Red Moscow

After Sokov waited for the commanders to leave, he looked at Belkin who was still sitting at the table and asked, "Comrade Commissar, this place is too dangerous. I think you should go back to Mamayev Post."

"Comrade Brigadier, you are not afraid of danger, so I have nothing to fear." Belkin looked at Sokov and reminded him, "Don't forget, I was a military officer before I partnered with you. , fought against the enemy on the battlefield." He didn't want to waste time on this issue, so he took the initiative to change the subject, "Comrade Brigadier, do you think we have the strength to defend the factory?"

Sokov found it difficult to answer Belkin's question. In real history, three-quarters of the factory area was occupied by the German army. Due to the appearance of this butterfly, less than a quarter of the area was lost today. one. Therefore, he said in an uncertain tone: "If the enemy still maintains today's offensive intensity, I think it is still safe to defend."

When Sokov said this, he suddenly thought that he had asked Guriyev for help two or three hours ago, and now that the battle was over, the friendly troops would be in vain if they rushed over. In order to prevent the friendly troops from going wrong, he quickly picked up the phone on the table and asked the factory operator to connect the call to the headquarters of the 39th Guards Division.

"This is the headquarters of the 39th Guards Division." The chief of staff, Lieutenant Colonel Zalijuk, spoke extremely fast through the receiver: "I want to know who I am talking to?"

"Hello, Comrade Chief of Staff." From the tone of the other party's voice, Sokov guessed that the division's defense area should still be fighting fiercely, and quickly replied: "It's me, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov! "

Zalijuk thought that Sokov was calling to inquire about the urban area where the reinforcements were located, so he said apologetically, "I'm sorry, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, the Germans are attacking our division's defensive positions from several directions at the same time. Temporarily unable to deploy troops to reinforce you, so you can only find ways to block the enemy by yourself."

"Comrade Chief of Staff, you have misunderstood." Sokov heard the faint sound of guns and guns coming from the receiver, knowing that Zalijuk was not lying, so he cut the long story short: "I called you not to urge you to send troops, but to I want to tell you that there is no need to send us reinforcements, we have enough strength to hold the factory area."

"There's no need to send reinforcements to you?!" Zalijuk asked wonderingly, "Where did you get reinforcements from?"

In order not to cause trouble for Chuikov, Sokov avoided talking about the reinforcements to be sent by the headquarters, but said lightly: "I considered that I had too few troops, so I transferred them from Mamayev Post. A battalion was sent to strengthen the defense."

"Oh, oh, so that's the case!" Zalityuk heard that reinforcements were transferred from Mamayev Post, so he didn't ask any more questions, but said casually, "Then I wish you good luck."

"Comrade Brigadier," seeing Sokov put down the phone, Belkin asked curiously, "Apart from the first battalion, do you ask other troops for help?"

"Yes, Comrade Political Commissar." Sokov nodded and said, "Before you came, the German army had launched an attack on our place. I was worried that our troops were limited and could not hold the position, so I asked Gu Li, commander of the 39th Guards Division, General Yev asked for help, hoping that he could send troops to reinforce us. But because they were also attacked by the German army, they could not send manpower to support us for a while, so we can only estimate the battle. Now it is all right, with a battalion of several hundred fighters, our defense here has been greatly strengthened..."

Before Sokov finished speaking, the phone on the table rang. He put the microphone to his ear, and immediately heard the observation post report to him: "Comrade Brigadier, a force of hundreds of people has appeared from the west and is coming towards us."

As soon as the voice of the observation post fell, Sokov asked nervously: "Did you see clearly, are they ours or Germans?"

"Comrade Brigadier, I can see very clearly." The observation post replied, "It's our people, there are about three or four hundred people."

Hearing what the observation post said, Sokov immediately thought that this army might be the reinforcements sent by Chuikov. When he was about to put down the phone, he suddenly remembered that the air battle outside was not over yet. If the enemy plane spotted the army moving on the ground and dropped a few more bombs or frantically strafed the army, the army would suffer huge losses, so he hurriedly asked : "Is the air battle outside still going on?"

"No, it's over." The observation post replied dryly: "After the enemy planes retreated, our fighter planes also withdrew one after another."

After confirming that the air battle outside was over, Sokov felt much more at ease in his heart. In this way, he could fully accept the reinforcements, so that he wouldn't be like the first battalion, who didn't even see the enemy's face. , a lot of casualties. He said to the observation post: "Listen, those are the reinforcements given to us by the superiors. Later, you send someone to bring the commander to me. Do you understand?"

