Burning Moscow

　　 When the car drove into Sun Mountain City, I saw the scene outside the car window, my face sank. The collapsed water tower on the side of the road, the house with the roof lifted off, and the ruins with plumes of black smoke all indicate that the city has been shelled or bombed by the Germans. I sighed in my heart. I recalled that when I called the political commissar yesterday, I repeatedly told him to send troops two kilometers north of the city to build fortifications and to move the front of the defensive position as far as possible away from the city. I don’t know if he followed my orders. ?

The car stopped at the entrance of the division command department. I got off the car listlessly, pulled the overcoat that had been crushed on my body, and was walking towards the command center with my head down. I suddenly heard Yushchenko's surprise voice behind me: " Oops, isn't this Comrade Bukov! Why are you here?"

　　 Hearing this familiar name, I quickly raised my head, looked around, and saw the militia battalion commander I know standing erect at the entrance of the command department with two soldiers.

　　 Hearing Yushchenko's yelling, Bukov smiled at us and greeted us quickly. When he walked in front of me, he raised his hand to salute me and said, "Comrade Commander, Major Bukov, Commander of the Guards Battalion of the Eighth Guards Division, reports to you that we are serving as the guard of the division. , I am waiting for your instructions."

　　 "Keep on guard!" I was very surprised that he suddenly appeared here and served as the guard battalion commander of the division headquarters. Looking at the two small vertical bars on his collar that represent the status of a major, I asked curiously: "Major Bukov, let's talk about it, how did you come to my division to become the guard battalion commander?" Knowing that when I left the day before yesterday, the division’s guard was only two companies that were not full. Why did a guard battalion pop up in just one day?

"Report to Comrade Commander," Bukov replied respectfully: "After we recovered Khimki the day before yesterday, the troops of the Garrison Command took over the defense. Originally, our task was to assist the regular army in defense. Unexpectedly, at night, I suddenly received an order from a superior to inform me that I was promoted to major and that I was appointed as a battalion commander in a guard." Hearing this, I knew what was going on. I was at the commander of the front army that day. After I reported to Zhukov that he had recovered Khimki, I heard him and Stalin report on their work. The Supreme Commander himself was satisfied with the military operations to capture Khimki and personally promoted Bunyachenko and Bukov to the ranks of , And asked Zhukov to assign Bukov to our division as battalion commander.

　　 I originally thought that after Bukov came, the political committee arranged for him to serve as battalion commander in a certain regiment, but unexpectedly left him in the division headquarters and rebuilt a guard battalion. Needless to say, besides the company of Yushchenko and Ramis, this guard battalion also had militiamen under Bukov's previous command.

　　 So I inquired about the guard battalion system that I was interested in, and learned that in addition to the two companies of Yushchenko and Ramis, there are also three militia companies. The current total strength of the entire battalion is 400.

　　 walked into the headquarters and saw a meeting going on inside. The political commissar Yegorov presided over the meeting. He was sitting in the middle of the long wooden table, with the deputy commander Chistyakov on his left, Serebryakov on the right, and three newly promoted commanders. . Seeing walking in, the meeting was temporarily terminated, and everyone stood up and greeted me. I nodded to everyone, then pulled away the bench and sat down opposite Yegorov's political commissar.

　　 I have no politeness, so I asked straightforwardly: "Comrade political comrade, what are you studying at the meeting?"

　　 The political commissar probably didn’t expect my question to be so direct. He froze for a while before repliing: “We are discussing which unit should be transferred to the newly built fortification yesterday?”

　　 It's been a day, and the newly built fortification hasn't sent troops into it. The fortification is still useful for repairing. The Germans can easily occupy it as long as they swagger over. Although I was upset in my heart, I didn't show it on the surface. I just said coldly: "If there is anything to discuss, send the 1st battalion of the 1073 regiment, and then the 2nd battalion of the 1075 regiment as the reserve team, ready to make reinforcements at any time. Preparation."

　　 "Comrade commander," Serebryakov asked in a puzzled manner: "My division has not many troops, so it can be all reduced to the city for defense. There is no need to build a line of defense so far away from the city?"

