Red Moscow

When Peter realized that the person who called him was Zalijuk, he asked without waiting for the other party to explain the reason: "Lieutenant Colonel Zalijuk, I see smoke in the direction of the residential area. Is the situation there very dangerous?" ?”

"Comrade factory director," Zalijuk did not answer Peter's question directly, but replied in a very official tone: "Our soldiers are fighting tenaciously with the Japanese invaders in the residential area. fighting……"

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Peter couldn't wait for Zalijuk to finish, and interrupted him impatiently, "As the director of the Red October Tractor Factory, I have the right to know the real fighting situation in the residential area."

After Peter reminded him, Zalijuk realized that the person he was talking to was the factory manager of the factory his troops wanted to defend. There was really no need to hide anything from him about the situation on the battlefield. He organized the vocabulary in his mind, and said with a solemn expression: "Comrade factory manager, the situation on the battlefield is very unfavorable to our army. According to the information we have obtained, the Germans added another infantry division in order to seize the factory. In front of us The area controlled by the division in the residential area is constantly shrinking under the pressure of the German army."

Although Peter said that he had some mental preparations for the deteriorating situation in the residential area, after listening to Zalijuk's introduction, he still couldn't help taking a deep breath: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, is the situation really so critical?"

"Yes, Comrade Factory Manager, the situation is very critical." Zalijuk said tactfully: "In the next two or three days, our situation will be very difficult, but we can still resist the enemy's attack. However,... "

Zalijuk suddenly stopped talking at this point, which made Peter very anxious: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, but what, you should hurry up and say it!"

"In any case, the regular army guards the residential area and the main entrance of the factory. The soldiers have rich combat experience and know how to deal with the enemy." Zalijuk said with some embarrassment: "But it is the militia who guard the factory area. , you also know that they are all temporarily armed, lack the necessary military training, and have no combat experience. Although some officers and combat backbones have been sent to you, if you want to improve their combat effectiveness in a short time, It is also not realistic. Therefore, we are now worried that the enemy will break through from other parts of the factory area, and the factory will be in danger of falling."

Peter is also a smart man, he heard Zaljuk's subtext, and asked tentatively: "Lieutenant Colonel Zaljuk, if I understand correctly, do you think the enemy will break into the factory from other areas, such as North of the plant where the assembly shop is located. Am I right?"

"That's right, Comrade Factory Manager, what you said is quite correct. The German army has opened a breakthrough in the north of the factory area. Although they cannot develop in depth for the time being, they will continue to invest troops here until they completely occupy the assembly workshop. "Zalijuk said worriedly: "The division commander, General Guriyev, has already gone to the assembly workshop, and is going to talk to Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, who led the troops to stand there, to see if they can persist there for a few days. Because once the Germans occupy If we leave the assembly workshop, our division will face the danger of being attacked from both sides."

If it was an emergency in another location, Peter might still feel panicked, but when he heard that the location Zaljuk named was actually the assembly workshop, his mood suddenly became lighter: "Lieutenant Colonel Zaljuk, you are overthinking, You must know that the commander who led the troops to stick to the assembly workshop is Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, who is good at defensive warfare. Before you called, I just received a report from the workshop director Cousteau, saying that they had successfully repelled The Germans attacked twice, but the casualties were not large."

Since Zalijuk could not directly communicate with the assembly workshop, they could only judge the battle in the north of the factory area based on the rising smoke. The thicker the smoke, the more intense the fighting there, and vice versa. As for what kind of results the defenders achieved, it is not known.

Zalijuk let out an "oh" in surprise, and then asked back, "Comrade factory director, did they really repel two German attacks in a row?"

"These results were reported to me by Comrade Cousteau, the workshop director. I believe he will not lie to me about this kind of thing." Peter said: "If they can continue to maintain this state, I think they will stick to it for four or five days. , there should be no problem. As soon as the reinforcements from the other side of the river arrive, we can launch a counterattack against the enemy.”

Regarding the counterattack mentioned by Peter, Zalijuk felt that it was too early to say. With the current strength of the Guards Division, it is already thankful to be able to defend the Red October Tractor Factory. How dare we expect to launch a counterattack. Considering that Guriyev had already set off, in order to avoid misunderstandings, he quickly added: "Comrade factory director, please inform Comrade Cousteau about the division commander's going to the assembly workshop, so as to avoid misunderstandings."

But before Peter had time to call Cousteau, the jeep in which Guriyev was riding had already arrived outside the assembly workshop. Sitting in the car, he looked at the burning German tanks in the distance and the corpses everywhere in front of the factory. How can they destroy so many enemies in such a short time?"

Sokov received a report from the soldiers below, and when he learned that a general was coming, he immediately trotted out to greet him. Although he had never met Guriyev before, he recognized a major general from the two gold stars on his diamond-shaped collar badge, and the generals who would appear in the factory area at this time were probably guards. The division commander is Major General Guriyev. He quickly stood up to attention and reported to the other party: "Hello, Comrade General, I am Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, the commander of the infantry brigade. We are performing combat duties. Please give instructions!"

"You are Lieutenant Colonel Sokov," Guriyev nodded at Sokov, and then stretched out his hand: "Let me introduce myself, I am Major General Guriyev, commander of the Guards Division, and I came here specially to find you."

"Looking for me?" Sokov heard Guriyev say this, and thought to himself: "I don't know you well, and you came here specifically to find me, what will happen?" The boss still pretended to be calm and asked: "Comrade General, what do you need from me?"

"This is not a place to talk." Guriyev looked around and said, "Let's talk in another place."

