Red Moscow

About half an hour after Konev left, the high-frequency phone placed in front of Sokov suddenly rang. Seeing the phone ringing, Sokov immediately realized that maybe the superior had something urgent to call for him.

He picked up the microphone and stuck it to his ear, and Zhukov's familiar voice came out of the receiver: "Misha, I heard that your troops have successfully captured the position along the river to the west of the city. It is true. ?"

"Yes, Comrade Marshal." Sokov guessed that Konev might have reported to Zhukov, and replied truthfully: "My troops have successfully occupied the riverside position on the west side of the city. City sports."

"Misha, how did your troops take down the enemy's position in such a short period of time?"

Seeing that Zhukov was so curious, Sokov gave him a detailed report on how his troops seized the enemy's position.

"So that's what happened." Zhukov waited for Sokov to finish speaking, and a new thought popped into his head: "Misha, I think about it this way. As soon as the shelling of the Steppe Front Army and the Voronezh Front Army is over, they will immediately Attack the enemy. At that time, you have to send troops up the river to attack the enemies who are standing along the river so that the friendly troops can cross the river smoothly."

Sokov felt that Zhukov's proposal was correct. When the friendly army started crossing the river, his troops would attack from the enemy's rear, and the enemy who was attacked from the front and rear would be quickly wiped out. Then the friendly army would be able to cross the river smoothly and launch an attack on the city.

After trying to understand this truth, Sokov replied straightforwardly: "Comrade Marshal, please rest assured, I will definitely help the friendly army to cross the river smoothly."

Zhukov has always trusted Sokov. Hearing what he said, he nodded in satisfaction and put down the phone.

After finishing the conversation with Zhukov, Sokov turned to Sameko and asked, "Chief of Staff, has our second echelon troops started to cross the river?"

Hearing Sokov's question, Sameko took out a small notebook and looked at it for a few moments before replying, "A regiment of the 384th Infantry Division of Major General Gritsenko has successfully crossed the river."

"Marshal Zhukov called me and asked us to launch an attack from behind the enemy who was standing on the river bank when the friendly army launched a crossing operation to cover the friendly army crossing the river." Sokov raised his hand and looked at his watch, and continued: "Now the distance from the friendly army After the shelling is over, there are still ten minutes left, so you immediately send a telegram to Major General Gritsenko, ordering him to send the troops who have already crossed the river up the river, and when the friendly forces make the forced crossing, attack from the enemy's rear by surprise."

Sameko glanced down at the map, nodded and said, "Comrade Marshal is very thoughtful. When the friendly forces cross the river, as long as they can get our support, they will easily cross the river and launch an attack on the city." .”

Having said that, he looked up at Sokov and continued: "As long as the friendly forces can cross the river smoothly, rush into the city as soon as possible, and start fighting with the enemy, we can reduce the resistance we suffer."

"That's right, that's what I thought too." Sokov clicked on Belgorod's map and said, "If the enemy blocks the friendly forces on the other side of the river, then their defenders in the city will , so that we can concentrate on dealing with us. In this way, we will pay a huge price for every building and every street we capture."

"I will send a telegram to Major General Gritsenko immediately, ordering his troops not to participate in the attack on the city for the time being, but to turn to the north." The strength may be a little small, should we wait for the 384th Division to cross the river before pressing them all up?"

Regarding Sameko's proposal, Sokov stared at the map and pondered for a while, and then replied: "Okay, Comrade Chief of Staff, according to your intention, before the attack of the friendly forces, speed up the transportation of troops and strive for Attack the enemy early."

Just as Sokov and Sameko were mobilizing their troops north to prepare to support friendly troops across the river, Huot, who was in charge of commanding the troops in the city, realized the seriousness of the problem. He hurriedly called Manstein and said anxiously: "Your Excellency Marshal , the Russians have not stopped shelling us, but Sokov's troops in the west of the city have launched an attack by surprise. So far, all the positions along the river in the west of the city have been lost, and Sokov's part has entered the city from the west of the city. There was a fierce battle between the fruit cannery and the steadfast 332nd Infantry Division."

