red moscow

Chapter 2922: Untimely Counterattack
"I'm sorry, Comrade Commander, I was wrong." Although Sokov knew that the troops' defense line retreat was inevitable, he couldn't say it at this time, so as not to affect the morale of the troops. He admitted his mistake to Rokossovsky very straightforwardly: "I just wanted to prepare in advance."

Seeing Sokov admit his mistake so readily, Rokossovsky sighed softly and said, "Misha, do you think I am too harsh on you? You are telling the truth, but I am criticizing you."

Hearing Rokossovsky's address to him, which had changed from a surname to a nickname, Sokov knew that the other party was not really angry with him, but that he had spoken at the wrong time and had criticized him. He quickly replied: "Comrade Commander, your criticism of me is correct. If I were in your position and heard someone say that, I would also criticize him."

The two talked for a few more words, and before Rokossovsky hung up the phone, he suddenly said: "Misha, if the situation you described really happens, I will inform you the first time." After that, without waiting for Sokov to respond, he hung up the phone.

Sokov put down the receiver and looked around. He saw Karsokov looking down at the newly arrived war report. Morozova was sending and receiving telegrams, and Romanov was sitting next to her, looking down at a small notebook.

Sokov walked up to Romanov and asked curiously, "Romanov, what are you looking at?"

Hearing Sokov asking him, Romanov quickly stood up and handed the notebook to Sokov.

Sokov took it and looked at it. He saw that it was covered with dense words. "What is this? Is it a communication code?"

Unexpectedly, Romanov shook his head and replied: "It is the code used by the artillery. You see, 'Sunflower' means 'safe', 'Organ' means 'bombardment warning', and 'Volga River' means 'emergency evacuation'..."

Sokov flipped through the notebook and was confused by the artillery terms and corresponding codes. He returned the notebook to Romanov and asked casually, "Who gave you this notebook?"

"It was Lieutenant Artyom, the artillery officer," Romanov said. "He said that I was working in the brigade headquarters and that if I knew more about the subject, it might be useful in the future."

"He's right." Sokov agreed with Artyom's words: "Learn more useful things, maybe you can use them in the future."

It was thought that the enemy's attempt to attack Volokolamsk had been crushed and that tonight would be a quiet night, but just as the time came to ten o'clock, Sokov received an unexpected call. "It's Sokov!" Sokov thought the call was from one of his subordinates, so he asked casually, "What's the matter?"

Unexpectedly, an unexpected voice came from the receiver: "I am Zhukov!"

Upon learning that the person who called him was Zhukov, Sokov was so scared that he stood up from his seat and asked respectfully: "Hello, Comrade General, do you have any important instructions?" He wondered if Zhukov had called the wrong number. If there was any combat mission, he should have informed Rokossovsky directly instead of calling himself over his head.

"Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, how many troops are there in your infantry brigade?"

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Sokov heard this question and quickly covered the microphone with his hand and asked Karsokov, "How many soldiers do we have in our brigade now?"

"Should the officers and soldiers of the 315th Division be included in the calculation?"

"What I'm asking is how many people we have on tour, so we don't have to count the personnel from other troops."

"There are more than 3700 people."

The number Karsokov said surprised Sokov. He didn't expect that after fighting for such a long time, he still had so many people under his command. He couldn't help but ask in surprise: "Didn't we suffer heavy losses in the recent battle?"

"Comrade Brigade Commander, our brigade has received more than 6,000 soldiers since its establishment. So even though the troops suffered a lot of casualties in the recent battle, there are still more than 3,000 people left, so it's not a big problem."

"Lieutenant Colonel Sokov," Zhukov seemed a little annoyed, perhaps because he hadn't heard Sokov's answer for a long time. "What are you doing? Why are you not speaking?"

Sokov quickly released his hand covering the microphone and explained to Zhukov: "Comrade General, I am counting the number of troops."

"How many troops do you have left?"

"There are more than 3700 people."

"So many?!" Zhukov was also surprised when he heard the number: "What kind of troops are they?"

