Red Moscow

The assistant shooter had just chosen the target to shoot when a shell fired by a tank flew over and hit him directly. After a loud "boom", the assistant shooter carrying the bazooka instantly turned into blood all over the sky. fog.

Captain Vasily, who was staying at the command post, saw this scene, and his eyes suddenly turned red. He grabbed the phone next to him and gave an order to Paul Koski: "First company commander, it seems that our anti-tank platoon has become a German anti-tank platoon. The main target of human attacks. I order you now, immediately dispatch soldiers, carrying anti-tank grenades or Molotov cocktails to blow up enemy tanks."

In fact, even if Vasily did not issue such an order, after Bolkowski discovered that the soldiers of the anti-tank platoon had become the targets of enemy tanks and armored vehicles, he was preparing to let the soldiers carry anti-tank grenades to blow up the enemy tanks or armored vehicles. Upon receiving Vasily's order at this moment, he quickly and loudly agreed: "Understood, Comrade Battalion Commander, I will immediately send someone to blow up the enemy's tank."

"Also," Vasily warned before hanging up the phone, "If possible, take back all the bazookas, and they must not fall into the hands of the Germans."

The battle at the barricade factory was intensified, but because Belkin felt that the troops in his hands were enough to crush the German attack, he did not report to the division headquarters, so Sokov and others did not know that the situation in the barricade factory had changed. It was extremely critical.

On the contrary, Lieutenant Colonel Papchenko, the head of the 122nd Guards Regiment stationed in Workers' New Village, called Sokov and reported nervously: "Comrade Commander, in the northwest of Workers' New Village, there are a large number of The enemy is assembled. It seems that they are preparing to launch an attack on the workers' new village."

"What, the enemy is gathering in the northwest of the Workers' New Village?" Sokov glanced at the map and noticed that the enemy's gathering might be preparing to capture the Workers' New Village. How far? How many troops do they have?"

Lieutenant Colonel Papchenko was silent for a moment, and then replied: "According to the report from the observation post, the enemy's assembly location is about two kilometers away from the Workers' New Village, and the force is about one battalion."

"Is it all infantry?" Sokov asked. "Are there tanks, assault guns or armored vehicles?"

"No." Papchenko replied simply: "They are all infantry."

"Comrade Commander," Ivanov couldn't help interjecting when he heard this, "What do you think the enemy is gathering outside the Workers' New Village for?"

"What's the purpose?" Sokov covered the microphone with his hand, looked up at Ivanov in front of him, and said, "Comrade deputy division commander, isn't the enemy's purpose obvious? They just want to capture the workers' new village and gain an offensive." The starting point for the attack on the Red October factory."

"But the Workers' New Village has long been in ruins due to the enemy's shelling and bombing." After listening to Sokov's explanation, Ivanov asked in puzzlement: "Even if they seized this ruin, what can they do?" effect?"

"Although the workers' new village has become a ruin, as long as the German army occupies it, they can enter the factory area of ​​the Red October Factory through the underground sewer." Sokov said with a serious expression: "If the enemy enters factory area, then the situation in the city will become extremely severe.”

Ivanov asked tentatively: "What kind of bad consequences will that cause?"

Although Sokov dismissed such low-level questions raised by Ivanov in his heart, he still patiently explained: "Once the enemy captures the Red October factory, then the barricade factory and the Dzerzhinsky factory It is even more impossible to hold. Once these three important factories fall, the fall of the city will be inevitable."

"Then what should we do?" Now that the Stalingrad Front's counterattack has entered a countdown, and no one wants to have a problem at this time, Ivanov quickly asked: "We need to send troops to reinforce the 122nd Guards. group?"

"That's not necessary." Sokov waved his hand and said, "The 122nd Guards Regiment has just been supplemented by a full battalion. The total strength is close to 3,000. It is not a big problem to defend a new workers' village."

"However, Comrade Commander, if something goes wrong, the right wing of Mamayev Post will be completely exposed to the enemy." Ivanov reminded Sukov: "I think we can't just stand by and do something. Support the 122nd Regiment."

"Comrade deputy commander," Sidolin knew that the 122nd regiment was Ivanov's old subordinate, and it was inevitable for him to be concerned about the safety of the regiment, so he asked politely, "How do you think we should support them?"

