Red Moscow

  Chapter 465 Inside the Building (Part 2)

   Before dawn, a telephone in the building rang. The soldier who answered the phone listened for a moment, then quickly covered the receiver and reported to Sokov, "Comrade Brigadier Commander, your call is from the brigade headquarters."

Hearing what the soldier said, Sokov guessed that the call must be from Sidolin. He quickly took the microphone in the soldier's hand and asked straightforwardly, "Is this the chief of staff? I'm Sokov. Am I here?" What's the matter?"

   "No, Comrade Brigadier Commander, everything in the headquarters is normal, nothing happened." Sidolin asked tentatively: "I want to ask, when will you return to the headquarters?"

   Sokov raised his hand and looked at his watch, and replied: "I don't think I can go back until noon at the earliest. I want to see how powerful those new rockets are in the building where Vasily and the others are holding on."

   "Ah, I won't be back until noon." Sidolin said worriedly, "You won't be in any danger if you stay in that building, right?"

  Sokov knew that Sidolin was concerned about his own safety, so he said in a grateful tone: "Comrade Chief of Staff, thank you for your concern, I will take care to protect myself, you don't have to worry about me."

   Just before he was about to put down the phone, Sokov suddenly thought of an important question, and quickly said into the microphone: "Comrade Chief of Staff, don't hang up the phone, I have something to ask you."

   "Comrade Brigadier, what's the matter?"

   "I want to ask, how can I get in touch with the rocket artillery battalion left by the river?"

  Hearing Sokov's question, Sidolin asked in bewilderment: "Comrade brigade commander, what are you asking the rocket battalion for? You know, they are under the direct command of the Army Group Command, and we have no right to mobilize them."

"Comrade Chief of Staff, of course I know that they are under the direct command of the Army Group Headquarters." Seeing that Sidolin did not understand his intentions, Sokov explained to him: "The building that Vasily and the others are holding on to, The geographical location is very important, but their firepower configuration is a bit poor. I think they must get artillery support if they want to hold this place, and the rocket artillery battalion hidden in the cave on the river bank is the best choice. Chief of Staff, you Do you understand me?"

  After Sokov’s explanation, Sidolin also felt that the rocket artillery battalion hidden on the river bank could indeed be used to provide fire support for Vasily and the others who were sticking to the family dormitory building of the State Consumer Cooperative Association. After trying to understand the truth, without waiting for Sokov to say anything else, he took the initiative to say: "Comrade Brigadier, give me half an hour, and I will explain this to the commander."

  Sokov knew that Sidolin and Chuikov had a good personal relationship, so he readily agreed: "Okay, Comrade Chief of Staff, I will wait here for your good news."

  When Sokov put down the phone, Yakov couldn't help asking curiously: "Misha, since there is already this new type of rocket launcher, why do you need the old-fashioned rocket launcher to provide artillery support here?"

"Yakov, don't you remember how many rockets you brought?" Sokov looked at Yakov and said, "If there are less than a hundred rockets, I'm afraid they will all be used up in a day or two. The ammunition is all gone, what do you want our soldiers to do for the rest of the day?"

"That's true. The rockets I brought are indeed a little less." When Yakov said this, he looked at the launchers and rockets piled up in the corner with a guilty conscience, and felt that they were barely enough to repel the enemy's charge. , He murmured and explained to Sokov: "The reason for this situation, haven't I already explained it to you? It's mainly because of insufficient production capacity..."

"Yakov, I have some ideas about the production situation of the factory today, so you don't need to explain." Sokov stopped Yakov from continuing, then turned to Vasily and said, "There are artillery observations in the building. member?"

  Sokov originally asked this sentence with the mentality of giving it a try. Unexpectedly, as soon as his words fell, Vasily nodded vigorously, and said affirmatively: "Yes, there are several artillerymen in the building. I think among them should be artillery observers."

"Where are they?" Knowing that there were artillerymen in the building, Sokov hurriedly urged: "Call them here quickly." Vasily didn't dare to neglect, so he quickly called a soldier and asked him to take the mortar The commander of the artillery team called over.

