Red Moscow

The outcome of the battle shocked everyone.

The Romanian officers and soldiers on the distant position watched the two infantry battalions preparing to withdraw from the Workers' New Village, and they became captives of the Russians right under their noses. While attacking the Soviet tank unit and two infantry battalions, with almost no casualties, they captured thousands of prisoners and seized a large amount of weapons and ammunition.

Agafon leaned out half of his body from the turret, looking at the Romanian officers and soldiers with their hands raised up, he couldn't believe that what he saw was real. Back then, when he saw the combat order Sokov gave him, his first reaction was that the other party wanted to avenge Lieutenant Guchakov, and it was purely for him to die.

But now, seeing the piles of ammunition and groups of captives, he finally understood that Sokov did not ask him to die, but gave himself a great contribution. He quickly retracted into the tank, and communicated with other tanks through the car radio, asking them to help the infantry drive the prisoners to the direction of the worker's new village.

Papchenko has been standing in his temporary observation post and witnessed the assault process of the tank unit and infantry with his own eyes. He did not expect that the Romanian army was so vulnerable that it collapsed without even the slightest resistance. Although he hadn't had time to count the results of the battle, he felt that he should report the good news to the division commander immediately.

After the call was connected, Papchenko tried hard to control his emotions, and tried to report in a calm tone: "Comrade commander, this is Papchenko, and I am reporting to you that our assault has ended. "

"Oh, it's over so soon?" As soon as Sokov heard Papchenko's voice, he guessed that it must have something to do with the counterattack in the evening, but it was a bit beyond his expectation that the battle would end so quickly. Quickly asked: "What is the result of this battle? Are there many casualties in our army?"

"Comrade Commander, the battle has just ended, and the results of the battle have not yet been counted. But according to my estimation, at least thousands of enemies have been captured, and a large amount of weapons, ammunition and technical equipment have been captured." Papchenko said excitedly on the phone : "The casualties of our army are almost negligible."

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," Sokov waited for Papchenko to report the whole battle, and said into the microphone: "Your regiment kept the captured 75mm anti-tank guns for defensive use. As for other weapons The ammunition will be handed over to Captain Vasily, the commander of the new battalion who went to help the battle, and asked him to bring it back to Mamayev Post.”

Papchenko had no objection to Sokov's arrangement. Therefore, he knew very well in his heart that the weapons seized from the Romanian army were all German weapons, and if his regiment wanted to use these weapons, it had to be refitted on a large scale. In the process of becoming familiar with German-style weapons, it will definitely affect the combat effectiveness of the troops. Since this is the case, it is better to be more generous and directly hand over the weapons to the new battalion that originally used German-style weapons.

"Comrade commander, this is good news." As soon as Sokov put down the phone, Sidolin said impatiently: "We should report to the headquarters immediately."

Sokov felt that Chuikov and the others must be waiting for his battle report, so he agreed with Sidolin's proposal. He asked casually, "Chief of Staff, should you report to the headquarters, or should I report to the headquarters?"

Although Sidolin wanted to report the good news to Chuikov in person, but since Sukov, the division commander, was in the division headquarters, he could only let him carry out the victory. So Sidolin said with a smile: "Comrade commander, of course it is up to you to report this good news to the headquarters." The soldiers connected to the group army headquarters.

It was Chief of Staff Krylov who answered the phone. As soon as he heard Sokov’s voice, he asked impatiently: “Colonel Sokov, I would like to ask why there was no counterattack in the counterattack plan you reported yesterday. time?"

"Report to Comrade Chief of Staff," Sokov quickly replied, "In the counterattack plan, the reason why there is no counterattack time is because of my confidentiality considerations."

Hearing what Sokov said, Krylov snorted coldly, and then asked again: "Colonel Sokov, can you tell me now, when are you going to launch a counterattack?"

"Comrade Chief of Staff, I called you just to report on the counterattack." Sokov said confidently: "Our counterattack against the enemy is over."

"What, the counterattack against the enemy is over?" At this moment, even if a shell fell on Krylov's side and exploded, the shock it brought to him was definitely not comparable to what Sokov said. He was surprised Q: "When did your counterattack take place?"

"Just half an hour ago," Sokov said proudly, "the whole battle lasted less than 20 minutes, and the counterattack troops wiped out the enemies who attacked the Workers' New Village, captured thousands of prisoners, and A large number of weapons and ammunition were seized."

