red moscow

Chapter 2737: Teach You How to Fight
The convoy stopped at the entrance of the division headquarters. Sokov, along with Konstantin and two soldiers escorting the German spies, came to the sentry on duty and said to one of them, "Please go in and let them know. I am Captain Sokov of the Army Group Command. I am here to inspect you as a representative of the Command."

The sentry looked at Sokov and said expressionlessly: "Comrade Captain, please show me your ID."

Sokov took out his military ID and special pass and handed them over. At the same time, he couldn't help but sigh in his heart, no wonder Vlasov urged him to get a military ID. Without these things, he would really be unable to move forward under the current circumstances.

After checking the ID, the sentry did not return it to Sokov immediately. Instead, he said politely, "Comrade Captain, please wait a moment. I will go in and report." After that, he ran in with Sokov's ID.

At this moment, the division commander was complaining to the chief of staff in the division headquarters: "I thought the new commander would send reinforcements to our division after taking office, but instead of reinforcements, they sent a special envoy. It's really a headache."

The chief of staff said with a sad face: "It would be fine if the person sent was a military commander, after all, he has some combat experience. What I am most afraid of is a political worker who, apart from shouting slogans, has no combat experience at all. Defeating the enemy's attack is not something that can be done by just shouting a few slogans."

"Report!" The sentry walked up to the two men and reported, "A captain has come outside. He claims to be a representative of the Army Group Headquarters. Here is his ID!"

The chief of staff took the certificate and read the contents clearly. He couldn't help but widen his eyes in surprise. "What? A new recruit who has just joined the army for less than a week has become a captain?"

Upon hearing this, the division commander quickly asked for the certificate in the chief of staff's hand. After carefully checking it, he frowned and said, "To be able to become a captain in such a short time means that this person has a backer. I guess he must have come from somewhere to get gilded, and he probably doesn't have any combat experience."

"What bad luck! Why did the headquarters send such a special envoy to us?" The chief of staff picked up the documents again and asked the sentry, "Where is he?"

"Just outside the door."

"Take me there."

The chief of staff followed the sentry to the door and saw Sokov standing at the door. Because among the people standing here, only Sokov wore the rank of captain. Although the chief of staff was dissatisfied with Sokov in his heart, he still put on a smile and said, "You are Captain Sokov, right?"

Sokov saw clearly that the visitor was a lieutenant colonel. He didn't know the other party's identity, so he asked tentatively: "I am Sokov, may I ask...?"

"I am the division chief of staff." The chief of staff handed the certificate back to Sokov, then shook his hand and said with a fake smile: "Comrade Captain, welcome to our division to inspect our work."

After shaking hands and preparing to invite Sokov in, the divisional chief of staff saw the German spy being escorted by two soldiers and asked curiously, "Comrade Captain, what does this man do?"

"It's a German spy. We caught him on our way here."

Upon learning that the man in casual clothes and a baseball cap was actually a German spy, the chief of staff did not dare to neglect him. He immediately asked the sentry to guide Constantine and his men and take the German spy to the intelligence department for interrogation.

Because of the spy incident, the chief of staff’s attitude towards Sokov changed. He felt that this captain, who had only been a soldier for a few days, was not completely useless. At least others could recognize the disguise of the German spy and capture him alive: “Comrade Captain, please follow me, I will take you to see the division commander.

Sokov followed the chief of staff into the headquarters and saw a tall colonel standing in front of a table looking at a map. The chief of staff quickly explained to Sokov: "Comrade Captain, this is the commander of our division."

The division commander turned around, looked at Sokov expressionlessly and asked, "Are you the captain sent by the army headquarters?"

"Yes, Comrade Colonel!" Sokov stood at attention and saluted. "I am Captain Sokov, the representative sent by the Army Group Headquarters."

The division commander extended his hand to Sokov and shook it symbolically, then asked, "How many people did you bring with you this time?"

"There is only one guard platoon." Faced with the division commander's indifference, Sokov chose to ignore it and politely reported to him: "My mission is to inspect your division's defense deployment and report truthfully to the headquarters."

