Red Moscow

After dark, an army of more than a thousand people came from the east bank to the west bank through the pontoon bridge connecting the two banks of the Volga River.

When the troops set foot on the west bank, they heard someone shouting in a low voice in the dark: "Hey! Comrades, where is your commander?"

The leader of the team was a deputy head named Kisley, and he hurriedly stepped forward to talk to him: "I am Lieutenant Colonel Kisley, the deputy head. Who are you?"

"I am Lieutenant Klimov, the adjutant of the 62nd Army Headquarters. I was ordered to come to meet you." The visitor replied, "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, please come with me. Comrade Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army Group is waiting for you."

Under the leadership of Klimov, they came to a half-buried earth house-style shelter and walked down the steps that were not paved with wood. Entering the shelter, with the help of gas lamps hanging on the roof, Kisley saw three commanders sitting at a wooden table in the middle of the room, one of them was a general, and the other two were colonels.

Kisley thought that this general was the deputy chief of staff that Klimov was talking about, so he hurriedly stepped forward and raised his hand to salute: "Comrade deputy chief of staff of the Army Group, Lieutenant Colonel Kisley, deputy commander of the 187th Regiment of the 45th Infantry Division Reporting to you. We are ordered to come for reinforcements, I am at your command, please instruct!"

Unexpectedly, the general only looked up at Kisley and said, "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, you are mistaken, I am not the deputy chief of staff."

Just when Kisley was stunned, a colonel sitting next to him stood up, stretched out his hand to Kisley, and said friendlyly: "Hello, Lieutenant Colonel Kisley. I am the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army Group Witte Colonel Kov, this is General Lobov, Minister of Logistics, and that is Colonel Tupichev, Chief of Engineers."

After introducing the people around him, Vitkov waved to Kisley and said, "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, come to the map, I want you to assign combat missions."

Kisley came to Witkov's side, straightened his back, but stared at the map on the table, patiently waiting for Witkov to assign him a task.

Vitkov pointed to a location on the map with his hand and said to him: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, your task is to go to Building No. 4 of the Dzerzhinsky Factory and strengthen the defenses there so that the enemy cannot occupy them."

After seeing the location on the map clearly, Kisley asked with some surprise: "Comrade Deputy Chief of Staff, isn't it marked on the map that there is the factory militia's defense area? Are you planning to let us take over their defense?"

"Yes, it was indeed a defense zone of the militia before, but a few hours ago, they were forced to withdraw due to heavy losses." Witkov said to Kisley: "Your task is to enter the fourth building, and repurpose it into a new point of defense. Got it?"

"Understood, Comrade Deputy Chief of Staff." After Kisley's answer, he repeated: "I led the troops into the No. 4 building and turned it into a new fire support point. Allow me to go back to the troops? "

"Wait a minute, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." Vitkov stopped him and asked, "How many people did you bring?"

"Two battalions, twelve hundred men, Comrade Deputy Chief of Staff." Kisley replied curtly.

"Well, it is completely enough to defend Building No. 4." Witkov nodded, and then asked: "What kind of equipment do the soldiers have?"

"There are submachine guns, rifles and machine guns, but not many machine guns. Each battalion has only two heavy machine guns and twelve light machine guns."

"If you stick to Building No. 4, you may be attacked by German tanks," Witkov asked thoughtfully, "What kind of anti-tank weapons do you have?"

"There are no anti-tank guns or anti-tank rifles, only more than 50 anti-tank grenades." Kisley replied with a wry smile: "If the anti-tank grenades are used up, we can organize soldiers to use cluster grenades to blow up enemy tanks." .”

"Well...then I wish you success." After Witkov finished speaking, he suddenly remembered a more important thing: "When will the other troops of your division be able to cross the river?"

"Tomorrow night at the earliest." After Kisley finished his answer, he straightened his body and asked Vitkov again: "Can we go, Comrade Deputy Chief of Staff?"

Witkov nodded, and finally said: "The guide sent to you will arrive soon, I wish you good luck!"

When Kisley returned to his unit, the two battalion commanders immediately greeted him and asked with concern, "Comrade deputy commander, what is our mission?"

"Our superiors ordered us to go to the Dzerzhinsky factory and build a new defense at Building 4." Kisley replied, "Our guide will be here soon."

As soon as he finished speaking, he heard someone behind him asking, "Is this Lieutenant Colonel Keithley?"