"Understood, Comrade Brigadier Commander." The observation post replied briefly.

"Comrade Brigadier," Belkin asked curiously, "what about this reinforcement?"

"When the commander learned that I took the initiative to attack the enemy today, he once lost his temper at me. But considering that our defense here is insufficient, he specially sent a mixed regiment to me." Sokov told Belkin Explained: "This force may be the reinforcements sent by the commander."

When the observation post led two commanders into the room, Sokov felt like he couldn't laugh or cry. Chuikov was just kidding me. He actually sent himself a colonel, and the political worker who accompanied him was also a colonel. Regimental political commissar.

Sokov and Belkin quickly got up and raised their hands to salute the colonel and regimental commissar who came in. Before Sokov could speak, the colonel raised his hand to return the salute, and said first, "Hello, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, I am Colonel Koida, the commander of the 184th Infantry Division, and next to me is Mashko, the regimental commissar. husband."

When Sokov heard it, it turned out that he was the commander and political commissar of the 184th Division. No wonder his military rank was higher than that of himself and Belkin. He quickly shook hands with them one by one, and said politely: "Two commanders, you are welcome to come here and fight side by side with us."

"Lieutenant Colonel Sokov," Koyda said blankly, "I was ordered to lead a mixed regiment here to accept your command. Please assign combat missions!"

"Comrade Colonel," Sokov already had several colonels under his command, and he didn't care about one more Colonel Koyda, so he asked with a normal expression, "How many people are there in your regiment?"

"There are 419 people in the whole regiment." Koyda replied: "Except for more than 100 people who are my old subordinates, the rest of the commanders and fighters are all from the infantry divisions that have withdrawn to the rear to make up. .”

When he heard that there were only more than 400 people left, Sokov was still somewhat disappointed, but when he heard that these soldiers were all from combat troops, he suddenly regained his spirits, which meant that they were all veterans with combat experience. There are only four hundred people, which are definitely better than four thousand workers temporarily armed. They can be left as a reserve team, and they can be sent up at critical moments.

"Colonel Koyda," Sokov said to Koyda, "you must have driven so far, the soldiers must be very tired. Why don't you rest in the basement first, and I will come back when you need to participate in the battle." Informing you."

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," Mashkov saw that Sokov didn't seem to take his troops seriously, so he took a step forward and said slightly dissatisfied: "We are here to fight, not to rest. Please give Let's assign combat missions."

Mashkov's words made Sokov stunned for a moment, but he soon realized that the other party had misunderstood what he meant, and quickly explained with a smile: "Comrade regimental political commissar, you misunderstood. There are several exits in the basement. It is connected by communication trenches and trenches, and our soldiers can enter the positions directly from the basement."

After listening to Sokov's explanation, Mashkov realized that he had wronged the other party, and when he was about to apologize, he saw two captains walking in from the outside. Sokov called the two men over and said to Koida and Mashkov: "Colonel, Comrade Political Commissar at the regiment level, let me introduce you. Captain Briski." Considering that Briski was familiar with the basement, he told him, "Lieutenant Briski, you will be responsible for arranging where the colonel and regiment-level political commissar troops live."

Briski nodded, then walked in front of Koida and the others, first made a gesture of invitation, and said politely: "Comrade two commanders, please come with me, I will arrange accommodation for you."

After Koida and Mashkov left with Briski, Belkin shook his head and said, "Comrade Brigadier, I think the commander's arrangement is really inappropriate!"

"Inappropriate?" Belkin's words made Sokov confused: "Comrade Commissar, I don't understand what you mean."

Belkin sneered, and said: "First, Colonel Witkov, the deputy chief of staff of the Army Group, was appointed as your deputy, and then Colonel Bely was appointed as the commander of the tank battalion. You command, and now there is another Colonel Koyda. How will others see you as a lieutenant colonel commanding so many colonels?"

Sokov scratched the back of his head, and laughed twice: "If you don't want others to gossip, you can only consider asking your superiors to promote me to the rank. I'm not greedy, and a major general is enough. In this way, I will be able to command these colonels justifiably." Sokov's joke caused Belgin and Vanya to burst into laughter, and even the radio operator sitting in the corner couldn't help laughing.

Suddenly a voice came from the door: "Comrade commander, what are you laughing at?"