Red Moscow

  Chapter 617 Goodbye Luo Shuai

  Lieutenant Vanya and the battalion commander of the defenders stood by the side of the road, quietly waiting for Sokov and the large army to arrive. Unexpectedly, after standing on the side of the road for a long time, a jeep drove out of the city.

   Seeing this situation, Vanya whispered to the battalion commander: "Comrade battalion commander, look, there are still people driving out of the city at such a late hour."

  The battalion commander saw, no, a jeep was driving along the street towards his location. He quickly shook his head at the soldiers standing behind him and said, "Come with me!"

  After stopping the jeep, the battalion commander walked to the co-pilot's seat and asked loudly to the people sitting in the car: "Which department do you belong to? Where are you going so late?"

   "I'm Ma Lining!" Unexpectedly, as soon as he finished speaking, a deep voice came from the car: "I'm here to welcome the friendly troops entering the city."

Although the person in the car said that he was Ma Lining, the battalion commander did not believe it easily, so he took a flashlight at the vehicle and found that the person sitting in the co-pilot seat was indeed Ma Lining, so he quickly turned off the flashlight and came back at the same place Standing at attention, he said with trepidation: "Hello, Comrade Chief of Staff, I am the battalion commander of the garrison battalion. Please forgive my recklessness!"

  Considering that the other party was also performing his duties, Ma Lining did not blame the other party, but instead asked kindly: "Comrade Major, it's so late, what are you all doing standing on the side of the road?"

"That's right, Comrade Chief of Staff." The battalion commander thought that Malinin didn't know about Sokov leading troops into the city, and quickly explained to him: "A lieutenant colonel from the friendly army is going to lead troops into the city. Greet him here. I was worried that it would be dark and it would be easy to misunderstand, so I waited here with him. Here, the commander is standing there."

"The lieutenant colonel of the friendly army?" Ma Linin was taken aback when he heard what the battalion commander said. Then he thought that in the afternoon, a unit of Sokov's troops had entered the city, so he tentatively asked: "Comrade major, I will accompany you to meet the army." Your commander is the one who led the troops into the city this afternoon, right?"

"Yes, Comrade Chief of Staff, you guessed right." Seeing that Malinin actually knew Vanya, the battalion commander nodded vigorously, and replied: "It was the unit that brought the wounded into the city, and one of the commanders It's Captain Vanya standing there."

Ma Linin opened the car door, got out of the car, turned to the staff officers who were still sitting in the car and said, "Comrades, we have arrived, let's all get out of the car." After finishing speaking, he did not wait for the staff officers to get out of the car. After coming out, he took big steps and walked towards Vanya in the distance.

  Vanya saw that the battalion commander who was going to stop the car was actually following the commander who got out of the car and walked towards his position. He guessed that the person who was coming must be a big man, so he quickly walked up to meet him. He stopped two or three meters away from Ma Linin, stood at attention, straightened his body and reported: "Comrade commander, I am Captain Vanya, commander of the 1st Battalion of the 73rd Infantry Brigade, and I am waiting here for my brigade Long into the city, please give instructions!"

   "Hello, Lieutenant Vanya. I am Ma Lining, Chief of Staff of the Front Army. Nice to meet you." Ma Lining stretched out his hand to the other party and said friendlyly, "I wonder when you started following your brigade commander?"

   "Report to Comrade Chief of Staff!" Vanya replied respectfully: "As early as the Moscow Defense War, I was a subordinate of the brigade commander, and I also participated in the task of defending the Istria Reservoir with him."

Speaking of the Istria Reservoir, Malinin recalled that Sokov was a company commander at the time. He was awarded by his superiors for successfully smashing the German plot to blow up the dam. The company was also awarded the "Istria Reservoir" Lian" honorary title. While shaking hands with Vanya, he asked curiously: "Comrade Captain, I want to ask you, which company is using the title of 'Istria Company' now?"

