Red Moscow

  Chapter 750 Archives Building (2)

The regiment chief of staff, Captain Vanya, led the new battalion to lead the way to the reinforcement of the archives building; Sokov and Berkin led the troops directly under them and Samoilov's guard platoon, behind the first The echelon is two hundred meters away; and two hundred meters behind them is the new second battalion led by regimental political commissar Dmitry.

  On the way, Belkin complained to Sokov in a low voice: "Comrade commander, you really shouldn't have followed us. The place we are going to is too dangerous."

After waiting for Belkin to finish speaking, Sokov said lightly: "Comrade my political commissar, we have been partners for a long time. You should know my character very well. If I stay in the headquarters to command the troops, I will I'm really not used to it. Besides, General Rokossovsky once said: If a commander wants to boost morale, the best way is to stay with his soldiers. My current behavior just echoes what he said said conditions."

Seeing Sokov's unreasonable words, Belkin knew that no matter how much he tried to persuade him, it would be useless, so he could only shake his head with a wry smile, and then reminded Sokov: "Comrade commander, since you insist on acting with us, as your subordinate, I agree with you unconditionally." I obey your orders. But you can't go up and fight the Germans yourself with your arms, you have been wounded twice since we entered Stalingrad."

Hearing that Belkin mentioned that he was injured twice, Sokov's smile froze on his face. He remembered that during his recuperation period, his superiors sent Vitkov, the deputy chief of staff of the army group, to act as his deputy. As a result, his command style was different from his own. It is quite different, often launching counter-attacks with the attacking enemy, resulting in serious troop downsizing. Now the four regiments under my command are fighting in different areas. If I am unfortunately injured and change to a commander with a different command style from my own, I am afraid that one of the regiments will be in danger of destroying the entire army.

   It was precisely because of this consideration that Sokov assured Belkin with a solemn expression: "Don't worry, Comrade Political Commissar, unless the enemy rushes in front of me, I will never take the initiative to take up arms and fight the enemy desperately."

Due to the enemy's bombing, the buildings along the way have long been turned into ruins, and the road is also full of bomb craters. Although there are flames burning in the buildings, which illuminate the way forward, there are still soldiers who fell down during the march and fell into the ground. into the crater. The soldiers who were still nearby reached out to help in time and pulled them out of the pit.

   Seeing this situation, Belgin frowned and said to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, the road condition is too bad. At this speed, we may need two or three hours to reach our destination."

"Slow down." Sokov worried that walking too fast in this road condition might cause unnecessary non-combat attrition, so he called Samoilov and told him: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, you Go to the front and tell Lieutenant Wan Liya that we are not in a hurry, we should slow down the marching speed, and we can reach the destination before dawn."

   "Comrade Commander," Belkin asked with some concern upon hearing Sokov's order, "Will you slow down the marching speed of the troops, will it delay the fighter plane?"

"Certainly not, my Comrade Political Commissar." Sokov shook his head and said, "Listen, in the direction we are going, there are no gunshots or explosions at all, which proves that there was no fighting at all. If the soldiers are blindly rushed, and there will be a large number of non-combat attrition, it will lead to a decline in the combat effectiveness of the troops."

Seeing that Belkin seemed to want to justify something, he went on to say: "We are only a few kilometers away from the archives building. If there is a battle there, it will not be too late for us to speed up. I believe that comrades from the friendly army It is still possible to resist the enemy's attack for more than ten minutes."

After walking a few steps forward, Sokov suddenly remembered something again, and said to Belkin: "Also, Comrade Commissar, we are partners. What I called you before is what I still call you now. .On the contrary, you are a little too polite to me, and you always use honorifics when you speak. How about this, when you call me in the future, you should use 'you' instead of 'you', so as not to appear too distant, understand?"

   "Understood, master... Misha!" Belkin said with a smile: "Then I will call you Misha in private from now on, it feels more intimate."

  The two were talking, when they suddenly saw the troops in front standing up, Sokov frowned, and asked Belkin next to him: "Comrade political commissar, what's going on, why did the troops stop?"

  Belkin, who had been staying with Sokov all this time, was also at a loss as to what had happened before. He hurriedly called an officer beside him and told him to go ahead to see what happened. But as soon as the officer took a few steps, Samoilov ran over and stopped in front of Sokov, panting and said: "Comrade Commander, Captain Vanya asked me to tell you that because of the The building has collapsed in the bombing of enemy planes. Without this reference, we cannot move forward."

   "So, we are lost?" Sokov asked tentatively.

   "Yes, Comrade Commander." Samoilov nodded and said, "We are indeed lost."

"Misha!" Belkin leaned close to Sokov's ear and whispered, "The building we used as a reference has already collapsed in the bombing of the enemy plane. If we continue to move forward, we may miss it." Break into the enemy's position. In my opinion, it is better to let the troops rest where they are, and continue to advance after dawn."

  Sokov looked back and forth, and felt that Belkin's proposal was reasonable. It was impossible to discern the correct path at night. If he entered the enemy's position by mistake, it would be a big disaster. So he nodded and said to Belkin: "Let the troops stop and rest, let the soldiers rest close to those burning fires, and don't get frostbitten."

"I understand." After Belkin said something, he called the two officers beside him and told them: "You go to inform the chief of staff, and you go to the political commissar. The troops stop advancing and everyone rests on the spot. Also, You have to tell the two regiment leaders to tell the soldiers to keep warm and don’t get frostbite.”

   After the troops stopped advancing, Sokov and Belkin also found a sheltered place to sit down and rest. Belkin handed Sokov a cigarette and asked: "Misha, once we get to the archives building, how do you plan to fend off the enemy's attack?"

Sokov didn't take the cigarette that Belkin handed over, waved his hand, and said: "After the bombing by enemy planes, I guess the fortifications near the archives building have been razed to the ground by bombs. Therefore, after we take over the defense, we will Hurry up and repair the fortifications. Only after we have strong fortifications can we block the enemy's attack."

  (end of this chapter)