Red Moscow

Half an hour before the artillery preparations began, Sokov suddenly received a call from Bely.

As soon as he heard Bely's voice, Sokov couldn't wait to ask: "Comrade Colonel, is your tank brigade ready to attack?"

"Yes, Comrade Division Commander." Since Bely's troops were under the command of Sokov at the moment, he did not call the opponent by his nickname, but directly addressed his position: "The two tank battalions from the east bank , I have already deployed to the rear of Mamayev Hill, and when they see the signal to attack, they will drive along the canyon between the north and south hills."

"Three tank battalions, how did you organize them?"

"According to the order from north to south, the three tank battalions are organized into the first battalion, the second battalion and the third battalion. The battalion commanders of the second battalion and the third battalion will be assumed by the original commander; the first battalion will be under my personal command. Go into battle." After Bely briefly reported the situation, he hesitated for a moment, and said to Sokov, "Comrade Commander, I called you for something else."

"Other things?" Sukov couldn't help but feel a little bit in his heart when he heard what Bely said. He secretly said that it was less than half an hour before the attack started. Said: "Colonel Bely, what happened?"

"It's like this," Bely said with some embarrassment, "Director Peter just sent some strange tanks over, and I'm considering whether to let them participate in the battle."

"Strange tank?" Sokov couldn't help but asked, "What kind of tank?"

"A tank without a turret is equipped with a 76.2mm cannon on the base, and only has protective armor plates around it, and the top is open like an armored personnel carrier." Bely said disapprovingly: "Such a tank is put into battle, don't say no." The enemy's anti-tank weapon hits directly, even if a shell explodes nearby, the flying shrapnel can knock down the soldiers on the vehicle."

As soon as he heard that it was a tank without a turret, Sokov immediately remembered the drawings he had drawn for Peter. Unexpectedly, after the other party produced the self-propelled train according to the drawings, he did not even say hello to himself, and directly equipped the troops. However, the war is about to start, so it is not appropriate to go to Peter for questioning. He said into the microphone: "Colonel Bely, the tank without a turret you are talking about is a self-propelled artillery designed by me. It is specially designed to deal with German infantry. Or fortifications, but since the protection performance is not as good as tanks, when attacking, they must be placed at the back of the team..."

Bely and Sokov have dealt with each other for a period of time, so they naturally know that the other party has a lot of fantastic ideas, and even invented several very practical weapons on the battlefield, such as new rockets, which often make the enemy miserable Word. Now that Sokov has explained how to use the self-propelled artillery, he said smoothly: "Well, I will let these self-propelled artillery follow the tank battalion and wait for the right time for them to go into battle."

"Colonel Sokov." Seeing Sokov put down the phone, Golikov couldn't help asking curiously: "What is a self-propelled artillery?"

"It is to install the artillery on the base of the tank," Sokov explained: "In this way, the artillery can be made to be extremely maneuverable like a tank."

After listening to Sokov's explanation, Golikov nodded and said: "If our army's artillery is equipped with a large number of such artillery, then it can quickly establish artillery positions at any place and carry out shelling on the enemy."

"You are right, Comrade Deputy Commander of the Front Army." Regarding Golikov's statement, Ivanov immediately echoed: "If this self-propelled artillery is really as good as the division commander said, then it should The artillery should be deployed as quickly as possible to maximize its effectiveness."

"Comrade Deputy Division Commander," Sokov smiled faintly after hearing Ivanov's words, and then said: "Even if the self-propelled artillery performs well on the battlefield, it is impossible for the artillery to be completely refitted as an executive artillery. The future artillery The equipment will be the coexistence of traditional artillery and self-propelled artillery.”

After saying this, without waiting for Ivanov to speak, he turned around and asked Golikov: "Comrade Deputy Commander of the Front Army, the battle is about to start. Do you think you should command here or go to the top of the hill?" How about setting up a temporary headquarters?"

To Sokov's question, Golikov did not answer directly, but said with a smile: "Colonel Sokov, you are the one who plays the leading role today, and it is up to you to decide where to command the troops to fight."

Seeing that Golikov didn't want to do anything for him, Sokov was not hypocritical, and directly ordered Sidolin: "Comrade Chief of Staff, immediately transfer the headquarters to the top of the hill, where we will direct the battle today."

