Red Moscow

"Comrade Commander," Malinin said in order to better express his meaning, "If our counterattack in the Borechevo area is successful, we can merge with General Potapov's Army Group, thus connecting the defense areas of the two armies into one."

"Chief of Staff, you are right. As long as we complete the counterattack in the Borechevo area, we can connect our defense line with the defense line of the 5th Army on the left wing into a whole." Rokossovsky agreed, "In this way, it will not be so easy for the German army to break through our defense. By the way, which troops can we deploy in this counterattack?"

Malinin hesitated for a moment, then said: "From the perspective of the attack position, the most suitable unit is undoubtedly General Panfilov's 316th Infantry Division, but if they are used to counterattack, the defense of the Volokolamsk area will become empty. If the enemy chooses to attack from this area, we will have no power to stop them."

"Yes, you are right." Rokossovsky stared at the map and said, "Apart from the 316th Infantry Division, there is only Misha's Infantry Brigade..."

Malinin said: "The infantry brigade was formed too recently and its equipment is not complete. Even if they are put into battle, they can only play a small role."

Sokov could tell from Rokossovsky's tone that he was planning to send his infantry brigade into battle, and he was terrified. The newly formed troops had not yet been run-in, and there was no tacit understanding between the officers and soldiers. If they were rushed into the battlefield, they might fight on their own. Just as Sokov was about to talk about the difficulties his troops were facing, he heard Malinin's words.

He waited for Malinin to finish speaking, and then quickly added: "That's right, Comrade Commander. My infantry brigade has been formed for less than a day, and the officers and soldiers have not had time to get to know each other. The troops do not have any combat effectiveness at all. If they are hastily sent to the battlefield, I am afraid they will not be able to play any role."

"There is no other way, Comrade Commander." Malinin said helplessly, "Almost all of our existing regular troops have been consumed in the Vyazma area, and the new reserve troops are still on the way and will not be able to reach us in a short time. Therefore, we can only supplement our forces with the anti-tank companies and anti-tank battalions composed of militia."

Two people walked in from outside, and one of them asked, "Comrade Commander, what are you discussing?"

Sokov turned his head and saw clearly that one of the two people who came in was Kazakov, the director of the army's artillery, and the other was a political worker whom he had never seen before.

"It's Kazakov." Rokossovsky said to the newcomer, "Our superiors have given us an order to launch a counterattack. We are currently formulating a combat plan."

Kazakov came closer and saw Romanov standing next to Lobachev. He couldn't help but ask Rokossovsky curiously: "Comrade Commander, who is this general? I have never seen him before. Is he newly transferred?"

"Kazakov, let me introduce you. This is the new deputy commander of the army, Major General Romanov. He was previously the commander of the 172nd Infantry Division." After Rokossovsky introduced Romanov to Kazakov, he said to Romanov, "Comrade Deputy Commander, this is Major General Kazakov, the director of the army's artillery. The person next to him is Comrade Romanov, the head of the army's political department. He has the same last name as you."

After Romanov shook hands with Kazakov and others, they began to study and implement the counterattack plan that would begin in a dozen hours.

Before the plan was completed, the phone on the desk rang.

Malinin picked up the receiver, listened, and then handed it to Rokossovsky: "Comrade Commander, this is a call for you."

Rokossovsky took the microphone and put it to his ear: "I am Rokossovsky!"

"Hello, Comrade Rokossovsky." A voice that Rokossovsky felt very familiar came from the microphone: "I am Romanchenko, the director of the General Police Department!"

"Comrade Director, why did you think of calling me?"

"It is like this, Comrade Rokossovsky." Romanchenko said with a smile: "I have formed a 50-man police detachment and plan to send it to your army's defense zone. They are well-equipped and have certain combat experience. I wonder if you welcome their arrival."

Romanchenko's words immediately excited Rokossovsky: "Great, Comrade Director! On behalf of all officers and soldiers of the 16th Army, I welcome the arrival of the police detachment."

"Since you have no objection, I will arrange for them to set off as soon as possible." Romanchenko said, "If everything goes well along the way, they will arrive at your defense zone in the evening."

After ending the call with Romanchenko, Rokossovsky said to several colleagues: "Comrades, Comrade Romanchenko, the director of the General Police Department, told me that he sent a well-equipped and experienced police force to report to our army."

"Is it appropriate to send civilian police to the battlefield?" Romanov raised his question.

"If we let them enter the battlefield and fight the enemy face to face, I think it might be difficult," Rokossovsky said cautiously, "it would be better to send them behind enemy lines, where they might be able to play a greater role."

"I think so," Malinin agreed.

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Rokossovsky told Malinin, "the police detachment will arrive at our defense zone in the evening. You arrange for people to pick them up and make sure they don't get lost."

"Don't worry, Comrade Commander," Malinin assured Rokossovsky, "I will take care of it."

At noon, Sokov returned to the infantry brigade's position.

When he entered the tent, he saw Belkin talking to a strange lieutenant colonel, so he asked Belkin directly: "Comrade Deputy Brigade Commander, who is this?"

"Comrade Brigade Commander, you are back?" Belkin was delighted to see Sokov return. He introduced the unfamiliar lieutenant colonel to Sokov: "Let me introduce you. This is Lieutenant Colonel Cherkasov, a former regimental chief of staff of the 20th Army. He just escaped from the German encirclement today."

When Sokov heard that the other party was the regiment's chief of staff, he couldn't help showing a pleasant surprise on his face. He quickly extended his hand to the other party and said in a friendly tone: "Welcome, Lieutenant Colonel Cherkasov, welcome to join my army."

Cherkasov glanced at Sokov's collar badge, hesitated for a moment and then said, "Major, no, Comrade Brigade Commander. I am very happy to join your troops. Please arrange a position for me as soon as possible, even if it is just to be a platoon leader in the lower unit."

