Red Moscow

After receiving the telegram and reading the content clearly, Malinin was shocked at first, and then began to shake his head.

Rokossovsky, who was talking to Lobachev and Romanov, saw Malinin shaking his head and couldn't help asking curiously: "Chief of Staff, what are you looking at?"

"It's a telegram from Major Sokov." Malinin came over and handed the telegram to Rokossovsky, saying, "It reports on his collection of the scattered troops today."

Lobachev felt that with Sokov's rank, he could not take in many troops in less than a day, so he said disapprovingly: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I wonder how many troops Major Sokov took in?"

"About two thousand people." Before Malinin could answer, Rokossovsky spoke up first.

"What?" Lobachev's eyes widened in surprise. "How many? Almost 2,000 people?"

Romanov, the deputy commander, also doubted this number: "How is this possible? He took in so many troops in less than a day. It's incredible. Could he have made a mistake?"

"No mistake." Rokossovsky closed his eyes and thought for a while, then opened his eyes and explained to everyone, "I think it should be the troops that broke out from the Vyazma area. After all, there are hundreds of thousands of troops trapped in the enemy's encirclement. Even if only a small number of them enter the reception area set up by Sokov, they can accommodate several thousand troops."

After Romanov confirmed that Sokov had indeed taken in nearly 2,000 troops, he took the initiative to ask: "Comrade Commander, do you need to provide him with a group of commanders to help him immediately set up the framework of the independent regiment?"

Rokossovsky smiled. "I don't think that's necessary. According to the telegram, he has taken over the 456th Infantry Regiment, which has suffered serious casualties. The deputy commander and three battalion commanders are still alive. Now he has assigned the officers and soldiers he has taken in to strengthen the regiment. As long as we give them another batch of weapons, they will be able to carry out combat missions independently."

"I can arrange a transport team to replenish their weapons and ammunition overnight." Malinin heard what Rokossovsky said and asked tentatively: "Comrade Commander, should we arrange a combat area for the independent regiment now?"

"No hurry, no hurry." Rokossovsky waved his hand and said, "Although the independent regiment already has nearly 2,000 people, it has just been formed, and the cadres and soldiers have not yet had time to get used to each other, and they still lack tacit understanding. If we rush to the battlefield, we will be defeated before we even fight a single battle."

"The area they are in now is very close to the enemy, and fighting could break out at any time." Hearing Rokossovsky say that the independent regiment did not have the ability to fight independently for the time being, Malinin suggested to him: "How about letting them retreat to the vicinity of the headquarters first, and then sending them to the battlefield after a while?"

"Although the enemy is very close to us, their attention is now focused on the Mozhaisk area." Rokossovsky said cautiously: "I think we can let Major Sokov and his men stay where they are for the time being and continue to accommodate more troops."

"They already have almost 2,000 people. Do they still need to accommodate more troops?"

"It is absolutely necessary." Rokossovsky nodded and said in an affirmative tone: "As long as the German army does not attack them, they can continue to stay in their current position, so that they can accommodate more troops. Maybe after a while, this force will become the most powerful reserve force in our hands."

"If we continue to increase the number of personnel, won't the regiment be too small?" Malinin suggested to Rokossovsky: "How about expanding them into a division?"

Rokossovsky thought about Malinin's proposal, then shook his head and refused, "As far as I know, Major Sokov has only been in the army for two months. He obviously does not have the ability to command a division-level combat unit. It is obviously inappropriate to rashly let him become a division commander. I think we should change the independent regiment into an independent brigade, and after Major Sokov has accumulated enough command experience, we can consider promoting him to division commander."

"Well, I'll telegraph him right away to tell him the good news."

"Also," Rokossovsky added, "arrange a transport team as soon as possible to deliver weapons and ammunition to them so that they can be armed. This way, even if they encounter a surprise attack by the German army, they will have enough ability to fight the enemy."

Ten minutes later, Sokov received a telegram from the headquarters.

After reading the contents of the telegram, he said to Belkin: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I just received a telegram from the army headquarters asking us to stay where we are temporarily and continue to accommodate those officers and soldiers who escaped from the German encirclement. In addition, from now on, our regiment's number will be changed from an independent infantry regiment to an independent infantry brigade."

Sokov noticed the mood in the army and was a little angry. However, he did not simply lose his temper, but called several battalion commanders to a meeting and emphasized to them the importance of strengthening night defense.

After the battalion commanders left, Sokov lay down in the corner of the tent and fell asleep.

But for some reason, even though he felt very tired, he couldn't fall asleep and always felt that something was going to happen.

Since he couldn't sleep, he simply sat up, put on his clothes and walked out of the tent.

As soon as I walked out of the tent, I met the guard company commander Bobrikov who was patrolling with several soldiers.

Seeing Sokov coming out of the tent, Bobrikov asked curiously: "Comrade Brigade Commander, it's so late, why haven't you rested yet?"

"I can't sleep." Sokov said to Bobrikov, "Captain, come with me to the position and see if the battalions have followed my instructions to strengthen their night defenses."

Since Sokov was going to inspect the position, Bobrikov, as the captain of the guard company, naturally chose to obey. So the two of them, along with several guards, walked towards the nearest battalion position.

