Red Moscow

The Germans never dreamed that while the Soviet army continued to attack the bridge, they quietly dispatched an armored force to successfully cross the river to the left bank through the pontoon bridge built downstream.

The tank troops crossing the river soon went into offensive battles. The Germans deployed at the bridgehead on the left bank were some No. 3 and No. 4 tanks. These tanks were not the opponents of the T-34 tanks. In less than ten minutes, six German tanks parked on the left bank were shot and caught fire one after another, while the Soviet army lost only two tanks.

The Soviet troops who occupied the bridgehead on the left bank, under the cover of tanks, launched an attack on the enemy who still controlled the right bank. The German army was desperately sniping the Soviet attack from the right bank, but they did not expect that the bridgehead on the left bank was lost, and fell into a situation where they were attacked from both sides.

Although the Leopard tank is the nemesis of the T-34, these tanks are parked in the pit. Even if they want to turn the muzzle, they are blocked by the mud on both sides. They can only watch the armor-piercing shells of the Soviet tanks penetrate. The rear armor of these tanks caused the ammunition in the car to explode, and the violent explosion caused disasters for the German soldiers hiding around.

It seems that the two attacking troops successfully joined forces on the right bank of the bridge. Sokov breathed a sigh of relief. He put down his binoculars and said to Poluboyarov: "Comrade General, immediately order your troops to enter the defense on the left bank." position, and prepare for the enemy's attack."

When Poluboyarov commanded the troops to move towards the left bank along the still smoking bridge, two German bombers suddenly appeared in the sky. After they found the target on the ground, they swooped down immediately, dropped bombs and strafed, causing the marching troops on the ground to fall into chaos.

Sokov stared at the sky, frowning, and thought to himself: Zhukov once promised himself that he would send an aviation division to provide air cover for his troops, but where is the aircraft that is serving as cover now?

Fortunately, there were not many enemy planes. After five or six minutes, they raised their altitude and flew towards the airport. Seeing the enemy plane flying away, the troops who had been scattered and concealed returned to the road and continued to move towards the left bank.

When Major General Fomenko's 84th Division appeared by the bridge, two planes appeared in the sky again. "Damn it, the enemy's plane is coming again!" Sokov just had this idea in his mind, when he heard the marching officers and soldiers cheering. He looked into the sky and saw the Soviet plane. Although there were only two of them, he felt inexplicably at ease in his heart.

"Comrade Commander," Samoilov saw that the tank army had all entered the position on the left bank, and Fomenko's 84th Division was also crossing the bridge in an orderly manner, while Sokov was standing in front of the temporary headquarters. In a daze, he asked tentatively, "Shall we go back to the headquarters now?"

"What are you going back to the headquarters for?" Sokov asked casually.

For the sake of Sokov's safety, Samoilov of course hoped that he would return to the headquarters sooner, so he found a reason that was not too far-fetched: "The communication here is inconvenient, which is not conducive to your commanding troops."

"Comrade Lieutenant." Sokov turned to look at Samoilov and said: "According to our original order, all troops must reach the banks of the Pushol River before it gets dark today. That is to say, we are now Return to the headquarters, and I will come here again soon. I don't think there is any need to go back and forth."

"Comrade Commander, it's too unsafe here, let's go to another place." Samoilov was deeply afraid of the enemy who had suffered a great loss, and found that there was a large number of troops mobilized here, and there was a sudden shelling or bombing. If the husband's life is in danger, he persuaded him tactfully: "This is also for your safety."

Seeing that Samoilov was thinking about his own safety, Sokov looked around and found a forest not far behind, so he pointed there with his hand and said, "Then let's go there first After a while, after the headquarters is transferred, it is not too late for us to leave."

Before coming to the woods, Sokov accidentally discovered that there were many tents set up in the open space, and it could be vaguely seen that this was a field hospital. He turned to Samoilov and said, "Come on, let's go and have a look."

