Red Moscow

Not long after the German artillery positions were bombed, Sokov received a telegram from Grisa from behind the enemy, saying that after the scouts confirmed that all the German artillery had been scrapped during the bombing, only less than 30 artillerymen survived. down.

After reading the telegram, Sokov frowned, regardless of whether there was any joy on his face. Briski, who was sitting by the side, was taken aback by his expression, thinking that something serious had happened, and hurriedly asked tentatively, "Comrade Brigadier, is something wrong?"

"Look at it." Sokov didn't explain the reason, but directly passed the telegram in his hand to Briski: "The flight regiment bombed the German artillery position not long ago."

After hearing what Sokov said, Briski quickly glanced through the contents of the telegram, raised his head and asked puzzledly: "Comrade Brigadier, this is good news. Why do you seem so depressed?"

"Didn't you see the content behind it?" Sokov pointed at the telegram with his finger and said, "The Germans still have 30 artillerymen left. Doesn't Grisa know that to train a good artilleryman, How long will it take? If they take out the rest of the artillery by the way, the German artillery can be dismantled."

After finishing speaking, without waiting for Briski to speak, Sokov told the radio operator: "Call Lieutenant Grisa back and tell him that since the Air Force has killed all the enemy's cannons, his task, besides confirming the results of the battle, It is to wipe out all the remaining artillerymen."

After thinking about what Sokov said, Briski thought it was quite reasonable. The German artillery was destroyed, and it might only take a few days to add new ones; but if the experienced artillery was killed, It will take at least one or two months to retrain qualified artillerymen.

When the radio operator began to send a report, Briski nodded and said, "Comrade Brigadier, you are right, sometimes it is more meaningful to destroy the enemy's artillery than to blow up the enemy's cannon."

Sokov thought to himself: Since the flying regiment can attack the enemy's artillery positions today, it can bomb the enemy's marching columns tomorrow. Even when the enemy launches a fierce attack on the assembly workshop, he can order the air force to attack and use three-dimensional defense to crush the enemy's attack.

While he was thinking about something, the phone on the desk rang. Seeing that both Zinchenko and Cousteau were absent, he grabbed the microphone and asked bluntly, "This is the assembly workshop. Where are you?"

"Hello!" A strange voice came from the receiver: "I am from the Army Group Command, please ask Lieutenant Colonel Sokov to answer the phone..."

"I'm Sokov." Knowing that the call was from the Army Group Command, Sokov guessed that there must be something important, so he quickly identified himself to the other party: "What's the matter?"

"Hello, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov." The caller also identified himself: "I am Colonel Beliavsky, the chief of operations of the Army Group, please go to the Army Group Command for a meeting after dark. "

"A meeting at the Army Group Headquarters tonight?" Sokov couldn't help being taken aback, and asked instinctively: "Comrade Director, may I ask, what is it?"

But Beliavsky did not explain the topic of the meeting to him. Instead, he said dryly, "You will find out in the evening. Good luck!" After finishing speaking, he hung up the phone.

"Strange, what kind of meeting is there at the Army Group Command at this time?" After putting down the phone, Sokov couldn't help but said to himself, "It's so strange!"

Briski waited for Sokov to finish speaking, and asked tentatively, "Comrade Brigadier, could it be that our army is going to launch a counterattack?"

"Counterattack?!" Sokov stared wide-eyed, and asked back in surprise: "Comrade Captain, do you think that under the current situation, our army has the strength to launch a counterattack against the enemy?"

Sokov's words made Briski silent for a long time before he said: "Comrade Brigadier, in all honesty, I also think that under the current circumstances, it is not suitable to launch a counterattack. After all, in terms of our strength and equipment, we have Compared with the Germans, they are all at a disadvantage. But now the city is in danger of falling at any time, if the existing passive defense posture is not changed, the consequences will be disastrous."

