Red Moscow

  Chapter 616 Entering the city

  Gurdiyev's words gave Sokov a reassurance, but he was only happy for a moment, and his face turned livid again. After calling Gurdiyev, he pointed to a group of soldiers boarding the ship and asked emotionally, "Comrade Colonel, what's going on? Why are they still wearing German military overcoats?"

Hearing Sokov's question, Gurdiyev replied with a wry smile: "Comrade Brigadier, when our division entered Stalingrad, we hadn't had time to distribute military overcoats. The military uniforms on the soldiers were too thin. It is easy to get frostbite at night. These soldiers were all withdrawn from the southern position. They thought the German army coat was warm, so they didn't take it off."

  Sokov remembered that he once gave an order to Gurdiyev that all the commanders and fighters staying in the southern position should wear German uniforms in order to confuse the enemy and make them realize that the position was lost as late as possible. Unexpectedly, many commanders and fighters felt that the military overcoat was warm, but they didn't take it off when they handed over the defense, and they still wore it when they moved with the large troops.

"No, let the soldiers take off their military coats immediately." Sokov was worried that Gurdiyev would contradict himself, and specially emphasized: "It doesn't matter if our soldiers wear the enemy's military coats on the battlefield, come and pick them up." The friendly troops on defense know that they are our own. When we move north later, if we encounter friendly troops on the road, there may be a misunderstanding. Once the two sides fight, even if the misunderstanding is cleared up in time, there will be certain losses. "

When Gurdiyev first heard Sokov's order, he was somewhat resistant. He felt that the other party did not consider the soldiers. Sometimes the temperature was close to zero at night. If the soldiers marched in single clothes, they might suffer from frostbite. Condition. But after listening to Sokov's words, he was shocked into a cold sweat. He actually ignored the military coats on the soldiers, which would cause misunderstandings among friendly troops.

After wiping the sweat off his forehead with his hand, he shouted to the soldiers who were boarding the ship or had already boarded the ship: "Attention everyone, take off all the military coats on your body! Repeat, put all the military coats Take off your coats."

  Soldiers are used to obeying the orders of their superiors, even if the order is wrong, they will execute it without hesitation. After hearing Gurdiyev's order to take off their military overcoats, although most people were very reluctant, they still took off their military overcoats unequivocally. Since Gurdiyev did not announce what to do with the coats, they took them off and hugged them in their arms, which somehow made their bodies feel warmer.

  Sverin didn't know what happened, so he hurried over and asked Gurdiyev: "Comrade commander, what's going on? Why did you ask the soldiers to take off their military coats?"

"Comrade Political Commissar, I was negligent just now. We were marching at night, and so many soldiers were wearing the enemy's military overcoats. If they encountered friendly troops on the road, unnecessary misunderstandings may occur." Speaking of this, Gurdiyev Turning his head to look at Sokov, he continued in a grateful tone: "Fortunately, Comrade Brigadier reminded me to prevent me from making a big mistake."

   "What should I do with the army coat?" Swerin asked cautiously, "Should I throw it away, or leave it to the friendly army?"

"Let the soldiers continue marching with them. I don't think the superiors will be able to distribute winter clothes for us in a short time." Sokov knew very well that with the existing supply capabilities of the Soviet army, even if the commanders and fighters of the 308th Division returned to the city He also couldn’t get winter clothes in a short time, so he had to keep the captured army coats, but he emphasized again: “It’s fine to wear them during the day, but it’s better not to wear them at night, so as not to be misunderstood by friendly troops who don’t know the truth. Enemy, it would be bad if there is a misunderstanding at that time."

   "I see." After Swering figured out what was going on, he took the initiative to say to Sokov: "I'll go and explain the situation to the soldiers, so that they know what's going on."

   "Let me go there with you." Gurdiyev felt that it was better for him to do it himself, so he took the initiative to accompany Sverin to explain the reason to the soldiers, so as to avoid any embarrassment in their hearts.

After Gurdiyev and Sverin left, Bely, who had never said a word, smiled and said to Sokov: "Misha, if you hadn't noticed that some soldiers were wearing German military overcoats, you would have to wait a while. On the marching road, it is indeed possible to have a misunderstanding with the oncoming friendly troops."

