red moscow

Chapter 3047

The overconfident German commander never imagined that his troops, drawn from the settlements on both flanks and engaged in fierce fighting with the Soviet 28th Brigade, would be ambushed by other Soviet units. The defending forces in the two settlements consisted of only one platoon, scattered throughout the settlements. Faced with the Soviet troops pouring in from all directions, their resistance was utterly insignificant. Within half an hour, both settlements had fallen.

Upon receiving the battle reports from the flanks, Colonel Zhuravlev, whose brow had been furrowed, smiled with relief. He said to Sokov standing beside him, "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, I really didn't expect that the battle plan implemented according to your suggestion would be completed so smoothly. If it had been according to my plan, I would have definitely sent reinforcements to support the 28th Brigade, which was fighting the enemy in the settlement. In that case, the battle might have become a stalemate."

Sokov didn't speak, only smiled faintly, but thought to himself, "You're right. Right now, in the settlement in front, Colonel Valev's 28th Brigade is locked in a stalemate with the enemy. Hopefully, capturing the settlements on both flanks will change the situation here."

The telephone on the table rang, and Zhuravlev reached out to answer it: "This is Colonel Zhuravlev. Who is this?"

"This is Vlasov." Vlasov's stern voice came through the receiver: "Comrade Colonel, how's the situation there? Have you captured the settlement?"

"I'm sorry, Comrade Commander." Zhuravlev replied somewhat awkwardly to Vlasov's question: "The settlement that was originally planned to be captured is now at a stalemate due to the large number of enemy reinforcements sent. The enemy is unable to repel our attacking forces, and our attacking forces are equally unable to drive the enemy out of the settlement."

"Damn it, how did the battle turn out like this?" Vlasov asked in dissatisfaction. "Did you send any troops to reinforce our friendly forces who are currently fighting?"

“No.” Zhuravlev glanced at Sokov and continued, “Lieutenant Colonel Sokov told me that if we sent troops directly into the settlements, the best outcome would be a stalemate with the enemy. I thought he was right, so I took his advice.”

If anyone else had made such a suggestion to Zhuravlev, Vlasov would have been furious. However, he knew Sokov, his former subordinate, to some extent and knew that the suggestion was not unfounded, but rather that Sokov had a better solution.

"Did Lieutenant Colonel Sokov offer you any other suggestions?" Vlasov asked tentatively.

"Yes, Comrade Commander, you guessed right." Zhuravlev did not deny the matter, but answered truthfully: "He suggested that I send troops to attack the settlements on both flanks. Since the garrison there had been transferred to reinforce them, the defenses must be weak. So, I sent two troops to attack the settlements on both flanks respectively."

"So what was the result?" Vlasov asked somewhat eagerly.

"The results were very satisfactory, Comrade Commander." Zhuravlev reported with a relaxed expression: "The garrison in those two settlements was almost completely wiped out, leaving only a platoon of soldiers. They had no ability to resist our attack, and the two settlements quickly fell into our hands."

"Well done, Colonel Zhuravlev." Upon learning that the settlements on both flanks had been captured, Vlasov's tone softened: "However, you must not be complacent. You still need to find a way to get the 28th Brigade to capture the settlements on the front as soon as possible, and launch a formal attack on Sun Mountain City as soon as possible."

"Don't worry, Comrade Commander," Zhuravlev assured Vlasov, "we will capture this settlement as soon as possible and open the road to Sun Mountain City."

After hanging up the phone, Zhuravlev humbly asked Sokov for advice: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, the commander used to say you had a knack for commanding operations, but I didn't believe it. But judging from today's results, the commander was right. What do you think we should do next?"

"To break the current deadlock, it's actually quite simple," Sokov said with a smile. "Let the 28th Brigade continue to use the settlements as a base to hold back the enemy inside and the reinforcements coming to their aid. Then you can send troops to attack from the flanks and rear of the two German reinforcements, putting the enemy in a situation where they are attacked from both sides and forcing them to retreat towards Sun Mountain City."

Sokov's words gave Zhuravlev a bright idea. He slammed his hand on the table and said excitedly, "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, your idea is excellent. As long as we send troops to attack the rear of these two German forces, they will be afraid of being attacked from both sides and will definitely choose to retreat to Sun Mountain. In this way, we will have three footholds outside the city, and even if the enemy launches a counterattack, we can rely on the settlements to resist."

