Red Moscow

  Chapter 489

When the commanders and fighters of several teams were queuing up to receive the rockets, a sentry at the entrance of the tunnel trotted over and stood up in front of Sokov and reported, "Comrade brigade commander, the chief of staff just called, please return to the headquarters immediately." .”

  Sokov stared at the soldier who was receiving the rocket, and asked without raising his head, "Do you know anything?"

   "I don't know." The sentinel answered simply.

"Comrade Brigadier," Sidolin knew about Sokov distributing rockets to the squad here. Since he called Sokov to go back, there must be something important. Witkov thought of this, Quickly said to Sokov: "It is estimated that Lieutenant Colonel Sidolin has something important to ask you, you should go back to the headquarters first, and leave the matter here to me."

  Sokov was eager to know what Sidolin wanted for him. Seeing that Vitkov had offered to introduce himself, he nodded at him and said politely, "Comrade deputy brigade commander, I will trouble you here."

   Knowing that Sokov was going back to the headquarters, Seryozha, who was working as a guard at the side, hurried over, ready to help Sokov back to the tunnel. But Sokov waved his hand at him and said, "Seryozha, no, I can do it myself. You and your people will stay here to protect the safety of the deputy brigade commander." After finishing speaking, he put his hand on his abdomen , walking towards the tunnel with a somewhat staggering footstep.

As soon as he walked into the headquarters, Sokov saw Sidolin answering the phone. He immediately thought that the other party asked him to come back, which must have something to do with the phone he was answering, so he asked in a low voice: "Comrade Chief of Staff, Who are you calling?"

When Sidolin saw Sokov enter the door, he quickly covered the receiver with his hands, and replied in the same voice, "It's the commander calling, and he wants to know something from you." After speaking, he let go He raised his voice and asked into the microphone, "Comrade Commander, the brigade commander is back, do you want to speak to him?"

  When Sokov saw Sidolin handing the microphone to him, he immediately stepped forward to take it: "Hello, Comrade Commander, I am Sokov. Do you have any instructions?"

Chuikov's voice came from the receiver: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, I heard from Comrade Sidolin that Colonel Vitkov has escorted the rockets back. You also plan to let those small teams that go to the enemy's rear to perform missions , all carry some rockets, is there such a thing?"

"Yes, Comrade Commander." Sokov knew that even if Sidolin did not report this matter, Chuikov would sooner or later learn about the situation through a specific information channel, so he generously admitted: "I asked each squad to Carrying rockets to the enemy's rear is to better strike the enemy."

   After he finished speaking, Chuikov asked slowly: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, have you ever thought that leaving these rockets on Mamayev Post might be more effective?"

Regarding Chuikov's proposal, Sokov was silent for a moment, and after rearranging the vocabulary in his mind, he continued: "Comrade commander, I think about it this way. If a small unit that goes deep into the enemy's rear, if it carries rockets , you can attack the enemy's barracks, warehouses, transport convoys, headquarters, etc. at a long distance. Since they are far away from the enemy, they can transfer immediately after completing the task without worrying about being entangled by the enemy, thus improving the team's Survival behind enemy lines."

  Although he said the same thing, Chuikov had listened to Sidolin’s report not long ago, but for some reason, he had to hear Sokov himself say it before he felt at ease. After Sokov finished speaking, he said, "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, I ask you a question, and I hope you can answer it truthfully."

  Sokov didn't know what question Chuikov wanted to ask, but he also guessed that it must have something to do with the squad sent to the enemy's rear, so he said calmly, "Excuse me, Comrade Commander."

   "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov," Chuikov asked, "What kind of impact do you think these small teams will have on the enemy's next offensive deployment when they arrive behind the enemy?"

"Comrade Commander, according to the information I have, the enemy has suffered huge losses in the early stage of the attack, and now they are regrouping their forces and technical equipment, preparing to launch another fierce attack on Stalingrad." Sokov has a well-thought-out plan. He replied: "Squads that go deep into the enemy's rear can use rockets to attack the enemy's transportation lines, destroy roads, railways and bridges, completely disrupt the original deployment of the German army, and thus buy time for the defenders in the city to breathe." .”

