Red Moscow

Although Sokov is very familiar with the various performance parameters of the Tiger tank, he hesitated for a while when he heard Bely's question, and then said cautiously: "Colonel Bely, I saw in an intelligence report that The Germans are developing a new heavy tank, the Tiger tank, which uses an 88mm tank gun, 102mm frontal armor, and 82mm side and rear armor."

After listening to Sokov's general data, Bely couldn't help but gasped: "My God, our T-34's frontal armor is 60 mm thick, and the side is only 45 mm thick. It uses a 76 mm gun. It is not at the same level as the German tanks."

"That's right, Colonel Bely." Sokov felt that if Bely's tank troops were to fight the German Tigers hard, it would be the end of the death, so he said euphemistically: "Use medium tanks to deal with the enemy's heavy tanks." Tanks are a suicide act. I suggest that you withdraw the tank troops to the Red October factory and let the troops deal with the enemy's tanks."

"If the Germans' new tank really has 102 mm armor as you said, I am afraid that no anti-tank guns can destroy it." Regarding Sokov's suggestion, Bely said hesitantly: "I am worried that our After withdrawing, the infantry cannot stop the enemy's attack at all."

"If you stay, can you block the enemy's tanks?" Seeing Bely's hesitation, Sokov said with emphasis: "We don't know how many of these new tanks the enemy has. If we continue to keep the tanks in the position , the enemy will destroy them one by one like a target."

Bere knew in his heart that what Sokov said was true, but before he got an order from his superiors, he asked his tank troops to withdraw to the Red October factory, which could be regarded as an act of fleeing. If this caused the collapse of the defense line and put Stalingrad in a more dangerous situation, I am afraid that the superiors would directly shoot him, and would not even give him the chance to go to the military court.

Hearing that there was no movement in the earphone, Sokov understood what Bely was hesitating. Instead of persuading him, he reminded the other party: "Colonel Bely, if you can't make up your mind, you can report this matter to Commander Chuikov and see what he thinks."

Sokov's suggestion is tantamount to handing over the contradiction. As for whether to let Bely's tank troops stay on the ground as cannon fodder, or temporarily withdraw to the factory to preserve their strength, it was up to the chiefs of the group army to decide.

Bely followed Sokov's suggestion and reported the situation he was facing to Cuikov, and finally asked for instructions whether to continue fighting or temporarily withdraw to the factory area.

After listening to Bely's report, Chuikov was silent for a moment, and then asked: "Colonel Bely, please tell me truthfully, have the enemy really put new tanks into the battlefield?"

"Yes." Although Bely had already reported to Chuikov just now, when he heard him ask at this moment, he repeated the content just now: "The enemy's new tanks are standing at a distance of 800 meters from our army's position. , at such a long distance, the armor-piercing projectiles fired by our tanks cannot penetrate its frontal armor at all, and as long as it fires, it can directly destroy our tanks. One of the seven tanks of the third tank company was destroyed .”

"How many tanks does the enemy have?" Chuikov asked cautiously.

"There are about five such tanks." Bely sighed softly, and replied: "If they continue to stay at a distance of 800 meters or even further to shoot, no matter how many of our tanks there are, they will not be able to destroy the enemy's tanks." tank."

"Which regiment is building the defense line in the north?" As soon as Chuikov asked this question, he remembered that Gurdiyev had reported to himself that in order to prevent the German troops from the north from suddenly going south, he had sent the 351st regiment to garrison the north. He quickly changed his words and said: "I remembered, it is the 351st regiment of Gurdiyev's division. You and Gurdiyev passed the air, and then withdrew the tank unit to the Red October factory."

Krylov, who had just finished answering the phone, couldn't help being a little anxious when he heard that Chuikov gave Bely the retreat order: "Comrade commander, how can you make the tank troops retreat? Once they withdraw to the Red October factory, Our counterattack is tantamount to a declaration of failure."

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Chuikov said, looking at Krylov with a serious expression, "do you think our counterattack can continue if I don't let Bely and the others withdraw to the Red October factory?"

