Red Moscow

Before Balshak could call, the German shelling began. Although it was deep underground, the three of them could still feel the ground trembling slightly in the room. Sokov had long been accustomed to the shelling of the German army, so he didn't feel nervous at all. On the contrary, he looked up at the roof, wondering if there would be dust falling down?

Borshak, on the other hand, was bitten by a snake for ten years and was afraid of well ropes. He just withdrew from the position that was bombarded by the Germans a few hours ago, so he was a little flustered when he heard the German shells exploding above his head. He asked Cousteau calmly: "Comrade Cousteau, is it safe here?"

"Don't worry, Major Borshak." Cousteau said disapprovingly, "The top of our heads is reinforced concrete two meters thick. As long as the Germans don't use condensate bombs, we won't be in any danger here."

It was the first time for Sokov to hear the word "broken bomb". He was taken aback for a moment, but soon understood the meaning of the word literally. Regarding Balshak's unfounded worries, he smiled and comforted him and said: "Don't worry, Major Bolshak, the Germans would never have dreamed that we would be hiding in the basement, so they wouldn't use any condensate bombs at all. You can stay here with peace of mind."

The words of Sokov and Cousteau did not bring much sense of security to Balshak. He was still looking at the roof anxiously, fearing that a shell would break through the roof and fall in. I forgot about the long phone calls.

…………

As early as when the German army bombarded the north of the factory area for the first time, Guriyev, who was staying in his headquarters, knew about it. If you want to send troops to reinforce it, he is also fighting in full swing here. He can only hope that Balshak's destroyer battalion can last for a while longer in the face of the attack after the bombardment.

However, the German bombardment to the north of the factory stopped less than an hour before starting a second round of shelling, which confused Guriyev. Standing in front of the window of the command headquarters, looking at the billowing black smoke rising from the direction of the assembly workshop, he asked his chief of staff, Lieutenant Colonel Zalijuk, somewhat puzzled: "Comrade chief of staff, tell me why the Germans are here In a short period of time, the second bombardment to the north of the factory area? What is going on here?"

Zalijuk looked at the area being bombarded, frowned and said, "Comrade Commander, it stands to reason that there is only one explanation for the German army shelling the same area twice in such a short period of time."

"What explanation?" Zalijuk's words aroused Guriyev's curiosity: "Quickly tell me."

"That was the attack launched by the Germans. They were stubbornly resisted by the defenders. After paying a huge price, they had to retreat to the starting point of the attack." Zalijuk immediately shook his head and denied his own intention after analyzing the reason. Saying: "If our guards guarded in that direction and repelled the German attack, there would be no problem. But the problem is that what is standing in that area is only the destroyer battalion of the Red October Factory and hundreds of soldiers. It’s just armed workers. To say that with their strength, they can repel the German attack in such a short period of time, I think this is simply impossible.”

"Division commander, chief of staff, you are all wrong." The division political commissar Chernyshov sitting next to him suddenly said: "I think maybe the German attack on the north side of the factory area was really repelled. Yu can only vent his dissatisfaction with a second bombardment."

Guriyev had an expression of disbelief on his face: "What, Comrade Commissar, do you think the enemy attacking the north of the factory area was repelled by the few remaining battalions and hundreds of armed workers? You must be mistaken. How is this possible, you know, our division is a veteran of the airborne army, even we can't do this, how did they do it?"

"Comrade commander, have you forgotten?" Seeing that Guriyev did not believe that the German attack on the north side of the factory was repelled, Chernyshov reminded him: "When you came back from the frontier inspection yesterday, I told you that It is said that a unit of the 73rd Infantry Brigade standing on Mamayev Post has arrived at the factory. If I guessed correctly, Factory Manager Peter must have deployed them in the assembly workshop in the north of the factory.”

Guriyev immediately remembered that Chernyshov had mentioned this matter to himself, but he didn't take it to heart at all. Now that he heard Chernyshov mentioning this matter, he asked curiously: "Comrade political commissar, do you know what the commander is doing?" Who is the commander of this unit?" Before Chernyshov could answer, he said to himself, "The German army usually uses tanks to accompany the infantry to attack, and in such a short period of time, To repel the enemy's attack, the commander must be an excellent commander."

