red moscow

Chapter 2783

While the tank soldiers were wielding hammers to repair the damaged tracks, Sokov used the tank as cover to shoot at the German soldiers in the distance. Although he couldn't kill one with one shot, two or three shots wouldn't be a big problem. In a short time, at least a dozen German soldiers fell under his gun.

In between shots, Sokov did not forget to ask the other man's name: "Tank soldier, what's your name?"

"Bushkin, Staff Sergeant Bushkin."

At this time, two mortar groups and a heavy machine gun group also came near the tank and saw Sokov firing continuously at the fierce fighting position. One of the artillery sergeants bent over Sokov and asked him, "Comrade Captain, what should we do next?"

At this moment, the battlefield has become a mess, with people everywhere, fighting everywhere, and people falling every minute and every second. Although the Soviet army's sudden attack caught the German army off guard, due to the gap in the strength of the two, it is not easy for the Soviet army to win.

Sokov saw that besides a tank that temporarily served as a fixed firing point, there were also two mortars and a heavy machine gun. Such firepower would certainly be a bit exaggerated if it wanted to directly change the situation of the battle, but it should be possible to increase the enemy's casualties.

Thinking of this, he immediately arranged the positions of mortars and heavy machine guns, and then began to issue orders: "Use mortars to drive those German infantrymen running around to the middle, and after they gather in the middle, use heavy machine guns to fire at them."

Sokov's order was soon carried out faithfully. The German soldiers who were originally running around gradually flocked to the center under the attack of mortar fire. When they gathered a certain number of people, the heavy machine guns opened fire, and the dense bullets knocked down the German soldiers in groups.

After the battle lasted for more than ten minutes, the ammunition of the mortars and heavy machine guns was exhausted. It was obviously impossible to continue to expand the victory. At this moment, many German trucks appeared in the distance, towing artillery behind them, and were heading towards the direction of the fierce battle.

Sokov's pupils couldn't help but shrink sharply when he saw the artillery towed behind the truck. Those were actually anti-tank guns. It was obvious that the Germans had specially sent out anti-tank guns to deal with the Soviet tanks in order to turn the tide of the war.

Sokov asked an artilleryman, "How about it, do you still have shells?"

"No more, Comrade Captain," the artilleryman replied, shaking his head. "We have used up all our shells."

When Sokov heard the other party's reply, he couldn't help but curse in his heart. The mortar shells had been used up. How could he deal with the upcoming anti-tank guns? Could he only watch the Soviet tanks being destroyed one by one by the German anti-tank guns?

Just when he was at a loss, he suddenly heard someone beside him shouting to him: "Comrade Captain, the tank track has been repaired."

Sokov turned his head and saw that the person he was talking to was Sergeant Bushin who had just repaired the track. He asked quickly, "Can the tank be started?"

"it should be OK."

Sokov pointed his finger into the distance and said loudly, "Do you see those convoys? The Germans have brought a lot of anti-tank guns to deal with our tanks. Since your tanks can move, rush up and destroy them."

Sergeant Bushkin agreed, climbed onto the tank using his hands and feet, and got into the turret.

After a while, Sokov saw the tracks start to turn, proving that the tank soldier was right and the tank could indeed move.

Sergeant Bushin leaned half of his body out of the turret and shouted at Sokov: "Comrade Captain, we are going to deal with the German anti-tank guns. Wish us good luck."

Sokov was just about to wish the other party good luck when suddenly an idea popped into his mind: there was nothing else for him to do here anyway, so he might as well follow this Tucker and destroy the German anti-tank guns.

Thinking of this, he quickly climbed onto the tank from the front and said to the tank soldier: "I'll go with you."

After a puff of black smoke came out of the rear of the tank, it sped towards the convoy in the distance at full speed.

Sokov, who was standing on the tank, shouted to Sergeant Bushin: "First destroy the trucks, then destroy the anti-tank guns."

Sergeant Bushkin quickly lowered his head and looked inside the tank, repeating Sokov's words to the people inside.

