Red Moscow

Looking at the Stuka bombers diving down from high altitude, and listening to the ear-piercing screams, Sokov suddenly remembered a key thing. There was the 124th Regiment's position a few hundred meters away. Now that the enemy planes bombed here, would they let go of the 124th Regiment's position? Thinking of this, Sokov rushed to the telephone and ordered the communications soldiers to connect to the regiment command post of the 124th regiment.

The phone was connected, and there was a voice of someone talking, and the voice from the microphone was distorted. Sokov couldn't tell whether the person who answered the phone was Starcha, so he asked quickly, "Is it Lieutenant Colonel Starcha?" ?”

"Yes, I'm Starcha." Sokov did not recognize Starcha's voice, and the other party also did not recognize his voice, and asked impatiently, "Where are you from?"

"I'm Sokov." The bombing outside continued, and the constant explosions forced Sokov to cover his ears with one hand and shouted hoarsely into the microphone: "The German planes are bombing the 122nd Regiment." The position, I estimate that you will be bombed soon. You immediately order the soldiers to prepare for air defense..."

Because the explosion sound from the earpiece was so loud that Starcha couldn't hear what Sokov said at all, so he could only keep asking: "What are you talking about, I can't hear you clearly, please speak louder... ..."

Although Sokov stomped his feet anxiously, he couldn't stop the Germans from bombing and make the damn explosion disappear. He could only repeat his orders over and over again into the microphone. Fortunately, Starcha is not stupid. Judging Sokov's intentions from the fragmentary words he barely heard, he quickly replied: "Understood, I will immediately make the soldiers prepare for air defense."

The enemy plane bombarded the 122nd Regiment's position for nearly a quarter of an hour. It may have dropped all the bombs and fired all the bullets before turning around and flying back. Seeing the enemy plane leaving, Sokov immediately ordered Papchenko: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, immediately order the soldiers to repair the fortifications. The enemy may launch a ground attack soon."

Papchenko agreed, and picked up the phone to notify the battalion commanders, but found that the phone line was blown off at some point. Hastily called the communication soldier, "Communication soldier, immediately notify the battalion commanders, let the soldiers hurry up to repair the fortifications, the enemy may soon counterattack."

The communications soldier agreed, turned around and was about to walk outside. Sokov quickly shouted at his back: "Remember, let the battalion commanders count the casualties."

After Sokov’s reminder, Papchenko immediately realized that he had neglected this most critical issue, and quickly repeated Sokov’s words to the signal soldiers who stopped: “Let the battalion commanders report the casualty figures. Report it."

After the communicator left, Papchenko looked at Sokov and Ivanov and said sincerely: "Two division commanders, this place is too dangerous. I think you should go back to Mamayev Post." .”

"No, as commanders, how can we back down at this time?" Ivanov obviously disagreed with Papchenko's proposal, and he said firmly: "We want to stay here, Fight the enemy with the soldiers."

"Comrade Deputy Division Commander, I think Lieutenant Colonel Papchenko is right. As division commanders, we should command troops to fight on Mamayev Hill instead of taking risks here." Sokov knew that if he If we don't leave with Ivanov, I am afraid that Papchenko has no intention of commanding the battle, so he put a hand on Ivanov's shoulder and said to him: "If we don't leave here, Papchinko Lieutenant Colonel Ke will feel uneasy, and then he will not know how to command the troops."

"Comrade Commander is right." Seeing that Sokov agreed to his proposal, Papchenko hurriedly said to Ivanov, "If the two Commanders stay here, it will put a lot of mental pressure on me. , Facing the sudden enemy situation, I don’t even know how to command the troops to fight.”

As soon as Sokov and Ivanov walked out of the command post, they saw the disgraced Guchakov coming towards them. He came in front of Sokov, stopped and said, "Comrade Commander, the armored vehicle has been blown up, we can only walk back to Mamayev Post."

Knowing that the armored vehicle was destroyed during the bombing, Sokov instinctively looked towards the location where the armored vehicle was parked, and he saw a pile of burning scrap iron there, which should be the destroyed armored vehicle. He tentatively asked, "Is the driver still alive?"

"Alive, Comrade Division Commander." Guchakov nodded vigorously, and replied: "When the bombing started, he and I hid in a nearby trench and watched a bomb hit the armored vehicle..."

