Red Moscow

The two arrived at the location of the army headquarters by car, and saw that there were many houses here, but there were no signs, so Sukharev opened the car door, poked his head out and asked a soldier on the side of the road: "Hey, soldier Comrade, do you know where the commander's forward headquarters is?"

"Drive along this road." Seeing that it was a major who was asking for directions, the soldiers on the side of the road hurriedly pointed to the front and said to Sukharev, "Comrade major, your car should drive forward along this road." About 100 meters away, you can see a wooden house, where Comrade Commander's forward headquarters is located."

After thanking the soldiers, Sukharev closed the car door and told the driver to follow the other party's instructions and continue to look forward. And he turned sideways and said to Victor who was sitting in the back row: "Victor, do you think it is too risky for the commander to set up the headquarters here? If the enemy's scouts find the forward command The location of the headquarters, calling for artillery bombardment, I am afraid it will cause huge casualties, right?"

But Victor has a different opinion: "Sukharev, I heard that the Germans now have a weapon with a range of more than 100 kilometers. If this rumor is true, should the headquarters be placed in the rear or close to it?" The location of the frontier, there is not much difference."

"Do the Germans really have such weapons?" Sukharev said in a skeptical tone, "I don't believe it anyway."

As soon as he finished speaking, the car stopped.

"What's going on, why stop?"

"Comrade Major." The driver spread his hands and said helplessly, "The checkpoint is here."

Sukharev looked forward through the windshield, and he found that there were several soldiers blocking the way ahead. Behind them was a checkpoint, and the road was cut off by a crossbar. Because the sky was too dark just now, Sukharev didn't realize that there was actually a checkpoint here.

"Comrade commander," a sergeant came out of the co-pilot's window and said to Sukharev through the window: "Which department do you belong to and what are you doing here?"

"I am Major Sukharev, the Chief of Staff of the 122nd Regiment of the 41st Guards Division, and this is Lieutenant Colonel Victor, the deputy head." Commander Koff."

Unexpectedly, after hearing this, the sergeant did not order someone to lift up the front crossbar, but said blankly: "Sorry, Comrade Major, I have not received any notice."

"We really came here under orders, Comrade Sergeant." Victor leaned forward slightly, and said to the sergeant outside through the car window: "If you don't believe it, you can call your superior and ask ask."

The sergeant felt that this was a good way to let the other soldiers keep an eye on the car, while he went back to the sentry box to make a phone call, trying to find out if Sokov sent someone to come over overnight.

A few minutes later, the sergeant returned to the front of the car and said with a straight face: "I'm sorry, comrade commanders, I just called the company commander and he said he didn't know about it at all. If you can't show a valid pass I have no right to let you through the checkpoint."

Hearing what the sergeant said, Sukharev was about to get angry, but was stopped by Victor. He politely asked the sergeant: "Comrade sergeant, I want to ask, which part are you from?"

"I am directly under the 18th Guards Corps." The sergeant didn't understand why Victor asked such a question, but he answered truthfully, "Why are you asking this?"

"That's no wonder." After listening to the other party's understanding, Victor immediately guessed a possibility, that is, the number of soldiers brought by Sokov to the front was too few, so he had to second some of his personnel from General Afunin, and these personnel Not knowing himself and Sukharev led to such misunderstandings: "Comrade Sergeant, can you please contact Lieutenant Koshkin and tell him that we have arrived under orders and are waiting for further instructions from the commander. "

Seeing Victor mentioned Lieutenant Koshkin, the sergeant couldn't help becoming hesitant. He didn't know whether he should listen to the other party and contact Koshkin to let the other party identify whether the two could pass.

But after thinking for a long time, he didn't come up with any good solution, so he could only say: "You wait, I will contact Lieutenant Koshkin now. But I have something to say first, if Lieutenant Koshkin doesn't know you, you You have to turn around and leave."

"No problem, no problem." When Victor was at the Frunze Military Academy, he dealt with Koshkin every day. How could the other party not know him. So he said carelessly: "As long as Lieutenant Koshkin says he doesn't know me, I will immediately turn around and leave without stopping."