Krylov was immediately stopped by Chuikov. As the chief of staff of the army group, he even knew more about the situation than Chuikov. According to reports from the troops standing east of Orlovka, the German 100th Jager Division, 94th Infantry Division, and 24th Armored Division were moving south. Maybe a few hours later, the three infantry divisions that launched the counterattack would fall into the encirclement of the German army.

Knowing the current situation is one thing, but what kind of resolution to make is another. Krylov knew that if the troops were to stay in their current positions, once they fell into the encirclement of the German army, even if they were not completely wiped out, there might not be many commanders and fighters left who could return to the starting position. However, considering that this counterattack was a task assigned by the superiors, and even Khrushchev, the military commissar of the Front Army, came to sit in charge in person, if he wanted to terminate the counterattack, he had to obtain the permission of his superiors.

Seeing Krylov's embarrassed expression, Chuikov knew very well that this counterattack was forced by his superiors. If the superiors did not nod, no one had the right to withdraw the troops. Thinking of this, he looked around, but he didn't see Khrushchev's shadow, so he called a staff officer and asked, "Did you see Comrade Military Commissar?"

The staff officer thought that Chuikov was asking the military commissar Gurov of the group army, and quickly replied: "Report to the commander, Comrade Gurov, the military commissar, went to the Red October factory half an hour ago."

Chuikov heard that the staff member said it was Gurov, so he waved his hand quickly and said, "I'm not asking about Gurov, but Comrade Khrushchev. Have you seen him?"

Regarding this question, the staff officer hesitated for a moment, and then replied in an uncertain tone: "It seems that Comrade Military Commissar of the Front Army has gone to the Dzerzhinsky Tractor Factory, and he said that he would inspect the defense there."

"The 37th Guards Division is stationed at the Dzerzhinsky factory," Chuikov told his staff: "Call General Zholudev immediately and ask if Comrade Khrushchev is with him. Comrade Khrushchev is asked to return immediately, something unexpected has happened to us here, and he needs to come back to make a decision."

When the staff officer went aside to make a call, Chuikov turned around and said to Krylov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, you should immediately contact Colonel Gurdiyev and say that the current situation is very unfavorable to our army. His tank troops withdrew to Red October and ordered his troops to continue to hold their positions and wait for my order to retreat."

"Comrade Commander," Krylov asked in surprise when he heard Chuikov's order: "Are you really planning to withdraw all the tank units to the Red October factory? What should we do if the superiors blame us?"

"I didn't withdraw all the troops." Chuikov obviously expected Krylov to ask this question, and he said to himself: "Although the tank troops withdrew to the Red October factory, the infantry is still standing firm , which means that our counterattack against the enemy has not been completely terminated, and the superior cannot blame us."

"Okay, Comrade Commander." Now that Chuikov had already said that, Krylov realized that it would be inappropriate for him to contradict him as the chief of staff, so he nodded and said, "I'll send you back immediately." to convey to Colonel Gurdiyev."

The large German troops rushed over aggressively from the north. If the counterattack troops were to confront them head-on, the entire army would be wiped out. While Chuikov was considering how to allow the two right-wing infantry divisions to withdraw smoothly to the Red October Factory, he also thought of the 41st Guards Division, which had successively occupied two positions of the German army.

Chuikov asked the communications soldier to connect to the command post on Mamayev Post. After contacting Sokov, he asked straight to the point: "Sokov, how is the situation there?"

"The enemy from the direction of the station is attacking the position of the 122nd regiment." Sokov reported: "I have given an order to Lieutenant Colonel Papchenko to do everything possible to block the enemy's attack. .”

"What if they can't stop it?" Chuikov asked.

"If we can't stop it, we can only retreat." Sukov knew the purpose of Chuikov's question, and quickly explained to him: "But comrade commander, please rest assured that our defense line will not collapse immediately. When The 122nd Regiment can't stop the enemy's attack, they will find a way to retreat to the 124th Regiment's position, where they will continue to consume the enemy's vital strength. But I'm worried..."

Hearing that Sokov stopped short of what he was saying, Chuikov asked impatiently, "What are you worried about? Don't play tricks on me here. Tell me clearly."