"Not yet." Hearing Malinin's question, Vanya said with some embarrassment: "Someone asked the brigade commander such a question during a meeting, but the brigade commander said..." When he said this, he suddenly thought of this kind of question. Things, maybe Ma Lining just asked casually, but he didn't really want to know the answer, so he closed his mouth.

  Unexpectedly, Ma Linin saw that he had only spoken half of what he had said, so he hurriedly urged him to say: "Comrade Captain, why don't you speak up. How did Lieutenant Colonel Sokov reply at the meeting?"

"He said," seeing that Ma Linin was not asking for fun, but really wanted to know the answer, Vanya went on to say: "It stands to reason that the honorary title of 'Istria Company' can be awarded to the company of the first battalion. , but he was worried that the companies formed later would not accept it, so he will not award it to any company for the time being. He plans to wait for the defeat of the enemy who besieged Stalingrad, and then decide which company to award this honor to according to the results achieved by each company. "

"Sokov is very thoughtful." After listening to Vanya's words, Malinin nodded and said, "In this way, the various companies of your brigade will compete in battle, hoping to become an honorable unit. .”

   The two chatted for a while, and then saw a troop coming in from outside the city along the road. Ma Linin raised his hand and slapped Vanya on the back, and said, "Comrade Captain, your brigade commander must be here, so hurry up and meet him." Vanya quickly agreed, and trotted up to meet him. .

   After a few minutes, Vanya and a few people walked back again, and they stopped in front of Ma Linin. Then, Malinin heard Sokov's voice: "Hello, Comrade Chief of Staff, I am Sokov. I follow your orders, please instruct!"

   "There is nothing to instruct." Ma Linin stepped forward, took Sokov's hand, and said with a smile, "I came here specially to greet you."

Standing behind Sokov were Bely, Gurdiyev, Sverin and others. When the three of them heard what Malinin said, they all thought in their hearts: This Lieutenant Colonel Sokov is not simple. The chief of staff came out to meet him in person.

   After Sokov and Malinin finished shaking hands, the three of them also stepped forward to report their homes and say hello to each other. Although Ma Lining also shook hands with the three of them and spoke in a polite manner, it was easy for others to hear that there was a sense of rustiness in his politeness.

   "Comrade Chief of Staff." Sokov glanced at the troops standing on the road, and asked Ma Linin with some embarrassment: "How should these commanders and fighters of the 308th Division be placed?"

"Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, you don't have to worry, I will handle this matter." After Ma Linin finished speaking, he turned around and called a staff officer who followed him, and told the other party: "There are many empty houses in the south of the city. , you are in charge of setting up the troops."

  Gurdiyev saw that Ma Linin asked the staff to find a place for his subordinates, and quickly proposed: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the political commissar and I will go with this staff, so as to avoid unnecessary confusion."

  Ma Lining considered that at this moment, the lights were in the dark, and a staff officer led hundreds of thousands of people to find accommodation in the city. Without the cooperation of competent people, chaos would easily occur. He originally planned to ask the battalion commander of the guard battalion to bring someone to assist him, but when he heard Gurdiyev volunteered, he said smoothly: "Okay, Colonel Gurdiyev, then you and the staff will go to resettle the situation together." Your subordinates. After all this is done, come to the front army headquarters to meet the commander."

After Gurdiyev and Sverin left, Malinin smiled and said to Sokov and Bely: "Comrade commanders, you must be tired after walking all night. Why don't you go back to the commander of the front army with me first?" department."

  When Ma Lining came, there were four people in the car. Now a staff officer took Gurdiyev and the others to find a place to live, and there were two vacant seats in the car, just enough for Sokov and Bely.

The jeep returned to the entrance of the headquarters. After Sokov and Bely got out of the car, Vanya led the two of them inside. The unit has lost an established division, and hopefully we will agree to put Colonel Gurdiev's 308th Division in the order of operations of his 24th Army."

The fate of the 308th Division has always been a knot in Sokov's heart. Hearing Malinin's initiative at this moment, his heart beat faster, and he asked a little nervously: "Comrade Chief of Staff, can you tell me, you Did you agree to his request?"

