red moscow

Chapter 2935

Watching the artillery chief enter the town safely under the escort of everyone, Bolkin began to ask Sokov tentatively: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, when can we enter the town?"

Sokov turned to look at Bolkin, smiled politely, and then replied, "Comrade General, the remaining enemies in the town have not been completely eliminated, and when the heavy artillery bombards the outside of the town later, I am afraid that shells will fall into the town. For your safety, you two cannot enter the town for the time being."

Bolkin wanted to say something, but was stopped by Lukin: "Borkin, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov is also concerned about our safety. We should follow his arrangements."

After hearing what Lukin said, Bolkin didn't know what to say and could only nod, agreeing with Lukin's statement.

Not long after, rumbling sounds of artillery fire were heard from the other end of the town. From where Sokov and others were standing, they could clearly see the flames and smoke rising from the south bank. It seemed that it was not only the Second Artillery Battalion that fired at the enemy, but even the 76.2mm artillery of the First Artillery Battalion was involved in the bombardment.

The shelling lasted for half an hour and finally stopped.

Soon, a soldier holding a signal flag appeared at the bridgehead and waved the red and green signal flag towards this side.

After watching for a while, Laev came over and reported to Sokov: "Comrade Brigade Commander, the troops in front sent us a signal that the enemy in the town has been cleared, and the enemies outside the town have suffered heavy losses after being bombarded. The troops originally stationed in the town are now attacking the enemy."

Sokov turned to look at Laev and said with emotion: "Comrade Captain, you are really amazing. You can see so many things based on the flag signals sent by the signalman."

Laev grinned and explained to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, in military academies, flag language is the most basic common sense, and every student needs to master it."

Now that the town had been cleared of enemies, Sokov gathered everyone in the car and rushed to the town as quickly as possible.

When the convoy was passing the bridge, Sokov was worried that the newly repaired bridge would be impassable, so he ordered the driver to stop the car, then opened the door and went to the bridge to take a closer look.

A soldier standing at the bridgehead saw Sokov carefully checking the bridge surface, and hurried over to report to him: "Comrade Brigade Commander, although the bridge has not been completely repaired, there is still no problem for vehicles to pass through the middle section."

Although the soldiers had told Sokov that vehicles could pass on the bridge, he did not dare to risk the lives of the soldiers. He called Laev over and let an empty car pass the bridge first. After seeing that it was safe, he ordered a car full of soldiers to pass.

When Sokov was testing the load-bearing capacity of the bridge deck, Borkin, who was sitting in the jeep, showed an unhappy expression on his face. He thought that the trucks full of soldiers should be allowed to go directly onto the bridge. If it was found that it was impassable, the soldiers should be allowed to get off and walk across the broken bridge. What Sokov was doing now was simply a waste of time.

After testing several vehicles in succession, Sokov finally confirmed that the bridge had indeed regained its traffic capacity, and then he ordered the remaining vehicles to cross the bridge in an orderly manner.

After entering the town, Sokov soon saw the German tank that had caused considerable casualties to the Soviet army. The tank was hiding behind a pile of rubble, and there was a rubble pile every thirty meters in front of it. As he had analyzed, the German tank hiding behind the rubble could fire at the bridge outside the town, while the shells fired by the Soviet artillery in the distance at the tank were blocked by the rubble in front.

Olga, who learned that Sokov had entered the town, came to report the situation. She happened to see Sokov walking around the destroyed tank, and hurried over to him and said, "Comrade Brigade Commander, the enemy tank is hiding in a very clever place. Our artillery fired at it from outside the town and could only hit the rubble in front of it, not even a bit of it. Fortunately, we had soldiers who entered the town, detoured from the side, and blew up the tank with cluster grenades. Otherwise, we don't know how many casualties it would have caused us."

Sokov nodded after hearing this, thinking that if the German tanks were arranged like this, his troops would probably suffer heavy casualties.

"Captain Olga, what do you think is going on?"

