Red Moscow

Regarding the order issued by Sokov, Briski replied: "Comrade Brigadier, don't worry, although our heads have become a sea of ​​​​fire, we are still very safe in the tunnel..."

Sokov is obviously not as optimistic as Briski. What he thinks in his heart is that the burning of the oil tank in Beigang will definitely produce a lot of poisonous gas. If these gases are poured into the tunnel, thousands of commanders and fighters inside will be killed. He died of suffocation, so he decisively ordered Briski: "Comrade Captain, immediately arrange for manpower to block the hole on the Dongpo side, so that the poisonous gas produced by the burning of oil will never enter your tunnel. Understand ?"

"Understood, Comrade Brigadier." Briski immediately realized the seriousness of the problem when he heard Sokov's order, and quickly replied: "I will personally lead people to block all the east openings."

Seeing Sokov put down the phone, Sidolin reported to him with surprise: "Comrade Brigadier, our machine gunners shot down six enemy planes and injured two more..."

"Oh, they fought so well?!" Sokov agreed to send machine gunners out for air-to-air shooting. It was just a medical emergency, but he did not expect to achieve such a result. However, he thought that in the contest between machine guns and planes, they had always been at a disadvantage. If they shot down so many German planes, those machine gunners might have lost their chances. Thinking of this, he asked with a heavy heart: "How about the machine gunner's casualties?"

Unexpectedly, when Sidolin heard this question, he shook his head and said proudly: "Comrade Brigadier, you must have never imagined that our machine gunners achieved such results without any casualties!"

"What, no casualties?" Sukov heard Sidolin say this, and felt that the other party was insulting his IQ, so he couldn't help raising his voice: "Shot down and injured eight German planes, but our army did not Any casualties, how is this possible? Comrade Chief of Staff, don't make up such unreliable information just to make me happy."

"Comrade Brigadier, how can you doubt me like this?" The smile on Sidolin's face gradually disappeared, and he said to Sukov with a straight face: "You can tell if there are any casualties in the army. Say I lied to you?"

Seeing that Sidolin was angry, Sokov realized that what he just said might have gone too far, and quickly apologized to him, saying: "Sorry, Comrade Chief of Staff, what I just said may not be appropriate, please forgive me! I really can't figure out how our machine gunners can maintain zero casualties under the indiscriminate bombing of German bombers?"

"Comrade Brigadier, let me explain it to you." Belkin saw that the relationship between Sokov and Sidolin was full of gunpowder, and hurried out to smooth things over: "The German bomber fleet came from the west, and our The air defense positions established by the machine gunners are set up on the east slope. The enemy planes cannot find them before they fly over the hills. Even if they are found, the bombs dropped by the enemy planes will fall at the foot of the mountain under the action of inertia Explosions without hitting our air defense positions..."

Hearing Belkin's explanation, Sokov understood: "Comrade Commissar, I understand what you mean. If the enemy plane wants to destroy our position on the east slope, it must turn around in the air after flying over the hills. It is possible to hit our anti-aircraft positions by dropping bombs, and our anti-aircraft positions can shoot them down when they fly over the hills, or when they are air-conditioned on the Volga. Am I understanding correctly?"

"That's right, that's how it is." When Belkin said this, he also deliberately glanced at Sidorin, who looked unhappy: "Now you understand why our troops were able to shoot down so many German planes. , can you still maintain a record of zero casualties?"

After the misunderstanding was cleared up, Sokov felt that such a battle result should be reported to the Army Command. He quickly called a communications staff officer and ordered, "Get me to the Army Command. I will report this good news to the commander."

Unexpectedly, after a while, the communications staff reported to Sokov with a bitter face: "I'm sorry, Comrade Brigadier Commander, there seems to be a problem with the telephone line, and we cannot get in touch with the army headquarters."

