Burning Moscow

　　 Kistyakov led the way and led me to the parking place. A long way away, I saw someone standing straight in front of the car. I thought it was the driver Grisa, and I was still laughing at him as being too stupid. In such a cold day, I didn't stay in the car properly, and stupidly ran out of the car to drink the northwest wind.

　　 When I approached, I realized that it was not Grisa but Lieutenant Colonel Chernigov who was standing in front of the car. I walked up to him, stopped walking and asked curiously: "Lieutenant Colonel Chernigov, don't you stay in your battalion command post, what are you doing when you come to my car and stand?"

　　 He saluted me and replied: "Report to the commander, all of my troops have been mobilized by you to prepare for the offensive. I am waiting for you here because I want to go to the front and take part in the battle with you."

"On the frontier, Colonel Kistyakov and I can go there. You should stay." Seeing his disappointed face and a little unbearable, I pointed to the direction of the regiment headquarters to comfort him and said: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, although you cannot go to the forefront, you still have more important things to do. Commander Kistyakov and I have gone to the forefront. As the deputy commander, during his absence, You will be in charge of the 1073 regiment. Do you understand?"

　　 Chernugov did not answer me immediately, but cast his gaze to Kistyakov who was aside. The colonel said to him in a non-negotiable tone: "Lieutenant Colonel, don't you understand the commander's command? I now order you: Turn back, the target regiment headquarters, go together!"

　　 Cherneugov gave a grievance, and obeyed his command, turned and walked towards the regiment headquarters.

　　 The moon tonight is very big and round, even if you don’t drive the lights, you can see the road clearly. The car drove forward for a few minutes, and there was a marching unit on the side of the road. Kistyakov, who was sitting in the front row, turned his head and introduced to me: "Comrade commander, these are all fighters from the mixed cadet group. The meeting was held just now. At the time, I heard their regiment commander Lieutenant Colonel Mladyntsev said that yesterday they received additional troops and equipment from the front army headquarters. There are currently 2,500 troops in the regiment, and most of the soldiers are equipped with the latest submachine guns."

　　 Hearing Kistyakov's introduction, I couldn't help but sweat. It seems that my ability is too poor, at best I am only suitable for being a company commander, and I am not qualified to be a senior commander at all. During the meeting just now, I simply greeted Lieutenant Colonel Mladyntsev and Slavkin’s political commissar. Without even asking about the regiment’s strength and equipment, I hurriedly gave them combat orders. Knowing that they have such ample strength and sophisticated equipment, I should let their regiment follow the tank and directly attack the defenders of Sun Mountain City.

　　 Captain Lomov’s camp was in a forest. As soon as the car drove into the forest along the easy road, I could vaguely see the figures shaking inside. The more the car drove in, the more people were on both sides of the road, and it seemed that quite a few troops were already in place.

　　 The car stopped in front of a large wooden house. Kistyakov told me, "Comrade commander, here we are. The wooden house in front is the command post of Captain Lomov."

　　 As soon as we walked into the command post, we were spotted. Commanders all around the room gathered around and raised their hands in salute.

　　 I raised my hand to the side of my forehead and touched it as a courtesy. Then I walked directly towards General Leviakin in the crowd and asked loudly, "Where is General Katukov?"

　　 "I'm here." Katukov's voice came from the room, and I looked around, but he didn't see him. I was wondering what was going on, Leviakin pushed aside the crowd and pulled me to the table. I saw that there was a walkie-talkie on the table, and Katukov’s voice came from here.

　　 I picked up the microphone and asked curiously, "General Katukov, where are you?"

　　 "I'm in my tank, testing the call effect of the car radio."

　　 "Great." Knowing that I can talk to the tank directly through the walkie-talkie, my mood has become exceptionally good: "In this way, after the battle begins, we can adjust our strategy according to the changes in the enemy's situation...."

Before I could finish, Katukov inserted another sentence: "Comrade commander, I just got the information from the front scouts. The German army is in the south of the city, which is the direction where we are going to attack. They have assembled for about forty. Tanks."

　　 "Ah? When did the enemy's tanks assemble?" This unexpected news made my heart hang. The enemy has so many tanks. Once they fight, Katukov's tank brigade will be in danger.

　　 "It entered the city at noon. However, it is strange that these tanks did not engage in the battle with our army for settlements, but just stopped in the city without any action."

I thought about it, and then told Katukov of my bold guess: "Comrade General, don't worry. According to what you said, these tanks should be free of fuel or ammunition. Now they are parked there, just wait. The target you are going to shoot at. In a few hours, you will personally lead the tank brigade assault, breaking them all into piles of burning scrap iron."