Red Moscow

When Sokov walked out of the workshop, he saw a team trotting towards his position in the distance. With sharp eyes, Sokov immediately saw Belkin and Vanya at the front of the team. Seeing the political commissar he hadn't seen for a long time, Sokov was filled with joy. Just when he wanted to speed up his pace to meet him, something unexpected happened.

A German bomber, freed from the entanglement of the Soviet fighters, swooped down towards the marching troops, dropped bombs and strafed, and the marching troops were immediately shrouded in gunpowder smoke.

Seeing his troops being bombed and strafed by enemy planes, Sokov's heart ached as if someone had grabbed him violently. Looking at the place filled with gunpowder smoke, he blurted out: "Political Commissar! The First Battalion Long!" He yelled and ran forward.

Briski, who was following behind, saw another German bomber diving in his direction, and hurriedly shouted: "Comrade Brigadier, it's dangerous, get down!" He rushed to Soko as fast as he could. Husband's side, hugged the other's shoulders, exhausted all the strength in his body, and pressed him to the ground. As soon as the two of them got down, the battle dropped by the enemy plane landed seven or eight meters away and exploded.

Briski looked up at the sky and saw that the enemy plane had pulled up again and was flying to another place. He just stood up, pulled Sokov up by the way, and said in a reproachful tone: "Comrade Brigadier, didn't you see an enemy plane in the sky? How could you take such a risk?"

When Sokov was crushed by Briski, his arms and legs were contused to varying degrees, but he was worried about the safety of Belkin and Vanya, and he didn't care about his own injuries, so he urged Briski: " Hurry up to see the political commissar and the first battalion commander and see how they are doing?"

"Don't worry, Comrade Brigadier Commander. The Political Commissar and the First Battalion Commander are all fine!" The gunpowder smoke in the distance dissipated, allowing Briski to see the people there clearly. After watching for a while, he said pleasantly: "Look , they are coming towards us."

Looking in the direction of Briski's finger, Sokov certainly saw Belkin and Vanya, whom he was familiar with, stumbling out of the smoke. Sokov was eager to know whether the two were injured, so he ignored the possibility of the enemy plane swooping down again, and walked towards Belkin and the others in three steps at a time.

"Comrade Brigadier!" "Comrade Political Commissar!"

Sokov and Belkin shook hands, thinking that everyone was on the verge of death just now, and they couldn't help feeling a lot of emotion when they met at this moment: "Comrade Comrade Commissar, are you not injured?"

"No." Belkin shook his head and said, "The bombs dropped by the enemy are still far away from me." He turned his head to look at the troops approaching one after another, and added with a serious expression, "But we still suffered some casualties. "

"First Battalion Commander," Sokov shook hands with Vanya after letting go of Belkin's hand, and asked with concern, "Aren't you injured? How many people were killed or injured in the battalion?"

"The specific data has not been calculated yet." Vanya said with a solemn expression: "I estimate that there are at least thirty casualties."

"Brigade Commander, Political Commissar." Seeing Sokov standing in an open place talking to Belkin and the others, Briski hurried over and urged, "It's too dangerous here, let's go back to the basement."

"Yes, Comrade Commissar." After Briski's reminder, Sokov immediately realized that this is not a place to talk. If another enemy plane came, dropped two bombs or swept a shuttle, the 73rd Infantry Brigade would be killed. To lose half of the important commander: "Let's go to the basement."

In order to prevent a possible German attack, Vanya immediately sent a company of fighters into the trenches to assist the fourth battalion and the militia in defense. The rest of the soldiers and all the wounded followed Sukov and the others into the basement.

Asiya, who was treating the wounded, suddenly saw more than a dozen wounded coming, and the situation was still familiar, so she couldn't help showing a surprised expression on her face. After staring at the wounded for a while, she recognized that one of the sergeants with a head injury belonged to the first battalion. She quickly grabbed him and asked curiously, "Comrade sergeant, aren't you from the first battalion?"

"Yes, Comrade Assia." The sergeant also recognized Assia: "I'm from the first battalion, why are you here?"