"Lieutenant Colonel Papchenko," Sokov let go of his hand covering the microphone, and said to Papchenko, "Don't you still have more than a dozen new rockets in your regiment? Aim at the position where the enemy is assembled. Shot them all out with nothing left."

"Comrade Commander," Papchenko asked cautiously after hearing Sokov's order: "If we use up all the new rockets today, then there will be no new rockets in the next counterattack." Are the bombs ready to use?"

Seeing that Papchenko was so dull, Sokov said a little displeased: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, what's wrong with you? Seeing that the enemy is about to attack you, the primary task of your regiment is to crush the enemy's attack, and But you are telling me that if the new rockets are exhausted, there will be no use for the offensive. Don’t you know that once the workers’ new village is lost, the Red October Factory will become precarious?”

"Understood, Comrade Commander." Lieutenant Colonel Papchenko waited for Sokov to finish speaking, and quickly stated: "I will immediately organize the soldiers and launch rockets towards the enemy's assembly position."

"That's right, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." Hearing that Papchenko understood his intention, Sokov nodded with a smile, and said with satisfaction: "As long as the enemy can be destroyed, the new rockets will be used up. Don’t worry too. I will supplement you as appropriate when the counterattack begins.”

With Sokov's guarantee, Papchenko suddenly became more confident, and he expressed his position to Sokov: "Comrade commander, please rest assured, I will definitely wipe out these German bandits outside the Workers' New Village. They must not be allowed to enter our defense zone for half a step."

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, it is very good that you have such confidence." Sokov said happily: "I believe that you will be able to repel the enemy's attack. I am waiting for your good news."

As soon as Sokov put down the phone, he asked Sidolin who was sitting opposite him on the phone: "Chief of Staff, is there any movement from the enemy in front of Mamayev Hill?"

"No." Sidolin shook his head and replied, "It may be that the Germans have just finished switching defenses and are still consolidating their defenses, so they don't have the energy to attack us for the time being."

"Since the frontal enemy has not responded, then we don't have to worry about him." Sokov focused on the map again: "Let's think about it. After the Stalingrad Front launches an attack from the south of the city tomorrow, what should we do?" When and where to choose to launch a counterattack against the enemy?"

"Needless to say," Ivanov said confidently, "We were launching a counterattack against the enemies in front of Mamayev Post. As long as we defeated them, we would have the opportunity to join forces with the oncoming friendly forces."

"Comrade Deputy Division Commander, your thinking is too optimistic." As soon as Ivanov finished speaking, Sidolin retorted him: "Even if our Stalingrad Front Army launches an attack from the south of the city tomorrow, I am afraid it will not be the same. In two days, we will be able to come over and join us. Therefore, when choosing the time and direction of the counterattack, we must be cautious, cautious and cautious."

"Comrade Chief of Staff, I am much more optimistic than you in this matter." Ivanov pointed to the map and said to Sidolin: "In the direction of our counterattack, the Germans deployed Romanian troops. , I believe it shouldn’t take much time to break through the defense lines of these slave country troops.”

"Comrade Deputy Division Commander, you underestimate the enemy." Sidolin, who had seen the Marine Battalion and the Romanian Army fighting bayonets, said solemnly: "The Romanian Army once fought with Captain Shamrich on the northern hill of Mamayev Hill. The Marine Battalion under his command fought with bayonets. In the battle, the Romanian army was extremely tenacious and caused a lot of losses to our army. Therefore, we cannot treat the Romanian army lightly just because they are the servants of the Germans, otherwise we will It's a big loss."

After Ivanov led his troops to Mamayev Hill, although he had heard Sidolin mention this matter several times, he never took it to heart. According to his thinking, even if the Romanian army had combat effectiveness, it would not be as good as his own. Compared with our troops, it is far from enough, so I can't help but feel a little underestimated. At this moment, when I heard Sidolin emphasize again, I had to face up to this army that I looked down upon.

When Sidolin and Ivanov were bickering, Sokov kept staring at the department store on the map, thinking that Paulus later moved his headquarters here, and in the basement of the mall, became a Soviet prisoners. If you can know when Paulus's headquarters will be stationed in the department store, you can send an army to carry out a sneak attack and implement beheading tactics. As long as the commander of the German army is killed, the remaining troops will definitely fall into chaos due to the loss of unified command, so that the next battle will be easy to fight.

