Red Moscow

Just after dawn, the sound of artillery from the left bank of the Volga River broke the morning silence of Mamayev Hill. More than 300 artillery pieces of various calibers deployed on the east bank began to bombard the enemy positions in front of Mamayev Gang and the Red October Factory.

As soon as the shelling began, Sokov and Ivanov arrived at the observation post on top of the South Hill. Sokov raised his binoculars and looked at the enemy's position in the distance. Seeing that the entire position had been shrouded in gunpowder smoke, he put down the binoculars, turned around and said to Ivanov: "Comrade deputy division commander, order the troops to attack!"

Hearing Sokov's order, Ivanov hesitated for a moment, and then asked: "Comrade commander, do you need to carry a military flag when the troops attack?"

"No." To Ivanov's question, Sokov replied without hesitation: "It is enough for the soldiers to use ordinary red flags, not the flags of the Guards Division."

Sokov's words aroused Ivanov's dissatisfaction. He frowned and asked displeasedly: "Comrade commander, why can't we use the flag of our division?"

The reason why Sokov did not intend to allow the troops to use the military flag when attacking was entirely because of the lessons learned before. In order to avoid any bad associations with Ivanov, he deliberately explained: "In the early days of the war, the 24th Infantry The division was revoked because of the loss of the military flag, and the surviving commanders and fighters were all punished. Comrade Belkin, the head of the downsizing regiment, was once a regiment political commissar of the division. He was not punished because his superiors protected him. , and was placed in my army as my second-in-command."

Although Sokov's explanation was very simple, Ivanov still heard his implication. He immediately understood that if the flag of the 41st Guards Division was lost in this counterattack with little chance of winning, the entire army would be destroyed by then. All division officers are likely to be court-martialed. In order to avoid this possibility, he no longer insisted on the idea that the troops should use the military flag when attacking, but made a gesture to the adjutant standing aside, signaling him to signal to the troops at the foot of the mountain.

Seeing Ivanov's gesture, the adjutant nodded quickly, then ran to the east of the hill, waved the red and blue signal flag in his hand, and signaled to the troops staying at the foot of the hill.

Lieutenant Colonel Papchenko, who was staying at the foot of the mountain, saw the signal from the top of the mountain, immediately pulled out his pistol, turned around and shouted at the soldiers lined up neatly behind him: "Comrades, go forward!"

After shouting, Papchenko held his pistol high and strode forward. The flag-bearer standing beside him hurriedly raised a bright red flag high, and quickly rushed up. The commanders and fighters behind saw the red flag moving forward, and they also moved one after another. The commanders and fighters are constantly adjusting their formation while marching. After more than fifty steps, the original dozen or so phalanxes turned into a dense line of skirmishers.

When the stragglers of the 122nd Regiment passed the top of the mountain, Ivanov saw Lieutenant Colonel Papchenko walking in the first row. Call here."

The adjutant promised, quickly ran to Papchenko's side, and said loudly to him: "Comrade lieutenant colonel, the deputy division commander asked you to go over."

Papchenko stopped, glanced at the troops moving forward, turned around and ran towards Ivanov's position with the adjutant. Still far away, he asked Ivanov: "Comrade deputy commander, our regiment is advancing towards the enemy's position. What instructions do you have?"

"It's nonsense, it's nonsense." Ivanov yelled at Papchenko: "You are the commander of the regiment, not the company commander. Who needs you to lead the troops to charge? Go back to your command post immediately. Continue to command troops to fight there."

"Comrade deputy division commander," Papchenko, after listening to Ivanov's words, still stood there without moving. He said neither humble nor overbearing: "I don't have a command post, and there is no place to set up a command post, so please invite You allow me and my soldiers to charge."

Not to mention that Ivanov was reluctant to let his regiment leader die, Sokov was also reluctant. You know, training an excellent regiment-level commander is not an easy task. It's not like promoting a company commander. Just find a veteran with rich combat experience from the army who can be competent, so Sukov saw that Ivanov failed to convince the other party, so he stood up and said: "Papchenko Lieutenant Colonel, you come here!"

