Red Moscow

Confirming from Malinin that the air force will provide more air support, Sokov's heart suddenly became more at ease. After finishing the call with Malinin, he immediately connected to his brigade headquarters, and said to Belkin who answered the phone: "Comrade Comrade, call Captain Vanya back immediately and order them to attack the enemy immediately."

Belkin was taken aback when he heard Sokov say this, and quickly reminded him: "Comrade Brigadier, isn't your decision too hasty? You must know that reinforcements from the German army are constantly arriving. We Our troops and equipment are at a disadvantage, and once we take action, not only will it be difficult to achieve any results, but on the contrary, it will put a battalion of commanders and fighters in danger."

"Comrade Commissar," Seeing that Belkin questioned his order, Sokov said with some displeasure: "It is precisely because our army is at a disadvantage in terms of strength and equipment that we have to launch an attack immediately. The German reinforcements We have just arrived in an unfamiliar area and have not had time to familiarize ourselves with the environment. If we are suddenly attacked by our army, we will definitely fall into chaos. Only by doing this can we grasp the initiative on the battlefield. Do you understand, my comrade political commissar?"

"Okay, Comrade Brigadier Commander, since you are so persistent, I will immediately call back the first battalion and ask them to take offensive action immediately." Belkin said helplessly on the phone: "I hope they can catch the enemy by surprise."

Rotmistrov, who was sitting at the table, waited for Sokov to finish his call, offered him a cigarette, and asked, "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, why is your brigade going to attack the enemy?" Have you launched an attack?"

"Yes, Comrade General." Sokov took Rotmistrov's cigarette, but did not light it, but played with it in his hand: "In order to block the German attack from the south of the city, I drew They dispatched a unit to carry out a sneak attack. Unexpectedly, before they reached the designated location, they discovered the German convoy transporting reinforcements."

After listening to Sukov's narration, Rotmistrov said thoughtfully: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, although I have no right to tell you what to do, I still feel that you let the 1st Battalion go into battle at this time. , a bit too hasty. In any case, you are at a disadvantage in terms of strength and equipment. Even if the German army is caught off guard in the early stage, they will soon recover and organize a counterattack against you. It’s hard to say what happened.”

Seeing that Rotmistrov, like Belkin, both opposed the decision he had made, Sokov did not argue with the other party, but smiled faintly: "Once the enemy's reinforcements have gained a firm foothold, we will continue to fight again." Carrying out an attack will require our commanders and fighters to pay great sacrifices. Comrade General, I still have something to do, and I need to rush back to the brigade headquarters immediately, so I won’t bother you." After finishing speaking, Sokov raised his hand and saluted the other party Li, changed hands and walked out of the office.

Looking at the back of Sokov leaving, Rotmistrov shook his head with a wry smile, and said in a low voice: "I hope the decision you made is correct, otherwise this army that carried out the sneak attack will not be able to escape the whole situation." The danger of annihilation of the army."

Sokov, who was walking towards the outside of the building, naturally couldn't guess what Rotmistrov was thinking. He was eager to return to his headquarters, readjust the plan, and send troops to reinforce the first battalion. The situation in the camp was dire.

As soon as he returned to the headquarters, Sokov couldn't wait to ask Belkin: "Comrade Commissar, has the telegram to the First Battalion been sent?"

Belkin nodded and replied in the affirmative: "Yes, Comrade Brigadier Commander, the telegram has been sent."

After receiving Belkin's affirmative answer, Sokov walked to the table, picked up the phone, and connected to the Second Battalion. Hearing Vasily's feeble voice, he raised his voice and said: "Captain Vasily, are you still asleep?"

Sokov's voice was like a thunderbolt, exploding in Vasily's ears, scaring his drowsiness into nothingness. He hurriedly asked: "Comrade Brigadier, what instructions do you have?"

"Second Battalion Commander, let me ask you, is there any equipment for crossing the river in the warehouse?"

"Yes." Although Vasily didn't know what Sokov was asking, he replied truthfully, "There are about forty rubber boats and more than twenty wooden boats."

