red moscow

Chapter 2984

Hearing that there were still dozens of buses in the city, Sokov felt much more at ease. As for the lack of drivers, that was not a problem at all; surely his own troops could find dozens of soldiers who knew how to drive?
Thinking of this, he continued to ask Gridge, "Sergeant, where are the buses parked? Do they have enough fuel?"

"At the bus station on the west side of the city."

"Romanov!" Sokov immediately summoned Romanov and instructed him, "Take the three jeep drivers and go with Sergeant Grich to the bus station. Take three buses to pick up the advance troops. Try to get some officers and soldiers into the city as soon as possible."

"Comrade Brigade Commander, are those drivers capable of driving buses?" Romanov asked with concern. "Buses and jeeps are not the same thing. I'm worried that they don't have experience driving buses and there might be problems on the road."

“I think there shouldn’t be any problem.” Sokov also specifically instructed Romanov: “When you receive the advance troops later, have the commander in charge select soldiers who can drive to return to the city first, then take more buses from the bus station to meet our follow-up troops.”

Since Sokov had already given the order, Romanov naturally wouldn't disobey it. He responded and followed Grich out of the office.

After cleaning the room, Sokov placed a few chairs against the wall and lay down, hoping to catch up on some sleep before dawn.

Not long after he fell asleep, Morozova came over to report to him, "Comrade Brigade Commander, the Deputy Brigade Commander's telegram has arrived."

Sokov took the telegram, brought it close to the candle on the candlestick, and tried to read what was written on it.

Berkin reported to Sokov that during the withdrawal, the troops encountered a messenger sent by Rokossovsky who said that the enemy situation ahead had changed and the infantry brigade's retreat had been temporarily halted, with them remaining in place awaiting further orders.

After reading the telegram, Sokov frowned. In wartime, the worst thing is for orders from superiors to change frequently, as this can easily plunge the troops into chaos.

"Comrade Brigade Commander," Morozova asked tentatively, "are you going to call the Deputy Brigade Commander back?"

Sokov, clutching the telegram in his hand, paced back and forth in the room, pondering whether he should follow the original order and have the infantry brigade continue its march to reach Sun Mountain City as quickly as possible, or obey the new orders from his superiors to temporarily halt the transfer and remain in place to await further instructions.

After much deliberation, Sokov made a decision. He said firmly to Morozova, "Comrade Morozova, send a reply to the deputy brigade commander: the main force of the brigade shall remain in place, but the advance troops and field hospital shall continue to advance toward Sun Mountain City as originally ordered."

After Morozova finished recording Sokov's orders, she turned back to the telegraph machine and sent the telegram out as quickly as possible.

A few minutes later, Belkin's telegram arrived again, containing only two brief sentences: "If the advance troops and field hospitals continue to advance towards Sunhill, will it be contrary to the orders of the army group headquarters?"

Sokov felt that if he didn't explain things clearly to Belkin, Belkin would send countless more telegrams after he sent his reply, so he decided to be frank: "Sun Mountain is now a ghost town, completely defenseless. If the German army bypasses our lines and rushes directly to Sun Mountain, the city will inevitably fall. The advance troops are stationed in the city to give it some self-defense capabilities. Furthermore, the city's hospitals are empty, which can be used to house the wounded and sick from the field hospital, giving them a safe place to recover."

Perhaps because Sokov had clearly explained the true situation in Sunhill, Belkin immediately made a decision: "Agreed that the advance troops and field hospitals continue to advance towards Sunhill. In addition, I suggest that the officers and soldiers who went to the hidden armory transport all the weapons and ammunition in the warehouse directly to Sunhill."

After reading the telegram, Sokov nodded slowly, then said to Morozova, "Comrade Morozova, tell the deputy brigade commander that I agree with his proposal."

An hour later, Romanov led the commander of the advance team into Sokov's command post.

Upon seeing the visitor, Sokov couldn't help but smile.

The man who came was none other than Captain Olga, the company commander of the 3rd Company of the 2nd Battalion, and the great-grandfather of his good friend Khabarov.

