Red Moscow

The two armies soon joined forces. After annihilating the German troops who were on the blocking mission at the north gate, they hurriedly withdrew outside the city to protect the residents who had escaped from the sea of ​​fire.

Prochenko and Vanya left the city through the north gate, and when they looked back, they found that the entire north of the city had turned into a sea of ​​flames. Although they were separated by a long distance, they still felt waves of heat rushing towards them, and they felt burning pain all over their bodies. Looking at the soldiers and residents who escaped from the city with him, I found that they were basically smoky and embarrassed.

Thinking of those subordinates who died in the fire and the residents of the city, Prochenko's eyes turned red. He raised his hand to wipe his face, and said cursingly, "Damn it, the smoke still hurts my eyes after such a distance."

The heart of Vanya next to him is like a mirror, but it is difficult to dismantle it, and he did not dismantle Prochenko's lie in public, but echoed: "Yes, the fire is too big, and the smoke makes my eyes dizzy." Can't open it."

"Colonel Prochenko," a lieutenant colonel in the distance approached the two of them, and he asked, "Are you all right?"

"Lieutenant Colonel Ivan, thank you for your concern." After seeing clearly that the person who came was Lieutenant Colonel Ivan, the commander of the 764th regiment, Prochenko sighed for a while, and said sadly: "But many of my subordinates and residents stayed behind. In town."

Looking at the burning city, Ivan gritted his teeth and said, "Damn Germans, how many innocent residents they burned to death with this fire, we will get back this blood debt from them sooner or later."

After saying this, Lieutenant Colonel Ivan said to Prochenko: "Comrade Colonel, the teacher has an order. Once you are rescued, I will take you to see him."

Prochenko suffered such a big loss, and was embarrassed to see Shechtman, but when he heard what Ivan said, he did not dare to disobey, so he could only bite the bullet and say to Vanya: "Chief of Staff, I Go see the division commander, you stay here to contain the troops."

Just when Vanya agreed and was about to stay, Ivan said, "Chief of Staff Vanya, the teacher asked you to go with Colonel Prochenko."

Hearing what Ivan said, Vanya readily agreed, but Prochenko's heart began to beat: his troops were attacked by the German army and were driven out of the city. Are you going to send yourself to a military court?

With such doubts, Prochenko followed Ivan to the location of the division headquarters.

Seeing Prochenko and others walk into the headquarters, Colonel Billing greeted them, shook hands with everyone, and said, "Thank you, comrades, you have worked hard!"

Shechtman came in front of Prochenko, looked at this subordinate who was as black as a stove king, patted the opponent's arm with both hands, and said excitedly: "Comrade Prochenko, I am relieved to see that you are still alive." gone."

"I'm sorry, Comrade Commander." Prochenko lowered his head and said with a look of shame on his face: "I only took a small number of soldiers and residents of the city to evacuate, and the rest either died in the sea of ​​fire or fell to the ground. under the guns of the enemy."

"I know, I know." Shechtman said with a sigh: "Comrade Commander has long reminded me that he should worry about the Germans' conspiracy, and I still think he is nervous. Unexpectedly, his judgment is That's right, when the enemy retreated so quickly in the face of our attack, it was just to dig a hole for us to jump into.

Comrade Prochenko, I am sorry for you, for the soldiers who died and for the residents of the city. If I could follow the commander's order and strengthen the security work in the city, perhaps such a tragedy would not have happened. "

As soon as Shechtman finished speaking, Vanya interrupted and said, "Comrade commander, the enemy set fire to the city in advance. No matter how good our security work is, it will be difficult to prevent the enemy from setting fire."

Seeing Shechtman's surprised expression, Vanya went on to say: "When I was blocked at the north gate, I went to the roof with the regimental commander to observe the enemy's situation. I found that the enemy was using a flamethrower. Arson, and they also placed oil barrels in many buildings, so that as long as they start arson, the fire can spread in a very short period of time, causing huge casualties to us who are downwind."

"The enemy is really too cunning." Shechtman said through gritted teeth, "Sooner or later we will recover this blood debt from the Germans, and let them repay ten times and a hundred times the crimes they committed today."

"Comrade Commander," the chief of staff walked over and handed the telegram just received to Shechtman: "The telegram just sent by Comrade Commander."

