Red Moscow

"I have ordered Colonel Gurdiyev to launch a counterattack." Sokov couldn't help sighing after saying this: "But this is just doing everything possible, I have no doubts about whether they can regain the lost position." High hopes."

When Bely heard Sokov say such frustrating words, he couldn't help but said in amazement: "Comrade Brigadier, it is obviously impossible for us to retreat from the south. If we don't find a way to regain the position in the east, then our army will There is a possibility of being encircled by the German army."

Seeing that Bely was also aware of the seriousness of the problem, Sokov decided to reveal his true thoughts to him so that he could prepare in advance: "Colonel Bely, judging from the current situation, we have to attack from the south or east. There may be a huge price to be paid if we retreat. Therefore, we must choose a new direction."

"A new direction?" Hearing what Sokov said, Bere couldn't help being stunned. According to his thinking, if the troops couldn't defend in Orlovka and wanted to retreat, they could only choose to retreat south or east , the other two directions are the territory of the Germans, you can't lead the troops to rush into the enemy's pile, can you? So he asked puzzledly: "Comrade Brigadier, what direction should we choose?"

When answering this question, Sokov couldn't help hesitating for a moment, because he knew very well in his heart that the plain language conversation between himself and Bely was likely to be intercepted by the Germans, so he said vaguely: " As for which direction to break out from, I will send someone to inform you later."

Bely is also a smart man. Hearing what Sokov said, he guessed that he must be worried that such important information would be eavesdropped by the German army. He quickly replied: "Understood, Comrade Brigadier Commander, I will wait for your notice."

After finishing the call, Sokov sat on the ground, took out a pen and paper from his satchel, put it on the briefcase, and prepared himself to break out to the north of Orlovka and rush to Malikovka and Rokoso The rendezvous of Kevsky's troops was written down in detail. After finishing writing, he folded the piece of paper, called a communications soldier, and told him to rush to the small village immediately and hand over his plan to Bely.

After the messenger left, Sokov stretched himself, got up and walked out of the temporary headquarters, ready to go to the top of the hill to check the enemy's movements. Unexpectedly, after walking a few steps, he suddenly remembered an important matter, so he stopped and asked Guchakov who was following him: "Guchakov, have you seen Major Yakov?"

Although Yakov went north with Sokov this time, because he didn't stay by Sokov's side all the time, but moved around frequently, Sokov always forgot his existence. When preparing to break out of the siege, Sokov suddenly thought of Yakov. If something happened to Yakov during the breakout, he would not be able to get away with it.

Guchakov was stunned for a moment, and then replied: "Major Yakov seems to be in the defense zone of the guard battalion. Do I need to call him back?"

"Yes, Comrade Guchakov." Sokov said without hesitation: "You immediately call Major Tenev of the guard battalion and ask him to inform Yakov that I have something urgent to call him and let him Come back immediately."

After Yakov came to Orlovka, he ran around because he felt that he had nothing to do in the headquarters. In any case, Sokov has the final say on matters in the brigade, and he can only be regarded as a soy sauce role at best. Therefore, whenever he is free, he likes to go to the grassroots units and stay with the commanders and fighters. After receiving the call from Guchakov, he thought something had happened, so he immediately ran back to the hill.

Seeing Sokov, he couldn't wait to ask: "Misha, what's the urgent matter you are looking for?"

Sokov looked up at him, nodded, took out a map and spread it on the ground, pointed to it and said to him: "Yakov, our current situation is not good. Although there are people around us troops, but we have lost contact with them."

Yakov didn't know that the eastern position had been lost. He thought that Sokov was talking about the southern position handed over to the 120th Guards Regiment, so he said disapprovingly: "Misha, the southern position is always facing the threat from the west. With the strength of the 120th Guards Regiment, it will be very difficult to defend against the German attack on the front. But don’t worry, even if we cannot retreat to the south, we can transfer to the east and return to our defense zone.”

