Red Moscow

  Chapter 464 Inside the Building (2)

  Sokov never dreamed that the reason why the rockets distributed to Vasily were not put into use was entirely because of Vasily's distrust of the rockets. In his impression, rockets are the kind that are taller than a person and need to be launched by a rocket launch vehicle. Unlike this so-called new type of rocket, which only has a simple launch tube, he is not sure whether the rocket can be launched , there is a doubt.

However, in front of Sokov, he certainly couldn't tell his true thoughts. After hearing Sokov's arrangement, he also casually perfunctory: "Don't worry, Comrade Brigadier, after dawn, once the German army is found There are signs of a build-up on the other side of the square, and we hit them with these rockets."

   He said so, but he was thinking in his heart: After dawn, the brigade commander will definitely leave, and in a short time, he will not appear in the building again. Find a place to put this new type of rocket temporarily, and it will not be too late to launch it at the enemy when the brigade commander comes next time.

Sokov couldn't guess what Vasily was thinking. Seeing that Vasily agreed so readily, he proudly said to Yakov: "Yakov, let's wait here until dawn and see for ourselves how this new rocket is. beat the Germans to the ground."

  Vassily, who was standing aside, heard Sokov say this, and his smile immediately froze on his face. He never dreamed that Sokov would stay here to see the power of the new rockets with his own eyes. After thinking for a while, he said to Sokov: "Comrade Brigadier, this place is too dangerous. The Germans may launch an attack at any time. I think you should go back to the headquarters first."

Sokov didn't notice Vasily's strangeness, and thought he was worried about his own safety, he quickly waved his hand and said, "It's okay, when the enemy comes to attack, we can just see with our own eyes how you fight." , he scanned the room, but did not see the shadow of the new rocket, so he asked curiously, "By the way, where is that new rocket, why didn't I see it?"

   "In the basement," Vasily said embarrassingly, "I'm worried that when the enemy bombards or bombs the building, the rockets will explode, so I temporarily store them in the basement."

  Hearing what Vasily said, Sokov immediately realized that something was wrong. How could the rockets be stored in the basement because they were worried that they would die in the enemy's shelling and bombing? However, he did not expose Vasily's lies, but said blankly: "Comrade Sergeant, take us to see."

  Going downstairs this time, Vasily took Sokov and the others to another staircase. They soon came to the entrance of the basement, saw the closed iron door, Vasily turned to Sokov and said: "Comrade Brigadier, please wait a moment, I will tell them to open the door immediately."

  After getting Sokov's permission, Vasily stepped forward and punched the iron door twice, and shouted inside: "Open the door, open the door quickly, I'm Vasily, I have something urgent to go in."

After a while, the iron door was pushed open from the inside, and a soldier rubbed his eyes and leaned out from the inside. After seeing Vasily standing at the door clearly, he asked feebly: "Comrade Sergeant, we are all sleeping, what are you doing?" What's matter?"

   "Sergeant Sobugaida," Vasily quickly turned his head and glanced at Sokov next to him, and said to him, "Comrade Brigadier is here!"

"Comrade Brigadier is here?!" Vasily's words startled the man. When he saw Sokov and Yakov standing next to Vasily, he quickly pulled the hem of the military uniform with both hands, and then Raising his hands in salute, he said dryly: "Hello, Comrade Brigadier Commander, Sergeant Sobugaida of the anti-tank team is reporting to you, we are resting here, please instruct!"

Sokov also felt very sorry for disturbing the rest of Sergeant Sobugaida and his subordinates, but he was eager to see the rocket launcher he gave to Vasily at the moment, so he could only apologize to Sobugaida. Ida said: "I'm sorry, Comrade Sergeant, we're here to inspect the new rockets, and I didn't expect to disturb your rest. I'm so sorry."

   It was probably the first time that Sobugaida met a superior commander who apologized to him, and hurriedly replied: "Look at what you said, Comrade Brigadier, you are here for business. Please come in quickly."