　　 After he finished speaking, almost everyone's eyes turned to me, waiting for me to make an explanation acceptable to everyone. My gaze glanced around everyone, and then said slowly: “Although Sun Mountain City is not small, the area of ​​the city is limited after all. If all the troops stay in the city, then the Germans can besiege us calmly. Use shells and bombs to consume us. The reason I want to push the new line of defense out of the city is because I plan to keep the enemy in the future away from the city. In this way, if the enemy wants to attack the city, he must first break through the city. Outside this line of defense, when they are entangled with our forward troops, the rest of our troops can detour past the flanks and beat them hard from behind."

I saw a map of Sun Mountain City on the table, so I stood up and looked at it. Then I pointed to the defense line of the north gate and said to everyone: "Look, there are two pieces on the left and right sides of our new defense line. Forest, we can also hide the tank troops here, wait for the enemy to attack, attack from the flanks, cut them into two pieces, and then destroy them one by one."

"Comrade commander, maybe I'm going to disappoint you," Chistyakov stood up solemnly, and told me solemnly: "Early this morning, the Guards Tank Brigade had been ordered to go to Hongcun to assist in the defense. Go, we don’t have any tanks available now."

　　As soon as his words came out, everyone immediately agreed. It is said that without tank troops and enough artillery troops, this line of defense built on the open ground will be fragile and vulnerable.

Seeing that this meeting has evolved into a wrangling meeting, I quickly exercised my power as a commander to stop everyone from expressing their opinions, and resolutely said to the people present: "You don't need to worry about tanks. I will seek assistance from the group army. , The first thing to do now is to deploy the 1st Battalion of the 1073 Regiment to the position. Lieutenant Colonel Chernigov!" I called the name of the new commander of the 1073 Regiment and said to him: "The troops entered the position. You do it yourself. Go now, remember, move fast. You know, in this situation, even a few minutes is precious to us."

　　 "Yes, I will mobilize the troops immediately." After saluting me, Lieutenant Colonel Chernigov ran away from the headquarters.

　　 Watching Chernigov leave, I sat down again and spoke again: "Comrade Chief of Staff, tell me about the current situation."

Serebryakov stood up and reported to me: "Comrade commander, the situation is like this. At about ten o'clock in the morning, the Germans dispatched three bombers to carry out an air attack on the city of Sun Mountain, but no enemy was found. There are signs of ground troops."

　　 I glanced at him and asked, "How about the casualties of our division in this air strike?"

　　 He shook his head and said, "The casualties are not large, only more than two hundred people were injured."

There are more than two hundred people. If the entire division is fully staffed, this number is really nothing, but in the current situation, it means we have lost two more effective companies, and the difficulty of defending the city has increased. a bit. Because I know that for the Soviet army, defending the city is the top priority. As for the casualties of the troops, it is just an irrelevant figure~www.wuxiaspot.com~ so I didn't just keep silent.

　　 I did not speak, and everyone did not dare to speak casually. There was silence in the room.

　　 The phone rang, the political commissar sat close, grabbed the microphone, listened to it, and handed it to me. I took the microphone and heard a familiar voice from Rokosovsky: "Lida, tell you a good news. I only learned when I came back that the Chief of Staff Malinen had already given the word to him after he transferred the guards tank brigade away. If you send a tank division over, it is estimated that you will be there soon, and this unit will also be under your command."

Hearing this good news, the corners of my mouth turned up slightly, and I quickly thanked him and expressed my determination: "Thank you, Comrade Commander. Please rest assured that we will never let the enemy step into the city again." After a pause, the temperature was cautiously: "Comrade Commander, I also want to ask, has the part of the German army that broke into our defense line been wiped out?"

"The German forces that broke through the junction of the 5th and 33rd Army, near the village of Akulovo, were blocked by the 32nd Infantry Division. Many enemy tanks were destroyed in the minefield, and the division was being wiped out with artillery fire. The remaining enemy tanks are part of them. It won’t take long before they will be completely crushed.” Rokosovsky finished speaking and hung up the phone.

　　 I put down the microphone and just wanted to tell you what Rokosovsky just said, when I heard someone shouting to report behind me, I couldn't say, "Come in!"

　　 Then, I heard a familiar voice coming from behind: "Comrade Reporter, Colonel Bunyachenko, Commander of the 389th Tank Division, report to you. The troops are ordered to come to Sunhill City to assist in the defense and listen to your instructions."