After Yakov finished speaking, Sokov smiled bitterly and said, "Yakov, you don't know yet, our position in the east has been lost."

"What, the eastern position is lost?" Yakov had an unbelievable expression on his face: "This, how is this possible? Misha, did you make a mistake? We are on the eastern position, not deployed Did you take down a battalion? I don't believe in the strength of a battalion, and it can't stop the enemy's attack for a few hours?"

"That's right, the troops we deployed in the eastern position are indeed a battalion." Sokov said with a complicated expression: "But after a long period of fighting, there are only thirty or forty people left in the battalion. The defense of such a wide position is simply powerless. As soon as the enemy launched an attack, he controlled the eastern position in a very short period of time and cut off our retreat."

"Our retreat has been cut off?!" Yakov was once surrounded by the troops he belonged to and was a prisoner of the Germans. Now that he learned that the retreat of the troops was cut off by the Germans, his face suddenly turned pale. He murmured : "Misha, what should we do? I don't want to be a prisoner again."

After saying these few words, Yakov pulled out the pistol from his waist, opened the safety, looked at Sokov and said, "This time, I would rather shoot myself in the head than be taken prisoner."

Seeing that his bullet was loaded, Sokov was afraid that the gun would go off, so he grabbed his wrist and comforted him, saying, "Yakov, don't worry, you won't be a prisoner, and I won't be a prisoner either. I won't be a prisoner either."

Sokov's words revived Yakov. He took the initiative to propose to Sokov: "Misha, I think we should organize a counterattack immediately to regain the lost position. I will go to the 308th Infantry Division now and work with them to regain the position from the enemy."

"Yakov, don't get excited." Seeing that Yakov was about to turn around and leave after finishing speaking, Sokov hurriedly stopped him: "According to various signs, the enemy wants to surround us first, and then eat us bit by bit. .Even if we launch a counterattack against the eastern position, it may not be possible to regain it."

"Misha, we still have tanks, which can guide the infantry and attack the enemy's defensive positions." Yakov said loudly what he thought in his heart: "You should bring back Colonel Bely's tank battalion, With their help, it should not be difficult for us to regain our lost ground."

"The tank battalion cannot be moved." Sokov said with a clear attitude: "If we want to jump out of the enemy's encirclement, then we cannot use the tank battalion."

"But without using the tank battalion, with the strength of the 308th Infantry Division, it is impossible to seize the enemy's position." Yakov knew very well that if Colonel Bely led the tank battalion to support it, the 308th Infantry Division would have been impossible to break through the enemy. At this moment, the division launched a counterattack against the enemy. Without the cooperation of the tanks, in addition to increasing casualties, there is no way to regain the position with much confidence.

"Whether it is going south or east is not an ideal choice." Sokov pointed to the map and said to Yakov: "The enemy's defense line separates us from our friendly forces. In order to prevent us from joining with our friendly forces, they will definitely strengthen them. Defense. In other words, if we want to break through these lines of defense, we will inevitably pay a heavy price."

"Misha, what's wrong with you? In the current situation, no matter how much we pay, we must join our friendly forces." Yakov said anxiously, "Otherwise, what awaits us is the end of our entire army being wiped out."

"Yakov, our friendly forces are not limited to the east and south." Sokov waited for Yakov to finish speaking, and said calmly: "We can also choose to join friendly forces from other directions."

"Apart from the east and south, where are there any friendly forces..." Yakov blurted out as soon as Sokov finished speaking. However, before he finished speaking, he suddenly guessed what Sokov was referring to. He couldn't help being shocked, and then asked in surprise: "Misha, don't you want to fight with Rokossovsky's troops?" Shall we meet?"

Seeing that Yakov had guessed his thoughts, Sokov nodded slightly and replied with a smile, "Yes, that's what I thought."

