Red Moscow

Before there was any news from the search force, Chuikov's urgent telegram came. The content of the telegram was simple, asking Sokov if he had found the tank brigade.

After calling Chuikov back, Sokov began to think in his heart that the troops of the 13th Guards Division were missing because the division headquarters was covered by collapsed buildings, and the troops lost a unified command, so they were defeated by the enemy. Had to disperse to other areas to continue fighting. But what happened to the 67th Tank Brigade commanded by Colonel Shidjayev? After breaking through the German defense, they lost contact with Rokossovsky. Could it be that they were all wiped out by the German army?

"Captain Goria," Sokov saw that the only person around him who could discuss the issue was Captain Goria, so he asked him in a low voice: "Do you think Colonel Shidjayev's tank brigade can go smoothly?" Join us?"

"It's not easy to say." Golia said hesitantly: "It is reasonable to say that they have broken through the German defenses for several hours. Such a short distance, with the advancing speed of the tanks, at best it only takes an hour. Arrived. But so far, we have not seen any tank troops appearing nearby, and I am worried that something happened to them.”

"Comrade Captain," Sokov waited for Goria to finish speaking, and immediately continued his words: "You are very reasonable. The tank brigade has not arrived at the designated location. According to my estimation, what accident may happen to them gone."

"Comrade Brigadier," Goria immediately asked after hearing what Sokov said, "Tell me, what kind of accident will they encounter?"

"There are two possibilities." Sokov replied: "One is that they are not familiar with the terrain here and have lost their way." Speaking of this, Sukov suddenly had an ominous premonition in his heart. Appeared, has the entire army been wiped out under the siege of the enemy?

Seeing that Sokov only spoke half of what he said, Golia hurriedly urged: "Comrade Brigadier, what is the other possibility?"

Sokov looked at Goria and said with a serious expression: "Another possibility is that after they broke through the German defenses, they soon fell into the enemy's siege, and after a fierce battle, their entire army was wiped out." gone."

"The whole army is destroyed?!" Goria repeated the word, with a surprised expression on his face: "Comrade brigade commander, is this impossible? You know, the tank brigade has 35 tanks and an infantry company. The enemy It may not be an easy task to eliminate them."

"Even if they lost their way after breaking through the German defenses, it should be possible to keep in touch with their superiors?" Sokov said with a wry smile: "But now a few hours have passed, not only have we not found their No trace, not even General Rokossovsky could get in touch with this force."

Although Goliath also agreed with Sokov's statement in his heart, he still said unwillingly: "I think maybe there is a problem with the radio in the car, that's why they lost contact with their superiors."

"Comrade Captain, the tank brigade has more than one radio station," Sokov mercilessly broke Goria's fantasy: "Even if there is a problem with Colonel Shidjayev's radio station, his chief of staff and political commissar The radio stations of the tanks can always get in touch with the superiors, right? However, shortly after they broke through the German defenses, they suddenly lost all information, as if they disappeared from this world all at once.”

"If, Comrade Brigade Commander, I mean if." Goria asked with a panicked expression: "If something really happened to the tank brigade, what should we do?"

"What else can we do? We can't just stay here and wait to die, right?" Sokov said blankly, "Since the troops we are going to respond to have been wiped out, it doesn't make any sense for us to stay any longer. The only thing we can do is , that is, to immediately return to Mamayev Post and hold the position there to prevent the Germans from taking the commanding heights of the city."

When Sokov talked about the back, because he was too excited, his voice was a little louder, and the soldiers sitting in front all turned their heads to look at him. Worried that it would cause unnecessary panic, Golia hurriedly said to the soldiers: "Comrade Brigadier and I are just analyzing various possible situations. You are not allowed to go outside and talk nonsense. If I hear any gossip, All of you will be punished. Do you understand?"

The soldiers sitting in the armored vehicle, after Goria finished speaking, replied in unison: "Understood."

Sokov stared at the map spread out in front of him. After looking at it for a while, he said to Goliath, "Comrade Captain, I think we should focus our search on the north."

"Why?" Goliath asked curiously.

"It's very simple," Sokov said, pointing at the map: "According to the information given to us by our superiors, after Colonel Shidjayev's tank brigade broke through the enemy's defense line, it chose to attack in the south. The direction they are in. If something happens to them on the road, it must be on the road leading to us."

"It makes sense, it makes sense." After listening to Sokov, Golia nodded vigorously, and then said: "Comrade Brigadier, let's immediately transfer the armored vehicles in the east and west directions to the north. Go and carefully search for the whereabouts of friendly troops."

"We will not use the search forces in the east and west directions for the time being." Sokov turned his head and glanced at the armored vehicle parked not far away, and continued: "Isn't there still an armored vehicle on standby? We Just order that armored vehicle to go north to search for the whereabouts of the tank brigade."

However, before the armored vehicle on standby went north, Sokov ordered the operator to contact the search forces in three directions to understand their search situation. After learning that there was no movement of the tank brigade on the east and west sides, the armored vehicles on standby were ordered to rush to the north to assist the search force in that direction.

Time passed by, but there was no reassuring news from the four search forces. Every time Sokov ordered the operator to send them a report, their answer was the same: no signs of the tank brigade.

Chuikov, who was impatient, sent two telegrams in the middle of the trip, asking Sokov about the whereabouts of the tank brigade, but all he got was a disappointing reply: "The search is in progress, and nothing has been found for the time being."

