Red Moscow

The convoy stopped at the entrance of the division headquarters. Sokov took Konstantin and two soldiers escorting the German spies to the sentry on guard and said to one of them: "Please go in and inform me that I am from the army headquarters." Captain Sokov is here to inspect as a representative of the headquarters."

The sentry looked at Sokov and said expressionlessly: "Comrade Captain, please show your ID."

Sokov took out his military ID and special pass and handed them over. He couldn't help but sigh in his heart. No wonder Vlasov urged him to apply for a military ID. Without this thing, it would be really difficult to do anything under the current circumstances.

After the sentry checked the ID, he did not immediately return it to Sokov. Instead, he said politely: "Comrade Captain, please wait a moment. I will go in and report." After that, he took Sokov's ID and ran away. Go in.

At this moment, in the division headquarters, the division commander was complaining to the chief of staff: "I thought that after the new commander took office, he would send more reinforcements to our division. Who knows, the reinforcements did not come, but some special commissioner was sent here. It's really disappointing. People have headaches.”

The chief of staff said with a sad face: "It would be okay if a military officer is sent, after all, he has some combat experience. What I am most afraid of is some kind of political worker. Apart from shouting slogans, he has no combat experience at all. He has to defeat the enemy. The attack cannot be achieved by shouting a few slogans.”

"Report!" The sentry walked up to the two men and reported: "A captain came outside and said he was a representative of the Army Group Headquarters. This is his ID!"

The chief of staff took the certificate and after reading the content clearly, his eyes widened in surprise, "What, a recruit who has just joined the army for less than a week actually became a captain?"

Upon hearing this, the division commander quickly asked for the certificate in the hands of the chief of staff. After checking it carefully, he frowned and said: "Being able to become a captain in such a short period of time shows that this person has a backing. He must have come from somewhere. Those who come here for gold plating probably don’t have any combat experience.”

"Unlucky, why did the headquarters send us such a special commissioner?" The chief of staff picked up the documents again and asked the sentry: "Where is he?"

"Right at the door."

"Take me there."

The chief of staff followed the sentry to the door and saw Sokov standing at the door. Because among the few people standing here, only Sokov wears the rank of captain. Although the chief of staff was dissatisfied with Sokov, he still put on a smile and said, "You are Captain Sokov, right?"

Sokov saw clearly that the person coming was a lieutenant colonel. He didn't know the identity of the other party, so he asked tentatively: "I am Sokov, may I ask you...?"

"I am the chief of staff of the division." The chief of staff handed the certificate in his hand back to Sokov, then held his hand and said with a smile: "Comrade Captain, you are welcome to come to inspect the work of our division. ”

After shaking hands, and just as he was about to call Sokov in, the division chief of staff saw the German spy being held by two soldiers and asked curiously: "Comrade Captain, what is this man doing?"

"It's a German spy we caught on the way here."

Knowing that this man in casual clothes and a peaked cap was actually a German spy, the chief of staff did not dare to neglect, and quickly asked the sentry to act as a guide for Constantine and the others, and brought the German spy to the intelligence department for interrogation.

Because of the spy incident, the chief of staff's attitude toward Sokov changed. He felt that the captain, who had only been a soldier for a few days, was not useless. At least others could recognize the disguise of the German spy and capture him alive: "Comrade Captain, Please come with me and I will take you to see the teacher.

Sokov followed the chief of staff into the headquarters and saw a tall colonel standing in front of the table looking at a map. The chief of staff quickly explained to Sokov: "Comrade Captain, this is the commander of our division."

The division commander turned around, looked at Sokov expressionlessly and asked, "Are you the captain sent by the Army Group Headquarters?"

"Yes, Comrade Colonel!" Sokov quickly stood at attention and raised his hand to salute: "I am Captain Sokov, the representative sent by the Army Headquarters."

The division commander stretched out his hand to Sokov, shook it symbolically, and then asked: "How many people did you bring with you this time?"

"There is only one guard platoon." Faced with the division commander's indifference, Sokov directly chose to ignore it and politely reported to the other party: "My task is to inspect the defense deployment of your division and report it to the headquarters truthfully. report."