"I was ordered to come here to take care of the wounded." After Assia answered the other party's question, she asked back: "Comrade Sergeant, why are you here?"

"We were ordered to come here to strengthen the defense." The sergeant replied: "We were bombed by enemy planes on the way, and dozens of people were killed or injured. The wounded who came in with me are all from the first battalion."

"Who is leading the team when you come this time?" Assia heard that the first battalion was here to support her, and she immediately felt more at ease. They are here, there shouldn't be any problem keeping the assembly workshop here. While helping the sergeant bandage the wound, she asked tentatively, "Who is leading the team when you come here this time? Is it Captain Vanya?"

The sergeant knew that Asya was the wife of the brigade commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Sokov, and therefore did not keep her secret in this matter, but replied truthfully: "Yes, not only Captain Vanya is here, but also the other Commissar Erjin is also here!"

"What, the political commissar is here too?" Assia couldn't help being stunned for a moment when she heard this, but she quickly returned to normal. Propaganda work, what are the political commissars doing here?"

To Assia's question, the sergeant smiled wryly, and replied with some embarrassment: "Assia, I don't know about that. As long as we can defeat the enemy, it doesn't matter who we follow."

While Asiya was bandaging the wounds of the wounded, Sokov held a brief military meeting in his command post to discuss how to fight the next battle.

Sokov first introduced Belkin and Vanya to Colonel Bely, and then said: "Comrade Colonel, although we have the air force to help out, there are too many enemy planes. If we want to gain air supremacy on the battlefield, we may not be able to do so." It's too easy, and in this way, your tank battalion may not be able to dispatch in a short time."

Hearing that his tank battalion might not be able to fight for a period of time in the upcoming battle, Bely didn't feel the slightest bit of relief, but frowned instead: "Comrade Brigadier, I want to ask you, what do you think about your Can the existing troops hold the assembly workshop?"

"If the Germans don't deploy their tanks," Briski said without waiting for Sokov to speak, "we should be able to hold this place."

"Comrade Captain," Bely turned his head to look at Briski, and said with a sneer, "do you think the Germans will not deploy tanks in order to seize this place?"

"It's impossible for the enemy not to deploy tanks." Seeing Briski blushing with shame, Sokov promptly rescued him: "We lack anti-tank weapons, so we can only rely on soldiers holding explosive packs Or anti-tank grenades, risking their lives to rush up and blow up enemy tanks."

"Comrade Brigadier, I have a suggestion." Seeing that Sokov was also troubled by the enemy's tanks, Bely said, "Although we don't need to take the initiative to attack the enemy, we can place a few tanks behind the position. It is used as a fixed turret. You know, our T-34 tank can easily penetrate the armor of the German Panzer III and Panzer IV at a distance of 500 meters."

"Comrade Brigadier, this is a good idea." Belkin waited for Bely to finish speaking, and immediately interjected: "If tanks are used as fixed turrets, then we will have anti-tank forces, no matter how many tanks the Germans dispatch. , we can also smash them into piles of scrap metal."

"That's right, we are using tanks as fixed turrets, and we are close to the problem of insufficient anti-tank weapons." Seeing that Belkin also supported his opinion, Bely said while the iron was hot: "Moreover, the tanks are scattered in different places. Even if the planes bomb, it is not easy to destroy them."

"Comrade battalion commanders," Seeing that Bely and Belkin both planned to use tanks as fixed turrets, Sokov did not express his opinion immediately, but looked at the other two battalion commanders and asked, "What do you two think? Like them, are you in favor of using tanks as stationary turrets?"

Vanya and Briski looked at each other, then nodded together in agreement.

Seeing that everyone's opinions were unified, Sokov said smoothly: "Since everyone agrees with Colonel Bely's opinion, then ten tanks will be deployed and deployed near the defensive position as fixed forts."

Bely stood up immediately after hearing what Sokov said, and said impatiently, "Comrade Brigadier, I'll arrange for tanks to serve as fixed turrets."

"Wait a minute, Comrade Colonel." Sokov quickly stopped Bely and said to him, "I haven't finished my sentence yet."

