Red Moscow

"One more thing," Sokov saw that the two were silent, and added: "Before handing over the defense, we asked Lieutenant Porochenko to blow up all the captured anti-tank guns. If we don't give others A little compensation, I am worried that the comrades of the friendly army will have some bad associations, which will affect their morale."

"Comrade Commander is still thoughtful." Agranov gave Sokov a thumbs up after listening to Sokov's explanation, "I was worried about blowing up the anti-tank gun, whether it would arouse the resentment of the friendly army, but I didn't expect the division commander It's been settled."

"Okay, stop flattering." Sokov waved his hand at Agranov: "Order the troops to speed up and rush to the gully as soon as possible to join Captain Shamrikh."

Agranov agreed, and stepped forward quickly. Sergesha waited for Agranov to leave, and said to Sokov in a low voice: "Misha, I heard from comrades in the friendly army that the barricade factory and the tractor factory were fighting hard. The fortress was first bombarded by planes and cannons, and then the tanks covered the infantry charge, and we went up to a battalion, and it took less than a quarter of an hour to destroy them all."

Seryozha's words shocked Sokov. He didn't expect the battle between the Barricade Factory and the Tractor Factory to be so fierce. No wonder there were two divisions in the Barricade Factory and three divisions in the Tractor Factory, but they were still facing a shortage of troops. It turned out that the troops were constantly fighting against the Germans for consumption.

Seeing that Sokov was silent, Seryozha continued to ask: "Misha, according to the friendly army's way of fighting, I estimate that these divisions will be completely lost in a short time. Tell me, when the time comes Will the superiors transfer us to the tractor factory for defense?"

"The superiors should be very clear about the importance of Mamayev Post. Once it falls, not only will the connection between the northern and southern urban areas be interrupted, but the ferry will also face the possibility of being occupied by the enemy. If this happens, our It will be impossible to defend the city." Sokov felt that if the situation at the barricade factory and the tractor factory were tight, it would be inevitable that his troops would be sent for reinforcements: "Even if we were to be transferred for reinforcements, at best we would only transfer one or two troops. group."

"Even if only one or two regiments are transferred," Seryozha said with some dissatisfaction, "it will greatly weaken our strength."

"Seryozha, my heart is the same as yours, and I don't want my superiors to transfer my troops casually." Sokov sighed softly and said, "But it can't be done. For the Army Group Command, Stalingrad is the As a whole, the loss of any important section may cause the entire city to be occupied by the enemy. If the barricade factory and the tractor factory are occupied by the enemy, then they can go out to the Volga River and go down the river to copy us. Road, even if Mamayev Gang is still in our hands, what's the point?"

"Misha, I understand what you mean." Seryozha said unwillingly: "But every time we see that our troops are transferred to support friendly troops, and when we return, there are more than half of them, and I feel very uncomfortable. Do you think Think about how many troops we had when we entered Mamayev Konk, and how many are left now?"

Seryozha's words made the muscles on Sokov's face twitch violently. Of the thousands of commanders and fighters he brought from Stalingrad, there are probably only five or six hundred left, or even fewer. There are still three months until the end of the Stalingrad Defense War, and it is unknown how many people will survive by then.

When the troops reached the gully, Shamrih was already waiting there. As soon as he saw Sokov, he asked bluntly: "Comrade division commander, are you going to withdraw all the troops to Mamayev kön?"

"Yes." Sokov understood the reason for Shamrih's question, so he nodded and said, "There will be friendly troops here in the gully to deploy defenses. You bring all the troops back to Mamayev Post."

Since Sokov said that there is no need to keep troops here in the gully, Shamrikh did not ask why, but turned around and told Yakuda: "Comrade Deputy Battalion Commander, bring all the troops back to Mamayev Post."

After Yakuda turned and left, Shamrih tilted his head and looked at the troops behind Sokov, secretly guessing how much loss they had here. Sokov noticed the other party's small movements, and he took the initiative to say: "Comrade Captain, we are here to reinforce Liumian Street. The two companies suffered a total of nearly 300 casualties, of which more than 180 people died."

