red moscow

Chapter 2791

Coming out of the museum, Polosukhin told the driver: "Let's go to the high ground and distribute the flags we just took out to the various combat units."

After hearing what Polosuhin said, the driver drove towards the nearest military defense zone without waiting for his instructions.

Soon, the jeep arrived at a defensive position where fortifications were being built.

After Borosukhin got out of the jeep, he pulled over a soldier who was passing by and asked, "Comrade soldier, where is your commander?"

The soldier looked around, then pointed in a direction and replied, "There, Comrade Colonel."

After thanking the soldiers, Polosuhin turned to the entourage behind him and said, "Let's go find their commander."

After saying this, Polosukhin jumped into a trench half a man deep and walked forward at a brisk pace. Sokov, Polosukhin's guards, and several soldiers holding flags followed closely behind him.

After passing through an unfinished shelter, Polosukhin and his group were spotted by the troop commander. A short, fat commander quickly ran over, raised his hand to salute Polosukhin, and then reported in accordance with the regulations: "Comrade Colonel, I am the battalion political commissar. We are the mixed battalion of the Moscow Military and Political School named after Lenin. There are a total of 600 people in the battalion, all of whom are party members."

Sokov knew very well that political commissars were usually regimental commanders, and only appeared in battalion-level organizations under special circumstances. The fact that this mixed battalion had a political commissar showed that this unit was not simple.

"Hello, Comrade Political Commissar." Polosukhin took a flag from the soldier behind him and handed it to the battalion political commissar: "I give you this flag of the Grenakir Regiment (Grenadiers Regiment). You must protect it like you protect our battle flag."

The battalion political commissar took the battle flag, looked at Polosukhin and asked, "Comrade Colonel, when can our battalion join the battle?"

"Comrade Political Commissar, your battalion is the second echelon, which is also the reserve of our division." Polosuhin said to the battalion political commissar: "When the battlefield situation reaches the most critical moment, I will put your battalion into the battlefield. Do you understand?"

"Understood, Comrade Colonel."

The next place to present the flag was the defense zone of the 230th Reserve Training Regiment, which was composed entirely of Muscovites.

The regiment's commander was a major. After waiting for the other side to report, Polosukhin shouted to the officers and soldiers who were still building fortifications: "Hello, Muscovites!"

Hearing Polosuhin's voice, the soldiers who were digging trenches stopped their work, stood up straight, and shouted to Polosuhin in unison: "Hello!"

Polosukhin took another flag and handed it to the regiment commander: "Comrade Major, this is a flag used by the Moscow militia in 1812. I am now officially handing it over to your regiment. I hope you can protect this glorious flag as you would protect your own eyes."

The regiment commander took the flag, examined it carefully, looked up at Polosukhin and said sincerely: "Thank you, Comrade Colonel. This flag is a very precious souvenir for us Muscovites." Then he handed the flag to a soldier beside him and continued, "Let me introduce our soldiers to you."

Polosukhin followed the regiment commander, walked along the edge of the trench being dug, and asked casually: "Comrade Major, where do your soldiers come from?"

"Mainly from the 'Sickle and Hammer' factory." The regiment commander pointed to a middle-aged man wearing glasses in the trench and said, "This is Engineer Grigoriev."

The engineer, whose name was called by the regiment commander, quickly took off his glasses, which were covered with mud, and said respectfully, "Hello, Comrade Colonel!"

"Hello!" Polosuhin nodded to the other party and continued walking forward.

Sokov frowned slightly when he saw the engineers in the trenches. It was a waste to use the valuable technicians in the factory as ordinary soldiers. But he was just a liaison officer sent by the headquarters, not the military commander of the troops. Although he had different opinions in his heart, he could not express his opinions casually, so as not to affect the morale of the troops.

The regiment commander pointed to a simple-looking man in the trench and introduced him, "This is the electrician Hentar."

"Hello, Comrade Colonel." Hentar quickly stood at attention and greeted Polosukhin respectfully.