The tank stopped suddenly. If Sokov had not grabbed the handle on the tank turret, he would have fallen down due to the huge inertia.

The stopped tank slowly turned its turret, and then fired a shot at the convoy in the distance.

The next moment, a moving truck was hit directly by a shell, causing a devastating explosion. The artillerymen in the truck were blown to pieces, and their limbs and arms flew into the sky in flames, while the anti-tank gun towed behind the truck also overturned to the ground.

"Well done!" Sokov waved his fist excitedly, and then gave another order: "Keep going!"

When the tanks carrying Sergeant Sokov and Bushin rushed towards the German convoy, the 4th Tank Regiment sent by Katukov arrived.

When the officers and soldiers sitting on the tanks saw that they had entered the battlefield, they jumped off the tanks one after another, rushed towards the nearby enemies with their weapons, and together with their comrades, eliminated the enemies who were still resisting stubbornly.

The battle lasted for another hour. Seeing that the attack was ineffective, the German army had to withdraw from the battlefield in a hurry.

Katukov was very happy to learn that the attacking German army was repelled.

The chief of staff said excitedly: "Comrade Brigade Commander, I never thought that we could easily repel the enemy's attack with only a mixed battalion and a tank regiment."

"Comrade Chief of Staff, our attack is not easy." Katukov said with emotion: "All our mobile forces have been put into the battle. Even if we want to expand the results of the battle, there is no way."

"Comrade Brigade Commander, I didn't expect Captain Sokov's plan to be so good." The Chief of Staff realized at this moment that if the troops had followed their plan and launched an attack on the enemy in advance, they would have suffered heavy casualties. On the contrary, Sokov's plan was to take advantage of the enemy's underestimation of the enemy after they occupied their positions and launch an unexpected attack, catching them off guard and disrupting their offensive steps, laying a good foundation for this victory.

"When can the results of the battle be counted?"

"The enemy has just retreated. It will probably take several hours to count the results of the battle." The chief of staff asked Katukov curiously: "Comrade Brigade Commander, do you plan to report the results of the battle to the army headquarters now?"

"That's not entirely true." Katukov said, "I want to understand the situation of our troops so as to adjust the next defense deployment." Before Katukov and his men could report the results of the battle, Potapov called first: "Colonel Katukov, I heard that your troops have just repelled a fierce attack by the German army and caused them huge losses. I would like to congratulate you. Congratulations on your brilliant results in the battle."

"Thank you, Comrade Commander." Katukov said respectfully, "We are still counting our results. I will report to you as soon as the results are counted."

"By the way, where is my liaison officer, Captain Sokov?" Potapov asked in a joking tone, "What's wrong with him? You won such a great victory, but he didn't report to me in time. I had to learn about the situation of this battle from other channels."

Hearing Potapov asking about Sokov, Katukov seemed a little embarrassed: "I'm sorry, Comrade Commander, Captain Sokov has gone to the front line. We don't know much about his situation."

"What? He went to the front line?" Potapov heard something wrong in Katukov's tone and frowned. "Did the defense zone where he was located fight with the enemy today?"

Katukov heard that Potapov was worried about Sokov's safety, and hurriedly explained to him: "Comrade Commander, this is the situation. The results we can achieve today have a lot to do with Captain Sokov." After saying this, he quickly organized the words in his mind, and without waiting for Potapov to ask any more questions, he reported the ins and outs of the matter to Potapov in detail.

After listening to Katukov's report, Potapov said thoughtfully: "So, not only did the battle take place at the position where Captain Sokov was stationed, but he also participated in the battle. Am I right?"

"Absolutely correct, Comrade Commander."

"Do you know where he is now?"

"It's not clear yet."

Hearing Katukov's answer, Potapov's heart skipped a beat. He had taken great pains to dig Sokov out from Vlasov, but not long after he arrived at the front line, he lost contact with him. How could he not feel disappointed?

Katukov knew that Sokov was Potapov's liaison officer, and that he was obviously trusted by the other party. Now that his whereabouts were unknown, it would be strange if the other party was not worried. He coughed heavily, calmed himself down, and then said: "Comrade Commander, don't worry, I will immediately arrange for people to find the whereabouts of Captain Sokov. Once there is any news, I will report to you as soon as possible."

