Red Moscow

During the transfer process, the German armored units were attacked by the Soviet Air Force, and the news quickly spread to Mamayev Gang. After reading the telegram from Rokossovsky, Chuikov originally wanted to pass it directly to Sokov, but when he saw Yeremenko and Khrushchev sitting aside, he thought that although they were no longer their own His immediate superior, but the necessary respect is still needed, so he handed the telegram to the two of them.

While the two of them were reading the telegram, he said to Sokov: "Colonel Sokov, the German armored unit that is being transferred was hit by a fierce air strike by our air force and suffered a lot of losses. When are you planning to do so? The frontal enemy launches an attack to retake lost positions?"

The reason why Sokov did not let the troops launch an attack for a long time, but kept launching leaflets, was to worry about the German armored forces, and to disintegrate the morale of the defenders. Now that the German armored forces are being bombarded by Soviet bombers, there is nothing to worry about when attacking lost positions.

Sokov said to Sidolin: "Chief of staff, get in touch with the heads of the regiments immediately, and I will issue combat orders to them."

Five minutes later, Sidolin reported to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, the heads of all regiments are at the radio, waiting for your combat order."

Sokov walked to the talking machine, picked up the microphone and earphones, and was about to speak when he suddenly saw Yelymenko and others sitting beside him, and stopped his movements. Yeremenko and Khrushchev are now spectators, and they can be ignored; but Chuikov is his immediate boss, and it seems a little inappropriate to issue orders to the front troops before obtaining his permission. So Sokov asked Chuikov with some hesitation: "Comrade Commander, why don't you come and give the troops combat orders."

Unexpectedly, Chuikov waved his hands after hearing this, and said, "It is your troops who want to attack the enemy. It is more appropriate for you to issue this order."

Since Chuikov was unwilling to leapfrog the command, Sokov wanted it in his heart. He quickly raised the microphone to his mouth and said loudly: "Attention all regiment leaders, I am Sokov."

After hearing the voices of the heads of the regiments from the earphones, he went on to say: "I order that the regiments immediately attack the enemy occupying my forward position under the cover of the tank battalion. Hands, take back our position."

After hearing the heads of the regiments answer loudly, Sokov handed back the microphone and earphones to the operator. After returning to the table, he straightened his body and said to Chuikov, "Comrade Commander, I have another request, and I hope you can convey it to your superiors."

"Is there a request to convey to the superior?" Cuikov couldn't help being stunned for a moment when he heard Suokov say this, and then asked: "What request, can you tell me?"

"Comrade Commander, I think our division should immediately stop its offensive operations against the Germans after recovering the lost positions." Sokov said: "Not only is our division unable to attack the enemy for the time being, but at the same time, the troops that originally planned to join the division , I also ask them to slow down their progress and try to delay the meeting time."

As soon as Sokov's words came out of his mouth, everyone present was stunned. After a while, Yeremenko asked puzzledly: "Colonel Sokov, I want to ask, why did you do this? Don't you know that the sooner we join forces with our friendly forces, the sooner we can eliminate the besieged soldiers?" enemy of the

"Comrade Front Army Commander, please listen to my explanation." Although Yeremenko no longer served as Front Army Commander, Sokov still used the honorific title to him: "At present, our army's strength in the city is still too weak. If they forcibly join forces with the friendly forces coming from the west, and cut the enemy's defense area into two pieces, the enemies who are unwilling to be wiped out will definitely carry out crazy resistance. If they concentrate all their troops and continue to attack the defenders in the city, then the just stabilized The front line that comes down is in danger of being broken by the enemy, and it will become very difficult to encircle and wipe out this group of enemies."

Yeremenko could not refute Sokov's statement. It has been more than a month since the big counteroffensive on November 20. Except for adding four full infantry battalions and two tank battalions to Sokov's 41st Guards Division before the counterattack, no single soldier entered the city. Chuikov's other troops were supplemented entirely by wounded soldiers who had recovered from their injuries, as well as some militiamen, workers and residents who did not have much combat experience. With such a force, it would be difficult to hold the line of defense if it was attacked fiercely by the German army.