After entering the trench, the group walked forward along the trench.

Bobrikov could not help but say with emotion: "Comrade Brigade Commander, I never thought that such a long trench could be dug in just a few hours."

Sokov didn't say anything, but just nodded slightly. He was thinking that if he wanted to build a defensive position, it was not enough to have trenches alone, he also had to build shelters and anti-gun holes on the position; in front of the position, he also had to lay minefields, put up barbed wire, set up anti-tank obstacles, and so on.

There was a sentry hiding at the fork of the trench. When he saw someone coming along the trench, he immediately came out from his hiding place, ready to stop the other person for questioning. When he saw clearly that it was Brigade Commander Sokov, he immediately retreated.

Yefim, the commander of a battalion who was on guard duty, met Sokov and his men and immediately stopped to report, "Comrade Brigade Commander, I am on guard duty!"

Sokov nodded to Yefim and said with satisfaction: "Captain, it seems that your battalion's nighttime alert work is done well. I saw at least ten hidden sentries along the way. If the enemy really came to attack, I'm afraid they would discover it before they get close."

Yefim grinned, and was about to say something when his expression suddenly turned serious.

"What's wrong, Comrade Captain?" After seeing the change in the other party's face, Sokov realized that something might have happened and asked quickly, "What happened?"

Yefim raised his hand to signal Sokov not to speak, and then whispered: "Comrade Brigade Commander, I seem to hear some special sounds."

After hearing what Yefim said, Sokov immediately held his breath and listened carefully to the movements around him.

Soon, Sokov's eardrums caught a strange sound, not the rustling sound of the night wind blowing through the forest, but the crisp sound of dead branches under heavy pressure, and the sound was slowly approaching. His pupils suddenly contracted. Based on his rich combat experience, it was someone quietly approaching the position of the first battalion.

"Someone is approaching us." Sokov said in a low voice.

"That's right." Yefim, who had just escaped from the encirclement, was more vigilant than Sokov. He even heard the approximate number of the enemy: "They are more than 50 meters away, there are about 20 people."

"Could it be one of our own?" Sokov asked.

Yefim understood what Sokov meant. If the person coming was one of his own who had just escaped from the enemy's encirclement, he would cause accidental injuries if he opened fire rashly. But after listening carefully for a while, he slowly shook his head and said, "No, it's not one of our own."

"Why?" Sokov was worried about hurting his own people by mistake, so he wanted to clarify some things.

"The reason is very simple." Yefim explained to Sokov, "Our officers and soldiers have been trapped in the German encirclement for more than ten days. They are exhausted physically and mentally. If they walk in the forest at night, the footsteps they hear should be messy and irregular. And if you listen to the footsteps in the distance, they are approaching cautiously, as if they are afraid of being discovered by us."

Sokov thought Yefim's statement made sense, so he nodded and asked, "Comrade Captain, what are you going to do next?"

"Grenade!" Yefim took out a grenade, pulled the string, and threw it in the direction where the sound came from.

After a loud "bang", the flames of the explosion illuminated the crowd slowly approaching from dozens of meters away.

Seeing that their whereabouts were exposed, some of those people lay down on the spot, some hid behind trees, and began shooting in the direction where the grenade came from.

As soon as the gunshots were heard, Sokov immediately recognized that they were the sounds of 98K and MP40 submachine guns. The Soviet commanders and fighters who escaped from the German encirclement were obviously not equipped with German weapons, so it was certain that the approaching figure was an enemy.

"Machine gun!" After confirming that the person who appeared in the woods was an enemy, Yefim shouted at the top of his voice, raised his pistol, and shot at the figure in the distance: "Shoot into the woods!"

As the shouts were heard, the machine guns on the position began firing, and dense bullets flew towards the swaying figures in the woods.

Sokov was not to be outdone. He took a Mosin-Nagant rifle from the guard and fired into the woods. Since the troops had no flares, Sokov could only rely on the muzzle flash when the enemy fired to determine the enemy's approximate position. He fired one shot after another, and as for whether he hit the target, only God knew.

The sudden sound of gunfire startled the officers and soldiers of the first battalion who were resting nearby. Without waiting for orders from their superiors, they picked up their weapons, rushed directly into the trenches, and fired wildly at the forest where the enemy was hiding. Soon, the enemy's firepower was completely suppressed, and they were beaten without any ability to fight back.

When there was no more movement in the forest, Yefim ordered the troops to stop firing and then asked Sokov: "Comrade Brigade Commander, there is no movement in the forest. The enemy should have been eliminated by us. Do you think we should send someone to clean up the battlefield?"

Sokov rejected Yefim's request without hesitation: "No, Comrade Captain, the visibility in the forest is limited. If the remaining enemies hide in the dark and suddenly open fire when our officers and soldiers go over to clean up the battlefield, it will cause us great casualties. I think we should wait until daybreak before going over."

Although Yefim was eager to know the results of the battle, he could only obey Sokov's order since he was not allowed to clean up the battlefield at this moment. He then summoned the company commanders and asked them to count the casualties and ammunition consumption of the troops.