Red Moscow

  Chapter 483 Heart-to-heart talk

After Sokov resumed his post as brigade commander, he found that due to the recent heavy casualties, the morale of the troops was somewhat affected. Fortunately, the night attack of Goria and the others achieved great results, taking down a regiment of the German army in one fell swoop. Department, completely disrupted the German offensive steps.

Seeing that Goria and the others had received medals for their night raids, the commanders and fighters who were about to go to the enemy's rear to engage in sabotage operations immediately became highly motivated. They all hoped that when they returned to Mamayev Post, they would also be able to Receive medals or awards.

  The morale of the troops suddenly became high, which surprised Belgin, who was in charge of political work. Some time ago, he found that the morale of the troops was low, so he and the newly appointed Director of the Political Department, Dmitry, led political workers at all levels in the brigade to talk with the soldiers and do political agitation work, trying to improve the morale of the troops. However, after a few days of busy work, he found sadly that everything he did had little effect.

He never dreamed that after Sokov returned to the post of brigade commander, he only ordered a small unit to go deep into the enemy's rear to carry out night raids, and he won a huge victory. The commanders and fighters who regard honor as more important than life have quickly brought the morale of the troops to an unbelievable height.

  Witkov silently watched what happened in Mamayev Gang, thinking to himself: What did I do wrong? Why do we repel the enemy's attack every time, but the morale of the troops keeps getting low? And just one day after Sokov returned to the command post, the morale of the troops became high again?

   "Comrade Colonel," just as Vitkov was thinking wildly, he suddenly heard someone calling himself, and when he looked up, it turned out to be Sokov. Sokov looked at Vitkov and asked, "Can you accompany me to the top of the hill?"

"No problem." Witkov readily agreed to Sokov's request, but when he stood up, he saw Sokov's hand covering his abdomen. He asked with some hesitation: "Comrade Brigadier, are your injuries all right?"

"It's okay." Sokov replied with a smile: "Actually, my injury should be healed. The reason why I habitually put my hands on my abdomen may be a habitual action. I always feel that the wound will hurt deeply when I move around." .”

   Don't look at Sokov saying that it's all right, but after leaving the headquarters, it was still Witkov who supported him along the passage to the top of the hill. The soldiers who were rushing to repair the fortifications saw the two brigade commanders suddenly appearing in front of them, stopped their work quickly, straightened their bodies and saluted them.

When the two walked towards the observation post along the traffic trench, Sokov asked Vitkov tentatively: "Comrade Colonel, did I make you angry that I proposed to the commander to resume the post of brigade commander?" Witkov didn't say anything about this question, but just smiled.

  Sokov walked into the observation post and saw only one soldier standing in front of the observation port, raising his binoculars to observe the situation in the distance, so he asked casually, "How is it, have you seen any traces of the enemy?"

  Hearing Sokov's voice, the soldier quickly put down the binoculars, turned around and saluted Sokov, and replied: "Report to Comrade Brigadier Commander, the enemy's position in the distance is quiet, and there is no movement at all."

   Sokov waited for the soldier to finish speaking, nodded slightly to show that he understood, and then politely said to him: "Comrade soldier, you go out first, the deputy brigade commander and I still have something to talk about."

After the soldiers left, Sokov said to Witkov: "Comrade Colonel, during the time I was injured, you were the one who helped me command the troops. I would like to express my thanks to you." The husband paid a solemn military salute.

Seeing Sokov's behavior, Vitkov guessed that he must have a heart-to-heart talk with him, so he waved his hand and said, pretending to be generous: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, you are welcome. In fact, even if I don't come As the brigade commander, the superior will send someone else to command instead of you."

"Colonel," Sokov continued after putting down his hand, "In all fairness, you performed well during the period when you took over my command and repelled all the enemy's attacks. I The reason why you can’t wait to return to the brigade commander’s post before your injury heals is entirely because according to your style of play, our troops will be wiped out soon,..."

"Lieutenant Colonel Sokov," Witkov couldn't help interrupting Sokov after hearing this, "Wars always kill people. In order to defend our great motherland and defeat the Japanese invaders , no matter how much you pay, I think it's totally worth it."

"Colonel, you are right. Every commander and fighter in the infantry brigade is ready to shed the last drop of blood for the motherland and the people. But," Sukov said with a normal expression, "if the defense of Mamaye The commanders and fighters of Fugang have all died, so who will defend the high ground? Once Mamayev Gang is occupied by the enemy, they can quickly rush to the ferry of the Volga River and cut off the connection between the defenders in the city and the other side. If the city If the connection with the outside world is cut off, no matter how many defenders there are, they will not be able to defend the city."

  Vitkov did not express any opinion, but took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, took out two cigarettes, threw one to Sokov, and put one in his mouth. After he struck a match and lit a cigarette, he extinguished the match, looked at Sokov and asked, "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, according to this, the reason why you are eager to return to the post of brigade commander is entirely because you are worried that the troops will be replaced by us." If you continue to command, is it very likely that you will be spelled out?"

   "That's right." Sokov nodded, indicating that his purpose was exactly that.