"Comrade Captain, what I am most concerned about now is when our superiors can send us reinforcements." The division commander said with a serious expression: "In the past two days, the Germans have launched attacks on our division's defense zone again and again. Although their attacks were successfully crushed by us, the price we paid was huge."

"Comrade Captain, the division commander is right." The chief of staff sighed and said, "After our defense line was breached by the Germans yesterday, I personally led a battalion to reinforce, blocked the breach, and annihilated the enemy, but the officers and soldiers of this battalion were basically wiped out."

When he learned that a battalion of troops was wiped out in the battle, the expression on Sokov's face did not change at all. The last time he traveled through time, he heard that an entire division was wiped out in a few hours. So what was a mere battalion?
Seeing Sokov's nonchalant look, the division commander became anxious: "Comrade Captain, from your ID, I know that you have been in the army for less than a week, so you probably don't understand many things on the battlefield..."

"Comrade Commander," Sokov interrupted the commander and said with strong resentment, "Although I have not been in the army for a long time, I still know a little about fighting."

The chief of staff saw that the division commander was unhappy and seemed ready to explode, so he quickly grabbed him and said, "Comrade division commander, there is one more thing I haven't had time to report to you. Captain Sokov caught a German spy disguised as a civilian on his way here."

When the division commander heard this, he showed a surprised expression on his face: "What? A German spy was caught on the road? Where is the spy now?"

"It has been sent to the intelligence department. I believe it won't take long before we can get the intelligence we want."

When the chief of staff was speaking, he unexpectedly saw the medal on Sokov's chest and asked in surprise: "Comrade Captain, you just joined not long ago, how come you have an Order of Lenin?"

The division commander also looked at Sokov's chest curiously, and indeed saw the medal representing the highest honor. However, he did not repeat the chief of staff's question, but looked at Sokov quietly, wanting to hear how he would answer.

Sokov found that since he received the Order of Lenin, everyone has been very friendly to him. Although the two leaders of the 295th Division were resistant to him, if he told them the reason why he received the medal, their attitude towards him would change. So he told them in detail about his achievements in the nearby town. When Sokov finished telling the whole story, he unexpectedly found that several staff officers gathered around him.

One of the staff officers said with emotion: "No wonder, the reconnaissance team reported to us a few days ago that a German armored unit was found nearby. But a day later, when they went to check again, they found that the armored unit had disappeared. In order to find out the enemy's movements, they searched nearby for a while, but they didn't expect that they were all captured by you, Captain." After saying that, he gave Sokov a thumbs up.

"Great, Captain, you are really great." The division commander raised his hands and patted his arms twice. "I originally thought that you, a new recruit who had just joined the army for a few days, were not qualified to be promoted to captain, but now it seems that I was wrong."

After the chief of staff asked several staff officers to leave, Sokov asked curiously: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I would like to ask, how many enemies broke through your defense line yesterday?"

After hearing Sokov's question, the chief of staff and the division commander looked at each other and showed bitter expressions on their faces.

The next moment, the chief of staff held up two fingers and said awkwardly, "About two platoons of soldiers."

The muscles on Sokov's face twitched violently for a few times, and then he asked in an incredulous tone: "The Germans used only two platoons to wipe out our entire battalion?"

"Yes, Comrade Captain." The chief of staff nodded and continued, "Although our officers and soldiers performed bravely on the battlefield, the enemy's firepower was too strong, so we suffered heavy casualties."

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Sokov waited for the chief of staff to finish speaking and immediately asked directly, "Can you send someone to guide me to the place where the battle took place yesterday?"

The chief of staff did not dare to act on his own regarding Sokov's request, but instead looked at the division commander, hoping to get his reply.

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The division commander thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "Chief of Staff, since the captain wants to see the place where the battle took place yesterday, you should take him there in person."

The gap that was broken through by the German army yesterday was only two or three kilometers away from the division headquarters. Several people took a jeep and reached the destination in just over ten minutes.

When Sokov saw that this was another small town, he immediately guessed the reason why the Soviet troops suffered heavy losses.

