red moscow

Chapter 2890

Before Gaidukov could ask the question, Lobachev said to Rokossovsky: "Comrade Commander, sending cavalry to defend the front headquarters is a good idea. But we are 20 kilometers away from Zhukov. Even if the cavalry travels at full speed, it will take at least an hour. If the German paratroopers really land at Zhukov, by the time the cavalry arrives, I'm afraid the battle will be over."

Rokossovsky's face darkened. He knew that what Lobachev said was true. No matter how fast the cavalry was, could it be compared with the speed of an airplane? Even if they set out immediately to the front headquarters, by the time they got there, the battle would surely be over, and they would only be able to clean up the battlefield.

"Yes, Comrade Commander, even if we send the cavalry there immediately, it may be too late." Malinin said, "I think we should stick to the original plan and send the 17th Cavalry Division to the front line to participate in the ongoing counterattack."

The counterattack has fallen into a stalemate. Even if the 17th Cavalry Division rushed over, it would not have much impact on the current situation. After a brief thought, Rokossovsky made the final decision: "Colonel Gaidukov, you send a regiment to rescue the front headquarters, and the rest of the troops will stay here as a reserve."

After Rokossovsky issued this order, he explained to everyone who was looking at him, "Our counterattack has reached a stalemate. If there is no tank force and air support, sending a cavalry of several thousand people to reinforce will not be of much help in changing the situation. It is better to keep this precious manpower and use it at the critical moment. What do you think?"

He did not elaborate on why he only sent one cavalry regiment to reinforce the front headquarters, but everyone knew that if the German paratroopers were really in the space where the front headquarters was located and Zhukov did not have enough troops to protect himself, it would make no difference whether the cavalry sent to rescue was a regiment or a division.

After the cavalry regiment set out, although Rokossovsky still focused his main attention on the counterattack combat area, he was worried about Zhukov's safety. Based on his understanding of Zhukov, even if he knew that the enemy would parachute near his headquarters, Zhukov would not listen to the advice of others and leave his post casually. Therefore, he could only pray for Zhukov in his heart, hoping that he could escape this disaster.

In the infantry brigade's defense zone, Sokov was talking to Belkin who came to rescue him in the command center.

"Comrade Brigade Commander," Belkin said as he rushed over. He had already discovered that the German transport planes had left the infantry brigade's defense zone and were flying eastward. He said with a sense of relief, "Thank God, the enemy did not choose us as the landing site, otherwise there would definitely be a fierce battle."

But there was no joy on Sokov's face. He said sternly, "Comrade Deputy Brigade Commander, I hope the German paratroopers can land in our brigade's defense zone so that we can concentrate our forces to destroy them. But if they land near the headquarters, the commander and his men will be in danger."

Hearing Sokov's words, Belkin murmured, "No way, Comrade Brigade Commander. After all, the headquarters has so many directly subordinate troops, so they should be able to ensure their safety."

"Comrade Deputy Brigade Commander, our infantry brigade is also directly under the command of the army group headquarters, but we are more than ten kilometers away from the headquarters." Sokov said, "In addition, the army group troops launched a counterattack in the north of Volokolamsk. I think the commander should transfer all the mobile forces he can mobilize to the area to participate in the counterattack. He does not have many troops around him. If the enemy parachutes near the headquarters, they will not be able to withstand the enemy's offensive."

Belkin panicked when he heard this: "Comrade Brigade Commander, what should we do? Are we just going to watch our headquarters being destroyed by the enemy?"

Sokov spread his hands and said helplessly: "I once proposed to the commander to send troops to rescue him, but he refused. I think he should be able to protect himself. I think we should stop worrying about him."

"What can he do?"

"I don't know." Sokov answered straightforwardly. He remembered that he had read the memoirs written by Rokossovsky. During the Battle of Moscow, Rokossovsky had been in danger many times. The enemy was even closest to him, only a dozen meters away. There were no combatants around him except a few staff officers, but he still escaped from danger smoothly.

The telephone on the table rang, and Chief of Staff Karsokov picked up the phone: "This is the Chief of Staff, where are you from? ... What, can you say it again? Okay, I know."

