Red Moscow

"Where did Rodimtsev and his two regiments go?" Not only Tanasolov was asking this question, but even Gurov, who had just rushed to the new headquarters from the other side of the Volga River, was also asking. asked, and since no one knew the answer, Gurov had to consider the worst-case scenario: "Comrade Commander, do you think they will all die overnight, or have they already surrendered to the Germans?"

"Anyway, the 13th Guards Division still has thousands of people. How could they all be killed overnight? This is impossible." After rejecting this speculation, Cuikov continued: "As for the A sneak attack is even more impossible, how could a unit that fought tenaciously with the Germans lay down their weapons and surrender to the enemy?"

"Comrade Commander, I'm only talking about the two worst possibilities. I don't believe that the 13th Guards Division will be killed overnight, or surrender." Gurov saw Chuikov's unhappy expression. , quickly explained to him: "As the defenders of the city, every defender is precious. Now suddenly a troop has disappeared. What we can do is to find out their whereabouts as soon as possible."

"Comrade Commander," Krylov waited for Gurov to finish speaking, and offered a suggestion: "Now the 92nd Infantry Brigade is stationed there, I think they can be responsible for investigating the whereabouts of the 13th Guards Division. It is impossible for a living person to say that he is gone, there are always some clues to be found."

After listening to Krylov's suggestion, Chuikov nodded and said, "Comrade Chief of Staff, what you said makes sense. Immediately send a report to Tanasolov and ask him to search for the 13th Guards Division in the defense area as soon as possible." Whereabouts, we must find out where this army has gone.”

When Krylov went to arrange for the radio operator to send the report, Gurov said to Chuikov: "Comrade Commander, after I went to the east bank this time, I met the Commander and the Military Commissioner and chatted with them."

Cuikov remembered that Gurov used to be the military commissar of the Southwest Front Army. If it hadn’t been for the failure of the Battle of Kharkov, he lost contact with the Supreme Command when he led the troops to break through. As his deputy, he served as a military commissar at the army level. Since he was able to sit down and chat with Yeremenko and Khrushchev, he must know a lot of inside information, so he hurriedly asked, "Comrade Military Commissar, what did they tell you?"

"Comrade Khrushchev said that General Rokossovsky's Stalingrad Front will attack the enemy from the north on September 20." Gurov said: "The purpose of this attack is to break the The enemy's siege of Stalingrad..."

"Comrade Military Commissar," Cui Kefu interrupted him without waiting for the other party to finish speaking, and said with some confusion: "These contents were mentioned in detail in the telegram sent to me by the Front Army Command. I would like to ask Ask, is there any other content, such as inside information?"

Hearing Chuikov's question, Gurov couldn't help but shook his head with a smile: "Comrade Commander, I know what you want to know, but those are just small talk between me, General Yeremenko and Comrade Khrushchev, It cannot be counted."

When Cui Kefu heard it, the other party seemed to have something to say, and hurriedly urged: "Comrade Military Commissioner, even if it's just a small talk between you, there must be something I'm interested in, so just come and listen to it."

"Okay, Comrade Commander." Seeing Chuikov's insistence, Gurov said openly, "I know that if you don't tell me something you are interested in, you will definitely pester me with questions. Ye Liao General Menko said that this time Rokossovsky's troops will adopt the tactics of armor penetration, quickly penetrate the German defense line, and rush to the Orlovka area to join us."

After hearing this, Chuikov just gave a faint "Oh" and said thoughtfully: "The terrain in the Orlovka area is indeed suitable for the deployment of armored troops. But if we can think of this, the enemy can also think of it." In this regard, I am worried that even if Rokossovsky's tank troops break through the enemy's defense line, it will be difficult to reach the destination and join us."

"Comrade Commander, you are so pessimistic." Seeing Chuikov's indifferent reaction, Gurov said with some displeasure: "I believe that General Rokossovsky and the Supreme Command have taken into account your concerns. , they should have countermeasures."

After assigning the task, Krylov came back and stood in front of Chuikov and asked: "If the superior orders us to send troops to join up with comrades from the Stalingrad Front Army, where should we transfer the troops?"

To join forces with Rokossovsky's troops, it is not enough to just send any troops to Orlovka. There are heavy German troops deployed there. If they are not defeated in advance, then joining forces is a joke. After being silent for a long time, Chuikov said, "Now we don't even have a reserve battalion in our hands. Before the new troops enter Stalingrad, we have no power to attack the enemy at all."

"There should be a lot of disbanded troops in the city," Gurov said tentatively, "Can we organize them and form a new army?"

"If these troops are used for defense, it's more or less okay. After all, we are fighting the enemy in the street, and the role played by the small unit is no worse than that of a large army." In response to Gurov's suggestion, Krelo Fu explained to him: "But at the same time, we should also see that these fighters come from different units. Even if they are put together temporarily, the cooperation with each other is very poor. If they are used for offense, it may be difficult to break through the German defense."

While Chuikov and the others were discussing how to join forces with friendly forces, Tanasorov received a telegram from the headquarters. After reading it, he said to Andreev: "Comrade Commissar, look at this telegram, it is The group army headquarters just sent it, isn't the order they issued is too difficult for someone to force!"

Andreyev took the telegram, quickly browsed through the content, and said to Tanasov: "Comrade Brigadier, anyway, a unit of several thousand people disappeared as soon as they said they were missing. Don't do it." Knowing the reason, I think the heads of the headquarters will be restless."

"But, how do we find it?" Tanasorov said in embarrassment: "Our brigade has been here for two days. If the 13th Guards Division was just broken up, if they saw us appear, they should take the initiative to contact us. It was only right that we got in touch, how could there be no news at all until now."