"Since there is a problem with the telephone line, what are you still doing here?" Sidolin suddenly became angry when he heard the staff say this, and he yelled at the other party: "Hurry up and take someone to check the line... "

Seeing that the communications staff officer promised, he was about to go outside, but Sokov stopped him when he saw him. Then he said to Sidolin: "Comrade Chief of Staff, you can guess from the sound of explosions outside that the German army dispatched a large number of planes to bomb the city. The communication lines in the city must have been seriously damaged. Check the line, or you won't be able to get in touch with the headquarters."

"The wired phone is not working, and we still have a radio station. We can communicate with the headquarters through the radio station." Sidolin said, walked to a radio station, and told the radio operator: "Comrade radio operator, immediately send a report to the group army headquarters , Report our situation here to them."

But a few minutes later, the radio operator shook his head and replied: "I'm sorry, Comrade Chief of Staff, but I can't get in touch with the radio station of Army Group Headquarters."

The operator's words made the expressions on the faces of Belgin and Sidolin turn livid. Belgin walked to Sokov's side and asked in a low voice: "Comrade Brigadier, do you think there will be any accidents at the Army Group Command?"

Although Sokov knew that Chuikov hadn't had any accidents during this brutal defense battle, and that he survived the war and became the Marshal of the Soviet Union, but at this moment he didn't know how to answer Belkin's question. You must know that in real history, Chuikov's headquarters was located on Mamayev Hill, and because of his appearance, he moved his headquarters to the tunnel called "Tsaritsyn Cave" in advance , Whether they can survive this big bombing is really unknown.

Sidolin saw that Sokov was silent and he could not get in touch with the army headquarters, so the expression on his face became serious. He quickly walked up to Sokov and said, "Comrade Brigadier, please allow me to take a few soldiers to the city to check the situation, so that we can restore contact with the headquarters as soon as possible."

"Comrade Chief of Staff, I cannot agree to your request." As for Sidolin's request, Sokov did not hesitate to veto it: "The enemy planes are bombing indiscriminately outside, I have no right to let you take your own life Go take risks. As for the situation at the Army Group Headquarters, I will send someone to check after the enemy's bombing is over."

In order to prevent Sidolin from making a request to himself again, Sokov turned around and walked out of the headquarters, walking along the corridor towards the east exit. The soldier guarding the exit saw Sokov coming alone, first raised his hand to salute him, and then blocked his way.

Sokov glanced at the soldier and asked displeasedly, "Why, you're new here, don't you know me?"

"Comrade Brigadier, of course I know you." The soldier replied respectfully: "I have joined your army since Kursk."

Seeing that the soldier knew him but wanted to block his way, Sokov asked in puzzlement, "Since you know me, why do you still block my way?"

The soldier replied: "Comrade Brigadier, the outside is being bombed by the German army, I can't let you go out and take risks."

As soon as he finished speaking, a bomb exploded more than ten meters away from the entrance of the cave, causing the soil on the roof of the cave to fall down. Sokov raised his hand and patted the dirt on his shoulder, and said loudly to the soldiers: "Don't worry, I'll just look at the cave entrance, there won't be any danger."

Hearing what Sokov said, the soldier turned his body aside to get out of the way, but he still said uneasy: "Comrade Brigadier, you can't go too far, otherwise, if something happens, I'll kill you." Can’t take that responsibility.”

Sokov came outside the cave and saw three air defense positions not far away. The machine gunners were concentrating on shooting the enemy planes flying in the air. They came to bomb Mamayev Kurgan.

Sokov found a safe place and looked towards the northern hill a few hundred meters away, only to see that most of the hill had turned into a sea of ​​flames. The oil flowing out of the oil tank immediately ignites when it encounters an open flame. The burning oil flowed down the hillside into the Volga River, covering the entire river with raging flames. Except for a few boats sailing to the opposite bank with flames, the rest of the ships parked on the pier were burning blazingly. The flames and smoke of the fire were mixed with the explosion of ammunition from time to time. Seeing this scene, Sokov couldn't help worrying about the soldiers and civilians hiding near the pier. He didn't know how many people would be burned to death by flames, smoked to death, or killed by explosives. .