After Karsokov hung up the phone, he excitedly reported to Sokov: "Comrade Brigade Commander, the observation post reported that the enemy aircraft did not drop paratroopers over the army headquarters, but continued to fly eastward."

When they learned that the German paratroopers had not been airdropped near the army headquarters, everyone cheered. This meant that the danger to the army headquarters was over and they no longer had to worry about their safety.

When the room calmed down, Romanov suddenly asked, "The German transport planes did not drop paratroopers near the army headquarters, but continued to fly eastward. Where is their destination?"

After hearing this, everyone was stunned and began to think about this question.

After a while, Belkin said, "Are the Germans planning to enter Moscow and land their paratroopers near the Kremlin?"

"That's impossible, Comrade Deputy Brigade Commander." As soon as Belkin finished speaking, Sokov retorted without hesitation: "Do you think the air defense of Moscow can be easily broken by the German transport aircraft? Even if the Air Force does not send fighter jets to intercept, the anti-aircraft artillery deployed in the suburbs is enough to destroy this transport aircraft formation."

"So, the enemy's airborne location may be near the front headquarters." Karsokov guessed a terrible possibility and asked Sokov: "Comrade Brigade Commander, do you think we should call the army headquarters and report our guess so that the front headquarters can prepare for defense?"

"Comrade Chief of Staff, don't worry about these things." Sokov waved his hand at Karsokov and said, "If we can consider the issues, our superiors can naturally consider them as well."

Sokov picked up the teacup on the table, took a sip of water, and thought of a key question: "I think our current priority is to get anti-aircraft weapons." "Anti-aircraft weapons?" Hearing Sokov's words, Belkin's expression froze: "Comrade Brigade Commander, our brigade's defense zone has few chances of being bombed by enemy aircraft, so it seems unnecessary to collect any anti-aircraft weapons."

"Comrade Deputy Brigade Commander, if our brigade had anti-aircraft weapons, we wouldn't have to watch the enemy's transport plane formation fly over our heads without being able to take any action." Sokov frowned and said, "In order to prevent similar situations from happening again, we must find a way to find anti-aircraft weapons. It doesn't matter if we don't have anti-aircraft guns or anti-aircraft machine guns."

At this point, Sokov couldn't help but think of the ZSU-23-4 self-propelled anti-aircraft gun, also known as the Shilka self-propelled anti-aircraft gun. This was the second-generation self-propelled anti-aircraft gun developed by the Soviet Army in the 57s. It replaced the first-generation optically aimed, manually controlled ZSU-2- anti-aircraft tanks and was used to accompany tank regiments and motorized infantry regiments for ultra-low-altitude air defense during marches.

This self-propelled anti-aircraft gun equipped with four 23mm machine guns, although the air defense effect shown by the jet aircraft at that time was not ideal, but if it was placed in the early s, this self-propelled anti-aircraft gun was the nemesis of various aircraft. Not to mention the slow-flying Junkers transport planes, even the fastest fighter planes were just lambs to be slaughtered in front of it. As long as a dozen of them were placed near the brigade headquarters, the dozens of Junkers transport planes and escorting fighter planes would all fall down like dumplings.

Although he could provide design ideas for the R&D department of the weapons and equipment department, some things could not be produced in this era. For example, the radar system could not meet the advanced standards of the 1960s.

Seeing that Sokov was a little absent-minded, Belkin hurriedly called him. When he saw Sokov turned his eyes to him, Belkin continued, "Comrade Brigade Commander, you said you wanted to get some anti-aircraft weapons. I'm afraid it's not an easy thing to do."

"Why?" Sokov asked puzzledly.

"Because anti-aircraft weapons are usually used for urban air defense, the number of reserve troops is very small." Belkin explained to Sokov: "For example, the infantry regiment I used to be in was only equipped with a 37mm anti-aircraft artillery platoon, with a total of only three anti-aircraft guns, and the number of artillery shells was also very limited. On the battlefield, once the shells were used up, they could only be left there as decoration."

Sokov was secretly delighted when he heard Belkin say that. He then asked, "Comrade Deputy Brigade Commander, you said that your regiment originally had a 37mm anti-aircraft artillery platoon?"

