Red Moscow

But when Sokov's troops attacked the German second line of defense, Krylov was reading the battle report of the day to Chuikov: "... the 37th and 39th Guards Rifle Divisions, the 308th, 95th and 30th Rifle Divisions The offensive launched by the 195th Division, due to the tenacious defense of the German army and the powerful firepower they possessed, our army did not achieve the expected results..."

After Krylov finished reading, Chuikov frowned and asked, "So, the attack we launched today has not achieved any results at all except for the loss of a large number of troops?"

"That's right, Comrade Commander, that's exactly the case." Krylov replied: "Although our commanders and fighters were extremely tenacious and brave in battle, due to the excessive firepower of the enemy and the solid Fortifications, so the results achieved are minimal. Even if individual troops wedged into the German defense zone for four or five kilometers, the occupied area does not have any decent fortifications at all. Once the Germans counterattack, they will not be able to defend at all.”

Chuikov smiled wryly, and continued: "Comrade Chief of Staff, so the results obtained by Lieutenant Colonel Sokov's troops are the only bright spot in our counterattack today?"

"Comrade Commander, you can say that." Krylov agreed with Sokov's statement, but he said with regret: "But Lieutenant Colonel Sokov has limited troops. Victory can be achieved on a local battlefield, but the results are also inconspicuous."

"As long as his troops can reach Orlovka, set up defenses there, and persist until the arrival of friendly troops, it will be a great victory." Although Chuikov knew very well in his heart, with Sokov's current strength, it would be a great victory if he wanted to break through The remaining three lines of defense of the German army are extremely difficult, but he still took a chance and said: "As long as we can join forces with the friendly forces outside the encirclement, the battle situation will develop in a direction that is beneficial to our army."

Krylov raised his hand and looked at his watch, and said to Chuikov: "Comrade Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov's troops should be attacking the second line of defense of the German army at this moment. I wonder if their progress is going well?"

…………

The defense of the second line of defense of the German army was much tighter than that of the first line of defense. After the tank battalion lost seven tanks and the infantry battalion suffered more than 100 casualties, it barely took the position.

After entering the position, Sokov ordered the radio operator angrily: "Radio operator, send a telegram to the Air Force and ask them why the fighter planes supporting us haven't shown up yet?"

The reason why he was so angry was that according to the prior deployment, the air force should appear in the air when the troops attacked the first line of defense of the German army. Unexpectedly, now that the second line of defense has been captured, he has not yet seen the shadow of the Air Force, so he was very angry in his heart, and he specially ordered a telegram to question Colonel Khostnikov.

Colonel Khostnikov soon sent a reply, in which he said: "Because rats were found inside the fuselage of several planes, they had bitten the insulation lines, making the instruments on the plane It cannot be used normally, resulting in the inability to dispatch fighter planes to provide air support to the troops."

After reading the telegram, Sokov threw it on the ground angrily, and said angrily: "Damn, this is really a hell. How come Colonel Khorstnikov's flying regiment will also encounter rats..."

Yakov waited until Sokov finished venting, and then asked tentatively: "Misha, is it because our air force can't provide air cover for the ground troops just because a mouse got into the fuselage of the plane?"

"Yes, Yakov." Hearing Yakov's question, Sokov nodded with a wry smile, and said, "This has happened before. Rats got into the fuselage of the plane and bit them badly." It insulated the wires, disabled the instruments on the plane, and caused the plague in the pilots, keeping our Air Force out of combat for a long time."

"Then what should we do?" Yakov originally thought that there was an air force's cover, so breaking through the remaining two lines of defense should not be a big problem. Who knew that the air force could not come for some reason at this moment, and he couldn't help feeling a little panicked: " What should we do when we are bombed by the enemy?"

"It's getting dark, we must move faster, otherwise our tanks will be greatly reduced when it gets dark." Sokov looked up at the sky, and continued: "As for the enemy's air strikes? , when it gets dark, their air force won't be of much use."

At this time, both Bely and Vanya came to Sokov and asked him for instructions on the next move. Seeing the arrival of the two, Sokov nodded at them, then pointed to the map placed on the trench wall, and began to say: "Vanya, use the rockets you carry to attack the enemy's defensive positions; Colonel Bely, You led the tank battalion, weaved around the left flank of the enemy's line of defense, and flanked Vanya's troops back and forth to break through the German third line of defense."

"Understood!" Vanya and Bely replied in unison. After a while, Bely went on to say: "Comrade Brigadier, if it's getting dark today, I'm afraid we won't be able to move forward when we capture the enemy's position. See if you can wait until dawn tomorrow before attacking the enemy." The fourth line of defense launched an attack?"

"No, Comrade Colonel, this is absolutely not possible." Regarding Bely's proposal, Sokov refused without hesitation: "The time we need now must advance to Orlovka at the fastest speed. If Postponing the attack time until tomorrow dawn, one is to give the German army an extra night of preparation time, and the other is that we will be attacked by German artillery fire and bombed by the air force during the daytime attack, and we are bound to pay a greater price."

"Comrade Brigadier," Seeing that Sokov rejected his proposal, Biely said unwillingly, "You also know how to drive a tank. Naturally, you know that tank soldiers have a very narrow field of vision when fighting at night. This shortcoming will become more apparent."

"I understand what you mean, Comrade Colonel. Since this is the case, after capturing the third line of defense, your tank battalion will temporarily stop to rest." Sokov turned his gaze to Vanya: "The German fourth line The attack of the defensive line, I think it will be done by the infantry."

"What, let the infantry independently complete the attack on the German fourth line of defense?" Bely said with some surprise: "Without the support of tanks, it is undoubtedly a suicidal act to let the infantry attack the German defensive positions."

