Red Moscow

  Chapter 669 Face-to-face instruction

   The command post from Mamayev Gang to the Third Battalion is actually not far away, less than five kilometers away. But this distance cost Sokov a lot of time. Dozens of people crowded together can certainly make the German snipers helpless. But if you encounter a small German army hiding in the ruins, the opponent only needs to use a few submachine guns to shoot, or throw a grenade, which can cause heavy casualties to the army.

In order to avoid this situation, Sokov divided everyone into three teams, with ten fighters in each of the front and back teams, led by Guchakov and Samoilov respectively, and he led the remaining two teams. Ten people walked in the middle. Each team is separated by 100 meters. Even if one team is attacked by the enemy, the other two teams can provide timely rescue.

  Sokov was holding the assault rifle, with his finger on the trigger, and was watching his surroundings vigilantly as he walked. Once there is something strange, his muzzle will immediately point in that direction. It wasn't until he passed through the dangerous area where he might encounter the enemy and arrived at Captain Andre's command post that he breathed a sigh of relief.

  Andrei saw Sokov coming, and immediately stepped forward to salute: "Hello, Comrade Commander, I welcome you on behalf of the commanders and fighters of the whole battalion!"

"Hello, Captain Andre. Nice to meet you." Sokov shook hands with Andre, walked quickly to the wooden table in the middle of the room, and glanced down at the map on it. Ask bluntly: "How many people in your battalion control those streets?"

"We still have 1,367 people in the battalion, of which 139 were from the original infantry brigade, and the rest were civilians who were armed by the militia." Andre walked to the table and pointed to the current location on the map with his hand. Controlled area: "Currently the areas under our control are Second Embankment Street, January 9th Square, Sun Street, Kursky Street and Gogol Street."

  From Andre's report, Sokov found that although the third battalion has a lot of troops, most of them are militiamen or ordinary citizens with little combat effectiveness. It is really difficult for them to defend such a large area. After a moment of silence, Sokov raised his head, looked at Andre and asked, "Do you have enough troops to defend such a large area?"

"To defend such a large area, our number is indeed a little less, and most of them are militiamen and citizens with low combat effectiveness." Andre said with some hesitation: "If the division headquarters can add some troops to us, Maybe I can expand the area of ​​control by a block or two."

"No need, just keep the current scale." Sokov knew very well that the most difficult days for the Stalingrad defenders were coming. will attract the attention of the Germans. Once the enemy mobilizes heavy troops to compete with Andrei and the others for the urban area, the troops protecting the left flank of Mamayev Gang may be wiped out: "If you provoke the Germans too much, they will attack the Germans in the next In the battle, you will be used as the focus of the attack, and it is difficult to support your current troops."

Seeing that Sokov was unwilling to send reinforcements to him, and he did not agree to expand his territory, Andre was a little disappointed, but at the same time, he was also very clear that Sokov's starting point for doing this was to protect himself, lest he become a The Germans focused on the target of attack.

   "How is the situation at Vasily's place?" After a while, Sokov suddenly asked again.

"Vassily?!" Hearing Sokov's question suddenly, Andrei couldn't help being taken aback, thinking that his troops were solely responsible for the defense of the city. How could he know the situation of the new battalion stationed at Mamayev Post? ? But soon he realized that he had made a mistake. Sokov asked the sniper Sergeant Vasily, not Captain Vasily, the commander of the new battalion. The defended building is now the focus of the enemy's attack and is attacked almost every day, but fortunately the building is still in our hands."

  Sokov knew about the historical Pavlov Building, which stood for 58 days during the Stalingrad Defense War. He worried that after it became the Vasily Building, different results might appear due to different defenders. After listening to Andre's report, he was secretly relieved, and then said to Andre: "Comrade Captain, hand over the work here to your deputy, and you take me to the Vasily Building."

   "What, go to the Vasily Building?" Andrei heard that Sokov was going to the Vasily Building, and quickly dissuaded him, saying: "Comrade Commander, there are Germans everywhere, you can't take the risk easily."

"The Vasily Building is an important support point on January 9th Square. Its gains or losses are directly related to the rear security of Mamayev Gang." Seeing that Andre opposed his going to the Vasily Building, Sokov specifically emphasized Said: "I went to the building to meet the soldiers, which can strengthen everyone's confidence in defending the building."

Now that Sokov has already said this, Andrei can only choose to compromise. After he handed over the command to the deputy, he said to Sokov: "Comrade commander, since there are many enemies near the Vasily Building, we There should not be too many people going, so as not to expose the target.”

Sokov agrees with Andrei's statement. If he really brought dozens of people there and was discovered by the Germans lurking nearby, he thought that there were more troops in the building, and he might call for artillery fire directly. attack.

  Just as Andrei led Sokov and others were about to leave the command post and head for the Vasily Building, there were suddenly intense gunshots and explosions outside. Hearing this voice, Sokov immediately asked vigilantly, "Comrade Captain, where is the exchange of fire?"

After Andrei heard the movement from outside, he actually showed a relaxed expression on his face. He turned to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, if I'm not mistaken, the enemy must be attacking the Vasily Building again. .I think you better not go."

  Although Sokov wanted to go to the Vasily Building to have a look, but at the moment there was a battle there, if he insisted on going, it would be tantamount to putting himself in a dangerous situation. Sokov would never do such a stupid thing. But on the surface, he still told Andre: "Comrade Captain, just to be on the safe side, you should call Sergeant Vasily to see if he is being attacked by the enemy again."

  Andrei carried out the order given by Sokov very simply. He hurriedly picked up the phone and asked the communicator to help him connect to the Vasily Building. After hearing Vasily's voice, he asked bluntly: "Comrade Sergeant, what happened? Did the enemy attack you again overnight?" Attacked?"