"It's fine if you're okay." Although he could only walk back to Mamayev Post, Sokov didn't care at all. As long as he was still alive, it shouldn't be too difficult to get another car from the enemy. He said to Guchakov: "Call the driver, let's go back to Mamayev Kurgan."

After arriving at the 124th Regiment's position, Sokov carefully checked the surrounding environment and found that the place did not seem to have been bombed by the enemy. He found Starcha and asked: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, is Colonel Bely's tank unit coming?"

"Not yet, Comrade Commander." Starcha shook his head and replied, "The 122nd Regiment's position was bombed by enemy planes. It is estimated that the troops on the right wing have also seen it. The bombers were blown to pieces, so they stayed where they were."

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I want to tell you some bad news." Given that the reaction speed of the Germans far exceeded his imagination, Sokov knew in his heart that it would take a long time to seize the concessionary station according to the original plan. an impossible task. In order for the commanders and fighters in the division to have a psychological preparation, he said to Starcha: "We may not be able to attack for the time being, and we will stand. What we have to do now is to hold our ground in the face of the enemy's crazy counterattack. prevent them from rushing to Mamayev's hill."

Sokov's words made Starcha realize the seriousness of the problem, but when he thought of the troops of the 122nd Regiment staring ahead of him, he became relaxed again. He asked Sokov cautiously: "Comrade commander, do you think the enemy can break through the defense line of the Papchenko regiment?"

"It will definitely break through." Sokov said unceremoniously: "And it will not take too long for them, because the trenches and fortifications on the 122nd Regiment's position are very unfavorable for westward defense. Therefore, I only I can entrust the heavy responsibility of defending Mamayev Post to you."

…………

It took Sokov and the others more than half an hour to return to Mamayev Post from the Starcha Regiment's position. This time the two did not go to the observation post on the top of the mountain, but returned directly to the headquarters.

Seeing Sokov and Ivanov coming in from the outside, Sidolin asked in surprise: "Two commanders, comrades, didn't you go to the position of the 122nd regiment? Why did you come back so soon?"

"The enemy plane bombed the 122nd Regiment's position, causing considerable casualties to the defenders on the position." From Sidolin's tone of voice, Sokov guessed that he must not know that the 122nd Regiment was bombed When the matter happened, he told him: "You call Lieutenant Colonel Papchenko and ask if the casualties of the troops have been counted?"

Sidolin agreed, picked up the phone on the table, and asked Papchenko about the statistics of troop casualties. He listened for about two minutes, then put down the phone, walked up to Sokov and Ivanov, and said with a serious expression: "The casualty data has been calculated. The regiment suffered 611 casualties and 396 sacrificed. 82 people were seriously injured..."

After listening to the series of casualties reported by Sidolin, the muscles on Sokov's face twitched violently a few times, and then he said: "Chief of Staff, tell Lieutenant Colonel Papchenko that if the enemy has not launched an attack on their position , immediately send people to send the seriously wounded to the rear.”

While Sidolin was on the phone with the 122nd Regiment, Sokov walked to the radio and said to Maxim who was sitting there supervising the radio operator and the signal soldier: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, please contact Colonel Bely immediately, I I have something to ask him."

Hearing what Sokov said, Maxim immediately understood that Colonel Bely must be in his tank again, so he started calling Bely through the radio. Fortunately, the communication was relatively smooth, and we got in touch soon. Sokov put on the headset and said into the microphone: "Colonel Bely, I'm Sokov, how is the situation there?"

"Not too good, Misha." Belei said unexpectedly: "It's not the observation post in the north. I found a lot of dust rising in the distance. It is estimated that the main force of the enemy has gone south."

"What, the enemy's main force has gone south?" Sokov was taken aback by Bely's words. Although he has no right to mobilize the right-wing troops now, he still asked with concern: "I don't know if Gurdiyev and Gori What measures have you taken?"

"Colonel Gurdiyev has deployed a regiment to the north and is building fortifications. Even if the German army goes south and attacks from his direction, the troops can resist for a while." Bely introduced the situation of the right-wing troops to Sokov: "And Ge As for Colonel Rishny, he refused to listen to Gurdiyev's persuasion, and only placed a heavily reduced infantry battalion in the north, and there was no decent fortification. If the enemy regards his position as a breakthrough, our retreat It is likely to be truncated."

