Red Moscow

After the troops were transferred to defense, the heads of each regiment returned to the division headquarters one after another for meetings.

"Comrades, regiment leaders," Sokov saw that all the regiment leaders attending the meeting had arrived, so he stood up and said, "Why do you all look so sad?"

"Does that need to be said, Comrade Commander?" Lieutenant Colonel Papchenko, the commander of the 122nd Regiment, was the first to speak. When the third line of defense launched an attack, it suddenly received an order to switch to defense on the spot. Not only the commanders and fighters of the whole regiment couldn't figure it out, but I couldn't figure it out either."

Papchenko's words were like sprinkling a handful of salt in a red-hot iron pot, and it exploded immediately, and the rest of the regiment leaders also echoed: "Lieutenant Colonel Papchenko is right, we are fully capable To break through the third line of defense of the German army, why at this time, give us the task of switching to defense on the spot?"

Facing the doubts from the heads of the regiment, Sokov roared in his heart: "The orders of the superiors are orders, and they must be executed if they understand, and they must be executed if they don't understand." But on the surface, he still said kindly, "Comrades, heads, I want to ask you, if you are allowed to continue to attack, where do you plan to push the front line?"

"It goes without saying, of course we rushed to the Don River to join forces with the friendly troops going south and north." Lieutenant Colonel Ershakov, head of the 125th Regiment, said unconvinced.

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," Sokov cast his gaze on Yershakov, and asked unhurriedly, "Do you think that with our current strength and technical equipment, we can break through the layers of defense of the German army and advance to Dundee?" By the river bank?"

"Even if our strength and technical equipment are not as good as the enemy's, our soldiers are much braver than the enemy." Ershakov said unconvinced: "Even if we can't go out to the Don River, every one of our soldiers , will fight to the last moment of their lives.”

"If all our commanders and fighters died in the attack, then who will defend the two lines of defense you occupied today, as well as Mamayev Post?" Sokov suppressed the smile on his face and said sternly Face said: "Are you planning to hand over all these areas to the Germans?"

Hearing Sokov's questioning, Ershakov was speechless. Seeing that the other party stopped talking, Sokov slowed down and said: "Yes, the German soldiers are not as brave as our soldiers, but I have to admit that their technical and tactical level is very high, especially those who fought in many European countries. Veterans who have been in battle. Don't look at our friendly forces launching an attack on the enemy's side and rear, causing them to fall into chaos in a short period of time, but once the enemy realizes that they are in danger, they will use all their abilities to fight us Fight to the death.

The reason why I gave you the order to switch to defense on the spot is because I found that the enemy may have set a trap for us in front. If we do not take preventive measures in advance, once they launch a counterattack, not only will we not be able to destroy the enemy, but we may be wiped out by the enemy. "

Regarding Sokov's remarks, although no one refuted them, the group leaders were still very unconvinced. Why? Just relying on your judgment that the enemy may have set a trap for us, you must order the troops to stop the attack. Isn't this reason too far-fetched?

"Comrades, regiment commanders, let me say a few words." Sidolin saw that after Sukov finished speaking, the regiment leaders who participated in the meeting remained silent, and quickly got up to smooth things over: "You should know that due to the artillery forces on the left bank The ammunition reserves and the range of the artillery are such that they can only provide us with forty minutes of artillery support, and only limited to the first and second lines of defense.

In other words, after we occupied the second line of defense, if we wanted to continue to attack forward, we would no longer be covered by the artillery on the left bank. "Sidolin said with a serious expression: "On the contrary, when we launch an attack, the enemy can use the artillery they deployed behind the third line of defense to intercept and shoot us, and use artillery fire to kill and injure our attacking troops in large numbers. "

Having said that, Sidolin intentionally paused for a moment to observe the expressions on the faces of the group leaders. Seeing the astonishment on everyone's faces, he continued: "According to our analysis, the reason why the 124th and 125th regiments were able to easily break through the German defense line during the second attack was because the enemy took the main Power shifted to the third line of defense.