"The enemy in the town has been cleared," Captain Olga reported. "The enemy outside the town has been defeated by our artillery fire and has already fled in all directions. My troops are pursuing them."

"Comrade Captain, order the troops to immediately notify the pursuit and quickly return to base." Sokov frowned and said, "What we need to do now is to quickly return to our defense zone and not get too entangled with the enemy."

"But the troops are too scattered." Olga said helplessly, "It's impossible to get in touch with every company. How many hours will it take to get the troops back to their base?"

Sokov looked up at the sky and said seriously, "Comrade Captain, it's getting dark soon. I need to escort the two generals back to my defense zone before dark. We can't waste too much time here. I think this is how it should be. You stay here to collect the troops, and Captain Laev and I will escort the two generals back to the defense zone first."

Olga did not refute after listening to Sokov's arrangement. After all, it was her own fault for not thinking it through. Seeing that the enemy was in disarray, she rashly sent troops to attack without considering how long it would take to gather them together once the troops were deployed.

"Comrade Brigade Commander, this is not good." Laev kindly reminded Sokov after hearing what he said: "It's getting dark soon. If we don't gather the troops, I'm afraid many officers and soldiers will lose their way. If the enemy takes the opportunity to counterattack, they will be in danger."

"Comrade Captain," Sokov said to Laev with a straight face, "Have you ever thought that if we stay here and wait for those scattered troops, once the Germans surround us again, do you think we can easily break through their encirclement?"

"Even if the enemy blocks our retreat route, we can still use artillery fire to clear the way." Laev defended himself: "Didn't the artillery fire just now defeat the enemy?"

"The artillery fire just now was able to defeat the enemy completely because we caught them off guard." Sokov said sternly, "What if the scattered troops have to wait until tomorrow morning to gather, and we are surrounded by the German army again, do you think that relying on another round of artillery fire can help us open a passage back to the defense zone? The enemy can not only use artillery to counter our artillery positions, but also send out the air force to bomb our artillery positions. By then, you will still feel that we are confident of escaping the enemy's encirclement."

Sokov's words made Laev speechless. "Comrade Brigade Commander, this is all my fault." Olga promptly told Sokov: "I was not thoughtful enough and shouldn't have rashly sent the troops to attack. As a result, the troops are now scattered everywhere and it is impossible to withdraw them. I have decided to stay in the town and wait for the troops to return."

Olga was left in the town to wait for the attacking troops to return and strengthen the defense of the north bank of the Ruza River to prevent attacks from the north. After doing all this, Sokov led Laev's troops to escort the two generals and returned to the defense area of ​​the Third Battalion by truck.

Seeing that all the vehicles in the convoy had entered the defense zone, Sokov finally felt relieved.

He got off the car and walked to the side of the truck where Lukin was riding. He climbed into the car by stepping on the wheel and said to Lukin lying on the stretcher: "Comrade General, we have successfully entered the defense zone of my brigade. Next, I plan to send you to the field hospital directly under the brigade headquarters to check your injuries. What do you think?"

Lukin wanted to go directly to the field hospital, but he thought it would be impolite to make Rokossovsky wait too long, so he asked Sokov cautiously: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, if I go to the field hospital, it will definitely take a lot of time. Will General Rokossovsky be angry because I have to wait too long?"

"Comrade General, don't worry. The commander won't get angry over such a small matter." Considering that if he was going to give Lukin a blood transfusion later, it would be inconvenient for Bolkin to be around, Sokov was ready to send him away. "If you are worried, why not let Lieutenant General Bolkin go to the headquarters first and tell the commander the details. What do you think?"

Hearing Sokov's plan to let Bolkin go to the army headquarters first, while he stayed in the field hospital to recuperate, Lukin naturally agreed and nodded: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I think you are very thoughtful. Then I will follow you to the field hospital first, and let Bolkin go to your army headquarters."

In this way, Sokov arranged personnel to escort Bolkin to the army headquarters to meet Rokossovsky, while he took Lukin to the field hospital.