After listening to Colonel Bely's worries, Sokov smiled bitterly and said, "Colonel Bely, I think you should still remember why we were trapped in Orlovka by the enemy. It was all because of Colonel Gurdiyev. Too underestimated the enemy, and actually handed over an important position to an infantry battalion with only a few dozen people left for defense. As a result, the enemy easily occupied the position and cut off our connection with the friendly forces. Unexpectedly, now Gorishne The colonel is making similar mistakes again."

"Yes, Misha." Bely nodded and said, "In order to prevent the enemy from breaking through the Gorishny Division's section, I specially sent Lieutenant Alitey's tank company to assist the infantry in the defense."

"Colonel Bely," Sokov asked curiously when he heard that Bely had dispatched the third company of tanks commanded by Alitai, "I want to ask, how many tanks are left in the third company?"

"There are seven more." Although the number of tanks in the third tank company is not many, Bely said confidently: "Misha, although the number of tanks is a little small, they are all T-34 tanks. Even if there are two or three times more tanks No. 3 and No. 4, they are not their opponents at all."

Sokov did not have any doubts about Bely's statement. The German No. 3 and No. 4 tanks with short-barreled guns could only be abused in the face of the Soviet T-34. He even thought wishfully: Maybe Ali Tai and his company can kill dozens of German tanks.

However, it didn't take long for Sokov's good wishes to be shattered by the ruthless reality. Bely quickly contacted Sokov again through the radio, and he told Sokov with a look of panic: "Misha, something happened. The third tank company of Lieutenant Ali Tai was wiped out."

"What, the entire army of the third tank company was wiped out?" Bely's words made Sokov's jaw almost hit the ground, and he asked in surprise, "How did they lose their entire army, were they bombarded by heavy artillery or by enemy planes? "Besides the two possibilities mentioned above, Sokov really couldn't think of any other way for the Germans to kill all three tanks and seven T-34 tanks in such a short period of time.

Unexpectedly, Bely's answer was beyond his expectation: "The seven tanks of the third company were all destroyed by a German tank."

Knowing that even seven of the tanks had not hit a single enemy tank, Sokov found it unbelievable. He shouted into the microphone: "Colonel Bely, this is impossible, you must have made a mistake. The Germans The No. 3 and No. 4 tanks of human beings are not the opponents of our T-34 at all, let alone seven against one, even if the number of enemies is twice as many as ours, it is our tanks that win in the end."

"It's a fact, Misha." Bely replied with some helplessness: "This information was reported to me by Altai who escaped from danger. He said that the German tank in their company was completely wiped out, using a tank gun caliber that was smaller than that of the No. 3 tank." The No. 4 tank should be thick and long. It stops 800 meters away and shoots at our army. The shells of our army tank hit it, and almost all bounced off, and it was impossible to penetrate its frontal armor. And our army tank only needs Hit by the shells fired by it, either the turret was lifted off, or it exploded directly. According to my estimation, this may be a new type of tank of the German army.”

Sokov still had a little fantasy in his heart, thinking that Alitai might have deliberately exaggerated the combat effectiveness of the enemy tanks in order to shirk responsibility. But Bely casually said that it might be a new type of tank of the German army, but awakened the dreamer with a word, and a terrible name immediately popped up in Sokov's mind: Tiger type!

Hell, the German tank that wiped out the third tank company was actually a Tiger tank that the German army had just entered the battlefield. Its frontal armor is as thick as 102 mm, and the armor on the side and rear is also 82 mm. The 76 mm artillery of the Soviet T-34 tank cannot penetrate the opponent's armor at a distance of 800 meters. At the same distance, the 88mm tank gun equipped on the Tiger tank can easily tear through the frontal armor of the T-34, which is not considered rear.

Thinking of this, Sokov quickly shouted into the microphone: "Colonel Bely, as far as I know, that is a Tiger tank that the German army has just entered into service. None of our existing T-34 tanks are its opponents. Don't make unnecessary sacrifices."

"Tiger tank?" Bely repeated the unfamiliar name, and asked tentatively, "Misha, do you know the performance parameters of this new German tank?"