Sokov took Papchenko to the west side of the hill, pointed to the foot of the hill and said to him: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, have you seen the dilapidated fortifications hundreds of meters away from the hill?"

Papchenko looked in the direction of his finger and saw several trenches that had been bombed out of shape hundreds of meters away from Nangang, and there were still some destroyed firepower points and shelters in the trenches, so he lit Nodding, he replied, "I see."

"It used to be the defensive position of the first battalion, but it couldn't withstand the enemy's heavy artillery bombardment, so I ordered them to withdraw." Sokov said to Papchenko: "I will send your regiment command post later. , Deploy there. After your troops have seized the enemy's first line of defense, it will not be too late to advance the regimental command post."

Sokov was afraid that Papchenko would give another reason, so he said in an orderly tone: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, this is my order, understand?"

Papchenko originally wanted to say a few more words to charge with his soldiers in order to boost morale. But when he heard Sokov ordering himself in such a stern tone, he could only agree, and greeted a few staff officers and communications soldiers from the regiment headquarters, and went to the defensive area under the hillside to establish a regiment command post.

Seeing Papchenko and several subordinates set up a regiment command post at the foot of the mountain, Ivanov couldn't help but secretly heaved a sigh of relief. He said gratefully to Sokov: "Comrade commander, thank you!"

"Thank you, what is there to thank?" Sokov replied to Ivanov with a smile: "I am also a member of the 41st Guards Division. Lieutenant Colonel Papchenko is not only your subordinate, but also the They are also my subordinates. Isn’t it my duty as a teacher to take care of my subordinates?”

After saying this, Sokov shouted at the adjutant: "Comrade adjutant, please come here!"

Hearing Sokov's shout, the adjutant hurried over and asked cautiously, "Comrade commander, do you have any instructions?"

"Go and tell Lieutenant Colonel Starcha, commander of the 124th regiment, to set up a regimental command post at the foot of the mountain." Sokov told the adjutant: "Until his troops capture the enemy's position, the regimental command post cannot Move forward."

…………

When the skirmish line of the 122nd regiment was more than 800 meters away from the enemy's position, the artillery on the left bank of the Volga stopped firing, and the enemy's position shrouded in gunpowder smoke became silent again.

The commander who led the charge knew in his heart that as soon as the shelling stopped, the enemies on the ground had not recovered. Once they enter the shooting position, they will cause huge casualties to their own troops. So the commander issued a signal for the soldiers to speed up their advance.

Seeing the signal from ahead, the soldiers quickened their pace one after another. The original stride turned into a sprint, and soon the sprint turned into a trot. A minute or two later, the commanders and fighters of the 122nd Regiment all sped up their speed and rushed towards the enemy's position with their weapons in hand.

When they were more than a hundred meters away from the position, the enemies on the position began to shoot. The bullets fired from sporadic firepower made gaps one after another in the Soviet army's skirmishing line. But the soldiers in front fell, and the soldiers behind immediately made up for it. They stepped over the wounded or sacrificed comrades on the ground, and rushed forward without hesitation.

The fallen soldiers, no matter whether they died or were injured, no one stopped to check on them. Everyone was focused on rushing into the enemy's position as soon as possible and fighting them hand-to-hand. As for the wounded comrades, there will naturally be health workers following them to take care of them.

Seeing that many soldiers fell down during the attack, Sokov quickly put down the binoculars and asked Ivanov who was beside him: "Comrade deputy division commander, many of our soldiers have been injured, let your health workers come on."

Although there are quite a few health workers on Mamayev Post, in today's battle, Sokov did not transfer any of them. Instead, all the health workers from the 41st Guards Division were responsible for the battlefield rescue tasks.

"Understood." Ivanov nodded, picked up the phone at the side, and called the captain of the health team hiding in the tunnel: "Comrade captain, take your health workers to attack!"

Seeing that Ivanov was about to put down the microphone, Sokov hurriedly stopped him, emphatically saying: "Comrade deputy commander, tell the captain of the health team to let the health workers rescue the lightly wounded first on the battlefield."

