red moscow

Chapter 3033

The rest of the infantry brigade arrived at Leninno one after another.

However, Sokov was cautious and did not station all his troops in the town. If four or five thousand officers and soldiers were crammed into the town, the casualties would likely be extremely heavy if the town were to be shelled or bombed by the Germans.

It was with this in mind that Sokov issued orders to the battalions: "The Third Battalion is responsible for the defense of the town, and the First Battalion is stationed in the town. The Second, Fourth Battalions and the artillery battalion are stationed outside the town. In case of any issues, contact should be made by telephone."

The battalion commanders all cooperated well with Sokov's arrangements, and no one raised any objections.

"Captain Nazarov!" Sokov then specifically instructed Nazarov: "Now your Third Battalion is responsible for the defense of the town, but you cannot just conduct simple defense. You must find a way to take the initiative on the battlefield. Therefore, you need to send out more scouts to the vicinity to investigate the enemy's movements and find out their troop strength and deployment."

“Comrade Brigade Commander is right,” Belkin interjected. “First, we need to find out the enemy’s location so that when they attack us during the day, we can turn the tables and attack them at night. Even if we can’t inflict heavy damage on them, we can disrupt their offensive plans and reduce the pressure on our defenses.”

The meeting had just ended when Rokossovsky called: "Misha, your troops have reached Leninno?"

“Yes, Comrade Commander,” Sokov replied affirmatively. “When the vanguard of our brigade arrived, the enemy had just stormed into Lenino, and the town’s defenders were on the verge of collapse. But our timely arrival successfully drove the enemy away from the vicinity of Lenino.”

"That's good." Rokossovsky felt much more at ease upon learning that Sokov's troops had driven away the enemy who had stormed into Leninno. As long as the enemy was prevented from advancing further, the current defensive line could be stabilized, preparing for the upcoming major counter-offensive. To achieve this goal, he specifically instructed Sokov: "Misha, remember, stop the Germans' advance at all costs."

Sokov knew that the major counter-offensive under Moscow would begin in three days, so he confidently said, "Comrade Commander, rest assured. We will not only hold off the enemy, but also seek every opportunity to weaken their manpower and create favorable conditions for the next phase of our operations."

Hearing Sokov's words, Rokossovsky nodded in satisfaction and then said, "Misha, I believe you. If you say you can hold off the enemy, then you definitely can. If you need any help, just give me a call."

Seeing Sokov put down the microphone, Belkin and Karsokov immediately leaned over and asked with concern, "Comrade Brigade Commander, has the Commander revealed when our army will launch a counterattack against the enemy?"

"No," Sokov said with a straight face, "If there were any news of a counterattack, the commander would have informed me in advance. Right now, our primary task is to hold Leninno and prevent the enemy from crossing over and threatening the security of Moscow."

As they were talking, the radio operator Morozova suddenly came over with a telegram and reported to Sokov, "Comrade Commander, a telegram from the field hospital."

"What? A telegram from a field hospital?" Sokov took the telegram from Morozova with a puzzled look and quickly scanned it. After reading the contents, Sokov's pupils contracted sharply. He thought to himself, "What was bound to happen has finally happened."

Seeing that Sokov's expression was a little strange, Belkin quickly asked, "Comrade Brigade Commander, what happened? Why would the field hospital send you a telegram?"

Sokov turned to look at Belkin, hesitated for a moment, and handed him the telegram, saying, "The field hospital director reported that a few hours ago, a small German unit, traveling in two armored vehicles and a dozen motorcycles, stormed into the town of Khimki."

"What? Enemy troops have stormed into Khimki?" Belkin asked in shock after hearing Sokov's words. "The field hospital wasn't destroyed, was it?"

Sokov chuckled and said to Belkin, "Comrade Deputy Brigade Commander, have you forgotten that I assigned Captain Zaryagin's special company to protect the field hospital? With them there, the Germans won't get the better of us."

As he said this, Sokov was secretly pondering to himself that in his previous life, he had just arrived when a small German reconnaissance unit broke into the town of Khimki. He and his garrison had fought desperately to hold them off, and if it hadn't been for the instrument factory's militia reinforcements arriving, he and his garrison would have certainly perished. In this life, however, he had moved a field hospital to Khimki ahead of time and dispatched a highly capable special company to protect its safety.

