Red Moscow

"Comrade Commander," Krylov, who was originally in high spirits, stuttered a bit after hearing the bad news: "How long do you think it will be... probably... how long will it be before the shipping is interrupted?"

"Five minutes ago, I called the Meteorological Force and asked similar questions." Yeremenko replied with a serious expression: "In two days at most, that is, on November 9, the river transportation on both sides of the river will be completed." It may be interrupted by the appearance of a large amount of ice floes. Therefore, in the remaining two days, the Volga River District Fleet and the Front Army Transport Team will increase their transport efforts to increase the amount of your supplies."

After Krylov put down the phone, he reported to Chuikov with a bitter face: "Comrade Commander, just now General Yeremenko said that due to the heavy cooling and heavy snowfall, a large amount of ice floes formed on the river. Shipping may be disrupted."

"Call the Minister of Logistics, General Lobov," Chuikov waited for Krylov to finish speaking, thought for a moment, and then told him, "Let him come over immediately. I want to ask about the amount of materials currently hoarded in the city. How long will it last?"

Lobov didn't know what happened. Hearing Krylov's stern tone on the phone, he hurriedly handed over the work in hand to his subordinates, and hurried to the headquarters. As soon as he entered the door, he heard Cuikov who was sitting at the table ask: "Comrade Minister of Logistics, I want to ask you, how long can our supplies last?"

Hearing Chuikov's abrupt question, Lobov immediately realized that something might be wrong. After quickly recalling the inventory situation in various places, he replied seriously: "Comrade commander, since we built the underwater pontoon bridge, the convoy A large amount of materials can be continuously transported into the city, so so far, the food, meat, dairy products, etc. we have stored can last for half a month; medicines can last for ten days. As for ammunition,... "

Chuikov called Lobov to the headquarters. In fact, what he wanted to know most was the storage of ammunition. Without food, people may still be hungry; if the gun is out of ammunition, it will become a fire stick. You can only fight bayonet with them. Therefore, seeing that Lobov stopped in the middle of his speech, he asked impatiently: "Comrade Minister of Logistics, please tell me, how long can we keep the ammunition in stock in the city?"

"If calculated based on the fighting intensity of the previous two days," Lobov replied in an uncertain tone, "it can only last for five to seven days."

Chuikov didn't speak, but turned to look at Krylov, as if he was asking the other party: Is there enough ammunition storage? Krylov understood what Chuikov meant, shook his head slightly, and said, "Comrade Commander, I think the ammunition reserve for five to seven days is really too little. If the shipping is interrupted for more than half a month, our soldiers will only You can fight the enemy with the bayonet."

Lobov didn't understand why Chuikov and the others inexplicably asked about the inventory of materials, so he couldn't help asking curiously: "Comrade Commander, can you tell me why you asked about the inventory today."

"When the chief of staff spoke with the commander of the front army just now, he learned that due to the recent heavy cooling and heavy snowfall, a large amount of ice floes have appeared on the Volga River. As the number of floes increases, shipping on both sides of the river may be interrupted." When Chuikov said this, he paused for a moment, pointed at Lobov with his hand, and said, "Also, the underwater pontoon bridge that can pass cars can no longer transport supplies."

Hearing what Chuikov said, Lobov immediately understood why both Chuikov and Krylov looked worried. The feeling was that in a few days, the transportation of materials on the river would be blocked by the ice floes on the river. interruption. His mind was working quickly, calculating how to increase the existing transportation volume.

Unfortunately, after thinking for a long time, he felt that the daily transportation volume has reached saturation, and there is no room for further improvement. Thinking of this, he shook his head slightly, and said to Chuikov: "Comrade Commander, unfortunately, our transportation volume has reached the limit at present, and it is obviously impossible to increase it."

"Comrade Minister of Logistics," Chuikov was obviously dissatisfied with his statement, but instead of getting angry at him, he said with a serious expression: "We don't know how long the ice floes on the river will stop the transportation. If there are not enough ammunition and material reserves in the city, then we may face a situation of running out of ammunition and food. Whether we can hold the city by then is an unknown.”

