red moscow

Chapter 3052

Shortly after the first German attack on Sunhill was repelled, the 64th Infantry Brigade and several militia annihilation battalions entered Sunhill.

Now that reinforcements had arrived, Sokov knew his mission was complete. He bid farewell to Zhuravlev and withdrew from the city with his troops, which had suffered a third of their losses.

When the troops arrived at the settlement where the Fourth Battalion was stationed, Major Vasya and several soldiers came to greet them.

"Comrade Brigade Commander, welcome back!"

Sokov shook hands with Vasya and casually asked, "How's the situation here? Have you found any trace of the enemy?"

Vasya shook his head and said, "No, since you captured the city, all the enemies in our right-wing settlements have withdrawn. In short, there is no trace of the enemy near our camp."

"It's good that there are no enemies, then we can safely and boldly withdraw from this area."

"Evacuation?!" Vasya asked in surprise, "Comrade Brigade Commander, where are we going to evacuate to?"

"The army group's main strategic objective for the next phase is the Istra region," Sokov said. "After our brigade completed its mission of assisting friendly forces in capturing the city of Sun Mountain, the next step is to go to the Istra region and drive out the enemy entrenched there."

"Evacuate everyone, leave no one behind?"

“Not a single person will be left behind.” Sokov’s attitude was clear. He explained to Vasya, “Our entire brigade will be withdrawn from this area. If any personnel are left behind, they will soon be reassigned to other units. For us, it would be a losing proposition.”

"Comrade Brigade Commander, what is the casualty situation of the troops in the city?" Vasya asked tentatively as he accompanied Sokov to his command post. "Will it affect the next phase of our brigade's operations?"

"About a third of the troops that entered the city were killed or wounded." Hearing Vasya's question, Sokov's face showed a pained expression: "Many of them were veterans with combat experience, and it is heartbreaking that they sacrificed themselves in the city."

After Vasya and Sokov finished speaking, Vasya hesitated for a moment and said somewhat hesitantly, "Comrade Brigade Commander, do you believe me if I say I have a way to replenish the troops?"

"Where should we recruit more soldiers?" Sokov asked Vasya. "Should we recruit villagers from nearby villages? That's useless. Those villagers have no military training or combat experience. Even if they are incorporated into the army, their role will be limited, and they will only dilute the army's combat effectiveness."

“No, Comrade Brigade Commander, you’ve misunderstood.” Vasya shook his head vigorously and said, “I was talking about experienced veterans.”

"Experienced veterans?" Sokov asked, somewhat surprised. "Where can you find experienced veterans?"

“Where else could it be but a prisoner-of-war camp?” Vasya said with a serious expression. “The vast majority of our officers and soldiers imprisoned in the German prisoner-of-war camps have rich combat experience. If we can add them to our troops, it will help improve the combat effectiveness of our brigade.”

"But where can we find the prisoner-of-war camp you mentioned?"

“In the forest five or six kilometers to the east, there is a prisoner-of-war camp that was recently established, holding several thousand of our captured officers and soldiers,” Vasya said. “If we can rescue them, it would be a natural thing to add them to our brigade.”

Upon learning that there was a prisoner-of-war camp holding thousands of prisoners of war in the forest just five or six kilometers away, Sokov's eyes lit up, and he wished he could send men to rescue them immediately. However, he then thought that even if the enemy were to build a prisoner-of-war camp, it should be in a place far away from the front lines. Why would it be built between Sun Mountain City and Klin?
Thinking of this, he tentatively asked Vasya, "Comrade Major, you said there's a German-run prisoner-of-war camp in the forest five or six kilometers to the east. Is that information reliable?"

“Completely reliable, Comrade Brigade Commander.” Vasya replied with certainty: “This information was initially obtained from interrogating prisoners. To be on the safe side, I specifically sent people to conduct reconnaissance, and they found that there was indeed a prisoner-of-war camp there.”

Approximately how many guards are there in the prisoner-of-war camp?

“About a platoon,” Vasya said. “We only need to send a company to liberate this POW camp.”

Sokov shook his head upon hearing this: "No, one company isn't enough. Theoretically, one company should be enough to handle one platoon. But have you considered what would happen if retreating enemy troops entered the POW camp, increasing the number of troops there? In that case, our sent company wouldn't be able to capture the camp. If we alert the enemy and they discover our intentions, they might even harm the officers and soldiers held in the camp." "Then how many troops do you plan to send?"

“Since you were the first to know about this, then your battalion should handle this task,” Sokov instructed Vasya. “There must be quite a few wounded in the POW camp, so remember to bring plenty of medicine to treat them.”