"What, rescue the lightly wounded first?" Ivanov obviously heard this kind of statement for the first time, so he asked in puzzlement: "Comrade commander, why is this?"

"Slightly wounded can go back into battle after simple bandaging." Sokov saw that Ivanov was unclear about the first aid rules on the battlefield, so he explained to him: "The medicines and bandages carried by the health workers are limited. If there are too many If it is used for the treatment of the seriously wounded, it will affect the treatment of the lightly wounded who can continue to fight. Understand?"

"But," Ivanov asked a bit embarrassed when he heard this, "Should we leave the seriously wounded on the battlefield and ignore them?"

"How is this possible?" Seeing that Ivanov didn't understand what he meant, Sokov could only continue to explain to him: "After the health workers have treated the injuries of the slightly wounded, they can find a way to carry the seriously injured back and send them to the hospital. The health team in the tunnel provides treatment. This not only saves medicine, but also greatly improves the chances of the seriously wounded surviving.”

Hearing this, Ivanov fully understood what Sokov meant. He quickly turned into the microphone and repeated what Sokov had just said to the health captain who was about to lead the health workers to attack, and finally emphasized: " Comrade Captain, for those wounded who are seriously injured, you must find a way to bring them back as soon as possible for treatment. Do you understand?"

When Ivanov put down the phone, the commanders and fighters of the 122nd regiment had already rushed to a place only thirty or forty meters away from the position. The soldiers threw stringed grenades at the enemy's position one after another, taking advantage of the smoke from the explosion, they continued to charge forward. Before the smoke cleared, many soldiers jumped into the trenches and engaged in close combat with the enemies inside.

Seeing that the battle had shifted to the trenches, Sokov thought to himself: "The enemies in this area are all Romanian troops. I don't know if the soldiers of the 122nd Guards Regiment can win hand-to-hand combat with them. "

Since the battle was already unfolding in the trenches, there were almost no firepower points to shoot outside. The commanders and fighters of the 124th regiment who followed behind also accelerated their speed. Enter the trenches and cooperate with your comrades to eliminate the enemies in the fortifications.

"Comrade Commander." The phone on the wall rang, and Sokov grabbed the receiver and pressed it to his ear, and heard the voice of Lieutenant Colonel Papchenko from inside: "My troops have rushed into the enemy Is it possible for my regiment command post to move forward?"

"No, Lieutenant Colonel Papchenko." Sokov refused Papchenko's request without hesitation: "At present, the battle is still going on in the trenches. Can our troops successfully capture this position? , is still an unknown, and I cannot let a regiment-level commander take risks easily."

Hearing what Sokov said, Papchenko said unconvinced: "Comrade Commander, it is precisely because my troops have not captured the enemy's position that I feel that I should go to the front. I believe that the soldiers saw me The appearance of him will definitely boost morale, and then there will be no problem in defeating the enemy."

Regarding Lieutenant Colonel Papchenko's statement, Sokov sneered, and then said disdainfully: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, have you ever thought that if you go to the battle site at this time, what if you are attacked by the enemy?" The snipers found out and became their targets. Once your soldiers see you being shot dead by the enemy's snipers, what will they think? It may not only fail to boost the morale of the army, on the contrary, it may even have the effect of disintegrating the morale of the army. .”

Sokov's words made Papchenko speechless. Seeing that the other party was silent for a long time, Sokov emphasized to him again: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, remember, as long as the fighting on that position continues, you will stay in the current command post obediently for me. You are not allowed to go anywhere, understand?"

"Understood, Comrade Commander." If Papchenko was on the high ground at the moment and saw Ivanov giving Sokov a thumbs up, he might be so angry that he vomited blood. But at this moment, he can only honestly say into the microphone: "I obey your order, and I will never move the command post forward without authorization before my troops occupy the enemy's position."

"Comrade commander, you are really great." Ivanov waited for Sokov to put down the microphone, and said approvingly: "I didn't expect that they have been your subordinates for less than a day, and they don't have any orders from you at all." Dare to defy."