Red Moscow.

Chapter 2775 Encountering Danger

As the jeep drove through the road in the forest, two soldiers wearing blue hats suddenly appeared thirty or forty meters ahead.

Although both of them were wearing large-brimmed blue hats, Sokov could tell at a glance that the one standing in the front was a lieutenant officer, and the one standing next to him holding a submachine gun was a sergeant.

The sudden appearance of two Ministry of Internal Affairs soldiers made Sokov alert. He turned to Potapov, who was sitting in the back row, and said, "Comrade Commander, there seems to be something wrong with the Ministry of Internal Affairs personnel in front." As he said that, he He pulled out the pistol from his waist and held it in his hand.

The jeep stopped in front of two Ministry of Internal Affairs soldiers. The driver opened the door, stuck his head out and asked, "Comrade Lieutenant, what can I do for you?"

The lieutenant of the Ministry of Internal Affairs said with a serious expression: "Check the documents and everyone in the car get out!"

Looking at the two blue hats in front of him, both wearing red armbands on their arms, the driver, although reluctant, still got out of the car, took out his ID and handed it to the lieutenant of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Just as the lieutenant was checking the driver's ID, another private wearing a blue hat rushed out of the forest. He quickly came to the passenger side of the jeep and pointed his gun at the jeep.

"Comrade Commander," Sokov half-turned around and said to Potapov sitting in the back row: "Do you see what's wrong?"

"I see." Potapov said softly: "I will deal with the officer who checked the driver's ID, and the other two, are you sure you can deal with them?"

"no problem."

The lieutenant checked the driver's ID, but did not return it. Instead, he shouted at Sokov and Potapov who were sitting in the car: "Everyone get out of the car and accept our inspection."

"Okay, let's get out of the car now." Sokov promised, raised his left hand, pushed the door open, and jumped out of the car.

While the private next to the car was still in a daze, Sokov pulled the trigger and hit the private directly in the abdomen. The sergeant standing in front of the car couldn't help but froze for two seconds when he heard the sudden gunshot, and then turned his gun towards Sokov.

But just these two seconds were enough to kill him. Sokov pulled the trigger again, hitting the sergeant in the shoulder. When he was about to shoot again, the sergeant endured the pain and pulled the trigger on Sokov. Amidst the crisp gunfire, Sokov rolled on the spot and rolled directly into the ravine on the roadside, causing all the bullets fired from the submachine gun to hit the open space.

When the driver heard the gunshot, he immediately realized that there was something wrong with the Ministry of Internal Affairs soldier in front of him, and turned around to go back to the car to get the weapon. But as soon as he turned around, the lieutenant raised his pistol and shot him several times in the back, knocking him down on the spot.

Potapov also took advantage of the lieutenant's shooting at the driver, put his pistol out of the car window, pointed it at the lieutenant and fired several shots, killing him directly. After killing the officer, Potapov opened the door and got out of the car, bent down and ran to the hood, raised his gun and pulled the trigger at the sergeant who was squatting and firing at Sokov's hiding place with a submachine gun.

After the gunfire, the sergeant fell to the ground, and the vicious firing of the submachine gun stopped abruptly.

Holding a pistol, Potapov bent down to check whether several Ministry of Internal Affairs soldiers were dead. At the same time, he shouted towards the place where Sokov was hiding: "Captain Sokov, come out, I have killed all the enemies."

Sokov poked his head out of the ditch on the side of the road, looked outside, and saw four bodies lying next to the car. Although there is no face visible, judging from the position, it should be the driver. He slowly climbed out of the ravine, came to Potapov, and asked with concern: "Comrade Commander, are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Potapov looked at the corpse on the ground and couldn't help but frowned: "I really didn't expect that the enemy actually penetrated this place."

Sokov raised his foot and kicked the corpse of the fake lieutenant, and said coldly: "Since August, our army's patrols have been equipped with Mosin Nagant rifles, and submachine guns are used to equip frontline troops. Didn’t the Germans learn about it before they disguised themselves as our troops?”

Potapov looked at the surrounding environment and said: "The terrain here is not suitable for setting up a checkpoint, but more suitable for an ambush. I heard your reminder at that time, and then observed the surrounding environment, and realized that this There are problems with a few Ministry of Internal Affairs soldiers.”

"Comrade Commander, based on my experience." Sokov said: "If these are Germans who have infiltrated, there must be their radio station nearby."

