Red Moscow

"Comrade Battalion Commander," the radio operator said to Serdyukov, "we are not far from the regiment headquarters. You can communicate with the regiment commander wirelessly without sending a telegram."

"Get me to the regiment headquarters immediately." Serdyukov felt that what the radio operator said made sense, and that telegrams were more inspiring than verbal reports, so he ordered the radio operator: "I will report the situation here to the regimental commander personally." Report."

After a quick operation, the operator handed the microphone and headset to Serdyukov: "Comrade Battalion Commander, the call has been connected."

Serdyukov held the headset to his ear, and said loudly into the microphone: "Reporting commander, our battalion has successfully captured the municipal building, and I have arranged for several soldiers to plant the red flag. It only needs to go through a few days." In a few minutes, our red flag can fly over the Red Army City."

"Well done, Major Serdyukov. You did a great job." The head of the regiment was overjoyed when he learned that the third battalion had successfully captured the municipal building. He said excitedly, "But the enemy in the city is still fighting. Resistant, our attack is not going well, you still need to continue for a while before we can rush over to support you."

The Serdyukov Battalion was able to easily take down the municipal building. It was a great fluke. First, after the artillery fire tore open the enemy's defense line, Serdyukov led his troops to follow the fleeing enemy and rushed straight to the municipal building. There was almost no enemy interception along the way. As for the enemy standing in the municipal building, they are directly under the Romanian division. They usually take on some defense tasks and have no combat experience. Therefore, they were bombed by several Soviet planes and surrendered impatiently. And the Romanian soldiers in other areas are engaged in a tug-of-war with the Soviet army for every inch of land.

Vasilenko saw his three infantry regiments attacking the city from three directions at the same time, but progress was slow. He kept raising his hand to look at his watch, calculating in his mind how long it would be until it was dark.

Seeing that Vasilienko was so anxious, the chief of staff of the division on the side comforted him and said: "Comrade commander, don't worry. Serdyukov is a commander with rich combat experience. Let his battalion take charge of the assault mission. Heiqian took down the municipal building."

As soon as the chief of staff of the division finished speaking, he heard the radio operator shouting: "Comrade commander, the commander of the 44th Guards Regiment wants to talk to you."

Vasilienko walked up to the radio operator, took the earphone and microphone, and asked angrily: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, how is the situation of your regiment, have you broken through the enemy's defense?"

"Not yet, Comrade Division Commander." Hearing Vasilenko's question, the regimental commander replied with some shame: "The area we attacked was being defended tenaciously by Romanian soldiers, and the attack of the 1st and 2nd Battalions did not succeed. At this moment, they are gathering in the cemetery outside the city, ready to launch a new attack again."

"What about the Serdyukov Battalion?" Knowing that the 44th Guards Regiment was not going well, Vasilienko's mood became even worse, and he said into the microphone: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, don't forget that you once promised me, Said that you can plant the red flag on the top of the Red Army City Municipal Building before dark."

"Comrade Commander," the head of the regiment waited for Vassilenko to finish speaking, and reported confidently: "I am calling you to report to you the progress of the Serdyukov Battalion. They have successfully occupied the municipal building , and planted the red flag on the roof."

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," Vasilenko was taken aback when he heard the news, and then asked cautiously, "Is this news reliable?"

"It's completely reliable." The head of the regiment, who had received the exact information, said in a positive tone: "Major Serdyukov personally reported to me."

"That's really great." After confirming that the news said by the head of the regiment is true, Vasilienko breathed a sigh of relief and said, "I will immediately report the good news, Comrade Commander. Also, Lieutenant Colonel Comrade, on my behalf, please congratulate all the commanders and fighters of the Serdyukov Battalion for their great victories in the battle."

After finishing the call with the head of the 44th Guards Regiment, Vasilienko immediately gained a bit of confidence. As long as the red flag was planted on the top of the Red Army City's Dingding Municipal Building, he would occupy the city in name, and he could also report to the commander The staff is on a business trip. He ordered the radio operator: "Immediately connect to the headquarters of the group army. I want to report this good news to the commander."