Malinin shook his head, stared at Sokov with strange eyes and said: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, how is this possible? If the 308th Division is a unit of the Don Front Army, we will definitely agree to General Kachanin's request. But this force now belongs to the 62nd Army of the Stalingrad Front, what right do we have to make changes without authorization?"

  After listening to Malinin's reply, Sokov's mental calculation hanging in his throat was put back in his stomach. He laughed dryly and said, "That's good, that's good, as long as you don't organize the 308th Division into the 24th Army, I will be able to explain to Commander Chuikov when I go back."

  The three of them walked into the headquarters. After Ma Lining greeted the two to sit at the long conference table, he ordered the orderly to pour two cups of hot tea and prepare some food for the two. After finishing all this, he also sat down, looked at Sokov and asked: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, I heard that you only took more than 30 casualties and captured the enemy's position. Tell me, what do you think?" How did you do that?"

Sokov knew in his heart that the reason why Malinin asked this question was because they lost an entire division and made no progress when they seized this position. He easily captured the position with only a few dozen casualties. The contrast was too great, so Ma Lining wanted to figure it out.

   "Comrade Chief of Staff, the situation is like this." Sokov said calmly: "There are two reasons why we were able to take the enemy's position so easily."

  Ma Lining took out a notebook, put it on the table, opened it, and posed for a record, asking, "What are the two reasons?"

"One is the terrain. The terrain on the south side of the hill is flat, and the Germans have not built any fortifications, so we can deploy tanks during the attack." Sukov said: "The second is the sneak attack tactics we adopted. Before the attack, there were no fortifications." What kind of artillery preparation, that is, before approaching the enemy's position, the enemy is not aware of our actions..."

After recording what Sokov said, Malinin nodded and said with emotion: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, you were able to take down the enemy's position so easily, mainly because of the proper tactics. To put it bluntly, If our front troops were to attack from the south, the casualties would definitely be much greater than yours."

  Just as Sokov was hesitating how to answer Malinin's words, he suddenly heard a surprised voice from the door: "Misha, it's really you, and you have also withdrawn from the position."

  Sokov followed the reputation and saw that the person standing at the door talking was Yakov. As soon as he stood up, Yakov rushed towards him quickly, then gave him a bear hug, patted his back vigorously a few times, and said excitedly: "Thank God, you are finally safe The land has been withdrawn, I am still worried about what will happen to you?"

"Yakov, thank you for your concern." For Yakov's concern, Sokov felt his nose sore. He tried hard to control his emotions, and said with a smile on his face: "My The bullets that can kill me and the shells that can blow me up have not yet been produced."

  Sokov's words immediately aroused laughter in the room. Amidst the laughter, a tall middle-aged general quickly walked up to Sokov, followed by Yakov, gave Sokov a warm hug, and said with a smile: "Misha , you little guy always gives us unexpected surprises."

  When Sokov was hugged, he was still muttering in his heart, who is it? It's too casual. When he heard the other party speak, he immediately recognized that the person hugging him was Lieutenant General Rokossovsky, commander of the Don Front Army.

After Rokossovsky let go of Sokov, he grabbed his hands, took a step back, looked at him carefully, and said, "It's thinner and darker. But the whole person looks It looks more mature."

Sokov waited for Rokossovsky to let go of his hand, and quickly stood at attention on the spot, stood up and saluted and said: "Comrade General, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, commander of the 73rd Infantry Brigade, reports to you, I obey your orders ,Please advise!"

"Okay, don't do this again." Rokossovsky waited for Sokov to report to himself according to the order, raised his hand and pressed down, and said, "Sit down first, I still have something to do." I'm asking you."

  After sitting down again, Sokov looked up at Rokossovsky, and asked respectfully, "Comrade General, what instructions do you have?"

"It's not about instructions." Rokossovsky sat down opposite Sokov, looked at him and asked, "I just want to ask you, do you think if our army uses that position as the starting point of the attack, can it be done?" Do you want to pierce through the German defenses and join forces with the defenders in the city?"

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  (end of this chapter)