Seeing the sergeant calling again, Sukharev turned his head and asked Victor: "Victor, what's going on here, why didn't the sentinel let us pass?"

"The reason is very simple." Victor said slowly, "These people should have been dispatched temporarily to protect the safety of Comrade Commander. But they are only the periphery, and Koshkin is probably responsible for the core area inside."

This time the sergeant had been away for a long time, almost ten minutes, and he still hadn't seen him come back. Sukharev opened the car door and was about to get out of the car when a soldier standing by the car shouted at him, "Don't get out of the car, get back in the car."

Facing the gun pointed at him, Sukharev could only sit back in the car obediently. Muttering in his mouth: "I just want to go down and see where the sergeant has gone, and why he hasn't come back for so long."

After waiting for a while, finally saw the sergeant appear. But he was not alone, and an officer came with him.

The officer came to the car, looked into the car, and said with a smile: "Lieutenant Colonel Victor, Major Sukharev, it's the two of you, I thought who it was."

After hearing this, Sukharev said, dumbfounded: "Lieutenant Koshkin, didn't the sergeant tell you who is here?"

Koshkin laughed and said: "The sergeant has forgotten your names. He just told me that there are two commanders from the 122nd Regiment here, so I hurried over. Comrade Commander said that the 41st Guards Someone from the division will come over, it can't be the two of you?"

Victor spread his hands, shrugged his shoulders, and said helplessly, "Isn't it just us?"

"Commanders, two commanders," Koshkin said politely after shaking hands with them one by one, "there is only a hundred meters away from the commander's forward headquarters, so why not leave the car here , and walk over there."

Victor readily agreed to Koshkin's proposal, opened the door and got out of the car. Said to Sukharev who was still sitting in the co-pilot position: "Sukharev, get out of the car quickly, don't make Comrade Commander wait in a hurry."

When the two followed Koshkin towards the headquarters, Sukharev asked Koshkin tentatively: "Comrade Lieutenant, do you know what the commander asked us to come here for?"

"I don't know." Koshkin replied bluntly, "I'm only responsible for the security work of the forward headquarters. As for what comrade commander asked you to come over, I really don't know."

Koshkin brought the two men to the headquarters and reported to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, I brought Lieutenant Colonel Victor and Major Sukharev, they are members of the 41st Guards Division. representative."

Victor and Sukharev are both old friends of Sokov. Seeing Sokov at this moment, they became more relaxed and greeted with a smile: "Comrade Commander, hello!"

But Sokov kept a straight face and said to the two men: "Command commanders, let me introduce you. This is General Shtemenko, the deputy chief of the general staff. He came to the front to guide the work."

After hearing what Sokov said, the two realized that there was actually a general sitting by the table. They hurriedly stood at attention and raised their hands to salute each other: "Hello, Comrade Deputy Chief of Staff."

When they were saluting, they also saw Yakov sitting at the table. Although they were friends with each other, because of the presence of a big man named Shtemenko, they could only give Yakov a slight nod as a greeting. up.

Sensing the close relationship between the two of them and Sokov and others, Shtemenko said enthusiastically, "Since they are not outsiders, then stop standing and sit down."

Although Viktor and Sukharev sat down, they still maintained a posture of sitting upright in front of Shtemenko, waiting for Sokov to assign tasks to them.

"Comrades, two commanders," Sokov asked in an official tone in front of Shtemenko's words, and he didn't seem to be too familiar with the two of them, "I heard that the Germans are sneaking up on your division. position."

"Yes, Comrade Commander." Victor replied, "But it was the position of the 1st Battalion of the 124th Regiment that was attacked. Now the commanders and fighters of the friendly army are fighting fiercely with the enemy."

"Can you hold your ground?"

"Although after the end of the last battle, our army has recruited a large number of recruits, which has diluted the combat effectiveness of the army." Sukharev said: "But it is not an easy task for the enemy to occupy our army's positions."

