Red Moscow

  Chapter 573 Four Lines of Defense (2)

"Okay, Yakov." Seeing Yakov's resolute attitude, Sokov knew in his heart that it would be impossible if he was not allowed to follow him. The only way is to find a way to ensure his safety. So he said: "But you need to follow me all the time, can you do it?"

   "No problem." Seeing that Sokov agreed to his request to join the war, Yakov readily agreed: "Misha, I will always fight side by side with you."

Since Bely's tank driver had already sobered up, Sokov was no longer needed as a guest driver, so Sokov took advantage of the time when the 117th Guards Regiment had not returned, and Vitkov from Mamayev Gang He got in touch and ordered him to send someone to bring over the armored vehicle hidden in the underground garage.

   Fortunately, Mamayev Gang was not far from the Red October factory, and the armored vehicle Sokov wanted drove over soon. Because it still retains the German cross painting, in order to prevent misunderstandings, the soldiers also tied a red flag on the car for identification.

  Fortunately, a red flag was tied to the car. The Guards soldiers standing in this area did not regard this car as an enemy armored car. They also enthusiastically pointed out the way for the driver.

  Seeing the armored vehicle coming, Yakov asked Sokov impatiently: "Misha, when are we going to leave?"

"Wait until the main force of the 117th Guards Regiment comes back." Sokov raised his hand and looked at his watch. It had been more than an hour since Chuikov gave him an order. Arrived. "I want to ask the regiment commander about the enemy's defense situation."

   After a while, an army appeared in the distance. Sokov guessed that the 117th Guards Regiment might be back, so he took Yakov to meet him. Unexpectedly, after seeing the opposite side clearly, he couldn't help but be surprised. Is this the 117th Guards Regiment who is going to take over his defense? Why does it look like a defeated army?

  A colonel whose face was blackened by gunpowder smoke came to Sokov, nodded at him, and asked politely, "Is this Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, commander of the 73rd Infantry Brigade?"

   "Yes, Comrade Colonel. It's me!"

   "I am the head of the 117th Guards Regiment," the colonel said blankly, "We were ordered to take over your defense."

"Comrade Colonel, I want to ask." Yakov asked curiously when he saw that there were seventy or eighty stretchers in the returning troops, and most of the walking soldiers were more or less wounded. : "Is your casualty a little too big?"

The colonel glanced at Yakov, nodded, and said listlessly: "After the fierce battle of our regiment, except for the one battalion that stayed here, the casualties of the other two battalions and the troops directly under the regiment exceeded two-thirds. There are only five or six hundred soldiers left in the regiment who can fight."

  Sokov didn't expect the Guards Division to suffer such heavy casualties, so he hurriedly asked with concern: "Comrade Colonel, I would like to ask, what kind of combat mission did you carry out, and why did you pay such a heavy price?"

   "What else is there to do?" The colonel replied with a wry smile, "I was ordered to attack the enemy's defensive position."

"Could it be that the enemy has strong fortifications to cause such heavy casualties to your regiment?" Sukov considered that his troops would soon be dealing with the same group of German troops, so he asked in particular: "How many troops do they have to defend against the enemy?" ?”

   "The Germans are the attacking side. How strong are they fortifications?" The colonel said angrily, "They have nothing to do but stretch barbed wire and lay a few minefields in front of their positions."

  Sokov was even more surprised when he heard this. There are barbed wire and minefields in front of the position. That is a very normal thing. Why did the 117th Guards Regiment suffer such a heavy price? He asked curiously: "Comrade Colonel, did your regiment suffer heavy casualties in front of the enemy's minefields and barbed wire?"

"We did pay a price in front of minefields and barbed wire." The colonel replied, "In fact, our biggest casualties were during the distance from the impact on the German positions. Since there was no cover from artillery fire, our soldiers could only Braving the enemy's bullets and rushing forward until we sacrifice our own lives. During the charge, we were not only intercepted by German artillery fire, but also enemy planes appeared in the sky. They swooped down from high altitude and pointed at our Soldiers dropped bombs and strafed, causing great casualties to our army."

