red moscow

Chapter 2882

After dawn, Sokov received a call from Rokossovsky: "Misha, I heard that you led your troops to attack an enemy transfer station early this morning and seized a lot of supplies. Is that true?"

Hearing Rokossovsky's question, Sokov immediately became alert. An image of a brigade commander wearing round-framed glasses immediately emerged in his mind, and the other party also said with a smile: "Li Yunlong, congratulations on your wealth!"

He shuddered, thinking that Rokossovsky had called him to ask him to hand over his spoils. So he pretended to be pitiful and said, "Comrade Commander, my troops have almost used up all their weapons, ammunition and supplies after fighting for a while. Considering that the headquarters cannot provide us with supplies for the time being, I have no choice but to go to the Germans to get some supplies..."

"Okay, Misha, don't say anything." Rokossovsky heard the hidden meaning of Sokov's words and quickly gave him a reassurance: "How much weapons, ammunition and supplies you can seize is up to you. I won't ask you to hand them over, so don't worry."

After hearing Rokossovsky's reply, Sokov felt relieved. He took a deep breath and asked tentatively, "Comrade Commander, is there something important that you called me about?"

"Our superiors have ordered us to counterattack," Rokossovsky said with a headache, "but even if I don't tell you, you probably know something about the current situation of the army. We are simply unable to launch a full-scale counterattack. I called you just to ask you about the situation in the German-occupied area you went to."

"Comrade Commander, the enemy's strength in the area I entered was very weak. Apart from a patrol on the way there, I encountered no other enemies." After briefly introducing the situation, Sokov asked tentatively, "Are you planning to launch a counterattack in this area?"

"Did you find any German defensive positions along the way?" Rokossovsky was worried that he had not explained it clearly enough, so he emphasized, "For example, artillery positions, areas where tanks and armored vehicles were assembled?"

"No, Comrade Commander," Sokov answered simply, "We did not find any enemy defensive positions along the way."

After answering the question, Sokov paused for a moment and asked cautiously: "Comrade Commander, do you really plan to launch a counterattack in this area?"

Unexpectedly, Rokossovsky's answer was beyond Sokov's expectations: "Since the enemy has not established any defenses in the direction of your brigade, it is meaningless to launch a counterattack in that area."

Just when Sokov was wondering why Rokossovsky said that, he heard him continue: "We launch a counterattack against the enemy not only to recapture the lost land, but more importantly to destroy the enemy's manpower. If there are no enemies in your area, what is the point of our counterattack? To recapture a piece of uninhabited land and send troops to station there, and the enemy has not suffered any losses, there is no need to launch such a counterattack at all."

Knowing that the counterattack would not be launched in his area, Sokov secretly breathed a sigh of relief. This way, he would not have to worry about his troops being consumed in a meaningless counterattack. Out of curiosity, he still asked: "So, you plan to launch a counterattack in other areas?"

"Misha, this is not your concern." Rokossovsky suddenly raised his voice and said, "What you should care about is how to stop the German attack."

When Sokov put down the phone, Belkin came over and asked, "Comrade Brigade Commander, what did the commander say on the phone?"

"He said the army's troops will launch a counterattack in the near future."

"What, launch a counterattack?" Hearing Sokov's words, Belkin and Karsokov looked at each other, and saw shock in each other's eyes. Belkin said a little excitedly: "I don't know the situation of other troops. But with the current strength of our brigade, it is no problem to use it for defense. But if it is used for attack, Comrade Brigade Commander, please forgive me for being frank, it is equivalent to sending our officers and soldiers to their deaths."

If other commanders heard Belkin's remarks, they would definitely reprimand him, saying that he was frightened by the enemy's temporary strength and panicked, so he made such defeatist remarks without thinking. Those with bad tempers might send him directly to the military court.

But Sokov just glanced at him and said lightly: "Comrade Commander has already stated that he will not choose our direction as the location for the counterattack, so you can rest assured."

Karsokov asked in confusion: "In the area defended by our brigade, except for the enemy in front of the Fourth Battalion's position, there is no enemy defense line at all in other positions. If we launch a counterattack, it will be easy to achieve results."