"General Huot," said Manstein, who was a little anxious when he learned that Sokov's troops did not practice martial arts. He said to Huot in a tone of voice: "Immediately order the armored division to launch a counterattack against them, and we must drive them all out of the city in the shortest possible time."

"Your Excellency, Marshal, I can't send out armored troops." Hearing Manstein's order, Huot said helplessly: "The Russian shelling has not completely stopped. Once they find that our army has dispatched tanks, they must They will turn their guns around and attack our tanks first. I am afraid that the tank troops will be wiped out by Russian fire before they reach the cannery."

"Your Excellency the Marshal," Holt paused for a moment after finishing his grievances, and continued, "In order to save the defeat, I implore you to dispatch the air force to bomb the Russian artillery positions. In this way, the Russians will have to Without stopping the bombardment of the city, I can send armored divisions to the west of the city for reinforcements."

In order to save the defeat, Manstein immediately called the Air Force after explaining the call with Holt and ordered them to dispatch bombers immediately to bomb the Soviet artillery positions.

And Holt's chief of staff, General Mei Linjin, heard that Manstein agreed to send out air force support, so he asked Holt for instructions: "Your Excellency, the nearest to the west of the city is the 6th Armored Division, but even if they are dispatched, can they be dispatched?" Whether to repel the attack of Sokov's troops is still a question."

"Why?" Holt asked puzzled.

Meilinjin shrugged his shoulders and said with a wry smile: "Half a month ago, under your order, the 6th Armored Division advanced in the direction of Prokhorovka to reinforce the Kenf Combat Group, but they and the 19th Armored Division They were stubbornly blocked by Sokov's troops, and the battle lasted for four or five days. Not only did they not move forward, but they suffered huge casualties, and finally had to withdraw to rest. Use such broken troops to meet the enemies who had defeated them Sokov's troops, I think the soldiers and officers will definitely have psychological barriers. Maybe they will be unstable before the firefight begins."

"Chief of Staff, I don't deny that what you said will happen during the battle. But have you ever thought about it, if we don't send the 6th Armored Division to reinforce, just rely on the 332nd Infantry Division to fight against Sokov's troops in the west of the city?" Attack, how long can they last?"

Mei Linjin asked tentatively: "Maybe we can deploy other armored divisions from other directions to strengthen the defense in the west of the city?"

"It's useless, my chief of staff." Huot shook his head and said with a wry smile: "Sokov's troops launched an attack from the west of the city, and only carried out shelling for an hour, but the Russian troops in the northwest and north of the city The artillery preparations carried out have lasted for nearly two hours. It can be seen that if they launch a ground attack, the scale will be much stronger than that of Sokov's army. Therefore, we must focus our defense on the northwest and north of the city , the armored divisions deployed in these two directions cannot be used casually under any circumstances."

"Alright then, Your Excellency, Commander." Hearing that Huot had already said this, Mei Linjin had no choice but to say: "I will immediately contact the 6th Armored Division and order them to prepare to move west of the city."

The commanders and fighters of the two marine brigades rushed into the fruit canning factory in the west of the city one after the other, and launched an attack on the troops of the 332nd Infantry Division of the German Army who were standing in the factory. The early battle went smoothly, and the soldiers of the two brigades quickly occupied most of the factory area, but encountered unexpected difficulties when attacking the filling workshop.

The cunning enemy hid in the strong factory building and shot at the commanders and fighters who rushed over with machine guns. Since the front of the factory building is an unobstructed and open area, the commanders and fighters who did not carry heavy weapons were suppressed by the intensive firepower and could not continue to move forward.

Knowing that his troops had been intercepted by German firepower, Dobrushin hurriedly came to the front to observe the situation and saw that the enemy had built fortifications in solid factory buildings. He quickly called a company commander and asked: " Comrade Captain, the enemy's firepower has blocked our way forward, can you use the bazooka to destroy the enemy's firepower point?"

"I find it very difficult, Comrade Brigadier Commander," said the company commander to Dobrushin: "Look, the distance from where we are hiding to the enemy's firing point is more than five hundred meters, and our bazooka It is only more than a hundred meters away, and it is impossible to hit the enemy at all."