  As soon as Sokov walked into the basement, he felt a strange smell inside. He frowned slightly, and asked Vasily who was following him: "Comrade Sergeant, is the ventilation here bad?"

   "Yes, Comrade Brigadier." Vasily replied quickly: "One of the vents is covered by masonry and rubble, so it will feel a little stuffy if you stay here for a long time."

"Shouldn't there be residents in the building?" Sokov saw clearly that there were more than a dozen people lying on the floor resting in the basement, but they were all dressed as soldiers, and he didn't see a single person in civilian clothes, so he asked curiously: "They Where did they all go?"

"Comrade Brigadier," Vasily explained hastily: "There are three basements in this building, which are used for our soldiers to rest. There are two other ones, one is for the sick and wounded, and the other is for residents. Where we usually stay." After introducing the situation, he asked tentatively, "Do you need me to take you there?"

"No need." Sokov thought that this is the time when people are most sleepy. The residents in the other basement must be sleeping soundly. There is no need to disturb their rest, so he waved his hand and said: " They should be resting right now, so let's not bother them."

  After a short pause, Sokov asked Vasily, "Where is the rocket?"

  Vassily pointed to the corner of the wall and said, "It's all there!"

  Sokov walked to the box in the corner, opened a wooden box, and after seeing the contents clearly, he turned his head and asked Yakov who followed: "Is it the rocket you brought?"

   "That's right." Yakov only glanced at it, and then replied affirmatively, "It's the rockets I shipped."

"Comrade Sergeant." After covering the wooden box, Sokov told Sokov: "Immediately send someone to carry the rocket to the fourth floor, find a suitable place to set up the launch site, maybe it will be used soon .”

"Comrade Brigadier, can I ask a question?" Before Vasily could answer, Sergeant Sobugajda interjected and asked, "This kind of rocket is different from what we usually see. It can really be fired. ?"

"That's for sure, Comrade Sergeant." In order to let the opponent better understand this kind of rocket, Sokov opened the wooden box lid again and explained: "This new type of rocket is driven by its own engine. Each of the six nozzles at the tail has a certain deflection from the axis of the missile body, which can ensure the rocket launcher rotates at a high speed and flies stably."

Although Vasily and Sobgajda still had doubts about this kind of rocket, since Sokov ordered them to move to the fourth floor, they did not dare to disobey the order, Sobgajda hurriedly woke up his own Commander, let them move these rockets and launchers to the fourth floor.

   While the soldiers were carrying the rockets, Sokov asked Vasily: "Comrade Sergeant, while you have time, tell me about the defense situation in the building."

Seeing that Sokov wanted to know the defense situation in the building, Vasily immediately began to report: "In order to defend this building, we have not only arranged firepower points on each floor, but also arranged anti-tank positions on the top floor. Outside, trenches were dug, barbed wire fenced and minefields laid…”

  After listening to Vasily's introduction patiently, Sokov asked back: "Comrade Sergeant, if I'm not mistaken, the entrances to each unit, as well as the windows on the ground floor, are not closed, right?"

"No."

"Have you ever thought that if the Germans attack from several directions at the same time, it is impossible for you to send people to guard so many windows and gates, so that the enemy can directly break into the building through the windows or gates." Sokov Pointed out the deficiencies in their defense to Vasily: "Are you really planning to put the enemy into the building and compete floor by floor?"

   "Comrade Brigadier," Vasily said with some embarrassment when Sokov pointed out the weak points in his defense: "Our troops are limited and cannot defend so many positions at the same time."

   "Since you don't have enough troops, you have to find a way to make up for it."

   "What should I do?" Vasily asked modestly.

"It's very simple, you immediately send someone to block the door of the unit and all the windows on the first floor with bricks." Sokov said unequivocally: "In this way, the enemy will not be able to enter the building through these places. "

"But, Comrade Brigadier." Hearing what Sokov said, Vasily said dumbfoundedly: "If we really block the doors and windows on the first floor with bricks, the Germans will certainly not be able to enter, and neither will we." In and out."

