Red Moscow

  Chapter 468

For Vasily, even if only five more rockets were given, at least hundreds of enemies could be wiped out, so he nodded vigorously and replied: "Comrade Brigadier, with the fifteen new rockets you gave us , then you will be more confident in defending the building."

  Yakov raised his hand and looked at his watch, leaned close to Sokov's ear and whispered, "Misha, it's getting late, we've seen everything we need to see, shouldn't we go back to the headquarters?"

"Don't worry, Yakov. Wait a little longer, I want to see the other commanders in the building." After Sokov said this to Yakov, he turned his head and looked at Vasily again: "Vassily Sergeant, I have been in the building for a long time, but I have not seen other commanders, can you call them all here?"

   "Are you seeing commanders at all levels?" After hearing Sokov's order, Vasily asked tentatively, "Don't you see any other soldiers?"

Sokov wanted to see all the soldiers who stood firm in this building, but then he thought about it, the German army had suffered such a big loss just now, and maybe they would retaliate. If everyone gathered together, a single German shell or A bomb can wipe out all the defenders in the building, that would be too sad.

  Considering this, Sokov shook his head and said: "The soldiers still have to stick to their combat positions, so there is no need to alarm them. I just want to meet the commanders at all levels and explain a few words to them."

In order to defend the building, Sokov tried his best to provide Vasily and the others with various supplies, such as communication equipment. In addition to a telephone, there are at least three telephones on each floor, so that during the battle, Vasily can convey various orders in the shortest time.

   It is precisely because of the complete communication facilities in the building that the commanders in different locations were able to rush to Sokov's room shortly after receiving Vasily's call.

   There were five commanders in total. Among them, Second Lieutenant Chernushenko of the artillery and Sergeant Sobgajda of the anti-tank team had met Sokov. Vasily introduced three other people to Sokov: "This is Lieutenant Afanasyev, the leader of the machine gun platoon, Second Lieutenant Glushchenko, the leader of the second platoon of the Ninth Company, and Corporal Holol, the leader of the sailor platoon."

   Sokov shook hands with the five people one by one, and praised them for their heroism and tenacity in the battle to defend the building. He finally came to Holol and held his hand tightly: "Comrade Corporal, if I remember correctly, you should be from the 92nd Infantry Brigade."

   "That's right, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." Kholol said emotionally, "I saw you on Mamayev Post."

When Sokov saw the sailor soldier, he immediately remembered Vrasov, the director of the political department who was unwilling to retreat with the brigade headquarters, but resolutely stayed in the city to fight the enemy, and Captain Lemusev, the commander of the first battalion. He asked tentatively: "Comrade Corporal, why are you here? Where is your battalion commander, Captain Remusev, and Comrade Vlasov, director of the political department of the brigade?"

Holol let go of Sokov's hand, lowered his head, and said with a sad expression: "They all died in the battle to capture the station. I withdrew from the station with some soldiers, stayed in the city and The enemy fought in the streets. Later, when we found out that our troops had occupied the place, we joined them with the rest of our fighters."

  Sokov remembered that when Vasily introduced himself, he mentioned that Holol was the platoon commander, so he asked curiously: "How many people are there in your platoon?"

"Including me, there are still fifteen people." Holol looked at Sokov and said, "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, we still have quite a few comrades in arms who are fighting tenaciously with the enemy in different places in the city. It would be great if we could call them all together.”

   Regarding the combat effectiveness of the sailors, Sokov has always had a high regard. In the entire Soviet army, the units with the highest combat effectiveness are the marines under the fleets. Even a company of well-trained sailors is enough to defeat an army regiment composed mainly of recruits. Because of this, Sokov felt that if there was a sailor team in the Vasily Building, the combat effectiveness of the defenders would be greatly improved. So he nodded and said to Hollor: "Comrade Corporal, if necessary, you can send someone to the city to find your comrades in arms and bring them here."

   Speaking of this, he stopped to think for a moment, and added: "If you can get together a company, I will let you be the company commander; if you can get a battalion together, I will let you be the battalion commander."

Sokov's words made Holol's eyes shine, and he couldn't wait to say: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, please rest assured, as soon as it gets dark, I will send people outside to find the scattered comrades in arms, and take them away." All gathered here."

   Just when Sokov was about to say a few more words, he suddenly heard a familiar voice behind him: "Comrade Brigadier, why are you here?"

  Sokov turned his head and saw Guchakov, the commander of the 3rd Battalion and 9th Company, standing at the door. He couldn't help asking curiously, "Lieutenant Guchakov, why are you here?"

   Guchakov first came over to salute Sokov, and then replied: "My company headquarters is located in the flour mill building a few hundred meters away."

Vasily next to    quickly added: "Comrade Brigadier, Lieutenant Guchakov will come to us every day to see if he can help us."

"How did you get here?" Sokov looked in the direction of the flour mill building, and found that the distance was not close, and there might be enemy snipers or submachine gunners in the ruins, so he asked with some concern: "Did you Come here, aren't you afraid of danger?"

"Comrade Brigadier, you can rest assured about this." Seeing that Sokov was so worried about his safety, Guchakov was quite moved, and quickly explained: "There is a very hidden tunnel between the flour mill building and here." , I came from the tunnel, it is very safe."

"Comrade Lieutenant, you came just in time." Sokov summoned the commanders in the building to assign them defensive tasks. Now that Guchakov is also here, he simply arranged the tasks together: "I'm just now. I plan to assign them defensive tasks, since you are here, let's listen together."

Sokov said to the several commanders in front of him: "Commanders, in the battle that just ended, you and your subordinates performed very well. You are all doing well. On behalf of the brigade headquarters, I extend my sincere respect to you Thank you!" At this point, he stood at attention on the spot, and raised his hand to salute a solemn military salute. When everyone saw Sokov salute them, they hurriedly raised their hands to return the salute.