"Yes, there is a 37mm anti-aircraft artillery platoon." After answering Sokov's question, Belkin asked in confusion: "Comrade Brigade Commander, why are you asking this?"

"Comrade Deputy Brigade Commander, when you broke out, was the anti-aircraft artillery platoon still in existence?" After saying this, Sokov was probably worried that his expression was inaccurate, so he emphasized, "I want to ask, where are the anti-aircraft artillery and the soldiers of that platoon now?"

"When we broke through the siege, we abandoned the anti-aircraft guns after they ran out of ammunition and it was inconvenient to move them," Belkin replied. "As for the original platoon of more than 20 soldiers, about half of them broke through the siege with me and are now in the two artillery battalions."

"Great, this is really great." Sokov knew that half of the officers and soldiers of the original anti-aircraft artillery platoon had survived, and he couldn't help but feel happy. If he wanted to form an anti-aircraft artillery unit, these people would become the backbone. "As long as we can get anti-aircraft weapons, we can form another anti-aircraft unit."

"But where can we get anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft machine guns?" Belkin said this, and seeing that Sokov seemed to be about to say something, he interrupted him and said, "Comrade Brigade Commander, if you want to take people behind enemy lines to get these weapons and equipment, I absolutely cannot agree. No matter what, you are the highest-ranking commander in the brigade. How can you leave your post and perform tasks that can be performed by company commanders or platoon leaders?"

Sokov originally wanted to go deep behind enemy lines again to see if he could find something he was interested in at the German transfer station. He was worried about handing such a task to others and had to do it himself, but after hearing what Belkin said, he could only say embarrassedly: "Comrade Deputy Brigade Commander, you are worrying too much. How can I lead the team to go behind enemy lines again? If we really want to search for weapons and equipment, I think we can do it in our defense zone. After all, in order to resist the enemy's attack, the relevant departments built a lot of secret arsenals in the forest, storing a large amount of ammunition. As long as we can find them, we don't have to worry about the supply of weapons, ammunition and materials in a short time."

"Our scouts have searched the surrounding forests repeatedly, but have not found any secret arsenals." Karsokov reminded Sokov carefully: "Comrade Brigade Commander, how about you submit another request to the headquarters to ask them to replenish the ammunition and supplies needed by our troops?"

Sokov also wanted to get supplies from his superiors, but now Rokossovsky not only had limited troops at his disposal, but also was short of the ammunition and supplies needed by the troops. Otherwise, he would not have tactfully asked him to find a way to solve the problem of ammunition and supply.

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Sokov looked at Karsokov and said, "It is better to rely on ourselves than on others. I think it is easy to get the supply of ammunition and materials from the headquarters, so we can only rely on our own strength to solve the problem of replenishment. I think there are still too few people searching for the secret arsenal. Starting from today, double the number of people, double the troops. Yes, triple the number of people carrying out the search mission and expand the search area. I think there will be results."

"Okay, Comrade Brigade Commander." Seeing that Sokov was so stubborn on this matter, Karsokov realized that he could not persuade him, so he could only say helplessly: "I will immediately send more people to expand the search area and try to find the hidden arsenal as soon as possible to solve the problem of supplying ammunition and materials for my brigade."

"Comrade Chief of Staff!" Sokov saw Karsokov's reluctance and quickly reminded him, "Time is tight. The search must be completed within 24 hours. Do you understand?"

"24 hours?" Karsokov was stunned when he heard the deadline given by Sokov. After a while, he came to his senses and reminded Sokov: "Isn't the time too short? You know, in the forest area, the area that can be searched within 24 hours is very limited."

"Comrade Chief of Staff, the most precious thing now is time. But what we lack most now is precisely time." Sokov said seriously, "You don't want to wait until the enemy launches a full-scale attack on our brigade's defense zone and we run out of ammunition and food and are defeated by the enemy, right?"

"Of course I don't want this to happen." After hearing what Sokov said, Karsokov also realized the seriousness of the problem and quickly said, "Comrade Brigade Commander, don't worry, I will definitely convey your words to the reconnaissance team when I assign tasks to them later."

(End of this chapter)