He turned around and raised his binoculars and looked towards the direction of the city center. He saw that the streets and buildings were on fire. From time to time, the buildings collapsed in the light of the fire, and the streets were crowded with refugees. Residents, dragging their families along, ran aimlessly along the streets until they were knocked down by thick smoke or killed by bombs falling from the sky, before they stopped running.

Seeing thousands of families shrouded in the shadow of disaster and death, Sokov couldn't help feeling as if a knife was piercing his heart, and his nose felt sore. After wiping his face with his hands, he turned and walked into the tunnel. The soldiers guarding the door saw Sokov returning to the tunnel, and the stone hanging in his heart finally fell to the ground.

When Sokov returned to the headquarters, Belkin immediately greeted him and asked anxiously, "Comrade Brigadier, where have you been? We have been looking for you everywhere, and we thought something happened to you."

Sokov returned to his seat and sat down, looked up at Belgin and Sidolin and said, "I just went outside to have a look."

"What, you went outside?" Belkin couldn't help but turn pale when he heard Sokov say this: "The bombing outside is still going on, how can you run out to take risks?"

Sokov did not answer Belkin's question, but said to himself: "Not only Mamayev Gang, but the entire urban area has become a sea of ​​flames. I guess the communication lines of the headquarters must be bombed. It has been completely destroyed, and our communication with the outside world has been cut off."

Sidolin and Chuikov had a good personal relationship. Knowing that the situation in the city was also very bad, and thinking about the interruption of communication, he couldn't help asking worriedly: "Comrade Brigadier, do you think the commander and the others will be in danger?"

"No." Sokov shook his head and said, "The headquarters of the Army Group is in the tunnel. As long as they are not directly hit by the ground-penetrating bombs used by the Germans, they will not be in any danger."

While the three were discussing, a radio operator suddenly said loudly: "Brigade Commander, Comrade Chief of Staff, I have received a telegram from the Front Army Command."

A telegram from Front Command? ! Everyone was taken aback when they heard what the operator said. Fortunately, Sokov recovered quickly, and he quickly ordered the operator: "Translate the telegram immediately."

The operator agreed, and within a minute, he translated the telegram and placed it in front of Sokov. After reading the telegram, Sokov looked up at Belgin and Sidolin and said, "This is a telegram from General Yeremenko, the commander of the Front Army. There was a sea of ​​fire, and there was no way to get in touch with Commander Chuikov's headquarters, so they suspected that the city had fallen..."

Before Sukov finished speaking, Sidolin hurriedly said: "Why did the Front Army Command make such an arbitrary judgment? We were only bombed by the Germans here, but the enemy did not break into the city. Even if they did Once we enter the city, we will definitely not hand over the city to them easily, and we will fight bravely to the last person."

"Comrade Chief of Staff, wait a moment, please wait a moment." Sukov quickly interrupted the impassioned Sidolin, and said to him: "I haven't finished reading the telegram, because I lost contact with the Army Group Command, not only the Front Army The command came to such a conclusion, and even the headquarters of the Supreme Command came to the same conclusion, that the city has fallen."

"Then what should we do?" Hearing that the base camp also judged that the city had fallen, Sidolin's mood became depressed, and he asked Sokov weakly: "Comrade brigade commander, how should we reply to the front army headquarters? We know, but we don't know what the situation of the Army Group Command and other troops is like now."

Holding the telegram in his hand, Sokov walked back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back, thinking about how to reply to the telegram from the Front Army Command. After walking back and forth a dozen times, he stopped. After resting his eyes on Belkin and Sidolin for a while, he walked up to the radio operator and said decisively: "Comrade radio operator, to the front army. The headquarters called back, saying that Stalingrad has not fallen, we are still fighting, and we will never hand over the city to the enemy lightly."