red moscow

Chapter 2885 A Hero Who Goes Down in History

In the evening, Sokov received a call from Lobachev: "Is this Major Sokov? This is Lobachev."

"Hello, Comrade Military Commissar!" When Sokov heard that the person who called him was Lobachev, he suddenly had a hope in his heart. Could it be that Lobachev suddenly remembered who Regarin was and called him specially? He asked carefully: "May I ask what instructions you have?"

"It's like this, Comrade Major." Lobachev said with a smile, "Tonight a group of guerrillas from Moscow are preparing to pass through your defense zone and enter the German-occupied area. I hope you can arrange personnel to escort them through your defense zone smoothly."

"Guerrillas?" Sokov asked in confusion, "Why are there guerrillas in Moscow?"

"These guerrillas from Moscow have been specially trained by the Intelligence Bureau and have mastered some skills for fighting behind enemy lines," Lobachev explained to Sokov. "They go deep behind enemy lines and use the skills they have mastered to create trouble for the enemy, so that they cannot concentrate all their forces on the front battlefield to launch an attack on our army."

"Why did you choose our brigade's defense zone?"

"The reason is simple," Lobachev said. "So far, the enemy's strength is the weakest in the area under the charge of your brigade in the entire army's defense front. It is easier to infiltrate the enemy's rear through the front line from you."

"I understand." Sokov nodded and assured the other party: "I will let the guerrillas pass the defense line safely."

After hanging up the phone, Sokov said to Karsokov: "Chief of Staff, the Military Commissioner just called and said that a group of guerrillas will pass through our defense zone in the evening and asked us to arrange for someone to escort them..."

Before Sokov had finished speaking, Karsokov continued, "I understand. I'll leave this matter to Captain Zaryakin. Let him send someone to escort the guerrillas through our defenses. He has more experience and will definitely not make any mistakes."

Karsokov's words confused Sokov, "Captain Zaryakin has experience? Comrade Chief of Staff, what is going on?"

Facing Sokov's confusion, Karsokov explained: "In fact, during the time you went to Moscow, our superiors asked us to escort two groups of guerrillas through the defense zone and deep into the enemy's rear, and the person in charge of this was Captain Zaryakin. As you know, the special company was originally formed to fight deep behind enemy lines, but since the field hospital was established, their mission has become to protect the hospital. At the beginning, there was nothing wrong, but after a long time, the officers and soldiers became a little emotional."

"Oh, the officers and soldiers of the special company have emotions?" Sokov heard this and asked with interest: "What emotions do they have?"

"They saw their comrades fighting face to face with the enemy on the front line and making their own merits, while they patrolled the forest every day and were responsible for protecting the safety of the field hospital." Karsokov explained to Sokov: "Many soldiers were worried that their former comrades might have medals on their chests, but they didn't get anything."

"So that's how it is." After listening to Karsokov's explanation, Sokov began to wonder if he had overused the special company to protect the safety of the field hospital. After all, this unit was formed to fight behind enemy lines. He looked at Karsokov and said, "Chief of Staff, this is what I'm thinking. In the future, the unit responsible for protecting the safety of the field hospital will be rotated every month. What do you think?"

"I think it's possible." Karsokov agreed with Sokov's proposal: "In this way, the troops who are tasked with protecting the field hospital will not have to worry about not having the opportunity to go to the battlefield."

At around ten o'clock in the evening, the guerrillas who were preparing to pass through the defense line, led by a staff officer from the army headquarters, came to the outside of Sokov's brigade headquarters.

The staff officer walked into the tent, raised his hand to salute Sokov, and said respectfully: "Hello, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, I am the reconnaissance staff officer of the army headquarters, and I have been ordered to send a group of guerrillas to you..."

"Wait a minute, comrade staff officer." Sokov raised his hand to interrupt the reconnaissance staff officer before he finished speaking, and explained awkwardly: "You just said it wrong, I am a major, not a lieutenant colonel."

"That's right, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." The reconnaissance staff officer said with a smile: "This time I came here, in addition to bringing the guerrillas who will pass through the front tonight, I also brought the promotion order from the army headquarters. Here, the promotion order is here, and there is also the rank insignia for you."