"A telegram from Comrade Commander?" Knowing that it was a telegram from Sokov, Shechtman didn't dare to neglect this time, and quickly moved closer to check it carefully. The content of the telegram is very simple, it is to order Shechtman to withdraw all the troops in the city immediately to avoid unnecessary losses.

After reading the telegram, Shechtman showed a look of annoyance on his face. The development of the matter to the present point is all related to his underestimation of the enemy. He handed the telegram in his hand to Colonel Billing, and said with a wry smile: "Comrade Political Commissar, look at the telegram from Comrade Commander. He said that in order to avoid unnecessary losses, the troops in the city should be withdrawn as soon as possible. If I Listen to his words earlier and withdraw all the troops in the city, I am afraid that the losses suffered now will be much smaller."

"Comrade commander, now is not the time to regret it." The chief of staff reminded Shechtman, "The troops in the north of my city were under the fire of the German army and paid a great price. I am worried that when the fire weakens later, The Germans will take the opportunity to attack, should we be ready to fight?"

Shechtman felt that what the chief of staff said was very reasonable. Considering that there were not many soldiers left in the 762nd regiment, he decided to hand over the defense task to the 764th regiment of Lieutenant Colonel Ivan: "Lieutenant Colonel Ivan , order your subordinates to turn to the defensive on the spot and be ready to meet the German attack at any time."

"Understood, Comrade Commander." Lieutenant Colonel Ivan replied loudly: "Our regiment promises to complete the tasks assigned to us by our superiors."

…………

Besides, Sokov, who was far away in October Town, couldn't help becoming anxious since receiving the news that the German army set fire to the city and a regiment's commanders and fighters were trapped behind the enemy. He called Sameko to him and asked him, "Comrade Chief of Staff, the enemy launched a fire attack on our troops occupying the north of the city. Do you have any good ideas?"

"No." Sameko shook his head and said with a wry smile: "Jergach is an ancient city, and there are a large number of wooden houses in the city. As long as there is a fire, the whole street is usually engulfed by the fire. We The only thing that can be done is to withdraw the troops in the city, and one can be withdrawn as one.”

"Especially tonight, the wind is very strong. If the enemy really set fire, even if we give the order to retreat in time, it is unknown how many people can escape safely."

"Chief of Staff, what you said just now is very correct: if you can withdraw one, you will save the seeds for our army." After Sukov finished speaking, he ordered Sameko: "Give Shechtman a power call immediately. report, ordering them not to launch a counterattack into the city, but to find a way to rescue the trapped troops."

Sameko waited for Sokov to finish speaking, and then asked: "Do you need to order Major General Gritsenko's 384th Division to approach Dergach quickly to support the troops there?"

"Wait a minute, Comrade Chief of Staff, under the current circumstances, it is not suitable for Major General Gritsenko's troops to rush to Dergach immediately." Sokov said here, seeing a puzzled look on Sameko's face. With an expression on his face, he explained: "Since the enemy launched a fire attack on our troops entering the city overnight, they will take a series of actions next. If Major General Gritsenko's troops also gather in the city of Dergach In addition, it is very likely to be encircled by the German army."

"No way, Comrade Commander." Regarding Sokov's statement, Sameko expressed doubts: "You must know that our main force is attacking the Kharkov defense zone, and the enemy simply cannot draw enough To fight against our attack. With our four divisions hugging together, with the enemy's current strength, we can't attack them at all."

"Comrade Chief of Staff, as commanders, we must never underestimate the enemy." Sokov reminded the other party: "You must know that General Kenf of the German Army is not an ordinary general. Use tactics. Otherwise, our armies will not be able to stop his battle group outside the city of Prokhorovka."

Sokov's words made Sameko wake up. He understood that the reason why he despised the enemy so much might be related to the fact that the troops have been invincible since the Battle of Kursk. Any powerful enemy is vulnerable to the 27th Army. Countless victories made Sameko inevitably have the idea of ​​​​underestimating the enemy. He thought that General Kenf's troops were still the same as those German troops that he had fought against before. , As long as the commanders and fighters slammed and rushed, they would be beaten to pieces.