"Lieutenant Colonel Cherkasov, look at what you said. Your rank is higher than mine. How can I let you be a platoon leader? If the commanders of other troops knew about this, they would criticize me for not knowing how to use people." Sokov asked Cherkasov sincerely: "I want you to be the chief of staff of the brigade. Do you agree?"

Cherkasov did not expect Sokov to be so generous and to entrust him with such an important task on their first meeting. He said with some concern: "Comrade Brigade Commander, I am worried that I am not qualified for this position. I think you should find someone else."

If Sokov had a suitable candidate, he would not necessarily choose Cherkasov. But now there is a shortage of commanders, so he can only persuade Cherkasov to serve as the brigade chief of staff temporarily. When he finds a suitable candidate in the future, it will not be too late to replace him with someone else.

"That's all right, Lieutenant Colonel Cherkasov," Sokov said with a smile, "How can you know if you are suitable for this position if you don't even try it?"

"Yes, Lieutenant Colonel Cherkasov." Seeing that Sokov intended to appoint Cherkasov as the brigade chief of staff, Belkin immediately persuaded him: "I think you should accept this appointment. No matter what, this is the intention of the brigade commander."

Seeing that Sokov and Belkin had both persuaded him to accept the appointment, Cherkasov could no longer refuse and nodded in agreement: "Since you think I am suitable for this position, I will give it a try first. I will try my best not to let you down."

Now that Cherkasov had agreed to serve as the brigade chief of staff, Belkin turned his attention to Sokov: "Comrade Brigade Commander, have your superiors agreed to your proposal?"

"Agreed."

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"That's great." Belkin said, "Yes," and then asked Sokov, "Will our brigade participate in this counterattack?"

"It's not clear yet." Sokov replied: "Comrade Commander has made our brigade a reserve. If the battlefield situation is unfavorable to our army, our brigade will be put into battle."

Hearing that the infantry brigade would participate in this counterattack, even if it was only a reserve force, Belkin still felt uneasy: "Comrade Brigade Commander, although our brigade has a lot of troops, the commanders and soldiers are not familiar with each other and lack the minimum tacit understanding. If we rush to the battlefield, I'm afraid they will be scattered." Perhaps worried that Sokov would criticize him for being cowardly and panicking, he also added, "Besides, the troops are all lightly armed and lack anti-tank weapons. If they encounter German-equipped troops, they will probably be easily defeated."

"We can't help it. This is an order from our superiors." Sokov went to the headquarters and naturally knew that the main members of the army headquarters did not want to launch a counterattack that had no chance of winning. However, in front of his subordinates, he could only pretend to be helpless and said, "We can only obey the orders of our superiors unconditionally."

Seeing Belkin's disappointed expression, Sokov suddenly remembered today's admission situation and asked hurriedly, "Comrade Deputy Brigade Commander, how many troops have been admitted today?"

Belkin, who was originally depressed, immediately became excited after hearing Sokov's question: "Comrade Brigade Commander, how many people do you think we have taken in this morning?"

Sokov thought that nearly 2,000 people were taken in yesterday, so there might not be as many people today as yesterday, and there was only half a day, so 300 or 400 people should be enough. He asked cautiously, "Is it 300 or 400?"

Unexpectedly, after hearing this, Belkin smiled brightly: "Comrade Brigade Commander, my guess was wrong. You could have been a little braver."

Sokov looked at Belkin and thought: Judging from his expression, could there be thousands of them? Thinking of this, he asked tentatively: "Could there be eight hundred to one thousand?"

"This time the guess was more accurate." Belkin said with a smile: "Although the specific number has not yet come out, the number of people admitted today has exceeded 1,000."

"Has the number really exceeded 1,000?" Although Sokov had been prepared, he was still shocked when Belkin confirmed his guess: "How could there be so many people?"

"We opened a breakthrough when we broke out yesterday." Belkin replied, "I think the Germans haven't discovered the breakthrough yet, so the officers and soldiers we received today should have broken out from here."

"If this is true, it means we may be able to accommodate the same number of officers and soldiers in the afternoon."

"That's entirely possible." Belkin suddenly remembered something else and asked quickly, "By the way, Comrade Brigade Commander, did the German prisoner of war named Georg provide any important information after he arrived at the headquarters?"

"No, he didn't provide any information."

Hearing Sokov's words, Belkin couldn't help but be surprised: "Didn't he say that he had important intelligence to report to our superiors? How come he still didn't say anything when he arrived at the army headquarters?"

"Based on various signs, this person is most likely an intelligence officer of our army lurking inside the German army." Sokov said to Belkin: "After I sent him to the army headquarters, he said that the commander's rank was not high and he could not provide any information."

Belkin was a little angry when he heard this: "Who is this person? He asked us to send him to the army headquarters, but he said nothing. Does he want us to send him to Moscow?"

Unexpectedly, as soon as he finished speaking, he saw Sokov giving him a thumbs up: "Comrade Deputy Brigade Commander, you guessed right. He arrived at the army headquarters and exchanged secret codes with Chief of Staff Malinin. He then said that he had important intelligence and wanted to report it to the intelligence forces in Moscow. Now, Chief of Staff Malinin has arranged for someone to send him back to Moscow."

"What kind of important intelligence could this person have that he needs to report to Moscow?" After saying this, Belkin raised his own question: "Comrade Brigade Commander, do you think that the German prisoner is deliberately making things mysterious just to confuse us?"

"I don't think so." Sokov said this with an uneasy heart. What if Belkin's words came true and Georg was not a Soviet intelligence agent at all and everything he said was just a lie? Then he would definitely be implicated.