"Very good," Sokov continued after learning that there were river-crossing equipment in the warehouse, "Immediately arrange manpower to transport all these river-crossing equipment to the second company's position. Do you understand?"

"Understood, Comrade Brigadier." Vasily said quickly: "I will immediately arrange for the soldiers of the third company to meet the second company's position with the crossing equipment." He paused for a moment, then asked tentatively, "Comrade Brigadier, can I May I ask, what do you need so many river crossing equipment for?"

"Comrade Captain," Sokov replied, "haven't you studied the secrecy regulations? You don't know what you shouldn't ask, so you can't ask casually?"

Vasily was frightened by Sokov's tone of voice, and said in a panic: "Comrade Brigadier, I just asked casually. Since you urgently need these river-crossing equipment, I will send them all to you in the shortest possible time." Go to the second company's position."

Belkin waited for Sokov to put down the phone, and asked tentatively: "Comrade Brigadier, you asked Captain Vasily to send all the river-crossing equipment to the second company's position. Could it be that you plan to send people across the river to reinforce the first battalion?"

"That's right, that's how I thought about it." Seeing that Belkin guessed his intentions, Sokov nodded and continued: "After the first battalion exchanges fire with the enemy, the enemy's attention will definitely be diverted from Teneb. Pull the river out of the way, so I can send a force across to reinforce a battalion."

"Which battalion do you intend to send on this honorable mission?" Belkin asked curtly.

Sokov had already thought about it on the way back. Briski's fourth battalion had just taken over the defense area of ​​the first battalion, and a rash transfer would cause confusion; while the second battalion is currently responsible for the defense of the warehouse and the south of the city, so it cannot be easily used. . The only thing that can be used is Andre's third battalion. "I intend to let Andre's third battalion complete this arduous task."

Andrei, who was sleeping soundly, was awakened by the ringing of the phone, and learned that Sokov had an important combat mission to entrust to him, so he hurriedly got up, got dressed, and hurried over.

Seeing his arrival, Sokov immediately called him to the wall, pointed to a map on it and said to him: "Comrade Captain, I have an important task for you now. A few hours ago, Wan The 1st Battalion of Lieutenant Niah crossed the upper reaches of the Tenebra River, and quietly approached the German garrison in the south of the city. Due to the sudden appearance of a large number of German reinforcements, the 1st Battalion has become a lone army, so I plan to send people to reinforce them."

Andrei said with a solemn expression: "Comrade Brigadier, please issue an order! I promise to rescue the first battalion from the enemy's encirclement."

"Comrade Captain, you misunderstood. The 1st Battalion was not encircled by the enemy." Seeing that Andrei did not understand his intentions, Sokov told him again: "According to the prior battle plan, they will be at dawn, Launched an attack on the enemy's camp. However, before they reached their destination, I found that German reinforcements had arrived. I had temporarily changed the battle plan and asked them to launch an attack immediately. Although they can use surprise at the beginning of the battle The attack will cause confusion to the enemy, but because they are at a disadvantage in terms of strength and equipment, they will soon fall into a disadvantageous situation. And the task of your battalion is to take advantage of the enemy's attention to be attracted by the first battalion, from The 2nd Battalion and 2nd Company attacked from the positions and forcibly crossed the Tnebra River to support the 1st Battalion in combat."

From Sokov's narration, Andre realized that this mission was a narrow escape, and he couldn't help showing a embarrassed expression on his face. Seeing his reaction, Sokov couldn't help showing a displeased expression on his face. He curled his lips and said, "Captain Andre, I know this mission is dangerous, but it is not impossible for you to escape. Our air force will rush to the battlefield at dawn to provide you with the necessary air support. With the support of the air force, let alone escape from danger, even a counterattack against the German army may be successful."

Perhaps it was the air support that Sokov said that moved Andrei. This time he waited for Sokov to finish speaking, and immediately nodded vigorously, and then asked back: "Comrade Brigadier, when are we going to leave?"

Sokov raised his hand and looked at his watch, and replied: "I have ordered Captain Vasily to transport the river-crossing equipment to the second company's position as soon as possible, you go back immediately, gather the troops, and try to start crossing the special river in an hour. Nebra River."

