Red Moscow

"A way? I really don't have any." Sokov smiled wryly and shook his head, "The only way to hold the position when the bullets run out is to bayonet the enemy."

"Misha, is it true that you can only fight with bayonets?" Seeing Sokov repeatedly mentioning that you can only fight with the enemy with bayonets, Seryozha felt a headache. Hand-to-hand combat is inferior to the Soviet army. But even if the German army's stabbing skills are not as good as the Soviet army, they still have a numerical advantage. Even if two or three soldiers are exchanged for one of their own, the final winner is the German army.

"There is another way."

Hearing what Sokov said, Seryozha seemed to have grasped a life-saving straw, and he asked quickly, "Misha, tell me quickly, what is the solution?"

"We can only change the equipment on the battlefield." Sokov said rather helplessly: "Let the city send a batch of Soviet-style weapons here to replace the German-style weapons in the hands of the soldiers. If you are not familiar with weapons, your combat effectiveness may be compromised."

"Misha, what time is it? You still look forward and backward." As long as he didn't fight the German army with bayonets, Seryozha didn't care what weapons the troops used. "Hurry up and ask the rear to send us weapons."

Sokov picked up the phone and asked the communications soldier to get through to the company command post of the defenders, but the phone rang for a long time, but no one answered. Seeing that no one answered the phone, Sokov had no choice but to let the communication soldier connect to the third row left behind.

As soon as he heard the voice of the third platoon leader, Sokov said bluntly: "I am Sokov. I order you now to pull a load of ammunition and rush to the defensive position in the west. You must be fast. Understand? ?”

"Understood, Comrade Commander." The third platoon leader who answered the phone quickly replied, "I will immediately organize the transportation of people."

"Wait a minute," Sokov suddenly remembered that no one from the garrison company answered the phone, so he ordered the third platoon leader, "Send someone to the garrison company to check. I just called them, but I still can't get through."

"Comrade commander, I'm about to report this to you." The third platoon leader said hastily: "Just now a subordinate reported to me that the garrison company is retreating."

"Retreat?" Sukov didn't understand the meaning of the third platoon leader for a while, and asked instead: "There are no enemies in the city, where are they going to retreat?"

"My subordinates reported to me that the garrison company had left the city in a car. As for where it went, I don't know."

"These bastards who are greedy for life and afraid of death." After listening to the report of the third platoon leader, and contacting the hesitation shown by the other party when he asked the commander of the garrison company to strengthen the defense of the city, Sokov immediately realized that the so-called retreat, In fact, it was running away. He cursed viciously into the microphone: "You actually abandoned your position and ran away."

"Comrade commander, what should we do then?" The third platoon leader asked nervously, "Now we are the only platoon left in the city, how should we defend?"

"Immediately arm the residents," Sokov said anxiously, "and deploy defenses around several munitions warehouses to prevent the German army from seizing our munitions after rushing into the city."

"Comrade Commander, even if the residents are armed, I'm afraid our strength is too weak." The third platoon leader said worriedly: "It is not realistic to defend the arsenal."

"If you can't hold it, blow it up," Sokov said loudly. "We must not leave the ammunition in the city to the Germans, and we must not let them use our weapons to attack us. Understand?"

"Understood, Comrade Commander." The third platoon leader replied: "I will blow up the arsenal at the last moment, and I will never let a single gun or bullet fall into the enemy's hands."

After the failure of the German attack on the frontal position, the German commander immediately realized that it would be basically impossible to break through the frontal defense and rush into the city without clearing out the Soviet troops on the high ground on both sides. So he changed his tactics in time and changed the focus of his attack to capturing the high ground on the left and right wings.

As soon as the battle started, it entered a white-hot state. The German army divided into two groups, under the cover of mortars and machine guns, launched an attack on the high ground on both sides.

Due to the hasty deployment of the Soviet army, there were no decent fortifications on the high ground on both sides. The Soviet commanders and fighters who stood firm on the high ground suffered great casualties under the firepower of German mortars and machine guns. But even so, they still used all available terrain to desperately block the German attack.

Sokov, who was staying in the frontal position, saw the fierce fighting on the highlands on both sides, and his brows could not help but twitch into a pimple. He could see that although his subordinates fought tenaciously, the German army had the superiority in numbers and firepower, and it was only a matter of time before they seized the high ground on the left and right wings.

He raised his hand and looked at his watch. There were still two hours before the reinforcements arrived. But according to his experience, the actual arrival time of the reinforcements will definitely be delayed, that is to say, he has to rely on the strength in his hand to hold on for two hours or even longer.