"Comrade Commander," Victor knew in his heart that Sokov sent someone from the division to come here in the middle of the night, it must not be for the German army's surprise attack, so he quickly went straight to the topic: "I wonder if there is any important matter for you to invite us here? "

"Yes, I called you over. There is indeed something." Sokov pointed at Yakov with his hand and said, "I think you should be familiar with Colonel Yakov, right?"

Seeing the two shake their heads at the same time, he continued: "Colonel Yakov has just brought in a batch of weapons and equipment. According to the agreement between me and General Kurishenko, some of the weapons will be distributed to your division."

"Victor, did you hear that?" Sukharev became excited when he learned that his superiors were going to distribute weapons to his troops. He touched Victor with his elbow and said excitedly, "The superiors are going to give us weapons." Arms are issued."

But Victor seemed much more stable. He looked at Sokov and asked, "Comrade Commander, I would like to ask how many weapons and equipment the superiors plan to allocate to us, and what kind of equipment are they?"

After Victor finished asking the question, Sokov pouted at Yakov and said, "I think this answer needs to be answered by Colonel Yakov."

"Lieutenant Colonel Victor," Yakov stood up and said with a smile on his face, "I plan to give you a thousand assault rifles, two hundred new rockets, and twelve rocket launchers."

Victor silently thought in his heart that with so many weapons and equipment, the regiment can be divided into more than 300 assault rifles, 70 new rockets, and 4 rocket launchers. Compared with the existing equipment, it is really much better.

"Colonel Yakov," don't see that in the Frunze Military Academy, Victor and Yakov can be called brothers, but in front of Shtemenko, he can only ask solemnly: "I don't know these When will the weapons arrive? You know, we are fighting the Germans at the moment, if these equipment can arrive earlier, we can also use them on the battlefield earlier.”

Unexpectedly, Sokov poured cold water on Victor at this time: "Even if the weapons and equipment arrive at this moment, they cannot be distributed to the combat troops. Whether it is an assault rifle or a new type of rocket or a bazooka, the commanders and fighters are receiving this batch. After the equipment is equipped, there is still a familiarization process. If you just get the equipment, you want to use it in battle, which is very unrealistic. Because it will take a while for everyone to adapt to the new weapon and use it proficiently. If used on the battlefield, I am afraid that it will not even be as effective as the original old-fashioned weapons."

"According to the plan, this batch of weapons will arrive tomorrow...no,...it's already today, at noon today." When Yakov said this, he glanced at Sokov intentionally: "But your commander The clerk said that the weapons should be distributed earlier, and it is best to arm all the combat backbones who have used these weapons and equipment so that they can play a greater role in combat effectiveness. Therefore, after my coordination, there will be two The transport ship will arrive before dawn."

"I asked Kurishenko to send reliable people over to receive the weapons that arrived earlier, and to arm all the combat backbones in the division who had used these weapons, so that their combat effectiveness could be improved. "

After figuring out why Sokov asked them to come, the two couldn't help but be overjoyed. For them, there are some old Sokov subordinates in the regiment, who are the backbone of the army. It would be better to equip them Weapons, then in the battle, the combat effectiveness displayed will be greatly improved.

"Don't worry, Comrade Commander." Victor assured Sokov, "With these weapons, if the regiment's combat effectiveness cannot be improved, you will send me to a military court."

Naturally, Sokov would not send his subordinates to a court-martial. He just discussed with the other party who should distribute the urgently delivered weapons to whom.

At this time, a student staff officer shouted at Sokov: "Comrade Commander, your call is from the headquarters."

"Is it the Front Army Command?"

"No." The staff officer shook his head and said, "It was Chief Smirnov who called. He said he has something important to report to you."

Sokov knew very well that if it wasn't something very important, Smirnov would never call himself in the middle of the night, so he quickly took the phone and whispered in his ear, "Comrade Chief of Staff, I'm Sokov. What happened to you there?"

"I received a report from the scouts. They found two launch tracks in the Uman area, and there are many Germans active nearby. It seems that the enemy is going to launch their damn missiles at our target again. Smirnov asked cautiously: "Comrade commander, do you have any instructions for these scouts?"