"Colonel Sokov," said Chuikov this time, "tell me, what should we do?"

"Based on what I know about General Rokossovsky, he may be planning a new offensive in order to destroy the enemy faster and more thoroughly." Sokov replied: "In order to cooperate with his actions, we should still maintain The current attack strength made Paulus feel that we were not a threat to them. In this way, we can seize the time to accumulate strength, and finally give Paulus a hard blow at the critical moment. "

"By the way, Colonel Sokov." Hearing what Sokov said, Chuikov did not express any opinion, but remembered an important thing: "I remember you still have a battalion, in the south of the city. Residential area, right?"

"Yes, Comrade Commander." Although Sokov didn't know the purpose of Chuikov's question, he still replied truthfully: "Although their main activity area is in the residential area in the south of the city, if necessary, I plan to let them move towards the central area. District movement, looking for an opportunity to seize the central station occupied by the German army."

"With that little force of yours, it may be very difficult for you to gain a firm foothold in the residential area in the south of the city." Chuikov thought for a while and said, "I think if necessary, we should draw this battalion back to strengthen the troops on Mamayev Post." Defense."

"No, Comrade Commander." As soon as Chuikov finished speaking, Sokov blurted out: "They cannot be withdrawn."

Chuikov was taken aback by Sokov's reaction, and he asked puzzledly, "Why?"

Sokov naturally wouldn't tell Chuikov that Paulus would move his headquarters to the basement of the department store in the Central District in a short time. He left a troop there for himself to capture Paulus himself. If you withdraw at this time, wouldn't all your previous efforts be wasted?

"Comrade Commander," in order to let the third battalion stay in its current position so that it can be of great use in the future, Sokov could only open his eyes and talk nonsense: "my third battalion is active in that area and can contain a considerable number of troops. The enemy. If they retreated to Mamayev Post, it seems to strengthen the defense here, but in fact it will make the Germans have no worries. In this way, they can concentrate their forces on our flank and attack us. We have to mobilize more troops to defend."

Sokov's far-fetched explanation was really believed by Yeremenko and others. He opened his mouth and said to Chuikov: "Comrade Chuikov, although I am not your superior and can no longer give you orders, I think Colonel Sokov is right. In my opinion, his third battalion will continue to be in the Where it is now."

Knowing that his third battalion could remain in its current position, Sokov breathed a sigh of relief. As long as he could have troops active near the department store, he might be able to personally capture Paulus alive in the future.

The German troops occupying the forward positions have been panicked since they saw the leaflets fired by Sokov's troops. Seeing that the armored forces they relied on were also withdrawn on a large scale, the soldiers became even more demoralized and demoralized. Seeing the Soviet army rushing towards their position under the cover of tanks, they fired aimlessly from a long distance away.

The distance was too far. Not only did their shooting not cause any casualties to the attacking Soviet infantry, but they exposed their firepower prematurely, so that the tanks covering the infantry's attack could stay several hundred meters away from the position, like shooting a target. , and calmly cleared these firepower points one by one, clearing the way for the attacking infantry.

The right wing covering the attacking tank unit of the 122nd Regiment was the first battalion of tanks under the command of Colonel Bely himself. The battalion was equipped with the most advanced Soviet T-34/85 tanks and self-propelled artillery. efficient. They were the first to break through the German defenses and rushed into positions occupied by the enemy.

Seeing the infantry fighting for positions with the enemy, Bely proposed to Lieutenant Colonel Papchenko: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, your fighters have already rushed into the position, and my tank battalion can't help much. I don't think it's better to To reinforce the friendly forces on the left so that they too can rush into the enemy's position as quickly as possible."

"Comrade Colonel," Lieutenant Colonel Papchenko replied with a smile: "Your military rank is higher than mine. Of course, you have the final say on how to fight. You see, do you need to send a company of fighters to cooperate with your tank operations?" , so as not to encounter the enemy's anti-tank fighters?"