"Misha, the enemy has rushed to the high ground on the left and right flanks." Through the binoculars, Seryozha saw that the battle in the distance had moved from the foot of the mountain to the top of the mountain, so he couldn't help asking Sokov worriedly; "What should we do?"

"Persevere, you can only persist." Sukov knew that if he gave the troops on the left and right high grounds a retreat order at this moment, it would inevitably lead to the collapse of the defense line, so he could only bite the bullet and said: "Now is the time for the enemy and us to compete for the will to fight. As long as we The fighters who fight tenaciously will be able to withstand the enemy's attack."

The battle continued for more than half an hour, and the enemy's attack was finally contained by the defenders, and the enemies who rushed to the top of the mountain were also driven down. Seeing that the enemy was repulsed, Sokov breathed a sigh of relief, and said to Seryozha, "Seryozha, immediately call the first and second platoons and order them to withdraw to the frontal position immediately."

"What, tell them to withdraw to the frontal position?" Seryozha couldn't understand Sokov's order: "Misha, the highlands on the left and right flanks are still in the hands of our army, why do you want to give up?"

"Our troops are limited, and now we are divided into three areas for defense. No matter where we are attacked, we cannot get support." Sokov explained to Sergesha: "In the end, we will be wiped out by the enemy one by one. Don't It’s been a while, give them an order, otherwise, when the German offensive resumes, they won’t be able to withdraw even if they want to.”

"Comrade commander, your phone number." Sokov was explaining the task to Sergesha when the radio operator staying in the company command post suddenly leaned out and said to Sokov, "It's Lieutenant Colonel Papchenko's phone number." .”

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," Sokov rushed into the company command post, took the headset and microphone from the radio operator, and asked impatiently, "Where is your unit?"

"Report, Comrade Commander," Lieutenant Colonel Papchenko replied loudly: "We are still 70 kilometers away from your place, and we hope to arrive within two hours. How is the situation there?"

"It's very bad, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." Sokov said with a heavy tone: "After a fierce battle, the guard company suffered a lot of casualties. We have been forced to abandon the high ground on the left and right wings and shrink our forces to the main position."

Knowing that Sokov and the others were in a difficult situation, Lieutenant Colonel Papchenko's expression became serious. He pondered for a moment, and then said: "Comrade commander, how long can you hold on?"

"From the perspective of the intensity of the German attack, we can hold on to the main position for an hour at most." Sokov silently weighed the situation in his heart, and said to Papchenko: "Then we can only retreat to the city. , Fight street battles with the enemy, and persist until your regiment arrives."

After Papchenko finished talking with Sokov, he immediately called a messenger and told him, "Go to the front immediately by motorcycle and tell the commander of the vanguard that the division commander is in danger now." , so that they must speed up their march."

Watching the messenger go away on a motorcycle, the chief of staff of the regiment tentatively asked: "Comrade commander, can we make it in time?"

"Yes." Papchenko turned his head to look at his chief of staff, and said decisively: "I believe that the vanguard will arrive in time to rescue the division commander and the others. Don't forget, the battalion commander is Captain Vasily. , He is the old subordinate of the division commander, and knowing that the division commander is in danger, he naturally has a way to speed up the march."

Papchenko's judgment was not wrong. The troops marching at the front with two companies were indeed led by Captain Vasily, the commander of the first battalion of the original downsizing regiment. When he heard the news from the messenger, he couldn't help being anxious, and quickly ordered someone to call the two company commanders to him.

Coincidentally, these two company commanders are also Sokov's old subordinates. One is the former first company commander, Captain Paul Koski, and the other is the ninth company commander, Captain Guchakov. After the two men arrived, Vasily said to them: "comrades company commanders, the messenger sent by the regiment commander just now said that the situation at the commander's place is dangerous, and I'm afraid it won't last long. I order you now to find a way to overcome all difficulties." , Be sure to rush to the position of the guard company in the shortest possible time to rescue the division commander."

If someone else issued this order, maybe the two company commanders would complain to him, saying that their troops had reached their limit and it was impossible to speed up the march. But now that they heard that the division commander was in danger, the two company commanders could not hold their breath. They hurried back to their respective companies and gave orders to the commanders and soldiers to speed up their march.

A few minutes later, the slogan "The division commander is in danger, hurry up and save the division commander" rang out one after another between the two companies. Originally, when the car got stuck in the snowdrift and couldn't move, only a few soldiers stepped forward to help push it. But now when they heard that the teacher was in trouble, all the people felt as if they had been given blood, and when the car fell into a snowdrift, they all jumped off immediately and pushed the car out.

Sokov had no idea what happened to the reinforcements here. Because the enemy launched an attack on the only remaining frontal position after completing the occupation of the highlands on the left and right wings.

