red moscow

Chapter 2965

The rumble of artillery fire outside the command post made Stavsky's expression change. He listened intently for a moment, then turned to Sokov and asked, "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, is the enemy shelling the garrison at the settlement?"

“Of course not.” Sokov shook his head and said, “Comrade Stavsky, the artillery fire you heard is the army group’s artillery intercepting the enemy attacking the settlement. At this moment, the enemy is being annihilated by our artillery fire.”

Stavsky asked with some surprise, "But I heard from your deputy brigade commander that the two artillery battalions attached to your brigade have been transferred away by higher command." He pointed outside the command post, "What's going on with the artillery fire outside?"

Sokov was somewhat amused and exasperated. He had already told Stavsky that the artillery support was provided by the army group's artillery, but the other party didn't seem to have listened to him and was still asking what the artillery support was all about.

"Comrade Stavsky!" Karsokov noticed Sokov's subtle displeasure and quickly explained to Stavsky, "You're right, our brigade's artillery battalion has indeed been transferred. The brigade commander considered that without artillery, our officers and soldiers would have difficulty dealing with the German armored vehicles, so he directly called the army group's artillery chief and requested them to provide artillery support for the garrison in the settlement."

“Oh, I see.” Stavsky said with some regret, “It’s a pity we left the settlement, otherwise we could have taken some valuable photos there.”

“Comrade Stavsky,” Sokov now felt Stavsky was a hot potato and couldn’t wait for him to leave, so he naturally wouldn’t bring up the matter of having him take pictures in the settlement. Instead, he said tactfully, “This counterattack operation involves many units, and our brigade is just an insignificant part of it. You should probably go and see the other units; you might be able to get more useful material.”

Stavsky was a perceptive man, and upon hearing Sokov's words, he immediately realized that the other party did not want him to stay any longer. However, he had not obtained any valuable information from the interview, and he was naturally unwilling to return just like that.

“Comrade Lieutenant Colonel,” Stavsky said, looking at Sokov, “now that the enemy has launched an attack on the settlements you have occupied, there will likely be a lot of fighting going on here in the coming days. I plan to stay here for a few more days. What do you think?”

“Comrade Stavsky, as I just said, this is just an insignificant battlefield. The scale of the fighting won’t be too large, and you probably won’t get any newsworthy material.” Sokov continued to persuade Stavsky: “In my opinion, you should go and see where the fighting is most intense. Maybe it will provide valuable material for your future literary creations. Do you agree?”

“Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, I must say, what you say makes a lot of sense,” Stavsky said. “However, without General Rokossovsky’s permission, it probably won’t be easy for us to go to other units.”

“Comrade Stavsky, if you wish to go to another unit, I can call the commander immediately and convey your thoughts to him.”

Stavsky did not immediately express his opinion after hearing this, but looked at Sokov and asked, "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, which unit do you think I should go to next?"

"Needless to say, it's Colonel Katukov's 4th Tank Brigade." Sokov recommended Katukov to Stavsky: "In early October, Colonel Katukov's tank brigade was ordered to move into Mtsensk, the western gateway to Moscow, to block the German Guderian armored group. At that time, he only had 45 outdated training tanks and not enough ammunition. He knew that a direct confrontation was not the solution, so he urged his soldiers to dig fake bunkers day and night, using plywood to build a large number of fake tanks and camouflage them, while the real tank positions were deployed 4000 meters away."

After eight days and nights of fierce fighting, the Katukov Brigade destroyed 133 enemy tanks and shot down two aircraft, while its own troops escaped almost unscathed, successfully completing its mission.

After Stavsky finished speaking, he nodded and said, "Colonel Katukov is a truly remarkable commander! By the way, will his troops participate in this counterattack?"

"Of course, Comrade Stavsky," Sokov said with certainty. "In this counter-offensive, Colonel Katukov's troops undertook a very important combat mission, not only to deal with the German armored forces, but also to cover the infantry in capturing settlements or villages occupied by the enemy."

