red moscow

Chapter 3007

Shortly after the artillery battalion was formed, Sokov asked the battalion commander to draw boxes around the area covered by artillery fire and mark the firing parameters.

Therefore, after receiving the order to fire, the artillery battalion commander decisively assigned the firing area to the company commander.

Minutes later, the artillery shells fired by the battery landed accurately in the middle of the enemy ranks and exploded. Not only did they blast the menacing German infantry into a bloody mess, but they also directly destroyed several tanks. For a moment, the officers and soldiers engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the Germans felt a significant relief from the pressure.

Just as the enemy troops who had stormed the position were being gradually eliminated, the enemy's artillery observers locked onto the Soviet artillery battery's position and launched a counterattack. In an instant, countless shells rained down on the artillery battery's position, silencing the battery that had been firing continuously.

Upon seeing his artillery company destroyed by German artillery fire, the battalion commander felt a surge of anger and called Sokov, saying emotionally, "Comrade Brigade Commander, my artillery company has been completely wiped out by German artillery fire. I request permission to have the other two artillery companies fire on the enemy's artillery positions to avenge our fallen comrades."

Although Sokov had long anticipated that the artillery battery would soon face German artillery retaliation once it opened fire, his heart was still heavy upon hearing the battalion commander's report that the entire artillery company had been wiped out by enemy fire. However, when the battalion commander pleaded for revenge, he refused without hesitation: "No, Comrade Artillery Battalion Commander, I cannot allow the remaining artillery to fire. You must understand, the enemy artillery is far superior to ours. One shot from us could be met with ten shots in return. Before long, the artillery battalion will be disbanded. I cannot stand by and watch you all go to your deaths."

Sokov's words silenced the artillery battalion commander. After a long while, he finally spoke: "Comrade Brigade Commander, you are right. Our strength is no match for the enemy's artillery. If we open fire rashly, we will only bring about our own destruction."

Although the remaining artillery in the city did not fire again in the following period, the enemy realized that they could not break through the Soviet defenses and began to retreat in stages.

Upon learning that the enemy's attack had been repelled, Sokov finally felt a huge weight lifted from his shoulders. However, he still called Belkin at the front and instructed him: "Comrade Deputy Brigade Commander, although we have repelled the enemy's attack, they are certainly not resigned to their defeat and will launch another attack soon. You must use this time to repair fortifications, treat the wounded, and if possible, clean up the battlefield to see if you can collect a batch of usable weapons."

"Don't worry, Comrade Brigade Commander," Belkin said with a smile after hearing Sokov's words. "I've already arranged for people to do what you asked for."

……

Rokossovsky and his entourage, having left Sunhill, were traveling along the highway toward the army group headquarters.

Lobachev turned his head and glanced in the direction of Sun Mountain City, then tentatively asked Rokossovsky, "Comrade Commander, do you think Lieutenant Colonel Sokov can hold the city?"

Rokossovsky shook his head and said, "Not only can Sun Mountain City not be defended, but Klin will not be either. All Misha can do now is try to delay the fall of the city and buy us more precious time."

"And what about our side?" Lobachev continued, "How much longer can we hold out in our current defensive zone?"

Rokossovsky sighed and then said, “Comrade Military Commissar, you should know that our cavalry corps and the 8th Guards Division have suffered more than half their casualties, and the remaining troops have suffered more than 70% casualties. Now the only relatively intact unit is Colonel Beloborodov’s 78th Infantry Division. If even they suffer heavy losses, our defenses may collapse.”

"So, it seems inevitable that we'll have to retreat to the Istra Reservoir area," Lobachev said with some unease. "If we choose to retreat again, won't General Zhukov stop us again?"

“I don’t think so,” Rokossovsky said, shaking his head. “After all, a voluntary retreat and being repelled by the enemy are two different things. Even if Zhukov has any complaints, he won’t raise any further objections.”

"If we hadn't launched a counterattack last week, the losses would probably not be as severe as they are now," Lobachev sighed. "I just don't understand why, knowing the chances of victory are slim, we keep launching counterattacks."