Seeing such a telegram, Chuikov couldn't help frowning, he looked at Krylov and asked: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I have an idea, although the Stalingrad Front informed us that Colonel Shidjayev's The 67th Tank Brigade has successfully broken through the German defenses and rushed towards the location of Orlovka. However, Sokov and his team have spent more than half a day searching in the Orlovka area. But there is no clue. I think maybe there is no case of a tank brigade breaking through the enemy's line at all."

"Comrade Commander," Krylov sang against Chuikov's conjecture: "This matter is of great importance. I think the comrades of the Stalingrad Front Army may not lie to us about such matters. Bar?"

"I don't think this possibility can be ruled out." Chuikov said with a straight face: "The base camp has been urging the Stalingrad Front to launch an attack from the enemy's rear in order to eliminate the enemy's threat to the city as soon as possible. I am worried that they will not be able to break through the enemy. In order to meet the blame of the headquarters, they fabricated the fact that a tank brigade had broken through the German lines."

After listening to Chuikov's analysis, Krylov said a little dumbfounded: "Comrade Commander, I think the possibility you mentioned does not exist at all. You know, if General Rokossovsky really Doing it will not do him any good, on the contrary, he may be sent to a military court."

"Then tell me," Chuikov asked with some dissatisfaction: "Where is Colonel Shidjayev's tank brigade now? Dozens of tanks and an infantry company, you can't just say there are no more."

"Comrade Commander, I think it may be that after the tank brigade broke through the enemy's defense, it lost its way because it was not familiar with the terrain." Krylov said optimistically: "Maybe in a while, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov will Wired you to say they've found the tank brigade."

"If so, that would be great."

While Chuikov and Krylov were discussing the whereabouts of the tank brigade, Sokov got a report from the search party from the north. The company commander leading the team directly reported to Sokov in plain language: "Comrade brigade commander, we have found the tank brigade."

"What, you found the tank brigade? That's great." After a long wait, Sokov heard the report from the company commander that he had found the tank brigade. how far?"

"We found the location of the tank brigade, about ten kilometers away from where you are." The company commander said in a heavy tone: "However, they have no hope of joining us again."

When he learned that the location of the tank brigade was only ten kilometers away from him, Sokov was still overjoyed, but he couldn't help frowning when he heard what the first company commander said behind him: "First company commander, what do you mean?"

After Sokov finished asking, there was silence in the earphones, and no one could be heard at all. He thought that there was something wrong with the radio station, so he quickly asked the operator: "Original operator, is there something wrong with the radio station, why can't I hear the company chief?"

"Comrade Brigadier," the radio operator looked up at Sokov and said with aggrieved expression, "There is nothing wrong with the radio station. The reason why you can't hear the sound should be because the other party didn't speak."

Hearing what the radio operator said, Sokov knew that he had wronged the other party. He smiled apologetically at the radio operator, and then raised his voice and asked into the microphone: "First company commander, what happened, why didn't you speak?" ?”

"Comrade Brigadier," the deep voice of the company commander came out of the earphones: "We have indeed found the 67th Tank Brigade, but all the tanks in this brigade have been destroyed. Around several burned tanks, there are According to my observation, these soldiers should be the infantry fighting with the tanks."

"First company commander, what did you say?" Sokov was stunned by the intelligence reported by the first company commander: "The tank brigade and infantry company of the friendly army have all been wiped out?"

"I think so, Comrade Brigadier Commander." The company commander replied with difficulty: "At present, I am sending people to search nearby, hoping to find survivors."

"I see, the first company commander." Sokov confirmed that what the company commander said was true, and specifically told him: "Even if no survivors can be found, we must try to find Colonel Shidjayev's body." .Understand?"

"Comrade Brigadier," the company commander said with some hesitation about the order issued by Sokov, "I can only do my best. You know, many of the burned tanks contained the remains of our tank crews. I don't know if the remains of Colonel Hidjayev, among them, were burned beyond recognition."

After handing back the headset and microphone to the radio operator, Sokov said to Goria with a serious expression: "Comrade Captain, according to the report of the first company commander, they have found the wreckage of the tank that was destroyed by the tank brigade. It seems to be a tank. Immediately after the brigade broke through the enemy's defenses, it was pursued and intercepted. After a tenacious battle, they were completely wiped out because they were outnumbered."

"Comrade Brigadier, what should we do now?" Knowing that the tank brigade to be responded to had been wiped out, Goria immediately became depressed, and he tentatively asked Sokov: "Stay here and wait for the search. Should the troops return, or should they be transferred immediately, and let the search forces go to the designated place to look for us."

"Those search teams are on their way back, we can't leave them alone." Sokov replied decisively: "So we have to stay here, and after the search teams come back, we can't go back to Mamayev Gang. Not too late."

As the tank brigade was wiped out by the enemy, Goria, who was originally full of confidence, became a little panicked: "Comrade Brigadier, if we continue to stay here, it is very likely that we will be heavily surrounded by the German army."

"Comrade Captain, you don't worry too much." Sokov raised his hand and patted the German uniform on his body, and said with a relaxed expression: "We are wearing German uniforms. Dress up and continue to treat us as one of their own."

"Even if we are wearing German uniforms, it is easy for the enemy to see through during the day." Golya suggested to Sokov: "We immediately order the search teams to return so that we can return to Mamayev Post as soon as possible."

Sokov raised his hand and looked at his watch, and then comforted Golia: "Don't worry, Comrade Captain. Our search team can return here in half an hour at most. When they all come back, we will not be too late to transfer." .”