He looked around, although Vlasov and Klimov were not in the headquarters at the moment, but in order to prevent the partition wall from having ears, he still lowered his voice and said: "Comrade Commissar, tell me, the 13th Guards Division Will the army defect to the enemy?"

"Is this impossible?" Andreyev expressed doubts about Tanasorov's guess: "Not long ago, the commander of the second battalion sent us a telegram saying that a dozen guards from the 42nd Guards were found in the station. soldiers of the regiment. If Rodimtsev really ordered the troops to surrender, how could there be soldiers at the station occupied by the enemy?"

"Comrade Commissar, do you think this is a conspiracy?" But as soon as Andreyev finished speaking, Tanasolov said in shock: "The wounded are just a smoke released by the Germans. Let us fail to detect the fact that the 13th Guards Division has defected and surrendered."

"It's impossible." Andreyev said firmly: "You must know that although the Germans rushed into Stalingrad, they did not successfully occupy the city, but were forced to fight street battles with our army. If the 13th Guards Division had really surrendered, they would have made a big publicity attempt to demoralize our troops."

After hearing Andreyev's analysis, Tanasorov felt that it was somewhat reasonable, so he nodded and said, "Well, since you said that the troops of the 13th Guards Division are still in the city, Then I will immediately send people to look around."

…………

In the past two days, Mamayev Gang became the focus of the German army's offensive, and the Soviet and German sides fought fiercely here. Although Sokov's troops relied on the tunnel fortifications to fight tenaciously, they still paid a huge price.

The military doctor Pavlov came to Sokov for the first time and complained to him: "Comrade Brigadier, there are now more than a thousand wounded in the tunnel, including three or four hundred seriously injured. As you know, the wounded in the tunnel The air is turbid, which is not conducive to the recovery of the wounded, and if the seriously wounded are not sent to the opposite bank as soon as possible, they will die of wound infection."

Upon hearing the word wound infection, Sokov immediately thought that the U.S. military probably did not provide the anti-inflammatory drug penicillin to the Soviet army. The anti-inflammatory drugs used for the wounded today should all be sulfonamides with large side effects and ineffective effects. If the seriously wounded were really kept in the tunnel, the death rate would be very high.

Thinking of this, Sokov picked up the phone on the table, called Chuikov, and said straight to the point: "Comrade Commander, there are three or four hundred seriously injured in our battalion, and they need to be evacuated to the east bank for treatment immediately. You can arrange a ship for us."

"Arrange a ship?!" After hearing Sokov's request, Chuikov immediately became angry, "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, do you think I can get a ship? You know, all the ships are used for evacuation Citizens go out of the city, or transport weapons and ammunition and other supplies. Not to mention you, even if it is me, it is not easy to use a boat."

"But, Comrade Commander, they really need treatment." Seeing that Chuikov was unwilling to help, Sokov couldn't help feeling a little anxious, "They were injured to protect Mamayev Kurgan and Stalingrad. I can't just watch them die in the tunnel."

"Comrade Commander," Gurov, who was sitting next to Chuikov, heard Sokov's angry voice, and whispered to Chuikov, "I think the 73rd Rifle Brigade can be responsible for finding the 13th Guards Division." After all, their station is not far from the 13th Guards Division, so it is most appropriate for them to investigate the truth."

Chuikov gave Gurov a thumbs up, praising his suggestion as good. But if you want Sokov to do his best for him, you must promise them some benefits, so he said into the microphone: "Okay, in Sokov, you won, I have sent the Minister of Logistics and Volga River Neihe Discuss with the commanders of the fleet and ask them to take your wounded with them when they return to the east coast."

"Great, Comrade Commander, this is really great." Sokov heard that Zhukov agreed with his point of view, quickly covered the microphone, and said to the military doctor Pavlov: "Comrade military doctor, the superior has agreed to give us Arrange ships to send the wounded to the other side for treatment. You go back to the medical team first, if there is anything, I will send someone to notify you immediately."

After Pavlov left, Sokov let go of his hand covering the microphone, and thanked Chuikov: "Comrade Commander, on behalf of all the seriously wounded, I would like to express my gratitude to you." Although under the current medical conditions, even if If they were sent to the field hospital on the east bank, many soldiers would still die, but it was better than staying in the tunnel and all died.

"Lieutenant Colonel Sokov," Cuikov took the opportunity to say, "Don't hang up the phone yet, I still have something to tell you."

Hearing what Cuikov said, Sokov couldn't help but thump in his heart. He said, I knew that Cuikov agreed so readily, and there must be some kind of intention. It seems that I guessed it right. Maybe there was a flaw somewhere in the defense line. Let yourself, the fire captain, lead people to turn the tide. Although he was full of slander in his heart, he still said insincerely: "Comrade Commander, if you have any instructions, please feel free to speak up. I will definitely try my best to complete the tasks you entrusted to me."

Hearing that there was a trace of trill in Sokov's voice, Cuikov couldn't help but feel secretly amused. He understood what Sokov was thinking, so he gave him a reassurance first: "Don't worry, Sokov Colonel, although the current situation is very unfavorable to our army, I will not ask you to take the troops somewhere to block the Germans, but have other tasks."

What Chuikov said made Sokov feel more at ease. His subordinates suffered a lot of casualties in the past two days. would like to see.

"That's right, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov." Without waiting for Sokov to speak, Chuikov continued: "Rodimtsev's troops have lost contact with the headquarters. It has been two days. The task I gave you, It is to send people to search for the places where they used to be stationed, to find out where they are, understand?"

Rodimtsev's troops disappeared? This news was like a bolt from the blue, which made Sokov a little dumbfounded. Thousands of troops would disappear if they said nothing, which is too outrageous! He hurriedly asked: "Comrade Commander, is the 13th Guards Division really missing?" After receiving an affirmative answer, he added, "Do you have any clues?"