Rokossovsky turned to Lobachev and said solemnly, “Comrade Military Commissar, this is Zhukov’s consistent command style. I remember when I was still the commander of the Ninth Mechanized Army, I personally heard Zhukov say that the higher command ordered us to launch a counterattack against the Lublin region, even if we knew we couldn’t win, the counterattack plan still had to be carried out. As long as we could contain the enemy’s main force, we could disrupt their offensive deployment and seize the initiative on the battlefield.”

The convoy had been traveling on the highway for more than half an hour when suddenly the roar of an airplane engine came from the sky. Rokossovsky, disregarding that the jeep was still moving, opened the door and looked up to investigate. The driver, seeing this in the rearview mirror, was immediately terrified and slowed down, reminding Rokossovsky, "Comrade Commander, please be careful."

Rokossovsky watched for a while and realized that it was just a German reconnaissance plane in the sky, which put him at ease. He pulled his head back, closed the car door, and said to Lobachev, "Comrade Military Commissar, it's just a reconnaissance plane; it has no impact on us whatsoever."

Just when everyone thought it was a false alarm and continued on their way, an unexpected incident occurred.

An explosion came from the right side of the road, sending a plume of black smoke into the sky. Countless bits of dirt pelted the roof of the jeep Rokossovsky was riding in.

"Air raid!" Lobachev exclaimed upon hearing the sound of dirt hitting the roof of the vehicle. "It's an air raid on us!"

Rokossovsky opened the car door again, leaned out, and looked up at the sky, but he couldn't see any enemy planes at all, not even the reconnaissance plane from before. He pulled back in, shook his head, and said, "It wasn't an air raid. No enemy planes were detected in the sky."

No sooner had the words left his mouth than another explosion rang out not far away. This time it was next to a truck towing an anti-aircraft machine gun, and another plume of black smoke mixed with sand shot straight into the sky. The two soldiers sitting on the anti-aircraft machine gun groaned and fell straight down.

At that moment, Rokossovsky realized that it wasn't an air raid, but a mortar attack. It seemed to be enemy paratroopers airdropped nearby; they liked to use their light mortars to attack passing vehicles.

Seeing the soldier who had been sitting on the anti-aircraft machine gun fall to the ground, the driver didn't slow down. Instead, he sped up, bypassing the two fallen soldiers, and rushed forward at top speed. No one spoke of the driver's actions; the two wounded or killed soldiers would naturally be rescued by their comrades in the truck. If Rokossovsky got out to check on the soldiers' injuries and was spotted by the German paratroopers hidden in the distance, they wouldn't just bombard him with mortars; they might even use snipers to kill him.

Just as Rokossovsky had judged, the anti-aircraft gunner on the truck, seeing his wounded comrade roll off the enemy, immediately stopped the truck. Then, several people got out of the truck bed and hurriedly lifted the fallen soldier onto the truck.

Lobachev turned to look at the back of the vehicle and saw the anti-aircraft machine gunners carrying their comrades onto the truck. He breathed a sigh of relief and remarked, "I never imagined the enemy had penetrated so deep behind our defenses. They dared to attack our convoy of so many vehicles; if those lone commanders and soldiers had encountered them, they would surely have been in grave danger." "That's right," Rokossovsky agreed with Lobachev's assessment. "The enemy airdrops paratroopers deep into our defenses to carry out various sabotage activities and disrupt our defenses. But because they are so elusive, we really can't do anything about them."

Soon, the convoy returned to the headquarters.

Rokossovsky and Lobachev quickly walked into the command post as soon as they got out of the car.

When Ma Lining saw the two return, a look of surprise and delight appeared on his face: "Comrade Commander, you're back!"

Rokossovsky nodded and said, "You're back. Has anything happened while we were gone?"

"The front line is stable. The enemy has not made any breakthroughs, and we have not taken the initiative to launch a counterattack against them."

But just as Malining finished speaking, the phone on the table rang. He picked it up and listened for a moment, his expression immediately turning serious: "What? What did you say? Say it again. The village east of headquarters has been occupied by the Germans? How many German troops do they have, and what kind of weapons and equipment do they possess?"

