red moscow

Chapter 2774

After the troops assembled, they immediately marched towards Orel, south of Moscow.

On the way, Sokov, who was sitting in the co-pilot seat, turned around and saw Potapov, who was sitting in the back seat, looking down at the map spread on his knees with a frown on his face. It was obvious that the current situation made him anxious.

Sokov did not speak, but he knew very well that if the Orel-Tula line fell into the hands of the Germans, then Guderian's troops would be able to calmly encircle the Southwestern Front that was protecting the Kharkov Industrial Zone, and the Soviet army would then be faced with another disastrous defeat. In real history, the 1st Guards Army commanded by Lelyushchenko did not hold this area. Now that Potapov has taken over the command, will the outcome change?

"Captain Sokov," Potapov raised his head and saw Sokov looking at him, so he asked, "Do you think we can hold Orel-Tula?"

"Comrade Commander, if you want to hear the truth, I can only tell you with regret." After spending some time together, Sokov had a better understanding of Potapov's character. He knew that he wanted to hear the truth, not empty rhetoric, so he answered truthfully: "Even if we try our best, we can't stop the enemy's attack. At best, we can only slow down their advance, strengthen the defense for the troops in the rear, and buy precious time."

After listening to Sokov, Potapov stared at him for a long time, and finally nodded slowly and said: "Captain Sokov, you are right, I think so too. Although the task given to me by my superiors is to resolutely stop the Germans and prevent them from approaching Moscow. But we don't have any troops at all now, and it is obviously impossible to faithfully execute this order. Therefore, after we arrive in Orel, the first thing we have to do is to gather as many troops as possible to organize a tenacious defense."

"Yes, that's exactly the case." Sokov said solemnly: "The enemy we are facing is Guderian's armored forces. Whether we can stop the enemy's tanks is related to whether we can hold our position."

"The tanks of the Southwestern Front were basically lost in the Dubno counterattack, the Battle of Uman, and the Battle of Vinnitsa. As a result, we lacked sufficient armored forces to fight against the enemy attacking the city in the battle to defend Kiev." Potapov looked at Sokov and said, "You once captured 12 German tanks by yourself. I guess you have your own unique insights on how to deal with the German armored forces, right?"

The driver, who was driving, shuddered when he heard what Potapov said and almost drove the car into the ditch on the side of the road.

Potapov's body tilted to the side due to the huge inertia and hit the car door directly. After he sat up again, he said to the driver in dissatisfaction: "Comrade driver, what are you doing? If your skills are not good enough, just tell me, I can just change the driver."

"I'm sorry, Comrade Commander." The driver hastily apologized to Potapov, "There was a bomb crater ahead. It was too dark, so I didn't see it clearly, causing the bumps. Don't worry, a similar situation won't happen again." As he said this, he couldn't help but glance at Sokov next to him out of the corner of his eye, muttering to himself: What kind of tough guy is this? He could actually capture 12 German tanks by himself. It's incredible.

At dawn, the convoy arrived at the city of Tula.

Sokov looked out through the car window. At the intersection, there were barricades made of sandbags and wood. On both sides of the street were barbed wire chevaux de frise and iron tripods to block tanks. Some important buildings were covered with camouflage nets.

There were no civilians on the streets, only groups of plainclothes militia patrols. When they saw the convoy approaching, they immediately stepped aside to make way for it.

Potapov ordered the driver to stop the car on the side of the road. Soon, Lieutenant Colonel Gu Xin's car also stopped not far away, and then he got out of the car and walked over to Potapov and asked: "Comrade Commander, why did you stop here?"

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," Potapov said to Gu Xin, "I am going to take over a troop now. You take the motorized regiment and continue to move towards Orel. After I complete the takeover, I will immediately catch up with you."

"Yes, Comrade Commander." Gu Xin saluted Potapov, then turned around, got into the car and left.

"Comrade Commander, where are we going?" Sokov asked after Lieutenant Colonel Gu Xin left.

