Red Moscow

  Chapter 540 New Tank Battalion (Part 2)

"Colonel Bely," seeing Bely's hesitant to speak, Krylov urged anxiously: "If you have anything to say, just say it, even if you say something wrong, we won't blame you. "

   "There are more than 300 people left in our brigade, but less than ten tanks." Bely said hesitantly, "Can you let us receive these tanks and use them in the counterattack after today?"

   Cuikov couldn't help being moved by Bely's proposal. He thought to himself that if the 4th Bely Tank Brigade could get these tanks, the troops would be able to cooperate tacitly without any training, and their combat effectiveness would definitely be stronger than that of Sokov's patchwork tank troops. He almost agreed to Bely's request, but after thinking about it, no, Sukov asked himself for tankers to form a tank unit in order to better defend Mamayev and the Red October Tractor Factory. If you decide to give the tanks to Bely's troops on your own initiative and cause the loss of Mamayev Post or the factory, then the gains will outweigh the losses.

  Thinking of this, he shook his head and said, "I'm sorry, Comrade Colonel, I can't give you even one of these tanks."

  Bely thought that even if Cuikov could not fully agree to his request, it would be possible to give him at least half of the tanks, but he refused so simply. He asked at a loss: "Comrade commander, why is this?"

"Comrade Colonel," Chuikov deliberately explained to Bely in order not to let Bely have bad thoughts, "I don't deny that the tanks are given to your brigade, and you can put them to great use in the next battle. But simply Kov wants to form a tank force to better hold on to the Mamayev Hill and the Red October Factory. Our counterattack was unsuccessful, and we will have a chance to come back in the future, but if these two important places are lost, we want to start again. What a heavy price to pay to get it back."

  Bely was very disappointed at first, but after hearing what Chuikov said, he couldn't help but fell into deep thought. With this batch of tanks, his troops could rebuild and play a big role in the upcoming counterattack. But once the counterattack fails and all the tanks are lost, what kind of strength will the workers of the Red October factory use to defend the factory?

Seeing that Bely remained silent, Chuikov knew that the other party was engaged in a fierce ideological struggle, so he didn't disturb him, but turned to Krylov and asked, "Chief of staff, when will the tank soldiers assigned to Lieutenant Colonel Sokov be ready?" Set off?"

  Krylov raised his hand and looked at his watch, and said, "Call them together, it will take half an hour at the earliest..."

"Then I'll give you an hour." Chuikov didn't wait for Krylov to finish, and interrupted him: "Be sure to let them rush to the Red October factory as soon as possible, and get familiar with the technical equipment as soon as possible. Enemies who entered the factory area fought."

   "Commander, Chief of Staff, I have a suggestion." Bely interjected and said, "Why don't we send our brigade to the Red October factory, so that we don't need to send any more tank soldiers over there."

   Regarding Bely's attitude, Chuikov asked a little puzzled: "Why did you send you there?"

"Tank combat is not about finding a group of tankers who can drive tanks and shoot guns." Belei said eloquently: "There needs to be a tacit understanding among the tanks. If they are assembled together, the cooperation on the battlefield will be unsatisfactory. My tank brigade does not have such a problem, as long as the soldiers receive new tanks, they can immediately form combat effectiveness."

   Bely mentioned for the first time that after receiving tanks, his troops could form combat effectiveness in the shortest possible time, which once made Cuikov's heart flutter. At this moment, he raised the same question again, but only if the troops were transferred to the Red October factory. So Chuikov asked hesitantly: "Colonel Bely, although Sokov's rank is lower than yours, he is also a brigade commander. If you go to the Red October factory, will you command him or will he command you?"

"Comrade Commander," Bely knew in his heart that if the troops were transferred to the Red October Factory by Chuikov, he would definitely not be able to serve as the supreme commander. Instead of being rejected, he might as well be more generous and give the commander Leave a good impression: "Since we are going to cooperate with Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, it is natural that he leads me."

