red moscow

Chapter 2889

Although the German transport aircraft formation was heading towards his defense zone, Sokov was not sure whether the enemy planned to parachute here or near the army headquarters. Therefore, he called the headquarters in advance before the enemy paratroopers landed.

The person who answered the phone was Malinin. After recognizing Sokov's voice, he asked in surprise: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, is there any problem in your brigade's defense zone?"

"A large number of enemy aircraft are approaching our brigade's defense zone." Time was running out, and Sokov spoke quickly: "Although it is possible that they will carry out an airborne landing in our brigade's defense zone, it is not ruled out that their target is the headquarters, so I called you to remind you."

Sokov's words shocked Malinin: "How many transport planes does the enemy have?"

"There are about thirty to forty of them, all Ju-52 transport planes, and a small number of fighter escorts."

As the army group chief of staff, Malinen naturally understood the parameters of the Ju-52 transport aircraft. He was thinking that if German paratroopers with thirty or forty transport planes really landed, it would be a catastrophic disaster for the headquarters.

"I see, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov," Malinin said into the microphone. "Thank you for informing me of the news."

Sokov asked tentatively: "Do you need me to send someone to support the headquarters?"

"That's not necessary." Malinin rejected Sokov's offer: "As long as you can hold the position, it will be the best support for us."

After hanging up the phone, Malinin immediately reported to Rokossovsky: "Comrade Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov reported that a large number of German transport planes are flying towards our defense zone and may land in the area between the infantry brigade and the headquarters. What do you think we should do?"

"What? The enemy is going to drop paratroopers near the headquarters?" Lobachev, who was talking to Rokossovsky, widened his eyes in shock after hearing the news. "How many paratroopers does the enemy have?"

"The exact number is still unknown." Malinin said uncertainly, "According to Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, there are about 52 to 18 transport planes, all of which are Ju- transport planes. This type of transport plane can carry paratroopers. By this calculation, the enemy's paratroopers may be to people."

Lobachev was silent. He knew very well that there were about four to five hundred people in the headquarters, including the guard troops, most of whom were staff officers and signalmen with little combat effectiveness. If the German army really airdropped near the headquarters, they would not be able to hold out for long.

Thinking of this, Lobachev turned his head and looked at Rokossovsky, and asked cautiously: "Comrade Commander, if the Germans really want to airdrop here, I don't think we will be able to repel their attack."

"That's right, Comrade Military Commissar." Rokossovsky nodded and said, "With the current strength of the headquarters, we are definitely no match for the enemy's paratroopers. But it is not realistic to move now. After all, the counterattack is still going on. We must always keep in touch with the front line." Then he turned around and instructed Malinin, "Let Misha closely observe the movements of the German transport planes. If he finds anything, report it to us in time."

"Okay, Comrade Commander." Although he had just hung up the phone with Sokov, Malinin said firmly: "I will call Lieutenant Colonel Sokov now to see where the enemy paratroopers plan to land."

And so, Malinin called the infantry brigade headquarters.

When a voice came from the receiver, Malinin said straight to the point: "This is Malinin, let's ask Lieutenant Colonel Sokov to answer the phone."

Karsokov, who was holding the microphone, heard Malinin say this and quickly replied: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the brigade commander is outside observing the movements of enemy aircraft. Please wait a moment. I will order someone to call him back."

"Go and call him quickly."

Karsokov covered the receiver with his hand and said to Romanov, "Romanov, go out and call the brigade commander over and tell him that the army chief of staff wants to see him urgently."

Romanov agreed and quickly walked out of the tent to find Sokov.

Sokov was holding a telescope and observing the transport aircraft in the sky. He saw that the aircraft had already arrived above the infantry brigade, but there was no sign of paratroopers. Sokov had an ominous premonition: Could it be that the German paratroopers were really heading for the army headquarters?

Just then, he heard someone calling him. He put down the telescope and saw that it was Romanov. He quickly asked, "What's the matter?"

"Comrade Brigade Commander!" Romanov said respectfully, "The Army Chief of Staff called and said there is something important."