Shamrih asked Yakuda to command the troops because he wanted to chat with Sokov in private to see if he could get some latest information from him. On the way, he took the initiative to start the conversation: "Comrade commander, during the day I saw gunpowder smoke billowing from the direction of the barricade factory and the tractor factory, and the rumble of gunfire. It seems that the enemy's offensive is still very fierce."

"That's right, the enemy concentrated a large number of troops to attack the barricade factory and the tractor factory. They just wanted to take them there in one fell swoop and move forward to the banks of the Volga River." Sokov said to Shamrich: "As long as the enemy reaches the river, Then they can go down the river, seize the ferry behind Mamayev Post, and cut off the connection between the defenders in the city and the outside world. Once our connection with the outside world is cut off, when the weapons, ammunition and supplies are exhausted, all of us will When the army is destroyed."

"The Red October Factory and the Barricade Factory are not far away, just a few kilometers apart, and they are also companies that produce tanks." After Sokov finished speaking, Shamrikh asked in a puzzled way: "But why did the enemy treat this place? The attack launched is not so much an attack, but a formality. They launched an attack on the friendly army's position, and once they were counterattacked, they quickly retreated, as if they didn't want to confront our army head-on here. Why?"

"Comrade Captain, you probably don't know yet." Regarding the question raised by Shamrikh, Seryosha replied on behalf of Sokov: "Some time ago, the division commander led a unit that was strengthened by tanks and stuck to the Red Army. In the October factory. It may be because he beat the enemy too hard, which caused the enemy to have a psychological shadow. In order to avoid suffering huge losses, the enemy had to shift the focus of attack to the north and chose the barricade factory and the tractor factory.”

"So that's how it is." After Seryozha's explanation, Shamrikh suddenly realized that after all, he had only been a subordinate of Sokov for a short time, and he hadn't heard of some major victories before. Now that he has a better understanding of Sokov's ability, he is full of confidence in holding on to the Mamayev post.

After the troops returned to the tunnels of the North Hill, the Marine Battalion stayed at the North Hill to rest, while Sokov returned to the South Hill with Sergey and the guard company.

Seeing Sokov walk into the command post, Ivanov, who was talking to a tank lieutenant, quickly got up and greeted him, and asked in surprise: "Comrade commander, you are back?"

"I'm back!" Sokov shook hands with Ivanov, looked at the unfamiliar tank lieutenant, and asked Ivanov curiously: "Comrade deputy division commander, this is...?"

"Comrade Commander," Ivanov said with a smile on his face when Sokov asked about the lieutenant who was talking to him, "Let me introduce to you, this is the lieutenant of the tank soldiers sent by General Orel... "

Before Ivanov finished speaking, suddenly there was a roar from behind Sokov, and then a man rushed up and punched the tank lieutenant who was standing upright and ready to salute Sokov. . The lieutenant of the tank soldier was hit by a measure and fell to the ground on his back. The people who rushed up seemed not to be relieved after knocking him down, so they rushed up to punch and kick him again.

The sudden change stunned everyone present. After a while, Ivanov shouted to the outside: "Come, come!" He tried to call the guards outside to stop the man who was beating the lieutenant.

"Guchakov, stop!" Sokov saw that it was Guchakov who hit the person, with a shocked expression on his face. He shouted and stepped forward to hug Guchakov's waist. Back him up: "This is my own person, stop now!"

Hearing the shouts of Ivanov and Sokov, the others finally came back to their senses. Seryozha and the two soldiers who had just rushed in helped Sokov drag the crazy Guchakov away. After the soldiers pushed Guchakov away, Sokov let go of his hand, came to the tank lieutenant who fell to the ground, bent down to help him up, and asked with concern: "Comrade Lieutenant, are you all right?"

Although the tank lieutenant's face was covered with blood and his eyes were burning with anger, he still shook his head when he heard Sokov's question, and replied bravely, "Thank you, my friend, Comrade Colonel, I'm fine.".