After introducing several more soldiers, Sokov saw a pair of people who looked like father and son. According to his memory, these two people should be Pavlov father and son.

Sure enough, the regiment commander said to Polosukhin: "Comrade Colonel, these are Pavlov and his son."

Hearing that they were a father and son, Polosukhin stopped, squatted beside the trench, and chatted with the old man: "Old man, are you from Moscow?"

"That's absolutely right, Comrade Colonel." The old man shrugged his shoulders and said, "My family has lived in Moscow since my great-grandfather. My son has lived there for five generations. He can be said to be a real Muscovite."

"How about it, are you ready for battle?"

"Of course," old Pavlov replied, "We are just hoping that the Germans will come soon so that we can teach them a lesson. But..."

"But what?" asked Polosuhin.

"Just now a commander came to tell me that I am too old to be on the battlefield," Pavlov said with a grumble. "He even asked me to leave the battlefield and go back to the factory to continue working."

Polosukhin did not answer the old man's question, but looked at the little Pavlov next to him and asked knowingly: "Old man, who is this?"

"He is my son Pavlov." The old man seemed very excited when talking about his son: "We came here together, and who knew he was promoted to corporal this morning. My son has a higher rank than a father like me. It's simply unfair." He was complaining, but the slightly upturned corners of his mouth showed that he was proud of his son in his heart.

After hearing this, Polosukhin burst into laughter. He raised his hand and patted old Pavlov on the shoulder, saying with a smile: "It's okay, old man. After the Germans are driven away, I will promote you to sergeant. I will personally take care of this matter." Knowing that he had the opportunity to be promoted to sergeant, old Pavlov's face was full of joy. He proudly boasted to his son: "Did you hear it? Comrade Colonel said personally that after the battle is over, he will personally promote me to sergeant."

Seeing the happy faces of the father and son, Sokov felt a bitter feeling in his heart. He clearly remembered that the old man died on the first day of the Borodino battle and had no chance of being promoted to sergeant. Polosukhin's promise to him was nothing but a blank check.

After leaving the 230th Regiment's defense zone, a staff officer accompanying him said to Polosukhin: "Comrade, not far ahead is the 20th Tank Brigade that entered the high ground early this morning. Shall we go over and take a look?"

"Let's go over and have a look."

When they arrived at the area where the tank brigade was stationed, someone immediately reported the whereabouts of Polosukhin and his group to the brigade commander, Colonel Orlenko.

Orlenko, wearing a short khaki fur coat, came to Porsukhin, saluted casually, and said politely: "Hello, Colonel Porsukhin, I am Colonel Orlenko, the commander of the tank brigade. Our brigade has been ordered to assist your division in defending Borodino." He saw the flag in the soldier's hand and couldn't help asking curiously, "Comrade Colonel, what flag are your men holding?"

"These are the flags I got from the museum," Polosukhin picked out a flag and handed it to Orlenko. "This is the Karldorf Cavalry Flag of 1812. It is very suitable for your tank brigade. Now I officially award this flag to you. I hope your tanks can charge into battle like horses and hit the enemy hard."

Orlenko took the flag and handed it to a commander beside him. He sighed softly and said, "Colonel Polosukhin, our brigade does not have as many tanks as you think. There are less than fifty tanks, and most of them are old models. However, it is not a big problem to use them to deal with German tanks."

Sokov muttered to himself that Orlenko's tank brigade was in a similar situation to Katukov's tank brigade, but the latter was able to kill 133 German tanks and shoot down two enemy planes in eight days, while losing only six tanks. I wonder what results the 20th Tank Brigade will achieve when it is put into battle.

After distributing the battle flags taken from the museum, Sokov followed Polosukhin back to the headquarters, ready to see how Polosukhin commanded the troops.

Time passed by minute by minute, and the division headquarters was extremely busy, with various news coming from different places. And Polosuhin followed the latest intelligence and issued different orders to various troops in a timely manner.