Sokov did not blame Gurdiyev for his carelessness, but took the responsibility on himself: "It's all my fault. When the troops were handed over to the defense, they didn't check the clothes of the soldiers, so there were so many clothes. A warrior in the greatcoat of the enemy army."

"I can't blame you for this." Bely, as a person involved, naturally knew that this matter had nothing to do with Sokov's kopek, so he explained to him: "When the troops changed defense, you were in the headquarters, talking to Vasilier. Is General Husband arguing over the ownership of the 308th Division?"

   "Colonel Bely," Sokov asked Bely with a sideways face: "Do you think that after we arrive at Little Ivanovka, General Rokossovsky will order me to hand over the troops to the 24th Army?"

   "I don't think so!"

   "Why so sure?"

Bely said cautiously: "If General Rokossovsky really intends to organize the 308th Division into the 24th Army's combat order, it is estimated that as early as the time when the troops were changing defenses, Major General Vasilyev A telegram was sent. And until we left, Vasilyev did not receive any telegram, which shows that Rokossovsky did not want to agree to Kachanin’s request.”

"So that's how it is." After Bely's analysis, Sokov realized that he seemed a bit unfounded. Even though Jia Xiaoning is the commander of the group army, if he wants to put the friendly troops under his command, he must This matter can only be implemented after asking for instructions from the superior and obtaining the consent of many commanders, including Cuikov.

  After the troops crossed the river, they moved in the direction of Little Ivanovka after a short reorganization. Although this area is in the defense zone of the Don River Front Army, for the sake of safety, Sokov still asked Samoilov to lead a dozen pioneers to explore the way ahead.

  According to oncoming friendly troops several times along the way, Samoilov immediately stepped forward to communicate with them, indicating his identity, thus avoiding possible misunderstandings.

   After more than three hours of marching, the troops came out of the dense forest and came to the outskirts of Little Ivanovka. Sokov found that trenches criss-crossed everywhere outside the city, and several checkpoints were set up on the main traffic arteries.

The soldiers on duty at the checkpoint saw a large army walking towards their position in the distance, and were about to issue a battle alarm, but saw several black shadows running towards them, one of them was While running, he kept waving his hands and shouted, "Our own people, our own people."

The person in charge at the checkpoint was a lieutenant. He quickly stopped his subordinates who were about to raise the alarm, and he led a soldier to meet him. With his finger on the trigger of the submachine gun, he asked, "Which part are you from?" ?”

  The figure on the opposite side stopped, stood more than ten meters away and replied: "We belong to the 308th Infantry Division. We have just withdrawn from the south position."

  The lieutenant only knew the position to the south, which was occupied by friendly forces, but it was impossible for him to know what the enemy's designation was. In order to find out whether the person on the other side was one of his own, he said, "You can only come over one of you, and the rest stay far away!"

Samoilov knew very well that when he suddenly saw such a force at night, the guards would inevitably feel nervous. If there were too many people passing by, their fear would be aggravated. Maybe the gun in his hand would explode when the other party got agitated. will go off. So he ordered the soldiers to stay where they were, walked over alone, and said, "I am Second Lieutenant Samoilov, and I am here now!"

The lieutenant waited for Samoilov to walk in front of him, shined a flashlight on him, and then said: "Comrade second lieutenant, please tell me the name of the commander of your army, and then I will ask my superiors to see if I can let you go." You enter the city."

"I am Second Lieutenant Samoilov, the guard platoon leader of the 73rd Rifle Brigade Guard Battalion," Samoilov shook his head back, and said, "My brigade commander, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, and Gurti The 308th Division led by Colonel Yev is right behind and will be here soon. Please report to your superior immediately and allow us to enter the city."

"Wait here for a while, I'll make a call." Before leaving, the lieutenant said to the soldiers who followed: "Keep an eye on them." After the soldiers agreed, he quickened his pace and walked towards the sentry box, ready to make a call there. Telephone.

  The lieutenant walked into the sentry box, grabbed the handle of the phone and shook it a few times, then grabbed the receiver and stuck it to his ear, and said into the receiver, "I'm the sentry, pick me up with the battalion commander."

