red moscow

Chapter 2971

According to Malinin, getting the two artillery battalions of the infantry brigade back to their original units would be a simple matter of a word. However, when he got through to Kazakov on the phone, his request was rejected: "I'm sorry, Comrade Chief of Staff, I cannot grant your request to get these two artillery battalions back to their original units."

Ma Lining's smile froze on his face. He asked in bewilderment, "Why? Comrade Artillery Chief, please tell me, why can't the artillery battalion be returned to its original unit?"

"Comrade Chief of Staff!" Kazakov explained to Malinin, "After those two artillery battalions were assigned to me, I split them up and added them to the heavily damaged artillery units. In other words, the original commanders and soldiers of these two artillery battalions had already been deployed to different areas of my army group's defense zone according to tactical needs. Regrouping them and putting them back into service with the infantry brigades would not only be a time-consuming and laborious task, but it would also have some adverse effects on subsequent battlefield artillery support."

Kazakov concluded by emphasizing, "Comrade Chief of Staff, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov is considering the impact that possessing artillery will have on the brigade's operational efficiency. As for me, I am considering using the artillery resources at my disposal to assist combat or units that require artillery support."

Kazakov's words left Malinin speechless.

After a long while, Ma Lining finally spoke and asked in a hoarse voice, "Comrade Artillery Chief, does that mean it's impossible for those two artillery battalions to return to their original units?"

“Yes, Comrade Chief of Staff, that is indeed the case.” After organizing his thoughts, Kazakov continued, “Of course, if the infantry brigade needs our artillery support during an offensive, they can simply call me. I will provide them with the necessary assistance based on the situation.”

After hanging up the phone, Malinin sat at the table for a long time, lost in thought, considering how to reply to Sokov.

Seeing the strange expression on Malinin's face, Rokossovsky asked curiously, "Comrade Chief of Staff, is something on your mind?"

"Comrade Commander, here's the situation." When Rokossovsky asked, Malinin quickly recounted the whole story to him, and finally asked, "What do you think we should do about this? I think if the infantry brigade doesn't have artillery, it will be difficult to exert its full combat effectiveness."

"Where are we going to find artillery for him now?" Rokossovsky said. "Moreover, the higher-ups have given us no time to prepare for the counterattack the day after tomorrow, which means the chances of winning the counterattack are not high. Even if we assign artillery to Misha's infantry brigade, it will most likely be wiped out in the battle."

Malinin understood Rokossovsky's underlying message: artillery units added to infantry brigades at this juncture would inevitably be lost in the ensuing counter-offensive. Knowing this was the likely outcome, further equipping them with artillery was clearly inappropriate.

“Comrade Commander, I understand what you mean.” Ma Lining nodded and said, “Under the current circumstances, it is indeed not suitable to equip an infantry brigade with artillery units.”

Rokossovsky nodded and continued, "If Misha's troops need artillery support during the offensive, they only need to call Comrade Kazakov directly to get the help they want. There is absolutely no need to go through the trouble of assigning themselves any artillery units."

"Okay, I understand. I'll call Lieutenant Colonel Sokov right away and convey your and General Kazakov's message to him."

A few minutes later, Malinin dialed Sokov's brigade command.

"Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, this is Colonel Malinin."

Sokov was surprised that Malinin called so quickly, assuming that the matter of the artillery battalions returning to their original units had been settled, and hurriedly asked, "Comrade Chief of Staff, when will my two artillery battalions be able to return to their original units?"

Malinin said with difficulty, "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, I may have to disappoint you. I have bad news for you. Your two original artillery battalions have now been split into different artillery units and distributed in different areas of the army group's defense zone. It is obviously impossible for them to return to their original units."

Upon hearing this, Sokov's heart sank. He asked reluctantly, "Comrade Chief of Staff, without artillery support, it would be very difficult for our brigade to capture the German positions with their strong fortifications, given our current equipment."

“Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, don’t rush, I haven’t finished speaking yet.” Malinin continued, “The commander, General Kazakov, and I have discussed this. If your brigade is intercepted by strong enemy fire during the attack, you can directly call the artillery command and ask the artillery to provide you with artillery support.”