After hearing Sokov's words, Stavsky became very interested in Katukov: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, after hearing what you said, I wish I could appear in front of Colonel Katukov right now and have a good interview with him."

“Comrade Stavsky, it’s not difficult to achieve this goal.” Sokov picked up the microphone on the table and continued, “You just need to make a phone call to the Commander and get his approval, then you can go to Colonel Katukov’s tank brigade.”

"Then could you please give me a call?"

Seeing that Stavsky had been persuaded, Sokov immediately picked up the phone and connected to the army group headquarters.

Hearing an unfamiliar voice coming from the receiver, Sokov quickly spoke into the phone: "Hello! I am Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, the brigade commander of the infantry brigade. I have urgent business with Colonel Malinin!"

The person who answered the phone, having ascertained Sokov's identity, guessed that he must have some important information to report to Malinin, and quickly transferred the call.

Soon, Sokov heard Malinin's voice coming through the receiver: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, what's the matter with you calling me? Is there any new development from the enemy attacking the settlement?"

“No, Comrade Chief of Staff. The enemy attacking the settlements is suffering casualties under our artillery fire,” Sokov replied. “I’m calling you about something else important.”

"Tell me, what's the important thing?"

"Comrade Chief of Staff, Comrade Stavsky from Pravda, and Comrade Blinov, the photographer in charge of taking pictures, aren't they conducting interviews here?" Sokov said, "Now they want to go to other places to conduct interviews, so I specifically called you to let you know if they can go to other areas?"

Where is Comrade Stavsky?

"He's right beside me."

"Let him answer the phone."

"Hello, Colonel Malinin, this is Stavsky."

"Comrade Stavsky, I heard from Lieutenant Colonel Sokov that you want to go to other units for interviews. Is that true?"

"of course it's true."

"Is there anywhere you'd like to go?"

Upon hearing Malinin's question, Stavsky glanced at Sokov standing beside him and continued, "I would like to interview Colonel Katukov's 4th Tank Brigade. Would you allow me to go?" Malinin was silent for a few seconds before replying, "Comrade Stavsky, I cannot grant you permission to visit the 4th Tank Brigade."

Stavsky, puzzled, asked, "Why?"

“The 4th Tank Brigade is the only mobile armored unit in this counter-offensive,” Malinin explained to Stavsky. “This unit’s movements are unpredictable; they appear wherever tanks are needed. I’m worried that if you were to join the tank brigade, you would find it difficult to adapt to their ability to move at will.”

Stavsky understood that Malinin's words meant he was rejecting his request. After a moment of silence, he asked, "Comrade Colonel, where do you think I should go next for interviews? Preferably in areas where the fighting is intense, so that I can gather more valuable material."

Malinin thought for a moment and then suggested a place: "Comrade Stavsky, how about you go to Spas-Lyukhovsky?"

“Spas-Lyukhovsky?” Stavsky repeated the location of the ground before tentatively asking, “Comrade Colonel, is there any fighting taking place here?”

“Comrade Stavsky, I feel it’s necessary to give you a heads-up,” Malinin said. “The fighting here is quite intense. If you go, you might be in mortal danger, so you should think it over carefully.”

“I’ve thought it through, Comrade Colonel,” Stavsky said. “Only in the most intense fighting can we obtain more valuable material. I’ve decided to go to the Spas-Lyukhovsky region. Please send someone to pick us up immediately.”

Standing nearby, Sokov overheard Stavsky and Malinin's conversation and learned that Malinin would soon send someone to fetch Stavsky. He breathed a sigh of relief. With Stavsky staying with him, he was constantly worried about his safety. Now that he was leaving, it would be like getting rid of a hot potato.

Half an hour later, people sent by headquarters came and took Stavsky and Blinov away.

As the group walked out of the command post, they ran into Belkin, who was returning.

Seeing the group walking outside, Belkin asked with some curiosity, "Comrade Stavsky, where are you going?"

