Red Moscow

After the soldiers in the cabin escaped from danger, they were quickly transferred to the other two barges by the soldiers of the guard battalion in armored boats. As the load on the ship decreased, the barge, which was sinking continuously, also stopped the sinking trend. A sailor who escaped from the cabin, after some inspections, believed that the barge would not sink for the time being and could continue to drive, so he signaled to the tugboats in front to let them continue to move forward without stopping to regroup.

An hour later, the fleet docked close to the northern hill of Mamayev Gang, and the sailors on the barge lowered the gangway, ready to let the soldiers land. At this moment, Sokov received a call from the headquarters. Krylov said briefly on the phone: "Colonel Sokov, come to the headquarters immediately. The commander is going to hold an emergency military meeting."

"Comrade Commander, I guess it has something to do with tomorrow's counterattack." Knowing that Krylov had informed Sokov to attend the meeting, Belkin hurriedly urged him to say, "Hurry up, the soldiers of the Guards Division settle down to work, I'll ask myself."

Sokov hurried to the Army Group Headquarters with a few soldiers. As soon as he entered the door, he saw that there were quite a few people sitting at the table in the room. Chuikov, who was talking, saw Sokov coming in, and quickly waved to him, saying, "Colonel Sokov, come and sit down quickly, our Everyone is here, and I'm waiting for you alone."

After Sokov sat down on Krylov’s left, Chuikov pointed to the colonel sitting on Sokov’s left, and introduced him: “Colonel Sokov, let me introduce you, this is your Deputy Commander Colonel Ivanov."

When he learned that the unsmiling, dark-skinned colonel sitting next to him was the former commander of the 41st Guards Division, Sokov quickly stood up, stretched out his hand to him, and said politely: "Hi, Ivan Colonel Knoff, nice to meet you!"

"Hello, Comrade Commander." Ivanov also stood up, took Sokov's hand, and said in a polite and distant tone, "It's a pleasure to fight side by side with you."

"Colonel Gurdiyev, commander of the 308th Infantry Division, you know him, so I won't introduce you alone." Chuikov waited for Sokov and Ivanov to shake hands, then pointed to the man sitting opposite him. A colonel said: "This is Colonel Gorishny, commander of the 95th Infantry Division."

After Sokov shook hands with Gurdiyev and Gorishny respectively, Chuikov went on to say: "The counterattack launched tomorrow morning will be participated by your three divisions. Now I will let the chief of staff, General Krylov, Assign tasks to you."

After Chuikov finished speaking, Krylov got up and walked to the wall, pointed to the map on the wall with the explaining stick, and said to Sokov: "Colonel Sokov, let me first introduce you to the combat mission of your division: you After attacking from Mayev Hill, it is necessary to quickly break through the two enemy lines of defense, and find a way to occupy the Razguliaevka crossing station in the shortest possible time, as well as the Until the section of the railway that turns to the corner of Gunlak. In this way, the central front can be straightened, and relying on the anti-tank obstacle of the railway embankment, it will be possible for our army to capture Gorogish and Alexandrovka , to create favorable conditions.  …”

After introducing the mission to Sokov, Krylov assigned combat missions to Gurdiyev and Gorishny. Ivanov tilted his head, approached Sokov's ear, and asked in a low voice: "Comrade commander, the task given to us by our superiors is too simple. We only need two or three hours to complete the task at most. You see Do you want the superior to give us some more tasks?"

"Colonel Ivanov." Sokov didn't want to waste too many troops on this meaningless counterattack, so he replied lightly to Ivanov's question: "What did the superiors arrange for us?" The task, we just carry it out, don't make any more troubles."

After arranging the combat missions of each division, Krylov returned to the table and sat down. He nodded at Chuikov, indicating that he would give him the right to speak next. Chuikov, who was understanding, stood up, glanced at the several subordinates sitting around the table one by one, and asked, "comrades commanders, the tasks are clear, do you have any questions?"

As soon as his words fell, Gorishny stood up and asked: "Comrade commander, I would like to ask, will the superior provide us with artillery preparations before the attack? Also, when our troops attack, can we get Is the air force and tanks working together?"

Hearing Gorishny's series of questions, Chuikov and Krylov looked at each other, and they both saw helplessness in each other's eyes. Chuikov coughed lightly, and said: "Before your attack starts, our artillery deployed on the left bank will provide you with half an hour of artillery preparation. After the start of the attack, the troops who attack from the Red October Factory will get other Support from Colonel Ray's tank battalion. As for air support, I'm sorry, but due to various reasons, our air force is temporarily unable to regain air supremacy from the enemy's air force."

