Red Moscow

In the evening, the shelter work finally came to an end.

Just as Sokov had expected, many of the officers and soldiers who escaped from the German encirclement retreated towards Moscow along this road. In just a few hours, the number of people evacuated reached more than 1,800.

It was certainly a happy thing to be able to accommodate so many officers and soldiers, but what made Sokov even more excited was that although the 456th Regiment of the 152nd Infantry Division, which was originally affiliated with the 16th Army, suffered heavy casualties during the breakout and the regiment commander and political commissar were unfortunately killed, the deputy regiment commander led the remaining troops to break through the German encirclement and successfully retreated here.

The deputy commander of the 456th Regiment was Lieutenant Colonel Belkin, but when Sokov heard the other's name, he was slightly stunned. He thought that in his previous life, when he had just taken the position of battalion commander, the political deputy battalion commander sent to him by his superiors was also called this name.

Sokov shook his hand vigorously twice, then raised his concerns: "Comrade Belkin, I plan to form a new unit based on your 456th Regiment. But I wonder if you can accept someone with a lower rank than you as the head of the regiment?"

You know, the rank of the Soviet regiment commander is either lieutenant colonel or colonel. It is very rare for a major like Sokov to serve as a regiment commander. So the reason why this question was raised specifically was to confirm whether Lieutenant Colonel Belkin could accept this. If he could not accept it, he would ask his superiors to send a new person to serve as deputy regiment commander.

Unexpectedly, Belkin responded very cooperatively: "Comrade Major, although your rank is lower than mine, you are the commander appointed by your superiors. My men and I will definitely obey your orders. From now on, the 456th Infantry Regiment will be officially renamed the Independent Infantry Regiment."

Seeing Belkin's cooperation, Sokov smiled and continued, "Comrade Deputy Regiment Commander, to be honest, General Rokossovsky appointed me as the commander of the independent regiment, but only gave me one company of troops. I need to find a way to deal with the rest of the troops myself. Now that we have taken in more than 1,800 officers and soldiers, I was a little worried about how to organize them. Now that we have the 456th Regiment, which has suffered heavy casualties but is fully organized, what we have to do is to organize the officers and soldiers we have taken in into three battalions in batches, so that the independent infantry regiment can be officially established."

"Comrade Major, although more than half of our officers were killed or wounded during the breakout, including the regiment commander and political commissar, the three battalion commanders are still alive." Belkin said to Sokov, "If you have no objection, I will call the three battalion commanders in to meet you."

After getting Sokov's consent, Belkin walked to the door of the tent, called one of his men over, and told him: "Go and call all the battalion commanders over and tell them that our new regiment commander wants to see them."

The battalion commanders stayed not far from the tents, waiting for the quartermaster to distribute food to their men. When they heard someone say that the deputy commander wanted them to meet the new commander, they dared not neglect it and immediately followed the soldier to meet Sokov.

"Comrade Major." After several battalion commanders including Belkin entered the tent, he introduced them to Sokov: "Let me introduce you to the commander of the first battalion, Captain Yefim, the commander of the second battalion, Captain Alexa, and the commander of the third battalion, Captain Nazorov." Then he said to the three battalion commanders, "This is our new regiment commander, Major Sokov."

After listening to Belkin's introduction, Sokov shook hands with the three battalion commanders one by one, and he felt much more at ease. The battalion commanders' military ranks were lower than his own, and when he gave them orders in the future, they would not feel resistance just because their ranks were the same as his.

"Comrade Commander," after both parties got to know each other, the third battalion commander Nazorov was the first to ask, "Our officers and soldiers ran out of food a few days ago. Can you provide us with some food?"

"Aren't there people distributing food in the trucks outside?" Belkin asked in surprise, "Why, they didn't distribute it to you?"

"The quartermaster said that there was not enough food because there were too many people," Nazorov said dejectedly, "He said that when new supplies arrive, we will be given priority."

"He's just trying to fool us." Battalion Commander Yefim said indignantly, "Who knows when new supplies will be delivered?"

Yefim's words reminded Belkin, and he quickly said to Sokov: "Comrade Major, in addition to being out of food, our ammunition is almost exhausted. I have just carefully observed the officers and soldiers outside. Many of them don't even have weapons. If we can't replenish them as soon as possible, I'm afraid they won't be able to participate in the battle at all."

"Comrade Deputy Commander, you don't have to worry about that." Sokov knew very well that these officers and soldiers who had just escaped the encirclement, in addition to wanting to find a place to have a good rest, also hoped to replenish their weapons, ammunition and food as soon as possible, so he explained: "I have sent people to the headquarters to collect supplies. I believe it won't be long before the weapons, ammunition and food you need can be delivered." While saying this, he was muttering to himself in his heart, the lieutenant had been gone for four or five hours, why hadn't he come back yet, did something unexpected happen?

"When will the weapons, ammunition and supplies be delivered?" Yefim asked anxiously, "My men have been starving for days, and many of them can no longer hold on..."

Before Yefim could finish, Sokov raised his hand to interrupt him: "Captain Yefim, don't worry, the vehicles transporting weapons, ammunition and supplies are already on the way. I believe they will arrive here soon. Comrade Deputy Regiment Commander!" His last words were directed to the Deputy Regiment Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Belkin.

Hearing Sokov calling him, Belkin quickly asked: "Comrade Major, what instructions do you have?"

"Before the weapons, ammunition and supplies are delivered, go out and select personnel to replenish the troops that have suffered heavy losses." In order to stabilize the morale of the troops, Sokov made a promise to everyone: "Maybe the supplies will arrive before you have completed the reorganization of the troops."

Belkin nodded, then turned to the three battalion commanders and said, "Comrade battalion commanders, you have all heard what the regiment commander said. Now, go out and select men to replenish your battalions. Once the weapons, ammunition and supplies arrive, you can start distributing them."

