red moscow

Chapter 2983

Upon hearing Sokov's question, the police officer on duty hesitated for a moment before replying, "I'm sorry, Commander of the City Defense, I was just transferred here from another place last month and I'm not very familiar with the situation in the city."

Sokov hadn't expected to get the information he wanted from a regular police officer. He nodded, said nothing more, and simply waited quietly for the police chief who was now in charge of the police station.

Seeing that Sokov remained silent, the police officers on duty quickly raised the barrier blocking the entrance and directed the jeeps parked outside to drive into the parking lot.

A few minutes later, hurried footsteps came from the direction of the police station building.

Because the light was too dim, Sokov could only barely make out that there were three people running towards him, but he couldn't make out what they looked like.

Soon, the three of them arrived at the entrance.

A rather burly policeman asked the officer on duty, "Where is the city defense commander?"

The police officer on duty quickly pointed to Sokov: "Look, this is the newly appointed city defense commander, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov."

The newly arrived policeman turned to face Sokov, saluted, and said respectfully, "Hello, Commander of the City Defense! I am Sergeant Grich from the Police Station. How may I help you?"

“I have been ordered to take over the city’s defenses.” After briefly explaining his purpose, Sokov went straight to the question that interested him: “Sergeant Grich, could you give me a brief overview of the city?”

Faced with Sokov's question, Grich seemed somewhat flustered: "What kind of information do you want to know?"

Sokov thought for a moment, then said, "I'd like to know how many people originally lived in the city, and how many are left now. What are its main industries, and how many industrial workers are there? Also, how many troops are stationed in the city?"

Having understood the question Sokov wanted to ask, Grich calmed down. He thought for a moment and replied, "Comrade Commander of the city defenses, the population of Sunhill before the war was 38178. Because the enemy is gradually approaching Moscow, a large-scale evacuation began two weeks ago. Now, the remaining population is about seven thousand. As for pillar industries, they are only logging, mining, and brewing, and the total number of industrial workers does not exceed two thousand. As for the troops defending the city..."

Upon hearing Grigory's answer, Sokov's heart sank. Even without any population evacuation, how many new soldiers could a small city of less than 40,000 people recruit? Moreover, there were only a little over 7,000 residents remaining, and he knew without asking that the vast majority of these residents were the elderly, children, and women.

When Grisa mentioned the troops guarding the city, he stopped talking. Sokov asked somewhat displeasedly, "Sergeant Gris, why are you silent? You still haven't told me how many troops are in the city now."

“Now, in addition to the 30 police officers, there are 200 militiamen in the city,” Griggs replied. “These militiamen come from logging, mining, and brewing industries.”

There were only 230 combat personnel in the city. Although the number was small, it was better than nothing.

Sokov continued, "Sergeant Grich, when will you be able to gather all these combat personnel?"

“We’ll have to wait until after dawn.” After saying this, Grigory, worried that Sokov might misunderstand, explained, “At this time, everyone should be sleeping at home, so it’s not realistic to gather them all together.”

“Alright.” Sokov thought Grich made sense, so he nodded. “We’ll wait until dawn and then figure out a way to get them together.”

"Comrade Brigade Commander!" Romanov came out of the duty room and reported to Sokov, "I just made contact with the deputy brigade commander and chief of staff. Our advance troops are less than 20 kilometers from the city and will be able to enter the city in three hours."

"Romanov, you will go and meet up with the advance troops later, and have them find a suitable place to settle down in the north of the city."

Before Romanov could reply, Grich spoke up first: "Comrade City Defense Commander, there is a theater to the north of the city where your troops can be stationed."

Sokov nodded at Grigory's suggestion and then said to him, "Sergeant Grigory, later you will send a policeman with this subordinate of mine to the north of the city to meet the advance troops and settle them in your theater."

“No problem, Comrade City Defense Commander.” Seeing that Sokov had accepted his suggestion, Grich was very happy: “I will definitely select the most capable police officers to act as guides for your troops later.”