  Hearing what Bely said, Chuikov and Krylov couldn't help but smile at each other. After seeing the expressions of the two, Bely asked curiously: "Commander, Chief of Staff, did I say something wrong?"

"No, you didn't say anything wrong." Chuikov waved his hand to Bely and said, "The Chief of Staff and I laughed because I thought that Colonel Vitkov, the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army Group, was sent to the 73rd Infantry Brigade some time ago. Served as the deputy brigade commander. I didn't expect that now, you, a colonel, will also be under the command of a lieutenant colonel."

Fortunately, as long as Bely can attack the enemy, his position is not important. He said with a normal expression: "As long as I can win, let me listen to the command of a lieutenant colonel, let alone a lieutenant. No complaints whatsoever."

   "Colonel Bely, since you are determined to go to the Red October factory, then I agree to your request." After expressing his approval, Chuikov continued: "However, all your troops cannot be transferred."

"Can't all be transferred?" Bely was taken aback for a moment, and then he understood what Chuikov meant. He nodded and said, "Understood, Comrade Commander, if our entire brigade leaves its current position, the defense there will be destroyed." Become weak. How about this, I will leave the deputy brigade commander and the ten tanks. What do you think?"

   "Okay!" Seeing that Bely understood his intentions, Chuikov nodded and said, "That's it. Comrade Colonel, you go back and arrange work, and then rush to the Red October factory as soon as possible."

  ...

  Besides, after Sokov finished calling Krylov, he guessed with Yakov and Briski how many tank soldiers the Army Group Command could send to him?

"Misha," Yakov said first, "the two areas you are defending are very important. Once one of them falls, the defense line will be divided by the enemy. If I were the commander of the group army, I would definitely not I agree to your request without hesitation."

"I don't think so." Briski had been in the city for a long time, and he knew that the reduction of personnel in each unit was very serious, so he was very pessimistic about how many tank soldiers his superiors could give him: "The seven soldiers mentioned by the chief of staff More than a dozen tankers, I guess it is the limit, and it is impossible to have more."

Sokov waited for both of them to express their opinions, and said, "Even if the chief of staff can only provide us with more than 70 tank soldiers, plus the original tank company in the brigade, I think at least 25 tanks can be guaranteed. For combat. If you want to put more tanks into battle, the best way is to ask the deputy factory director Zinchenko to help, and transfer some workers who can drive tanks from the factory to our new tank brigade."

"This is a good idea." Regarding Sokov's statement, Yakov agreed: "Let the workers serve as tank drivers, and the original drivers can serve as tank commanders or gunners. Come on, we have more tanks at our disposal."

   "There are tankers," said Kalashnikov, who remained silent. "But what about the cooperation between the tanks? If there is no cooperation for a period of time, it will be difficult for the tank battalion to form a tacit understanding during combat."

   When it comes to tanks, Kalashnikov is the one with the most say in the room. Hearing what he said, everyone couldn't help worrying again. Sokov asked with a wry smile: "Comrade Lieutenant, do you have any good ways to solve this problem?"

   "Only after a long period of training can a tacit understanding be formed between the tank crews." Kalashnikov couldn't help sighing when he said this: "It's a pity that the enemy won't give us that long time."

Kalashnikov's words reminded Sokov, and he said with a sad face: "Also, among the tank soldiers sent by the chief of staff, see if you can find two officers who can serve as battalion commanders. Lieutenant Ali Tai, the tank company commander, has limited abilities, he is not qualified to be a company commander, but he is not qualified to be a battalion commander."

"Misha, if you don't tell me, I almost forgot about the commander." Yakov also worked in the tank division before. Although he was an artilleryman and not a tank soldier, he knew very well that if the tank battalion wanted to To win a battle, there must be an excellent commander. The Altai lieutenant had seen it before, and at best he was a company commander. He cast his eyes on Kalashnikov, and asked Sokov tentatively: "Misha, how about letting Kalashnikov be the battalion commander?"