"Okay, I'll wait for you." Potapov said and hung up the phone.

After Katukov hung up the phone, he immediately asked the communications staff to connect to the mixed battalion of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Hearing someone talking, he immediately asked straight to the point: "I am Katukov, who are you?"

"Hello, Comrade Brigade Commander." The voice of Captain Korovin, the battalion commander, came from the receiver: "I am Captain Korovin, the battalion commander."

"Comrade Captain," Katukov asked nervously, "How many casualties did your battalion have?"

"Report to the brigade commander, comrade," Korovin replied, "two thirds of the two companies that participated in the battle were killed or wounded; the tank platoon you were assigned to us lost a tank; the anti-tank artillery company on the friendly position had all its anti-tank guns destroyed by the Germans, and only a dozen wounded soldiers in the company survived."

After Korovin finished speaking, Katukov couldn't wait to ask, "What about Sokov? Captain Sokov who I sent to you? How is he now?" When Katukov said this, there was a slight tremor in his voice. He was worried that Sokov had died.

But Korovin's next words made him feel relieved: "Comrade Brigade Commander, Captain Sokov has gone to collect the results of the battle."

"What? He went to count the results of the battle?" Katukov felt relieved when he learned that Sokov had taken people to count the results of the battle. "He's not injured, is he?"

"No, he's fine." Korovin said excitedly, "Comrade Brigade Commander, you may not know that during the battle, Captain Sokov commanded Sergeant Bushin's T-34 tank, plus two mortars and a heavy machine gun, and destroyed 9 German tanks, 5 trucks, 7 anti-tank guns, and a company of infantry."

Katukov was stunned after hearing this. He knew that Sokov had participated in the battle, but he did not expect that he had achieved such amazing results.

After a moment's silence, he asked, "Captain Korovin, is what you said true?"

"Comrade Brigade Commander, these are just rough numbers," Korovin said uncertainly. "I think the real figures may be even higher. After all, there was fighting everywhere at the time. Who can say for sure who destroyed some tanks and how many enemies were killed?"

"Captain Korovin, I am giving you an order now."

"Comrade Brigade Commander, please give the order." Korovin said solemnly, "I promise to complete the task."

"You must immediately take people to assist Captain Sokov and complete the statistics in the shortest possible time." Katukov said, "When the statistical results come out, you must report to me as soon as possible. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Comrade Commander," Korovin assured Katukov. "I will make the statistics of the results as soon as possible."

After Katukov ended the call, he said to the chief of staff: "Chief of Staff, I only knew that Captain Sokov was a capable commander, but I didn't expect that his performance in this battle was even more surprising to me."

The chief of staff was busy with other things and did not hear the conversation between Katukov and Korovin. Hearing Katukov's words, he couldn't help but ask curiously: "Comrade Brigade Commander, what kind of results did Captain Sokov achieve that surprised you so much?"

"Captain Korovin just reported to me." Katukov told the chief of staff in detail what Korovin had just reported to him, and finally said: "I think even if I was on the battlefield at that time, I would not be able to achieve the same results as him."

"He is indeed an excellent commander." The chief of staff nodded and said with emotion: "If we can make him one of us, I think our brigade will be able to achieve even more brilliant results in the future."

"Chief of Staff, what you said makes sense." Katukov nodded and said, "I'll find a chance to talk to the army commander and see if he's willing to give up and transfer Captain Sokov to our brigade. If he really transfers him, I can give him the position of battalion commander."

"Comrade Brigade Commander, as far as I know, the army commander spent a lot of effort to dig Captain Sokov away from General Vlasov." The chief of staff reminded Katukov: "To the army commander, Captain Sokov is his favorite general, so he would never give him to someone else easily."

Katukov was silent for a while, and finally said slowly: "Although we have made such a request to the commander, he may not agree. But if we don't mention it, there will be no chance at all. I think sometimes we should try our luck."

(End of this chapter)