"Captain Olga, it's you." Sokov shook Olga's hand and asked warmly, "How many of you came this time?"

“Comrade Brigade Commander, our company has suffered a loss of one-third of its men after this period of fighting.” Olga replied, “There are a total of 95 officers and soldiers who came here with me.”

After a brief pause, Olga cautiously asked, "Comrade Brigade Commander, where do you intend for our company to be stationed?"

“There are many places in the city that need to be garrisoned,” Sokov said with a wry smile. “But your small force of less than a hundred men simply cannot defend them all. I think you should garrison at the police station for now, and then adjust your defensive areas after the main force arrives.”

Olga was somewhat surprised to hear Sokov say this: "Comrade Brigade Commander, when we came here, I told Comrade Romanov that there were no decent troops in the city. Is it true that he said so?"

“That’s right, what he said is true.” Sokov did not deny Olga’s question, but said truthfully: “My superiors told me that there was a garrison regiment of two thousand men in the city. But when I arrived, I found that it was an empty city with no decent defenses at all.”

"Does it really have absolutely no defensive capabilities?"

"To say there's absolutely no defensive capability seems inaccurate," Sokov said. "There are still some troops."

Olga, who had been feeling dejected, suddenly felt a glimmer of hope and quickly asked, "Comrade Brigade Commander, how many troops are still guarding the city?"

“30 police officers and 200 militiamen.” Sokov said after stating the number of the garrison in the city, “They are few in number, have not received proper military training, and are poorly equipped. They probably have no ability to resist the German attack at all.”

"My God!" Olga exclaimed in shock upon hearing Sokov's words. "Comrade Brigade Commander, if we are to accept your assessment, the city's garrison, including us, numbers only a little over three hundred."

“Yes.” Sokov nodded, then continued, “Moreover, of the more than three hundred men, only the nearly one hundred you brought are truly capable of fighting.”

Olga scratched the back of his head and asked, "Comrade Brigade Commander, when will the main force arrive? If the enemy bypasses our defenses and launches a sudden attack on the city before they arrive, I'm afraid we won't be able to hold it at all."

“The main force of the brigade will probably have to wait a while,” Sokov said slowly. “The deputy brigade commander just received orders from his superiors that the situation at the front has changed and that they should remain in place and await further orders from the army group headquarters.”

Upon hearing this, Olga became anxious: "Comrade Brigade Commander, we only have a little over three hundred men. It's simply impossible for us to defend such a large city."

“Yes, with our current forces, it’s simply a pipe dream to hold Sun Mountain City.” Sokov agreed with Olga’s statement: “That’s why I plan to concentrate all the troops in the police station building. Even if the enemy manages to break into the city before our main force arrives, we can use the terrain here to resist until reinforcements arrive.”

Standing nearby, Romanov waited patiently for Sokov and Olga to finish their conversation before tentatively asking Sokov, "Comrade Brigade Commander, do we still need to send buses to pick up our troops?" Romanov's words reminded Sokov, who quickly turned to Olga and asked, "Captain Olga, do you know if any of your company soldiers have ever served as drivers?"

“Yes, we should have them,” Olga said uncertainly. “How many drivers do you need?”

“The more the better, of course,” Sokov said. “Although the main force of the brigade has to stop and wait for orders, the transfer of field hospitals is still ongoing. If there are vehicles to pick them up, the wounded will suffer less on the way.”

After figuring out what Sokov wanted to do with the driver, Olga immediately said, "I'll go back to the company right away and ask how many people have ever been drivers." With that, he stood at attention and, following regulations, asked Sokov, "May I leave?"

"Of course, of course you can!"

Half an hour after Olga and Romanov left, Grich came in and reported to Sokov: "Comrade City Defense Commander, I recently contacted the bus company's duty personnel and found seven or eight bus drivers."

Sokov knew very well that more drivers were needed to get the wounded from the field hospital into the city as quickly as possible. Hearing from Grich that they had found several drivers, he couldn't help but get excited and immediately asked, "Where are those drivers now?"

"Your subordinate has already driven out of the city."

