Red Moscow

  Chapter 710 Easy battle

   Ten minutes before the start of the attack, Sokov took Samoilov to the trench outside the factory gate, and raised his binoculars to look at the new workers' village in the distance. But because the light was too dark, he could barely see the outline of the ruins in the workers' new village.

   "Colonel Sokov," Peter's voice sounded behind Sokov. He was worried that the Guards' counterattack would not go well, so he also came to the front to take a look. Seeing Sokov holding up a binoculars and watching non-stop, he couldn't help but ask, "Why hasn't our night attack force moved yet? Has it been discovered by the enemy?"

"I don't think so." Sokov shook his head and said, "If the enemy is aware of it, the New Workers' Village is already full of gunfire and explosions, but listen carefully, except for the sound coming from afar. Except for the sound of gunfire, there is no movement." At this point, he raised his hand to look at the time, and added, "There are still six minutes before the start of the offensive, so let's wait patiently."

  Hearing that the attack would start in six minutes, Peter knew he was too nervous, so he nodded and crouched in the trench. In order to relieve his nervousness, he took out the cigarette case from his pocket, and just put the cigarette in his mouth, before he lit it, he heard Sokov's deep voice: "Comrade director, if you don't want to throw away If you are dying, don’t smoke in the trenches. I don’t know if there are German snipers nearby. If there are, the sparks on the cigarette butts are enough to give away your position.”

  Peter was at the front line for the first time, and he really didn’t understand that he couldn’t smoke in the trenches at night. Hearing what Sokov said, he quickly took off the cigarette in his mouth and put it back into the case. He got up and lay down next to Sokov, and said apologetically, "I'm sorry, Comrade Colonel, I didn't know there was such a rule in the frontier."

   "It's okay," Sokov waved his hand at him, and said generously, "Don't you know now, I don't think you will make similar mistakes next time."

"Comrade Factory Director, Comrade Factory Director." The two were talking when Balshak suddenly ran over along the trench. He came to Peter, knelt down and said, "Comrade Factory Director, the Deputy Factory Director is calling." , saying that General Chuikov called you..."

   "Comrade Director," Sokov learned that Chuikov called Peter, and guessing that it might be something important, he hurriedly urged him: "Hurry up and answer the phone."

  Unexpectedly, just after he finished speaking, Bolshak said to him unexpectedly: "And you, Comrade Colonel, the commander also asked you to answer the phone."

  Sokov learned that Chuikov was looking for him, so he quickly put down the binoculars, followed Balshak, and walked along the trench toward his command post. Unexpectedly, when he arrived at the battalion command post, Balshak did not slow down, and continued to walk forward without stopping. "Major Balshak," Sokov thought that Balshak was thinking about something, and he was not concentrated enough to recognize his own command post, so he quickly reminded him, "Where do you want? Your command It's here."

Balshak stopped in his tracks, turned his head and said to Sokov: "Comrade Colonel, General Chuikov's call was made to the duty room, and the deputy factory director there specifically called my command post and asked me to inform you Go answer the phone."

  Bolshak sent the two of them to the door of the duty room, and then turned back to his battalion command post. Sokov stepped into the room and saw the microphone on the table at a glance, but he did not rush to pick up the phone, but made a gesture of invitation to Peter: "Comrade director, you answer the phone first Bar!"

"Comrade Director, Comrade Colonel, you are back!" Seeing the arrival of Peter and Sokov, Zinchenko quickly picked up the microphone on the table, handed it to Peter, and said in his mouth: "Comrade Director, General Chuikov wants to talk to you."

"Hello, General Chuikov, I'm Peter." Peter took the microphone and pressed it to his ear, and asked with a smile: "Do you have any instructions? ... What, hand over all the new tanks produced during this period to the Colonel Bely's tank brigade?...Don't worry, no problem, no problem, we will definitely hand over a lot of tanks produced in the past few days to Colonel Bely....Oh, you are looking for Colonel Sokov!... That's right, he's with me, and I put him on the phone right away."

  Sokov didn't know what would happen to Chuikov looking for him at this time, but he still said respectfully: "Hello, Comrade Commander, I'm Sokov. Do you have any instructions?"

   On the other end of the phone, Cuikov asked with some displeasure: "I just heard from Comrade Military Commissar that your troops voluntarily abandoned the Workers' New Village during the day. What's going on?"