“I am ordered to go to the Spas-Lyukhovsky region.” Stavsky reached out and shook Belkin’s hand, saying gratefully, “Lieutenant Colonel, thank you for taking me to the settlement for interviews.”

After Belkin and Stavsky left, he strode into the command post and asked Sokov and Karsokov in surprise, "Brigadier, Chief of Staff, when I came in just now, I saw Comrade Stavsky and the photographer from Pravda leave. What happened? Why were they sent to interview other units at this time?"

“Comrade Deputy Brigade Commander, you may not know this,” Sokov said, seeing that Belkin was completely unaware of the situation. He explained directly that Stavsky had taken it upon himself to secretly follow the scouts away from the settlement to gather intelligence. Finally, he said to Belkin, “Comrade Commander once instructed me to protect Comrade Stavsky’s life as if it were my own eyes. But if he continues to act so recklessly, his safety is difficult to guarantee. It is precisely for this reason that I tried every means to get him to leave.”

After listening to Sokov's explanation, Belkin finally understood what had happened.

"When I arrived, I saw smoke rising from the settlement and heard the booming of artillery," Belkin continued. "Could it be that the enemy has launched an attack on the settlement?"

"Yes, the enemy is attacking the settlement." Sokov nodded in agreement and continued, "Considering that the soldiers defending the settlement lack anti-tank weapons and are unable to deal with the German armored vehicles, I requested General Kazakov to conduct artillery fire to intercept the enemy attacking the settlement."

"I see." Belkin nodded after hearing this, and then asked, "I wonder how large the enemy force attacking the settlement is?"

As the two were talking, Romanov came up to Karsokov with a telegram he had just received and handed it to him.

Seeing Karsokov browsing the contents of the telegram, Sokov asked, "Comrade Chief of Staff, who sent the telegram, and what does it say?"

Upon hearing Sokov's question, Karsokov quickly walked up to Sokov, handed him the telegram, and said, "Comrade Brigade Commander, the telegram is from Major Vasya, the commander of the Fourth Battalion. He said in the telegram that the German trucks that were parked in the settlement left the settlement and are heading in our direction, and that we should take precautions."

"Don't worry, as long as the enemy doesn't use tanks, planes, and artillery, it won't be easy for them to retake the settlements defended by the First Battalion."

"The troops holding the settlement were the 1st Battalion?" Belkin sensed the hidden meaning in Sokov's words: "Then where is Captain Nazorov's 3rd Battalion now?"

"The brigade commander ordered this unit to outflank the enemy from the rear." Karsokov quickly explained to Belkin: "He ordered Captain Nazorov that once the enemy attacking the settlement was found to be retreating, the 3rd Battalion should immediately launch an attack on the enemy and make sure to annihilate them."

"Comrade Brigade Commander, your consideration is truly thorough." Belkin remarked after hearing this, "On the battlefield, it's easy to strike a retreating enemy; but to win a decisive battle is probably not an easy task. However, I think it's still possible to use two battalions to deal with a small German unit and annihilate it completely."

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Sokov said to Karsokov, "now that the enemy in that settlement has been mobilized, send a telegram back to Major Vasya, instructing him to command the 4th and 2nd Battalions to launch an immediate attack and to complete the capture of the settlement in the shortest possible time."

“Yes, I will send a telegram to Major Vasya immediately.”

When Karsokov went to reply to Major Vasya's telegram, the shelling from the settlement suddenly stopped.

Sokov quickly picked up the phone, connected to Yefim's command post, and asked bluntly, "Captain, what's going on? Why has the artillery fire stopped?"

"Comrade Brigade Commander!" Perhaps the artillery fire had made Yefim a little hard of hearing, he shouted loudly: "The German armored vehicles attacking the settlement have all been destroyed by our artillery fire, and the infantry following behind have also suffered heavy casualties."

"Then what are you still standing there for?" Knowing that the armored vehicles covering the German infantry had been completely destroyed, Sokov became even more confident. "Immediately organize the troops to launch a counterattack. We must work together with the Third Battalion to annihilate all the remaining enemy forces."

(End of this chapter)