"Comrade Captain, what you said makes sense." Sokov knew very well that if the Soviet army launched a counterattack at this time, it would be difficult to escape the fate of failure in the end. With the instructions of the superiors, even if they knew it would end in a disastrous defeat, the counterattack would proceed as usual. He smiled wryly and said, "I guess the topic of tonight's meeting is related to the counteroffensive."

…………

After dark, Sokov took a few soldiers along the traffic trench in the factory area, left the factory from the west factory gate, and went to the group army headquarters for a meeting.

When he walked into the semi-underground shelter, he unexpectedly found that his deputy brigade commander Witkov was also there. He couldn't help asking in surprise: "Comrade colonel, how did you come here?"

"The army headquarters is holding an important military meeting, why can't I come?" Witkov specially reminded Sokov: "Comrade brigade commander, don't forget, I am still the deputy chief of staff of the army."

If Witkov didn't remind him, Sokov would really forget that his deputy brigade commander was actually the deputy chief of staff of the army group. In order to get rid of the embarrassment, he scanned the room with his eyes and found that there were quite a few people coming, almost all of them were military heads of divisions and brigades. Seeing this situation, he thought to himself: Maybe Briski's guess is true. The meeting is to discuss counter-offensive matters. He asked Vitkov in a low voice: "Comrade Colonel, do you know the topic of tonight's meeting?"

Unexpectedly, Vitkov shrugged his shoulders, spread his hands, and said rather helplessly: "Comrade Brigadier, I actually know as much as you. I also came here in a hurry after receiving the call."

At this moment, Krylov came out from the back room. Seeing that the people attending the meeting had almost arrived, he announced loudly: "comrades commanders, the meeting is about to start, please sit down."

The meeting room is limited in size, and the long conference table in the middle is relatively short, so only generals are eligible to sit at the table, and the rest of the participating commanders can only sit on the benches by the wall.

As soon as everyone sat down, they saw Chuikov and Gurov walking out of the back room. Everyone stood up and paid attention to them. "Commanders, please sit down." Chuikov walked to his seat, raised his hand and pressed down, calling for everyone to sit down, and then nodded to Krylov: "Let's start, Chief of Staff Comrade."

"Commanders, the Supreme Commander has issued an order to our Stalingrad Front Army to counterattack, let us break through the enemy's siege of Stalingrad at all costs." Krylov picked up a explaining stick and pointed to the wall On the map, he said to the commanders present: "After research, the chief of the group army decided to concentrate its forces to launch an attack to the northwest of the factory area, and strive to take Orlovka back from the enemy's hands within one day. After achieving this goal, we will use this place as the starting point for our attack, and continue to attack the depths of the enemy's defenses in order to join the friendly forces on the periphery."

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Guriyev couldn't help interjecting when he heard this, "I want to ask, what kind of troops are we using to launch this counterattack?"

Krylov held the explaining stick in both hands, looked at Guriyev and said: "Tomorrow, two infantry brigades will cross the river and enter the factory area. They will be the main force of the attack..." At this point, he turned to face the map , raised the explaining stick again: "When they attack the enemy, the commanders of the divisions and brigades should actively cooperate with their actions and launch counterattacks against the enemy from the existing defensive positions to contain their forces. "

"Some people may ask, why did we launch a counterattack against the German army under such circumstances?" Krylov put down the explaining stick, and said to the participating commanders: "Because the current situation in Stalingrad has reached its peak." A critical moment. In the urban area in the south of the city, more than 70% of the blocks and buildings have been occupied by the enemy. Our remaining troops there have been divided into several small pieces and are still engaged in street fighting relying on buildings, fortifications and the enemy; In the northern direction of the city, the Yerman district, the Dzerzhinsky district, the Red October factory district, the barricade factory district, and the tractor factory district, although our commanders and fighters are resisting tenaciously, under the frenzied attack of the German army, the defense line is one step closer. step back to the banks of the Volga.

