Red Moscow

After Sokov assigned the task, he did not return to the ward immediately, but stayed in the headquarters. He felt that since Witkov was his deputy now, it was necessary to have a good chat with him to clear up his knots so that they could cooperate better in the future.

"Colonel Witkov, please sit down." Sokov greeted Witkov to sit down, and said with a smile on his face: "I think we should have a good chat."

"Comrade Brigadier," Vitkov did not call Sokov by his name and rank as before, but coldly called his position and said, "If you want to say something, please say it."

Sokov waited for Witkov to sit down before he said: "Colonel, I know you must have emotions in your heart after being demoted." At this point, he deliberately paused for a moment to observe the other party's reaction. After Kov snorted heavily, he continued, "Although I have been recuperating for half a month, I still know a little about the situation in the brigade. Under your command, the defenders of Mamayev Post, At least thousands of German soldiers were wiped out, and at least fifty tanks, assault guns, and armored vehicles were destroyed. Generally speaking, such a record is quite astonishing."

Hearing Sokov's affirmation of his achievements during this period, the expression on Vitkov's face softened a lot, but when he thought of being inexplicably demoted to deputy brigade commander, his dissatisfaction emerged again: " Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, since you think I am commanding well, why do you want to resume your post so urgently?"

This kind of attitude of Witkov was already expected by Sokov. He waited for the other party to finish speaking, and then said unhurriedly: "Comrade Colonel, before you took over the post of brigade commander, we successively recruited Some of the disbanded troops in the city had a total of more than 4,600 people in the whole brigade. But after only half a month, the total strength of the brigade dropped sharply to more than 1,500 people..."

"Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, I think such casualties are completely acceptable." Hearing this, Witkov immediately interrupted Sokov's words: "When some infantry divisions entered the city, seven or eight Thousands of people, but often after a week of fighting, they only have a few hundred people left. The cruelty of fighting in the city is far beyond your imagination."

Sokov tried hard to control his emotions and said in a calm tone: "Comrade Colonel, my troops have been deploying defenses on Mamayev Hill since July. In street fighting, keep the casualties of troops to a minimum..."

Vitkov interrupted Sokov again: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, I want to remind you that the slogan of victory with 'less bloodshed' has been adopted by the Supreme Command after the arduous and arduous campaign in Finland. Criticism is an incorrect slogan that leads the army into delusion of an easy victory.

As a commander, we must clearly realize that this war with the German Communist Party is long and arduous, so we must be mentally prepared to pay a huge price..."

Regarding the views expounded by Vitkov, even Belkin, the political commissar beside him, could not find a reason to refute in a hurry. He could only shrug his shoulders at Sokov and spread his hands, indicating that there was nothing he could do to help.

The phone ringing in time resolved the embarrassment in the room. Sidolin grabbed the microphone and said loudly: "I am Sidolin, where are you?...Oh, it's Captain Goria!...You are leaving?!...Okay, I wish you good luck , complete the task and return early.”

After putting down the phone, Sidolin said to Sokov: "Comrade Brigadier, Captain Goria and the others are receiving equipment at the exit, and they can set off in five minutes at most."

Knowing that Goliath and the others were receiving equipment and making the final preparations before departure, Sukov suddenly felt a little uneasy, and quickly asked: "Comrade Chief of Staff, when they pass through the enemy's line of defense, there will be no danger, right?" ?”

"I don't think so." When Sidolin said this, he quickly glanced at Vitkov and said, "Some time ago, the enemy was frightened by our sneak attack tactics. It is very strict, and the password is changed every two or three hours, which caused a lot of trouble for the scouts passing through the defense line. However, the enemy's guard seems to have relaxed during this period, and the scouts we sent yesterday passed smoothly the enemy's line of defense."

Sidolin's reaction was seen by Sokov. His heart was as clear as a mirror. The implication of Sidolin's words was that since Witkov adjusted his tactics, the enemy saw their rear He was not attacked again, so he relaxed his vigilance. In this way, Goliath and the others will pass through the enemy's line of defense smoothly tonight, and there should be no problems.

Now that Goria and the others were able to pass through the enemy's line of defense smoothly, Sokov did not continue to dwell on the matter. He told Sidolin: "Comrade Chief of Staff, send a telegram to Major Yakov and ask the new batch When will the rockets be delivered? If we want to send small teams to go deep behind enemy lines in the future, this kind of rockets will be indispensable.”