After Bely sat down again, Sokov said to everyone: "Commanders, the position that the Fourth Battalion is holding on to now is a trench more than 30 meters away from the factory building. Shelling, the soldiers in the trenches would suffer heavy casualties."

"Comrade Brigadier," Vanya interjected, "when the enemy starts shelling, I think it is possible to hide the troops for a while, and let them re-enter the position after the enemy's shelling is over!"

"First Battalion Commander, you put it lightly." Briski sneered when he heard Vanya say this: "We used to allow soldiers to hide in the factory building when it was intact. Now the factory building is under the enemy's shelling and bombing. Now, there is only an empty frame and piles of ruins left, where do you let our soldiers hide?"

Briski's words made Vanya speechless. He didn't expect that there was not even a decent fortification in the assembly workshop. Therefore, he could only turn his eyes to Sokov for help, hoping to get useful information from him.

Seeing that everyone was looking at him, Sokov really couldn't laugh or cry. He thought to himself: You are all waiting for me to make up your mind. If I leave this brigade in the future, will you not be able to fight?

Sokov supported the edge of the table with both hands, stood up and said: "comrades commanders, in order to prevent the enemy's shelling from causing excessive casualties to our soldiers standing on the ground, I am going to let the soldiers retreat to the ground during the shelling. Come and hide in the basement."

"What, let the soldiers hide in the basement?" Briski couldn't help but exclaimed in surprise when he heard Sokov say this: "Comrade Brigadier, the exit of the basement is on the south side of the factory building, and our defensive position is on the south side of the factory building." To the north. If the enemy's infantry sneaks up to our position with the help of shell craters and smoke during shelling, the enemy will rush into our position before the shelling is over, before our soldiers have even covered the nearly 100-meter distance. over our position..."

"Lieutenant Briski, don't get excited." Belkin knew Sokov well, and knew that he must have a detailed plan for what he said, so he interrupted Briski before he finished speaking, taking his time Said: "Listen first to what Comrade Brigadier said."

Sokov saw Belkin helping him speak, smiled at him, and continued: "I plan to dig a few exits on the north side of the basement, and use communication trenches to connect with our defending positions. When the enemy is shelling, our Soldiers can retreat into the basement to hide, leaving only a few observation posts on the position to monitor the enemy; after the enemy's shelling is over, our soldiers can re-enter the position along the communication trench."

"The Brigadier's solution is good." Seeing that Vanya was worried, Sokov solved it in a few words, and couldn't help saying excitedly: "In this way, we don't have to worry about the troops standing on the ground. When bombarded, there will be a huge price to pay."

"Also, we don't need too many troops on the ground." Sokov continued: "I think it's quite appropriate to send one hundred people at a time."

"One hundred people?" Hearing the number Sokov said, Briski asked hesitantly: "Only one hundred people are placed in a trench three to four hundred meters wide? That is to say, each person is responsible for About four meters wide."

"That's right, Comrade Brigadier," Belkin asked worriedly after hearing this, "One hundred men is a bit small. If there are too many enemies attacking, our soldiers won't be able to defend at all."

"Don't worry, I just placed such a small force on the ground, fully considering that the enemy will not adopt a dense formation when attacking." Sokov said confidently: "With the weapons in our soldiers' hands, The equipment and the firepower net weaved are enough to block the enemy's offensive."

Seeing Sokov's confidence, Belkin couldn't bear to pour cold water on him. He nodded and echoed: "Okay, comrades commanders, since we already know what to do next, let's all go back to our respective departments." Let the troops prepare, maybe the enemy will launch a new attack soon."

Briski got up and walked a few steps towards the door, then stopped, turned to Sokov and asked, "Comrade Brigadier, who do you plan to hand over to dig the exit north of the basement?"

"I'm going to leave this matter to Cousteau." Sokov looked at Briski and said, "Anyway, he is the workshop director here. He is familiar with the structure of the basement and knows where to dig the exit."

"Understood!" Briski raised his hand to salute Sokov, turned and walked out of the command post.