The battalion commanders agreed, turned around and walked out of the tent to select personnel to replenish their troops, which had suffered serious casualties.

After the battalion commanders left, Sokov asked Belkin, "Comrade Deputy Commander, did you bring any communication equipment with you when you broke out?"

"There is a radio." Belkin said with a complicated expression, "Unfortunately, the radio operator died in the breakout, and no one knows how to use this radio."

Sokov's mouth twitched. When he heard about the radio, he was secretly happy. This way he could keep in touch with his superiors. But when he heard the other party's next words, his heart sank. If there was no radio operator, then this radio would be a decoration. It was a pity that Lieutenant Alina escorted Yakov to Moscow, otherwise she would be a good choice to serve as the radio operator.

"Comrade Commander," Bobrikov came in from outside and reported to Sokov, "My men reported to me that we heard the roar of tank engines behind us. It seems that there are tanks coming towards us."

Hearing that a tank was coming this way, Belkin showed a nervous expression on his face. Sokov also asked seriously: "Have you figured out whose tank it is?"

Bobrikov shook his head. "It's too dark to see clearly."

"Comrade Major," Belkin looked at Sokov and asked, "what should we do?"

"Comrade Captain," Sokov thought for a moment, then said to Bobrikov, "You take a few men with you to conduct reconnaissance in that direction and find out whether the approaching tanks belong to our army or the Germans. If they are ours, let them come; if they are the enemy's, destroy them."

Bobrikov agreed and walked out of the tent.

Belkin was stunned when he saw how Sokov handled the matter. He thought that if his former regiment commander knew about this, he would definitely take people to check the situation in person. Thinking of this, he cautiously said to Sokov: "Comrade Major, don't you go and check it yourself?"

"Why do you have to go check it out yourself?" Sokov looked at Belkin and asked curiously, "I am the regiment commander, not the company commander. Some things can obviously be handed over to my subordinates to complete. Why do you have to go there in person?"

Hearing that a strange tank had arrived, Sokov was immediately curious. He waved his hand and said, "Let's go out and take a look."

Sokov took Belkin and Bobrikov out of the tent and walked towards the direction of the tanks and the convoy. He was eager to see what the strange tanks Bobrikov mentioned looked like.

Not far ahead, he saw a convoy of tanks and five trucks slowly approaching. Sokov quickly stopped and stood on the side of the road to carefully observe the approaching tanks.

Soon, the tanks approached.

After seeing the tank clearly, Sokov was amused. Isn't this the famous German tank "Sherman M1" during World War I that was ridiculed on the Internet as "having a firing rate of 350 rounds per minute and armor-piercing, blasting and burning in an instant"?

"Comrade Major," Belkin, as a commander who had been on the front line for a long time, had seen tanks from both sides, but the tank in front of him looked unfamiliar to him. He turned his head and looked at Sokov and asked, "What kind of tank is this? Why have I never seen it before?"

Sokov knew very well that the American-aided Sherman tanks had just begun to enter the Soviet-German battlefield. Not to mention commanders of Belkin's rank, even Rokossovsky had probably never seen one. So he shook his head and pretended to be surprised and said, "I don't know. I have never seen such a tank."

The convoy stopped in an open space not far from the tent. The lieutenant got out of the car behind and trotted to Sokov. He raised his hand and saluted and reported: "Comrade Major, the supplies I received from the headquarters have been delivered. Please give me your instructions!"

Sokov raised his hand to return the greeting, shook hands with the lieutenant, and asked, "Comrade Lieutenant, what supplies did you bring back?"

"There are five trucks in total!" the lieutenant reported to Sokov. "Two are loaded with food, and the rest are weapons and ammunition."

"Well done, Comrade Lieutenant. Well done." After praising the lieutenant, Sokov turned to Bobrikov and said, "Comrade Captain, go find the quartermaster and tell him that there are new weapons, ammunition and supplies arriving. Wait for him to organize the distribution."

After Bobrikov left, the lieutenant continued, "Comrade Major, our superiors were worried that something might happen to us on the way, so they sent a tank to escort us."

As the two were talking, Sokov heard a voice coming from the turret. He looked up and saw an officer in a tank uniform opening the hatch and climbing out of the tank. After the officer jumped off the tank, he came to Sokov and saluted: "Hello, Comrade Major, I am Lieutenant Kozak, the tank commander. From now on, my tank crew will be under your command."

"Lieutenant Kozak," Sokov shook Kozak's hand and said enthusiastically, "Welcome to join my army."

Although there was only one tank, Sokov was still happy. His independent regiment was a lightly armed unit, equipped with light weapons. If they encountered the German armored forces, they would only be able to passively take the beating. But now that they had tanks, they had anti-tank forces. Once the battle started, at least it would not become a one-sided trend.

"One more thing." After Sokov and the tank commander released their hands, the lieutenant called over a female soldier and continued, "In order to communicate with you more conveniently, the superiors have prepared a radio station for your troops. This is Morozova, the radio operator sent by the superiors."

"That's great." After saying this, Sokov turned to Belkin beside him and said, "Comrade Deputy Commander, we were just worrying about the fact that the regiment only had a radio but no radio operator. I had planned to send someone to the headquarters to apply for a radio operator after the troops were organized, but I didn't expect the superiors to take the initiative to send us a radio and a radio operator."

"That's right." Looking at the female radio operator standing in front of him, Belkin smiled happily and said repeatedly: "With the radio, it will be much easier for us to communicate with our superiors."

Sokov was eager to report the situation here to the army headquarters, so he said to Morozova: "Comrade radio operator, come with me to the tent to send a message and report the situation here to the superiors."