In a word, if we still carry out passive defense, the city may fall into the hands of the Germans. Therefore, we must launch a counterattack as soon as possible to reverse this unfavorable situation. "

After Krylov finished speaking, the whole room fell into silence. Chuikov glanced over the crowd one by one to observe their expressions. He stood up and said, "Commanders, you and I know very well that our army is far from being able to match the German army in terms of equipment and personnel. By the way, under such circumstances, launching a counter-offensive against the enemy is tantamount to asking for death. However, the reason why the counter-offensive is necessary has already been stated by the Chief of Staff, so I will not repeat it here. The offensive will start in three days , everyone, please hurry up and make preparations after you go back, so as to cooperate with the friendly forces to complete this counterattack mission."

After Cuikov finished speaking, he saw that the room was still silent, and no one took the initiative to speak. After a moment of silence, he asked briefly, "Do you have any questions?"

Regarding the counterattack decided by the base camp, all the commanders remained silent. They were thinking about what kind of troops they should use to complete the tasks assigned to them by their superiors.

Seeing that everyone was silent, Chuikov could only call the roll call: "General Guriyev, what do you think of this counterattack?"

"I resolutely obey orders." Guriyev looked up at Chuikov and said, "The superior ordered me to attack, and I will attack."

"General Guriyev," Gurov asked, who was still silent on the side, "as far as I know, your division has suffered a lot of downsizing in recent battles. Are you capable of launching a counterattack?"

"Comrade Military Commissar," Guriyev replied with a solemn expression, "since the superior has issued an order to counterattack, we will unconditionally carry it out. If there is one regiment left in the division, I will be the head of the regiment; if there is one battalion left, I will be the battalion commander. Even if there is only one person left, we will try our best to complete the orders of the superiors."

"General Guriyev, what you said is really good." Gurov applauded Guriyev's words, and he turned to the other commanders and said: "Comrades, you all heard that General Guriyev Was it said? If all of us possessed such courage and heroism, there would be no problem breaking through the enemy's siege of Stalingrad."

Seeing that Guriyev's statement was well received by the comrades of the military commissar, the rest of the commanders knew what they should say, and they all stood up to clarify their attitude, expressing that they would fight the vicious enemy to the last man.

Only Sokov sat in his seat without saying a word. He frowned and thought: If the troops defending the entire factory area are consumed in this counterattack with no hope of success, who should be responsible for the defense of these areas next? what about work?

Witkov kept Sokov silent, so he touched him with his elbow and asked in a low voice: "Comrade Brigadier, don't you plan to say a few words?"

"Comrade Colonel, what can I say?" Sokov looked at Vitkov beside him, and said in a low voice with a wry smile: "Are you going to launch a counterattack against the enemy in the front? How many troops are left in the brigade? I think you should be very concerned." Clearly, once these vital forces are exhausted in a counterattack without loss, once the Germans regain their superiority and launch an attack on Mamayev Post, what kind of forces should we use to hold it?"

"Comrade Brigadier," Vitkov leaned close to Sokov's ear, and said anxiously, "I don't think the superiors plan to use the troops on Mamayev Post at all. They know very well that once this commanding height is occupied by the Germans , then the north-south connection of the city will be cut off, and even if we don't replenish our troops, they won't take the troops here to leave. I'm talking about your fourth battalion in the factory area, hand over the defense to the militia in the factory, and then Then you can safely and boldly attack the enemy."

Sokov knew that launching an attack on the German army would end with a pebble hitting a stone, so he said tactfully: "Comrade Colonel, you don't know that there are too many places to defend in the factory area, and even the destroyer battalion that cooperates with us has been transferred away. If only a small number of militiamen with weak combat effectiveness are left in the assembly workshop, I worry that the enemy will soon gain a foothold in the factory area."

Chuikov also hoped that Sokov would stand up and say a few words. After all, the troops under his command had won so many victories, and his speech could increase everyone's confidence, so he personally named Sokov: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov , you can also say a few words."