red moscow

Chapter 2993

The German attack on Sunhill ended in a disastrous defeat.

General Wilhelm Bitrich, commander of the Reich Division, proposed at a military conference convened by Guderian: "Your Excellency, although our attack on Sunhill City has failed, we should continue to send troops and try to capture the city. Once we take the city, we can cut off the Russians' supply lines at any time. At that time, the Russian troops blocking our way will collapse due to lack of ammunition and food."

After careful consideration, Guderian, as commander of the 2nd Panzer Group, rejected Wilhelm Bitrich's suggestion.

He looked at Wilhelm Bitrich, who had made the suggestion, and said, “General, Sunhill is indeed an important target. But to take the city now, we must bypass the Russian defenses and break through their defenses on the Istra River. According to our latest intelligence, General Rokossovsky has sent his deputy, General Zakharov, to be in charge of the defense of the Sunhill-Klin region. They will likely be amassing more and more troops in this area. Rather than wasting our forces on a place with little chance of victory, we should concentrate our forces on dealing with the Russians on the Volokolamsk-Moscow highway. Once we control this highway, our mechanized forces can rush to Moscow at top speed.”

“I think the Commander is right.” As soon as Guderian finished speaking, the commander of the 258th Infantry Division chimed in, “Instead of taking such a long detour to attack a small city, we should concentrate our forces and launch an attack on the main road. As long as we can control this road, the Russians’ current defenses will become meaningless. Even if they are not surrounded by us, they will begin a large-scale rout.”

Seeing that Guderian was unwilling to continue sending troops to attack Sunhill, Wilhelm Bitrich did not insist on his own opinion, but politely asked, "Commander, how do you intend to control this main road?"

"According to our latest intelligence, Rokossovsky's 16th Army has recently deployed a new infantry division, and it was their counterattack on the highway that caused our offensive to fail," Guderian said. "General, from now on, your Das Reich Division and the 258th Division will be primarily responsible for operations along the main highway. You must destroy the Russian defenses and open the road to Moscow."

Wilhelm Bitrich immediately stood up, bowed, and said, "Commander, please rest assured, I will definitely let the Russians know how powerful our Imperial Division is."

Guderian nodded and continued, "Although I do not intend to send troops to attack Sunhill City, the fact that the entire force that attacked the city was wiped out cannot be left like this. We must take retaliatory action."

The generals present remained silent, simply watching Guderian, wanting to hear what retaliatory action he planned to take.

“I will contact the air force to bomb the city,” Guderian said through gritted teeth. “Even if we can’t kill all the Russians in the city, we must at least make it impossible for them to stay there any longer.”

But after he finished speaking, the chief of staff cautiously said, "Commander, please forgive my bluntness, but your approach is somewhat inappropriate."

"Huh?!" Guderian looked up at his chief of staff, his brows furrowed with displeasure. "Are we just going to let bygones be bygones about the hundreds of soldiers we lost outside the city?"

"No, Commander, you've misunderstood me," the Chief of Staff quickly explained. "I agree to bomb Sun Mountain City, but I don't recommend destroying the city. After all, the weather is getting colder and colder, and once our army occupies the city, we can use the houses inside to escape the cold. Therefore, I suggest bombing only some important military facilities in the city to weaken the Russian resistance."

Guderian carefully considered what his chief of staff said and found it to be reasonable, so he nodded in agreement with the suggestion.

Two hours later, more than a dozen German Ju-88 bombers bombed suspected military targets in Sun Mountain City. The church, located at the highest point in the city, became a prime target. Five bombers circled the church, bombing and strafing it until it was reduced to ruins, before reluctantly leaving the skies over Sun Mountain City.

After the air raid ended, Sokov and the others emerged from the basement where they were hiding.

Seeing that the church, which served as an observation post, had been reduced to ruins, Sokov's eyebrows furrowed. He knew very well that the soldiers who had been carrying out observation duties inside were probably all dead.

He called over Captain Bobrikov, the company commander of the guard company, and instructed him, "Comrade Captain, you must immediately take men to the church to rescue the wounded."

Bobrikov turned his head to look in the direction of the smoke-filled church, a troubled expression on his face: "Comrade Brigade Commander, the church is so badly damaged, everyone inside must have perished. There are no wounded soldiers left to be rescued." His words were rather tactful; under the intense scrutiny of German bombers, it would be fortunate if any of the officers and soldiers in the church were left with intact bodies, let alone any survivors.

But Sokov glared at him and said rudely, "Comrade Captain, this is my order. Carry it out."

After seeing Bobrikov off, Sokov returned to the command post and said to Belkin, who had returned earlier, "Comrade Deputy Brigade Commander, could you please go to the north of the city and check on the casualties of the troops?"

Belkin readily agreed to Sokov's arrangement: "Okay, I'll be right there."

However, after he left, he stopped and tentatively asked Sokov, "Comrade Brigade Commander, do you think we need to strengthen our air defense?"

But Sokov shook his head and said, “We have neither anti-aircraft guns nor anti-aircraft machine guns. Using light and heavy machine guns as anti-aircraft weapons would not be very effective. After you reach the north of the city, in addition to repairing fortifications, you should also build more air-raid shelters. Since the enemy was able to bomb us once, they may bomb us a second time, so we must take precautions in advance.”

After Belkin left, Sokov called the hospital again to inquire about the extent of the damage.

The call was quickly connected, and the hospital director's voice came through: "Comrade Brigade Commander, hello! You're calling to inquire about the damage the hospital suffered during the bombing, right?"

"Yes, Comrade Director." Since the other party had guessed his intention, Sokov didn't beat around the bush and asked directly, "How is the situation at the hospital? Are there any casualties among the medical staff and the wounded?"