"Let's go to the Tula Artillery School," Potapov said. "We're going to receive the artillery unit that our superiors promised us. With this unit, our defense line will be able to hold out longer."

Sokov nodded and said casually: "Yes, artillery is the god of war. With enough artillery, we can hit the enemy hard on the battlefield."

Potapov was shocked when he heard this and said, "Captain Sokov, you have summed it up very well. If we have powerful artillery, we can cause great losses to the enemy whether in offense or defense."

After hearing this, Sokov suddenly realized that the phrase "artillery is the god of war" was not said by Stalin until the counterattack phase of the Battle of Stalingrad. Would it cause trouble for him to say this famous quote so early?

The jeep arrived at the Tula Artillery School, where the principal was an elderly colonel.

Seeing Potapov coming, he hurried forward to shake hands and asked politely: "Excuse me, are you General Potapov, commander of the 1st Guards Infantry Army?"

"Yes, it's me. Are you the director of the Tula Artillery School?"

"I am Colonel Nicholas, the principal." The old colonel replied, "Our school has been assembled and is ready to set off at any time."

"How many men and guns do you need?"

“学校一共有650名师生。”尼古拉上校连忙回答说：“76.2毫米加农炮12门，45毫米反坦克炮8门，另外还有20门82毫米迫击炮，及配套的弹药。”

After hearing this, Potapov frowned slightly and said, "The number of artillery is a bit small, and there are no large-caliber artillery. When we get to the battlefield, we won't be able to form a firepower advantage over the enemy."

Nicholas shrugged and said helplessly: "Comrade General, the artillery school is only a school for training artillerymen, not a combat unit. All artillery is used for teaching purposes, and the number must be too large."

Potapov knew that the other party was telling the truth. Who would have thought that even cadets who had not yet graduated would have to take up arms and join the battle? He was silent for a moment, then continued to ask, "How much ammunition does each gun have?"

"A cardinal number, Comrade General."

"It's a little too little, Comrade Principal." Potapov said, "As far as I know, there are many arsenals in Tula. Can't they provide you with more ammunition?"

"Comrade General, we also want to equip the artillery with more ammunition." Colonel Nicholas said helplessly: "There are so many troops in need of artillery shells now. The artillery shells produced by the arsenal must be given priority to meet the needs of the front-line troops."

"You will be going to the front soon," Potapov said. "If you don't equip them with enough ammunition, once the ammunition you carry is used up, these artillery pieces will become useless. Without saying too much, each gun must be equipped with three basic quantities of ammunition."

After listening to him, Nicholas said with some embarrassment: "Comrade General, if we want to increase the ammunition base for each artillery piece, we must obtain permission from the garrison headquarters." "Where is your garrison headquarters?" Potapov said with a serious expression: "I will go to the garrison commander and ask him to increase the ammunition base for you."

"In the Kremlin," said Colonel Nikolay. "The garrison headquarters is in the Kremlin."

"What, the Kremlin?" Hearing the place name mentioned by Nikolai, Potapov and Sokov standing behind him were stunned: "The garrison headquarters is actually located in the Kremlin."

Seeing Potapov and Sokov's surprised expressions, Nikolay immediately realized that they had misunderstood him, and quickly explained: "Comrade General, you misunderstood. The Kremlin I'm talking about is not the one in Moscow, but the Kremlin in Tula. You should know that Tula is also known as Little Moscow. This city is less than 200 kilometers away from Moscow, and most of its buildings are similar to those in Moscow, so it is called this."

"Oh, I see."

"Comrade General, if you have no objection, I can take you there."

"That's great." Potapov nodded and said, "Then please act as our guide."

Led by Colonel Nikolai, Potapov and Sokov came to the garrison headquarters in the Kremlin.

At the door of the commander's office, a group of officers, including lieutenants and colonels, gathered. They were either sitting or standing, waiting to be received by the garrison commander.

At this moment, they suddenly saw Colonel Nicholas coming over with a general. Everyone immediately stopped talking, stood at attention and saluted them.