"The infantry brigade is of course mainly infantry. In addition to four infantry battalions, there are two artillery battalions and a tank company with three tanks."

"Your brigade is quite strong," Zhukov said. "Some infantry divisions cannot even compare to yours in size."

Sokov felt a little uneasy, thinking that Zhukov's sudden call to ask me how many troops I had was not a good sign, and that he might be given some special combat mission. Thinking of this, he asked tremblingly, "Comrade General, do you have any important instructions?"

Sure enough, Zhukov said the next moment: "Since you have so many troops, why do you stay in the fortifications and not take the initiative to attack?"

Facing Zhukov's questioning, Sokov said with some embarrassment: "Comrade General, our troops should be enough for defense. But for offense, it is far from enough, not to mention that when we attack the enemy's position, we still lack the cooperation of the air force and tank forces."

"Will you not fight without the cooperation of the air force and tank forces?" Zhukov was very dissatisfied with Sokov's answer. He said sternly: "When the enemy attacks us, we must do everything we can to stop them. But when the enemy stops attacking, we cannot sit idle. We must launch a counterattack and completely disrupt their offensive steps. I remember you just told me that your troops also have artillery battalions and tank companies. When you switch to the offensive, you have artillery support and tank guidance, which is much better than many troops participating in the counterattack."

Sokov had watched many films and TV shows about the Great Patriotic War. He found that the Soviet army attacked the enemy without strong firepower support. Although the officers and soldiers were very brave, they were just moving targets in front of the enemy's powerful firepower. He asked cautiously: "Comrade General, are you going to let my troops launch a counterattack against the enemy?" "Yes." Zhukov said without disguising: "I think your brigade has the strength to launch a counterattack against the enemy in the current area."

"Comrade General." Hearing Zhukov's order, Sokov couldn't help but get anxious: "If I put all my troops into the counterattack, once the counterattack fails and the troops suffer heavy casualties, the enemy will launch a crazy counterattack. What kind of troops should I use to stop them?"

"You can leave a small number of troops to defend the existing areas." Zhukov said, "Anyway, your defense area is not a strategic location, and the enemy is not willing to occupy it. As long as your offensive is fierce and disrupts the enemy's steps, they will not be able to withdraw troops to seize your position."

Since Zhukov had said so much, it was obviously impossible for Sokov to raise any objections. He could only ask obediently: "Comrade General, where do you plan to launch our brigade's counterattack?"

"Your brigade's defense zone is less than ten kilometers away from the Ruza River." Zhukov stared at the map in front of him and said, "Your mission is to force a crossing of the Ruza River and find a way to liberate Borechevo from the Germans."

After Sokov found the place name Zhukov mentioned on the map, the muscles on his face twitched involuntarily. Borechevo was about 20 kilometers away from his defense zone. He felt like a sheep walking into a tiger's mouth as he rushed there with a troop without any care.

"Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, how long will it take you to launch a counterattack?"

Sokov thought for a moment and then replied, "Comrade General, I think we need at least three days of preparation before we can confidently launch a counterattack against the enemy."

"No, I can only give you one night." Zhukov said in an unquestionable tone: "Tomorrow morning at 8 o'clock, your brigade must launch a counterattack. How about it, can you do it?"

Now the arrow was on the string and had to be shot. Even if Sokov was reluctant, he had to bite the bullet and answer: "Okay, I will immediately call a meeting of the battalion commanders to discuss the counterattack tomorrow."

After hanging up the phone, Sokov said to Karsokov: "Chief of Staff, call the deputy brigade commander and several battalion commanders immediately and ask them to come to the meeting immediately."

"Comrade Brigade Commander, it's getting dark." Karsokov glanced outside the tent and continued, "Is there something important that requires them to be called to a meeting at this time?"

"Call them over first." Sokov said irritably, "I'll tell everyone when they're all here."

The first to arrive was Deputy Brigade Commander Belkin. As soon as he entered the tent, he asked eagerly, "Comrade Brigade Commander, why are you calling me back at this time? Is there something important?"