   Not long after, a second lieutenant wearing a big-brimmed hat ran over with the soldier. When he saw Sokov standing next to Vasily, he stood up quickly and said respectfully: "Hello, Comrade Brigadier, Second Lieutenant Chernushenko of the Artillery is reporting to you. I am waiting for your orders. Please instruct me." !"

   "Hello, Second Lieutenant Chernushenko." Sokov nodded at the other party, and asked bluntly: "I want to ask, are there any artillery observers in your subordinates?"

Hearing Sokov's question, Second Lieutenant Chernushenko showed a surprised expression on his face. He then asked: "Comrade Brigadier, what do you ask the artillery observer to do? You know, we only have two With the 50mm mortar, we gunners can hit the target accurately even without artillery spotters."

"Comrade Second Lieutenant, you made a mistake." Sokov waved his hand at Chernushenko and said, "I asked if there are any artillery observers among you, because I plan to let the rocket artillery battalion deployed in Hexi cooperate with you in combat. , If there is no special guidance, I am worried that the rocket will fall on my own head."

   After listening to Sokov's explanation, Chernushenko quickly replied: "Comrade Brigadier, I used to be an artillery observer. If I just indicate the target for the rocket battalion, I think I should be competent."

   "Great, this is really great." Sokov couldn't help being overjoyed when he learned that Second Lieutenant Chernushenko in front of him was once an artillery observer. But not long after he was happy, he fell silent again. After a short thought, he asked Vasily again: "How is your communication here?"

"Comrade Brigadier," Vasily replied hastily: "How can we not only communicate directly with the brigade headquarters through the telephone line? At the same time, there is also a telephone that can continue to communicate with the superior when the telephone line is blown up." the relationship between."

"That's really great." Knowing that Vasily has enough communication equipment here, Sokov's heart suddenly became more at ease, and he continued: "The chief of staff is now negotiating with the army headquarters to see if it is possible to let The rocket artillery battalion hidden on the river embankment cooperated with us. If the commander agrees, Chernushenko can direct the rocket artillery battalion on the river embankment from this building to bombard the German offensive formation."

   Sidolin asked Sokov to wait for half an hour, but only ten minutes later, he called Sokov. He said excitedly in the microphone: "Comrade Brigadier Commander, Comrade Commander has agreed to let us call the artillery fire of the rocket artillery battalion to bombard the enemy's assembly point and attack formation when necessary."

"Great, this is really great." Sokov waited for Sidolin to finish, and immediately asked impatiently: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I would like to ask, how do the commanders and fighters who stick to the building get the best results from the Rocket Battalion?" connect?"

"Comrade Commander gave me a call code, please write it down..." After Sokov wrote down the contact code with the Rocket Battalion, Sidolin continued: "Comrade Brigadier, I would like to ask, is there any Artillery observers? If not, I'll send two over here at once from Mamayev Kurgan."

"No need, Comrade Chief of Staff." Sokov said into the microphone: "The second artillery lieutenant Chernushenko in the building used to be an artillery observer, guiding the artillery work. I think he will do it. It couldn't be more appropriate."

Knowing that there was already an artillery observer in the Vasily Building, Sidolin didn't make any more troubles, but said to Sokov again: "Comrade Brigadier, the city is too dangerous, you should go to the headquarters sooner." .”

"Don't worry, Comrade Chief of Staff." At this moment, he was really unwilling to let Sokov go back. He risked his life and came here overnight. How embarrassing. It is based on this consideration, because he said firmly: "Wait until Vasily and the others defeat the attacking enemy."

After Sokov handed over the contact code to Vasily, he told him: "Sergeant Vasily, this is the contact information for the rocket artillery battalion on the river embankment. You first ask Chernushenko to contact them and get acquainted with each other. Only then can we form an excellent coordination in battle."

  Vassily nodded, and handed the paper in his hand to the radio operator sitting on the ground: "Use this method immediately to get in touch with the Rocket Battalion."

  The radio operator turned on the radio and shouted into the microphone: "Volga River! Volga River! I am Stalingrad, I am Stalingrad, please answer..."