"Understood, Comrade Brigadier." Sidolin nodded and said, "I will arrange for the radio operator to send a report to Major Yakov, asking when the new rockets will arrive."

The two were talking, when a voice suddenly came from the door: "Misha, why are you here?"

Everyone followed the sound and looked towards the door, only to see Asiya standing at the door with the medicine box on her back, looking inside. Seeing that it was Assia, Belkin quickly stood up and waved to her: "Assia, what are you doing standing at the door, come in quickly."

Assia walked in slowly, looked at Belkin and asked, "I didn't bother you, did I?"

"Assia, look at what you said, how can you disturb us? We are also chatting." Belkin said with a smile: "Are you here to find Comrade Brigadier Commander?"

Assia nodded, and replied: "He should get an injection, but I didn't see his person when I went to the ward. I asked the soldiers who took care of him, and then I found out that he came here." After finishing speaking, she turned to Sokov Said, "Misha, let's go, let's go back to the ward, don't interfere with other people's work here."

"Assia, my injury is almost healed, and I won't be going back to the ward from today." Sokov waved at Assia and said, "I want to stay here and command the troops."

When Asiya heard Sokov say this, an embarrassed expression appeared on her face. She glanced at Vitkov who was sitting beside him silently, and said to Sokov in a low voice: "Misha, you are not a traveler now. Long, what are you doing here?"

Witkov heard what Assia said clearly, tried to squeeze a smile on his face, and said: "Assia, you may not know that Lieutenant Colonel Sokov has returned to the post of brigade commander .”

"What, Misha has become the brigade commander again?" Assia was shocked by this unexpected news. She stared at Sokov and asked, "Misha, is this all true?"

"That's right, it's all true." Sokov nodded at her and said with a smile, "Now I'm the commander of the 73rd Infantry Brigade again."

"When did it really happen?" Assia looked at Witkov who was on the side: "You have become the brigade commander again, what about Colonel Witkov? Are you going back to the Army Command?"

"Lieutenant Colonel Sokov will continue to serve as the commander of the infantry brigade. It was the decision made by the commander of the group army, General Chuikov, half an hour ago." Witkov said calmly to Assia: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov After the officer is reinstated, I will still stay here as deputy brigade commander and assist him in commanding troops to protect Mamayev Kurgan."

…………

Although Sokov asked Golia to choose ten soldiers to carry out the sneak attack mission behind the enemy. However, when Goliath was selecting personnel, he found that the commanders and fighters in his battalion had suffered heavy casualties, so it was difficult to get enough numbers. In the end, including him, only six people were selected.

On the way to the enemy's defense line, Sergeant Tavlin, who was working as an interpreter, asked with a bitter face: "Comrade battalion commander, the enemy's defense line is tightly guarded. Even if we wear German uniforms and ride in German armored vehicles, if we want to pass I'm afraid it's not an easy task, is it?"

Goria glanced at his subordinate, and said expressionlessly: "Don't worry, Comrade Sergeant, according to reliable information, the German army's defenses have been relaxed recently, and we should be able to pass through smoothly."

Hearing what Goria said, Tavlin was silent for a moment, and then asked: "Comrade Captain, I find it very strange that since the new brigade commander took office, he has canceled all operations behind enemy lines. How about going to the enemy's rear? Is there any conspiracy in this, isn't it to let us go to die?"

Taflin's words made Goria amused: "Come on, Comrade Sergeant, you are not a big man, will someone plot against you? Let me tell you the truth, this time the mission is the Sokov The school personally deployed, and he returned to the post of brigade commander."

"What, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov has served as our brigade commander again?" Hearing what Goria said, the other soldiers in the car gathered around and asked in a hurry: "Comrade battalion commander, what do you say?" Is it all true?"

"Would I still lie to you?" Golia pointed to the wooden box containing rockets in the carriage: "You have all seen this wooden box, it was prepared by Comrade Brigadier himself, let us use it This is to bombard the enemy's headquarters."

"Great, this is really great." The soldiers couldn't help but be overjoyed when they heard that Sukov was back as brigade commander, and said repeatedly: "The brigade commander is back to command us. I believe that in the next battle, we will Casualties can be greatly reduced.”

When everyone was happy, the driver suddenly turned around and said, "Comrade Battalion Commander, we found an enemy sentry on the road ahead, what should we do?"