Upon learning that Malinin was looking for him, Sokov did not dare to delay and hurriedly followed Romanov back to the brigade headquarters.

He walked quickly to the table, reached out and grabbed the microphone on it, put it close to his ear and said, "Comrade Chief of Staff? I'm Sokov. What instructions do you have?"

"Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, where is the enemy's fleet?"

"They have reached the sky above our brigade's defense zone." Sokov heard the loud roar coming from above his head and shouted at the top of his voice: "But they don't seem to be planning to airdrop to our brigade. It seems that their target is the army headquarters."

"I see."

Sokov thought that since the German paratroopers were not airdropping here, their target was most likely Rokossovsky's army headquarters. With the existing defense capabilities of the headquarters, it was impossible to deal with as many as 600 to 700 German paratroopers, so he tried to ask: "Comrade Chief of Staff, do you need me to send troops to reinforce?"

"I've already said that this is not necessary. We are capable of dealing with the German paratroopers." Malinin gritted his teeth and said, "I still say that if you can hold your position, it will be your greatest support to us."

After hanging up the phone, Malinin immediately reported to Rokossovsky: "Comrade Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov said that the German transport aircraft group is flying over his brigade and heading towards the headquarters."

Rokossovsky frowned and began to think about what measures to take to deal with the German paratroopers.

At this point, a staff officer came up to Rokossovsky and reported: "Comrade Commander, there is a colonel named Gaidukov outside who wants to see you."

"Tell him to come in!"

After a while, the staff officer appeared in front of Rokossovsky and others with Gaidukov.

Before Rokossovsky could speak, Gaidukov raised his hand and saluted several people: "Hello, Comrade Commander, I am Colonel Gaidukov, the commander of the 17th Cavalry Division, and I have been ordered to lead the troops to participate in the counterattack here." Hearing Gaidukov say that he was here to assist in the battle, Malinin was ecstatic. He grabbed Gaidukov's hand and asked excitedly: "Comrade Colonel, where is your cavalry division now and how many troops does it have?"

"My cavalry division is outside right now and can be dispatched to the designated combat area at any time." Gaidukov explained to Malinin: "The total strength of the division is 3,000 people."

Malinin was stunned: "What, a cavalry division only has 3,000 people?"

He had such a reaction because each cavalry division under the army group had a strength of more than 10,000 people, but the cavalry division that had just arrived had only 3,000 people, so he was naturally surprised.

"Comrade Chief of Staff, don't make a fuss." Rokossovsky interrupted and said, "The cavalry organization was reorganized some time ago. The original large division of more than 10,000 people was reduced to a small division of 3,000 people. This is more convenient for command."

"Oh, so that's how it is." Although the number of people in the cavalry division was not as large as he had imagined, for Malinin, this new cavalry unit was like a life-saving straw. He quickly said to Gaidukov, "Comrade Colonel, listen, according to the intelligence we have obtained, the Germans may drop paratroopers near the headquarters. When the time comes, I will trouble your troops to clear out these German paratroopers. How about it, is there any difficulty?"

"No difficulty," Gaidukov answered simply, and then asked, "How many paratroopers are there?"

"I don't know the exact number of people." Malinin said, "According to my estimate, it's around 600 to 700 people."

"Oh, are there only so many enemies?" Gaidukov smiled contemptuously. "Comrade Chief of Staff, please rest assured that I will wipe out all these enemies."

As they were talking, the roar of an airplane engine was heard outside, and it became louder and louder, indicating that the enemy plane was approaching quickly.

"Comrade Colonel," Malinin raised his hand and patted Gaidukov's arm twice, "Have your soldiers ready for battle. When the enemy paratroopers start to parachute, start shooting at them. I believe that with your intensive firepower, not too many enemies will be able to land on the ground alive, so your division will be able to quickly eliminate the remaining enemies."

"Okay, Comrade Chief of Staff, I will go out and make arrangements and try to destroy as many enemies as possible in the air."

Just as Gaidukov was about to leave the headquarters, Rokossovsky reminded him: "Comrade Colonel, no matter how many enemies land safely in the end, I hope you can use the rapid mobility of the cavalry to completely eliminate these enemies as soon as possible. Do you understand?"