A few minutes later, the operator connected to the radio station of Army Group Headquarters. Vasilienko reported to Tolbukhin with some pride: "Comrade Commander, the 15th Guards Division reports to you that the commanders and fighters of the 3rd Battalion of the 44th Regiment of our division have successfully occupied the city hall of the Red Army City. Put the red flag on the top of the building."

"Is this true, General Vasilenko?" Tolbukhin thought he had heard it wrong when he heard the news, so he hurriedly asked again, and after getting an accurate answer, his mood immediately became happier : "That's great. Although it's only nominally occupying the Red Army City, it's a huge encouragement to all the commanders and fighters of the group army. You have made great contributions, and I will ask my superiors for your credit."

As the commander of the group army, Tolbukhin considered more issues than Vasilenko. After he ended the call, he called the chief of staff over and told him: "Comrade chief of staff, the commanders and fighters of the 15th Guards Division have successfully occupied the municipal building of the Red Army City and planted the red flag on the roof. You want to Immediately inform all the troops of this news to boost the morale of the commanders and fighters."

"Understood, Comrade Commander." The chief of staff was naturally very happy to accept such an assignment, he nodded vigorously, and said loudly, "I will inform all the troops about this immediately."

When Tanashishin learned that the troops of the 15th Guards Division had planted the red flag on the top of the municipal building in the Red Army City, he became anxious. In order to break through the joint defense line of the German army and the Romanian army as soon as possible, he drove his tank and charged towards the enemy's position in person.

Seeing the commander's tank rushing to the front, the rest of the tank soldiers charged forward without hesitation under the enemy's artillery fire, as if they had been injected with chicken blood. Use tank guns to destroy the enemy's fortifications or artillery, and use machine guns to shoot at the enemies who rushed out and tried to blow up the tanks. In less than 20 minutes, nearly a hundred tanks of the tank army successfully broke through the enemy's defense line, and the enemy advanced rapidly. .

On the right wing of the 57th Army is Volski's Mechanized 4th Army. The offensive of this unit, like a red-hot sharp knife cutting butter, easily tore through the weak defense line of the Romanian army. Advance towards the intended destination—Shet. If they hadn't sent out part of their troops to contain the German 29th Motorized Infantry Division in order to support the 13th Tank Army on the left, they could have reached their destination earlier.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, when it was less than half an hour before dark, the commander of the tank brigade who served as the vanguard reported to Volsky excitedly: "Comrade commander, we are only a few miles away from Shet." To five kilometers. In front of us, the Romanian army is everywhere, and there is no trace of fortifications."

"Comrade Colonel," Volsky told the tank brigade commander through the microphone: "Go on, go on, get to the Shet area as soon as possible, and set up an overnight camp for the follow-up troops."

"Understood, Comrade Commander." The tank brigade commander quickly replied: "We will occupy the Shet area as soon as possible, and occupy an overnight camp for the follow-up troops."

After putting down the microphone and earphones, Volsky said to his chief of staff: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the leading troops have approached the Shet area, and ordered the follow-up troops to speed up and rush to join the tank brigade. I have ordered the tanks to The brigade has established a night camp at Shet, and tonight we will spend the night in the Shet area."

"Comrade Commander," the Chief of Staff waited for Volsky to remind him, "I'm afraid the tank brigade on the assault mission has almost exhausted its fuel and ammunition. Please see if you can arrange logistics to send them there. ?”

"Let the logistical troops move with us." After thinking for a moment, Volsky said to the chief of staff: "This way there is no need to send special troops to ensure the safety of the transport team."

…………

The 57th Army and the 4th Mechanized Army on the left wing have achieved good results. However, the 51st Army, which attacked Bertovka from the Sarpa Lake area on the right, made slow progress. The 271st and 276th Infantry Divisions, which were the main offensive missions, were stubbornly blocked by the German 22nd Armored Division during the attack. Although the commanders and fighters were extremely tenacious, they did not make much progress. He still paid the price of more than 3,000 casualties.

Seeing how poorly his troops performed, Army Commander Trufanov stomped his feet anxiously. He was a little at a loss and said to the chief of staff of the group army: "Comrade chief of staff, the left-wing troops have successively broken through the enemy's defense line and are developing in depth, but our group army has fought so far, but has not achieved any results. I am worried that if this continues, I am afraid I will be criticized by my superiors."