   Knowing that the German army had an air force to assist in the battle, Sokov realized that this battle was not easy to fight. After asking the colonel for some details, he arranged for Vanya to hand over the defense to the other party. After he got into the compartment of the armored vehicle, he said to the radio operator sitting inside: "Send a report to the Air Force and order them to rush to the northwest of the Red October Factory immediately and provide us with air cover."

  Sokov gave this order to the Air Force a bit late. Colonel Khostnikov thought that there was no combat mission today, so all the planes were hidden. After receiving Sokov's notice, he quickly ordered the plane to be pushed out from the hiding place, refueled urgently, loaded bombs, and made preparations for shooting.

  Because it takes time to refuel and hang bombs, before the fighter jets of the flying regiment take off, Sokov's troops have rushed to the area where the 39th Guards Division fought and were bombed by the German fleet.

  The three tanks that opened the way ahead, as well as the twenty or so soldiers sitting on the tanks, were spotted by enemy planes circling in the air. Enemy planes swooped down from high altitude, dropping bombs and strafing towards the galloping tanks. Although the tank soldiers avoided the bombs dropped by the enemy planes by maneuvering, the soldiers sitting on the tank were knocked down by the flying shrapnel.

  After the tanks that opened the way got rid of the pursuit of the enemy planes, the three tanks were already scarred, while the infantry sitting on the vehicles were almost all sacrificed.

  After Sokov came to the battlefield, he saw a group of wounded who were moving backwards, and asked them loudly: "Comrades, which part are you from?"

   Hearing Sokov's question, most of the soldiers looked up at him expressionlessly, and then moved back along the road in silence. Fortunately, a health worker couldn't stand it anymore, so he replied loudly: "Comrade commander, we belong to the 39th Guards Division."

   "Where is your division commander?" Sokov confirmed that the wounded belonged to the 39th Guards Division, and quickly asked, "Where is your division headquarters?"

  The hygienist turned sideways and pointed to the back, and continued to say loudly: "Go along this road, about a few hundred meters, and you will find our division headquarters in the woods beside the road."

   After thanking the health worker, Sokov told the driver: "Go ahead!"

  The Soviet soldiers guarding outside the woods heard the sound of an armored vehicle driving on the road, and instinctively looked in the direction of the sound. When they saw a German armored vehicle, they all got ready to fight. Just at the critical moment, a soldier saw clearly the red flag tied to the car, and quickly shouted loudly: "Don't shoot, don't shoot, it's our own people, our own people."

  The armored vehicle was parked by the woods, and Sokov asked the soldiers: "Comrades, is your division headquarters here?"

  A staff sergeant asked vigilantly: "Comrade commander, who are you, what can you do with our division commander?"

   "I am Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, commander of the 73rd Infantry Brigade." After identifying himself, Sokov said bluntly, "I have something important to do. I want to see your division commander immediately."

  When the sergeant learned that the commander in front of him was the friendly army who had come to assist him in the attack, his attitude immediately became enthusiastic. He hurriedly said to Sokov: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, if you have no objection, I am willing to act as your guide."

   "Please, Comrade Sergeant." Sokov smiled slightly when he heard the sergeant say this, and then said, "Please take us to your division headquarters."

  Guriyev's division headquarters is located in a simple tent in the woods. Seeing Sokov's arrival, Guriyev's frown relaxed. He stepped forward to take Sokov's hand and asked impatiently: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, you are finally here. I wonder if you brought How many troops did you have?"

   "A tank battalion and an infantry battalion." Sokov replied dryly: "We were ordered to advance to Orlovka and establish a fire support point there to wait for friendly forces to come."

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, the situation is very serious." Guriyev pointed to the map in front of him, and said to Sokov: "Our division has fought for several hours, but we have only advanced two kilometers. According to this Speed, we need at least ten more days to reach Orlovka."

