Burning Moscow

After Karpov understood his mission, he then tentatively asked me: "Comrade Commander, can I ask where the troops I am about to command come from?"

"Comrade Captain," Kirilov took the topic while I was hesitating whether to tell Karpov the truth, "I will tell you. According to the consideration of comrades, we plan to contain those in the near future. The broken up squads and the residents who will not be able to withdraw from the city in the future are armed."

"What, arm the residents?!" Karpov asked in surprise, his brows frowned unconsciously.

Kirilov, who is good at observing words and colors, spotted his strange expression, and then asked: "Comrade Captain, judging from your expression, do you seem to have a different view of our armed residents?"

Karpov looked at me nervously and saw that I looked as usual. After a while, he mustered the courage to answer Kirilov: "Comrade political comrades, most of the residents have never been on the battlefield. They lack battlefield experience and enough courage. Usually they can’t find anything during training, but once they are brought to the battlefield and let them fight the Germans with real swords and real guns, they will immediately reveal themselves. Maybe as long as one or two shells fall near them, the troops will Will disperse."

When Kirilov heard this, the expression on his face became ugly. He asked with a calm face, "So, did Comrade Captain once fought side by side with armed city dwellers?"

"Yes, Comrade Political Commissar." Karpov replied affirmatively. At the same time, a sad expression appeared on his face: "When my artillery company was holding on to the port of Odessa, the local district Soviet often sent us more than one hundred armed residents to assist us in digging fortifications. And in battle. Help us carry the artillery shells. Unexpectedly, when the enemy's artillery shells landed on our position at the beginning of the battle, the residents blew up their nests, throwing away their weapons and tools and rushing around. Someone got in. The air-raid shelters are not going out. Some people kneel on the ground and desperately cross and pray for God’s blessings. Some people run around like flies without their heads. Some run around aimlessly behind others, and some The people just kept going around in circles.

There are already a lot of new fighters in our company. Originally, under the restraint of commanders at all levels, he still remained calm, but when he was hit by these rushing residents, he was also confused. Many new soldiers even had shells in their hands, and they couldn't help running around with them. Later, the company commander decisively shot and killed several soldiers running around to stabilize the team. Otherwise, before the enemy attacked, our team would disintegrate in the enemy's shelling. "

"Comrade Captain, it's impossible," Kirilov raised his voice unconsciously because of anger. "Look at the residents of Stalingrad. They live under enemy bombing and shelling every day. But look. , Not many people will panic at all, let alone the situation you mentioned."

See the two men at war. On the other hand, Bantai Leyev and Akhromeyev both looked embarrassed and looked like they wanted to persuade them, but they weren't where to persuade them. Seeing this scene, I quickly coughed, and when everyone’s attention was focused on me, I went on and said: "Comrade Political Commissar, I think what Captain Karpov said. It must have happened. You know, the war just broke out at that time. Not to mention ordinary residents, even our army is not fully prepared to fight the enemy, so the new soldiers who have never fought, see the artillery shells not far from themselves. It explodes in places, and it is inevitable that there will be a momentary panic."

After I explained it to Kirilov, I turned to face Karpov and said to him: "Comrade Captain, what you said is not entirely correct. In the war for more than a year, it is not only our commanders and soldiers. Growing up, our people are the same, especially the residents of Stalingrad. They have become accustomed to the daily bombardment and bombardment of the city by the Germans, even those without military training, facing the galloping German tanks. I won’t panic, and I won’t run away from my position."

I know my words are very far-fetched, and there are so many loopholes that I can’t stand scrutiny at all, but at this time, I can only say that, Kirilov and Karpov will not have a heart between them. Grievance. After I said what I should say, I pondered for a moment, and then instructed Akhromeyev’s: "The chief of staff, immediately contact the three heads of the second, third, and fourth regiments, and give our plans to them in the form of orders. They. Let them contain as many small groups as possible, and arm the citizens trapped in the city. They must increase the strength of each regiment by more than 2,000 within five days."