"Then let's hurry up and search to see if we can find their radio station."

The two started searching in the forest on both sides of the road. The area Sokov focused on was the location where the last private emerged. Sure enough, he found a huge backpack here. When he opened it, he found that there was indeed a radio station inside.

"Comrade Commander, we found it." Sokov came to Potapov with his backpack and reported to him: "This is the German radio station."

"It seems that our guess is not wrong." Potapov was originally worried that he had killed the wrong person, but when he saw the backpack in Sokov's hand, his worried heart finally returned to his stomach. : "Let's continue on our way."

Sokov looked at the corpses next to the car and asked Potapov: "Comrade Commander, what should we do with these corpses?"

"Drag them to the side of the road first." Potapov said: "Take away all the weapons on them. After we arrive in Mtsensk, we will send people over to deal with them."

As soon as he finished speaking, there was a roar of motorcycles in front of him. It seemed that there were quite a few motorcycles heading in this direction.

Because they were not sure whether they were their own people or Germans disguised as Soviet troops, Sokov and Potapov hid in a ravine on the roadside.

Soon, the motorcycle came close.

Sokov, who was hiding in the ditch, heard someone outside saying: "This seems to be the commander's car!"

"Yes, it's the commander's car!"

"What's going on with these corpses? Could it be that something happened to the commander?"

"What are you still doing? Why don't you hurry up and go around to find the whereabouts of Comrade Commander."

When he heard people outside talking about the military commander, Sokov immediately understood that it must be one of his own. He quickly whispered to Potapov: "Comrade Commander, it seems that our own people have arrived. Do you need to go out and contact them now?"

"Wait a minute, Captain Sokov." Potapov reminded Sokov: "They saw so many corpses lying around my car. They must be in a state of high tension at this moment. If we stand up rashly, , maybe some soldiers will shoot at us in panic."

"Then I won't show my face for the time being and shout a few times outside."

"Okay. That's it."

After the two discussed it, Sokov shouted outside: "Hey, comrades!"

Hearing Sokov's shout, the outside suddenly became quiet, but soon someone shouted over here: "Don't move, put down your weapons, and come out slowly from the hiding place." Then, there was a sound from outside. There was a sound of the bolt being pulled. "Comrades, don't shoot, I'm coming out!"

Watching Sokov slowly stand up from the gully with a submachine gun in both hands, everyone's guns were pointed at him.

But the next moment, a voice shouted: "Put down your guns, he is the commander's adjutant."

After the soldiers put down their guns, a second lieutenant ran up to Sokov and asked with concern: "Comrade Adjutant, where is the commander?"

"I'm here." Seeing that nothing was going on outside, Potapov also stood up straight from the ditch.

The second lieutenant called his subordinates and came over to help Sokov and Potapov climb out of the ditch. Then he asked with concern: "Comrade Commander, what exactly happened here?"

Potapov pointed to the three corpses dressed as Internal Affairs Ministry soldiers on the ground and said: "These three are Germans in disguise, trying to ambush us here. Fortunately, Captain Sokov saw through it, and we took the lead and killed them all. Killed. Unfortunately, my driver died in the battle."

Sokov said to the second lieutenant: "Comrade second lieutenant, the commander and I have to continue our journey. Please take care of this place."

"Okay, Comrade Adjutant." The second lieutenant agreed, "Leave this to me."

Sokov drove to the city of Mtsensk, found the headquarters of the motorized regiment, and met the regiment leader, Lieutenant Colonel Gu Xin.

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Seeing that the military uniforms of Sokov and Potapov were covered in dust, Gu Xin couldn't help but curiously asked: "Comrade Commander, why are your uniforms dirty?"

"Hey, forget it, we encountered the Germans on the road and there was a little fighting."

Hearing what Potapov said, Gu Xin was suddenly startled and broke into a cold sweat: "Comrade Commander, are you not injured?"

"No." Potapov shook his head and said, "Both Captain Sokov and I are fine. All the enemies were eliminated by us. Only my driver was unfortunately shot and died."

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." After Sokov waited for Potapov to finish speaking, he added: "After we eliminated the enemy, your patrol team just arrived there. After some communication, they are staying at the moment. Dealing with the aftermath there.”

"Lieutenant Colonel Gu Xin, how is the situation here?" Potapov asked Gu Xin: "Have your troops been deployed?"