As Zhuravlev called his men to assign combat tasks, Sokov, standing beside him, sighed softly. Sokov thought to himself that if he were in command, he would certainly try to lure the enemy out of Sun Mountain, exhausting their manpower in the open, thus minimizing street fighting once the siege began. But now, Zhuravlev was in command, and his operational philosophy was too different from his own. Even if he proposed a plan, it would surely be rejected. Therefore, he could only change his strategy: drive the enemy into Sun Mountain and then find a way to annihilate them. After finishing the call, Zhuravlev excitedly told Sokov, "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, I have dispatched two battalions to attack the flanks and rear of two German forces, forming a pincer movement with the 28th Brigade in the settlement, forcing the enemy to retreat towards Sun Mountain."

The tactic of sending troops to attack the enemy's flanks and rear quickly proved effective. Fearing annihilation in a pincer attack by the Soviet forces, the attacked enemy forces evacuated their settlements using alternating cover tactics and retreated rapidly towards Taiyangshan City.

If it were Sokov's troops, seeing the enemy begin to retreat, they would certainly have seized the opportunity to pursue and pursue, trying to maximize their gains. However, the 28th Brigade and two infantry battalions of the 35th Brigade, which were stationed in the settlement, did not pursue the enemy as they withdrew from the settlement and retreated towards Sun Mountain. Instead, they immediately went on the defensive, fortifying their fortifications in the settlement in preparation for any possible German counterattack.

Seeing that the battle was stabilizing, Sokov bid farewell to Zhuravlev and returned to his brigade headquarters.

Upon seeing Sokov return, Belkin and Karsokov immediately came to greet him: "Comrade Brigade Commander, you're back!"

"Yes, I'm back." Sokov nodded, then asked Karsokov, "Comrade Chief of Staff, how is the Fourth Battalion?"

"Major Vasya reported that after capturing the settlement, he immediately sent out scouts in four directions to check on the enemy's movements." Karsokov replied, "So far, no trace of the enemy has been found in the surrounding area, and we don't know whether they are preparing for an attack or simply don't have the strength to launch a counterattack against the settlement."

“Comrade Brigade Commander!” Berkin added before Karsokov could finish speaking, “Although we won today’s battle, I still feel that something is wrong, as if something went wrong.”

“Comrade Deputy Brigade Commander, your feeling is correct.” Now that Sokov had returned to his brigade headquarters and there were no outsiders around, he spoke without much restraint: “Colonel Zhuravlev’s command has serious problems. When the 28th Brigade launched its attack on the enemy in front, he should have considered that the enemy might withdraw troops from nearby areas to reinforce the settlements and try to repel our attack.”

As the 28th Brigade stormed into the settlements and engaged in fierce fighting with the enemy inside, reinforcements drawn from settlements on both flanks arrived. In this situation, his first thought was to send troops into the settlements to bolster the 28th Brigade's strength. However, he completely failed to consider how foolish it would be to concentrate all his forces in one place. They might be attacked simultaneously from the front and from both flanks, potentially throwing the troops into chaos.

“Comrade Brigade Commander, you are right,” Belkin echoed. “If you hadn’t promptly sent troops to attack the sparsely populated settlements on both sides, our army would probably still be engaged in a tug-of-war with the enemy in those settlements right now.”

"What should we do next?" Karsokov asked.

"Let the troops rest as soon as possible. I plan to wait until dark and then have them approach the city quietly under the cover of darkness." Considering that the upcoming battle would require the full cooperation of Belkin and Karsokov, Sokov truthfully said, "We will use secret passages to enter the city and launch a surprise attack on the city's defenders. Even if we cannot take the city, we should still throw the enemy into chaos, which will be very beneficial to our subsequent operations."

"Fantastic, Comrade Brigade Commander, your plan is truly brilliant." Belkin gave Sokov a thumbs up: "According to Colonel Zhuravlev's plan, it will take at least three to five days to clear the city's outskirts to avoid attacks from the flanks and rear during the siege. Under the cover of night, we will approach the city, enter through secret passages, and launch a surprise attack on the enemy. Perhaps by dawn tomorrow, our brigade will have already captured the entire city."

"Should we report this to Colonel Zhuravlev?" Karsokov asked tentatively.

“There’s no need for that,” Sokov declared definitively. “There’s no need to let them know our battle plans, lest the information leak out and the enemy prepare in advance.”

(End of this chapter)