"Yes, Comrade Deputy Brigade Commander, it's an extremely urgent matter." Sokov said with a cold expression: "General Zhukov, the commander of the front, has issued us a special order, asking us to launch a counterattack against the enemy at 8 o'clock tomorrow morning, force a crossing of the Ruza River, and rush to Borechevo to take the city back from the enemy."

When Belkin heard what Sokov said, he immediately rushed to the table and looked for the place Sokov mentioned on the map.

After seeing the location of the place clearly, Belkin couldn't help but take a breath, then raised his head and asked: "Comrade Brigade Commander, was this counterattack order really issued by the commander of the front?"

Sokov said nothing, just nodded.

Belkin slapped his hand heavily on the table and said angrily: "Comrade Brigade Commander, don't you think this order is too ridiculous? Although we are not a strategic location and the enemy's attack frequency is not high, if we give up this place and carry out the so-called counterattack mission, then the left wing of the 316th Infantry Division will be completely exposed to the enemy, and Volokolamsk may be surrounded by the enemy."

Sokov knew about this, but when Belkin mentioned it, he could only raise his hand to interrupt him and said unhappily, "Comrade Deputy Brigade Commander, you have also been a commander in the army for more than 20 years. Don't you know that orders from superiors cannot be discussed and can only be executed unconditionally?"

After hearing what Sokov said, Belkin stopped talking. He sat down at the table, picked up the cigarette case on the table, took out a cigarette, and sat there smoking in silence.

After all the commanders who received the notice arrived, Sokov conveyed Zhukov's order to everyone again.

As soon as Sokov finished speaking, several battalion commanders began to chatter, all of them expressing their confusion about this sudden counterattack order.

Captain Yefim, the commander of the first battalion, stood up first and questioned, "Comrade Brigade Commander, we can only barely hold off the enemy's attack with our existing fortifications. Now our superiors are asking us to abandon our positions and launch a counterattack against an enemy that has superior numbers and equipment. Isn't this asking us to die?"

"That's right, Comrade Brigade Commander, I think Captain Yefim is right." As soon as Yefim expressed his opinion, Major Vasya, the commander of the Fourth Battalion, stood up and supported his view: "I don't know the situation of other battalions. But the Fourth Battalion's position is the area that has suffered the most severe enemy attacks during this period. According to incomplete statistics, our casualties have exceeded 2000. If we have fortifications to rely on, we can barely withstand the enemy's attack. But if we leave our positions and attack the enemy, their tanks alone will be enough to cause us huge casualties."

Sokov remained silent and continued to listen to the speeches of several other battalion commanders. Then he stood up and said slowly, "Comrade commanders, I have the same idea as you. With our current strength, it is enough for defense. But if we want to switch to offense, this amount of troops is not enough to fill the enemy's teeth. Maybe in the early stage of the counterattack, we can take advantage of the enemy's unpreparedness and catch them off guard, but after a long time, when they come to their senses and launch a counterattack against us, our situation will become very bad."

"Comrade Brigade Commander," the third battalion commander, Nazorov, asked in confusion, "Since you understand this, why did you accept this impossible mission?"

Sokov stared at Nazorov and said with a wry smile: "Comrade Captain, do you think I want to accept this mission? If possible, I am not willing to carry out this mission at all. This counterattack means that our newly established unit will completely disappear after the battle. But there is no way. This is the order of General Zhukov. Since it is an order from our superiors, no matter how many objections we have, we can only execute it unconditionally."

Those who originally wanted to express their opinions fell silent after hearing Sokov's last few words: Yes, the Soviet military regulations stipulate that orders from superiors can only be executed unconditionally, and there is no room for bargaining at all.

"Comrade Brigade Commander!" After a long silence, Belkin spoke first, asking on behalf of everyone: "How do you plan to carry out tomorrow's counterattack mission?"

Sokov's eyes quickly swept across everyone's faces, and seeing that everyone looked dejected, he continued, "Since the Fourth Battalion's position has been the enemy's focus of attack recently, the Fourth Battalion will not have to participate in this counterattack."

(End of this chapter)