Led by the chief of staff, they came to a street.

Although the battle ended yesterday, the bodies on the street had not been collected in time. Looking at the bodies on the ground, Sokov frowned, looked up at the chief of staff and asked: "Comrade Chief of Staff, you are not going to tell me that our soldiers are just charging forward under the firepower from the front, right?"

"Yes," the chief of staff actually nodded and continued, "The enemy has set up two machine guns at the intersection ahead. If we don't break through, we won't be able to plug the hole torn open by the enemy. So I organized five charges and finally successfully eliminated the machine gun fire at the intersection."

"Do our soldiers have firepower to cover their attacks?" Sokov asked tentatively, "For example, using mortars or machine guns to suppress the enemy's firepower?"

"No, Comrade Captain." The chief of staff shook his head and said, "Our soldiers are not afraid of death. Even though they knew the enemy's firepower was fierce, they still bravely rushed towards the enemy's guns."

If Sokov was still the army commander at this moment, he would have slapped his subordinates twice when he heard them commanding the battle in this way. A commander like this should be allowed to rush in first and let him personally feel the feeling of being hit by bullets.

"Comrade Chief of Staff, the way you fight is wrong." Sokov said with a straight face, "To defeat the enemy, it is not enough to just be fearless. You have to let the soldiers know what they should do on the battlefield, instead of just running after the troops, following the people in front, and shooting at the enemy when they see them. If you do this, the battle will be a mess, and you may even end up hurting your own people by mistake!"

The chief of staff didn't expect Sokov to say that. He blushed and said unconvincedly, "Comrade Captain, how do you know that the soldiers were just running around in a hurry? Who told you that one of their own people would accidentally hurt one of their own?"

Facts speak louder than words. Sokov did not stand there arguing with the other party, but pulled him over the pile of corpses and walked forward.

After walking for a while, Sokov stopped, bent down and pointed at the backs of the two soldiers and said, "Chief of Staff, look, the wounds on their backs were caused by their own mistakes."

After hearing what Sokov said, the chief of staff immediately squatted down beside the corpse, carefully examined the body on the back, and then murmured: "Strange, how could they be accidentally injured by their own people?"

"The reason is very simple." Sokov stood up and explained to the chief of staff: "In such a narrow street, it is the stupidest thing to use a group charge to attack the enemy's firepower point. An enemy bullet may penetrate the soldiers in the first row and hit the bodies of the soldiers in the second row. After the soldiers in the front rows are shot, they will either fall to the ground or fall back on their comrades. In either case, it will affect the speed of the troops' charge.

As for our attacking officers and soldiers, the soldiers in the front row may have been shot and killed before they had time to shoot. Even if the soldiers in the back row wanted to shoot at the enemy, they were blocked by their comrades in front and could not shoot at all. The soldiers in the back row were nervous and pulled the trigger, which would accidentally hurt their own people. These soldiers must have been accidentally injured by their comrades in the back. "

The chief of staff did not stand up immediately, but squatted where he was, trying to digest what Sokov had said.

After a long time, he slowly stood up, stretched his sore legs, and then humbly asked: "Comrade Captain, if we encounter such a street fight again in the future, how should we attack to reduce the casualties of the troops?"

Sokov looked at him in surprise, thinking that other commanders would usually say confidently after hearing what he had just said: In order to defend our great motherland, no matter how great the sacrifice, it is worth it. Only this divisional chief of staff was concerned about how to reduce the casualties of the troops.

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Sokov pointed to the road they came from and explained to the Chief of Staff, "When we attack, we should deploy a few machine guns there to suppress the German troops at the crossroads ahead with firepower, so that they can't concentrate all their energy on dealing with our attacking officers and soldiers. In addition, this street is narrow, and too many officers and soldiers crowded here will only become targets for the Germans to shoot. Instead, we should let them disperse, stick to the walls of the buildings on both sides of the road, seek cover, and approach the enemy's firepower points little by little, so as to reduce casualties in the troops."

(End of this chapter)