Red Moscow

"Comrade Colonel," Sokov said to Merkulov, "immediately ask the artillery to move its guns forward and destroy the enemy's fire points as soon as they are detected."

Sokov directly assigned the artillery regiment that cooperated with the 67th Guards Division. So all he had to do was give Merkulov an order.

"Yes, Comrade Commander." Merkulov agreed, then walked to the dedicated line, called the artillery regiment, and ordered them to move the artillery forward immediately to cover the infantry's attack at close range.

Just as the commanders and fighters who broke into the train station lobby retreated in disgrace, a phone in the observation station rang. Division Political Commissar Sheyko picked up the phone and listened for a while, then handed the receiver to Sokov, and said, "Comrade Commander, is this your number?"

"My phone number?" Sokov thought it was Sidolin calling from Mamayev Hill, so he asked casually, "Is it from the group headquarters on Mamayev Hill?"

"No." Shayko shook his head and said, "It's the call from General Batov, commander of the 65th Army."

"General Batov's phone number?" Sokov couldn't help being taken aback when he heard Batov's name, thinking how could the other party call him suddenly at such a time? After he answered the phone, he immediately said in a respectful tone: "Hi, General Batov, I'm Sokov, what instructions do you have?"

"Instructions, what instructions can I have?" Batov said angrily on the phone: "I am the commander of the group army, and you are now the commander of the combat group. Our ranks are similar. How dare I give you any instructions?" ah."

"General Batov," Sukov heard anger from Batov's tone, and he didn't know where he offended him, so he asked cautiously: "You seem a little unhappy, are you Didn't I accidentally offend you somewhere? If so, please tell me, and I will definitely apologize to you. "

"There's no need to make amends." Batov said angrily, "I just want to find out, what kind of ecstasy soup did you pour into General Rokossovsky to make him withdraw so many from my army group?" Troops, to assign to your command?"

"General Batov, I haven't dealt with General Rokossovsky a few times, how could I give him ecstasy soup?" Sokov knew in his heart at this moment that the other party must have felt that he had too many troops. I feel pain in the flesh, so I complain to myself. If in normal times, maybe I would chat with him for a while, but now I am commanding the battle, how can I waste precious military communication lines. It was precisely because of this consideration that he quickly turned into the microphone: "I'm sorry, I'm directing the battle. What's the matter? Let's talk about it after the battle is over, okay?"

"What, are you attacking the enemy?" Batov asked in amazement when he heard Sokov say this: "Colonel Sokov, can you tell me what area you are attacking?"

"Central Railway Station." Sokov quickly replied: "Colonel Merkulov's 67th Guards Division is now attacking the Central Railway Station, which is occupied by the enemy."

"Thank God, you finally started to attack." Batov's tone suddenly softened a lot: "How is the situation, have they attacked?"

"Just once rushed into the ticket hall, but was attacked by the enemy's preset mines and bombs, and the troops suffered some casualties. However, I have ordered them to withdraw temporarily, and then attack the enemy after regrouping."

From the change in Batov's tone, Sokov vaguely guessed that the reason for the inexplicable call must have something to do with the battle group he commanded. After all, one-third of the troops were drawn from the 65th Army, but they have been standing still. It is no wonder that Batov is not angry.

"Don't worry, General Batov." After trying to understand the other party's thoughts, Sokov comforted the other party and said: "Your divisions will be restored intact after Paulus is eliminated."

Hearing that Sokov had figured out what was on his mind, Batov gave an embarrassed laugh, and then said, "Colonel Sokov, you misunderstood. I'm calling you just to ask about the situation there. How about it, do you need our cooperation?"

"Comrade General," Sokov basically transferred all his troops to the direction of the central area, and now the defense force in the Mamayev Hill area has become extremely weak. If the enemies in the factory area knew about this situation, they would probably capture Mamayev Post if they sent even one regiment to carry out a surprise attack. Sokov often worries about this matter. Hearing Batov say this now, he felt as if he wanted to sleep. When someone handed him a pillow, he hurriedly said, "I really have something to trouble you."

"What is it?" Batov said generously, "As long as it is within my ability, I will definitely promise you."

"Comrade General, to tell you the truth, I have basically transferred all my troops to the central area. As a result, the defense of Mamayev Hill has become extremely weak. As long as the enemy launches a regiment-level attack, there will be There is a possibility of failure."

"Colonel Sokov," Batov interjected to scold the other party when he heard this, "you are so reckless. As a commander of a group commanding tens of thousands of troops, you would actually make such a low-level mistake. If you really miss Once you get to Mamayev Post, you just wait to be court-martialed."

"Yes, yes, Comrade General, you criticize a lot." When Sokov talked to Batov, he deliberately lowered his body to gain the favor of the other party, "This is not the first time I have held such an important position. , I have no experience. I still need a commander with rich experience like you to give me more guidance."

Sokov's flattery made Batov very useful. He laughed and asked, "You bastard, do you want me to send troops to strengthen the defense in the direction of Mamayev Gang when you say such things to me?"

"General Batov, what did I just say?" Sukov heard that the other party was willing to send troops, and said while the iron was hot: "An experienced commander like you can understand that I want to ask you for help. I I would like to ask, how many troops can you send to take over the defense of Mamayev Kurgan?"

"I'm going to send the 24th Infantry Division there." Batov said on the phone: "I've transferred so many troops to you, and I'm running out of troops now. affect our next steps."

Sokov originally thought that the other party would send him a regiment at most, but he didn't expect it to be a division, and it was a division with extremely strong combat effectiveness. He quickly turned to the microphone and expressed his thanks to Batov: "Thank you, Comrade General, I On behalf of the commanders and fighters of the entire cluster, thank you."

"Okay, okay, let's go and command the battle." Batov said angrily, "I will immediately arrange for troops to rush to Mamayev Hill to strengthen your defense."