But the other party's reply clearly did not satisfy Ma Lining. Before hanging up the phone, he said fiercely, "Colonel, you must immediately send someone to investigate and find out what happened."

Rokossovsky interrupted, asking, "Comrade Chief of Staff, what's going on? Where have the Germans occupied?"

“It’s that village to the east!” Malinin said. “The reconnaissance chief reported that it has been completely occupied by the Germans. But when I asked him how many troops the enemy had and what kind of equipment they had, he couldn’t say anything.”

Rokossovsky took the microphone from Malinin's hand and said seriously, "This is Rokossovsky. Let me reiterate the situation on your end."

The commander on the other end of the phone immediately repeated what he had just reported to Rokossovsky.

But Rokossovsky remained calm after hearing this. He spoke into the microphone, "Comrade Chief of Reconnaissance, I suggest you immediately send out scouts to find out the enemy's strength and distribution in the village, and then send troops to retake the village."

"Yes, Commander." The reconnaissance chief replied quickly, "I will immediately send scouts to infiltrate the village and find out how many enemies are inside and what kind of equipment they have."

As soon as Rokossovsky put down the phone, Lobachev immediately leaned over and asked with concern, "Comrade Commander, what happened? Has the enemy really occupied the village to our east? If so, then we must prepare for defense to prevent the enemy from using it as a starting point for an attack and launching an attack on us at any time, threatening the safety of the headquarters."

"Don't worry, Comrade Military Commissar." Before clarifying the true situation, Rokossovsky reassured Lobachev, "The news that the enemy has occupied the eastern villages has not yet been confirmed, and we don't know if it's true or false, so you don't need to worry too much."

“We must find out as soon as possible,” Lobachev said. “Otherwise, I will never feel at ease.”

"Don't worry, Comrade Military Commissioner, maybe our people have made a mistake," Rokossovsky continued. "We'll know what happened when the scouts return."

An hour and a half later, the head of the reconnaissance department called again to report the intelligence he had gathered to Rokossovsky: "Comrade Commander, the reconnaissance soldiers I sent out have returned."

Rokossovsky was delighted upon hearing this and quickly asked, "Have they figured out the situation in the village?"

“It’s all cleared up; there are indeed Germans in the village.” Before Rokossovsky could ask any questions, the reconnaissance chief said, “Our scouts, after repeated verification, found only a dozen or so Germans, probably paratroopers, who occupied several rooms on the north side of the village. When the villagers saw the Germans, they didn’t know the exact number of the enemy and came to report to my men, which led to the misunderstanding.”

Upon learning that the enemy in the village numbered only a dozen or so, Rokossovsky was furious. The intelligence work was incredibly sloppy. There were clearly only a dozen or so German soldiers occupying a few rooms in the village, yet it had been mistakenly reported that the entire village had been occupied by the Germans. This made him uneasy, and he even considered whether he should move the army group headquarters to another location.

Now that he knew how many Germans were in the village and that their equipment wasn't very good, Rokossovsky made a decisive decision. He instructed the reconnaissance chief, "Comrade reconnaissance chief, take a guard company and go to the village to the east to wipe out these damned Germans."

"Yes, Commander." The reconnaissance chief, who had just recovered from a false alarm, was still full of resentment towards the German paratroopers who had suddenly appeared. Upon hearing Rokossovsky's order, he immediately declared, "I will personally lead men to encircle and wipe out these damned Germans. I will not let a single one escape."

The reconnaissance chief led a full-strength company of over 150 men in an attack on the German paratroopers hiding in the village. The battle lasted only a dozen minutes; the German soldiers hiding in the wooden huts were either killed or obediently laid down their weapons and surrendered with their hands raised.

After wiping out this small, unruly German unit, the reconnaissance chief immediately came to Rokossovsky to claim credit: "Comrade Commander, in this battle, we killed a total of 8 German soldiers and captured 5 alive, successfully completing our mission."

Rokossovsky nodded to the reconnaissance chief and said approvingly, "Comrade Colonel, you've done a good job. When you get back, remember to interrogate the prisoners and find out what their objectives are. Understand?"

"Understood, Comrade Commander."

(End of this chapter)