"Misha, are you crazy?" Yakov was originally squatting, but after hearing Sokov's answer, he suddenly jumped up from the ground, scaring Guchakov who was standing by the side as a guard. Jump. Yakov continued: "If the German defense lines in the north and west are so easy to break through, then why did the superiors order you to come and respond?"

"Yakov, I think about it this way." Sokov told Yakov to squat down again, and patiently explained to him: "There are indeed enemy fortifications to the north and west of us. But these The defensive direction of the fortifications is aimed at the outside of the encirclement, if we attack unexpectedly from the inside, we should not have much problem breaking through these positions."

When Yakov heard what Sokov said, he immediately understood why Sokov just insisted that the tank battalion commanded by Colonel Bely could not be used. The tank battalion is placed in a small village, and it is very convenient whether it is to attack north or west, and the possibility of breaking through the German defense line is still very high.

Wanting to understand this link, Yakov stared at the map and considered for a while, then asked tentatively: "Misha, when do you plan to attack the enemy?"

"Wait a little longer." Sokov said rather helplessly: "I don't know if the enemy will launch an attack on Orlovka, so I have to wait a little longer and not act rashly. Otherwise, our army is launching an attack At that time, a large force of the German army came oncoming, and it would soon eat us up to nothing."

Seeing that Sokov was still unable to decide when to launch an attack, Yakov asked a second question: "Which direction are you going to choose as our breakthrough?"

"My initial consideration is to break out from the north." Sokov clicked on the map a few times with his hand: "As far as I know, General Rokossovsky's headquarters is located in Little Ivan in the north. Novka is only a dozen kilometers away from us."

"But this road is not easy." Yakov waited for Sokov to finish speaking, and immediately released his opinion: "Misha, look, there are not only forests, grasslands, and rivers on this road. If the enemy The fortifications are built by the river. After we break through their defenses, how do we cross the river to join our friendly forces? You know, although the snow has not yet fallen, the river has become icy cold. It is not a good idea to let the soldiers swim across .”

"To the west, it's a bit too far, about 20 to 30 kilometers, and there are many defensive points along the way." Sokov saw that Yakov raised objections to his plan to break through to the north, and said a little embarrassedly: "The last time a tank brigade under General Rokossovsky broke through the Germans from this direction, but they were besieged from all directions on the way to Orlovka, and they died halfway. The whole army was wiped out."

"Then what should we do?" Yakov sighed softly, frowning and asked, "Is it true that we can only stay here and resign ourselves to fate?"

From the map, Orlovka is already behind the defense of the German army, but outside the encirclement of the German army, there are densely packed Soviet troops. It is a pity that Sokov's troops and technical equipment are very limited, otherwise Come to a center to bloom, it is enough to beat the German army in the north of the city.

"Pure defense is definitely not enough." After a while, Sokov said in a hoarse voice: "So we must take the initiative to break through from the enemy's unexpected direction. I have just sent someone to Colonel Lei sent a letter asking him to send someone to conduct reconnaissance northwards and choose a suitable location for our army to break through."

"Comrade Brigadier, Comrade Brigadier." As soon as Sokov finished speaking, he heard someone calling him. He turned his head and saw that it was a telegrapher running towards him with a radio on his back. He hurriedly asked: "Comrade operator, what's the matter?"

"Comrade Brigadier," the radio operator ran up to Sokov and said out of breath, "It's Colonel Bely. He has something important to report to you."

Sokov took the earphone and put it on his head, then put the microphone close to his mouth, and said loudly: "Colonel Bely, I'm Sokov, please tell me if you have anything to say!"

"Comrade Brigadier," Bely's voice came from the earphones: "I have sent people to carry out reconnaissance, and I will report to you as soon as I get the information."

Although Bely's words were a bit out of the blue, Sokov knew very well in his heart that Bely was afraid that he would be eavesdropped by the Germans when he talked to him in plain language, so he reported to himself in concise words, saying: People have been sent to the north for reconnaissance, and they will report the latest information to themselves at any time.