"Comrade Minister of Logistics," Krylov saw Lobov's helpless expression, raised his hand and patted him on the shoulder twice, and said to him, "while the shipping has not been interrupted, you can go to the sailors and transport Go among the soldiers, talk to them, and ask them to make more contributions to defending the city."

"Comrade Chief of Staff, the sailors and transport soldiers have done enough to protect this city." Chuikov was afraid that Krylov's words would arouse Lobov's resentment, so he came out to smooth things over: "The sailors risked the enemy. Shelling and bombing, transporting materials and soldiers to the city non-stop. In just a few months, they had hundreds of ships of various types, which were sunk by enemy planes or destroyed by artillery fire. More than a thousand sailors have sacrificed their precious lives, and we have no right to ask them to do more."

"But, Comrade Commander, if we don't have enough supplies and ammunition." Krylov was a little anxious when he heard Chuikov say this: "There is no way to stop the German attack."

"Comrade Chief of Staff, if the enemy still does not launch an attack on the factory area tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, then the supply of ammunition and supplies to the troops can be reduced." Chuikov said solemnly: "We must keep the precious supplies at the end of the day." Use it at critical moments."

After Chuikov said this, he suddenly found that Ivanov and Guchakov who escorted the prisoners were still standing indoors, so he walked over and asked Ivanov: "Comrade Colonel, what we just said, do you understand?" Did you hear everything?"

"Yes, Comrade Commander." Ivanov nodded vigorously, and replied, "I heard everything. Don't worry, I will keep it secret and will never disclose this to anyone."

"Comrade Colonel, you can report this matter to Sokov." Chuikov waved his hand and continued: "Let him understand that our ammunition and supplies are about to start to decrease due to the interruption of shipping. Let him do it in advance." Good response."

…………

An hour later, Ivanov returned to Mamayev Hill with Guchakov and others.

After sending Guchakov and others back to rest, Ivanov returned to the headquarters alone. Seeing Ivanov walking in from the outside, Sokov quickly stood up and greeted him: "Comrade deputy division commander, you are back! How are you, commander, are you satisfied with the gift we sent?"

"He was very satisfied, so he asked me to convey his thanks to you." Ivanov said blankly, "But there is one more bad news, I want to tell you."

"Bad news?!" Sokov shuddered suddenly: "What bad news?"

"The transportation line on the river may be interrupted in two or three days." Ivanov hurriedly repeated what he heard at the headquarters to Chuikov and Sidolin, and finally emphasized: "Comrade commander , I think we should strengthen the stockpile of materials and ammunition recently, so as not to be affected by the disruption of shipping.”

"It turned out to be this matter." After figuring out what was going on, Sokov couldn't help secretly heaving a sigh of relief. As early as more than half a month ago, he had been thinking about this matter, and even took some corresponding measures . Now seeing that the shipping on the Volga River may be interrupted at any time, he naturally doesn't have to worry too much: "Comrade deputy division commander, don't worry, the downsizing regiments in the division are all equipped with German equipment, weapons and ammunition. It was captured from the battlefield; as for the other three Soviet-style regiments, there is no need to worry too much. Anyway, we have been operating Mamayev Post for almost half a year, and the ammunition stored in the underground warehouse is enough to maintain Half a month of fighting is needed."

"It can only last for half a month?" Ivanov was anxious when he heard this, "Comrade commander, should we immediately apply to the headquarters of the group army and ask them to replenish us with more supplies and ammunition. Otherwise, I worry……"

"What are you worried about, my deputy division commander?" Sokov interrupted Ivanov with a smile before he finished speaking: "Are you worried that when our ammunition and supplies are exhausted, the supplies on the other side will not be available?" Is it coming?"

"That's right, that's what I think." Ivanov did not hide his true thoughts at all: "If we don't stock up enough supplies, I'm worried that the bayonet battle with the enemy in the past two months will happen again. appearing again."

"You are too pessimistic, Comrade Deputy Commander." As a future man who knows the final outcome, Sokov said confidently: "Even if the transportation of the Volga River is interrupted by ice floes, it will not be too long, I guess For a week at most, our reserves are fully capable of dealing with any situation."