At this time, a phone call came in. After the chief of staff answered the phone, he said to Polosukhin: "Comrade, I just received a report that a large army appeared a few kilometers away from my division's defense zone."

When Polosuhin heard this, he immediately frowned: "Are they Germans?"

The chief of staff shook his head. "No, it's our own troops. They are a few kilometers away from us, marching north on foot. It seems that they are being ordered to rush to a certain assembly point."

"Major Sokov," Polosukhin walked up to Sokov and asked after the chief of staff finished his report, "Do you know what unit this is?"

Sokov knew very well that the reason why Polosukhin asked him was probably because he thought that as a member of the headquarters, he should know something about this sudden appearance of the troops. He was afraid that the other party would misunderstand him, so he quickly explained: "I'm sorry, Comrade Colonel, I don't know what this unit is about. But since our army is going to fight a decisive battle with the German army here, it is inevitable that some troops will be mobilized in the nearby area."

Polosukhin agreed with Sokov's statement: "Major Sokov, it seems that you are right. This unit moving to the north should have just been transferred by the superiors." After a pause, he continued: "I will send you to contact this unit and see if you can make them change direction and join us here. You know, our division, including some friendly forces, has a total strength of only more than 16,000 people, while the number of Germans is at least twice as many as ours. If we want to stop the enemy, we need more troops."

Sokov didn't know what the chief of staff had mentioned, but since Polosukhin had asked him, he had to go see what was going on. He nodded and said, "Okay, Comrade Colonel, I'll take someone to check it out right away."

According to the location provided by Polosukhin, Sokov led a dozen soldiers in a jeep and a truck and rushed there as quickly as possible.

Ten minutes later, Sokov arrived at the place.

Here, he indeed saw a large army, officers and soldiers wearing khaki short leather coats, marching northward along the road through the forest.

Sokov ordered the driver to stop the car, then opened the door and jumped out, grabbed an officer and asked politely: "Comrade Captain, which unit are you from?"

The officer glanced at Sokov and did not immediately tell him the unit number. Instead, he asked, "Which unit are you from?"

"I am a staff member of the Fifth Army Headquarters." Sokov made up an identity for himself and continued to ask, "Now can you tell me which unit you are from?"

"We are from the 316th Infantry Division."

"What? You are from the 316th Infantry Division?" To others, the officer just said a number, but to Sokov, the name of this unit was well-known. In just one month, this unit would be awarded the honorary title of "316th Guards Infantry Division" by the Supreme Command, and it would also be known as one of the most powerful units in the Soviet Army. He asked cautiously, "Is it General Panfilov's th Infantry Division?"

"Yes, our division commander is General Panfilov." The officer asked Sokov curiously: "Comrade Major, do you know our division commander?"

At this moment, a bold idea suddenly popped up in Sokov's mind: could he find and persuade Panfilov to let his troops stay in the 5th Army's defense zone to strengthen the defense here?

"I've heard of your division commander." Sokov asked the officer with some timidity: "Comrade Captain, do you know where your division commander is?"

"He and the political commissar are in the back." Although Sokov revealed his identity and Panfilov's name, the officer still remained vigilant when he heard the other party directly ask where the division commander was: "Do you have anything to do with them?"

Sokov raised his eyebrows. "So General Panfilov and Political Commissar Yegorov are together. I have heard of them for a long time. I wonder if you can take me to meet them?"

Seeing Sokov easily say the names of Panfilov and Yegorov, the officer hesitated a little. After all, the person who could easily call out the names of the division commander and the political commissar should not be an ordinary person. He was in a dilemma for a moment, wondering whether he should tell the major in front of him where Panfilov was.

Just when he was in trouble, he suddenly heard someone calling his name, and then a young political worker came to him: "Captain, who is this major?"

"Comrade First-Class Commander," the officer said hastily to the man, "this comrade major asked me where the division commander and political commissar were."

(End of this chapter)