"Comrade commander, you may not have imagined that the commander of the infantry brigade is Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, commander of the infantry brigade." When Chernyshov said this, he suddenly remembered that Sokov's footsteps were slightly staggering when he was walking, so he frowned. He raised his eyebrows and said, "But from his appearance, he seems to be still injured."

"Master, Comrade Political Commissar." Zalijuk took advantage of the gap between the two of them talking, and interjected, "Instead of speculating here, we should call Factory Director Peter and find out what happened to the north of the factory."

"Yes, yes, Comrade Chief of Staff, you are right. We should immediately call Factory Manager Peter and ask him what happened to the north of the factory area." After Guriyev finished speaking, he reached for the phone on the table Caught him in front of him, shook the handle a few times, picked up the microphone and stuck it to his ear, and said, "Get me to the factory building and find Director Peter."

The phone was connected quickly, and when Peter's voice came from the receiver, Guriyev couldn't wait to say: "Hello, Comrade Factory Manager, I'm Guriyev."

"Hello, Comrade General." Hearing that Guriyev called him, Peter was a little flattered, and quickly asked respectfully, "May I ask what you want?"

"That's right, Comrade Factory Director." Guriyev briefly explained the situation to Peter, and finally asked: "Since I can't get in touch with the assembly workshop in the north of the factory area, I can only contact you to find out what happened there. What happened. Hope you can help me..."

Before Guriyev finished speaking, another phone on Peter's desk rang. Peter could only apologize to Guriyev and say: "I'm sorry, Comrade General, please wait a moment, I will answer a call." .” After obtaining the consent of the other party, he moved the microphone to his left hand, grabbed the microphone with his right hand, and said next to his ear, “I’m Peter, where are you?”

"Hello, Comrade Factory Manager!" As soon as Peter finished speaking, the voice he wanted to hear the most came out from the receiver: "I am the Commander of the Destroyer Battalion, Borshak."

"It's you, Balshak, I was just about to call you." Hearing that it was Balshak's call, Peter hurriedly asked: "Before you called, I was talking to the guard The division commander, General Guriyev, called and told me that the enemy fired a second round of shelling in your direction less than an hour after the end. Let me ask you, what happened? In a short period of time, launch a second shelling attack on you?"

"What else can you do, Comrade Factory Director?" Balshak originally planned to tell Peter about the repulsion of the German attack after reporting to Peter about the reorganization of the destroyer battalion. Decided to answer this question first: "After the German army attacked the factory area, we completely smashed the attack on the assembly workshop. During the battle, we defeated five tanks and killed hundreds of German soldiers."

"Great, Major Balshak, this is really great." Peter was overjoyed when he heard that the enemy attacking the north of the factory area was really repelled. "The comrades in the destroyer battalion are all good. Please express my gratitude to them on my behalf for their contribution to defending the factory."

"Comrade factory director, you misunderstood." Hearing Peter's praise, Balshak replied with some embarrassment: "It was not my destroyer battalion that repelled the enemy, but Lieutenant Ulanova's women's high school." The artillery battalion. My destroyer battalion was almost wiped out before the German offensive began."

Even if a shell landed beside Peter and exploded at this moment, it would definitely not be as shocking as the information Balshak told him. He murmured into the microphone: "Baulshak, what are you talking about? The one who repelled the enemy is Women's anti-aircraft artillery battalion, how did they do this? Also, you said that the annihilation battalion has been wiped out, so what's going on?"

Borshak suffered heavy casualties to the destroyer battalion under the enemy's artillery fire, and had to withdraw from the position and retreated to the factory building of the assembly workshop, as well as the women's anti-aircraft artillery battalion deployed on the roof of the factory building. How to use anti-aircraft guns to destroy German tanks and repel The German attack was reported to Peter in detail. In the end, he specifically emphasized that these were all achieved under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Sokov.