"Yes, Comrade Commander, our regiment has deployed to the west of the city and is building fortifications at the right time."

When Gu Xin pointed at the map and introduced the situation to Potapov, Sokov stared at the map on the table in a daze.

According to the history he knew, starting from the end of September, the German Army Group Center, which included the 2nd, 4th, and 9th Army Groups and the 2nd and 3rd Tank Groups, respectively organized one army group and one tank group in Smoleng. The three regions of Northeastern Sksk, Roslavli and Shostka, from the north and west and the southwest three directions to launch assaults on Kalinin City, Vyazma, Orel, and Tula directions, in an attempt to first divide and annihilate the Kalinin Front Army in the Vyazma area and the Western Front Army and reserves in the Bryansk area, and then With a powerful rapid group, surround and capture Moscow from the north and south.

The German Southwest Assault Group, composed of Guderian's 2nd Tank Group and Weicks' 2nd Army, broke through the defenses of the Soviet Bryansk Front and advanced to Orel on October 2. area, directly endangering the security of Tula, and forming a detour from the south to Moscow. In order to block the German attack, the Soviet high command urgently organized the 1st Guards Infantry Corps, assigned several reserve groups, including the 4th Independent Tank Brigade, to the army, and deployed them to build a defense line in the Mtsensk area.

After completing the report, Lieutenant Colonel Gu Xin said to Potapov with a grimace: "Comrade Commander, now, in addition to my motorized regiment inside and outside Mtsensk, there are only local defenders and militia. The total strength of the combined force is no more than a thousand, of which there are less than two hundred regular troops. I think we cannot stop the Germans with our current strength."

"You are right, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." Potapov agreed with Lieutenant Colonel Gu Xin's statement: "We have too few troops at our disposal to stop the powerful Germans. However, Don't worry, this phenomenon is only temporary. I believe it won't be long before the reinforcements sent by our superiors will arrive in a steady stream. "

"I don't have high hopes for other reinforcements." Lieutenant Colonel Gu Xin said, "But it would be good for us if the troops from the Tula Artillery School arrived early. As long as we can get the necessary artillery fire during the battle, With support, we will be able to block the German attack."

"Don't worry, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel. The artillery school will arrive tonight at the latest." Potapov said: "They have enough ammunition to provide you with powerful artillery support on the battlefield."

"If so, that would be great."

While the two were talking, the phone on the table rang.

The nearest regiment chief of staff picked up the phone and listened for a while, then handed it to Potapov: "Comrade Commander, this is your phone number."

Potapov answered the phone, and a strange voice came from inside: "Is it General Potapov?"

"Yes, I am Potapov."

Just when Potapov wanted to ask who the other party was, the other party had already said first: "I will now officially inform you that the train carrying the equipment of the 4th Tank Brigade will arrive at the Mtsensk train station at 11 o'clock tonight. Please You arrange for someone to pick up the car.”

Before Potapov could say anything, the other party hung up the phone.

"Comrade Commander, who called?" Lieutenant Colonel Gu Xin asked curiously.

Potapov turned to look at Lieutenant Colonel Gu Xin and said with a smile: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, this is good news. The 4th Tank Brigade assigned to me by my superiors will arrive at Mtsensk by train at 11 o'clock tonight. Stop, let me arrange someone to pick up the car!”

Hearing what Potapov said, Gu Xin was overjoyed: "Comrade Commander, this is really exciting news. If you don't object, I want to follow you to the train station to see where the 4th Tank Brigade is. What kind of tanks are equipped?”

"No problem, I'll ask you to go with me then." Potapov turned to look at Sokov: "Captain Sokov, you also follow me to the train station."

Sokov felt ecstatic when he learned that Katukov's 4th Tank Brigade was about to arrive in Mtsensk. The Mtsensk tank battle not only successfully blocked the German offensive, but also made Katukov famous in the battle. The 4th Tank Brigade he commanded was awarded the Guards Tank Brigade by the Supreme Command a month later. The honorary title of 1st Brigade.

At this moment, when he heard Potapov asking him to follow him to the train station to greet the arrival of the 4th Tank Brigade, he immediately replied loudly: "Yes!"

"Lieutenant Colonel Gu Xin," Potapov ordered Lieutenant Colonel Gu Xin after arranging things for the evening: "You immediately contact the garrison commander in the city and ask him to come to my place. I want to officially take over. his troops."

(End of chapter)