“By the way,” Sokov thought of the police station he found to be the most suitable place for his command post after entering the city, and said to Grich, “Sergeant Grich, I’d like to set up the command post here. Could you arrange a suitable office for us?”

“Yes, of course.” Grich nodded and replied, “Comrade City Defense Commander, I know a suitable place. I’ll take you there.”

Sokov turned to Romanov and said, "Romanov, go and call Morozova. We're going to set up headquarters in the police station building."

Led by Grich, Sokov and his men entered the police station building and stopped in front of a closed double door.

Grigory took out his key, opened the door, and said to Sokov, "Comrade City Defense Commander, this is the Criminal Investigation Division's office, and also the most spacious office in the entire police station."

The door opened, and Griggs went into the office first. However, he did not turn on the light. Instead, he fumbled in the cabinet by the door for a while, took out a silver candlestick with several candles in it, and lit the candles with a match.

As the candlelight was lit, the dark room became bright.

By the light of the candle, Sokov could see that on the left side of the room, near the window, were four desks facing each other in pairs; in the middle of the room was a seven- or eight-meter-long conference table, with a dozen or so chairs around it; and on the right side of the room were several filing cabinets against the wall, but they were empty, presumably because the documents that had been there had been moved.

"Comrade Commander of the City Defense!" After placing the candlestick on the conference table, Grich tentatively asked Sokov, "Do you think this is a suitable place?"

“I think it’s pretty good.” Sokov noticed a lot of scattered papers on the ground and turned to Romanov, who had just come in, and instructed him, “Romanov, I’m going to use this place as my command post. Take a few men and clean it up later.”

“Yes, Comrade Brigade Commander.” Romanov nodded and said, “I’ll take some men and pack up right away.” “Sergeant Grich,” Sokov continued, “is the phone at the police station still working?”

"The post office staff have not yet evacuated, and the communication lines of important departments remain open."

Upon learning that the communication circuit was working, Sokov felt much more at ease; his troops would soon be stationed in the city. Although the city wasn't large, a reliable communication line was essential to relaying his orders in a timely manner.

"Comrade Commander of the City Defense, is there anything else you need to instruct us on?"

Sokov stared at the candlesticks on the conference table, then asked, "By the way, what's the electricity situation in the city?"

“Just like the communication lines,” Gridge replied, “except for essential departments which still have power, the rest of the area is without power indefinitely.”

“Sergeant Grich, there are still a few hours until dawn. You can go back to sleep for a while.” Sokov said apologetically to Grich, “I’m sorry my arrival has disturbed your sleep.”

Grigg quickly waved his hand, feigning indifference, and said, "Comrade City Defense Commander, we are currently at war. Whenever there is a mission, we need to get up immediately, even if we are asleep. We are already mentally prepared for this."

Sokov grinned and then asked a question that interested him: "Comrade Sergeant, judging from the current situation, it's only a matter of time before the enemy attacks Sun Mountain City. I wonder if you are afraid?"

Grich looked at Sokov, remaining silent for a long time. Just when Sokov thought he would continue to remain silent, he unexpectedly said, "Comrade City Defense Commander, it would be a lie to say we're not afraid. But if we're afraid, will the enemy not come? So even if we're afraid, we will still hold our posts. If the enemy breaks into the city, then we will take up arms and fight them."

Sokov, unsure of the equipment of the police in Sun Mountain City, tentatively asked, "Sergeant, what kind of equipment do you have?"

“We have 10 pistols, 3 rifles, and some batons,” Gridge replied. “That’s all our equipment.”

Upon hearing Grigory's answer, Sokov's eyes widened in surprise. He asked in an incredulous tone, "What? This is all the equipment your police station has? To put it bluntly, with your current equipment, even if there's only one squad of Germans who stormed into the city, you probably wouldn't be a match for them."