"Comrade Captain, what I am most concerned about now is when will the superiors send us reinforcements." The division commander said solemnly: "In the past two days, the Germans have launched attacks again and again on our division's defense area. Although their We successfully crushed all the attacks, but the price we paid was huge.”

"Comrade Captain, the division commander is right." The chief of staff sighed and said: "After our defense line was breached by the Germans yesterday, I personally led a battalion to reinforce, blocked the gap, and annihilated the enemy. However, the commanders and fighters of this battalion basically Lighted up."

When he learned that a battalion of troops had been wiped out in the battle, the expression on Sokov's face did not change at all. The last time he traveled through time, he had heard that when a division was wiped out in a few hours, a mere one What does the camp mean?

Seeing Sokov's disapproval, the division commander became a little anxious: "Comrade Captain, we can see from your ID that you have joined the army for less than a week, so you should not understand many things on the battlefield..."

"Comrade division commander," Sokov interrupted the division commander's words and suppressed his anger and said, "Although I have not been in the army for a long time, I still know a little bit about war."

Seeing the division commander's unhappy face, the chief of staff seemed to be about to have an attack. He quickly grabbed him and said, "Comrade division commander, there is one more thing that I haven't had time to report to you. On the way here, Captain Sokov caught A German spy disguised as a civilian."

When the division commander heard this, a surprised expression appeared on his face: "What, a German spy was caught on the road? Where is the spy now?"

"It has been sent to the intelligence department. I believe it won't take long before we can get the information we want."

When the chief of staff was speaking, he accidentally saw the medal on Sokov's chest and asked in surprise: "Comrade Captain, haven't you just joined the army not long ago? How come you have a medal of Lenin?"

The division commander also looked curiously at Sokov's chest, and sure enough he saw the medal representing the highest honor. However, he did not repeat the chief of staff's question, but looked at Sokov quietly, wanting to hear his answer.

Sokov discovered in the past two days that since he received the Medal of Lenin, everyone has been very friendly towards him. Although the two division leaders of the 295th Division are resistant to him, if he tells them the reason for receiving this medal, their attitude towards him will definitely change. So, he told the two of them in detail about the results he had achieved in the nearby town.

When Sokov told the whole story, he was surprised to find several staff members gathered around him.

One of the staff officers said with emotion: "No wonder, the reconnaissance team reported to us a few days ago that a German armored unit was found nearby. But one day later, when they checked again, they found that the armored unit had disappeared. In order to find out the enemy's movements, they searched nearby for a while, but they were all captured by you, Captain." After that, he gave Sokov a thumbs up.

"Amazing, Comrade Captain, you are really amazing." The division commander raised his hand and patted both arms heavily: "I originally thought that you, a recruit who had just joined the army for a few days, were not qualified to obtain the rank of captain, but now it seems Come on, I was wrong."

After the chief of staff asked several staff members to leave, Sokov asked curiously: "Comrade chief of staff, I would like to ask, how many enemies broke through your defense line yesterday?"

After hearing Sokov's question, the chief of staff and division commander looked at each other with bitter expressions on their faces.

The next moment, the chief of staff stretched out two fingers and said awkwardly: "About two platoons of troops."

The muscles on Sokov's face twitched violently for a few times, and then he asked in an unbelievable tone: "The Germans wiped out one of our battalions with two platoons?"

"Yes, Comrade Captain." The chief of staff nodded and continued: "Although our commanders and fighters performed heroically on the battlefield, the enemy's firepower was so fierce that we suffered huge casualties."

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Sokov waited for the Chief of Staff to finish speaking and immediately asked straight to the point: "Can you send someone to be my guide and take me to the place where yesterday's battle took place?"

Regarding the request made by Sokov, the chief of staff did not dare to make any claims. Instead, he looked at the division commander, hoping to get his answer.

The division commander thought for a while, then nodded and said, "Chief of Staff, since Comrade Captain wants to see the place where the battle took place yesterday, you can take him there yourself."

The opening breached by the Germans yesterday was only two or three kilometers away from the division headquarters. A few people took a jeep and reached their destination in only ten minutes.