"No, no, no." Bely shook his head and said, "Our tank soldiers are very experienced in dealing with the enemy's anti-tank fighters. Even without the cooperation of the infantry, we can still eliminate those anti-tank fighters who are trying to blow up the tank."

The Germans never dreamed that as soon as their left flank fell, Soviet tanks and self-propelled artillery would rumble over. If their armored forces are still there, the more than 20 tanks and self-propelled artillery in this area are purely suicidal. However, without armored troops, it is impossible to block attacks from the north and east at the same time with only a small amount of anti-tank guns.

Therefore, the German resistance lasted only ten minutes before it fell apart. Seeing that the situation was not good, most of the German troops lost their positions and fled westward, leaving only some disabled wounded in the fortifications. As soon as the Soviet infantry rushed into the position, the wounded immediately stopped resisting and surrendered to the Soviet army with their hands raised high.

In this way, in less than an hour, the three guard regiments successfully recovered the forward positions occupied by the Germans. While ordering people to rush to repair the fortifications, rescue the wounded, and evacuate the prisoners, the heads of each regiment also reported the results of the battle to Sokov by phone.

"Comrade Commander," after hearing the battle reports from the three regiments one after another, Sokov's heart also fell to the ground. Cuikov must be very satisfied with such a clean and neat capture of the positions occupied by the enemy. "Our division has successfully regained lost positions."

After seeing the battle report, Chuikov nodded slightly, and said: "Good job, Colonel Sokov. But don't be proud, you know, the enemy is cunning, although they were driven out of their positions by us, they will never be reconciled Your own failure is very likely to attack your position again. This time, you must hold on, understand?"

"Don't worry, Comrade Commander." Now that there is no armored unit that is a headache for him, Sokov has nothing to worry about. He assured Chuikov: "We will definitely hold our positions and will never hand them over to the enemy. .”

"It's getting late, and it's time for me to go back to the headquarters." Chuikov raised his hand and looked at his watch. He felt that he could go back to his headquarters, so he casually asked Yelymenko and Helu who were drinking tea next to him. Xiaofu: "Both chiefs, would you like to visit my headquarters?"

"Of course." Khrushchev answered first: "Since the headquarters of our front army was transferred to the left bank, this is the first time we have met. We must visit your headquarters. See what situation you are in." , commanded troops to defend the city named after the Supreme Commander himself."

After seeing off Yeremenko, Khrushchev, and Chuikov and his party, Sokov sat slumped on his seat, thinking to himself: Thank God, they were finally sent away. These big people stayed here, and my psychological burden was too heavy. If something happened to them, my little shoulders couldn't bear such a big responsibility.

"Comrade commander, I have a question, I want to ask you." Ivanov saw Yelymenko and other important figures have left, so he asked the question in his heart: "This is my own people, I hope you can understand be honest."

"Comrade deputy commander, what's the question?" Sokov was curious about what Ivanov wanted to ask, so he nodded, "Just ask."

"Why didn't you let the third battalion withdraw?" Ivanov asked with a serious expression: "I know it must not be the reason you told the commander. What is the reason? I hope you can tell me the truth."

Seeing that his little abacus was noticed by Ivanov, Sokov smiled shyly and said, "Comrade Deputy Commander, do you really want to know?"

"Yes, I want to know." Ivanov nodded, and turned his gaze to Sidolin and Anisimov again: "I think you also want to know the answer."

"Yes, we also want to know the answer." Anisimov nodded in agreement and said, "I hope you can tell us the real answer."

"Okay, since you all want to know, then I'll tell you." Sokov told the three of them in order to prevent leaking the news: "However, this matter is only known to the four of us, and we must not let others know. Understand?"

"Don't worry," Comrade Master. "Ivanov said on behalf of everyone: "We will keep it secret, so you can talk about it quickly." "

"Look at the map." Sokov stood up, pointed to the map in front of him, and said to the three of them: "As the encirclement shrinks, the enemy will definitely shrink to the city, and Paulus' headquarters will also Will move to the city. Tell me, where will he set up his headquarters?"

"It's hard to say." Sidolin shook his head and said blankly, "It's really hard to say where Paulus will set up his headquarters in such a big city."