My own war game

Chapter 165 Cavalry
October 1941, Moscow, Podolsk Academy.

As night fell, the sky outside Moscow occasionally lit up with bursts of fire, and if you listened carefully you could faintly hear explosions.

In the stable, the war horses had long been accustomed to the continuous sound of artillery fire. One of the snow-white Orlov horses playfully swept its sleeping companion with its tail from time to time, while the docile Don horse next to it snorted impatiently.

A black figure appeared in the stable. The other war horses were a little restless, but the Orlov horse was visibly excited.

The man was a young man of about 18 or 9, with neat blond hair, wearing a cadet military uniform without collar patches, and holding a jar tightly in his arms.

"Hey, Victory, old buddy, how are you?" The young man reached out to stroke the Orlov horse named "Victory".

And the white horse responded to him cordially, and even tried to put his mouth into the jar.

"Okay, okay, don't worry, I'll help you get it out." The male student reached into the jar and grabbed a handful, then opened his palm, which contained round beans.

The white horse excitedly lowered its head to nibble on the beans, and its warm tongue kept licking the boy's palm.

Bang! A sound rang out from the side.

"Who!" The male student looked vigilantly towards the dark corner.

"Alexei, it's us." A familiar voice came from the corner. Seven or eight boys, also wearing student uniforms, slipped over from the alley. Without exception, each of them held a jar of varying sizes in their arms.

They were cadets from the cavalry department of the Podolsk Academy.

As students of a famous Soviet military academy, these cadets can obtain at least the rank of warrant officer upon graduation, but these future officers are saving their own rations to share with their war horses.

The cavalry had been in decline since the beginning of World War II. The current situation of the Soviet cavalry is that their numbers are increasing, while their equipment and supply conditions are becoming worse and worse. The cavalry divisions originally had few heavy weapons, and in order to make up for the lack of weapons in other troops, these heavy equipment were transferred in large quantities to other troops.

With fewer weapons, there is less food.

War horses are very delicate animals and often need to be fed with midnight feed. Barley, fish bones, and beans are all standard rations.

However, the Soviet Union was now extremely short of supplies, and people were eating black bread and boiled beans every day. Where would they get extra food to feed the horses? Therefore, the concentrated feed for all war horses had been reduced to 30% of the previous amount, and even the training horses in the military academy inevitably lost weight.

These students have developed a deep bond with their warhorses and would rather starve themselves than not secretly share their fine food with their horses.

"Alexei, I heard that our academy had an independent cavalry formation at the last Red Square parade, right?" a younger student asked his senior.

"That's right. Our cavalry is the best, no worse than that of the Frunze School. We are always at the forefront of the cavalry during every military parade. Victory participated in the last parade." Alexei proudly patted the neck of the white horse beside him.

"Oh, my God, Alexei, have you also participated in the military parade? Have you met Comrade Stalin?!" The young students looked at their seniors with admiration.

"Um... no, because I wasn't the victorious rider before." Alexei explained awkwardly, but he immediately added, "But this year is different. As long as we can participate in the parade, I will definitely be..."

Gulong! Gulong! The sound of artillery fire in the distant suburbs was like thunder, pulling the students back to reality from their imagination.

Yes, the Germans have already reached the outskirts of Moscow. There may not be a military parade this year. Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!
A loud horn sounded suddenly.

"Emergency assembly number! Hurry!" The leading boy shouted, and the cadet soldiers ran to the playground.

During the war, everyone was very alert. In less than a minute, everyone was standing on the playground and lined up, with two senior officers standing opposite them.

One of them was Admiral Kirponos, who had been benched by Stalin and was now in charge of the militia.

"Comrade Principal, are these the only ones we have?" General Kirponos asked the people around him.

"Yes, the 380-man cadet cavalry battalion is all here." The school principal answered standing aside, and then he said, "There is no other way. We are short of vehicles now. If we follow the order to reach the Mozhaysk defense line in 8 hours, only cavalry can do it."

After looking at the young faces, the general reached out and picked up a tin trumpet: "Davari! Young soldiers! The Soviet motherland needs you!"

Half an hour later, Alexei got his weapons, a half-new Mosin-Nagant rifle, a standard cavalry saber, three infantry grenades, and the reins of the white horse "Victory" were also in his hands.

The original student ID cards were stamped with a red seal and returned to the young men one by one.

He had just completed his identity change, from a cadet in the cavalry department to a soldier of the Moscow Guards Cavalry Regiment.

They were given a mission to reach the Mozhaysk defense line within 8 hours, support the defenders there and hold out for 72 hours.

Most of these young people, who are not even twenty years old, have childish and confused looks on their faces, while some are full of fantasies about the battlefield.

"Do you think we will get medals after completing the mission this time? I don't ask for much, a medal of bravery will be enough." A young man leading a black horse caught up with Alexei. This was his good friend Sergei.

"Sergey, I suggest you don't think so far ahead. This mission is not that simple." In contrast, Alexei, who is one year older, has his own ideas.

Come to think of it, sending student soldiers who are still in school to the front line means that the mobile forces in this area have been exhausted to the limit. The commander has no choice but to not care about even this small unit of 300 people.

Their instructor, Colonel Robrov, served as the commander himself. He waved his hand behind him, and the team of more than 300 people disappeared into the night.

Behind them, Admiral Kirponos stood at attention and saluted them, his hand unable to lower itself for a long time.

Although the mission was urgent, riding a horse at night was very dangerous, so Robrov asked the trainees to lead the horses and walk slowly first, and then wait for two hours after the sun rose before the others mounted their horses and marched quickly.

Beep~~A GAZ-5 truck came up from behind. Alexei leaned over to take a look. There were two mortars and ammunition, as well as several boxes of anti-tank grenades in the back of the truck.

These are the "heavy weapons" with which the generals support them.

Alexei wanted to take a look at what else was inside, and at this moment a strand of long golden hair appeared in his sight.

woman? !
(End of this chapter)