

   Seeing his troops rushing up, the artillery observers were worried that the artillery fire would accidentally injure their own people, so they quickly sent a signal to the east bank to stop their shelling. The German army, who had been suppressed by the artillery fire, saw that the Soviet army's artillery fire stopped, got up from the ground in a hurry, turned around and ran back.

  The counterattack of the first battalion achieved great results, but their casualties were not small. More than a hundred soldiers died in the battle, including the battalion commander Captain Fedoseyev. After listening to the casualties reported by Yelin, the muscles on Rodimtsev's face couldn't help twitching violently a few times, and then he ordered: "Comrade Colonel, since the commander of the first battalion, Captain Fedoseyev, has died, I see Let Captain Dragan, the first company commander, take his place."

   "Understood." Ye Lin nodded vigorously, and then said into the microphone: "Captain Dragan, I now officially appoint you as the acting battalion commander of the first battalion, do you understand?"

   "Comrade Commander." Regarding Ye Lin's appointment, Dragan said with some apprehensions: "But the political deputy battalion commander is still here. Let's see if he..."

"Comrade Captain," before Dragan could finish, Ye Lin interrupted him: "Appointing you to be the first battalion commander is the intention of Comrade Division Commander. You should do it well. If you can't hold the position If not, I will still dismiss you."

Knowing that the division commander Rodimtsev personally appointed him as the battalion commander, Dragan didn't shirk any more, but straightened his back and replied: "Understood, comrade commander, I resolutely obey the orders of my superiors. Please rest assured." , as long as there is one soldier alive in our first battalion, the enemy will never rush into our position."

"Lieutenant Colonel Sokov," Seeing that the enemy was repulsed, Sokov was about to say goodbye to Rodimtsev and return to Mamayev Hill, but was stopped by Rodimtsev: "I have something to say. Tell you."

   Sokov hurriedly stopped, looked at Rodimtsev, and waited for him to assign him a task. I just heard Rodimtsev say: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, the weapons and ammunition of the 42nd Guards Regiment were all provided by your brigade before. After these few days of fighting, they have consumed a lot of ammunition. You See if we can support another batch of them?"

   Rodimtsev's request put Sokov in a dilemma. Before he left Mamayev Post, he also mentioned to Sidolin and Belkin that the troops' ammunition consumption was too high and they might face difficulties in supplying supplies. At that time, Sokov considered that the entire brigade was mainly equipped with German equipment, so he only asked the troops to collect usable weapons and ammunition immediately after repelling the enemy to supplement the consumption of the troops. There are still a lot of Soviet standard equipment and supporting ammunition in the warehouse, but those are all used by Sokov to arm the troops after the ammunition of the German equipment is exhausted. How can they be easily handed over to others?

Seeing that Sokov frowned and did not speak for a long time, Rodimtsev knew that the other party was engaged in a fierce ideological struggle, so he reminded him: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, if Colonel Yelin's troops are out of ammunition and If you can't defend your position, then your flanks will be directly exposed to the enemy. At that time..."

   Although Rodimtsev didn't finish his words, Sokov already understood what he meant. Blackmail, this is simply blackmail, Sukov cursed secretly in his heart. Don't give it if you want to, I really can't say this, after all, others are using Yangmou, even if you want to refuse, you can't find a suitable reason.

Thinking of this, Sokov could only let out a long sigh, raised his head and said helplessly to Rodimtsev: "Comrade General, I can provide another two hundred rifles, one heavy machine gun and two light guns to the 42nd Guards Regiment." Machine guns, and the supporting ammunition. This is already my limit, and if there are more, I really can’t take them out.”

When Sokov was speaking, Rodimtsev kept observing the expression on his face to confirm that what he said was true, so he did not make any more demands, but said to Ye Lin: "Comrade Colonel, immediately Send a platoon to **** Lieutenant Colonel Sokov back to Mamayev Post. Tell the officer leading the team that he must protect Lieutenant Colonel Sokov's safety as much as his own eyes. Do you understand?"

   "Understood, Comrade Commander." After Ye Lin turned his head and glanced at Sokov, he replied in a loud voice: "We will safely **** Lieutenant Colonel Sokov back to Mamayev Post."

   Escort? ! Hearing the two singing in unison, Sokov couldn't help but smile wryly in his heart, and said to himself: What kind of escort, isn't it just sending people to my place to carry weapons and ammunition. But at this moment, he couldn't care about so much, so he could only bite the bullet and say to Ye Lin: "Comrade Colonel, it's getting late, I need to rush back to Mamayev Post immediately, please arrange manpower as soon as possible to **** I'll go back to the headquarters."

  (end of this chapter)