"Two thousand people per regiment?" Akhromeyev was taken aback by the number I put forward. He cautiously asked: "Comrade commander, how to supplement so many people at once, how can they solve the ammunition supply they need? ?"

Thinking that I just proposed that Kirilov go to the logistics department of the group army to receive the necessary ammunition supplies, he has a helpless expression, so I plan to find another way to solve this problem. Therefore, when I answered Akhromeyev’s question, I said vaguely: "It is difficult to obtain all the ammunition supplies from the logistics department of the group army. The leaders of the three regiments should actively use their brains to think about it. Way to solve it."

Unexpectedly, when Akhromeyev heard me say this, not only did he fail to understand what I meant, but he became even more at a loss. He seemed to want to break the casserole and ask to the end, and continued to ask me: "Comrade Master, if they ask about How can I replenish ammunition and supplies, and how can I answer them?"

"What's not easy to answer." Seeing Akhromeyev's questioning like an elm bump at this moment, I was very upset, so I no longer concealed it from him, but said it out of my head. The thought in my mind: "Is it not easy to solve the supply and ammunition? The second and fourth regiments can send small units to harass the German army and seize the materials they need from the enemy; and the third regiment, they don’t always send Are people going to assist the fleet's transport ships to unload? Tell Major Godunov. Every time he asks his men to carry supplies, they should secretly move a part of them back to their station. Isn't it enough? Anyway, so many supplies enter the dock every day. Go in and out. No one will find out even if the last part is missing."

My words shocked everyone around me, especially Kirilov hurriedly walked up to me and reminded me: "Comrade commander, you can’t do this. Once this matter is noticed by your superiors, you may be caught. Sent to a military court."

If it was before, I would not hesitate to order Akhromeyev to give orders as I said. But I can't help but feel a little guilty since asking two soldiers about the strange crimes committed by the prisoners in the Gulag concentration camp. So I cautiously asked Kirilov: "Comrade political comrades, we intercepted some of the materials for use in beating the Germans. Even if they knew it, they wouldn't blame it, right?"

"Comrade Oshanina. I didn't joking with you." Kirilov looked at me, slightly narrowed his eyes, and said to me with a serious expression: "The nature of this matter is very bad, it can be said to be a crime, if If they are found by their superiors, they will be sent to a military court even if they are not shot."

Kirilov’s words scared me to a shiver, and Akhromeyev asked me without losing the opportunity: "Comrade commander, how should I give orders to the three commanders?"

I glanced at Kirilov, and saw that he was still staring at me with a serious expression. In order to avoid conflicts with him, I had to take the order of intercepting supplies and instructed Akhromeyev: "Comrade Chief of Staff. Order the three heads of regiments to replenish their forces as soon as possible, and form combat effectiveness in the shortest time. As for. The newly replenished soldiers need the weapons and supplies, let them find a solution by themselves, don’t come to the division. The division now has nothing. Even if they come to me, I can’t get the supplies they need.”

Because Karpov's troops are temporarily unable to be in place. I had to temporarily appoint him as the deputy commander of the guard battalion, and at the same time asked Akhromeyev to notify the third regiment. Let the third company of Captain Beckman's guards stationed in their defense zone quickly return to construction.

After Basmanov left with the newly appointed deputy battalion commander Karpov, the leaders of our four divisions sat down to continue the discussion. Bantai Leyev first proposed: "After the troops have been supplemented, they should try their best to achieve one shot, and each gun must have at least 20 bullets."

For Pantai Leyev’s proposal, I very much agree with it. I don’t know that the newly recruited soldiers can reach the level of three bullets for defense and five bullets for offense, so it’s not a bad thing to give them as many bullets as possible. . So as soon as Pantai Leyev finished speaking, I immediately took the conversation: "The deputy commander is very thoughtful. New recruits have no combat experience. They tend to be nervous when they first enter the battlefield, and they will shoot desperately to embolden themselves. But twenty rounds of ammunition are still a bit short. I think one hundred and twenty rounds are about the same, so we have to try our best to get rid of more ammunition and come back to replenish our troops recently."

