red moscow

Chapter 3025

As Sokov said, Vasya counted the number of returning commanders and soldiers again after daybreak and found that there were 79 people. The night raid had only caused casualties of more than 40 people, but they had inflicted several times more casualties on the Germans in the city and disrupted the enemy's battle plan, forcing them to conduct a large-scale search and purge of any remaining Soviet commanders and soldiers in the city after daybreak.

Rokossovsky was very satisfied with the results achieved by the Fourth Battalion. That afternoon, he arranged for Lobachev to bring medals to the Fourth Battalion to award them to the officers and soldiers who participated in the operation.

After receiving his medal, Lobachev said a few words of encouragement to Vasya before leaving with his entourage.

When Sokov learned that Lobachev had brought people to the Fourth Battalion to award medals, he rushed over as quickly as possible. Even so, when he arrived at the Fourth Battalion's command post, he found that it was already deserted. Apart from the personnel of the Fourth Battalion, there was not a single person from the headquarters.

"Comrade Brigade Commander!" Upon seeing Sokov rushing in, Vasya quickly came over and saluted, "What brings you here?"

"I heard that the Military Commissioner came here to award medals to the soldiers of the Fourth Battalion, so I rushed over!" Although he had already guessed that Lobachev had left, Sokov still asked unwillingly, "I wonder where he is now?"

“I’m sorry, Comrade Brigade Commander,” Vasya said apologetically. “He left five minutes ago.”

Upon learning from Vasya that Lobachev had left, Sokov felt a pang of disappointment. He struggled to control his emotions and asked in a calm tone, "How many soldiers did he award medals to?"

“120 medals,” Vasya replied. “Not only did the officers and soldiers who returned alive receive medals, but even the fallen comrades were posthumously awarded medals.”

"What kinds of medals are they?" Sokov continued to ask.

“It’s just a regular medal.” Vasya guessed Sokov’s implication and quickly explained, “There’s no Order of the Red Banner or Order of Lenin, let alone the Gold Star Medal.”

Sokov nodded in agreement. Although the night raid last night had yielded good results, it was virtually impossible for the officers and soldiers who participated to receive the Order of the Red Banner or the Order of Lenin.

Eager to find out why Lobachev had come and gone so hastily, he continued, "Besides awarding medals, did the Military Commissioner say anything else?"

“I heard from the Military Commissioner that he’s heading to Moscow tonight to report on his work,” Vasya said. “That’s probably why he left so hastily as soon as he finished receiving his medals. Otherwise, given your friendship with him, he would definitely have come to the brigade headquarters to catch up with you.”

"Comrade Major!" Sokov said to Vasya, "Your battalion performed exceptionally well in last night's night raid and is a role model for everyone. However, don't be complacent. Focus on training the newly recruited police officers and militiamen and strive to make them combat-ready as soon as possible. In a few days, we may be participating in the attack on Klyukovo."

Vasya's eyes lit up when he heard Sokov say that, and he replied loudly, "Understood, Comrade Brigade Commander."

In the days that followed, the three battalion commanders of the First, Second, and Third Battalions were all spurred on by the fact that over a hundred soldiers from the Fourth Battalion had been awarded medals. They worked tirelessly to train the police officers and militiamen who had recently been taken in, hoping they could quickly improve their combat effectiveness and perform outstandingly in the battles to come.

Although the training was arduous, no one complained. For Russians, who value honor more than life itself, they would persevere through any hardship in order to earn a medal. In this way, the combat effectiveness of several battalions was greatly improved in just two days.

Early on the third day, Sokov received a phone call from Rokossovsky: "Misha, are your troops ready for battle?"

"Yes, Commander, my troops are ready for battle," Sokov replied confidently. "They are just waiting for your order to join the battle to recapture Klyukovo."

"No rush, Misha," Rokossovsky said with a smile. "Today, the main attacking force is Major General Beloborodov's 9th Guards Division and Major General Chernyshov's 11th Guards Division. Your brigade will serve as the reserve. It's not too late to join the battle when their attack falters."