Comrades, regiment commanders, have you ever thought about what kind of strength you would use to stop the Germans when they attacked the third line of defense and were frustrated due to heavy casualties? "

"I'm sorry, Comrade Commander, I was wrong." After listening to Sidolin's explanation, Lieutenant Colonel Papchenko immediately realized that he had wrongly blamed Sokov, and he was not hypocritical. He got up and apologized to Sokov: "Yes I didn't think carefully, I just thought about finally looking forward to a good opportunity to counterattack, I just thought that the enemy should be driven into the Don River in one go, but I forgot that our strength is much weaker than the enemy. "

"Okay, let's not talk about this." Sokov gestured to Papchenko, motioned him to sit down, and said: "Comrades, regiment commanders, since the troops have shifted to defense, we must urge the soldiers We rushed to repair the fortifications and strengthen the defense line to resist possible German counterattacks."

"Comrade Commander, I want to ask." Starcha, who had not spoken, asked, "How long are we going to hold on?"

"Don't worry, we won't be able to hold out for a few days." Sokov said lightly: "Because of successfully capturing the German defensive position in front of Mamayev Hill, the defense depth of our division has been expanded. In this way, the superiors can Concentrate more troops and technical equipment in this area. As soon as the concentration work is completed, we will launch another attack on the enemy."

"Commanders, commanders," Golikov saw that Sokov and Sidolin had said everything they needed to say, and knew that he should appear on the stage, so he stood up and said, "I'm here to reveal an inside story to you. Before the start of this major counter-offensive, the superior also planned to send reinforcements to the city. However, considering that the depth of the 62nd Army's defensive zone was too shallow, only a few hundred meters to a thousand meters, in such a narrow area, large troops And technical equipment can not be deployed at all.

In today's battle, your division has successfully expanded the defense depth of the Mamayev Konk area, making it possible for the superiors to deploy troops and technical equipment to the city. I believe that once the massing of the large forces is completed, a new round of counterattacks will be launched in the area under your control. "

If you say Sokov's words, everyone is a little dubious. So what Golikov said is tantamount to giving everyone a reassurance and making the team leaders full of confidence in the future.

Since the heads of the regiments were going back to deploy things to strengthen their defenses, the meeting ended after only ten minutes. Sokov left Belkin behind and asked him, "Comrade Commissar, how is the situation at the barricade factory? How much area do you think your regiment can control?"

"The situation is not optimistic." Belkin shook his head and said with some difficulty: "Although we captured some positions occupied by the Germans in the counterattack in the early morning, due to insufficient troops, we were unable to effectively expand the occupied area. According to my estimation, it may be difficult to expand the results of the battle until the arrival of new reinforcements."

"Isn't there still Colonel Lyudnikov's 138th Division in the barricade?" Golikov, who was sitting next to him, couldn't help interjecting when he heard this, "Did they not cooperate when you counterattacked?" ?"

"After our counterattack began, the artillery regiment of the 138th Division bombarded the retreating enemy with artillery fire, causing the enemy to fall into chaos, which enabled us to quickly occupy many enemy positions in the initial stage of the counterattack." Speaking of here, Belkin sighed, and said in a regretful tone: "It's a pity that they have run out of shells and can no longer provide us with artillery support, otherwise we will have achieved even greater results."

"I will greet Chuikov about this matter and ask him to find a way to replenish enough shells for the artillery in the barricade factory." Golikov said: "Commander Belkin, I want to ask you, if you want to use the enemy's Is there any difficulty in recovering the barricade factory?"

When Belkin heard Golikov's question, he didn't answer immediately. Instead, he cast a begging look at Sokov, hoping to get a hint from him. Golikov noticed Belkin looking at Sokov, waved his hand, and said, "Commander Belkin, if you have anything to say, just say it without looking at Colonel Sokov."

"Comrade Deputy Commander of the Front," Belkin replied respectfully, "the barricade factory, like the Dzerzhinsky factory, is the size of a city, and our regiment and Lyudnikov's division combined , there are only more than 3,000 people. It is obviously impossible to occupy the entire factory with this force. Therefore, we hope that our superiors can send us additional reinforcements, as well as sufficient technical equipment, to ensure that we can increase our strength and equipment. outrun the enemy."