"No, Comrade Brigade Commander." The hospital director answered readily: "We received an early warning before the air raid began and promptly issued an air raid siren in the hospital. Then, all medical staff were mobilized to transfer the wounded to the hospital's basement."

"No casualties, that's wonderful."

"However, to say there were no casualties isn't entirely accurate," the hospital director said hesitantly. "Several residents who came to see the doctor panicked upon seeing enemy planes overhead. Instead of heeding our advice to go to the basement for shelter, they ran around the hospital grounds, resulting in the tragedy of three deaths and six injuries." Hearing that several residents had been killed or injured in the bombing, Sokov felt a pang of regret, but he quickly composed himself and continued, "Comrade Director, I suspect the Germans will continue to bomb the city in the coming days. We currently lack any air defense capabilities, so you must establish an air defense watch to sound the alarm for everyone in the hospital the moment enemy planes appear."

“Okay, Comrade Brigade Commander.” The hospital director nodded in agreement: “Didn’t you send a special company to the hospital for guard duty? I plan to draw manpower from that company to form an air defense guard post.”

After making a series of phone calls, an unexpected person walked in from outside.

Upon recognizing the person, Sokov immediately went to greet him, asking in surprise, "Comrade Deputy Commander, what are you doing here?"

Zakharov forced a smile and explained to Sokov, "Comrade Commander learned that Sun Mountain City had been bombed by enemy planes, so he specifically called me to come and check on the situation. How are your casualties?"

Upon hearing this, Sokov thought to himself, during wartime, it's not uncommon for cities to be bombed by enemy planes. Is it really necessary to send Zakharov all the way from Klin? After all, the situation there is much worse than here. Large numbers of German troops are gathering near the city and could launch a surprise attack at any time.

"Based on the current statistics, apart from the church that served as an observation post, which collapsed under German bombing and all the commanders and soldiers inside were killed, the casualties in other places were not significant."

"What about the hospitals?" Zakharov asked urgently. "Are the casualties high in the hospitals?"

Sokov shook his head and replied, "Because the hospital immediately arranged for medical personnel to move the wounded to the basement after receiving the air raid siren, there were no casualties during the bombing." As for the civilian casualties, Sokov knew that Zakharov was not interested, so he did not report them.

Zakharov nodded in satisfaction and said with relief, "Your brigade's field hospital has thousands of wounded soldiers, most of whom are veterans with rich combat experience. If they return to the troops, it will help improve your combat effectiveness."

After Zakharov finished speaking, Sokov cautiously asked, "Comrade Deputy Commander, weren't you organizing defenses in the Klin region? What's the situation there?"

"The situation is very unfavorable for our army," Zakharov said gravely. "The enemy has amassed at least two divisions near the city: an infantry division and a mechanized division. And us? So far, although we have gathered six regiments..."

"What? They've taken in six regiments?" Karsokov exclaimed in surprise. "Even if each regiment only has a thousand men, that's still six thousand men. Their strength is far greater than ours."

But Zakharov chuckled and said, "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I haven't finished speaking yet. The troops I've taken in come from six different regiments, but each regiment has a small number of men, ranging from a couple hundred to four or five hundred."

Karsokov exclaimed in surprise, "What? Only this many people?"

Sokov, however, listened with a dismissive expression. He clearly remembered that during the Battle of Stalingrad, Chuikov's troops had numerous unit designations, but many division-level combat units were reduced to only a few hundred men, barely enough to form a battalion. Therefore, it was not surprising that the stragglers Zakharov had gathered near Klin consisted of regimental-level combat units with only one or two hundred, or four or five hundred men.

“Comrade Deputy Commander,” Sokov asked with some concern, “you have a rather small number of troops at your disposal. With such a small force, it may not be easy to defend the city.”

Zakharov agreed with Sokov's statement. He went to the table, looked down at the map spread out on it, pointed to a location and said to Sokov, "According to the intelligence we have, there is a tank division of our army in Green City, which is more than 20 kilometers away from Klin. If we can transfer them here, it will not be a problem to defend the city."

Sokov's face showed surprise when he heard Zakharov say this. The war had come to this point, so why would Rokossovsky leave a tank division in the rear instead of putting it into battle, while entrusting the important defensive or offensive tasks to a cavalry corps or cavalry division? You must know that on the battlefield today, even a tank battalion can play a role that far exceeds that of a cavalry regiment.

However, it's okay to think about such things in your heart, but you can't ask them out loud. After all, your rank is too low, and you don't have the right to know many things.

Sokov remained silent, but Karsokov voiced the question that had been on his mind: "Comrade Deputy Commander, since there is a tank division not far away, why not transfer them over to assist in the defense of Klin City?"

“You may not know this, but this tank division belongs to the 30th Army. Although it is very close to us, we are not authorized to deploy it,” Zakharov said. “After leaving Sun Mountain City, I will immediately go to the army headquarters and have General Rokossovsky discuss with the commanders of our allies whether we can transfer this tank division to us.”

While Zakharov and Karsokov were exchanging questions, Sokov remained silent on the side. He thought to himself: Even if this tank division belongs to the 30th Army, how could they not take any action when they saw German troops appearing near their defense zone? Is there some inside story?

Zakharov stayed with Sokov for more than half an hour before getting up to leave.

Sokov escorted him to the parking lot and personally opened the back door of the jeep, respectfully inviting him to get in.

After thanking Sokov verbally, Zakharov got into the jeep.

Just as he grabbed the car door, preparing to close it, he suddenly remembered something, stopped what he was doing, and tentatively asked, "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, I've seen your brigade continuously receiving weapons and equipment into the city. I'd like to ask, where did you get all this stuff?"

“We discovered a hidden armory left by our army about ten kilometers away from here,” Sokov explained to Zakharov. “The weapons and ammunition you see here were all transported from that hidden armory.”

(End of this chapter)