The wounded who were sitting silently outside the tent saw Sokov appearing, they all stood up or stood up with the support of their comrades, and saluted Sokov walking among them.

Soon, Sokov saw a familiar face. After staring at the face for a while, he asked tentatively, "Are you Kataeva?"

Katayeva, who was being embarrassed by Sokov, was taken aback when she heard her name called out, then nodded vigorously and said, "Yes, Comrade Commander, I am Katayeva .”

Sokov smiled at the other party and said friendly: "Kataeva, we have met before."

"Yes, Comrade Commander." Katayeva stared at Sokov for a long time before she barely recognized the general in front of her. It was the day she and Gu Kejin and others escaped from the enemy on the road. The commander I met.

After taking a closer look at the other party, Sokov asked curiously, "Which army are you working as a health worker now?"

"Report to Comrade Commander," Katayeva quickly straightened her body and replied, "I am in the field hospital of the 84th Division."

"Oh, it's the health worker of the 84th Division, I thought you were the health worker of the Tank Army." After expressing his regret, Sokov continued, "Have you seen Rikov and Cocakin recently? "

"No, Comrade Commander." Katayeva replied blankly, "I haven't seen the two of them since the last inspection, and I don't know where they are now."

"They were incorporated into the tank army some time ago, I thought you had met before."

"Comrade commander, can I ask you one thing?"

"What's the matter?" Sokov asked politely, "Please tell me!"

"If you can see Kokokin or Rikov, please tell them that I am working in the field hospital of the 84th Infantry Division." Katayeva said cautiously: "Comrade commander, I don't know if this is against discipline, but I still hope you can help me."

"Don't worry, Katayeva, as long as I see Gu Kejin or Rikov, I will definitely tell them your whereabouts." In order to dispel the other party's worries, Sokov smiled and said: "After all, you once lived together. Lived and died."

Knowing that Sokov was here, the director and political commissar of the field hospital hurried over. Just when they were about to raise their hands to salute, they were stopped by Sokov: "Dean, political commissar, you must remember one thing in the future, never salute to someone with a higher rank than yourself."

The dean had just joined the army, and he still didn't understand many things. Hearing what Sokov said, he couldn't help but wondered, "Comrade commander, why is this?"

"On the battlefield, there may be enemy snipers hidden nearby. When you salute a person with a high rank, it is equivalent to telling the enemy: Look quickly, there is a high-ranking officer here, shoot him quickly!"

Sokov's words made Katayeva burst out laughing. Seeing Katayeva smiling like no one else was around, the political commissar hurriedly stopped her: "Comrade hygienist, be serious, you don't even look at the occasion."

Katayeva, who was criticized by the political commissar, stuck out her tongue in embarrassment, then bowed her head and stood behind the dean and the political commissar, daring to speak again. "Comrade hygienist," the dean worried that Katayeva's existence would cause Sokov's displeasure, so he took the initiative to send him away: "You have nothing to do here, so hurry up and take care of the wounded."

As Katayeva left, Sokov kept his eyes on her back until she disappeared into a tent. Sokov's actions misunderstood the political commissar. Seeing that Sokov was so young, he thought to himself that the commander was so interested in this female health worker. Could there be some relationship between the two? He wondered in his heart whether he should arrange an easy and safe job for Katayeva so that he could please Sokov.

Sokov was not a roundworm in the stomach of the political commissar, so he naturally didn't know what was going on in his heart. Sokov looked at the director and asked, "Comrade director, do you have enough medical staff in your field hospital?"

"How should I say this, Comrade Commander." The dean said hesitantly: "Because the troops fought for a long time, not only the commanders and fighters suffered a lot of casualties, but even the health workers who rescued the wounded on the battlefield also suffered a lot of casualties." .Although we have also supplemented, the number of medical staff is only two-thirds of the prescribed number."

"Comrade dean, although you are short of one-third of your staff, I can only regret to tell you that in a short period of time, I will not be able to replenish sufficient medical staff for you."