Dobrushin raised his binoculars and looked into the distance again. The company commander was right. The soldiers were more than 500 meters away from the enemy's fortifications. At such a distance, the enemy could use firepower to block the advancing road, but the bazooka equipped by the Soviet army could not hit the enemy at all because of the range problem.

"What about the new rockets?" Dobrushin thought of the big weapons equipped by the troops, and asked quickly, "Can they destroy the enemy's defensive positions?"

"Comrade Brigadier, rockets are very effective against infantry, but I think it is very difficult to destroy such a strong factory building."

Seeing that his idea was rejected again, Dobrushin couldn't help being a little angry, and he asked with a straight face: "The rocket launcher can't hit the enemy, and the new rockets can't destroy the enemy's fortifications, so tell me, what should we do?" ? Just watch the enemy suppress us here?"

"Lieutenant Colonel Dobrushin, what's the matter with you?" At this moment, a familiar voice came from behind.

Dobrushin turned his head and saw that it was Colonel Chuvashov, the commander of the 84th Marine Brigade. He quickly turned around and stood up, and replied: "Comrade Colonel, our troops are suppressed by the enemy's machine gun fire. Think about how to destroy it."

"Aren't you equipped with rocket launchers?"

"Equipment."

"Since it is equipped, why not use it?" Chuvashov asked a little puzzled: "Let the attacking troops be exposed to the enemy's fire blockade. After a long time, it will inevitably cause a lot of casualties."

"The range is not enough." Dobrushin explained with a wry smile: "The new rockets can't destroy such a strong factory building, so my troops are suppressed by the enemy's firepower and cannot move here."

After figuring out what was going on, Chuvashov couldn't help frowning: "Our troops crossing the river are all lightly armed. It is really a headache to deal with such a strong enemy fortification."

"A strong attack will inevitably cost huge casualties." Dobrushin suggested to Chuvashov: "I think it's better to report this matter to the commander comrade."

"Okay." Chuvashov readily agreed to Dobrushin's suggestion: "I will immediately send a telegram to the headquarters to report the situation here to the comrade commander."

After receiving the call, Sokov smiled wryly and said to Sameko: "Comrade Chief of Staff, do you know? During the Stalingrad defense war, my troops stood firm in the Red October factory, and the Germans fought for several months. , failed to seize the factory from our hands. Now that the offensive and defensive positions have changed, it has become our army’s offense and the German army’s defense. It may take some setbacks to seize the factory.”

After saying this, Sokov walked back and forth in the headquarters with his hands behind his back, thinking about how to deal with the defenders in the fruit cannery. Sameko was worried about interrupting Sokov's thoughts, so he didn't speak, but quietly watched Sokov walking back and forth in the room.

When he saw Sokov stop walking and frown, he couldn't help but secretly rejoiced. According to his understanding of Sokov, he should have figured out a way, so he asked quickly: "Comrade commander, have you figured out a way?" What's the best way?"

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Sokov turned to Sameko and said, "The reason why we were able to hold on to the Red October factory was because we made reasonable use of the factory's sewers and turned it into a part of the defense system. Now to seize the cannery, the two brigade commanders Chuvashov and Dobrushin can use the sewers to attract enemy firepower on the ground, and send other people to carry out the sewers and enter the factories occupied by the Germans from the ground. "

"This is a good idea." After hearing Sokov's plan, Sameko couldn't help but his eyes lit up, and then he nodded vigorously and said, "The enemy never dreamed that our soldiers would sneak into them through the sewers." The factory building they are occupying, this will definitely catch them off guard."

"Comrade Chief of Staff, please wait a moment." Seeing Sameko turning around to send a telegram to the Marine Brigade, Sokov stopped him again and said to him: "As a commander, we have to consider In the worst case, if the enemy has foreseen that our army may attack them through the sewers, and has installed railings, laid mines, or set up defensive firepower points in the sewers in advance, then the commanders and fighters who enter the sewers are tantamount to dying."

Seeing Sameko's surprised expression, Sokov didn't wait for him to ask questions, and said first: "Now the bridge on the river has been occupied by our army, immediately order General Poluboyarov's Guards Tank No. The army crossed the bridge and rushed to the cannery to assist the Marine Brigade in the attack. I believe that the power of the tank gun is enough to destroy the enemy's firepower."