"I'm worried that the enemy will go south in a big way. Once they break through the two divisions on the right, the two regiments I went forward will be encircled." Sukov didn't want the two guard regiments under his command, so he They were wiped out in a meaningless war of attrition, so they tried every means to withdraw them. "In order to prevent this from happening, Comrade Commander, I request you to order the counterattack troops to retreat across the board and return to their original starting positions."

"Colonel Sokov," although Chuikov felt that what Sokov said made sense, but before Khrushchev's permission, he did not have the right to let the three divisions return to their original starting positions, so he could only keep a straight face. Xun Suokov: "What are you talking about? Facing the enemies who are rushing, we should find a way to block them instead of thinking about how to retreat. Do you understand?"

Seeing that Cuikov was unwilling to withdraw the counterattack troops, Sokov couldn't help feeling a little chilled. At the same time, he secretly rejoiced that today's counterattack was not going well, and he didn't send the 125th regiment into battle. Even if the 122nd and 124th regiments were wiped out, he still retained some strength. At this moment, facing Chuikov's stubbornness, he could only bite the bullet and say insincerely: "Understood, Comrade Commander. I will immediately call Lieutenant Colonel Papchenko and Lieutenant Colonel Starcha and order them both A person must hold his ground tenaciously, even if he is the last person in the battle, he will never take a step back."

Cuikov knew that what Sokov said was angry, but he was helpless, after all, he did not have the right to make the troops retreat. He coughed lightly, and said into the microphone: "Colonel Sokov, after the enemy's attack is repelled, you can find a way to remove the wounded."

As soon as this side hung up the phone, Khrushchev came in from the outside. He raised his hand to brush off the dust on his shoulders, looked at Chuikov who was standing upright and asked, "Comrade Chuikov, you are in a hurry to call me back. Is there anything important?"

"Comrade Military Commissar, the situation is very unfavorable to our army. According to reports from the troops stationed east of Orlovka, the enemy's main force has begun to move south, trying to flank our counterattack troops with the Romanian army." Chuikov looked at Helu Xiaofu said cautiously: "I suggest stopping the counterattack immediately and withdrawing the troops to the original starting point."

"Withdraw the troops?" Khrushchev frowned as soon as he heard Chuikov say that he would retreat, and he said dissatisfiedly: "As far as I know, isn't our counterattack going smoothly? After a fierce battle, they successfully occupied the first line of defense held by the Romanian army; while the troops on the left wing performed more prominently. They not only occupied the enemy's two lines of defense, but also threatened the enemy's standing. In this case, I think the offense can continue."

"Comrade Military Commissar, you don't know that one of the enemy's vanguard units is equipped with new heavy tanks." Seeing that Khrushchev wanted to continue fighting, Chuikov quickly reported the situation reported by Bely to him: " The enemy's tanks stopped at a distance of 800 meters from our army's position and could easily destroy our army's tanks. However, our army's tanks are at such a long distance, but they have nothing to do with the opponent. The seven tanks of the third tank company The tanks were all destroyed in a face-to-face battle with the enemy's heavy tanks."

"What, one of the seven tanks was wiped out?" Khrushchev asked in surprise, "When did the enemy's tanks become so powerful?"

"It is a new type of tank that the enemy has just put into the battlefield. In order to avoid unnecessary losses, I have ordered Colonel Bely to withdraw all the tanks to the Red October factory." Chuikov said to Khrushchev: "Now on the battlefield, Only the infantry is left to defend."

"Without tanks, how can the infantry hold their positions?" Khrushchev became more and more dissatisfied when he learned that Chuikov had withdrawn all the tanks because of his arbitrariness: "General Chuikov, how could you do this without my order?" Do you want to make decisions without authorization? If it is because of the failure of this counterattack, you will be sent to a court-martial. Immediately transfer all the tank troops back to me."

Seeing that things have come to this point, Khrushchev has no intention of letting the troops retreat. On the contrary, he wants the tank troops to return to the battlefield to die. In order to avoid unnecessary losses, Chuikov decided to go all out. With his head held high, he said plausibly: "Comrade Military Commissar, since our tanks are fighting the enemy face-to-face, we can't take advantage of it. It's better to let them withdraw and rely on favorable conditions. The terrain is defended, and in the defense, find a way to destroy the enemy's new tanks."