Burning Moscow

Section 72 Reconnaissance behind enemy l

400 people! This number can’t help but make my heart beat, this is a force that should not be underestimated. These fighters who stood out from the German encirclement have all experienced a series of cruel battles. They are not afraid of tanks that literally gallop through the trenches, and they will not panic because their back roads are cut off by the enemy. With a wealth of experience in combat against the German army, if I can lead them to fight guerrillas behind the enemy, I will surely turn the enemy’s rear upside down.

In the history I know, after the German army captured Jasnaya Polyana, the famous tank general Guderian set up his headquarters in Leo Tolstoy’s manor. If I led this unit to launch an attack on the manor, I would be quite sure that I could end the German command. If I am lucky enough to capture Guderian alive, then this military operation I commanded will definitely be recorded in the annals of history in the future, allowing future generations to firmly remember my feat. At the same time, this time the removal of the German headquarters and the capture of famous German generals alive are bound to greatly boost the morale of the Soviet army. The Soviet army, which has been retreating steadily right now, needs a victory too much now. Capturing Guderian alive is definitely a record worth showing off. As soon as this tempting idea came up, my heartbeat suddenly accelerated, and I was eager to implement it immediately, so I couldn’t wait to urge Firstoff to take me to find the troops.

On the way, I asked Festov: “Are there any other commanders in the army?” The purpose of my question was to fear that there would still be people in the team with a higher rank than me, so I could not command this as I wanted. Support troops.

“There is also a political worker, also from Division 316, including Pavlov, the instructor.”

Hearing that there is no one with a higher rank than me, I feel more at ease, and then I asked him, “Which unit did the soldiers belong to? Are they all from the original Sixteenth Army?”

“The numbers in the army are very messy. Except for a few soldiers from the 16th Army, most of the rest are from the 19th, 20th, 24th, and 32nd Army. These group armies belong to the former Western Front. And the reserve front army. Although they were broken up, they all tried every means to avoid the German resistance, break out to the east, looking for their own team. Pavlov and I met them on the way to break through, so we contained them. And formed a force.”

As we spoke, we had come to a place not far from where the troops rested. I saw a tall young officer walking towards us with two soldiers carrying rifles on the opposite side.

After a dozen steps, the other party greeted Festov in a loud voice: “Hey, Comrade Lieutenant, where did you bring so many people here?”

“Comrade instructor company,” Festov pointed at me and introduced Pavlov as he walked. “This is Lieutenant Colonel Oshanina. You should have heard of her. She used to work as a guard battalion in the division. In the position of battalion commander, he personally led the troops to retake the positions occupied by the Germans.”

Pavlov, the instructor of the company, took two steps, came to me, stood up and saluted me, and reported: “Pavlov, instructor of the 1st Battalion and 2nd Company of the 1077th Regiment of the 316 Infantry Division, reports to you that the newly formed 1st Battalion Taking a break, please indicate.”

1077 group? ! I’ve never heard of this unit’s designation, but I still pretended to be calm and waved my hand first, saying: “Continue to rest.” Then I turned my head and quietly asked Lu Jin behind me: “When will the 316 division have a 1077 regiment? how would I not know?”

Lu Jin stepped forward, leaned close to me, and said softly: “Comrade Commander, you don’t know that the 316th Division was reorganized during your hospitalization period. Now the division’s new organization is 1073, 1075. , 1077 three infantry regiments, plus the 857th artillery regiment.”

“Oh.” Listening to his explanation, I suddenly realized that a lot of big things happened during the days when I was in a coma. I turned around and asked Pavlov, the instructor: “How about the equipment of the army?” I thought that if it is well equipped, I will take it directly to attack Guderian’s headquarters.

Unexpectedly, he shook his head and said with great regret: “We have a lot of people, but the equipment is a little less, only forty rifles, most of the soldiers ran out empty-handed.”

His words suddenly made my dream of becoming famous and going down in history shattered. Of the four hundred people, only one in ten was equipped with weapons. With such equipment, it would be a foolish dream to destroy Guderian’s headquarters. And even if it doesn’t fight, such a huge team will need to walk northeast for a day to reach our army’s line of defense. If they encounter large groups of German troops on the road, these people will not escape the fate of being captured. Thinking of this, I couldn’t help sighing, and secretly said that if I can add some equipment to them and arm them all, even if they don’t attack the manor, at least they must have the ability to protect themselves. We fought two small battles along the way, but the seizures were very limited. The weapons seized for the first time were all taken away by the captured soldiers; in the battle in the village yesterday, although more than a dozen submachine guns were seized, except for Lukin and Zapochuk, who carried one. The rest are left in the village. Moreover, even if they were given all these weapons, it would be of no avail.

When I was embarrassed, Sapochuk leaned into my ear and said softly, “Comrade Commander, I know that there is a large arsenal about five highways away from here. It turned out to be dedicated to providing weapons and equipment for the Fifth Army. If there is no German occupation, we can go there to find some weapons and arm them all.”

Listening to what Sapochuk said, I was a little moved, but then I thought about it, since it is a large arsenal, it might have been occupied by the Germans, so I opened my mouth and swallowed what had come to my lips. Seeing that I was silent, Sapochuk was a little anxious, and said, “Comrade Commander, what do you think about this? It’s just a word!”

Seeing his anxious appearance, I still expressed my concerns: “Since the size of the arsenal is not small, it is estimated that it has been occupied by the Germans a long time ago, and it may not be possible to find the equipment we need.”

“No, I’ve been to that arsenal. The location is very hidden. If no one leads the way, outsiders can’t find it.”

Hearing him say this, Pavlov and Festov next to him were also excited. They rushed to say: “Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, please allow this sergeant to be your guide. We will send some people to follow him. Go and see, maybe you can find the equipment we need urgently.”

“Okay!” Hearing them all say this, I can’t object to but I still expressed my thoughts: “If I can find that arsenal, only some people will be It is far from enough. My idea is to let Sergeant Sapochuk be the guide. You bring all the troops there, and you can take as much equipment as you can.” I turned around and called the corporal who just handed me a kettle to drink water: “Resdayev!”

“Here!” Resdayev agreed very simply.

I pointed to a few people around me and said to him: “I sent an instructor and a second lieutenant to take the troops, led by Sapochuk to find the arsenal. After finding the arsenal, no matter whether we can find the weapons and equipment we need, the troops will We need to return immediately. The first meeting point is in the village where we camped yesterday, waiting to meet us; if you missed it, you will take them along the route we came to and return directly to the 316 division defense zone, understand? ?”

“Very clear, Comrade Commander!”

“Okay, let’s get ready to go.” I gave them the order, and then shook hands with Pavlov, Festov, Sapochuk, and Restaev one by one, and sincerely dealt with each of them. One said: “Good luck!”

The large group set off. Looking at their leaving back, Lu Jin, who was standing beside me, couldn’t help but said worriedly: “Comrade Commander, our squadron is getting fewer and fewer people. Look, apart from you and me, only There are two people left, Aguminte and Sgoria, if we encounter the Germans, we will suffer a big loss.”

I looked at him and said with a smile: “It’s okay. There are few people and small targets. It’s harder to be spotted by the Germans when you act. If you are really unlucky and encounter the Germans, we will fight if we can. , If you can’t beat it, just run away.”