Red Moscow

After finishing the call with Zhukov, Sokov thought silently: "We must find a capable commander to command this army behind the enemy, otherwise it will be difficult to pose any threat to the enemy."

Sidolin saw that Sokov was silent and seemed to be thinking about some important issue, so he asked cautiously: "Comrade Brigadier, is there anything important that General Zhukov wants to ask you for?"

Sokov looked down and saw a pack of cigarettes on the table, he picked it up and took one out of it, put it in his mouth, lit it, and the CIA said slowly: "Comrade General, we have given our thanks for sending a small unit deep into the enemy's rear. Definitely. However, at the same time, he pointed out that if the squadrons are dispersed, the results can be limited. It is better to concentrate. In addition to posing a greater threat to the enemy, they can even use the rockets in their hands to attack the German army. Attacks are carried out in areas where heavy troops are concentrated to reduce the pressure on our army's frontal defense."

Knowing that Zhukov advocated merging the squads behind the enemy, Sidolin seemed a little impatient. He stood up and said to Sokov, "Comrade Brigadier, I will ask the radio operator to send reports to several squads and let them go to the designated places. The locations were assembled and consolidated into a large force operating in the enemy's rear."

"Chief of Staff, don't worry, you sit down first, and it won't be too late to send a report to the squad after we discuss the details." After Sidolin sat down again, he continued: "It is a matter of merging the squad. Little things, just a few telegrams. We are now discussing who will be in command once the forces behind the enemy lines have been consolidated."

"The unit of the first battalion is under the command of Second Lieutenant Fisher." Hearing Sukov's concerns, Sidolin said disapprovingly: "Since he is the commander with the highest rank, he should directly hand over the troops to Give him instructions, will it be over soon?"

"No, I don't think the troops can be given to him to command." Before Sokov could speak, Witkov had already raised his objection: "Although he is the commander with the highest rank, this army is composed of troops from several battalions. Whether he can command the troops composed of soldiers well is still a question."

"The deputy brigade commander is right." Seeing that Witkov's thoughts coincided with his own, Sokov echoed: "Except for the soldiers of the first battalion, the soldiers of the other teams are not familiar with him. I also feel that it is not appropriate for him to command this force. We need to reconsider new candidates."

"Comrade Brigadier," Sokov just finished speaking, and Vitkov said to him with a smile: "Since you also think that you need to send another person to command this army, why don't you let me go, what do you think?"

What Vitkov said startled Sokov, jokingly, although you are the deputy brigade commander, your military rank is the highest in the whole brigade, and you are also the deputy chief of staff of the group army. How can you do such a task that may be sacrificed at any time? Can you do it? After Sokov finished the draft, he said to Vitkov: "Comrade Deputy Brigadier, don't be joking, how can you take such a dangerous mission? If something happens to you, how can I tell the commander?" Comrade clerk?"

There are only 60 troops in the enemy's rear, and there is absolutely no reason for a colonel to be in command. Therefore, Sidolin waited for Sukov to finish speaking, and then expressed his opinion: "Comrade colonel, the brigade commander is right. Yes, you can't take risks behind enemy lines, let other commanders do it."

"Do you have a suitable candidate?" Witkov glanced at Sokov and Sidolin, and said carelessly, "If you can't find a suitable candidate, then I'll do it."

Hearing that Witkov had already said this, Sokov knew very well in his heart that if he could not pick out a suitable candidate, then Witkov could justifiably request to command troops behind enemy lines. His military rank and prestige were higher than Fisher's. If he commanded the troops, those soldiers would willingly obey his orders. If you want to prevent him from taking risks, you can only choose a reliable commander as soon as possible.

Sokov went through all the commanders above the company level of the brigade in his head, and felt that there were two more suitable candidates, so he raised his head and asked Sidolin: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I have two candidates. Can you help me?" I'll find out where they are now."