"Comrade commander, how can you be so sure that the ice floes will only interrupt shipping for a week." Ivanov asked tentatively, "Do you have any scientific basis for saying that?"

"It's very simple. Ice floes appear on the river because of the recent heavy cooling and heavy snowfall." Sokov said lightly: "In the next few days, I guess it will continue to snow, and then the entire river will freeze. Ice. As long as the ice on the river can withstand the weight of the car, the transportation on the other side will resume. In a week at most, you will see supplies from the east bank continuously entering the city. And because it is passable With the increase of the lot, the amount of supplies in the city will be more."

Sidolin now has a blind sense of trust in Sokov. He believes that since the commander thinks that the shipping will only be interrupted for a week, then the original shipping will resume after a week. There is really nothing to worry about.

"Comrade Chief of Staff," just as Sidolin was considering whether to speak to support the division commander, he heard Sokov say to himself: "Although our existing reserves are enough to last until the transportation line returns to normal, for the sake of safety For the sake of consideration, you should ask the Army Logistics Department for more supplies and ammunition in case of emergencies.”

…………

Paulus informed Lazer to come to his headquarters, but he waited and waited, but he never waited for the arrival of the other party. He immediately ordered Schmid: "Chief of Staff, call the Divisional Headquarters of the 29th Motorized Division and ask what's going on, why Lazer hasn't arrived yet?"

Regarding Paulus's instructions, Schmid did not dare to neglect, and hurriedly called the division headquarters of the 29th Motorized Division. Hearing someone speaking on the receiver, he immediately identified himself: "I am General Schmid, Chief of Staff of the Group Army, and ask your division commander, General Laiser, to answer the phone."

After the other party heard Schmid's identity clearly, he quickly replied respectfully, "Your Excellency, Chief of Staff, our division commander set off as soon as he received your order."

"How long has he been gone?" Schmid asked instinctively.

The person who answered the phone thought for a moment, then replied: "We set off before dawn, and it may be seven hours by now."

"Understood. If you see your division commander, tell him to call me immediately." After Schmid finished speaking, he put down the phone and walked to Paulus, saying with a worried face: "Your Excellency, Commander, I feel something is wrong, it is said that General Lazer has appeared for seven hours, but we have not seen his figure, did something happen to him?"

After listening to Schmid's words, Paulus was silent for a moment and said: "The wind and snow outside are too heavy, maybe Lazer is trapped by the blizzard. Chief of Staff, you immediately send a small fast troop along Laize If they are really trapped in the snow, rescue us immediately."

"Understood." Schmid nodded and replied, "I will immediately send an armored platoon along the road to meet General Leizer."

Less than five minutes after Schmid left Paulus' room, he suddenly rushed in again, saying repeatedly, "Your Excellency, it's not good, something happened, something happened!"

Seeing Schmid's loss of composure, Paulus couldn't help but thumped in his heart, thinking to himself what happened to make the always prudent chief of staff lose his composure, he quickly asked: "Chief of staff, what happened?" ?”

"Our people just listened to the Russian radio," Schmid said emotionally: "They said on the radio that they sent a small unit to the rear of our army and successfully captured General Lazer, commander of our 29th Motorized Division, and his entourage."

"Damn it, how did Leizer and his entourage become prisoners of the Russians?" Paulus was a little mad when he heard Schmid's report, because he saw the 113th Infantry Division and the 60th Motorized Division's poor performance, it was decided to replace them by the highly accomplished 29th Motorized Division. Fortunately, the troops on both sides have not started to change defenses, and one of the division commanders has become a prisoner of the Russians.

After Paulus panted for a while, he slowly calmed down. He looked at Schmid and asked, "Where is General Leizer now, can we rescue him?"

"This is impossible, Your Excellency Commander." Schmid replied with a wry smile: "The Russians on the east bank of the Volga River, after announcing the capture of Laize on the radio, immediately sent a plane to send Laize to Moscow." .Even if we want to dispatch a small team to rescue General Lazer, it is too late."