"Comrade Commander," Ivanov couldn't help being anxious after hearing Chuikov's answer to Gorishny, and he leaned close to Sokov's ear again and whispered: "We have no air cover. Without the support of tanks, how can we fight this battle, how can we fight it?"

Perhaps because Ivanov was too emotional, the voices behind him grew more and more, so that even Chuikov could hear them. Chuikov glanced at Ivanov, then turned his gaze to Sokov, and asked, "Colonel Sokov, have you considered how to attack?"

"Yes, Comrade Commander." Hearing the question Chuikov asked himself, Sokov quickly stood up and replied: "I plan to divide the troops into two echelons, with the 122nd and 124th Guards Regiments as the first echelon. To launch an attack on the enemy's position; and the 125th Guards Regiment as the second echelon. When the troops of the first echelon break through the enemy's line of defense, the second echelon will take over the defense..."

In front of everyone, Sokov only talked about the cooperation between the first and second echelons in the battle, and did not mention at all that one of the regiments should be transferred back to assist in the defense. Chuikov couldn't help but interrupt Sokov after he heard it halfway: "Colonel Sokov, I have been listening to you for a long time. You have been talking about how to use the three regiments of the 41st Guards Division. What is going on with the downsizing regiment of Mayev Gang, but he has no intention of letting them participate in the battle at all?"

"That's right, Comrade Commander." Seeing that Chuikov's eyes were full of doubts, Ivanov's face turned ashen. Sokov felt that he had to explain in public, lest Ivanov think that It’s not good to use up his troops on purpose: “We all know that whoever occupies Mamavgang can control the entire city, the factory area and the Volga River. The enemy will not spare the lives of soldiers in order to achieve this goal.” And weapons and ammunition, launched another attack on our defensive positions.

The commanders and fighters of the downsizing regiment have been fighting the enemy on this high ground for a full three months. They have rich defense experience and know how to block the enemy's attack. Therefore, I don't intend to put them into this kind of counterattack with little chance of winning. "

"Colonel Sokov!" As soon as Sokov said that, Gorishny retorted loudly: "How did you say it? A counterattack plan?"

"Yes, Colonel Gorishny." Sokov looked at the other party and said neither humble nor overbearing: "I am indeed not optimistic about this counterattack, but since the superior has issued an order to counterattack, I will still carry it out unconditionally and find a way to obtain it." Bigger results."

Hearing Sokov's answer, Gorishne was a little anxious: "You are talking about defeatism..."

"Colonel Sokov, your thinking is completely wrong." A familiar voice came from the door. Everyone turned their heads and saw that the person who spoke was Khrushchev, and they all stood up from their seats. . I just heard Khrushchev continue: "Without the support of the air force and artillery, the probability of winning a partial counterattack against the enemy is indeed not high. But why do we continue to counterattack the enemy? It is to disrupt them. The offensive deployment made it impossible for them to launch uninterrupted attacks on us according to the plan, thus buying us precious time to consolidate our defenses and gather our troops."

After hearing Khrushchev's words, Sokov immediately admitted his mistake: "I'm sorry, Comrade Military Commissioner, I was wrong. I will definitely conduct a deep review..."

"Okay, don't say these unnutritious words." Khrushchev guessed that Sokov didn't really admit his mistakes, and didn't want to listen to his nonsense, so he interrupted him and asked: "You Are you all ready to attack?"

"Before I came to the headquarters, the fleet carrying the commanders and fighters of the 41st Guards Division had just arrived at the northern hill of Mamayev Gang, and hadn't had time to land yet." Sokov couldn't help but look at the Iraqis next to him. Wannov took a look and said cautiously: "If you hurry up, I want to launch the attack on time, there should be no problem."

Khrushchev walked up to Ivanov, stopped in his tracks, looked him up and down, and asked with concern: "Comrade Colonel, the fleet you were on was shelled by the enemy on the way. A barge was hit by artillery fire, what happened, were there any serious casualties among the commanders and fighters on board?"

"Report to Comrade Military Commissar," Ivanov replied, facing Khrushchev and straightening his body, "the barge was hit by four shells, one of which penetrated the deck and landed in the cabin and exploded, killing 13 people. 29 people were killed and 29 people were injured. In addition, the only hatch was damaged by shells, causing all the commanders and fighters to be trapped in the cabin. If the commander did not send people to rescue in time, it is estimated that hundreds of commanders and fighters on board They all sank to the bottom of the Volga with barges."

"Comrade Colonel," Khrushchev patted Ivanov on the shoulder twice, and continued: "Keep in mind the blood debt owed to you by the Germans. This debt of blood shall be recovered."

"Don't worry!" Ivanov said to Khrushchev with a solemn expression: "Our commanders and fighters will definitely teach the Germans an unforgettable lesson in tomorrow's battle."