"Comrade Commander, the terrain of the offensive area assigned by our superiors is easy to defend and difficult to attack." The chief of staff waited for Trufanov to finish speaking, and said helplessly: "There are hills everywhere here, and it is impossible to attack." The armored forces are deployed, but the enemy can use the terrain to block our attack in any area. Without strong artillery or air support, it will be very difficult for us to break through the enemy's defenses in this area, even if we pay a huge price. "

"Then what should we do?" Trufanov walked back and forth in the headquarters a few times with his hands behind his back, then stopped and said to the chief of staff: "Chief of staff, give the 9th infantry of the second echelon immediately The corps commander called and ordered his troops to be ready for combat and ready to take over the offensive tasks of the 271st and 276th Infantry Divisions."

Seeing that the commander was already a little confused because of his anxiety, the chief of staff swallowed all the words of persuasion, and said insincerely: "Yes, Comrade Commander, I will immediately convey your order to the 9th Infantry Army , so that they are ready to take over the offensive of the first echelon troops."

Just as the chief of staff began to dial, the roar of an aircraft engine was heard in the air. Hearing the deafening roar in the air, Trufanov couldn't help being startled. He hurriedly called a staff officer and told him, "Go out and have a look, what's going on with the plane outside?"

The staff officer agreed, turned around and ran out of the headquarters. In less than two minutes, he ran back again and reported to Trufanov excitedly: "Comrade Commander, it is our plane. There are a lot of them, at least hundreds of them."

When the chief of staff heard this, he immediately put down the microphone, walked up to the staff and asked, "Are you reading that right, are you sure it's our plane?"

"That's right, Comrade Chief of Staff." The staff officer replied excitedly, "I can see the red star on the fuselage clearly. That's right, it's our army's attack plane."

"Attack aircraft?!" The chief of staff heard that they were all attack aircraft, not bombers or fighter jets. He couldn't help being stunned for a moment, then thought of a possibility, and quickly turned to Trufanov and said, "Comrade commander, maybe this batch The planes are here to provide us with air cover."

"Provide us with air cover?" Trufanov didn't recover for a moment, and asked with a confused face: "How to support?"

"Comrade Commander, didn't you hear that all the attack planes that appear in the sky are attack planes that can attack the ground." Seeing that Trufanov hadn't recovered, the chief of staff quickly explained to him: "Perhaps these attack planes are all It was sent by the superiors to help us break through the German defenses."

The chief of staff's words soon became a reality. This sudden air force attacked the German defense line in front of the 51st Army. The rockets carried by the attack planes were the nemesis of the German tanks. As long as they were discovered, a few attack planes would come to a dive and fire two rockets, which would turn the exposed tanks into burning torches.

The German army, which lost the cover of the tanks, seemed a little powerless in the face of the Soviet attack, and was forced to retreat from some isolated positions to the second-line positions, preparing to reorganize a new defense.

The news of the enemy's retreat quickly reached the group army headquarters. The Chief of Staff said to Trufanov: "Comrade Commander, the enemy has already been forced to retreat under the powerful blows of our air force and infantry. See if we can send Lieutenant General Shapkin's 4th Cavalry Corps into On the battlefield, use the impact speed of the horses to destroy the fleeing enemies?"

"You're right." Trufanov agreed to the chief of staff's proposal. He picked up the phone and personally assigned tasks to the commander of the cavalry army, Shapkin: "General Shapkin, this is Trufanov." Fanoff."

Shapkin, who had been waiting for a combat mission, heard Trufanov's voice and knew that his cavalry army's mission was coming. He hurriedly asked, "Comrade commander, what is the combat mission of our army?"

"You see the enemies on the front line, are they already in chaos?"

"Yes, Comrade Commander." The observation post where Shapkin was located could clearly see the situation of the German defense line in the distance. He nodded hastily and replied: "After being hit by our air force, the enemy is retreating from the position. retreat."

"Since the enemy has begun to flee, your cavalry corps will attack immediately." Trufanov ordered: "Overtake the attacking infantry, rush into the enemy's position, use your sabers and carbine guns, and destroy all you see. every enemy of the