"I understand, I understand." As soon as Sokov finished speaking, the dean nodded vigorously and said, "In fact, it's not just the lack of medical personnel in our division's field hospital, almost all the troops have the same problem."

Although it is temporarily impossible to add medical personnel to the opponent, Sokov is still ready to provide enough personnel for the opponent when the time is right. After all, the more medical staff there are in a hospital, the higher the chances of the wounded recovering: "Where do your additional medical staff come from?"

"Generally, there are two channels." The dean stretched out two fingers and said: "One is to recruit directly from the medical school; the other is to transfer suitable personnel from the medical school or the army for short-term training. The latter can only be used as health workers, used to rescue the wounded on the battlefield or take care of the wounded in the hospital.”

"It's really not easy for you." Sukov thought that fortunately, Asiya had become an assistant military doctor, and she no longer had to go to the battlefield to rescue the wounded under the enemy's bullets as before. In a few hours, her 182nd division will be stationed in this area. After I can meet her, it will not be too late to return to the headquarters.

The plan could not keep up with the changes. Because the 182nd Division was marching on foot, it had not yet reached the designated location by dark, while Sameko and Lunev led the members of the headquarters and established a new headquarters.

Now that the new headquarters has been established, Sokov naturally has no need to stay outside for a stroll. He can only return to the headquarters with Samoilov and others with the regret of not seeing Asiya.

After Sokov returned to the headquarters, seeing that the place was still busy, he asked Sameko, "Comrade Chief of Staff, did any important things happen during my absence? "

"Comrade Commander," Sameko said cautiously, "If it is within the army group, I can tell you that apart from the battle with the enemy for the bridge, nothing major has happened."

"What about our friendly troops?" Since nothing happened to his troops, Sokov wanted to know the situation of the friendly troops so as to infer the enemy's next move.

"It is said that a tank unit under the Fifth Guards Tank Army and a German armored unit encountered a certain area in Prokhorovka, and the two sides fought fiercely."

Knowing that tanks had already fought in the Prokhorovka area, Sokov quickly asked: "Then how did the final battle go? Who won?"

"During the battle of tanks, nearly forty tanks of our army were destroyed by the enemy, while the enemy lost only fifteen." When Seekov saw that the two sides were locked up here, Sameko quickly added: "Fortunately, The 678th Heavy Artillery Regiment was deployed nearby, and they used 18 152mm howitzers to bombard the enemy tanks. After suffering huge losses, the enemy had to withdraw from the battlefield.”

"What's the damage ratio of this battle?" Sokov asked, frowning.

"Basically one to one." After Sameko said this, seeing Sokov's face became more serious, he quickly said with a smile: "Although the remaining 20 or so tanks are Our army's heavy artillery destroyed them, but after all, they were in the same battle, so it's okay to say that the battle damage is one-to-one."

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Sokov didn't expect that the Soviet tank troops suffered such heavy losses in a small-scale confrontation, and he tentatively asked, "Can you find out the models of our tanks that were destroyed? "

"Comrade Commander, the tanks equipped by the 5th Guards Tank Army are all T-34 tanks, and even KV heavy tanks. I am afraid that only General Katukov's troops still have some old tanks. .”

Sokov was silent for a long time, and then asked Sameko: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I want to ask you, if our tank army and the enemy's large-scale tank force exchange fire, what kind of battle loss ratio can we achieve?"

Sokov's question stopped Sameko, and after a long time, he replied in an uncertain tone: "Comrade Commander, I think that with the strength of the tank army, if it meets the enemy's armored force , the battle loss ratio may be three to two, that is to say, we lost three vehicles and the enemy lost two."

"Comrade Chief of Staff, your thinking is too optimistic." Sokov realized that although the Imperial Division had been wiped out, the German armored forces were still strong. He only had a tank army with more than one hundred tanks in his hands. If you go head-to-head with the German army, you will definitely suffer a big loss. "If our troops were to fight the Germans head-to-head, I estimate that the loss ratio would be at least three to one, four to one."