Upon learning that his two artillery battalions had been split up, Sokov knew very well that it would be a very time-consuming and laborious task to regroup the artillery commanders and soldiers who had been scattered across various units, and his superiors would certainly not do such a thankless task at this time.

After a fierce internal struggle, he could only bite the bullet and say, "Okay, Chief of Staff, I understand what you mean. Our original artillery battalion cannot be returned to its original unit, but if we need artillery support in battle, we can contact General Kazakov directly and have him issue operational orders to the nearby artillery."

“That’s right, that’s what I mean.” Ma Lining gave a perfunctory reply and then hurriedly hung up the phone.

After hanging up the phone, Sokov said to Belkin and Karsokov beside him, "Deputy Brigade Commander, Chief of Staff, Chief of Staff Malinin just called and said that the higher command cannot allow the two artillery battalions that were transferred to return to their original units."

Belkin and Karsokov were taken aback: "Why?"

"The reason is simple: our original two artillery battalions have been dismantled and reassigned to various artillery units. They are now deployed in different parts of the army group. It is simply impossible to reassemble them and put them back into service."

After Belkin finished speaking, he said with great sorrow, "My God, that was our artillery unit that we had worked so hard to build up, and it's all gone just like that. The day after tomorrow we will launch a counterattack against the German army in a new area. Without artillery support, even if we suffer huge casualties, we will probably not be able to achieve the desired results."

“There’s nothing we can do,” Karsokov sighed. “When the higher-ups transferred our artillery battalion, we should have been prepared for this, knowing that we wouldn’t have artillery again anytime soon.” He paused for a moment, then tentatively asked Sokov, “Comrade Brigade Commander, without artillery, what will we do in the counterattack the day after tomorrow?”

Before Sokov could answer, Belkin interjected, "If we really are going to participate in the counterattack the day after tomorrow, I think the army group's artillery should conduct artillery preparations before the offensive begins. Hopefully, they can destroy more German fortifications and eliminate more enemy troops, thus relieving pressure on our offensive."

"It seems there's no other way." "Comrade Chief of Staff," Sokov suddenly interjected during their conversation, "Are there any soldiers in the brigade who used to be artillerymen?"

When Karsokov heard Sokov ask this question, he was taken aback at first, but then he understood what Sokov meant. He shook his head and said, "Comrade Brigade Commander, the officers and soldiers of our brigade are basically the deserters we have taken in. There are soldiers from all branches of the armed forces. But having artillery without cannons is meaningless."

“Who says we don’t have artillery?” Sokov exclaimed dramatically. “We still have at least 20 artillery pieces of different calibers.”

Belkin and Karsokov were taken aback. They exchanged a glance and saw confusion in each other's eyes.

"Comrade Brigade Commander!" Belkin asked cautiously, "How come I didn't know we had artillery?"

"Have you forgotten that I once ordered Anton Khabarov to lead men into the forest to search for the hidden armory?"

Upon Sokov's reminder, Karsokov immediately remembered: "Yes, yes, I remember that. It seems a new armory was discovered at the time, but you said that these weapons and ammunition were reserved for use in the upcoming battles and were temporarily sealed up. Do you intend to use the weapons and ammunition inside?"

“That’s right.” Sokov nodded, giving the other party a definite answer: “It can be seen from this counterattack that our brigade’s combat effectiveness is significantly reduced without direct artillery support, and the casualties of our officers and soldiers have also increased dramatically. Therefore, I plan to unseal that hidden armory, take out a few artillery pieces, and form an artillery company to deal with German tanks or for assault operations.”

“I agree with the brigade commander’s proposal.” Before Sokov could finish speaking, Belkin chimed in, “Without direct artillery support, we will certainly suffer heavy casualties in the upcoming counterattack, and we may not even be able to achieve our operational objectives.”

But Karsokov seemed somewhat hesitant: "If artillery support is needed, we can simply contact the army group's artillery command and have them provide artillery support for our attacking forces. I don't think there's any need to form another artillery battery, is there?"

