Red Moscow

A few minutes later, Klimov returned to Chuikov with an officer wearing a large hat: "Comrade Commander, this is the commander sent by Colonel Sokov to meet us."

After he finished speaking, the officer took a step forward, straightened his back and reported to Chuikov: "Reporting to the commander and comrades of the military commissar, I am Major Tenev, the commander of the 41st Guards Battalion of the Guards, and I am the commander of the Feng division. order to come to meet you."

"Oh, I remember you, you are Major Tenev." Although it has been a while since Tenev left the headquarters, Chuikov still remembered this subordinate. He stretched out his hand towards him and asked friendlyly: "Long time no see Alright, how have you been recently?"

Tenev had not been the commander of the security battalion of the headquarters for a long time, and he had not even met Chuikov twice. Seeing that the commander still remembered him at this moment, he was very excited. He hastily stretched out two hands and held Chuikov's hand: "I'm fine, thank you, Comrade Commander, for your concern."

After the two chatted for a while, Tenev said respectfully to Chuikov: "Commander, Comrade Military Commissar, please follow me, and I will take you to the division headquarters."

A group of people entered the tunnel, and on the way to the division headquarters, Tenev thought that he had been sitting on the bench after arriving in the Guards Division, so he tentatively asked Chuikov: "Comrade commander, can you let me go back to the headquarters? Even if you can’t be a battalion commander, you can still be a company commander.”

"Why?" Chuikov had a surprised expression on his face when he heard Tenev say this: "You are doing well here in the Guards Division, why do you want to go back to the headquarters?"

"That's right, Comrade Commander." Tenev explained hastily, stuttering, "I stay in the tunnel every day here, and I can't even see the shadow of the Germans. I can still win battles at the headquarters." .”

"..." Tnev's words made Chuikov speechless. He thought that this man was really lucky, but he didn't know how many people wanted to come to such a safe place like the tunnel of Mamayev Gang. Go back to the headquarters where fighting often takes place.

Seeing that Chuikov didn't speak, Tenev knew that the other party would not agree to his request, so he didn't continue to entangle him. He just acted as a faithful guide and guided Chuikov and Gurov to the division headquarters.

Sokov led a group of people from the division headquarters and stood quietly in the corridor outside the door. Seeing Cuikov and the others approaching, he hurried forward a few steps, raised his hand in salute and said respectfully, "Commander, Comrade Military Commissioner, welcome to my division headquarters!"

Chuikov raised his hand in return, and then extended his hand to Sokov. When the two were shaking hands, Chuikov specifically asked, "Have all those heroes come?"

"Here we come!" Sokov turned to face the crowd behind him, and began to roll his name: "Lieutenant Grisa, Sergeant Elizaveta, you all come out!"

The two people whose names were called hurriedly squeezed out from the crowd, stood at attention in front of Chuikov, raised their hands in salute, and said in unison, "Hello, Commander!"

"Comrade Commander, let me introduce you." Sokov pointed to the two men and introduced to Chuikov, "This is Lieutenant Griza, who commanded the attack on Gorodishe town." Waiting for Chuikov After shaking hands with Griza, he pointed to Elizaveta and continued, "The three rockets fired by Sergeant Elizaveta accurately destroyed the enemy's open ammunition depot."

After shaking hands with Elizaveta, Chuikov turned to Gurov and said, "Comrade Military Commissar, read out our orders for honoring these heroes."

Gurov nodded, took out a stack of documents from his satchel, turned out the documents of Grisa and Elizaveta, and began to read: "In view of the bravery shown in the struggle against the German occupation forces and heroism, the Order of the Red Banner to Lieutenant Griza ... Sergeant Elizaveta."

After Gurov finished reading the honor order, Klimov, who was standing aside, quickly put two red boxes in his hands. Gurov glanced down at the box in his hand, came to Grisa, handed one of the red boxes and the certificate to Grisa, and then handed the other box and certificate to Elizawi tower sergeant.

After doing all this, Gurov nodded to the two with a smile, then took a step back, restrained the smile on his face and asked Grisa: "Comrade Lieutenant, don't you know what you should say after you get the medal?" ?"

After hearing Gurov's words, Grisa exchanged glances with Elizaveta, and the two said in unison, "Serve the Soviet!"

"It can be seen that both of you have served well." Gurov glanced at the medals hanging on the chests of the two, with a smile on his face again: "I hope you can continue to work hard and build more for the motherland." Merit."

After the simple and unadorned award ceremony, the group entered the division headquarters. After Chuikov sat down, he saw that all the division leaders were sitting at the table, so he said to Sokov: "Colonel Sokov, I came here today with Comrade Military Commissars. I have something important to discuss with you."

As soon as Sokov heard that there was an important matter, Sokov's scalp tingled. He was afraid that Chuikov would propose to send his troops to reinforce a certain place, which would inevitably weaken the Mamayev Gang. defense force. But in front of Chuikov, he didn't dare to complain casually, so he could only bite the bullet and say: "Comrade Commander, if you have anything to do, just ask."

"That's right, Comrade Military Commissar and I think." When Chuikov said this, he turned his head and glanced at Gurov, seeing that the other party gave him an encouraging look, and then continued: "With your ability, Letting you be the commander of a division is a bit too incompetent. Therefore, we plan to apply to our superiors, transfer a few more divisions or brigades into the city, and hand them over to you to command and form a combat group to be responsible for the Mamayev Gang and the old city. Fight the enemy. I want to ask your opinion, would you like to be the commander of the battle group?"

Hand over a few divisions or brigades to your own command. It sounds like you have been promoted and have greater rights, but your responsibilities will also increase exponentially. Now there is only one division of troops, and it is not a big problem to deal with the enemy in Mamayev Hill and the old city, but once the number of troops standing in this area increases, it will definitely attract the attention of the Germans, and then I will will become the target of public criticism.

It was precisely because of this consideration that after a moment of hesitation, Sokov shook his head and said to Chuikov: "Comrade Commander, thank you for your kindness. I think it is inappropriate to set up a battle group under the current situation."