When Sokov heard Rokossovsky mention Beloborodov's rank instead of colonel, he couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. He hadn't expected that Beloborodov's troops, deployed to the battlefield for less than a month, would not only be awarded the honorary title of Guards Division, but even their commander would be promoted to major general. Sokov couldn't help but feel envious.

Upon learning that Rokossovsky had assigned the task of recapturing Klyukovo to two Guards divisions, he was naturally indifferent. According to his memory, in his previous life, these two divisions had repeatedly fought the Germans for the city, but had failed to capture it. Even though his own infantry brigade had been involved in the battle from the outset, it had gained nothing but losses. It was better to remain on the sidelines for now, wait for the friendly forces' attack to falter, and then join the battle; perhaps then they could achieve a brilliant victory.

Therefore, he politely replied, "Comrade Commander, I will resolutely obey your orders. My troops are ready for battle. We will engage in battle whenever you command us."

Rokossovsky was quite satisfied with Sokov's reply. He nodded and continued, "Then just wait patiently. When the time is right, I will let you join the battle."

The battalion commanders who came to the brigade headquarters to receive orders immediately approached Sokov after he put down the microphone and asked, "Comrade Brigade Commander, what did the Commander say? When does he plan for us to be deployed into battle?"

Sokov turned to his men and shook his head, saying, “Comrades, I’m afraid I’m going to disappoint you. The commander told me that the main attacking force is Major General Beloborodov’s 9th Guards Division and Major General Chernyshov’s 11th Guards Division, while our brigade will be in reserve and will join the battle when the time is right.”

Just as everyone was lamenting the infantry brigade's demotion to a reserve force, Deputy Brigade Commander Belkin astutely noticed the key phrase Sokov had used. He quickly probed, "Comrade Brigade Commander, wasn't Division Commander Beloborodov a colonel? How did he become a major general?"

Upon hearing this, everyone stopped discussing and turned their attention to Sokov, wanting to know what had happened.

Sokov sighed softly, then said, "I think it must be because the 9th Guards Division played a very important role in the recent battles, so Colonel Beloborodov was promoted accordingly and naturally became a major general."

“Comrade Brigade Commander.” No sooner had Sokov finished speaking than Battalion Commander Nazorov interjected, “With your achievements, you should at least be a colonel, if not a general. But after all this time, you are still a lieutenant colonel.”

Hearing Nazorov defend him, Sokov grinned and said, "Comrade Captain, actually my promotion was quite fast. You know, it's only been less than three months since I enlisted, and I went from an ordinary soldier to a lieutenant colonel brigade commander in charge of thousands of men, completing a journey that others take more than ten years to finish. I'm already very satisfied."

After saying this, Sokov promptly changed the subject: "Battalion commanders, return to your units and ensure your soldiers are in a state of combat readiness, ready to engage in battle at any time." No sooner had he finished speaking than a staff officer rushed in, shouting, "Air raid! Air raid alarm! Commanders, comrades, get out of here immediately! It's dangerous!"

Sokov listened intently to the outside and indeed heard the roar of numerous aircraft engines; it seemed that quite a few planes had been dispatched.

Although Klyukov might have seemed like an insignificant village to the German pilots, Sokov promptly issued an order for safety: "Everyone leave the command post immediately and take cover in the forest outside the village."

As soon as the order was given, not only Sokov and his men, but also the staff officers and communications soldiers in the command post rushed out of their rooms and ran haphazardly towards the forest a few hundred meters away. Once inside the forest, no matter how many German bombers there were, they would pose no threat.

However, just as everyone fled into the forest, Belkin, who had fallen behind, stopped and shouted at the running group, "Stop! Stop!"

Those who heard the shouts, not knowing what had happened, all stopped and turned to look at Belkin, who was standing at the edge of the forest.

Under Bobrikov's protection, Sokov was running wildly into the depths of the forest when he suddenly noticed that the staff officers running beside him had slowed down. He stopped as well, and asked in surprise, "Why have you stopped running?"

“Comrade Brigade Commander!” a staff officer said hesitantly, “I heard the deputy brigade commander shouting something outside the forest, so I stopped.”

Hearing the staff officer's words, Sokov turned and looked towards the edge of the forest, where he indeed saw Belkin gesturing wildly and shouting something. Some staff officers and communications soldiers who had already entered the forest were walking towards Belkin.