"Yes, Comrade Battalion Commander, the enemy came over again in the dark, trying to seize the building." In addition to Vasily's anxious voice, intense gunshots and explosions could be clearly heard in the receiver: "Please rest assured , we have full confidence in repelling the enemy's attack."

  After hanging up the phone, Andrei looked up at Sokov and said, "Comrade Commander, I have already verified that the enemy is indeed attacking the Vasily Building. It is too dangerous there, so you should not go there."

   "Okay," Sokov said smoothly, "Since there is a war there, I won't go."

  Andre is very aware of how difficult and dangerous the road to the Vasily Building is. Every time he sends someone to deliver ammunition or supplies, he has to pay a big price. Even if there is no fighting there at the moment, if you take Sokov there by yourself, there may be accidents on the way. Now that you know that Sokov will not go to the Vasily Building, your mood suddenly becomes much more relaxed.

  But since Sokov is here, even if he can’t go to the Vasily Building, he still needs to give some pointers on Andre’s work, so that it’s worth the risk to come here. He pointed to the map on the table and said to Andrei: "Comrade Captain, your strength is limited. If you want to completely defend these blocks, you must adopt reasonable tactics..." Hearing what Sukov said, Andrei immediately Guessing that the teacher might want to teach him defensive skills, he quickly took out a pen and paper and started to record.

  “…The windows on the first floor of the building should be blocked with wooden sticks wrapped with barbed wire to prevent the enemy from breaking in through the window or throwing grenades, causing casualties to the defenders in the house.

  …all doors leading out of the house, or stairwells not in use, are to be blocked with furniture and litter, so as not to be used by the enemy as a passage for their attack.

  ...Due to the limited elevation angle of enemy tanks, observation posts, snipers and radio operators should stay on the top floor or roof, which not only has a wide field of view and is easy to observe, but also is not easy to be killed by tank fire.

  ...If possible, mortars or heavy machine guns should be placed on the roof, condescending to kill the attacking enemies. "

After recording what Sokov said, Andrei asked humbly: "Comrade commander, you have told us these defensive skills before, so many of them have been used in actual combat. Do you have any more applicable experience? "

   "Is there a more applicable experience in street fighting?" Sokov smiled lightly, and continued: "Although you control a lot of areas, in order to attack the enemy more effectively, I suggest you divide them into defensive areas and guerrilla areas."

   "Standard zone and guerrilla zone?" Hearing the new term Sokov said, Andrei showed a confused expression on his face: "Comrade commander, can you explain in more detail?"

"There are a lot of old stone buildings in the urban area. These buildings are so strong that they will be destroyed unless the Germans bombard them with 155mm heavy artillery or drop heavy bombs from bombers. In such buildings, you can Arrange enough troops to hold on, as the firepower support point of your defense line.

  As for some buildings located on important traffic routes and not very strong, there is no need to waste troops to defend them. You only need to deploy some soldiers inside to ambush the passing enemies. As soon as the task is completed, transfer immediately, so that the enemy can't figure out your whereabouts. "

   Regarding Sokov's statement, Andrei raised his own doubts: "Comrade commander, if our soldiers are entangled by the enemy while performing tasks in the guerrilla zone, how can we escape?"

"It's actually very simple to get out." Sukov has a lot of experience in how to conduct guerrilla warfare, so when he heard Andre's question, he replied with confidence: "Every time the soldiers enter those buildings, , set up some booby traps or traps, and move immediately after the fight. Even if the Germans react quickly and can rush into the building before the soldiers leave, the pre-set booby traps and traps are enough for them to drink a pot. Wait for them After clearing the booby traps and traps, our soldiers have long since disappeared, and even if they want to chase them, they don’t know where to go.”

  Sokov's words made Andre's eyes light up. He never thought that it would be possible to fight street battles with the enemy in the city like this. He quickly recorded what Sokov just said, and asked again: "Comrade commander, how big do you think the troops sent to attack the enemy should be every time?"

"Five to eight people are enough." Sukov pointed to Andrei and explained: "The members should be two machine gunners, one sniper or sharpshooter, plus a few soldiers equipped with submachine guns. Such a scale The squad is very flexible in street fighting. They can quickly move to another building to continue fighting after they have attacked the enemy in this building.

  If the enemy wants to deal with our guerrilla tactics and prevent their soldiers from being attacked unexpectedly by us during the march, they must deploy sufficient defense forces in the buildings on both sides of the road. In this way, their power will be dispersed, and then you can find a way to concentrate your forces and eat these enemies bit by bit. "

Sokov was deeply afraid that Andre would look down on his own tactics, and he also specially emphasized: "Comrade Captain, maybe our result every time is to wipe out a German squad or even less troops, but as long as we persist in fighting The enemy will have a serious shortage of soldiers, and then not only will it be difficult for them to pose a threat to you, on the contrary, they will worry about being attacked by you all day long, and they will be in constant panic."

"Comrade Commander, your street fighting experience is really useful." Andrei said excitedly after Sokov finished speaking: "In this way, I am more confident in holding the existing defensive zone. "

"It's not enough for you to understand these tactics alone. After all, you are not fighting the enemy alone." Sokov reminded Andre: "You must also let the company commanders be familiar with and master them as soon as possible, so that In order to ensure that your defense zone is unbreakable. Understand?"

   "Comrade Commander," Andrei waited for Sokov to finish, and asked cautiously: "I'll call some company commanders now, and let you introduce the new tactics to them personally. Do you think it's suitable?"

Although Andrei promised to promote the new tactics, Sokov was still uneasy in his heart. Hearing that he wanted to invite several company commanders to study together, he said smoothly, "Well, just in time for me to Here, you get them all at once, and I'll tell them the tactics again."

  (end of this chapter)