Hearing Sokov's answer, Vitkov's resentment somewhat subsided. After taking a puff of cigarette, he asked: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, since you have returned to the post of brigade commander, I would like to ask, How are you going to stick to Mamayev Post?"

"We have too few people, and we have to hold on to the two hills in the north and the south. If the German army launches another attack on the scale of the beginning of the month, we will not be able to defend it at all." Sokov took out from Witkov's pocket He put out the match, lit the cigarette, and put it back in again: "We have a lot to do now, the first thing is to replenish our troops."

"Replenishment of troops?!" Hearing what Sokov said, Vitkov couldn't help asking curiously: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, do you know how tense the troops in the city are now? Although a few days ago, one after another The 37th and 39th Guards Divisions entered the city, but they were immediately arranged by the commander to deploy defenses in the factory area. I would like to ask, where can you replenish your troops when one soldier wants to be used by two people? "

"It is definitely impossible to obtain the replenishment of established troops." Sokov said to Vitkov with a pointed finger: "We have three ways to replenish troops: one is the wounded who have recovered from the hospital, and the other is the city. The scattered commanders and fighters, the third is to arm the citizens in the city who have not had time to evacuate."

"Well, it's a good choice to add the recovered wounded and scattered commanders and fighters to the army." Witkov waited for Sokov to finish speaking, and then took the initiative to talk about his views: "But arm the citizens, I think this is a bit inappropriate, anyway, they have not received special military training. You know, victory on the battlefield depends not only on numbers, but on people with combat effectiveness."

"Yes, you are right." Sokov continued: "The citizens have no military training and no combat experience, but as long as we organize them and train them, let them master the basics. Military skills, and then fight two more battles, and they will be able to form combat effectiveness."

   Sokov said this, suddenly remembered something, and asked quickly: "Comrade Colonel, what work did you do before you came to Mamayev Post?"

   "Me?" Witkov looked at Sokov and said, "At that time, the commander asked me to organize the defense of the factory area."

   Knowing that the opponent was originally in charge of the defense of the factory area, Sokov knew what to say next: "Have you been worrying about the lack of troops guarding the factory area?"

"It is indeed so," Witkov affirmed Sokov's speculation: "You also know that two large-scale counterattacks were launched in the north of the city in early September, and the group army put all its strength into Unexpectedly, not only did they fail to achieve the desired results, but they also exhausted the energy they had accumulated with great difficulty. So much so that in the ensuing battles, they had to rely on the militiamen of various factories to take on defensive tasks.”

  Sokov remembers that after the German army had been supplemented with soldiers, weapons and ammunition, they launched a fierce attack on Stalingrad in early October and early November. The focus of their attack was on the factory area. He took two puffs of a cigarette, threw it on the ground and crushed it with his toes, and said to Witkov: "Comrade Colonel, according to my judgment, the German army is likely to concentrate more troops and technical equipment in the near future. Launch an attack on the factory area. At that time, with the current strength of our army in that area, it will be impossible to defend."

   Not only did Witkov not refute Sokov's alarmist words, but he also asked humbly: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, do you have any good ideas?"

"Since it is a factory area, there are tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of workers who can be used there. If they can be organized, what a huge team it will be." Sokov could not directly propose to Chuikov the idea of ​​arming all the workers. The proposal can only be conveyed through Vitkov, the deputy chief of staff of the army group: "I think you can make such a proposal to Comrade Commander."

  Hearing what Sokov said, Witkov grinned and said: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, you know, I am your deputy brigade commander now, how can I report to the higher level?"

"Comrade Colonel," Sokov saw that Vitkov's hostility towards him had almost disappeared, and said with a smile: "Although you are now the deputy brigade commander of the infantry brigade, the commander has not dismissed you as the deputy army chief of staff. You still have the right to make suggestions to him directly.”

"It's not in a hurry. I'll find a time another day and have a good talk with Comrade Commander." After throwing away the cigarette **** in his hand, Vitkov asked curiously: "You just said that we have a lot to do and replenish our troops. It’s just one aspect, what about the other aspects?”

"In addition to replenishing troops, the second thing to do is to repair the fortifications." Sokov pointed to the soldiers who were rushing to repair the circular fortifications on the top of the mountain and said: "In addition to the circular fortifications on the top of the mountain, I also plan to let the troops repair the front slope. Fortifications, and positional warfare with the Germans."

   After silently remembering this, Witkov continued to ask: "Apart from these two things, is there anything else?"

"We mobilized people from each battalion and formed a few small teams. When it gets dark, we will quietly pass through the enemy's defense line and go deep into their rear to carry out a sabotage battle." Sokov said: "As long as If they can contain part of the enemy's forces, then the pressure on us here on Mamayev Post will be greatly reduced."

The two were chatting, and a communications soldier hurried over, raised his hand to salute Sokov, and reported out of breath, "Comrade Brigadier, the Chief of Staff, please go back to the headquarters and say I have something important to discuss with you."

"Let's go, Comrade Colonel, let's go back to the headquarters." Knowing that Sidolin had important matters to find himself, Sokov stood up and said to Witkov: "According to what I told Lieutenant Colonel Sidolin I understand, if it wasn't something urgent, he would definitely not send someone to find me."

  (end of this chapter)