Sokov considered using buses to transport the wounded. It wouldn't matter for the lightly wounded, but it would be more troublesome for the seriously wounded. Some of the seriously wounded could only remain in a lying position due to the severity of their injuries, which would obviously be very difficult to do on a bus.

Thinking of this, he cautiously asked Gridge, "Sergeant Gridge, before coming here, I passed by the hospital. The medical staff and patients there have been evacuated to the rear. I wanted to ask if there are any ambulances left inside?"

Griggs shook his head and said, "I'm sorry, Comrade City Defense Commander, I'm not quite sure, after all, that area is not under my jurisdiction."

“There’s a staff member on duty in the hospital’s on-call room,” Sokov asked Grich politely. “Could you ask him if there are any ambulances available at the hospital?”

"Okay, I'll go there now."

Just as Grigory turned to leave, Sokov called out to him, "Comrade Sergeant, let me go with you."

The two left the building, and Sokov led Grigory to a jeep and opened the door.

After Sokov got into the driver's seat, he found Grich still standing there in a daze, so he said to him, "Sergeant Grich, what are you doing standing there? Hurry up and get in the car!"

Grigory hesitated before getting into the passenger seat, and asked somewhat awkwardly, "Comrade Commander of the City Defense, are you planning to drive me to the hospital?"

“Yes,” Sokov nodded, then asked in a strange tone, “Do you want to drive?”

But Grigory waved his hand hastily and said, "I'm sorry, Comrade City Defense Commander, I can't drive!"

“Since you can’t drive, I’ll have to drive!” Sokov said, starting the vehicle.

Grigory grinned and chuckled a few times, then said somewhat embarrassedly, "Comrade Commander of the City Defense, I really feel bad about having you as my driver."

Sokov had no time for jokes; he focused on driving and getting to the hospital as quickly as possible.

Soon, the jeep stopped in front of the hospital.

As soon as the car came to a stop, Griggs got out and walked toward the duty room.

The officer on duty came out of the room carrying a lamp. Seeing a police officer standing in front of him, he asked curiously, "Officer, why are you here so late? Are you here for a medical appointment or something else? If it's for a medical appointment, you'll probably have to turn back, because the doctors and nurses in the hospital have all moved to the back."

"Comrade," Sokov, who had just gotten off the car, quickly approached the officer on duty and politely asked, "I'd like to ask you something."

The staff member on duty recognized Sokov as the commander who had just asked him for directions, and said politely, "Comrade Commander, please feel free to ask me anything."

"Does your hospital still have ambulances?"

"Ambulances? How could there still be ambulances?" The staff member on duty shook his head vigorously: "During the hospital's major relocation, all the ambulances were taken away, and now there are none left in the hospital."

Although Sokov had guessed on the way there that he probably wouldn't be able to find an ambulance at the hospital, he was still somewhat disappointed to hear the answer from the staff on duty.

"Commander," the duty officer continued, seeing that Sokov remained silent, "is there anything else?"

"Yes," Sokov nodded. "My field hospital will arrive here in a few hours. I wonder if the hospital still has a power supply?"

"Previously, the power company would supply electricity to the hospital for two hours every noon to ensure that surgeries could be performed," the staff member on duty said uncertainly. "But now that the entire hospital has been relocated, the power supply at noon has also been canceled."

Sokov turned to Grich and asked, "Sergeant Grich, didn't you tell me that the power supply to important departments hadn't been completely cut off? How come the power to the hospital has been completely cut off?"

Griggs shrugged, spread his hands, and said helplessly, "Commander of the city defense, I think the power supply department probably saw that the hospital had been completely evacuated and felt that there was no need to continue supplying power, so they stopped supplying power to the hospital."

“My field hospital will be ready soon.” Sokov stared at Grich and asked, “It will definitely require a lot of electricity. Can the power company restore power to the hospital?”

After pondering for a long time the question raised by Sokov, Grigory finally said hesitantly, "Comrade City Defense Commander, I can negotiate with the comrades in the power supply department. As for whether they are willing to restore power to the hospital, we can only try our luck."

(End of this chapter)