Sokov took the promotion order and a small box handed over by the other party, and was still in a state of shock: "Comrade Staff Officer, what is going on? Why did the commander suddenly want to promote me?"

"It is said that you have made great contributions recently." The reconnaissance staff replied politely, "So the army leaders have discussed and unanimously agreed to promote you." At this point, he took the initiative to extend his hand to Sokov, "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, please accept my congratulations on your promotion to a higher rank."

When Sokov shook hands with the reconnaissance staff, Karsokov, who was standing next to him, also smiled and said: "And I, Comrade Brigade Commander, congratulate you on your promotion to a higher rank."

Those who congratulated Sokov were not only Karsokov and the reconnaissance staff, but also Romanov and Morozova.

After Morozova shook hands with Sokov to express her congratulations, she even opened the box, took out the military rank insignia inside, and personally helped Sokov put it on his collar badge.

After pressing the rank insignia, Morozova took two steps back, looked Sokov up and down, and said, "Look, Comrade Brigade Commander has three medals on his chest and three vertical bars on his collar badge. They look so coordinated."

"Yes, it looks quite harmonious," Romanov agreed. "But I think it won't be long before the brigade commander has a fourth medal on his chest and four vertical stripes on his collar badge."

Facing his subordinates' flattery, Sokov still felt a little embarrassed. He quickly asked the reconnaissance staff officer, "Comrade Staff Officer, where are the guerrillas? I want to meet them. Is that okay?"

"Of course." After agreeing to Sokov's request, the reconnaissance staff officer also made a request: "If possible, I hope you can say a few words to them."

After both parties reached an agreement, they walked out of the tent.

There were forty or fifty guerrillas in military uniforms standing outside, scattered around and chatting in groups of three or five.

As soon as the reconnaissance staff walked out of the tent, he shouted to the guerrillas: "Comrade guerrillas, please come over here. Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, the commander of the infantry brigade, wants to say a few words to you."

Hearing the reconnaissance staff's call, the guerrillas stopped talking and came to Sokov and the reconnaissance staff.

"Who is the leader of this group of guerrillas?" The reconnaissance staff took Sokov to a middle-aged man and said, "This is the leader, Comrade Stolypin. He was a workshop director at the Moscow Machinery Plant before the war."

"Hello, Comrade Stolypin." Sokov extended his hand to the other party and asked in a friendly manner: "How many people are there with you this time?"

"There are 48 people in total, including 16 female guerrillas."

"That's a lot of people." Sokov asked casually, "After entering the German-occupied area, do you plan to act in a concentrated manner or dispersedly?"

"Of course it will be a dispersed operation," Stolypin replied. "After entering the German-occupied area, we will be divided into several action teams to carry out sabotage missions in different areas."

After chatting with Stolypin for a while, Sokov took the initiative to ask: "Can you introduce your team members to me?"

"Of course, of course." Seeing that Sokov wanted to meet his teammates, Stolypin was naturally more than happy to meet them, and hurriedly began to introduce them to Sokov: "This is Comrade Ushdin, who was a fitter in the factory not long ago; this is Klubkov, an employee of a company..."

When he heard the name Klubkov, Sokov's eyebrows could not help but rise. He vaguely remembered that he had heard this name somewhere before, but he could not remember it in a hurry. Fortunately, he said that he wanted to know these guerrillas only out of courtesy, so whether he could remember everyone's name and appearance was not a key issue.

Soon, Stolypin and Sokov came to several female guerrillas. From the slightly immature faces of these female guerrillas, it can be seen that they are not very old. Some of them may be tenth graders or freshmen.

After Stolypin introduced four or five female guerrillas to Sokov, Sokov heard an unusually familiar voice: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, this is Zoya..."

Sokov did not hear what Stolypin said next; he was concentrating on gazing at the heroine in front of him who would go down in history in the future.