"Yes, it's me." Kisley turned around, saw a short soldier standing behind him, and asked curiously, "Comrade soldier, what do you do?"

"Hello, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." Since he was outside, the short soldier did not salute Kisley, but straightened his body and replied: "I am Sidolin, the orderly of the Army Group, and I was ordered to come to serve as your guide. .”

Kisley heard that the other party's voice sounded like a child's, so he took a closer look and found that it was indeed a child. He couldn't help frowning: "Soldier Sidolin, how old are you?"

"I..." Sidolin didn't expect that Kisley would suddenly ask his age, and replied after a moment of hesitation, "I'm already sixteen this year."

"Sixteen years old?!" After listening to Sidolin's answer, Kisley shook his head with a wry smile and said, "Son, you are too young, and the place we are going to is too dangerous, you should ask Comrade Deputy Chief of Staff to change Let someone be our guide."

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, you can't look down on people like this." Seeing that Kisley not only looked down on him, but even wanted to replace him, little Sidolin was a little anxious: "I am a little young, but since the formation of the 62nd Army, I have I have been in the army all the time, and have participated in many battles. I am very familiar with the places you are going to, otherwise the superior would not have sent me to be your guide."

"Comrade Deputy Commander," the battalion commander who was standing next to him came out to smooth things over for Sidolin at this moment: "Since the superior asked this child to be our guide, let him quickly take us to the Dzerzhinsky factory. Anyway It is night now, and there is no danger of being bombarded or attacked by the enemy."

"Okay," Kisley agreed with the first battalion commander's statement. After all, marching at night has a higher safety factor than during the day. Even if a child leads the way for him, it is estimated that there will be no danger, so he is happy An order was issued: "Let's go!"

On the way to the Dzerzhinsky factory, Kisly asked Sidolin curiously: "Son, where are your parents?"

"My mother died shortly after I was born, and I grew up with my father." Sidolin looked up at Kisley and said, "My father is now in Stalingrad."

"Where is he?" Kisley continued to ask, "Is he working at the army headquarters, or fighting the enemy at the front?"

"He used to be the Chief of Operations at the headquarters, and later he was transferred to the Mamayev post." When Sidolin heard Kisley ask about his father, he felt a sense of pride: "Serving in that heroic army Chief of Staff."

"What, your father is Lieutenant Colonel Sidolin?" After hearing Sidolin's answer, Kisley had a surprised expression on his face. He put an arm on Sidolin's shoulder and smiled. Said: "Son, you can't think of it, your father and I are classmates of Frunze Military Academy."

"Are you the Uncle Kisley that my father often mentioned?" After learning that the other party was his father's classmate in the military school, little Sidorin immediately recalled some comrades in arms and classmates his father had mentioned, and asked tentatively: " Didn't you transfer to the Volkhov Front Army, why did you appear here?"

"I was wounded during the siege of Leningrad," replied Kisley. "I was in the hospital for two months. When I was released, I was transferred to the 45th Infantry Division."

The two walked and chatted, and they entered the Dzerzhinsky factory without knowing it, and came to a place not far from Building No. 4. At this moment, the sound of submachine gun firing suddenly sounded in front of him. As soon as Kisley heard it, he heard that it was a German MP40 submachine gun firing, and quickly issued a covert order.

Besides, Golia, who was staying in the switchboard room of the building, heard gunshots from outside the building, grabbed the phone in front of him, and asked into the microphone: "Lieutenant Gelia, what happened, where did it ring?" gun?"

"Report to Comrade Deputy Battalion Commander," Gelia, who was staying in the command post outside the building, quickly replied after hearing Golia's question: "The gunshots came from the east. It may be that my sentinel discovered a sneak attack. enemy."

"Comrade Lieutenant," Golia asked cautiously after hearing this: "Before we attacked Building No. 4, Colonel Omelchenko said that the Army Command sent them a guard company, could it be this guard company?" coming?"

"I don't think so." Zelya said in a positive tone: "The positions of the Omelchenko Regiment and the Sixth Company are in the southwest of Building No. 4, but the gunshots came from the east. I think the enemy may have bypassed the friendly line of defense and came from behind us."

After listening to Gelia's analysis, Golia felt that it made sense, and quickly issued an order: "Comrade Lieutenant, let all the soldiers enter the position and prepare for battle."

In fact, there was no need for Golia or Gelia to issue orders. As soon as the gunshots rang out on the defensive position outside the building, the soldiers, whether they were staying in the building or the trenches, quickly entered the position and made preparations for battle.