Since Xidolin became the chief of staff, he has spent almost every battle in the headquarters. He can only understand what happened outside through the battle reports of his subordinates, and he has long been suffocated. Hearing Sokov's order at this moment, he immediately agreed without hesitation, and then arranged for the communications soldiers to lead the telephone wires and set up the antenna on the top of the hill.

Since there are already telephone lines and communication antennas on the top of the mountain, the communication of the temporary headquarters will soon be able to be used normally. Along with Sokov went to the temporary headquarters on the top of the mountain, except for Golikov, Ivanov and others, even Sidolin was not behind. This time, Sidolin finally had the opportunity to see for himself how the battle Kind of.

As the time pointed to nine o'clock, Sokov nodded to Sidolin, who was wearing earphones and holding a microphone, and said, "Let's get started, Comrade Chief of Staff."

After receiving the order, Sidolin agreed loudly, and said loudly into the microphone: "General Rozanovich, I am Lieutenant Colonel Sidolin, start shelling!"

Less than a minute after the order was issued, rumbling gunfire sounded from the west bank of the Volga River. The shells flew across the Volga River, passed over the Mamayev Post, and landed exactly on the position provided by the artillery observers. In the deafening sound of artillery, the German positions in the distance were shrouded in gunpowder smoke and flames.

Sokov raised his hand and looked at his watch. When it was almost ten minutes, he called a staff officer and told him: "Immediately fire three red flares to let the infantry and tanks attack."

The staff officer agreed, and walked out of the temporary headquarters with a signal gun, ready to fire three red signal flares in accordance with Sokov's order to send the attacking troops into battle.

Before the staff officer came to the door, Sokov suddenly heard Golikov sigh and said leisurely: "Oh, I still miss the time when the regiment and battalion commanders were at least the first to issue offensive orders to the troops. Order."

Golikov's seemingly complaining words made Sokov startled. He thought to himself: Today's counterattack is destined to be recorded in the annals of history, and the person who sent the attack signal will also be remembered in history. . Golikov is such the highest-ranking commander. If he directly asked his subordinates to send an attack signal, there would be no problem on the surface, but after a deeper look, it seems to be suspected of stealing credit?

Thinking of this, Sokov decided to hand over the task of launching the flare to Golikov. He hurriedly shouted at the staff officer who had just walked to the door: "Wait a minute!"

After the staff officer stopped, Sokov quickly walked up to him, stretched out his hand, and said, "Give me your flare gun!"

The staff officer didn't know what Sokov wanted the flare gun for, but he held the gun in both hands and handed it to Sokov respectfully. After taking the flare gun, Sokov handed it to Golikov directly, and said with a smile: "Comrade Deputy Commander of the Front Army, I think it is most appropriate for you to fire the flare?"

When Golikov heard Sokov say this, a trace of surprise flashed through his eyes. However, he did not reach out to pick up the signal gun, but instead said politely: "Colonel Sokov, you are commanding the battle today, and I'm afraid it's not appropriate for me to give the attack signal?"

"It's suitable, it's too suitable." Sidolin and Ivanov are both smart people. Hearing the conversation between Sokov and Golikov, they immediately guessed that Sokov was trying to curry favor with Golikov. Husband, repeatedly echoed: "We all feel that it is more meaningful for Comrade Deputy Commander of the Front Army to personally launch the offensive signal flare!"

Seeing that everyone was unanimous in saying that he should fire the flare, Golikov pretended to decline a few times and took the flare gun from Sokov. He stepped outside the headquarters, raised his hand and pulled the trigger in his mouth.

Following the launch of three red flares representing the attack, thousands of Guards commanders and fighters who participated in the attack stood up from their hiding places and quickly formed a skirmish formation suitable for the attack. With vigorous steps, they marched towards the German positions shrouded in flames and gunpowder smoke.

As the infantry attacked, the tank units that were originally parked in the rear also started to move forward along the designated route. After these tanks surpass the infantry, they will start to form a battle formation and attack the enemy's positions.

Although Sokov knew that when the German army was shelled, they would retreat to the second line of defense to avoid intensive shelling. But today's shelling time is too short, and the density of artillery fire is not as high as imagined. Once the enemy braves artillery fire and stays in the position for defense, one's own troops may suffer heavy losses.