   As the commander of the group army, Chuikov can naturally learn through his own news channels that the Supreme Command is formulating a counteroffensive plan for the Stalingrad area. He is very clear that to completely repel the enemies entrenched in the Stalingrad area, the troops and technical equipment required are astonishing, and it will take a very long time to complete such an assembly. Before preparing for the counterattack, do you have the strength to defend the city?

  After listening to Sokov's statement, he was full of expectations for the results that the small team that went deep into the enemy's rear could achieve. After being silent for a while, he said into the microphone: "Okay, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, since you have such confidence in the squad, then I will wait for the good news you report to me."

  Sidorin watched Sokov put down the phone, and asked with some concern: "Comrade Brigadier, do you really think that the actions of the squad behind enemy lines can completely disrupt the deployment of the German army?"

"Yes, Comrade Chief of Staff, I have such confidence." Hearing Sidolin's question, Sokov smiled lightly, and then replied: "Although the number of troops we sent to the enemy's rear is limited, the measures they adopted However, it can delay the time for the German army to launch a general attack on Stalingrad, so that we have more time to make defensive preparations."

  ...

   The four teams that sneaked into the enemy's rear, the first to fight the enemy was the team from the first battalion commanded by Second Lieutenant Fisher. They were marching westward along a simple road, and a soldier who was exploring the road ahead ran back and reported to him: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, a convoy was spotted on the road ahead, and it was driving towards us."

   "How far is it from us?" After hearing the report, Fisher immediately asked a series of questions: "How long is it?"

  The soldier quickly replied: "We saw the lights on the road. According to the speed of the convoy, they will meet us in ten minutes at most."

Fisher looked at the surrounding terrain, and then gave an order to the soldiers around him: "Seize the commanding heights on the right side of the road immediately, and establish a launch position." Then he ordered the soldier, "Go back and continue to observe, what's new? case, report to me immediately.”

  As the order was issued, the soldiers of the squad rushed to the hillside on the right side of the road in a swarm, helping the gunner to set up the tripod and install the launch tube.

  After all this was done, the soldiers standing on the hillside saw the convoy in the distance. The gunner counted the headlights in the distance, and then asked Fisher: "Comrade Lieutenant, the enemy has about thirty trucks, and several tanks driving side by side with the convoy. Look, how many rockets are we going to fire?"

   Fisher thought for a while, and then replied: "We brought three launchers, and two volleys should be enough."

"Two volleys?!" Hearing Fisher's arrangement, the artilleryman said with some embarrassment: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, it's not bad if two volleys can destroy half of the enemy's vehicles. Look, do you want to add another round? "

"No," Fischer mercilessly refused the artillery's request: "We have just entered the enemy's rear, and there are still many battles to be fought in the future. We can't shoot out all the rockets, so let's shoot two volleys. Regardless of the outcome of the battle, we will transfer immediately after the launch.”

   Seeing Fisher's resolute attitude, the artilleryman knew that it was useless to say anything else, so he could only return to the gun position, adjust the position of the launch tube, and aim at the convoy approaching from a distance. After finishing aiming, he looked up at Fisher and asked for instructions: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, the rocket launch preparations have been completed, can it be launched, please instruct?!"

   "Launch!" Fisher gave the launch order without hesitation.

  The artilleryman agreed loudly, and then pressed the launch button, and three rockets flew out of the launch tube, dragging a long flame tail, and flew towards the convoy in the distance. Before the rockets could focus on the target, Fisher shouted to the soldiers standing nearby: "What are you still doing, don't hurry up and help reload."

   Just as the soldiers gathered around to reload the rockets, the three rockets fired earlier had already landed in the middle of the German convoy, and three dazzling fireballs rose up, followed by earth-shattering explosions. The artilleryman didn't care about his own results at all, and pressed the launch button again, completing the second salvo.

  Fischer saw that the road in the distance had turned into a sea of ​​flames, and quickly ordered the soldiers: "Hurry up and put away the launcher, we will move immediately, and when the enemy recovers and surrounds us, we will not be able to leave."

  The fire on the road reddened the sky before dawn. In the light of the fire, seven or eight German trucks exploded and burst into flames on the road. The road near the explosion point was full of dead German soldiers. Due to the power of the rockets, even two or two tanks near the explosion point were not spared. The entire body was burning in flames, and none of the tank soldiers inside escaped.

  (end of this chapter)