Sokov, who was directing the battle on the ground, said to Sergei Sha: "Sergesha, we still have more than 60 people left. We can't put all of them in the trenches. Immediately draw 20 people and find a place to hide in the back." Arise, and be our reserve."

"Misha, we have a small number of people. If you take away another twenty people, I'm afraid we won't be able to defend this position."

"Seryozha, don't you see that the enemy occupying the highlands on the left and right flanks has set up mortars on the highlands and is bombarding us from the heights?" Sukov said loudly: "If you put all the people away In the trenches, it is easy to become the enemy's target. If our soldiers suffer heavy casualties under the enemy's artillery fire, they will not last for two hours."

"Misha, do you really think that the reinforcements will arrive in time?" Seryozha looked around and saw the radio operator sitting in a corner with earphones on his head, receiving messages. He probably couldn't hear what he said. Then he suggested to Sokov in a low voice: "Why don't we retreat too?"

"Seryozha, what are you talking about?" Sokov heard what Seryozha said, grabbed his skirt, and said angrily: "Do you know that you are shaking the morale of the army by saying that? I can shoot you."

Seryozha thought that based on his friendship with Sokov, if the other party retreated, the other party might agree. But he didn't expect Sokov's reaction when he joined forces, and he was taken aback. Quickly said: "Misha, I was just joking, don't be angry, I will accompany you to stand firm on the ground."

"Remember, I can take you as a joke this time. But if you dare to say such words to shake the morale of the army again," Sokov said, putting the assault rifle that never left him on the table, "don't blame me for not reading it then Friendship."

As soon as 20 soldiers were transferred to the back as a reserve team, Samoilov rushed in from the outside, and he reported out of breath: "Comrade commander, it's not good, the enemy has already rushed into our position. One row The commander led the soldiers and started hand-to-hand combat with them."

"Let's go, let's go and have a look." Sokov learned that the enemy had rushed into the position, and there was no place to stay, so he rushed out with an assault rifle. Worried that Sokov was in danger, Samoilov rushed out without thinking. But Seryozha hesitated for a long time before opening the curtain with a gun and going out.

When Sokov arrived at the area where the first platoon was located, he found that a dozen German soldiers had rushed into the position and were fighting bayonets with the commanders and fighters in the first platoon. When Sokov was about to step forward to help, suddenly a black figure rushed over from the side. He turned his gun without thinking, fired a short burst, and immediately knocked the opponent to the ground.

He looked down and saw that it was a German soldier. At first, he was worried about accidentally injuring his own people, but seeing that the person who fell to the ground was a German, he felt much more at ease.

Sokov has a special body armor. As long as the bullets do not hit his head and limbs, he is basically in no danger. Therefore, he confidently and boldly walked forward along the trenches, and when he saw the Germans blocking his way, he shot them down directly; when he saw that his soldiers were losing the wind, he shot and killed the enemies who were fighting with them with bayonets. In this way, in less than three minutes, more than 20 enemies who rushed into the position were killed by Sokov and a row of soldiers.

After annihilating the enemies who rushed into the position, Sokov called the platoon leader to him and asked, "First platoon leader, how many people are there in your platoon?"

"Report, sir," a platoon leader replied respectfully, "including me, there are twelve people."

"I'll send you ten people over later." Although twenty people had just been deployed as a reserve team, seeing the situation in the first row, Sokov knew that they might be difficult to defend, so he could only grit his teeth and draw ten people. Someone came over to strengthen their defense here: "Also, let the soldiers collect usable weapons and ammunition."

"Comrade Commander," Seryozha ran over and reported to Sokov, "there are fifteen soldiers delivering ammunition in the third platoon. How should we arrange them?"

"They came just in time." Sokov was worried that there were not enough people, so he quickly told Sergesha: "Let them come here to strengthen the defense, and be sure to block the enemy's attack."

The German attack was repelled, but within half an hour they attacked again. This time, because of the short attack distance, they quickly rushed to the vicinity of the position, and there were only about forty defenders left in the position, and they could not resist their attack at all.

At this moment, there were explosions and intensive gunfire from the rear of the German army. Then, the sound of "Ula" suppressed by gunshots and cannons also came from behind the enemy. Sokov, who was holding an assault rifle and fighting with the soldiers, was surprised when he heard the voice.

He shouted loudly to the left and right: "Comrades, our reinforcements have arrived. Hit them hard, and don't let a German be spared."

The highly encouraged commanders immediately boosted their morale. They aimed their weapons at the stunned enemies and shot desperately, knocking them down piece by piece.