Ostensibly, he was sending a special company to protect the field hospital, but his main purpose was to ensure the Germans couldn't break into the town of Khimki. Now it seemed his initial arrangement had played a crucial role in thwarting the enemy's attack. "That's true," Belkin agreed with Sokov's assessment. "If the Germans had only deployed small units, let alone a special company, even the wounded in the field hospital, once they picked up weapons and fought, could have inflicted heavy losses on the Germans."

After saying this, Belkin looked down at the contents of the telegram. When he saw that the enemy who tried to break into the town of Khimki had been wiped out by the Special Company, a relieved smile appeared on his face: "Comrade Brigade Commander, the enemy who invaded Khimki has really been wiped out by the Special Company."

"Comrade Brigade Commander!" Just as Sokov and Belkin were chatting happily, Karsokov reminded them, "I want to remind you that the enemy attempting to invade Shimki must have bypassed some of our defenses to get close to the town. We should report this to the army group headquarters immediately so they can plug the loophole and prevent more enemies from entering our defense zone through this breach."

When Sokov connected to the army group headquarters' telegram, the person who answered the phone was Malinin: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, what do you have to report?"

"Is the Commander here?" Sokov asked casually.

“He’s not here.” Ma Lining answered decisively: “He had something come up and left with the Military Commissioner. If you need anything, just tell me.”

“That’s right, Comrade Chief of Staff.” Since Rokossovsky wasn’t there, Sokov didn’t press the matter, since reporting to Malinin would have the same effect anyway: “I’m stationed at the field hospital in Khimki. They sent me a telegram not long ago saying that a group of German troops tried to break into the town, but they were wiped out.”

"What? An enemy force is trying to break into Khimki?" Upon hearing Sokov's words, Malinin broke out in a cold sweat. As a chief of staff, even without a map, he knew the location of Khimki, and he was acutely aware of its importance. Now, learning of the enemy's attempt to infiltrate Khimki, he anxiously asked, "How is this enemy force doing?"

"They have been wiped out by the special company I sent to protect the field hospital."

"They've all been wiped out, that's good, that's good." Upon hearing this, Malinin felt much more at ease. If the Germans had indeed occupied Khimki, they could use it as a starting point to launch attacks on the city at any time.

"Comrade Chief of Staff!" Sokov continued, "Since the invading enemy has been killed and no prisoners have been captured, we have no way of knowing from which section they bypassed our lines and reached the outskirts of Moscow."

“Don’t worry about that, I’ll have someone investigate,” Ma Lining said confidently. “I’m sure we’ll be able to find out which area has the problem soon. By the way, thank you for this. If you hadn’t reported it, I wouldn’t have known there was such a loophole in our defenses.”

After Sokov ended the call, he said to Belkin and Karsokov, "Deputy Brigade Commander, Chief of Staff, don't be fooled by the fact that the Germans are still launching attacks everywhere. But according to my observation, the intensity of their offensive is gradually weakening..."

"Comrade Brigade Commander!" Before Sokov could finish speaking, Karsokov asked eagerly, "What are you trying to say?"

Sokov said, "What I want to say is that the enemy has become exhausted after months of fighting, and their manpower has become severely insufficient, making them unable to launch a large-scale offensive against us."

Karsokov questioned Sokov's statement again: "But my army group has been repelled by the Germans in many areas. How can you say that the enemy's offensive power has been weakened?"

“Comrade Chief of Staff, you can take a closer look. Where the enemy is making good progress, our forces are relatively weak, which is why they can make some progress,” Sokov said. “But if our defensive forces exceed their offensive forces, the initiative on the battlefield will gradually shift to our hands.”

“I think the brigade commander is right,” Belkin echoed. “Didn’t I say that the Supreme Command sent two elite army groups between my army group and the 30th Army Group? With them there, it’s basically impossible for the enemy to advance on Moscow. And the appearance of these two army groups is definitely not just for show. I believe that before long, they might launch a large-scale counterattack and completely drive the enemy away from the vicinity of Moscow.”

Upon hearing Belkin's words, Sokov raised an eyebrow, thinking that he knew the German army would suffer a crushing defeat in a few days because he knew history. But Belkin's judgment was surprisingly close to the actual situation; it seemed his command and judgment abilities were stronger than he had imagined.

(End of this chapter)