Red Moscow

"Is he not with you?" asked Rodimtsev.

"No." Sokov shook his head and said, "Colonel Ye Lin took his men to our underground arsenal to collect equipment, and he is not by my side at the moment."

"Since it's not by your side, forget it." Rodimtsev ordered on the phone: "Let his troops enter the defensive position as soon as possible, maybe they will have a bad battle to fight at dawn."

"Understood, Comrade General." Sokov said, "I will pass on your words to Colonel Yelin."

After Colonel Ye Lin asked his subordinates to move all the weapons and ammunition out of the tunnel, he came over to express his thanks to Sokov. After learning that Rodimtsev ordered his troops to enter the defense zone as soon as possible, he nodded slightly, and then politely asked Sokov: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, your troops have been in the city for a long time. Is there anything you can tell me?"

"I can't talk about advice, I can only talk about my own feelings." Seeing Ye Lin asking himself for advice so modestly, Sokov couldn't hide his secrets: "Because the German Air Force has firmly grasped the air superiority over the city. , so we are bombed by them every day. I found by observing the enemy planes that the accuracy of the German pilots' bombs is not high. Only when the front positions of the enemy and us have a wide enough distance, the enemy planes dare to carry out the attack on the front of our army Bombing. Therefore, I think that in order to reduce the threat of enemy aircraft to our defensive positions, it is necessary to maximize the distance between the enemy and our forward positions."

When Ye Lin asked Sokov, it was just a polite remark. Unexpectedly, Sokov told him an extremely valuable experience. He asked while recording: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, do you think there is a difference between us and the German forward positions?" How short is the best distance between them? 300 meters or 200 meters?"

"Comrade Colonel, whether it is 300 meters or 200 meters, the distance between you and the enemy's position is still too far." Sukov thought for a moment, and finally replied decisively: "It is best to shorten it to throwing grenades. distance."

"What, shorten the throwing distance of the grenade?" Ye Lin was terrified by Sukov's words, and he calculated silently in his heart. Usually, the throwing distance of soldiers is within 30-40 meters. If the German army charges with all its strength, it will be able to rush into its own trench in a maximum of ten seconds. He put down the pen and paper, and asked hesitantly: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, is this distance too short? The enemy can charge into our position with just one charge."

Regarding Ye Lin's worries, Sokov said with a smile: "Colonel, don't worry, the enemy can charge into your position with one charge. You can also charge into the enemy's position within ten or twenty seconds. "

Hearing what Sokov said, Ye Lin finally felt a little more at ease. He grinned and said, "That's true. Since the enemy can rush into our position, then we can also rush into the enemy's position."

Sokov knew very well that in the following days, no matter whether it was the battles in the city center or the factory area, there were very few so-called positional battles, and almost all of them were street battles. Therefore, he felt that it was necessary for him to give Ye Lin reminded: "Colonel, after the enemy enters the city, they will start street fighting with our army, so your tactics need to be adjusted."

"Adjust tactics?" Ye Lin raised his eyebrows and asked in surprise, "How to adjust?"

"I think that in the upcoming battles, the positional battles we are familiar with in the past will rarely appear, and more will be contests between small forces on both sides. The battle will revolve around a certain street or a certain building." So that Ye Lin could understand what he wanted to express, Sokov tried to use concise language to say: "We learn the tactics of using small troops to fight, especially the use of snipers in street fighting..."

Hearing this, Ye Lin finally understood what was going on. He nodded and said, "Understood, Lieutenant Colonel Sukov, you mean to tell me. In the ensuing battle, between us and the enemy The fighting between the two will be mainly street fighting. How about it, is my understanding correct?"

"Exactly, Comrade Colonel." Seeing that Ye Lin understood his intentions, Sokov couldn't help but think of Vasily and Pavlov again. , I don’t know how to speak.

Seeing that Sokov suddenly lost his mind, Ye Lin coughed heavily, and after Sokov focused on himself, he continued, "Comrade Sokov, do you seem to have something on your mind?"