After the call was made, the lieutenant hurriedly reported his name and asked, "Comrade Battalion Commander, it is said that it is Second Lieutenant Samoilov, the guard platoon leader of the 73rd Infantry Brigade, and their brigade commander is called Sokov. ..."

  The battalion commander who answered the phone patiently listened to the lieutenant's report, and then said into the microphone: "Comrade lieutenant, please wait a moment and don't hang up the phone. I will check the situation immediately."

After saying this, the battalion commander covered the microphone and said to the communication soldier who was dozing off in the corner: "Communication soldier, go to the hidden department next door immediately and ask the battalion commander Vanya from the 73rd Infantry Brigade Captain, is his brigade commander surnamed Sokov, is there a guard platoon leader named Samoilov?" Hearing the battalion commander's order, the communications soldier immediately jumped up from his seat and ran quickly Out of the battalion command post, to carry out the command of the battalion commander.

  The concealment department was not far from the battalion command post. The signal soldier ran in after only two minutes after going out, with Captain Vanya behind him. When Vanya saw the battalion commander, he couldn't wait to ask: "Comrade battalion commander, is our brigade commander here?"

The battalion commander said with a smile: "Comrade Captain, the person who came here claimed to be the guard platoon commander Samoilov, and said that Brigadier Sokov was behind. I asked the communications soldier to find you, just to find out whether what he said was true. .”

   "Can I speak to them directly?"

  The battalion commander did not refuse Vanya's request. He quickly said into the microphone: "Comrade lieutenant, let the guard platoon leader answer the phone."

  The lieutenant heard the battalion commander's order, and quickly leaned out from the sentry box, and shouted at Samoilov who was not far away: "Comrade Samoilov, please come here, someone wants to talk to you."

"What, someone wants to talk to me?" Samoilov walked into the guard box with this question, took the microphone from the lieutenant's hand, and said respectfully in his ear: "I am Samoil. Love, who are you?"

   "I'm Captain Vanya." Hearing Samoilov's voice from the receiver, Vanya asked agitatedly, "Where is the Brigadier? Where is the Brigadier?"

"The brigade commander and the comrades of the 308th Division are not far behind, and they will be here soon." After answering the question, Samoilov asked curiously: "Captain Vanya, why are you here? You know , Comrade brigade commander once asked the friendly army about you, and learned that they didn't see you on the road, and he was really anxious."

"We may have missed it with the friendly troops rushing to the position when we were passing through the forest." Vanya was concerned about Sokov's whereabouts. After saying this, he couldn't wait to say: "Where are you, I will immediately Go out to meet you."

   "We're here at the first sentry post."

   "Comrade Captain," the battalion commander saw Vanya was about to put down the phone and leave, and quickly said to him: "If your brigade commander wants to enter the city, he will definitely pass by us. You can wait for him here."

The friendly troops want to enter the city and need to provide them with housing, but the position of the battalion commander is too low, and there are many things he can't decide. He can only call the division headquarters and report the news that Sokov and the 308th division are going to enter the city. Reported.

  The division commander received a call and learned that the friendly army was coming towards the city, so he didn't dare to make decisions without authorization. He quickly ordered the communications soldier to get through the phone of the front army headquarters, and was going to report the matter to the officer on duty to hear how the other party planned to deal with it.

  Who knew that the officer on duty heard that friendly troops had entered the city, so he immediately reported to Ma Lining who was working. When Malinin learned that Sokov arrived with his troops, he couldn't help being overjoyed, and quickly said to the officer on duty: "You immediately arrange a few staff officers, and follow me outside to meet Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, and then find a way to arrange them. "

   "Comrade Chief of Staff," the officer on duty asked Ma Linin for instructions, "Do I need to report this to Comrade Commander?"

   "Comrade Commander is resting, so there is no need to bother him with such things." Ma Linin waved at the officer on duty and said, "I will report to him personally after dawn."

   A few minutes later, three staff officers on duty appeared in front of Ma Linin, waiting for him to give an order. Ma Lining pointed at a staff officer who could drive, and said, "Comrade staff, drive a car over immediately. We are going to the city gate to meet the friendly troops who just arrived."

  (end of this chapter)