"Comrade Sergeant, haven't you forgotten that you still have a few traffic trenches?" Seeing Vasily's anxious look, Sokov smiled faintly and said, "After blocking all the doors and windows, you You can come and go freely through the traffic trench.”

   "Through the traffic trench?" Vasily said in a daze, "The gates and windows are sealed. How can we enter and exit through the traffic trench?"

  Vassily's answer made Sokov almost fall to the ground. He thought to himself: Although Vasily is a good sniper, when it comes to leading troops to fight, his level is still a bit poor. He had already made the words so clear, but he still didn't understand. Just as he was about to introduce a few words to him in detail, Yakov, who had been standing beside him without speaking, said, "Comrade Sergeant, don't you understand what your brigade commander means? For example, your traffic trench can be directly connected to a certain The door of the unit was laid, and then wooden boards were laid on it, and bricks and rubble were piled up. In this way, the Germans looked from a distance and found that the entrance of the unit had been sealed by bricks and stones, but they never dreamed that there was a traffic trench below. You can go straight into the building."

  After Yakov’s explanation, Vasily suddenly realized: “So that’s the case. I understand. In this way, I only need to send a few soldiers to guard the entrance of the traffic trench to prevent the Germans from breaking into the building.”

"Also," Yakov waited for Vasily to finish speaking, and continued: "Even if the doors and windows on the first floor are blocked with bricks, you can still open some shooting holes, from here to the building. Enemy shooting..."

When Yakov and Vasily were talking, Sokov wanted to understand one thing. No matter how optimistic he was about Vasily, he was just a recruit who had just joined the army. It is normal to lack military knowledge. If he did not give them To be more specific, there may be many problems in the defense of this building. The historical Pavlov Building lasted for nearly two months, but after it was replaced by the Vasily Building, it couldn’t hold it for even a month.

After trying to understand this, he said to Vasily: "Comrade Sergeant, leave more shooting holes on the first floor. When the enemy's offensive is fierce, the soldiers who should be resting can pass through these shooting holes and shoot at the enemies rushing towards the building." As for the second and third floors, if conditions permit, you can set up machine gun positions and shoot at the enemy's infantry. As for the fourth floor, it is mainly used as the position of the mortar team and the anti-tank team..."

  When Sokov said these words, Vasily kept nodding while silently recording the defensive points Sokov said in his heart. After Sokov finished speaking, Vasily looked up at Sokov and said, "Comrade Brigadier, I think I am a sniper, and I don't know anything about military command. You should send someone else to command the troops here." .”

  It is a taboo in the army to change generals just before the battle. Vasily has always had the final say here. Even if there is a lieutenant in the defenders, Sokov once greeted him and asked him to obey Vasily's command. If the commander is changed at this time, it will inevitably cause some turbulence, which is not good for defense. So Sokov rejected Vasily's request without hesitation: "No, Sergeant Vasily. I'm here to tell you that as long as Stalingrad does not clear the siege for a day, you must command the troops in this building for me." .Understand?"

  Although Sokov showed great trust in Vasily, Vasily still lacked confidence and said: "Comrade Brigadier, I don't think I am really capable of commanding this unit. You should replace it."

"Sergeant Vasily," Sokov raised his hand and patted Vasily on the shoulder a few times, and said, "according to the situation during this period, you are a very competent commander. No one is born You have the talent to be a commander, and you grew up slowly in the war. There are many commanders with higher ranks than you in this building. If you encounter something that you don’t understand, you can ask them for advice. .”

Sokov's words finally reassured Vasily. He nodded vigorously and replied: "Understood, Comrade Brigadier. I will humbly ask the commander in the building to learn how to be a good commander." member."

  (end of this chapter)