Peter never dreamed that the battle that ended not long ago was so miraculous that Sokov would think of using the anti-aircraft guns deployed on the roof to deal with the German tanks. And after causing such a heavy loss to the enemy, there were no casualties at all.

Peter was stunned for a while, and accidentally found that the microphone he was holding in his left hand was not far from his face. Guriyev at the other end of the microphone should have heard the conversation just now. He put the microphone in his left hand close to his ear again, and said, "Comrade General, have you heard our conversation?"

"Yes, Comrade Peter, I heard it all." Guriyev said with emotion: "I really didn't expect that Lieutenant Colonel Sokov would think of using anti-aircraft guns to hit German tanks. Why didn't I think of this. Factory Comrade Chang, I understand everything I need to know, so I won't disturb your conversation with your subordinates, goodbye."

After Guriyev hung up the phone, he said to Chernyshov and Zalityuk standing aside: "Political Commissar, Chief of Staff, everything is clear. The reason why the German army launched a second bombardment on the north side of the factory was because Their attack was shattered by the anti-aircraft battalion on the roof of the assembly hall."

"Use anti-aircraft guns to fight tanks?" Zalijuk said in an unbelievable tone: "Why have I never thought that anti-aircraft guns can be used instead of anti-tank guns?"

"Chief of Staff," Guriyev asked without losing the opportunity, "how many anti-aircraft guns are there in the division?"

"There is an 85mm anti-aircraft gun battery with three anti-aircraft guns." Zalijuk asked back: "Comrade commander, are they all used as anti-tank guns?"

"That's right," Guriyev said, nodding his head, "Since friendly forces can use anti-aircraft guns to destroy German tanks, we can also use the same method to deal with German tanks."

"Comrade Commander," Chernyshov asked with some concern: "This is the only air defense force in our division. If the anti-aircraft guns are used as anti-tank guns, what should we do with the air defense?"

"Comrade my political commissar, if the German tanks rush in front of us, then what's the point of air defense?" Guriyev waved his hand at Zalijuk and said, "Comrade chief of staff, stop dawdling." , Hurry up and set it up. We must know that our soldiers are facing a lot of German tanks, if we can have a few more anti-tank guns, it will also reduce the pressure they bear.”

When Zalityuk went to make a phone call, Guriyev sat at the table, took out a cigarette from the cigarette case, and put it in his mouth, thinking silently in his heart: "I thought that the German army would attack the north of the factory area, and we would be attacked by the enemy. However, with Lieutenant Colonel Sokov sitting in the assembly workshop, I believe we don’t have to worry about our rear being attacked by the enemy.”

"Mr. Commander," Chernyshev saw that Guriyev had a cigarette in his mouth and hadn't lit it for a long time. He seemed to be thinking about something, and felt that he needed to understand the situation, so he asked cautiously: "What are you doing?" What are you thinking, I see you have been in this position for a long time."

Guriyev took out a match, lit a cigarette, took a puff, and said to Chernyshov: "Comrade Comrade, I have a little impression of this Lieutenant Colonel Sokov. When our division came to Stalingrad, I I once heard Commander Chuikov mention this man, saying that his troops held on to Mamayev Post for two months, and the German army paid thousands of dollars, but still could not occupy it. It can be seen that he is a very A commander who is good at fighting defensive warfare, with him sitting in the assembly workshop, we will have no worries."

"Comrade commander, you are too optimistic." Hearing what Guriyev said, Chernyshev felt it necessary to remind him: "Even if Lieutenant Colonel Sokov is good at defense, he has limited troops and only More than 300 soldiers, plus hundreds of militiamen with weak combat capabilities, may not have any problem blocking one or two attacks of the enemy. Once the enemy attacks more times, I worry that they will eventually face the possibility of annihilation Danger."

Upon hearing this, Guriyev threw his half-smoked cigarette on the ground, crushed it out with his toes, looked up at Chernyshov and said, "Comrade Commissar, after dark, accompany me to the assembly workshop." , I would like to speak to Lieutenant Colonel Sokov personally to find out how long they are confident they can stay there."