"Colonel Bely, don't worry." Vanya grinned and said confidently: "Although without the support of tanks, we will encounter some difficulties when attacking, but we can use the new rockets to give The enemy has dealt a heavy blow. When the enemy is in chaos, we can take the opportunity to rush up."

"Comrade Brigadier." Seeing that Vanya was so confident, Bely's worries eased a little. He looked at Sokov and asked, "I want to ask, when will we launch a new offensive?"

Sokov raised his hand to check the time, and said to Bely and Vanya, "Both of you return to the army immediately, and attack the enemy in ten minutes."

"Comrade Brigadier," Vanya asked worriedly, "we have put all our forces into the offensive, so who will protect your safety?"

"Comrade Captain, you don't have to worry about this." Sokov patted the assault rifle on his shoulder and said with a smile: "As long as I have this gun, a dozen or twenty enemies still can't get close to me." Yes. And the superior has sent us a battalion, they are rushing here, and they will arrive here in a short time, you don't have to worry about my safety."

Not long after Bely and Vanya left, a soldier staying in the trench suddenly shouted at Sokov: "Comrade Brigadier, there is a convoy behind us, it may be the enemy."

Hearing that the enemy was approaching, Sokov immediately put the assault rifle in his hand and shouted loudly: "Ready to fight!"

Although there were only a dozen soldiers in the trench, after hearing the orders from Sokovel and others, they put their weapons on the edge of the trench one after another and got ready for battle. And Guchakov, who has been responsible for protecting Sokov's safety, even set up an MG34 machine gun, ready to shoot immediately after the enemy approaches.

Sokov raised his binoculars and looked into the distance, and found a convoy of more than ten trucks coming. Although it was a truck with a canopy, Sokov recognized at a glance that it was a truck equipped by the Soviet Army. He quickly put down his binoculars and shouted to the side: "Don't shoot, your own!"

The convoy slowed down when it was more than 200 meters away from the trench. Except for the first car that continued to drive forward, the rest of the cars stopped one after another. Seeing that only the leading truck was coming, Sokov guessed that the other party might be afraid of causing misunderstanding, so he only sent one car to get in touch, and quickly told Guchakov: "Guchakov, go and have a look, it's here." Which part is it?"

Guchakov agreed, crawled out of the trench on hands and feet, and trotted towards the truck. When he was still 30 to 40 meters away from the truck, he waved his hands desperately at the truck, and at the same time shouted loudly: "Stop, stop quickly!"

The truck stopped five or six meters away from Guchakov, and a major officer jumped out from the co-driver's cab. He came to Guchakov, looked at his rank, and said, "Lieutenant Comrade, I am Major Tenev, please tell Lieutenant Colonel Sokov that the guard battalion of the Army Group Command has been ordered to report."

Hearing what Tenev called him, Guchakov couldn't help but blush. Although he was demoted to a corporal by Sokov, he is now wearing the rank of lieutenant, so that Tenev got it wrong. He quickly explained: "Comrade Major, you made a mistake. I am no longer a lieutenant, but a corporal."

"Ah, you are a corporal?" Tenev looked at the other party's military rank carefully, and asked with some surprise: "Comrade Lieutenant, the situation is urgent, please don't make such a joke on us."

"I'm not joking, Comrade Major." Guchakov blushed and explained to Tenev: "I was demoted to corporal because I made a mistake. The specific situation is related to confidentiality regulations, so I can't Please forgive me for telling you too much detail."

"Don't worry, Comrade Corporal, I won't ask about things that shouldn't be asked." After changing Guchakov's address, Tenev urged him: "Hurry up and take me to see Lieutenant Colonel Sokov." Bar."

A few minutes later, Tenev followed Gutchakov to the trench and showed Sokov his purpose. Sokov shook the opponent's hand and asked, "Comrade Major, how many troops do you have?"

"The whole battalion has just been replenished before crossing the river. There are currently 425 people." Tenev replied: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, please give us an order."

"It's like this, Comrade Major." Sokov immediately brought the opponent to the map, gestured with his hands and said, "My troops are about to launch an attack on the German third line of defense, and your battalion is on standby here for the time being. After they have captured the enemy's position, you continue to advance in the fourth direction of the enemy."

Vanya's troops launched a feint attack on the German fortifications from the front, while Bely's tank units made a detour from the German defenses' flanks. Hearing the sound of guns not far away, Tenev couldn't help asking anxiously: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I heard that your troops are not large. Do you really need us to go up and help them?"

"Comrade Major, thank you for your kindness. But they really have nothing for you to help." Sokov now asked Tenev: "I want to ask, what kind of weapons are you all equipped with?"

"Rifles and submachine guns." Tenev replied: "Each platoon has a rotary machine gun, and the output firepower is considered medium."

Sokov pointed to the trench full of German corpses, and continued to ask: "Comrade Major, let the soldiers search here to see if they can find suitable equipment?"

"Thank you for your kindness." Tenev glanced at the weapons next to the German corpses, shook his head and said, "Our battalion is all equipped with Soviet-style equipment. If some German-style equipment is added, I am worried that we may be given supplies. Adding to the trouble."

While the two were talking, the radio operator suddenly called Sokov: "Comrade Brigadier, Colonel Bely wants to talk to you."

Sokov terminated the conversation with Tenev, went to the radio operator and squatted down, took the headset and microphone, and said loudly: "Comrade Colonel, I am Sokov, what happened to you?" ?”

"Report to Comrade Brigadier Commander." Although the roar of the tank engine was loud, Sokov could still hear Bely's words clearly: "We met a girl in her twenties while we were marching. "

"Meet a girl?" Sokov couldn't help frowning slightly when he heard this, and said with some displeasure: "Comrade Colonel, the task of your battalion is to rush to the enemy's rear quickly, don't worry about any girls." , let the troops move on."