Sidolin nodded, and then asked: "Comrade Brigadier, who are the two commanders?"

"Lieutenant Grisa, Commander of the Fourth Company, and Lieutenant Guchakov, Commander of the Ninth Company." After Sokov said his ideal candidate, he urged Sidolin: "Comrade Chief of Staff, get to know them immediately. Where are you now?"

Taking advantage of Sidolin's phone call, Sokov introduced the situation of the two candidates to Witkov: "I knew Lieutenant Griza when I was still a platoon leader in Khimki. He is a A commander with great fighting spirit, and when fighting, he knows how to seize the opportunity to destroy more enemies at the lowest cost; and Lieutenant Guchakov, who I rescued from the prisoner-of-war camp, is very kind to *** The aggressor has deep-seated hatred, and in order to wash away the humiliation he has experienced, he has performed very heroically in previous battles."

After listening to Sokov's comments on the two candidates, Vitkov nodded slightly, and said reasonablely: "Well, Comrade Brigadier, since you already have suitable candidates, let them command the troops behind the enemy. Bar."

Seeing that Vitkov no longer insisted on going to command troops behind the enemy lines, Sokov's heart finally returned to his stomach. He happened to see Sidolin put down the phone and asked quickly: "Comrade Chief of Staff, are you clear?" Where are the two of them now?" When he asked this question, Sukov felt a little emboldened, he was deeply afraid that the candidate he was optimistic about had already been injured or even died in the battle, and he would need to choose a new one at that time. Candidates are selected.

Sidolin first introduced the situation of the Ninth Company Commander Guchakov: "The Ninth Company Commander, Lieutenant Guchakov, and the Third Battalion Commander Andrei are currently deploying defenses in the area of ​​the Expert Building, and may not be able to return in a short time."

Knowing that the Ninth Company Commander could not go to the enemy's rear, Sokov was somewhat disappointed, but fortunately there was another candidate, so he continued to ask, "What about Lieutenant Griza? Where is he now?"

"Lieutenant Grisa is now at Mamayev Hill, and the troops under his command have been fighting the enemy." Sidolin asked Sokov tentatively: "Do you need to call him here?"

"Let Grisa hand over the command to his deputy, and rush to the headquarters as soon as possible." After Sokov gave the order, he suddenly remembered that he had transferred a company commander from the forefront, and at least he needed to communicate with the other party's commander. The superior said hello and added: "Remember to inform the second battalion commander, Captain Vasily, about this."

While waiting for Griza's arrival, Sokov asked Vitkov and Sidolin again: "The merger of the squads will be completed soon, and there will be candidates for the commander. Next, we should discuss Their activity area. If you have any ideas, you can talk about them.”

"I think the troops should turn around and go north to harass the German troops attacking the factory area." Witkov first expressed his opinion: "The factory area we usually call actually includes Yellman District, Derzhins The base area, the Red October factory area, the barricade factory area, and the tractor factory area. Regardless of the number of German divisions attacking, but to attack so many areas at the same time, their forces will inevitably become scattered. If we send small units to attack them It is bound to throw them into chaos and force them to weaken or even stop their attack on the factory district."

"Comrade deputy brigade commander, I have a different opinion." Regarding Vitkov's seemingly safe choice, Sidolin raised objections: "Everyone knows that most of the urban areas to the south of the city have been destroyed by the enemy. Occupation. In order to prevent accidental injury, the German army will not use tanks and artillery on a large scale when attacking the remaining blocks and buildings. We can let the troops behind the enemy move south to eliminate these without artillery and tank cover enemy."

"Comrade Chief of Staff, you are wrong. We sent troops to the south of the city, and the results we achieved are definitely not comparable to the factory area in the north of the city." Witkov emphasized: "I still suggest that the troops be used in the north of the city." direction, as long as they can contain the enemy's vital force, then our troops standing in the factory area can take a breath, and even launch an effective counterattack if necessary."