Seeing this, Sokov immediately guessed that something unexpected might have happened, and instructed Bobrikov beside him: "Comrade Captain, go and ask the deputy brigade commander what happened that made him so agitated?"

“Yes, Comrade Brigadier.” Bobrikov replied and then turned and ran toward where Belkin was.

A few minutes later, Bobrikov ran back, his face beaming with excitement. "Comrade Brigade Commander," he said, "the deputy brigade commander said we don't need to run anymore. The planes in the sky aren't Germans at all, they're our own, and there are quite a few of them."

Sokov felt that Belkin would not deceive him on such a matter, so he called to the staff officers standing not far away: "Come on, let's go out and see what's going on."

Soon, Sokov and his men reached the edge of the forest. Belkin rushed over, grabbed Sokov's hand, pointed to the sky, and said excitedly, "Comrade Brigade Commander, look! The sky is full of our planes. I've never seen so many planes before."

Sokov looked up and saw a dark mass of fighter jets in the sky. He counted them briefly and found there were at least sixty.

For Sokov, this was probably the largest number of Soviet warplanes seen in the air since the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War. He couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, "Damn it, where did all these of our warplanes come from? Where are they headed?"

The answer was revealed in the next moment.

The Soviet flight formations lowered their altitude and bombed the city of Klyukovo, a few kilometers away.

Seeing the thick smoke rising in the distance, the commanders and soldiers around Sokov cheered. For so long, they had been the ones being bombed by German planes; today, everything was reversed—Soviet warplanes were bombing the German-occupied cities.

"Let's go, comrades!" Karsokov, seeing Soviet planes bombing the city, quickly called to the staff and communications soldiers in the command post: "Now that the air raid alert has been lifted, everyone go back to work."

When Karsokov returned with his command staff, the battalion commanders who hadn't left yet surrounded him, chattering and complaining, "Comrade Brigade Commander, we never expected that when we were on offensive missions, even artillery support was pitifully scarce. Today, when the 9th and 11th Guards Divisions launched their attack on Klyukovo, the higher-ups actually went all out, deploying so many aircraft at once to bomb ground targets."

"Yes. After the bombing ends, the commanders and soldiers of the two infantry divisions will launch another assault and will surely be able to rush into the city and eliminate the remaining enemy forces entrenched there. I'm afraid the battle to liberate Klyukovo will have nothing to do with our brigade."

Seeing his men stirring up trouble, Sokov quickly raised his hand to quiet them down: "Quiet, everyone, quiet down!"

After the surroundings calmed down, Sokov continued, "Don't worry, everyone. The war is far from over. There's no need to worry about not having any battles to fight. Even if our brigade didn't participate in the battle to liberate Klyukovo, there will definitely be plenty of opportunities for our brigade to shine in the battles to liberate other cities."

After Sokov's persuasion, the battalion commanders left one after another and returned to their respective units.

Sokov gazed at the city billowing with smoke in the distance, pondering to himself that, according to Rokossovsky's war memoirs, the 9th and 11th Guards Divisions' attack on Klyukovo had lasted a full week. In other words, no matter how much commotion was made earlier, the allied forces' attempt to recapture the city would still end in failure.

With that thought in mind, Sokov hummed "The Sacred War" and strode toward his command post.

Just as he reached the door, Belkin came out from inside. Hearing Sokov humming a song, he couldn't help but ask, "Comrade Brigade Commander, I thought you would be very disappointed that our brigade couldn't participate in the siege. I really didn't expect you to be humming a song as you walk. It seems you're in a pretty good mood."

"Comrade Deputy Brigade Commander!" Sokov said to Belkin with a smile, "I feel better thinking about how the enemy in Klyukovo will soon be wiped out by the two Guards Divisions. As long as we can eliminate the enemy, and the attacking force is our own and our allies, what's the big deal? Don't you agree, Comrade Deputy Brigade Commander?"

“Yes, yes, Comrade Brigade Commander. You’re right.” Belkin followed up on Sokov’s words, “As long as we can recapture Klyukovo, what does it matter which unit is tasked with the main attack?”

(End of this chapter)