After Sukov woke up from his contemplation, he grinned at Ye Lin, and then said: "Comrade Colonel, one of my soldiers said that his friend is also in your army. He was transferred to our brigade?"

"A new soldier or an old soldier?" Ye Lin asked, frowning.

From Ye Lin's expression, Sokov saw the displeasure of the other party, so he gave up his plan to recruit Pavlov together, and decided to just bring the god of sniper Vasily Zaitsev over. : "It's a new fighter."

Hearing that he was a new soldier, the expression on Ye Lin's face became relaxed again, and he asked, "Comrade Sukov, do you know his name and where he comes from?"

"Vassily Zaitsev." As soon as Ye Lin finished asking the question, Sokov blurted out the answer: "From Yaleninsk in the Ural Mountains, he used to be a hunter."

"Vassily Zaitsev." After repeating the name, Ye Lin nodded and said, "Don't worry, Comrade Sokov, as long as he is still alive, I will definitely send someone to send him to you as soon as possible." .”

Sokov suppressed the ecstasy in his heart, and tried his best to say to Ye Lin in a calm tone: "Comrade Colonel, on behalf of that soldier, I would like to express my gratitude to you! Ditch, where you should build your defenses."

After Ye Lin bid farewell to Sokov, he followed the guide and left the Mamayev Hill, heading towards the direction of the Krutoy Deep Ditch. On the way, he suddenly remembered what Sokov asked him to do, so he quickly asked Dragan: "Comrade Captain, is there a new soldier named Vasily Zaitsev in your company?"

Although there were nearly two hundred fighters in Dragan's company, one-third of which were new fighters, Dragan clearly remembered the names of every fighter. After hearing Ye Lin's question, he only thought for a moment, then shook his head and said negatively: "No, Comrade Commander. There is no such person."

"What, you don't have this person in your company?" Ye Lin heard that there was no Vasily in Dragan's company. The army even donated a large amount of weapons and ammunition, but he couldn't even handle such a small thing. "That's a real pity."

Dragan was very curious about why Ye Lin would suddenly ask about a new soldier, and quickly asked: "Comrade commander, why do you want to find a new soldier? Who is he, your relative or friend?"

"It's also the first time I've heard of this name." After Dragan's reminder, Ye Lin also felt strange, why would Sokov want a recruit under his command? Could it really be because he was entrusted by a soldier to find his fellow countrymen in his army, but that doesn't make sense. But after thinking about it, he is just a recruit, there is no more but no less, since Sukov wants it, as long as he can find someone, give it to him. "It's Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, commander of the 73rd Infantry Brigade, who said that one of his subordinates is a fellow villager with this recruit and wants to transfer him to the Infantry Brigade."

When it became clear that the recruit Vasily was looking for was Lieutenant Colonel Sokov who gave him the ammunition, Dragan felt that he had to do something for the opponent so that he could be worthy of the weapons and ammunition given by others. He quickly assured Ye Lin Said: "Comrade commander, there are many recruits in my company, maybe some of them know Vasily, I want to ask."

After getting permission from Ye Lin, Dragan walked quickly to a recruit who was carrying a box forward: "Comrade soldier, do you know Vasily Zaitsev?"

"do not know!"

"Know the recruit Vasily Zaitsev?"

"do not know!"

"..."

After asking more than a dozen recruits, one recruit finally asked hesitantly: "Comrade company commander, is the recruit you asked from Aleninsk?"

Ye Lin only told Dragan to look for Vasily, but did not say where the other party was from, so Dragan couldn't help being stunned when he heard the recruit's rhetorical question. He waited for Ye Lin to come over, and then tentatively asked: "Comrade commander, where does that recruit come from?"

Ye Lin frowned and thought for a while, then replied, "It seems to be Yaleninsk in the Ural Mountains."

"Great, this is really great." After confirming that Vasily mentioned in the recruit's mouth was the person Colonel Yelin was looking for, he said a little excitedly: "Comrade commander, I am famous The men know him."