The troops approaching Building No. 4 thought they had encountered the Germans when they heard gunshots in front of them. The first battalion commander bent over and ran to Kisd, and asked him for instructions: "Comrade deputy commander, we have encountered the Germans, what should we do next?"

"It's too dark. If too many troops are put into battle, I'm afraid it will cause unnecessary confusion." Kisd frowned and looked at the position where the gunshots sounded in front, and then ordered a battalion commander: "Send two soldiers first." Go up one row and find out the enemy's firepower deployment, so that we can launch targeted attacks."

Following the order, the commander of the first battalion dispatched two platoons of fighters to form a scattered formation, and under the cover of the ruins, they quickly rushed towards the location of the No. 4 building. The soldiers of the fifth company standing in the trench saw a black shadow approaching in the distance, and immediately opened fire with various weapons at the same time, trying to suppress the opponent's attack.

Golia in the building, after giving the order, found a window that was convenient for observation, and raised the binoculars to look into the distance. He saw that his own position was constantly firing, blocking the way of the incoming troops with firepower. The officers and soldiers who came to attack the troops, faced the hail of bullets from their own side, but they were extremely brave. Although some people fell down in the firepower, the rest still rushed forward bravely.

Golia looked at it for a while, and found that something was wrong. He quickly grabbed the phone on the side and shouted into the microphone: "Hey, Captain Gelia, order the troops to stop shooting. I repeat, order everyone to stop shooting!"

"What, stop shooting?" Gelia was taken aback when he heard this order, and he reminded Golia loudly: "Comrade Deputy Battalion Commander, if we stop shooting, the enemy will charge up."

"Damn it, how could the enemy be so brave when fighting at night?" Goria said in an uncertain tone, "Maybe our own people are fighting with our own people."

"No way, your own people fight with your own people, how is this possible?"

"There is nothing impossible." Golia continued: "You can tell what weapons they are using by listening to the gunshots. They are all Soviet-style weapons. Do you think the Germans will equip so many of our troops? A weapon?"

"My God, is it really a wrong call?" Gelia didn't even have time to put down the microphone, and shouted at the correspondent standing aside: "Hurry up and order everyone to cease fire, immediately cease fire!"

After a minute or two, all the weapons on the outer positions of Building No. 4 stopped firing. The commanders and fighters of the 45th Division, who were attacking, saw a sudden ceasefire in the opponent's position, thinking it was some kind of conspiracy by the Germans, they also stopped the attack, hid behind bomb craters or ruins, and quietly waited for Kisley's new order.

"Strange!" Hearing that the front suddenly became quiet, Kisd showed a surprised expression on his face: "What the hell are the Germans doing? Why did they suddenly stop shooting?"

Although Sidolin is the messenger of the Army Group Headquarters, because his rank is too low, he doesn't know about many things about the city's deployment, so he doesn't know that Building No. 4 is now guarded by the 41st Guards Division. However, when he saw the ceasefire in the front line and Kisley was full of question marks, he suddenly thought of a possibility, and quickly said to Kisd: "Uncle Kisd, I think there may not be Germans in the front line." , but our own people.”

"What, it's our own?" Kisley shook his head and said, "Sidorin, how is this possible? Didn't you hear that they were using German weapons?"

"In my father's army, there is a regiment equipped with German weapons. Maybe they are the troops guarding the front line." Sidolin proposed to Kisd: "Let me go over and find out the situation."

"No." Sidolin just made his request, but was rejected by Kisde: "The front is so dangerous, how can I let you take risks as a child?"

"Don't worry, Uncle Kisd." Sidolin comforted the other party and said, "I know many people in the regiment. If I go to make contact, the misunderstanding may be cleared up soon." After finishing speaking, no When Kisd made another statement, he bent over and ran forward.

"Come here!" Seeing little Sidorin running away, Kisley hastily called the two soldiers: "Hurry up and follow, we must protect their safety."

Looking down, little Sidorin ran to a ruined wall and hid behind the broken wall. Seeing that it was only fifty or sixty meters away from the position, he grabbed the whistle hanging around his neck and blew vigorously. After blowing a few times, there was a response from the opposite position. After confirming that the other party's whistle sounded and he had figured it out, he stood up and walked forward with firm steps, waving his hands as he walked, and shouted loudly: "Don't shoot, your own! It's your own!"