Sokov raised his binoculars and looked nervously at the German positions shrouded in gunpowder smoke, fearing that the enemy's firepower would suddenly appear somewhere and inflict heavy damage on the troops approaching the position. But his worries were obviously unnecessary. The bombarded position was very calm, and there were no firepower points at all.

With the extension of the artillery fire, the tank troops rushing to the front quickly rushed into the enemy's line of defense. But after they jumped over the trench, they stopped and waited for the infantry behind them.

The infantry following the tanks cheered when they saw that the tanks had occupied the first German line of defense. Then their brisk walk turned into a trot, hoping only to get into the occupied position as quickly as possible. One is to completely occupy the enemy's position; the other is to eliminate those anti-tank players who may be hiding to ensure the safety of the tank.

Sokov saw that some of the infantry who rushed into the enemy's position jumped into the trenches to search for possible remnants of the enemy. The other part climbed onto the body of the tank, ready to charge towards the enemy's second line of defense.

"Colonel Sokov," Sokov was watching through the binoculars the infantry boarding in the distance, when he heard Golikov calling himself from the side, he quickly put down the binoculars and turned his head to look at him. Seeing Sokov focus on himself, Golikov said with a smile: "It seems that your troops are going very well. The soldiers easily occupied the enemy's position without firing a single shot. If you If you maintain this kind of offensive, I think you will be able to join forces with the friendly troops going south or north by tomorrow at the latest."

"Comrade Deputy Commander of the Front Army, please forgive me, it may not be realistic to join forces." Sokov replied bitterly: "At best, we can only implement limited counterattacks."

"Limited counterattack?" Golikov couldn't help frowning when he heard this, and asked dissatisfiedly: "Colonel Sokov, why can only limited counterattack be carried out?"

"Comrade Deputy Commander of the Front Army, please listen to my explanation." Seeing Golikov's dissatisfaction, Sokov quickly explained to him: "The enemy's defense lines on the Don River and the south have been broken by our army. The repelled troops are retreating in the direction of the city. If the enemies in front of Mamayev Post are defeated by us and rush to join them, then their strength will become stronger. With the strength of my division, we will fight I’m afraid it can be done by retreating the same number of German troops. But if I have to deal with several times, or even ten times the number of enemies, please forgive me, I can’t do it.”

In order to make Golikov aware of the seriousness of the problem, Sokov also added: "Except for the downsized regiment sticking to the barricade factory, the other three regiments of our division have come out in full force, and the rear has become extremely empty. If we advance too far, if the Germans attack us from the flank, we can easily cut off the retreat of our division. At that time, not only the troops will be surrounded, but Mamayev Post may also be lost.”

If Sokov hadn't mentioned Mamayev Post, maybe Golikov planned to let him continue to advance and rush to the Don River to join his friendly forces. But after listening to Sokov's words, I thought about it again. At this moment, not many reinforcements can be sent from the left bank of the Volga River. If the German troops on the left and right really cut off the retreat of the 41st Guards Division, not only the troops will be trapped. In danger, I am afraid that Mamayev Gang, which has not many troops, will soon fall into the hands of the Germans.

After being silent for a while, Golikov looked at Sokov and asked, "Colonel Sokov, I want to ask you, where do you plan to advance the new line of defense?"

Sokov pointed to the map on the table and said to Golikov: "I plan to let the troops break through the third line of defense of the German army, and then switch from offense to defense. After all, we are on par with the enemy in terms of strength and technical equipment. Compared with all of them, we are at a disadvantage, and there is no need to continue to rush into the depths of the enemy's defense at the risk of annihilation of the entire army."

Golikov stared at the map for a while, and found that behind the enemy's third line of defense, there were gullies and canyons everywhere, which was not conducive to the deployment of the armored forces. The only way to continue advancing was to rely on infantry. Compared with the enemy's forces, our own forces are at an obvious disadvantage. If we attack forcefully, there is indeed the danger of the entire army being wiped out.

After trying to understand this, Golikov nodded at Sokov and said, "Well, Colonel Sokov, just follow your plan. After occupying the third line of defense of the German army, the troops will switch from attack to attack." into the defense."