"Comrade Chief of Staff, your idea is wrong." Sokov shook his head and said, "There is really no place in the direction of our brigade's defense. If we launch a counterattack here, we may be able to advance 20 to 30 kilometers within a day. It looks like a good result, but because the enemy in this area is weak, the counterattack cannot cause them great losses, so it can't achieve the goal of destroying the enemy at all. Moreover, after the troops occupy these areas, they need to divide their troops for defense, which will further weaken our army's strength. Once the German army concentrates its forces to launch a counterattack, the counterattack troops may be surrounded and eaten by the enemy."

Belkin and Karsokov thought about Sokov's words for a while and nodded in agreement: "That's right. The purpose of the counterattack prepared by the superiors is not only to recapture the lost positions, but also to annihilate as many enemy forces as possible. There are not many enemies in front of our brigade's defense zone. It really doesn't make much sense to launch a counterattack here."

After several people discussed the counterattack for a while, Sokov suddenly realized that it was too quiet outside, so he said to Karsokov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, can you call the Fourth Battalion and ask them what the situation is like there?"

Everyone knew that the Germans had paid such a heavy price in front of the Fourth Battalion's position yesterday, and they would definitely not give up and would definitely launch another attack. But today, it had been so long since dawn, but the enemy had not made any movement, which was too abnormal.

Therefore, after hearing Sokov's order, Karsokov immediately grabbed the phone and called Major Vasya, the commander of the Fourth Battalion.

"Major Vasya? This is Karsokov." After the call was connected, Karsokov asked, "How is the situation over there? Are there any moves from the Germans?"

"No, Comrade Chief of Staff," Vasya answered. "Nothing has happened. I wonder if they will continue the attack today."

Seeing that Karsokov had already gotten through to Vasya, Sokov quickly walked over, took the phone, and whispered in his ear, "Major Vasya, this is Sokov."

"Hello, Comrade Brigade Commander."

"Major Vasya, listen to me." Sokov said sternly into the microphone, "The Germans paid such a heavy price in front of your battalion's position yesterday, they must be unwilling to give up. According to my estimation, they will definitely launch another attack today, you must not take it lightly."

"Don't worry, Comrade Brigade Commander." Vasya assured Sokov, "We are always on guard and will never let the enemy easily break into our position." Just as Sokov was about to hang up the phone, he suddenly remembered something: "By the way, Major Vasya, are there any wreckage of destroyed German tanks in front of your position?"

Although Vasya did not understand the purpose of Sokov's question, he answered truthfully: "Yes, the wreckage of the tanks and armored vehicles destroyed yesterday is still in front of our battalion's position, and the enemy has no time to clean it up."

"Since the wreckage of the enemy's tanks and armored vehicles is still there, that's enough." Sokov ordered the other party: "Major Vasya, you immediately send a few soldiers to hide under the wreckage of the German tanks as observation posts to monitor the enemy's movements."

"Let the soldiers hide under the wreckage of the tank and act as observation posts to monitor the enemy?" Vasya was puzzled by Sokov's arrangement.

Sokov could tell from Vasya's tone that he was confused, so he explained to him, "Before the enemy launched a ground attack on your battalion's position yesterday, there were artillery and bombing. The soldiers you left behind as observation posts suffered heavy casualties, right? If you let them hide under the wreckage of the tanks in front of the position, they can avoid being bombarded and bombed by the enemy, and they can also send you combat alerts in time when they see the enemy launching an attack."

After Sokov's explanation, Vasya immediately understood his intention: "Comrade Brigade Commander, I understand what you mean. I will immediately arrange for people to hide under the wreckage of the tanks as observation posts to monitor the enemy's movements. By the way, in addition to the observation posts, I also plan to set up two machine gun positions. When the attacking enemy approaches, we can also use machine guns to shoot them and knock them down."

Seeing that Vasya could draw inferences from one example, Sokov was very pleased. He smiled and said, "Major Vasya, we have just obtained a batch of German equipment, including more than 34 MG general-purpose machine guns. I will have someone send a few to you later."

Vasya was very happy to learn that Sokov was going to send him a few MG34 general-purpose machine guns. He also emphasized: "Comrade Brigade Commander, although the German machine guns are powerful, they consume too much ammunition. I wonder if you can equip us with more ammunition?"

