Red Moscow

Sokov received a call from Lieutenant Colonel Papchenko and learned that a tank brigade in Popov's rapid group had successfully broken through and joined forces with his troops. He couldn't help being overjoyed and asked quickly: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel , how many tanks do they have?"

"Tanks?!" Hearing Sokov's question, Papchenko was taken aback for a moment, and then replied with some embarrassment: "I'm sorry, Comrade Commander, they don't have a single tank. They should have blown up during the retreat. Lost."

After listening to Papchenko's analysis, Sokov felt it made sense. If the brigade's tanks hadn't been destroyed, I'm afraid they are still struggling to break out of the encirclement. Thinking of this, he told Papchenko: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, immediately ask that commander to come to my headquarters."

Twenty minutes later, Lieutenant Colonel Papchenko personally accompanied Rukhle to Sokov's headquarters.

The two entered the headquarters, and Papchenko introduced to Rukhle: "Comrade Colonel, let me introduce you. This is our division commander, Colonel Sokov. Now he is the commander of the Sokov combat group. .”

Rukhle looked at Sokov on the opposite side, and couldn't help being secretly surprised. Although he had heard about Sokov's deeds and knew that he was very young, he didn't expect him to be so young. But he quickly returned to normal. After raising his hand to salute Sokov, he reported in accordance with the regulations: "Comrade Colonel, I am Colonel Rukhle, the brigade commander of the 19th Independent Tank Brigade. , I just joined forces with your subordinates in the west of the city."

"Thank you, Colonel Rukhle." Sokov raised his hand in return, pulled him to sit down, poured him a cup of hot tea, and asked politely, "I don't know how many troops you have in your army?"

"The task of our brigade is to cover the retreat of the troops." Rukhle reported to Sokov: "After all the shells were fired, I ordered to burn all the tanks and retreat eastward with the remaining soldiers. On the way, we encountered a group of defeated troops, and we organized them into my tank brigade. Along the way, in order to break through the enemy's defenses, we went through several battles, and now the total strength of the whole brigade is about More than eight hundred people."

"Comrade Colonel, I still want to ask, how many tank soldiers are there among the more than 800 people?" Sokov just asked this question, and suddenly saw Rukhle cast a vigilant look at him, and quickly explained Said: "The tank brigade I am commanding now still lacks skilled tank soldiers. I plan to incorporate your subordinates to improve the combat effectiveness of the troops. It is not an easy task to train a tank soldier. If you use them as ordinary infantry , is simply a waste.”

Sokov's next few words made Ruhlie feel a sense of confidant, because he also thought so, and felt that using tank soldiers as ordinary infantry not only could not compare with ordinary infantry in combat effectiveness, but also the combat effectiveness of each battle Casualties would also be staggeringly high. Therefore, he replied very simply: "To tell you the truth, there are only about 70 tank soldiers left under my command. If you can really let them drive tanks again, I think everyone will be very happy."

Sokov couldn't help being overjoyed to see that Rukhle agreed to organize his tank soldiers into those tank brigades that lacked skilled tank soldiers. Then, he organized the remaining more than 700 infantry into the 122nd Guards Regiment of Lieutenant Colonel Papchenko.

Rukhle, who had become a polished commander, suddenly asked, "Comrade Colonel, I would like to ask, have General Popov successfully broken through?"

Hearing this question from Rukhle, Sokov sighed softly, and said: "They are now more than 60 kilometers away from the city, and they have been stubbornly blocked by the German army. According to General Popov's telegram, , They have launched fifteen attacks before and after, but all of them were repelled by the enemy without exception. I have sent my best tank brigade and a guard regiment to rush to support. If all goes well, They should be in Luhansk tomorrow."

"Comrade Colonel, let me ask again." Rukhle continued to ask: "Besides our brigade, have any troops belonging to Popov's rapid group successfully broken through?"

"No." Sokov shook his head and said, "You are the first army to successfully break through."

Vitkov, who was silent all the time, thought of a key question, and asked: "Colonel Ruhlie, I want to ask, no one else has succeeded in breaking through. Why is it so easy for your tank brigade to break through? "

Since no one explained Witkov to him, Rukhle did not know the real identity of the other party. He glanced at the other party's military rank and said politely: "During the breakout process of our brigade, we encountered a squad disguised as Germans. It was the commander of the squad, Second Lieutenant Sasha, who told me that the enemy is usually entrenched. In settlements or villages, if you want to successfully break out of the siege, you must bypass these places. I followed his instructions and ordered the troops to bypass the settlements and villages, so that I avoided many bitter battles and brought the troops out smoothly. Encirclement."

"Comrade Chief of Staff, did you hear that?" Sukov heard this, turned his head and said to Vitkov: "Immediately send a telegram to General Popov, asking them not to entangle with the enemy on the main traffic arteries, and to bypass the enemy." Those settlements and villages where the enemy is stationed pass through the uninhabited forest."

"Understood, Comrade Commander." Witkov understood that Sukov's words might really save more friendly soldiers from the death line, so he agreed and ran to the radio to urge the operator I sent the report.

After Vitkov left, Sokov introduced to Rukhle: "Comrade Colonel, I forgot to introduce you just now. That is Colonel Witkov, the chief of staff of the combat group. He turned out to be the deputy staff officer of the 62nd Army. Chief, was sent here by the superior not long ago to serve as chief of staff."

"It turns out that he is also from the 62nd Army." Lukhle looked at Vitkov's back and said with emotion: "The commanders and fighters of the 62nd Army are all good. Paulus’s attack defended the city named after the Supreme Commander himself, and bought time for the assembly of large troops. If we want to destroy Paulus’s Sixth Army, I am afraid it will not be an easy task.”

After Vitkov made the phone call, he walked back to Sokov and reported to him: "Comrade Commander, I have truthfully conveyed your meaning to General Popov. If he can really By following your persuasion, you may be able to break out with more troops."

"How is the situation at Colonel Bely?" Sokov no longer had much hope for Popov to break through the encirclement of the German army. He could only put the last hope of the two sides joining forces on Bely's tank brigade: "Did they break through the German defenses?"

"The battle is still going on." Vitkov replied with some embarrassment: "Colonel Bely just sent a telegram saying that they will soon break through the enemy's defenses."

"Comrade Colonel, I want to ask a question." After the two finished speaking, Luhlie asked tentatively, "If the two sides join forces, do you plan to let the troops stick there, or let them all withdraw into the city?"