At the same time that Sokov arranged for the third battalion to reinforce the first battalion, Captain Vanya, the commander of the first battalion, was in the forest not far from the German camp, assigning tasks to the three company commanders under him: "Comrade company commanders, the brigade The commander sent us a telegram, ordering us to launch a surprise attack on the German army when they were not able to gain a firm foothold, so as to catch them by surprise."

As soon as he finished speaking, the first company commander said in embarrassment: "Comrade battalion commander, look, there is no moon in the sky, the visibility is low, and people can't be seen clearly from a dozen steps away. If we launch an attack under such circumstances, how can we attack?" command troops?"

"That's right, Comrade Battalion Commander." As soon as the First Company Commander finished speaking, the Second Company Commander added, "Let's not talk about commanding the troops. If there is a melee, you can't even tell the enemy from yourself."

After the two company commanders finished expressing their opinions, Vanya didn't speak, but looked at the third company commander and asked, "Third company commander, if you have any thoughts, you can also say it."

"Comrade battalion commander, do you think we let the soldiers tie a white towel around their arms?" Seeing that the battalion commander was asking himself, the third company commander quickly replied, "This way, it can also play a role in identification in melee battles. "

"No, you can't use a white towel." Regarding the proposal of the third company commander, Vanya said without hesitation: "Not to mention whether the towel tied to the arm will fall off for various reasons during the battle. Even if it doesn't fall off, When you see a group of dark people rushing towards you, the instinctive reaction is to pull the trigger, and there is no time to identify whether the other party has a towel tied to their arm..."

Seeing that his proposal was rejected by Vanya, the third company commander asked a little depressed: "Comrade Battalion Commander, tell me, how should we command and identify the enemy and ourselves in the next offensive?"

"At this time, we can only take risks." Vanya said to the three company commanders, "We will divide into three groups and attack in three directions at the same time. Remember, after you return to your respective companies, We must tell the soldiers that they can only charge forward and must not turn back, so that those who appear in front of us are our enemies, and let the soldiers just shoot at each other."

"This is a good idea." As soon as Vanya's plan was put forward, it was immediately approved by the three company commanders. The first company commander said: "The three companies attacked in different directions at the same time. In this way, our soldiers You only need to shoot at the figure that appears in front, and you can avoid accidental injury to the greatest extent. Good way, this is really a good way.”

"Comrade battalion commander, I have another question." Just as Vanya was about to order everyone to return to the company to prepare, the commander of the third company suddenly asked another question: "I think everyone knows very well that our strength and equipment They are all at a disadvantage. Taking advantage of the darkness and attacking the enemy by surprise, we can catch the enemy by surprise in the shortest possible time and throw them into chaos. But if the battle continues until dawn and the enemy finds out our details, what should we do? what to do?"

The worries of the third company commander resonated with the two company commanders: "Yes, Comrade Battalion Commander. Now there are only two hours left before dawn. If we can't solve the enemy within two hours, the situation will be worse after dawn." turned against us."

"Don't worry about this." Out of trust in Sokov, Vanya felt that his brigade commander must have considered all the issues that should be considered, so he vowed to his three subordinates: "I Considering the character of the brigade commander, he will never let us suffer. When the day dawns, he will not only ask his superiors to provide us with air support, but may also have friendly artillery fire to cooperate with us to encircle and wipe out the enemy in front of us."

I heard that after dawn, there will be air force and artillery to assist in the battle, and the concerns of the three company commanders disappeared. They stood up at the same time, looked at Vanya in front of them and said, "Comrade Battalion Commander, allow us to go back to the army to assign tasks?"

"Of course you're allowed to leave." Due to the dim light, Vanya still couldn't see the faces of the three company commanders clearly, even though he was close at hand, but he still nodded in the direction of the sound, and said with a smile: "You guys hurry up!" Go back and assign tasks to the soldiers, our attack will start in 20 minutes, let the soldiers prepare for all battles."

After the three company commanders raised their hands to salute Vanya's position, they turned around and walked towards the direction of the company's assembly based on their own memory.