Seeing that this was another small town, Sokov immediately guessed the reason for the heavy losses of the Soviet troops.

Led by the chief of staff, they came to a street.

Although the fighting ended yesterday, the bodies on the streets did not have time to stop. Looking at the corpses on the ground, Sokov couldn't help but frowned, looked up at the Chief of Staff and asked: "Comrade Chief of Staff, you won't tell me that our soldiers are charging forward with firepower like this, right?"

"Yes." Unexpectedly, the chief of staff actually nodded and continued: "The enemy has set up two machine guns at the intersection in front. If we don't break through, we will not be able to block the hole opened by the enemy, so I organized five charges and finally succeeded in eliminating the machine gun fire at the intersection."

"When our soldiers attack, do they have fire cover?" Sokov asked tentatively: "For example, use mortar or machine gun fire to suppress the enemy's fire?"

"No, Comrade Captain." The chief of staff shook his head and said, "Our soldiers are not afraid of death. Even though they knew the enemy's firepower was fierce, they still bravely rushed forward to face the enemy's muzzle."

If Sokov was still the commander of the group army at this moment, he would have slapped him with two big ears when he heard his subordinates commanding the battle in this way. For a commander like this, he should be the first one to feel the feeling of being hit by a bullet.

"Comrade Chief of Staff, it is wrong for you to fight like this." Sokov said with a straight face: "To defeat the enemy, it is not enough to just not be afraid of death. You must let the soldiers understand what they should do after going to the battlefield. What, instead of just running with the troops, rushing with the people in front, and shooting at the enemy when you see them, the battle will be a mess, and your own people may even be accidentally injured!"

The chief of staff didn't expect Sokov to say that. He blushed and said unconvincedly: "Comrade Captain, how do you know that the soldiers were running around? Who told you that one of their own people would accidentally hurt one of their own people?"

Facts speak louder than words. Sokov didn't stand there and argue with the other party, but pulled him over the pile of corpses and walked forward.

After walking for a while, Sokov stopped, bent down and pointed at the backs of the two soldiers' bodies and said: "Chief of Staff, look, the wounds on their backs were accidentally injured by themselves."

After hearing what Sokov said, the chief of staff immediately squatted beside the corpses, carefully examined the corpses on their backs, and then murmured: "Strange, how could they be accidentally injured by their own people?"

"The reason is very simple." Sokov stood up and explained to the chief of staff: "In such a narrow street, it is the most stupid thing to use a group charge to attack the enemy's firepower point. An enemy bullet, after penetrating the first row of soldiers, may also hit the second row of soldiers. body. After the soldiers in the front rows were shot, they either fell to the ground or fell back on their comrades. In either case, it would affect the speed of the troops' charge.

As for our attacking officers and soldiers, the soldiers in the front row may have been shot and sacrificed before they had time to shoot. And the soldiers in the back row, even if they wanted to shoot at the enemy, they couldn't shoot at all because their sight was blocked by the comrades in front. The soldiers in the back row pulled the trigger because of nervousness, and they would accidentally hurt their own people. These soldiers should have been accidentally injured by their comrades in the back. "

The chief of staff did not stand up immediately, but squatted in place, trying to digest what Sokov said.

After a long time, he slowly stood up, stretched his aching legs, and then humbly asked: "Comrade Captain, if we encounter such street fighting again in the future, how should we attack to reduce the casualties of the troops?"

Sokov looked at the other party with some surprise, thinking that other commanders would usually say with confidence after hearing what he had just said: In order to defend our great motherland, no matter how great the sacrifice is, it is worth it. Only this divisional chief of staff is concerned about how to reduce the casualties of the troops.

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Sokov pointed to the road he came from and explained to the chief of staff: "When attacking, we should deploy several machine guns there to suppress the German troops at the crossroads ahead with firepower, so that they cannot concentrate all their energy to deal with our attacking officers and soldiers. In addition, this street is narrow, and too many officers and soldiers crowded here will only become targets for the Germans to shoot. Instead, they should be dispersed, close to the walls of the buildings on both sides of the road, looking for cover, and approaching the enemy's firepower points little by little, so as to reduce the casualties of the troops."