After arguing for a while, Sidolin and Ivanov stopped, seeing that Sokov did not come out to smooth things over. Sidolin looked at Sokov who had been leaning over to look at the map, and asked curiously, "Comrade commander, what are you looking at?"

"I was wondering where the German headquarters is." Sokov replied casually, "If we know the exact location of the Paulus headquarters, we can send a force to take them out."

Regarding Sukov's thoughts, Sidolin immediately poured cold water on him: "Comrade commander, your idea is not realistic. Think about it, the German commanders are all afraid of death, ours The division-level headquarters is only two to three hundred meters away from the front, while their regiment-level headquarters is ten kilometers away from the front, and their division-level headquarters is thirty kilometers away from the front. The group army headquarters is even farther away from the front. Where it is arranged, it is probably not an easy task to send troops to attack it."

Sokov knew that Paulus's current headquarters, located in Grubinskaya, was still extremely far away from his own Mamayev post. With so many lines of defense, to attack Paulus's headquarters is simply a dream. It seemed that Paulus had to wait until Paulus was desperate and moved the headquarters to the department store in the south of the city before considering sending troops to capture Paulus.

At this moment, Chuikov called again. In addition to asking whether the anti-tank platoon to reinforce the Dzerzhinsky factory was on the way, he also told Sokov: "Comrade Sokov, I just received a call from Lyudnik. He said that there was a fierce battle in the barricade factory, and the enemy was attacking him. He and Belkin's troops were fighting tenaciously with the enemy."

Knowing that a fierce battle was going on in the barricade factory, Sokov immediately called Belgin after finishing his conversation with Chuikov, and asked straight to the point: "Comrade my political commissar, why didn't you report the fierce fighting to me immediately?" Report?"

"Misha," Belkin glanced at the back of the retreating enemy army outside, and replied confidently: "We have just repelled an attack by the German army, and I believe we are capable of crushing all their attacks. Regarding the enemy's attack, I think we are fully capable of dealing with it, so I didn't call you to cause trouble."

"Confused, simply confused." Although Belkin is Sokov's old partner, Sokov is still very dissatisfied with his failure to report in time: "The enemy launched a fierce attack on the barricade factory, you If you don’t report to me, I don’t know the enemy’s situation, so how can I make overall arrangements?”

"Misha," Belkin explained to Sokov, hearing Sokov's harsh tone, "I think that with the strength of our regiment and Lyudnikov's division, we can completely block any enemy attack."

"My Comrade Commissar," Sokov said with a bit of laughter and tears: "Our army launched an offensive in the Don River Basin today. The Germans may have thought that it was a diversionary action taken by our army, so they stepped up their attack on the city. Therefore In addition to the fierce battles at the Barricade Factory and the Dzerzhinsky Factory, the enemy also assembled troops in the northwest of the New Workers’ Village, preparing to seize the Workers’ New Village in one fell swoop, and then obtain the starting point for attacking the Red October Factory.”

After listening to Sokov, Belkin realized that with the start of the Soviet counteroffensive in the Don River Basin, the German attack on the city not only did not weaken, but intensified. It seems that they want to capture the city in the short term. He hurriedly said to Sokov: "Misha, I didn't think carefully about this matter, and I apologize to you. Don't worry, I will report to you at any time for the next battle, so that you can keep abreast of the situation on the battlefield. situation."

The German attack was met with tenacious resistance by the Soviet army. Due to the participation of Sokov's troops in every fierce fighting area, new anti-tank weapons and special tactics, the German offensive suffered heavy losses. When it was dark, they had to give up their attempt to seize the city and retreated to their positions, preparing to wait until dawn the next day before launching an attack on the factory area again.

The downsizing regiment commanded by Belkin repelled seven German attacks in one day and successfully held the barricade factory.

The German troops assembled in the northwest of the Workers' New Village were attacked by rockets from the Workers' New Village before they could complete their assembly. The troops suffered heavy losses, and the German commander had to give up his intention to attack the Workers' New Village.