After putting down the phone, Sokov approached Ivanov's ear and said in a low voice, "Comrade Deputy Division Commander, I have some good news for you. General Batov has agreed to send another division to reinforce Mamayev. The defense of the hill. In this way, we don’t have to worry about our rear being attacked by the enemy.”

"This is really good news." Ivanov also showed joy on his face when he heard the news: "I will call the chief of staff and ask him to send someone to prepare for the response."

While Ivanov was going to call Sidolin, Sokov asked Merkulov who was standing next to him: "Comrade Colonel, how is the situation? Are the artillery up and the infantry withdrawn?"

"The infantry has all withdrawn from the ticket hall." Merkulov pointed to the distance and reported to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, you see, our artillery has retreated the cannon to a distance not more than three hundred meters away from the ticket hall." position, and established new firing positions in the ruins. As soon as the enemy's firepower points are exposed, they can immediately destroy each other with artillery."

"Comrade Colonel," Sokov looked at the artillery position, and then at the ticket hall of the station. He realized that if the enemy really hid in the ruins, it would still be difficult for the cannon to destroy them. Thinking of this, he quickly asked, "Do you have any new rockets in your division?"

"Yes." Merkulov nodded, and replied, "Twenty rounds were distributed to our division yesterday, and three launchers were sent at the same time."

Seeing Merkulov's reluctance, Sokov asked with a smile, "Why, Comrade Colonel, aren't you interested in this new type of rocket?"

"Mr. Comrade, I don't think it's useful."

"It's useless." After listening to Merkulov's comment, Sokov smiled lightly, and then ordered: "Immediately order the rocket launcher to launch a group of rockets towards the ticket hall."

Although Merkulov was not optimistic about this kind of rocket, since Sokov had already given the order, even if he had an opinion in his heart, he could only execute it unconditionally. He picked up the phone, connected to the regiment command post at the front, and said to the regiment commander: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, tell the three rocket launchers in your regiment that it was the commander's order to launch them into the ruins." A set of rockets."

A few minutes later, Sokov saw the ruins where the Soviet army was, a few puffs of white smoke rose, and then several rockets with long flame tails flew towards the location of the ticket office. The rocket bomb exploded in the ruins. First, several groups of dazzling flames burst out, and then the explosion in the ruins rang together. The broken rocks on the ground were thrown into the air by the blast wave, and then slammed down like hailstones. Even if he was far away in the observation post, Sokov seemed to be able to hear the sound of falling gravel in the distance.

Merkulov was stunned. He didn't expect that a few rockets could make such a big noise. He knew very well in his heart that after the explosion, there were hardly any living people in the vast ticket hall.

The reaction of Merkulov was already expected by Sokov. He patted the other party on the shoulder and said: "Comrade Colonel, the reason why the new rocket can make such a big noise is of course related to its own power. But more importantly, the enemy has planted a large number of mines and bombs in the ticket hall." Explosives, they all died in the explosion of the rockets, so there is such a big movement. Immediately call the troops in front and let them prepare for the attack."

"Okay, okay," said Merkulov, as if awakened from a dream, "I'll give the order right away."

The explosion in the ruins lasted for five or six minutes before it gradually stopped. Although the ruins were still shrouded in gunpowder smoke, the commanders and fighters who were hiding hundreds of meters away all left their hiding places amidst the whistle of their respective commanders. They didn't hold their guns and charge straight forward, but used the piles of bricks, rubble and bullet craters on the square and road as cover, and approached the ticket hall in a short leap.

The enemies hidden in the ticket hall may really be as Sokov guessed. They were killed or killed by the explosion of landmines and bombs, so that when the Soviet commanders rushed into the smoke, no gunshots were heard in the hall. But as more and more Soviet commanders poured into the ruins like a tide, sporadic gunshots finally came from inside, which meant that the commanders shot at the enemies who were not completely dead.

"Comrade Commander," Merkulov breathed a sigh of relief when he saw his troops rushing into the ticket hall without any risk, and said excitedly to Sokov: "You have seen it all, we The soldiers rushed into the ticket hall this time, and there was no movement inside, it seems that the defenders are almost dead."

"Comrade Colonel, even if we successfully take down the ticket hall, we must not take it lightly." Sokov was deeply afraid that the opponent would underestimate the enemy, so he specially reminded him: "The enemy may use the platform, warehouse and abandoned carriages to do fortifications and continue to resist our attack. Attack. Now, you order the artillery to push all the guns into the station."

After Merkulov saw the power of the new rockets with his own eyes, a thought suddenly popped into his head, thinking that the young commander of the cluster must have more tricks to help him win this battle. The station that was competing for it replied straightforwardly: "Okay, I'll do it right away."

The commanders and fighters who occupied the ticket hall rushed to the platform and started a new battle with the enemies standing there. The Germans probably didn't expect the Soviet army to attack the platform so quickly, so that all the soldiers could rely on were simple sandbag fortifications. They hid behind sandbags and used machine guns, submachine guns, rifles and even pistols to shoot at the Soviet soldiers who rushed up. Although it also caused certain casualties to the Soviet army, these simple fortifications will soon be blown up by brave soldiers with grenades.

The highly morale commanders and fighters bravely launched attack after attack against the German army. The enemy had to give up one platform after another and retreat towards the center of the station farther away.

When the attacking force approached a group of fire points composed of carriages, intensive crossfire blocked the way of the commanders and fighters. There are many brave fighters who want to copy the tactic just now, and destroy the opponent with grenades after getting close to the enemy's firepower point. But when they paid a huge price and finally reached the bombing distance, they were often knocked down by the machine gun in the car or the sniper under the car as soon as they got up.

For a while, the attack of the Guards came to a standstill.