Next, we discussed a series of issues such as the formation and training of new recruits, and the distribution of political personnel. On these issues, Pantai Leyev, who once served as the new editor and commander, showed his advantage. He was talking about it almost all night, while the three of us were desperately recording.

Time passed unknowingly, until Razumeyeva, who was sitting next to the telephone, called us, saying that there was a call from Savchenko, that interrupted Bantai Leyev's tirade. When Akhromeyev answered the phone, I habitually raised my hand and looked at my watch, and found that it was actually four o’clock in the morning. I don’t know if Savchenko is calling on the radio at this moment. Is there any important information to ask We report.

After hearing a few words, Akhromeyev suddenly shouted at me: "Comrade Commander, please come here."

When I walked to Akhromeyev's side, seeing the uncertain expression on his face and a suspicious look in his eyes, I quickly asked, "Comrade Chief of Staff, what's the matter?"

Akhromeyev handed me the headset and the microphone, and said: "The reconnaissance results of the reconnaissance unit have come out. Comrade Savchenko has important information and he wants to report to you personally."

After putting on the headset, I said loudly into the microphone: "Hey, hello, is this Comrade Savchenko? This is the teacher Oshanina, do you have any important information to report to me?"

"Reporter Commander," Savchenko's excited voice came from the headset: "Our reconnaissance team went down the river and walked around behind the enemy to abandon the ship and land. When we sneaked into the village we had previously attacked, we found out, There is no one in the village."

"What, there is no one in the village?!" Savchenko's situation stunned me. I hurriedly asked: "Comrade Savchenko, have you confirmed?"

"Yes, comrade commander." Savchenko said affirmatively: "If I remember correctly, the political commissar of Oberstein attacked here with a small team some time ago, so after finding that there was no one in the village, I immediately asked the soldiers We searched carefully but found nothing."

"Then what did you do next?" I asked briefly.

"I immediately took the small team and continued north to get closer to another village, which was once shelled by our army." When Savchenko described it, he was afraid that I would not be able to understand the state, so he explained in detail. After a while, "When we approached the village, we found that this dilapidated village was surrounded by barbed wire. It was not possible to see the passing of the patrol. After more than an hour of lurking, we finally found the opportunity to attack a group of three people. Patrol team and take them all captured."

I thought that Savchenko knew German. His purpose in capturing prisoners was to get the information we wanted to know from the prisoners. So I asked casually: "After interrogation, did the prisoners say anything?"

Unexpectedly, Savchenko said something shocking: "Comrade commander, you may not have thought of it. Although the three prisoners we captured were wearing German uniforms, they were not Germans, but were all Ukrainians. "

"What, what?" I heard that Ukrainians in German uniforms appeared behind the German army, which immediately confused me, so I kept on asking: "Comrade Savchenko, please tell me more clearly, what to wear. The Ukrainians in the German uniform? Are they disguised by our people, or are they members of the Eastern Battalion who surrendered to the Germans?"

"It's a member of the Eastern Battalion. According to the prisoner's confession, the German troops quietly moved westward the night before and replaced their battalion here to take over the German defense."

"Are they lying?"

"No, comrade commander." Savchenko replied affirmatively: "As soon as I found out that they were Ukrainians, I immediately asked the soldiers to interrogate the three of them separately, and the final confession was the same."

"Since the Germans have all left, what do they do if they are transferred to the Eastern camp, is it to let them guard a broken village with a few hundred people?"

"Comrade commander, you may not have thought of it," Savchenko said suddenly in excitement: "The village is a temporary prisoner-of-war camp, which houses the commanders and fighters of our army who were captured by the German army from the Don River to the Volga River." (unfinished) to be continued)

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