  Sokov listened to Chuikov's question, and unconsciously raised his hand to look at his watch, and found that ten hours had passed since he ordered the troops to withdraw from the workers' new village, and Chuikov didn't know about it until then. In order not to make Chuikov angry, he took the initiative to introduce the battlefield situation at that time and the reasons why he did so.

"Then when do you plan to take back the Workers' New Village?" Chuikov waited patiently for Sokov to finish speaking, and then said bluntly: "Let me remind you, once the Germans have gained a firm foothold in the Workers' New Village, you will think about it again." If you take it back, you will pay a huge price."

"Don't worry, Comrade Commander, my troops are already lurking under the Workers' New Village. When the time comes, I can immediately drill out of the sewer and catch the enemy by surprise." Sokov said confidently: " Just wait for our good news."

Chuikov was surprised by Sokov's answer: "What, your troops have been deployed in the sewers under the Workers' New Village? That's really great. Remember to report to me in time when the Workers' New Village is retaken." Without giving Sukov a chance to speak, he hung up the phone directly.

  After finishing the conversation with Chuikov, Sokov raised his hand and looked at his watch, and found that it was already two minutes past midnight, but he didn't hear gunshots and explosions coming from Workers' New Village, so he couldn't help frowning slightly.

  Peter and Zinchenko also noticed something strange. They looked at each other, and they both saw surprise in each other's eyes. Zinchenko tentatively asked Sokov: "Comrade Colonel, why hasn't there been any movement in the Workers' New Village? Is it because Lieutenant Colonel Papchenko's troops have not yet entered the designated position?"

   "It's impossible." Sokov shook his head and replied, "They set off an hour ago, it's impossible that they haven't arrived at the designated location by now."

   "However, there is no movement in the Worker's New Village. Is there something wrong?"

   "Don't worry, wait a little longer." Although Suokov was flustered, he still pretended to be calm and said: "Maybe wait a little longer, there will be news."

   Just as Sokov raised his hand to wipe the sweat off his forehead, a pack of cigarettes was handed to him. Peter nodded at him and said, "Comrade Colonel, don't worry. Let's wait a little longer and smoke a cigarette first."

   After thanking Peter, Sokov took out a cigarette from the cigarette case and put it in his mouth. Zinchenko quickly struck a match and lit the cigarettes for him and Peter. Perhaps in order to ease the tense atmosphere in the room, Peter took a puff of cigarettes and asked Sokov with a smile: "Comrade Colonel, I heard that our soldiers were able to capture a lot of German cigarettes when they were cleaning the battlefield. I will capture them next time." Can you give me a few boxes of German cigarettes?"

   "No problem." Sokov knew that when the soldiers were cleaning the battlefield, no one would ask for German cigarettes, except for some soldiers with a heavy cigarette addiction. It is generally believed that German cigarettes smell like horse manure. Sokov had smoked once before, and it was indeed extremely difficult to smoke. However, since Peter wanted to taste the taste of German cigarettes, he could ask the soldiers to find a few boxes for him when they were cleaning the battlefield, so he agreed very readily: "When the workers' new village is captured, I will ask the soldiers to give you a few boxes of German cigarettes."

   "That's great, we've made a deal." After Peter finished speaking, he got up and walked to the door, and shouted outside, "Come here!"

   Following his shout, a worker in civilian clothes with a rifle entered the room, straightened up and waited for Peter to give an order. Peter pointed at him with his hand and ordered, "Take two people to observe the direction of Gongxin Village. If you hear any movement, report to us immediately!"

  After the workers left, Peter said to Sokov: "Colonel Sokov, if there is any movement in the workers' new village, my people will report back immediately."

   Seeing that Peter had already sent people to observe the movement in the direction of the workers' new village, Sokov didn't add any more to the snake, and asked Samoilov to lead people to perform the same task. Pointing to the phone on the table, he asked Zinchenko in a negotiating tone: "Comrade deputy factory director, can you call Mamayev Post for me? I want to know the situation over there."

  In order to facilitate the command, Peter specially asked the factory telephone operator to install a high-frequency telephone in the duty room before dark. Without the help of the two factory managers, Sokov would not be able to connect anywhere. Fortunately, Sokov and Zinchenko have a good relationship, and the other party agreed very readily: "Comrade Colonel, please wait a moment, I will call you immediately."