The new soldier was called to Ye Lin, and when he saw the commander standing in front of him, he asked nervously: "Comrade commander, I don't know what you are looking for with Vasily? Has something happened to him?"

"It's a good thing." Seeing that the new soldier was so nervous, Ye Lin quickly comforted him and said, "There is a commander of a friendly army who wants to transfer Vasily to his army, so please ask me to look for it. Why, do you know his whereabouts? ?”

The new soldier did not immediately answer Ye Lin's question, but instead asked: "Comrade commander, can I ask, which commander is going to transfer Vasily to his unit?"

"It's the unit we just left." In order to dispel the other party's concerns, Ye Lin said truthfully, "I don't know where the brigade commander, Lieutenant Colonel Sukov, heard about Vasily, and he asked me for it just now. people."

Knowing that it was the commander of the troops standing on the Mamayev post, who planned to transfer Vasily to his own troops, the new soldier immediately felt relieved, and he quickly replied: "Vassily is now in the fifth company of the second battalion. "

After arriving at Krutoy Deep Ditch, Ye Lin saw that the chief of staff had set up a temporary headquarters, and after a few words of praise, he asked, "Have you connected the telephone lines with each company?"

The chief of staff thought that Ye Lin was planning to notify the company commanders to come and pick up the weapons, and said apologetically, "I'm sorry, Comrade Commander, because the time is too short, so far, our telephone lines can only communicate with the command posts of the battalions. "

"Chief of staff, immediately notify the battalion and company commanders to come to the headquarters to collect weapons." Ye Lin said to the chief of staff: "Let them hurry up, maybe we will go to war with the Germans at dawn."

Fortunately, the whole regiment was not scattered. Within a quarter of an hour after the call was made, three battalion commanders and a dozen company commanders each brought a group of people to the headquarters, ready to receive the weapons they needed.

Seeing that his command post was crowded with commanders at all levels, Ye Lin asked loudly, "Who is the fifth company commander?"

As soon as he finished speaking, one of the crowd raised his hand: "Comrade commander, I am the commander of the fifth company."

Ye Lin glanced at the other party and found that it was an elderly lieutenant, so he looked at him and asked, "Is there a new soldier named Vasily Zaitsev in your company?"

"That's right, Comrade Commander." Although the lieutenant didn't understand the reason for Ye Lin's question, he still replied truthfully: "The new soldier Vasily is indeed in my company."

"Send someone to call him to me immediately." Ye Lin told the other party, "I have something important to tell him."

Coincidentally, Sokov was among the soldiers waiting outside to collect ammunition, and when he heard his company commander say that the regiment commander wanted to see him, he came to the regiment command post with some trepidation. Fortunately, all battalion and company commanders brought their subordinates to collect weapons and ammunition at designated places, so there were not many people in the command post.

After the lieutenant brought Vasily into the command post, he reported to Ye Lin: "Comrade commander, someone has brought it."

"Thank you, Comrade Lieutenant. I don't have anything to do here, so go and do your work first." Ye Lin waited for the lieutenant to leave, and looked at Vasily carefully. He felt that the other party was an ordinary-looking young man. There is nothing special about it, and I really don't understand why Sokov specifically asked him for this person.

"Comrade Vasily," Ye Lin said, staring at Vasily, "I just came back from Mamayev Post. Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, the commander of the garrison there, asked me for you by name. You pack up immediately and rush to the Mamayev Post reported."

When Vasili heard Ye Lin say this, he said with some surprise: "Comrade Commander, I don't seem to know any Lieutenant Colonel Sokov. How could he call me by name. Can you tell me the reason?"

"I'm sorry, Comrade Vasily." Yelin shook his head and said, "I can't give you any answers, because I don't know why. If you want to find out all this, pack your bags immediately and rush to Mamayev Gang .”

"But, Comrade Commander." Vasily said with some embarrassment, "I don't have any luggage."

"If you don't have any luggage, then report to Mamayev Post immediately." Hearing that the other party had no luggage, Ye Lin urged, "Don't keep Lieutenant Colonel Sokov waiting."