  After calling several times in a row, a reply came from his earphone: "I am Volga, I am Volga. Please tell me if you have anything to say!"

  The radio operator hurriedly passed the headset and microphone to Sokov, but Sokov waved his hand, pointed at Chernushenko, and said, "Give the headset and microphone to the second lieutenant."

  Chernushenko took over the microphone and headset from the telegraph operator, and began to answer the other party: "Volga, I am Stalingrad. Now it is a communication test, repeat, now it is a communication test."

When Chernushenko and the Rocket Battalion were calling to each other, Yakov pulled Sokov aside and said to him: "Misha, since the troops here can get support from the Rocket Battalion in battle, we will no longer Stay here. In my opinion, we should return to rate command early."

"Yakov," Sokov said, although he wanted to fly back to Mamayev Post with his wings, but in front of so many of his subordinates, he still tried his best to keep calm, so as not to bring his emotions to the troops. Negative impact: "Even if this building can be supported by rockets, I still want to see with my own eyes how the rockets I designed can destroy the enemy."

"Well, since you want to see the effect of rockets on the battlefield, then I will stay with you." After Yakov finished speaking, he stretched out his hand to Sokov and said bluntly, "Is there any smoke? Get one!"

   Sokov dragged Yakov to another room, found a place to sit down at random, then took out a cigarette he had never smoked and handed it to Yakov. After tearing open the package, Yakov took out a cigarette from it, put it in his mouth, and threw the cigarette case back to Sokov. Seeing Sokov also taking out a cigarette, he quickly struck a match and lit it for the other party.

  After taking two puffs, Sokov suddenly remembered that Stalin he knew never left his hand, so he asked Yakov curiously: "Yakov, how many cigarettes does your father smoke every day?"

Regarding Sokov's question, Yakov thought for a while, and then said in an uncertain tone: "I guess at least two packs of cigarettes a day. Every time he puts the shredded tobacco in the cigarettes into the pipe smoke…"

  Before Yakov could finish his sentence, there was a sudden burst of machine gun fire outside the building, which made him shiver in fright. He stood up suddenly and looked around: "Is the enemy coming up?"

   "Vassily," Sokov threw the unfinished cigarette **** on the ground, stood up and shouted outside: "What happened outside? Where are the guns fired?"

"Please wait a moment, Comrade Brigadier." Vasily, who was on the phone, heard what Sokov was asking himself, and quickly covered the microphone with his hands and replied, "I am calling the observation post on the fourth floor. What the **** happened!"

  The situation was quickly clarified. There was a machine gun on the fourth floor. The machine gunner couldn't help but opened fire when he saw a few German soldiers running over the square. As a result, one person was killed, one was wounded, and the rest of the enemies ran away.

  Sokov originally thought that the soldiers were too nervous when they saw the enemy appear, so that they would shoot randomly. But when he heard that the shooting just now killed one German soldier, he was not going to hold the machine gunner responsible for firing without authorization.

"Battle alarm, send out a battle alarm immediately!" After reporting to Sokov, Vasily immediately ordered a soldier standing beside him: "Let everyone enter their respective combat positions immediately, the enemy is about to attack soon. .”

  The soldier agreed, walked quickly to the stairs, and blew his whistle vigorously towards the bottom. After the whistle sounded for a while, heavy footsteps sounded everywhere in the building. According to Sokov's judgment, it should be the soldiers resting around, and after hearing the assembly whistle, they were rushing to their respective combat posts.

  "Sergeant Vasily," Sokov asked curiously while the soldiers were gathering, "How do you know the enemy is going to attack the building?"

"Comrade Brigadier, you don't know, the Germans send a few people to infiltrate our side every morning, trying to sneak downstairs when we are not paying attention." Vasily explained: "The machine gunner on duty shot The infiltrating enemy ran away, but their large force attack will begin soon."

   I recommend a book by a friend, "The Great Secret Service of the Republic of China". Recently, military espionage books have become popular, and friends who are interested can read it.

  (end of this chapter)