"Understood, Comrade Commander." Gaidukov nodded vigorously and said in a firm tone: "Don't worry, I will never let a German paratrooper escape."

After expressing his position to Rokossovsky, Gaidukov went outside, called together his three regiment commanders, and said to them: "Comrade commanders, do you see the enemy planes approaching in the sky?"

"I see." A short and fat regimental commander nodded and kindly reminded Gaidukov: "If the enemy planes will not come to attack, should we order the troops to hide immediately to avoid suffering huge losses when bombed by enemy planes?"

Gaidukov knew that his troops came from Central Asia and that most officers and soldiers did not know how to distinguish between transport planes and bombers. He quickly explained to the three regiment commanders: "You misunderstood. These are not German bombers, but transport planes."

"Transport plane?" The fat captain asked in confusion, "What are the enemy's transport planes doing here?"

Gaidukov looked up at the enemy planes getting closer and closer in the sky, sighed and said, "According to the analysis of our superiors, German paratroopers may land here. Therefore, the task given to us by our superiors is to destroy the enemy paratroopers."

After figuring out what was going on, the three regiment commanders expressed their opinions to Gaidukov, saying that they were capable of destroying the paratroopers who were about to land.

However, what they did not expect was that after the cavalry officers and soldiers were distributed to their designated areas and prepared for anti-aircraft shooting, the German transport aircraft group did not stop, but continued to fly eastward.

Malinin, who was staying in the headquarters, was listening to the noise outside with a restless heart. When the roar of enemy planes came from above his head, his palms were sweaty. He was not sure whether Gaidukov's cavalry division could destroy the German paratroopers falling from the sky.

But after waiting for a long time, not only was there no sound of anti-aircraft shooting outside, even the roar of the aircraft engine began to gradually weaken, as if it was preparing to fly away from the area.

"What's going on?" Lobachev looked up at the roof and wondered, "Why haven't the German paratroopers jumped yet? Aren't they going to drop here?"

Rokossovsky, who was reading the battle report, heard what Lobachev said and immediately listened to the noise outside.

After listening for a while, Rokossovsky shouted: "Not good, the enemy paratroopers' airborne target is not here, but the location of the front headquarters."

As he spoke, he grabbed the phone in front of him and said into the receiver: "This is Rokossovsky, help me get through to the front headquarters immediately and ask for General Zhukov."

It didn't take long for the call to come through.

"Koschka, you called me. Do you have any good news to tell me?" Zhukov asked.

"No, Zhukov," Rokossovsky explained quickly, "A large number of German transport planes appeared in the sky above our defense zone. At this moment, they have flown over my headquarters and continued to fly eastward. I am worried that they may drop near your headquarters, so I called to remind you."

"I see, Koschka, thank you for the reminder."

Rokossovsky put down the phone, wiped the sweat off his forehead, and said to Malinin, "Chief of Staff, send someone to call Gaidukov over immediately. I have something to tell him."

As an excellent chief of staff, Malinin never asked unnecessary questions. He immediately arranged for someone to go outside and call Gaidukov in.

A few minutes later, Gaidukov appeared in the headquarters. He came to Rokossovsky and others, raised his hand to salute and said, "Comrade Commander, my troops are ready to fire at the air, but the enemy paratroopers did not parachute, and the fleet continued to fly eastward."

"Comrade Colonel, this is exactly why I called you here." Rokossovsky explained to Gaidukov: "Twenty kilometers east of the army headquarters is the location of the front headquarters. It seems that the enemy intends to parachute there. I don't know how many troops General Zhukov has, but it is obviously impossible to deal with six or seven hundred German paratroopers. Therefore, I am going to give you a difficult task now, which is to immediately take your cavalry division to the front headquarters and eliminate those airborne German paratroopers."

After listening to Rokossovsky's order, Gaidukov wanted to ask: What if the enemy's aircraft group passed over the front headquarters and still did not allow the paratroopers to parachute? Should he stay there and wait, or come back to report?

(End of this chapter)