"No problem." Sokov said carelessly, "I'll give you 2500 rounds of ammunition for each machine gun. That should be enough."

Vasya was obviously aware that the German MG34 machine gun was equipped with 2500 rounds of ammunition, so he did not object to Sokov's arrangement. On the contrary, he assured Sokov: "Comrade Brigade Commander, with these machine guns, we will be more confident in stopping the enemy."

After Sokov finished talking to Vasya, he contacted the quartermaster, Captain Ivan Popov: "Captain Ivan, this is Sokov. I now order you to immediately send someone to send six MG34 machine guns from the Fourth Battalion, and equip each machine gun with 2500 rounds of ammunition."

As a competent quartermaster, Ivan Popov did not raise any objections after receiving Sokov's order, but replied readily: "Okay, Comrade Brigade Commander, I will personally lead the team to deliver the machine guns to the Fourth Battalion."

"Move quickly, the battle over at the Fourth Battalion could start at any time."

Except for the faint sound of gunfire coming from the direction of friendly positions, there was no movement on the infantry brigade's position throughout the morning.

Just when Sokov thought the enemy might take a day off today, the artillery bombardment of the 4th Battalion's position began.

Hearing the sound of artillery coming from the direction of the Fourth Battalion, Sokov hurriedly grabbed the microphone and contacted Vasya, asking impatiently: "Vasya, the enemy has launched an artillery attack on your battalion again. Have you arranged the observation post I asked you to set up?"

"Everything is arranged, Comrade Brigade Commander," Vasya answered loudly, "In addition to arranging three groups of observation posts under the wreckage of the tank, I also set up two machine gun positions, which can be the first to strike the enemy when the enemy launches a ground attack..."

Unexpectedly, before Vasya could finish his words, the call was disconnected.

When Sokov heard no sound in the microphone, he immediately realized that the telephone line had been broken again.

He remembered that Vasya said that two machine gun positions were set up under the wreckage of the tank, but the call was disconnected before the other party could finish the rest. He really wanted to find out whether the machine gun positions under the wreckage of the tank used the Soviet rotary machine gun or the German MG34 general-purpose machine gun.

Since the telephone line was blown off and could not be repaired in a short time, Sokov could only ask the quartermaster for information: "Comrade Captain, this is Sokov. Have you delivered the MG3 general-purpose machine guns that I asked you to assign to the Fourth Battalion?"

"It has been delivered, Comrade Brigade Commander. I personally led the team to deliver it. I was worried that there were not enough bullets, so I gave each machine gun 500 more rounds of ammunition." After answering Sokov's question, the quartermaster asked respectfully, "Do you have any other instructions?"

"No more." Sokov said, "You did a good job."

As soon as the Germans finished shelling the Fourth Battalion, Karsokov asked Sokov, "Comrade Brigade Commander, the enemy's shelling of the Fourth Battalion has stopped. Should we send out a signalman to inspect the line so that we can restore contact with the Fourth Battalion as soon as possible?"

Although Sokov knew that after the enemy's shelling, the next step might be bombing, in order to find out the current situation of the Fourth Battalion as soon as possible, Sokov nodded and agreed to Karsokov's proposal: "Immediately arrange for the signalmen to inspect the telephone line connecting the Fourth Battalion. But tell them that the enemy may bomb the Fourth Battalion's position at any time, so they should pay more attention to safety when repairing the telephone line."

Shortly after the signalmen were dispatched to inspect the lines, the enemy began bombing the Fourth Battalion.

Hearing the loud explosions coming from outside, Sokov couldn't help but frown. He realized that the enemy's bombing was more fierce than yesterday. Although the Fourth Battalion's position was repaired last night, it was still not as good as before. After such a fierce bombing, the troops would probably suffer heavy casualties.

But since the 4th Battalion could not be contacted for the time being, Sokov could only say to Belkin: "Comrade Deputy Brigade Commander, please rush to the reserve position behind the 4th Battalion and immediately replenish the reserve personnel to the 4th Battalion after the enemy's bombing is over."

"Comrade Brigade Commander," Karsokov said, "I think no matter how many casualties the Fourth Battalion has suffered, we should not send them reinforcements before the enemy's attack begins. Because they will be lost in vain in the enemy's artillery and bombing."

(End of this chapter)