"How is this possible?" Krylov said in an unbelievable tone: "A battle that captured thousands of enemies took less than twenty minutes? Colonel Sokov, this joke is not funny."

"I'm not joking, Comrade Chief of Staff." Seeing that Krylov thought he was joking, Sokov replied with some embarrassment: "Now the battle results are being counted. "

Krylov was about to say something more, but Chuikov had already walked over and took the microphone from him. Chuikov asked into the microphone: "Colonel Sokov, tell me about your battle in detail."

Sokov heard that Chuikov wanted to know the details of the battle, so he repeated to Chuikov exactly what Papchenko reported to him, and finally emphasized: "Comrade commander, what I said is true, I will soon send the prisoners to you."

"What do I want these captives to do?" Unexpectedly, Chuikov said unexpectedly: "The supply in the city is difficult now, we don't have so much food to feed the captives; and the number of ships transporting residents and wounded to the opposite bank every day is also very high. gradually decreased, and we were unable to transport these prisoners to the POW camps on the other side."

"Then what should we do?" Seeing that Chuikov didn't want any prisoners, Sokov felt a headache: "You know, there are thousands of prisoners. I can't shoot them all, can I?"

To Sokov's question, Chuikov smiled slyly and said: "How to deal with the prisoners is your business, I don't want to ask. By the way, have Lieutenant Griza and the others come back? The military commissioner and I are going to award them honors." Woolen cloth."

"Not yet, it should still be on the way." After confirming that the enemy's ammunition depot was destroyed, Sokov immediately issued a retreat order to Grisa, but the daytime was not conducive to retreat, so that the squad has not yet Returning to Mamayev Post, "I guess I won't be able to return until night at the earliest."

"Well then, the Military Council and I rushed to Mamayev Post after dark." Chuikov said with a smile: "When you arrive, remember to say hello to the defenders along the way, lest we be stopped on the way." come down."

"Understood, Comrade Commander." Sokov replied, "I will greet the defenders along the way."

"Then see you tonight." Cuikov said, "Good luck!"

"Comrade commander, can I ask you a question?" Seeing that Sokov had ended the call with Chuikov, Ivanov asked cautiously.

"Yes." Sokov stared at the deputy in front of him, and said with some puzzlement: "Comrade deputy division commander, you are not an outsider. If you have anything to ask, you don't need to be so polite."

"Comrade commander, I want to ask you." Ivanov frowned and asked, "Why did you choose the time for the counterattack in the evening? Have you ever thought that if the enemy does not retreat, then our counterattack will Is it possible to turn into a fierce battle?"

"Comrade Deputy Division Commander," Sokov replied with a smile when Ivanov finished speaking, "I have indeed considered the question you asked. If the troops attacking the workers' new village were not Romanians but Germans , It is obviously inappropriate for us to adopt this kind of tactics. As long as the Germans occupy a place, they will nail it there like a nail and start fighting with us repeatedly. The Romanian army is different, their ability to fight at night is poor , I am worried that the troops stationed in the workers' new village will be eaten by us at night, so they must withdraw to their original starting positions before dark."

Last night, while formulating the battle plan, Ivanov kept having doubts in his mind. He felt that Sokov's plan was too risky. If he couldn't kill the enemy in a short time, he would have to fight the enemy at night. If the battle cannot be resolved by dawn, the troops participating in the war will face the enemy's fierce shelling and bombing, and they will inevitably suffer heavy losses. But in order to take into account Sokov's face, he did not raise objections at the time. After listening to Sokov's explanation now, he realized in his heart that he was indeed inferior to Sokov.

After waiting for Sokov to finish speaking, Sidolin asked cautiously: "Comrade commander, just now the commander said on the phone that no prisoners should be taken. Are we really going to shoot all these prisoners?"

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Sokov turned to Sidolin and said, "If we killed thousands of enemies in battle, that would be a glorious victory for us; A unilateral massacre, I will not issue such an order."

Hearing that Sokov did not intend to shoot these prisoners of war, Sidolin secretly heaved a sigh of relief, and then asked, "Then how should we deal with them?"

"Let go, let go of all the prisoners of war." After thinking for a moment, Sokov said to Sidolin: "But before letting them go, let them be free labor. Chief of Staff, you should immediately inform Pa Lieutenant Colonel Puchenko, let these prisoners of war move all their weapons and ammunition to the central square of the workers' new village, and then let them go."