   "Comrade General, I want to ask." Sokov felt that the terrain here should be very conducive to the deployment of tank troops, so he asked tentatively, "Does the enemy have a lot of anti-tank weapons?"

   "Anti-tank weapons?" Guriyev was taken aback when he heard this question, and then remembered that Sokov said that the troops he led were an infantry battalion and a tank battalion. He thought to himself that it might be because the number of tanks in Sokov's hands was limited, and he was worried that he would not be able to complete the next task after being completely destroyed by the enemy. So he replied solemnly: "According to my observation, the Germans don't seem to have any anti-tank weapons."

  Knowing that the enemy had no anti-tank weapons, Sokov felt more at ease. He felt that the tactics of using tanks to attack and infantry to follow up would surely be able to successfully break through the German defenses. In order to ensure the smooth progress of the battle, he asked Guriyev again: "Comrade General, can you tell me about the situation on the battlefield?"

Guriyev nodded, and said: "According to the information we have, the enemy on the frontal position has only two companies and no heavy weapons. However, due to their favorable terrain, coupled with the minefields and The barbed wire made our successive attacks all end in failure."

  In order to allow Sokov to better understand the situation of the enemy and ourselves on the battlefield, Guriyev even personally took a few people to the front. When he came to an observation post, Guriyev pointed to the German positions that were still emitting green smoke, and said with a bitter face: "Although we had prepared for artillery fire before the attack. During the shelling, the Germans on the positions did not move at all. None, but once we launch an attack, they seem to emerge from the ground, using various weapons to stop our attacking troops."

  Sokov thought silently in his heart: The offensive directed by Guriyev was to allow the infantry to attack the German positions without artillery cover. You know, no matter how brave the soldiers are on the battlefield, how can their flesh and blood block the enemy's shells and bullets?

   "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov," Guriyev asked, seeing that Sokov was silent, feeling a little uneasy, "I want to ask, how do you plan to attack?"

"Comrade General," Sokov pointed to the opposite German position, and said to Guriyev, "Since there are no anti-tank weapons on the German position, and there are no anti-tank trenches, I plan to order the tanks to rush up first, and then attack them." Stop in front of the German trenches, suppress the enemy with firepower, and cover our infantry as they charge forward."

"Lieutenant Colonel Sokov," Guriyev quickly reminded him when he learned that Sokov planned to use tank troops to lead the battle: "Although I haven't found any anti-tank weapons in the enemy, if they find that you have so many tanks, It may call for artillery interception, or even send out air force bombing."

   Hearing what Guriyev said, Sokov really wanted to answer the other party: Labor and management also have planes, which can knock down the enemy's bombers. But he just thought about it silently in his heart, but he didn't say it. He knew that Guriyev's reminder was very reasonable. Tank soldiers stayed in the tank, and their field of vision was too narrow, and many places were blind spots for observation. If the enemy really wanted to blow up the tank, all it took was a cluster grenade or two to do it.

  He turned to Guriyev and said: "Comrade General, please rest assured, I am confident that I will take down the German positions in the shortest possible time."

"Take the opposite position in the shortest possible time?" When Guriyev heard Sokov say this, he almost cursed. He suffered more than 2,000 casualties in a position that could not break through. He had an infantry battalion plus a tank. Camp can do it? However, in order not to dampen Sokov's enthusiasm, he sighed softly and said insincerely: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, since you are so confident, I wish you good luck!" After finishing speaking, Still stretched out his hand and shook Sokov.

  Sokov walked out of the observation post, and immediately a soldier ran over and reported to him: "Comrade Brigadier, Colonel Bely and Captain Vanya are here. They are waiting for you in the woods."

  Sokov thought about the upcoming battle, the tank battalion would play the leading role, and was about to discuss this matter with Bely. Hearing what the soldier said, he quickly told the other party: "Hurry up and take me to see them."

  The soldier quickly agreed: "Yes, Comrade Brigadier Commander, please come with me." After speaking, he turned back, bent his waist and walked forward along the trench, leading the way for Sokov.

  (end of this chapter)