Vasya nodded, then asked, "Where will we meet up with you after we rescue the captured commanders?"

“We are heading to the Istra region now,” Sokov said. “Once you liberate the prisoner-of-war camp and rescue the captured officers and soldiers, you can contact us via radio, and I will tell you the exact location.”

Seeing the hesitant expression on Vasya's face, Sokov guessed what he wanted to say and quickly added, "By the way, the wounded soldiers rescued from the POW camps, those with minor injuries can be allowed to travel with the troops; those with serious injuries should be sent to the field hospital in Khimki for treatment."

Seeing that Sokov had guessed what was troubling him, Vasya quickly and loudly agreed, "Yes, Comrade Brigade Commander, I will carry out your orders."

After the two companies sent to the city returned to their units, Vasya led the Fourth Battalion to the prisoner-of-war camp in the east.

On the way to the Istra region, Belkin asked Sokov curiously, "Comrade Brigade Commander, is it appropriate for you to directly incorporate all the people rescued from the prisoner-of-war camps into the troops?"

“There’s nothing wrong with it.” Sokov knew that the officers and soldiers rescued from POW camps were either sent to Siberia or to penal battalions. His blatant inclusion of them in the army might be punished if his superiors found out, hence Belkin’s concern. However, based on Rokossovsky’s memoirs, which he had read, Sokov clearly remembered that Rokossovsky had used a large number of officers and soldiers rescued from POW camps to supplement the 16th Army due to manpower shortages; he was simply accelerating this process. He reassured Belkin, “If we achieve even greater victories after supplementing our forces with soldiers from POW camps, I think the higher-ups won’t pursue this matter.”

Berkin opened his mouth, wanting to say a few more words of advice, but then he thought about it again and realized that Sokov's words didn't seem wrong. If his troops could repeatedly achieve meritorious service on the battlefield, even if something happened, the superiors would choose to turn a blind eye and wouldn't punish meritorious soldiers for such things.

“Comrade Brigade Commander!” Belkin was persuaded by Sokov, but Karsokov was still uneasy. He kindly reminded Sokov, “Why don’t you report this to the Commander and see what he thinks?” The implication was that as long as Rokossovsky endorsed the replenishment of prisoners of war, there was no need to worry about being punished.

Sokov wholeheartedly agreed with Karsokov's suggestion. After thinking for a moment, he nodded and said, "Comrade Chief of Staff is right. Such matters do indeed need to be discussed with Comrade Commander beforehand so that he knows what's going on. But there's no rush right now. It's not too late to talk about it after Major Vasya and his men liberate the POW camp."

While the troops were still on the march, Sokov received a telegram from Malinin.

The telegram stated that the German army burned down villages along the way during their retreat. If any houses in the villages were found not to have been burned down, the enemy must have planted landmines inside. The infantry brigade was instructed to remain vigilant during the march to avoid unnecessary losses.

After reading the telegram, Sokov called over several signalmen and instructed them to notify the battalion commanders to be vigilant when they encountered villages, so as to avoid accidentally stumbling into minefields laid by the Germans and causing unnecessary casualties.

After the communications soldier left, Belkin gritted his teeth and said, "Damn Germans, they're so cunning. They burned down the villages along the way so that our pursuing troops would have nowhere to stay. And the houses they deliberately left untouched were filled with landmines. If any unsuspecting officers or soldiers accidentally wandered in, there would definitely be casualties."

Belkin's grumbling reminded Sokov, who quickly called over a communications soldier and instructed him, "Go and inform the battalion commander that the enemy may have also laid mines on our path. Make sure he sends out scouts ahead to avoid large-scale casualties among the troops."

After hearing Sokov's order, Belkin asked in surprise, "Comrade Brigade Commander, how did you know the enemy would lay landmines on our path?"

"The reason is simple: there has been a lot of snow recently, and the roadsides are covered with thick snow, making it difficult for troops to pass through. Therefore, we can only advance along the roads," Sokov explained to Belkin. "To prevent us from catching up, the Germans will definitely lay a lot of mines on the roads to slow down our advance."

“That’s right, Comrade Brigade Commander, what you said makes perfect sense.” Belkin said somewhat anxiously, “In order for us to advance smoothly, should we send engineers ahead to clear the way?”

"Does our brigade have engineers?" Sokov asked.

“Yes, Comrade Brigade Commander,” Karsokov replied. “There is an engineer platoon that can lead the way.”

"Alright, let the engineers lead the way for us."

(End of this chapter)