Red Moscow

Romanov had a good impression of Sokov, so he invited him to go with him in the car when he went to the Kozelsk region. Perhaps because he often does political propaganda work for the commanders and fighters, Romanov is very talkative. During the more than one hour drive, he was almost the only one talking, and Sokov couldn't even get in his mouth.

From Romanov's chitchat, Sokov learned a lot that didn't involve leaks, but that he couldn't understand at his level. For example, Sokov only knew that the left-wing troops of the Western Front were advancing too fast. After the Germans occupied Susinich, they were cut off from the supply line and fell into the encirclement of the Germans, but he didn't know which one it was force.

After Romanov's introduction, he finally figured out that the troops west of Sukhinich were the 322nd and 323rd Infantry Divisions of the 10th Army under the command of General Golikov. But with the dismissal of Golikov, these units have been assigned to the command of Rokossovsky. Today, the troops of the 10th Army are newly added to the base camp and are commanded by General Popov.

Hearing this, Sokov couldn't help but smiled and said to Romanov: "Comrade battalion-level political commissar, the left wing of the army is the 10th Army under the command of General Popov, and the right wing is the 61st Army under the command of General Popov. We were between the two Popovs, it was so much fun!"

"That's right, that's right!" Romanov nodded and said, "We are between two Popovs, which corresponds to an old saying: auspicious omen."

Sokov was about to insinuate and ask why the car stopped when it was a good omen between the two Popovs. He quickly looked out the window and found that he had arrived at his destination.

The person in charge of the prisoner-of-war camp is a major who has received orders from General Popov and is very enthusiastic about Romanov and his party. After a brief greeting, the screening of prisoners of war began.

There were five small tables outside a large wooden house, and hundreds of people lined up in front of each table. The political workers brought by Romanov sat behind these tables. They asked the prisoners' names, ages, previous troops, and the reasons for being captured blankly, and recorded them one by one. The prisoners of war who pass the review will get a small note with their name on it, and go to the wooden house to check their bodies; Get out of here.

It has to be said that the work efficiency of the Romanov team is still very high. It took only one hour to complete the screening of thousands of prisoners of war in this prisoner-of-war camp. After selecting the prisoners of war, Romanov arranged for two staff officers to take these prisoners back to Susinich, while he took the rest of the people and continued to the new prisoner of war camp. In this way, before dark, Romanov selected 8,000 qualified soldiers from the six prisoner-of-war camps in the Kozelsk region.

Watching the staff officers and political workers gather prisoners of war and prepare to return to Susinich, Sokov finally asked the question he wanted to ask: "Comrade battalion political commissar, I wonder how much our battalion can get from these rescued commanders and fighters?" Supplementary soldiers?"

Several prisoners of war who stood relatively close to Sokov couldn't help their eyes getting wet when they heard that the other party did not use the humiliating "prisoner of war" but the word "commander" in addressing themselves. They secretly thought in their hearts: It would be great if we could follow this captain.

Sokov naturally couldn't guess what the prisoners were thinking. He was waiting for Romanov's answer. Unexpectedly, Romanov hesitated for a moment, and replied: "Captain Sokov, I really don't know about this. I am only responsible for screening and selecting prisoners of war. As for the distribution of troops, Chief of Staff Malinin should be in charge."

Romanov's answer disappointed Sokov. He was worried that he would lose everything, so he tentatively asked, "Comrade battalion-level political commissar, can I recruit a group of commanders here?" He turned his head and looked away. He glanced at the prisoners who were screened out, and continued, "If you agree, I would like to choose from those officers and fighters who were screened out."

"That's no problem." Romanov readily agreed to Sokov's request, "I'll talk to the commander who manages the prisoner-of-war camp. There shouldn't be any problem."

Romanov had someone invite the captain who managed the prisoner-of-war camp, and told Sokov that he wanted to pick another batch of prisoners. After hearing this, the captain scratched the back of his head, and said to Sokov in a deliberative tone: "Comrade Captain, after the screening just now, there are still 617 prisoners of war left in the prisoner-of-war camp. Or, you take them all away, and I You can also return to the army sooner."

Sokov participated in the entire screening process and knew the reason why these more than 600 prisoners of war were screened out. He could not let them lay down their weapons and surrender to the German army because they obeyed the orders of their superiors and did not resist during the battle. At that time, seeing so many strong prisoners of war were screened out, Sokov felt quite regretful in his heart. Hearing what the captain said at this moment, he couldn't help but burst into ecstasy. However, he didn't have the right to make his own decisions about this kind of thing, so he could only cast a questioning look at Romanov.

"Lieutenant Sokov," Romanov said reasonably, "if you think you can control these prisoners of war, put them in your battalion." Hearing Romanov's permission, Sokov couldn't help but be overjoyed , hurriedly pulled the captain and walked towards the group of prisoners of war.

The prisoners of war who were screened out were already desperate, and they didn't know what kind of fate awaited them next. Seeing that Captain Sokov was willing to recruit him now, he agreed without hesitation.

As it was getting late, Sokov stayed in the prisoner-of-war camp overnight, and by the way, had a heart-to-heart talk with these commanders and fighters who were about to become his subordinates, in order to increase their sense of identity with him.

Early the next morning, Sokov pestered the captain who was in charge of the prisoner-of-war camp and asked him to provide him with 30 trucks, and sent the commanders and fighters all the way to the unnamed heights. Fortunately, there were still many vacant bunkers in the position at the foot of the mountain, so Sokov placed them there and sent someone to deliver food and water to them.

Seeing that the battalion commander went out for a trip, he brought back hundreds of people. The company commanders of each company couldn't sit still, and they all ran to the battalion command post to find Sokov, hoping to replenish their company with soldiers.

Thinking of the addition of more than 600 soldiers to the battalion, Sokov was also magnanimous once in a while, and announced in public: "From now on, each company has a quota of 200 soldiers, and the company commanders will pick people later."

When the company commanders heard Sokov's decision, they immediately cheered and shouted in unison: "Ulla! Ulla!"

After Belkin waited for everyone to calm down, he asked curiously: "Comrade battalion commander, you brought back more than 600 people this time. Even if you increase the number of people in each company to 200, there are still many people left. What do you plan to do?" arrange?"

As for how to allocate, Sokov had already thought about how to allocate them on the way back: "The guard platoon and the engineering platoon will be increased to fifty; in addition, soldiers who have worked as health workers and signal soldiers will be selected to fill the health team respectively." and in the communications squad." At this point, he glanced at Maxim who was sitting in front of the intercom, and raised his voice, "The communications squad has been upgraded to a communications platoon, and Corporal Maxim will serve as the platoon leader."

"In addition, we have to select soldiers who have served as artillery and tank soldiers," Sokov continued enthusiastically: "Form artillery platoons and tank platoons..."

"Wait a minute, Comrade Battalion Commander." Belkin felt that Sokov's words were getting more and more out of line, and quickly interrupted him, carefully reminding him: "We don't have artillery and tanks at all now, and we have to set up artillery platoons and tank platoons. Is it unnecessary? Besides, according to your expansion method, will the superiors agree?"

Regarding Belkin's worries, Sokov smiled and said: "Comrade Deputy Battalion Commander, don't worry. Although we now have artillery and tanks, we will have them sooner or later. Instead of waiting for these equipment to form troops, it is better to put Once the troops are formed, my troops can go into battle as soon as they are equipped. As for whether the superiors will have any objections to our expansion, you don't have to worry about it. Once the superiors blame me, I will bear all the responsibilities. "