While Golikov and Belkin were discussing the number of additional troops and technical equipment, Asya broke in from the outside. Although there is a deputy commander of the front army in the division headquarters, in order to ensure his safety, he is not allowed to let anyone in casually, but Asiya is the division commander's wife, how dare the soldiers standing guard at the door stop her.

"Assia!" Seeing Assia barging in from the door, Sokov rushed to meet her and asked in a low voice, "Why did you come here?"

"Colonel Sokov," Golikov couldn't help but see Assia barging in from the door, his eyes lit up, he stopped talking with Belkin, walked over and asked, "Who is she?"

"Report to Comrade General!" Regardless of the fact that Golikov has been here for a long time, Asiya, who is staying in the bottom health team, really doesn't know his identity. He replied confidently: "I am Asiya, the assistant military doctor of the division health team!"

"Comrade Deputy Commander of the Front Army," Sokov introduced to Golikov with some embarrassment: "She is my wife Asya, please forgive her presumptuousness."

"It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter." Golikov said generously: "I think she must have something important to rush in. Am I right, Comrade Assia?" His last words, He looked directly at Asiya and asked.

"Yes, Comrade General." Assia quickly glanced at Sokov, then turned to Golikov and replied, "I have something important to report to the division commander."

"Then you report to the teacher!" Golikov said with a smile.

Seeing that Golikov had handed over the initiative to himself, Sokov quickly asked Assia, "Assia, what's the matter?"

"It's like this. Thousands of wounded were sent from the battlefield today, and our medicines and bandages are almost used up." Asiya looked at Sokov and said, "If we don't replenish it as soon as possible, the medicines will be exhausted." I'm afraid it won't last until tomorrow morning."

Sokov didn't expect to run out of medicines and bandages. After hesitating for a while, he asked, "Asiya, have you checked in the warehouse? If I remember correctly, I added a batch of them a while ago." drug."

Assia rolled her eyes at Sokov, and said angrily, "Don't we usually have no consumption of medicines and bandages? If you didn't replenish a batch some time ago, I'm afraid the medicines would have been used up long ago."

"Comrade Deputy Commander of the Front Army," Sidolin interjected from the side, "I wonder if you can ask the logistics department of the Front Army to make an exception to replenish us with a batch of medicines. You know, we have suffered too many wounded in today's battle." , so that the medicines in stock were used up.”

"Okay, I will personally call Commander Yeremenko and ask him to arrange for you to replenish your medicines." Having said that, Golikov turned his head to Asiya and asked, "Ah Comrade Thea, what medicine do you all need, write me a list."

"There are a lot of drugs needed," Assia said with a frown, "anesthetics, sulfonamides, glucose, distilled water..."

"Wait, Comrade Assia." Hearing this, Golikov quickly raised his hand to interrupt Assia, and asked curiously, "Your anesthetic is almost used up?"

"It's not that it's almost used up, but it should be used up." Asiya said anxiously: "Because there is no anesthetic, many wounded can only operate while fully awake, biting towels. Many wounded are in the During the operation, he passed out because of the unbearable pain."

"There is no anesthetic, and it can be replaced by other things." Golikov said thoughtfully: "I remember that during the First World War, because of the lack of sufficient anesthetic in the German army, military doctors used coffee and intestinal In this way, to relieve the pain of the wounded who underwent surgery. I think you can also try to use this method to relieve the pain of the wounded who underwent surgery before getting new anesthetic supplements.”

"Coffee irrigation and bowel can replace anesthesia?" Hearing what Golikov said, Sokov couldn't help but widen his eyes in surprise, and asked in amazement: "Comrade Deputy Commander of the Front Army, what is the principle?"

"It is said that using coffee to irrigate the intestines has the effect of relieving pain." Golikov said in a positive tone: "Anyway, during World War I, German military doctors did this."