Zoya has a typical Slavic girl's face, with soft cheekbones and a clear jawline. Her nose is straight but not too sharp, and the tip of her nose is slightly upturned, with a childish look. Her short dark brown hair just reaches her earlobes, and her bangs are casually pinned to the left, revealing her full forehead. She is about 160 cm tall, slightly thin, and wearing a men's cotton military uniform that doesn't fit her well. The cuffs are worn out, revealing the flocculent inner core.

Seeing that Sokov was staring at her, Zoya seemed a little embarrassed and asked quickly: "Mr. Lieutenant Colonel, have you seen me before?"

"No, I haven't seen you." Sokov heard Zoya asking him, and quickly covered up and said, "I just felt that you and my lost sister have some similarities, so I couldn't help but take a few more glances."

Sokov's far-fetched reason made Zoya believe it. She asked curiously: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, where is your sister now?"

"The last time I saw her was in Mogilev." Sokov couldn't help but feel scared when he thought about what happened in the prisoner-of-war camp. If he was caught, not being able to rescue Yakov would be a small matter, but getting himself involved would be too unfair.

"Mogilev fell into the hands of the Germans a long time ago. Why didn't your sister evacuate it in time?"

"I don't know the specific situation." Sokov didn't want to dwell on this issue, lest he accidentally say the wrong thing, so he quickly changed the subject: "By the way, Zoya, is this your first time behind enemy lines?"

"Yes, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, this is my first time behind enemy lines." Zoya asked in return, "Have you ever been behind enemy lines?"

Without waiting for Sokov's answer, Romanov, who followed him, took the initiative to say, "Although our brigade commander is in charge of thousands of people now, he has personally led troops to fight behind enemy lines many times. Just two days ago, he led his troops to the German-occupied area, destroyed a German material transfer station, and seized a large number of weapons, ammunition and supplies."

The guerrillas standing around looked at Sokov with admiration after hearing what Romanov said. As a specially trained guerrilla, their instructors had long told them how dangerous it was behind enemy lines. And Sokov, as a brigade commander, personally led his men to fight behind enemy lines, so he was naturally a man worthy of respect.

“Will you feel scared?”

Zoya was silent for a moment when she heard Sokov's question, and then she answered with a firm expression: "Don't be afraid!"

"Can you use weapons?" Sokov asked.

Zoya nodded and replied in an affirmative tone: "Of course, we have learned a lot about the use of weapons."

Sokov took out a Walther P38 pistol from his pocket, which he had captured from a German tankman during the day. He handed it to Zoya: "This is a Walther P38 pistol, which uses 9×19mm Luger pistol bullets and is equipped with an 8-round single-row magazine. The gun has excellent performance and strong reliability. I captured it from a German tankman. Now I officially give it to you."

Facing the pistol handed over by Sokov, Zoya instinctively reached out to take it. But before she touched the gun, she pulled her hand back and said embarrassedly: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, this is not good, right?"

"There's nothing wrong with it." Sokov stuffed the pistol into Zoya's hand without saying a word, and continued: "You will go to the German-occupied area soon. Take this gun for self-defense and try to kill more Germans." He knew very well that he had no ability to change Zoya's fate of sacrifice, but by giving her this pistol, maybe she could kill a few more Germans.

Zoya held the pistol that Sokov had stuffed in front of her and looked around. Although she didn't say anything, Sokov could see her embarrassment from her expression. He quickly continued, "Didn't I just tell you that you and my sister look a bit alike? This gun is just a gift from a brother to a sister. Don't be embarrassed." Then he turned around and asked Stolypin beside him, "Comrade Stolypin, am I right?"

"Yes, of course." Stolypin hurriedly helped Sokov persuade Zoya: "Zoya, since it is Comrade Lieutenant Colonel's good intention, you should accept it."

Hearing what the commander said, Zoya didn't know what to say. She put the pistol on the belt around her waist and bowed to Sokov to express her gratitude: "Thank you, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel. I will definitely use this pistol you gave me to kill more enemies."

At this time, Captain Zaryakin, the commander of the special company, squeezed into the crowd, came to Sokov, raised his hand and saluted, and said: "Comrade Brigade Commander, the troops escorting the guerrillas through the front are ready to set off. Please give your instructions!"

(End of this chapter)