After realizing his mistake, Sameko quickly apologized to Sokov: "I'm sorry, Comrade Commander, I was dazzled by the consecutive victories, and I have unnecessary underestimation of the enemy. I will give this to Gerry Major General Cenko sent a telegram ordering their troops to temporarily halt their advance and go on the defensive on the spot to prepare for a possible counterattack by the Germans."

After listening to Sameko's thoughts, Sokov showed a smile on his face: "Comrade Chief of Staff, that's right, as long as we don't have the mood to underestimate the enemy, we can truly defeat the enemy. By the way, Poluboyaro Where is General Husband's tank corps?"

"A tank brigade of General Poluboyarov stopped fighting after covering the 254th Division rushing into Dergach during the day, and retreated to outlying positions to rest."

Hearing what Sameko said, Lunev couldn't help asking curiously: "Comrade Chief of Staff, may I ask why the tanks of the Tank Army don't participate in street fighting, but retreat to outer positions? It's because of insufficient fuel and ammunition. ?"

"Comrade Military Commissar," Sameko explained to Lunev, seeing that Lunev was full of curiosity about this issue: "The streets in Dergach are too narrow and there are many wooden buildings. If our tanks participate in street fighting However, as long as the tanks one after another are destroyed by the enemy, our tank column can only be like a dead snake, parked on the street and attacked by German anti-tank fighters from all directions, and finally turned into piles of burning waste. iron."

After figuring out what was going on, Lunev nodded thoughtfully and said, "So, not only can we not use tanks in the city, but the enemy can't use tanks either?"

"Comrade Military Commissar, that's not certain." Sokov interrupted: "Our tanks are attacking, and they may be attacked at any time from the buildings on both sides of the road. The enemy's tanks are used for defense. They can hide in places we never thought of, attack our army with tank guns or machine guns, and cause huge casualties to us.

If we attack only with infantry, the new rockets and rockets that our fighters have can destroy the enemy's firepower and hidden tanks. After clearing out the enemies in the city, we will put the tanks into battle to participate in the attack on Kharkov. "

As soon as Kharkov was mentioned, Lunev remembered another key thing: "Comrade Commander, according to the original plan, our troops should capture Dergach during the day today, but the Germans came so soon Didn't the fire attack completely disrupt our plan. In this way, can we still meet up with the 98th Guards Division on time and seize the bridge over the Oude River?"

Lunev's concerns are exactly what Sokov is worried about now. The Germans are not stupid either. The 98th Guards Division pretends to be the enemy and lurks behind the enemy. Over time, it will inevitably be exposed, which will lead to the failure of its own bridge capture plan. If the bridge on the Ude River cannot be seized, the troops can only be organized to cross by force, and the casualties will definitely far exceed their own imagination.

"Comrade Commander," Seeing Sokov lost in thought, Sameko said cautiously, "Since the 98th Guards Division is in danger of being exposed, why don't we take the risk."

"Take risks?!" Sokov looked at Sameko and asked, "How to take risks?"

"Taking advantage of the attention of the Kenf combat group and being attracted by our army in Dergach, I ordered Colonel Chuvashov to organize troops to capture the bridge over the Ud River by surprise."

"What about after capturing the bridge, my comrade chief of staff?" Sokov asked noncommittally, "Are they ordered to stand there until the main force arrives?"

"Yes, Comrade Commander, that's how I think about it." Sameko replied truthfully: "With their current strength, even if they are besieged by one or two German divisions, they can persist for a day or two." .As soon as we capture Gergach, we can rush over to join them."

When Lunev heard it, it seemed that what Sameko said was very reasonable, and he couldn't help but feel a little moved, so he said to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, I think the chief of staff is reasonable. With the equipment and equipment of the 978th ​​Guards Division Combat strength, in the encirclement of the enemy, it is not a big problem to stick to it for a day or two."

Although Lunev and Sameko reached an agreement, Sokov still shook his head and said: "Don't forget, most of the commanders and fighters of the 98th Guards Division are equipped with assault rifles. That gun is used on the battlefield. It is true that it can crush the enemy's firepower, but it also consumes a lot of ammunition. When the 98th Guards Division set off, it only carried two base ammunition. If the enemy's offensive is fierce, their ammunition will be consumed soon. empty.

You say, what is the use of an assault rifle without bullets? "