"Let Kalashnikov be the commander of the tank battalion?" Hearing Yakov's suggestion, Sokov stared at Kalashnikov standing aside, thinking to himself: With the appearance of his own butterfly , It may not be realistic for him to think about being the father of AK47. He was originally intended to be a weapons engineer, but now that the position of tank brigade commander is vacant, he is a suitable candidate.

Seeing that everyone was focusing on him, Kalashnikov immediately guessed what they were thinking, and quickly waved his hands and said: "I can't, and my ability is not qualified for the position of this tank battalion commander. He raised his right hand, which was unable to bend due to the injury, and continued, "Look, my hand is like this, can I continue to be a tanker?"

Sokov looked at Kalashnikov's hand and felt that he was indeed not suitable to be a tanker in his current situation, so he sighed and said to him: "Comrade Lieutenant, although you can no longer be a tanker , but you have more important work."

   "More important work?" Kalashnikov showed a confused expression on his face: "What important work?"

"Did you forget the tank call I just said." Seeing that Kalashnikov hadn't recovered for a while, Sokov reminded him: "There are more than forty tanks in the underground tank depot. I hope you We can put phones on them all within three days. How about it, can it be done?"

  Kalashnikov hesitated for a moment, then replied: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, if you can give me enough manpower, I will be able to install telephones on all the tanks within three days."

"Wait a minute, Misha." Seeing that the conversation between the two was a bit too casual, Yakov came out and reminded Sokov: "Why don't you install one first to see how it works? If it's good, naturally give each The tanks are equipped with telephones; but if the desired effect is not achieved, I don’t think there is any need to bother.”

"Major Yakov is right." Briski went on to say, "Let's try pressing one first. If the effect is good, it's not too late to call all the tanks. If it doesn't work, don't waste our precious now. resources."

"Comrade Lieutenant." Seeing that both Yakov and Briski proposed to try the effect first, Sokov did not insist on his opinion. After all, he also saw in the book that he installed the phone on the tank. Whether it is applicable or not needs to be done in advance. Verification is enough, so he said to Kalashnikov: "You work hard tonight, find a tank and install a phone, and we will see how it works tomorrow."

   "Okay," Kalashnikov agreed very readily, "As long as you arrange assistants and prepare tools for me, I can do it now."

   "Comrade Captain," Sokov saw that only Briski could run errands for him in the room, so he said to him, "Go find Cousteau and ask him to arrange some assistants for Lieutenant Kalashnikov."

Not long after Briski left the room, the phone on the desk rang. Sukov thought it was Briski, picked up the receiver and pressed it to his ear and asked, "How is it? Do you have any good news for me?" ?”

  The caller couldn't help being silent for a moment when he heard what Sokov said, and then he laughed and said, "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, do you know how to tell fortunes, and you actually know that I have good news to tell you."

   "Hello, Comrade Chief of Staff." Sokov was startled when he heard that the person speaking was Krylov, Chief of Staff of the Army Group, and hurriedly asked, "What instructions do you have?"

   "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, I called you because I wanted to tell you." Krylov said on the phone: "After research by me and Comrade Commander, those tank soldiers will not be sent to you."

  Hearing what Krylov said, Sokov's heart sank suddenly, and he hurriedly asked, "Why?"

Krylov laughed twice at first, and then said: "This is the good news I want to tell you. Colonel Bely, the commander of the 84th Tank Brigade, offered to bring some tank soldiers to the Red October Tractor Factory to participate in the Your tank battalion. How are you, welcome?"

   "Welcome, of course." Sokov replied in a panic. After a pause, he remembered that Bely's military rank was higher than his own, so he asked in embarrassment: "Comrade Chief of Staff, Colonel Bely's military rank is higher than mine. After he comes here, who should we listen to command?"

   "Who else can follow the command, of course you." Krylov said: "Since you are directing the battle to defend the factory, those who will cooperate with you in the battle must obey your command."

"That's not good!" Knowing that Colonel Bely was to be under his command, Sokov couldn't help being happy, but he still said insincerely: "His rank is higher than mine, how can he let me alone?" Where is the lieutenant colonel going to command the colonel?"

  (end of this chapter)