Sokov was about to take Guriyev to the command post in the basement when he suddenly heard Guriyev say: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, call the rest of the commanders, I have something important to tell you all." .”

Sokov called a soldier and told him to inform Briski, Balshak, and Cousteau that there was something important to discuss, and asked them to come to the basement as soon as possible.

A few minutes later, Briski, who was notified, rushed to the basement first. He saw Sokov and Guriyev sitting in the room, and when he was about to say something, Guriyev pointed to the empty space next to him. , Said: "Comrade Captain, sit down first, and wait for everyone to come."

After Briski sat down in the empty seat, he cast a questioning look at Sokov, trying to figure out why Guriyev called himself here. Unexpectedly, when Sokov saw his eyes, he shook his head and smiled bitterly, expressing that he didn't know anything.

Balshak and Cousteau walked into the room together, and when they saw Guriyev sitting in the room, they both had expressions of surprise on their faces. Borshak stepped forward, stretched out his hand to Guriyev, and asked curiously, "Comrade General, why are you here?"

"Commanders, commanders," Guriyev shook hands with Borshak, and then said to everyone, "I called you here today because the situation on the battlefield is going against me. The direction of the army."

Guriyev's words surprised everyone. Balshak asked first: "Comrade General, can you tell us what happened?"

"Yes, I will tell you the answer now." Guriyev nodded, and continued: "Before I came here, I got a piece of news that in order to seize the Red October Tractor Factory, the enemy transferred another An infantry division is involved in the attack. If they only attack the residential area and the front of the factory, my troops can still block them. But if they attack from the rest of the area, it will be very disadvantageous for us. Once the Germans rush into the factory area If people have a firm foothold, then our division will be in a situation where the enemy is on the back."

When Sokov heard this, he immediately understood the purpose of Guriyev's visit. The other party was worried that he would not be able to defend this place at all, which would cause the Guards Division to fall into the encirclement of the German army. After Guriyev finished speaking, he coughed lightly and said without changing his face: "Comrade General, I understand what you are worried about. You are worried that we will not be able to stop the enemy's attack, so you came here specially." Knowing the situation of the defenders, I am eager to know how many days we can hold out under such a fierce German attack, so as to adjust your existing defensive deployment."

Guriyev had a shocked expression on his face when he heard Sokov say these words. He never dreamed that Sokov could see his mind so clearly. Fortunately, he quickly returned to normal, nodded and said, "That's right, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, since you have already guessed my reason for coming, I would like to ask you, how many days can your troops hold on here?" ?”

"Comrade General, you look down on us too much." Briski was very unconvinced when he heard Guriyev say this, so despite his own rank being much lower than Guriyev's, he said plausibly: "Don't talk about it for a few days, we will sooner or later." With our current strength, if we stand here for half a month, I don't think it's a big problem."

"Lieutenant Briski, why are you so rude, don't you see that I am talking to General Guriyev?" Sokov pretended to reprimand Briski, and then said to Guriyev with a smile on his face: "Comrade General, I know what you are worried about. I can tell you responsibly that as long as there is a soldier of the infantry brigade alive, they will never let the Germans break into the assembly workshop."

Guriyev couldn't help sneering, and asked in a mocking tone: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, as far as I know, you don't even have anti-tank guns. In the next battle, how do you plan to deal with the flood of guns? What about the German army?"

"If this is what you are worried about, Comrade General, please rest assured." Although Guriyev's tone of voice, Sokov heard that the other party did not seem to trust him, but he said without discouragement: "It doesn't matter if Germany As many tanks as people come, we have the confidence to eliminate them."

Seeing Sokov being so arrogant, Guriyev was about to taunt him a few more words when the phone on the desk rang. Cousteau with a livid face on the side picked up the microphone, and asked in his ear, "I'm Cousteau, where are you?" I don't know what the other end of the phone said, and the expression on his face immediately became rich Getting up, he looked up at Sokov and said excitedly: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, tanks, our tanks are here!"

"Tank, what tank?" Guriev asked in confusion when he heard what Cousteau said, "Is it a tank from the other side of the Volga River?"

"Of course not, Comrade General." Cousteau said with some pride: "If you are interested, you can go out and have a look. After reading it, you will understand what is going on."

A group of people left the basement and came to the outside of the factory building. Sure enough, they saw more than a dozen tanks divided into two groups, driving aggressively towards the location of the factory building. When Guriyev first saw the tank, he was taken aback. He instinctively stretched his hand to his waist, ready to draw his pistol and shoot at the tank. But when they saw Sokov and the others looking calm, they realized that it was not a German tank driving over, but a T-34 commonly seen by the Soviet army.

"Comrade Cousteau," Sokov said loudly to Cousteau, "you send a motorcycle over there and guide those tanks around the factory building, so that the Germans can create an illusion that it is us Reinforcements have arrived."

After Cousteau left, Guriyev asked inexplicably: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, can you explain to me where these tanks came from? It is daytime, in order to avoid the Germans Shelling and bombing, the other side would never take the risk of transporting so many tanks across the river."

"You guessed right, Comrade General." Sokov nodded and said, "These tanks are indeed not from the other side, but new tanks recently produced in the factory."

"What, new tanks produced in the factory?" Guriyev asked with wide eyes, "Not only do these tanks have no shells, they don't even have machine gun bullets. How do you plan to let them destroy the enemy?"

Sokov laughed, and then said: "Comrade General, we do know that these tanks have no ammunition, but the Germans don't know. They saw tanks circling around the factory building, and thought they were supported by an armored brigade, so They're going to be hesitant to attack here, and that buys us valuable time to solidify our direction."