Griggs looked embarrassed and said helplessly, "Comrade City Defense Commander, our bureau has several machine guns, but when the director and his men escorted the residents and important agencies to safety, they took all the weapons with them. So less than half of the people who stayed behind have weapons."

“No, your weapons are too poor. If a real battle breaks out, let alone face the enemy head-on, your equipment won’t be enough to deal with the saboteurs that appear in the city.” Sokov said this to Grich, then turned to Romanov and instructed him: “Romanov, after the troops have fully entered Sun Mountain City, remember to remind me to change the uniforms of the police officers.”

"Okay, Comrade Brigade Commander, I'll remind you when the time comes." After saying this, Romanov suddenly remembered something and said to Sokov, "Comrade Brigade Commander, I just heard that there are 200 militiamen. I wonder what kind of weapons they are using?"

Sokov didn't speak, but turned to look at Grich, hoping to get the answer he wanted from him.

When Grich saw Sokov looking at him, he immediately understood what the other wanted to know and quickly replied, "Comrade City Defense Commander, the militia's weapons aren't much better than ours. They're basically equipped with rifles produced during World War I. Once, during a target practice exercise, I happened to be on duty and saw some rifles jam after only a few shots. If such guns were deployed to the battlefield, they would probably kill our soldiers."

Sokov nodded slightly after listening. He thought that when the troops entered Taiyangshan City this time, they would move all the weapons and ammunition from the hidden armory a dozen or twenty kilometers away. There should be no problem in replacing the police and militia in the city with new equipment.

“Sergeant Grich, you don’t need to worry about the weapons,” Sokov said casually. “We happen to have some extra weapons. Once the troops have all entered the city, we can equip you with more suitable weapons and equipment.”

Upon hearing Sokov mention that the police and militia would be re-equipped, Grigory was overjoyed. He had been worried that if the Germans stormed the city, it would be a pipe dream to expect these two hundred-odd poorly equipped militia and police to hold them off. Now, not only was a large force about to arrive, but the militia and police were also going to be re-equipped—this was simply fantastic news.

With a broad smile, he asked Sokov, "Comrade Commander of the City Defense, is there anything else I can do for you?"

“That’s all for now.” Sokov waved to Grigory and said, “Go and rest. If I need your help in the future, I’ll send someone to find you.”

Just as Grigory agreed and turned to leave the room, Romanov called out to him, "Comrade Sergeant, please wait a moment."

Sokov looked at Romanov with surprise and asked, puzzled, "Romanov, why did you ask Sergeant to wait a moment? Is there something you need?"

"Yes, Brigade Commander, I have something important to ask Sergeant."

Sokov knew that Romanov wouldn't speak without reason, so he gestured for Romanov to ask Grich if he had any questions.

“Comrade,” Grich asked cautiously, noticing that Romanov, despite having no military rank, seemed to be trusted by Sokov. “What do you want to know?”

"Sergeant, I'd like to ask about the transportation situation in the city. Are there any spare vehicles available?"

Grich was stumped. He looked at Romanov and stammered, "Comrade, why do you ask this?"

"Sergeant, I think you just heard my conversation with the brigade commander and know that our advance troops are still 20 kilometers away from here." Romanov didn't beat around the bush and said what he wanted to say directly: "If we can find enough transport vehicles in the city, I think the marching speed of the troops can be greatly improved."

"Yes, yes, yes!" Romanov's words were a wake-up call for Sokov. His troops were still marching a long way, especially the field hospital, which was suffering from a large number of wounded and a severe shortage of transportation. Their marching speed could be described as snail's pace. "Sergeant Grich, can we find enough vehicles in the city? If we have vehicles, our troops' marching speed can be greatly improved."

“Comrade Commander of the City Defense, there should still be forty or fifty buses in the city that can be used to transport troops.” Griggs said carefully, “But most of the drivers have been evacuated to the rear. If there are buses but no drivers, the buses can’t be driven.”

(End of this chapter)