“It is absolutely necessary to form an artillery company, Comrade Chief of Staff.” Seeing that Karsokov did not understand the issue clearly, Sokov explained to him in detail: “The army group’s artillery can indeed provide us with artillery support, but their artillery support is sometimes not very useful.”

Seeing Karsokov's bewildered expression, he continued, "For example, when our troops enter a town and engage in street fighting with the enemy, the troops advancing along the street are attacked by fire from buildings on the front or sides. At this time, it is obviously unrealistic to contact the army group artillery to eliminate these firing points. Our artillery is not capable of accurately hitting the windows of a building from a great distance to destroy enemy firing points."

But if we had our own artillery, we could solve this problem very well. I once proposed an artillery tactic called "fixing bayonets to cannons," which means advancing the artillery to a position several hundred meters away from the enemy's firing points and using direct fire to destroy them.

Sokov had mentioned the bayonet-fixing tactic on artillery more than once, and Karsokov naturally remembered it. After hearing Sokov's explanation, he immediately realized he had oversimplified the issue and quickly nodded, saying, "I understand, Comrade Brigade Commander. According to you, forming a new artillery company is absolutely necessary. I'll call the battalion commanders right away and have them select soldiers who have served in the artillery from their own battalions to form new artillery units."

While Karsokov was on the phone with the four battalion commanders, Sokov called Romanov over and politely asked, "Comrade Romanov, I remember you were also involved in the last search for the hidden armory?"

"Comrade Brigade Commander, you may be mistaken. I did not participate in the search operation led by Comrade Khabarov," Romanov replied with a wry smile. "However, when the search results were finally recorded, I did ask Khabarov for a detailed understanding of the specifics."

"Oh, I see. It seems I did receive the wrong one." After admitting his mistake, Sokov continued, "Comrade Romanov, you will take a platoon of soldiers and ride in one of the few remaining trucks from the brigade headquarters to the location of the hidden armory and retrieve four artillery pieces from it."

What kind of ammunition do you need?

“We need high-explosive shells, armor-piercing shells, and high-explosive anti-tank shells.” Sokov, realizing he was unfamiliar with the types of shells, specifically instructed Romanov: “When you go, it would be best to take a few artillerymen with you; that’s their specialty.”

"Okay, Brigade Commander, I will definitely bring artillery soldiers with me later."

Half an hour later, each battalion reported the number of soldiers in their battalion who had served as artillerymen.

After reviewing the statistics, Belkin exclaimed, "I never imagined that after drawing so many people to form two artillery battalions, we could still muster nearly two hundred men. I think we could easily make up an artillery company, let alone an artillery battalion."

But Sokov waved his hand and said, "Comrade Deputy Brigade Commander, I am not optimistic about this counterattack. After all, the preparation time given by the higher command is too short. Launching a new attack rashly without replenishing manpower and ammunition will not have a high chance of success. This means that the artillery we bring to the battlefield will most likely be lost in the battle."

After listening to Sokov's explanation, Belkin immediately looked enlightened: "Alright then, we'll form a new artillery unit the size of an artillery battery. But I have a suggestion, I wonder if you can agree to it."

"Please feel free to make any suggestions."

“Each battalion can now spare nearly two hundred soldiers who have served as artillerymen. If we do not gather them together and reorganize them into a new unit, but instead allow them to remain in their existing units, I am afraid that after a few battles, these experienced artillery commanders and soldiers will be lost.”

Belkin's words served as a reminder to Sokov: it's better to have men waiting for equipment than to have equipment waiting for men. He could rely on these nearly two hundred artillerymen to form a new artillery battalion, and once equipped with enough artillery, it could become combat-ready in a very short time.

After understanding this, Sokov nodded and said, "Comrade Deputy Brigade Commander, you're right. Let's use these people to form a new artillery battalion first. As for the artillery, let's configure it according to the standard of an artillery company for now. We can arm the entire artillery battalion when the time is right."

(End of this chapter)