A captain sitting behind a desk outside the door saw Colonel Nicholas coming and immediately stood up to greet him, asking curiously, "Colonel Nicholas, what can I do for you?"

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Nikolay pointed to Potapov and said, "This is General Potapov from Moscow. He has urgent business and needs to see the garrison commander immediately."

The captain faced Potapov, raised his hand and saluted, then said politely: "Comrade General, please wait a moment, I will go in and inform you immediately." After that, he turned around, pushed open the closed door, and walked straight in.

A moment later, the captain came out of the room and said to Potapov respectfully: "Comrade General, please come in!"

Potapov thanked him and walked into the room. Sokov wanted to follow him in, but was stopped by the captain: "Comrade Captain, please wait outside."

Since the captain guarding the door wouldn't let him in, Sokov didn't force him. Instead, he took a step back and stood quietly at the door waiting.

Ten minutes later, Potapov came out of the house, and with him came a major general of the same age.

When the officers standing outside the door saw the major general appear, they immediately stood at attention and dared not even breathe.

"Colonel Nikolai, your commander has promised to provide you with three bases of ammunition." Potapov said to Nikolai, "You should immediately arrange for people to go to the military warehouse to collect the ammunition."

The major general also stepped forward and handed a piece of paper to Colonel Nicholas, saying, "This is the approval slip for receiving the ammunition. I have already signed it."

Coming out of the Kremlin, Potapov and Sokov rode in a jeep to catch up with the motorized regiment that had already left, while Colonel Nikolai and his men went to the military warehouse to collect ammunition and corresponding supplies.

"Comrade Commander, although we have anti-tank guns, the number is still too small." Sokov reminded Potapov: "We still can't deal with the German armored cluster."

"Then do you have any good ideas?"

Since the jeep's destination was Mtsensk, Sokov immediately thought of a famous person in his mind: "The best anti-tank weapon is the tank gun. If we can have a large number of tank forces, then we can deal a heavy blow to the enemy's armored forces."

"In addition to the 36th Motorized Regiment and the Tula Artillery School, our superiors also gave us a tank brigade," Potapov said. "The newly formed 4th Independent Tank Brigade is stationed in the Kubinka area 60 kilometers west of Moscow to protect the highway and railway along the Moscow-Minsk line."

Hearing the number Potapov mentioned, Sokov's mouth corners couldn't help but curl up slightly. It was indeed Katukov's 4th Tank Brigade. They will achieve brilliant results in the Mtsensk area.

"Oh, so it's Colonel Katukov's troops."

Potapov was a little surprised: "You know Katukov?"

"I've only heard of him, but never seen him." Sokov covered up and said, "I heard that he was originally the commander of the 9th Tank Division of Rokossovsky's 20th Mechanized Army. When the war broke out, he was hospitalized due to kidney disease and did not participate in the battle. Now that he has recovered and been discharged from the hospital, he has been appointed as the commander of the 4th Independent Tank Brigade."

"I have dealt with him before when the Kiev Special Military District conducted military exercises. He is indeed a commander with great fighting spirit," Potapov said. "I hope the tank troops under his command can bring us unexpected surprises."

"I think he will." Sokov thought that Katukov's achievements were more than just surprising. It might be more appropriate to say shocking. "After all, he is a commander with rich combat experience."

"I just called Marshal Shaposhnikov in the garrison headquarters office." Potapov continued, "He said that this unit has been officially assigned to the command of our 1st Guards Infantry Army, but due to the long journey, it may take them a day or two to arrive. I hope that before they arrive, Guderian's tanks will not enter the city of Orel, otherwise we will become passive."

"Comrade Commander, if Guderian acts quickly, we will have no way to stop him." Sokov said dimly, "After all, you don't have any troops at all. You can only watch the enemy occupy Orel."

Although he knew that Orel was in danger, Potapov still said unwillingly: "I hope that the troops of the Southwestern Front and the Bryansk Front can hold Guderian back for a while longer, so as to buy precious time for us to establish a defense line."

(End of this chapter)