"In order to better defend this building, I would like to share some of my views." After putting down his hand, Sokov continued: "After the renovation not long ago, the defense of this building has become more complete. But we cannot Only conduct simple defense, hide in the building and wait for the enemy to attack, but should use the cover of night to harass the enemy, make them restless all night, and disrupt their attack rhythm..."

   "Comrade Brigadier," Guchakov asked on behalf of the crowd after Sokov finished his general deployment, "Can you explain in more detail? For example, how do we use the night to harass the enemy?"

"The Germans are also human beings. After dark, they will be tired and sleepy." Sokov glanced at the commander standing in front of him, and said, "We can send a team of two or three people. , using the cover of night, quietly passed through the ruins outside the building, went to the place where the German troops were stationed, shot them coldly or threw grenades. It is a good thing to cause them great casualties; even if they did not cause them any losses, But as long as they are disturbed, it will affect the attack plan for the next day..."

   "Comrade Brigadier, I have another suggestion." After Sokov finished speaking, Guchakov spoke again.

   "Speak, Comrade Lieutenant." Sokov felt that the other party would not be aimless, so he said in an easy-going manner: "If you have any suggestions, feel free to put them forward. If they are reasonable, I will adopt them."

"That's right, Comrade Brigadier." Guchakov pointed to the street outside, and said to Sokov: "You can also see the street outside, there are large and small bomb craters everywhere, if we are in the bomb crater Can it be better defended by setting up defensive positions and connecting them with the building with communication trenches?"

Regarding Guchakov's proposal, Sokov frowned and thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "Comrade Lieutenant, your proposal is good. If we build new fortifications outside, we can attract the attention of the enemy." All the forces cannot be concentrated on the building, and when the enemy attacks the new fortifications, the firepower deployed in the building can also provide cover for the commanders and fighters who stick to the fortifications outside. Not bad, your proposal is really good, just Do as you say."

"Also, there are only a few dozen soldiers in the building," Guchakov saw that Sokov agreed with his point of view, with a gratified smile on his face, Tian continued: "I still have more than a hundred soldiers under my command." , I can send them all here if necessary."

"No, Lieutenant Guchakov, you can't send your people over." Sokov rejected Guchakov's new suggestion: "The flour mill building that your company occupies is a short distance from this building." It’s only a few hundred meters away, so we can support each other. Whether it’s you or here, when the German army is besieging, the other side can provide support. But if all the troops are concentrated in one place, it’s easy to become a single army. Understand ?"

   "Understood, Comrade Brigadier."

After pausing for a moment, Guchakov suddenly remembered an important matter, and turned his head to ask Vasily in surprise: "Sergeant Vasily, I was in the building opposite and saw a plane flying from your fourth floor. A rocket flew out and blew up the enemies on the opposite side of the square. What's going on, have you moved all the rockets to the roof of the building?"

"Comrade Lieutenant," Vasily smiled smugly upon hearing Guchakov's question, "What you see is the new rocket that Comrade Brigadier sent to us not long ago. Compared with the rockets used by Katyusha, this rocket is smaller and lighter, but its power has not been weakened much, but it can be launched at any position, and the shooting accuracy is not bad..."

   When Guchakov heard Vasily introducing this new type of rocket, his eyeballs almost fell to the ground. As soon as Vasily finished speaking, he asked Sokov itchingly: "Comrade Brigadier, can you equip our company with this new type of rocket? I believe that with this new type of rocket, we will be able to eliminate more Lots of enemies."

"Sorry, Lieutenant Guchakov, I may not be able to satisfy your request." Sokov spread his hands and said helplessly: "The number of this new type of rocket is too small, so there are only a few troops. They will be equipped." Knowing that Guchakov will definitely ask when to equip them, he preemptively said, "As for when to equip your company, we can only wait until the next batch of rockets arrives, and the brigade headquarters will Consider it as appropriate.”

   Guchakov is also a smart man. Hearing what Sokov said, he immediately knew that his troops had no hope of obtaining this new type of rocket. However, he was not discouraged, but changed the subject in a timely manner: "Comrade Brigadier, during the battle during this period, our company has consumed a lot of ammunition and supplies. I don't know when we can replenish them?"

  Although before the German army rushed into Stalingrad, Sokov looted the German army's supply warehouse and stockpiled a large amount of weapons and ammunition in advance. According to his thinking, these weapons and ammunition, which are enough to equip a division, can be supported until the end of this battle. But after the real battle started, he realized that the consumption of ammunition was astonishing in such a high-intensity battle. Since the troops are equipped with German-style equipment, they cannot get the necessary supplies from the rear, and can only make up for the weapons and ammunition consumed in the battle through the capture of the battlefield. At this moment, Guchakov's request made Sokov feel embarrassed.

After thinking for a long time, he said to Guchakov: "Comrade Lieutenant, the brigade headquarters can find a way to replenish some weapons and ammunition for you, but if you want to persist in the city, you can only rely on your own strength and get rid of the enemy's hands." to seize it. Do you understand?"

   Hearing what Sokov said, Guchakov immediately realized that it was impossible to get enough supplies directly from the brigade headquarters. You must know that there are so many companies under the whole brigade that need to be replenished. It is very unrealistic to rely on the brigade headquarters to do this. The only solution is to find a way to seize the enemy's weapons and ammunition. He began to think in his heart that after dark, he should send out a reconnaissance team to find the enemy's ammunition and supplies. After all, fighting in such a big city, it is impossible to temporarily transfer all the supplies from outside the city. There must be a fixed place to store the supplies needed by the troops. As long as the scouts can find this place, he will personally lead people to loot it.

  (end of this chapter)