"Comrade Deputy Brigadier,..."

"..."

In the face of the dispute between the two, Sokov did not intervene. He was repeatedly weighing the pros and cons of going north and south in his mind. Because he was so absorbed in thinking, he didn't even notice when the argument between the two stopped.

When he found that both of them were staring at him intently, he quickly grinned and asked with some embarrassment: "I don't know if the two of you reached a consensus in the end. Should we send the troops behind the enemy north or south?"

"You are the leader of the brigade," Vitkov did not make any decisions because his military rank was higher than Sokov's, but said in a respectful tone: "Which direction the troops should move is up to you." It's up to you."

Seeing that the two finally kicked the ball to him again, Sokov couldn't help but smile bitterly in his heart. He coughed lightly, cleared his throat and said, "I agree with the deputy brigade commander. The troops behind the enemy should be allowed to move in the northwest direction, so that they cannot concentrate their forces to attack the factory area."

When Sokov said this, he saw Sidolin opened his mouth and seemed to want to say something, so he quickly raised his hand to stop him, and continued: "Comrade Chief of Staff, don't interrupt, just listen to me. Since all the factories in the factory area are still producing, the tanks and cannons they produce can not only be used for city defense, but can also be transported to various fronts through the Volga River to support our friendly forces to severely attack the enemy. Therefore, we must do everything possible to prevent the enemy from occupying our factory area."

Sidolin originally wanted to continue to stick to his opinion, but when he heard Sokov say that the factories in the factory area, the products produced every day can not only support the defenders in the city, but also support friendly forces on other fronts, So he obediently closed his mouth, acquiescing to Sokov's plan to let the troops move north of the city.

Not long after, Griza arrived at the headquarters.

Sokov waited for Griza to report to him, nodded at him, and said bluntly: "Lieutenant Griza, I called you here today because I have an important task for you."

When Grisa received the notification, he guessed that Sokov called him, there must be some important task, so when he heard Sokov say this, the expression on his face did not change at all: "Comrade Brigadier, please Give the order."

"Comrade Lieutenant, come to the table." Sokov greeted Griza to the table, pointed to the map spread out on it, and said to him: "According to the order of the superior, we will send the small units operating behind the enemy to Combined, handed over to a highly capable commander to conduct a raid in the enemy's rear, hit the enemy hard, so that they can't concentrate all their strength, and launch a full-scale attack on the factory area. Come and see, This is the assembly point of the troops, and when it gets dark, you take two soldiers and rush there to receive the troops."

"Comrade Brigadier," Grisa was not overjoyed after hearing Sokov's arrangement, but asked calmly, "I want to ask, what area should we operate in and how should we attack the enemy?" What about war?"

Facing a series of questions raised by Griza, Sokov replied calmly: "Comrade Lieutenant, logically speaking, I shouldn't define the area for your activities, because we don't know much about the situation behind the enemy. If you rashly designate an area for you, you may be sent into the enemy's encirclement. But this time the situation is different. The enemy is launching a fierce attack on the factory area. In order to contain their vitality, I hope you can lead the troops in the Move in the north, that is, the rear of the enemies attacking the factory area. Use the rockets carried by the troops to hit them hard, consume their vital strength, and prevent them from concentrating superior forces and seizing our factory area."

After waiting for Sokov to finish speaking, Griza nodded first, and then asked, "Comrade Brigadier, the mission has been clarified. I would like to ask, how long are we going to stay in the enemy's rear?"

Grisa's question made Sokov silent, because the length of time he stayed was related to the survival rate of the army behind the enemy. If you stay for a short time, you can naturally retreat completely; but if you stay for a long time, there is the danger of the entire army being wiped out. Therefore, after a long time of thinking, Sokov finally gritted his teeth and said: "Comrade Lieutenant, how long you will stay behind the enemy lines depends on the specific situation. Remember, you must find a way to let the soldiers Come back alive, understand?"