Arriving at the field hospital, Sokov found Tonya and said to her, "Tonya, this is Lieutenant General Lukin. His legs were injured in the battle and he needs urgent treatment. Please help him check to see if he needs surgery."

Tonya came to Lukin, nodded and greeted him, then began to check his injuries.

After an examination, she looked up and said to Sokov, "Comrade Brigade Commander, the general's leg is seriously injured. Fortunately, you brought him here in time. If it was widely infected, he would have to be amputated, otherwise his life would be in danger."

When Lukin heard that Tonya wanted to amputate his limbs, his face changed. But he soon returned to normal. He looked up at Sokov and said with gratitude: "Thank you, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov. If you hadn't brought me back in time, I would have become a disabled person."

"You're welcome, Comrade General." Sokov said with a smile, "This is what I should do."

Tonya had Lukin carried into the tent that served as the operating room. Just as she was about to go in for surgery, Sokov pulled her aside and asked in a low voice, "Tonya, is Lukin's injury serious? Does he need my help?"

Although Sokov did not explicitly say what he would help with, Tonya, who knew Sokov's secrets, understood what he meant. She thought for a moment, then shook her head and said, "Misha, Lieutenant General Lukin's leg will most likely be saved, so you don't have to worry. Also, the fewer people who know that your blood can heal injuries quickly, the better. Otherwise, it will bring you fatal disasters. Remember?"

Facing Dongnia's kind reminder, Sokov nodded slightly: "I remember it!"

"Okay, I'll go to the surgery first. If you have any problem, just come and find me."

On the way back to the brigade headquarters, Khabarov suddenly said, "Misha, I saw a post online saying that if Konev's telegram had been sent to Lukin instead of Rokossovsky before the Battle of Vyazma, maybe by the end of the war, there would be a Marshal Lukin in the army instead of a Marshal Rokossovsky."

"Anton, I always feel that the order that Konev gave to Rokossovsky is very strange." After hearing what Khabarov said, Sokov also expressed his doubts: "At that time, Rokossovsky's 16th Army performed very well. In the area they defended, the German army could not move forward at all. But at this time, Konev inexplicably issued an order, asking Rokossovsky to hand over his troops to friendly forces, and he took the army's command to Vyazma to take over the non-existent troops."

"Yes, it is quite strange." Khabarov echoed: "Rokossovsky was stupid enough to accept this order, but was stopped by Malinin. His chief of staff reminded him that it was not enough to have a verbal order from his superiors, but also a written document signed by Konev and Military Commissar Bulganin.

Rokossovsky followed his advice and asked Konev to issue a written order. Later facts proved that without this written order, Rokossovsky might have been sent to a military court for deserting his post, and even suffered the same fate as General Pavlov.

"Yes, yes," Sokov nodded in agreement and said, "This incident shows how important it is to have good teammates around you."

"Now you have rescued Lieutenant General Lukin and brought him back to our defense zone, saving him from being captured." Khabarov asked with a smile, "Do you think there will really be another Marshal Lukin?"

"If he can return to Moscow smoothly and be as lucky as Marshal Rokossovsky in the next few years, he may become a marshal when the war ends." Sokov turned his head to look in the direction of the field hospital and frowned slightly. "But before he returns to Moscow safely, we should not be blindly optimistic."

Khabarov was stunned when he heard this, and then asked in confusion: "Misha, what do you mean? Why don't I understand?"

Sokov smiled faintly and said casually: "If I remember correctly, Volokolamsk should be occupied by the Germans in the next two days. The enemy who broke through our defense line even rushed directly to the vicinity of the army headquarters. If Rokossovsky had not been lucky enough to escape with his men, I am afraid he would have become a prisoner of the Germans. It is precisely because of this that Lukin had to return to Moscow to completely escape danger."

Khabarov was a little flustered after hearing this: "Misha, you mean that even if Lieutenant General Lukin is sent to the army headquarters immediately, there is still a possibility that he will be captured by the Germans? Am I right?"

(End of this chapter)