Seeing the blood on the tank lieutenant's face, Sokov couldn't help but get angry. He pointed at Guchakov and asked sharply, "Guchakov, are you crazy to beat yourself up so quickly?"

Although Guchakov was hugged tightly by the three people, and he was in a position where he could not touch the lieutenant of the tank soldier at all, he still kicked the lieutenant with his feet and kept swearing. Seeing that Guchakov was still so arrogant after beating someone, Sokov couldn't stand it anymore, so he went over and slapped the opponent twice. Guchakov never dreamed that Sokov would beat himself, and the scolding stopped abruptly.

Although Ivanov hadn't had time to say the name of the tank lieutenant, Sokov knew why the other party appeared here. Seeing that Guchakov stopped swearing, he said angrily: "Guchakov, do you know who he is? He is a tank soldier sent to us by the superior. In order to drive away the captured tank at the foot of the mountain , they made a huge sacrifice."

Guchakov stared at the tank lieutenant with hatred, and said viciously: "Of course I know who he is. Even if he turns into ashes, I will know him."

Hearing what Guchakov said, Sokov realized that the two might have had some conflicts before, so he turned his head and asked the tank soldier: "Comrade Lieutenant, do you know him?"

The lieutenant took two steps forward, approached Guchakov, looked carefully at him, then shook his head and said to Sokov, "Comrade Colonel, I don't know him, I've never seen him before."

As soon as the lieutenant's words fell, Guchakov snorted coldly, and then said through gritted teeth, "Do you still remember the small army you met in Kursk a year ago?"

Originally, the lieutenant was still calm, but when Guchakov mentioned Kursk, he couldn't help being shocked. He felt that he looked at Guchakov carefully again, and then asked tentatively: "You are the lieutenant."

"Is it me or who?" Guchakov stared at the other party and said, "Now you understand why I beat you!"

Sokov observed the words and saw that the lieutenant not only did not refute Guchakov's words, but his face flushed red. He knew that there must be some story in it, so he waved to Seryozha and motioned him to let go of Guchako. husband. "Guchakov, what is going on here, can you tell me about it?"

"Comrade commander," Guchakov said to Sokov after glaring at the lieutenant viciously, "last year my unit was dispersed outside Kursk. Several soldiers broke through the encirclement. Seeing that they were about to break out of the encirclement, they were blocked by an enemy's machine gun fire. I led people to charge several times, but they were unsuccessful. On the contrary, more than a dozen people were killed or injured. At this moment, my soldiers went to I reported that a tank of our army was found in the rear."

Hearing this, Sokov instinctively turned his head to look at the tank lieutenant, and asked casually, "If I'm not mistaken, the tank is driven by the tank lieutenant, right?"

"That's right, Comrade Commander." Guchakov replied with affirmative taste: "At that time, I stopped his tank and told him that there was an enemy machine gun firing point ahead, blocking our way to break through, and asked him to help us destroy it. That firepower, so that everyone can stand out."

"Then how did he do it?" Hearing this, even Sidolin couldn't help asking.

Guchakov sneered, and then said: "Who knows that after hearing this, if he ordered the tank to reverse, he left us and drove away in another direction. My subordinates and I were unable to break through the enemy's fire blockade. After running out of food, they all became captives of the enemy."

Hearing this, everyone present finally understood why Guchakov had such a big reaction when he saw the lieutenant. Everyone was even thinking: If it was you, seeing this enemy who made you a prisoner, would you just pull out your pistol and shoot him?

Commissar Anisimov turned straight to the tank lieutenant: "Comrade lieutenant, is Guchakov telling the truth?"

"Yes... yes." The tank lieutenant replied in a panic: "I was worried that there would be too many people and the target would be too large, which would attract the attention of the enemy and lead to the failure of the breakout. That's why..."

The lieutenant of the tank soldier did not finish his sentence, but everyone knew that everything Guchakov said was true. It was because of the timidity of the tank soldier that dozens of Soviet commanders became prisoners of the Germans. Thinking of this, Everyone cast contemptuous glances at him.