  Two minutes later, Zinchenko took the microphone and said to Sokov: "Comrade Colonel, we are in contact with Mamayev Gang."

Sokov answered the phone, heard clearly that it was Sidolin's voice coming from inside, and asked directly without going around in circles, "Chief of Staff, I'm Sokov, what's going on at Mamayev Post? "

   "We repelled four German attacks during the day." Sidolin quickly replied: "According to statistics, a total of six German tanks and assault guns were destroyed, and more than 500 German soldiers were killed..."

   "Good job." Sokov felt very satisfied when he heard the result. Although the number of tanks and assault guns destroyed was not as large as that of Workers' New Village, it was entirely because the terrain of Mamayev Gang was not conducive to the use of armored forces, and the number of tanks and assault guns invested by the Germans would be much smaller. He then asked: "Where are the small teams we have gone deep into the enemy's rear, and what kind of results have they achieved?"

Hearing Sokov's question, Sidolin hesitated for a moment, and then replied: "The detachment sent by the drawdown regiment attacked a battalion command post of the German army last night, killing more than a dozen lieutenant officers, and There are more than 30 soldiers. The small units of the other regiments have not achieved any results."

   "What, the other teams didn't achieve results?" Sokov asked in surprise, "Comrade Chief of Staff, what is the reason?"

   "This, this..." Sidolin became a little hesitant when he heard Sukov's question, not knowing how to answer it. At this moment, Sokov suddenly heard Ivanov's voice from the receiver: "Comrade commander, let me report this matter to you."

"Hello, Comrade Deputy Commander." Sukov guessed that the reason why Sidolin hesitated must be related to Ivanov. Since he was willing to explain himself to himself, it would be great: "What do you want to say? Just say it."

"Comrade Commander, my troops have been engaged in face-to-face positional warfare with the enemy since their establishment. This kind of harassing warfare behind the enemy has never been fought before." Ivanov explained to Sokov with a bitter face: "It may take a few more days for them to adapt before they learn how to fight behind enemy lines."

  After listening to Ivanov's explanation, Sokov felt that this was normal. It would take a while for troops accustomed to regular warfare to fight guerrilla warfare. So he said reasonably: "I understand, comrade deputy division commander, please tell the commanders of the other regiments to let them adapt to how to fight in the enemy's rear as soon as possible. Let them understand that in order to defeat the enemy, you must not only fight in the enemy's rear. Fight the enemy head-on, and learn to get behind the enemy to upset them."

"I understand." Seeing that Sokov did not blame himself, Ivanov couldn't help secretly heaving a sigh of relief. He quickly straightened his body and replied, "I will tell the other regiment leaders what you said." After finishing these words, he paused for a moment, and asked cautiously, "Comrade commander, how is the situation there? Are there any heavy casualties among our troops defending the Workers' New Village?"

"Don't worry, Comrade Deputy Commander, since I am here to personally command, I will definitely be able to minimize the casualties of the troops." Sokov did not tell the other party, saying that he had given up on the workers' new village, and now he is organizing troops to carry out night raids. Prepared to recapture the positions abandoned during the day while minimizing casualties, but told the other party: "Your task of holding on to Mamayev Post is very difficult. You have to assure me that under no circumstances will you Let the enemy occupy Mamayev Konk."

   "Don't worry, Comrade Commander." Ivanov said confidently: "People are in the position, and we swear to survive and die with the position."

   Before Sokov put down the phone, the workers sent by Peter to observe the situation rushed in and shouted at Peter: "Comrade factory manager, someone from the workers' new village is here!"

   "What, people came from Workers' New Village?!" Whether it was Sokov or Peter, when they heard the workers say this, they all showed surprised expressions on their faces. Peter quickly asked, "Where is the man?"

"Report!" As soon as Peter's voice fell, a second lieutenant walked into the duty room quickly, raised his hand to salute Sokov, and reported excitedly: "Comrade commander, the commander ordered me to come to report to you." Report that we have successfully wiped out the enemy entrenched in the workers' new village and recaptured the positions abandoned during the day."

   "What, the workers' new village has been taken back?" Sokov asked in surprise, "Why didn't I hear the gunshots and explosions?"

  (end of this chapter)